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medea10 · 3 years

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Medea’s Worst Year of All-Time Anime/Game Superlative

Nobody saw this year coming…except for maybe Barbara Walters! Who could have predicted that this year would bless us with Australia burning, the entire west coast of the U.S. set on fire, stupid people setting fires because they wanted to reveal a baby’s gender, murder hornets, Ruth Bader Ginsburg dying, an almost war with Iran, serial killer mascots arrested, policemen killing unarmed black folks for having a counterfit $20, policemen killing unarmed black folks for breaking up a fight, policemen killing black folks for holding sandwiches, policemen killing unarmed black folks for fucking sleeping, a wide variety of “Karens” coming out of the woodworks, the end of Bojack, the end of Steven Universe, the end of Empire, and a pandemic so huge it’s killed the economy, canceled fun, and given the U.S. president the dumb-fuck idea of injecting bleach to kill the virus!?

SERIOUSLY, WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED ALL OF THIS WAS GOING TO FALL IN OUR LAPS LIKE HOT COFFEE ON THE CROTCH?!

At least there was anime this year.

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At least there was SOME anime this year.

…

Biden won the election and Vickeblanca came out with Black Catcher this year.

Hey internet, it’s Medea here to give you her trashy opinion on this years anime and games that she’s watched or played. Because for some reason, my loser-ass loves to do out-dated as fuck memes! I shouldn’t complain, this shit brings a lot of attention to my page every year when I do this. Yes, 2020 was a complete dumpster fire so large that Domestic Girlfriend is crying foul. Many of us had to go on lockdown and ended up binge-watching the entire 957+ episodes of One Piece. I did no such thing. I am one of those “essential workers” so I didn’t hunker down for 9 months straight. But when I was home, I was watching anime. Actually, I would have done that even without the pandemic. I’m an introvert and find the human race to be deplorable.

You all know how this goes. I go over the best this year had to offer me. I had to search really hard to find the good in this year, especially in the anime world. Many things had to be put on hiatus or were delayed to a later date. Just a reminder, I don’t discriminate in what year the anime or game came out. If something came out in the happier times of 2007, that anime or game counts! Let’s get at it!

First Fandom of 2020: Interspecies Reviewers

Did anyone expect a fan-favorite of 2020 was going to be a hentai? Did anyone have on their batshit 2020 bingo card that a hentai was going to grab everybody’s attention? At the beginning of the year, my mind was set on the Railgun sequel and Eizoken. It wasn’t until licensors, streaming sites, and TV stations in Japan dropped this series that I started to pay attention. And got immediately hooked! It’s about three men going to different brothels and reviewing their time with the ladies. And these ladies are of different species! So with every bang comes possible enlightenment, new kinks, or a night of having your dick sucked off more than humanly possible. This anime blew away all of my skepticism and first impressions right out the window. Maybe it’s because I’m a degenerate and am often curious about sexual content, but this was a guilty pleasure of mine this year.

Favorite Main Character of 2020: Moroha from Yashahime

I know the majority of this story is going to revolve around Towa and Setsuna, but can we please focus a little more energy on the spunky, quarter-demon girl?! I know they’re pitting Moroha as the comic relief, but I’m hopeful that she’s going to surprise us one day. We fans of InuYasha would spend the past decade and some change wondering what InuYasha and Kagome’s daughter would be like. This year, we got our answer with Moroha. She’s got this wild side to her, probably due to the fact that she’s spent her entire life on her own. And while she’s silly at times, she can get down to business in a pinch. She has her father’s sense of smell. She has a sword. She’s able to shoot sacred arrows much like her mother. And to top it all off, she has this special rouge that if she puts it on, she’s able to unleash that ¼ demon power inside her and become Beniyasha! Yeah, I know the power only lasts a minute, she’s only 14, give her a break! I will gladly go through another week scratching my head at the confusion this story gives me if I get to see one more second of Moroha and her crazy antics or her bad-ass slaying.

Favorite Villain of 2020: The Devil Believers from Black Clover

This was one hell of a year for Black Clover. It would have been an easy choice to pick the devil and possible super devil that appeared during the elf fight. But I’d like to give a nod to the filler arc villains. And you can’t blame this group for wanting the power of the devil. They’re literally the bottom-rung of the Clover Kingdom and ones with little to no power or mana. So I can agree with why they would want the power of the devil. For one thing, they’d have more power. And for another thing, they’d be able to exact revenge on those who have wronged them. On some occasions I agree with exacting revenge and when it comes to the nobles and some characters in Black Clover, some folks do deserve death. I mean, have you met the king of the Clover Kingdom? Plus, this town and many other poorer towns get looked over by the kingdom. Peasant uprise! Anyways, I thought these people were really crafty in their crimes. I mean, they were able to knock Asta out on his ass with specially made poisons. I was actually hooked to this story of Black Clover (despite it being a filler arc). I know we’ll never see them again as they have been exiled, but it did have me semi-rooting for them.

Favorite Video Game Character of 2020: Honey from Pokemon – Sword & Shield (Expansion Pass)

Sorry Raymond from Animal Crossing!

Honey is the saucy wife of Mustard…I did not expect that to come out the way it did, but here we are! She has one hell of a team you can fight once a day. She looks out for her husband, the dojo, and the students of the dojo like they were her own children by providing food, drinks, and others. However that does come at a price as you do have to give up a sizable chunk of your watts that you collect in raid dens. I’m sure a bunch of MILF chasers were more than happy enough to give her all their hard-earned watts just so they can have their one-on-one moment on the beach with Honey.

What won me over was when that one guy from a rival dojo bad-mouthed her husband’s dojo and she…I think she kicked this guy’s ass herself. I don’t think she used any of her pokemon. Game Freak won’t show it, but we all know she kicked this guy’s ass to a point where he’s begging for mercy.

Honey, for the win!

