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rivalsforlife · 3 years

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Do you have anything you wished was different from Ace Attorney canon?

Hello I'm finally slowly starting to get around to answering some of these! Sorry for the wait.

Uh this ask got super long so a basic summary of it: narumitsu being canon in a well-written way would be nice even though I don't think it would ever happen, I stand by not bringing back Phoenix as a main protagonist in DD, and I'd also want to rewrite all of SOJ so that Apollo goes to Khura'in in place of Phoenix, to have more interesting character stuff going on.

So the longer answer is this:

Aside from some of the actually problematic stuff that I don't feel qualified to talk about, story-wise, I answered a sort of similar question about a year ago here. I have changed my opinions a little bit since then, particularly with regards to the canonicity of narumitsu... because while I do love narumitsu I feel like I don't trust Ace Attorney to actually do it properly. After all if this past November has taught us anything "making a ship canon" could actually be quite undesirable and I have no desire to see Phoenix and/or Edgeworth sent to superhell. (I literally know nothing else about supernatural sorry about that.)

If capcom were somehow able to make narumitsu canon but in an unobtrusive way and as a natural progression of the storyline, like oh hey, the court record profile for Miles Edgeworth's Obligatory Last-Case Appearance has Phoenix mention they're dating, and maybe there's a few lines suggesting they live with each other, but it's not like... taking the entire story to force them together and otherwise does not change the way they interact with each other and butcher one or both of their characterizations in the process? I'd definitely be happy about that. Not gonna lie even if they made narumitsu canon in the most terrible way possible I'd have a "holy shit I can't believe they did that it's the best day of my life" kind of moment before I could think about it critically. But I honestly see no chance of them ever actually making narumitsu canon, so that's quite unrealistic to hope for anyways.

Aside from that in that other ask I talked about basically the premise of an Apollo trilogy and not bringing back Phoenix as the main protagonist in DD, and I still stand by that, buuut in my other ask I did touch on making SOJ a different game where Apollo goes to Khura'in instead of Phoenix - and you know what I'm going to take some time to actually talk about my dream version of SOJ because there were a lot of little things about the one we got that I didn't like. And it's going to be very long. So it's under a cut.

SO yeah I talked about it a bit in the other ask. I think that Phoenix going to Khura'in is a rather weak idea both externally and in-universe. In one of the interviews, too lazy to find which one, Phoenix basically goes to Khura'in because the writers couldn't figure out how to challenge him anymore. ... And then they don't actually challenge him at all. Because oh well now we're going to this new country where they KILL DEFENSE ATTORNEYS WHO LOSE and then it's supposed to be *shocking* that Phoenix would risk his life for a kid or his best friend. you know the guy who ran across a burning bridge to save his best friend. you know the guy who got punched in the face, nearly killed by the mafia, and tazed trying to save his clients. This doesn't tell me anything new about Phoenix's character. His whole travel in Khura'in doesn't tell me anything new about Phoenix's character. Basically the only reason he's there is to see Maya - Maya who theoretically would be returning home in about two weeks. Maya who was still in her training for two more weeks when Phoenix visited so he wouldn't be able to see her anyways. ... And in the meantime Trucy had the biggest show of her life that was going to be on TV and Phoenix wasn't there for it. And of course Phoenix didn't return home after Trucy was accused of murder (yes he couldn't be there for the trial, but he definitely could have for the emotional support afterwards) and instead just sits for two weeks in Khura'in doing literally nothing after Ahlbi's trial.

(And yes I know about the anime prologue that has Phoenix think Maya's in danger... but that's not strictly canon since it's never mentioned in game, isn't technically a part of the game, and even still, why wouldn't he go home after knowing that Maya's safe and that Trucy had been ACCUSED OF MURDER. Honestly that's what makes me angriest about this whole thing is that it makes Phoenix out to be a terrible dad. We really don't need any more takes like that, especially not from canon.)

And what about Apollo, you may ask? Well, given case 5 of SOJ, Apollo actually has a personal link to Khura'in and ends up staying there afterwards... after being there for like a day or two. I should note here that it has been a while since I went through SOJ in its entirety so I am fuzzy on many of the details. But both through what I remember and some conversations with people who actually played the game recently, the motivation for Apollo to actually stay in Khura'in isn't that great. It mainly seemed like guilt about his dead dad who he hadn't been in contact with for years and had completely written off until a few days ago but oh he died and then went to go visit him so... better take up the law office!

If Apollo had gone to Khura'in in place of Phoenix and spent more time there, reconnecting with his childhood home and actually getting passionate seeing how corrupt the legal system is there (even though we have a corrupt legal system at home) and being driven to fix it, that would make for a stronger story, I think. The Khura'in plot is more personally focused around Apollo than it is Phoenix. Phoenix's connection to Khura'in is through Maya, but Maya doesn't really have much of a connection to it aside from "it's where spirit channeling is from and she trains there". But Apollo, I guess, grew up there. So it's so strange to me that they force all of Apollo's connection to Khura'in in the last case while Phoenix is running around doing who-knows-what for the rest of the game. Phoenix spends more time getting to know the state of Khura'in and the Defiant Dragons and case 3's whole thing but he isn't the one who in the end decides to sit down and fix it; that's all on Apollo. It almost feels like they forced one of the two plots in to everything. And it was probably conceived as a Phoenix story that they needed to fit Apollo into last minute because oops he's supposed to be a protagonist too.

Some other strengths to Apollo going to Khura'in include that it would shake up the character dynamics a bit. Instead of Phoenix defending Maya, it's Apollo defending Maya, and that's a particularly interesting thing to look at in the context of Khura'in's "we kill defense attorneys" system. Of course, Phoenix would risk his life to save Maya, 100%, every time. But what about Apollo, who hasn't met Maya, who only knows her as "Mr. Wright's former assistant" - would he risk his life for her? And I feel like Maya would argue more against him defending her because of that. "We're strangers, you don't know me, you don't have to risk your life defending me." (Sidenote that I was always upset that Maya didn't protest much when Phoenix offered to defend her, knowing his life was at risk - sure she knows him better and knows he's always been able to get her out of these situations, but at the same time, the fact that there was no "what about your daughter?" conversation sucks. I really wish SOJ wouldn't have like. completely forgotten about the phoenix-trucy father-daughterisms.)

Let's say Apollo goes to Khura'in. Phoenix stays at home. Phoenix gets a call from Apollo that's basically "uhh hi Mr. Wright you know your friend Maya, she's been arrested for murder, if I defend her and I lose we're both dead," then you can tie in to that moment in 6-2 where Phoenix (who can't make it in time for the trial!) believes in Apollo and his skills as an attorney, not just to save Maya's life, but also his own. It ties in a bit more to the overall challenge of defending someone at the risk of your own life. Again, Phoenix would have very few hesitations, if any, risking his life to defend Maya. Apollo may have more defending a stranger at the risk of his own life.

Then if you can actually have Apollo and Maya talk together that would be neat - Maya can tell him embarrassing stories about Phoenix's rookie days, for instance. Their dynamic would be quite a bit different from Phoenix and Maya's, and that would be an interesting thing to see, unlike what we have in SOJ where all of Maya's substantial interactions are with characters she already knows or brand new characters.

(It would also be pretty neat to know more spirit channeling politics and dive in more to Maya's perspective on Khura'in and also her role as upcoming Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique and where she plans to lead the village in the future and also reconcile with her family's bloody legacy, but I'm not quite sure how to fit that in right now.)

