#i tried to make the subtitles nicer

[bakudeku4444]

*not my art! 👆 all credit goes to the artists*

Friends to Lovers.

🔞MINORS DNI!🔞

Kaminari x Bakugo (aged up.)

Word count: 8.4k

⚠️Warning⚠️ : bullying, selfharm, angst, smut, anal, oral, death, grieving, PDA.

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All of the UA students had moved on. Some went right into being side kicks for pro heroes, but most did it as a side job. They all wanted to be the best they could be. So, when the opportunity to go to college for extra training was presented to them, they all jumped on it.

They had dorms once again, which worked for them because by the time they were about to graduate from UA, they were a bit sad they wouldn't all be living together anymore. Even those who could afford to live outside of the dorms decided they wanted to live with their old classmates.

Today was a particularly tough day in training. Kaminari was trying to nail this new move he was testing out, but after so many tries that he lost count, he short circuited. Which placed him in a catatonic state, but he was still slightly aware of his surroundings.

It wasn't as bad as it normally was. He even heard Bakugo when he was talking about Kaminari to no one in particular.

"Dunce Face, short circuited once again. Tch. To think by now, he would know his quirk's limit." Bakugo said as he watched Kaminari stand there.

It hurt his feelings this time. He didn't know why... maybe because he had been working so hard on it and kept failing... He was so frustrated, and it seemed like Bakugo just kicked him while he was feeling really low about himself already.

He couldn't speak or do anything about it currently. Also, their last class was about to be over.

Kirishima helped Kaminari walk to the dorms because he had about 40 minutes left of this before he was back to normal. He decided to try to just nap as Kirishima got him to lay down in his bed.

"Don't listen to bakugo. I can't even make an excuse for him after all these years, but I have noticed he tries to be nicer most of the time. I'm sorry he said that, though." Kirishima patted him on the back before walking towards the door. "I'll bring you some food in a bit."

Kaminari just laid there stuck, staring at his desk. Kirishima left.

After Kaminari got back to normal, Kirishima had brought him food and asked him if he wanted to come watch something with them. Kaminari agreed after he finished his food.

He thanked him and told him he would be down there in a bit. Kirishima let himself out.

Kaminari scrunched his face up with his jaw tensed. He couldn't shake how he felt about what Bakugo said. He hated that he couldn't get it down, and that his best friend still makes fun of him for his fuck ups. It was getting old. He took out his shorted hearing aids, and threw them in the trash.

He walked downstairs. He had the new hearing aids set low. (He had a stock pile of them because his quirk broke them often.) So he couldn't really hear what anyone said as he sat down. He read the subtitles.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

Bakugo stared at Kaminari for a bit when he first came and sat down. He could already tell something was wrong when Kaminari didn't make himself known when he came into the room. He kept looking over at him throughout the movie and could see that his hearing aids were on low.

Bakugo felt bad that the hearing aids were basically his fault. They didn't really have a choice. The two were paired up for a mission over the summer. They were having a hard time beating this villain. They thought they were going to die before they had the chance. So, they came up with a plan to use both of their quirks together. The mixture left Kaminari deaf in both ears.

Bakugo blamed himself even though it was Kaminari's idea. He knew how it felt to be deaf. His quirk made him deaf. The combination of both quirks made for the loudest explosion bakugo has ever set off.

He truly felt bad for it. He just didn't know how to show it. He started being a little extra critical towards Kaminari. He didn't want anything like that to happen to him again. So, he thought he was just helping him push himself to do better. He didn't know that he was hurting his feelings.

Bakugo sat back with his arms crossed and tried to just focus on the movie, but he couldn't help finding himself looking over at Kaminari. His mind started to run rampant about all the things he refused to think about until he was alone in his room at night.

☁️: This idiot is so fucking cute with his stupid lightening bolt in his hair. Oh God! did he notice me looking when he was getting changed in the locker rooms this morning? Is that why he's being weird? I don't want him to know I like him more than as a friend. Then, if we became a thing, then we wouldn't be able to work together anymore. Not that I want to work with him again. I don't want to be the cause of anymore pain to him. I made him deaf for crying out loud that shit hurts not only physically, but mentally. It was a lucky chance that he had the idea to learn sign language for me when he found out I was hard of hearing, but I didn't think he would ever actually need it for himself... especially not me being the cause of it... That was such a stupid idea even though it worked.

This wasn't the first time that Bakugo mentally beat himself up about having a crush on Kaminari and about him being the cause of Kaminari being deaf. Kaminari never even got mad about it. He just shrugged to Bakugo and said. "At least we won, we could've been dead. Being deaf isn't as bad as being dead." Then, laughed. That made Bakugo mad because he wanted Kaminari to be mad at him the way he was at himself.

Bakugo was so lost in thought and staring at Kaminari that he didn't notice that most of their friends had gone to bed. The only ones left were Kirishima, Mina, Sero, and Todoroki.

Mina and Kirishima caught the way Bakugo kept looking at Kaminari. This wasn't the first time they had noticed it either. They noticed it many times while they were 2nd and 3rd years in UA. It has just become more evident to them what was going on. They just never mentioned it to him, but they could tell Bakugo had a crush because Bakugo never never paid attention to anyone else as much as he did Kaminari.

They also noticed that Bakugo was the only one allowed to pick on Kaminari. If anyone else did it, he would threaten them but try to make up a different reason as to why he threatened to kill them.

Kirishima had an idea. He didn't want to force it. So, he lightly elbowed Bakugo and told him he was gonna go to bed. Then, he tapped Kaminari, telling him to. Mina understood what Kirishima was trying to do. She told everyone goodnight. Then, they both went up to Kirishima's dorm to cuddle and go to sleep.

Bakugo didn't think anything of it. He just said goodnight to them.

Sero had fallen asleep with his head on Todoroki's shoulder. "I should probably get this one to bed, too." Todoroki stood up and picked Sero up over his shoulder. He took him to his dorm and snuggled up into Sero, falling asleep.

Kaminari's leg bounced as he noticed he and Bakugo were all alone now. He started biting his nails. He suddenly felt a rush of anxiety because of the need to confront Bakugo about what he said earlier. He just thought it would be weird because he had never done that before. He normally just shrugged off the insults.

The change didn't go unnoticed by Bakugo, who had been watching him almost the whole time. "Tch. What's wrong, sparkplug?! I can tell something is wrong." Bakugo tried to act like he wasn't paying attention.

Before Kaminari could think, one word flew out of his mouth. "You."

Bakugo tensed and froze. Was he finally mad at him about being deaf? He didn't know why else he would be mad at him. "The fuck do you mean? I didn't do shit to you today!" He yelled.

Kaminari sighed, turning his hearing aids up. It was too late to turn back now. He knew if he told Bakugo to just forget it that he wouldn't. "Yes, you did... You knew how hard I was working on that move. The moment I short circuit, you have something to say about it. You're so fucking mean to me!" Kaminari didn't notice the tears rolling down his eyes, until a sob wrecked through him.

Bakugo was starting to panic. Kaminari had never cried over things he had said. Bakugo's hands shook. The more Kaminari cried, the more he knew he had to do something before he lost him.

"I try so hard to catch up to everyone else, but the moment I fuck up... you pick on me! Are we even friends or do you just keep me around as a joke?! I thought you were my best friend! Now, I'm starting to think I was wrong to think that in the first place. You are as mean to me as you were to Midoriya when you guys were in middle school! I don't get it! What did I do to become a tar-..." Kaminari was cut off.

The part about Deku triggered him. He didn't want Kaminari to compare himself to that. He didn't even think he was being all that mean to him. Before he could give it much thought, he moved from his side of the couch to him, pinning Kaminari to the couch, and kissed him hard. He just needed him to shut up. He needed time to think, but this kiss that he had thought about for so long turned his brain to mush. One of his hands released Kaminari's and came up to cup his cheek.

Kaminari was caught off guard by the kiss. His eyes were wide open in shock for a few seconds before he melted into Bakugo. A whisper of a moan escaped him.

When bakugo pulled away, they were both panting. He already knew before Kaminari knew that their hear aids fell out. "I like you... I like you more than as a friend..." He signed to Kaminari.

"So you bullied me? What are we five? You were mean to me because you liked me?" Kaminari signed back.

Bakugo had a deep red blush on his face. He was embarrassed. He rolled his eyes but nodded yes. "I know it's dumb... and immature. I just have a hard time with my feelings, and I'm sorry." He signs. He picked up their hearing aids and put Kaminari's in for him. Then, he puts in his own.

"I understand if you don't like me back. I know I'm everyone's last choice." Bakugo shrugs. He stands up about to walk to his dorm.

Kaminari stood up and grabbed Bakugo's wrist. "Kacchan, I... you can't just kiss me, tell me you like me, then leave..."

Bakugo turned around, looking at kaminari with a brow raised. "Why not?! It's not like you like me back."

"I never said that. Don't try to put words in my mouth." He looked down and sighed. "I'm just afraid. I like you.. I do. It's just the way -"

"Jirou treated you. The way she walked all over you." Bakugo groaned. "I'm not her. I don't walk all over people. I don't ever ask anyone for shit. I wouldn't do that to you. You should know that."

Kaminari started crying. "I know... I know... I'm sorry... I just don't wanna get hurt again. I want to just be happy."

Bakugo didn't know how to tell him that he wouldn't hurt him. He knew he was the biggest jerk in the school even though he's working on it. He pulled Kaminari towards him and wrapped his arms around his waist. "How about you just think about it? I know what I want, but I know you think I won't make you happy or I'll hurt you. It's understandable. So, just take your time, alright?"

Kaminari nodded as he leaned his head on Bakugo's shoulder.

Bakugo walked him to his room before he was about to go to his own. Kaminari grabbed his wrist.

"Wait... will you stay with me? Please..." He sniffles.

Bakugo sighed. He didn't think this was a good idea because of how much he liked Kaminari. "Fine, but I'm going to my own room once you fall asleep. I don't want to influence your decision by sleeping in here with you. I want you to want me because you actually want me." Bakugo climbed into the bed with Kaminari.

Kaminari wrapped his arms around bakugos waist and laid his head on his chest. He sniffles for a while longer as bakugo rubs his back. He was sleeping not long after that.

Bakugo found himself drifting. He felt more comfortable in Kaminari's bed than his own right now, but he couldn't let himself stay. He had to untangle himself from Kaminari. He stood up and looked over Kaminari's sleeping form. He bent down and kissed his temple. "Goodnight, Denki..."

He left the room, closing the door quietly. His heart was thumping hard as he made it to his own dorm across the hall from Kaminari.

◇◇◇◇

This went on for a while. Kaminari would ask Bakugo to lay with him until he fell asleep. Bakugo would leave by the time he was getting sleepy. They would act normal by morning. It was as if they weren't creating a new routine after everyone went to bed. Bakugo was just slightly nicer to Kaminari than he had been.

Tonight was different, though. Bakugo was pissed off about being taken off a mission. So, he hadn't left his room all day. It made it hard for Kaminari to sleep. He tossed and turned for hours before he couldn't take it anymore. He got up with a huff and knocked on Bakugo's door. Bakugo answered it with bloodshot eyes like he had been crying.

"What do you want?!" He was not in the mood for anything.

"I-I... can't sleep..." Kaminari was slightly regretting bothering bakugo just because he couldn't sleep without being cuddled up to him.

"Tch. Fine. Come on." He grabbed Kaminari by his shirt and pulled him into his dorm.

"I want you..." Kaminari said barely above a whisper.

"Hah?"

"I want you because I actually want you. That's what you said right? You said you wanted me to want you, and not just want you because I wake up wrapped in your arms. I want that. I wanna wake up with you still there. I don't want to wake up alone anymore. I want to give this a try..." Kaminari fidgeting with his fingers a bit.

Bakugo was shocked. This had been going on for weeks. Their routine. He didn't think Kaminari would want him. Maybe just as a sleep aid, but not as a lover. Not that Bakugo minded that, but hearing this was so much better than only helping him sleep. It definitely pulled him out of his bad mood.

Kaminari sat down on Bakugo's bed. Bakugo took two long strides towards him. He cups Kaminari's cheeks and kisses him passionately. Bakugo pulled away from a smirk. "Took you long enough, sparky~." He whispers.

Kaminari rolled his eyes and wrapped his fist in Bakugo's shirt. He pulled Bakugo down on top of him with a giggle. He kisses Bakugo, running his hands along his chest. He wraps his arms around Bakugo's neck.

The kissing gets really hot, hands heavily pawing at each other's bodies, but Bakugo stops himself. He didn't want to have sex with Kaminari right away. He didn't want this to seem like he just wanted his body. He wasn't going to be like Jirou. He wasn't going to use and abuse Kaminari like that.

Kaminari wanted to go further but noticed Bakugo's hesitation. "I could just give you a hand job, if you want? We don't have to fuck if you don't want to."

Bakugo sighed as he lay on his side next to him with his head proped on the palm of his hand. "It's not that I don't want to, Sparky. I want to. I just don't want to mess anything up. I want to take things slow. Slow for the both of us. I want to do this right. I want to show you I can make you happy for a lifetime, not just a moment. I don't want this to be temporary... I want you, I've wanted you longer than you know. I was just scared."

Kaminari knew he was being truthful because Bakugo was never one to admit to being scared of anything. Kaminari blushed. He felt this tingling sensation swell in his chest and shiver down his spine. He never thought he would get to see such a raw side of Bakugo.

"I understand. We can just let things happen naturally. Don't try so hard to hold back from what you want. I want you to be happy too. I want you to be comfortable around me. Don't hold back just for my comfort." Kaminari cupped Bakugo's cheek.

Bakugo's eyes closed, he brought his hand up, and placed it gentle on Kaminari's. He noticed that Kaminari's hands were much softer than his own rough ones.

"I want to try something." Kaminari had an interesting idea. "But first, I need your consent. Can I touch you below the belt? Can I take your clothes off?"

Bakugo was hesitant at first but nodded. "Y-yeah, you can."

Kaminari took Bakugo's hearing aids out. "Trust me. Close your eyes." He signed to Bakugo.

Bakugo furrows his brows but does as he's told, closing his eyes again.

Kaminari pulls the neck of his shirt to the side and kisses Bakugo's collar bone. Bakugo gasps a bit, letting out a shaky breath. Kaminari's hands trembled a bit as he snakes down, lifting Bakugo's shirt just a little bit. Kaminari kisses the skin between his shirt and shorts.

Bakugo wanted so badly to look, but he was trying hard to keep his eyes closed. With his hearing aids out and his eyes closed, he was making him have a sensory overload. Every touch was intensified. His body trembled a bit under Kaminari.

Kaminari pulled Bakugo's shorts down until his cock popped out, standing at attention in Kaminari's face. Bakugo bit his bottom lip nervously.

"Beautiful..." Kaminari whispered, knowing that Bakugo couldn't hear him. He looked up at his face. He could tell that Bakugo was nervous.

He kissed Bakugo's hips, inching closer and closer to his cock.

Bakugo was panting. "P-please don't tease me~..."

Kaminari smirked. He kissed Bakugo's tip, and Bakugo let's out a shaky moan.

"I-I-I'm not gonna last...~ ah~..."

Kaminari didn't care. He just wanted to make Bakugo cum in his mouth. He wanted to make him feel good. He took Bakugo in his mouth, and attempted to take him down his throat but the girth of him was making Kaminari gag.

Bakugo thrusts into Kaminari's mouth. He couldn't help it, Kaminari's mouth was so wet and warm. Kaminari gagged, but let him keep going. He reached up and tapped his face to let bakugo know that he could open his eyes.

Bakugo's eyes fluttered open, and he almost came at the sight of Kaminari's lips wrapped around his cock. "Oh fuuuuck~... ahh!~ Denki~... Your mouth feels so goooood~..." He laced his fingers in Denki's hair as he watched him bob his head on his cock. He bit his lip.

Kaminari slips his hand in his pants and starts stroking himself and moaning. "Mmmm~" His eyes rolled back.

"I-I! I'm! Fuck!~ c-cumming!~" He tried to warn Kaminari so he could move. He even took his hand out of his hair and fisted the sheets instead. He let out a loud moan as he came. As bakugo came, Kaminari came into his hand.

Kaminari swallowed Bakugo's cum, and pulled off of him panting and moaning. He licked Bakugo's cock clean. Bakugo's head fell back as he panted. He put his hearing aids back in. "I'm sorry.. I don't think I've ever came that much before."

Kaminari chuckled. "Don't ever apologize for something like that." He wiped the cum off his hand with a tissue, and through it away. He pulled Bakugo's shorts back up. He laid down, and pulled the covers up over them. He cuddled up to Bakugo as he normally did.

Bakugo kissed the top of his head. "But I didn't do anything for you."

"It's fine. I still came. You can do something next time if you feel like it. Don't worry about it, ok?" Kaminari smiled and kissed Bakugo's chest. He finally drifted off to sleep.

◇◇◇◇

Their relationship blossomed from then on. They went on dates. It took bakugo a while, but he became comfortable with showing affection towards Kaminari in front of their friends. They slept together every night. Neither one of them could sleep without the other.

When jirou had something to say about it and insulted Kaminari, bakugo wasn't having it. He requested to spar with her. He never went easy on women. He always did things equally and fairly, but he was pissed off, and it ended with Jirou going to the recovery girl unconscious.

Bakugo smirked and walked towards Kaminari. "No one says shit about Sparkplug, but me."

Kaminari blushed, knowing that Bakugo meant that to be sweet. Bakugo wrapped an arm around Kaminari's waist and pulled him flush against him, kissing him.

"Did you really have to send her to the recovery girl to prove a point?" Kirishima felt bad for Jirou.

"Fuck yes. That bitch deserved it. I'm not going to let anyone hurt sparky's feelings!" Bakugo growled.

Kirishima sighed.

Bakugo picked up Kaminari under his thighs and walked into the locker room with him. Bakugo became a PDA monster. He was always touching Kaminari on some way. He couldn't keep his hands to himself when he was around Kaminari.

He pinned Kaminari to the wall as soon as they were in the locker room. He started kissing his jaw and down his neck. He didn't even check to see if anyone was in there with them.

"Mmmf~ fuck...~ I never thought I would be with someone who has my libido.~" He giggled. "You're as horny as I am all the time~."

Bakugo chuckled. "I'm always horny around you, Sparky.~ Before you became mine, I spent a lot of lonely nights with my hand.~" He continues to kiss his neck. "Take a shower with me?~"

"Mhmmm~... please..~" Kaminari grinds against his hard on.

Bakugo pants as he walks over to the showers. He sets Kaminari on his feet and starts stripping him out of his clothes. He kisses Kaminari's shoulders and chest.

Kaminari learned that Bakugo was a gentle lover unless he asked him to be more rough with him. Bakugo always took the time to love and appreciate every part of Kaminari. He felt like bakugo was holding him like glass that would shatter if he tried to go too fast. It always made Kaminari feel like he was on cloud 9.

Bakugo let Kaminari strip him out of his clothes. It was like they were worshipping each other's bodies. It always made Bakugo relax when he was touching Kaminari, and when Kaminari was touching him, it made him feel like he was floating.

He felt Kaminari kiss his cock and his eyes rolled back. "Mmmmf~ ah~ I wanna fuck you so bad, baby.~"

Kaminari tsked at him. "Shower first~..." Kaminari took his, and Bakugo's hearing aids out, setting them on the counter. Then, he pulled bakugo into the warm, relaxing water with him.

"Fine.." Bakugo pouted a bit. He used a soapy cloth to wash Kaminari's body. He massages out the kinks in his back. He started washing his hair as well.

Kaminari washed Bakugo's body, massaging him as well. Then, he washed his hair.

Then, they rinsed off together. Kaminarj stood behind Bakugo, kissing his shoulders and neck. Kaminari backed up to sign. "You so smell so good. You can never actually stink." Kaminari chuckled. "Your quirk makes you smell like caramel.~" He teased as he dragged his teeth lightly against Bakugo's shoulder as if he were trying to take a bite.

Bakugo blushed. He starts pushing his ass back against Kaminari's cock. Kaminari let's out a shaky moan. They hadn't done this yet.

Bakugo wasn't ready to try it a couple of weeks ago, but now he wanted to. He didn't think it was fair that he was always fucking Kaminari and wouldn't let Kaminari fuck him.

"We can go up to the room and try someth-" Bakugo was signing when he saw red hair out of the corner of his eye.

Kirishima and the others came in to shower. "Oh shit! Can you guys put up a warning or something? You guys are both hot and all, but I really don't want to watch my two best friends make love in the showers." He signs and chuckles.

"Well, maybe you all should've waited until we came out, then you could've showered, shitty hair!" Bakugo yelled.

Kaminari tapped his shoulder to get hus attention. "Calm down, Kacchan. We can just finish this in the dorm.~"

Bakugo nods and turns the water off. Kaminari grabs their towels. Then, he wrapped the towel around himself and grabbed their hero suits.

Bakugo carried his gauntlets. They went up to Kaminari's room to finish what they started.

Bakugo dropped the gauntlets, and his towel dropped to the floor. He pulled Kaminari by the hand to the bed, causing him to drop everything. Also, making him realize that he forgot to grab their hearing aids. He giggled as he landed on top of Bakugo. He held a finger up and got off of him to grab them both a pair of hearing aids from his box.

He put them in Bakugo's ears, then a pair on his own ears. He climbs on bakugo to straddle his hips.

"I want you to... I want to try... rrrrr..." He huffed because he was flustered about the thought of Kaminari fucking him. His cock twitched against Kaminari's ass.

"You want me to fuck you?~ I'll only do if if you say it.~" Kaminari smirked.

"Please~..." Bakugo's hand reached for Kaminari's cock, and started stroking it. He bites his lip.

"Please, what?~" Kaminari smirks.

"Can you please fuck me!" He grumbles with a blush.

"You don't have to be so shy about it, love~..." Kaminari slid off of Bakugo. He got down on the floor on his knees between Bakugo's legs. His hands are on Bakugo's knees, keeping his legs spread.

