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atlasofthestaars · 7 months

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[MK X READER] New Era - Chapter .007

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NOTE: Lots of fluff this time, hope you enjoyed! I uh, hurried to get this out before my work LMAO

Time for yet another poll this time about Kitana! These should be stopping soon, but I want to cram these all in before the Outworld Tourney arc so I can plan it out properly!

As usual leave your thoughts, and I will be taking them into consideration up until a week after this chapter, aka when the tumblr poll ends.

About three chapters left of original content before rejoining with the main plot! I don’t think there are many other characters that people are interested in polling for after Kitana and Havik, but just know that chapter 10 is probably the last time I will accepting asks for love interests since by then I do want to cement how the characters will interact with the reader before we head off to Outworld.

FROM THE EYES OF ONE WHO GETS A LITTLE CLOSER WITH OTHERS

Turns out that movie night is what you needed.

It didn’t fix all your problems, certainly not. If only it did. You still struggle with sleeping still. You aren’t certain how you were able to fall asleep so easily in that room, but you weren’t able to fall asleep quite as nicely afterwards.

You still worry and struggle to relax, and you weren’t certain if you were going to ever find a permanent solution to that. But you were inspired by Johnny to take up more activities to help loosen up more. You began to cook more, trying to chase the perfection that was Madam Bo’s cooking from the recipes that she had taught you.

You ended up cooking more than you often needed, and outside of meal times, you were often too embarrassed to ask Liu Kang to help eat the food. You weren’t even certain if the fire god even enjoyed eating, or ate to simply accompany you so you did not eat alone. You always wondered that, but found it to be too awkward of a question to ask. Plus, he seemed happy enough to eat your cooking.

Nevertheless, you had a surplus of food that you could not throw away, so you thought of a different solution.

“You don’t have to give me this.” Kenshi said, a look of confusion on his face as you handed him a neatly packed box of food. It was still warm and you could faintly smell the goodness that was inside. Despite his words, you held it out to him insistently to the point where he took the food into his hands, a confused look on his face.

“No, no I insist!” You say, brushing it off. “I’ve recently taken up cooking as a hobby again, so I’ve been cooking more than I usually do.” You explained, crossing your arms so the man could not hand back the food you had given him. “I don’t want food to go to waste, so I insist, really. Plus, I figured you’d be someone who would help critique me on what I need to improve.”

“Wouldn’t Kung Lao be better for this?” Kenshi inquired, though he did not look as against the situation as he originally did. He lifted the box up slightly, trying to examine the pristine way you had wrapped and packed the food. “He’s the one who likes food the best out of all of us.”

“He enjoys any food, he’d just eat it and compliment me to see if he could get more.” You pointed out, having thought this out. “Raiden would be too nice, he’d say I tried hard on it even if it was horribly seasoned and burnt. Johnny might have been a good choice, but I also think he might take me giving him food the wrong way.”

“I see.” The swordsman said, taking another look over the packaged food another time. You felt proud of yourself for how neatly you had done it. He paused, before sending you a small smile, and you mentally pat yourself on the back. “Thank you then, I’ll make sure to give you a thorough review of it.”

“Good, because there will be plenty more where that came from.” You said confidently as you quickly shooed him off. “Now go back to training.” You nagged him. “And let me get out of here before Johnny Cage makes fun of me for being here on my off time again.” You whispered, scanning the area for the actor.

You quickly left, leaving Kenshi standing there with a slightly stupefied expression. He glanced down at the box, a small smile on his lips.

When was the last time he had tasted a home cooked meal made with care?

Sneaking a peek around the area, his curiosity tempted him too hard. He pulled at the packaging you put thought into, and opened the lid. It looked like the definition of made with love. He grabbed the utensils you had given him, and took a bit of the food, too curious about it.

It tasted amazing.

“You’re free to do whatever, just don’t kick their asses too hard.”

It was a month after your short break, and despite your visit to the Lin Kuei temple a long while ago, it was only until now that Smoke could make time to help out your group.

You shot the gray haired man a grin as you walked down the halls with the man. He let out a chuckle at your instruction, raising an eyebrow. The man seemed confident, probably due to you hyping him up for this day. You knew he would provide just the perfect challenge.

“Let me give you the rundown.” You said as you continued to guide him. “Kung Lao, you remember him, is doing great. He does have a bit of an ego though, so feel free to knock him down a peg. Raiden, the other person from the exam, is also doing well, but don’t let his innocent looking face take you off guard. Feel free to also go a bit harder on him, he needs the push.”

“It sounds like you want me to beat up your students rather than test them.” Tomas pointed out an amused tone in his voice as he glanced over to you. He was very expressive with his eyes, which was a trait you were thankful for since he was wearing his mask today for training.

“Isn’t that the Lin Kuei way?” You teased before sighing as you put a hand on your left rib cage. “It’s been years, and I swear Bi-Han left a permanent bruise from his intensity.” You huffed. “Anyways, for the other two, let’s see…” You paused, thinking of what to say. “Johnny has a flashy way of fighting, don’t let the look of his fighting deter you, no matter how impractical it may look, he can still land a solid punch.” You let out another scoff. “Also, don’t let his words, whether positive or negative, take you off guard, he’s a real charmer.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s an actor, he has a way with words. He might try to butter you up so you’ll go easy on him. Or try to cast you in his movies.” You informed him, remembering back to the first time Johnny had tried to get you to join his movies after the tournament. “You’ll see what I mean.”

“Duly noted.” Smoke nodded, but you had a sense that you probably made him more curious rather than cautious. You watched as he subconsciously spun the karambit he fought with on his finger, doing tricks with it absentmindedly.

“Anyways, Kenshi has some more…practical practice with fighting, so he’s also a threat to look for.” You continued, purposefully being vague with Kenshi’s past for the sake of his privacy. “He fights with a katana, so I suppose you’ll be out ranged.” You pointed out, gesturing to the much shorter dagger he wielded.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to close the gap.” The Lin Kuei man said, with a tone of confidence in his words. You smiled, remembering your old spars with him. He was always tricky to fight against, being able to easily slip in a fight to get right where he wanted. “Any other advice you have for me?”

“Nope, like I said, you’re pretty much free to do what you want.” You said with a small shrug. “They’ll learn a lot from fighting you.”

The two of you made your way to the courtyard, where the group was gathered. They were waiting, and you could tell that it had probably only been a few minutes since the last master had been training with them.

“Gentlemen, I present with you today, a different person to spar.” You greeted as you rounded the corner with Smoke in tow. You gestured to your friend, a smile on your lips. “This is Tomas, otherwise known as Smoke. He’s from the Lin Kuei. and I chose him to help train you today.”

“Lin Kuei? Like the ones who broke my Hichuli?” Johnny asked, as he looked towards Smoke. He observed him for a moment before pointing at him. “Nice mask, by the way.” He commented before looking towards you again.

From the corner of your eye, you watched as Smoke was surprised by Johnny’s compliment.

“I remember you from the test.” Kung Lao said, walking up to take a closer look at the guest. He sized him up and down, crossing his arms as he did so. “We’re better trained now.” He declared, referring to Raiden and himself with confidence, “We can take you on without you pulling your punches.”

“Be careful what you wish for, Kung Lao.” You warned, sending him a look. “You may have been progressing very well with your training, but Tomas here is still a trained hunter, you know.” You gestured towards the gray clad man who took your praise well, but there was a hint of bashfulness you could glean from his face.

“It is an honor to have you with us here, today.” Raiden spoke, bowing towards Smoke with utmost respect. You smiled, pleased at the respect he displayed. You could always rely on him to be modest. You watched as Kenshi also nodded in his direction.

“Kung Lao, since you’re so confident, go ahead and step right up first.” You instructed, nodding towards Smoke who stepped forward to take the challenge. You crossed your arms and observed, feeling satisfied as you were proven right that Smoke provided just the right amount of challenge. He could do what the rest of you could not: attack from all sorts of angles with his teleportation techniques.

As Smoke finally knocked over the farmer, you strode over. You held a hand out for the man.

“Good job.” You praised both of the men. You gripped Kung Lao’s hand firmly as he grabbed yours, hoisting him up. You felt Kung Lao squeeze your hand briefly before releasing it, and you mentally noted how his hand felt with the callouses.