And how about Phoenix, back home in Japanifornia? Evidently he'd end up being in charge of defending Trucy. Now, I did love the siblingsisms in canon 6-2, but I feel like there is still potential for Phoenix defending Trucy. All of Apollo Justice has a bunch of good moments between Apollo and Trucy, and she's co-counsel on all his trials, but we've never had any substantial Phoenix and Trucy investigation or co-counsel moments. I feel like AU 6-2 would be a great opportunity to dive more into Phoenix and Trucy's relationship and how it may have changed after Phoenix got his badge back. Plus, Phoenix being "the only one who knows how she really feels on the inside", he'd have unique insider knowledge into some of the Gramarye stuff that comes up in the case and Trucy's personal connection to the Gramaryes, which Apollo knows a bit of, but Phoenix knows more of. ... Or at least, should know more of, given that he raised Trucy for nine years at this point and they're very close, and Phoenix knows her better than anyone else does, even if capcom has forgotten this.

... Of course having Athena defend the case would also be great because more Athena spotlight is never a bad thing, but it's hard to come up with a reason why Phoenix wouldn't be there to defend her. And doing more switcheroos in terms of role in the plot is a bit beyond the scope of what I have in mind right now. Sorry Athena.

Aside from that, Athena still gets Storyteller, Apollo still heads Turnabout Revolution, and Phoenix still gets the DLC case. Apollo stays in Khura'in in the end with a bit more to his motivations. Rather than it just being about carrying on Dhurke's legacy, it's also something Apollo is passionate about after all he witnessed here. While we're at it I'd still rework a lot of Turnabout Revolution to make it so that Phoenix genuinely believes in Atishon because that makes for sooo much more interesting of a plot and actual character development on Phoenix's part than "Maya was kidnapped again and Phoenix is only wrong when he has no other choice", but that'd require some more detail and this post is long enough already.

And in terms of other details that need to be sorted out, there's the question of why Apollo would need to go to Khura'in in the first place. I'd probably say something to do with Dhurke. Maybe he comes back a bit earlier - actually alive, maybe, though crossing borders would be a bit of a challenge, or he reaches out to Apollo remotely somehow and Apollo goes to yell in his face about abandoning him (or at least that's what he thinks he wants.) Then we could have some more Dhurke and Apollo bonding time, potentially? Idk, if you switch up Phoenix and Apollo you're pretty much writing a whole new game and obviously I have not worked out all the details, but I think if Capcom had tried to go with this route from the outset they'd have a stronger game. At least stronger character motivations.

So... yeah. Those are my opinions. If you read through this whole thing I'm very impressed because it got very long!

#asks #soj spoilers #aa6 spoilers

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hafanforever · 4 years

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Tyrant Terror

So I know it’s no surprise to my closest friends and fellow Disney fans on Tumblr that I have a strong, deep affinity for villains, including those by Disney. And over the last several months, the more I wrote about King Runeard in my Frozen II analyses, the more I realized what made him a tyrant, albeit a secret one, and that led me to think about other villains in the Disney animated canon who were tyrants.

The thing is, while most historical tyrants were people of royalty, you don’t necessarily have to be a monarch in order to be a tyrant. The definition of a tyrant isn’t limited to being a KING or QUEEN who is openly cruel, hostile, harsh, uncaring, oppressive, persecuting, and unjust towards the people they rule. I mean, that is one way to express tyranny, and probably the most famous way it is and has been done. But what it really means for a person to be called a tyrant is being in a position of power, authority, and/or control over other people and MISUSING, to the point of ABUSING, that position, and often for that tyrant's own selfish desires rather than in the best interest of the people being ruled by the tyrant.

So from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Frozen II, there are a handful of tyrannical antagonists who are indeed monarchs, such as the Queen of Hearts, Prince John, and Scar, but also plenty others who are not. There are tyrants who are corrupt government officials, such as Governor Ratcliffe, Frollo, and Bellwether, and even those who wield magic, such as Maleficent, Ursula, and Jafar. And like the villainous monarchs, the non-monarch villains prove themselves as tyrants all because they abuse their positions of power, magic or non-magic power, and authority that they have over other characters. In fact, there are even a couple of heroic characters who start off more as protagonist villains because they display tyrannical behavior before they become better people. On the contrary, the main antagonist enemies of these tyrant heroes serve as darker reflections of what the latter characters could have become had they not learned the error of their ways.

Below is my list of all the villains from Walt Disney Animation Studios that I perceive as tyrants, from monarchs to government officials to sorcerers, and what scenes in their respective movies depict them displaying tyrannical behavior. I even listed villains that would have become tyrants had they succeeded in their longterm goals.

Monarchs

The Evil Queen: Though we never see her actively governing her kingdom on screen, the abuse that the evil queen displays in her authority over Snow White by dressing her stepdaughter in rags and forcing her to work as a maid in an attempt to make her (Snow White) unattractive makes her a tyrant for sure. Furthermore, the way she mocks the skeletal remains of a prisoner in her dungeon suggests the queen is indeed a cruel, tyrannical ruler.

Queen of Hearts: If we want to consider the epitome of a true tyrant that is a monarch from Disney, it can be safely assumed that that role belongs to the Queen of Hearts. While every resident of Wonderland is insane in some way, the Queen is the most dangerous one of all by being the ruler of the land. An egotist extraordinaire, she loves to get her way, insisting that “All ways are MY ways!” and enjoys hearing the words “Yes, Your Majesty”. The Queen outwardly abuses her authority and power over her subjects by becoming furious over even the smallest of matters, during which she loses her literally explosive temper and flies into violent rages. She is also extremely irrational and unjust in making decisions, primarily by utilizing executions as her only and immediate solution to any problem, especially whenever she feels someone has wronged her, while also refusing to let the individuals she wants beheaded explain their sides of the stories. Enraged upon seeing her white roses painted red, when she misses a shot in croquet, and when she becomes the target of a prank caused by the Cheshire Cat, the Queen sentences those she deems responsible to death by beheading. All of this proves just how much she persecutes and oppresses the residents of Wonderland, instilling only fear and intimidation into their hearts. (A pun that is VERY much intended by me, the Queen of Puns! 😆😆😆)

Prince John: While possessing a short temper that isn’t nearly as explosive and violent as that of the Queen of Hearts, Prince John is displayed to be extremely incompetent as the ruler of England during the time that King Richard is off fighting in the Crusades. Stingy and greedy, the prince continually finds ways to rob and swindle his people in pursuit of wealth for himself. John shows absolutely no care that the harsh laws he decrees to gain more money drive the citizens of Nottingham into poverty and starvation, and he even cruelly mocks them on their poor states by saying, “Rob the poor to feed the rich!”. After the villagers start making fun of him with the song “The Phony King of England”, John punishes them by further increasing the tax payments. Soon everyone in Nottingham is stripped of their money and they are put in prison due to their inability to pay their taxes.

Horned King: Even though the Queen of Hearts projects herself as the ideal example of a royal tyrant, she is far less evil and scary than the Horned King. A skeletal creature with green, rotting flesh, the Horned King is completely frightening in appearance and in personality. Malicious, cruel, malevolent, sinister, power-hungry, megalomaniacal, ruthless, and merciless, he is the epitome of a tyrant who is nothing but purely and completely evil. His goal is to find the infamous Black Cauldron and use its powers to unleash an army of immortal warriors called the Cauldron Born in order to become immortal and conquer the world.

Scar: Denied a legitimate chance to succeed Mufasa as the King of the Pride Lands once Simba is born, Scar schemes to have both of them killed to become king. After murdering Mufasa and believing that Simba has been killed as well, Scar ascends to the throne. However, because he allows the hyenas unrestricted hunting rights in the Pride Lands, their overeating leads to a shortage of food, and a drought leads to other animal herds moving away. Ultimately, these events turn the kingdom into a barren wasteland under Scar’s reign, leaving it completely devoid of green vegetation, water, and food sources. Incredibly lazy and incompetent as a ruler, and caring about nothing except the power and authority that being king gives him, Scar refuses to accept that his allowance of the hyenas overeating is what leads to the destruction of the Pride Lands. He instead blames it on Sarabi and the other lionesses since the hyenas complained to him that they refuse to go hunt. When she suggests they leave Pride Rock to survive, Scar obstinately rejects the idea, not at all caring that he has essentially sentenced them to death. He argues that his place as king puts him in the right for whatever he decides to do: “I am the king! I can do whatever I want!”

