#the third party of a love triangle. usually a side character just used for the mains’ happiness ALWAYS ENDS UP SAD AND ALONE | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

teklarn · 3 years

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𝔂𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓶𝔂 𝓫𝓸𝔂𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭 - 𝓴. 𝓫𝓪𝓴𝓾𝓰𝓸𝓾 (𝓹𝓽.4)

character(s): katsuki bakugou x gn!reader (x eijirou kirishima)

a/n: y’all it makes me so happy how many people like my work oh my gosh i’m so motivated when enthusiasm shows tytyty <33

𝕣𝕖𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕝𝕪 𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕 !!

summary: bakugou x gn!reader. they have feelings for one another but have no idea how to express them, however y/n has someone pining for their attention.

genre: angst

warnings: mutual pining, cussing, aged-up to third years, love triangle, romantic tension, one-sided pining, jealousy, toxic kirishima (ok but like he’s hot tho), slowburn romance, not proofread

word count: 2423

- - -

part 3 , part 5

you twiddled your thumbs in front of the poster. a halloween party? next month? it’d come as a surprise how fast the holiday was coming up.

your stomach filled with butterflies, however, it sunk when you remembered what had happened last night.

the little fight you had with kirishima. how it seemed like he suddenly hated bakugou, who was one of his best friends. you didn’t want to believe that kirishima could have had feelings for you. perhaps he was just protecting you.

you sighed. you truly didn’t want to fight with either of them. maybe kirishima was right. he did know bakugou better than you, but to your knowledge, bakugou had never had a relationship.

maybe kirishima was trying to say that bakugou would be toxic in the sense that he would never pay attention to you. perhaps he would be too focused on becoming the number one hero.

whatever. it didn’t matter now.

the poster listed that it was going to be a costume party, and dressing up was mandatory. you were good friends with mei hatsume from the support group, so she would be going all-out for the season. you wondered if she’d be able to whip something up for you, too.

you had a few minutes left before class started, surely she should be available for a little bit of chatter. besides, mei hatsume never turned down a new project.

turning, you started your way to the support classrooms just to be stopped, come face-to-face with the one person you’d been trying to avoid all day. “i don’t want to talk right now, kirishima,” you snapped. perhaps you were being a bit harsh, but he was the one trying to control you, was he not?

“then don’t talk, y/n. i’ll talk.”

you shoved past him, clutching your books to your chest. “no.”

“just hear me out, okay? last night was...i didn’t mean to seem-”

“seem what? possessive? rude? like an overprotective, jealous boyfriend?”

“in no way was i trying to come across as any of those, trust me y/n.”

you continued on your way to the support classes only to find him standing before you again. You sighed, tightening your grip around your books. “what.” you commanded him, you didn’t ask.

kirishima let out a sigh of his own, letting his arms fall to his sides. “can we just...talk? we’re friends, and we’ve always communicated well with each other.”

“communication was out of the question yesterday, wasn’t it?” you attempted shoving him away to continue on your way, but he caught your shoulder, finger pads digging into your skin possessively.

“please, y/n.”

you looked down your nose at him. “fine. say what you so badly want to get out.”

“listen, i-”

the bell rang, and students went rushing back into their classrooms. you shrugged, victorious. “looks like the bell isn’t on your side either, kirishima.”

you heard him sigh in defeat, but did not look back.

---

there was something about the way kirishima was suddenly looking at you that bakugou didn’t like. at all. his pencil snapped in his grip, chips of wood and led flying into the air.

speaking of kirishima, what was up with him lately? everything was suddenly about you. he was always around you. sure, throughout the years, you two had gotten closer, but kirishima looked just about ready to abandon bakugou’s ass on the side of the road.

as usual, aizawa would be a bit late. in about ten minutes, the man would come wandering in, bags hanging low under his eyes, and instruct the lesson before falling back into his much-needed slumber.

that was when bakugou would interrogate kirishima. but first, he needed to talk to you. needed to be sure he was on the winning side before anything happened between kirishima.

bakugou walked over to your desk, tugging at your sleeve to get your attention.

“hm?” you looked up from your notebook. “yes, bakugou? do you need something?”

“yeah,” he replied, scratching the back of his neck. “you saw the poster too, right? the one about that stupid dance.”

“well, i don’t think it’s stupid. it looks fun! don’t you think?”

he drowned himself in your eyes. “mhm.”

“so, did you still need something?”

“got any costume ideas in mind?”

you feigned surprise. “katsuki bakugou? are you saying what i think you’re saying?”

he licked his lips. gosh, the way his name rolled off your tongue sounded the way honey tasted. “don’t push it.” he grinned. “still considering it.”

“well, if you’re thinking of going, you definitely should. i’m buying tickets with mina and kaminari if you’d like to tag along.”

“tag along?” he let out a breathy chuckle. “i’ll be the star of the show if i ‘tag along’, you got me?”

you gave him a side smile. “mhm. but you do realize how hectic it’s gonna be there, right? i mean, you’ve got to pick something that...pops, y’know?” your fingers sprung out to add emphasis.

“whether i wear some stupid costume or not, i’m still going to be the star of the show. you got that?”

you knew he was only teasing. if it’d been the bakugou from before, he would have most likely meant it, however, you knew how he openly teased you now. strangely, it was only you who he was so open with.

bakugou smirked, leaning down to raise your chin with his fingers. “i’ll go if you go.”

he had your heart pacing rapidly. “mhm.”

“use your words.”

“yes, i think i’ll go.”

“you think?” he taunted.

“i will go.” you cleared your throat. “bakugou.”

“good.” his gentle fingers let go of your chin and he wandered back to his desk, eyeing you from there for a moment before flicking open a textbook and reading.

you diverted your eyes back to your notebook, hands shaking as you wrote down the date. you scribbled down your name three times in the top right corner just to look busy.

adjusting your elbow, you did your best to make it look like you were merely leaning your cheek on your hand in a bored manner. gosh. you could still feel his eyes burning into you, demanding. serious. gorgeous and blood red.

kirishima was right about you having feelings for bakugou. however you sat there conflicted for a little while.

bakugou had just approached you in a similar manner as kirishima. did kirishima..?

no, you two were only friends.

you shook your head, still doing your best to conceal the stupid grin crossing your cheeks.

everyone knew that telling other people if you were just friends with someone after they asked, one person had feelings for the other at least. it was another thing asking yourself that.

- - -

it was just a week before the dance, and you still had yet to choose a costume. mina and kaminari had offered you a few of the costumes she’d worn at previous halloween parties, but none had appealed to you.

you wanted something fresh. wanted something that you’d feel like you would have fun in.

“wouldn’t dressing up as a pirate be really, i don’t know. i just feel like it’d be super super hot in the gym.”

mina rolled her eyes. “well duh, you look hot in everything, y/n.”

you scoffed. “thanks, but i’m not sure about that.”

“kirishima seems to think so,” kaminari teased from inside the change room. all three of you were currently at a thrift store trying to find matching costumes.

you rolled your eyes, disregarding the fact he couldn’t see. “don’t bring him up. please.”

“what happened between you two?” mina asked, slipping the costume back onto its hanger. she slipped it back into its spot on the rack and began sifting through new clothes. “you guys just suddenly stopped talking.”

you shrugged. “he’s just been...off lately. you know? i don’t know how else to explain it. but ever since that incident where he broke bakugou’s nose-”

kaminari peaked out from the curtain, jaw dropping. “he broke bakugou’s nose?”

you waved him off. “yes, now let me finish. kirishima did this thing where he just...he acted all protective in private and then tried to apologize for it the next day. he kept telling me stuff like bakugou wasn’t good for me and everything.”

mina blinked, jaw dropping to the floor. “honey, what?”

she and kaminari exchanged shocked glances before she popped a hip out and put her fist to it.

“bestie, honey. you really are oblivious, aren’t you?”

you let out an exasperated breath. “he told me that, too! he pinned me to the wall and was like, oh, you’re so oblivious.” you imitated his voice, puffing out your chest to mock his stockiness.

“baby, baby! do you hear yourself?” mina shook you, taking you by your shoulders. “what the heck? are you blind? he’s down bad for you!”

“bad? if he had feelings for anyone, not just me, i think kirishima would be a little more considerate.”

“but it’s bakugou,” kaminari chirped in. “he knows he won’t win if he doesn’t get you now.”

“please, bakugou doesn’t win at everything.”

mina raised an eyebrow. “but you already have feelings for bakugou, so technically he’s already winning.”

you pursed your lips. “i guess, but if kirishima really had romantic feelings for me, he’d be less of an ass about it.”

“is he going to the dance?” kaminari closed the curtain, rustling around to change back into his clothes once more.

“i’m pretty sure.” you began sifting through clothes with mina. “bakugou said he’d go if i went. so i’m guessing kirishima is going to be there, too. bakugou and he are never apart.”

mina slapped her thigh in disbelief. “do you hear yourself, babes?” she wore a stupid grin. “i haven’t seen those two together since...i don’t know, not for the past month. they’re fighting over you, whether you realize it, whether they realize it.”

kaminari let out a false moan. “oh to have those two fighting over me.” he came out of the change room dressed in his own clothes.

“did the costume not fit?” mina asked.

“my fat ass is too fat for it. i’m too hot to be a pirate.” he posed, mimicking aoyama.

“your ass is flatter than a pancake, kaminari.”

you chuckled, but couldn’t help thinking about what mina was saying. as your two friends began chatting away, you lost yourself in your thoughts.

the three of you sat down for dinner at a cheap restaurant. mina and kaminari had bought a matching costume set, and you were still left without one. the two had left for the bathroom, leaving you sipping your own drink alone.

your chest sank into your stomach when a familiar head full of red, the roots beginning to darken, stepped into the restaurant. he ordered what you’d guessed.

he waited for the meal to be prepared for take out, rocking back and forth on his heels and whistling softly.

thankfully, you felt someone rest a hand on your shoulder. you turned, expecting to see kaminari or mina attempting to save you. instead, you found a strange man. he looked to be around your age. you vaguely recognized his face. perhaps you’d seen him around yuuei before.

uncomfortable, you shoved his hand off. “please go away.”

kirishima blinked slowly when his eyes found you. you did not attempt to hide your annoyance.

you wanted to tell both of them to go away as the man started flirting with you. it should be expected. this wasn’t the best place to be hanging out, either.

you heard footsteps rushing up, and soon, a hand clamped around your wrist. you cried out as kirishima pulled you out of your seat.

“do you have an issue?” he demanded, eyes boring into the man’s.

the man licked his lips. “you seem like you have an issue, here.” his words slurred grossly. “we were over here minding our own business.”

“they don’t want it.” kirishima snapped.

“kirishima, i can handle this myself. you tried to shove off his grip. he let go, knowing that this wasn’t truly how he wanted to approach you.

“see?” the man said. “they’re fine.”

“get out of here.”

“kirishima, what’re you-”

the man put his hands up in surrender and wandered out.

you pushed kirishima back. “what the hell?”

“fine. be mad at me, but he was invading your space.”

your brow furrowed. “you’re one to talk! do i need to put some kind of restraining order on you? you keep following me everywhere.”

“not anywhere! this was a coincidence.”

you shook your head. “it’s pointless trying to argue with you. you’re so toxic!”

kirishima tongued the inside of his cheek. “think what you want, y/n. i could see you were uncomfortable, anyway.”

“no, kirishima. i don’t need your saving. i don’t need you to swoop in and pretend like you’re my hero. you’re not. don’t talk to me again unless you’ve grown the hell up.”

as if on queue, the bell rang and kirishima’s packaged dinner was presented in a paper bag. he gave you a good, long hard stare before taking his dinner and leaving.

your chest heaved with anger. you wanted to make him angry. if he felt romantic feelings towards you, you wanted to make him jealous.

you gave mina and kaminari a text that you’d be going home early. it was only a half-lie. you ran to hatsume’s dorm and knocked loudly. she opened the door without hesitation and grinned widely at the sight of you, already knowing you needed something.

kirishima was obviously so damn jealous of bakugou, wasn’t he? mina was right. he wouldn’t be able to compete. and you were going to make sure he knew that.

the blaring lights, the music louder than bakugou’s explosions. students disguised as their favorite characters.

it was hectic, you were right about that.

kirishima stood beside him. they’d both decided to dress in their hero costumes. the tension between them was still unspoken. they felt like strangers.

their eyes scanned the crowd, and bakugou’s landed on you first, kirishima following closely after.

he couldn’t help the warm, victorious feeling in his chest as he glanced to the side at kirishima’s expression.

kirishima’s chest caved in. you’d dressed in...who had made it?

“they’re dressed as...you,” he said, aghast.

bakugou grinned, watching you dance under the lights in your own rendition of his hero costume, that orange x crossing your chest oh-so-nicely.

- - -

tags: (if you want to be tagged in future parts, let me know!!)

@heizenka @misssugarless

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mn0tes · 3 years

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TATTLE GAMES🐮

⚠️May contain SPOILERS of The Promised Neverland (TPN) ⚠️

youtube

“Let’s run away together”

What is the “Identity V” mobile game?

Identity V is a survival horror multiplayer game designed for children 12 +. The story revolves around a detective who is solving a mystery behind a sinister game held within an abandoned manor. The game setup revolves around matches between 4 survivors and 1 hunter or 8 survivors and 2 hunters (depending on the mode). Basically to win, the hunter must kill 3 or 6 survivors or at least 3 or 6 survivors must escape before the game ends. The player can level up his/her characters by playing and winning matches. The rewards earned from the games can be used to upgrade the skill of the characters, receive items, obtain costumes, and many more.

