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trashcatsnark · 3 years

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NGL I love how much you have embraced the silverv stuff here - its so nice to read. I submit for consideration, Rogue notices the tattoo while on the disaster date and both Johnny and V play it off as a joke and holy shit poor rogue stuck in a room with two morons.

Also - V getting dressed for that date and realizing they just MIGHT be a little jealous with a side of some thoughts of "Oh God Johnny Would NEVER Feel That Way About Me Gotta Bury This Deep So He Doesn't Know"

Johnny notices the anxiety but is very dense about the cause.

Oh hell yeah, I have fully embraced it and this ship; I was writing SilverV porn before the game came out, like I knew what my ship for this game was gonna be from the second I saw gifs of

“You’re a dick, Johnny”

“And you’re a cunt, so maybe we’ll fit together after all.”

That banter sealed my fate and I’m fairly sure I had named and created my V then wrote porn of her with Johnny literally a week later. The devil works hard, but my brainrot works harder and faster.

Spoilers!

Okay, so I’ve thought a lot about that date in both a silverv context (and largely how it fits with my V, Aidan and her fic) I’ll try to stay general though.

Firstly, I whole heartedly believe Rogue sees through their bullshit. Not only is she just good at that, but Johnny even states she has MRE’s (?) and can see through people, like her eyes can pick up on signs of lying. And usually, thats not an issue for when V talks to her, but when she asks about Johnny and their relationship with him. Its a mess. And when Rogue asks Johnny about it, its a mess.

And when Rogue notices the tattoo it’s like Oh... I get it . And Johnny is of course like, “hahaha, yeah I thought that’d be so funny, the kid hates it.” But Rogue isn’t stupid, she knows a lovey dovey heart with their names, something that looks like someone doodled it on their third grade notebook about their crush, is not really typical of Johnny��s “joking” She knows that if Johnny is not really the kind of guy to hahahaha its so funny to make it look like we love each other; he’d be more likely to get a dick tattooed on V’s arm if it was just to mess with them. For gods sake, look how many people didn’t pick “the other one” because they were convinced it was gonna be a dick. That’s a Johnny just trying to fuck with someone move. So, she doesn’t buy it, but doesn’t push it...with him.

She asks V about and of course they play it off as “Yeah, Johnny thought it’d be funny, what a fucking asshole, its so fucking dumb, I totally fuckin hate it.”

“So, why not get it removed?”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhh, well you see what had happened was, um, I, just uhhhh, never been enough time, I guess yeahhhhhh.”

Cause lets face it, in cyberpunk universe, getting a tattoo removed should be easy. If you can get blades in your arms and can have a completely newly reconstructed body in like an afternoon; you can get a tattoo removed in like twenty minutes. So, V still keeping it, says volumes about how they really feel.

Now, V’s jealousy and the date.

I do absolutely agree that any anxiety or ill feeling V might have up until the date; Johnny is gonna feel, but not realize where it’s coming from. I think if anything, he’s gonna chalk it up to V being anxious about giving him control again and he’s gonna be like worried that maybe V doesn’t trust him as much as they let on.

And I do think a V who has feelings for Johnny, would not be able to help feeling some jealousy regarding Rogue and Johnny. Just because jealousy is natural thing to feel and while you can debate if they were ever a good or healthy couple, you can’t debate they shared very real feelings for one another. And I think a lot of V’s jealousy would come from just how much Johnny seems to first think of/go to Rogue. When he needed to save Alt, first person he turned to, Rogue. When he wanted to bomb Arasaka tower (going by his memory of it and ignoring that the event was probably actually planned by Morgan Blackhand), who’d he go to? Rogue. When he becomes determined to get Smasher, who is he determined to get him with, Rogue. When he first decides to atone for his past mistakes, who’s the first person he wants to make up with, Rogue. When at the rooftop, who does he want to go grab to help him save V, Rogue.

If you got feelings for someone, that’d hurt, I think it’s impossible for that not to spark some jealousy. And V if anything is also mad at themselves for having those feelings, because they like Rogue, she’s a badass, a legend, they respect the hell out of her. And of course they have feelings for Johnny and they wanna help him make shit right and they wanna give him a chance to enjoy himself. But this stupid reptilian part of their brain is screaming but i want to be the first person he goes to, the first person he thinks about, which they know is also stupid cause for fucks sake the man literally lives in their brain, they’re as close as two people can be and literally when Johnny has the power to go to someone for something, he can’t go to V because they’re reduced to sleeping essentially until Johnny hands back the reigns. Yet, feelings aren’t aren’t always, rational, sadly.

And to Johnny’s credit, he probably doesn’t even give it that much thought. Rogue is a badass, someone he cares for, someone he can depend on and someone he hurt really badly. The two people he can and always has been able to depend on the most (other than Alt prior to her death) have been Kerry and Rogue. And, bless his heart, the fuck is Kerry gonna do? Kerry ain’t a merc, Kerry isn’t gonna bust into Arasaka Tower or plant a bomb. Kerry doesn’t have the connection to Smasher. So, of course, Rogue is gonna be his go to. And in terms of making things up to people...he literally cannot really do much to make things up to V, not the way he can for Rogue or Kerry. Cause, when him and V are both conscious, he can’t do much beyond touch and talk to them. Hell, even with Rogue and Kerry, he relies mostly on V to help him do anything. Even with people he can interact with and do something for; V is doing all the nitty gritty work for him. V drives Rogue to the theater, V breaks into the theater, V gets the projector going. V breaks into Kerry’s house, V disables the security. V gets in contact with Nancy. V gets Nancy out of Totentanz in one piece.

Which probably if V actually thought about it critically, does mean he’s going to them and relying on them more than Rogue, but they’d probably dismiss it out of it being for necessity and not because he cares about them and feels he an depend on them.

Anyhow, Johnny would probably love to do some nice gesture to make up for his bender to V, hell they probably were the first person he wanted to make things up since they are his catalyst for changing. But what feasibly can he do for them? Anything he’d want to do with/for them, would just be asking V go do this thing and i’ll also be here. Anything that would put them in public interacting is out, unless they want MaxTac called on V for looking cyberpsychotic. He can’t even do an at home date, because he can’t cook (engram or not) and he can’t buy them anything nice he has no money and also doesn’t technically exist. He could try to do so sneakily while he’s in control...but he’d be using V’s money so they might as well just buy it for themselves. he can play music for them,,. but that doesn’t seem too special and more than a little egotistical to think it’ll make V feel better about what he did... So... all he can really do, is prove he’s worth trusting by being on his best behavior and more importantly do what he can to save V’s life.

Then there’s the date. And as usual, I have some opinions and feelings about a thing. Like, okay, I’ve seen some people (aka Gamer Bros on Twitter) being like, Rogue is Johnny’s girl. Wanting to date either of them is wrong because they like each other. (then you also get the BUT ALT crowd, but rants for another day.) And I can’t help but ask, did we play the same date? Their entire date is about how they’re both desperately clinging to the past. Rogue is trying to reclaim 2013-2023 Rogue and Johnny just wanting for a night to feel like the world and his place in it haven’t been completely rearranged. And it ends with Rogue telling him, she is not that girl anymore, she can’t pretend to be, and frankly she doesn’t want to anymore. She wishes she could be, wishes she was still that tall haired street punk who’d never dream of working with corps or being a fixer, but she’s not. Her and Johnny are no longer the same people who met back in to 2010’s. Doesn’t mean they don’t care about one another and doesn’t mean what feelings they had weren’t real or important; but they’re just not those people anymore. Rogue more so than Johnny since he’s freshly on the course of change.

Something else in regards to the date, that I think is important to talk about and how it relates to silverv and its something I personally have very conflicting feelings about. The fact that Johnny can initiate some physical intimacy with Rogue. See, I have never chosen the option to kiss Rogue during the date and actually did not learn until relatively recently, that if that choice is made it goes a biiit further than a kiss. I have watched the scene now.

And god I have mixed feelingssss. Like, I get it, but I’m not sure I like it. And I know full well, my silverv bias impacts my feelings on the matter, it’s be disingenuous to say otherwise. But I don’t think the ship is purely my reason for having these feelings. But at the end of the day, its all opinions. So, I get from a character perspective that Johnny and Rogue are trying so hard to reclaim their past and what they use to have that they get caught up in trying do what they would do if this was the 2010’s. And Johnny’s relationships as we’ve seen are very physical, sexual chemistry and attraction are major factors in his relationships because he kept things very superficial most of the time. He even says part of the issue with his relationship with Rogue is at the time he didn’t realize he could let her see the true him and still hid behind walls, kept things at a distance. So, the idea that’d they fall back into the old habit of trying to just be physical and ignore their feelings, isn’t out of character.

However, and Johnny even seems to acknowledge this issue when Rogue interrupts it, they’re doing this with V’s body. V...who did not consent to sexual contact. They consented to a date and while one could logic that this would mean everything a date could entail up to and including physical intimacy; I would argue that that is something that would need further conversation to have clear consent. And like again, this might come down to boundaries and personal feelings. Because I go back to the bender and what’s been interesting to me is too see different opinions on it; some people weren’t actually bothered at all by Johnny’s bender in V’s body, some people were bothered by the drugs and alcohol specifically cause their V is straight edge. Me, personally, it was the sexual content and the endangering of V’s life. Like, it was mostly funny and oh yeah, I expected that it’s bad but eh I’ll move on, to me, until he started getting sexual with people in V’s body. Like that to me is not just crossing the line, it’s catapulting over it.

And like I said, Johnny even responds to Rogue’s “this isn’t fair” with “what, you mean it’s not fair to V?” which she says she meant it isn’t fair to Johnny. (Which viscerally upset because you nearly used V’s body for sexual gratification without their consent and you’re worried about Johnny, which tbf Rogue has no way of knowing what V has and hasn’t consented to, so its not on her but that was my knee jerk thought). So, he has some awareness that maybe that was a bad move.

And yeah, it definitely to me and my V would be a very bad move (unless he explicitly talked to them beforehand and got consent). And in general, it made me feel like, dude, you just promised you’d be better and not break V’s trust but again not a day later you’re nearly using them to have sex. It felt like a backslide, which isn’t necessarily unrealistic, cause change and growth is not always linear, people can commit to changing themselves and still fuck up and not get it right; in fact it’s rare for them not to have any sort of backsliding or repeating of mistakes.

Again, I will also give credit that he could have been assuming that given V consented to the date, they assumed or were cool with their being physical intimacy between him and Rogue. He also generally, might not have really planned for it to happen, because I don’t think Johnny plans a lot of anything. It very well might have just sort of happened. Also, V doesn’t clearly communicate if the sexual component was an issue in the bender. All V really seems to have an issue with in game is the very general thing of; he misled them and used them. So, he might have assumed that wasn’t ever an issue. And hell, if you wanna go full meta, the player is technically the one who makes that choice and V is largely an avatar for the player, so that alone could be seen as whether or not V would/does consent.

But, from a story perspective, removing the player choice element. I think how that’s handled would have a huge impact on silverv and where it goes from there.

Because if V and Johnny did talk about consent prior and V did consent while having feelings for Johnny, god I’d have to imagine they’d still feel pretty hurt, but feel it’s irrational to feel that way and have put their own feelings aside because clearly Johnny cares about and wants Rogue and they should ruin what could be his one chance to make things right.

If there like in game was no talk of consent and Johnny ends up kissing and touching on Rogue and V finds out or has memories of it surface,that could be devastating for them. Not only from their own feelings for Johnny, but this since of betrayal and hurt. Was the oil field conversation just a lie? A manipulation? V might feel like they were used; that Johnny never gave a shit about them or how they feel. And Johnny would have to deal with the realization that intentionally or not; he earned back V’s trust just to destroy it again. He fucked up again, he ruined everything again, he got his second chance and destroyed it…. And he doesn’t know how, if he can, or if he should bother trying to ask for a third. In general, I do think, V would come out of the date assuming (naturally so) that Johnny really only has romantic feelings towards Rogue, that they’re just a friend at best, a host to be used at worse. I even in my own universe with my V have them after everything is better, everyones got a body, expects Johnny to start pursing Rogue and trying to swallow their own feelings and be a supportive friend, try to encourage and push him to do it and Johnny’s just like please stop, Rogue is this close to murdering us both.

I was gonna add more funny stuff to this and include a shitposty interaction he has with my V over them dressing up for the date and shit, BUT HOLY FUCK THIS GOT LONG AND SAD????? I’M SO SORRY.

#cyberpunk 2077 #cp2077 #johnny silverhand #silverv #cyberpunk 2077 spoilers #ieiwi

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ficswithluv · 4 years

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Tatsu’s Choices: 2019 Awards

Ficswithluv launched in September of 2019, and we could not have possibly imagined that we would grow as quickly and wonderfully as we have!! You all send us such phenomenal recs every week, you've helped to spread love, positivity, and feedback to so many authors on this site, and we cannot wait to see how that continues in 2020!!!

Because you've all been so absolutely wonderful about sending in your favourite fics and telling us a bit about why you liked them, we thought we would continue the trend! Additionally, in order to celebrate our lovely affiliated authors, we’ve also decided to pick one fic from each of them to showcase their talents too!

And so we present ‘The Best of FWL’, where Tatsumaki* selects a handful of fics from each masterlist we've had so far, as well as from masterlists from every author associated with ficswithluv, and we highlight them in one large masterpost!

*Tatsumaki is the Discord Bot that the Admins use to choose bookclub fics. She randomly generates the fics using numbers. Hence: Tatsu’s Choices!

💌 ⇥ Affiliated Author

Best Seokjin Fics

⟶ all i want for christmas ➵ @sunkoos 💌

↳ Slice of Life AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Seokjin, your ever eccentric love of your life, proposes an unconventional idea you cannot deny taking him up on. »

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⟶ blood and mercy ➵ @sugasgrowl

↳ Mafia AU ღ sfw series

« There is a rat in Bangtan, but you’re going to fight for mercy. »

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⟶ bobsy die ➵ @jincherie

↳ Werewolf AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Fed up after a week of being ignored by your friend and crush, you march on over there to rip him a new one with hell on your heels and find yourself in a situation with more than you bargained for. »

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⟶ date night ➵ @bang-tan-fan 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ sfw oneshot

« you and your husband relax with a date night. »

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⟶ erasers ➵ @bloodpotato 💌

↳ Soulmate AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You never thought to contact your soulmate through the erasers you always lose until you lose something extremely important and irreplaceable. »

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⟶ ghost night out ➵ @spookitokki 💌

↳ Supernatural AU ღ sfw oneshot

« After bearing the sting of a rough rejection, you call Jin to come to the usual hangout in the middle of the night in hopes that he can cheer you up. It seems to work until you both are met with a dark presence and an unusual chill. »

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⟶ i thought i was alone ➵ @aroseforyoongi

↳ Roommate AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« On the day your boyfriend cheats on you, Seokjin is there to provide comfort and some greatly needed affection. He is the perfect roommate and friend. Always patient and willing to lend an ear. It is then, when you’re with him, that you realize that maybe you want more. »

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⟶ just say goodnight and go ➵ @vanaera

↳ Roommate AU ღ sfw oneshot

« The spirit of Christmas is yet to be felt as a blackout on a chilly December night becomes the icing on the cake of your horribly shitty day. You just really want to sleep tonight but your neighbor seems to have lost his mind again when he comes knocking on your door to demand for an uncalled sleepover. Said neighbor is Kim Seokjin, the famed crush of the university, and no, he’s not your friend. He’s most definitely not your crush and he’s absolutely not the reason why warmth fills your entire being when it’s not even summer. »

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⟶ not enough ➵ @jingabitch 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ nsfw series

« When Jin cheats on his girlfriend while on tour, it’s the last straw for their already strained relationship. »

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⟶ off script ➵ @baojinnie

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You’re my best friend, please don’t forget about me.The script says, you hug him, and promise him never, and assure him that he will always be part of your life, will he be a groomsman, or something?But then before you can do that, he stops laughing. He looks you in the eyes, closes the distance between you, and you have never seen him look so serious. Warms arms tighten around your waist and his lips brush the tears off your face before you realize they ever even fell. »

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⟶ olive me (loves olive you) ➵ @joopiterjoon 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw series

« A series of drabbles about you and your boyfriend, Kim Seokjin »

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⟶ peach parfait ➵ @jamaisjoons

↳ Enemies to Lovers AU ღ nsfw twoshot

« you and seokjin have always been at odds as the top two chefs at big hit academy of culinary arts. »

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⟶ pink panther ➵ @gimmesumsuga

↳ Hybrid AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« The one where your boss, Kim Seokjin, tries to show you how beautiful you are. »

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⟶ sempiternal ➵ @softlyjiminie 💌

↳ Hogwarts AU ღ sfw oneshot

« seokjin helps you get over your ex.»

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⟶ strawberry roses ➵ @peekaboongi 💌

↳ Cupid AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« When a chaotic man who claims to be a Cupid appears, your dull life is suddenly filled with laughter and strawberry roses. You’re just forgetting one important thing—magic never lasts past midnight. ; or, chaotic but domestic Jin trying to teach you how to make strawberries resemble roses »

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⟶ strings ➵ @holyfluffly 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You audition to be a BigHit backup dancer. .»

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⟶ the bough that broke ➵ @readbeneaththelines 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ nsfw series

« Jin is injured from an avoidable accident, leaving him partially paralyzed from the waist down. Reader is the nurse that is hired to take care of him once he gets back to the dorms and begins the physically and emotionally painful road to recovery. Will she have what it takes to spark determination in him to get back on the stage? »

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⟶ waterboy ➵ @dimpled-gukkie 💌

↳ Roommates AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Craigslist is very hit or miss for you, so maybe you shouldn’t have chosen to find a roommate that way. At least he’s cute though. »

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Best Yoongi Fics

⟶ all the room in the world ➵ @inkofyoongi 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ sfw twoshot

« After four years, you go back to Daegu for Taehyung’s wedding. However, things aren’t as you left them… and Min Yoongi either. »

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⟶ baby’s first christmas ➵ @hobisgorgeousass 💌

↳ Parents AU ღ sfw oneshot

« 3 months after you give birth to your first child, you and your husband start putting together the perfect first Christmas for your new family of three. »

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⟶ black magic ➵ @preternatural-fools

↳ Witch AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Yoongi is a witch who always has the sniffles because he’s allergic to the herbs/plants he’s surrounded by. »

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⟶ boseong breakfast ➵ @honeymoonjin 💌

↳ Strangers to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« it may be misfortune that brings you to min yoongi’s door looking for a place to stay, but luckily holly lodge has a vacancy. »

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⟶ catharsis ➵ @dovechim

↳ Roommate AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Where do you draw the line between fantasy and reality? Yoongi knows he has a kink that isn’t socially acceptable as kinks go. He’s already had several failed relationships in the past tucked under his belt as a result, so when you offer him a chance to live out his fantasy in a guiltless, no strings attached kinda way, what could go wrong? »

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⟶ fear and dumplings ➵ @softyoongiionly 💌

↳ College AU ღ nsfw series

« You’re in your final semester at University when your Abnormal Psychology professor assigns you a partnered project surrounding your greatest fears.Lucky for you, your partner just so happens to be a cute boy named Min Yoongi. »

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⟶ friend request ➵ @spoopysoph 💌

↳ College AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You get a friend request from someone you don’t know. »

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⟶ iron world ➵ @gimmeyoon 💌

↳ Cyberpunk AU ღ nsfw series

« Welcome to Iron World, the latest virtual reality online game. Choose your class, join a guild, and explore the depths of this planet. As one of the first 20,000 people to explore this brave frontier, how you enjoy this immersive experience is up to you. There is so much to do and see, you’ll never want to leave. »

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⟶ maybe i’m a little dangerous ➵ @hollyhomburg

↳ Mafia/Soulmate AU ღ sfw series

« Rare soulmate marks don’t guarantee that you find your soulmate easily, and when your soulmate is the head of a mafia, being together will never be easy either… »

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⟶ pure instinct ➵ @maptoyoongi 💌

↳ Hybrid AU ღ sfw series

« The instinct to protect someone we love is a powerful force. When Yoongi is given the chance to protect you, how far will he go? »

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⟶ silly kitty ➵ @badbhye 💌

↳ Hybrid AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You and Yoongi visit your grandmother, and you have a realization. »

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⟶ sugar, yes please ➵ @btsfiles

↳ Sugar Daddy AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You’re a college student with an aspiration for journalism, but the traumatic experience of being broke and lonely gives you an opportunity to try out something new: become a Sugar Baby. »

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⟶ support ➵ @saikokirakira

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a »

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⟶ the touch of silk ➵ @floralseokjin

↳ Supernatural AU ღ nsfw series

« In a world where vampires coexist with the living, there are many humans looking for a cheap thrill…you’re ashamed to admit you’re curious too, putting to good use a dating app you find…but Min Yoongi is nothing like you imagined a vampire to be… »

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⟶ the way to your heart ➵ @joonary 💌

↳ Office AU ღ sfw oneshot

« when your office christmas party’s secret santa gives you absolutely no context on what kind of gift he wants, you have no choice but to get to know him better. »

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⟶ true disaster ➵ @rmddaeng 💌

↳ Supernatural AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You’re a simple angel, the lowest of the Three Seraphic Spheres. On a hot, muggy day when you’ve nothing to do, a demon stumbles upon you. But who is he? And perhaps more importantly, what does he want? »

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⟶ wrapped ➵ @btsunniemoonie 💌

↳ Boyfriend AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« In which your world crushes because you didn’t pay too much attention in biology class »

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Yoonji

⟶ calming seas ➵ @barbyisafangirl 💌

↳ Pirate AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« the sea is rough and wild most of the time but eventually, it has to calm down. »

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Best Hoseok Fics

⟶ babysitters ➵ @httphopewrld 💌

↳ Boyfriend AU ღ sfw oneshot

« It’s your first time babysitting your sister’s son, Ryan. Not only are you nervous because you’ve never done it before, but because of your boyfriend decides to tag along. Surprisingly, your nephew and boyfriend get along well. »

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⟶ bloom ➵ @guksheart 💌

↳ Soulmate AU ღ sfw oneshot

« your soulmate’s first words to you will be burned into the skin of your wrist upon first meeting them. no one anticipated that yours would turn out to be a world famous rapper by the name of jung hoseok. »

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⟶ blue ➵ @littlemeowmeowschimmy 💌

↳ Husband AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You're pregnant…and the only thing that your boyfriend cares about is his job. His job…it frightens you everyday. »

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⟶ by its cover ➵ @crystaljins

↳ E2L/Supernatural AU ღ sfw series

« Your annoying little brother Jimin accepts a dare and summons a demon into your living room. There are multiple problems with this. 1) Demons are the most hated species on earth.2) That demon happens to be Jung Hoseok, the most popular guy on campus 3) The fact that Jung Hoseok is a demon is his biggest secret and 4) Jung Hoseok hates your guts. You’re in for a wild ride. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ get wet ➵ @prolixitae 💌

↳ Dancer AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« sitting in on your boyfriend’s dance practice is probably your biggest kink. it’s also the reason you asked to be so shamelessly fucked in the locker rooms of his dance studio, in spite of the pending consequences. note: this is not an idol-verse fic »

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⟶ letters to you ➵ @jiminsmagicshop 💌

↳ Soulmate AU ღ sfw series

« When you read the first Email you felt intrigued and without any hesitation you send one back, not knowing that those emails would lead you to a new life or a soulmate. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ of hentai and gay panic ➵ @enchantedyoon

↳ College AU ღ sfw oneshot

« The story of how Namjoon and Hoseok meet and fall in love over hentai. »

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⟶ peppermint ➵ @readyplayerhobi

↳ Office AU ღ sfw series

« Achieving your dream job is something that very people manage to do, which is why you’re all the more happier when you land a job on the film team at Poppin’ Culture; the biggest pop culture website, blog and YouTube channel around. What you don’t expect however, is to fall for the exceptionally shy and awkward colleague who is not even remotely your type. Or is he? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ perfidy ➵ @yminie

↳ Halloween AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Why do so many people in scary movies die? They trust the wrong people. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ ramen & company ➵ @sweetheartjeongguk 💌

↳ Ponyo AU ღ sfw oneshot

« in which hoseok has a plan of revenge, but it doesn’t work out in the way he hoped it would. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ say no to this ➵ @hobibliophile

↳ Best Friend AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« It’s been a while since you and Hoseok have spent time with each other, but he hasn’t forgotten how hard it is to say no to you. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ sweetest crush ➵ @minjoonalist 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« What would you do if your friend’s younger sibling suddenly asks you for sex? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ synchronized ➵ @bangtans-salty-sac-snacc 💌

↳ Soulmate AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Everyone is born with a timer on their wrist, counting down to the moment they learn who their soulmate is. Your timer is a few seconds behind Hoseok’s, the love of your life. And it’s those few seconds that keep you from ever being with him. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the keeper of the light and keeper of the night ➵ @spicykoreantatertots 💌

↳ Fantasy AU ღ sfw drabble

« yoongi is the keeper of the night. hoseok is the keeper of the light. sometimes they meet. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the most wonderful time of the year ➵ @lamourche

↳ E2L/Office AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ you’re my light ➵ @bts-poetry 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« A call from your best friend inviting you to the yearly Diwali celebration has you and your boyfriend really excited but what would happen when you stumble across your troublesome ex on such a good day? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

Best Namjoon Fics

⟶ baby, please! ➵ @jungkook-me-down 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You can’t seem to help yourself these days. Lately you’ve been getting more and more into children. When your cousin asks you to babysit her daughter Hae, you never imagined the situation you’d be thrown into and the outcome of her visit. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ be my palentine ➵ @bangtanstanst 💌

↳ College AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Being single on Valentine’s Day isn’t so bad, as long as you have an equally single friend to spend your night with. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ details in the fabric ➵ @jinitude 💌

↳ Widow AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Missing someone means noticing the little things, and those little things tend to hurt the worst »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ foreign heart ➵ @dejun-ge

↳ Idol AU ღ sfw series

« Namjoon was an ordinary person - as ordinary as you could get for an idol. But there was silly foreign girl who made him feel normal, like he wasn’t stuck behind a wall. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ home ➵ @hobidreams 💌

↳ Married AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Turns out, Namjoon can’t keep his hands off his wife after all. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ late nights ➵ @taeintedlove 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ love bytes ➵ @stutterfly 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw series

« It’s been a year since you first met Kim Namjoon, the passionate, talented English professor at the local campus. He’s always been clumsy and aloof, but he’s on a whole new level in terms of “technologically incapable.” One call to IT was all it took to pull you into his life, and with it a whole string of friendships full of flirtatious banter and undying support.