Favorite Game of 2020: Animal Crossing New Horizons

This game was just Zen for me. I know the release of this game came with some controversy like Gamestop saying it’s an essential business and will remain open for people to get their copies of the game. Hell, I was one of those assholes in line waiting to get a copy on March 20th. Did I predict that a pandemic was going to rage out of control when I got a prepay copy of this for Christmas 2019? NO! I only predict political things, not deadly pandemics! The good news, we social distanced, didn’t catch the covid and got the game.

Anyways, this game has been a non-stop calming and fun ride. I can even forgive their botch-up of Bunny Day. They even have events for holidays I never thought they would ever touch. I mean, does anybody know when Museum Day is? Probably not until Animal Crossing had an event for it! I’ve been able to let my freak-flag fly with designing my island. And this goes way beyond New Leaf for the 3DS. I can make a sign post with the words “Fuck Trump” on it and post it in my yard. I can dig up trees and plant them elsewhere. I can poop in a toilet. I can craft furniture and put my own design on it. My furniture can have Tracey Sketchit’s beautiful mug on it. I can sit on Tracey Sketchit’s face. I am a sick fuck and I don’t care. I can give Raymond and Bob maid outfits. Magical time in my game! My hopes for next year…I don’t know, get the Festivale furniture, get Papi and Olivia to join my island, maybe visit Danny Trejo’s island, who knows, sky’s da limit!

Favorite Het Couple of 2020: Nasa and Tsukasa Yuzaki from Tonikawa

This is one of the most unorthodox marriages I’ve ever seen. But in this 90 Day Fiance world we’re living in, I shouldn’t pass judgement on these two getting married in episode one and not knowing much about each other. Nasa meets Tsukasa as he was about to be plowed by a truck. Tsukasa saves his life. Nasa says she’s beautiful. Tsukasa says she’ll be his girlfriend if they get married. He agrees. She disappears. Four years later, Tsukasa appears in front of Nasa’s front door with a marriage registration form. Congratulations buddy, you’ve got yourself a waifu! In some way, this felt like watching Yamato and Takeo from My Love Story. I was fascinated with them progressing through their relationship. The only difference is that Yamato and Takeo took the old-fashioned route. This couple did everything ass-backwards in terms of having a relationship. But I couldn’t take my eyes off Nasa and Tsukasa’s relationship during each episode. I find them cute.

Favorite Yuri Couple of 2020: Karin Asaka x Emma Verde from Love Live Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

AAAAAAAAAH! I’M IN IDOL HELL AGAIN! Yeah, no kidding! I came this close to putting Miu x Nicole from that abomination 22/7. But thank God for Love Live! There’s no telling if any of the girls from the Love Live franchise are confirmed to be lesbians. But fuck it, all of them attend all-girl schools, no males exist anywhere, and Sunshine gave us Kanan x Mari! Yeah, you know Kanan and Mari is canon as fuck, don’t at me. So naturally, I found more third-years to ship in the new Love Live series. Now I know I should have put up Ai x Rina or Ayumu x Yuu. Especially the latter due to recent events! But Emma x Karin is my OTP.

Now Emma is an exchange student from Switzerland and in coming to Nijigasaki, she first meets Karin and they became instant friends. When Emma said she wants to become an idol, Karin helped her quite a bit. Even though Karin had no interest in being an idol as her modeling career is starting up, Karin would occasionally help Emma out. And surprise, surprise, Karin ends up fascinated with the idol world and Emma helps her come to the light to be herself there. Okay, I’m totally reading this in some fragmented way, but I’m currently playing Love Live School Idol Festival All Stars and the app game has a lot more stuff involving stuff the anime has yet to talk about. Confirmed or not, Karin x Emma for the win!

Favorite Yaoi Couple of 2020: Eiji Okumura x Ash Lynx from Banana Fish

It took me a while to get here, but I finally made it to 2018’s overlooked gem. Forgive me for not being fully caught up, but from what I’m watching at the moment, I’m sticking to my guns and supporting the hell out of this. I mean, I could have mentioned The Titan’s Bride here…but fuck no, I ain’t goin’ down that mess! Ash has gone through a lot, I mean a helluva lot in his past. His cute boy looks have made him a target on the streets of New York, with mafia dons, and with prison inmates. But dude can kill if you mess with him. Then you have Eiji, who is just a literal example of a “pure cinnamon roll (until episode 8)”. These two are as opposite as you can possibly get. Ash is from New York and Eiji is from Japan. Ash likes hot dogs with everything on it. Eiji likes grilled fish and natto. Ash spent the majority of his life killing on the streets. Eiji was a track superstar. You get my meaning. But when we got these two together it’s quite adorable. Ash is really able to change when he’s around Eiji. Ash isn’t some heartless killer on the street about to kill a thug with prosthetic fingers. When he’s with Eiji, he’s a joker that can easily get scared of pumpkins. And even in later episodes, you got these two acting like a husband and wife.

Fandom That You Didn’t Expect to Get Into: Les Miserables – A Girl Named Cosette

Let me explain a little something. Les Mis! I have never seen the play, watched the movie, or read the novel prior to picking up this anime. Not a single one of those! And that’s a bit of a head-scratcher when you realize I was a bit of a musical theater nut in my teenage years. But one thing I do like is when Japan does an anime based on plays or historical events (like Romeo x Juliet or Rose of Versailles). The second I popped in Les Miserables the anime, I wanted to binge watch the whole 52 episode series. It is by no means a perfect adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. Several key players end up surviving all the way up to the end of the story! But because this was my very first viewing of anything Les Mis, I took to the story of Cosette and was eager to see what was going to happen next in her tale. Unlike the movies and play, Cosette was the main focus of the story besides Jean Valjean and Javert. And thanks to watching the unfortunate stories of Cosette, Jean Valjean, the Thenadiers, Javert, Marius, and the rest, I thought it was time to watch the OTHER adaptations to Les Mis.

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Russell Crowe sucks.