Bakugo propped himself up on his elbows, looking down at Kaminari.

"Lay down~ You're not going to be able to sit up when I fold you in half.~" Kaminari puts his hands under Bakugo's knees and starts pushing them up towards Bakugo's chest.

"Wait. I'm scared."

"It's Ok~. I'll be gentle. If you're worried about your ass being dirty. I know it's not because I washed it. Just like you washed mine." He chuckles, trying to lighten the mood, and make Bakugo relax.

Bakugo huffed but laid back, holding back back of his legs to keep himself folded and spread. "Ok. I trust you.~"

Kaminari smiled and started sucking on his balls, then kissed his way down. He spread Bakugo's ass cheeks. He started licking at his hole and trying to push his tongue in. He wrapped one of his hands around Bakugo's cock, and started stroking him as he lapped at his hole.

At first, bakugo flinched away from the feeling, but then he started to relax and actually enjoy it. He didn't realize that what he had been doing to Kaminari had felt so damn good. "Ahh!~ fuck!~ ah~!" He was moaning uncontrollably.

He choked on his breath when he felt Kaminari push a finger into him. It stung a bit to have that hole breached for the first time.

He could feel Bakugo's body tense up. "Relax~..." Kaminari whispered as he peaked up at Bakugo's face. He saw him nod and saw him physically relax.

He started working the finger in Bakugo, feeling for that squishy sweet spot. When he finally found it, Bakugo let out the most lewd moan Kaminari had ever heard.

Kaminari bit his lip, trying not to touch himself. He wanted all his cum to go in Bakugo's ass. He kept working to prep Bakugo for his cock. He slipped in a second finger, then after a while a third. After, bakugo came for the second time Kaminari could tell he was getting sensitive.

Bakugo was panting and whining. At this point, he was begging Kaminari to just fuck him. He was shaking from how sensitive he was.

"Oh God! Please!~ I can't take this anymore!~" Bakugo cries out.

"Ok, ok~... patience, my love~... This is your first time.~ I'm just trying to do it right~..." Kaminari whispers. He didn't know that Bakugo's hearing aids fell out during his first orgasm.

He lines his cock up with Bakugo's hole and slowly pushes himself into him. He kept his eyes on Bakugo's face. He wanted this to be enjoyable for him. Once he bottomed out in Bakugo he moaned.

Bakugo whined for Kaminari to move. "Please~ need you to fill me up with your cum!~ ah!~"

Kaminari had to stop himself from cumming so soon. He started thrusting in him at a slow pace at first. He was loving the sounds that Bakugo was making. "Ahh~ oh fuck!~ you're still so tight!~ I'm not going to last long!~" His eyes roll back. He was really trying to keep going, but his orgasm hit him like a ton of bricks.

"C-cumming!" Kaminari cried out as he thrusted hard into Bakugo, and filled up his ass with his cum. He panted hard.

Bakugo came as he felt Kaminari twitching and cumming inside of him. He was panting, and whining. "I love you~... fuuuck I love you, Denki~..." It was the first time bakugo said that to Kaminari.

Kaminari's eyes widened, and he started tearing up. "I love you too~... I love you so much!~" He started kissing his neck, but that when he noticed his hearing aids had fallen out.

He grabbed it and put it back in his ear. "I love you too, Katsuki.~" He pulled out of him and laid next to him. He pulls bakugo close to him. He plays with his messy, spiky hair. "How'd I get so lucky?" Kaminari kisses his head.

"Psh... you? I think I'm the one who's lucky." Bakugo smirked.

♡♡♡♡

Three years later...

Bakugo and Kaminari moved into their own apartment near the college. They were engaged. Bakugo couldn't be happier. Kaminari was head over heels for Bakugo. They were happy, but today wasn't a very happy day.

"I don't want you to leave!... I don't feel good about this assignment!" Bakugo was yelling, but he really did have a bad feeling about this. His fiance was about to leave him for 2 weeks.

"I promise it'll be OK... It seems like an easy assignment. You believe in me, right?" Kaminari chuckled.

"Two weeks doesn't seem like an easy fucking assignment! You know I believe in you, asshole! Don't try to put words in my mouth! I don't want you to go!" Bakugo yelled.

Kaminari sighed and walked over to his fuming shaking fiance. He wraps his arms around him, and that's when Bakugo breaks. He starts crying. Bakugo grips Kaminari's Chargebolt hoodie. "I have to... but I'll be back. I promise..." He slipped out of his hoodie. "Here, this is my promise to come back." He pulls his hoodie onto Bakugo.

"You fucking better!" Bakugo sniffles, inhaling Kaminari's signature cologne that made him feel safe. "I love you so much..."

"I love you too... you feel like driving me to headquarters? That way we can spend more time together before I leave." Kaminari smiled, wiping Bakugo's tears with his thumbs. Kaminari kissed him passionately.

Bakugo nodded and sighed. His stomach tossed and turned as they put Kaminari's bags in the trunk. He had his hand on Kaminari's thigh the entire time. He wouldn't move it as he drove.

"Katsuki, it's going to be OK. I'll be back before you know it." He peeled Bakugo's hand off his thigh and kissed the back of his hand.

Bakugo let out a shaky breath. He was trying not to cry again. He stopped in front of the place. "Can I come in with you? Can I hear the details of the mission? It might make me feel better..."

"I wish, but you know I can't do that... it's confidential, and it's not your mission. I can tell you that a couple of our friends will be there to help, but I can't tell you much else...." Kaminari was hiding the fact that he had a sinking feeling about this mission too.

He was nervous. He and his team were up against someone with a similar quirk to him. He just didn't know much about it besides it was electric.

"I know, I know... I love you..." Bakugo wrapped his fist in Kaminari's shirt and kissed him passionately. "You better come back to me, Sparkplug..."

"I will. I love you too, Kacchan." Kaminari rubs his nose against Bakugo's. "I have to go. I'm going to be late to the meeting before we get on the plane."

Bakugo, let's go of his shirt and cups his cheek. Bakugo really didn't want him to leave. He was about to cry again. Kaminari got out of the car, grabbed his bags, and blowing Bakugo a kiss. "I love you!"

"I love you, too!" Bakugo tried to smile. He stared until Kaminari's form disappeared behind the doors. He hit the steering wheel and left.

He drove back home. He moped to the bed. He got the text that they were boarding the plane, and another 'I love you, Sparky.💛🖤🧡🖤'

Bakugo sent back, 'I love you, too, Sparky 🧡🖤💛🖤 text me when you get there, please..'

Bakugo spent his time worrying. He talked to Kaminari every chance he got, which wasn't much because he only had about an hour at night to talk, and then he wouldn't hear from him again until the next night. Kaminari always sounded exhausted and would let out groans of pain here and there. Which only made Bakugo worry more.

He wasn't working very well. He was hardly sleeping. The worrying was eating him alive.

◇◇◇◇

A week later...

Bakugo is panicking. His heart is palpitating. He's shaking and crying as he recklessly drives to Kaminari's agency that he works for. He was in a tank top and shorts. His hair is in tangles from pulling at it and hitting himself in the head. He wipes his tears and slams the door to his car so hard that his window shatters. "Fuckin hell!" He barks.

He marches into the building, and by passes the front desk lady who is telling him he can't go in there that he needs to have an appointment. The lady clearly didn't recognize him as the pro hero Dynamite.

"Fuck off! I don't need a God damn appointment!" Bakugo barked at her as he steps into the elevator. His fists shook, and he had to put this feeling somewhere. To release it. He punched through the wall of the elevator as it came to a stop. He pulled his fist out of the wall. As he walked into the office of Kaminari's boss.

"Where the fuck is my fiance!? I will fuckin kill you!" He came in already screaming and threatening Kaminari's boss.

The man behind the desk was already shaking but tried to play it off that he wasn't scared out of his mind. "Mr. Dynamite. I wasn't expecting to see you today."

"Cut the shit! Where is Denki Kaminari!? He didn't call last night! He has called me every fucking night! He didn't call me last night! Tell me he's ok! Tell me he's just busy! Tell me!" Bakugo voice cracked. He was about to have a panic attack again.

The man sighed heavily. "Have a seat, please.." He had to follow a stupid script. "I regret to inform you that he died while in battle at 4 pm yesterday... I'm sorry, Mr. Dynamite. I wish I could say more... I wish I had different news to give you... his remains will be on the flight back here tomorrow. Since we don't know of any living relatives... it will be your decision on what happens next. It doesn't need to be decided right away. Take all the time you need."

Bakugo dropped to the ground. Explosions going off in his palms. "Shut up. Shut up! SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOURE LYING! HE'S NOT DEAD! HE'S COMING HOME IN A WEEK! TELL ME HES COMING HOME, ALIVE! HE'S NOT FUCKING DEAD! HE CAN'T BE! HE CAN'T LEAVE ME!" Bakugo was screaming at the man as he broke down in tears. He got up off the ground, and stomped over to him. He grabbed him by the tie.

"I will fucking kill you! Tell me he's alive! You knew this mission was dangerous! This is your fault!" He let off an explosion on the man's face, and then spit on him. "You worthless piece of shit! It should've been you! You should be dead!"

He was pulled off by two security guards. Aizawa had just so happened to be making a visit to Kaminari's boss to see how things were going. Anyone who knew about this mission knew it was poorly planned and needed more heroes on the team. Aizawa had a bad feeling about the whole thing. He was trying to convince the boss to put a pause on the mission until they got more information. He heard familiar yelling coming from the office. He slipped past the security, blocking the door. "Let. him. go!"

Bakugo almost fell to the ground again, but Aizawa caught him in his arms. Bakugo sobbed and yelled.

"Im going to kill you! This is your fault!"

Aizawa shushed him and made him leave the room. He opened a break room, pulled him in, and shut the door. He stood in front of the door to stop Bakugo from leaving.

"He's dead! He told me he would come back home! He has never lied to me! He's coming back! Please, tell me he's lying! Please! He's coming back! We were going to get married in a month!" He punched a hole in the wall. He grabbed the coffee maker and threw it to the ground. He pushed the fridge over. He kicked a dent in the side of it, breaking his toes in the process. He didn't even feel it. The pain of losing his best friend, fiance, and love of his life hurt way more, and it hadn't even fully set in.

Aizawa didn't even try to stop Bakugo from breaking things in the room. It was better than him getting charged with murder. Aizawa knew who Bakugo was talking about. It hurt Aizawa a lot to know his student died. He loved all his students as if they were his kids.

Aizawa had tears in his eyes as he watched Bakugo's world come crashing down. He knew that feeling well. He also had a lover die during battle. Once Bakugo had stopped trashing the break room and slid down the wall with his face in his hands. Aizawa walked over, sitting against the wall next to him. Bakugo started punching himself in the head over and over. Aizawa grabbed his hands and looked at Bakugo. They both had tears streaming down their cheeks.

"I want you to know you are not alone. I am here, I always have been, and I always will be. I'm not going to let you go through this alone, ok? It's going to be OK! Ok?" Aizawa never did this, but he did this time. He pulled Bakugo to his chest and held him for a while. He rubbed his back. "It's going to be OK. I promise. I will be there for you. I'm going to be checking in on you."

Bakugo tried to get out of the hug, but he just cried harder instead. He gripped Aizawa's shirt and sobbed into his chest. He always saw Aizawa as a father figure. It made him fall apart even more. He clung to Aizawa. He was so emotionally exhausted that he passed out there leaning against Aizawa.

Aizawa messaged Sero. He told him to come help him get Bakugo home. When sero got there, he lifted the sleeping Bakugo into his arms. He sniffles in his sleep, tears still falling.

Aizawa told Sero the heartbreaking news once they got Bakugo in Sero's bed. Aizawa thought it would be best for him to wake up with a friend there to comfort him.

"Kaminari isn't dead. Nothing can kill him. I've seen him in really bad situations."

"He is... his remains will be here tomorrow night.. It's up to Bakugo to decide what happens next. I need you two to be there for each other. Mina and Kirishima will be back not long after that. They are being pulled from the mission. They saw him die..." He explained. "I will be back tomorrow. I have some things to handle."

He gave the crying Sero a hug. He hated human contact, but he put that aside. He needed to be there for his kids, and if a hug helped in the slightest, he would give out a million hugs to them.

◇◇◇◇

A week later...

Bakugo had left as soon as he woke up at Sero's. He took his hearing aids out. He didn't want to hear anything unless it was Kaminari's voice.

He refused to leave his bed that had become a pile of clothes that smelled like Kaminari. Bakugo cried himself to sleep he woke up crying. Eventually, he stopped crying every time his eyes were open. He would just lay there numb, staring at the wall.

Aizawa had to literally break into his apartment to make sure he was still alive. He didn't leave after that. He slept on the couch. He would bring him drinks and food. Even if he wouldn't eat it. Today, Aizawa was tired of watching Bakugo let himself rot away in his bed.

As soon as he heard Bakugo moving in the bed, he walked into the room. "Enough of this. Kaminari wouldn't want you to let yourself wither away like this. He would want you to keep on living." He signed to Bakugo.

Bakugo flipped him off. "You don't know him the way I do."

Aizawa rolled his eyes. "I know him well enough. Get up. You're taking a shower today. You're eating something and / or drinking water. It's time." He signed as he walked towards him. Bakugo curled into a ball.

Aizawa pulled him out of the bed, and Bakugo didn't really have the energy to fight him. It made him dizzy to stand up. He almost fell, but Aizawa held him up.

"I can't... I can't do this without him..." He whispered.

"You have to move on... you need closure. You need to make a decision. His body has been in that freezer for a week. You have to put him to rest." He signed to him.

He helped him to the shower. He knew he wouldn't do it on his own. Aizawa treated him like an infant. He stripped him out of his clothes and helped into the warm shower.

"Me, and Sparky used to take a shower together every night... what am I going to do?... we did everything together..." Bakugo started crying again. He couldn't help it.

Aizawa just listened as he washed Bakugo's hair. He didn't care that his clothes were getting wet. He rinses Bakugo's hair. He turned him around to face him. "Can you wash your own body? We can talk more when we're done here." He signed.

He nodded that he would wash himself.

Aizawa walked out of the bathroom but stayed close by just in case. He picked out clothes for Bakugo to put on. After Bakugo emerged from the bathroom, he was already out of energy. Aizawa had to help him get dressed. "Hearing aids?" He signs to him.

Bakugo shook his head. He didn't want to hear anything.

"Ok." Aizawa was going to push him to try to do little things, but he wasn't here to force him to use his hearing aids. It seemed like that would be a big step for Bakugo, and he wasn't ready for that.

Bakugo wanted to lay back down, but he also knew that Aizawa wouldn't let him.

Bakugo grabbed one of Kaminari's Pikachu hoodies and pulled it over his head. He let Aizawa drag him to the kitchen. He sat as Aizawa made him food. He tried to eat it, but he got nauseous and threw up.

"You need to drink water even if you can't eat." He signs and brings him a glass of water.

Bakugo nods to him and sips the water.

"Can we start the process? Do you want to cremate him, bury, or something else?" He signs.

Bakugo hesitantly nods. "He told me he wants to be cremated."

"Ok. Aizawa started filling out the papers. He had bakugo sign the papers when it was needed. He asked him what he wanted. Once they were done, Bakugo had cried and told Aizawa more random facts about their relationship.

Bakugo fell asleep on the couch. Aizawa had to carry him to his bed.

A week later was the day of the memorial. He wore a mask and sunglasses so people wouldn't watch him cry. He went home that night and cried while getting drunk. He stared at the urn for an hour. He grabbed Kaminari's chargebolt hoodie. The same one he gave him the day he left.

"Why couldn't you just stay home? Why did you have to leave me?" He started crying again, rubbing the hood against his cheek because it still smelt like Kaminari. For a split second, he felt comfort. He felt the familiar arms of Kaminari wrapping his arms around Bakugo's waist like he always did.

Bakugo gasped, looking around. "Sparky...? .... fuck... fuck!..." Bakugo dropped to his knees with his hands slapped against the ground. Explosions crackling against the wood floor. "YOU CANT MAKE ME FALL SO FAR IN LOVE WITH YOU AND THEN DO THIS TO ME!! AHHHHH! WHY?! WHY WERE YOU TAKEN FROM ME!? I WAS SO LUCKY TO HAVE YOU! NOW ALL MY WANT TO STILL BE LIVE IS GONE! I NEEDED YOU, AND YOU LEFT ME!"

♡♡♡♡

Bakugo went MIA for four years. He paid off his apartment for 6 years with his savings. No one heard from him. Aizawa was having a hard time finding him. Kirishima couldn't find him at all. They looked for him until they had to assume that he was dead. They thought it was strange that his apartment was paid off. So they left it as it was just in case he came back alive.

He wasn't dead. He was hunting.

He found the man that got away. The man who killed his fiance. He didn't turn him in. He tortured him. He kept the man alive for months. He tortured him to the brink of death over and over. He wanted to get revenge, and revenge was so sweet. He kept the man chained up in a cave. The man would scream and beg for forgiveness, but Bakugo wasn't satisfied until he was mangled and barely breathing.

When the man's body gave out, and he officially died. He threw his body away in the middle of the ocean while on his way back home. "I did it, baby... I got him... I should've been there. I should've been on that mission with you... b-but I killed him for you. I love you..."

Bakugo got back to his apartment, which was exactly the way he left it. It seemed like someone had been staying there, but no one was there at the moment. He figured it was just Kirishima. He looked in the mirror for the first time in years. He had a beard, a mustache. His hair was long. He looked unkempt, feral. He was feral.

He dragged himself to the shower. He shaved his face completely and cut his own hair to have an undercut. He was now ready to move forward. He knew that Kaminari would always be with him because Kaminari had visited him in his dreams many times. He told him it was time to let go and that he would be fully with him again one day.

Bakugo felt a bit better now that that man was dead in the ocean as fish food.

It took him another year to put his hearing aids back in. Hearing the world without Kaminari in it always made him sad. He would just hope to hear that voice calling out to him, but he knew it would never happen.

Bakugo lived his life the best he could. He never took another lover. If anyone got too close, he would push them away. The pain of loving someone so much, then losing them, was too much for him to deal with again.

Bakugo died 4 years later in an accident while trying to save a person from a building that was collapsing. He saved the person but lost his life as he fell from a 10-story building. Bakugo died on impact. The man lived with some injuries that put him in a coma.

He didn't know he died at first… until he saw that familiar lightning bolt in yellow hair. Kaminari's spirit was standing amongst the chaos. "Sparky…?... SPARKY!" He ran to him. He wrapped his arms around his waist, picking him up.

"I never fully left you, my love… I refused to pass on until I had my best friend by my side…" Kaminari smiled and kissed Bakugo for the first time in years. Bakugo started crying from happiness. He could finally hear him, touch him, kiss him. That's all he ever wanted….

*my art 👇*

*my art 👆*

* If you made it this far, I hope you liked my story.*

#bnha art #mha art #mha #my hero smut #my hero academia #my hero academia smut #kirishima eijirou #mina ashido #sero hanta #shoto torodoki #shota aizawa #kaminari smut #bakugo smut #denki kaminari #katsuki bakugo fic #friends to lovers #angst #bnha fanfiction

[babygray-dam]

The Otaku Summit - Gintama 2

#gintama #shimura shinpachi #hijikata toushirou #sakata gintoki #kagura #gintama 2 #gintama live action #please. fellas. you're all useless #i thought about making a gifset #but shinpachi's NO NO NO NO is too big to capture #i tried to make the subtitles nicer #i failed. #stuck it on youtube because it's long. #and tumblr's kinda terrible with long videos. #what lead me here? #i saw a gif of gin-san reacting to being called 'sakata-shi' #that was it.

[fictionalpeoplecompleteme]

“Oh My God”

Paring: Tewkesbury x Fem!Reader

Request: Yes / No | “maybe a lil tewkesbury oneshot (also it is tewkesbury, i get how there are different variations but it was gnawing at me not knowing the correct spelling that i pulled it up with subtitles to confirm lmao, anyway) where idk maybe there are certain situations where he's not acting like himself but no he's just a lovesick child and enola being enola she tries investigating?? and then finds out he's happy and in a relationship??” - @biqherosix​

Warnings: Other than too much description?? Nope

Word Count: 1,492

(A/N): OMG!! Ever since I posted the “what fandoms I'll write for” and I’ve actually gotten requests !! By the time I get this out, I hope I’ve gotten more!! So for this request, it mentions that Tewkesbury is… talking to Enola, which is implied in the movie that they will, but for the sake of this fic, they DID talk later and are straight up best friends :). Also, there literally isn’t any tewkesbury fics?! Like um, can anyone recommend any cause I can’t find ANY.  n e wayz, ily all and I hope you have a great day !! mwah ! 

Enola.... well you can say she was worried to say the least. Though she wasn’t the ‘’oh my god I’ll die” type of worried, she was just… curious.

After the fiasco events that both Enola and Tewkesbury endured in the past, good actually came out of it, rather than just plain sad memories. Enola realized that she had the infamous Holmes detective skills (and is amazing at it), and she then got into (more forced, but that doesn’t matter) a beautiful friendship.

We all know the chemistry Enola and Tewkesbury had, trust me, but with a mutual conversation that with her constant cases and his duties as a lord, it would be best to just remain friends rather than get heartbroken.

That didn’t mean that they couldn’t hang out. Please, if anything that’s all they did once their work was completed. It was pretty diverse, to a simple walk to the bakery to full blown pranks to a certain annoying brother. Enola just couldn’t help it. So you can imagine her worry once Tewkesbury started being more absent. He would always say he was busy with his lord duties, but he would always be “busy” different times of every day. Enola always knows when his work would be started and finished, she isn’t stupid. So tell her why this man would leave at a certain hour, then the next day suddenly leave at a completely different time

That’s also when he started to get “distracted” more often than usual. To the point he would miss full length conversations because he was lost in thought. There was even a point where Enola bluntly asked, 

“Is there something wrong Tewkesbury?” 

“Mhm?” was all that came out of him. Of course, he was distracted again.