Your dating situation has been drier than the Sahara for years now, and you’ve wasted too many lonely nights drinking alone, so you try your hand at Tinder. But you’re not getting any bites. When the group finds out, they are more than willing to help–even Namjoon, though he finds it increasingly difficult to deny that he’s hopelessly smitten. You consider their opinions on potential Tinder dates while fighting off feelings you never knew were brewing for the caring soul who becomes the home you never had. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ more than words ➵ @ironicarmy 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You and Namjoon have been painfully -and blindingly- pining for each other since your teenage years, much to your friends’ chagrin. So, unbeknownst to both of you, Seokjin and the rest plan to finally make you confess during a ski trip. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ obligated ➵ @underthejoon

↳ Arranged Marriage AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Married by obligation, weighed down by circumstance. Except for those nights when you’re both drunk, falling into bed with one another and realizing you’re human. Occasionally this happens, occasionally you fuck. Until your life changes and you realize Namjoon, the very man you’re obligated to, might just be the very man that you crave. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ oh, death ➵ @loveejoon 💌

↳ Death AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« There’s no leniency with Death. you die when your time comes, without remorse. But why does Death look at you, and suddenly things change? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the rich man’s crochet club ➵ @kpopfanfictrash

↳ College AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« When they were freshmen in college, Namjoon began a club with his six closest friends. The one thing they all had in common? V i r g i n s as fuck. Obviously, they couldn’t call the club the Virgins Club though and so, the Rich Man’s Crochet Club was born. Until time passes and Namjoon is the only one left. Now, the Club has one, final mission: to get Namjoon laid. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the transfiguration tutor ➵ @purpletigertaetae 💌

↳ Hogwarts AU ღ sfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ time management ➵ @feralbangtan 💌

↳ Married AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« “No, no, no. I know where this is gonna lead. We do not have the time for sex. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ try me ➵ @jjkfire

↳ College AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You wanted nothing more than to leave behind your old self when you graduated from high school and moved on to college to play rugby but when you see your high school classmate, resident fuckboy and captain, Kim Namjoon, at the rugby department orientation, you feel like everything might fall apart. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

Best Jimin Fics

⟶ busan mental asylum ➵ @lovehrs 💌

↳ Doctor AU ღ sfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ but this isn’t love ➵ @daze-six 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ sfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ don’t move ➵ @jeonsweetpea 💌

↳ Idol/Stylist AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You had a solo debut coming up and it was nerve wracking. What’s even worse is that the stylist in charge of your photoshoot was none other than Park Jimin. What’s wrong with Jimin? Oh. Nothing. He just hates you. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ fairytail ➵ @gukyi

↳ Fantasy AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You have a particular disdain for the beach. Jimin is here to change that. Oh! And he’s also a merman. So there’s that, too. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ fan-cam ➵ @cottonhxney 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Y/N watches how Jimin reacts, as recorded by fans, and can’t figure out how to feel about it. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ mon cœur t’appartient ➵ @jiminspjm 💌

↳ Werewolf AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Just let me love, you »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ peaches and piercings ➵ @matchakoo 💌

↳ E2L/College AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Jimin, dipped in hair-dye and pierced in so many places that you just couldn’t keep track, doesn’t think you’re his “type”. You call bullshit. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ ring lover ➵ @flowerwrites06 💌

↳ Boxer/Ballerina AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Jimin could fight every battle in his life until he started courting a delicate ballerina who can’t stand violence. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ spellbound ➵ @minflix

↳ E2L/Witch AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« The only reason you agreed to do this magical ritual with Park Jimin’s Circle was for the sake of your own Circle - to strengthen your individual magic. Yes, that means you’ll have to fuck him, but no, you weren’t happy about it because you hate Park Jimin. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ syndicate ➵ @jungkookiebus 💌

↳ Mafia AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the other half ➵ @silverlightqueen 💌

↳ Badboy AU ღ nsfw series

« In Winchester, y/n has it all. Gorgeous and glamorous. A friendship group just as gorgeous and glamorous. Fantastic grades. A handsome boyfriend with a family just as successful as hers. A doting dad and a brother just as beautiful as she is. An amazing school, and an even more amazing house. As many cars and clothes and bags and shoes, and as much makeup and money she could ever ask for. But when Winchester Academy puts on an exchange programme with Burnley Tech School, a high school in an underprivileged area, two completely different worlds collide, and y/n has her hands full, practically overflowing, dealing with her exchange partner, bad boy Jimin with a whole lot of baggage… »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the rules of heaven ➵ @seokoloqy 💌

↳ Angel AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Jimin is in love and Heaven doesn’t allow for it. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ what do you desire? ➵ @prisczero 💌

↳ Devil/CEO AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ what you deserve ➵ @jiminniethemarshmallow

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

Best Taehyung Fics

⟶ across cyber space ➵ @goldenjulychild 💌

↳ Camgirl AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« It’s normal to have lots of admirers in your line of work, but the user strawberrylover312 is not simply one of them. As your relationship builds so does your doubt about him being too perfect to be true. After all, it’s impossible to find true love across cyber space, right? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ black irises in the sunshine ➵ @ddaenggtan 💌

↳ Greek God AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« anger is everything. other gods tease you for the short fuse, but it comes with the territory. people have called you stupid, have called you dumb, oafish, useless, incompetent, insolent, rude, arrogant. all of it. insults and mockery flung at you, but even your skin isn’t thick enough to deal with constant abuse. it’s the exact reason you keep going to the underground, knuckles bloody and bruised, fighting anyone that dared enter the cage. it’s the reason you go to the clubs, surround yourself with mortals and their writhing bodies. it’s there that you see him the first time, voice husky as it rolls through the room. it’s there you find someone who treats you differently than the rest. you just never expected him to be one of the muses. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ carnal cupidity ➵ @kittae

↳ Werewolf AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Things are a little tense in your relationship with your boyfriend, an alpha wolf and leader of his own pack. After another fight, you’ve had just about enough and decide to take matters into your own hands when his heat approaches. Your methods, however, prove to be more effective than intended… »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ catching a case of the doctor blues ➵ @justimajin

↳ Enemies to Lovers AU ღ sfw series

« When asked about Dr. Kim, a string of beautifully aligned words are ready spew from your lips. You could possibly go on and on about how his wonderful stubbornness wasn’t similar to talking to a brick wall, or how his observation skills were especially great in preparing your blood vessels for a drastic rupture or even how one gracious stare of his nearly had you on the verge of ripping your essential documents in half. But it seems that, perhaps, there was a lot more to Dr. Kim then what meets the eye… »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ cheap skate ➵ @taehyungforreal 💌

↳ Domestic AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Granny Park’s Gossip: Who doesn’t know Taehyung and his lady? Cutest couple in town, I’d say, and have been since they started dating in their college days. Oh, that was a while ago, though. And still, they’re happy as can be in that place they have together. Almost hate seeing one without the other, y’know, it’s like seeing just one testi- oh, right, I’m not supposed to talk like that. Anyhoo, I only say that because I saw Taehyung at a jewelry store the other day while I was buying my sweet Jiminie his presents. Maybe that boy’s finally gonna pop the question, but I do hope he’s got a good plan for it. Something sweet and romantic. Maybe I’ll find out after Jiminie gets back from that cabin he’s visiting. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ christmas cookies ➵ @mistysuga 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You are in charge of making the cookies for your family’s Christmas party, so you and Taehyung have a blast while doing so. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ don’t blame me ➵ @diortae 💌

↳ Cheating AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Kim Taehyung has always been there to soothe the sting of your failing relationship. But matters of the heart are never that simple. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ every word ➵ @jessikahathaway 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ fever ➵ @yoonia

↳ Werewolf AU ღ nsfw series

« I wish I could hate you. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ frisky ➵ @uwugalore 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Sometimes, your fiancé was just… frisky. And boy did you enjoy it to the fullest. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ get you the moon ➵ @bymoonchild 💌

↳ E2L/College AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Life has its ways of fucking with you, but you know you’ve hit 50 feet below rock bottom after being tasked to do a profile feature on Kim Taehyung, the varsity football captain, for your school newspaper. Pure torment awaits you, but this is alongside glassy eyes, pink cheeks and conflicted feelings that you’ve never dared to imagine with the likes of the devil incarnate. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ glacier’s view ➵ @rosaetae 💌

↳ E2L/Dystopia AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Everyone knows when they were born— the date of when they enter the world. Everyone in this world not only knows their birth date, but also when they die, when they kick the bucket— the date of when they leave the world. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ not your typical flower shop story ➵ @jungtaeyoongles 💌

↳ Flower Shop/College AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You always goes to the cute boy next door’s flower shop across the street because hi yes he’s the cutest damn person you’ve ever seen, until one day a guy with tattoos and a severe obsession with the color black shows up in the shop asking for the ‘usual’ and you find out that your cute innocent little flower boy has a dirty little secret. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ sorrow ➵ @jiminsfault 💌

↳ Pianist AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« The man had you tight in his grip without knowing it, knowing you. For him, you were just a mere pair of eyes watching him, paying to listen to his work. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ suite 114 ➵ @haylokitteh 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ nsfw series

« An innocent staring contest leads to a not so innocent relationship. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

Best Jungkook Fics

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ blue raspberry ➵ @strawbxxymilk 💌

↳ College AU ღ sfw drabble

« Jungkook asks you to live life on the wild side »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ date in a box ➵ @jimlingss

↳ Dating Service AU ღ sfw oneshot

« If you’re in a hurry then we’re here to help you! Everything you need in a box. Delivery less than five minutes. Upgrade and we can personalize your date even more! Guaranteed 100%! Don’t fret, we’re here. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ dive ➵ @guktwt 💌

↳ Swimmer/Photographer AU ღ nsfw series

« This is a bad idea, you think, but there’s something so satisfying about seeing Jungkook so pliant and desperate under your touch. You’ve seen him in all his glory, a boy who’s made for the water and loved by all, but you think he looks prettiest like this; up close, pressed against your body, and under the warm summer light. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ drug wars ➵ @plumblackjeon

↳ Mafia AU ღ nsfw series

« She’s a babygirl Yoongi, and I think I’m in love with her. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ duvet days and vanilla ice cream ➵ @jhspetitegf 💌

↳ Sperm Donor AU ღ nsfw series

« Sick of waiting to fulfill your dream of becoming a mother, you stumble across an interesting site called bundlesofjoy. Here, you find not only the key to your future happiness, but further down the line, it turns out that site could have brought you more than you’d bargained for. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ enraptured and enthralled ➵ @smartkookiee 💌

↳ College AU ღ nsfw smau

« It’s your third year of college and you are finally into the spring and summer trimester. You never imagined you would be where you are now. Living the dream as a poor theater student. You get to be the big roles on stage and have hundreds maybe even thousands cheering for you. Finally being the one people looked up to in awe and want to see more of, to see succeed. It’s the dream… isn’t it? Though you adored it… something was missing from it… of course you weren’t going to quit but your passion and drive seemed to be fading. Do you really want to be an actor? Would you let your best friends down? Do you leave? These question swirled as you began to wonder if this is the right path anymore. Fortunately, who would have thought that a night of cabaret and the biggest competition of your life could change all of that? Or could… someone? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ heavy machinery ➵ @solarjeon 💌

↳ Construction Worker AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Jungkook works across the street, doing construction on a new apartment complex being put in your area. You’d rather not wake up to the beeping of heavy machinery every morning, so you decide to go over and give that brawny construction worker a piece of your mind. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ love letters ➵ @jjkwithluv 💌

↳ Poet AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You get a crush on a certain poet named Jungkook, while secret messages start appearing in your locker… you’d think that poetry and romance and mystery would go well together, think again… »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ mutual ➵ @seokjxnnie 💌

↳ Office AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Your boss was always talking about how her son would be perfect for you, promising that he was going to the staff holiday party. He turned out to be the hook up that happened a couple months ago, who you kept around for some good dick. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ picture perfect ➵ @moononthejoon 💌

↳ Historical AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« The king is dead. New portraits need to be done. But what happens when the painter is not who you expected? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ pretty birthday boy ➵ @yoonminos 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« It’s Jungkook’s birthday and you throw him a surprise party with the help of your friends. The thing that surprised you, though, was Jungkook buying himself a gift and asking you to use it on him. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ rebound ➵ @ropeseok

↳ Enemies to Lovers ღ nsfw oneshot

« Jungkook relieves you from an awkward time at a party - in more ways than one. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ waves of fate ➵ @ttaekimm

↳ Mamma Mia AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Jungkook is a lifeguard who unfortunately loses his memory and got drifted by the sea ,but the waves brought him to the door of an exquisite hotel where he stays there and work with the manager until his memory come back. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ what are friends for? ➵ @dusktilldawnstuff 💌

↳ Friends AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You (kinda) explore an abandoned building with you best friend Jungkook. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

Best Poly & MxM Fics

⟶ breathless ➵ @personawife 💌

↳ Hanahaki AU ღ sfw oneshot • namkook • mxm

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ bts and their creampie kinks ➵ @jiminsoxyjeon 💌

↳ PWP ღ nsfw headcanons

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ euphoria ➵ @kimlinebiased 💌

↳ First Time AU ღ nsfw oneshot • namkook • mxm

« Jungkook has had a crush on the leader of BTS since forever. Now that Namjoon is helping write his solo for the upcoming album, this could be his perfect chance. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ from summer to winter i’ll be yours ➵ @hungline

↳ Supernatural AU ღ sfw oneshot • jinkook • mxm

« Seokjin had learned long ago that he and Jeongguk could never really be together, but his time as summer is almost over and he’ll wait as long as he has to before winter comes to pass. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ hypnagogia ➵ @joonsrack 💌

↳ College AU ღ sfw oneshot • taekook • mxm

« ‘‘So you’re telling me a creep has been following you around the University, waiting until you fall asleep and then jumping on you to kiss you in your sleep?’’

“Well, if you put it that way…’’

‘‘Are you joking right now? Is this a joke? Why aren’t you telling this to the goddam campus security? Better yet, does Kookie know? I bet with those muscles he works so hard for he could reduce whoever it is to pulps.’’ »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ in the dark ➵ @matchakoo

↳ Halloween AU ღ nsfw oneshot • jikook • poly

« Jungkook and Jimin have a very short attention span, and when you three are lost in the middle of nowhere with a truck that won’t drive, they busy themselves with you. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ miss managed ➵ @misscheesecakeee 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ sfw series • namgi/ot7 • poly

« In a desperate attempt to debut BTS on time, BigHit hires you as their manager. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ samhain’s blessing ➵ @softjeon 💌

↳ Vampire/Witch AU ღ nsfw oneshot • taegi • mxm

« How little vampire Tae found his way to Yoongi. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ what i never knew i always wanted ➵ @rms-tulip 💌

↳ Hybrid AU ღ nsfw series • namseok • poly

« Who knew that one of the most magical yet devastating nights of your life brought someone into your life that just ended up completing the missing puzzle piece in your heart you hadn’t thought was missing until he showed you that it was. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

687 notes · View notes

kyberled · 3 years

Text

SENTENCE STARTERS: LET’S PLAY CYBERPUNK RED, EPISODE 1 PART 1

A collection of prompts and starters taken from the first episode of Polygon’s Cyberpunk Red campaign series: [x]

Content warnings for death, strong language, and mentions of violence and drug use.

Feel free to change names and pronouns as needed!

“We’re recovering from several man-made disasters, and kites are popular again.”

“Oops, that’s too much armpit.”

“I don’t know who you know.”

“You will be remembered.”

“You’re not allowed to say that word on here, my dude!”

“Boop, banned!”

“Headshot! ... Sorry.”

“There is maybe a job down there for us, and I could use a lift.”

“Do you want me to come up and meet you up there, or do you wanna come down here?”

“Doc, these guys gonna be okay?”

“He was sliced and diced and blown apart.”

“Saw a really sad thing today.”

“I’m not sure how we’re going to get paid for this, actually.”

“Sometimes, you get paid in other things, like trust or friendship.”

“Exposure!!!”

“Let’s mop up these two dipshits and figure out who did it, then hit their head several times.”

“I just realized I called these dead people dipshits.”

“I know all of this because he was saying it in Alf roleplay.”

“They’re very fast, but they’re faster the wealthier you are.”

“And they’re all like, armed, right?”

“Yeah. They’re super armed.”

“Work up a gentle demeanor, if I can.”

“This one? This one? That one? This one?”

“I’ve got a lot of cool.”

“I promise you... You will not die.”

“I mean, everyone dies, [NAME]. You shouldn’t promise that to someone.”

“But what I’m saying is it won’t be my fault.”

“I am so sorry for this situation.”

“Just gonna pretend that didn’t happen.”

“I don’t think they were looking for [NAME].”

“I think they were looking for SOMEBODY.”

“You guys are really fuckin’ bad at this.”

“I’ll admit, I can be a little bit bad bad at comforting folks who need it. But I’ll tell ya’, I’m really good at pounding peoples’ skulls into concrete over and over again, until they tell me exactly what I would like to know.”

“Did you mean to threaten this guy?”

“All I wanna know is what happened here, so we don’t have another mess to mop up. And that mess I’m talking about is potentially... You.”

“I mean, steal from the rich, no harm done!”

“And snort what you get.”

“It is what you said, it’s what you implied. Are you going back on your word?”

“If I knew, I’d have blackmail, and I wouldn’t be here.”

“Reach out if you ever need anything.”

“Reach out if you ever need anything, and I was mostly kidding about the head bouncing stuff. But I will do it! But I was mostly kidding.”

“Call me if you need to know anyone.”

“We’re not best friends, but I just thought it would give that parasocial relationship to people.”

“Guys, don’t say other things.”

“You’re making it sound like there’s more than one person-- There’s only one person in the bathroom, and it’s me, [NAME]!”

“I just needed a little bit of help in here. It’s nothing to worry about.”

“And we WILL wash our hands.”

“Can you wait until we’re out of the bathroom to talk about this?”

“It wasn’t even weird!”

“It was very weird.”

“And wash your hands!”

“This one’s zooted.”

“Leaving it a little open-ended, there, [NAME].”

“Soft touch.”

“Your eyes are so gentle.”

“... That’s a good argument.”

“I got some papers, don’t worry how I got ‘em.”

“I’m sorry, that was really defensive. I came at you with all that defensive energy.”

“I can get one, if ya’ need!”

“I’d like you to remember that I helped you, and someday, maybe, when I need you...”

“That’s not what I’m gonna need you for, but, thank you.”

“What’s up everyone, I just walked into a locked room.”

“Wow, special treat for you guys today!”

“Wow, special treat for you guys today: It’s two locked doors.”

“I guess it’s a bust for today.”

“Your... Co-dependent.... Thing, is very strange.”

“Is this like a riddle?”

“Do you like to pick your own lock?”

“I sometimes pick my own lock, like, to practice.”

“Your lock’s been picked.”

“My door’s been picked?!”

“I’m old school, what can I say.”

“If they just wanted to destroy it, why wouldn’t they just destroy it?”

“You’re blowing my mind, here.”

“We can stop it.”

“You don’t need to hate [NAME], you just need to love money.”

“I was already in the van-- I wasn’t in the van, but I got in the van because I wanted to come see you.”

“I think you got, maybe one of those three is right.”

“I ain’t never heard of him, no.”

“Shit. I could’ve done this my fuckin’ self.”

“I’ll look it up for you, you’ll owe me a favor.”

“[NAME], this guy’s dead.”

“[NAME]’s dead, he died six years ago.”

“You’re asking the important questions, [NAME].”

“Privacy is nonexistent.”

“I don’t wanna meet a ghost.”

“Forsooth! We’re here.”

“I don’t see any problems with the plan.”

“It is striking me as very strange, now that I’m thinking about it.”

“We both drive. ... I also drive. It’s a-- Two-person... Driving... Car.”

“I have trouble with the break and the gas at the same time.”

“He just sits on my lap.”

“And you shouldn’t! And you don’t.”

“It was like on the news.”

“It’s really hot out in the van, can I get a CapriSun?”

“I already peed.”

“Put your smart thoughts in my dumb head.”

“It’s a very strange slogan.”

“I’m so glad we’re sitting down for this drink.”

“This was, like, a decade ago, which is like 100 years ago.”

“You guys aren’t cops, right?”

“We’re not cops.”

“We split a paycheque.”

“The ol’ waitin’ game.”

“Let’s use our two braincells.”

“If honesty if cool, let’s be honest.”

“Fuck yeah, come on! Shoot it into my fuckin’ veins, baby!”

“Thanks a lot, buddy. Thanks a fucking lot.”

“Welcome to this most righteous cafe.”

“Garcon! First, I would like you to tell me what an egg cream is, and then, I would like an egg cream.”

“I brought a juice box from the car.”

“This fuckin’ rules!”

“Is he super hot?”

“We did it! We heisted! We killed some people! Could we be any cooler?”

“I hope it’s the fucking cast of Friends!”

“I’m not gonna stop you from doing that.”

“Who the fuck is this jabroni?”

“Name’s [NAME]. Just passing through, looking for a bit of information.”

“I don’t wanna be too forward here, but unless you’re willing to talk with me on this particular topic, your love life ain’t gonna be the only thing that’s D.O.A.”

“That’s really good shit talk.”

“You’re gonna badmouth me and my besties?”

“You gonna come in here and sass us?”

“Well, you can bully [NAME]. He’ll just fuckin’ sit there and take it.”

“I will toss your salad and scramble your eggs.”

“You’re gonna talk right now, or you’re cancelled.”

“This is our town!”

“How you doin’?”