“You’ve improved since the exam.” Smoke added in, brushing himself off too. Even though Kung Lao had been ultimately beaten, you could see that he had still given the Lin Kuei member a run for his money at times.

“Thank you.” Kung Lao said, seeming to have been humbled a bit more. An enthusiastic look appeared on his face as he tilted his head towards the two of you. “Soon enough I’ll be able to beat you though.” He said with confidence. “Especially when I get my hat.” He said, his tone dripping with excitement as he glanced at you before walking off to the side to rest up.

“A story for another time.” You said as Smoke sent you a curious look. “Kenshi!” You called the previous gang member up, and stepped back to observe the fight from the sidelines. You had your students rotate through, each of them fighting Smoke one on one. After the last match, you called for a break, letting them catch their breaths, especially Smoke who had been fighting all this time.

“You’re really making me work.” Smoke commented lightly as he took the water you handed him.

“Just as you did when I helped you.” You reminded him, remembering how many Lin Kuei recruits he had made you spar on that day when you visited the temple. “Don’t think I forgot.” You teased as you brushed past him, purposely bumping into his shoulder in a playful manner. You felt his stare on you as you walked away to go talk to your students.

You approached all of them, giving tips to them, explaining what they could improve when they were called up to fight Smoke for another round. You smiled as you watched them absorb the information. Soon, you sent them all back to fight the Lin Kuei member once more.

“Alright, you’re all dismissed.” You declared as Kung Lao finished his round, you chose for him to go last this time since he went first the first round. You clapped your hands, and they nodded as they dispersed. You watched as both Kenshi and Smoke approached you, only for Johnny to distract the Lin Kuei member and whisk him away.

You’d have to make sure that the actor wasn’t roping the poor man into anything later.

“What’s up?” You inquired as the swordsman approached, but you had an inkling of an idea of what it was about, after all you’ve been hearing his food critiques for about a month now.

“The food today was great, as usual.” Kenshi informed you with a soft smile. He had certainly warmed up to you much more ever since your food gifting had begun. “I did notice though that…” And he went off on a small talk about your food, giving you helpful criticisms as usual. He was always honest, and seemed to put great thought into his reviews, which you dearly appreciated.

It felt all too familiar, and you felt nostalgia pull at your heart. While you didn’t have too many memories of Kenshi in your past life, you had enough to remember that he must have been a close confidant. Why else would you care so much about his opinions?

“I’ll be sure to do that next time.” You said, but your mind drifted off. While you had been cooking mainly Chinese cuisine, you briefly considered trying out Japanese cuisine for Kenshi. You opened your mouth to ask for his favorite food, but considered against it.

Maybe you can surprise him instead.

You think you remembered what you believed was his favorite food from the hazy memories that you had sorted through. You made a mental note to visit Madam Bo soon to try to ask for some advice for cooking it. After all, she was the best chef you knew.

You watched with a silent pride as the man walked off after giving you his short food review. You felt a presence approaching you, and you turned to see Tomas approaching with raised eyebrows. You returned his confused expression.

“You feed your students?” He asked, a tone of curiosity…and another emotion you couldn’t quite place. You let out a small laugh as you nodded.

“You overheard?” You asked, but you knew already that he must have if he was asking about it. You placed a hand on your hip. “I do, but just to Kenshi. I’ve been practicing the recipes that Madam Bo taught me, and I usually make too much and give some to him. He helps me out by critiquing them.”

“I see.” Smoke said, nodding. He paused for a moment, a look of consideration crossing his face. “All these years of knowing you, and I don’t think I’ve tried your cooking, I’m hurt.” He said, his voice taking a teasing tone at the end. You scoffed and rolled your eyes to match his playful energy.

“It’s nothing special, if you want real good food, you should try Madam Bo’s, she’s the real master.” You said, moving to cross your arms. “But now that you’ve mentioned it, you’re right. I haven’t cooked for you before.” You paused and considered something. “Maybe one day I should.”

“I’d like that.” Tomas said, his eyes crinkling at the edges as you assumed he smiled at you. You returned the smile.

“I’ll make plans for it, then.” You said, trying to think of an appropriate time to cook for him…or maybe you should invite the other Lin Kuei ninjas too. You began to calculate in your head some plans. It was only until you saw Smoke extend his pinky in front of your face that your train of thought was derailed. “A pink promise?” You inquire with a mock offended tone, “What, you don’t trust me?”

“I do, I just want an excuse to hold it over you in case you forget.” Tomas said. letting out a small laugh. You sighed dramatically as you rolled your eyes. Nevertheless, you extended your pinky and hooked it around his, playing along.

It was a little silly, but seeing the promise between you was a bit charming. A small delightful tingle was left on your skin where it had made contact with his as your pinkies unraveled from his. You wondered briefly if it was a side effect of his power, but didn’t try to question it too much, just savoring how it felt.

“I’ll hold you to your word, then.”

“The first prototype of Kung Lao’s hat is here.”

Turning around, you saw Liu Kang approach as he carried a small box. You approached him, grabbing the box from his hands. It was lighter than you expected, and walked over to set it down on a table so you could inspect it properly.

It took longer than you were expecting to get this first prototype. Another month had passed between when you had Smoke help you and now. The days seemed to be passing quickly, and the months leading to the Outworld tournament were dwindling slowly.

You weren’t certain to be nervous about the time to train these men were quickly running out, or to be excited that soon you were going to finally visit Outworld.

“Interesting.” You remarked as you held up the razor sharp ring of metal up from out of the box. It seemed it was the main blade that was supposed to attach to the edge of the hat. For now, it was still unattached. You were careful as you traced the edge of the blade, but hissed as you accidentally cut yourself on it. “Sharper than it looks.”

“Indeed.” Liu Kang said. you saw a crease of worry appear on his face as he noticed the look of pain on your face. You set down the blade, going to go inspect your finger where it had cut you. You squinted down, seeing a bead of blood beginning to form. It was a bigger cut than you were ready for, it extended to two of the joints of your pointer finger.

Carefully, the fire god grabbed your hand. You blinked owlishly as he carefully lifted up your hand to inspect it, not knowing what to exactly say or do. He let out a small hum as he noticed the small amount of blood. As if he were touching something delicate, he wiped away the blood with his thumb.

His touch was always so gentle, so warm.

“You carry a medical kit with you, yes?” The protector of Earthrealm inquired. You nodded, not noticing how you were spaced out. You reached around to grab it out of your pocket. You handed it to him, feeling a bit touched he remembered that fact about you.

Liu Kang took it from you, and you watched as he carefully took the supplies out of the pack. He carefully made sure to clean the blood away before he spread some petroleum jelly on your skin. You tried not to flinch at the contrast of the cold jelly and his warm skin. Then, he carefully wrapped your finger up with a band aid.

“Thank you.” You quickly said, briefly stupefied at the actions of the god. You could have cleaned and mended your cut yourself, and yet you found yourself not wanting to mention that fact to him. Maybe he just thought it was easier for him to patch your wounds for you. There was no reason to overthink things, the fire god was just as friendly to you as he is to everyone else.

Surely.

“No problem.” Liu Kang replied warmly as he packed up your medical pack and handed it back to you. You swallowed as you took it back, tucking the pack back into one of your pockets. You avoided his glowing eyes as you picked up the box.

“It’s time to deliver this to Kung Lao.” You announced, before walking briskly off. You tried not to think about why you were all of a sudden feeling tongue tied over such a small gesture. You ignored how you felt his stare linger on you for maybe a little too long as you walked off.

You were overthinking things lately, honestly.

“This looks better than I envisioned!” Kung Lao marveled as he looked over the blade you were presenting to him. You basked in the beam he sent your way, and you felt a sense of satisfaction wash over you as you were watching the man’s dream come to life before your very eyes.

And you were the cause of it.

“I think it looks good too.” You remarked. You instinctively pulled the blade away as Kung Lao tried to touch the edge. You had been reminded of what happened earlier, and ignored how your face wanted to warm up at the memory. “Be careful, the blade is sharper than it looks.” You warn. You hesitate for a moment, before gently handing it to him.