Fandom That Made An Unexpected Comeback: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni

Higurashi or When They Cry is one of my favorite fandoms of all time! So naturally when we heard that it was making a comeback, I was excited. It was also very odd that Higurashi was given this sequel or reboot. Ahem! There’s another franchise that needs a face-lift. Umineko still deserves a better treatment. Plus, now that this series was out of the faulty hands of Studio Deen, Higurashi will get the special care it deserves. Believe it or not, it wasn’t just the anime that made a comeback for me, but the manga as well. Since 2009, I’ve read several volumes (out of order) and would every now and then come back to read the story. Back to the anime, this reboot or sequel…you know what, I’m gonna call it a “rebooqual”! This rebooqual sucked me back to the town of Hinamizawa and all the murders. Every week, I find myself comparing the current episode to one from the 2006 version. But then the fourth episode of each arc seems to catch me off guard.

Where are they going with this story and these twist endings to our favorite arcs? I did not expect Rena to turn a simple attempted murder into the end of School Days! I didn’t expect Rika to die in the most disgusting fashion they could think of. Could someone kill Teppei fucking Hojo? I will pay ¥5000 for someone to do that job. So yeah, because I know how much of this plays out and who does what, I’m usually watching and reading while making wise-ass remarks. But I still have fun with it.

Fandom That Inspired the Most Crack: Konosuba

In a year where I caught up with the popular Isekais like Shield Hero and Re:Zero, I found the wacky misadventures of Kazuma Satou to be amusing as all get-out. From the first 5 minutes, I found myself laughing at Kazuma’s misfortune. Seriously, how the fuck do you mistake a tractor for a car, have a heart attack, piss yourself, and fucking die in the first couple minutes to the series? You can only get away with this shit in gag animes! But it’s not just Kazuma’s dumbass, there’s a mage who only does explosions, but loses all her energy after one blow-up. Then there’s a busty, blonde who gets turned on by getting hurt and can’t strike anything with her sword. Anime’s biggest masochist or Cheryl Tunt incarnate, I haven’t decided which one to believe! Then you have this loud, crazy goddess chick named Aqua. She’s also useless about 86% of the time! Watching their unfortunate missions is all the crack that I need to get through this year. Seriously, Darkness is just all kinds of fucked up, but we love her.

Last Fandom of 2020: Yashahime

That’s right, the InuYasha sequel gets top spot here! Even though week after week I find myself asking more questions than when the episode started, I’m still hooked. If you’re like me, you watched and fell in love with the series InuYasha. So if they’re doing a sequel, you’re expecting to see all of your favorite characters from the prequel like InuYasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Sesshomaru, Koga, Rin, and the rest. Actually, no! Quite the opposite! We’ve got Sesshomaru’s daughters, but no Sesshomaru. Rin is sleeping in a tree we think! We’ve got InuYasha and Kagome’s daughter, but they’re M.I.A. None of the girls even know a thing about their birth parents.

Now are these new characters a catch like the ones from the previous series? Some are! The three main girls, yes! Especially Moroha! I’ve already praised her name earlier in the superlative. Towa and Setsuna do take on some personality traits from their parents. Setsuna is definitely serious like Sesshomaru and Towa sometimes has a carefree yet loyal aura to her like Rin. I know I’m always skeptical when a series gives us a sequel featuring the offspring of the main characters. Especially when you’ve got some lame examples like Boruto and Eureka Seven AO (I might retract my diss on Boruto later)! As each week gives us a new episode, we’re unraveling new clues into a lot of things involving our old favorite characters, as well as the new ones. So I have high hopes for Yashahime for the time being!