“Fuck you! Thank you.”

“No, not that - why did you shoot people?”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to escalate.”

“I don’t live on the streets, I have a perfectly adequate apartment.”

“I’m sorry, that’s on me.”

“You guys know the person you’re trying to blackmail is dead?”

“I guess it isn’t your day, your month, or your year? ... Or your week?”

“Hey, okay! I mean, where the fuck did you come from, but yeah, this guy gets us!”

“I did just say that your blackmail’s useless.”

“And that’s where you should stop that sentence!”

“In the shipping business, that’s what we call... I don’t know what we call it.”

“It’s a goof-’em-up.”

“The problem with trucks, is, uh... Have you ever seen a bird?”

“Have you ever seen a bird that just really scared you?”

“I’ve seen a video of a bird.”

“If you have to steal, I don’t give a shit. Steal from somewhere else.”

“So fuck you, I guess, fuck you.”

“I’m so sweaty, it’s so hot in here.”

“I’ll delete your accounts!”

“You think you’re a big man.”

“You mother fucker! I can’t believe you’d do this, to ME!”

“You just killed a man! In cold blood!”

“I wish somebody had told you it was gonna be this way.”

“Well, I hate to see people leave the forum.”

“I’m a moderator, this is just physical moderating.”

“I did do that.”

“And now we’re fighting back to back!”

“Aw, we’re the real besties.”

“I’m very proud of all of you.”

“I’m very proud of all of you, and I’m certain that will last this whole time.”

“I feel like I shouldn’t have a shotgun.”

“Ba-bum bum ba-da-ba-da--” (gunshot)

“I can’t fucking follow that up!”

“So I don’t fuckin’ care.”

“What now?! WHAT NOW?!”

“You guys need to leave!”

“Way ahead of ya’, mac!”

“Way ahead of ya’, mac!” (smashes through the window)

“You did a great job of just destroying this woman.”

“I hope these people never see me again, I don’t want to come back here.”

“Make sure to like and subscribe!”

“We haven’t killed anybody, have we?”

“Let’s wrap this up right now, or I’ve got a feeling there won’t be a reunion show.”

“Okay, okay, you guys are not cool.”

“We being chill about this?”

“I don’t know what we’re gonna do with this thing, it’s useless.”

“You keep saying that, and I keep not believing you.”

“Find somebody else to rob.”

“Find somebody else to rob. Rob somebody with money.”

“Did any of you see the thing that I did where I put the guy’s head on the counter and I hit him with a stool two or three times?”

“[NAME], if you can promise to fight that well, I can get a lot more jobs for you.”

“I’d also love to just hang out, if that’s a thing you would be interested in.”

“You guys had to be there.”

“[NAME] jumped through a window.”

“Avast! Above, I see... [NAME]!”

“Let’s just say we had to wine and dine ‘em.”

“I hit a guy in the head with a stool.”

“Let’s just say we had to wine and dine ‘em. ... I hit a guy in the head with a stool.”

“That sounds about right, yeah.”

“The only reason you’ve been surviving this long is because of the philanthropy of others.”

“I’m too smart for this.”

“I think we took care of them.”

“If I were them, I wouldn’t come back around here.”

“But they are still alive.”

“If you decide that you do want them dead, you know who to call.”

“And thanks again for everything you do. ... Oh, by the way, [NAME] died.”

#&& give the sun a head start; ooc #&& incoming transmissions; memes #sentence starters #rp starters #death //#drug use //#i made a meme :>

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metalandmagi · 4 years

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Summer 2020 Anime Worth Watching!

Apparently it’s time for the summer anime season, even though it feels like time is meaningless at this point. But somehow, there are still new shows coming out, so if you’re looking for something to watch when you’re stuck at home, here’s a list of the first impressions I got from this season. I don’t really know if it’s going to be worth it, considering how the spring season delayed so much, but here we are.

As always, not all of these are available on Crunchyroll, but I’ll put a * next to the ones that are.

And if you’re looking for a bit more variety, I have lists for 2019 and the rest of this year’s seasons too...because remember when there was good anime being released instead of just everything being an ecchi or a second season?

2019 master list

My master list for every season of 2020 anime

New Shows!

*The God of High School: An over the top action anime consisting of one big tournament arc! It follows a group of teenagers competing in the epic “god of high school” martial arts tournament to determine the best fighter in the country. Following in the footsteps of Tower of God, this is the newest “crunchyroll original” that is being adapted from a South Korean webcomic. You can tell from the first episode that this will be a spectacle with crazy characters and lots of wild action and humor!

Great Pretender: When a Japanese con man pickpockets the wrong person, he ends up hopping on a plane to Los Angeles and getting wrapped up in a scheme with a sassy Frenchman named Laurent...who basically runs the mafia. There’s humor, there’s plot, there’s great characters, and it’s kinda gay. It’s an exciting original anime from studio Wit, so the animation is bursting with character, and both the music and the general vibe remind me a lot of Baccano or even Lupin III. And since it takes place in America with several foreign characters, there's hilarious English and accent shenanigans abound! The bad news is it’s still in Netflix jail, so if you want to watch it legally you’re kinda stuck for now.

Japan Sinks 2020: A giant earthquake hits Japan, and a family must cope with the mayhem together. Because what the hell else could possibly go wrong this year? This is a new series (based on a novel) made by Masaaki Yuasa, the guy behind Ride Your Wave and Walk On Girl, if that tells you anything about the style of this anime. I’ve only watched the first two episodes so far, but I heard it goes from being a gripping realistic disaster series to a balls to the wall adventure. To be honest, disaster shows/movies freak me out, and this one is pretty devastating so far, which is a testament to how well it's made. But I appreciate that they include glimmers of hope when they’re needed. The best moments are the quiet ones that focus on the actual people and the narration that juxtaposes the time periods. There’s so much atmosphere, and the music really enhances the experience. And it’s all out on Netflix now, with a dub and a sub!

Deca-Dence: When humanity has been pushed to the edge of extinction by monsters called the Gadoll, the rest of civilization is forced to live in enormous mobile fortresses and send groups out to battle the unknown monsters. So basically like Mortal Engines but the fortresses can turn themselves into giant fists and punch the monsters. We follow a girl named Natsume who wants to be one of the soldiers who fight the Gadoll, but she is constantly rejected because of her prosthetic arm. So she ends up with five years of cleaning duty supervised by a stern but mysterious badass named Kaburagi. I honestly don’t care at all about the plot of the anime, because for me the characters are what drives everything, and these character dynamics are great. I’m not going to say it’s the most original story, but I think it’s fun so far.

*Rent-a-Girlfriend: A typical harem/romance anime that follows the world’s most annoying protagonist named Kazuya. After Kazuya is dumped by his first girlfriend, he seeks out a rental girlfriend out of self pity….BECAUSE APPARENTLY THAT’S A REAL SERVICE THAT EXISTS IN JAPAN?! Like you can actually rent moms/dads/girlfriends/boyfriends and so on. Anyway, his fake girlfriend is the picture of anime waifu perfection...until Kazuya starts being his typical asshole self and she reveals her true nature of being an absolute sass master who don’t take no shit from no boring ass main character. Shenanigans happen and the two of them end up having to pretend they are in a real relationship. And I’m just calling it now...Kazuya’s grandma is the real best girl of the series. If you want a harem that’s actually funny and doesn’t mind roasting the protagonist, give this one a shot. Although I wish this were just a straight up romance instead of a harem because there is no way in hell that any girl, let alone more than one would want actually to date this guy.

Next Seasons and Continuations!

*Fruits Basket 2019 (Season 2): Thank goodness Fruits Basket wasn’t delayed or cancelled last season because sometimes I feel like it was the only thing getting me through the spring. I’ve ranted about how good it is enough by now. If it can’t brighten your year, then nothing will. Just watch it if you haven’t already.

*Re:ZERO-Starting Life in Another World (Season 2): Subaru is still trapped in another world, and he’s still as angsty as ever, but that’s not going to stop him from constantly putting himself through hell when he keeps dying horribly every time he needs to reset the timeline! There are mysterious new villains, nobody knows who Rem is (again) and I think there’s a plot somewhere under all the suffer porn. Seriously though, this show is pretty cool (even if I was two years late to the party). It’s one of the most interesting isekai anime I’ve ever seen, and it feels like it’s acting as a deconstruction of the genre, kinda like how Madoka Magica is for magical girl anime...both shows certainly have enough crying. The story is weird but interesting, the world building is cool, the villains (and sometimes the heroes) are batshit crazy to watch, and I like its moments of humor.

No Guns Life (season 2): The story of Juzo, the hard boiled detective who plays by his own rules continues in the second season of No Guns Life. In case you missed the first season, this is a mystery/action anime that feels like an old noir film had a cyberpunk baby. There’s underground conspiracies, there’s interesting side characters, and...oh yeah the main character has a gun for a head. That’s right. we came to see a bara detective with a literal gun for a face, but we stayed for the world building and mysterious plots!

*Fire Force (Season 2): I’m going to be honest here, I really didn’t know if I should include this one or not. I have a major love hate relationship with Fire Force, but I figured there may be other people out there who would like it more than I do. So in case you missed the first season, this show follows a group of firefighters who puts out fires caused by spontaneous combustion using a mixture of guns and super powers. It was created by Atsushi Ōkubo, aka the guy who made Soul Eater. So it’s bound to be amazing right?

Not necessarily. Strap in for this one lads.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with this show overall. Its main characters just aren’t that interesting most of the time, it can’t decide on what kind of show it wants to be, and so much of it just dragged for a good part of the series. I don’t know if it was a problem of pacing or if the plot was just that uninteresting for a while. The first couple episodes set up a very unique plot, filled with intriguing moral dilemmas. And then it proceeded to abandon everything interesting in favor of badly timed fan-service. It just couldn’t strike the balance that Soul Eater had between its humor and its sincerity. If they wanted to make an ecchi show, they should have just made one instead of inserting the same overplayed scenarios into every episode. I don’t care if a show has fan-service as long as it fits the tone, or if it only has certain episodes dedicated to playing up the humor. But Fire Force has a habit of just inserting it wherever it wants regardless of what’s actually happening in the episode. Also, some of the humor revolves around one of the main female characters who has a really messed up self image because she’s slightly more muscular, and not a tiny delicate flower like some of the other girls. Not going to pretend that doesn’t bug me.

But that doesn’t mean there is nothing good about it! If there wasn’t, I wouldn’t have finished the first season, and I wouldn’t be including this one. So far, the second season has actually been funny because it made the first episode more like filler, instead of cramming in too much plot all at once. And to the surprise of no one, the animation is absolutely god tier. I wish it was being used for something other than clumsy fan-service, but it’s still really something to see. The world building is super creative and 100% my aesthetic, and there were a couple side characters I really loved later in the series (Benimaru). And I did like the twists and turns the series took later in the season when it actually focused on the conspiracy behind the fire force and the cult. When it follows the mysteries it sets up, it’s more fun to watch. Who would have thought?

TLDR: There’s good stuff and there’s bad stuff. This show is really something you have to watch for yourself to decide if it’s going to be worth it. I’m going to at least try the second season, because I want to see where this goes, but it’s on thin ice.

Honorable Mentions

Isekai edition! Both of these came out last season, but I hadn’t mentioned them when I made my spring list. But they’re both getting dubs now so I’m still counting them.

*My Next Life as a Villainess- All Routes Lead to Doom!: A twist on the isekai genre where our main protagonist wakes up as a character in her favorite otome game...only to find that she’s actually the bitchy rival side character who ends up either dead or exiled in every route of the game. So naturally she does everything she can to prevent this by becoming a sweet and caring supporting character...who inadvertently makes every single other character in the game fall in love with her. I ignored this show for the first few episodes because I need another isekai in the world like I need a hole in the head, but after hearing everyone rave about it, I caught up with it in no time. It’s a fun take on the otome game tropes, and it manages to be funny and sweet while not committing to any particular pairing.

*Ascendance of a Bookworm (Season 2): That’s right, it’s another isekai where an adult is reincarnated into the body of a child in a fantasy world. But this time, it’s a nerdy girl whose entire purpose in life revolves around reading books (can relate). However, when our main character Mine is thrust into this fantasy world, she quickly realizes that this particular fantasy setting is a little too...medieval for her tastes...meaning a family of commoners like hers would have no clue how to read and books are only meant for rich people or the church. So of course Mine has to figure out how to either get her hands on some books or make them herself. This is a super cute show that I waited a long time to finally watch, and since the second season is finally being dubbed I wanted to shout it out. It’s just a wholesome isekai version of Dr. Stone. There’s no real action, but it’s a relaxing watch if nothing else.

Well, there you have it. Hopefully nothing else gets delayed or cancelled because it’s pretty slim pickings as it is. And before anyone asks, I didn’t include GIBIATE because I thought it was a massive disappointment that somehow made a time travel horror anime plot boring. There’s also My Teen Romantic Comedy Snafu, but it’s been 5 years since I watched the other seasons and don’t remember anything about it. But there’s that too in case anyone is a fan of the series and didn’t know it got another season.

See you next season…if the world is still here by then?

#anime recommendations #2020 anime worth watching #ascendence of a bookworm #my next life as a villaines #fire force #no guns life #re:zero #fruits basket 2019 #fruits basket #rent-a-girlfriend #deca-dence #japan sinks 2020 #great pretender #the god of high school

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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E3: 20 Best and Worst Moments, Reveals, and Announcements

https://ift.tt/3pIBKUD

E3 may have started as an industry show designed to give developers and publishers the kind of public platform that they were previously denied, but over the years, it’s become clear that the show is really all about memorable moments.

It’s sometimes easy to confuse one E3 event for another or forget which games were revealed in which year, but the thing you never forget are those moments that nearly stopped the show. While said moments certainly include shocking reveals and incredible trailers, anyone who has watched E3 over the years knows that this event is also often defined by moments so bad that they bury themselves in your brain and refuse to leave.

From wonderful presenters who remind us why we love video games to the horrors of giving Jamie Kennedy a microphone, these are the best and worst E3 moments ever:

20. Konami’s Unbelievably Bad Press Conference (E3 2010)

Konami hasn’t exactly been at the top of their game lately, but with the possible exception of the Hideo Kojima fiasco, the company’s lowest public moment has to be this truly terrible E3 2010 press conference.

It’s like Konami gave all of their presenters different drugs, a live microphone, and only the vaguest hint of what they were actually supposed to be talking about. Between the luchadors that start slapping each other for a few minutes and Thomas Nagano pretending that he had been decapitated, this conference is nearly impossible to watch if you’re at all opposed to acts of public speaking awkwardness.

19. Ikumi Nakamura Delights the World (E3 2019)

While it’s understandable that so many companies heavily script their E3 press conferences, that strategy sometimes results in the entire event coming across as frustratingly disingenuous. Nothing kills the buzz around a big new game quite like having to hear another executive dryly talk about quarterly reports and insider tech jargon.

That’s what makes Ikumi Nakamura’s speech during Bethesda’s E3 2019 conference so special. Nakamura may have described herself as “nervous,” but the energy that she brought to the stage that night can only be described as genuine. I don’t know why more speakers can’t have this much fun with their E3 presentations, but then again, most speakers aren’t Ikumi Nakamura.

18. Keanu Reeves Takes Our Breath Away (E3 2019)

The history of celebrity presenters at E3 is…not great. While most E3 celebrities try their best (with some notable exceptions we’ll discuss in a bit), it’s hard for them to shake the vibe that they are there for a paycheck and that we all just need to get through this together.

Then there’s Keanu Reeves. Moments after the world learned that Reeves would play Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077, the star walked out onto the E3 2019 stage and received the kind of applause pop typically not heard outside of pro wrestling arenas. This was just the perfect combination of timing, star power, and delivery that most E3 celebrities couldn’t hope to match.

17. “Mr. Caffeine” Takes Awkward Presentations to a New Level (E3 2011)

Look, Aaron “Mr. Caffeine” Priceman might just be the worst E3 presenter ever. His strangely offensive humor and forced energy have inspired some to compare him to The Office’s Michael Scott, but that honestly gives this guy too much credit. There is not a moment of genuine entertainment to be found in his entire speech.

What’s really fascinating about Priceman’s presentation all these years later, though, is the popular belief that Ubisoft or Priceman may have actively been trying to troll the audience for reasons that remain unknown. Maybe Priceman went rogue on the live mic, or maybe someone at Ubisoft just wanted to get fired. There just has to be an explanation for…whatever this was.

16. Davide Soliani Reminds us Why We Love E3 (E3 2017)

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle may not have been the biggest reveal at E3 2017, but watching creative director Davide Soliani cry when Shigeru Miyamoto took the stage to praise him and the game he worked on will rightfully remain the most memorable moment from that event.

While most of us would cry if Miyamoto addressed us during the biggest show of the year, the genuineness and suddenness of Soliani’s reaction really helped sell Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle in a way that no trailer or speech ever could have. It certainly didn’t hurt that the actual game eventually captured the joy of this pure moment.

15. Microsoft’s Painfully Long Kinect Reveal (E3 2010)

You can’t talk about defining E3 moments without including at least one botched peripheral reveal, but which botched peripheral reveal to choose? Joe McHale awkwardly suffering through a game of Ubisoft’s Battle Tag? Sony almost sinking their brand with the infamous Wonderbook? Wii Music…Wii Music?

In the end, this honor goes to the Kinect reveal for the simple fact that Microsoft chose to devote so much of their 2010 E3 stage time to show off a device that clearly wasn’t ready for primetime. It’s one thing that the Kinect often didn’t work properly during the presentation – that’s fairly standard for E3 failures – but the moment that a parade of unenthusiastic participants bombarded the stage to participate in awkward white water rafting, fake popcorn eating, and extended yoga sessions, Microsoft ensured that everyone in attendance was not going to buy a Kinect out of sheer spite.

14. Gabe Newell Appears During Sony’s E3 Conference (E3 2010)

The word “surreal” has joined the likes of “epic” in the category of “Words that the people of the internet have collectively watered down.” Whereas surreal used to be used to describe a situation so out of the ordinary that it’s almost dreamlike, now surreal can be used to describe seeing someone eating a Whopper at McDonald’s.

So far as truly surreal E3 moments go, however, Gabe Newell’s 2010 appearance has to be near the top of the list. At a time when Valve was considered to be one of the most clandestine game studios in the world, the god of the PC master race himself took the stage at a Sony press conference of all things to announce that Portal 2 was coming to the PlayStation 3. While the sight of Gabe at E3 on a competitor’s stage was odd enough, this moment has only become even more surreal as time wears on and Valve slowly shuffles away from the whole game development thing.

13. Bethesda Hosts the Perfect Press Conference (E3 2015)

While non-console manufacturers getting their own E3 conference wasn’t entirely unheard of by the time that Bethesda took the stage at E3 2015, it was a bit unusual for all but the industry’s most powerful manufacturers to get their own stage time at the biggest event of the year. Sure, Bethesda was a fairly beloved game developer, but an entire E3 press conference devoted to the studio? How was that going to work?

Bethesda showed everyone exactly how it was going to work by pulling off what could arguably be described as the perfect E3 press conference. It began with shockingly good footage of Doom, continued with the much-anticipated debut of Dishonored 2, and concluded with a Fallout 4 reveal that was made all the more shocking by the announcement that the game would be released in a few months. Bethesda’s 2015 presentation set a new gold standard for game-focused conferences and proved that the right studio could steal the show from anyone.

12. Reggie Fils-Aime Introduces Himself to the Gaming World (E3 2004)

It’s not that there hadn’t been memorable Nintendo E3 moments before 2004, but rather that many of the studio’s most memorable E3 moments earned that distinction for all the wrong reasons. Nintendo had long struggled to properly present themselves within the constraints of the E3 format while Sony and Microsoft were well on their way to mastering the subtle art of the E3 press conference.

That all changed the very moment that Reggie Fils-Aime kicked off Nintendo’s E3 2004 press conference by saying, “My name is Reggie. I’m about kicking ass, I’m about taking names, and we’re about making games.” Fils-Aime gave Nintendo an undeniably charismatic on-stage presence that none of their previous E3 conferences had benefited from. While many of Reggie’s quips would go on to become internet memes (most notably, “My body is ready”) there is no denying that he became the centerpiece for one of the greatest E3 presentations any major studio has ever given.

11. Kevin Butler Delivers the Only Funny Presentation in E3 History (E3 2010)

For a brief period of time, the world got to enjoy the genius that was the Kevin Butler marketing campaign. For those who don’t remember, Kevin Butler was a fictional PlayStation executive who starred in a series of commercials that featured him answering various questions from PlayStation fans. They were genuinely funny and clever adverts that broke the mold of awkward video game commercials in a big way.

While actor Jerry Lambert’s appearance at E3 2010 as the one and only Kevin Butler could have been an utter disaster, it instead turned out to be one of the few attempts at a funny E3 presentation that was actually funny. Actually, it might be the only comedic E3 presentation to not completely bomb. Butler quip that “Gaming is having a ridiculously huge TV in a tiny one-bedroom apartment” and still lives in infamy.

Games

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By John Saavedra

10. Jamie Kennedy Secures His Status As the Worst E3 Celebrity Presenter Ever (E3 2007)

On the complete opposite end of the Kevin Butler presentation, we have Mr. Jamie Kennedy. Now, some of you fortunate souls may have never heard of Kennedy. If that is the case, just know that Kennedy was a self-stylized comedian who specialized in mocking other people. For instance, if he noticed you were a larger individual, he may make a remark about your excess fat and proceed to make a 50-year-old observation about how it could affect your daily life. He presumably made millions of dollars doing this.

Kennedy’s career low point may be the moment that he drunkenly took the stage at Activision’s E3 2007 conference and proceeded to put on a miniature comedy spectacle that only those with an abnormal tolerance for awkward comedy will ever be able to watch in full. It was bad enough that Kennedy wasn’t funny (“Neversoft…wasn’t that the first name for Viagra?”), but when he resorted to insulting the audience and industry, he ensured that he would become the gold standard for awkward E3 celebrity presenters.

9. The Final Fantasy VII Remake Genuinely Surprises Millions (E3 2015)

At a certain point, video game wishes turn into inside jokes. The most obvious example of this phenomenon is certainly Half-Life 3, but there are many games which fans dream of and talk about for so long that they eventually become memes. For years, Final Fantasy VII‘s remake was such a game. Square Enix had used footage of such a title as part of a tech demo, but fans long stopped believing the studio would actually make it.

That is until E3 2015 when Final Fantasy fans across the world were suddenly looking at a very real remake of Final Fantasy VII. This is a deceivingly simple moment in the history of E3 that is amplified by just how rare it is for a game like Final Fantasy VII to actually appear at E3. While the remake still isn’t out yet – which is rarely a great sign – the moment of the reveal itself really summarizes why E3 is sometimes a very special event

8. Half-Life 2 Exceeds Impossible Expectations (E3 2003)

In 2003, Half-Life 2 was about as mythical to the average gamer as Half-Life 3 is now. Most people knew that Valve was going to release a new Half-Life, but few felt that there was any chance of the sequel surpassing the standard the original had set. Half-Life was one of the most revolutionary games ever made. To convince everyone that Half-Life 2 was going to be just as special, Valve would have needed to put together quite the presentation.

So, that’s what they did. The first Half-Life 2 footage showcased things that gamers simply had never seen before. True physics-based combat, the innovative gravity gun, A.I. that felt dynamic, and seamless cinematic storytelling all highlighted a roughly 20-minute video that left gamers feeling like they’d just seen the exciting future of the industry play out before their eyes. It’s everything you hope a major game reveal will be.

7. A Single Battle Nearly Determines the Xbox One/PlayStation 4 Console War (E3 2013)

At E3 2013, Microsoft and Sony were scheduled to reveal their respective next-gen consoles. Microsoft, who was coming off the wildly successful Xbox 360, kicked off the festivities with an Xbox One presentation that many have since described as the company’s biggest failure. The initial Xbox One design was not only expensive and reliant on the controversial Kinect but required users to always be online, wasn’t backward compatible, and may or may not have allowed people to play used games. It was a spectacular PR disaster.