Why I advice TPN fans to play this game and participate in the event?

If you are an avid TPN fan, I advice you to start playing this game before the “The Promised Neverland” crossover event takes place sometime in February or early Spring of 2021 but the exact date is yet to be announced. I just estimated those dates based on the deadline of the pre-registration. In my opinion, to fully enjoy this event, you’ve got to be familiar with the controls, mechanics, and intensity of the game before the awaited event so that it wouldn’t surprise you. 😉 Let me tell you, the game is intense especially for gamers who aren’t used to this genre. It’s an adrenaline pumping game that involves a lot of running around, hide and seek, and prompt decision making that will get new users addicted to it. All I can say is, a good battle strategy comes in handy in these games. Sounds familiar? Yeah! Just like in TPN, your practically playing tag with your enemy. Your strategy as a killer or a survivor matters a lot if you want to win and reap the rewards of your victory. For me, this game reminds me a lot of the Goldy Pond Battle Arc but unlike in the Manga, the number of players (hunters and survivors) are greater in TPN. Emma and the other survivor’s task is different compared to the game because they have to stay alive within the alloted killing time instead of just deciphering machines and activating exits to escape the game area. In Emma‘s case though, they are literally trapped and living in Goldy Pond, the bloody arena! They can’t escape! I’m excited to see how this plays out in the event because NetEase Inc. might alter the basic mechanics of the game to follow the main story of TPN so it’s something to look forward to. Another thing to look forward to are the costumes, items, and other rewards that are based on the TPN characters that you all love and cherish!!! 🥳 HOW COOL IS THAT! 🤩 Fans may get a chance to earn Grace Field costumes or maybe an Emma sleeve. 😭 I’m looking forward on seeing an Emma-looking survivor doll running away from a Leuvis-looking hunter doll or maybe a Norman-looking survivor doll rescuing an Emma-looking survivor doll. 😍 Heck, I think it’s the other way around but it’s still soooo CUTE. 🥲

How do I take part in this event?

It’s easy, just bind your game ID number in the pre-registration page. It’s totally free too!

How do I obtain a game ID number?

The game ID can be obtained if your already an Identity V player. The game ID number is shown underneath your user name in the settings menu. If your not a player, you need to download the mobile game first and start the game. Don’t worry, your not going to be thrown in the killing arena right off the bat.

What is the Manor IQ Test?

The Manor IQ Test is a teaser game for fans to enjoy while waiting for the crossover event. It’s a super hard, time pressured IQ Test that enables fans to experience the difficulty level of the test the premium cattle kids have to take every morning. I advice switching on the sound effects because it adds up to the creepy factor and the pressure of getting a perfect score. 😰

How to get a perfect score in the Manor IQ Test to avoid getting shipped out?

If your a fan of the series, you know the importance of getting a perfect score in every test. Perfect score = another day to live (in their case, it’s 3 months to live until the time when they turn 12 and their hard earn scores are deemed useless). 🤬

I feel you Ray 😣 so, I’m sharing the answer key to you guys. 🤫 Following this will ensure you to earn a “perfect scorer” title. 😬

Several Survivors stand in a line. If the Explorer is 15th in line counting from both left and right, how many Survivors are in the line? Answer: 29

Emily is older than Martha, and both of their ages contain the number "2". The sum of the two numbers in Martha's age is less than 4, Martha is two years younger than Emma, and the sum of these three ladies' ages is 74. How old are Emily, Martha, and Emma? Answer: 32, 20, and 22

What number completes the pattern? Answer: 16

There is a box in front of you that contains an abundance of perfume, syringes, and flashlights. You can only get one item from the box each time you open it. How many times do you need to open the box to guarantee two of the same item? Answer: 4

What number completes this pattern? Answer: 3

Figure 1 (front view) and Figure 2 (top-down view) are two views of a structure built with cubes of the same size. At least how many cubes are used to build this structure? Answer: 17

Mike the Acrobat has 6 juggling balls- 2 black, 2 white, 2 red. The Mind's Eye takes 4 random juggling balls out of his room each time and always puts one back before taking another. After four entries/exits, what are the chances of her getting 2 black juggling balls, 1 white juggling ball, and 1 red juggling ball? Answer: 4/27

Which figure completes the pattern? (circle, triangle, and square ver.) Answer: (the first option) square, triangle, and circle.

Fold Cowboy's lasso twice and cut it from the middle. How many sections are there? Answer: 5

Survivors A, B, and C have different professions; one is a lawyer, one is a magician, and one is a painter. The Hunters made guesses about who does what: Hell Ember: A is the painter, and B is the lawyer. Bloody Queen: A is the lawyer, and C is the painter. The Ripper: A is the magician, and B is the painter. It turns out that each of them was right about one of the survivors. Therefore, what is the correct profession for each Survivor? Answer: A. Magician, B. Lawyer, C. Painter

Which figure completes the pattern? (boxes and lines ver.) Answer: (the last option) square with a horizontal line in the middle

Each icon below represents a number. What is the sum of the three icons? Answer: 8

How many sides are there when a tetrahedron is attached to an equilateral square pyramid with the sides that share the same area? Answer: 5

Based on the information below, what is YY? Answer: 0

What figure completes the pattern? Answer: (the third option) The triangle with four triangles in the center

After getting your score, make sure to scroll down to unlock the special chapter.

Enjoy and Be creeped out!

Because the reality is you’ve been shipped out!

Yes! That’s the hard truth the TPN characters faced. The scores didn’t matter! At the end of the day, their still meat, a merchandise that must be consumed. The demons and caretakers gave them false hope that there is a way out, a chance to have a future but holding on to that illusion and fake happiness will lead the kids to their doom. It’s such a cruel world! I hope that they will be able to capture that sad reality of deception in the upcoming event and I know they will. The other dilemma that’s been perfectly portrayed in this game is “Work together vs Betray your comrades to ensure your safety”. Have you ever wondered why it’s not required for all 4 survivors to escape the game? Well, it’s just practical and realistic that way, right? But it also mean that the three players can offer up their last teammate as sacrifice to distract the hunter while they escape. (Just like what Ray thought during the Jail break Arc, he was willing to be the bait to distract Mama while the others escape.)

I’m looking forward in seeing you in the game as my teammate or AS MY VICTIM!!! Don’t worry, I’m still learning the game so I’m usually a dumb hunter or an airhead teammate. 😓 (Sorry but I’m working on it!)

If you noticed my username “MN0tes” in the game, be kind enough and let me know maybe we can even create a group or something. 😎

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facelessfrey · 4 years

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Roswell New Mexico Season 2, Episode 6

- Okay...so I have now actually watched it...well mostly. There were some parts of my stream where the sound wasn’t synched. Unfortunately not that scene. Haha.

- Let’s start with the positives...

- I actually think that overall it was kind of a fun episode. I liked the Isobel and Kyle stuff and I actually liked the Echo stuff even though I was less than thrilled about Max coming back and the Alex/Maria/Boot guy stuff wasn’t too terrible. And there was some good sibling scenes. So like...not bad.

- I did think the whole beginning with Max and Isobel and Michael was super weird and was over WAAAY too quickly but hey I guess they had to get to a threesome there and so they had to cut corners on something....That said, angry, dark I’ve got death energy to expel Max is really not my favorite Max, so I guess it’s fine it was over quick but still...strange to build that up and then have it be over and done with in the first like three minutes. But okay...moving on.

- The Max/Liz strand of the episode was actually super cute and actually made me ship them again so that was nice. My sound was messed up during the whole milkshake speech so that was sad but it was working again by the morning love confession, so cool. Max’s super stiff leather, looked like it had never been worn, jacket though...not a fan. That was horrible and I was happy every time he took it off.

- The Isobel/Kyle stuff was fun. They do look good with sparkles, I agree. I mean it was pretty random and doesn’t totally make sense but I’m not mad at it. Who knows if it will lead anywhere. I do like the chemistry between Isobel and Kyle though, friend chemistry or otherwise. Kyle has chemistry with everyone though.

- Except maybe Steph who is still so boring to me but...and my stream was off again, was that her on the operating table in that montage at the end?

- The main thing I took from the Alex/Maria story was that it gave us confirmation that Alex does in fact know the full story about Rosa so...uh...thanks for finally putting that in there. Might have been nice to have a clue before that.

- Also...I rolled my eyes sooo hard at the Vampire Diaries joke but also it made me really nostalgic for TVD, because while also trash, it was better trash. Just saying. Also...it would have been a Gilbert ring, Alex and would have prevented him from dying if killed by something supernatural. Get your references right! Haha.

- I do think the whole boot maker lead was super random and didn’t really lead to much and I still think these stories need more urgency and stakes.

- Also weird that the Cam story was once again on the back burner not that I don’t sort of get it because they have too much going on.

- AND I was sad that Rosa was not in this episode. I want to see her exploding lightbulbs as she has feelings.

- Oh and baby Max at the end...ummm...okay? I guess I want to know more about that. Mostly, I want to understand the all white fashion trend.

- Now...getting into the ranting part...

- I do have to say that it is important to actually watch stuff because how things are said matters. Because I read some of the dialogue earlier and I was like “What?!?!?!” and then it wasn’t that at all. So that made it all slightly better. Mostly the conversation Maria and Alex had in the car.

- The threesome thing was still SUPER weird and really unnecessary?!?!? I just don’t really get the point of it. I guess the narrative purpose was to push Alex toward Forrest and cement Michael and Maria but like...was that needed? No. I’m pretty sure Alex could have actually left when they kissed and it would have served exactly the same purpose. And would have been way less horrific.

- I mean, this is the kind of thing I can usually just roll my eyes at and move on if I’m less invested. And I’m not as invested as I have been in other things so like...I’m fine. And trust me, I’ve been there before, so I get it for people who feel devastated and done with everything. I really do.

- But I am invested enough that I’m just kind of baffled that this was a choice that the show/Carina made. Because it really does just undermine all three characters. And to be honest, this whole love triangle had been undermining all three characters from the start. So I guess it’s par for the course but this just made it worse. I agree with Evil Twin Jon Gilbert that “I hate love triangles” but especially this one.

- I mean, Maria has been a weird spare part on this show from the start. It’s always been a problem. In relation to the original show character, they gave her friendship with Liz to Kyle/Rosa. They gave her alien mystery solving side to Kyle. And they largely gave her romance with Michael to Alex. And you could say she has a story of her own with her mother, but that’s really kind of Mimi’s story. Maria is just sort of facilitating it. It just feels very unfortunate because OG Maria was great. And this Maria could have been great too but they just took so much away from her. And so much of what she does get happens off screen. And so they tried to give some of it back. They stuck her in this dumb love triangle, which up until now has always just seemed like a roadblock for Malex and probably still is although it’s more complicated now I guess. And if she’s just a roadblock for Malex then that’s just shitty for her character and she should have something that’s hers and not just ultimately be in the way of another ship. And also every turn of it just kind of makes her look selfish and terrible. I mean, I don’t understand her motivations for the threesome at all. Other than that I’ve heard that it was some kind of weird manipulation of the situation to force Michael to choose which is...gross. She just doesn’t come out of it well and that’s sad.

- And for Michael, it’s absolutely perpetuating bad bisexual stereotypes. As frustrating as the love triangle was, he was technically always broken up with Alex and for valid emotional reasons. So as annoying as it was and as lazy as it was, it was fine. But this is literally like “Okay here’s both of them at the same time cause you can’t choose”. It just doesn’t look good. Especially if it was supposed to be some kind of test.

- And for Alex...to have him say earlier that being with a woman was him trying to disappear and then have him take part in this is just bizarre. I mean yes, they also had him say that kissing Maria was the first time he enjoyed touching someone which...um...okay...weird. Also feels like they shoved that in just to facilitate this later which is also kind of gross. It’s also just weird to have a very vocally self proclaimed gay man, sleep with a woman for whatever reason. Like...why?

- And why do Malex need to break up in every episode? Everyone gets it. Couldn’t they at some point just be like “wow we really need to take some time apart and see other people and experience other relationships and work on just getting to know each other as friends and if we end up together then it was meant to be” and then they just go date Maria and Forrest and those can be legit relationships and then they can come back together later after suitable build up.

- Of course that’s fine for Forrest because he’s a random side character but then it feels insulting to Maria because it’s clear she’s just an obstacle, which is why I hate that she’s a part of this dumb love triangle in the first place.

- I also just hate the love triangle period with Malex because it just wasn’t needed. There’s so much potential there and so many layers of angst without adding in a main character as a third party. They could still both date other people and come back together without dragging Maria into it all. I feel like Carina just wanted to do this new thing with Malex because she didn’t want her Michael and Maria to have to compete with the OG M&M and then was like “oh no wait I can still do it but in this different super awesome way because epic love triangles are awesome and on all my favorite teen shows of the past” Except that this isn’t a teen show and that should be part of the point.

- I just don’t get any of it and think it was mostly a bad idea. Well, the threesome definitely was.

- I mean...it’s not enough to make me stop watching the show but I definitely am further disconnecting with that set of characters until they sort this nonsense out and decide where they’re going with it because right now they’re just making me not care because it doesn’t feel like they care about their own characters.

#roswell new mexico #roswell reviews #roswell nm #rnm #this is long

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ddaenghoney · 5 years

Photo

Series: of Silver

Part 20

Attending a performing arts university, you’ve been managing just fine until the fall semester of your third year starts off by making out at a party only to realize the random guy was actually transfer Jeon Jeongguk, whom you had previously agreed to help get used to the city.