You probably shouldn’t be as cautious as you were being. He was going to wield this razor hat one way or another. You watched with bated breath as he took it from you. Your nerves turned to pride as you watched him inspect it, flipping it over as he murmured to himself.

It felt right, watching him with the blade. Why were you so worried in the first place?

“Oh, and here’s the hat, compare it to the blade to see if you like the fit.” You remarked as you stooped down to pick it up. You heard the sound of metal falling as you lifted the hat up. You looked down, puzzled, as you knelt down to inspect it.

It was a small piece of metal. It had no marks, but it was too small to be any piece of a blade. Was this a piece of scrap metal? You chose not to question it, grabbing it as you stood up. You handed the hat to him, along with the piece of metal.

“Here’s the hat.” You started, before gesturing to the small piece of metal. “Not sure what this is for, but this was also in there too.” You said, shrugging. You watched as he gladly took the hat. There was a look of recognition that appeared on his face as he saw the piece of metal in your hand. He quickly snatched it out of your hand before tucking it away in a pocket.

Odd, but it wasn’t suspicious enough to question him. Or at least, you weren’t bothered enough to.

“Thanks!” He said. You watched as he put the blade along the edge of the hat. Carefully, he put the hat on, holding the blade to the edge with his hands. He tilted the hat down, masking the fact that he had to hold the blade and the hat together by striking a pose. “How do I look?”

A wave of nostalgia washed over you as you looked at the pose. You don’t remember when was the last time you had been hit with it this strongly. You were speechless as you looked at him. You knew he wanted to make a hat with multiple blades, but something about a simple blade hat felt right.

Maybe you should try and make him a different version of this hat, one that felt closer to the memories you had.

A small memory of teasing and laughing with a much cockier version of Kung Lao filled your mind as you looked fondly at the man. You sucked in a breath as you nodded.

“You look great.” You complimented, and you truly meant it. “The hat really suits you, I can’t wait to see how it’ll look when it’s finished.” You watched as a grin grew on Kung Lao’s face, and you spotted a bit of pink on his cheeks. He seemed to absorb the praise well, and for a moment you almost reconsidered taking back the compliment. It was clearly letting it inflate his ego.

Then again, it made him happy, so you said nothing to rain on his parade.

“Of course I do.” Kung Lao said smugly as he took the hat off. He looked at it again, the same way you would think a father would look at their own kid. You held back a chuckle. He was really enthusiastic about this hat, wasn’t he?

“You can mess with it for a while, whether it be practicing with the blade or making notes for the blacksmith.” You informed him. “I’ll be taking it back with the box whenever you are ready to return it to get it worked on again.”

“Got it.” He nodded. “Thanks for this, again.” You watched as the Fengjian farmhand took one last look at the hat before stowing again in the box and running off. Whether it was to test out the blade or to make design notes, you weren’t sure.

Either way, you felt happy.

“You’ve improved a lot.” You remark as you watch Raiden run through a combination again. He was a far cry from the man you remembered from the beginning. You looked up at the stars, reflecting back to those days with a wistful look.

Time was passing by fast, and you were reminded of that as you noted how much more confident Raiden seemed in his strikes. You crossed your arms as you fixed the man with a stare, watching him take pause after he finished the combination.

“Really?” He asked, a small smile on his face. He had an almost shy look on his face as he turned to look at you. You nodded in response, and he stood there for a moment before looking away. “How so?” He asked, a curious look on his face.

“Well, for one, you’re not making as many mistakes anymore.” You pointed out, holding back a small chuckle. “Actually, do that combination again.” You said, finding it ironic that you were probably going to have to take back the praise you had just given him,

You watched him as he did the combination again, and noticed the error in his form. You couldn’t help the laugh that left your lips. The irony of it all.

“Okay, poor timing.” You remarked. You tried instructing him on how to correct him form, but watched as he kept on missing the critical error. You felt a bit bad, maybe it was because you had just been mentioning how he had been improving and now he was a bit psyched out. You walked up to him. “Here, you need to land like this.”

Gently, you grabbed his arms and moved them into the proper position. You twisted his hands to face the right way. Then, you nudged his legs apart to make sure they were spaced apart properly. You hummed as you leaned in close, inspecting his form now.

“Just like that.” You said softly, as you removed your hands from him. You backed up, looking him up and down. You looked up to his face, raising an eyebrow as you saw him avoid eye contact, his face a bit pink. “You understand now, Raiden?”

“Um, I…” Raiden stumbled on his words, his voice a little panicked as he looked down at himself before nodding. “Yes, I get it now.” He said quickly. You tilted your head, a bit confused at his change in demeanor.

“It’s okay if you don’t.” You reassured him, sensing he was nervous. Was he all caught up in trying to be perfect after your praise? You had a feeling that wasn’t the reason, but you couldn’t quite understand what else it would be. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad by praising you then correcting you.” You told him, trying to make sure he felt better. “I can help correct your form again if you need me to.”

“I should be good.” The former Fengjian farmhand said, his voice still a bit antsy. He shifted out of the form before facing the dummy. He took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. You nodded at him, and watched with satisfaction as he did the combination much better this time. “How was that?” He asked, a bit skeptical of his own performance.

“Excellent.” You praised, clapping your hands. “See, even if you mess up, you take critiques very well.” You pointed out with a smile. “It’s honestly impressive how quickly you can adapt sometimes now.” You continued. “I don’t think I was as quick of a learner as you are.”

“Really?” Raiden inquired, his eyebrows rising in surprise. “I can hardly imagine you not being excellent at fighting.” He commented, rubbing the back of his neck. “You just seem to be so talented at it, in all honesty. It’s admirable.”

“You flatter me too much.” You said, but still took the praise happily. You’d never admit it, but you enjoyed it whenever people praised your fighting skills. “I just have a lot of experience under my belt.” How much training you truly had, you had no idea, but he didn’t need to know that detail. “I do want you to know that I truly mean it when I say you’ve improved greatly, despite what just happened.”

“You are too kind.” Raiden said, nodding his head at your praise. “I hope to live up to your expectations for me.”

“Oh Raiden,” You chuckled, covering your smile with your hand. You looked at the man fondly, shaking your head. “You already have.” You admitted. And it was true, he always went above and beyond for training, putting in more hours than anyone else did. He was truly dedicated to getting better.

The bashful look on his face, you had to admit, was rather amusing. You grinned. You felt bad, it was almost a bit fun to try and tease the man and see what got him flustered. Maybe you were being a bit of a bully, but you would never really admit that.

“I’ve only managed to get this far because I have such a wonderful mentor.” Raiden said, and you felt a bit warm as he turned the praise back on you. Sure, he had praised you just recently, but there was something about the way he said it that made this particular compliment feel special. The smile that decorated his face only added to it. “So, thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being such a wonderful person.”

part eight

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l-crimson-l · 4 months

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Hello! I saw your post asking for Gundam thoughts, so here's mine: what's your take on the reading/interpretation that Suletta's story is a commentary/critique/reflection on both Lalah's and Marida's stories (I don't care about spoilers, so no worries about that)?

Ok so I haven’t thought about Lalah in a HOT minute so excuse me there but there was actually a couple parallels between G Witch and Unicorn.

Speaking about Marida specifically, it was really cool to see a different take on the clone angle. We see Marida, a long lost, forgotten and forsaken Puru clone abused by those who find her and quite literally chopped up to be singularly whatever her “Master” wants her to be. It’s gruesome and horrific but when we first see her she’s escaped some of that abuse and returned to her original purpose which is to be a pilot. Her new “Master” is also someone who doesn’t want to use her like her previous owners but is forced to send her out as a pilot due to circumstance.

Compare this to our first introduction to Suletta and we see a couple different similarities. While she didn’t have to suffer (as much) to get to where she is at the beginning of the show we find out later she also has a “Master” of her own: her mother. And within the course of the first episode she gains a relationship that will grow to guide her to her own happiness.