Sony followed that up with a PS4 reveal that was simply sublime. Not only was the PlayStation 4 cheaper than the Xbox One, but Sony even modified its planned conference in ways that allowed them to take plenty of shots at Microsoft’s failed Xbox One reveal. It was a presentation designed to please the masses and it succeeded in every way possible. While many E3s feature console war battles, few battles have ever ended up dictating the success of individual consoles quite the way that this one did.

6. For Better and Worse, the Halo 2 Reveal Sets a New Standard (E3 2003)

You had to be around for Halo to truly appreciate what Halo meant. Halo not only gave millions a reason to buy the Xbox; it showed those same gamers that consoles could offer up a first-person shooter experience largely free from compromise. It was a unique title that became a true phenomenon in a matter of weeks. Needless to say, the hype surrounding an eventual sequel was at a fevered pitch by the time E3 2003 rolled around.

The Halo 2 reveal represents the good and bad of E3 game reveals. The good is obviously the moment of the reveal itself. The first footage of Halo 2 received an audible “pop” of applause typically reserved for major moments during championship games. It was a wave of relief and anticipation just gushing out at full force. On the bad side of things is what happened after the incredible footage aired. Bungie later admitted that they could not replicate the footage that they showed at E3 and had to basically rebuild Halo 2 from scratch. The success of the Halo 2 reveal and the unreasonable hype it generated has come to be all too typical.

5. The Zelda: Twilight Princess Trailer Caps off Nintendo’s Greatest E3 Presentation (E3 2004)

It’s easy to make fun of Nintendo. Fun, too. For instance, one could say something like, “Why did Nintendo cross the road? Because it was the least efficient way possible of getting to where they were going.” For as many, many mistakes as Nintendo has made at E3 over the years, the company’s 2004 presentation stands as the company’s one perfect presentation. Not only did it feature the aforementioned Reggie Fils-Aime introduction, but it introduced gamers to the Nintendo DS (arguably the greatest handheld gaming device ever made) and even offered up the first public reference to the console that would become the Nintendo Wii.

However, the best was certainly saved for last. At a time when many Zelda fans were still upset that Nintendo had abandoned a more mature style of Zelda game in favor of Wind Waker’s Saturday morning cartoon visuals, Nintendo came along and debuted the decidedly mature and dark first trailer for Twilight Princess. The reveal was topped off by Shigeru Miyamoto gracing the stage with shield and sword gleefully in hand. It was the kind of moment that only Nintendo could deliver.

4. Killzone 2’s First Footage Kicks Off 12+ Years of Trailer Controversy (E3 2005)

In many ways, E3 is about hope. Those that watch it are certainly hoping they will see great games revealed for the first time, but they also hope that E3 will show them something entirely unexpected. Not a game or a console necessarily, but rather a brief glimpse into an unimaginable future. In 2005, Sony offered that window into the future when they revealed the first trailer for Killzone 2. To say that Killzone 2 looked better than any other game on the market at that time would be a drastic understatement. Killzone 2 looked like it was hand-delivered from 10 years into the future.

Actually, that’s not too far off. Right after the Killzone 2 footage stopped rolling, speculation concerning the authenticity of the footage began. The conversation that followed included phrases like “in-engine footage” that have now become all too commonplace in a world where doctored trailers are perfectly normal. For better or worse, the Killzone 2 footage was a true innovator.

3. Sony Almost Kills the PlayStation Brand with One Awful Presentation (E3 2006)

We’ve picked on Microsoft’s bad E3 presentations a couple of times throughout this list – with good reason, mind you – but in the interest of complete fairness, let’s talk about why no company’s E3 presentation will ever be quite as disastrous as Sony’s E3 2006 spectacular. Sony’s 2006 E3 conference revolved around the formal reveal of the PlayStation 3. Given that the PlayStation 2 was far and away the world’s most popular console, the reveal of the PlayStation 3 should have been a simple way for Sony to retain its market dominance.

Instead, they seemingly went out of their way to sink the PlayStation name. It began humbly enough with the reveal of the PlayStation 3’s gaudy $599 price point (for the top tier model) and continued when the Genji development team promised to show us a game based on authentic Japanese history before revealing footage of players attacking a giant enemy crab’s glowing weak point for massive damage. This is also the conference that gave us the “Riiiiiiddddgggee Racer!” meme, the world’s dullest tech footage, and the promise of a gimmick-free console that was immediately undone by the introduction of three or four major console gimmicks.

2. Metal Gear Solid 2 Makes Games the Star of E3 (E3 2000)

In its early days, E3 was much more of a traditional industry trade show. While early E3 conventions featured occasional surprises, big announcements, and all the usual spectacle, the first E3 shows didn’t really emphasize the excitement of individual game reveals. Generally speaking, technology and industry ruled the day.

In many ways, Metal Gear Solid 2 changed that dynamic. The Metal Gear Solid 2 trailer shown at E3 2000 was long (over 19 minutes), traditionally cinematic, and entirely devoid of developer voiceover. It wasn’t quite the kind of trailer you’d expect to precede the release of a major film, but it was certainly different from any game trailer released before it. Even people who didn’t care about Metal Gear Solid walked away from the event talking about this footage. From that point on, developers knew that a single game could dominate E3 headlines.

1. Sony Establishes Two Dynasties with a Single Number (E3 1995)

In some ways, it’s appropriate that the very first E3 featured the definitive E3 moment. Then again, given how much E3 has evolved over the years, it’s also somewhat surprising that no moment has ever topped this showstopping reveal.

It began with the Sega Saturn. Sega took to the humble E3 1995 stage and debuted a sizzle reel of all the great things the Sega Saturn could do and how it would change the world forever. It was your standard E3 presentation complete with awkward live-action segments. Shortly thereafter, a Sega exec informed those in attendance that they could purchase the Sega Saturn right now for the low price of $399. He then confidently exited the stage at which point the gentleman from Sony took to the platform, said “$299,” and exited. By undercutting the Sega Saturn by $100, Sony sealed the fate of the Sega Saturn in North America. In the process, they kicked off an entirely new era of gaming and established E3 as the one must-watch show every year.

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neocityfics · 4 years

Text

2096: Zodiac

Chapter: Prologue < ❝ Chapter 1 ❞ > Chapter 2

➥ Chapter List

Genre: Cyberpunk inspired, mafia-esque, not-so dystopian, angst, slow-burn

Pairing: Doctor! Taeyong x Reader

Warnings: Moderate cursing, mention of death, vague description of surgical practice, being held at gunpoint

▶ Ambience

Pearl Park is packed with patients. Rarely do I take weekend shifts or visit on Saturdays, but a certain someone left early for additional hours at the clinic. I couldn’t help but follow him especially after yesterday’s events. The thoughts would not let go, an unpleasant growth at the back of my mind. It’s hard to know if I can trust him right now. I need more answers. Last night, he barely gave details, only rambling about how he had to wake up at ungodly hours for today. As difficult as it was, I urged him to go to bed to leave him alone. My own state of being was, and still is, disturbed by what I saw. The intricate design of circuit lines running down in strategic pathways down his arm, the broken-up metallic plates that replaced muscle, the seamless transition from a human shoulder to a mechanical limb, fingers cold to the touch. Something out of The Terminator movies.

There’s something odd about making myself wake early to get ready and coming after Lucas. Saturdays are for sleeping in, I always say to myself, a day to rest. Nevertheless, here I am slowly trailing behind him as he steers through the countless turns on the way to work. His thin light blue scrub stood out against the brown puffy jacket, making it easy to keep my distance without losing track of him. The pit began to form in stomach again. Please, let the destination be Pearl Park, nowhere bizarre. Whoever did whatever to his arm must have a reason to pick on Lucas. Granted he’s very strong and healthy, he’s the perfect candidate... for what? To become a government experiment? No, hopefully not. The top couldn’t give a damn about us, but when it comes to picking on the less fortunate to go farther with their lives in luxuries and power, they do so in under a heartbeat. If they have hearts, that is. It doesn’t make sense though, why would they want to make cyborgs? Or what if some random person just wanted to try their hand in robotics. Some grand experiment in trying to take over the world? Maybe I’ve watched too many sci-fi movies. The endless possibilities thoroughly occupied my head-- but that train of thought comes to a halt when I bump into the clinic’s entrance. Pressing a hand to my forehead and the other hand on the door handle, I steady myself. I’m already here?

Spotting the familiar scrub rounding the corner, I come close behind only to see Dr. Lee shoot a glare at Lucas. “You’re late,” the doctor’s voice raises sternly, “I expect better next time. We have important things to do later.” Later? My shoulders tense. It must mean he won’t join me for dinner with Sicheng. I wonder what kind of work Dr. Lee means. The doctor in question beckoned Lucas, in the middle of removing his coat, towards a darkened room meant for surgery. I sometimes clean equipment in that room, so it doesn’t make sense to meet in there when the clinic has designated meeting rooms. The two men walk inside and the door closes shut, and I stand there baffled. Hoping I could get by without looking suspicious, my feet slowly move closer to the room. All staff members seem busy with other things, some not sparing a glance as they rush stretchers to rooms. Thanks to that, no one questioned my actions, but it still feels risky. My body sticks tightly to the wall as I lend an ear towards the room. Taking a peek would be risky since my head would be visible and blocking light from outside, so I keep quiet and attempt to eavesdrop on their conversation, but to no avail. The bustling clinic muffles the dialogue between Lucas and Dr. Lee. Giving up, I relocate myself to the reception desk where I know they leave out a bowl of candies and chocolate for visitors. A little burst of serotonin never hurt anyone. Right?

▶ Ambience

As I work on a candy of choice in my mouth at a bench near the entrance, Lucas walks close to the reception desk and stops when he notices my presence. For a split second, his expression was shrunken in discomfort. Yet, in a flash, he paints that goofy smile to replace the former visage. “When did you get here? Did you even have breakfast? It’s not even 7:00am,” he shouts despite him standing a couple of meters away. Though embarrassing as it is to see annoyed nurses and doctors look our way, it’s nice to see his fun side come out despite the tension between us remaining thick.

“I’m just here to chat, you know, talk with some of my coworkers. See if anyone wants to hang out after their hours are done. I don’t really have anything else to do,” I lie through my teeth. I could be sleeping, but there’s too much I want to ask about your fucking cyborg arm, is the reality of my purpose here. But obviously, this is a public space, he’s working a job, and this is slowly becoming to feel like an obsession. The last thing I want is to worry about nothing, but I couldn’t help myself. Lucas is starting become more suspicious, I can’t lose him to something dangerous. Without thinking, I stare at his left arm. He’s wearing another long-sleeved shirt under his scrub to hide his arm. Realizing my intense gaze on him, Lucas takes long steps to the bench and sits down next to me, ensuring that his human arm nudged my left arm. It’s definite that he’s uncomfortable. “Sorry.” He shakes his head and lets out a hearty laugh.

A couple of pats on the top of my head remind me of my stiff posture to which I reply by relaxing. Lucas knows how to comfort others. He would’ve been a great doctor. Succeeding him clearing his throat, he softens his tone, “I’ll be at Sicheng’s tonight after my shift. I’ll only have half an hour to eat until I have to go somewhere. Tomorrow, I promise, I’ll tell you everything, but today isn’t a good time.” A pause ensues, the both of us holding our gaze at each other until Lucas breaks out in a grin again. “I’ll pay for dessert, too. My treat!” Nothing like paying for my snacks. There’s no way to win against this man and his kind heart. A short moment passes by after I scan his face. I scoff at his comment, mumbling a ‘fine’ while a laugh escapes and my smile matches his. Just as he opens his mouth as if to say more, a nurse hurries to Lucas asking him to help with getting clean water and towels for a pregnancy in one of the rooms. He leaves immediately after shooting me a gentler smile, my own quickly reciprocating it. There goes Lucas again, I think to myself. But as swiftly as Lucas left, another figure of interest comes into sight at the front desk. And here comes Dr. Lee.

On the inside, I want to trust him. From what all the nurses and staff tell me, he’s a top notch doctor from the best medical university in Seoul who decided to leave South Korea for Japan to join one of the Tokyo hospital teams. Things obviously didn’t turn out so well after 2094, and he’s stuck here in Pearl Park. He seems to be well-off, too, showing up in designer brands you’d see before the disaster. Makes you wonder how such talent ended up in the ruins. Though I feel bad for him as I do with Lucas and his crushed dream, the inexplicable hatred in me keeps expanding and it has everything to do with that damn robot arm. Since last night, it’s been taking up all the space for thought, eating away at me. I wouldn’t have woken up before 7:00am and walked all the way to the clinic if this never happened. Nevertheless, the surreal circumstances in front of me are reality. I suppose now’s my chance to wring out any more information of Dr. Lee since my Saturday schedule is free of activity. It might be best to avoid Lucas for answers given how he dodges my questions regardless of the well-known fact that my curiosity is ultra strong. The first thing to pop up in my brainstorm is the document storage room on the second floor. As an employee of a not so high-end clinic, it’ll be easy to get in. Staff won’t question me going through the second floor and security’s a joke. Of course, there are possibilities of getting caught especially trying to read classified or private information, but it’s worth the risk if I can start to understand Lucas’s situation.

I take to the staircase leading up to the second level, a quick minute up to another floor busy with patients. Today, it seems a lot of them have either a cold or a broken bone, judging by swarm of people by the x-ray room accompanied by the continuous symphony of sneezing and sniffling. Eyeing the room at the end of the hall and taking in a long breath in, I casually make way to the door, weaving through nurses pushing wheeled beds. This hallway is long, I tell myself as clinic members make beelines toward their next destinations and form a difficult sea. Before reaching the door, I peak over my shoulder at the other employees. No one seems to be suspicious, and no Dr. Lee anywhere. Perfect, too perfect. A sign next to the door reads “Staff Only,” making me feel better about what I’m doing. Assistants are considered staff, right? The musty smell of old papers and cigarettes of the room cause me to cough a little. I wonder where to even start when there’s hundreds of files stored in here. It could take all day to thumb through all of these files. Luckily for me, the file cabinets are labeled with categories, albeit some oddly named like pets. I don’t think we have a veterinarian sector or have partnership with one. After a few minutes scanning all the potential cabinets, one catches my eye. Medical staff, the label reads. Dr. Lee’s file must be in there, and to my delight, he was indeed part of the records.

▶ Ambience

With a small gulp, I pull out the bulky, tattered folder as the other files begin to expand and fill the now empty space in the cabinet. Curiosity leads my widened eyes to glide across this important folder containing a book of history and records for each staff member. Confidential. Maybe I’m in here, and Lucas, too, except this seems to be an older record. We probably didn’t make the cut because it only contains Pearl Park medical staff that have been serving for a long time, from before the disaster, in this folder. Flipping to a table of contents on the inside of the cover, I search for Dr. Lee’s name under Orthopaedic Surgeons towards the back of the pages. That’s definitely him from 2093, a year before the disaster. Handsome, frankly, but ugly for what I assume he’s doing to Lucas. With all fibers of my being, I swear this man is my enemy. Realizing I’ve been holding in my breath for a while, I let out some air and try to release the tightness in my muscles. I continue reading.

Lee Taeyong. Born July 1st, 2071-- he’s the around the same age as me at 25 years old. Graduated from an international high school in 2087. Graduated from a top Seoul university with a PhD in Biomedical Sciences in 2092. So he was done with high school at 16 and university at 21. Started Pearl Park 2093 as a starting job, and of course he still works here due to the disaster. Quite a remarkable career especially having an average of 426 surgeries a year since he started at this clinic. Absolutely phenomenal... that’s at least a thousand surgeries so far, depending on how 2094 impacted his work. Though so young, he certainly has the experience and professionalism to perform surgeries that could’ve been life or death. So perhaps he really is a force to be reckoned with, not some random scientist who just wants to fool around with an experiment. Especially with human life. With this information at hand, there must be a reason behind turning Lucas into some type of mechanical entity. Scrunching my face as my thoughts go into overdrive, I try to come up with a conjecture on this man’s motives. Do I go the route of the worst or the best case scenario? My session of attempted reasoning suddenly ceases as a booming voice hits against the door of the room. I’m not sure what he’s saying, but I burst into action as I rip out Dr. Lee’s page, shove the folder back into the cabinet sloppily, and hide myself behind a tall cabinet away from the door. At the sound of a loud click, I still my whole body, frozen as I listen for any more noise. The door seems to close behind the person with a loud thud. Instant recognition. The person’s voice is, with no doubt, Dr. Lee.

“Why don’t they clean this piece of shit room up, it’s a fucking dump in here... Let’s see.” The opening and closing file cabinets, shuffling papers, and soft, incoherent mumbling permeates the room. No more than a few minutes and he leaves. Before I move from my position, I puff my cheeks and push out the air from holding my breath again for what felt like eternity. Making sure for another thirty seconds that absolutely no one is there, I come away from my hiding spot and examine the medical staff’s cabinet. There’s one more thing that should be checked-- if my file and Lucas’s are in there. If we do have a record and his is missing, this could be an issue and a surefire sign I can’t trust Dr. Lee. Leafing through the files again, to my surprise, there is an updated 2095 folder towards the back of the cabinet for newer medical staff. Pearl Park isn’t considered a big professional clinic to come to. It’s dingy at best, so this comes a bit of a shock. I’d been expecting no records after the disaster as the clinic is critically understaffed. Teeth grasp at my bottom lip, my hands hovering over the binder cover. Here we go. After turning many, many pages, I find the Assistants page and see our names. My file doesn’t look like much as it contains basic information, when my shifts are, and the duties I originally had appointed to me when I started working. According to the list of all employee names, Lucas should be in here, supposedly a few pages after mine. Wong Yukhei. However, there is only remnants of paper stuck to the binder’s rings

Dr. Lee ripped his page out.

▶ Ambience

It feels strange to act like everything’s normal. Here I am, sitting next to Sicheng and Lucas as we make fun of pissy customers at Electric Egg and laughing ourselves silly. While our outside conversation makes me feel a little more at ease, the fact that Lucas’s information could be used for no good is begging to be released from my thoughts. I want to spill so much at this very moment with Lucas right here, but dragging Sicheng into this mess isn’t necessary. I’ll have to wait until dinner is done. Lucas distributes his tea eggs between the three of us, and we devour them before he has to leave for, well, whatever he needs to go to. Now’s my chance. As Lucas stands, I raise my voice, “I’ll stay behind with Sicheng for a bit. Come back home safely.” He beams at my comment, patting me on the back to comfort me. Without another word, he heads out of the street, turning the corner as Sicheng and I watch his shape slowly disappear. Sicheng taps me on the hand to get me to stop spacing out.

Sicheng takes on a soothing tone as he expresses his concern, “You sure you’re okay? You’ve been spacing out randomly...” Through the slightly sweaty bangs from cooking all day, I take in his worried face. Tilting his head after a moment of no response, he sighs. “I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but you’re not this quiet with us. You can tell me what’s wrong.” I nod, my eyes holding their focus on the table where the last tea egg lies.

“I can’t tell you anything more than except...” I delay the rest of what I want to say, I wasn’t without doubt if I should even bring up the conundrum. But alas, the bottled up information in me needed some form of freedom from my system. I decide it may be alright to let him know what’s happening at the surface of it all. “There’s something odd going on between Lucas and one of the doctors at the clinic. I can’t shake off the bad feeling I’m having, and I don’t mean to be nosy. But Lucas is important and I want to make sure he’s okay. You know he’s typically an open book, but I can’t read him anymore.” That was a lot to knock out of me, but to have someone else see why I’m so worried creates some kind of validation for the emotions rushing through my head. I realize how selfish I sound. I shrink into myself, waiting for Sicheng to say something. Anything.

Instead of silence, he scoots his chair closer to mine and I force myself to hold in a laugh because of the embarrassment from the loud noise. “I’m sure he has his reasons. You, him, and I. We’ve been friends for a couple of years now, Lucas isn’t the type to just leave anyone hanging without reason. Whatever it is, we need to be patient with him. As for you, you need to let things be from time to time.” He sits up straighter, leans forward, and continues, “You work hard with two jobs. Take care of yourself first and foremost. He’s his own person, you are your own. Don’t add to your mountain of stress.” Those are words I needed to hear, though they hurt. This whole idea that my best friend is turning into a cyborg seems to be a big deal, but for the sake of Sicheng’s safety, I can’t disclose that. Nonetheless, it does feel a bit... obsessive in retrospect. It’s a complicated state of affairs, and I don’t think Sicheng would be able to follow. It’s a see-for-yourself kind of deal. Not at all blaming him, his heart is in the right place. I give a simple head-shake, turning my attention to the last tea egg again. Gingerly, I pick it up and hand it to him.

His eyes open up in confusion. I let out the repressed laugh from earlier, a little heartier than I expected. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to dump this all on you. And I’ll work on focusing on myself more, you’re right. Lucas is a grown person, he can act on his own and tell me when he’s ready.” Sicheng loosens up, his hand extending to take the tea egg cupped in my hand. After taking a small bite, he gleams a big and toothy smile. As thanks, he lets me have the rest of the treat as one of the other employees at Electric Egg call for him to come back and work the stall.

▶ Ambience

Removing himself from his seat to stand up, he delicately flicks my forehead. He bids me a good night and says, “Take it easy, okay? It’s still Saturday, go get some sleep or go dance in your room, whatever it is you do these days.” We both send each other a tender laugh before parting ways. With a goodbye, I get up from my seat and head towards the direction of the apartment. It’s all smiles walking for a few minutes, reflecting on Sicheng’s words. My body felt a little lighter from releasing at least a small portion of my feelings. It starts to drizzle, a feeling I’ve always liked in Neostone but never when it pours too hard-- especially without an umbrella. I reach the last corner leading to my place when a downpour manifests. At the ping of my pocket, I quickly reach for my phone and take cover under a nearby entryway into a convenience store. Shit. Acid rain right now? My thumb gravitates to my messages. I should text Lucas and Sicheng to make sure they’re okay. I call Sicheng first to see if he’ll pick up. He does, sending a wave of relief through me as he says he’s safe in the closest store. On the other hand, Lucas did not pick up. I’m starting to wonder if this will be the new normal from now on. Panicking a bit, I text him and hope for the best, that he’s somewhere safe from the rain. The rain today is sort of acidic, I got an alert on my phone. Make sure you’re in a building. Send. We both keep the read receipts on, so if he doesn’t respond but sees my text, I might have to scold him the next time I see that annoying guy. I shove my phone back into my pocket and promptly took out the piece of paper that holds Dr. Lee’s information. I gawk at it, contemplating why I ever took it, and look back up. Fuck.

Staring in disbelief, the world around me slows. Cars pass by in slow motion and the neon signs twinkle in harmony by blending together. It’s the very same apartment establishment listed in the file. It’s a bit fancier than ours, which makes sense. Dr. Lee makes a bit more money than the rest of us. Fuck what Sicheng said, I need to see what’s happening with that suspicious doctor. Without further ado, I trudge through the acid rain, though I know it stings a little on my skin. It’s not too bad. Taxi cabs flip their middle fingers up at me, passersby calling out to warn or scold me, all while I snake through the lines of vehicles and cuss words thrown all around. The crackle of bright neon flicker crescendos as I come closer. Finally, I step foot onto the other side of the street, finding a heightening urge to find out the truth. Inside the lobby, the interior also seems to hold more life and care in it. This is definitely a more well-off micro-apartment complex than the one Lucas and I live in. The receptionist greets me warmly, a stark contrast from the subtle waves from the one we have. She doesn’t seem to question where I’m going or if I needed help, however, so I come to the staircase and take myself up to the tenth floor-- a very long way up.