Pairing(s):

Jeon Jeongguk x Y/N

Below the cut is a written scene from the story, but you don’t need to read it to follow the plot for the fake texts portions!

masterlist link is in blog description

disclaimer: any character depicted do not represent the actual personality of the respected idol in real life.

Warning(s)/genre(s): College!au, fluff, developing relationship, love triangle(s)??, some angst/drama here and there– Jeongguk has a dog this series isn’t allowed to be too tragic.

Tag(s): @butterflylion @rjsmochii @mahakookie @dammit-jjk @joanc24 @detectivebts @insaisissables @fuzzyballoontrash @sweet-unicorn-world (if you would like to be tagged send me an ask to let me know!)

If you enjoy, let me know!! : )

set after the events of this chapter.

wc: 876

warning(s): none, just this couple being grossly soft per usual

Jeongguk insisted that he had indeed taught Gold to sit, that the growing puppy was just tired and unwilling to respond because his belly was full from dinner. Taehyung argued with a mouth full of the last few fries that he was the one who taught the command, and it was a scuffle of words back and forth. Jeongguk mostly rubbing circles on the dog in question’s belly while he panted happily.

Your cheek pressed against the armrest of the couch, watching while your eyes blinked a little more often than they did throughout the day. Taehyung was pouting with no comeback as Jeongguk asked who took him to the training class the previous weekend. Your giggling turned into a yawn, head turning as Namjoon walked across your view to take his spot on the armchair. “Yoongi said he’s going to work on some last minute homework, and to start the movie whenever.”

“Namjoon,” Jeongguk stood, carrying his puppy along with him, while Gold tried endlessly to lick kisses on his jaw. Jeongguk paid no mind as he rambled on defensively, “I taught him to sit, right?”

“Sure-”

“He listens when I say to sit though.” Taehyung’s head peeked to Namjoon from behind the wall created by Jeongguk’s body. You stretched out an arm, gesturing for the dog as Jeongguk stepped towards you to give him to you. “Like, ninety percent of the time-”

“Well, yeah me too!” Jeongguk interjected, eyes wider to Namjoon from the energy of the conversation, “I just said he didn’t want to right now because he’s full.” He glanced to you at your giggles of the puppy now licking at your cheek, unable to settle down on your chest.

“How am I supposed to answer this? Jeongguk, you take him to classes and try to train him more, so I guess you?” Namjoon covered an ear as Taehyung cut in with some other reasoning. Namjoon just looked for a movie he’d been saving for the next movie night.

Jeongguk smiled at this statement, ignoring anymore of Taehyung’s comments while he instead took a seat on the opposite side of the couch, shifting your ankles to rest on his thighs while he got comfortable into the corner.

“This is mutiny.” Taehyung grumbled after returning from the kitchen, he followed Gold’s movement from off your chest and across the room to his bed by the shabby dining table. “I’ll teach him how to stand on two legs then,” Mumbling lost to the sound of Namjoon hollering the movie title he picked out.

Jeongguk’s head turned as you moved your legs off of him, scooting across the couch to him. He smiled, noticing your tired gaze while you plopped against his frame, wrapping an arm around you as you settled. “Sleepy?”

You hummed, cheek rubbing against the cotton of his long sleeve, and your hand ending its descent flat against his stomach. “No, what makes you think that?” His chest shook barely from his chuckling, a hand rubbing along your back soothingly while the introduction credits began rolling through. “You’re comfy, Jeonggukie.”

“You think, baby?” His voice felt as soft as hugging onto him like you were. Frankly, the previous two a.m. night wasn’t helping you pay attention to the protagonist beginning the journey, or whatever was going on on screen. “Go to sleep-- if you can anyways, I think this is going to be a loud movie.” A car crash on screen occurred as he finished his sentence, but you just hummed against, eyes already shut.

“Hey,” You hugged tighter, like it would make the voice cease, “Y/N, Jeongguk-”

“What?” Jeongguk grumbled, shifting were he lay beneath you “Tired…”

“Yeah,” You cracked open an eye as Taehyung’s sentence cut off from his own yawn, “The movie’s over; are you both going to stay here until the morning?”

“What time is it?” You tried sitting up, but stayed in place while Jeongguk’s sleeping arms clung to you.

“Bit passed three.” Your eyes widened despite the tiring feeling in your head. “Just sleep here, I’ll go grab you guys a blanket.”

“Sleep,” Jeongguk’s word was almost incomprehensible, the nod more apparent, but Taehyung had already walked off. “Sleep, baby.”

“Are you sure it’s okay, Guk?” You frowned, using a hand to cup his cheek in an attempt to wake him up enough to appear more aware. His hands soothed new trails along your back, an eye barely opening to peer at you in the darkness,

“They don’t mind. Do you want to go back though? If you don’t want to-” You shook your head, laying your head back onto the comfort of his chest,

“If they don’t care…” He chuckled before groaning as the light came on, clutching you tighter when you also winced from the luminescence.

“Here,” Taehyung tossed a blanket, managing to cover the two of you mostly, “Yoongi’s leaving kinda early in the morning so he may wake you two up, but anyways,” A shrug as he turned on his heel to return to his room, flicking the light switch once more. “Sleep well.”

“What he said, sweetie,” You murmured against Jeongguk’s neck, nose nestling into the skin. He inhaled contently, more than halfway back asleep already,

“You’re adorable. Goodnight.”

#jeongguk #jungkook imagines #jungkook fake texts #jungkook smau #jungkook social media au #jungkook au #jungkook fluff #bts imagines #bts fake texts #bts smah #bts social media au #bts au #all #series of silver

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shitposting-extraordinaire · 4 years

Text

College was a terrible time for me. And Animal Crossing was my savior. Throughout all the turmoil, it gave me this cozy reprieve from the madness.

As with any open-ended game of the sort, I made a project for myself. Making a story town for the dream suite - not a horror town, as many people try, a mystery. And reexploring my town after so long yielded so many details I’d totally forgotten, and some that still rang clear as day. And now that everyone's moved on from New Leaf, I think it would be fun to explore that old story.

So if you’re in for a long story about a forgotten passion project, click read below.

(Dream code is, sadly, now inactive)

For atmosphere, I suggest you listen to the town theme that would have been playing when you visited. The dream-town was accessed at 1am, so this song below would be playing softly over the tragic town of Opalvale. As this was early april, I invite you to imagine the cherry blossom petals that would slowly drift across the whole town.

youtube

My town was lovingly landscaped - and coated in flowers. This is what you’d open up to, with the two empty spaces being where the dream suite bed would lie. If you put on the four pieces of clothes provided, you’d get...

...your first hint something was up. Because most of the town was very traditionally pretty. With this being early April, the cherry blossoms would be in full bloom.

And some decidedly not so cute details.

Unsure if dream sutie villagers could tell you what nicknames they called the player, I had all of my villagers call my character “murderer.” But let’s get into the story proper. Not with the main character herself, but the house closest to where you would start. That would be the church.

One of three humans, Joan was the priestess of the village. If spoken to, she’d say, “Stay safe, my child.”

Inside was a traditional church setup, with pipe organs, mannequins as parishoners, and a few side rooms with no relevance to the plot.

But if you creeped behind the pipe organ, you could find a secluded room extremely relevant to the plot.

A memorial of some kind is in session. Black flowers for mourning surrounded by votive candles and offerings. The markings on the wall read “Tu Fui Ego Eris,” a traditional epitath. K.K. Lullaby tinks away on the gramophone, griddled with static reflecting the time passed. And in the middle, in a pure white frame is a photo of the villager Whitney. If you lingered enough, the lullaby would play a series of strange, disorienting triangle waves right at the end.

This would not be Whitney’s last appearance.

If you head up to Joan’s bedroom, there was one more detail - a map on her wall with a red X.

All that remains of this house is a basement room of no import. But related to the memorial room, at the top left corner of the town...

A small graveyard, with four graves, surrounded by fresh flowers. Three graves bear perfect fruit trees, and if you dig into the spot;

A grim detail. If you dig into the spot below the dead tree, where there is no gravestone, however;

A hat that, if worn, is revealed to be just a skull. Whitney’s presumably. But Whitney’s house is gone, she not among the villagers, you cannot investigate her house. But of the remaining two, one house is much closer.

Regina, the blue-haired DJ, and her home is full of details pertaining to Whitney.

The main room is a concert venue, with shirts on display showing various villagers at instruments. The mannequin is clearly Regina, but who are the other five shirts?

Most of the house is simply other rooms in the concert hall.

The basement is especially irrelevant, but looks neat.

The backroom, however;

This appears to be a writing room, with the whiteboard, some instruments around. There are four cushions around the room, meant to resemble documents. A fifth hangs on the wall, with the same pattern as the cushions;

“ＷＨＩＴ．ＰＡＹＯＵＴ“

Five insurance payouts, all in the band room. A band shown to have six members. And if you look at the photo in the memorial chamber, you can see Whitney is wearing a specific shirt that’s on display.

Whitney was on second guitar. Regina got one payout, leaving four to the other band members. To identify them, though, we’ll have to go to the final house.

This is Exie, and if you speak to her, she says in letters affected with accent marks and random capitalization, “I’m nOT aLloWEd tO sPeaK...” This is the village who, if the animals talk, will refer to as “murderer.”

Like her home exterior and outfit, Exie’s foyer is pontzy and extravegant. Exie’s home is the most interesting of the three for many reasons. The backroom is strikingly out of place.

To the right is a bar with melancholy music, to drown her woes.

And to the left, a study. If you rotate the camera, there’s a similar payout on the desk, only this one has been denied - by the killer, not allowed to talk.

Or is she?

The basement is barren, but most of the furniture inside is directly from Whitney’s default house design. Only now, there is money scattered around - wealth from both Whitney and Exie, presumably - as well as swords and skeletal models, foreboding symbols both. The fireplace crackles like static - perhaps it’s simply a memory for Exie? A look into her mind? And in her mind there are three mannequins.

One wears all the same clothes as Exie. One bears a wolf hood, Whitneys shirt, and white pants. Above these two is a scrolling sign with a heart pattern. Past lovers, now forever parter.

Curiously, there’s a third person in the room, wearing two things. A heart shirt - an unrequitted lover? - and an ever foreboding skull hood.

Exie loved Whitney. Someone else loved - Whether they loved Whitney and were furious as her lack of interest, or if they loved Exie and wanted Whitney gone, who can say. But it appears there was a third party in this crime. Despite the public opinion and denied life insurance payout, Exie was innocent. Perhaps the trauma led her to obsess over another - hence the shrine to Kevin - as a coping mechanism?

Upstairs in their twin bedroom is a chorus of singing lullaboids. And as you noticed, there’s tons of villager pictures around the room.

Using these pictures, you can see everyone’s default outfit, and figure out the rest of the band members who got insurance payouts.

Fang the wolf appears to be the vocalist. Klaus the bear was singer and lead guitar. Whitney on second guitar, Benjamin the dog on bass, Freckles the duck on drums, and Regina as a dj. Could one of them be the unrequited lover? A person furious at Whitney who also stood to gain financially?

Much of the town exterior is simply pretty. This extends to a well kept beach, with a curious arrangement of trees.

The same arrangement, in fact, as the map on the wall of the priestess’s room. If you dig in the hidden dig spot, you get;

...A secret of little relevance. Although, this can help in one small way. The graveyard is in the upper left corner of the town, bordering a small patch of land.

Barely a sliver of beach is inaccesable without a wetsuit, and from the cliff face you can see something has been buried. This is the only spot left in the town.

An outfuit, buried so long it’s gone to rot, a skeleton, and an axe. The skull without a body in the graveyard was disposed of here. You have discovered Whitney’s corpse, buried where no one could find it... save the preacher, who seems only tangential to the case.

If you noticed, there are five dig spots, one hidden behind the tree. The final clue, something left by the murderer... perhaps accidentally.

A single pink feather, small enough the killer missed it.

There is only one bird villager. A pink bird, in fact, who was a member of the band. Freckles, the pink bird who lives closest to the cemetary and body dump. The same color as the pink shirt representing the unrequitted lover. Who would have matched perfectly with the bright pink diving suit buried.

What happened exactly is meant to be for the player’s imagination. Freckles is the likeliest killer. But what of Joan? She knew the location of the diving suit buried. Did she simply bury it herself, perhaps at Freckles order? Or was the feather left to incriminate her?

Either way, the picture is far clearer than the simple idea that Exie killed her. Freckles and likely Priestess Joan were in some way involved.

Such is the story of Opalvale. What became of the band and it’s members, who can say. But the player, as the detective, has found the most important clues to the truth. The player can put the story to an end.

I don’t type this all because I’m boasting about a project I did years and years ago. It’s because this is a time capsule for me.

In the midsts of the lowest point of my life, New Leaf gave me sanity. To go back and discover this town was to discover that, at this point in my life, I still had a creative drive drilling away at my mind. Even in the mists of despair, I crafted a surprisingly intricate story in a game that was in no way made to house tales of murder and intrigue.

I share this as a thank you to the me of the past, who felt he had nothing to live for. This is a thank you to the me who found it in his heart to love this silly game and all his villagers, even as he swirled into chaos.

Even now, when I need a background town name in writing, I usually go for Opalvale. Perhaps with New Horizons, I’ll do something similar.

But that night is over. Opalvale will forever be the past. May the future be bright... and similarly decorated with wistful new Animal Crossing memories.