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sickdaysofficial · 6 years

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Love Like Ours

Sickdays Aug 17th: Public Illness

Written by @empresskaze

Tags: headache, overworked, dizziness, migraine, illness, whump, sick fic

Characters: My OCs Liam and Gabriel

~~~~

Love Like Ours

“The uprisings in Russia in the first half of the 20th century, most notably the revolution of peasant farmers uprising against their feudal lords, whose land they toiled, greatly tied into the events of Orwell’s Animal Farm. He used animals as an allegory to retell the end of feudalism, however the use of the pigs…

Gabriel paused a brief wave of dizziness engulfed him; hand tightly gripped the back of the chair. His vision blurred slightly a few quick blinks the room came back into focus.

Heaving a heavy sigh Gabriel massaged his forehead wishing the Advil he’d taken earlier curbed his throbbing headache.

“Professor?” A girl’s voice broke the silence. Gabriel glanced up to the faces of his students staring back; he’d momentarily forgotten he was still in class.

Running a hand through his hair he turned hoping to conceal the blush burning his face. Clearing his throat he took a quick breath, “Apologies class, where was I?”

“Pigs. The same girl replied her face breaking into a smile.

The professor stared befuddled then remembered. “Quite right.” Gabriel ignored a few giggles coming from his students. Struggling to maintain his composure while finishing the lecture he finally made the last 20 or so minutes of class free time meaning a good majority of students left. Not that Gabriel minded sitting behind his desk head leaning against his hand, eyes closed.

“Professor Herondale?”

His hand slipped at the voice, “Hmm?” He looked up, “Oh Trenton? How can I assist you?” Gabriel forced a smile.

“Are you feeling okay?” The young man with short blonde hair, oval wire frame glasses over his dark blue eyes asked looking quite concerned.

“Oh fine fine, bit of a headache is all.” Gabriel lied through his teeth. He could tell the English student did not believe him. “Maybe a slight fever. I, uh, didn’t sleep too well last night.” He flushed embarrassed about admitting all this to a student.

“Need anything?” Trenton adjusted his bag over his shoulder.

All Gabriel wanted was a nap, “No no perfectly fine.” He forced another smile. “Just study for the exam next week if you could.”

Trenton agreed, hoped Gabriel felt better soon and exited the classroom. Resting his head in a thunk on the desk the feverish professor remained that way for several minutes until the realization of probably falling asleep and waking up there tomorrow became too much to ignore. Throwing on his coat he nearly reached the door before back tracking to the desk grabbing his briefcase.

Exiting Baker Hall, Gabriel headed down the path towards his office not all looking forward to working in the dusty mess. Pushing open the outside door he stumbled on the stairs catching himself at the last moment. Muttering a curse under his breath he proceeded down the hall to his office. Entering his tired eyes noticed something rather peculiar, a person sitting on his desk. Gabriel blinked as sandy blonde hair and a black hoodie appeared in his vision.

Bewildered at the sight before him Gabriel scratched the back of his head. He stared at the figure smiling back at him then confusingly looked around the room just to make sure he’d entered the proper office.

Convinced his exhausted body was in the right room he frowned checking his pocket watch, “Now you’ve done it Gabe, your feverish state is creating hallucinations of your dear Liam.”

“Gabriel Lane you’re simply adorable.” Liam hopped off the desk.

The professor’s mouth dropped. “Dearest, oh my, forgive my comments, it’s only… I’ve had a right miserable day, didn’t sleep well, nearly drifted off in class, I didn’t….” He paused feeling Liam’s warm comforting embrace surround him. The stress of the last several days evaporated like steam from a bath, his throbbing head leaned against Liam’s as his partners fingertips gently grazed the outline of his face. “I…what was I saying again?” He brought a hand up running the back of his fingers over Liam’s cheek. Liam cupped his face, their lips met Gabriel let an audible sigh escape, disappointed when his partner pulled away.

“Love, you’re burning up.” Liam kept a hand on Gabriel’s face.

“I know dear, felt quite awful the past few days.” The professor finally walked over to his desk. Setting his briefcase down he noticed something. “You cleaned, didn’t you?” He smiled forcing his eyes to focus.

The neat freak returned the smile, “Guilty as charged.” He stepped over to the desk. “Gabriel cancel your class tomorrow, I’ll take you home you need rest.”

The professor scoffed while removing his coat, “I’ve told you before my job I cannot freelance.” A quick wave of dizziness forced Gabriel to support himself against his desk. “I’ve an exam next week, need to prepare for it.” He wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. “Besides I’ve one more class tonight, must…” He slumped into his chair massaging his temples furiously. “My kingdom for relief.”

Liam knelt down to Gabriel’s computer. “Ok here’s the deal,” He started typing on the ancient keyboard. “I’ll accompany you to your last class, keep a watchful eye on you from the back or assist if needed, then…” His voice trailed for one moment as he read over what he’d written before continuing, “You’ll send out an email stating your lone Friday class is cancelled.” Liam emphasized the lone part. “We’ll head home bright and earlier tomorrow or tonight if possible. I’ll help you with your exam preparation and you can rest in those adorable blue pajamas of yours.” His brown eyes sparkled as he finished the layout of his plan. “I’ve already formatted your Cancelled Class reply, we can send it tonight.”

Gabriel sighed stifling a cough, “Well, dear you know I’m not keen on cancelling and I don’t…,” He paused momentarily a quizzical look graced his weary face. "How did you access my email?“

“You never log out.” The writer giggled.

“Log…out?” Gabriel’s reaction forced Liam to cover his mouth with a hand though he was sure the smile leaked out the sides.

“Here I’ll explain.” He started but Gabriel waved a hand.

“No need too. I wouldn’t understand anyways.” He grumbled.

“Oh stop, you’re brilliant love, look.“ Liam motioned to the green scale screen. "See the button that says Log Out? If you click it you won’t be signed in anymore.” Liam was going to advise Gabriel to do this but then realized who really would ever want access to his prehistoric computer. “I’ll show you.” He logged out of Gabriel’s email.

The professor’s brow crinkled, “Now I’ll need to access it again.” He replied tiredly pinching his forehead between his thumb and middle finger.

“I can do it.” Liam smiled at the look he received. “I know your username; it’s the beginning part of your email, standard college practice. I used it for your Skype remember. And I pretty much guarantee I can guess your pass.”

Gabriel’s eyes widened, “Alright then, confirm it.”

Liam pressed his lips together and typed in the username. His eyes then shot to Gabriel as he slowly typed M I C H A E L in for the password. Hitting enter Gabriel’s email popped up. The professor brought a hand up covering his beet red face.

“Told ya.” Liam said with a hint of smugness. “My dear Gabriel Lane you are quite predictable you know.”