The more I think about them the more their arcs seem to start and end together but separate at the middle. Suletta is famously unsure about herself and just about every interaction she has with other people. Marida is cool and confident and knows what she is and needs to be for Neo Zeon and her “Master”. But each woman slowly finds out what they want is family to surround them. Suletta fights for her family, both for her wife and to save her sister and mother and to a lesser extent Earth House. Marida floats through life, settling in a place where she’s comfortable being used as a pilot bc it’s what she knows but the man she now calls her Master never wanted to be and actively dislikes being called that. It’s at the peak of Marida’s arc that we learn her “Master”, Suberoa Zinnerman, only wants to take care of her as his daughter, in place of the one he lost. Marida is no replacement, but she’s here and he’ll do what he can to keep her safe. Even if that means dangling from a single cable in the upper stratosphere.

These two ladies couldn’t be any more different from the outside, but where they differ they reflect one another, in how confident they are, how they try to attain their goals, but they each have the determination to reach their dreams and make them their own. You could argue Marida doesn’t get to keep her family, but as a Newtype, Marida gets to exist within time itself so she’s always going to be there.

This is making me want a spinoff of these two bc I just think they’d be a lot of fun. And I think Marida would help encourage Suletta to be more confident and sure of herself.

I don’t do a lot of these breakdowns but I hope it makes sense lol these two ladies begin and end at the same place but even where they differ they reflect one another and are joined in that way. And I think that’s neat. Two separate ways of getting to the same place. Give these ladies a hug (and a Marida some ice cream)

#whew #I think I’m most excited about seeing people get to unicorn for Marida and Mineva #gundam unicorn #witch from mercury #g witch #gundam #thanks for the ask!#paxesoterica

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number5theboy · 2 years

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you said in a previous ask that if s2 had built on s1 better than the show would have been better. have you ever posted what you think needed to be different in s2? if not would you be willing to?

Oof. So much. This is not like. a full plan of how I would've done s2 differently, but it's just some character things I would've done differently for the siblings. Don't take this too seriously, it's just me spitballing, and this isn't a full re-write, it should have more structure to be that.

But also, overall ground rules.

no amnesia

no romance

no paradox psychosis

no infinite switchboard

no Handler

Viktor does not cause the apocalypse. Diego does.

Let me elaborate by just going through the siblings and where I would've taken them to build on s1.

Luther & Viktor: Putting these two together because that's what I would've done. Keep them together. Luther was holding him going into the portal, I think it would've been really interesting to have these two end up together in the 60s. Viktor should've been unconscious when they arrived (for like. the first episode) because then Luther would have had to make the choice to either protect him or leave him, and the choice to keep him close, the only familiar person around, someone he just betrayed and who just tried to kill him. Someone who ended the world. It would've been interesting to see them work through everything instead of Luther's character development happening off-screen and his apology to Viktor losing meaning because Viktor did not remember anything, they should've worked things out together. Luther gets the time to reflect on his actions and Viktor wakes up to Luther, despite everything, caring for him. This should at some point evolve into a 'Viktor develops his powers'-montage where they use Luther's near-invincibility, he can be tossed around without hurting that much.

Klaus & Ben: Lose the cult, keep the Dave. I haven't thought that one through much, I just hated the cult storyline that went nowhere, but I did really like him trying to save Dave, it was a good storyline. I also think he should've developed his powers more there, because Klaus was sober through his stay in the 60s, so ghosts would have bothered him more, and he should've worked to keep them under control. I keep oscillating between 'this is how Reginald factors into the story, Klaus goes to him for help' and 'no way Klaus and Ben would go to Reginald, Ben becomes an impromptu teacher and that's how their relationship deteriorates'. This one needs workshopping, but I feel like trying to save Dave from dying + becoming more familiar with death as two cornerstones of Klaus' arc would be super fun to explore. Also he doesn't keep Ben away from everyone else, I reckon, but I would have to actually figure out how the season would go to figure out how and why. Something about Klaus getting better at controlling his powers and thus summoning Ben, him having the possibility to interact with the world for the first time in decades and wanting his independence but not being able to get it because he's been dead this entire time, he can never be away from Klaus...it'd be interesting.

Allison: Full disclosure, I really do love Ray, but I said no romances, so. I think it was a missed opportunity to not double down on Allison and sisterhood after s1 and have her form a meaningful relationship with Odessa and the other black women at the salon she worked at. Have her throw herself into community organising and resistance and build other women up after a lifetime of using her powers for selfish reasons. Have it hurt her too, because it makes her think about her daughter and how she will never be able to watch her grow into a strong woman, but at least she can try to build a better world for all of them, but especially for her. And there's the thing with the civil rights plotline either way, I just don't think that TUA as a show does not have the depth or the intelligence to do justice to this real movement, it will always kind of feel like a prop, so I don't think there truly is a way to do it justice, or if there is, someone please tell me. I do think they should've let her be angry at Viktor in s2 already, none of that forgive and forget crap, she was seriously injured, almost lost her life and then was thrust into an environment hostile to her mere existence as a black person, she should've been at least resentful by that point. I would've loved to see a confrontation between her and Viktor, she should've been allowed to express her hurt and it should've taken time for them to be buddy-buddy again. So at some point her storyline should flow into that of Luther and Viktor, but yeah. It'd need some more fleshing out but this is the general idea of where she'd start.

Diego: Alrighty. Instead of playing off Diego's hero complex and obsession with saving JFK as a joke, I think the show should've played it straight. Let him cut off Lee Harvey Oswald's trigger finger. Let him use his ability to deflect bullets to foil and attempts of assassination on the president and save the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. But not enough that they don't notice that there has been an attempt on the president's life. The FBI find a way to blame the Russians for this. Boom. Nuclear Armageddon. There's the apocalypse for the season. I wish s2 would have explored Diego's deep-seated need to prove himself, to leave his mark on history as someone who rights wrongs, who saves lives, more seriously, because him being a vigilante, rejecting his father but still trying to be a hero like he raised them to, was so integral to who he was in s1 and I wish they'd explored this in more depth. Also the story beat of trying to do something right that then has massive bad consequences would be on par for this show, I think it would have been really cool to explore. Especially since one of the main plot threads in that season would have been to stop Diego from fulfilling the destiny he set out for himself, make him defy that hero complex, which leads me to

Five: By god, they should have let him orchestrate the JFK assassination like he deserved to. Instead of pointlessly chasing after the apocalypse for a second time in a row and getting world's lamest made-up disease for no reason, they should've made it that he tries to figure out what causes the apocalypse this time around, only to be interrupted by AJ, who wants to recruit him. The thing is that someone keeps foiling the assassination of JFK and no matter how many snipers they sent there to take care of it, nothing helps (as we find out later, the certain someone responsible has bullet-redirecting abilities). And since there is no infinite switchboard in this, someone has to solve this the old way and figure out a foolproof way to kill the president. And so the Commission comes crawling back to Five, who realises that the assassination must happen to avert the apocalypse. So instead of making a deal to kill the Commission board in exchange for going back to 2019, he promises the orchestration of the JFK assassination - we get him trying to plan to foil what he doesn't know is his own brother, but once he does know, that throws another spanner into the works, because he doesn't want to kill Diego. We could have had some really good character exploration similar to the comics where he despises that the Commission has roped him back in, that he keeps having to do things he despises to have a chance at a normal life, and it would've made for some excellent interpersonal drama between him and Diego. I don't even know how this would resolve except for the fact that, you know, JFK bites it. Maybe Five ropes in his other siblings, or his old self. Maybe Reginald's real reason for unadopting them is that he wanted Kennedy alive, and they're the ones who killed him. I just think this would've been a much more interesting exploration of both Diego and Five.

And this is all just spitballing. This is not really a coherent re-write or adjustment. It doesn't take into account that there definitely should be other characters in this. I really did love Elliott, and Lila is a great addition to the cast and should be crow-barred into this somehow. How do all of these storylines converge? How much, if even, should Reginald factor into this? But those are the first ideas that I have to make s2 more coherent with the themes of s1.