#Animal Crossing #Animal Crossing New Leaf #ACNL #Animal Crossing New Horizons #ACNH #Long post

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16th-cornelia-street · 4 years

Text

just a jumbled mess of stream of consciousness thoughts while listening to folklore: (alos heads up i don’t know any of the song names so i’m just going mostly with the lyrics that stood out to me. but it is mostly in order of the songs as they play out.)

I remember when first listening ot lover thinking how melancholy all th songs were. i don’t feel it as much anymore, it just must have been my state of mind at the time. but listening to the first two songs of folklore i’m getting that feeling again and i don’t feel its going to go away. haven’t listened to rest of this ,but hte wishing and longing for htings to go back to how they were seems like its going to be the theme of this album

song after american dynasty gave me chills. that guys voice: beautiful.

same song gives me vibe of this is last time on red, which is a good song, couple having conversation about not listening to each othe rand feeling like neithe is being heard and thngs are falling apart. its my sisters favorite song on that album wonder how she’ll feel about this one.

mirror ball song makes me think of that dress she wore to award show for lover. and remember when joe and taylor posted that wine photo i wonder if thats the day they were working together on the song peopel theorize he worked with her on.

because i like to crazy theorize what if the three love sotry is about forbidden love stories both taylor and the cowriter had not together but with other people. i’m just in writing mode so creating all kinds of wild theories.

mirror ball also gives vibes of miss americana how she just wnats to be liked and shows various aspects of herself ot be accepted and the ball showing the viewer various aspects of themselves reminds me of how the fans talk about seeing themselves in her writing, parts they didn’t know aobut or parts tehy don’t show others. how they see thsemlves in her songs so in a way she is a mirorball to her fans not just her lovers.

folksong song sounds like a first love childhood before the singer learned to what was proper and accepted how to act like a “lady” back when her love was wild adn free pacing up her dolls and swaeter (cardigan) so they could run away together and be free in teh way they wanted to be.

sometimes its easier to talk about aspects of ourslves by putting on othe people on othe stories slipping in fiction with truth so no one knows what was real or imagined (august)

august gives me back to december vibes.

man taylors vocals this album just i’m so speeechless so many ways she’s never sung before, a new side of her and her vocals so haunting nad beaitiful and breathy its enchanting. i don’t know how to describe it.

it doesn’t have ot be an affair to feel this way to feel like the perosn you’ve broken up with is someone you’ll never find agan never feel that way agin with who created worlds with you and then tears them all apart hwne they leave you.

invisible string i take it this is from male perspective talking about a girl and not realizing at time tehy liked you back and finding connnection years later. that yes they did like you.

gold string and dive bars gives me reputation feels.

really liking all the instrumentals in teh scong calm and soothing of course becauase thats the theme but i like that taylor changes up her sound each album not alwaysa rocky or poop or coutnry, its nice ot get the narrative beauty that is taylor but have the story told in different genres, if you will

when i saw that hte album was explicit i was like taylor is going to say the f word and when she id i was not ready for it espcialy with teh full sentence i think she said of mouth-f so ya that was boht unexpected and jarring and...wow, taylor. when you decide to use that word you go all in. good for you.

madwoman seems like sequal to the man. the man’s “crazy” sister

does he beat kind of pick up at the end of madwoman, either i was getting anxiety or the beat picks up when its just the insturmentals to give it a kind fo manic feeling

ther is a lot of mention fo dead nd peopel wishing someone was dead and funeral.s are you okay taylor. i just need to chck in with you.

the song about the soldier is giving me soon you’ll get better and will probably end up being the song i skip the most like all taylors songs about her mom becuause i can’t always handle those feels.

betty’s garden. james girl drives up in car talk abou summer i was thinking august the whole tiem that maybe this song is tied to august song liek she said three songs tie togtehr in love triangle so that confirms it so is the third song the one about running away togetehr with suitcase of dolls and sweaters?

idk why as soon as i saw taylor message about love triangles i didn’t think the usual he loves her but she loves him, i was thinking he loves her and she loves her and she loves him. like a circle but it guess th twoudln’t amek ti a triangle then. but was totally thinking forbiddne and secret love and not realizing that she actaully liked you while you wer in love with her best friend. idk. i’m a mess.

sometimes i when i listen to taylor i think her voice hasn’t changed i listen to old songs and they basically sound the same but this album you really get to see her range and a new side of her voclas and tones and its nice ot hear the old and new together working togteher to make this album.

okay this song cardigen is giving me vibes but then thers is the laughter at the end that pervades the cardigan song so betty garden seems tied to that.

bety garden is like book when he arrived at party at end its like ia rrived at your paryt i ws like what what di she say how did she react.i need to know.

idk i just rally like this album i know its different in a good way and its really i really like the storyteller in me is squeeling.

brittle heart seems like a mess of phrases when first impresion but listening closer but its like youre trying searhcing for he word prhase thing syou need to say finding the right words finding the right combinaton of words either your own or someone else’s to get them to listen to hear you to accept you and let you be a part of their life.

hoax started and i knew it was the last song and it jsut felt like thigs wre getting starrted and alreayd its over. i’m not ready for it to be over. play it again sam.

edit; like this wasn’t long enough, here are more jumbled notes from the second listen.

unrequited love. missed opportunities. young love. mistakes taht could never be fixed.

what happesn when you take out all the prhases that seem out of place, like kissed two girls and lost the one. later in teh story you find out about james and him doing that and it seems like a hint taht he lost betty.

be a friend to all be afriend to none also seems out of palce seesm like taylor speaking from hr own experience

i can’t tell how much of this is narrative insertion? is that the word. and how much of it is just the narrative.

cardigan really feels lke this is betty’s song when he left for the summer and ruined everything.

he did come back to her but i don’t know feels like it might have been too late but maybe not. mixed readings on this one.

dynasty is a bop and i have many thoughts on it like that i love rebecca she is my life goals.

also get black widow vibes from her when couple dynasty with mad woman and teh idea that waht happend to the dog might have happened to her husband.

do you tay, you do you. ruin everything ebcause evertyhing is already ruined and its time they realized that and that its not really your fault.

not really any woman’s fault.

some of the songs seem like they are about othe poeple but then likewith lemony snicket it feels liek teh narrator is telling his own story in his own words or through the characters.

the couple fight song gives me miss americana nad heartbreak proince both as a romance and the current state of our country

ricochet what is that jumbled instrumental jazz mess that happeesn after the first mention fo her tears

sweet tea does it mention braids idk it just keeps giving me vibes of two girls in love but that could be because i’ve been on a supercorp writing stint.

the insturmentals just take you to another plane of existence

mentions a girl and talks about guys she gives their babies present (strign song) don’t know what to make of this song. gives me many feelings and so much to unpack

where is centenial parrk and do they ahve a yogurt stand there where someone worked. it makes me wonder if songs about not realizing how many times your paths crossed with someone utnil the moment you finally collide and have your first official encounter

mad woman almost seems like its tied to american dynasty hinting at the reasons she went mad after her husband died

when i heard mouth f*ck in madwoman i had teh same reaction as i did when i heard taylor sing “only bought this dress so you could take it off” in dress. adn i am reminded yet again, our girl is growing up. is grown up. she says fu and everything.

betty’s gardne mentions being 17 and not knowing anything and in cardigent we were young and they said we don’t know anything like she was calling BS on his excuse. you knew exactly what you were doing

btrittle heart maybe its like snatches of conversations memoires of meoments togteher things that were said that wer promised that weren’t said things you wanted to say

hoax mentions number one bringing it all back to the first song

#taylor swift #folklore listen #first impressions #folklore #shut up me #a mess that no one wanted #idk why i'm posting this #but maybe something in the madness will speak to someone and make them go oh yyeah #idk #and i'm back on my shit #this should be the last edit #no one needs ot know all my thoughts

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imagitory · 5 years

Note

What are your thoughts on the Serenity/Seto ship from Yu-Gi-Oh? 😊

I would’ve done a fandom ask post for this, but I’m not a fan of this ship, so I’ll just write a quick explanation why.

To me, Kawai Shizuka (or Serenity Wheeler, in the English dub) is never given the amount of development owed her in the series. At first her characterization starts off very promising – we get to know her as Jounouchi’s adorable, sweet little sister who was separated from him as a kid and so grew up in a much more stable home than he did, but nonetheless loves her older brother with all of her heart and is likewise adored by him, who fights his hardest to get the money needed to make sure she doesn’t lose her eyesight. I’d actually been excited to see her develop and grow further when she became a more regular character in season 2, especially after she got that great moment of saving Jounouchi from drowning, but…yeah, because of the focus on Duel Monsters, she really just sort of stagnated in the background. The most she contributed to the story was moral support for Jounouchi and to be one side of a pretty unappealing love triangle with similarly marginalized characters Otogi and Honda. Although I never disliked Shizuka the way I did Anzu, I still felt like Shizuka really didn’t get the amount of development she deserved, especially compared to her brother. Jounouchi was always such a strong personality, and the show could’ve really developed him and Shizuka as two sides of a coin – two people who suffered a mutual trauma as young children, but were then separated and grew up in two very different worlds. Jounouchi was forced to rely on street smarts and his fists – Shizuka could’ve been forced to plaster on a smile and soldier through that way – and the series could’ve shown that both of them take off their respective masks around each other, as they are each the one person who will always support the other, no matter what. Shizuka could’ve shared some traits with Jounouchi, like a hot temper, while also contrasting him by expressing her anger through passive aggressiveness rather than the more active aggressiveness Jounouchi uses. But instead, because Shizuka isn’t a professional duelist and the series chose to focus so much on the card games that it often neglected any emotional character development that didn’t relate to them, we never got any of that, and so Shizuka never came into her own as a distinct, memorable character the way characters like Yugi, Pegasus, Marik, Mokuba, and most notably Jounouchi did.

Because of my feelings regarding Shizuka’s character development, I can’t ship her with anyone in the series, especially if that character is one of those who got a lot of development, like Mai or Kaiba. Putting her with any of those characters would invariably result in a very lopsided relationship, with Shizuka being too passive in comparison to these stronger personalities. You would either need to write the stronger character as much more lenient and coddling than they would be normally or write Shizuka with a much stronger personality in order for it to work, and since the series canon wouldn’t support either interpretation, both brands of writing would be OOC without a lot of extra character-developing build-up written in. I reason that the main draw for people who ship Shizuka and Kaiba would be imagining Jounouchi getting all hot under the collar about it…but I’m sorry, anger from a third party isn’t much to go on for a romantic relationship. I see no possible chemistry between Shizuka and Kaiba that would justify it, whether in canon or just in their individual personalities. Even with ships that don’t have as much canon material, there is usually a little more to go on. Over time, I’ve developed a real soft spot for post-series rivalshipping (Yugi/Kaiba), for example, because not only do the two have a lot of similar interests and history, but also they have some good contrasting points that could develop both of them into better people, and I feel Kaiba’s character arc of learning to accept help and love from others would be very well capped off by him finding companionship in someone he once considered below him and now sees as a true equal. (This is also part of why I like puppyshipping/violetshipping, a.k.a. Jounouchi/Kaiba, too.)

#ask me #yugioh #shipping #yu-gi-oh!#seto kaiba #shizuka kawai #serenity wheeler #opinion #katsuya jounouchi #yugi mutou

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clarespace · 6 years

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oh god, i just saw the official mv and my heart is screaming. it’s also 2am and im gonna gush about pete and ae with quick and dirty gifs, so watch out:

ugh, i love these scenes so much. wait, i love every scene, but these first ones are so important. ae is presented as the typical confused guy but get this, he’s so soft and expressive with his feelings, and he’s. not. ashamed. of. it. quite a contrast with pete, whose been internalising his shame. the wonderful thing with ae is that he’s so honest and direct. he says what he feels and thinks. more importantly, his actions coincide with what he says. often, that just doesnt happen in bl stories. the guy feels something for another guy? he goes out with girls and avoids the guy, etc. not ae. the boy just dives right in after a few moments of self-reflection. what an awesome dude.

and pete. our sweet, shy pete is saying, while looking into ae’s eyes, that he’s liked ae from the beginning. how cute is that? but more than cute, there’s the impression that he’s reached the point where he feels really safe and secure with ae that he can openly say this. wasnt it only a few episodes ago where he was still worried about bothering ae, and ae has done so many things to affirm pete’s trust in him that they’ve reached this point. which episode this will be, who knows, but they get here, hopefully with as little fuss as possible.

look. at. THAT. that’s one of the cutest things i’ve ever seen and it just screams ‘couple in love’. i gotta say, the body direction in this drama has been SPOT ON by the director and the actors. they’re horribly in love and it should SHOW. they should have their own couple language, their sweet gestures. see how tender ae is, and how content pete looks, especially with the way he closes his eyes when he finally rests his head on ae’s shoulder. just...the way their bodies are positioned is so so so good. boys sit like that! and the way they are subtly turned towards each other shows openness and interest...hear me heave my biggest, happiest sigh.

idk what happens in this moment except i want more of it. study date? sleep over? moving in together?? okay, the last one is too soon but i have a weakness when my otp spend time sleeping with each other and doing their nightly routines and just living life in love. also, ae, dont be extra. pete is really cute when he’s asleep but that’s no reason to look at him as if he’s literally doing cartwheels and you’re so proud of him...ugh, fine, i take it back. look at him with love ALL THE TIME.

ok it’s so hilarious to me that pete was smiling his dumb ‘ai ae’ smile and then the next frame he’s all serious as ae pushes him down slowly on the bed. also. fooling around in broad daylight? i approve because it’s so ridiculous when dramas only seem to portray that sex happens at night, in the dark. definitely not. also, they could just be cuddling here and i wont object to that either. ae just really dives into this whole thing, huh?