Gabriel remained quiet folding his shaking hands together. Small beads of sweat formed around his hairline.

Liam pushed up from the desk. “It’s alright love. Honestly it was an easy guess.”

Gabriel sighed closing his eyes, his color drained from the blush leaving him paler than when he’d first entered the office. “That doesn’t mean I wanted you to know.” He turned away.

Realizing this entire situation had inadvertently upset his ill boyfriend Liam tried to explain. “Gabriel it’s fine, I figured that was your pass months ago, makes sense…considering when you got your email. I’m going to take a guess the reason you never changed it is you don’t know how.”

The professor wiped a stray tear and nodded, “Affirmative.”

“Let’s forget about that for now. It’s not important.” Liam rushed to change the topic as Gabriel’s eyes became pools. “What about my plan?” He crouched down setting his hands on his boyfriend’s knees.

Exhaling the professor leaned back in his chair. His mind lost in a fog of pain and exhaustion, he wouldn’t admit it to his Liam but Gabriel wasn’t even sure he’d survive the final class. Running a hand from the top of his head down to his chin he merely gave a halfhearted shrug. “I must lessen his infernal headache first.” Opening the desk drawer he rummaged for a bottle of painkillers, tapping the bottle until two fell in his hand. He swallowed them without any water as Liam watched, then rested his arms on the desk laying his head in them. “Wake me in half an hour.” His request slightly muffled. Laying his coat over him Liam set the alarm on his phone but only to vibrate. A few minutes later Gabriel snored softly while Liam stroked his hair.

****

In all their time together Liam never had actually seen Gabriel teach, it was quite something. The subject matter might not have been the most interesting but his boyfriend morphed from the shy introverted Gabriel to the confident Professor Herondale. It reminded Liam how Gabriel acted when destroying Bryce that thought alone drew a smile.

Even severely under the weather, Gabriel’s tone grew stronger than normal while lecturing his class, today on different cognitive abnormalities of the brain. He was posed walking from one side of the class to the other maintaining eye contact with students, asking questions, promoting discussion.

However with about 30 minutes to go fatigue set in, Gabriel fumbled a few words, used his chair more as support and could no longer hide the fact he was sweating due to his fever. Mopping his brow with a handkerchief he forced himself to finish up his current thought.

Liam sat edge of the chair, knee twitching, ready to dash if needed. He’d promised Gabriel not to move unless asked for but it was getting harder and harder to endure watching his visibly ill boyfriend work.

Finally just as Liam could not take another minute, Gabriel pulled out his pocket watch.

“Forgive me class but I must cease for today.” The professor sat on his desk rubbing his forehead, “You’re dismissed.”

Liam ran down the auditorium style stairs, bypassing the students exiting, to Gabriel’s side clasping a hand on his arm.

“Gabriel Lane?” Liam failed hiding the worry in his voice. Sweat beads ran down his boyfriends face the edges of his grey hair glistened, Gabriel removed his tie and undid his top shirt button.

“I’m spent my dear.” Gabriel laughed drawing Liam in.

“Come love, let’s go home.” Liam took Gabriel’s coat, briefcase and arm leading the professor out of the hall.

No surprise Gabriel fell asleep immediately on the train ride back to Newhaven. Thankfully he’d taken medicine which Liam hoped would reduce his fever. Coat draped over his frame Gabriel’s head lay in Liam’s lap, the writer lovingly gazed down at his sleeping boyfriend. Never had five hours on a train seemed like heaven.

#illness #whump #fever #headache #sickfic #sickdays 5 #17 august 2018 #public illness #submission #empresskaze

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jimpluff · 6 years

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Pacific Rim: Uprising

Consolidated non-spoiler thoughts.

Plot: 7/10 This actually worked for me on a basic level. Not as interesting or unexpected as the original, nor as inspiring thematically, but it felt like a logical extension of the first film.

Story: 1/10 There is virtually no story. Meaning no real character arcs. Very minimal development, and most things that happen to characters are just forced on them by circumstances. They don’t really make decisions beyond what the plot demands, and their connections formed are flimsy. Characters: 3/10 Jake and Amara are likable but thinly characterized. Mako is a literal throwaway version of herself in the first film. Shao is intriguing but not fleshed-out enough, while Lambert is pretty cookie-cutter. None of the other pilots matter. The dialogue is merely adequate. I don’t expect any of the lines to become fan mantras as so many from the first did.

Jaegers: 8/10, Kaiju: 8/10, Action: 8/10 The big draws, the monsters are robots, are satisfyingly cool. Under-used but cool. The Jaeger vs Jaeger fights work out pretty well, and the first one is really tense. If all you’re here for is monsters and robots smashing things in exciting ways, you won’t leave disappointed.

Visuals: 7/10 This has been frequently commented upon, but there’s no comparing this film’s visual aesthetic with Del Toro’s incredible film. Still, there are moments of genuine awe and some stylishly done sequences. Music: ?/10 Barely noticed it but was happy to hear the main theme remix and NOT to hear the “War Ready” jam.

Cringe factor: 9/10 There are numerous internet memes referenced, and one is lingered upon for far too long. The film also contains frequent self-deprecating or self-referential gags (Did ya ever hear Stacker’s speech that canceled the apocalypse?!? Giant robots again? Oh, real original!!) that just make you feel embarrassed for Deknight.

Summary thoughts I went in with low expectations, and in many ways, the film exceeded them. It delivers on a lot of the basic things kaiju and mecha fans wanted to see and fairly effectively expands the Pacific Rim universe. It was never going to be exactly the kind of film we had fallen in love with in 2013, and that’s okay.

Still, even forgiving that seemingly inevitable drop in creative flair, the film leaves a bitter taste in this fan’s mouth. On top of the near-total lack of character and story, the film makes a truly baffling choice early on that’s inconsequential to the film but extremely off-putting to many fans, and I have a hard time forgiving this major error. It’s something akin to having a chef-prepared meal at home one night (Pacific Rim), then bracing yourself for a fairly unremarkable--but still tasty--fast food combo the next day (Pacific Rim: Uprising)... only for the fry cook to come out and noisily relieve himself on the counter while you eat (That one thing that happens). Yeah, ok, it is still the “good-not-great” fast food flavor I expected, but now this guy has gone and done something totally inappropriate that I just can’t ignore, so the meal’s all soured.

I expect once I get over how badly Deknight botched this certain element, I’ll continue to enjoy the film as a mediocre but action-packed extension of a much better film’s universe. We’ll meme about the bad parts, come to love its cooler elements, and speculate about what could come next.