King Runeard: In his life, Runeard openly presented himself as a peaceful, generous leader to the people of Arendelle AND the Northuldra. But Elsa discovers from his snowy manifestation in Ahtohallan that he did not trust the Northuldra just because they followed magic. Despite his kingdom having seen him as a benevolent ruler, the face the figure of Runeard makes as he sneers "of a king!" implies that only really cared about himself as well the power and authority he had in being a king. Therefore, he secretly misused and abused it whenever the opportunity came along. This is displayed perfectly when Runeard had the dam constructed in the Enchanted Forest, presenting it as a gift to the Northuldra. He claimed that it would strengthen their land, but admitted only to the second-in-command that the dam’s effects would be just the opposite. This was all part of Runeard’s subtle plan to destroy the Northuldra, as he feared they would try to usurp him and take over Arendelle using their magical ties.

Government Officials/Authority Figures

Lady Tremaine: Like the evil queen before her, Lady Tremaine has control and authority over Cinderella once the latter’s father dies, and misuses it by turning Cinderella into her servant. Day after day for ten years, Lady Tremaine orders and bosses Cinderella around, forces her to do every single bit of housework and menial task for her and the former’s daughters, and subjects the poor girl to an endless cycle of abuse and torment. When Cinderella is accused by Anastasia of putting Gus under the latter’s teacup, her stepmother refuses to let her explain the truth and unfairly punishes her with extra chores. Later, Lady Tremaine falsely promises Cinderella she may attend the ball if she finds a suitable dress and finishes her chores, but gives her chore after chore to do to keep her from working on her dress. After Cinderella appears wearing the dress her mouse and bird friends fixed up for her, Lady Tremaine subtly and cruelly manipulates Drizella and Anastasia into destroying it so that she can appear to be fair in her side of the bargain (”If you can find something suitable to wear”) while simultaneously keeping Cinderella from going to the ball in the first place. The following morning, when she realizes Cinderella was the mysterious girl who danced with the prince at the ball, Lady Tremaine follows her stepdaughter up to her room and locks her in to prevent her from trying on the glass slipper when the Duke arrives with it.

Sheriff of Nottingham: Despite not being the main antagonist of Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham is as much of a tyrant over the town as Prince John is to it and the entirety of England. This is because he is abusive, ruthless, and completely unsympathetic towards the people’s poverty and continually demands that they pay their taxes, regardless of what other problems they may have that hinders them from doing so. It is because of the Sheriff’s harsh decree of taxes, and then by that of Prince John once the latter takes up residence in Nottingham, that the town’s citizens are driven into poverty. The cruel, immoral way the Sheriff collects taxes includes forcing out the coins Otto had hidden in his leg cast, not caring that his act was causing the blacksmith pain from his broken leg, confiscating the one farthing Skippy had been given for his birthday and insincerely wishing him a happy birthday, and taking the single farthing that was in the Friar Tuck’s church's poor box and laughing as he did it.

Ratigan: A notorious crime lord, Ratigan is the leader of a gang of thugs comprised primarily of mice, but also including a bat named Fidget, who is his second-in-command. Although they willingly help their boss with his crimes, they also participate out of fear for their own lives. Ratigan is an abusive tyrant to his minions and threatens to feed them to his cat Felicia if they ever do something that angers him, even if it occurs unintentionally. This is shown after one of his drunken thugs calls him a rat during "The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind”, and Ratigan threatens his other minions with the same fate if they do not keep singing. Ratigan’s latest scheme is to take over London by murdering the Mouse Queen during her Diamond Jubilee celebration and secretly replacing her with a lifelike robot. He and his thugs (who are disguised as royal guards) infiltrate Buckingham Palace and kidnap the Queen, who is taken to be fed to Felicia by Fidget. As the Diamond Jubilee takes place, the Robot Queen names Ratigan as her new "Royal Consort", and Ratigan, dressed in an ornate robe, immediately presents himself in front of the gathered citizens of Mousedom, terrifying them. He then proceeds to read over his long list of tyrannical laws, one of which is a heavy tax policy for people he deems "parasites", including the elderly, infirm, and children.

Governor Ratcliffe: A completely unscrupulous and greedy man, Ratcliffe leads John Smith and other sailors on an expedition to Virginia to find gold, but he secretly plans to keep all discovered riches for himself. Upon their arrival to America, he forces all of the settlers to dig around their encampment, but refuses to do any manual labor himself out of his own sheer laziness. When no gold turns up in the searches, Ratcliffe becomes greedily convinced that it is because the Native Americans are hoarding it. He refuses to believe John's claim that there is no gold around the land, claiming that the Powhatans’ land is his land for the taking and that he makes the laws. After John is captured by the Powhatans, as they believed he murdered Kocoum, Ratcliffe takes it as the opportunity to take the non-existent gold from them, but claiming to his men that it is a rescue mission.

Judge Claude Frollo: Perhaps the darkest and most malevolent of all Disney Villains in animation (aside from the Horned King), Frollo uses his position as the Minister of Justice in the city of Paris to enrich himself and persecute anyone and everyone he considers inferior. He especially holds a deep-seated hatred for the gypsies and plots to eradicate them from the city. Despite his dark deeds, Frollo refuses to find any fault within himself and he truly believes he is a good person who is only trying to rid the world of sin and malice. Any time he commits a crime or is about to do one, he makes excuses to justify them, saying he is doing it in the eyes of God and that his victims are the ones who are really at fault. After chasing and murdering Quasimodo’s mother since he believed that the bundle she was carrying was stolen goods, Frollo attempts to murder Quasimodo since he believes the latter’s deformity makes him an unholy demon. Years later, after trapping Esmeralda in Notre Dame and upon discovering that she has escaped, he launches a ruthless manhunt around the city to find her, burning down the houses of anyone suspected of sheltering gypsies (including an innocent miller and his family, who survive thanks to Phoebus’s intervention) and interrogating gypsies who are captured. During the climax, Frollo makes the excuse that Esmeralda has proven herself to be a witch and will be executed by burned at the stake as her sentence.

Hades: The reluctant ruler of the Underworld and Lord of the Dead, Hades abuses his authoritative role by subjecting his lackeys Pain and Panic to harsh mistreatment whenever they fail a task assigned to them and any other time they do or say something that angers their boss. The two imps only put up with Hades’s abuse not so much out of loyalty to him, but out of deep fear for him. When he discovers that the two did not succeed in killing Hercules as a baby, Hades furiously grabs both Pain and Panic by their necks and chokes them as he demands they explain themselves. Later, after Hercules becomes a famous hero in Thebes, Pain and Panic adorn themselves with some of the hero’s merchandise, much to their boss’s complete ire.

Shan Yu: The ruthless yet respected leader of the Hun army, Shan Yu is an extremely dark, merciless, and dangerous individual determined to take control of China. His thought-to-be impossible feat of getting through the Great Wall to invade China soon makes him notorious and feared throughout the entire country. In his journey to the Imperial City, Shan Yu and his army destroy one village, then slaughter the entire Imperial Army and residents in another village at the Tung Shao Pass in the mountains. He and five of his elite soldiers are the only ones who survive a snow avalanche caused by Mulan. When the group arrives at the Imperial City and take control of the palace, Shan Yu orders the Emperor to bow to him, and decides to kill him when the latter adamantly refuses to do so.