once again, no context except that ae is so happy and pleased to see pete. get you a man who looks at pete the way ae does. look at the fondness in those eyes. he’s so expressive, i love it. kudos to the actor for his portrayal! also, pete looks...hesitant? surprised? that ae is waving at him? and like he’s leaving in a hurry? hmmmm also i love a guy in a football kit so much

wow guys, just show off your love, huh? like i said, one of my favourite things is watching a couple actually be a couple. what they do, how they act, their own gestures, their rituals and it looks like ae and pete are the kind of ridiculously soft, touchy feely, sweet af couple who love to spend as much time as possible...and that happens to be my all time weakness, my ultimate goal. it’s like, pete is either making a joke or telling him something funny and ae gives that little huff and everything is smothering me with joy.

i am surprised, though, by the implication that they spend a lot of nights sleeping together. it’s something i dont come across often in asian dramas. western, yes, when they’re dating and spend days and nights in their own world, and this is what i see happening with ae and pete. it’s modern and new and accurate. or am i just surprised because in kdramas they dont even hold hands and they flinch whenever they look each other in the eye? maybe.

they’re so freaking DOMESTIC and i am so here for that shit. who sleeps on what side of the bed? who wakes up first? do they sleep all cuddled up?(remembering ae sleeping on top of pete, that’s a big YES) who makes breakfast? who fixes the bed? I NEED TO KNOW

hands down my favourite moment. not only is it a great shot, it’s just so...normal. they’re just ordinary boys with an extraordinary love that they’re not afraid to show. look at that body language. the familiarity, the softness, the smoothness of the action. is this the end where they’ve fully accepted each other? told each other all of their stories? cleared away the misunderstandings and are now just basking in the joy of being together?

also, it’s quite telling that ae is being presented as the top. now, i do have my own preferences for top and bottom but i dont really care who does it, tbh, and it doesnt matter. you could have your own headcanons about it and that’s fine as long as you’re not being toxic. i’ve seen so many people refuse to read/watch something if this or that person is placed in a specific role. on that note, i like how they’re showing that the one who’s physically larger isn’t the top, as is the case most of the time. they’re going there.

there are a few more moments but now it’s 3:30am as i type this, my eyelids are getting heavy (even though my heart is still going kyaa kyaa) and im gonna end this with the two biggest things that the drama is going right with pete and ae:

1. you dont have to be a jerk and use tricks to make someone fall in love/pay attention to you.

2. being soft and in love is nothing to be ashamed of.

i hope that there wont be the usual misunderstandings with the girl, or unnecessary, or break ups. i’ve noticed some people say that pete and ae dont have a complex story and therefore their love isnt complex or strong, and i’d just like to correct that assumption. just because a love story isnt full of angst and bloodshed doesnt make it a lesser love, just like a love story full of hardship and pain makes it somehow more worthy. there is nothing romantic about pain or break ups or messy love triangles. yes, these things happen because the characters are idiots and make such choices that lead to these things, but ae and pete seem to make choices that are good and healthy for them and there is nothing wrong with that. there is nothing wrong with falling in love, getting that person, and living a happy life. it’s so rare to get this sweet, soft gem of a love story between two sweet, soft boys. let’s enjoy it and not wish them to break up or go through silly misunderstandings. if that happens, then it happens logically and not just to throw unnecessary angst in there.

happiness is not boring. we’ve (or at least, i have) been waiting for so long for a main couple who gets that smooth-sailing love while the secondary ones go through all the mess and have that role model of good, healthy relationships as the focus. again, not saying they should be in a perfect, conflict free relationship but the meddling third parties? the miscommunication? nothing in their personalities makes those things possible long-term, tbh. ae would just be blunt about it and tell the truth. pete would probably agonise a little bit and then ask. if you find dark, angsty love stories as your thing, good for you, but dont wish for that to happen just for the sake of it.

please let them be happy. look at these adorable children! they should only know happiness and cuddles and sweet kisses.

come talk to me about ae and pete! i am so down with talking about them!

(seeing as there are several volumes of the novel, it would seem that pete and ae do go through some stuff but they remain steadfast and true, as much as i can gather. just no avoidable bullshit, please.)

(also 4am. if you read all of this word regurgitation, thank you and im sorry lmao)

#love by chance the series #love by chance #ae/pete #pete/ae #they are the cutest #sweetness #most adorable couple #PLEASE PROTECT THEM #they are too precious for this world #dont fuck them up dont fuck them up

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andorra-princessofhearts-blog · 5 years

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The world of Cardsdale

Cardsdale is a fictional world I made up, which is part of the Hetalia Cardverse fandom. The world is divided into 3 kingdoms ruled by a king and a queen much like the other Cardverse AUs, but the roles are a bit different.

[B]Characters

[♥️Hearts]

King: Ludwig Beilschmidt (HRE/Germany)

Queen: Elena de Castellet (Ancient Andorra/Andorra la Vella)

Prince: Fernando de Castellet (Crown of Aragon / Autonomous community of Aragon)

Princesses: Aurembiax and Catarina de Castellet (Catalonia and Andorra)

Ace: Antonio Fernandez-Carriedo (Spain)

10: Lovino Vargas (South Italy/Romano), Gabriel Lisboa-Carriedo (Portugal), and Antonio’s wife Nayare Ayinray-Fernandez (Araucanía)

9: Quique Fernandez and Copihue Ayinray-Fernandez (Chile)

[♦️Diamond-Spades ♠️]

King: Francis Bonnefuy (France)

Queen: Victoria Kirkland (Fem! England)

Princes: Alfred Jones and Matthew Williams (North American brothers)

Princess: Michelle Bonnefuy (Seychelles)

Ace of Diamonds: Roger Bonnefuy (County of Foix, France)

Ace of Spades: Arthur Kirkland (England)

10 of Diamonds: Sebastian Vargas (Seborga), and Lucille Bonnefuy (Monaco)

8: Sara Vargas (Centre Italy)

[B]Magic:

Each character has a special elemental power that corresponds to the sign they were born into. Aside from that there’s the rare case of Romano and Catarina, who have the power of the kingdom of Hearts. This power in ables them to protect each other, and heal their wounds when in battle.

[B]education and training

There is no schooling in Cardsdale, unless the characters are of noble blood.

They are thought how to harness their magic, and how to play the game of War. Catarina and her sister would have studied politics, and foreign relations whereas Alfred and Matthew would have had to study law and military affairs.

[B]medicine

Only special people, who were gifted with the power of nature like Antonio’s wife, Nayare can be doctors. They have a magical powers that use certain plants to heal wounds.

[B]Diplomacy and Alliances

The Kingdoms are run just like the kingdoms of the Middle Ages... these two kingdoms had been allies for centuries, but the alliance was broken when Ace of Diamonds, Roger Bonnefuy assaulted Catarina de Castellet of Hearts. Ties between the two kingdoms resumed when Romano and Catarina got married.

[B]how Battles are fought?

Most of the fighting takes place in a huge arena, where the characters play in a game of war tournament. In other instances, the traditional sword fighting is used.

[B]special celebrations

Both kingdoms participate in an annual Christmas party together, which they alternate when it comes to hosting.

[B]the curse placed on Antonio’s Family

This is a love curse placed on the Fernandez-Carriedo Family that had started in Roman times with Grandpa Rome (Romulus Vargas), Mamá Iberia (Violeta Fernandez), and Carthage (Anibal Carriedo) and has spanned 3 generations. In this curse, two of the characters in question would have had to have met in their childhood or adolescence and the third one would have had to step in the picture just as the two of them begin to fall in love with each other. The two guys would then fight to the death for the girl in question in what is called a Fatal love triangle, and it’s usually the best friend who dies.

Examples: Second Punic War, and the Spanish-Inca War

[B]Prophecy of the star-crossed lovers

Everyone in the world of Cardsdale is also taught about the above curse at school and at home, it’s like a fable that parents tell their kids to make them believe. There’s more to it than just a curse, it also comes with a prophecy...

The boy is just a commoner of noble descent, and the girl is last in line to the throne of Hearts. Despite being separated by the conflict between their guardians, their bond never broke. A few years later the girl would suffer two assaults on her person done by a powerful lord of the Neighbouring kingdom, and there the boy shall stand by her side till the very end.

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destiny-smasher · 5 years

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Kingdom Hearts 3 impressions

So, uh, I will ONLY be talking about stuff up until the very start of the second World, and only AFTER the break. Kingdom Hearts 1 was an incredibly important and influential piece of media when I was growing up. I was writing fic based on Smash Bros. just before KH rolled onto the scene was like, “Yo, Disney and Final Fantasy, BAM, fuckin’ random? fucking RADDDD” and I was all about it. You had FF characters remixed with OCs remixed with Disney characters, and the villains were all crossing over to form the League of Bad Cartoons, it was a great time. And then Nomura realized his gamble was a win and decided to waste the next 15 years of everyone’s time shoving in every trope he liked, every IDEA that felt “cool” together into a mish mash of whatever the hell this “narrative” has become. Suffice it to say, I’ve got beef with Kingdom Hearts as a “story.” It just occurred to me today that a big part of this is thematic/tonal.

But it’s also VERY rare, maybe even unprecedented, for a piece of media like Kingdom Hearts 3 to come around. For years, then months, then weeks, then days, I told myself, “It’s not real, that game doesn’t exist, I won’t believe it until I’m literally playing it” and just could not be bothered to be hype or interested, if only because Nomura’s “vision”, from my perspective, warped something I admired in my youth into a fucking train wreck, leaving me very little to feel emotionally invested in outside of Aqua and by proxy the two lads she is trying to protect. (also I GUESS I’m slightly invested in Axel/Xion/Roxas.../Namine? for similar reasons now that I think about it?) Well, guess what? Kingdom Hearts VERY WELL might be real, and I very well might be about three hours into it. And for all of the beef I have with the plot, I am fucking relieved that those three hours have felt/sounded good, as a video game. NOW we’re gonna talk about the first World. --

When I first heard that Olympus was gonna be the first World in KH3 I was disappointed and BAFFLED. We’re visiting that place a THIRD time? And why THAT World? Turns out, there’s actually some substantial thematic relevance and that’s actually A-OK, not to mention that starting with a familiar world after ALL OF THIS TIME is not such a bad way to kick things off. First off, structurally, I actually really enjoyed the way this world played out. Two of my biggest problems with KH as a video game series have been that worlds feel like empty, vacant, haunted houses, and that said worlds are usually small and linear with a lot of pointless backtracking. Olympus fixes all of this. There are NPCs. Actual fucking PEOPLE in this world. Sure, they’re just people in danger, calling for help, but they’re THERE for once! And they have vocies! EVERY line of dialogue (except for like one “plot” moment) has actually been voiced so far! About time. Also. This World is not as linear as most KH Worlds. In fact, it help more open and dynamic than ANY World in any KH game so far, not to mention it featured three, THREE (wtf) unique and distinct types of settings. The city, the mountain, and Olympus. Nice. ALSO also. The music. We’ve been here before. We KNOW that Olympus theme from earlier games. And as you traverse the city, up the mountain, you hear this more sweeping, movie-like version, and it’s like “oh whoa nice” aaaaand then you get TO Olympus and it KICKS in, the old song, up to modern snuff. That was great. That was a thing that really helped convey “Kingdom Hearts is back, baby.” The World was big, compared to typical KH worlds. It had multiple nooks and crannies to explore, side-paths to go down, treasure to find hidden away. There is a LOT of verticality. Running up walls and seamlessly hopping over things in the environment makes traversal more enjoyable than it ever has been. Even though a lot of the World is technically a linear path it’s not structured like a path. Going off and exploring rewards you with items and the like, and the World is big enough to actually feel like you have places to poke around in. Having said this, WHY is there no...map? Like. You literally COLLECT Maps from Chests like you used to. But near as I can tell, there’s no way to pull up an actual MAP, to seer where the main path is, to see where the side paths are. It’s boggling. Maybe the game has the option hidden away somewhere but if so, that’s just silly. And if there’s just no actual map option at ALL that’s just...baffling. There were barely any load times for how much SPACE there was to navigate, and things looked very shiny and pretty, and ran at a smooth 60 fps MOST of the time. Tech specs aren’t everything, but when your brand is built on “looking pretty” it sure af helps when you bring scale AND a smooth framerate to match. It’s weird, and a bit jarring, sometimes in a good way, to see all of this stuff rendered in modern tech. Stuff looks...a little too plasticy a lot of the time, (which actually ought to pay off when we get to Toy Story?) but the environments so far feel rich and vast and detailed all at once in a way we just have never seen the series, because we’re basically jumping from PS2-level tech to PS4. So that difference in production is more noticeable for the wait -- I just wish things looked a bit more...I guess cel-shaded? Like the original trailer. Things (specifically, characters) look a little too flat/plasticy at times, for how pretty things are. Combat seems to be as flashy as ever and I’m sure I’ll feel differently as I get further in and unlock more options but it’s still too easy, simple, and mashy for my tastes. I am HOPING we get more moments that require quick reflexes and specific tactics like the harder moments of older KH games. The amusement rides mechanic is...weird. It’s given NO context in universe. And they last a little too long/feel too overpowered for how easy they are to utilize. Similarly, there are frequently seemingly random party-member tag-team attacks that...just seem like “press triangle to win” moves. I wish they entailed more interaction, and/or felt less common/random. I like the IDEA of these kinds of moves, especially ones that change your controls/method of attack for a few seconds (like Hercules’ team attack) but the execution makes them feel too cheap and easy to abuse, with combat that’s ALREADY skewing on the “too easy” side for the genre. I like the “form change” for keyblades, and that you can swap keyblades in the middle of a fight. Really hoping this allows for some good tactical stuff later -- buuuuut that would also require the game to ASK OF ME to do more than “mash X,” which KH as a brand typically does not do... Characters SPEAK in reaction to gameplay moments, when you initiate things in the environment, etc. It’s a nice touch that makes them feel more like characters in an RPG. Donald and Goofy are ALWAYS in the party, alongside the Disney member(s). NICE. Maybe KH3 is putting its best foot forward, but overall, I was pleasantly surprised with Olympus. It single-handedly corrected MOST of the issues I’ve ever had with Kingdom Hearts level design. I only hope the momentum keeps going. Moving on, Gummi Ships. What little I played is easily the best they have every been. I love having an open world with optional places/fights to explore, while still giving me those shmup-like bursts of action. The Gummi Phone seems like a fun mechanic, and taking selfies/photos makes SENSE for this game because of how visually detailed it is -- but the pleasant surprise was how I took selfies with Donald and Goofy and they REACTED to it, starting to pose and commenting on it. On the other hand, the loading screen being nonsensical “social media” posts from KH characters...I don’t like it thanks go away. x’D I’ve spent only a few minutes in Twilight Town and INSTANTLY I am so much more enamored than I ever was in previous games. Not just due to the bump up in visual fidelity, but also because -- GASP -- NPCs??? Are you trying to tell me this is an actual TOWN that people LIVE IN?? Holy shit, Kingdom Hearts, I never knew! For all of this stuff I liked, though, KH3 is still...a KH game. Which means after you get through the intro, after you gear up to land in Olympus, the game flashes the title: “Kingdom Hearts II.9″ ...no. Just no. Fuck. Stop doing this shit. Whenever an Organization 13 member (or EX member) shows up and starts speaking all cocky in riddles like the flamboyant anime jackass they are, whenever Mickey starts dead-ass blathering about weird nonsense whenever the plot HAS to acknowledge “oh right Sora golly gawrsh ya FURRGOT this random bullshit a-FYUCK better shove this expository throwaway dialogue right in here before we go n’ furrget again!” whenever Kairi continues to be irrelevant and invisible after ALL THIS TIME whenever Rikku has to say some obligatory thing about his darkness or his copy of himself or Ansem or whatever whenever the plot informs Sorta/Dornold/Goffy about another convoluted ridiculous THING that we already know about and they MAYBE already know about because it is OBLIGATED to because this game’s entire purpose has become to “wrap things up already Nomura” I am reminded of the freshly opened scar on my heart from how much SHIT this series has dragged itself through for...what? Nothing worth all of this, IMO. Thankfully, these moments feel less and less pressing in KH3′s opening hours than they certainly could be, though I’m sure the closing hours of the game -- once they’ve tidily gotten all of that silly, inconsequential DISNEY CONTENT out of the way (even though that’s the BULK of the game environments and HALF of the series’ identity/purpose) -- those closing hours will surely be packed to the gills with all of this crazy crap. Maybe by then I might finally care enough to finally get the catharsis I’ve waited over a decade for. I dunno. I’m just relieved the game looks, plays, sounds, and feels as good as it does so far. EDIT: almost forgot to mention this since it hasn’t actually come up yet BUT I picked up a BUNCH of “ingredients”??? Like. FOR COOKING??? Which is one of my all-time favorite mechanics in a video game?? (thanks Paper Mario) So I’m at LEAST excited to see what THAT is all about.