#Replies #Anonymous

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burnwithtears · 1 year

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i've been seeing a never-ending discourse about how rina's position in s4 will be like portwell's, with ricky graduating and gina still a junior and let me break it to you: it's not the same. and i don't mean the age gap.

ej and gina started their relationship at the very end of the school year, which means ej already has one foot outside school, while gina still has two years ahead of her. the beginning of s3 makes it clear their relationship is very new (emphasis on "first boyfriend", "summer of firsts"). so basically, they're getting together while ej is already entering a new stage in his life, so there is nothing solid about their relationship to hold on to, because this is the beginning of it. if they had gotten together at the start of s2, things would be different, because they'd have a whole semester to build their connection. and don't say they've been friends since s1 and that's enough, because a platonic relationship is very different from a romantic one. gina expects different things from it.

now, ricky and gina are being honest about their feelings before ricky's final year starts. they'll have a whole year to figure out how they work romantically, and they will build a solid base, and later figure out how to keep making things work even after ricky leaves school. and yeah, the stress and fame could break them apart, but it'd be nothing similar to portwell's downfall. ricky is still a senior, he's not on the verge of graduating. he will still see her every day, they will be joining the school play together.

and while we're at it, i'd like to address some very rude comments about gina (and the other kids) being "unfair" to ej during s3. as someone who absolutely loved ej's arc in s3, because he finally got one rsrs, it's absurd to me how people fail to see that his friends did try to support him in their own way.

there are two very different visions about ej this season: how the adults see him, and how the teens see him. throughout the whole season, he's standing in the middle of it, not knowing what to do, but, at the end, he falls to the adult side, because that's his development.

when ej comes to the camp this last time, he's a mentor. val, channing, dewey and miss jenn interact with him and give him responsibilities he didn't ask for because they see him as a young adult, not one of the kids in the camp. do you see val participating in the games? no, she's not part of any team in color wars, she's not part of the play. the thing is, ej came to camp thinking he would just have fun, but being a “senior” in camp as well comes with these responsibilities he wasn't ready for, and the adults are the ones helping him navigate through it because that's their role. he goes to val for advice with his dad; he goes to miss jenn for advice with the play; he directly deals with channing and corbin when they're trying to call off the documentary. the fact that val is the one who comforts him in the end of the season shows he made through it. it was a transition.

the east high crew, at first, sees him as one of them; they try to include him in all of the camp activities, and that's their way of showing they care for him – they want him around, want him to be part of the group. and it takes them a while to understand he won't be able to, and that it's not his fault, but neither is theirs. ricky's jab "are you sure?" to ej on the last episode is more of a "you've been pushing us way too hard for a while now", because that's exactly what ej was doing, like he was already their teacher or something. when ej says they're theater kids and will do things their way, that's him making amends. when ej says to ricky during the premiere "i could fake slap you, but you're my brother", that's him showing once again that he has grown up and will not carry high school grudges with him. it doesn't mean he's a "superior person"; only that all of their previous animosity is behind him.

gina tries to be understanding when he promises things and don't show up. she tries again, and again, to save what they have, but how can you save something you don't even fully know because it's still so new? you can say "ej is doing all this so he can stay with her", but no one believes that – not even ej himself. he's doing this to prove to his father he can make his own choices and be successful in them. he's trying to show his father he's not a kid anymore, to be ordered around. that’s his arc during season 3.

you could also say "yeah, but even if they're in different stages, the east high crew are still his friends and they still should comfort him" and yeah, sure. but this is a 8-episode teen comedy show, and the narrative tries, and suceeds, to tell the audience that ej has grown up and is moving on. just like they told the audience that nini is not coming back. ej probably will come back, but no longer as one of the kids; therefore, his relationship with them has to change.

#hi #its me again #hsmtmts #gina porter #ricky bowen #ej caswell #im so tired #but the speech around him makes me see red

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darksideofthemamon · 1 year

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The progression of Alex and Maliksi's relationship in the comics (feat. Me probably overanalyzing)

(In general or shippy, up to you)

Vol 1: Villain of the week.

He's the supernatural culprit in Case 2 and she catches him. That's basically it, though it's an important detail that he's the prince of a tribe the Treses are allied with.

Vol 3: Owing a favor

She uses her last wish from winning the race to get him to help her fight Talagbusao. That's it. We don't see them converse or anything, it's all very straightforward.

This goes differently in the Netflix show where he's more involved. There are no favors or wishes and he goes to her to personally deliver a message from his dad. He also outright expresses his support for her even though he technically shouldn't ("I won't tell if you won't.")

Vol. 5: A romantically interested nuisance

Maliksi's very involved in this arc, in fact it starts with him becoming a vigilante, which interferes with Alex's work. She's very understandably pissed at him and sees him as nothing but an annoyance that gets in her way.

This interaction^ in particular makes it seem like she doesn't even take him seriously. I sense so much hostility from those panels, and from both sides even!

He flirts with her throughout this arc but she turns him down, of course. He saves her life near the end, and while she's still aloof to him, she invites him back to base for information.

Vol. 6: Official allies

It seems she changed her mind about his superhero attempts because at the start of this volume, she outright calls him for help, unlike in the previous one where she told him to stay out of it. I'm guessing this is cus she saw how useful he was to have around in battle.

He's basically become part of the team at this point, enough for them to have an SOS codeword, and for him to tag along for the next case (which we see at the end) without being asked or him offering.

As for their personal relationship, and this is the part where I start over analyzing, but Alex's expressions seem much friendlier than the previous volume where she was hostile because he was a nuisance who she already had a past history reprimanding.

1) they're sitting next to eachother fdjldjjddj, 2) she listens to him instead of ignoring him (especially in that first panel where her brother gives a speech and she's looking at Maliksi tho idk why, unless like the Kambal he's looking at Seepul who's sitting across from him??), and 3) she doesn't look pissed at him, instead having an expression that I can only describe as "open"

In the end, he flirts with her again and she still turns him down, but again, doesn't look annoyed anymore (not like in vol 5) (also notice how in vol 5 he didn't get to ride with her, but now he does just like how she told him to stay out of the way but now calls him for help)

(Compare her expression here^ with the one from Vol 5)

In general, I really like how Volume 6 shakes up the status quo! This whole time it's been the trio of Trese + The Kambal tackling cases on their own and occasionally calling in a favor from an ally but in this volume, they assemble a team and then all share a meal together in the end. It's really fun and epic to see!

#Trese #trese komiks #alexandra trese #maliksi #maliksi armanaz #tikbalang #malex #shippy if you want #analysis #... overanalysis?? LOL #just my thoughts #darksideofthemamon

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class1akids · 8 months

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All might really outshined mina's qurik with his OP suit's imitation like it was nothing lmao. That was one of my concerns, all might being able to outshine the actual quirks of class 1a (quirks in general tbh) with his imitations and I hate it.

I personally don't have a problem with tech outshining quirks. It never made sense to me why someone like Ojirou would be automatically stronger than a guy with a machine gun. Of course there are OP quirks, just as there is OP technology, but in the end it should be about the balance of power, skill, strategy, the battleground, circumstances that decide the fight, and not the one with the more powerful quirk winning automatically.

I mean, we are talking of a manga, where Deku, with no prior athletic ability and only 8 months beach training was able to keep pace at the obstacle course with all his quirked classmates, including those with speed and mobility boosts, and somehow managed to overcome the top 2 students with a rudimentary invention.

So, for me the existence of the suit in itself is not the problem. It does feel however like a bit of an empty HAX however in All Might's case, because the build-up is just not there.

Let's remember that All Might had both the suit and Hercules when he left with Deku during the Dark Hero arc, approximately 1 week after the PLF war ended. This means, All Might already somehow had the suit that is an homage to the class 1-a quirks, at a time, when he ditched class 1-a without a second thought, thinking that Deku as the OFA-holder should follow in All Might's footsteps as a solo hero to beat AFO.

It was only after Class A vs OFA and after meeting Stain that All Might was reminded of his origins and started to have faith in all of his students (not just Deku) and started to accept that he would have a place in the final war as an active participant, someone who could contribute despite his quirklessness.

I can picture the post-Stain meeting All Might going to David and Melissa Shield to ask for a suit with specifications to imitate his students moves. But the suit predates this moment. And before that, All Might had not really interacted with the others, nor did he have a lot of focus on their quirks.

So I could not see All Might before the final arc ordering a suit like that, but if he had a suit, it probably would have relied on imitating his own previous fighting style.

So, even if we don't think about things like design cycles, the "aha" moment of an invention being a fun aspect of tech based heroes, just even the nostalgia value feels a bit hollow, because there was too little build-up for it to be believable that All Might would go out of his way to have a mechanic crow to copy Kouda's quirk (with whom he never interacted) rather than just have another mini-missile or something.