▶ Ambience

Good grief, that was worse than the staircase at ours, I complain in my head, heaving heavy breaths as my feet begin to feel sore. I’ve reached the top. The address claims that Dr. Lee lives in room 1027. The gold colored plates on doors boast numbers in a sophisticated font, ascending as I progress the halls. Here it is. I approach the door, careful not to be any louder than I am right now, and I press an ear on the door. Muffled voices, one of them has to be Lucas. I can recognize his deep voice from a mile away. He has a tendency to mumble if he talks for too long, words becoming muddled. It’s like when he’s tired from work and almost crashes in my room, talking nonsense until I finally kick him out. From my pocket, I pull out a couple of paperclips and begin to bend them. Sicheng taught me this trick when we stole a bottle of painkillers from one of the pharmacies in Neostone’s uptown. One of my friends got injured during a fight between food stalls, and we were desperate to help him out. These kinds of skills really help out in this kind of life though I never imagined it was going to be this way. Click, click, click. The soft pop of the lock makes my heart race, and not in a pleasant way. Carefully, I turn the knob and push, using all the strength in my body not to cause a ruckus with my entrance. The sound of an electric drill becomes more apparent as the door swivels to give way to the apartment. It’s a lie when I said it’s a bit fancier. It’s way more lavish with a retro-futuristic style with warm colored furniture and decorations. There has to be some reason Dr. Lee can afford to continue living here since Pearl Park isn’t the biggest clinic and is located in quite a rough area. They don’t pay employees much, only an ample amount to get by with food and shelter. Maybe he was able to get a lot of money before the disaster happened. Enough with the admiration, I thought we’re past the need for capitalism, I reprimand myself.

There’s no Dr. Lee or Lucas in the parlor, but the whine of the drill grows as I explore further into the apartment, noticing the several doors. One clearly has lights on as the door is open, bingo. It must be them. Inching closer as quietly as I can, I hear Lucas lightly groan. Heart beating faster, I reach the room and squeeze through in case the door would make noise. Half of the room is blocked by a bulky bookcase which I hide behind, peeking through one of the cracks to look at the other side. What I see is horrendous-- Lucas sits on a reclined chair, thankfully unrestrained. Profusely sweating and wincing from pain, his jaw tightens as he clenches his teeth while Dr. Lee works another screw into his shoulder. In the most monotonous voice, he says to Lucas, “That should be enough for the shoulder. Think I’ll add more joints in your fingers so they have more flexibility. I was able to design more realistic-looking phalanges the other day, want to try?” Lucas simply nods at the notion, much to my disgust. Should I make my next move? Should I leave? I stand a bit higher on the tips of my toes to see more clearly.

Suddenly, the arm attached to Lucas begins to beep alarmingly. “The heat sensor... who’s there?” Lucas queries. Dr. Lee looks around the room, spinning in his chair while Lucas stands and starts to wander around the space. The staccato tones rapidly sound as Lucas takes long strides towards the bookcase, pulling out a few books to expose half of my face. His face crumples into anger at my presence. “Why are you here... Did you follow me?” I gulped. This is not good. Behind Lucas comes the other man, swiping books off the shelves to get a better sense of who’s behind the bookcase. His eyes open up more in surprise.

“You’re from the clinic.” he says firmly and quickly balls up the shirt on my shoulder into his fist, pulling me from my spot. The other hand reaches at his back behind a tattered lab coat to reveal a revolver, the one often seen in old classic films. Our eyes lock on each other, his fired up with murderous intent and wrath. The cold metal presses onto my forehead, but I keep my focus on his face. Lucas yelps on the side, but doesn’t come closer as to not escalate this whole situation. “An assistant. Why are you here? How did you get in?” My hands drift in the direction of the ceiling, a signal of surrender. Visibly shaken, Lucas taps the doctor on the shoulder and interrupts.

“[Pronoun] is a good friend of mine. Please don’t do anything rash, [pronoun] can be put to good use.” Lucas claims. I examine him with confusion written all over my expression, though he holds his guarded stare at Dr. Lee. I’m beyond dismayed that Lucas would try propose that I can be made into a pawn in whatever the motherfucker is planning. That might mean taking Lucas’s place with substitution of my flesh with peculiar machinery, or being the one to help out with Lucas’s... transformation. In any case, there’s no way I’d accept those fates. Dr. Lee maintains eye contact with me, but moves the gun from my face to his side. On cue, a sigh exiting my mouth.

He laughs rather nonchalantly, the clutch on his gun tighter despite being on the side. He’s ready to kill someone. “It’s tough doing things on my own, I do need another hand. Human hands, I must add.” Another chuckle echoes through the room, the unbearable discomfort consuming my emotions. Continuing on, the man adds, “I’m appointing you as my messenger. Send information to my other colleagues, then you may stay alive and see Lucas everyday. However.” Always a catch. The fist that kept me in my place releases the fabric that was bundled in it. It travels to the gun, the cock of the weapon raising my alertness. Though physically there’s no restraint on me, one wrong move and I’m dead. “If you can’t follow through with my instructions, expect a bullet wound or worse.” Absolutely out of his mind. But he leaves me having to accept this offer. Briefly, I steal a glance at Lucas whose angrily knit brows now angle upwards in a worried manner. I can’t die here, and the need for strength increases knowing Lucas might not be able to handle the pain of seeing me shot. He needs me.

Dr. Lee tilts his head, waiting for a response. The loaded gun taunts me, his impatience showing when he starts tapping it against his waist. Pursing my lips, I come to the only choice I could make. Shakily, my voice raises to both Lucas and the doctor’s surprise, “I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.” Speaking it into existence is the last thing I want, but I’m already neck deep into shit that doesn’t directly involve me. Might as well drown in what I’ve started. He snickers in delight, earning puzzled looks from Lucas and me. Leaving us near the bookcase, he saunters to his chair, taking a seat. His grip on the gun subsides, putting the small killing machine on his desk littered with papers with the big red classified stamped all over them. The silence weighs down on us before it’s broken by the doctor, his hands folded together with the most poisonous smirk playing across his lips.

“Just call me Taeyong.” He fiddles with a pen from his desk and continues,

”Question-- have you ever gone clubbing?”

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louadorable126 · 4 years

Text

Demons(you).me - Chapter 6 Redgrave Market

>>Click here to Read over on AO3!<<

Art by Aya/ITOUYAS! <3

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Summary:

In a city controlled by the generally altered race of Demons, Lady's life as a mercenary on the lower floor was never easy. Especially when she ran into Dante. A demon on the hunt for his missing brother.

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Important information!

Fandom: Devil May Cry

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Realtionships: Dante x Lady, Vergil x Lady

Characters: Lady, Dante, Vergil, Morrison, Nell Goldstien, Eva, Sparda, Mundus

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Genetic Engineering, Sci-fi Fantasy, Strip Clubs and Strippers, Dystopia, Seizures, Flirting, Eva and Sprada are alive!, Human Experimentation, Cults.

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Chapter 6

“Hang on. You want me to do what?!” A familiar deep voice, on the other end of the phone, exclaimed.

“I need you to find us a way into that event, Morrison!” Lady repeated herself; words laced with growing frustration. Her hand tightening its hold around the bright yellow ceiling handle hanging above her. “Yes, I know you don’t deal with the Cult of Fortuna! But this is really kinda urgent!”

The heat of the compartment was really starting to get to her. Sweat beads welling up on her forehead and covering it in a wet, salty glaze. It was hard to tell if this was because of the stress of negotiating with Morrison, or the 60 or so people rammed into the same monorail cart around her - pressed up against one another like sheep in an inclosed pen. It felt as though she was being cooked in a gruelling dry oven. The air conditioning unit stationed above her, trying its best as it worked overtime to pump small blasts of cool air in the mercenary’s direction, to little avail except for a brief millisecond of chilly relief she gained from it.

Her compatriots, likewise, also seemed to be uncomfortable in their current situation.

Apparently, Dante’s already non-existent attention span had been quickly eroded away in the 15 or so minutes he had been forced to stand here. Well…not really stand. As he had leaned back against one of the glass archways, in-between the main seating area and the exit door, arms crossed. Obviously rather bored, if the occasional upset, deep sighs she heard coming from his direction, were anything to go by. Alongside the sweet sound of him humming some kind of rock song, unbeknownst to anyone but himself, and tapping his foot on the floor to its invisible beat. His eyes closed, although occasionally peaking one sapphire eye open to see if their final destination was coming up on the floating holographic sign above them. Only to always be sorely disappointed, then returning to his sweet humming.

Vergil, meanwhile, was sitting on a small plastic bench in between the pair of them. It seemed he had declared some sort of silent, and bloody war against a screaming and whining young child across from them; the child’s ignorant mother taking no action to stop them. His sharp eyes fixed intently on the small, high-pitched creature. Glaring at them angrily, as though the demon thought that by some miracle, it would get the child to shut up. That...obviously wasn’t working however, and the little boy continued to screech regardless.

Lady took the opportunity to slip a glance over her shoulder at the elder twin, while her conversation between her and her employer lulled for a moment. Morrison deep in thought as he lit up another cigar.

It was crystal clear from how tense and rigid the blue demon’s body language was becoming - his sharp pale jawline, peaking from beneath the veil of shadows covering his aristocratic features, hardening - that Vergil was soon going to blow. Massively. Which given the elder twin's track record for bloody slaughter, could only really lead to a disaster on a packed train like this. All Lady could do was hold her breath, and hope they could get off this nightmarish train before that happened.

“Alright. Cause’ its you little missy, I’ll see what I can do.” Morrison relented. A touch of fatherly gruffness to his voice. "Not making any promises though. Fuck. I don’t even wanna to think about whose strings I’m gonna have to tug to pull this off!”

“I certainly appreciate it, Morrison. Cheers.” Lady thanked, before ending the call. Sliding her phone into her skirt pocket.

“So is he going to do it?” Dante asked. Smiling hopefully at her.

“Sounds like it.” Lady confirmed with a nod. Switching her cramping arm, holding onto the ceiling handle, over to the other. “I’m sure he’ll pull through with something.”

More accurately, they needed him to pull through with something.

Despite being the one to send them off on this perilous quest in the first place. Augustus had been kind enough to provide them as much information as he could gather about this “Charity Ball”. Sending through several of the emails he had received from the cult’s network, after the group had handed back his laptop.

And it was just as well he had! Because, as it turned out, the Charity Ball drastically moved location every time it was held. From fancy restaurants on the middle floor to a gentrified warehouse in the slums. However, this time it seemed the location of choice was a small expo centre. Ironically, it was surprisingly close to the hotel where she had first encountered Vergil.

But, even if they at least knew this secret meeting's location, it still didn’t mean they had any way to actually enter the Ball. It was an invite only event. Unless Lady wanted to bankrupt herself a few hundred times over, she sure as hell was not buying her way inside! It wasn’t even like the twins could do much to help either, even with their father’s limitless wealth. As Vergil had pointed out, it would be obvious they came from a demonic household, given that they weren’t already a part of the pre-established wealthy society of humans. And thus, given the Cult of Fortuna’s fears about being found out by the demonic authorities, they’d be swiftly rejected regardless.

“MUUUUUUUUUUM I WANNA GET OFF! THIS SO BORING!” The bratty child screamed at the top of his lungs. Before pointing a chubby finger over in the group's direction. “SERIOUSLY THIS PLACE SMELLS FUNNY!! ESPECIALLY THAT CREEPY GUY WHO KEEPS STARING AT ME-“

The child didn’t have a chance to finish. Pinned against the opposite train wall by the sharp tip of Yamato’s silver blade, held dubiously resting above the boy's heart, in less than the blink of an eye. The boy fell, choked on his words. Only letting out a small whimper in terror as he looked up at the towering man before him. The whole crowd erupted into a mania of panicked screaming and backing away from the scene. Leaving a circle of free space around them.

Crap, this isn’t good! Lady thought to herself. Silently cursing the child for antagonising Vergil when they had seemed so close to being able to get off without a hitch. The next station’s only a minute away, dammit!

“What on earth are you doing!” The child’s mother cried hysterically. Reaching out to push him off her son, before being stopped dead in her tracks by Vergil’s cutting glare.

“Teaching your child the consequences of his actions.” Vergil informed her sharply. A look of genuine confusion shot onto the woman’s features at his declaration. As though she had no idea what he was talking about."You really are a terrible mother, aren’t you? Don’t you realise there are other people on this train who do not wish to hear your child's screeching? You are not only neglectful to your son, but also to common decency.”

The mother grew enraged at his accusation. Clenching one hand tightly around the handle of her crimson handbag, as her heart-shaped face twisted and disfigured in offence. “B-but I don’t control what my son does! He’s his own person-“

“Yes. But as his guardian you have an obligation to do something, woman!” Vergil snapped angrily.

“Yeah, as much as my bro might be overreacting. He’s kinda got a point lady.” Dante chimed in. Causally moving to stand over beside Vergil so that they were back to back; Dante leaning a portion of his body weight against his brother.

Subtly, he elbowed his twin’s lower back. Getting Vergil’s attention off the child and towards him. The blue demon tilted his head over his shoulder in Dante’s direction, before leaning in close and whispering into his ear. “Think the kid’s got the idea, Verge. Wanna let him go?”

At his brother’s words, Vergil withdrew his blade. Returning Yamato back to its holster under his coat with a satisfying click. He turned away with a flourish of his blue coat, leaving the now silent child in his tracks. As he headed for the train doors, the packed crowd standing in his path shifted aside for him, like he was parting the Red Sea, just as a masculine, artificial voice stated; “We will shortly be arriving at Redgrave Market Station. Please stand clear of the doors for those exiting.”

“That’s our stop! You coming babe?” Dante called out over his shoulder, walking straight past Lady after his brother, as the train’s heavy doors slid open and bright artificial street light flooded through into the dim cabin. Illuminating their escape.

“Yep!” Lady exclaimed, embarrassingly high-pitched. Finding it hard to keep her cool with all these people, likely hundreds, staring at her. After quickly sparing a glance to check if the young boy was ok - which seemed to be the case, as his mother cradled the now crying child close to her chest, ironically finally paying him the scrap of obviously needed attention - the mercenary fled the train just as its metal doors slammed shut behind her.

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Click here to read more over on Ao3! :D

#devil may cry #dmc #dante #vergil #dante sparda #vergil sparda #dmc lady #dmc dante #dmc vergil #devil may cry fanfiction

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kireon · 4 years

Text

Store Bought Hero

x-posted from my writing account as well as my author blog.

If natural heroes didn't work, store bought was fine too.

At least, that's what you keep telling yourself. It becomes a mantra as you peruse the discount racks at your favorite clothing store that definitely does not start with 'K'. Setting aside the whole ‘escaped from the lab you were created in’ thing, you haven’t noticed any serious differences between natural heroes and the lab created ones ('store bought', as they say) except for the whole income disparity thing.

Oh, and the sponsors.

Everyone knows natural heroes shopped at Gucci and their sidekicks at Macy's, bare minimum, they simply must be outfitted with the best at all times if they are to be known in the world. You can hear the professor from the labs’ rant clear as day even fifteen years later. While you definitely like a select group of brand name items? You have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and a gigantic fucking load of student loans on your back.

No rich parents, tragic enough backstory, or sponsors for you: a 'store bought'.

With a sigh, you eye a sequined leotard and run your hand up and down the rough fabric. There is something satisfying about the way the colors shift from a too shiny silver to a lurid cherry red. You like shiny. You like shiny an awful lot, as a matter of fact, and that's how you got yourself into this entire mess in the first place.

"How was I supposed to know the stupid anklet was his downfall?" You grumble as you tear yourself away from the sequined nightmare. Restraint isn’t something that comes easily but you’ve had years to practice. A half-hearted paw through the racks of clothing marked at sixty-percent off or more reveals a pair of dark red pleather pants that might just make a good costume base.

"It's not like I walk around with my weakness in plain sight."

It wasn't even a decent anklet either; not even sterling silver or real diamonds or brand name. It was a cheap nickel plated piece of flash and the rash it gave you still itched even a week later. Some sort of curse for the unwary, or so the hero had claimed when you'd given it back to him a day later.

You neglected to inform him of your nickel allergy during the confrontation.

Well, maybe not wisely. You might have been able to get some sort of financial compensation outta him for the damage done to your skin. The rash and blisters did look really awful when he’d caught up with you and he looked horrified when he saw the results.

Heroes had that whole ‘do innocents no harm’ thing, after all.

You'd rather die than admit to anything so common as a nickel allergy, so you accused him of having a curse put on it. He ate up the accusation and used it to his advantage, as they all do. In exchange for falling for the good old fashioned sob story that was your life-- lightly embellished, of course--you had to become his sidekick as penance for your (petty) crimes. Also to completely remove the effects of this nonexistent curse.

After all, you were in ‘dire need’ of a good role model, yadda yadda yadda. You’d stopped listening to his moral prattling about the same time he tried to invoke the ‘daddy issues’ card. The last time someone had pulled that shit on you, they woke up woozy, confused, and completely unaware of the clown makeup as they walked out (pantsless) into the busiest part of the city. Waterproof makeup at that.

Just as a little extra “fuck you” to prove a point; you don’t like doing more than petty retaliation if you can help it.

You can be quite nasty, after all.

In the end, Hero McDadguy puffed up in his usual self-importance and gave you an entire fifty bucks towards a ‘basic’ costume and sent you on your way with a time limit. He was currently busy getting some frothy concoction at that one coffee shop just around the block. Far enough away that it’s a test of trust and boundaries but close enough he can close the gap and probably haul your ass in if he needs to.

The added caveat that you weren’t to embarrass him with your costume choice makes you want to do it even more. The only thing holding you back is the fact that you do have to wear the costume. In public.

Petty and spite take a backseat to pride and self-preservation.

Not like he was one to talk. He had that whole ‘90s cyberpunk meets Dad-on-Tropical-Vacation’ theme going on. Fanny pack, socks with sandals... the works. You’d rather go to jail than try to figure out how to replicate, keep in theme with, or otherwise find something to compliment that mess.

You mutter that very thing under your breath while you snag a few promising pieces-- and the leotard because fuck self-control you deserve something nice-- off the rack and head for the dressing room to start trying things on. Twenty minutes of posing in the mirror in varying outfit combinations later and you ignore the request for 'photo evidence' of you behaving and call your oldest child instead.

“Hey, what’s the name of that one bird that steals shit?” You ask as you shimmy into a pair of leather shorts with sequins on the ass. You’re definitely about ten pounds shy of ‘Juicy’, as the flashy hot pink word on your butt says, but this could very well be the start of something amazing.

“Maybe you wanna be more specific unless you want me to read descriptions for the next ten years?”

Nat is much like you; level-headed, brilliant in school but woefully under challenged, and has the same smart-mouth that had gotten you slapped through a wall once or fifteen times in your early life. You would never lay a hand on your kids regardless of how mouthy they get with you and so have to find other methods of curbing their attitudes when they get too out of line.

There’s a lot of yelling and someone sounds like they’re on the verge of tears in the background. A muffled Nat’s voice tells them to ‘calm the hell down, it’s fine’ before they come back on the line.

“What’s all that about?” You ask as you sift through the tops for something that would go with it. This opportunity might be a wash with how little luck you’re having. Might be time for Plan B- especially if there’s a problem with the kids. Your hand lands on a peacock blue-and-green number that doesn’t look bad but isn’t quite what you’re looking for. Ugh.

It’d clash with that highlighter orange from Mr. I Sweat Burberry Cologne.

Your middle child’s voice is loud and clear on the line now. “If you buy those shorts I am putting myself into the Child Relocation Program and you’ll never see me again.”

You consider it for a moment. Mortal embarrassment of your thirteen year old or being a slightly less fashion disaster than you feel. Tough decision, really. You feel yourself smile after letting Morgan sweat it out just long enough.

“Clean the kitchen and I’ll consider it.”

The quintessential teenage shriek of fury and angst comes loud and clear through the phone. “I knew you were going to say that! You’re the worst!”

Some parents prayed against having a child born with precognitive powers. While annoying to deal with, it’s also a lot of fun to use against them. It makes parenting interesting and more of a game to see just which future the kiddo wants to avoid- or get away with. “

You feel your smile widen at the range of futures said kiddo has likely foreseen. You’ll have so much fun with this particular set of visions and using it like baby photos against them. “So did you clean the kitchen?”

“Duh!” A most indignant tone.

You laugh. You can’t help it. “Put Nat back on the phone.”

“Promise me you’re not buying those first.” Stubborn and firm. A bit of desperation there too. Not quite ready to beg but not all that far off either.

The way they say ‘those’ makes you laugh all over again. “I’m not buyin’ ‘em, don’t worry.”

“And that weird guy isn’t buying them either?”

Damn it. “Nope. He won’t buy them either.” So much for that idea. Maybe you could-

“No stealing them either!”

Double damn it. “Fine, fine; the shorts stay in the store.”

“Thank you.”

The phone goes back to your oldest. “So, about that bird?”

“Jackdaw, Magpie, Corvids.” You hear scratching of pencil on paper. Homework? At, you check your phone, two-seventeen in the afternoon on a Saturday? Your eyes narrow suspiciously.

Who is it you’re talking to and what have they done with your child?

“Corvids? Like crows and shit?”

“Yup. And no, I’m not a body snatcher.”

A grin. “Sounds like something a body snatcher would say.”

Jackdaw didn’t have that something you were looking for. Didn’t roll off the tongue the way it needed to in your head when you imagined some Big Bad Villain spotting you mid-villainous speech. Corvid didn’t either. Crow wasn’t hitting any notes either.

Raven was absolutely taken by no less than eighty-three variations in your city alone.

Rook had some fun possibilities if you had actually bothered playing and learning chess. (You can’t; you can’t sit still or pay enough attention for that shit and you own that.)

Your eyes fall on the silver-and-red sequined leotard again.

You hear your prophecy cursed child screech in despair in the background and the younger two who have gathered to watch the show tell them to shut up.

Nat, ever patient and ever your child, smiles on the other end of the phone. “I think that’s the one, Magpie.”

Magpie... yeah, you like the sound of that one. Magpie it is. “It’ll make a good base; is Morgan--”

“McFreakin’ Losing It? Yep.” You can hear the sounds of pencil scratching against paper again. Curiosity overrules any possible ‘do not need to know’ that you and Nat sometimes stumble into.

“Okay, I’ll bite; what are you doing?”

“Fulfilling the prophecy as foretold by the ancients long ago.” if Nat’s voice were any drier, they’d be dust in a forgotten tomb. “I’m designing the rest of your costume so you’re not a total train wreck and Morgan can die quietly.”

“You’re my favorite.” You say as you gleefully stuff the leotard-- you’ve tried it on twice and know it fits like a dream-- back on its hanger and wiggle out of the shorts. A wiggle that almost ends badly for you, at that, and you can hear the brats laughing at you in the background as Morgan probably mimics how you just about bit it in the dressing room.

“Remember that when I inevitably try your patience in all of forty-five seconds.” Nat hangs up on you and you feel nothing but pride in the way these sassy children have grown up under your less than skilled thumb. You’ve not been the best parent or even the best role model. It’s funny what unresolved childhood issues and bad habits will do, but damn it you have given it everything you have up to and including your favorite line of ‘do as I say not as I do’.

That is your right as a parent, goddamn it, to use that line and they can pry that right from your cold dead fingers.

They’re all good kids. They’re going to end up heroes in their own right with or without superpowers. That, above all else, is all you want for them so that they’re twice as capable as you’ve ever been in your life. Lab created and thus ‘store bought’ or natural born; it doesn’t matter and it never mattered to begin with.

Heroes are heroes in the end and the world could always use another helping hand as it spins through another chaotic cycle.

Your phone beeps and you glance at the text message.

Black thigh high socks. Get two pair. Amazon sucks for deals rn.\

U r not my fave >:(

You scowl and wish the walls would burn as you unfold the crumpled bills at the register. You don’t need Morgan’s gift of prophecy to know what that text message says and yet, like a fool, you look down at it anyway.

There’s a photo of all five of your grinning children holding up score cards. All of them holding 10s.

All of them dressed in Hawaiian shirts.

You have never felt so betrayed in your whole life.

#my writing #store bought heroes #original fic

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charmingpplincardigans · 4 years

Text

This is @lisapizza‘s semi-annual reminder that I AM working on her gay cyberpunk novel. I don’t know what I’m doing, but words are being written. This is Ana and Martin, just before the shit finally hits the fan for real. Un-edited, because that’s Nano, baby!

“Hey, Ana, listen to me.” Martin pushed himself away from his desk and reached for her. “I need you.”