#KH3 #Kingdom Hearts 3

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Did Slasher Cult Favorite My Bloody Valentine Get the Shaft By Critics?

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Just when you thought slasher movies couldn’t get any lower, My Bloody Valentine dug a mineshaft. A deep pit in the caverns of taste. Date movie? My Bloody Valentine was the antidote to Hallmark cards. The main suitor didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve; he bled it out with every candy in the box. Hence why critics weren’t so sweet on the slasher flick when it first came out in 1981, labeling it excessive and derivative.

Nevertheless, the movie has amassed a cult following, and did indeed add subtle innovations to the genre. Is the ‘80s horror offering the low-point of slashploitation or were the reviewers merely suffering overkill fatigue? Quentin Tarantino claims this is his favorite slasher flick, which could be used as an argument for either side.

My Bloody Valentine is celebrating 40 years right now, which is apt for the movie’s plot. According to the inner logic of the film, its small Canadian mining community, Valentine Bluffs, is due for another homicidal rampage in 2021. Indeed, the town apparently throws a Valentine’s Day ball every 20 years. And each time they throw one, the dance card gets drenched in blood.

In George Mihalka’s film, the last time the town threw a Valentine’s Day dance in the ‘60s, so many people left work early there was a horrible mining accident. There was only one survivor, Harry Warden (Peter Cowper), and he survived on a strict diet of his fellow miners. Once you’ve tasted the flesh of your coworkers, it’s tough to settle for the breakfast special at the local greasy spoon. So he is obligated to go on a killing spree.

And he is not a picky killer. Here is a movie murderer who doesn’t limit his victims to cheerleaders, lovers’ lane parkers, or hitchhikers. He kills old ladies, middle aged foremen, young hot dog aficionados, and amateur plumbers. He doesn’t care! He may not even know he’s doing it, because he spends half the movie in a miner’s helmet with the light off.

My Bloody Valentine hit theaters during the first wave of slasher films, and helped build the archetypes while borrowing from its predecessors. The first-person camera shots from the killer’s POV come from John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween. But the film resembled Friday the 13th so much that the mining assailant could have been a copycat killer making due with tools from work. The slasher is masked, and the killings defy laws of physics, as well as homicide ordinances. To make sure no one misses the point of its derivativeness, the Valentine’s Day of My Bloody Valentine falls on a Saturday the 14th.

Slasher flicks are like any other procedural, as the Scream franchise brilliantly exploited. The movies were made on small budgets but packed theaters and sold popcorn, often twice because unexpected jump scares were designed to send kernels flying. Paramount Pictures picked up My Bloody Valentine hoping to capitalize on the success of Friday the 13th, which pulled in $15 million. My Bloody Valentine barely sold two million tickets in North America. It didn’t make enough to warrant a franchise.

It looked like slasher films reached a saturation point in 1981. After the assassination of John Lennon, film companies faced pressure to tone down the gore. The MPAA demanded heavy cuts to My Bloody Valentine, as well as that year’s The Prowler and The Burning, which had special effects by Friday the 13th‘s Tom Savini, and contained the feature film debuts of Holly Hunter and Jason Alexander. It was also the first film produced by Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

The MPAA ordered trims to every death sequence in My Bloody Valentine before considering it for an R-rating. Even after cutting the film to match the requirements, the MPAA returned an X-rating and demanded further cuts, ultimately resulting in the loss of nine minutes of violence. The film suffered doubly, because besides eviscerating the work of legendary makeup effects designer Tom Burman, whose techniques were trailblazing at the time, many of the gorier scenes were transitional to other action, leaving viewers unintentionally disoriented.

Hungarian-born Canadian filmmaker Mihalka’s previous movie was Pick-up Summer, a Canuxploitation teen sex comedy. My Bloody Valentine followed the Canadian horror tradition brilliantly set by Bob Clark’s Black Christmas (1974). One of the first slasher films, it is more terrifying than gory, with tension rising in waves. It came out the same year as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which was the most commercially successful horror film since The Exorcist. As a genre entry, My Bloody Valentine didn’t plumb new lows. Maniacs have been seeking revenge since The Terror (1928), and slashers have been elementary in homicidal detective stories. The killer in the 1944 Sherlock Holmes film, The Scarlet Claw, used a five-pronged garden weeder.

Some of the killings in My Bloody Valentine are incredibly innovative. The slasher uses mining tools, shovels, pickaxes, nail-guns, and laundromat dryers. The shower scene dissembles Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous sequence from Psycho from the inside out. My Bloody Valentine also introduces hotdogs as a lethal weapon, inspiring future films April Fool’s Day and Friday the 13th Part 2 with relish. The late ‘70s/early ‘80s aesthetic works well, because the gas masks and boots are totally punk, and yet campy and scary.

My Bloody Valentine veers from slasher tropes by skipping sex scenes, except for one case of mistaken identity. It also includes a love triangle subplot between main characters Sarah (Lori Hallier), Axel (Neil Affleck), and T.J. (Paul Kelman). Axel takes it hard. You might say it tears his heart out to learn his ex-girlfriend is dating his long-lost best friend. Having no sex and nudity is strange for a Valentine’s Day massacre movie, but the virgin survives. So My Bloody Valentine really is a romance.

Another distinction of the film is the choice of characters. Most slasher films star teenagers or people in their early 20s. The victims in My Bloody Valentine aren’t teen scream queens; they’re young working-class adults. These are miners, not minors. In some alternative universe the film could be a parable for how young working stiffs get hacked apart by the growing pressures of adulthood.

They’re also a little tougher than the usual slasher movie victims, having hoisted sledgehammers a third of the day for most of their lives. Mabel, played by Patricia Hamilton, and Becoming Sylvia’s Helene Udy ground the film in the community. The small town setting is as stifling as the caves, though we should feel it as a close-knit and intimate community where everyone knows their neighbor. Small towns hide big secrets.

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Valentine Bluffs isn’t above a little political and criminal cover-up. Killer Harry was committed to Eastfield Sanitarium under a court order, but there are no records of him on file at the institution. The security at the facility is as lax as its documentation, and the murderer gets out on the first anniversary of the mining disaster. He was captured alive after his killing spree and sent back to the institution. As the new party is being planned, as far as anyone knows, Harry is in a coma. When a cop says he must have woken up, it sounds like he got the idea from Monty Python.

But then the premise is a set-up to a recurring gag where the payoff always kills. Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Valentine Bluffs is a peaceful place. It has to be, almost everyone in town works at the same job, and everyone is familiar with dangerous tools. We do get a little bit of unintentional humor from the wild prophet bartender, who warns the town about the curse of crazy Harry Warden like he’s John the Baptist himself. We don’t get his head on a silver platter, though. The bartender serves himself up as a prank which foretells the killer’s second coming.

The mining disaster happened while a lot of the crew was decorating for the 1960 Valentine’s Day party. The first victims of the initial killing spree were the guys who didn’t take their work seriously: the two supervisors, whom Warden blamed for the explosion. And as far as the town slasher is concerned, the village doesn’t deserve another Valentine’s Day celebration. There’s work to be done.

The 1980 Valentine’s Day party seems like it’s taking place after enough time has passed. But once again, it’s the work ethic that comes under attack. The authorities began to get warnings to call it off. The requests couldn’t be sweeter, they come as candy-coated carnage. And the longer it takes to get the party started, the more heart-filled boxes with “roses are red” poems get delivered to the mayor and police chief.

When they finally call off the party, they don’t tell the partiers, who move the location of the dance from the town hall to the mines. After all that, about only 15 people show up to boogie down. A party in a coal mine is still a dance to the Harry Wardens of the world.

The mine setting is unique. It’s not a cabin in the woods, even though producers John Dunning and Andre Link would go on to produce Meatballs. It’s not a college campus, a setting which can be traced all the way back to George Archainbaud’s Thirteen Women (1932) and had continued through Prom Night (1980) and Graduation Day (1981) by the time My Bloody Valentine came out. Most of the film takes place in the daylight, and the contradiction is effectively jarring, rendering the constrained landscape even more claustrophobic. The mines are a presence, the tunnels provide endless possibilities.

The film doesn’t begin with the backstory. It is revealed as the story plays out, much like the ending was hidden from the cast during shooting, even though the identity of the killer is obvious by about the halfway point. My Bloody Valentine opens in the thick of things, and steadily sinks deeper into the muck.

The film may not make you shiver with fright, but it should make you squirm. With its over-the-top murders and underground aesthetic, it will never be Hitchcock’s Psycho. But as a slasher quickie, it is far from the worst of the shoddy exploitation horror favorites of the genre.

It’s a film that delivers on all the promises of its genre: thrills, kills, and blood spills. It may not be the best introduction to sociopathic cinema, but it wasn’t even close to the worst of that year’s entries. The critics who disavowed it were suffering from overkill fatigue. Slashers were relatively new and still treated as a film fad.

The genre is still evolving, and occasionally dropping deliciously horrific treats. In every box of chocolates, there are a few pieces which don’t delight instantly. As an edible arrangement, My Bloody Valentine is a bittersweet gift idea, but it will set hearts aflutter.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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ddaenghoney · 5 years

Photo

Series: of Silver

Part 19

Pairing(s):

Jeon Jeongguk x Y/N

Below the cut is a written scene from the story, but you don’t need to read it to follow the plot for the fake texts portions!

masterlist link is in blog description

disclaimer: any character depicted do not represent the actual personality of the respected idol in real life.

Warning(s)/genre(s): College!au, fluff, developing relationship, love triangle(s)??, some angst/drama here and there– Jeongguk has a dog this series isn’t allowed to be too tragic.

If you enjoy, let me know!! : )

set after the events of this chapter.

wc: 945

warning(s): none

Jeongguk’s smile spread across his face as you opened the door, only peeking enough for him to see a smile of giddy anticipation forcing itself in your expression. “I’m really nervous all of the sudden,” You admitted to him softly, fingertips tapping on the door’s perimeter as you opened it wider, “Like, good nervous, but...” Your voice trailed reaching to tug on his sleeve and bring him in.