But what is next for Pacific Rim? When you see the truly bad moment in this film, you may feel what I did at that moment--that it marked the death knell for a wonderful, promising fictional world. Because this film in and of itself is not truly bad. But its failure to be something more, its failure to effectively carry the life force of the first film forward makes me feel like we are about to mourn a lot more than one poor character decision.

#pacific rim #pacific rim uprising #long post

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segadores-y-soldados · 7 years

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Do you think any ship will ever be confirmed canon or do you think Blizzard will hint at ships but never make them canon?

So, obviously there’s one big ship that I would really LOVE to be confirmed canon. I’m toeing the line between being optimistic about it and being “realistic” (aka, it will never be confirmed and will only ever be implied).That disclaimer out of the way -Here’s some of the stuff that Michael Chu himself has either said or done that heavily implies at least two ships in particular may eventually become canon or close to canon:

(More under the cut)

1. Anahardt (Ana Amari/Reinhardt Wilhelm): technically, their in-game interactions are NOT “canon” (no one knows Ana is alive besides Soldier: 76, Reaper, Sombra, and possibly Pharah), but they obviously have a very flirtatious interaction which inspired the ship (along with their early in-game syngery of “Nanoboost the Paladin”). However, while their in-game interaction isn’t confirmed canon, in Michael Chu’s 2017 GDC talk, he really emphasized how important both Ana and Reinhardt were to Fareeha as she grew up. In that same section of the talk about Fareeha’s relationship with Ana “and other heroes like Reinhardt,” he pulled up Fareeah’s combined “ice fishing” spray with Reinhardt. Fareeha also has a special “final blow” quote for when she kills an enemy Reinhardt (an apologetic “Oooh, sorry, Reinhardt!” vs her smugger final blow quotes against McCree, Reaper, and Widowmaker) - her final blow quote against Reinhardt almost sounds like she accidentally hit him. We know she also idolized him enough to have a poster of him on her wall growing up, and it is loosely implied that Reinhardt’s love of rockets (rocket armor in particular) inspired Fareeha’s own love of rockets.

Along those lines, although the Ana-Reinhardt interactions in the game are not canon, they do imply certain things about their relationship. I tend to interpret the non-canon in-game interactions as “here are what the characters would say if they were put in this scenario” - they give us insight on their personalities and past relationships. Ana has a quote where if she witnesses Reinhardt kill an enemy, she compliments him with a coy “Reinhardt, you haven’t lost a step,” and if an ally Reinhardt dies, she shouts “Reinhardt!” She has similar lines with Soldier: 76, but based on the fact that the two literally sleep in separate rooms (in the Necropolis), we can kinda assume they’re really just friends. Ana is also the only person to teasingly chastize Reinhardt “don’t go charging in there on your own” in the Uprising dialogue.Reinhardt seemingly does not have a spouse or children. In “Reflections,” he and Brigitte are shown to be at Torbjörn’s house for the holidays, where he is reading a book to Torbjörn’s grandchildren. We don’t know the full details of his relationship with Brigitte, but they seem to fall under more of a master-apprentice, knight-smith, or mentor-mentee relationship.It is loosely implied that Ana’s relationship with Fareeha’s biological father is either friendly or non-existent - she makes no references to him at any point, and the only image of them together is her Uprising spray, where they are shown together with a baby Fareeha. Given that we know Ana worked for Overwatch since its founding (about 25-30 years), and we also know that Fareeha’s father appears to have “stayed put” in Canada, they likely spent almost no time together. This does not negate the possibility that they maintained a relationship, but it does put considerable stress on them. We do also know that they were never married (http://harmicist.tumblr.com/post/156761148006/theres-a-lot-of-drama-going-on-about-reapers), as Fareeha inherited Ana’s surname, which is not typical of Arabic naming conventions. It is possible that Fareeha’s father belongs to a tribe with matrilineal naming patterns, but until Blizzard confirms this, I won’t wait for it.Lastly, Chu has liked a number of Anahardt or “Amari-Wilhelm family” (Ana, Fareeha, and Reinhardt) pictures on twitter.My gut tells me that if any ship in the entire game is going to be made canon, it will be Anahardt - they have easy in-game synergy, they have the classic “tank-healer” gameplay relationship, they’re both badass older characters, they flirt together, they have complimentary design elements (missing eyes), they both inspired Fareeha, they have a long personal history together that could easily be explored in side material, etc. And frankly, they’re both a “safe” bet while still being pretty incredibly groundbreaking: how frequently do you see two 60+ yo characters, both of whom have physical scarring and are blind in one eye, one of whom is an older Arabian woman, being loving and supportive together in media or video games?2. Reaper76.

Alright.So last time I tried to discuss “the evidence” for this ship, I got a handful of comments telling me that I was “reading too much into it,” but a I got a ton of notes from people thanking me for putting it all into words. So forgive me if I’m a little wary of doing this song and dance again.I guess we’ve all been burned one too many times by media creators who tease LGBT relationships or characters and never confirm anything “in canon.” I don’t blame anyone for being exhausted by this discussion. My other, non-OW OTP falls exactly into this category - two masculine characters who spend not one, but two games falling in love, being supportive of each other, growing together as individuals, and then literally run off into the sunset together only for other fans to consistently say, “Well, they were never confirmed to be romantic.” The second game came out in 2007, so you can imagine how long THAT discussion has been going on.So just to start off with, I’m just going to drop this here:http://segadores-y-soldados.tumblr.com/post/160801745270/overdaddys-skeletonsock-vigorous-side-eyeing

Along with this:

http://segadores-y-soldados.tumblr.com/post/159728931935/reaper-and-soldier-american-cultural-references