Turbo: Initially believed to be the ruler of the game Sugar Rush, King Candy is secretly Turbo, a racer from the old game TurboTime who was believed to have died after his game was permanently unplugged. Having stolen the throne from Vanellope Von Schweetz, the true ruler, Turbo turns her into a glitch and makes himself the ruler of her kingdom. While he is viewed as eccentric and flamboyant, yet jovial and benevolent, to his subjects, Turbo is extremely obsessive and possessive of his new royal status. He continuously lusts for power and authority and goes to great lengths to secretly abuse his position, not just by allowing the other racers to ruthlessly torment Vanellope, but especially by keeping Vanellope from racing so that she cannot regain the role he had stolen from her.

Bellwether: The epitome of the famous phrase “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”, Dawn Bellwether pretends to be sweet, meek, and friendly to successfully hide her true prejudiced, ruthless, embittered nature. Initially the overworked assistant mayor of Zootopia to its mayor Leodore Lionheart, Bellwether secretly hates him and all predators, viewing them as nothing more than savage, dangerous monsters. In her scheme to overthrow him, take control of the city, and drive all predators out of Zootopia, Bellwether becomes the leader of a secret organization of sheep terrorists who create a serum from night howlers to turn predators feral. This would give the illusion that they were biologically reverting back to their "primitive savage ways" and eventually be regarded as too dangerous for society, allowing only prey animals to take up the entire population. However, in her goal to become the mayor of Zootopia, rather than subjecting Lionheart to becoming savage, Bellwether instead develops her plot to ensure that he is removed from office and his positive reputation amongst the citizens is ruined, allowing her to rise to power in his place.

Magic Users

Maleficent: Known as The Mistress of All Evil, Maleficent is a ruthless tyrant who rules her own subjects at her home, the Forbidden Mountain. Using her dark magic, she continuously abuses her power and authority over her minions, particularly whenever they display incompetence and stupidity. This is shown when Maleficent flies into a rage and attacks them with her magic upon realizing that, over the last 16 years in their search for Aurora, they were only looking for a baby, not realizing in their idiocy that Aurora would be growing up.

Ursula: Known for her dark reputation as a sea witch, Ursula was banished from Atlantica by Triton. She explains in “Poor Unfortunate Souls” that she uses her magic to help merfolk attain their deepest desires and only imprisons them if they can’t keep their side of the bargain. However, after she takes Ariel’s voice away and turns the latter into a human to try and win Eric’s heart, Ursula reveals she has no intention of letting Ariel follow through with kissing Eric to remain human. She proves herself to be a tyrant because all she really does is backstab the merpeople with whom she makes deals in order to ensure that only HER desires are met! When she bargains with Triton so he will surrender himself to her in exchange for Ariel’s freedom, Ursula steals his crown and trident, then grows to giant size, declaring herself the ruler of the entire ocean.

Jafar: Unbeknownst to the Sultan of Agrabah, his Royal Vizier Jafar plots to take control of the kingdom, and he needs the Genie of the lamp from the Cave of Wonders to pull off this feat. Once the lamp is in his possession, Jafar succeeds with his first to become sultan. But after Jasmine and her father refuse to bow to him, he wishes to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world to have an even greater amount of power. During his brief reign, Jafar proves himself to be a tyrant by turning Agrabah into a dystopian wasteland, dressing the Sultan as a living marionette and allowing him to be abused by Iago, and making Jasmine his own slave girl.

Tyrants-Turned-Heroes

The Beast: From the time he is cursed and until he finally starts to soften, the spoiled behavior the prince had before his curse remains. He is aggressive, rude, impatient, and frequently and easily loses his temper when something annoys or irritates him. Primarily due to his short temper, the Beast acts like a tyrant towards his servants because he is mean and cruel to them as he gives them orders, which makes them deeply afraid of him. Only on some occasions do they openly rebel against him or talk back to him, such as Mrs. Potts ordering the Beast to act more like a gentleman around Belle, and both her and Lumiere deciding to feed Belle despite being told that she was not allowed to eat unless she ate with the Beast.

Kuzco: In the beginning, Kuzco is very arrogant, lazy, selfish, and self-absorbed, viewing himself as superior to all simply for being the emperor. He rules his empire completely without the best interest of his people and always seeks to have his way, never showing any concern over the chances things could turn out badly for other people involved. This is shown when he sets his sights on building his summer home of Kuzcotopia on the top of the hill where Pacha, Pacha’s family, and other villagers reside. Since the plan will only benefit himself, Kuzco shows absolutely no care or concern that destroying Pacha’s village to build Kuzcotopia will render the residents homeless.

Would-Be Tyrants

Gaston: From what I described about him in “Bride and Prejudice” with his growing obsession with Belle and his low, inferior views of women, there is no doubt in my mind that, had Gaston succeeded in marrying Belle and starting a family with her, he would have run his household like a tyrant. He would be very controlling to the point of being physically abusive to his wife in order to get her to obey every single one of his commands and orders. Like many of the tyrants I listed above, Gaston would undoubtedly use fear and intimidation to keep his wife in her proper place of being beneath him, and he would instill these same feelings on to his own children.

Yzma: Her ire drawn after Kuzco remorselessly fires her, a furious Yzma decides to kill him so that she can take over the empire. While Kuzco is initially selfish, callous, and uncaring towards his staff and people living in his empire, he learns to change his ways by the end of the film. Had Yzma succeeded in her goal, she would have been far more of a selfish, ruthless tyrant than Kuzco was at first. This is evident during her introduction scene, which is one of many times she governs the empire whenever Kuzco is not present. As a peasant complains to her that he and his family are suffering from limited food sources, Yzma spitefully says his problem is of no concern to her, and that the man should have realized this ahead of time.

Hans: While taking over as temporary ruler of Arendelle in both Elsa and Anna’s absence, Hans wins the hearts of the people by acting as a kind, caring, benevolent ruler during the harsh conditions brought on by Elsa’s magical winter. Though he reveals his true, dark nature to Anna and his plot to take control of Arendelle, the fact that he earned the trust and respect of the Arendellians suggest that Hans could truly have been a very worthy ruler. However, now that we have Frozen II and it revealed that Runeard was actually a malevolent tyrant behind the same kind of benevolent facade that Hans used, there is no doubt in my mind that had he succeeded in stealing Arendelle’s throne, Hans also would have become a ruthless, power-hungry, selfish tyrant in secret.

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revchainsaw · 3 years

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Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Prayers and Salutations Cult Members! I am your mysterious minister Reverend Chainsaw and this is another nights revival service at the Cult Film Tent Revival. I bring you a special word tonight. Tonight's word is about a person who roamed the earth, in a time where people were backward and warlike. A leader emerged into a kingdom full of eschatological expectation. This leader came preaching peace, and was killed for the sins of the world, but was resurrected. In that resurrection a new hope was brought to the planet, and true healing through the power of love in the face of violence is made possible. I am talking of course about Princess Nausicaa from the Valley of the Wind.

The Message

Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind is the film that put studio Ghibli and Hayoa Miyazaki on the map. No animated feature this grandiose and epic had been achieved by 1984, as much as Disney may beg to differ. The tale may be simple, and it may feel super 80s to us today, but Nausicaa is a masterpiece, and the fact that Howl's Moving Castle is brought up alongside Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away more often than Nausicaa is a farce and a tragedy.

The film takes place on a fantastic planet that seems to have suffered the ravages of an apocalyptic war. A war that involved gigantic warriors with powers so devastating they about made the entire planet inhospitable if not uninhabitable; save for a few areas. The fall out of this ancient war has left the earth in a state of repair, where the natural processes of a planet healing has creating giant toxic jungles.