“That’s not my name.”

She watched him approach, her hands balled into fists, ready to fight back if needed. The large old-fashioned chrome and quartz clock behind his desk read 6:54. Ten minutes. She just had to keep his attention away from his computer for ten minutes.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know your real name. You know why we don’t keep that information.” He placed his open palm gently against her cheek.

His voice and his touch were soft, as if he was approaching a skittish creature, which was curious because she had never been anything other than steady and efficient when it came to his requests. She had stolen. She had blackmailed. She had killed. She had carried out every order ever given to her with calm focus. She had never had an outburst where he could see it or where it would get back to him, in spite of how many times she had watched him lose all sense and composure. Martin was the destructive, impulsive one, so what was he waiting for her to do now?

He tilted his head, pretended at patience and waited for her to tell him what she preferred to be called. She did not feel the need to share that information with him. “Then how can you know it’s me you need?”

He smiled. It was guileless in a practiced way. “My dear, you can’t be angry with me all of a sudden. It’s not like I’m the one that killed you. You were dying anyway when they harvested you.”

6:56. “This is worse than death.”

“You can’t know that,” he said. He stroked the side of her face with his thumb, fingers gripping her jaw just a little tighter than necessary.

“What do you think happens when you put me away?”

“Nothing?” he guessed.

“Nothing,” she affirmed. “Not even blackness. Not even absence. It’s not like sleeping. I don’t close the eyes on the file that holds my mind and then open them to a framework of code when the little alarm goes off and you pull me back into whatever shell you have available that day. I do not sleep, because there is no part of me there to do so. I am simply not.”

She lifted her chin. He tightened his grip. She tightened her jaw and took a step back, pulling her face from his hand.

His smile slipped and the edges of his mouth sharpened as his lips thinned. “And you like that better than being awake, do you?”

“That’s not the point. The point is I shouldn’t have had the choice. You shouldn’t have had the choice.”

“You ungrateful bitch,” he said, all pretense of pleasantry evaporating. “We saved you. Do you know how much it costs to keep one upload instead of just tossing it with the others?”

6:58. “Monetarily? Or morally? I’ve never heard you be concerned about either.”

“My love has protected you! It has extended your life. It would be very stupid to throw both of those things away.”

Martin stomped his foot like a child. The soft leather sole of his shoe made an anemic sound against the synthetic wood on the office floor. It was no more intimidating to her than the way he squared his shoulders or narrowed his eyes. There was nothing he could do to her now that Chedeline had given her control of every system in this body. For the first time in years she was wholly her own again.

“You. Do not. Love me,” she said. “You don’t know who I was. I barely know who I was, but I am remembering, because you can’t let it go, because you keep bringing me back, because I am breaking down, I am remembering.”

“An--Baby,” he said. He took a step forward. She took a step back. He snarled. “I know who you are now, which is the most important thing, right?”

Around them the building was quiet. It was more quiet than Martin would realize, because he couldn’t hear what she could. It was of course almost empty of employees at that time of night, but also, all around them systems were being shut down as somewhere below them Chedeline and Peleon worked on the security technologies and Xiv worked on the remaining men. Machines stopped humming. Boots stopped tapping across concrete. It felt as if even the mice were holding their breath.

7:00. “How could either of us possibly know that?”

“We could. I’m figuring it out! The other robot! I’m going to figure out how to rebuild you and then we can be together forever.”

In that moment she realized with perfect clarity what it was Martin had not been telling her for months. She had thought he wanted her out of convenience. That he would have his fun and then eventually get tired of her and toss her away like he tended to tire of the human women he desired. It had not been something she was looking forward to, but because of her circumstances she hadn’t felt she could argue.

And there was her cowardice, was it not? If she really would prefer death to her half-life then she could have made a fuss. She could have rejected him over and over until he’d gotten it into his stubborn mind that she would never welcome him with open arms. Then it would have been a matter of whether he cared very much how welcoming any part of her was. What would it have taken for him to kill her? She didn’t know. She felt like she might be teetering on the edge of it, one more step to violent oblivion. But she could run now, she had a place to run to, had more to fight for, had people who would help her. And all it had taken to acquire all of this had been tearing a hole in their family, leaving a hole she could sneak into.

If they did not retrieve Wagner she was going to live with that guilt the rest of her life. But better the guilt that was hers than the terror that was imposed upon her.

“That’s not what forever means,” she whispered.

“Well you’re welcome then, for this new knowledge and this new life.”

An alarm sounded. The clock behind his desk read 7:03. He turned and took a step toward the desk.

“Welcome!?” she shouted.

He paused, unsure of which disaster was more important to him. Martin looked between her and his computer. He was fully angry now, and when he was angry he made bad decisions. She decided to stick her finger in the wound.

“I am welcome to what, Martin? Welcome to continue to crumble? Welcome to regain myself just in time to lose it? Welcome to the weight of you holding me down for as long as you keep your fingers on the reins here? I decline the invitation.”

She took a step backward toward the door, her hand out as she searched behind her for the knob.

He took a step back toward her. “You can’t leave me! You’re mine! You work for me!”

Martin fumbled in his pocket for the kill switch that he always carried on him. Behind him lights flashed in the floor to ceiling windows as eerily quiet helicopters lowered themselves to the level of the floor above. She watched Angel’s men, dressed all in black, slide down black ropes against the background of the black night as Martin finally pulled the fob from his pocket. He pressed the button. She took another step back, clearly not disarmed. He stared at her in confusion.

She finally found the knob to the door just as she heard a cluster of heavy bootsteps reach the hallway outside. She latched onto it tight and held it shut with the weight of her body as they tried to push it inward. There was a series of popping and cracking sounds as the men hanging outside of the window shot at the glass. Martin turned toward the noise. She braced herself in the door and turned her face away from it.

The sound of the glass shattering as it was kicked, in combined with the climate-controlled air of the room being sucked out, was deafening. She waited for Angel’s men to be standing upright in the wreckage of the office before she stepped away from the door to let security barge through.

In the commotion, Martin turned to stare at her, his face a mask of shock and anger.

“Love is not the same thing as fear,” she said, voice quiet and calm. No one would have heard her. He would not have heard her. It didn’t matter. She had said it. And as Martin was thrown to the floor she slipped out of the office and broke into a run.

#apres moi le deluge #ana #martin #mmmm...i am not sure how like this this will stay #when i work my way back to it #but it was a thing i was thinking about last night #so i figured i oughta try

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semi-imaginary-place · 5 years

Text

fe3h blogging 1

spoilers

Sorry blue lions. It was between eagles and deer for me.

ch3: Well OK. The church is now using me as their personal political assassin are they?

Fe3h fav characters so far: Tomas: knowledge grandpa! And one of the few I trust Gatekeeper: my pure boy. On the topic of trust. You know who I don't trust? Claude. He always angling for something. Always digging for secrets never revealing his own

I didn't think I'd like Raphael so much but I do. He's so good natured. He always wants to help and even when the other kids are mean to him. His only response is more kindness. Like oh youre kinda grumpy right now how about a snack. Like a human shaped golden retriever. Full of love and very food motivated. As much as he's a complete musclehead, his emotional/social intelligence is pretty high. He just wants to make friends. Let Raphhael have friends!

Guess who chose golden deerI was considering black eagle. But everyone did black eagle. I can go on youtube later. I haven't gotten it but on youtube is lorenz and sylvain's c and b supports and they are hilarious

I found japanese audio of fe3h and it just really hit me that Sylvain belongs in an otome game. I mean his character design (hair color, hair style etc.) and the way he acts is already... eh. But then his japanese voice actor... and its giving me this mental dissonance. Especially aince I've seen the character artist doing utapri, samflam, and other stuff.

weeho spoiled myself on supports: Everyday I grow less and less convinced of Sylvain's heterosexuality. Does he even like women?? He's just emotionally manipulating them as a self destructive coping mechanism because he has self worth issues. So he presents himself as the superficial stuff like social status and then gets insecure and accuses them of only dating him for status. He's setting himself up for failure. And each tine reinforces his belief that he is nothing but his crest and family. Look at this disaster boy

knowledge grandpa no! I trusted you and I trust so few people. I wonder if it was real Tomas who first joined but an impostor who rejoined a year ago

List of potential immortals: Jeralt, Rhea, Flayn. There are multiple mentions of Jeralt not seeming to age, he looked the same over 30 years ago. Rhea looks suspiciously like Saint Seiros and was archbishop 20 years ago. Flayn act both young and old and won’t give me her age. That said now that its revealed in the paraloge that Seteth is her dad, maybe not secretly an immortal so much as magical bloodline. Also Seiros, Rhea, Sothis, and Flayn are all related somehow. The green hair doesn’t help. And Byleth is somehow involved. I thought byleth might be part of the immortal gang but mom’s grave stone said she died at age 20 so byleth was born at the church like 20-21 years ago

support thoughts: Are all of huberts c supports just him insulting people?? each and every day I fall more in love with Dorothea. her support with Ferdinand where she straight up says she hates him, the voice acting on that! Lorenz and Ferdinand was hilarious. This is why you get bullied. Lorenz and Sylvain was also funny. Not a big fan of Bernadetta.

Ok so update on the green haired tinfoil hatting: Flayn related to the saint cetholynn????? somehow and definitely real old.

end of part 1

Thinking back the crests and church(seiros/saints) are what turn people into demonic beasts. there are beasts with crest stones in their heads, in Remire villiage they tried to turn people using Flayn’s blood, and later succeeded. Flame emperor is using the church’s abilities against it. Also Rhea’s been seeking to replicate... something Seiros maybe?? (or more someone.. someone who was precious to her) by ripping the hearts out of babies and putting in a special one??? Rhea seem desperate, but I’m not sure what (or whom) she is desperate for. turning Byleth into Seiros??? There is a ... tension is her, like she is on the edge of snapping. And what was she trying to achieve there in the tomb before she was interrupted. For being “holy” relics, they sure are ominous looking. and they turn people into monsters. The whole church is sketch honestly. The propaganda and censorship campaigns. The crushing of any that are a threat under the language of sin and justice.

So Edelgard went full supervillian. Wow. And Rhea was the immaculate one huh (still don’t know what that means), here I was theory crafting that she was a reincarnated Seiros or something. Edelgard is like a worse Alm, she wants to rid humanity of dragons ruling over them and install a meritocracy. Her methods though are !!!!! yikes. I mean any reign that starts with “kill all that resist” can’t lead to anything good. Also out of 10 siblings only 1 didn’t die of illness or go mad. hmmmn where have I heard that before.

That said I do agree with her goal. I love it when I can take down a religious institution in a videogame.

At Garreg Mach her whole plan in to brute force it. Like if we just keep throwing enough lives at it we are bound to win. Admittedly I know nothing of military strategy, but that doesn’t sound like the best plan.

Interesting the differences between routes. In Edelgard’s church allied with feargus, while in Claude’s the Church lost significant power and Edelgard successfully incited a coup, but why did the Empire give up Garreg Mach as a strategic position?

My baby deer are all grown up. And yup another mark in the Flayn is some immortal being, her sprite didn’t change at all. Totally in favor of stealing everyone from the other houses.

Who wore it better Part 1 or 2

Edelgard: 2. I mean p1 Edelgard was already best dressed but p2 takes it to a new level

Dimitri: 2. I mean p1′s hair is so goofy looking I just have to choose the edgelord

Claude: both. Claude looks fine so matter the time

Hubert: 2. He really did grow into the goth look

Petra: 1. Both are good but I love the huge braid

Lindhart: 1. p2 isn’t bad but I like the two layers look

Dorothea: 2. but both are good

Caspar: 2. Something about p1 always bothered me

Ferdinand: 2. His character model looks better than his sprite, and his hair is so luscious and flowing!

Bernadetta: 2. its just a mess is p1, v cute in p2

Dudue: 2. what is even going on in p1. where as p2 is like... elegant

Sylvain: 1. as much as I teased about him belonging in an otome game, his p2 haircut is just ugly

Ingrid: 1. mmmm its fluffy?

Felix: 1. What is his p2 hair even doing??? it makes me confused

Mercedes: 1. Fluffy.

Annette: 2. never was a fan of the hair loopies

Ashe: both. p1 is cute but p2 is beautiful. both are sooo good

Hilda: 2. p1 pigtails kinda boring

Raphael: 1. though p2 its a shaggy dog

Leonie: 1. another fluffy head, p2′s low pony tail does not give a flattering shape

Ignatz: 2. a bowl cut is an improvment from whatever p1 is

Lysithea: 2. not sue about the veil but it is more intersting than p1

Marianne: 1. I always did prefer thick bangs

Lorenz: 2. its definitely p2. in p1 he looks like such a clown

Cyril: 2. Honestly he kept the baby face so there’s not much difference.

Claude sees that under Rhea the church enforced a doctrine that locked in the status quo of nobles and crests and he wants to chage the church’s influence to promote tolerance, diversity, and open mindedness. but, hey. Hey. What if we got rid of the church all together.

Why can’t I recruit the old general... hey. Hey!

Aww Claude introduced me to his second mom and dad

So the more people you can recruit the less painful things are. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get to kill Dimitri.

In terms of characters, Ferdinand has surprisingly grown on me. As for Caspar I shocks me occasionally how uncaring he is about killing people. He reminds me of a smt chaos hero with the whole might equals right thing. As long as he decides they are evil its ok to kill them. Now all he needs to do is get possessed by a demon. Eating away at him from the inside out. Ashe as always continues to be an absolute angel. I need somewhere to gush about how cool Claude looks in him final class promotion. So I rather like the group of childhood friends dimitri, felix, sylvain, ingrid. And it always trips me uo to remember that sylvain is like 2 years older than the rest because he really doesn't act like it. I'm getting that they are all traumatized from the death of felix's brother. A lot of the characters have had pretty bad childhoods.I was surprised to find out that Lysithea was tortured as a child like ok wow. I need to spend more time with you. Does Dimitri have PTSD? Golden Deer has had quite a few goofy hijinks. Marianne's character growth really has been a a thing of beauty, I’m so proud of her. But I love my oddball bunch of misfits. How did Dedue not get found out??? He’s very noticeable. and Claude, you’re starting to sound like Edelgard. I love Edelgard’s final promotion. Looks so cool. Like a mix or her Lord and Flame Emperor clothes. I wince every time some mentions the free market or the joys of capitalism. I guess adrestia is imperialism, faergus is religion, and leister is capitalism. I didn’t care about Dimriti’s death, but Edelgard’s got me.

damn ok so dubstep cyberpunk dungeon and Rhea took like 15 missile strikes. wow this really is very smt. maybe persona 2. And fighting zombie Nemesis and the 10 was excellent (Nemesis is still a stupid name). I love it when we fight literal embodiments of the past

its hilarious that in Shamir and Claude's paired ending, he ends up ditching 3 whole times. He turns the opportunity to lead the unified fodland down, then he ditches house reigen, and then he abdicated the throne! I love it! That's so him. And they both wanted to travel the world. Technically Claude is also a descendant of Loog so he also gave up claim to the Faerghus throne too. I swear. This dude. This dude... Next its going to be revealed that secretly Claudr is Edelgard's cousin. Or one of her "dead" sibling. Lysithea tell us that blood experiment to force crests leads to physical and mental damage. Does this have anything to do with what happened to Edelgard’s siblings? As far as I can tell every ending has Fodland under a single party state. Crimson flower, azure moon, and verdant wind all end in monarchies, and silver snow a theocracy.

Hold up. Flayn said that Cethaleann never had any children as rational as to why she's not a descendant. But how did Lindhart get the crest then?? And I might be mixing up the 10 and the saints, but then I thought the crests were designed as tools of war by those who slither in the dark. Thats how the 10 got them, to use as weapons against Sothis. But that then brings the question of why Rhea edited history in favor of them. This is why the holy relics looked so ominous and creepy. The animations are eeeeeeeeuuuuuugggh. My initial though was that the church is secretly evil and this is foreshadowing. I mean rhea's kinda... viscous? Ruthless? Filled with barely contained hatred? I was thinking maybe she's secretly the evil dragon of the game the way Mila kinda was.

But then you dont need consent to make a crest. Only blood. Blood could have been stolen from cihol and cethaleann to make their crests. Alternately they could have chosen to give crests to specific people. The 2 sources of crests is also why there’s multiple weapons for some crests. The crest weapons made by the agartans all have a similar aesthetic, but not all the crest weapons have that aesthetic some look different and probably weren’t made by them. As for why Rhea rewrote the 10 into heroes. It might have been to stop people from questioning the crests and relics and seeking to replicate them. By framing it as sothis's doing, with the power of the church she can control crests, how people view them, and keep a closer eye on the descendants. Its its a gift by the goddess, of course we cant try to replicate them.

Let’s see what Claude achieved before he dipped. anti-discrimination laws (race, religion), and increased foreign relations. Potentially equal treatment under the law.

Edelgard really likes brute forcing solutions

The whole opera thing with Dorothea and Manuela stinks of the idol industry where an idol peaks at like 18. Real opera singers have much longer careers.

Golden Deer is so JRPG in the best way. There’s an evil cult of technologically advanced subterranean people, a zombie army, the power of friendship.

It already caught my attention when missiles appeared and the evil cult's dungeon belonged is a scifi movie like ghost in the shell and I was thinking to myself "hmmm... this all sounds very smt of you" or maybe Persona 2. I mean with names like Shambala and the whole general aesthetic of that dungeon ... yeah. But then someone points out the UN’s symbol is all over the Agarthan stuff. And wow we really are in an smt timeline aren't we. and I remember seeing the missiles thinking hmmm that looks vaguely familiar. Its the UN symbol. Which means in alternate future Earth Sothis comes, we wage a war against the gods and and then Rhea destroys modern civilization along with the planet. that really does sound like the plot of an SMT game. I did wonder at the inclusion of electronica and dubstep into the soundtrack.

THC (Thinking Hard about Claude). Claude let's everyone know he's up to something, and his self portrayal as a schemer is both deliberate and truthful. He's using it part as social armor and part as an excuse to probe. Claude holds genuine cuiosity, wonder, and passion for the world. He is not always scheming so much as he is one of those people who's brain never turn off. He just wants to explore the world, meet different cultures, and discover all the secrets. Given the environment he grew up in, his natural inclinations angled him to thinking in terms of how to best leverage someone or how to sneak around.

Alright so here’s the lore as I know it. Sothis=Goddess came from another world to Fodlan. Through her blood made the goddess’ children (Nabateans) who are the original magical beasts and can talk, and they resided at Zanado. Rhea=Seiros=The Immaculate One, and the 4 Saints (Cihol=Seteth, Cethaleann=Flayn, Indech=The Indomitable, Macuil=The Wind Caller) are Nabateans. Sothis gave knowledge/interacted with the native humans of Fodlan (Agarthans). Eventually the Agarthans waged war against Sothis killing her and many Nabateans. The Agarthans used their bones to make weapons, their hearts to make crest stones, and their blood to make crests. The above is why magical beasts and demonic beasts are connected to crest stones. The crest stones as the hearts of Nabateans transform humans into a distorted version of their magical beast forms. The Sword of the Creator was made from materials taken from Sothis’ body. Using these weapons the humans attacked Zanado killing everyone except Seiros and the 4 Saints. The 10 Heroes Relics were similarly made from Nabatean bodies. Seiros, already obsessed with Sothis thought only of vengeance and bringing back Sothis. She raised an army, killed Nemesis, and drove the Agarthans underground to become Those who Slither in the Dark. Seiros then took control of the continent under the guise of The Church of Seiros. Seiros and the 4 Saints gave their blood to favored individuals granting them the power of their personal crest as well as potentially extending their lifespan/granting extended youth. This is why the 10 Heroes Relics have a visual aesthetic distinct from that of the weapons of the 4 Saints. The 10 Heroes Relics were made by the Agarthans but the other crest weapons like the other Gloucester crest weapon the Axe of Ukonvasara and the Saint’s weapons were not mad by them. The Church the acted as a tool for Seiros/Rhea to control the continent and its course. She then rewrote that part of history. The goddess was just sleeping, crests were a blessings of the goddess, etc.

I am unsure as to why she did so, but I believe it served the 2 purposes. First it allowed Rhea to control the narrative and how people thought about the matter. Second it erases the existence of a rebellion against the Goddess. From the Church, Rhea could control the flow of information, censoring anything that threatened her power. Using the language of religion she could also justify using military force to eliminate her political opponents.

#fe16 #fe16 spoilers #fe3h spoilers #fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #fe #fe3h

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macchiatomingi · 5 years

Text

dysnomia.exe (ATEEZ Cyberpunk!AU) Chapter 5

Exploration

Word Count: 2.7k

“So, how’re the pairs working?” San asked once everyone was out of the house and the door was locked. You were Curious too; getting paired with Mingi was a recipe for disaster, and even though you spent a decent amount of time with Yunho, things would still be slightly awkward, but San can be extremely Hyper and you don’t know if you were ready to handle that just yet.

“Well,” Yunho starts, a look of contemplation washing over his face, “San, you and Calixte work best with each other. I work best with Mingi. We should just go based on that.”

The group fell silent, your eyes glowed a yellowish-green in confirmation. One thing you weren’t expecting was the slight change in your color coding, but Hongjoong said the color was nice and contrasted well with your current skin covering, whatever that means…

“Okay,” Mingi said, adjusting his shirt to cover the gun tucked in his waistband, “let’s go then. The faster we go the faster we can come back.”

And with that, the four of you were off.

The walk to the Red was silent, Yunho led the way, trying to make small talk with Mingi but failing miserably. The taller boy was completely silent as he had his eyes trained ahead. San walked at a leisure pace next to you, and there wasn’t much talking if any at all.

Upon arrival, you were Dumbfounded. Everything in the Red was so...bright? Vivid? For the first time since you were booted up, you couldn’t find the words to describe the sights you saw before you. People of all denominations bustled about, women, cyborgs, even androids that you registered as Discontinued bustled about behind their human caretakers. Contrary to the name, nothing was really Red. You followed slowly behind the boys, taking in all the sights. The people, the buildings, the signs were written in languages your translators could barely keep up with. You recognized some of the Old Languages, but couldn’t translate them due to a lack of information about them. Arabic, French, Chinese, but also a strange combination of Faric, Telunese, and Swanlic languages were present. The combinations were baffling, some signs having a mix of both Old and New languages, your processors were whirring trying their best to keep up with everything but there was just so much going on it was nearly impossible to do so.

“Oh no,” San started, rushing back to you and moving back the skin covering on the back of your neck, “let me fix this so things aren’t as overwhelming for you Cal.”

He flipped three switches, and all of a sudden things were calm. Sounds weren’t loud and blasting, lights weren’t bright and glaring, and signs were all in Kojan, the Primary language. Internally, things calmed down, which was good, it was what you wanted.

You soon broke off from the main group with San, going north while Yunho and Mingi went west. San rattled off rules for you to follow, your eyes glowing a bluish-gray in understanding. You followed closely behind him, per his instructions, and remained silent, also per his instructions.

The two of you walked until a dimmed down neon sign appeared, from what you could gather, it was a bar. Cupid’s Nest. The name made no sense, Cupid’s are mythological beings from Greek mythology, they don’t have nests according to what your archives said.

“Hey,” San started, faltering a bit in his steps, “maybe we can find answers here?”

“Perhaps.”

“Let’s go then.”

As San walked to the entrance, you slowly followed behind. Even though San altered your sensors, things were still so...new...so different, you couldn’t help but lag behind to try and see everything.

You noticed a narrow alleyway, one between the Cupid’s Nest, and the diner next to it. Something about it was captivating, almost entrancing. You couldn’t take your focus away from it even though you were standing close enough to the bar that you could smell the booze and cheap perfume that seemed to have embedded itself into the walls.

01100011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110111 01100001 01111001

Your body moved without you controlling it; you abandoned San without saying a word, following the green numbers that flashed across your vision along with coordinates. Your hearing processors had stalled completely, the world was silent. People bustling around without sound, clinking drinks and dancing to music that had no words, no bass, no anything.