“Am I that great of a catch?” You rolled your eyes, immediately shaking your head even if your thoughts said the opposite. He watched you fiddle with his sleeve. Following the creases around his wrist, your thumbs remained restless, a visual representation of your head,

“I can’t believe I told you that over text.” You released his sleeve, glancing up to him with a frown now, “Like I should’ve got a band to perform-”

“Baby.” He chuckled, taking back your hand when it fell to your side, “We both wanted to say it all in person, huh?” You shrugged, forgetting for that moment that he’d spilled his feelings about you over text when all you paid associated with that fact was him being sweet and sincere. “Make sure you tell me if I ever do something wrong, okay?”

Your eyebrows shifted into an inquisitive furrow, wondering shortly before your mouth opened in realization, “Oh, the moving slow.” You nodded, listening to him laugh gently, giving your hand a secure squeeze for his own benefit. “I like how we’ve been. I don’t know what I even mean when I say that, I guess,” You sighed, biting your lip as you considered your words, “I like holding hands, hugging you...” The pause you made again was for more thoughts to arrange themselves, a bit of worry stirred as it lengthened, but then settled,

“It’s okay, babe.” You looked back up at Jeongguk. His thumb ran back and forth across your knuckle as his timbre continued melodic and low, “I know you’re just trying to be cautious. You don’t need to explain yourself, but just know if I ever do something you don’t like to tell me.” You nodded, catching the sight of fluorescence sprinkle in his irises when he continued a bit louder as a way to get the point across, “Like the party thing the other day; you shouldn’t feel like you can’t ask me to not go to things like that. I care more about you being secure, okay?”

“Okay,” The smile you gave him made Jeongguk’s hand tighten, as well as his lips to hold back the compliments he felt wanting to spout out, “Did you eat dinner yet, Guk?” A small head shake, trying to remember in that moment what he’d had for lunch. “It’s not a luxurious first date, but I hear the cafeteria’s new macaroni recipe puts the last one to shame.”

“That’s high praise,” He resisted laughing, instead dangling your arms between you both, “Should we try?”

“I want to.” You nodded, excitement in your voice causing Jeongguk to nod,

“Macaroni and soft-serve for the first date it is.”

At that point of the night most of the dinner rush was gone, dish-ware getting cleaned in the kitchen, and an odd but usual occurrence of students going to the cereal corner. Easier to get the famous macaroni, though perhaps not at its best appearance given the time of the evening. “It’s better than box macaroni.”

“But not my mom’s.”

“Nothing is better than a mom’s.” You stated, stabbing the elbow pasta with a fork, “Especially mine; if you had her cheese sticks last weekend, you would know what I mean.”

“I believe you, but,” You peered at him with a feigning distrust, like he was about to test your facts. “This place I know in the park I take Gold to has great cheese sticks.” Your mouth opened disgusted that he actually went and questioned your knowledge of deep-fried mozzarella,

“I won’t believe it until I try it.” Said like it was supposed to be a jab, but Jeongguk just laughed at your passion for your mom’s signature snack. “Oh-” You ducked your head closer to the table. Jeongguk looked in confusion, beginning to turn in the direction that you had been looking in before pausing as you reached across to grab his arm, “No, no. It’s Jimin and Hoseok; I’m not in the mood to get the first date crashed- Don’t look at me like that.”

Jeongguk’s amusement spread across his face as your eyes narrowed at him. He used his free hand to pull his hood over his head, while you dragged your inner cheek between your teeth in subtle embarrassment. “Jimin would serenade us.”

“Exactly.” You nodded, using your fork to point at Jeongguk in agreement. “Strong pass, sorry, Jeonggukie, I know that’s your dream, but-”

“You’re a dream-”

“You can’t say that with that sarcastic voice and your giant grin.” He laughed, adjusting your hand on his arm to confine it in his grip, “I just want to enjoy macaroni and-” You paused, already knowing the next word would make him awe in theatrics and probably be referenced for years to come, but you gave it to him despite the blush on your face, “My boyfriend.”

“Oh-” His lips pressed together, clearly ecstatic, but still surprised. “I thought you were going to say “you” and was going to awe, but,” He swallowed, glancing down to the remnants of his mac and cheese, while the smile remained. “I like that better.”

You squeezed his hand, knowing there was a flush in your face when he looked back at you. You didn’t mind then, just smiled, “I like it too.”

#jungkook imagines #jungkook fake texts #jungkook smau #jungkook social media au #jungkook au #jungkook fluff #bts imagines #bts fake texts #bts smau #bts social media au #bts au #bts fluff #all #series of silver

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davidcarner · 6 years

Text

Aces, Charles Ch 2, Know When To Walk Away

A/N: (Me before Ch 1 to a couple of friends) No, I shouldn't do this, no one will like it. (3 hours later) You were right, I was wrong…So we're here, for the second chapter. Two things, there will be some angst, in fact this chapter ends with some angst, but IT'S ME. No third party, no stupid love triangle, just life stuff getting in the way. Give it a bit to breathe, I know exactly how it ends, we'll just all enjoy the time together. (There will probably be all sorts of fluff by the end) Second, my brain thinks, Chuck and Sarah, but in this fic, she is Jenny Burton. So if you see Sarah, send me a PM, tweet, tumblr, something, because I messed up, and those who look it over did too.

Also, if you're not familiar with poker, the names I use are actual poker players, and their histories are arcuate as far as I can corroborate. It's time for Aces, Charles Ch 2, Know When to Walk Away.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, or poker, but I do prefer Razz when I play…

Chuck sat in the car and watched as the Las Vegas strip went by. He could have taken a plane back, but he liked to ride in the car, it let him think, let his mind wander, that's where some of his best game ideas came from. He thought back to his childhood, to his mom and dad. He thought about the day his sister got that fateful call about their parents who died serving their country. He thought about how members of the government had stepped in and kept Ellie and himself from ending up in a foster home. He thought about how the man currently driving, John Casey, agreed to be the foster parent to the two Bartowski children, and somehow, the man who preferred to communicate through grunting had become a father figure to him, and to Ellie.

He thought about Stanford and the time he had there. He thought briefly about Bryce and Jill. He hoped they were happy, and then a moment later he hoped they had some type of venereal disease. He left Stanford with his degree, and he and his little bearded friend had come up with a couple of video game ideas, the biggest one called The Intersect. It was an RPG, featuring a nerd who had a computer program upload into his head, but you could only access information as you leveled up. It's sequel, The Intersect 2.0, included physical combat skills. He and Morgan had made a killing off of the idea.

With money flowing in hand over fist, and Chuck now overseeing many employees, he was becoming quite famous. Fame had it's advantages and disadvantages…Chuck now had many women who wanted to date him, that was an advantage, Chuck now had many women who wanted to date him, that was a disadvantage. He had no idea who was out for his money, and who wasn't. Casey had taken over his social life because of this, and Chuck was positive this was some sort of punishment for crimes he had committed in a previous life.

Casey vetted everyone Chuck wanted to date. He had to believe that government agents weren't vetted this much. Chuck tried to talk to Ellie about it, but she was siding with Casey on this one. Casey wasn't completely overboard…yeah he was. It was Casey, and one thing about John Casey, whatever he did, he was going to do it well. Chuck thought it was going to take presidential approval and an act of congress for him to play in the high stakes game in Bobby's room. He didn't know how many phone calls were made as soon as he stepped foot in the door, but he hadn't been expecting one of the players to show up…Jenny Burton.

Chuck loved poker, it was math, luck, and adrenaline. He didn't like to be scared for his life, but Chuck did enjoy excitement, the uncertainty, and even the small sense of adventure. The math, just made his inner nerd squee with joy, and the luck…it just spiked the adrenaline. To make all the right plays and still get drawn out on…it was so awful when you were the one getting drawn out on, but it was like mana from heaven when you drew out on someone else. As much as Chuck loved poker, he really started to enjoy it more when Jenny Burton, "The Ice Queen," was seen on ESPN all last summer at the World Series of Poker Main Event. Her ability to read people and make moves was eliciting the name Stu Unger, the man many considered to be the greatest No Limit Hold 'em poker player of all time. It wasn't that Chuck didn't think she was attractive, no the woman was beautiful, but she had an ability that he just respected. The story of a former card dealer that had worked her game slowly over the years, grinding to become one of the best in the world, it was awe inspiring. He had admiration and respect for her that words couldn't convey.

When Chuck entered Bobby's Room, he had expected some of the names, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Johnny Chan, Billy Baxter, and many others, but when Jenny Burton walked through the door and sat down beside him…Chuck didn't know what to do. The first few hands, he folded, just to see how she would play. She made money over the first several hands, without ever showing her cards, and when she did, she had the goods. Chuck knew better. He knew she was appearing tight early. He studied every move she made, because the only way to get better is to study, especially when the master was teaching a class right beside him.

There were always rumors about Jenny. She had a problem at blackjack, or roulette, at least that was the rumor. She was frequently seen in the low money games grinding, building her bankroll, and no one knew why, because they rarely saw her lose, and when they did it was never in consecutive sessions. Why couldn't she hang on to her bankroll, no one knew? Drugs were another belief, but as Chuck watched her, she abstained from alcohol at the table, and always did her best to stay away from the cigarette smoke. After a few minutes, he couldn't believe the cocaine rumors, so where did her money go, because she was a machine. She went head to head with some of the best NLH players in the world, and won.

As the night went on, Chuck found himself winning, and winning big. He was the big winner, and the second biggest was Jenny. She seemed almost personally affronted by it as well; he was sure it was because he was an amateur. She wasn't mean to him, or showed him any disrespect, but every time she looked at his stack, she would shake her head.

"My eyes are up here," Chuck said once to her when they were both out of a hand. Jenny was caught off guard, and nearly choked on her water she was drinking. "I see you admiring my stack."

"It is a very nice stack," she said, laughing.

"You gonna take it to dinner first?" he said. "I'm sorry, I've never played this many straight hours, and I'm making terrible, inappropriate jokes." She studied him a moment and then leaned in.

"Tip from a pro, never tell someone that," she said. "Don't give anyone that edge." She leaned back. Chuck nodded.

"Thank you," he said.

"When I win it later, I'll treat it right," she said, winking at him. She waited until he was taking a drink before saying it, making Chuck nearly choke on his water. They shared a smile, and then the cards came out, and it was back to business.

"Will you shut up back there!" Casey yelled, pulling Chuck out of his thoughts.

"What are you talking about, Casey?" he asked. "I haven't said a word."

"Your lady feelings are about to smother me," Casey said. "What happened a pretty girl tell you you're good at poker?"

"Nope, played right beside Jenny Burton all night, and busted her," Chuck said.

"You're happy you busted a lady?" Casey asked. Chuck opened his mouth to speak and then shut it, knowing there was nothing he could say to this one. "Moron." Casey didn't say anything for a few miles and Chuck started to go back to his thoughts when Casey started back up. "You mean Jenny Burton, WSOP Main Event Final Table, Jenny Burton, you busted her at a cash game?"

"Yes," Chuck said.

"Bartowski, she's a poker player, she was probably smiling at you to get you to make some bigger bets so you could buy her groceries for the next few years," Casey said. Chuck stayed quiet. "Fine, I'll vette her."

"Casey, do you have to vette every woman I see? You do know that the majority of them don't want me for my money."

"Chuck," Casey began, and he knew this was serious, because he rarely called him Chuck. "Even if it was only one in a hundred that wanted you for your money I'd do it, to protect you."

"Thank you, Casey," Chuck began.

"But, it's probably only one in a hundred that don't want you for your money," Casey continued.

"And, there it is," Chuck said. "A perfectly heartfelt moment…Caseyfied."

}o{

Chuck sat in a meeting listening. He usually came in dressed in what many would call business casual. It was a video game company in LA, some employees came in wearing shorts, a tank top, and flip flops, and he didn't care. All he cared about was what they could produce, and what they produced was hit after video game hit. Today, Chuck didn't care. He hadn't shaved in days, he was wearing an Atari tee shirt, jeans, and his Chucks. It had been almost two months since the night at Bobby's Room. He kept thinking Jenny would come after him to win her money back, but she hadn't called. He had heard she was following the World Poker Tour, not to play in tournaments, but to hit some of the cash games. How much of a bankroll did she need to challenge him?

"What do you think, Chuck?" Morgan asked.

"I think Intersect 3.0 won't happen unless we can think of a better plot than the nerd is turned into a Bond like character. Having to play the games at the casinos, seduction, but not over the top, just enough to tranq or get info, but we can't have sex in the games. The other two weren't mature and this can't be either. Also you'd need to include a skill set for driving; cars, boats, airplanes, and of course, a jet pack," Chuck said, staring out the window the whole time. The room was silent and Chuck turned back to see everyone scribbling furiously.

"YOU ARE A GENIUS!" Morgan yelled. Chuck sat there, confused.

"Uh, licensing?" Chuck said.

"I'll run it by our lawyers, but I don't think it will be a problem, especially since we're using our own character, very special agent Charles Carmichael," Morgan said. "Okay, folks, you know what to do." With that, everyone filed out, and Chuck went to looking back out the window.

"I know that look," a voice said from the door. Chuck looked over and smiled. There stood a lanky, taller, richer, retired nerd. "I had the same look on my face just before I called it and cashed in."

"There's no excitement," Chuck said. "However, I am not rolling in money like you are Phil." Phil Gordon had joined Netsys Technologies as their first employee, and had made a bundle when it was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1996. In 1997, he retired to travel and play poker. To say Chuck was a little jealous was an understatement.