Beyond these jungles lie two imperialistic factions, they seem almost to be city-states but it's not terribly clear. The Kingdom of Tolmekia, a militaristic proto-fascist society of almost Spartan sensibilities. Tolmekia is governed by the ambitious and cynical Princess Kushana, But I like to call her Furiosa. Just like Furiosa, Kushana is physically missing parts of herself, a visual metaphor for her metaphysical lacking and the parts of her humanity she has cut away. Kushana's world view is one of fear, a fear that can only be quelled by waging a genocidal campaign against her enemies.

Speaking of enemies, the Athens to Tolmekias Sparta would be the Pejite Kingdom. The Pejites might like to view themselves as simply responding to Tolmekian aggression, but the narrative of the film, and the story told quite visibly on the body of Kushana, is quite different. The Pejites are just as bloodthirsty if not more palettable in their approach, but like the Tolmekians, they believe only their own lives have any value. And thus, in this theatre of war, a Giant Warrior from the ages before is unearthed by the Pejite Kingdom, Stolen by the Tolmekians, before the forces of nature themselves, seem to conspire to drop the Giant Warriors "egg" right into the Valley of the Wind.

The Valley of the Wind is populated like the world of Avatar the Last Airbender, that is mostly of children and the elderly. The people of the Valley have been able to remain untouched by the ravages of war and the toxic jungles of the damaged world primarily due to geographic luck that's explained in minor exposition in the film. They are ruled by a King, and they are all deeply enamored by their beloved Princess Nausicaa.

Nausicaa is a gentle soul. She is kind to animals, she is empathetic, unreasonably patient, and bears pain and grief inflicted on her out of cruelty with a saintly understanding. She really is a thinly veiled Christ figure, scratch that. There is no veil. But she's also my favorite Christ figure. She does not preach a message, as much as she tries to save everyone from their own short sighted goals. She is not perfect, she does lash out and do some fantasy sword fight murder, but she regrets her actions so deeply that it seems to have played a part in motivating her to become even more compassionate and patient with the evils of the world.

Nausicaa discovers yet another plot by the Pejites, who are afraid of the possibility of the Tolmekians awakening the Giant Warrior, to use animal cruelty to enrage a group of almost invincible giant insects known as the Ohm. By luring the Ohm into the Valley of the Wind where the Tolmekians have become an occupying force, they hope to completely wipe out everything that threatens them. The Tolmekians DO awaken the Giant Warrior and pure pandemonium ensues. Nausicaa manages to save the Baby Ohm and calm the rage of the bloodthirsty Ohm swarm, and to defeat the warlike tendencies of both the Pejites and the Tolmekians. All the while fulfilling a prophecy fortold about a messianic savior figure called the Man in Blue.

Now that you have heard the Gospel of Nausicaa, please stand to receive The Benediction.

Best Character: Half a Person

Now that I've spent the better part of this review gushing about our Lord and savior Nausicaa. I have to admit, she's at times a bit too perfect, a bit too saccharin. Even her flaw, or her one weakness and her failing to be perfect, just adds to the perfection. I can't even say she never makes mistakes cuz she made one, and that's infuriating. It's even more infuriating that I still think she's a great character. Normally this kind of thing really kills a hero. Most Chosen Ones are the most boring and least likeable characters in their narratives. I don't know how Nausicaa avoids this trap, but she does. I'll have to do some meditating on that.

However, just like in your typical Chosen One fantasy narrative, the hero is a lot less fun than the villain. I'm going to say the best character in Nausicaa is Kushana. I want to be like Nausicaa, but I don't understand her. She's almost alien, even though we learn all about her. Kushana is mysterious, secretive, and enigmatic, yet I understand her. She barely has an arc, she doesn't really change. She's cold and cynical to the bone, but I don't need to see much of her situation to completely understand why she is the way she is. I usually hate totalitarian bad guys, but Kushana I like. Sue Me.

Also fun fact, did you that Nausicaa means 'Sinker of Ships'. That's kinda fun.

Best Scene: Spoiled for Choice

I'm going to be lazy and say take your pick. There is really not a bad seen in this movie. If the action isn't going, then there's intriguing dialogue. If there's no dialogue then you may be about to get hit with a forceful burst of whimsy. There's horror, there's swordfights and aerial dogfights. The only thing in Nausicaa I don't like to see, is the bloody tortured Ohm Baby. It's like a god damned Sarah Mclachlan commercial.

Best Creature: Foxy Shazam!

The Ohm are so simplistic yet so detailed. The number of eyes is alien, but the way they are used is expertly expressive. Who'd think you could get me to love what basically amounts to a silverfish with the intensity that I love a kitten. How did Miyazaki pull an Okja with a creature that should be haunting our dreams? I don't know.

And what about the Giant Warrior! If you are an Evangelion fan then you probably already know that Hideaki Anno designed and animated the melting goopy biomechanical beast. Surely a sight that would make both H.R. Giger and Clive Barker giddy with excitement. Just the image of the silhouettes marching amidst the desolation of the old world is burned into my brain.

So which of these is the best creature from Ghibli's first outing? It's fucking Teto. It was always gonna be Teto you idiot. Just look at Teto, he's adorable. He's too cute to exist. I'm so alone. I need a pet.

Best Character Design: Tolmekian Regalia

I originally included this category to talk some about Kushana, however, at that time I also thought I was going to say Nausicaa was the best character. I thought hard about deleting it, but I think it's a different category and you can't accuse me of playing favorites because my favorite character is clearly Teto. Just to keep it simple. It's the two costume shift from full military regalia in white and gold, to the one metal arm, warrior princess get up. It's a great costume and a great look. Get on this shit cosplay nerds. It's great for Cons in Canada, you have to think about layers, and you can't keep going as Mr. Plow. It's lazy.

Best Excuse to Talk About Patrick Stewart's Character: Lord Yupa

I just realized that I was about to write this whole review without talking about Lord Yupa. Lord Yupa is a sword saint and all around badass I think a lot of entertainment, especially in the west is lacking bad ass old men. Lord Yupa particularly shines in the early half of the film as a warrior and as a wise council to Nausicaa. If she's Jesus then Yupa is John the Baptist. He is also voiced by the elegant and eloquent Patrick Stewart. He also comes with 2 chocobos!

Worst Character: For Whom Asbel Tolls

This might also be the worst actor category as well. Actual Cannibal (haha meme) and actual monster (haha real life) Shia Labeouf doesn't so much act in the role as he read the lines and it was recorded. The good news it doesn't effect the film too much because Asbel is completely forgettable. He is a catalyst to some of the action, but besides that I don't really care for him.

Worst Aspect: To Be Fair ...

It would be unfair to completely ignore anything negative about Nausicaa. I have already mentioned in many places that there are some pretty corny, or pretty predictable tropes to this movie. But what I can't capture in words is exactly why it feels fresh when it's done in this movie. I suppose that's what makes it good. It's just so good that it's weak points are lifted up by it's strengths. Some people may bored of Nausicaa's unyielding goodness, or that she very rarely chooses to take action as much as she chases and pleads with her surroundings, but I mean, she does pay for that eventually. It's a fantasy story and it hits a lot of timeless themes that have been hit in stories for as long as human beings have been telling stories. Some people may feel that it doesn't do enough to stand out.

Summary

I have defined the S tier for myself as "near perfect and personal favorite" films. I like to think that Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind is near perfect. Some may say that it looks like it might just be a personal favorite. In the case of Nausicaa, I'm having a very hard time telling the difference. I think it would be overly simple to claim that Nausicaa is just an ancient archetypal heroes journey with an 80s anime coat of paint. I think it's doing quite a few new and interesting things with that formula, those things are just playing out all around that narrative as opposed to being at it's center. For a first full length outing by the studio, you can really see Miyazaki's heart and the values he holds close to. I'll repeat myself so that we are completely clear on the matter. I think Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind is a near perfect movie.