“My point exactly” she sighed, “Is there anything going on? Maybe at work? I know there’s this huuuuge crisis going on in the ci-”

And that’s where he started to zone out. Don’t get him wrong, he loves Enola and her rants, but those rants often do get a bit tedious. That’s when he started thinking about you, probably one of his favorite pastimes to do. What? Can you blame him? You’re just so adorable! Though to be totally honest, he didn’t really know why he won’t tell Enola about you, she’ll love you, more than she already does (it’ll make sense later). Sure, she’ll get investigative, but that’s how she is, nothing can stop that.

He honestly can’t imagine someone genuinely dislike you. You’re one of the nicest people in the world, always putting others before yourself. Possibly even nicer than himself. Nope, that can’t possibly be. There was even this one instance where he bought you a whole bouquet of flowers, though you proceeded to smack him with a flower, saying “you really ought to stop buying these flowers for me, you gonna go poor!” but then you felt bad, taking him to a bakery as a ‘sorry’ for doing that.

Though he won’t lie when he says when your niceness attracts other people, lets just say his arms around your waist are more frequent in those scenarios.

“-sure hope that you can fix that one cause, that’ll be a mes- TEWKESBURY!!”  

He almost fell out of the chair! “Wha-? What! Why was that necessary?!”

“Because it was!! What were you possibly thinking about to make you react like that? My topic of conversation was completely full of information that goes with your expertise.” Enola said slyly. You’d think this guy would listen to what she’d say, he’s at times quite draft in the courtroom, but then again she wasn’t any better.  

“You basically yelled in my ear!” he said defensively “and please, anyone would die of boredom with a political conversation with you.”

She then proceeded to hit him with a random glove that was nearby. Enola was starting to get annoyed with Tewkesbury, but when didn’t she. 

“You know what? I have to go anyways.” he said

“Seriously? Right after we had an argument?” I mean, who does that? 

“What can I say, duties awaits.” Right after that conversation, he picked himself up, and left. We can confidently say both Enola and Tewkesbury know that he won’t be doing anything of that sort. So Enola being... Enola, followed him to wherever he could possibly be going *wink wink*. She followed him to the streets, where halfway, he stopped to go to a flower store.

We all know Enola is extremely smart, so it wasn’t a surprise when she started to the the pieces together. 

“Oh my god”.

 Enola can admit that Tewkesbury was an attractive guy, anyone can admit that, but for some reason, she never imagined that he was actually with someone. In a way, she was happy, he had someone. Then once she actually actually thought about it, she started getting mad. How could he possibly not tell him?! She told him everything that was going on in her life, bad and the good. So why would he possibly not tell her what’s going on in his life? You could say that she was overreacting but they are best friends!

Enola hid once again once he saw Tewkesbury leave with a beautiful pink rose in his hand. She then proceeded to follow him all the way to his destination without him noticing, she was slick like that. And saw him enter a house... that wasn’t his.

Tewkesbury finally was able to see you. Don’t get him wrong, he loves hanging out with Enola, but he desperately just wanted to see you.

“Really, another flower?”

“Wow, no ‘why hello sweetheart, how was your day, you look dashing today?’ ” He said sarcastically. “Besides, be happy I didn’t buy the whole bouquet. Just a beautiful rose to match my beautiful girlfriend.”

You laughed, with a blush, at his compliment. He was always able to do that. You went to him, putting your arms around his neck, “You’re so cheesy.”

“Only for you.” He says with that smile of his. Once he leaves the flower in a vase, joining the other flowers (that gives you an idea how much he gives to you), then proceeds to pick you up, and takes you to the couch.

“TEWKESBURY!” You squealed. He laughed, looking at you with such adoration, but what was he supposed to do? You looked beautiful, with the sunlight shining your features, and your hair being perfectly done with your favorite hairdo. 

He places you on the couch, then him placing his head on your lap. He just wanted to relax, and you did have that magical touch, especially with you playing with his hair. 

You then started to get a little worried. Although he didn’t know it, you could see his facial features getting... almost sadder. He was always the happy type, always smiling, so when he’s sad, you can almost always tell.

“You okay, Tewkesbury?” He chuckled, there’s that kindness.

“I’m fine darling.” he said while stroking your cheek.

“Mhm. Nice try love, but you’re going to have to tell me what’s going in that small brain of yours”

He then acted hurt, giving you a scoff. “Hey, I might be an idiot but I’m your idiot.” he laughed, giving you his infamous smile. Though he ended up not saying anything after that, making you quite a tad annoyed.

“You know what..” He wondered what you meant by this, but then quickly learned once you got up. He grumbled, definitely not wanting that to happen.

“What are you doing?” He asked 

“Being stubborn.” You said crossing your arms. Tewkesbury was amused to say the least, you looked so cute while you were angry. “I’m not going back until you tell me what’s wrong”

“Fine, I’ll tell you, just please hold me.” He said it with such an adoring face that you just melted at the sight of. How could you say no to that face?

You went to his direction, sat down, and proceeded to hold him tightly, like you always do. Ready to listen to whatever was making him uneasy.

“It’s just Enola... I haven-”

The door slapped open.

“Oh My God.” 

“Oh My God!”

“What?! Why the ‘oh my gods?!”

“(Y/N)?!!” Enola basically yelled.

“Enola?” 

Okay, backstory coming up. You and Enola are quite good friends, not to a point where you would hang out every single day, but good friends where you guys would send a letter occasionally, asking each other to go to the library, or to hang out at the park, maybe even join in a prank or two with Enola’s dear brother. That’s actually how you and Tewkesbury met, both you and Enola running away from a prank that both of you pulled, and both of you happened to run into him. Lets just say he was intrigued the first time he met you.

“Oh my god.” He said, just now realizing what was going to happen, and it probably wasn’t good.

“YESS!! You guys are together!!” 

huh.

TAGLIST ( bio ! )

#enola holmes #viscount tewkesbury marquess of basilwether #tewkesbury #lord tewksbury #viscount tewksbury #tewkesbury x reader #louis partridge #millie bobby brown #enola holmes imagine #netflix

[fostersffff]

do you have a guide into getting into vtubers?

I can certainly make one up!

Much like any other kind of streamer/LPer/“content creator”, the most important thing is just finding one (or several) that you enjoy watching and- if you’re into stream chat- interacting with. The only thing you may want to be versed in ahead of time are in-jokes and memes (which you’ll catch onto over time by lurking, which should always be your first move when joining a new community) and basic etiquette, ranging from normal stuff like “don’t spam chat, don’t talk about other streams/streamers unless they’re brought up first, especially in the name of DRAMA, you are not friends with the streamer no matter how much/often you participate and/or donate” to more vtuber specific stuff like “don’t doxx them”, which is The Big One™ and ranges from “don’t literally doxx them” to “don’t bring up past handles/identities unless they bring it up first”. If you’re looking for suggestions on who to check out, or what you should be looking for, here’s a very wide scattershot recommendation (bolded text is searchable names):

Being affiliated with a big brand name isn’t an objective measure of quality, but by nature of how networks function there’s way more readily accessible content of vtubers affiliated with those brands. If you go to YouTube and search “Hololive clips” or “Nijisani clips” you’ll get infinitely varied results, but if you’ve never seen a vtuber and are looking for something specific to start with, I’m really partial to Inugame Korone’s English-only Super Mario Bros. playthrough. And if you want to narrow down the search to specific vtubers, try searching for clips of Korone, Usada Pekora, Kiryu Coco, Houshou Marine, Oozora Subaru, Sakura Miko, Omaru Polka, Momosuzu Nene, and Amano Pikamee; all of them tend to have a lot of clips made and a huge backlog of streams.

Speaking of English-only, if you want to actively be engaged with streams and can’t understand Japanese, there are also plenty of English speaking vtubers. The most popular ones far and away are the English branch of Hololive (aka HoloEN or HoloMyth, made up of Amelia Watson, Gawr Gura, Calliope Mori, Ninomae Ina’nis, and Takanashi Kiara), and as well as a number of Indonesian Vtubers, who tend to be extremely fluent in English (Hana Macchia of Nijisani, and Ayunda Risu, Moona Hoshinova, Kureiji Ollie, and the rest of the Indonesian branch of Hololive, aka HoloID). However, if you’re looking more distinctly Western/American vtubers (less of a wholesome/idol-like presentation and more chaotic chat), you should check out one any of VShojo’s members (made up of Nyatasha Nyanners, Ironmouse, Froot, Projekt Melody, Zentreya, Silvervale, Hime Hajime, and Veibae). I’ve become particularly fond of Zentreya, who uses a speech-to-text-to-speech program and an absolute ton of chat interaction gimmicks, but they’re all good people. Also worth noting that most Western/American vtubers stream on Twitch instead of YouTube, but they also usually maintain some kind of YouTube presence, as well as Twitter accounts to keep people notified of where they’re going to be and when.

Past those groups, there are literally thousands upon thousands of much smaller groups and independent vtubers to recommend. As I said before, their relative audience size or independent status isn’t an objective measure of quality, and in fact, one of the nicer things about less immensely popular streamer is that you’ll get the benefit of a less chaotic/more intimate chat experience, but in exchange making sure you’re observing good etiquette is even more important since it’s easier to be disruptive to the chat. Off the top of my head:

The Tsunderia group, spearheaded by Hoshino Charlotte (Char Aznable-themed vtuber who does a lot of figure building on stream and makes/eats horrible food) and Umiushi Urara (Urara is especially fascinating, because she’s the real life manager of the company, and her streams are often more focused on behind the scenes and business-oriented facets of the vtuber industry, but that’s also maybe not the best place to jump in if you’re new)

Artemis of the Blue (a shark vtuber who’s perhaps best known for constantly simping for other vtubers)

Bao (a whale vtuber who also dabbles in making music)

Lady Hatsuu (a English localizer who’s worked on games like Trails in the Sky and takes donations for her local cat shelter)

JiBo (aka Great Black Otaku, aka former NFL player Brennan Williams, aka current WWE superstar Dio Maddin/Mace)

Mimika Morph (a Japanese vtuber who tries to incorporate as much English translation as she can and is literally an eldritch abomination)

Valerie Valkyrie (professional wrestler-themed vtuber who’s appropriately collabed with JiBo a few times)

Go Ria (gorilla (!!!) vtuber)

and Tsukimiya Mai, who actually has a presence on Tumblr, although at the moment I believe she’s on a wellness break.

If you’re not into watching streams at all and want Just The Good Parts, there are tons of channels that exist solely to make (and subtitle) clips, and almost always of already popular vtubers. The most annoying thing with them is that they’ll occasionally get aggressively clickbait-y, but such is the nature of the YouTube algorithm. I personally subscribe to Vtube Tengoku, Sushi [Hololive and Vtubers], CMT, JShay Translations, Aru Azumaya’s Pikamee Things, and Cooksie. The first four tend to focus on Hololive, Aru Azumaya of course is pretty exclusively dedicated to Pikamee, and Cooksie covers VShojo and a smattering of other English vtubers.

Last but not least, there are dedicated fan creators who make animations, usually either of whole clips or by stitching unrelated clips together. My recommendations include 2Snacks, tian nya, Kanauru, and Caroline Director. Just note that especially for these folks and other fan creators, content comes out much slower because of the nature of the work, but it’s always quality.

#long post #vtubers #Hololive #VShojo #apologies for the near total lack of Nijisani but Hana and Suzuhara Lulu are the only ones I know by name

[piduai]

translation of one of the drama CDs released with the DVD-Bluray edition of the anime, featuring the 7th division, sugimoto’s and hijikata’s groups. it was written by noda so it’s canon.

i tried making it into video for easier and smoother understanding, but i never worked with subtitles and video editing before so i concluded that syncing everything is a pain in the ass. if someone has the time and the desire to properly timestamp and slap this on a video, be my guest! i do think it would be nicer in video format.

Tsurumi: Edogai-kuun! Edogai-kuuun! Edogai-kuuun♪~ Where are you? Edogai-kuuuuun! Where are you hiding? Edogai: Tsurumi-saaaan! [laughter] Tsurumi: Edogai-kuun! Where are you? Jeeeez... Where are you?! Edogai: Tsurumi-saan, here I am! Tsurumi: Ah! Edogai-kun's face appearing out of the anus of a pig mount! So you were there, Edogai-kun? I couldn't tell at all.

Edogai: [laughter] By the way, Tsurumi-san. Do you know what animal I used for the mount next to the white bear? Tsurumi: Hmpf, this? Of course I do. Edogai: Eeeh, do you now? Tsurumi: Obviously I do. Edogai: Are you sure? Tell me then, please! Tsurumi: Why won't you tell me, Edogai-kun? I am absolutely sure that I got it right. Edogai: [cackling] It doesn't work like that! You are the one who has to say it. Tsurumi: Okay, let us say the answer together, at the same time! You ready? Here I go! Ready, set, go! [silence] Edogai: Hey! Tsurumi: You're being unfair, Edogai-kun! [music cuts off] Sergeant Tsukishima, can you tell? Edogai: Oh, Tsukishima-san, you're here? Tsukishima: I was here from the very beginning. Edogai: [music resumes] [laughter] Alright, I'll tell you now! This mount...

Sugimoto: How cool, so many animal mounts! Right, Asirpa-san? Asirpa: There's creatures I've never seen before. What's this? Shiraishi: That's a wild boar. There aren't any in Hokkaido, from what I recall? It's delicious in nabe! Sugimoto: Oh, botan nabe! I'd like to have some again... Asirpa: So it's tasty... I'd like to eat some, too! Kiroranke: There's a lot of mounts of animals that don't exist in Japan at all. Isn't this a penguin? Asirpa: So it's called a penguin? How does it taste, Kiroranke-nispa? Kiroranke: Dunno, never had any. There aren't any penguins up north where I lived, to begin with. Never heard of any. From what I recall, penguins live in the far, far south. Asirpa: I sure would like to eat some... A penguin nabe. Sugimoto: Hey, wait a sec, this... This is... What is this? I've never seen an animal like this. Where does it live? Shiraishi: What the hell is this? What a bizarre creature. Kind of disgusting. Asirpa: It's smooth and has no fur, so it can't be from the north. It would die from the cold. Hey, you, Ogata! What do you think it is? Ogata: [music stops] It's obviously a pig. Sugimo & Shiraishi, in unison: It's not a pig! You ever seen a pig like this?! Fucking moron! Have you ever seen a pig at all?! Ogata: [music resumes] It's a pig. I'm sure of it. Look at its legs. A pig's legs. Asirpa: What do you think, Dick-sensei? Ushiyama: Who knows! It does have pig legs, but no cute, swirly pig tail! Ogata: It's a pig. Sugimoto: Shut your mouth, Ogata! What do you think, old timers? Nagakura: This is not a pig. We kept pigs back at Shinsengumi. Didn't we, Hijikata-san? Hiikata: You're right, Nagakura. We ate pork a lot. But I never ate a pig like this. Nagakura: It looks like it has no eyes. If it has no eyes... Could it be some relative of the mole? Hijikata: Not only eyes. It has no nose or ears, either. Ogata: I am absolutely sure it's a pig. Ushiyama: What do you think, Ienaga? Ienaga: It could be a malformed pig! But it grew so big, hard to believe it's malformed, so maybe I'm wrong... Could be a result of selective breeding? A truly curious creature. Asirpa: There are creatures like this living somewhere. The world really is big! Right, Sugimoto? Sugimoto: You're so right, Asirpa-san. To me it just seems like it's a huge, enormous dick with pig legs, though...

[rewind]

Edogai: Alright, I'll tell you now! This mount... Is of the penis of a blue whale with pig legs attached to it! Tsurumi: Oh, I see! So you made it as a joke! There was no way I could tell, you know that, Edogai-kun! Sergeant Tsukishima didn't know either, I think. Edogai: There is no way Sergeant Tsukishima could tell. You see, that person... He's ill-bred, I'm sure. Tsurumi: Oh? Do tell. Why? Edogai: He just keeps slamming the door, no matter how many times I ask him not to... I twitch each time, and get heart palpitations! Tsurumi: Oh, poor you! How mean of him! Edogai: And he stomps all the time, and doesn't listen no matter how many times I tell him to stop! I am convinced that people like him lacked discipline from their parents. Tsurumi: I know what you’re saying! Edogai: Therefore I am also convinced that he's uneducated. How could he recognize a blue whale dick? He couldn’t, I'm sure. Tsukishima: [music stops] Uh, I've never left the room. Tsurumi: Huh, so you're here, Sergeant Tsukishima. Edogai: Oh, so he's here.

#golden kamuy #noda satoru #translation #drama cd

[atlascas]

re-made my cover of presque vu from like 2 months ago bc i received the copy and realized i’d made a whole bunch of amateur mistakes re: typesetting and cover design, and was so bothered that i designed myself another copy (that is winging its way to me RIGHT now). notes under the cut if anyone’s interested! i needed a place to put all my thoughts about the process

so this was the old design:

i designed this first one in a day, and didn’t have any idea what i was gonna do beforehand - the concept ended up being like, arthur + arthur’s vision of paris being inverted + the surrealism of the pink ink. so like the corruption of dreaming seeping into arthur’s reality. saying i discovered the thematic elements along the way would be an understatement though lmfao

the only new fonts i used were for subtitles/the author name, as well as the publisher stuff on the back cover - otherwise i used preinstalled fonts. i didn’t prioritize the title either. i kinda worked it in around the design i had and hoped it wasn’t too hard to read against the pink

as for the typesetting/interior: i threw the manuscript in indesign, put in chapter #s, figured out page numbering/master pages, and set it in book antiqua. i also put in these handdrawn-ish dice end-stoppers and spaced them really weirdly, because i was scared the spaces between sections would be too big. actually for a lot of the interior stuff i was worried abt how spacing would look, so i left the text like. single spaced

and then i was really excited and i wanted to print it before i lost interest in the project entirely, so i did, and unfortunately all those issues that i overlooked in the design phase came back to bite me in the ass. like, i didn’t figure out the trim properly, so the barcode was way too close to the bottom of the book. the font was HUGE on the back, and made it look like a kid’s book. title/author on the spine were too small and spaced weird. the margins in the interior were too small on the bottom, spacing was way too small in general, book antiqua ended up looking weird in print (though at least half of that was also probably the spacing), and there were widows and orphans everywhere (single words/lines at the tops and bottoms of pages). there were also typos and little mistakes in the text itself. i couldn’t have figured all of that out w/o seeing it for myself in print, but i did immediately start taking notes on what i wanted to change w the next edition LMAO

so here are a few prototype designs i had before settling on my new design:

basically i tried to go into this cover design w a much stronger concept than i did for the first one. i worked through a few ideas before settling on my final design, and i let them sit for a while instead of impulse ordering! final concept ended up being how arthur’s life was effectively destroyed by dreaming - first his career, then mal, then his relationships w eames and dom in a terrible domino effect - while maintaining an iron grip control over himself through all of it. (that’s fallingwater, a parisian hausmann apartment building, and the tuileries exploding on the cover!)

made the font smaller on the back cover, made the text on the spine bigger, made sure the title stood out and was a focal point by using a display font, and tried to make a coherent color scheme via an exclusion filter

biggest changes were in the interior, though. i modelled it off the raven cycle books! i found a nicer serif font, double spaced, and made sure the margins were bigger. i also put all the text on a baseline grid and replaced the dice stoppers w a really nice symbol that i can’t copy paste here lol, which did wonders to line up my text on the grid. i also figured out justification/keep options to solve my widows/orphans problem, and did some light editing to ensure the last lines were even on the page. i just barely scraped the surface of typesetting too! even w all the research i did this time, i’m sure there’s more to typesetting that i haven’t discovered yet :’)

so fun so so exhilarating to see the entire thing come together. i can’t wait for the book to come in!!!!!!

#inception #presque vu #arthur x eames

[aks3raao1]

You know, there's a thing with characters that foil each other and serve as the "good" and "bad" respectively (Toga/Himiko, Tenko/Izuku, Nagito/Hajime, Ryoko/Hajime, Atsushi/Akutagawa) but that trope felt rather annoying to write, especially in the world I am trying to write about (ALTERNATIVE's world is basically MHA X BSD but like. 1000 times more fucked up and the Specialised are always prejudiced against. A terrible lot).

The title itself, ALTERNATIVE is to symbolise Romila's POV of "infinite choices and paths present for every being" and how she starts off the story with a decisive line of,

"Many people ask me if this could have been avoided. They beg for me to tell them that things could have been better. There are others too, who try to justify that this was the only way for things to have been. If you ask me, both are living in states of denial. One can't accept the stupidity of humanity for disregarding common sense for violence and prejudices. Another can't accept humanity's choice for having better circumstances if the one with the power chose to."

The thing is, the running theme is that the story is a bittersweet one, despite there not being many deaths of the main characters, but there was always a junction where you can see it could have been avoided, that there was an "alternative" for things to have gotten better, especially in the first book.

Another reason for the title is that it's basically an "ALTERNATIVE" to this world of ours, where super powers and stuff like those exist.

The subtitles of both the books (Myriad of Colours, Colour of Death) signifies Romila's power, "Aura Tracker" which lets her view people's aura as colours (Myriad of Colours is to signify the different kinds of people she meets, Colour of Death is about what affects her the most (death) and how she's constantly seeing that colour everywhere, especially now that it's war).

The thing about ALTERNATIVES is that Romila could have chosen to be a doormat (like Koldin tends to be at the beginning (his rp self is like THAT due to circumstances different to ALTERNATIVE's actual storyline. Also because Hack's a nicer person to be around than Romila is) in order to nOt hAvE cOnFliCt™) to not get into conflict and put up a super nice persona for people but she didn't. She decided to focus on hanging onto her reasons for doing what she does and using it to create a caustic personality to shield herself because she knows that she will regret being a doormat (Her Despair takes the form of Koldin Hopkins).

Now Koldin could have certainly put his hatred for society at the forefront and taken a caustic personality but instead chooses to be nice. Because he doesn't want to become as hurtful as the rest, that's how he wants to disentangle himself from society. However he, like Romila (who just took standing up for herself to extremes), takes this to the extremes causing him to gain the personality of a nice boy™.