And on the design side, since the Shields have no connection to the wider class A (Melissa only worked together with a few of them), there is really no rationale for the scientists either to use those specific quirks.

It's a cool gimmick overall, but that's what it feels like to me - a cheap gimmick, rather than letting All Might's own arc develop in a more organic way and have the connections he's truly built up until the birth of the suit shine (e.g. the suit imitating only a limited number of students, mainly Black Whip, possibly Explosion, have Gran Torino and Nana for mobility, etc.).

But overall, I think this suit would have been an awesome endgame thing for Deku (at a different power-scaling). Because for him, it would have made full sense to use all of Class A's quirks, to figure out combos - I could definitely picture him better with this equipment.

#c1a asks #bnha 398 #bnha manga spoilers #all might #iron might

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aerial-aceing-it · 1 year

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OOC:

Alright so due to the everything going on, I’m stepping away from the RA plotline. I’m not leaving this blog as I’m determined to have a good time on here. I’m just unhappy with how things were going on that end. The idea had potential but the way it was handled and the direction it was taken spiraled. I expected it to be more of an “evil team” scenario, and not a full blown “cult.” To be honest, pokemon hybrids aren’t even close to the darkest topic covered in Pokémon games. It’s just the direction it spiraled in made it unwelcoming, I think.

Also I’m going to be retconning the “catboy arc” or whatever it was. Originally it started as something silly with Ace thinking spraying a full restore in their mouth was a good idea because they’re an idiot (affectionate), but it went in weird direction. It wasn’t supposed to be angsty or upsetting. It was supposed to be silly. And for the most part it was! But I got a whole lot of asks pressuring me to pursue that route and it was really weird. I understand having excitement and liking someone’s character a lot but what I was being sent felt like someone was trying to control the nonexistent plot I had for Marv. If that makes any sense. And yes, a part of it is on me as I should have ignored that input. At the time I thought it was silly but now I realize it was a bit. Odd. I don’t know how to really describe it. Anyways, no more catboy sorry guys.

But that’s not to say nothing interesting will happen here. And that’s not to say I’m avoiding angst entirely. Because I do enjoy angst! It’s fun when done in a way where everyone who interacts is comfortable with it. I’m still going to use the #high stakes pokereality tag for those moments. But it won’t be extreme content like in previous arcs. And I will tag other triggers if it comes down to it. But the thing is, if you don’t enjoy angstier content, don’t interact with it. Or interact with it when you know you are in a headspace where you can definitely handle it. Because past a certain point I’m not responsible for what you consume. I can do my part with tagging and content warnings but it’s up to you if you decide to interact. And if that upsets you, I’m not at fault for that since I did my part in tagging and using warnings. In the end it’s up to you to ask yourself if interacting with this will make you upset, and if the answer is yes, leave it alone. I’m sorry if any of that sounds harsh, I don’t mean it as such.

Anyways I’ll keep the catboy posts up because some of them are REALLY funny but yeah. TLDR I’m still on my bullshit minus catboy.

#again apologies if any of this is worded weirdly #ooc

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geek-fashionista · 5 months

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Hello! I just finished your story “Lucky Us”, and MY GOD IN HEAVEN that was fantastic. It was a bold move making the ending to the fashion competition the way you did, but it was worth it. And the way you delayed Adrien talking to Marinette post-reveal? Ingenious! You write some truly wonderful interactions between LadyNoir and the fluff is just, GAH.

Chloe is such a layered character here, I truly appreciate that. My only criticism is some minor plot points with her (her previous run in with cancer, for instance) are “hidden” behind previous Tumblr posts of yours. Which, the a/n at each chapter tends to clear up, but yeah!

Also, I felt some level of justice given that, much like Adrien, I cannot STAND the Horrificator episode. Even if Mylène and Ivan are adorable! The overly blatant pastiche of Alien alongside the complete refusal of any actual horror just kills me on the inside.

Enough gushing (I could do a lot more though, this was a truly fun story and has paw-sitively given me some new pun op-purr-tunities), now for the ask!

In Ch30 you say Marinette is going to meet with a “Lila”, is this meant to be the same Lila as we know in the show? How is she different in this AU as the one we know in canon, at least given what we knew back in S1? And how would you have preferred her character to go in canon?

Sorry for such the rambly ask, I hope it’s not too overwhelming or anything! Truly a wonderful story and I’ll be sure to check out more! I hope you have a fantastic day!

First off, thank you so much for reading and enjoying the story!! :D

To answer the Lila question, in the Lucky Us universe, she's just a nice gal with a definite Slytherin streak in her---which is why her and Marinette get along so well. I only wrote her into the story because she either is Italian or claimed to be Italian. (It's been a while. I forget.)

Canon Lila was a favorite of mine because I believed she should have been the main villain of Miraculous Ladybug. Gabriel had a motive that could have made him sympathetic. Chloe was, at the time, on her way to a redemption arc (and I'm never going to stop being mad about how they did her dirty). Lila showed no remorse for her lies and had that beautifully creepy transition from smiling and waving to no emotion whatsoever. She's the villain ML deserves.

Thanks for the ask, and have a wonderful week!

#asks #lucky us #miraculous ladybug

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overnightheartbeats · 10 months

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🎰 what a fun lil number as we have 5 ships lmfaooo fate told me to send this <3

Send 🎰 for me to put our muses into a random list generator then post the first five as potential ships! // @cursivebloodlines

5 ships...why not 5 more? You asked for it, so here ya go!

eric and logan - These two, I definitely see them as longtime friends. One of the friends that he confided in when his family situation blew wide open. Eric definitely showed up to Logan's house, a mess!! Asking for advice and even requesting his professional skills to learn more about his parents. He went down this spiral and I like to believe Logan is the friend being there for him. Eric would definitely need a lighthearted buddy, possibly one to share his love life woes with. Someone to clown him!!

diego and zoe - LOL this one is hilarious. Diego is not here to play around with Zoe's shenanigans. If these two met, he'd be constantly annoyed with her way of life. What do you mean you're not going to share anything about your life? But I have to be honest? I'm out of here. It'd be like a jaded older brother listening to the younger sister's shenanigans, and dragging her away from bad choices. "No it's this way, come on" They'd be so fun together though!! Because she wouldn't let him catch a break, and honestly I'm down for that always.

ivette and aaron - hmm i think the few that we don't interact with, but let's see. This could definitely be a meeting at work situation, he has to visit the hospital for one of the cases he's working or she needs to provide some statement. They could just not be vibing with each other, or they had a previous misunderstanding, that leads to just not getting along, even if they keep running into each other because their work overlaps sometimes (nurse/homicide detective). General dislike to friends arc. OR if we're not feeling angsty, running into each other a few other times and being like, "oh hey you're the.." and just becoming friends over talking/complaining about work. No negativity hahaha

danielle and lydia - OMG another pairing that I think will have a tough time initially. I definitely see Danielle reaching out to Lydia and gushing over her work and her curiosity to learn more because she never did end up pursuing medicine. But still likes to follow along with research and new findings coming out. Eventually, goes beyond shop talk, though I think Lydia would be a bit weary of Danielle's antics and the drama she gets into. But, I like to believe they eventually find common ground and can build a very sweet relationship. They would be constantly talking and Dani would love to visit her at work, just spend hours with her there. Never bored of the conversations and always asking follow up questions. Danielle would ask to grab lunch or dinner to 'pick her brain' about a certain topic, but also reach out to her when she's bored at home and wants to try doing things people their age do. So expect a random text at 9:00 pm, 'we should go out for once.' Tbh it'd be a lot of dani following her around like a lost puppy. But, they'd be a powerful duo.

gabriel and tessa - oooh okay this one. They definitely met at some kind of event and he spotted her and had to introduce himself. He gushed how he was a fan of her YouTube work! And he goes on to tell her, that he watches her videos after games and they help him unwind because she's hilarious but also makes the videos so interesting. Maybe she knows he's a football player, maybe she's clueless. He doesn't mind either way, because he knows he's not a huge star. He's just a big fan, and i'm thinking they exchange phone numbers, just talk for hours and Gabriel thinks it's nice to have a friend while on the road.