Overall Grade: S

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kob131 · 4 years

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You know Hero Hei, it’s hard to feel sorry for you (or even try to be neutral towards you) when you’re still pulling the same manipulative bullshit.

Shocked face, overexaggerated title, contrasting colors, aggressive language- I’m pretty sure if Trump’s Political ads had thumbnails, they’d looked identical to yours (and I only say Trump because every other politician follows an older version of your formula.)

‘This is a follow-up to Neath Oum’s hitpiece on me-’

There you go again. Hit Piece is defined as a disingenuous article or similar such piece of media designed to turn public opinion against a person. Issue is- this is not a public article, it’s a fucking tweet thread and it’s not made to turn people against you (and consider the replies to his tweet, it wouldn’t even slightly change public opinion of you), it was made to explain why he doesn’t like you.

We can actually see how a hit piece would sound like IN YOUR VIDEO, as Neath forgoes a lot of the manipulative techniques you use in your videos to get an emotional reaction out of his audience before even beginning.

‘I have nothing but respect for Monty Oum-’

Your numerous videos slandering his friends when the man outright told people to stop watching his show for saying one of his friends was a lesser voice actor than two others in ONE instance says otherwise.

‘*insert a bunch of sarcastic stuff here*’

I wouldn’t bitch too much but this video is only 6 minutes and 13 seconds long and about half a minute passes without him saying of substance. And I’m keeping his shit vague because it’s meaningless and just meant to rile his audience up.

‘It won’t negatively affect me at all.’

Cool...and Neath is never shown to intend it too. Here’s the tweet thread that Hero Hei is talking but never sources (https://twitter.com/neath_oum/status/1307345624958812160). Not once does he ever say anything about exposing Hero Hei and ends it by reiterating it’s about explaining his blocking.

Also of note-

Because his lies exacerbate conflict or generate controversy where none existed

Neath says this in his chain. Now consider Hero Hei portraying this as an attack against him...when he never says to spread his thread, use manipulative language like you do or use the attention grapping tactics you do. And now you’re just proving him right when you could have stopped this 40+ second monologue, made a title like “I respond to Neath Oum’s Twitter Thread” and used a different thumbnail.

(Note: I am skipping from 0:37 to 1:22 because at 0:44 he says to skip that segment as it’s a catchup and I’m trying to give him some benefit so I’ll just skip it and assume he gave a neutral recap.)

‘He begins hyping this thread up and being really suspicious and vague about it!’

You mean like what people said about your original video on the subject which you dismissed and mocked them for?

To paraphrase you Hero Hei-

‘Read beyond the first sentence.’

‘In my opinion, this means nothing and so i will not comment on most of this.’

You mean opinion of the target of the so-called ‘hit piece’ who would have every reason to downplay what is being shown. After I having already seen for myself that you’re a damn liar and the very first part of the ‘hit piece’ is talking about how you lie by omission? You clearly do care because you made (an admittedly low effort) video on it and yet you can’t even address it properly? Speaking as someone who has had hit pieces made on him, you’re an idiot.

Also your ‘if you want to read the whole thing, you know where to find it!’ shit is inexcusable. It’s a known fact that audiences likely won’t seek out something that would discredit their subject. They’ll be far more likely to just accept whatever you say, especially if say...their emotions and tribalistic instincts were being played on by portraying Neath as inherently wrong and using emotionally charged language to elicit a certain reaction out of them.

“Most of this stuff is from a year ago anyways!’

Stuff which you yourself bring up before to make and support your points.

‘This isn’t really worth my time, it’s desperate.’

I have literally heard politicians pull this, how is everything out of your mouth killing your credibility?

‘*tries to portray Neath’s beginning statement as aggressive towards people asking for proof* Well I dunno why anyone would be upset you accused someone without proof but okay-’

A. ‘ Finished some stuff earlier than expected. For those who (civilly) asked for info and proof about hero hei, here you go.’

That is Neath’s opening sentence. This is not being aggressive or dismissive or at all negative towards the people asking for proof. I can’t think of a way to be more neutral than this.

B. Funny considering you accused Pedantic Romantic of being a stalker and yet never provided actual proof, just out of context screenshots (effectively lies which is WORSE.) So clearly you don’t care that much.

‘Funny that he says he found additional evidence about this when he retweeted a thread made a month ago by another twiiter user that I debunked in another vide Man this is some worthless stuff.’

Gee Hero Hei, I’ve noticed that you like to portray this as irrelevant without saying why, continuously using those kinds of terms. Kind of like news outlets when bitching about someone they don’t like, all using similar terminology as if to subconsciously reinforce an idea in the viewer’s head. Also funny since those same news outlets ALSO tend to rely on the reader’s bias...

‘See, he even admits that he’s taking this from someone I debunked!’

Well actually, you just pointed out one single mistake that wasn’t connected to their point but sure.

‘This is so lazy Neath!’

Hero hei, you literally just take what other people say and vomit it out- You do the same shit.

‘Animelog is by Toei actually!’

No Hero Hei, it’s not. Toei justed signed up for them. It’s still operated by AnalyzeLog...which is funded by Net 10 ventures, the company Neath CITED.

Benjamin Grubbs is the founder of AnalyzeLog. In 2018, AnalyzeLog was founded with seed funding from U.S. venture capitalist Next10 Ventures. In December 2019 AnalyzeLog Digital struck a deal with Toei Animation. Shogakukan followed Toei animation deal in April 2020, and just last month it signed a collaboration with animation studio Shin Ei Animation, creators of “Doraemon” and “Crayon Shin-Chan”.

‘He tries to compare Toei being a founder of Daisuki to it’s massive investment in AnalyzeLog!’

... Hero Hei. When you found something like a business, you are INVESTING in that business. Jeff Bezos fundamentally invested in Amazon when he started it up because he had to use his own money to make it happen.

... Do you think your audience is brain dead or something?

‘*covers Neath’s screenshot of his video titles*’

Hm, pretty sure that’s the definition of ‘suspect’ Hero Hei.

‘So this vice president of Rooster Teeth did horrible things to his wife and Neath is defending this or something-’

*grabs Hero Hei by the collar*

Nuh uh, you ain’t getting away with that shit.

First, short one about Rooster Teeth, the lies I am talking about were lies of omission. These screenshots show the titles of some of his videos. Titles and screenshots are what drives viewers when deciding what videos to watch. In the titles, he used "Rooster Teeth Vice President". Using "Rooster Teeth Vice President" evokes the image of the second highest ranking person at Rooster Teeth. However, he used "Vice President of Product and Engineering" in the video description, so he knew what the person's full rank was but omitted it from the titles. By seeing the actual rank, viewers would know that the terminated person was not the second highest ranked person at Rooster Teeth. Not including information in a title to give viewers the wrong impression amounts to lies of omission.

Some will argue that he didn't lie since the full rank was given in the description, it's just click bait and no big deal. That's fine but omitting information from the beginning warps first impressions and are still lies, even if small. That said, continue reading for more of his overt lies.

This is the full set of what he said in regards to RT. Notice something? Yeah- HE’S NOT DEFENDING THE MAN. Hero Hei just shoved that shit in. With NOTHING to indicate such a thing...you know other than ‘he dared to speak out against me!’

‘He seems to be complaining about the video title-’

TITLES (multiple) which comes up NUMEORUS times in his thread but sure. And you clearly agree with him since you bitched about his opening thread (just you know, effectively lying about it.)

‘*quotes an out of context sentence from the above quoted set* No I wasn’t trying tyo give people the wrong impression!’

Funny how context CHANGES things, like showcasing Hero Hei lying AGAIN.

‘I didn’t say that because Youtube has a 100 character limit for video titles so i couldn’t fit in!’

Yeah it does have 99 characters in it...

Except here’s the thing: you could have cut 33 characters from it even with inserting ‘of Product and Engineering’ easily.