However this also goes into why they made the choices they did (which is what Romila realises during the Mansion of Death arc), because for Romila, she didn't really have the psychology for actually becoming a doormat (because a) Her mom wouldn't have it b) She hated to be called weak c) She didn't have anyone to fall back to after the inevitable consequences of being a doormat d) She felt that if she were to live with monsters, then it's easier to blend in by being one (this comes useful to her when she infiltrates into the Government) e) She saw doormats getting suicidal which frightened her) or not becoming fully caustic (since her standing up for herself wasn't. Liked. By. Anyone. And seen as aggressive and she basically went, "Well if they see me as bad, I will show them BAD" which led to her breakdown causing the incidents at the Mansion Of Death (especially a twisted hatred against Koldin for extremely understandable reasons).

For Koldin, being meek and peaceful had let him get by in the streets and his skills to difuse fights had come in handy. Later when Dr. Hopkins took him in, he was well. A member of the Radicals who were known to be extremely merciless towards the Specialised (he had defected but Koldin had a REALLY good reason to be wary) so he figured if he stayed nice, he wouldn't be kicked out of the house and Dr. Hopkins being Dr. Hopkins just assumed that it was his normal and that behaviour carried into school. He figured that it was a horrifying thing to be aggressive and then saw how Romila got treated and decided that yep, he was right, that confirmed his world view alright and it was more reason to be super nice. While Romila saw Koldin as a person who everyone took advantage of (a thing she hated. To be exploited just like that) and went, yep that confirmed hers and it was more reason to be super angry.

However the thing is that, Romila was chided for being anything, which caused her to just give up to be peaceful (because what would she do? Anything she tried to do got her scolded) while Koldin (thankfully) found a support system. It really goes to show the difference a good friend can do.....

As it is, when I first began writing this, the most obvious choice presented itself to me. Koldin is the "hope" and Romila is the "despair" (on the protagonist, deutergonist side) but that seemed stupid and boring as it wouldn't make sense. Since I am trying to make a point of showing with how Romila's world view gradually changes from "there are wrong and right choices" to the fact that it doesn't have to be rigid and that *now* she wouldn't be hurt if she used what her vulnerable side wanted (a world free of prejudices and unnecessary cruelty) with the talents she had. That kindness mixed with her usual personality won't literally kill her.

And for Koldin, being a doormat means that he got taken advantage of a lot by different people and since he refused to actually stand up for himself ("Ah...aha......it seems that I can't..." "Can't what?" "Feel angry for myself......it's always anger that comes from the ones I love being hurt" "Then love yourself too, you will feel angry again" ~ Koldin's conversation with his inverted self in the Labyrinth) he got. Taken advantage of. By virtually everyone. However he decided that if being nice would keep him keep his self and his name self then it would be fine. He did not want to be the source of grief (his actual parents tossed him out because of his Specialisation). The Mansion Of Death actually causes him to snap for that reason, because Romila literally puts him in a torture dream "for the greater good" and then proceeds to kill his dear friend. One thing Koldin HATED. Killing friends. (Due to them being run over by a car, which led to his paralysed left arm)

Now on the other side, their respective friends:

Romila:

Luja: Cynical and annoyed by people's stupidity but not to caustic extents and she wants to be a scientist and isn't haunted by the possibility of dying.

Kratanos: Full of anger and hatred against the world but not entirely blinded by it and is focused to using that anger for reformation of the world (she becomes a therapist later, to help people)

They both have her caustic parts but they also let themselves embrace another side which makes them her "balance".

Koldin:

Anand: Believes that there's no requirement for violence unless it's absolutely necessary.

Karishma: Figures it's a better idea to just listen to rules but doesn't hesitate to break them if she sees that they are bs

They both have his peacefulness, but don't hesitate to do what they think they should do, which makes them his "balance".

The point is that, the case of choosing alternatives isn't possible with a tunnel vision. Even so, there are choices that literally can't be made due to the individual and circumstances. Sometimes the choice is to choose more than one choice. Well, that's one dramatic storyline......

It reminds me of DDLC side stories since everyone has a bit of the other person's solutions and more of a opposite personality (don't take this the wrong way, there are many stories like that and it's honestly a favourite to think abt but it's just that DDLC does it well especially since it's only a school environment). Tbh, I like dramatic storylines that rlly dig deep into a character's perspective (reasons why I'm in love with Hack and Axel in particular). My whole thing is that I'd rather read a story with interesting and in depth characters than one where only the plot is good so I say you made the great call of the century with Koldin and Romila's characters.

What you thought before getting into it is rlly how every great character arc starts. You focus on one, somewhat forget the other one until you review every single character for inspiration and then BAM! PARALLELS! It's really admirable how, even in this messed up world of specializations, you didn't purely focus on the plot bc it honestly sounds interesting enough to just stick around for Romila's life and journey. You could have ended it all with just that, but no, you smacked Koldin in there and said "be my interesting on par character that can kick Romila's gut" and IT WORKED SPECTACULARLY!!!

I really love ur writing and hoping to one day read (and maybe print out) every story you've ever written bc GODDAMNIT I NEED THE FEELING OF THOSE WORDS ON WORN PAPER WITH AN ARTISTIC COVER AND AN AMAZINGLY HEAVY WEIGHT

Aka, paperback. Bc that's how I like to roll and that's how good I think it is. 1000% worthy of a bestseller

#writing #mah fwend's story :3 #novel #ALTERNATIVE #Koldin Hopkins #Romila

[thechildofstark]

Fuck John Walker (and also some other stuff): A Response To Episode Four

WARNING: some bad language, death mentions, violence mentions, blood mentions, racism, spoilers for for ep 4 of tfatws 

DISCLAMER: I have some Opinions about various characters. These do not extend to the actors, who I’m sure are lovely and should be treated with the dignity, privacy and respect that they deserve. 

“Fuck John Walker” was originally meant to be the subtitle. I decided on it when he screwed up the op for Sam. It got ungraded during the final scene, because nothing else could possibly compare as a necessary title to this post. 

Essentially, some (out of order) thoughts on episode 4:

~*Sam and Bucky, working together*~ (pretend this is a musical jingle)

The contrasting ways that they interacted with the displaced

While the incredibly valid argument can be made that Sam is the least privileged of the group (I’ve made it) it is obvious that he has had the most structured civilian life: approaching the people he comes across openly. Yes, he is polite and calm, but the closest thing to this he has personally come across in the past (that we know of) would be the war vets he worked with and the critical difference is that they wanted to be there. From what I remember of Sam’s groups they didn’t seem to be a sort of mandatory requirement: you came because you chose to. Or at least, you came prepared for the situation. Here, Sam is an outsider and an unwelcome threat. These people are not going to open up to him. 

Bucky is quieter, but still quite straight forward in the way he presents himself. I think he may show a little more care for the environment he is in than Sam but that isn’t saying much. Yes, he has experienced much worse things than Sam but we still see his unfamiliarity with this sort of situation paired with some less than stellar social skills really not working in his favor. 

Look, I love both these 2 to death. But this is not what they know. 

Zemo on the other hand quite likely lived in a place similar to this after his family was murdered. He shows an understanding of how this sort of situation would work, going to children who:

a) wont necessarily peg him as an outsider

b) are bribable

also I think he was genuinely super glad to give those kids that candy and money. He would have been such a good dad. now I have Zemo feels. somebody help me.

The inclusion of the Dora Milaje was incredibly awesome, and not just because I simp for powerful women. Narratively, this was the perfect place for them to join the party and assert their right to apprehend Zemo. 

Bucky speaking Xhosa (i think it was?) is very cool

 I would like to take this moment to formally state that Caption John Walker is a motherfucking asshole. 

It was also really nice to see Sam’s therapist skills, that worked against him earlier really help him here. 

I liked seeing that more human side of Karli, and having her interact with the “enemy” and have serious conversation about what everyone is doing.

Until Captain Insecurity has to destroy the op because he doesn’t trust the people he chose to work with, no one has comms or anything I guess?

Also Walker deferring to Bucky for team decisions over Sam, talking over Sam and acting like he knows better than Sam?

I smell racism in this Chili’s tonight

It was also really interesting to get a more in-depth look at how Zemo views supersoldiers. Nearly all the ones that he has either heard of or interacted with (destroyed) had either volunteered for the serum or were so brainwashed that it didn’t make a difference. These people are a dangerous enemy to be eliminated, alongside people like Dr. Nagel. His entire worldview is focused on their destruction that the idea that one of them could be a normal person is impossible to him. The only exceptions acknowledged are Steve (paragon of saintly virtue) and Bucky. 

And the fact that after his family died and his country devastated he would most likely have fixated on both the Avengers and the “concept” of a superhuman being as something to blame for his loss. His refusal to concede his position to Sam isn’t just arrogance, although that seems to be a part of it, but the fact that he has spent so much time and energy in destroying both the Winter Soldier program and most likely other similar operations, along with the Avengers that this hatred and belief in the danger has most likely become one of his core beliefs. To change this would be to question his vendetta against the Avengers, to question his actions against the Winter Soldier program which he knows was a horrible thing, and to question why he has spent the past seven years in maximum security prison. This isn’t something he is ready to do yet.  

The fact that Bucky is a noted exception is something that stands out to me. Zemo knows that Bucky is a good person, regardless of the serum. 

Bucky is also the only main character (that I can think of) that was injected with the serum against his will. The fact that he didn’t seek it out could quite likely be part of the reason that Zemo doesn’t look down on him for it - it is framed that the sort of person that seeks out that sort of strength/power would be a “supremacist”, someone who would use their abilities to harm and subjugate others.

And while we are at the apartment may I say how funny it is to see Zemo just. Literally being Sam and Bucky’s sugar daddy. He transports them and houses them and makes them fancy tea. It’s possible he’s providing them with clothes. Either way, love it. Cannot wait for the boys to work it out.

Sam and Lemar’s responses to being offered the serum are an interesting juxtaposition to how they view the concept of supersoldiers. They have both experienced hardship and survived war but Sam is the one that has gone up against Gods and monsters and he wants none of that, thank you. 

And Lemar is so comfortable with saying yes because it isn’t actually being offered to him. Walker expresses some hesitation in their discussion because for him, it isn’t hypothetical. This is something real that can and will effect him for the rest of his life and he wants to make the “right decision”.

The return of Erskine’s belief that the serum not only effect the physical but the mental, emotional and (possibly?) spiritual. This isn’t something that’s really been touched on outside of The First Avenger and I liked that it turned up here. But the fact that it was the reason Walker felt comfortable taking the serum? Eww

The Dora Milaje kicking names and taking ass is super awesome. They are so incredibly skilled and have such amazing teamwork and are also super beautiful I love them 

Sam and Bucky just. Watching. Enjoying the show. Absolute kings. 

Zemo being the sneaky little sneak that he is :)

One one hand, Bucky losing his arm in the fight was very awesome. One the other hand, he has a long history of complicated bodily autonomy in relation to that arm so........  Neutral opinion it is then 

Karli, honey, I really want to like you but can you please keep the mans family out of it. Okay?

And another thing that this show made me think about: kids left to fend for themselves after the Blip (uuuurrrggh it hate calling it that. stupid canonical name). I think it’s good that at least some people took it on themselves to take these children in, to give them good lives and families.

The way that Sam has incorporated his wings into his combat style is very cool

Okie dokie can’t avoid it forever lets get this over with. 

LEMAR MY BEAUTIFUL SON NOOOO

those fuckers (the writers i mean)

Side note: did they really have to make the first main character death of the series a Black “sidekick” character? No. No they did not. 

Side side note: I understand that this is a perfectly valid way (ew) to “advance the plot” but I can and will be annoyed about it

And now we really get into the shit. But...........................

As much as I absolutely unequivocally hate John Walker I actually like the thematic parallels of how they did this. All throughout The First Avenger Steve is adamant on how he doesn’t want to hurt anyone, he just wants to stand up to the bullies. It’s only after Bucky dies that he says he wants to kill all the Nazis and really get into the horror of it all. The fact that John, who has absolutely been on the edge for the entire episode if not longer, only loses it after Lemar dies?

Because Lemar is arguably meant to be that stand-in for Bucky in the eyes of the public, and they are obviously close friends..........

Just - 

I feel I may have accidentally been slightly nicer than I planned to Walker in this post. I’m not sure how I feel about that. 

But C****** J*** W****** is NOT Captain America. Up until now I’ve been calling him “Fake Cap” in my head and to my family, but he doesn’t even deserve that honor. 

And the blood on the Shield. Dear god that was horrible. 

And the fact that, as it was pointed out in this very episode, this man fully represents everything that is Captain America, to the world. He isn’t only tarnishing his own legacy, he is also destroying Steve’s. And to some extent, Bucky’s. The whole reason that Bucky Barnes is considered a “Superhero” is because, at least in America he is known as “Cap’s Best Friend”. He was marketed that way for over half a century, and after the whole “Winter Solder” thing, goodwill or no, brainwashing or no, this could end very ugly for him. Not to mention that Steve Rogers is most likely to be forgotten to history in favor of this freak. 

And on that note, where the fuck is Steve? This is set only 6 months after Endgame, if he had died we would know. So what the hell is he doing? Because I know he got perpetual brainrot going back in time to be str8 and boring but dear god if the show tries to tell me that he’s just chilling in some senior’s center in Alaska I will actually call bullshit. Steve Rogers would never. Okay this is a whole separate post on my thought on Steve. Watch this space I guess. 

And while we’re all here, Bucky Barnes needs a goddamn boyfriend. I’ve done some thinking, and here is a compiled shortlist: 

Sam

Zemo

De-aged Steve (he would be higher but I’m still mad at him for the whole “vanishing without a word to relive Jim Crow and the Lavender Scare. :/ )

IN THAT ORDER. 

That’s all folks. 

Feel free to send me asks if you want clarification or extra details on anything. 

And finally - 

the thing we all came to see:

FUCK

JOHN 

WALKER

fin

#john walker #steve rogers #captain america #sam wilson #bucky barnes #helmut zemo #zemo #tfatws #the falcon and the winter solider spoilers #karli morgenthau #dora milaje #tw blood #tw violence #tw death #cw racism #thats all folks

[arrogvnces]

     this time around, he knows exactly why he calls mina back. when the weekend is over and life begins anew at st. agathe’s, she reaches out to him once more, hoping this might be the time he’ll reply. and he does. because ever since finding out about henrietta and theodore’s secret engagement, an ugly and unfamiliar feeling’s been festering at the bottom of his stomach. he refused to name it, initially, but he’s tired of lying to himself. sinclair is terribly, and annoyingly, jealous. he’s once again lost to theodore before the game even begun. but this is about more than grades, or accomplishments, or even reputation. he cares about this. he cares about her. likes her, as ren called him out on. and there’s nothing he can do about it, but pretend he’s still as detached and uncompromised as he was at the beginning of the school year. so he says yes to mina, knuckles bruised and lip busted by the time their “friendly” date comes around.

     it’s in the darkness of a small movie theater down at the village, that she tries to hold his hand. they’re the only ones in the room, a showing of a streetcar named desire playing with german subtitles on the screen. twenty minutes in, her fingers gently reach for his own on the armrest, cold and soft to touch. he pulls it away a bit too harshly, startled, instinct taking over. he sees the flash of hurt in her eyes, before she whispers an awkward ‘sorry’ and pretends to focus on the film. if sinclair were honest with himself, he’d describe the next minutes as a desperate attempt at distraction. a selfish and cruel moment in time, where he used mina to wash away the taste of her best friend from his lips. but instead, he’ll try to convince himself he really felt something, in the dark. 

     his kiss is furious from the beginning, leaning over to her velvet seat, one hand at the nape of her neck, while the other rests over the wool tights on her legs. she gasps into his mouth, surprised, before reciprocating in double. it’s messy, and wrong, but he feels the noise in his head mute---finally--- taken over by carnal instincts he’s well too familiar with. his hand skims higher along her legs, lips finding a spot on the crook of her neck that has her nails digging a little harder on his shoulders, as she holds on to him. he doesn’t know how long they play around, like this, tongues and lips locked onto each other, their hands roaming all over. he only feels the growing tightness in his pants, the burn in his lungs, the complete silence in his head. 

     “sinclair, we---” she whispers, as his hand disappears under her skirt, too short for the weather. worn for him. “we can’t do this here.” the film is half-way through, marlon brando’s iconic character showing on the silver screen, his words muted by their labored breathing and the rush in his ears. no one will come by, any time soon. they share a languid kiss, his teeth biting at her lower lip as he pulls back. 

     “i can stop,” he says, low and strained. desperate to change her mind. “or, i can make you come. i’ve been thinking about it, you know.” he licks a path along her jaw with his tongue, as she trembles under him, lips parted open. “the sounds you’d make, with my fingers inside you. if you’d taste salty or sweet, when i’d lick you off of them.” he nibbles at the column of her neck, her expensive perfume filling all of his senses. “if you’d let me fuck this pretty throat of yours, and swallow every last drop.” he whispers all the right words, meant for someone else. 

     “sinclair,” he thinks she says, but it’s a breathy moan that comes out instead. he’s sure he has her, when her hands brace against his chest and push him back towards his seat. he’s startled, the refusal new and bizarre. but he’s never been known to force a yes, lips parting to offer an apology, when it’s her turn to cross the line between their seats. her thighs nestle around his waist, straddling him without hesitation. the brightness of the screen highlights her features. her deep brown eyes are glazed over, her cheeks are colored a cherry red, her full lips puffy as she struggles to catch her breath. even her hair, that’d been carefully combed into a high ponytail, now falls over them as a silk curtain, blocking his view of everything but her. without warning, she moves her hips against his, the pressure pushing his head back against the seat, desire coiling in his lower abdomen. 

     “all those things you said,” she starts, grinding on his lap, leaving a wet spot on his jeans. “let’s do them later. right now---god---right now, i. . .” he hears the hesitation in her voice. girls like mina are afraid to come on too strong, to ask for what they want. to beg for it, even. but he hears her, without her saying it. 

     “turn around,” he orders, nearly reaching his limit. she obeys him promptly, twisting in her own axis until her front’s facing the screen. in one sweep, he pulls at her tights and panties, her bare bottom now facing him as she wiggles out of the fabric. “give me that.” he reaches for her underwear, soaping wet cotton in his hand. folding it into a ball, he reaches around her, tapping at her chin. “open your mouth.” she follows his instructions, lips parting dutifully for him to shove the fabric inside, muffling the sound that attempts to escape her throat. his fingers are nimble as they undo the button of his pants, lifting mina off with one arm around her hips, while the other pushes his jeans off of his own. his member sprawls free from his boxers, purple and red at the tip, an angry vein protuding from the skin. he sinks into her without notice. 

     he’s not even sure if the film is still playing. all he hears is the rumble in his chest, the slap of skin against skin, mina’s cries through the makeshift gag in her mouth. she arches her back against him, his fingers bruising her hips as he helps her up and down. when she’s caught onto her own rhythm, his fingers dip between her thighs, circling and teasing between her folds, as she writhes on top of him. there’s a fire in his the pit of his stomach, deep groans escape him as his mind goes blank, pleasure swarming every inch of his body. he makes the mistake of closing his eyes, imagining it’s someone else on his lap. the hair that caresses his face turns black, the curves under his hands become more pronounced, the moans in his ears sound huskier. but he can’t pretend for long. anger at himself surges forward without warning. he pulls mina fully into his lap, hips slamming into her with twice the strength, setting a pace that can no longer mask her cries of pleasure. when she tightens around him, he pulls out, her cries reverberating around the room as he uses his own hand to finish himself off, white liquid sticking to her lower belly. 

     they stay still for what must be a minute or two, attempting to catch their breaths, remembering where they are. or in his case, who he is. he’s so caught up in trying to get himself together, that he doesn’t immediately hear the door to the theater open. 

     “um, hey, guys...” a meek, teenager voice comes through from behind them, startling them both into action. “you really need to go before my manager comes back.” he rushes out, the door slamming on his way out. the film is no longer playing, having been paused at some point during their activities. 

     “oh my god,” mina whispers, turning to him with laughter in her eyes, before pushing herself up and attempting to find decency again. sinclair does the same. but all the while they make their way out of the movie theater, he can’t help but think she’s the one he should like. someone who doesn’t fight their feelings for him, who doesn’t go cold when their needs are met --- she links her fingers through his --- who doesn’t lie. someone who could make him good. 

     when he returns to the dorm, and sinks into his bed, he knows none of that matter. she’s not the one he’s going to dream of, tonight. 

---

     “. . . which is why, you’re going to need to partner up for his project,” professor kwon announces, to the various complaints across the room. sinclair’s eyes unwillingly glance over to the raven-haired girl two rows down, wondering if she would cheat again, to work with him. “i know, i know. the last one was a bit of disaster, so i’m going to be nicer and let you pick your own group, this time around. just remember, this counts for your final grade. so, pick wisely.” 

     to his left, luna begins standing up, gathering up her books in one arm. sinclair latches onto her wrist.

     “where the hell are you going?” he asks, eyes wide. 

     she frowns at him for a second too long, before plopping back down in her seat with a sigh. “okay, good. i was just testing your loyalty.” at his puzzled look, she rolls her eyes. “i don’t know, you’re acting weird. you don’t talk to me, anymore. i mean, why didn’t you say you went to the movies with mina kang?” 

     “how do you know that?” it’s not a secret, per say. but keeping secrets from luna means keeping even the smallest things in omission. if he tells her about mina, she’ll ask him a hundred questions. and somehow, an hour later, she’ll know about henri. and he gave his word, even if it doesn’t always mean much. 

     “one of simon’s buddies saw you walking out together,” she answers, arms crossed and brow raised. “pretty much everyone is sure you guys are dating. i’d be inclined to believe it, if i didn’t know you don’t date.” 

      “didn’t they think i was dating you?” 