The only senses you still had was touch, sight, smell, and taste. Your hearing was gone, but you could smell the smoke in the air, the oil from a black market mechanics shop, the street food lining the alleyway. You could taste the alcohol in the air, thick and heavy and, if you were human, it would most likely be strong enough to burn your throat.

Wooyoung did say that booze always had a little kick to it.

You made it to the end of the alleyway, looking around wordlessly, your eyes were Frantic, flashing from blue to yellow to green all at once before cycling back to their neutral color.

01100111 01101111 01101111 01100100 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101

Another set of coordinates popped up on your radar, slightly south of where you were currently. You followed it down to the number of steps, not wanting to mess anything up, but at the same time not having control of your actions.

Messages are coming in but you can’t decipher them, something’s off about them. There’s noise in the messages, you have an inkling that it’s San, but there’s no way to be sure.

C̶̢̹̳̝̪̜͂̈́̚ą̵͖̪̞͉̿̈͋̎̐ļ̶̟̘͓̪̮̈̋͊̽ĭ̸̗̲͉͛̉̑́͊̋̅̑̿͘͘x̶̨̯̪̰̲̝̥͚̟̬̣͔̀̈͒ͅt̸̙̖̤̗͂̂̔́͆̾̔͐̈́́̚͝ẹ̵͕̞̈͛̽̾̑̉̑?̶̨̛̠͇̘̪̪͇̺̿͗̒̈́͆͒̔̀ͅ ̶̡̥̜̖̹̰̀̑͐̽͌͑̃̂̌͝W̸̢̯̻̩͊̀͊̐͋͘h̷̘̖̞̗̩̗̀͐̎͗̇̍̀̿̋͘̚ḙ̷̡̼̳͔͓̋͐͊͋́͆̈́͂̋̄͘ͅr̵̨͕̺̟͙͂̅e̷̛̳͎̖̪̊̄̋͑̑͑̄ ̵̳͎͎̅̈́͝a̷̝̞͖̙̭̲̔̿͐̿̎̂̾̅͛̕ŗ̴̢̪̞͓̦̻̞͕̠̯̬̈̋̆̔̓̐̀ͅe̴̺̙̮̺̤̺͎̝̱̗̽̓́̒̑͆̕͝͝ ̵̡̡̥̖̹̮͈̫͖͕͈͋͗̽̏̒͋͗̅̀̋͝y̷̢̗̝̓̂͑̕o̵̝̩̘̙͔̪̻̘͆͑͒̈̿̃u̶̢͍̠̣͓̣͍̮̒͆̽̄͆̎̅͝?̸̘̯̅̊͛͂͊͑̈̄͐͐

You keep walking, following the coordinates until you reach a small mechanics shop. Spare android parts hang from the entrance; arms and legs, sometimes whole mechanized heads hang on hooks and strings in front of you.

Your hearing slowly fades back in.

C̶̢̹̳̝̪̜͂̈́̚ą̵͖̪̞͉̿̈͋̎̐ļ̶̟̘͓̪̮̈̋͊̽ĭ̸̗̲͉͛̉̑́͊̋̅̑̿͘͘x̶̨̯̪̰̲̝̥͚̟̬̣͔̀̈͒ͅt̸̙̖̤̗͂̂̔́͆̾̔͐̈́́̚͝ẹ̵͕̞̈͛̽̾̑̉̑?̶̨̛̠͇̘̪̪͇̺̿͗̒̈́͆͒̔̀ͅ

More noisy messages; you couldn’t be bothered with them right now though. You had a mission, even though you didn’t know what it really was.

You step into the shop to see an old man, sitting calmly in a chair. Almost as if he was waiting for you.

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Your body moves before you can understand what’s happening; one minute you were standing as the world regained it’s sound, the next you were strapped to a chair with wires being shoved in the ports at the nape of your neck.

The man presses buttons, frantically, almost as if he knows he won’t have time to complete everything, and then the world goes black.

Black.

Blue.

Green.

White.

The world rushes back to you as you feel the cords ripped from your neck, a stinging sensation left in their wake. Your eyes are trying to adjust, barely making out the figure that’s dragging you out the store, body barely registering that it’s moving again. Your legs fumble over themselves like a newborn baby deer and your systems battle to try and catch up to everything going on.

You only register a tight pain in your arm, the feeling was foreign. Almost as if that man had cut you open, like a fish, and inserted nerves into you. This was a feeling foreign to your touch receptors and you didn’t understand it. It hurt, it stung, and you didn’t like it.

You nearly felt scared, until you crashed into the body in front of you.

Mingi. He had gotten you out of that mechanic’s shop. He had dragged you along random sidewalks, for around fifteen minutes without saying anything, until he noticed the building to his right.

A simple black brick building, with neon purple and blue lights cemented to the side. You couldn’t process the name, but you took note of Mingi’s expression.

His eyes were vacant as if his soul had left his body. His normally sharp and hyper-aware demeanor dropped for one that was empty. He was just a shell of his former self and you were worried; the change was sudden. One minute he was fuming, dragging you along so quickly that your legs couldn’t keep up, and the next he was as still as a statue.

“Sorry mister,” comes from your left as a child bumps into Mingi, not really paying attention to where he was going. You thought it was cute, but concerning; why would a child, barely older than 10, be in the Red? It was dangerous here, you knew that, and you barely knew anything outside of what was programmed into you.

It was only after the child left that Mingi let go of your arm, bringing his hand down to your wrist instead. He said nothing and kept walking, at a slower pace than before, until the two of you reached the same forest that the four of you had entered from.

“Mingi!”

“Cal!”

“What the fuck happened,” San starts, nearly fuming, “Calixte where did you go?!”

“I…” your words get caught, you genuinely didn’t know how to respond; you had never seen San this angry, red and black hair covering his eyes, voice hushed but rough, “I’m sorry.”

“Why are Cal’s eyes glowing purple,” Yunho started, “Mingi where did you find them?”

You turned to look up at Mingi, his expression still as glassy as what it was earlier, he didn’t respond. He just stared blankly ahead, which only served to agitate San even more.

You gave a small squeak of surprise and backed up when San stormed up to grab Mingi by the collar of his shirt, “What happened to Calixte?”

“I don’t know.”

“Bullshit.”

Yunho had to step between the two to calm things down, you were trembling, circuits stressed from so many new experiences and things happening all at once. It was overwhelming, everything was so overwhelming. It was too much and everything was getting hot and you couldn’t focus and you didn’t know what to do. Too much, it was all just too much and you didn’t like it and you just wanted it all to stop but it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t stop and you didn’t know what that old man did but whatever it was caused...this.

You were panicking, you didn’t even know that you could panic; your circuits were hot and your systems were trying to keep up with everything, it wasn’t fun. Your sight kept glitching, big, glaring ERROR and RECALIBRATING notices popped up. Your hearing went from silent to overstimulated to completely mute within the span of seconds. At some points, you could feel every dust particle as it passed over your skin covering, other times you felt nothing.

You felt like you were dying, and you didn’t even know what death felt like.

“The building,” Mingi starts, voice hoarse, San and Yunho look to each other then back at him, all unaware of the complete system meltdown you’re having a mere two feet away, “it was too similar.”

Nobody says anything as Mingi stalks off, back to the house. San and Yunho turn around to look at you; San still looks mad, but he seemed to have softened after seeing the state Mingi was in. He walks ahead, Yunho grabs your hand and begins walking behind the two of them.

Everything was still on overdrive, but Yunho’s hand was a comforting weight in yours. It was warm and much bigger than your hand. You didn’t realize it, but you had begun to inch closer to Yunho’s side. Almost as if he would protect you from the very happenings of the world.

He thought it was strange, that an android was taking solace in his presence, but he removed his hand from yours and wrapped it around your shoulders instead, bringing you even closer to him. You didn’t mind; the contact was nice, wanted even. All of this was foreign to you and there weren’t words to describe the emotions, so it was nice to have Yunho as a sort of grounding force.

The walk back to the house was silent, your systems whirred loudly as they tried to process everything that you were feeling. Yunho noticed, you know he did, but he didn’t say anything. He just held you to his side and kept walking.

The two of you were the last to make it back, and from a distance, you could hear Mingi, San, and Hongjoong screaming at each other. The words were fuzzy, you could just identify their voices.

“What the hell were you thinking? You can’t just bring Calixte into the Red!”

“It was the only way we’d get answers for whatever the fuck is going on! What else were we supposed to do?”

“Maybe sit and wait until I give instructions? I’m the leader, it’s my job to make sure none of you get hurt or worse!”

“Yeah well, you sure as hell did a good job with that the last mission we had.”

“Mingi, shut up.”

“I’m just saying,” Mingi started, voice booming. Even outside you could feel the frustration seeping from his words, each one cutting a hole deeper into you, “if you took your job seriously then we’d be able to bring Jongho on missions with us. If you actually gave a damn then maybe we’d be able to use him on the field instead of having to rely on him from base!”

“Mingi…” San was trying to stop him now, you and Yunho stood at the open doorway, watching everything unfold. Yunho held you behind him, but you still peeked over his shoulder to see what was going on.

Hongjoong and Mingi were chest to chest at this point, Hongjoong’s face was blank, void of all emotion, but if you looked at his eyes you would see nothing but pure, white-hot anger. Mingi was the same, but his emotions were shown in his posture: back straight, fists clenched so hard his knuckles were white, everything about him screamed danger, but Hongjoong didn’t back away.

“Mingi,” Hongjoong’s words were quiet, but sharp, “if you know what’s good for you, I’d shut up.”

“If you knew anything about being a leader then all of us wouldn’t have had to go through hell for your plan,” Every word Mingi said was laced with such venom, nobody in the room dared to interrupt him, “Jongho wouldn’t have to deal with partial paralysis, Yeosang would have a hundred percent of his hearing, Wooyoung wouldn’t have his scars,” his words got harsher as he continued speaking, hands trembling, “if you knew a goddamn thing about being a leader then we’d have actually made some fucking progress in this stupid scheme of yours and-”

His words were cut off with a swift hit to the jaw. Hongjoong brought his hand back, releasing the fist he had balled up and with trembling shoulders, looked up at the taller boy.

His gaze was deadly, and you found yourself clinging to Yunho’s shirt to be away from it even though it wasn’t even directed at you.

“If you feel so strongly about me, and my method of running things,” Hongjoong started, his voice strained, “then leave.”

Mingi stood motionless, his lower lip swollen from the new split in it, holding his jaw that was sure to bruise from the force of the impact. He lowered his hand to his side, standing still aside from the heaving of his chest.

“Fine. I will.”

And with that, he stormed past you and Yunho, anger rolling off of him in waves. He walked away from the house and didn’t look back, not even when Wooyoung or Seonghwa called after him, or when Jongho screamed at Hongjoong about why he couldn’t have just let the argument go. He didn’t look back when San and Shiber took off after him.

He just left. And this time nobody was sure if he was planning on coming back or not.

You buried your head into Yunho’s back, between his shoulder blades, systems overworking themselves again to process everything. You felt him turn around and pull you close, into a hug, as Wooyoung called it. You trembled, and he held you. He held you close as more binary code popped in your vision, blurring everything, canceling sound, muting touch, and once again you couldn't decipher the message.

01010100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100111 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110111 00101110 00100000 01000010 01100101 00100000 01110000 01110010 01100101 01110000 01100001 01110010 01100101 01100100 00101110

Regardless of what the message meant this time, you knew it wasn’t anything good. And that thought terrified you, it terrified you to your very core.