Rooster Teeth RT Vice PRESIDENT VP of Product and Engineering ARRESTED, allegedly BEAT his WIFE Numerous Times and LAUGHED about it!

There, 66 characters and I made your video title better (by cutting out needless details) and more truthful.

I don’t trust you enough, especially with the shit you’ve already pulled in this video alone.

‘*mocks Neath for bringing up the Vic stuff from over a year ago*’

Hero hei, your channel has permanent ‘ISWV’ merch being advertised.

*doesn’t even bother to address what is said, just mocking the use of names.*

“Neath Oum s-said mean things about me mommy, make the scary man with 2/3rds of my audience stop mommy!’

See how stupid that sounds?

In fact, let’s stop here because he says NOTHING of worth and Hero hei killed his credibility (along with any chance of me even giving him anything beyond basic human respect) at this point.

Considering the very little he DID cover ended up being just shit flinging from him AT BEST- he actually made Neath look pretty damn good. Because HH in comparison really does look like the embodiment of that ‘crying behind a smug face’ meme.

So congrats HH. I actually though the comparison was the result of personal bias against you and felt uncomfortable about. I now see it was entirely DERSERVED...if I choose to ignore how you implied Neath was defending a man BEATING HIS WIFE because he pointed out your clickbait bullshit.

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the-voltage-diaries · 4 years

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“Your bed head is really cute.” - Taki Kozaki [Request]

It’s like 1 am when I’m publishing this lol. Basically what I’m trying to say is that I’m half asleep as I hit the publish button so be prepared for typos and errors. Also it might just be my sleepy brain encouraging me to share it with the world because I really don’t know if this is good or not.

Moral of the story? Do not write when sleepy.

Also thanks @some-ikemen-snob for beta reading it and being my sleep police and accomplice.

Should I ask her if we can postpone this?

I roll my shoulders, taking a deep breath. I massage the back of my neck with one hand, trying to ease the stiffness there, while I nonchalantly lift the other to check the time.

But I do want to spend time with her...

I sigh, turning my head to look outside the window at the buildings passing by, not really finding a solution to my dilemma. I told (Y/N) two days ago that today’d be the day I would finally get some time off of work and be home on time, and we made a plan to sit back and relax at home instead of going out for the night.

But right now, the only hindrance to our extremely inviting plan is my lack of energy.

It’s been a busy week, and I have had to put in a number of late nights and long hours. As an inevitable aftermath of it all, I’m feeling exhausted, both physically and mentally.

“I can’t wait to get home to her...” I think, imagining the smile that would grace (Y/N)’s face, welcoming me right in and easing all of my weariness. "Exactly the kind of re-charge I need...”

“Did you say anything, sir?” The driver asks me, and it’s then that I realise I involuntarily mumbled my thoughts out loud.

“Ah, no,” I wave my hand dismissively, feeling a little embarrassed at almost being caught daydreaming about my girlfriend. “Are we there yet?”

“We’re here, sir,” the man says after a moment, slowly pulling the car to a stop. I give him a nod, murmuring a thanks before stepping out of the vehicle and making my way towards the entrance of the high-rise.

I half-heartedly greet the people I come across before finally stepping on to the elevator, and a sigh of relief escapes me at finding it empty.

I do like being around the other three guys, but I’m in no mood to deal with any of them right now.

Especially Yosuke.

I press the button of my floor and watch as the elevator doors close, almost as if in a trance. I’m so pre-occupied with my thoughts of (Y/N) that I don’t even notice when the elevator doors open again.

I wonder what she’s made for dinner today.

“Taki?” The voice sounds so far away I almost don’t hear it.

Is it some sort of a fish-based dish?

“Hello?”

Or is it chicken?

“... Are you alive, Taki?”

She does like to cook beef too...

“Yep, now I’m getting concerned.”

Hmm, I feel like having her brandy tea right now.

“Earth to Taki!” I feel something grab me by the arm and shake me hard, almost violently. I break out of my thoughts and look down, only to see an arm holding on to me. Following the organ, I sigh in exasperation when I find out who it’s attached to.

“What the heck, Yosuke?”

“You’ve been standing here for almost five minutes, Taki.” He looks at me, an eyebrow raised in mock suspicion. It’s more of an ‘I know what’s up and I am about to tease you to hell and back for it’ kind of a look.

“What, I can’t stand in my own elevator, now?” I say, straightening up, averting my eyes to prevent him from getting any more suspicious than he already is.

“The lift has been on your floor the whole time, Tacks. What are you waiting for?”

“I...” I trail off, not knowing what to say to that.

“You even had this dreamy look in your eyes,” he smirks, taking a step closer to me, “I wonder who you were thinking about?”

“It’s none of your business,” I turn my head away, taking a step in the direction of the hallway.

“Dinner does sound nice, hmm?” I almost hear the amount of fun he’s having out of all of this.

“None of your damn business.”

Just before the elevator doors close, I hear Yosuke whisper, and not discreetly at all, “WHIPPED~”.

I like ‘em big, I like ‘em chunky is the song I feel (Y/N) shaking her shoulders to as she sits beside me, cuddled up at my side. My arm is around her waist, holding her close to me and her fingers have mine entwined with them.

Does she have any idea how adorable she looks?

Not being able to hold myself back, I bend a little and wrap my other arm around her too, and pull her to me. She lets out a shocked yelp, but then grins at me and her eyes shift back to the screen.

“Mm, you’re so cute, (Y/N),” I mumble, nuzzling my nose against her neck, holding her close to me and feeling her warmth melt with my own.

“What’s gotten into you?” She asks, looking back at me. When I shake my head in denial, she just laughs and falls back against me. I sigh, letting her body heat envelop me...

... and before I know it,my head falls on (Y/N)’s shoulder and I almost wrap myself around her. With the voices of the various animals on the TV gradually becoming just a background noise, I slowly fall asleep.

I wake up to fingers travelling through my hair in a slow rhythm, and gentle, timed pats on my shoulder; slowly fading to nothing, only to come back again a second later, in the same motion.

I blink a few times, slowly opening my eyes when I hear no animal voices and no moto motos. I lift my head up a little and my eyes fall on (Y/N)’s, who is right underneath me. I look around, still feeling a little dazed, and find the room completely dark, except one or two night lights still turned on, casting the room in a dark but calming atmosphere.

It’s then that I notice that the TV is switched off, and there is a blanket over me. It’s also then that I notice that (Y/N) and I are on the couch, with me lying on top of her, my head resting at her chest. Her fingers don’t break their tempo, and nor does her other hand.

“Did I... fall asleep?” I mumble, rubbing my eye to get rid of the remaining traces of sleepiness, only to fail miserably at it.

“Sure did,” she smiles, raising her brow. “You could have told me you were tired, you know?”

“I wanted to spend time with you...” I close my eyes and succumb to her fingers, my head falling back on her chest.

“But you were tired, Taki,” she says, and her accusation hits the bull’s eye.

“No, I wasn’t,” I deny, feeling traces of sleepiness course though my body again, at the mercy of her touch.

I feel her palm stop patting my shoulder, instead coming around to gently hold on to my face. She pulls my face up to look at hers, laughing when I let out a little groan at the loss of the warmth.

“What is it?” I ask, opening my eyes just a tad bit, taking in a deep breath. My shoulders relax as I breathe out, and I blink slowly, before looking at her again.

“Your bed head is really cute.”

My what, now?

“You’re so ditzy when you’re half asleep, it’s adorable,” she continues, giggling to herself when I mumble something akin to a partly coherent agreement.

“You’re the one who’s adorable,” I say, slowly pulling my body up a little to press a lazy kiss to her lips, smiling to myself when I see her suck in a sharp breath, her cheeks getting their usual rosy colour.