     “are you not?” elijah kwon’s sudden interjection startles them both out of their quiet conversation. their teaches stands in front of their desk, an almost perfect smile on his face, if it wasn’t for the tension in it. he’s not even pretending to look at sinclair, which would be insulting, if he wasn’t amused by his friend’s reddened ears and stuttering words. 

     “um, i mean---” 

     “no way,” sinclair replies, in her stead. “luna is too mature, and grown and womanly for me. i look at her and i’m like ‘god, you’re such a twenty-seven year old’---” she unsurprisingly kicks him under the table, his shin radiating pain and he bites his lower lip to keep a grunt from falling out. elijah chuckles, the tension falling out from his features, genuine joy and relief shining as he drops their project theme on their table, leaving luna with a lingering glance. 

     he turns to her as the same time as she does, the two ready to bicker as is their routine, when another shadow covers the light as it finds their way to the table. they look up to see mina and henri, the blonde with her hands joined behind her back and a shy expression on her features.

     “could we join your group?” she asks, tucking her hair behind one ear. “henri and i could really use the help.” 

[eyreguide]

Reviews of Jane Eyre Adaptations

An overview of my thoughts on all the film and television adaptations I have seen.

Jane Eyre 1934  Virginia Bruce And Colin Clive

This is the first talkie version of “Jane Eyre” and I think has the rather unfortunate timing to have come out during the Great Depression. For that is the only reason I can think of for making the story so cheery and sweet. Gone are moral ambiguities and dilemmas. Adele is Rochester’s niece, and Rochester is in the process of divorcing his mild-mannered and slightly mad first wife. Even Mr. Rochester is charming and affable (and quite obviously in love with Jane from the start); you don’t have to work hard to like him.

Jane herself is quite spunky and has no trouble expressing anything she is feeling. I find it funny how she calls out Mr. Rochester on everything. No wonder he is pretty straightforward with her. And Jane is acknowledged to be young and pretty in the movie- interesting since so many adaptations in later years get beautiful actresses to play Jane and then pretend they are plain.

I think because this version lightens the story so much, one can’t take it too seriously as an adaptation of “Jane Eyre”.

1943 Jane Eyre   Joan Fontaine And Orson Welles

There’s a much better attempt to adapt the actual novel in this version (as compared to the 1934 film version) which makes for an interesting transition from light to dark. The 1934 film being a little too happy and this version being a little too dark. Orson Welles plays the role of Rochester with such an intensity that makes him a little intimidating. No wonder Joan Fontaine’s Jane looks like a deer caught in headlights most of the time.

The script has some interesting changes to the story that perpetuates through several movie adaptations to follow. Helen Burns has her hair cut at Lowood instead of Julia Severn in the novel, and Jane heroically demands to have her hair cut as well. Jane is more directly the cause of Mr. Rochester falling off his horse as he looms up on her and she is unfortunately in the way instead of standing quietly by the side of the road. Jane also feels she has to defend Adele and asks Rochester to treat her more kindly- something Jane never does in the novel.

Other interesting innovations to the story include a St. John Rivers who is the Doctor for Lowood, and who provides Jane with lessons of morality instead of Helen Burns. Overall, this film is fantastically moody and quite romantic, and a very good film if you aren’t too concerned about fidelity to the novel.

1949 Jane Eyre Mary Sinclair And Charlton Heston

Studio One produced this hour long episode and it was apparently filmed live, so they had one big set for the whole program. Consequently the script centers on the Thornfield section, although it does show Jane leaving Lowood. The house party consisted of just Blanche (with Jane having to play piano for their amusement!)

Mary Sinclair as Jane does not bring much to the role. She says her lines and acts smitten as needed. Charlton Heston is an aggressive and overly masculine Rochester, and he doesn’t really capture the character very well either. It doesn’t help that he tended to over do the emotion somewhat.

The story is very chopped up, obviously, and everything moves very quickly. There really isn’t much to recommend this, unless you are a big fan of the novel, and you like old movies.

1952 Jane Eyre  Katharine Bard And Kevin McCarthy

This episode was also produced by Studio One and is very similar in script and features a similar set. They seemed to have a little more money in the budget though because the staging and sets were a little better. And Mr. Rochester was able to have a larger house party, that reflected the book more.

Katharine Bard was also not very memorable as Jane. She said her lines and was just there. Kevin McCarthy had this interesting nicer vibe to him. He seemed more friendly and sweet, while also being demanding sometimes. It’s still not a great characterization though.

Again, I would not really recommend this version unless you are set on watching all adaptations (and that’s a great idea!)

1956 Jane Eyre Daphne Slater And Stanley Baker

This early six-part British miniseries is available to watch only at the BFI in London. I was pleasantly surprised by how well this version adapted the story. Slater and Baker’s interpretation of the characters is wonderful and the dialogue/script follows the general plot of the novel very well. It does veer off from the actual dialogue of the book, but in this case, I liked the changes. It captured the gist of the scenes and the character’s emotions. The only really odd moments came from some of the more emotional scenes which would have been better with Charlotte’s words.

The childhood part of the story features the actress playing adult Jane, also playing Jane as a child, which is a little jarring, but it actually worked rather well. Slater was good at capturing the essence of a child. Young Jane in this version is also much more outspoken and Helen Burns feels more like an equal to Jane - much less overly religious and self-sacrificing. It made for a different dynamic but I enjoyed how it showed Jane and Helen’s close relationship

Unfortunately feisty, young Jane becomes much more muted and easily frightened as adult Jane. Slater’s Jane is still good though, despirt her timidity and is able to hold her own against Baker’s Rochester. Baker makes an imposing, brusque and rough Rochester, but he brought some nuance and emotional depth to the character. The miniseries also does justice to St. John Rivers and shows him as very formidalbe and controlling - perhaps the most cold and disturbing I have ever seen St. John portrayed. He attempts to read a letter that Jane receives without her knowledge, and also lies to Jane that Rochester has already moved on from her.

This was a wonderful version with many scenes and moments that I did not expect to be included in so early an adaptation.

1957 Jane Eyre Joan Elam And Patrick MacNee

This adaptation is much fun. It’s just… so weird. The interpretation of the novel is so bad, it’s like the writer was making fun of “Jane Eyre.” Jane is preachy and spiritual to the extreme. She doesn’t have a care for herself but just wants to help Mr. Rochester in any way she can. Which Mr. Rochester must be glad of since she excuses his lecherous advances on her because he drinks (alot apparently) and because he has had a troubled past. But after Rochester has tried to take advantage of Jane, he does fall in love with her and it’s cute how much attention he pays to her during his house party. Which gives Blanche a chance to be ridiculously catty.

Mason also gets interesting things to do in this adaptation. He doesn’t get quietly stabbed and bitten on the third floor- no he crashes down some stairs during the house party, bleeding and terrified. A supremely Gothic moment. And when Jane agrees to marry Rochester, Mason sort of slides into view and is all ‘I don’t think so.’ Mason has some attitude. The script for the adaptation is just over the top- down to little Adele scrabbling in the ashes for a toy when Jane finds her in the end after (a really quick) fire.

For an “interesting” way of looking at the story of “Jane Eyre”, this adaptation scores high marks.

1957 Jane Eyre (Italian) Ilaria Occhini And Raf Vallone

This adaptation is in Italian, and the copy I have has no subtitles, so I’m reviewing this with only the acting and the gist of the scenes to go by.

This is a 5 part adaptation (oddly each episode is not quite the same length) and it begins with Jane meeting Mr. Rochester by felling his horse. From there, Jane’s childhood is told through some flashbacks. Some of the more interesting adaptation choices this version makes is to have Jane much older when she finally leaves the Reeds house. And a new sort of character is introduced - by the name of Jack Lloyd. He seems to be a combination of John Reed and St. John, in that he is Jane’s cousin on the Reed’s side (maybe?) and is in love with Jane from the beginning. While the first episode mostly deals with Jane’s childhood, we still get scenes in the next three episodes to what the Reeds are doing and especially Jack Lloyd. Jack also turns up at Thornfield to take Jane away to visit sick Mrs. Reed. I was very entertained by what seemed to be Mr. Rochester’s jealousy over Jack! Another interesting thing about this script is that Mr. Rochester hires a gypsy and listens in on the readings she gives (just like in the 2006 miniseries). And then, he comes out to comfort Jane because she has become distressed.

The feel of this adaptation is very dramatic, there is an emphasis on Gothic elements (forbidden rooms, screams, portentous secretive glances) and the audience sees things from Bertha’s point of view a couple times, as she wanders Thornfield’s halls. Jane and Rochester are smitten with each other very quickly. I found it funny how often they stare at each other as if there was no one else in the room. (Sometimes there was.) Jane can seem a bit moony, and Mr. Rochester has a few mood swings. He can seem really nice one minute and then suddenly speak very sharply. This adaptation is a bit slow, and takes some interesting liberties with the story, but I found it very entertaining and romantic. And Mr. Rochester regains his sight in a dramatic moment in the end during the wedding. A nice dramatic wrap-up.

1961 Jane Eyre Sally Ann Howes And Zachary Scott

This one-hour television production for “Family Classics” was introduced by Joan Fontaine which was a nice surprise. Opening credits start with Grace Poole getting herself some alcohol. Mr. Rochester’s entrance is not quite as dramatic- he is sitting in a chair in the darkened library when Jane goes down to get a book and he startles her when he speaks. I actually really liked this adaptation. Sally Ann Howes was again serviceable as Jane, nothing special in her interpretation. Zachary Scott as Rochester brought something different to the role as compared to the previous American hour-long television productions. His Rochester was more aristocratic in ways, he sometimes- and very vaguely!- put me in mind of Dracula. Not that he was vampiric, just in the way he carried himself. And maybe because he was dark and thin.

The script manages to include a “Rivers” section where Jane actually gets a proposal from St. John- something that hasn’t happened in the previous film adaptations I have seen. And St. John is rather egregious and plump- not very like the Apollo of the book. And if I’m not mistaken, this is also the first time they flash back to Thornfield burning down while Jane is away- breaking up the Rivers section with a scene with Rochester.

If I had to pick the best of the American hour-long productions, I would pick this one. Which is viewable free at the Paley Center in Los Angeles and New York.

1970 Jane Eyre Susannah York And George C. Scott

I feel that this version is the first to approach the story of “Jane Eyre” as it is, rather than as a dramatic rendering. It’s somber and dreamy and pretty straightforward in portraying the scenes. Not that the characterizations are all correct. Susannah York’s Jane is mature- reflective of the actress’s age undoubtedly, and George C. Scott is curiously cold and dry most of the time. St. John Rivers is surprisingly passionate and eager to marry Jane even though he still doesn’t love her.

The production benefits from location shooting (first version to shoot on the moors?), and wonderful music which goes a long way to filling in the passion and romance that is lacking in the actors. Much attention is paid to the character of Helen Burns here which is a plus- the audience really gets to see how Helen helped Jane to grow. The script in itself is okay, until the blundering line of Rochester’s “But I loved her once, as I love you now.” when Rochester has shown Bertha to Jane and the wedding party. I find that line basically undermines Rochester’s love for Jane. It is important to understand that Rochester did not love Bertha at all so then Rochester doesn’t seem so much like a jerk.

Well. This version has some issues, but to see it after the previous versions, it is a breath of fresh air because it comes closer to recreating the novel proper.

1972 Jane Eyre (Czech) Marta Vancurova And Jan Kačer

I have not re-watched this version in a long time, so this review is very brief:

A friend was able to find this rather obscure adaptation made in 1972 Czechoslovakia. The copy she found is in Czech with no subtitles, so I can’t understand a word of it. However, I will comment on the overall tone that I received from the four hour adaptation- melancholy and artsy (perhaps reflective of a low budget). Not as much passion to certain scenes as one would expect, but I did enjoy this adaptation and they did a good job with condensing the material. Except for the Lowood portion of the story, which they cut out.

1973 Jane Eyre Sorcha Cusack And Michael Jayston

This is the best version of Jane Eyre to date. I wouldn’t say there was an overall tone for the miniseries- it comes off as a straightforward interpretation of the novel. Production values are lacking in that set design and blocking are less than inspired, but it does have great costumes and outdoor sets. There are really just two reasons why this is the best version in my opinion. Script and characterization. The script uses much of the novel’s dialogue (finally!!), and sometimes brings out interesting elements of humor that one might not have noticed before. And I feel like Jane Eyre has many funny moments or comments that are mostly overlooked in other adaptations. And in condensing the material they kept so much of the story intact it’s surprising. I am only disappointed by how they shortened the Gypsy scene by having Jane discover Rochester too quickly. But every other important scene is done beautifully.

As for the actors, I am only disappointed in Juliet Whaley’s Young Jane, whose acting is stilted sometimes, but she was young. Sorcha Cusack portrays a nice blend of shyness and independence and Michael Jayston is superb as Rochester. His performance is nuanced and mesmerizing. Stephanie Beacham is probably the best Blanche I have ever seen as well- she comes off as snobbish and selfish but I can see how she might be captivating and charming to men.

There is not much else I can say about this, my favorite adaptation. I think every one who is a fan of the novel should see this version.

1983 Jane Eyre Zelah Clarke And Timothy Dalton

Another mini-series adaptation, this version had a bigger budget it seems than the 1973 version. Set design and lighting are improved, and the show even got it’s own theme! The show was also 30 minutes long per episode which gave a different, more leisurely pace to the scenes. It seems like they wanted to make sure each episode ended on a little cliff-hanger. But with the pace slower, it sometimes felt like the actors were speaking too slow. There were long (introspective?) pauses and they even broke up scenes with time lapses and set changes. The proposal scene for instance starts in the library and Jane runs out to be alone in the garden.

As an adaptation of the novel, this is the second best film version because it has so much time to give to telling the story. Zelah Clarke as Jane is a little monotone sometimes, but she does a good job showing Jane’s spirited side. Timothy Dalton’s Rochester is imperious and masterly, and very charming. The script has a proper charades scene and Rosamond Oliver makes her first appearance in this adaptation. They also show an older Eliza and Georgiana which is another first.

Overall, this version is very good and is only ranked behind Jane Eyre 1973 because of dialogue/script changes and characterization.

1996 Jane Eyre Charlotte Gainsboroug And William Hurt

This version takes a fresh look at the novel. The flow of the narrative is different- much faster in pace, so that some scenes happen quickly right after the other- giving time no doubt to show the more leisurely and melancholy scenes of Jane and Rochester alone. During Brocklehurt’s first visit to the Reeds, he immediately takes Jane away to Lowood, and there is a quick transition from Helen Burns dying to older Jane by her graveside then walking to take the coach to Thornfield. And as soon as Jane flees from Rochester and a bigamous marriage, Thornfield is on fire and the audience knows that Rochester has been injured before we know what has happened to Jane.

The overall tone of the movie emphasizes Jane and Rochester’s loneliness, which makes the film very poignant. Any “supernatural” elements to the story is minimized- Mr. Rochester does not loom up on Jane, but passes her by and then slips on ice (like in the book), and Bertha’s madness has a touch more realism and sympathy when she pushes Grace Poole to her death and then jumps after her. And again, Jane does not hear Mr. Rochester’s voice calling to her (though there is that one instance where maybe you could hear him whispering her name on the winds?) but instead she looks into her heart and knows she must go back and find out what happened to him. Even the Rivers aren’t her cousins, but just happened to be taking care of Mrs. Reed, and eventually of her effects.

This is a beautiful film- great sets, locations, vistas. The music is beautiful and haunting. Despite the truncated adaptation and the one-sided portrayal of Rochester, I really enjoyed this film. Especially for the pathos of Jane and Rochester’s romance.

1997 Jane Eyre   Samantha Morton And Ciaran Hinds

Truthfully, I dislike this version. It makes me laugh though, because I don’t understand how they could have gotten so many things wrong. The script is awful, Ciaran Hinds is horrible as Rochester, and Samantha Morton is a little annoying. Though that is probably the script. So let’s start there. We have your average truncated adaptation which makes sense- they cut things that most shorter film adaptations cut, but the dialogue! It’s too modern and direct. Jane addresses Rochester in a way that is not in keeping with her sense of propriety. Of course Rochester doesn’t hold much with formal conversations with Jane in the book, but his conversation in this film has none of the poetic prose of the novel. It’s all very cliched and off-putting.

Since Grace Poole is made a much bigger mystery in this version than in previous ones- Jane’s eagerness to rehabilitate her make sense, but is an unnecessary addition to the plot. Especially as Jane keeps harping on what Grace Poole is doing. Ciaran Hinds as Rochester is shouty and brutish and especially distasteful after the failed wedding. He throws Jane’s luggage down to the first floor and drags her to the garden, blaming her for not loving him enough to be his mistress. The only time I liked Samantha and Ciaran’s chemistry was after the fire in Rochester’s bedroom, when he took her hand. After that it was too much panting and open-mouthed kissing. Yikes.

The only scene that was enjoyable was when Jane comes back from visiting Mrs. Reed (curious how they lead up to that scene, but did not show her with Mrs. Reed at all) and Mr. Rochester is happy/annoyed at seeing Jane walking into Thornfield. It was a cute scene. Other than that, I wouldn’t really recommend this if you wanted a romantic version.

2006 Jane Eyre   Ruth Wilson And Toby Stephens

Another BBC mini-series of which I always expect alot. In some ways this adaptation delivered and in others it fell short. Production values were excellent of course. Ruth Wilson as Jane was a revelation. I’ve always thought it was hard to portray Jane’s inner emotions as detailed in the novel but Ruth manages to make her thoughts visible facially. Voiceovers were really not necessary. She’s just so good and so nuanced, well-rounded, I loved her portrayal of Jane. There are a couple of scenes in this version that have never been previously adapted. Namely the “carriage scene” when Rochester takes Jane to Millcote to buy dresses. The carriage scene dialogue with Adele in tow is so cute and playful and shows a wonderful side to all three characters. There is also the scene where Jane runs out in the rain to catch up to Mr. Rochester the night before their wedding. The dream sequence also makes it in- with Jane holding a baby while being kept away from Rochester. All scenes that I very much enjoyed watching.

Disappointingly, the script in general didn’t quite capture “Jane Eyre” in my opinion. The dialogue and changes to Mr. Rochester’s character specifically did not feel right. And of course there is THAT scene on the bed that really felt out of place for the story and for Jane’s principles. And why does Mr. Rochester hire a gypsy to trick Jane? It seems like there’s an attempt to minimize some theatrical elements (Rochester cross-dressing, the voice across the moors- now scientifically explained!) to maximize on other theatrical elements (dream sequences, Rochester’s bed on fire- which looked like a pyre, and the terrifying secret in the attic). There really doesn’t seem to be much point to emphasizing one and not the other.

Mr. Rochester often seemed a little immature, too boyish maybe, in his eagerness to collect dead insects maybe? I never really felt that Toby Stephens captured Mr. Rochester’s sophistication. The efforts to increase the sexual tension did not improve my opinion of Rochester, because Rochester getting Jane into bed was just a low blow. For the most part, I’d watch this version for Ruth Wilson and some of the humor and playfulness they put into the story.

2011 Jane Eyre Mia Wasikowska And Michael Fassbender

This version is a complete and refreshing surprise. Judging from the trailer, I thought it would be melodramatic in the extreme with an emphasis on the darker Gothic elements, but nothing could be further from the truth. The set design, lighting, and camera choices could be seen as dark, but they are also realistic to the times and what seems to be the vision of the director, Cary Fukunaga. Which appears to be to present the story of Jane as she lived it, completely tuned in to her thoughts and feelings. A very refreshing idea. Many versions have added or filmed sequences of the story in which Jane did not participate- for example, Thornfield burning down or scenes between Blanche and Rochester, but the story stays with Jane practically the whole way through, with camera angles highlighting that the audience is experiencing everything through Jane. This really changed the experience of viewing the movie- it felt real and not like a spectacle.

The script helps alot in this, it condenses the story but stays true to every part of it. Even with the narrative structure changed, it still hit all the important scenes, and stayed true to even the lesser characters in the story. It is surprising what scenes are not included in the movie- for instance the tearing of the veil- so that the focus of the story is more on Jane and Rochester’s relationship but even with that the more Gothic elements are not completely marginalized. There is still a sense of things not being quite right.

Mia Wasikowska as Jane is excellent; strong and intelligent, and fantastic at conveying her inner emotions through body language. One of the many things I loved in this version are all the shots of Jane walking/pacing restlessly. Mia somehow conveys that there is “a vivid, restless, resolute captive” inside of her. Michael Fassbender is commanding and sardonic and tender and teasing, sometimes all at once and sometimes flipping between the emotions at will- quite amazing to watch. He can be so intense that you are a little afraid of him and then so pleading and desperate that your heart breaks for him.

The movie was understated and simple and more powerfully emotional because of it. Personally, this would be my second favorite adaptation after the 1973 mini-series. Despite the inevitable condensing of the story, and an ending that felt a bit abrupt, it was so refreshing to watch a version that did not overplay the story and kept the focus on Jane.

2013-14 The Autobiography of Jane Eyre Alysson Hall And Adam J. Wright

This web series has Jane, a 21 year old university student, working as a nanny for Mr. Rochester’s daughter Adele. She vlogs about her life, and through the videos we get to meet all the people in her life.

I was really impressed by how close they stuck to the novel - adapting scenes that are often disregarded in other adaptations (granted they have a lot more time with this series) but also to make some scenes from the book modern must have been a great challenge. And I was really mostly happy with how they managed to make everything fit in their world.

I do have some issues with this as an adaptation though. Sometimes I lose focus on what some episodes are trying to adapt from the novel - it doesn’t always flow well for me, and I had an issue with Jane taping people in the beginning without their consent. I mean she can accidentally leave the camera on, but she doesn’t have to post it. But the reason why that bothers me is because Jane is supposed to have better sense than that. She can be a bit naive, but she always knows what’s right and wrong. But then again, it is difficult to adapt this kind of story! The audience would want to see these people!