And this: http://segadores-y-soldados.tumblr.com/post/163703769040/so-kerrigore-asked-a-question-about-necropolisAnd this: http://segadores-y-soldados.tumblr.com/post/161011920475/shortstoutandswedish-segadores-y-soldadosUnlike Anahardt, which people have “collected fewer pieces for” (I should probably do that…go through and get screenshots of things), the “evidence” for Reaper76 has been screenshotted, quoted, linked to, teased about, etc, etc, etc, add all the verbs you want, etc. Alongside Roadhog and Junkrat, Reaper and Soldier: 76 are the main masculine characters to share combined sprays (the Contra sprays), and matching voicelines (”What are you looking at?”; “Whatever you say.”/“Moving on.”). They also have voicelines referencing the Old Soldiers comics (Soldier: 76: “You’re the boss.” > “My old boss used to say there’s no such thing as luck.”) (Reaper: “No one left behind.” > “He did this to me, Ana. They left me to become this thing.”). With the Summer Games 2 update, Soldier: 76 now has an American music reference (“Bring the noise! Bring the ruckus!”), and Reaper got a goddamn biker outfit, drawing even closer parallels between them.In the Uprising comic, Jack has a brief opportunity to talk about his motivations and frustrations regarding both the American military and then early Overwatch. Rather surprisingly, he makes no references to “family,” “honor,” “duty,” “freedom,” or any other “noble” “all-American” justifications for war and fighting (I’m rolling my eyes here, believe me, I’m sick of it too) - but instead, Jack calmly describes how “Commander Reyes and I…Well, they tried everything,” effectively cutting off his first train of thought about Gabriel and switching gears to talking about politicians and military leaders (presumably, people related to SEP). His dialogue makes it sound like Gabriel and Overwatch were his main motivations for fighting in the war, and we know that at least one article described them as “joining Overwatch together” (https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/blog/19809396/).

Much like Ana and Reinhardt, Gabriel and Jack seemingly do not have spouses or children (obviously Ana has Fareeha, but she appears to be her only child) - Gabriel appears to have a connection with the family in Reflections, but their relationship to each other in unknown. And much like Ana and Reinhardt, Gabriel and Jack have spent at least 25, possibly up to 30 years working together, and despite the “in-universe rumors” that Gabriel was upset that Jack got the Strike-Commander position over him, neither character ever references “the promotion.” In fact, no characters reference the promotion. In my opinion, the article that does reference this (the one I just linked to) has been retconned, or the plot point about the promotion was abandoned (along with other early-story stuff like “First Strike”). When First Strike was canceled, Michael Chu’s post on the subject made it sound like the Blizzard team had completely rethought some of their early story stuff - and this shows particularly clearly with Reaper/Gabriel, who has gotten more fan-based, “lighthearted” stuff like the Shrug, his Uprising dialogue, the biker skin, the Necropolis map, etc.

Speaking of Michael, regardless of what people say, it is very apparent that he loves the character of Reaper/Gabriel when he talks. His GDC talk is enlightening in that he always lists Gabriel first when he talks about the original Strike Team, he is very passionate that “villains can be just as amazing as heroes,” he loves playing with perspective and unreliable narrators, etc. Before anyone jumps on me, please note I’m not defending his mistakes nor saying that Michael is above critique (he’s not), but I do think that he’s passionate about giving Reaper/Gabriel the storyline he deserves, and I think he’s learned a lot from the fans and fan reactions about what that is and how to “build” that.And more on Michael - he loves the Reaper “beans” or Reaper “birbs” concepts. Like… a lot. You can check his twitter likes for yourself (https://twitter.com/westofhouse/likes) (including this https://twitter.com/westofhouse/status/903748787793006593), and on occasionHe will like things tagged “Reaper76″ or “R76.”So for anyone thinking “he has no idea what’s happening, he doesn’t care,” etc, he knows. He knows very well what’s happening in the fandom.Michael is also a big fan of the Legend of Korra, as well as Korrasami, and at the end of his GDC talk, he discusses Tracer/Lena, in which he was very passionate and vocal about how the team wanted to convey her relationship with Emily, how important it was to show her using her chronal “disability” (his word choice, not mine) in an every day, cute situation, how they wanted Tracer/Lena to be the uplifting, inspiring, charismatic hero who “represented everything positive about Overwatch.” Tracer/Lena represents Blizzard’s commitment to “doing right by a character and all she represents, both in fiction and in the real world.” A recent article went out showing that Blizzard is looking into hiring more feminine/women programmers and developers, and in that article they state that they have routine discussions and focus groups with their LGBT members as well.They are not perfect. They have made mistakes regarding representation, and they will do so in the future. This is NOT a forgiveness of that. This is a write up on their efforts. I recognize completely that efforts may not result in anything tangible. Efforts without lasting effects can mean very little, but if fans want a dialogue with media creators like Michael and his team at Blizzard, then we need to recognize what effort does count for. Providing feedback on what Blizzard has done well and what they have messed up on is important.Why do I bring this up?Because if we want Reaper76 to be canon, and we want it “done well,” then we have to continue critiquing Michael and his team, but in constructive manners. They do look at sites like twitter and reddit (as evidenced by the “Take Out” vs “Take Away” sign changes in Junkertown). They love fanart and fan content, and are not ashamed to show it. But I think that, if they are going to make Reaper76 canon, it’s going to take a very, very long time. They will make mistakes. They will probably fumble with parts of it. But if we’re giving the “evidence” of Reaper76 the same sort of weight that we can give Anahardt, then we need to hope that their intentions are there. I know that’s a lot to ask, so I’m not asking for anyone to stick with them for that long. As I said in the beginning, I myself am toeing the line. Rather than wait to be drip-feed “implied relationship content” between Reaper/Gabriel and Soldier: 76/Jack, I’ve done what many do and tried to work on my own content for myself. It’s been satisfying to do, and when new content does come out, I’m excited, but each comic feels too short and each animation is spaced so far appart from each other.Sorry if this rambled a lot. The short of it is:If any ship is going to become canon, I think it will be Anahardt. The second ship that might become canon is actually Reaper76, but don’t be surprised if it takes another year, two years to get there. Soon TM and all that jazz. And while I have other ships, I’m not holding out for any of those, including Bunnyribbit, which I know the HotS team and even Johnny Cruz really like. I could probably write a whole post on the economics and social aspects of shipping, and how media companies profit when they DON’T confirm ships vs. when they do. Blizzard’s choice to create Emily and put her in a canonical romantic relationship with “their mascot” Tracer/Lena is an incredible choice against the “economy of free shipping” (lol), and I’m waiting to see if they’ll do it again with another ship in Overwatch. Only time will tell.

#overwatch #anahardt #reaper76 #r76 #long post #gonna insert a cut in a second #asks #personal #rambling #Anonymous

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markyishanthonymartinez · 7 years

Text

4/7/17

hello hello hello.

im a bad person. like actually a bad person. i did something legitimately bad that i dont really want to talk about but i have to be honest with this blog and like idk it’s on my mind so i gotta. okay how do i say this. fuck okay i’ll just do it.