Bonus:

danielle and dougie - bc obviously it cracked me up. this is a disaster waiting to happen. Two sensitive people together. These two would just encourage each other's clownery. Like, they're talking about their love life and they ask 'should I give them another chance?' most friends would say, hell no. screw them! they would just tell each other something like yes, another chance because... and essentially contribute to them getting into bigger problems. Although, on the other hand, dani is very protective of people and doesn't treat others the way she does herself...so maybe, she'd try encouraging him to set some boundaries, love himself a lil more. hmm who knows, they'd be a hilarious mess tho.

#cursivebloodlines #lmfao tell me why it generated Aaron x Lydia #meant to beee #lol it was an odd way to generate because i have so many clowns #but to no one's surprise..i love all of them

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mutogamingco · 1 year

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I don't think i remember or saw your Anti / corrupted Verse for Yugi, could you tell me about it a little? Would you ever bring it back?

//Okay! So buckle up, I have three or four that I have done at random times. I don't know for sure if I would bring it back as a permanent thing, but I'm open to it if people are interested outside of a closed thread. Any verse I have threads in is welcome to receive random asks and interactions (within reason, of course!) It's under a Read More because it got long.

The first one was a corruption verse where Yuugi's decision to play the Orichalcos in the duel against Atem planted a seed of corruption. I know a lot of people like to interpret him as a pure soul, but it's shown very early on that he has his own darkness just like everyone. He just heavily gravitates towards kindness and is generally only wishing harm on others if provoked. This seed of Orichalcos magic lay mostly dormant in his soul until post canon, where Yuugi has more of a tendency to bottle up his emotions. The magic actively caused pain the more he tried to resist it and @atlantis-prince offered his hand to join him. If Yuugi did the pain would stop. So he ended up corrupted and working for Dartz and of course he was sent after Atem and pretty much anyone. Some part of him deep down was aware of what was happening but he was numb to it until it was too late. The other Orichalcos verse was actually a role-reversal AU for the doma arc where a partner who wrote Atem discussed with me in DMs how we would have rewritten the season to better match the narrative of the entire series. We realized that if it had been Yuugi that played the card in that duel instead of Atem and was corrupted, and if it was Atem's soul who was taken instead, it would have actually given Yuugi a very interesting character arc where he gets to address his unresolved darkness, anxieties about Atem leaving, etc. It probably would have even influenced his decisions in the end and maybe tried to find a way for Atem to stay instead of participating in the Ceremonial Duel. In this one, the corruption is temporary, since it dissipates after the duel is over and he's left with the horror of what he's done. One twist too, is that without Atem in the puzzle to keep it under control, the dark magic and vengeful spirits trapped in the Puzzle constantly scream in his head and threaten to corrupt him again. He's haunted by constant nightmares and guilt beyond his friends' understanding. It's not just Atem's absence that's hurting him. In fact, when he was in the duel, he was under the influence of both and extremely unhinged as a result, as the Seal pushed Atem out just like it did to Yuugi in the anime. Overall, we had some very big plans and it was going so well! Yuugi would have had the support of the duel spirits (like Mahad) trying to help him through it, and we were planning to include Bakura since we felt it was a shame he was left out and it would have added some interest (he was even going to be the main person helping Yuugi in this situation if you can believe it). I did a short thread once where a piece of Zorc temporarily possessed Yuugi and that was fun to play around with. It was an exploration of what he would do in that situation, and the demon was forced out. Then there was a thread where he was sent a mysterious artifact (seemingly from his father) that latched onto him and possessed him. It was a parasitic magical item that needed to be removed, and it was successfully removed. His father did not send that box and had a hand in getting the bracelet off of Yuugi. Both of these threads were in my Wishshipping verse with @luckyredeyes

One I have mainly been thinking of is maybe an anti-verse or event where Yuugi is corrupted by the shadows. He can either work with an existing villain or it could be a Bad End, or even just an alternate verse where he is not the hero. As said in a previous answer, it would be more like how season0 and the early manga went, but probably my own take. His personality would depend on if this is him being corrupted post-DSOD or if he was corrupted after solving the Puzzle in canon, making him canon-divergent. This one has not been tried yet.

#ooc

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magic-is-something-we-create · 8 months

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15, 17, and 18 for the icebreaker ask game!! - @alesseia

ohmygod tumblr didnt show me that i had asks for almost two entire weeks i hate it here

Thanks for sending this in, @alesseia!!! (I really hope I'm referencing the correct ask game post,,,,)

15. Why does the story follow the protagonist, as opposed to another character in the story? I.e., what makes them so special?

Oh man, this one is a fun question that is,,,, a Lot more complicated for Millennium Saga than for Whispers.

For Whispers: The story follows Marika and Lorelei as narrators specifically because of their unique and drastically different interactions with and opinions of the Shadow (the antagonist). Marika, specifically, is way more similar to the Shadow than she wants to admit at the start, and honestly, I would not be surprised if she and the Shadow ever got romantic (or at the very least sexual, because dear god I gave them lots of tension there). Lorelei, on the other hand, is like the antithesis of the Shadow's whole deal, and that pisses them both off to no end. And I just thought their lenses were particularly fun to play with for the "henchman vs superhero POV" premise!!

For The Millennium Saga...

Well. There's actually two sets of multiple main characters in the series. And I chose Ember's crew (Gab, Annie, Andy, Isa, and Nimbus) because they've got a rather unique mix of people of all societal classes (pickpocket/manual laborer, whore/seasonal tourist attraction actor, seamstress, mechanic, literal grandchild of an immortal, and an apprentice under an outcast, respectively) that allowed me to explore a LOT of the world they're in and how it functions without forcing the narrative out of the way (ideal for the worldbuilding-heavy story the series focuses on).

And the SECOND set of main characters, for arc two, were chosen because they're the more extreme versions of the above, with bonus extra trauma and outsized impact than anyone should reasonably have. Which they acknowledge, and still abuse. Also it means I get to write a lot of darker things into what is an overall hopeful story without dragging the previous rein-holders through the mud <3

17. What’s the best character dynamic between two or more characters in your wip?

Whispers: Lorelei and the Shadow. I will not elaborate, but if you know, you know.

The Millennium Saga: This is entirely out of left field to people who only know the excerpts and nothing else, but Annie and Xavi are the DREAM TEAM gossip buddies who constantly get into Mega Trouble. If anyone other than me was writing this they'd be a couple but because its me Annie is aroace as hell and Xavi is so gay his dad invented homophobia in a queernormative setting

18. How do you want readers to feel while reading your story? after they finish reading it?

Whispers: constant (hopefully cathartic) pain with an added sobbing session afterwards.

Millennium Saga: awe and wonder with occasional moments of utter existential terror mixed in, with an ultimate hopeful and heartwarming conclusion. But lots of stops for pain between books because this series is monstrous

Thank you again for sending this in!!! If you'd like, I'll happily send you a few numbers as well (and the ask game if it has gone missing/been buried since then) <3

#a&a #talking with: ashe #i only ask at the very end there bc i do not know the etiquette when i am. literally two weeks late in replying or even SEEING #dumblr........