And you were scared of that.

~~~~~~~~ lots of you wanted yunho...so you got yunho :D from here on things will pick up! sorry it took so long getting this chapter out, school is a pain :’) and so is life in general :’’)

i’m going to spend a lot of time (like,,,a LOT,,,of time) planning out the next few chapters, but due to school and other external circumstances i’m not really sure when i’ll have the next few chapters out? it hopefully wont be as long as it took this one to come out, i feel really bad not providing the chapters as often as i prodive drabbles or imagines or things like that ; ; i promise i’ll get better with it

anyways, tell me what you guys thought of this chapter, or if you have any theories bc i tried to make some things very clear compared to previous chapters, and i wanna see if y’all caught it or not ;)

#dysnomia.exe #cyberpunk!au #cyberpunk!ateez #ateez yeosang #ateez mingi #ateez wooyoung #ateez jongho #ateez san #ateez hongjoong #ateez seonghwa #ateez yunho #ateez imagine

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aphreal42 · 5 years

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Something something Dragon Age; something something cyberpunk?

(Hey, it turns out I’ve already got this one! Or the start of it, anyway. It’s been sitting around for verging on three years, I think, so I might as well dust off what there is of it and put it out there.)

The Fadezone is another place, alongside this one. Or above it. Beneath it. Woven through. All of the above. Or none of them. An xyz grid breaks down when you’re not talking about three-dimensional space. It doesn’t matter where it is, only what it is: a whole separate world with its own rules, all governed by code that we don’t understand. Not yet.

Nobody knows how it got there. They say that when the first person plugged in a port, the Fadezone was already there, like it was waiting for us. Some people believe the code came from this single, amazing hacker, the “Maker”, but nobody’s ever found a trace of him beyond some crazy conspiracy theory “prophets” finding patterns in random junk code. Other people say that’s dogshit, no way a single guy coded the whole Fadezone; it had to be eight of them. Why eight? They have their reasons, hidden secrets, their own patterns in the code. Another sect believes the Fadezone is alive, that it made itself, and it grows and evolves and learns.

What do I believe? I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. What matters is what it believes. And it -- the Fadezone -- believes that it’s far more real than we’ll ever be, and we should be wondering who -- or what -- made us.

The Fadezone is another place, somewhere your mind can go without your body. Anyone with a port can get there, at least to the daydream levels. But some of us can see the gaps and go deeper. We’re called mages. And if you’re a mage who plays in the Fadezone without the “appropriate supervision” of a phylactery chip, well, they call us apostates.

A mage who isn’t careful and goes too deep into code they shouldn’t be messing with usually brings some of that code back out with them, whether they mean to or not. We call them corpses and husks and abominations. The only question is how long it takes them to get to dead and how much else they take out along the way.

The only difference between them and me is that I’m going to do it on purpose.

The Templars might have started out well, back when the Fadezone was new, when mages had no idea what we were capable of or what risks we faced. Maybe it made sense, back then, to have someone who could stop the chaos that happened when a naive mage found a virus that corrupted them into an abomination. Maybe it made sense to have someone who could wake the Dreamers who get so entranced by the code they forget they have a body that needs to eat. Maybe the Templars were a solution once.

But now they make the disasters they were supposed to prevent.

For every mage who becomes an abomination out of careless curiosity, ten are driven to it by fear of the Templars. By anger at the phylactery chips that seep control through your blood until they can close the gaps only mages should see, jamming your port and locking you into the flat reality of bodies and pain. By threats of having your port ripped out and being stuck forever in the bleak dimness with half of your brain burned out. Abominations die, but they take Templars with them. They fight back.

The Dreamers aren’t getting lost by accident any more; deep code is a refuge from the prying eyes and mouths and hands that take apart your very self. Who knows what happens to a Dreamer when their body dies? Maybe they blink out into nothing, but maybe they become part of the code, stay in that refuge forever. It’s not such a bad dream to cling to. Not so much of a risk to take, an easier escape route than the deep red lines up your arms, a tea made from the right-wrong herbs, leaping where you know you can’t fly.

Mages will always find a way out, whatever tiny freedom they’re left with. I’m going to change that. No more desperate clawing for freedom of the self, no more seconds of relief bought with everything you have. Freedom. Real freedom. For all of us. Forever.

The light is dark, and Garrett speeds up, his heavy treads a dull thud on the dirt-covered floor. The sound echoes, but not like it should. Too quiet, too flat, like the walls are stealing the sound instead of reflecting it. Everything always sounds wrong down in the tunnels, feels wrong.

Varric rolls his eyes whenever Garrett says that, tells him that he’s crazy and imagining things. And they all know that making shit up is infringing on Varric’s territory. But if there’s nothing weird about the tunnels, why does Varric use every excuse he can come up with to avoid coming down here?

Of course, there’s the smell, the dirt, the increased chance of getting stabbed in the kidney by someone poor and desperate enough not to care about the consequences. Maybe Varric’s the smart one for not wanting to be here. Garrett has to admit the place doesn’t have a lot to recommend it. Except for one thing…

The unlit light pulses dimly, the guttering of a dying battery gasping out its last flickers of power. Garrett’s pace falters, his half-formed hopes withering as he banishes the lure of a quiet evening at home, relaxing together and taking a few moments to be utterly selfish for a change. It’s a nice dream, and Garrett tucks it away as a hope for “someday”, when things are different.

For tonight, he’ll help Anders in the clinic. It’s enough to be together, and what kind of man would he be to begrudge saving lives?

Besides, a quiet evening at home is a fantasy. They would get interrupted by someone with an urgent problem that only Garrett can fix. Allegedly. Because everything in this city would fall the rest of the way apart if he weren’t there to take care of it. If he’s going to spend the evening taking care of strangers’ problems, there are worse ways to do it than tending to the wounded. And most of those ways involve people trying to stick sharp pieces of metal into him. So the clinic it is.

Garrett grunts as he forces open the heavy door. It’s sticking again. They should do something about that. Patients shouldn’t have to risk dislocating their shoulder to get in to see the healer. Even if it would be ironically convenient.

Garrett freezes as soon as he gets through the low doorway, alerted to danger by the feel of the air a second before the shouting. His hand goes automatically to the hilt of the blade concealed at his belt as he evaluates what kind of danger Anders has gotten into tonight.

A quick scan gives him a feel for the room. The cots are empty, patients all gone, hopefully after treatment rather than out of fear. Anders’s hands are clenched, and blue energy crackles around his eyes. But he doesn’t look scared. More angry, defiant, maybe a little bit defensive.

Garrett sizes up the figure on the receiving end of his lover’s electric blue glare. Female. Elven. Angry. The energy that crackles around her hands matches the flare Anders is putting off and marks her as not a Templar. Of course, that doesn’t make her harmless. Not all threats to an apostate agitator wear the Sword of Mercy.

“No, Anders. I’ve seen the insane shit you’ve been posting lately. You need to stop.”

Someone else complaining about the damn manifesto-blog. Garrett almost wants to like her.

Anders points accusingly at her, sparks flying off his outstretched hand, his channeled energy barely in control. “You’re on their side now? Wanting to silence the truth about their oppression? I would never have taken you for a templar lover. When did they rewrite you into a good little obedient mage?”

Garrett misses the rest of the tirade as he dodges out of the way of a ball of wild, blue energy flying his way. Only after he jumps aside and bangs his shin painfully on a stray cot does he realize it’s the cat. Pounce darts around to take shelter behind Garrett’s bruised leg, energy crackling off his raised fur and exposed circuitry.

The woman’s laugh draws Garrett’s attention, the flat sound as harsh and ugly as her sneering glare. “I hate them every bit as much as you do, and don’t pretend you’ve forgotten it. The only Templar who’s gotten near me since I got out of the Tower is dead. I made damned sure of that.”

“All by yourself? Because if you’ve got that ArchDemon in your pocket and hungry for more, let’s go visit the Gallows.” Anders smirks, taunting and superior. Garrett tries not to wonder what it says about him that he finds his lover’s haughty condescension appealing, distractingly sexy even in the face of an immediate threat.

His verbal sparring partner - Surana, she must be his old “friend” from Kinloch if Anders is bringing up the ArchDemon - seems unaffected. “Maybe I didn’t put a blade through his heart, but I helped it along. If the enemy’s eager to die, let him. But there’s a difference between hating them and trying to start a war that will only get us killed. There are ways to hate them - even kill them - that are safe. You used to know that. You used to be smart. Don’t try to tell me that virus hasn’t started messing with your thoughts.”

“He’s not a virus!” Vibrant blue energy flares off of Anders’s entire body, and Garrett recoils from the intensity.

Surana flinches, too, but she doesn’t back down. “Well, it sure as hell isn’t original code. And it needs to get out of your head.”

Anders’s incandescent glow dims, the eerie blue light never leaving entirely but fading back to the usual blue sparks that crack off a mage. His mocking grin returns, and Garrett tries not to imagine the effort it costs him to regain that control as he taunts her further. “How? You want me to just delete him, the same way they erase the parts of us they don’t like? Or are you offering your port for a file transfer?”

“Don’t be an idiot.” Surana’s sneer isn’t convincing. The pinpricks of sweat on her forehead shine in the clinic’s dingy lighting; she knows how close Anders is to losing himself entirely, becoming the abomination that haunts the subconscious of every mage who’s touched the Fadezone. “I’ve got the damned Blight virus poking holes all over my firewalls as it is. I’m not looking to take on any more malware.”

“If you’re not here to help, then leave.” Anders grits his teeth, blue light flaring in his eyes again. Does Surana realize that dismissal was a plea? “I don’t have time for another person pointing out problems they aren’t willing to help solve.”

“If you’d stop running your mouth about the evils of injustice and your grand plan for martyrdom long enough, I’d give you a real suggestion for how to change things. One that doesn’t involve deletion or spreading your virus to someone else stupid and screwed up enough to take it. When you decide you’re ready to listen, you know where to find me.”

#Anders #Garrett Hawke #Lathra Surana #cyberpunk AU #coarser language than I usually use #celeritassagittae

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sapphicvevo · 6 years

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:O wait can you talk about your story? i'm interested :3!!!

AAHH THANK YOU FOR BEING INTERESTED!!!! sorry for the late reply i wanted to be able to format BUT YKNOW

so basically it’s a mismatch of fantasy and scifi that leans more towards sci-fi if anything. it’s not based on earth or our solar system, and its a bit of like… cyberpunk in terms of cybernetic modifications + technology with a steampunk aesthetic. so like a few technologically advanced cities that are huge scattered throughout the world, and the further out you go from these cities, the less technologically advanced they are. there’s also a bit of magic, creatures, and quests that make up the fantasy elements.

it’s set five years after a huge world war that devastated the planet. the planet’s currently rebuilding, but resources are scarce, quality of life is impaired significantly, and there’s rebuilding but it’s slow. the good guys won, but they’re considerably weak and are still in the process of freeing some of the smaller societies that are still under siege (by the imperialists).

in the background there’s a secret organization of assassins who’ve been in stasis until the war ended. they believe they’re the answer to the problems of the world, and believe that people should be controlled without knowing they are. they’ve waited in stasis during the war, refusing to help either side, and are now in the process of wiping out political leaders and sending in those they’ve placed to take over without anyone knowing.

originally they were formed to be neutral and their sole goal was to maintain peace for the planet, and started off with good intentions and the belief that humanity as a whole were good and they were merely protectors. however, as time went on, corruption and a lack of desire to change and adapt to the world around them + growing cynicism made them into the organization they are currently.

this organization would take children during the war, either in the dead of night, or were given away by parents who believed them when the organization said they would protect these children during the war. of course, the parents never saw them again. these children were trained as elite warriors and depending on how well they did as children, would rank up within the organization or be sent out to the world to spread peace throughout the masses.

there’s a few conspiracy theorists that talk about the group existing, but it’s mostly seen as spooky campfire stories by the gen population at large about children going missing in the dead of night.

MY CHARACTERS… MY OCS.. MY BABIES UNDER THE CUT FOR THE LENGTH AND NOT WANTING TO CLUTTER THE DASH

so the protag is a former assassin of the group whose name is azura! she’s the only one who managed to escape from the organization. on her first assassination mission, she couldn’t kill someone, especially while they were asleep and weaponless, so she faked their deaths and ran.

at the start she’s very on edge despite her very blasé personality. she’s crude, funny, cocky, and has a habit of running when things get too real. she found the biggest city closest to her, changed her name, and decided to hide within a crowd.

most of her skills are based in fighting, so she’s made a living as a merc for hire because… well she doesn’t have any other skills that are worthwhile to a nonviolent lifestyle and nobody would hire her. she doesn’t kill, but she’ll find people, objects, etc. for anyone after she’s gotten a reasonable background check on them.

bisexual former assassin who’s got a heart of gold who’s trying her best despite her mouth getting in the way

her main goal is to help bring peace to the world after realizing her hand in what made the world the way it is. also to make sure ajur gets justice after trying to kill her lol (a lot of vengeance vs justice ties in between her and ajur)

she also has a robo dog named fish!

my antag is named ajur and him and azura were raised in the same organization together. same teacher, and were neck and neck for the top spot, but they actually got along really well together. he actually considers her his sister, so when she left, it felt like a betrayal.

since she failed to complete her first mission, his first mission was to kill her. he spends the whole year she’s gone searching for her, and the only reason he finds her is because she takes a job with a higher pay roll then she usually does.

farah and ajur are both traumatized survivors who are raised the same way and in the same place, but have both made choices that lead them on very different paths. i just wanted to show that you have the choice to be good or not based on your choices, not your upbringing and i wanted to highlight that

while azura is more skilled in combat, he’s more skilled in leadership and is more charismatic than she is, and has the backing of many young members of the organization who feel the same as he does

his main goal is to also bring peace to the world, first by dismantling the organization of assassins and leading them and the rest of the world into a new age of safety (through murder, manipulation, and false sense of security - is very pragmatic and believes the ends justifies the means, and if the world needs a person to be the one to kickstart with violence in order for the world to know no violence, he will take on the role)

then my side charas are farah, a runaway lesbian who azura first met when she came to the city then left because of how strong their connection was. (bisexual disaster.) nobody knows she’s a princess, and for good reason. her kingdom is still under siege by imperialists and she was the only one of her family to escape. she’s the head to azura’s heart, very logical, charismatic, and good with a sniper.

there’s eva and bones hawthorne, my twins!!! eva is a pilot/mechanic and bones is a hacker/cyborg/dabbles in the occasional engineering. their older brother died during the war, and their family and village are still recovering from the effects of it. they learned their skills from their family, and are heavily involved with resistance groups.

eva’s very head in the clouds, a little naive, but very protective over bones. she learned to pilot from her older brother, and how to maintain the ship too. she believes there’s good in everyone, you just have to look for it.

bones is a little more realistic than his sister, and is also very protective over her even though they have that ‘hey ugly’ ‘what’ ‘lol’ ‘omg shut up’ relationship. he lost his his leg up to his knee from an attack on their village, and feels guilty because their family had to give up nearly everything in order to get a cybernetic replacement so he does jobs here and there that are a little more criminally inclined to help his family.

then comes ari malloy, eva’s boyfriend! he’s the one who hired azura to retrieve a part of a map that leads to a mystical force that could restore the planet to its former glory (the fantasy quest-ish part, which i havent completely figured out yet lol). he’s a scout for the resistance, good with medicine, and average in combat. he’s also pretty much the glue of the team, and takes on a more parental role for the team.

and last but not least is ronan acosta. he’s a seer who is plagued by visions of the planet’s inevitable destruction due to humanity, and has a big hatred for it, partly due to his vision of the end and how he was treated because of his ‘curse’ as he sees it. he’s also able to talk with those from beyond to gather information, but it comes at a cost to his health where he gets migraines, passes out, or goes into seizures. he’s very closed off, angry, and not willing to help azura and co. with their quest at first, but he’s got a secret soft side where he just yearns to be a kid and have a family considering his abandoned him. (he’s also bones’ love interest)

I’M SORRY THIS IS KIND OF LONG BUT YKNOW I WARNED YA !!!!! this is my very vague outline/cast and i need to fill out names/timelines and other minor characters but this is the gist!! :~) thank u so much for asking

#answered #untitled project #and of course i have my superhero au i wanted to make into its own original work #and a novel thats basically like... abt my life #long post #AHHHH i wrote sm lmao #Anonymous

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roc-thoughtblog · 3 years

Text

IDORU READTHROUGH CHAPTER 1-21 RECAP

Transhumanist rockstar Johnny Silverhand announces his engagement to virtual idol Hatsune Miku, and everyone is upset. A fired data analyst and a teenage Silverhand stan are both sent to Japan to find out why he's gone crazy. Or has he?

I'm joking but that kind of is the story. It's great.

I haven't picked this book up in at least half a year so I can barely remember where I was at (this is more a reflection of myself than of the book). I need this recap for myself, too.

For my previous post on thoughts on the genre, click here.

CONTENTS:

Personal Context

Story So Far

General Thoughts

Predictions

PERSONAL CONTEXT: When I visited Adelaide in 2019, I found a fairly large second-hand bookstore called O'Connell's Bookshop, which I believe is family-owned. It is super cool, one of those bookstores where the shelves are overflowing and you could probably find somebody's great-grandparents' childhood diary if you looked hard enough. Also, they have a dog! And the dog's name is my name! I'm a bookstore dog! Ahem. I will never not be excited about that. Please visit if you're in Adelaide and say hi to my canine counterpart.

Anyway, I was perusing and randomly spotted a book called Idoru, and my first thought was, "huh this seems like a romanisation of idol in japanese, is this just an old book about japanese idols?" And then I saw William Gibson's name attached to the book called Idoru, and my second thought was "wait, that William Gibson? What has that William Gibson got to do with japanese idols?"

Dumb question, really. The influence of east-asia in general on the development of the cyberpunk genre is huge, so the convergence shouldn't have been surprising. Also, the book's from 1996, so it's relatively recent; I had pigeonholed Gibson to the 80s because I didn't know better, and wondered whether virtual idols were even a thing then.

Either way, the novelty of an intersection between William Gibson and Hatsune Miku was more than compelling enough for me to buy the heck outta that book, and I've been enjoying it.

STORY SO FAR: Idoru separately follows two protagonists, former data analyst Colin Laney and teenage music fan Chia McKenzie. Both have been sent to Tokyo to figure out what's going on with an old-school rockstar named Lo/Rez, and why he's become engaged to virtual idol Rei Toei.

Colin has just been fired from his job at SlitScan, some kind of pop celebrity dirt-digging company. When his metadata analysis revealed that a teen celebrity was about to commit suicide (after it helped drive her to that point to begin with), he tried to intervene. He failed, a scandal ensued, and he was fired for trying to whistleblow to a media-company-dirt-digging-company. He was dropped when they found out he was once a test subject of a questionable experimental drug, compromising the legitimacy of his story.

Out of job, he's sent to Tokyo to get picked up by Lo/Rez's loyal bodyguard, Keith Blackwell. Blackwell wants to know if his boss has gone off the deep end, and suspects foul play, manipulation or tech-mediated brainwashing. He wants Laney to figure out who's behind it. All Laney can figure out so far, however, is that Lo/Rez leaves astonishingly little metadata to analyse, but has been lying about his activities to Blackwell. Also, Laney's old boss Kathy Torrance wants to blackmail him for dirt on Lo/Rez.

Meanwhile, Chia's VR Lo/Rez fanclub is upset that Lo/Rez has made a marriage announcement, to a virtual idol of all things. The rich one in their group uses her father's credit card to sponsor Chia to go to Tokyo and meet with the fanclub's Tokyo chapter to find out what's up.

On the flight over, Chia unknowingly falls in with some kind of smuggler, Maryalice, who uses her as a patsy to smuggle something into Japan. She takes Chia to her boyfriend's place, where Maryalice and her boyfriend start having a violent argument over Chia's involvement. Chia takes the chance to flee, but unknowingly still has the mysterious smuggled item in her bag.

She meets the Tokyo chapter's representative Mitsuko, who says that nothing is wrong, but Chia is unconvinced. Mitsuko's brother Masahiko takes Chia out to help her investigate, but both their friends warn them they are being stalked by a dangerous unknown group, and the credit card Chia is using is being tracked.

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

Each character in Idoru is described by Gibson with great vividness. They're also colourful to the extent that I feel like I'm experiencing the literary equivalent of the silhouette test for character identity. The descriptions are conveyed with great efficiency. At no point is the story stopping to exposit to you how a character appears, you figure out their appearance alongside their actions and personality as the scene progresses. In that sense, appearance, personality and actions are fused such that the character feels incredibly whole. It's very cool, I wanna emulate that. Also, they'd make great prompts for character design illustration exercises.

Having said that, I feel like this is another story where the supporting cast seem more interesting than the protagonists. Laney is alright; he seems to only be a creased suit-shirt, but at least he's a creased suit-shirt with a backstory. Chia suffers a little though; I can't even remember what she looks like and there wasn't terribly much going on in her life.

I really like Blackwell. Partly for Australian bias, but partly because I think he exemplifies this approach to character writing the best. His image is incredibly solid and unique among the case, he's dripping with personality, and it all works in harmony with every little action we see him take to bring his character to life. He makes a great study for close reading.

There's a very simple and predictable prose structure to the story so far; one chapter of Laney followed by one chapter of Chia, repeat. I'm not really sure how well it works; on the one hand it's nice to know exactly what's coming next, but on the other I feel like it's affecting the pacing a bit in some places. It's hard to end a chapter of Laney thinking, "I want to know what's next," and having to enter a chapter of Chia starting something entirely different.

Sometimes the writing is just unintentionally funny because I live 24 years into the future and japanese culture is now fairly mainstream. "Kelsey drew her nymph-self up with elvin dignity, batting manga-doe eyelashes in disbelief," while referring to a VR anime avatar, just makes me crack up. At the same time, props to Gibson for calling out VRchat anime avvies in 1996.

I'm not sure what's with cyberpunk and automatically taking place in an alternate world history - actually it suddenly made sense to me when I was typing; it's partly alternate to me because I live in the future, and it's partly that their setting is shaped by more extreme fictional, governments, corporations and man-made disasters. Having said, some changes still seem casually random and just thrown in to make the whole world feel different. Australia seems to have had a civil war that created a southern identity, Russia seems to be... fully controlled by the kombinat? Native American countries build laptops. Lots of strange details dotted through the setting.

PREDICTIONS: None, I'm halfway through the book but I still have no idea what's really going on or what's about to happen. Lo/Rez hasn't shown up yet outside of recordings, and people rarely even mention the idol.

If I had to guess, Chia and Laney's stories seeming to still have nothing to do with each other suggests that whatever connects them has already been revealed. I'd take that to be Chia's accidentally smuggled contraband then, or whatever group is stalking her, though I have no idea what that is yet.

#idoru #bridge trilogy #william gibson #cyberpunk #post cyberpunk #about 1300 words #took about 3 hours though #probably too long #novels

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doofcake · 7 years

Text

BEST OF 2016

Hello everyone! I've got a list for you. In fact, I've got SEVERAL. Introducing:

Doofcake's Lists of Best of 2016

Let's have a look at what wasn't an absolute disaster in 2016. Starting off with the most important list.

BEST MUSIC

#1 Kero Kero Bonito - Bonito Generation

Released just at the end of October, but I feel like in that short time, it's already my most listened album in 2016. I was pretty excited about Bonito Generation's arrival all the way up to its release and I'm glad that my excitement was justified. Bonito Generation is an incredibly fun album from track 1 to track 12. I'd normally have a hard time picking out my favourite album, but not this year. Bonito Generation is my number 1.

#2 Suiyoubi no Campanella - UMA

I was pretty excited for this album's release and I really love the direction Suiyoubi no Campanella went with it. They make strange music that makes me feel strange. Strangely euphoric. It makes me feel good. I’ve danced to Chupacabra more times than I can count. I love it!

#3 Daruma

Daruma is actually a compilation of sorts, but they released 5 volumes in 2016, Daruma volumes 5 to 9, and I like to think of them as one single collection, since they are all very similar and I always listen to them all together. Daruma volumes deserve a little special recognition from me. They're beautifully crafted strange loud music.

#4 Quentin Sirjacq - Far Islands and Near Places

The mellow sounds, soothing melodies and overwhelming feeling of beauty and peace. It’s super zen. Everything about this album is right up my alley and I don't think I could ever get tired of it.

#5 PC Music - Vol. 2

Would be incredible if they didn't make this a Spotify and iTunes exclusive. I can't buy it on iTunes! So I'm currently forced to only listen to it on Spotify. Anyway, PC Music is something I can't and don't want to explain. It is its own thing. It has almost spawned its own genre as other artists try to copy their style. It's awesome. Go check it out.

#6 TOYOMU - Imagining "The Life of Pablo"

Fun story with that one. Basically Kanye released his album on a platform that wasn't available in Japan, so this guy TOYOMU, who's a big fan of Kanye, got mad and made this album in a sort of protest. He looked up the samples and the lyrics Kanye had used in each of the songs on the album, and then created his own version of the Life of Pablo album with the same samples and lyrics run through TTS, without ever hearing the original songs. And the result... Well, in my opinion, the result is BETTER than the original album. I love it to bits. From the idea to the result itself, it's a masterpiece.

#7 Perfume - Cosmic Explorer

Yasutaka Nakata sure likes making BANGERS lately. This album is full of it. Sweet happy tunes coupled with loud banger instrumentals is my jam. Getting my body moving while also making me feel happy, euphoric even. Thank you, Yasutaka.

#8 Haywyre - Two Fold pt. 2

This album is COMPLEX. Pretty diverse songs here. Calling it banger would be wrong, although at times it kind of is. It's mostly actually very chill. I mean, one of the songs is basically funk. So it's music that you can dance to and it has a nice beat, but it's not LOUD and all up in your face. It's perfectly good music to just sit back and relax with some drinks.

#9 Charli XCX - Vroom Vroom EP

Produced by SOPHIE, who is one of the most prominent PC Music artists. Silly stupid fun music. I sure do like PC Music and I love SOPHIE so it was pretty obvious I’d love this album. Beep beep!

#10 General Mumble - Pollogamy

I like to think of this as Mumble's "best hits". It certainly includes most of my favourite tracks from him, if you exclude the entire PEGASII +- DOGGE AM album, but that was 2015. I actually reaaaaaaally love Mumble’s Vibe as well, but I wanted to limit the list to one album per artist. Can’t leave it unmentioned though.

Runner ups

David Bowie - Blackstar

The King's Parade - Vagabond

KANYE WEST - The Life of Pablo

Kikagaku Moyo - House in the Tall Grass

FAMM'IN EP

Astrix - He.Art

Overhead, The Albatross - Learning to Growl

Noisia - Outer Edges

There's a whole bunch of other albums from 2016 that I listened to, and I can assure you they were all great, but just didn't have enough of an impact on me for me to give them a shoutout.

But I do want to give a shoutout to a couple of singles from 2016. They're single! They deserve love too!

Harrison Fjord - Approximately 900 Miles - This was almost like me and my friends' summer hit.

Yunomi & nicamoq - Indoor keinara track maker - It's FUN!

And now I'd also like to have a couple of special mentions for music that wasn't released in 2016, but which I either found out about in 2016 or just listened to a lot in 2016.

Mura Masa - Lovesick Fuck - I'll be honest, I mostly listened to this a lot because it made the LEDs in my PC look cool. But it's a cool song without the LEDs too!

DNCE - Swaay EP - God damn it's good. It's just good vibes put into music.

Petit Biscuit - Sunset Lover - I'll be honest, again. I found out about this song through the best video of 3D tits I've ever seen. The editing on that video was stellar. Damn nice chill music too.

Kentaro Shimizu - Shitsuren Restoran - I listened to this song a lot last year and I listened to this song a lot this year. It's timeless.

Alright!! That's enough of music now. That was my favourite music in 2016. Applause *clap clap*

BEST VIDEO GAMES

Best Multiplayer Game of 2016

Competition was rough with Call of Dutys and Battlefields and whatnot all fighting to be the best multiplayer shooter this year, but the crown goes to

OVERWATCH

I don't think there's really any competition here. I know some people don't like it, but MOST people who have tried will probably agree it's the best multiplayer game this year, hands down.

I was incredibly skeptical of this game for a long time. Blizzard making a first person shooter? It's a TF2 clone? Has some MOBA elements in it? Pfft, it'll fail. Then they put out cinematic trailers, which of course aren't any sort of indication how good the game is, but damn the trailers looked gooood. Like straight up Disney. Still thought the game itself will fail. But then the public beta arrived and oh my dear lord, I couldn't stop playing it. It was the most fun I've had in a multiplayer game since GTA Online. Right. Well, the beta ended, and I thought I was burned out and done with it.

BUT OH MY DEAR LORD, I decided to buy the game because everyone else was playing it and now I am always up for a round of Overwatch. It's just, so damn well made. Sometimes incredibly frustrating when a cycle path gets in your way, but other than that, it's just... So damn well made.

Best Singleplayer Game of 2016

2016 was a FANTASTIC year for video games. It really, really was. So it's incredibly hard to pick out a number 1. So I'm going to pick out 3. Not in any order. They're all equally amazingly number 1.

Mirror's Edge Catalyst

It got a lot of flak for bizarre reasons. Most of the early negative user scores on metacritic were saying it's feminist propaganda, but... how? Why? What That aside, there is of course some criticism that is well deserved. The story isn't super amazing, especially since the beginning of the story is told in comics, sold separately. And a lot of the backstory is kind of hidden in texts and audio logs AND in the original game. So people who aren't hardcore fans of Mirror's Edge like me were probably incredibly confused by just about everything in the story. But Mirror's Edge Catalyst SHINES in the areas where I want it to shine. I don't play Mirror's Edge for the story. I play it for the gameplay and the setting. And both of those are huuuuuugely improved from the first game. The running feels a lot faster now, your movement has a lot more impact to it and you can get through enemies without fighting or just knocking them out in the middle of running, without having to slow down. The world building is a lot more fleshed out, they did a lot of work with the backstory. And the world is full of huge electronic screens and neon lights, with a lot of grimy areas. Visually, it's almost my dream cyberpunk world.

Gravity Rush Remastered

This game came out on the Vita already in 2012, but I didn't get to play it until the remastered PS4 version came out and I finally got around to buying it. I didn't know much about this game when I went into it. Just that you control gravity as the name implies and that people on the internet wouldn't shut up about how everyone needs to get it for the PS4. Well, those people on the Internet were right. That game ended up being incredible. It was a bit difficult to get into at first, especially once the skill upgrade screens popped up and the map filled with dozens of "challenge missions" that you seemingly had to undertake in order to get those upgrades. And if you know me, you probably know I absolutely HATE RPGs mainly because of the very same overwhelming skill screens. But I ended up only doing one of the challenge missions just to try it out and the skills were very straightforward and in a fairly small number, so it wasn't overwhelming at all! The gameplay was incredibly fun. You control gravity, but only in a very small radius so the gravity shifts only affect you. And you use this ability for traversal and combat. Already the idea sounds fun! And the execution was well done. Although quite a few times I did get a bit disoriented, but that's to be expected and the game had clever visual cues to help you understand which way is up. All of that exciting gameplay coupled with an imaginative world and a superb story made this game an incredible experience. BUT! The story leaves a LOT of things unanswered and sort of ends on a cliffhanger. I don't really like it when games do that, since you never know whether there will even be a next game, but thankfully in this case, Gravity Rush 2 exists and is already coming out right at the beginning of 2017, and I can't wait to dive into that world and gameplay again. When I said Gravity Rush was difficult to get into at first, then after a short while, I could no longer stop.

Titanfall 2

Perhaps the biggest surprise to me and I'm sure many others. I played the original Titanfall only in the beta and it didn't leave me much of an impression, so I didn't even bother buying it. When Titanfall 2 was announced, I didn't care for it much, but the mention of a singleplayer campaign piqued my interest. The idea of a Call of Duty-esque singleplayer campaign with giant mechs sounded pretty neat, but only so-so. The huge amount of praise this game got, especially for its singleplayer, made me jump on board to see what it's all about and... Once again, those people on the internet were right. This campaign wasn't Call of Duty-esque at all. It was better. Way better. Everything was perfect. The story has you form a friendship with a giant war machine. The gameplay is full of really fun and awesome feeling traversal and offers various methods of approaching your enemies. It has BOSS FIGHTS! I LOVE a good boss fight, which has become awfully missing from first person shooters. And Titanfall 2 had a boss fight every half an hour. Even featuring that sweet camera zoom on the bosses like in Borderlands. The titans all have their own set of abilities and you can choose a set to use at any time as well. Each one providing completely different gameplay. It's kind of like Overwatch. Yeah, actually it's totally like Overwatch. Each titan setup even has its own ultimate ability that you need to charge up. Fighting against soldiers on the ground felt like just fighting creeps in a MOBA, coming up against enemy titans is where the real fun started. The only problems I have with Titanfall 2 is that the campaign only took me 4 hours to beat, which may actually be a good thing, you don't want to drag out the game to the point where it turns from amazing to a snoozefest. And the other problem is that the game has poor sales, because not only did the game come out at the same time as two major shooter franchises, but the marketing efforts were also focused on EA's other game, so people don't even know much about Titanfall 2 to think to choose it over the other games.

And that's all the awards I have for video games! Though I should give a very honourable mention to the new Doom. This game does things very, very right. The only thing I don't like about it from the little I've played is the huge focus on animated melee finishers. The reason I can't really say much more about the game is because I simply haven't been able to purchase it yet. Not necessarily because I can't, but because I want to get a new graphics card first, so I can enjoy its glory with the best visuals and highest framerate.

BEST TV SERIES

Orange is the New Black

Took me completely by surprise. It’s a series about women in prison and I can’t stop watching. Each individual character’s story is so intriguing and has me cheering or jeering on non-stop. It makes me feel frustrated.

BEST ANIME

South Park

It's South Park.

Member when South Park was just ass jokes and swearing kids and Kenny getting killed every episode? I member. But I like this new South Park a lot more. Actually, I don't know if that's really fair to say. It's so different, you can't even compare it with the old South Park. They're both great. But man the last 2 seasons have been amazing.

Jokes aside. My favourite actual Japanese ani-may was probably

91 Days

It was slow to start, but when it picked up, it gave me a cliche riddled mafia story, which... was a good thing. For one I'd never seen something like that done in anime and the story, although full of cliches, was still original and exciting enough to have me hooked. And the way it ended took me completely by surprise. And that was also in a good way. One of the few anime series in 2016 that didn't end with "oh shit we have to end the series somehow, let's just stop trying and let the writer smack his head into the keyboard, see what happens"

BEST MOVIE

Sigh...

Bad year for movies. Prettttty bad year for movies. Most of the time I saw the cinema banners full of supehero crap and they all got really high scores too. It's been that way for quite a few years now. Don't people get tired of superhero stuff already? And that fad doesn't seem to stop any time soon.

EDIT: Originally, I named Zootopia my favourite movie of 2016 and also complained about remakes and reboots that were just pure fan pandering like those superhero movies. But I’ve changed my decision now.

The best movie of 2016 BY FAR is

Kubo and the Two Strings

The best movies, music and video games always hide behind all the popular stuff it seems. I had heard nothing about Kubo and the Two Strings up to its release and even when it was in cinemas I only knew of its existence thanks to looking up what’s currently running. What took my interest was a video on YouTube showing a little bit of the “making of” process of the film, which made me realise it’s a stop-motion film! Needless to say, I really wanted to see it. It’s pretty rare to see a stop-motion film these days.

The story is about a boy, Kubo, whose eye was stolen by his grandfather, so Kubo’s mother escaped to save him and they’ve been hiding ever since. Kubo goes out to the nearby village every day with his shamisen and magic to manipulate paper into moving origami characters, to tell stories of his father who was a mighty samurai fighting the evil Moon King. Of course, Kubo’s story doesn’t stay there, as his grandfather finds him and he has to escape once again. That’s where Kubo’s journey begins.

That journey was breathtaking. When I began watching the movie in the comfort of my seat, I thought I’d go and lie down on my bed to watch it, perhaps try and have a nap while I’m at it. But I couldn’t get out of my seat. The story had me so captivated that I couldn’t even bring myself to pause it to grab a snack. The story coupled with flawless stop-motion animation, which was done so well that most of the time you couldn’t really tell it was stop-motion, made the whole film experience magical. And it made me tear up numerous times, dealing the final blow with the ending and catching me in tears. Happy tears. Truly happy tears.

I wish more films were as imaginative and beautiful as Kubo and the Two Strings is. I’m sad that the film got seemingly very little attention, but I’m glad I decided to dive into it.

And I guess that's it! Thanks for reading!

Have a lovely 2017!

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