The actors were all really excellent in their parts. Jane of course was so endearing and quirky - definitely different from Jane in the book, but believably the modern version. Mr. Rochester had a wonderful sense of humor and it was evident from the beginning how much he cared about Jane. Their romance was so sweet and developed very well throughout the videos. The Rivers were also believable surprisingly - I mean especially when it came to the St. John character - now called Simon. St. John in the book would be very difficult to modernize I think - because he’s so zealous and religious, selfless but selfish. They made Simon a little bit too dorky and cute, but he was also stubborn and unsympathetic to others which fit. There were some changes made when it comes to Grace that made the story work very well, and a new character - Suzana - would often steal the show with her sassiness.

It is disappointing that towards the end they had to recast the actor who played Rochester which leads to a sort of rushed and incomplete ending. I think they did the best they could, but for a series that has done such a wonderful job bringing so much of Jane Eyre to life, it’s unfortunate they left out so much of the ending.

This adaptation had it’s ups and downs for me, but I always felt there was a lot of love for this book in every episode, and the writing and the story planning was often exceptional in adapting the book. I was always happy to get a new episode and it was such a great experience getting a little dose of Jane’s story every week.

2000 Jane Eyre the Musical Marla Schaffel And James Barbour

Okay, the musical. This is the Paul Gordon version. I’ve seen SO MANY comments bashing the musical by people who have never really listened to it just because it’s “Jane Eyre” with singing, and “Jane Eyre” shouldn’t be a musical (OMG!). I have to say I was never a fan of musicals before listening to this version. (Except for “The Sound of Music” which…is a little bit like “Jane Eyre” isn’t it?) At any rate, it took awhile for me to come to grips with all the singing, so I can understand where people may come from but I hope that at least some of the people who turn their backs on this musical might actually like it if they really listened to it.

I do love this musical. I think adding music to the already lyrical text heightens the emotion of the story and can very easily put you into the mindset of each of the characters. The ability of Paul Gordon to work in actual text from the novel into the lyrics is amazing as well (something I come to realize even more as I listen to other Jane Eyre muscials). In terms of condensing the story, all the major scenes are there for the most part, and without too many additions. I love that they even have Rochester as the Gypsy which is rarely done in Janian adaptations. The tone of the whole show is somber- in set design and music, but there are moments of humour- with Mrs. Fairfax most often bringing in the comic relief.

Marla Schaffel is marvelously grounded as Jane- her characterization is balanced between propriety and passion- something that is hard to do in a straight production, but when Jane can sing in privacy, it can all come out. :) James Barbour is commanding as Rochester (and not only because of his voice, which is a glorious baritone). His performance is more layered than many Rochesters I have seen, having a certain finesse or gracefulness while also being gruff and abrupt. The other characters are mostly spot on with the exception of Mrs. Fairfax (played by Mary Stout) who plays her good-natured but a bit doddering. And St. John Rivers is not quite the jerk he is in the novel. Though he still doesn’t love Jane when he asks her to marry him.

1952 Sangdil Madhubala And Dilip Kumar

I have not re-watched this version in a long time, so this review is very brief: An Indian film released in 1952. Whether or not this film is an adaptation of the novel is perhaps debatable. The setting is completely changed to India and there are changes to the story reflecting Indian culture. Yet, the basic story of Jane Eyre is there and many scenes are taken from the novel- notably the Gypsy scene (with Shakur impersonating a male astrologer) In my opinion this is a very enjoyable representation of the novel. Kamal is played with a strong moral sense, shyness and innocence. Shankar is admirably played with much angst and playfulness.

#Jane Eyre #Charlotte Bronte #Jane Eyre 1943 #Jane Eyre 1970 #Jane Eyre 1973 #Jane Eyre 1983 #Jane Eyre 1996 #Jane Eyre 1997 #Jane Eyre 2006 #Jane Eyre 2011 #Literary Adaptations

[ladylooter]

ladylooter’s guide to watching Lupin III

I was inspired by @despairfiles​‘ guide to watching the Fate series as well as mutuals who have expressed interest in interacting with my Fujiko muse but were either completely unfamiliar with the Lupin III franchise or hadn’t seen any of the shows/movies/OVAs/TV specials in awhile. So I’m going to use this post to share my recommendations of where Lupin fans (and soon-to-be fans!) can start with the franchise. I’ll make a note first: these opinions are my own and there’s no ‘correct’ way to watch the various anime offerings. Some Lupin fans may disagree with me, and that’s great! Personally, I think there’s something in the Lupin fandom for every fan to enjoy, depending on your tastes. This is just my personal recommendation, based on the vast (seriously, a lot) of Lupin I’ve watched over the years.

But first, the basics:

Lupin the Third (often stylized as Lupin III) began as a manga in the 1960s by creator Monkey Punch. It spawned a media franchise featuring the manga, two pilot films, six television series, countless movies/OVAs/TV specials, video games, live action movies, a CG movie, and more. It stars Arsene Lupin III, the grandson of the original Arsene Lupin, who is considered the world’s greatest thief. He often teams up with the likes of Daisuke Jigen (expert marksman), Goemon Ishikawa XIII (expert swordsman), and on occasion, Fujiko Mine (expert seductress and betrayer). The four (though mostly Lupin), are constantly pursued by Inspector Zenigata of Interpol, who will stop at nothing to apprehend Lupin III.

A note about this guide: While the thoughts are my own, none of the images are. I tried to pull photos that represent the various recommendations I give here.

Where to watch: I’ll always advise to find legal copies of Lupin III shows and films. With so much content, there’s a variety of ways to watch. If you’re in the United States or have access to US-based streaming services, I’d recommend checking Hulu (Lupin III Part II is on there still, I believe) and Crunchyroll (Lupin III Parts I, II, III, IV and V are there). Movies and The Woman Called Fujiko Mine are a little more difficult to find nowadays, but you can often find out of print Funimation discs on secondhand sites as well as a variety of licensed Lupin movies from Discotek. But if you have your own means to track down content, I’m not going to judge you. 

Onto the guide!

Part I - I’m completely new to Lupin III…

...And I only want to watch one movie to see if I like it!

If you only want to commit to one movie, I’d recommend choosing Lupin III Episode 0: The First Contact. Lupin as a franchise has negative continuity, so there’s multiple ways the cast meets and interacts with one another. First Contact does this in a very succinct fashion while not losing a lot of the more traditional, common Lupin tropes. You’ll be introduced to the main five characters, see some heists, and get an idea of what the franchise is (mostly) about. 

In short, the plot revolves around a story Daisuke Jigen retells to a reporter about how Lupin and the gang first met. The main five members of the cast are also supplemented by interesting side characters (who aren’t just there to be plot devices. This happens a lot in the Lupin franchise unfortunately). 

I really liked this! What do I watch next? Almost any of the movies/OVAs/TV specials you want, as well as Part II or Part IV. If you don’t mind a darker take on Lupin or with more questionable plots, then Part I or The Woman Called Fujiko Mine could be for you. But I’d suggest Parts II or IV if you want to watch a TV series.

...And I want to watch a few episodes! I love humor, wacky hijinks, and don’t mind older animation.

Look no further than Lupin III Part II! This Lupin series is what you may remember being broadcast on Adult Swim in the early 2000s. It consists of 155 episodes and aired between 1977-1980. But don’t worry, you do not need to watch all of them, or even watch them in order! Most plotlines are contained to one episode, so you can skip around and watch what you’d like. The content is light, most everything is focused around crime capers, and there’s a lot of humor and pop culture references (well, pop culture for the late 70s). Episodes 145 and 155 are particularly highly regarded as they were directed by pre-Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki. 

In short, the best way to figure out which episodes to watch are to read the titles or see thumbnails and see if it interests you. Or you can watch from the beginning, but that’s a lot of anime to go through!

I really liked this! What do I watch next? I’d recommend the two following movies: The Mystery of Mamo and The Castle of Cagliostro. Mamo was Lupin III’s first feature film and is a bit darker and mature in tone than Lupin III Part II (as well as some rough animation), but the plot is fantastic. Cagliostro is a classic, and Hayao Miyazaki’s first feature film. It’s just a great movie in general and has one of the best car chases in cinematic history. My only advice for Cagliostro? Know that the Lupin gang (especially Lupin and Fujiko) are far nicer and altruistic than their portrayals in other Lupin media. Watch it with the mindset of it being a Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli take on Lupin and being very family-friendly.

...And I want to watch a few episodes! I love heists and capers, but I prefer more contemporary animation.

You can’t go wrong with Lupin III Part IV! Also known as “The Italian Adventure,” this series takes place mostly in Italy and San Marino. It opens with Lupin’s marriage (yes, marriage) to Rebecca Rossellini, a wealthy heiress who has way more fun being a thief. It aired in 2015 in Japan and 2017 on Adult Swim’s Toonami block in the United States. 

It has plenty lighthearted moments similar to Part II, but unlike Part II it does need to be watched in full. Some episodes are self-contained capers but there is an overarching story that spans the entire season. Luckily, it’s only 26 episodes. The animation is stunning, the main cast is very much reminiscent of the gang Lupin fans know and love, and Part IV also has the addition of a more consistent female member of the cast other than Fujiko in Rebecca (and the two play off each other rather hilariously!). 

I really liked this! What do I watch next? You could watch the TV special Lupin III: The Italian Game, but a good amount of the film will rehash content from Part IV. Instead, I’d recommend watching Lupin III Part V. Taking place mostly in France, it’s the natural successor to Part IV. While you don’t see much of Rebecca, you do get another female member of the main cast named Ami. Part V also recently aired on Adult Swim’s Toonami block in 2019.

...And I want to watch a few episodes! I want to start at the very beginning to see how the characters have evolved and changed over time (and I don’t mind older animation).

Then you should start with Lupin III Part I.  Originally broadcast in 1971-1972, it’s one of the interpretations that’s closer to the original manga. It was the first anime series in Japan with a mature feel and aimed at an adult audience, so don’t be surprised if there’s a bit more lewd humor and violence. There’s a lot more sinister organizations for the gang to rob and far less of an emphasis on the happy, upbeat Lupin portrayal that’s found in later installments.

I really liked this! What should I watch next? Lupin III: The Fuma Conspiracy. It still features green jacket (Part I, when it was released) Lupin and is overall a good movie. The Japanese dub of this will be a little jarring if you’ve watched other subtitled Lupin: the entire voice cast was changed for this specific movie only. Otherwise, I’d recommend checking out Lupin III Part II or The Woman Called Fujiko Mine.  

Part II - I’m a returning fan to Lupin III...

...And I want to see a darker, grittier Lupin gang.

The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. You will not get a darker, gritter take on the Lupin franchise in anime than The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Tone and design are very close to the original manga and it’s the only series that has Fujiko as the main character (I’m also a bit biased: this is one of my favorite contributions to the franchise). The 13 episode series details how Fujiko met Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, and Zenigata (gotta love the Negative Continuity!), and the various missions she undertakes while she tries to outrun her past. 

You’ll get some very different characterizations for some of the main cast (especially Zenigata) and as the series is much more dark and adult in nature, it has copious amounts of nudity (mostly for Fujiko. She’s completely naked for the entire opening credits), drugs, alcohol, smoking, and implied sex (among other things that would be considered spoilers). 

Literally. I cannot stress the nudity, drugs, and sex aspects enough for this show. It’s also the only entry into the Lupin III franchise to be directed by a woman. I’d say that if you’re a fan of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, you’ll likely enjoy this addition to the franchise.

I really liked this! What do I watch next? You’ll want to watch the trio of films meant to follow TWCFM and have a similar art style: Jigen’s Gravestone, Goemon’s Blood Spray, and Fujiko’s Lie. None of them necessarily reference the series, but they have similar tone and design and are meant as spinoffs/continuations. They’re all relatively short films (an hour or less). If you’re already pretty familiar with Lupin, don’t miss the shoutout to The Mystery of Mamo in Jigen’s Gravestone. 

...And I want to see some great heists and overall fun that reminds me of Lupin III Part II!

Scroll up and see everything I wrote for Lupin III Part IV: The Italian Adventure. :) If you haven’t watched Lupin in awhile but love the red jacket era Lupin, you’ll want to start on Part IV. It has nicer animation with a similar feel. 

...And I want to watch some movies/OVAs/Specials! What do you recommend?

Beyond everything already recommended on this list? There’s a lot of movies out there, but here are some of my favorites:

Generally good story/art contributions to the Lupin III franchise:

Tokyo Crisis

Dead or Alive (This was directed by Monkey Punch himself!)

Voyage to Danger

Island of Assassins

Alcatraz Connection

Green vs. Red (this one is good for fans who’ve seen quite a bit of the franchise already. It was made to celebrate Lupin’s 40th anniversary)

The Travels of Marco Polo ~Another Page~

Lupin III: The First (The newest addition and the first CGI Lupin III movie! It’s coming to theaters in the USA shortly and will arrive on blu-ray in January 2021)

So bad they’re good at times:

Farewell to Nostradamus (I’m biased towards this one for a reason. Also, the opening sequence is great)

The Columbus Files: Fujiko’s Unlucky Days (Look I’m here for amnesiac Fujiko and I admit it)

Dragon of Doom (Great if you like Goemon, a little basic otherwise)

So there you have it. I hope you enjoy getting into Lupin III!

#ladylooter musings #(probably the biggest OOC post I'll ever write on here) #(But I wanted to get it out of the way and linked in my pinned post for handy reference!)

[ochazukeland]

Pocket Monsters EP 105: Yuzu Gym! Type Battle - 3 vs 3!

First of all, pardon for the wonky subs, this is the first time I am trying to do this.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

I have the Amazon Prime JP account so I made my translation of Trovita Gym challenge’s episode based on that content. It includes the episode with both OP and EP, as well the “Who’s that pokemon?” segment and the next episode preview.

Download link, translation notes and comments about this particular episode below the cut:

So... I'm not really allowed to tell you where to get that specific Japanese video without having access to Amazon Japan, but if you google… idk, something like [RAW] Pokemon 7 TV series, on a website that sounds like a cat meowing… who knows what you might find there?

DOWNLOAD LINK (.ass format): https://www.dropbox.com/s/r0tsc7k504c1hol/%5BRAW%5D%20Pokemon%20-%20105%20%5B480p%5D.ass?dl=0

How to watch this: download the zip, save both the video and the .ass subtitle file in the same folder, keeping the same name in both files (for instance, ep2015.mkv and ep2015.ass), open VLC and have fun.

——————————

Translation Notes:

Kept the original names in this sub - Satoshi/Ash, Kasumi/Misty, Kenji/Tracey, Ookido/Oak, Musashi/Jessie, Kojirō/James, Nyarth/Meowth.

Rudy is named Ziggy - his sister Mahri is called Marie in the Japanese version. His home island Trovita is called Yuzu and his Shell Spike Badge is known as Triumphant Star Turban (Rinbō) Badge in Japanese.

Pikachu is Pikachu, Togepi is Togepi… Starmie is also Starmie in Japanese.

Meowth is Nyarth, Bulbasaur/Fushigidane, Squirtle/Zenigame, Charizard/Lizardon, Seel/Pawou, Staryu/Hitodeman, Electabuzz/Eleboo, Exeggcutor/Nassy. I kept the official romanization when possible.

Move game-wise, I tried to keep the ENG names, except for dengeki which can be translated as “electric shock” and apparently adapted in English as “Thunder Jolt” (it’s different from “Thunder shock”, denki shock, Pikachu’s signature move).

I don’t like translating oniichan/oneechan to “big bro/sis” but it’s kinda important aspect of Marie’s part in the episode (how much she wanted a sister, what a nice family the three of them could be together, Marie, Kasumi-oneechan and oniichan), so… yeah, I know many of you are not familiar with common Japanese/anime terms so I kept as that. At least these sound better than “older brother”/“older sister”…

Oh, Rudy’s famous lines to Ash at the end of the episode: サトシ、カスミさんを大事にしろよ。Please don’t complain about shipping goggles because “Satoshi, take good care of Kasumi-san” is the most neutral route - daiji ni suru could go either for “take care” to “treasure/cherish/regard Kasumi as someone very important”, alright.

————–

Other random notes:

Ash is such a mega brat in this episode, I love the current merry nice kid from SM/PM seasons but I miss this damn loud-mouthed version lol.

Rudy is overall much nicer than the dub version. Okay, besides the fact he pretty much called Ash an “uncultured swine” lol, he was quite polite. Compared to my impression of years ago, rewatching this episode made me feel quite bad for him and his sister? (I like the conclusion from Dengeki Pikachu manga, Rudy literally becomes an older sister for Mahri…)

Random trivia, Rudy calls himself “The South Star of Southern Cross (constellation)”. It’s only mentioned once by the end of the episode, but lol oh well.

You may say that Ash was completely oblivious to the whole proposal dilemma during the episode (he was lol) but this is one of the episodes that makes Pokeshipping canon at least by Misty’s side. 

#anipoke #pokeani #pokemon os #pokeshipping christmas bash #pokeshipping #translation

[avaantares]

FFVII:REMAKE - A Review

So I beat the game two weeks ago and started writing down my thoughts while they were fresh in my mind, but I didn’t post anything then because my one IRL friend who is also playing it hadn’t finished it yet and I didn’t want to risk posting anything spoiler-y. But the extra time has allowed me to play through the game again on Hard difficulty, which has allowed me to reconsider and elaborate on some of my thoughts. And frankly at this point I just need to dump my Very Big Opinions somewhere, so... here ya go.

I discuss visuals, gameplay, character and story below. I’ve tried to keep spoilers minimal up front, though obviously if you want to go into the game totally cold, don’t read this. All major spoilers are clearly tagged. All of it is below a cut to spare your dash.

Also, there are pretty pictures, because why not?

First, my background with this franchise: I played through the original FFVII multiple times; I’ve watched and rewatched Advent Children and Last Order, played Crisis Core, gave up on Dirge of Cerberus despite my deep love for Vincent Valentine (sorry, VV, but your game was just a mess), and lamented that Before Crisis wasn’t available in my country. I even played (and own!) Ehrgeiz, the obscure fighting game that featured the main cast. (Still bitter that they didn’t keep Miki Shinichirou as the voice of Sephiroth. He’s one of my faves.)

^ Ehrgeiz, a mediocre fighting game that forever endeared itself to me by including Turks!Vincent Valentine as a playable character. 💖

In short, I’ve been waiting for this game for DECADES.

So. Here we go. My thoughts on Final Fantasy VII: REMAKE.

The good:

The character models are very pretty. With individual pores, threads and scuffs visible, they’re so detailed that it’s almost impossible to reconcile them with the mouthless sprites from the original game – even more so than Advent Children (and dear goodness, that was over a decade ago now, wasn’t it?). Still, they’ve kept the costume details and absurd proportions largely intact (Barret’s fists are literally larger than Tifa’s entire head, yet somehow it works visually), so it’s not too much of a departure from the familiar.

They’ve kept the aesthetic. I was afraid the game would try to update the iconic world of Midgar, but by and large, it’s full of visually-arresting designs that preserve the gritty-industrial look and feel of the original.

Japanese version is included. BLESS YOU, Square Enix, for including the Japanese voices and character animations. Not only is it impossible for me to hear Cloud in anything other than Sakurai Takahiro’s voice, but the Japanese script is a bit nicer to the characters. I’m not really keen on the English dub… but more on that below.

They fixed the spelling of Aerith’s name. This may seem like a minor point, but considering it’s been 20 years and I’m still bitter that Devil May Cry still hasn’t corrected “Nelo Angelo,” it’s a small victory.

Improved combat. Admittedly, I wasn’t sold on the new combat system at first, but after playing through the game twice, I’ve come to really like it. It has a few rough edges and can get chaotic in some battles, but it does a decent job of blending the feel of an action game with turn-based strategy. The fact that you can switch to a more traditional turn-based system if you prefer is also nice. (I haven’t tried Classic mode yet, though.)

Weapon customization. The Skill Points system allows you to upgrade your loadout instead of acquiring new gear. The tutorial was somewhat lacking (I didn’t quite figure out the multiple-core-unlock thing right away), but I appreciated the ability to add materia slots or stat buffs rather than just cycling through a dozen swords that Cloud apparently keeps in his back pocket.

Background dialogue management. On the whole, the conversations as you run through town enhance the story without slogging down the gameplay; you don’t have to stop and talk to every single resident, because snatches of their conversation reach you (and your on-screen chatlog) as you pass. You can stop and listen for more detail if you want, or you can just keep moving. The extra worldbuilding is really nice.

The music. The orchestrated versions of the original themes are excellent (and some of those music cues gave me goosebumps… Did I spend way too many hours immersed in the original game? Probably). I can take or leave some of the collectible jukebox tunes, but the background music in general is good. (But did I earn that Disc Jockey trophy? Yes, yes I did.)

Supporting character development. Jessie, Biggs and Wedge actually have characters! And personalities! Clichéd ones, admittedly, but it’s an improvement over the original game killing them all off within the first few minutes. The game also does justice to the Turks, and actually surprised me with how much depth of character it gave Reno and Rude in particular (perhaps setting them up for a mini redemption arc so players forgive them for dropping a plate on tens of thousands of slum residents?). Their moments of concern for each other and (brief) crises of conscience made them more than the stock villains they were in the original game, more in line with their temporarily good-aligned characters in Advent Children. Tseng, likewise, was on point. However, I do have to qualify all this with one irate question: Where the heck is Elena?! Seems like the female characters are always getting left out… /sigh/

Improved plot devices. REMAKE cleans up some of the more questionable and outdated content from the original. As you likely already know from the demo, the new game somewhat exonerates the protagonists by having Shinra blow up their own mako reactor to turn public opinion against AVALANCHE (possibly because someone finally realized that it’s hard to sympathize with characters who are willing to melt down an entire reactor and kill a bunch of innocent civilians). AVALANCHE are still eco-terrorists, but they’re… terrorists with a conscience? I dunno, at least they feel bad when people die now… Likewise, the weird and uncomfortable Honey Bee Inn segment of the original game has been reborn as an amazing dance extravaganza. Less voyeurism/prostitution, more Vegas floor show (complete with minigame choreography) and makeover. The whole Don Corneo scenario is still hella creepy, but frankly, there’s nothing that can fix that.