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lilyfreshwater · 2 years

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Honestly blaming Ranboo's lore sucking on Dream's total inability to ever reply to a text seems rather gracious to Ranboo for me

Ranboo is the one that asked Dream to participate and be the creepy voice in his head therefore linking them together later on that's still on him for choosing one of the ccs that only works with his friends

But more than anything the reason that Ranboo's lore sucks is that I'm pretty sure he thought he was going to like making it more than he actually did he's the one that at first promised a million things for his lore did that whole arg and those weird things in Spotify and those cryptic messages in ender and was all Mysterious like uyy I got a secret I got a secret and at the end never pushed forwards with anything at all

There are things about his lore that aren't dependant on Dream and he doesn't do those either

If Dream really was the issue he could have gotten through that whole voice in my head thing by simply writing down whatever lines he was going to make Dream say because yes I'm pretty sure he's the one who started with the more serious scripts and signed it at the end with a smiley face and it would have virtually the exact same because his character never even progressed enough for us to actually need to see Dream and him interacting the only time during the whole prison arc that Ranboo and Dream actually had to interact was a 15 minutes hallucination sequence you would think if Ranboo actually wanted to progress his lore and do something he would take his chance if he already had Dream there

But he doesn't and he also sucks at communication as we saw it with him basically forcing Dream to call Techno ten minutes before their stream to tell him that Ranboo had suddenly decided to die and now Techno had to make a whole new arc in the middle which coward move not even saying it himself not telling Wilbur which Wilbur sucks too but in the lore department is different

He also didn't tell anything to Wilbur for months and didn't tell him he was suddenly going to die which forced Wilbur to find a new way to tell his lore

But also if Ranboo didn't want to write anything he could have made a little recorded video like Dream did in which dream just used dummies for everybody

So yeah basically what happened with Ranboo's lore is that he didn't like making it as much as he thought he was going to like it which is the problem with all of Ranboo's content and online presence it was a fun way to garner hype but nothing more than that

And I just realized this ask is really long sorry

ranboo wasn't the one who asked dream to do it initially, dream was the one who suggested it as an improve thing and ranboo went with it. but yeah i think ranboo's lore planning skills are pretty shitty, and i think if he was really invested in the story that he wanted to tell he would have found a way to make it work with different characters or just by himself, but instead he just complained about his own poor organizational skills biting him in the ass. i also think he screwed himself over by making such a distinction between lore, semi-lore, and non-lore. i alluded to this in a previous ask but the whole draw of the dream smp in the first place was that you could see a story unfold from different points of view and you could see beyond the "cut scenes" of important lore happening. for example, during the initial lmanburg conflict, there would be important altercations between characters and then they would both go off and fuck around with their friends to entertain chat for the rest of stream. what made the characters so relatable and interesting was the fact that we could see them laughing and messing around as well as being serious and facing conflict, which is something you don't get in movies or tv shows unless it's important to the plot. and i think ranboo tried to do that, but it was such an awkward and abrupt transition from lore to non-lore that it didn't really have an impact on the audience in the way other streamers did. but then the expectations of his audience bled into the general expectations from the fandom until everyone was expecting heavy and intense lore all the time, which just isnt sustainable

#ask #frank's conspiracy theories

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do-what-the-knight-tells-you · 2 years

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Two things I'm chewing on post- Umbrella Academy Season 3.

HEAVY SPOILERS

First, as I'm sure is intentional, what path old!five traveled to get to where he was:

It never pays to look too closely at the timeline or paradoxes on this show, it's just not tightly written enough for that, and that's not where the fun is. If you want to poke holes, it's very easy to do so.

But this, I think, is clearly intended for us to ask questions.

Old five had a tattoo, had lost part of one arm, and had by his own mouth apparently founded the commission before sealing himself in this paradox-proof room.

Firstly the idea of a paradox-proof room is genius. I love the way that their ridiculous technology interacts with physics / magic / steampunk stuff here. That's hilarious. A paradox-proof room. What genius.

But this implies that either the timeline he was on branches off after the encounter in hotel oblivion when five's arm gets cut off, but before its restoration in the reboot universe that Allison/Reggie create... (So... Do they get to use the machine themselves somehow? Do they get to remake the old universe? Was there some other way of immediately rebooting the previous universe? Was five the one of the eight left out instead of Allison and then five creates the commission in order to undo this apocalypse and get his family back? What was he trying to achieve by telling himself not to save the world? If five had done less to save the world is that what results in him being the sibling that's left out and then is able to retain his power and be in control of the world reboot etc etc?)

OR perhaps he gets his arm cut off another way again and that was a fake out, which is ultimately less interesting to me but definitely a possibility

OR The reboot universe is in some way not real or a simulation or the siblings are in some way trapped or operating under illusions. This theory is somewhat held up by the fact that they all have presented without their powers but also without injuries, where Allison (wherever she went), retains her injuries and presumably her powers. Is she in the "real" reboot universe and they are in some kind of a dream or illusion? Are they in the "real" reboot universe just as they are but she has continued on to some kind of a fake one and kept her injuries, been forced to keep her injuries, to sell the illusion? Are there several reboot realities that may or may not interact? If the one that most the siblings are in is some kind of illusion, And they really are their normal selves underneath including five with only half an arm, then how is Luther there? Is Luther like a program? Where did Sloan go?

I've seen a little bit of criticism about the season being "oh boy, look, another apocalypse, an even bigger apocalypse this time etc etc", But so far despite the fact they've chosen to end every season with an escalating apocalypse, each one has been interesting and distinct from the last in a lot of ways. And this is the most interesting and open-ended one yet.

My second topic was Allison’s arc, which I’ve poked at in a second post over here.

#umbrella academy #umbrella academy spoilers #umbrella academy meta

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ritsulover · 2 years

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things i WISH would happen in bbbglxs2

some of the elemental forms starts disobeying boboiboy's own thoughts (while not splitting) and went rampage, leading to boboiboy having a mild identity crisis

the rest of kokotaim gang getting separated in a different room where they meet different enemies, reminding each of them of what they ACTUALLY wished to be (yaya & ying to focus on their studies, fang to pursue a career + get popular and gopal to be a chef ?? maybe idk) making the four of them questions if being a superhero is TRULY what they wanted

ying being the main focus of an arc. maybe her time manipulation power is very useful for some dangerous organizations that led to her getting hunted down, boboiboy and gopal went to help her hide somewhere safe + contact the TAPOPS station while yaya and fang did their hardest to stop those people from the organizations until laksamana tarung came and beat all of them up

i think it would be fun if at some point in the plot, gopal feels like he's not worthy to be alongside his friends bc he's not "strong enough", so he asked someone (laksamana tarung maybe?? give him more role in the story pls) to train him in battlefield, especially focused on physical strength and taking more advantages of his power by turning things into strong material and using it as a weapon

kaizo redemption arc. make him apologize to fang and explain Everything that happened to them on their planet, as well as what happened to their parents. (bonus point if fang doesn't fully accept the apology but now appreciate kaizo more as an older brother)

(spoiler of a character in the windara arc?) maripos being an official part of TAPOPS and the kokotaim gang like qually. i think his character is wayy to good to be left off in just one arc

boboiboy sparring with sai and shielda to improve his battle techniques (bonus point if fang noticed bbb while hes training and reminds him that he doesn't have to push himself too hard, with boboiboy replying that he had to get stronger to protect his friends)

a whole chapter right after the previous one in which boboiboy came back to earth & spent the whole day splitting into 5/7 to help Tok Aba with his cocoa shop, since his atok is getting weaker and weaker by days (bonus point if the elementals interacts a lot in this chapter w/ gempa being the mom like usual, and double point if the chapter ends with boboiboy lying on the bed at night, exhausted, while whispering to ochobot that maybe, just maybe, he really DO need a rest)

did i mention about how tok aba is getting weaker? what if a few chapters after that, tok aba send a message thru ochobot with his last moments and last words, and boboiboy just breaks down there. the kokotaim gang is there to comfort him (with lots of hugging and crying). though their motivational words did help, boboiboy become much more ruthless from this day onwards, as he no longer show remorse to the enemies who gets in his way. he's still very kind and selfless ofc, but he will not hesitate to use violence if necessary.

yaya developing more anger issues. maybe she would lecture the gang about how its bad to hurt others (esp boboiboy after he became more cold-hearted) to the point she snapped and decided to distance herself from the gang and take a break from being a lance corporal in TAPOPS. (idk how to end this situation in a non-angst way actually 😭 u guys can tell me more of ur ideas in if u want)

#boboiboy #feli rambles #i sure do hope this doesn't flop #fav!

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greysfall · 3 years

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

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

PROS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Still good music

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

- Many new nice stores and yummy looking foods to explore

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

- The social network is crazy and interesting to read through

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

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

CONS:

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

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

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

- The CAMERAWORK IS HELL.

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

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

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

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

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

The entry fee versus paying for it all in the end

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

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

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

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

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

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

The underworld heroine and the hero with little of his own

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But time goes on, and without us realizing it

The battle is getting heated

Time goes on, and without us realiazing it

Divided again”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Individuality, connection and the social network

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The old friends

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

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

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

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

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

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