"If you're standing still, you're moving backwards," Phil said. Chuck grinned at him. "Let's go to the Bike, I want to talk with you."

"We can talk here," Chuck said, grinning.

"Yeah, but I can make some more money there," he said.

}o{

"You seriously should enter some of the limit tournaments," Phil said later. "I mean you are a genius at Razz." Chuck shrugged. The two had played for hours, with no actual talk between them. They were up several thousand dollars, and Chuck wondered what it would be like just doing this every day. It was a fun distraction, but he was still missing something.

"So Vegas has been talking about you," Phil said. Chuck gave him a look. "People are losing money hand over fist with prop bets about when you're coming back."

"So you're here to win a prop bet?" Chuck asked, grinning, and raking in another pot.

"Nope, I've already lost," Phil said. "Chuck, talk to me, I get both of these worlds. I know how lonely things can be, and I've heard what happened in Bobby's Room. You melted the Ice Queen, and everyone is in shock."

"I don't know what you mean." Chuck said, shrugging.

"Don't quit your day job for poker," Phil said, laughing. "You are terrible at lying." Chuck couldn't help but laugh. "You got to her, and no one…Chuck, NO ONE, has been able to get to her. You said more to her in five minutes than anyone has in five years." Chuck looked at him. Phil grinned. "Some of us got a copy of the surveillance video after you left, and you can hear what you two said." Phil started putting his chips in a carrier to go cash out. "Do you have the stones to make the move? You've won at everything else, you're looking for your greatest challenge?"

"Phil, I'm not after some fling," Chuck said.

"Do you think I'd be here if you were?" Phil asked, humor in his eyes. "Chuck, you're one of the best guys I know. That lady, has been through something, but she opened up to you. Make the move. Go all-in. I'll see you. I need to get back to Vegas, the WPT starts tomorrow and I need to see about winning a tournament."

"Good luck, Phil," Chuck said. Phil stood, paused, and laid a hand on Chuck's shoulder.

"She's reloaded her bank roll," he said, and left. Chuck sat there, until the dealer asked him what he wanted to do. He folded, cashed out, and went home.

}o{

Chuck walked in the door to his townhouse.

"Where the hell have you been!?" Casey yelled.

"Good to see you to, Honey," Chuck said. Casey was watching a war documentary. "I got us a couple of steaks," he said, showing him the bag. "And, baked potatoes." Casey grunted and followed him to the kitchen.

"Chuck, how am I supposed to protect you if you don't tell me where you go?" Casey growled. Chuck turned to him.

"Phil Gordon and I went to the Bike to play cards and talk," he said. Casey rolled his eyes.

"Did you get your lady feelings sorted out, or are you gonna mope more?" Casey asked. Chuck was shocked. "You do remember my job."

"Casey, what you are doing is so outside your job description," Chuck began.

"Then fire me," Casey snapped. Chuck gave him a look of "are you serious?"

"Casey, even if I fired you, you'd do it all anyway and help yourself to my beer, hotpockets, and TV whenever you want," Chuck said. Casey looked a tiny bit ashamed…or maybe it was gas.

"Yeah, I would," Casey said. "You've been hurt enough, kid. I know, I know, I go too far, but kid, if you get your heart broke again…I'm afraid you wouldn't make it."

"Casey, that may be the sweetest thing-" Chuck began.

"And then this plush gig would be over," Casey finished, taking a swig of beer giving Chuck a look.

"And, there it is," Chuck said, taking his own swig of beer but knowing what Casey actually meant. "Another moment Caseyfied." The two stood silently for a moment, a comfortable silence. How one emotionally stunted man had been so changed by the two Bartowskis, he would never know. Ellie and Chuck were Casey's kids, and he was going to protect them from all the heartache he could. However, if he kept this up, Chuck would resent him. Casey sighed.

"I find nothing terrible on her," Casey said. Chuck started to ask who, but Casey just gave him the, "I'm not an idiot look." "She's a poker player, and I think she hasn't called because she wants a whale, on her turf. Yeah you stay in a luxury hotel room, but it's not home for you , and it gives her the slightest edge and that's what makes the great ones. Call her, because if you don't I'm not going to be able to take dealing with you over Christmas. It's bad enough I got to watch those stupid Twilight Zone marathons anyway," Casey complained, wandering off.

"I love you too, Casey," Chuck said, smiling at the other man walking off. He grunted, and kept going. Chuck pulled out his phone and made the call.

}o{

Jenny looked down at her phone, and saw who it was. Part of her was excited; this might fix all her problems, another part of her….it wasn't excited at all, in fact, this is exactly why she hadn't called him.

"Hello," Jenny said.

"Jenny, Chuck Bartowski," he said.

"Who?" she asked, grinning.

"You know, Chuck Bartowski, the guy you gave way too much money to for his iPod," Chuck said, hoping to make her laugh. He sat there wondering if he said too much. A soft laugh came over the phone.

"I don't know if you're aware of this Chuck, but I have this thing called caller ID, and it tells me who is calling," she said, grinning.

"So you were messing with me," he said.

"Yep, if you're not in my phone, I don't answer," she said.

"Glad I'm in there," he said, and clanged his head against the wall immediately. He shouldn't have said that. He knew better.

"Don't do anything stupid, and you'll stay in there," she answered. She closed her eyes. What was she thinking, was that flirting!? She needed to change the subject quickly. "So did you call me to gloat about scamming me for this iPod?"

"The reason I'm calling is there's a cash game gonna start in a few days at the Bike, and I wanted to see if you wanted a chance to win some of your money back."

"LA?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"There's some games going on here starting tomorrow," she offered.

"Oh," Chuck said, thinking back to what Casey said. "I can't really get down there right now." Chuck lied, he knew he could get down there, but she said she'd come see him, was Casey right?

"Sorry, Chuck, still haven't built back my bankroll enough to feel comfortable coming up there with it," she said. "You know how it goes, ebbs and flows, right now is an ebb." Chuck was silent a second. Why would Phil lie to him? Answer, he didn't. Casey was right. She was only after him because he was a whale and she thought he was easy pickings on her turf. This was about a poker game, and nothing more.

"Okay, well, good luck, if you ever manage to build it back up, let me know," he said, a bit coolly. Jenny heard it in his voice, he knew he didn't trust her. Chuck Bartowski shouldn't trust her, hell, no one should trust her. No one should trust any Burton, ever. Or, maybe she was wrong. Maybe he had gotten through but didn't deserve to. The one guy that made her way through her defenses, she was sure was the right guy, and now, she was wrong. That never happened. She had to end this, for both of their sakes.

"Good-bye, Chuck," she said.

"Bye," he said and hung up. She started messing with her phone.

"What are you doing?" the guy with her asked. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a roll of bills and handed it to him.

"This make us even?" she asked. He started counting and she kept messing with her phone until she was satisfied. He looked up and nodded. "I deleted that guy's contact, that way I won't know his number if he calls back and won't answer. I'll listen to his message, but I'll probably just delete it. I was wrong about him, it doesn't happen often, but I was wrong about him."

"I'd say you are wrong about people more than that," the guy said, looking at the roll of money she just handed him. Jenny shook her head.

"No, I'm not wrong about him," she said, head nodding toward the money. "I know exactly what he is, I just can't get away from his problem." The guy raised his eyebrows as if to say, "what can you do." She shrugged, and he got up and left. Jenny sat there for a minute.

"Back to grinding," she thought. She would go hit the $1/$2 NL tables, again. She hated having to restart her bankroll, but what else could she do. "Damn him," she thought. The problem was, she wasn't sure which him she meant.

A/N: If every one of you wants to start a review with, "I'm not happy with you right now," I understand. (IT'S ME, it will be okay) I'm going to go hide now…Take Care, till next time.

#Chuck #Sarah #fanfic #fanfiction #Charah #Aces Charles

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doubleddenden · 7 years

Text

So now that I'm not neck deep in plant and insect life trying to murder me (and very excited dogs trying to get their food), I've acquired Tales of Berseria. I figured that I could use a good, lengthy JRPG to pass the time when I'm not doing yard work. I'm definitely still in the first part of the game (these games tend to run LONG), but I've gotten past Hellenwes (I think that's the name? The third area with the snow and such) and now have 4 fighters. I think I can give a good face- value review, kinda like I did with BotW.

However, I'm just going to do it casually and not worry about formats for now. There might be spoilers but none that isn't told in the first few hours. More under the cut:

Okay, if you've never played a "Tales of X" game, it's essentially the love child of a JRPG and a 3D ring based fighting game with action RPG elements, at least to me it is. The visual style lends heavily to anime, and usually each title takes place in an entirely different world with its own set of rules, with some exceptions. This song said, you can expect stereotypes here and there from anime or just kinda funny or cringe worthy characters.

This world takes place in a world kind of on the medieval fantasy style where Exorcists take charge of everything to keep the world safe from daemons. Daemons in this case can vary. Two daemons, both in your party, are humanoid in appearance, though one can devour other daemons with her daemon arm, and the other is a war daemon. The general rule is that, it seems anyway, most daemons used to be human or similar and most even retain their humanity, though the Daemonblight caused them to transform into literal or metaphorical monsters. Naturally people don't like them that much.

Your protagonist, Velvet, is a daemon hell bent on revenge on the guy who killed her brother, an Exorcist and essentially Berseria Jesus that leads the other Exorcists. Velvet used to be happy, even motherly to her little brother, but became cold and calculating as a means of getting to Artorius. She has made it VERY clear she isn't afraid to use others like tools to attain her means, yet you're presented a few times with moments that proves she has an inner soft side. Think of her like Sasuke, but better looking and more likable.

Like I said about characters, some follow an average formula to the T, such as annoying and cute/funny witch girl, silent and little sibling character who is a mage, the one who is totally edgy and constantly reminds us of that, but they are also likeable. Rokuro, for instance, is a daemon who has pledged his loyalty to Velvet for reuniting him with his precious sword that he never uses for some reason, and sticks with her to repay his debt, yet he's cool and cheery and never flirtatious (for now anyway). Velvet is also likeable because her motives are understandable.

The world that is provided is interesting as well. You're presented with a world where, yes, the church protects people from daemons, but they are your ENEMIES. It's a very flip flop situation and almost feels like you're playing a villain. However... turtlez and katz kind of ruin it.

Voice acting is 70% hit and 30% miss. A lot of characters sound very similar to each other, but when done correctly it is great. Again, Rokuro is my favorite, this time for his voice actor that presents the cool guy.

As far as controls, it will get a tad repetitive. Combos can be changed to certain moves but ultimately they stay the same for the most part, even if you swap from X, Square, Circle, or Triangle, and you really don't see anything too unique unless you activate the daemon arm thing and perform combos to get these fancy moves that I can't predict properly. I swear, I did the same combo once to get Velvet to spew blue flames, yet the next boss gave her icy claws.

Overworld is also a tad confusing because there is a button to WALK instead of of running normally, but not a SPRINT button like almost EVERY OTHER GAME IN EXISTENCE. It's linear and maze like in a lot of good and bad ways as well.

As far as graphics go, it's passable for the art style, although it looks like it's a PS3 game instead of PS4 and almost looks like it has the same graphics as Tales of Graces for the Wii. I've also noticed that the draw distance is unnervingly short for some areas, such an area in the beginning where I can see a shrine in the distance but a tree can pop in and out of existence. Also, the grass functions like something from an N64 title, since it literally follows the camera and is a 2D image in 3D space. I could see people ignoring it without noticing, but it kind of aggravates me that we're still using these tactics in 2017. At the very least, it doesn't look bad.

Character design is... questionable. They look good, don't get me wrong, but we're still disguising sex appeal as "easy maneuverability" and some characters just look like they're from an entirely different game to begin with. I will say this: as a dude, I'm unfazed by skimpy outfits in JRPG's; actually, I expect it because it's just seems to be part of a list requirements before a company will release a title like this. I just find it hard to believe that shredded clothes and a cheap towel for a top is the best that she can wear and the best she could get in her situation upon acquiring them. Not even a properly functioning pair of pants. I'd also think the torn tights would be a hindrance, but I guess they're stylish in some ways.

That being said, more could have been done. They try explaining the situation in game, but it also doesn't quite make sense once she escapes from the place where they were her only option. And yes you can wear a more suited outfit from an earlier point in game, even the torn clothes before you put on your default outfit, but it still seems WAY too busy from a design standpoint. Ignoring in game reasoning, why bother adding so much messy details to how torn her outfit is when others (two of which in game come from a similar situation) are dressed more appropriately for the setting? Velvet's outfit would be better if the designer didn't try to show off his fetish for torn clothes so much, like an actual red top covering things properly, normal black short shorts with either tights or even normal black thigh highs with zero tears in any of her clothing would be better and maybe match the style of other characters. Hell, in game reasoning, she could easily have taken armor or clothes from any guard she defeated for proper protection, or hell, even that dress from that one character, or just buy new clothes, maybe even take them from the corpses she leaves.

Tl;dr: her outfit is a fashion crime drawn by an artist with too much time on his hands and a straight up fetish while also being poorly explained in game by the writers.

So far the game gets a 6.5/10 for me. It's decent, but the plot is basically what you're here for. So far it's no Tales of Vesperia (the last Tales game I played), but it's something to do if you're bored. Just be prepared for poor character design and repetitive combat.

As far as other options: persona 5 is Miles above this so far. Maybe even try digging up Vesperia. Final fantasy 15 is another option. Hell, I'll even recommend the sci-fi step brother Star Ocean: integrity and faithlessness.

#doubled reviews stuff #tales of berseria

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