i missed class today. for the first time all semester. i’m a bad person. i was just so tired after this week and our story last night. my alarm woke me up, and i went pee, and got back in bed, and the next time i opened by eyes it was 9:47. aka 47 minutes after class started. i feel bad. i always feel bad when i miss class. poles is funny. he took a selfie with all his friends who showed up to class. aka himself and 3 stick figures drawn on snapchat.

at least i got to eat breakfast and then go to the ecc and study for our quiz. also, bags did the exact same thing i did and thus was not able to wake me up and stuff.

studying was chill, i listened to new music. i’m mad kendrick didn't drop his album today, actually mad. i was looking forward to it. the new harry styles track was actually enjoyable and I'm surprised. the new chainsmokers was... fuck them. just not listenable like i can't I'm sorry. i had never listened to halsey before, but its exactly what i thought it was, overproduced hipster girl pop trash. not that overproduced hipster girl pop is inherently bad, but she’s bad. other new tracks were whatevs. wait wait i almost forgot, the new french montana track was horrendous. like what even is that fam. idgi.

had a quiz in systems. it wasn't horrendous, but still pretty bad and that made me a sad mark.

i got froyo with poles after and then he came over and hung out with bags and kyle and i. we made kyle wait outside for like 15 minutes and pretended we weren't home lmao.

oh yeah kyle’s here btw. his spring break trip got cancelled and he figured why the heck not.

but yeah then kyle left to go day-drinking with kassandra and bags went to work and poles and i literally just hung out in my room doing pretty much nothing.

it made me happy cause like poles and i literally were not doing anything but we still had super fun times and that’s so qt and he’s my bestest bff.

he left to go on a tinder date. she didn't come. fuck that b. who would stand up mr alex s poles. like wtf. that hanna bitch better watch her back.

played games with buds.

then kyle came home drunk and i kinda just turned netflix on and left him and kassandra downstairs. like i guess that kinda makes me a bad host but, idk i was just trynna play games with buddies and they just ran up on me all drunk and high or something idrk.

but yeah

time for deep mark.

okay i kid you not, but i googled questioning general beliefs and the first link was an lds.org video lmao.

but really uh time for thoughts and mark ideas.

okay so like I'm not some all-knowing jerk that is a super genius but i’ve always considered myself to have really strong reasoning skills and i guess that leads me to fake deep mark.

i say fake deep cause idk I'm not a psychology major fam, buzz off.

okay so i’ve had this conversation extensively with myself and my parents and friends and actually quite a few people, but okay.

wait on second thought this one isn't really some psychological deep thing. but kinda will turn into it maybe, if this plays out how my head thinks it will.

okay so, we as a developed society will more than likely face a frightening revolution within our lifetimes. not like uprising type of revolution but a revolution in the way our entire economic system and the way people function. okay so within my lifetime, i am near certain that self-driving vehicles and the technology behind them will be perfected and mass-produced. what does that do? it gets rid of a huge part of our economy. not in a bad way for economic reasons, but in a bad way for people who need jobs and a method to contribute to society and a reason to exist on this planet. perfected self driving cars won't crash (once perfected), self driving cars will move efficiently and won't be late and won't brake too hard and won't cause damage to themselves and so on and so forth. truck drivers, won't need em. body shops for cars, nah fam. the huge chunk of the medical field that dedicates time and money to car accidents, meh. even car manufacturing and sales will go down cause like why would people need new cars. if you can just nap in your car and tell it to drive to LA, plane travel will take a hit. road work will take a knock, when there’s not people driving poorly on the roads. hoping by this time gasoline powered cars are gone, but if not, self driven technology will be a lot better at accelerating and braking to use it’s energy source as efficiently as possible. the fields go on and on and on and in most of the senses it’s a good thing. like it would be great to not waste money on these things, but people lose jobs, but not like jobs because we have a recession, but if anything jobs would be lost because we’d be doing too well. now i named one field, but consider the continuation of “robots” and computers and machines taking human labor jobs. but not just that, I’ll be a lil harder to replace, but in a perfect world computers take my job too eventually. a computer with infinite options and an understanding of which options are preferred will always be quicker, more efficient, and probably even better at engineering than i may ever be. it’s just a matter of developing a very complicated code.

i’ve talked a lot but i’m just now getting to my actual thing. what do people do when they have nothing to do? like it’s easy for me to sit here and say idk fam watch netflix and relax, but no really. if even 20% of all currently employed people had their jobs taken by a computer tomorrow, what do they do? like they didn't lost their job because of economic issues or they fucked up, no like their method of bringing bread home is no longer available. what do people do? looking past the economics of it, let’s say the government is super aware and like wow people you’ll just get paid to exist cause we dont really need you as laborers. what do people do? have we forced people into just being laborers? i feel like there’s so many people who are nothing more than their 9-5. they go to work. they have small talk and perform a simple task over and over. they come home. they eat dinner. they stare at a screen for 4 hours, they go to bed. they do it again. i dont think anyone is inherently a mindless zombie like this, but i think it’s happened. if you just told everyone they didn't have to work tomorrow or the day after that or after that, people would have no idea what to do with their lives.

i dont think this, but i should mention it, what if some people really are just zombies? what if some people really don’t think anything. what if some people dont have any real deep down interests. or they can, but they dont care enough to. what i become that.

i dont ever want to be that. i want to be me. i never want to go through the motions.

i’m better at closing this conversation off in person but i am scared to see what happened when we reach a society where laborers aren't needed. (please forgive me, i dont mean this sourly) where, the less intellectual are put in a place where they have to sit around and feel purposeless to society? of course i’m looking at this in a dystopian sense, i assume that similarly to the renaissance, art and knowledge will be further pursued when we are chilling financially, but idk it’s interesting to think about things like that. also the general public will grow more and more knowledgable along with this and maybe we’d have a super crazy smart culture. idk fam, this wasn't actually that deep but just something i thought of and not really on the theme of questioning things. that will come mañana and beyond that i’m still working on it. sry

-mark

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