Series references. Fans of the original will appreciate all the inside jokes and direct references to the original game and other franchise entries: One-off comments about Chocobo racing; a broken console in Wall Market that shoots at you; a framed picture of the original 32-bit Seventh Heaven; ads for Banora apple juice; side mentions of characters and plot devices from spinoff games; PHS communication… The game definitely pays tribute to its history. They even recreate the original loading screen and several of Cloud’s iconic poses/animations throughout the game:

The neutral:

Recycled gags. Look, I know Advent Children was the ultimate evolution of FFVII for a while, and admittedly, it did some things very well. The running gag with Rude’s sunglasses and the victory fanfare being used as a ringtone are some of the best moments in the film, in part because they were so unexpected. But as much as I enjoyed the repeated nods to AC in this game, they felt a little desperate, like there were no new jokes to insert so they had to double down on the ones they’d used the last time this franchise had a renaissance. (See Rude’s broken sunglasses, below.) And fitting into the series as a whole, it feels a little weird. Why is Rude’s ringtone the same as the clones’ from Advent Children? Does Barret really need to sing the victory fanfare over and over when he defeats an enemy? Is there supposed to be some history behind that song that was left out of the worldbuilding? It just feels too meta.

Arbitrary localization of names. I don’t really grasp why it was necessary to rename so many items and characters for the English market. Some changes make sense for localization (e.g. Whack-a-Box certainly works better for an American audience than Crash Box), but others seem arbitrary, like changing Aniyan Kunyan to Andrea Rhodea or Mugi to Oates (a play on the meaning of his name in Japanese, but... does it matter?). And then… well, I don’t want to spoil A Major Plot Element, but there’s another thing that changes names from one English word (in the Japanese track) to a different English word. Why? No idea. It doesn’t affect gameplay, and it’s not really a problem, but listening to the Japanese track, I found it jarring to have the subtitles contradict what I was hearing.

Underutilized characters. While the whole gamut of original FFVII characters make appearances, several of them aren’t used to full effect, or aren’t used at all to advance the story. Rufus Shinra’s bossfight is a decent challenge, but while his character was vital to both the original FFVII and Advent Children, his presence in this game is little more than a cameo. His fight could be cut or swapped out with any other boss, and it would have zero effect on the plot. Similarly, while Hojo is a key player in the full story (which this game doesn’t cover, since it’s only a fraction of the original timeline), he’s largely wasted here, except as a means of extending play time by making you wander through corridors and fight a bunch of monsters for “research.” (I have no idea what his motivation is; you’d think he’d be more interested in recapturing Aerith or Cloud, but instead he just... opens an elevator and lets them leave? after they beat up some midbosses.) Reeve Tuesti actually has a solid presence in this game, but since he’s ONLY ever active as himself, there’s no explanation for the random Cait Sith cameo in one scene (players new to the franchise probably have no idea why a random cartoon cat showed up for a few seconds and was never mentioned again). Obviously the plot arcs have to change when the game is covering only a few days’ time in a much longer story, and the major players need to be introduced at some point if they’re going to feature in later games in the series, but from a narrative standpoint, there are an awful lot of superfluous characters doing things for no reason in this installment.

The bad:

THE PADDING. Dear goodness, there is so much padding to make this a standalone game instead of just the first chapter of a longer adventure. I got really, really sick of running literally from one end of the map to the other on side quests – and that’s me, an avowed trophy hunter who spends hours scouring dark corners for collectible items in other games, saying that. So much of this game felt like time fill that didn’t really advance the story. It’s also full of unnecessary new characters with improbable Squeenix hair, like Roche the super-annoying motorcycle SOLDIER (below), or Leslie, Don Corneo’s doorman who somehow merits his own backstory and side quest. (Though in fairness, every FFVII sequel has added superfluous characters, with Crisis Core possibly being the worst offender.) But it just felt really drawn-out and bloated for a game of this generation. If this game had been as compact and tightly-written as the other games I typically play, it probably only would have taken me 15 hours to beat instead of 50. (I don’t actually know how many hours I spent on it the first time through, as I didn’t check the play clock before restarting on Hard difficulty. I do know it took me over 110 hours total to complete the game on both modes, though much of the second run was spent dying repeatedly on a handful of nasty fights. Hard mode removes items and MP replenishment, and if you run out of MP at any point during a chapter, you’re going to die. A lot.)

The pacing. Related to the above... the Midgar portion of the original game was just the setup for a larger story. It wasn’t meant to have its own complete dramatic arc so much as to introduce you to the world and the major players. Consequently, there are some really odd beats in this story, as well as a total lack of urgency in your mission. There are no natural places to slot in the side quests and minigames, so they’re shoehorned awkwardly between plot sequences. “Quick, our friend is in mortal peril and needs our help!” "Okay, cool, we’ll go rescue her after we spend ten hours running around town doing random errands for townspeople and playing games with the local kids.” Uh... what?

The graphics just aren’t as good as they should be. While the character models are gorgeous, there are a lot of low-res background textures and weird polygons that don’t quite match up with other components. Most egregious are the Shinra logos, which frequently get close-ups as part of the fixed camera work and, frankly, look like lossy JPEGs. (See image below, screencapped from a PS4 Pro. Those jagged edges on the logo are present throughout the entire game.) There are weird clipping errors and artifacted images and reflective surfaces that don’t reflect, making the game look more like something from the PS3 era than a 4K late-gen PS4 game. (And it’s not that we don’t have the technology: Uncharted 4 was released back in 2016, and the rendering of its vast world was twice as pretty. Devil May Cry 5, released in early 2019, has far more realistic textures and object interaction. Granted, those are different types of games with fewer NPCs to render, but I feel like there’s no excuse for a game this big to look this mediocre.)

The HUD could be better. The lower-corners concept is okay, though it took me a while to train my eyes to travel between both sides of the screen and track the fight action. But for a long time, I didn’t even notice the commands in the upper left corner of the screen, and after playing through the game twice I still have no idea what they say because I couldn’t focus on the tiny text long enough to read them while trying not to die in combat. (I just looked it up; apparently they’re combat control shortcuts? Huh, that would have been useful to know.) It wasn’t until my second time through that I realized there even WERE separate controls on screen during the motorcycle minigames; I had resorted to panicked button mashing to figure it out the first time through because there was no tutorial (you’re just dropped into the action) and, having ignored the small text for the previous hundred combats, I had no reason to look for on-screen instructions there. Not that it would have helped, since on many backgrounds the text in the upper left is really difficult to read (see below). It’s worth noting that I have better than 20/20 vision and played this game on a large TV screen and still had trouble reading some things; on a smaller TV, or for someone with less acute vision (like my sister, who is blind in one eye), I think even the basic menu controls would be difficult to see. While you can resize the font for subtitles, my cursory glance through the menu did not uncover an option to increase the size of the HUD. 

Inter-fight menu mechanics. Specifically, the inability to save (or save loadout settings) between fights in a multi-part sequence. There are several back-to-back fights in which it is necessary to switch characters or change gear between bosses. The game treats them as one continuous fight, though it does allows you to access the equipment menu by holding square during key cutscenes. Which is good, if you only have one of a particular materia or accessory that you need to switch between characters, and in most cases when you die the game lets you restart just before your current fight instead of restarting the whole sequence -- also good, since some multi-stage bosses can easily take 20-30 minutes to beat, and if several of those are strung together in sequence, you’re in for a long play session to get past them. But since it’s treated as one fight, you can’t save between bosses (more than once, I had to leave my PS4 running in Rest Mode overnight and just hoped we didn’t have a power glitch), and if you happen to get killed and need to restart the fight, your loadouts reset. Which means if you’re, say, fighting the end boss on Hard difficulty and get killed in the first two minutes -- which happened to me a lot -- by the time you restart the fight, sit through the unskippable cutscene, access the menu and rearrange all the materia and accessories you need, you’re spending five or six minutes gearing up for two minutes of play, and then doing that over and over again every time you die. It gets really old.

The English dub script. *deep breath* Okay, look, I know I can be a bit elitist about translations, but I really do not like the English adaptation of this game. It makes Cloud come across as less socially-awkward and far more of a deliberate jerk, Aerith is mouthy and even swears (which is not accurate to her original character), and it downplays some of the symbolism that’s more obvious in the Japanese script. One quick example: When Aerith gives Cloud a flower, she says (in Japanese), “In the language of flowers, this means ‘reunion.’” It’s subbed/dubbed in English, “Lovers used to give these when they were reunited.” That’s a subtle difference, but since the concept of “reunion” is a freakin’ huge part of the FFVII plot, and since Sephiroth was on screen literally seconds before that line is delivered, my brain automatically went, “OMG REUNION!!!” while I’m guessing people listening in English only picked up on the romantic subtext. It’s a pretty minor thing, and of course translation is always a complex balancing act between literal meaning and local market understanding, but the English version just seemed to me to have a different vibe overall. (Unfortunately, the English subtitles are the same as the dub, so unless you can understand the Japanese audio you’re kind of stuck with that dialogue.)

-

-

[WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT]

-

- …And my #1 complaint about Final Fantasy VII: REMAKE is…

…it’s not actually a remake.

Sure, the game starts out the same way and covers a lot of the same events, but fundamentally, it’s a sequel, not a retelling. It’s evident from Cloud’s future-oriented visions throughout the game that something else is going on, and the ending MAKES NO SENSE if you don’t already know the story. Heck, even the rest of the game doesn’t really make sense if you don’t know the story -- Sephiroth’s presence is never explained; Zack isn’t even introduced, just shows up randomly at the end; Cloud’s flashbacks of Tifa and her dead father in Nibelheim are left as a complete mystery (and since she evidently remembers the burning of her town, judging by her dialogue outside Aerith’s house, why doesn’t she even react when Sephiroth shows up?).

The core elements of the plot – the Feelers (Whispers) preserving a specific fate; the three entities from the future (whose weapon types just happen to correspond to certain named characters) defending their timeline; the return of post-Advent Children Sephiroth (the only time we’ve seen him in human form with one black wing), who has inhabited the Lifestream since his death and promised that he would never truly disappear, who in the end appeals to Cloud directly for an alliance rather than attempting to control him, because he knows now that Cloud is strong enough to defy the Reunion instinct; the change in the outcome of story events in which Biggs (and, unconfirmed as to which timeline he’s actually in, but quite possibly Zack) now survives his intended death -- all point toward Sephiroth trying to manipulate destiny into an alternate outcome in which he is victorious, and using this naive version of Cloud to facilitate it. That means this game is taking place in an alternate or splinter universe, created at some point after the events of the original Final Fantasy VII, and possibly even after the events of Advent Children.

All of that is fine from an overall continuing-story perspective – it opens up a lot of interesting possibilities, like the fact that Aerith might survive now that Cloud has seen prescient flashes of her death (among other events), and there are opportunities for more story twists and changes from what players might expect. But touting this as a remake of the original game has the potential to confuse players who are new to the franchise. FFVII was groundbreaking back in 1997, and it defined JRPGs for an entire generation of Western gamers. But that was more than two decades ago, and a lot of current gamers weren’t even born then, so while they’ve probably heard of the classic game, they aren’t necessarily steeped in its lore. FFVII:R relies heavily on prior knowledge of the series to carry its twist ending, so it largely fails as a standalone game.

Also, speaking as a longtime fan of the franchise… I honestly found the ending rather lackluster. It was a twist, of sorts, but not the sort of shocking, mind-bending revelation that made the first game so iconic. Granted, it’s hard to follow an act like revealing that your protagonist’s entire identity is a lie, not to mention killing off one of your main characters a third of the way into the story! But when the surprise ending is just, Surprise! We’re going to change things up a bit this time around so you aren’t entirely sure what’s coming! Also, here’s a gratuitous Sephiroth fight because everyone expects that, even though it doesn’t serve the main story at all nor resolve any conflicts previously established within this game! it smacks of Different for the sake of Being Different, not for the sake of a really amazing storyline they’re hiding up their sleeve. It’s a bit of a let-down, and I find that I... just... don’t really care that much. Which, for someone who’s been a fan of the series for nearly a quarter of a century, means there’s a Big Freaking Problem somewhere. If you’re not keeping the attention of your die-hard fans, how do you hope to build a fanbase of players new to the franchise?

Given the pacing and story issues inherent in this game, I’m not convinced that the following game(s) in the franchise are going to be structured any better. Considering the amount of pure side-quest padding they did in Midgar, I have no idea how they’ll maintain that same tone on something the scale of the World Map portion of the original game, unless they just completely eliminate things like Fort Condor and the submarine and the spaceship side quests. I have a feeling the Gold Saucer is going to be reduced to a Jessie flashback, a Chocobo race (probably to win a key item), and a battle arena run like the coliseum in Wall Market in this game. If they include all the story elements and side characters from the original, this series is going to be a dozen games long.

Still, on the whole this game was enjoyable, and I’m glad I played it. It wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, but they haven’t completely killed off my interest, so I’ll probably continue with the series whenever the next game comes out. Though I’m not really sure if the higher-priced edition I pre-ordered was worth the extra money, so I may wait and see how the next game is shaping up before deciding which version to get...

But if they don’t give me a really pretty (playable) Vincent Valentine in the next installment, I may riot. I do have priorities.

#final fantasy vii #final fantasy vii: remake #ff7:r #final fantasy 7: remake #ff7 remake #video games #long post #review

[thatbangtanbloom]

house of cards 10 | kth v. jjk

House of Cards

The Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6|Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10

Subtitle: V for Valiant  

Characters: Taehyung x Reader x Jungkook (Mentions of Jimin x Reader in the past)

Categories: Fluff, Angst, Suspense

AU(s):College!AU, Stalker!AU, Best Friends!AU

Word Count: 2,324

Sypnosis: Some people see life in black and white, and others see it in brown and blue, but Kim Taehyung only sees it in red and you.

WARNING: Mentions of minor character death, violence, abuse

• ° °•○•° °•○•° °•○•° °•○• ° °•○•° °

The sounds of an ambulance brings Taehyung back to the night that he lost you. He hates how vivid his memories are: how metallic the taste of blood is, how cold your body is against his own, the sounds of his father yelling at him for focusing on saving the wrong person. He can’t stop thinking about it as he is thrpown back into the abyss of his memories of when he lost you. However, his memories are not kind enough to bring him back to just you. It brings him back to Hansung. 

“I thought Appa said that we couldn’t go here?” Hansung asked Taehyung. Despite being the smaller of the two boys, he tended to make the more well-informed decisions. He tugged at the shirt of Taehyung who seems to only be focused on you. “Hyung..”

Even at seven, it seemed that Taehyung only knew how to keep his eyes on you. He was always eager to tie your shoes, carry your backpack, hold your hand when you walked across the street.  Hansung always hated that. You weren’t even his brother. 

“I want to see the flowers!” You chirped back to Hansung as you follow behind Taehyung. Ever since Taehyung had mentioned the secret hiding spot that his siblings and him played in when their parents fought, you always wanted to visit. “Taehyung-oppa says that they’re very pretty! It calms him down.”

The memories come back in full force like head cinema and Taehyung wants it off. HE hates seeing Hansung’s face after all of these years. It makes his heart break even more that after all of these years, you still never learned to trust him agan despite his effort to always make sure that you were safe. It hurts knowing that he won’t ever be as close to you as he had been when the two of you were young. 

It almost makes Taehyung feel bad that he discards Hansung from his thoughts so prematurely. He remembers the sly child, who often blamed Taehyung when he broke things; about all the times where the family vase broke mysteriously and Taehyung had decided to be a good big brother who took the punishment. The very thought of it makes Taehyung wince, fingering his back from the countless times that his father had burned him with cigarette butts.

Hansung has to bite back his tongue from quipping about how annoying you are. He hates how much attention you get from Taehyung. Who even gave you the right to spend so much time of them when you had a family of your own? With parents who didn’t fight all the time. He hated that you always managed to be by Taehyung’s side. You must have been an idiot to want to hang out with two kids that had to leave home everyday just to have fun, Hansung thinks to himself.  “You’re ugly.” was the only thing that Hansung can muster to say as he pushes past you to follow Taehyung who was trekking through the uncut forests.

“W-what?” Your bottom lip trembles as you let go of Taehyung’s sleeve to look at Hansung. “No I’m not.”

Hansung doesn’t skip a beat. “Yes, you are.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.” 

You frown deeply before stomping your foot. “No I’m not!” You scream before turning away to chase after Taehyung. He was so much nicer to you despite Hansung being your age. You immediately feel secure when his hand is in yours and beam happily back to Taehyung. 

“Is everything alright?” Taehyung asks you with a gentle smile. You only nod in reply before turning away from him to take in the surroundings.

The three of you had gathered to see the overgrown flowers that often grew on the trail towards the shore that the two boys always went to. Despite not being well kept, the shore still managed to look beautiful with the lighthouse’s deteriorating paint. The squaw from the seagulls filled your ears as they flew overhead. It almost looked like a paradise lost and the five year old you could have not dreamt of a better place. You were thankful that Taehyung thought of you enough to share his hideout. Taehyung was careful to guide the two of you towards the shore; lifting Hansung up first and then you before joining you two lastly.

“The flowers!” You exclaim as you notice a few wild dandelions bursting through the cracks of concrete. You were even surprised to see that a couple of water lilies had been placed there despite looking unnatural. “Taehyungie! Come look at this.” You exclaim before tugging him over to you.

It started off simple. That’s what Taehyung remembers fondly of that memory. He had known of Hansung’s supreme dislike of you, but he had never known how deep his hatred for you had ran. If he had known, he would have never invited you to the shore with him that day. The last thing that Taehyung had wanted to do was to put you in harm’s way. That was simply not his intention. Yet, that was Taehyung’s fault. He always took his intentions more seriously than anyone else’s. 

“Why is she always here, hyung?!” Hansung screams at Taehyung as he watches you stare up at him with wide, confused eyes. “I-I hate her!” He yells.

Taehyung’s eyes widen at Hansung’s words. “What? What are you talking about? She is our friend-”

“I want her to go away, hyung.” Hansung says darkly before his eyes averted to where you stood. Hansung immediately walks over to you before pulling up the flowers and throwing them into your face. "Why can't you find your own family?! Why do you have to come to ours?" He screams before pushing you back so hard that your back hits the pavement. "Why can't you just disappear?"

“Stop!” You scream in response before trying to force yourself up, but Hansung only kicks your side to keep you down. You immediately whimper while clutching your side.

"Hansung! What's going on?" Taehyung screams before he immediately pulls Hansung off of you. “Stop that!” He immediately turns to you to make sure that you are okay; his hands immediately touching all over your head to discern if there were anything bad. “Hansung!” He screams as he pulls his hand away to be met with crimson.

“I-is she okay?” Hansung stutters out as he notices your eyes becoming droopy in Taehyung’s arms. 

“We need to go.” Taehyung says immediately as he tries to help you up. His only thoughts are to get you home where your parents could figure out what to do. He was only seven after all, but his life experiences made him years beyond that.  

“Leave her.” Hansung quips in response to Taehyung’s widened eyes. 

“What? No!” Taehyung says before holding you closer to his chest.

Hansung gulps hard as he stares at Taehyung and shakes his head. “Hyung. Would you save me if you had to?”

“Yes. Yes. Of course I wo-” Taehyung doesn’t answer fast enough, flustered at the question.

Hansung doesn’t say anything else. His piercing dark brown eyes stare into Taehyung’s own before he takes a deep breath. “Hyung.” He says with a sniffle as his own eyes begin to well up with tears. He immediately begins running towards Taehyung to hug him before tripping over a rusted chain from one of the old boat ports. “Hy-hyung!” He screams before his screams are no longer heard. What happens next immediately etches itself into Taehyung’s mind as he watches his younger brother fall over the railing.

“H-hansung!” Taehyung screams, half of his name breaking in his throat as he immediately puts you down to follow after him. He immediately climbs over the other side of the railing and jumps into the water. It welcomes him like an ice bath but Taehyung’s only thoughts are Hansung, Hansung, Hansung. 

Hansung, his little brother. Hansung, his little brother who couldn’t swim, Hansung his little brother who he took the punishment for just so he wouldn’t bare the same scares as him. For as long as Taehyung could remember, his father had blamed him for what happened to Hansung. His father never had a shortage of ridicule that brought Taehyung back to the day where he lost his baby brother and forced himself to lose you too.

It was that day that Taehyung swore that he wouldn’t lose you in the same way as his brother. He never once wanted you to suffer the same fate and did all that he oculd in his power to make it so that you would never know the pain, anguish, or heartbreak of losing someone. He still remembers how he said goodbye to you. 

Taehyung knew that he was broken. He was well aware that he was damaged goods that no one else could have wanted. His father never loved him and he could not even protect the ones that he loved. Who was he to be deserving of you? He wasn’t. 

Taehyung knew that you would never love him in the same way that he loved you. He was not that delusional, especially considering what he did. Yet, he did wish that in the future that the two of you could move on from it. 

Taking him away from his thoughts, he is slumped into the cold metal chair of the police station, across from Officer Kim Namjoon. He has to swallow hard, finding himself trying to stay calm. 

“Name?” Namjoon asks with a soft tone as he opens up the form.

“Kim Taehyung.” Taehyung says as he stares at Namjoon. His eyes are bloodshot from crying. His palms are painted crimson with the remnant of his father’s blood. “Is he okay-”

“Age?” Namjoon asks without acknowledging his words. 

“22.” Taehyung answers with his head hung low. He was only a senior in university. He slumps more into the chair.

Namjoon nods slowly before he finishes looking over Taehyung’s file and glances over his figure. “I see that you are the police chief’s son.” 

“I am. Now is he okay?” Taehyung asks, evading the question. He was scared. He hated his father, but he never wanted to kill him. If he wanted to kill anyone, Jungkook was at the top of his list for being such a pain in the ass. “Please tell me if my father is-”

“Mr. Kim, would you mind telling me what happened?” Namjoon asks, eyes staring at Taehyung as though he could cut through him. “Because from your sister’s account, it appears that you acted out in self-defense. Do you corroborate this claim?”

Taehyung takes in a deep breath. He knew that his father had a tight hold on all the officers in the department. After all, that was the way that he was able to land Jungkook awaiting a hearing. “No.” He says, with his head held down low. If he had said yes, Taehyung knew that he would have to explain about his father abusing him, his sister, and his mother. He knew tht the reputation of his father preceded his own. “I was acting irrationally-”

“Are you confessing to this then?” Namjoon replies with a raise of his brow. “Are you openly acknowledging that you did this with the intent to kill?” 

Taehyung looks up at Namjoon. He almost feels as though he knows everything with the way that he looks at him. That he knows that Jungkook is being falsely accused, that he knows that Taehyung is so in love with you that he even brought Jimin back from the hospital in hopes that he would smooth things often over him. “No… no…” Taehyung shakes his head. “I..I just.” He pauses before swallowing. “My father and I were having a disagreement-”

“So you tried to kill him out of anger?”

Taehyung’s eyes widen as he shakes his head. “N-no! We were just talking and then we disagreed-”

Namjoon rubs his temples before stopping to type at his computer. “Taehyung, the way that you are speaking is incoherent right now. How did you sustain those injuries of four broken ribs and the cut under your lip? Did you have those prior to your disagreement with your father?”

“No.” Taehyung whispers as he glances away from Namjoon, scratching at the table. This officer was too smart for his own good. “I-I got used to being his punching bag, but I can’t be okay with him hitting my sister. I-I wasn’t thinking. She kept screaming for him to stop but he just ignored her. He kept yelling, screaming, not letting go and I just couldn’t take it.” Taehyung’s words slur together as his normally cool disposition melts and Namjoon is typing away every word that he says. 

Namjoon pauses to look back behind him, where Officers Jung Hoseok and Kim Seokjin stand listening. It almost feels like deja vu. “Mr. Kim Taehyung.. Are you aware of the accusations that you are bringing forth against police chief Kim?”

“Yes.” Taehyung replies simply before he swallows hard. He had lost too many people. He had lost his brother. He had lost his mother.  He had lost Jimin. And now, he was losing you because of Jungkook. He couldn’t help but think of the disgust that you held for him when he learned that he was the one stalking you after all of this time. “I also have another allegation.”

Seokjin and Hoseok share a look of confusion. 

Taehyung swallows so hard that his Adam’s apple bobs before looking at Namjoon. “My father is framing Jeon Jungkook for something that I did.”

And just like that, the house of cards tumbled.

- - - - 

End of part 1.

- -  - - 

The cat is finally out of the bag! How do you feel about finally learning who Hansung is? And Taehyung confessing?

And yes. This is the end of  part 1. 

Don’t be a silent reader! feel free to send me your thoughts, feelings, or ideas.

xx, 

thatbangtanbloom 

#taehyung fluff #taehyung angst #taehyung smut #jimin fluff #jimin angst #jimin smut #jungook fluff #jungkook angst #jungkook smut #jungkook scenarios #taehyung scenarios #yoongi fluff #yoongi angs #yoongi smut #seokjin fluff #seokjin angst #seokjin smut #hoseok fluff #hoseok ang #hoseok smut #namjoon fluff #namjoon angst #namjoon smut #bts x reader #jungkook x you #taehyung x you #jimin x you #namjoon x you #hoseok x #seokjin x you

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Reaction Shots, ch.2 (baon)

Summary:   Still in the aftermath of the events of ‘Any Other Tuesday’.

Notes: All right, chapter one was from Edge’s POV. This time let’s see Andy Jeff!

Tags: Spicyhoney, Original Undertale Characters, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Prejudice Against Monsters, Violence, Injury, Prejudice from Police Officers, LV issues

part of the ‘by any other name’ series.

Read it on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

Andy Jeff

~*~

Since he’d met Stretch, hospital visits had become a thing again in Jeff’s life. A couple years ago he’d had an experience with them as well, when Julia finally told him what was going on. She’d been in hospice at that point and he’d spent a week there with her. Until it was over and he’d gone back to school because he didn’t know what else to do. Julia didn’t have much family, didn’t spend time with them, and seeing the way they went after her estate when she died made Jeff understand why. All he had left were pictures, but he hadn’t wanted more. What he really wanted was the impossible; he wanted her back, her laughter and her kindness. She’d loved cooking too, not like Edge, more haphazard and slapdash, usually tasty and sometimes requiring copious amounts of ketchup and Tabasco. He really missed her. But his fear that hospitals would remind him too much of her were proved wrong, to his relief. For starters, the Monster hospital was a lot nicer than the sterile hospice she’d spent her last days in. The rooms were airy and painted in soothing colors, with artwork on the walls and plants in corners. It was more like a hotel room than a hospital. Not that Stretch ever seemed to appreciate it. Every time Jeff had visited, his relief at seeing him was blatantly obvious and now that he was on the other side of the equation, Jeff could agree with him on one thing; hospitals were fucking boring. Not they were supposed to provide amusement along with healthcare, of course. But as exhausted as he was, Jeff couldn’t sleep and time was dribbling away so slowly he could practically hear the tick-tocks.

His body would’ve been happy for a rest. It was just a shame his brain wasn’t willing to get with the program. The sun was coming up, he could see it coming in through the curtains, which meant he’d slept a few hours at least. Stretch was curled up again in his armchair, this time with legs drawn up to his chest and his feet tucked into the cushion. It made Jeff wince to look at, that looked like a cramp waiting to happen. Maybe skeletons didn’t get cramps? He didn’t know much, but he knew his friends normally slept in a bed, so it was a good guess that Stretch would be waking with some regrets. The television was on with the volume down, the subtitles narrating along. They even had a smart tv, but Jeff didn’t think he’d ever wanted to catch up on his Netflix less. It was still very early. Jeff texted his roommates and Thomas, anyway, before they caught the whole debacle as it was brewing on the news. That was pretty much the end of his contact list. Every other friend he had was either sitting here or already knew where he was. So that left him with Netflix, his phone, and his unsettled thoughts that kept wandering back to what had happened outside the Golden City, to the sight of his own soul, hovering above Stretch’s hand. To everything. To the ache of absence in his gut reminding him that Antwan wasn’t here, and he shouldn’t feel that way, he shouldn’t. He was the one hurt, yeah, but one look at the news had him cringing. A hate crime against a Monster ally, one that involved Stretch who’d already been in the news a few times himself recently. Jeff only read a couple headlines before he didn’t want to see anymore. Antwan and Edge, hell, the whole Embassy was probably working feverishly to get this under control, and there was a lot at stake. But he couldn’t help that small, selfish part of him that wanted Antwan here with him. Stupid, it was stupid and selfish, and— A light knock at that door interrupted the downward spiral of his thoughts. He looked over, expecting to see a nurse and instead Edge walked in. He was in one of his power executive suits, but for the first time in Jeff’s memory, he honestly looked exhausted. There were shadows under his sockets and the crimson magic that glowed in his eye lights and joints seemed dim.

Jeff gave him a little wave and was both startled and amused when Edge raised a curt hand back. There were a couple plastic bags in his other hand and Edge set it down as he glanced over to where Stretch was sleeping. His expression, his entire posture, softened when he saw him; there was no other word for it. He walked on silent feet over to him and Jeff tried not to stare goopily as Edge straightened the blanket, smoothing it gently over him. At least he could enjoy someone else’s affection vicariously.

Stretch made a sleepy sound, nestling deeper into the folds like a particularly tall and lanky puppy and Jeff expected Edge to pull a chair up next to him, the better to keep hands on. Sure, he was the one who got hurt, but Edge was a smart guy. There was no way he hadn’t connected the dots like Jeff had, no chance at all that he hadn’t realized if Stretch hadn’t fallen back a pace, he would’ve been first in line to meet those fuckers, and that didn’t even include what Jeff had seen online about the police. There was a story he needed more information on and soon. But to his surprise, Edge took a seat on the other side of the bed before he asked in a low voice, “How are you feeling?” “Sore,” Jeff said honestly. “But it’s not that bad.” It was true; he’d really expected to be in a lot more pain. But the stitches itched more than they hurt and it seemed almost absurdly easy to forget why he was here to begin with. Edge nodded, unsurprised. “A residual effect of the healing. I’ll warn you now, it will wear off, so when the nurses offer you pain medication, accept it.” “Yeah, okay, I will.” This felt weird, even a little awkward, knowing what he knew about healing; namely that Stretch really hadn’t been supposed to do it. His memory of it all was blurry and dim, and he wasn’t trying very hard to pull any of it back into focus, but he did recall Edge telling Stretch to hurry. So he knew, too, and he hadn’t told Stretch to stop. “I brought you a gift,” Edge said abruptly. Jeff had to bite back a smile, because that was such an…an…Edge thing. Directly to the point, bypassing the unnecessary smalltalk. Whenever they were all together, he made for a great foil for Stretch, a perfect straight man, but on his own, Edge kept firmly on track. From one of the bags, Edge pulled out a tastefully wrapped package and handed it to him. It was about the size of a hardcover book and Jeff opened it curiously, wondering at what kind of reading material Edge would find suitable for hospital bed reading. Except it wasn’t a book. Jeff stared down at the box with uncertain dismay. The word Ipad stared back, and not even the cheapest model. “Edge,” Jeff started weakly, trying to come up with something, but what could he say? Thanks but no thanks for this astonishingly thoughtful and too damn expensive present? “An iPad is not a gift.” “Of course it is. I gave it to you,” Edge told him. The arrogance in it was probably so ingrained in him that Edge didn’t even hear it. Well, that was a tone that brooked no argument, but Jeff was going to give brooking a shot anyway. “I have a laptop.” Something about his obvious distaste made Jeff think Edge knew a little too damn much about his aging Dell. “Yes…and now you have an iPad.” Well, fuck. His first mistake had been taking it because there was no way in hell Edge would take it back now. Especially not with the smug way he was sitting there, and that was the expression of someone who knew they’d won. “Damn it, Edge—“ “Here, let me help you,” Edge interrupted. He stood, reaching out to take the lid from the box. A quick press of a button and it started up, already connected to his Apple ID and there was another question that Jeff probably wasn’t going to get answered. "Now, I'd like you to open this document right here." How a gloved finger that covered bone was able to use a touchscreen was a mystery past Jeff’s skills, but it did. The document opened to a bunch of legalize, enough to make that aching twinge for Antwan flare. It dimmed back as astonishment overshadowed it, Jeff staring at the page. "This is an employment contract." "Excellent, you can read, we can skip that part of the interview." Edge tucked his hands into his pockets and said crisply, "I've been trying to be subtle, but it's become apparent to me that the direct approach would be best. I’d like you to come work for us at the Embassy.” “What would I even do?” Jeff asked, a little helplessly. The contract listed a lot of benefits but there was no sign of job duties or even a title. Edge sighed with pointed exasperation, and his eye lights were sharp, assessing. “Jeff, you have a degree in sociology and a compassionate soul. Do you see how that might be useful working for people who spent most of their lives trapped underground? We are not a perfect people, but we are loyal, and we want you with us.” “How do you know I have a compassionate soul,” Jeff blurted. The memory of his soul, that soft green, compassion, was still very fresh. “Did Stretch tell you?” “Of course you do, it’s obvious—wait,” Edge narrowed his sockets, eye lights flaring. “Did Stretch look at your soul?” “Uhhh.” Well, fuck, that was a smooth move. Stretch had said it was kind of a big deal, maybe it was like, like cheating or something, but it hadn’t been like that, not at all. Meekly, Jeff offered, “I mean, I asked him to?” Edge waved him off. “Never mind that, but he shouldn’t have done it while you’re so weak. What I’m trying to get at is you would be a useful member of the team and—“ He trailed off as Jeff signed it without another word. He hit send, watched as the icon swirled and popped up with a cheery, ‘sent!’. Prickles were stinging in his eyes but Jeff looked up at Edge anyway and told him firmly, “I don’t want a pity job. I want to help.” “You’ll get plenty of work, I assure you.” Edge seemed off-balance, oddly stiff and abrupt, and Jeff realized he expected to have to argue more with him. But working at the Embassy, with all the Monsters he’d met over the past year? It sounded like a dream that he didn’t want to wake from, a chance to pay back kindness that he’d never been able to with Julia.

He wanted this, so much. “Thank you,” Jeff told him, quietly. Edge relaxed visibly at that. “As an employee of the Embassy, you’re entitled to housing in New New Home. Here-“ he leaned in, reaching for the Ipad and Jeff couldn’t stop himself. He wrapped both arms around Edge’s slim form and hugged him. He regretted it instantly. Edge stiffened immediately, standing stock-still in his arms. Fuck, Edge didn’t like being touched unexpectedly by anyone but Stretch, he knew that, he knew it. Before he could pull back or apologize, an awkward hand patted him gently on the back. “You’re welcome.” “are you two done?” Came sleepily from the other side of the bed. “because if you need more bonding time or a chance to sing kumbaya or something, i can go.” Edge drew back and retorted, “If you’re going somewhere else, you may want to take advantage of the clothes I bought you.” The blanket was cast aside as Stretch scrambled to his feet, already reaching for the bags. “babe, in a world of mediocrity, you are a shining star.” “Only because you are easily pleased.” The bag was quickly tossed aside as Stretch pulled out the clothes and laid them on the foot of the bed, making pleased sounds about the sweatshirt and pants, and Jeff didn’t miss that a few of those things were way too short for Stretch. Edge had obviously brought him clothes, too, and Jeff swallowed hard before managing, “You could’ve gone home to change and get some better sleep.” “uh huh,” Stretch agreed absently, chuckling delightedly as he held up a T-shirt with ‘She-Ra, Princess of Power’ emblazoned on it. “excellent. or i can stay here and use the ensuite shower.” “Are you planning on camping here until they cut me loose?” And Jeff was blinking hard because he already knew the answer. “yep.” “Of course.” One more question, the one he’d resisted asking because he wasn’t needy, he understood, he did, but, “Where is Antwan?” That softening fell over Edge again, but Jeff had never seen it directed his way before. “Finishing his work at the Embassy. He’s going as quickly as he can, but there’s really no one who knows it better than him. He was here when they brought you in and waited until he knew you were safe.” Jeff nodded, swallowing hard. “He asked me to stay with you, but to be honest, that was my plan to begin with,” Edge told him with a gentleness Jeff had heard before, months ago when they’d spoken about his parents. “He’ll be here as soon as he can.” “sure he will!” Stretch gathered up an armload of clothes and headed towards the bathroom. “keep an eye on the injured party here, i can’t even stand my own smell right now and that’s saying something.” “Where would I go?” “I will,” Edge said firmly. The door closed behind Stretch and Edge settled back into his chair, pulling out his phone. He was quickly absorbed, probably working, but his eye lights slid Jeff’s way anytime he moved, trying to get comfortable with the slowly growing ache in his side.

The television wasn’t offering any new enticement and he since he couldn’t rightly turn away his new gift, at least he could play with it. Jeff went to the App Store, scowling when he saw the sum loaded to his account and silently promised that he would be paying them all back very soon, for everything. His excitement over a new job was dampened a little by Antwan’s absence, but it was okay. Everything would be fine. He downloaded a game, losing himself in the mindless shifting of gemstones and triumphant lights.

And waited.

~~*~~

Read Chapter Three

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #underfell papyrus #underswap papyrus #by any other name

[weebhour]

BMH Log 2: Prettification

I’ve been lamenting how ugly some of my farms are. Last week I decided to take initiative and do my own renovations like a strong independent blockperson who don’t need no builder... especially considering said builder is too infatuated with her Stardew Valley e-wife to play unhealthy amounts of Minecraft.

(no offense Jewel, but this is the danger of parasocial relationships)

[ID: Minecraft screenshot with on-screen display and subtitles on. It is daytime, with the camera pointing upwards. Jungle leaves and some logs are left floating mid-air.]

First of all it’s time to tut disapprovingly at whoever committed the Minecraft cardinal sin of not chopping the trees all the way. Luckily for me, jungle trees are fairly easy to chop down thanks to the vines. I can start chopping from the top-down.

If this looks like me procrastinating on building, then you’re absolutely right. Let’s get on with it.

 The creeper farm

Currently the roof has been left open. I could, of course, just hide it underground like all of my other farms, but I had the idea of covering the top with dirt and setting up a central garden for the mesa village. For the afk platform 100 blocks above, I decided to build a hot air balloon.

[ID: Minecraft screenshot with the on-screen display off. Most of the screen shows the inside of a half-built hot air balloon made of red and white wool. Scaffolding is laid on each side.]

For the balloon, I took a picture from deviantart and basically tried to copy it block for block, except instead of black I used red wool—a practice that would most certainly be unethical if I were to apply it to visual arts portfolios.

[ID: Minecraft screenshot with on-screen display off. It is daytime, and the camera points slightly upwards from an elevated position. In the middle of the screen, a pillar of scaffolding stretches upwards from a mesa plateau towards an elevated red-and-white hot air balloon.]

On the way down, I did land one block off from my landing pool and perish. Twice.

[ID: A Minecraft screenshot with the on-screen display off. The camera is above a pool of water from the ground level, showing some items scattered around a barrel such as tools, armour, building blocks and lanterns.]

^Cleaning up after my own mistakes. Yes, I did expand the pool after that.

[ID: A Minecraft screenshot with the on-screen display off. The camera zooms in on a hot air balloon made of red and white wool running in vertical stripes, with the basket made of dark oak. Some vines and scaffolding extend out of the bottom. Some lanterns light up the balloon from the bottom. It is dusk with the stars faintly visible in the background.]

Despite the mistakes, the many long trips I took because I didn’t bring enough wool, and the faint heart attacks from the vertigo, it feels much nicer to afk somewhere that isn’t just a blank terra cotta platform.

 Farm collection rooms

Next up are the collection rooms for the gunpowder and spider farms. Currently they’re just holes dug out of the stone with granite patches sticking out.

Do you remember when granite, andesite and diorite were added? I remember being super excited for diorite—at the time I considered it to be the platonic ideal of a marble countertop block. Now I can’t get rid of it fast enough.

[ID: A Minecraft screenshot with the on-screen display off. There is a rectangular room viewed form one side; the walls, floor and ceiling are made of long stripes of orange terra cotta and black concrete. There are several chests, a crafting table, a lever, some jack-o’-lanterns, and some cobwebs scattered in the room.]

Above is the spider xp farm. For the interior, I considered a standard cobble room, then wondered if I could make it sort of… spidery.

Some google searches yielded some spider-man themed bedrooms and Halloween decorations. I eventually decided on the latter, mostly because of the blocks we already had lying around.

We have so much terra cotta, and none of us are using it. I considered using black terra cotta but the resulting colour was more of a very dark brown, so I made some concrete instead.

[ID: A Minecraft screenshot with the on-screen display off. There is a room built with a mix of green and lime wool and terra cotta, cobblestone slabs and lime stained glass. The glass surrounds soul campfires. Some glowberry vines extend down from the ceiling.]

Above is the gunpowder collection room. Obviously the colour scheme takes inspiration from the creeper’s colour scheme.

We didn’t have any green dye lying around, so I did have to be a little stingy—we have a lot of bonemeal, so I tried going for more lime than green, as it effectively doubles the green dye after mixing. The glowberries are mostly there to add more variation. For lighting, I hid some jack-o’-lanterns under lime carpet because they’re the cheapest light source we have currently.

These renovations are fairly simple, but compared to the barebones interior of before, I’d consider this a huge improvement.

For you all, I’d recommend bringing in the interior before you turn on the farm, especially for mob farms. I was scared for my life while I dug around the water tunnels.

 The greenhouse

Finally, the project that took me longest out of everything.

We have an automatic wheat collector adjacent to our house. It blends in well enough to the terrain, but in all honesty I would have preferred it to be a building.

For the design, I took a greenhouse tutorial and extended it a couple blocks to fit the farm inside, which essentially meant I had to freestyle the roof a little bit—a skill I did not have.

I’d chosen the original design for the round roof (which would have provided variation from the mostly triangular roofs of our existing buildings) but in my design adjustment, ended up making a triangular roof, so… whoops.

[ID: A Minecraft screenshot with the on-screen display off. It is nighttime, with the camera at a slight low angle looking up at a greenhouse building made of light grey stained glass and dark oak woods. The front has an arched entrance and a circular window above. The sides are decorated by spruce leaves, glowberries, cobblestone stairs and lanterns. In the foreground, a campfire is visible; in the background, a farm, some buildings and a hot air balloon is visible.]

Above is the finished greenhouse. The placement is admittedly a bit awkward in relation to the surrounding structures but I had to encompass the underground vegetable farm entrance and the entire wheat farm.

The interior, too, is mostly dominated by the wheat farm, which doesn’t leave much space for decoration. But you know what? This is the first building I built on this realm, and damn if I’m not proud of myself. The greenery on the exterior is mostly improvised as well, and it turned out alright!

[ID: A Minecraft screenshot with the on-screen display off. It is daytime, and most of the shot is showing the side of a long rectangular greenhouse built of light grey stained glass and dark oak wood. The sides are decoated with random placements of spruce leaves, glowberries and glow lichen. The hot air balloon is visible in the background, with some chests, flowers and a bed in the foreground. The signs on the chests read “use fortune” and “materials for auto sugarcane farm”.]

If you use enough block variation, most things won’t look boring. If you, like me, have very little aesthetic talent, I’d advise spamming everything you have until it looks decent enough.

 Next up is the creeper garden, as well as some more farms. Who knows? Maybe Jewel will finally have enough wi-fi bars to join me without the thousand farm animals we hoarded lagging him out of existence.

That’s all from me today. Hope you’re all staying well hydrated during this southern hemisphere summer season. Goodbye everybody!

 -Pastel

#Beginner's Minecraft Holiday #minecraft #mineblr #feel like i should use shaders to qualify as a mineblr blog #mod pastel #Yes the hot air balloon closeup is me using f1 with a spyglass yes i know it would be easier to get optifine