“Stop teasing me, will you?”

“You started it.” I wrap my arms around her, hugging her close to me, almost as if she was a body pillow. I allow myself to be consumed by the oncoming desire to fall asleep once again, with the desire only growing stronger each time I feel (Y/N)’s fingers come in contact with my scalp.

“Oh com...” her voice fades off into the distance gradually, and my head grows heavier against her chest. “... Taki?”

“Y-yeah! I’m awake I’m fine,” I mumble, my body jumping a little when I feel a nudge at my waist. “I’m listening.” I try to open my eyes but they don’t comply, too heavy with drowsiness.

“No doubt,” she whispers back, beginning her shoulder pats again.

“I seriously am.”

“I know.

“No, like, seriously seriously.”

“Yeah, I like... know, know.”

“Are you teasing me?” I turn my head up, opening an eye to look at her.

“I don’t know,” she winks back, her hand grabbing on to my head to gently push it back down. “Am I?”

I let out a low chuckle, feeling myself gradually drifting off to another session of tour of dreamland. “Hey,” I mutter, barely keeping myself awake.

“Hmm?”

“The next time those animals plan to lose their mind, count me out,” I say feeling (Y/N)’s body shake under me as she laughs at my remark...

... and that musical laugh is the last thing I hear before I finally cave in to the slumber.

#kings of paradise #taki kozaki #kop #my little crumbcake~#yosuke sagara #Madagascar #Moto moto #fanfic #taki fluff #wow lol this was nice #i think #idk its like 1 am #i might be very wrong #i'm practically half asleep myself

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a-woman-apart · 4 years

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Separating the Boys from the Men

Yes, that title is click bait, and if you keep reading, you’ve been warned. I’ve got a lot to get off my chest, and it’s going to involve defending masculinity, femininity, and our right to BEHAVE LIKE CHILDREN FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES because in many ways, we already do.

Let’s get straight to the point. As Millennials, regardless of our age, financial status, or level of “success” (air quotes 100% intentional) we have been accused of being lazy, entitled, and way too enthusiastic about avocado toast. At the same time, we have been described as having enough power to decimate the napkin industry, the diamond industry, and the concept of traditional marriage. We have been accused of a collective “Peter Pan” syndrome, because we “refuse” to cut off papa’s apron strings and get off the proverbial mama’s teats.

Wonderful to know.

Let’s unpack the “lazy” bit. Supposedly, this is tied to the fact that we have access to higher education, we [often, not always] have parents who financially support or house us well into adulthood.

So now, my question is, Gen X (the entitled ones, ironically) and Salty Boomers, YOU DIDN’T?

What do you call that “inheritance” you received? What do you call that education your parents paid for that was less than 1/3 what we have to pay? For Boomers, how do you explain the lavish weddings, cheap [and apparently nuke proof] home appliances, and “nights out on the town” that you were able to afford by working at whatever passed for a McDonald’s back in the day? Working on a farm, at a grocery store, or in retail used to ACTUALLY provide a livable wage; for us, those are a “side hustle” and we still have to get a “big boy job” that usually requires an education that can put us over $100,000 in debt by age 30.

Hate to say it, but if you hadn’t made most of your income “during the War” or in the absolute economic boom that followed it, you wouldn’t survive 24 hours in our shoes before having an emotional collapse.

Despite the disastrous living conditions of the U.S. in the 21st Century, not much has changed in how men define their level of “manliness.”

Financial gains (stocks, bonds, portfolio, bank account)

Bro “gains” (a.k.a. “gym gains”, how “Gaston” they are, including whether they want to go for the Adonis, Apollo, or Brawny boi look, or just how far they can throw something or how “boyish” they look if strength isn’t an option and they suffer from femme-levels of body dysmorphia)

Body count (since we’re in a time of peace and not literally war, this is LITERALLY a modern term describing how many people you’ve slept with, and I have never heard an adult man, regardless of sexual orientation, who isn’t a little concerned about putting those notches in the bed post, and if not that, VERY concerned about his bedroom performance: it’s quality vs. quantity)

Kill death Ratio (I know this is a video game term now, but did you know that before video games, men in England used to regularly get on horseback, get a bunch of hounds together, and chase down tiny foxes and rabbits? FOR FUN?!?!? Did you know, that before modern sports ((including Esports)), men used to just fight to the death, regularly, even if an official war wasn’t going on? It was known as “dueling”, and in less socially developed societies, men still behave like this. So the next time you complain about “male rage” and how heartless it is to make live chickens fight, note that even though we’ve quelled male anger and hostility on some level, you will NEVER be able to take away man’s urge to destroy. Boys and men will always like knocking things over, building things from the rubble, and ruling shit. It’s what they do-- and we women can and do, too, but we have a LOT more risk-aversion and self-preservation, which is a blessing and a curse for our species-- but we just need to make sure humanity as a whole stays...chill)

So what, say ye, has changed about how WOMEN define themselves now vs. in the past. I would say that very little has changed, but the level of internalized misogyny, insecurity, and good-old fashioned denial has SKYROCKETED.

Let’s look at some terms of how the majority of women value themselves.

Financial Security (few women will admit to “wanting to be rich”, because that sounds kind of “Trump”, but plenty will talk about having minimum income requirements for their partner(s), wanting to retire at a young age so they can “travel the world”, wanting to eliminate their debts, etc. It’s different language but essentially it translates to: I want to work so hard or marry into so much wealth that I never want to worry about money after age 35. #Hustle)

Looks (it doesn’t matter if you want a Kardashian butt, you’re in the body positivity movement, or you just want to “dress like a bawse” women are just as obsessed with clothes, image, and body weight/shape/size as they ever were, it is just that now that we’ve “slain the patriarchy” we have more fashion options than ever before, because “boy clothes” are just as “in” as femme ones)

Ability to attract a partner (some women, like me, “chase”, but thanks to biology, most women, regardless of sexual orientation, seem to enjoy being pursued more than being Artemis-style hunters. This is evidenced by the fact that when the feminist owner of Bumble changed the rules of the dating website to where women had to start conversations with men rather than vice versa ((a move that had ostensibly zero effect on lesbian matching)) 72% of women that she later surveyed stated that they liked it better when men were approaching them rather than the other way around. I am sure Bumble’s female CEO was shook ((as was I)), especially because she made the change to empower women, and apparently 72% of women didn’t want the power because it meant they now had the power to face rejection, and it made them uncomfortable. Big yikes. So much for #EndPatriarchy and #ChivalryisDead ?)

Playing house (this is probably going to get me some unfollows, but I’ll take my chances. Women, regardless of sexual orientation, often seem to be REALLY into having babies or just “playing house.” There’s also men like this, too, “Family men” as they’re aptly called, men in love with fatherhood ((or just being called “daddy”, and that will never not be weird)). So many women who never want to pop out a baby describe being taken by an OVERWHELMING urge to fuck during their “fertile window” ((or is that just me?)) and seeing every baby alive as the cutest human being ever once we pass the tender age of 25. The biological clock is REAL, and I learned the hard way that being bisexual and having immense fear of pregnancy and childbirth didn’t spare me from the awful truth of my biology.

I really don’t want to keep making references to modern video games, but they seem to serve the dual purpose of being deeply satisfying and helping us to quell “problematic” urges, including that one to dominate and destroy the world. For a lot of women gamers, though, our choices ((on a broad scale, every #girlgamer is different)) deviate from men’s in some interesting ways.

#1: We still love The Sims Franchise way more than guys do

Not only do we love it, but while a lot of men (again, #notallmen) tend to build elaborate neighborhoods to extensively mod and destroy them in terrifying ways, I still see women gamers taking obscene amounts of time to design homes, raise happy little families, and cause TERRIFYING blood feuds by having Sims marry Sims from rival families ((I guess we’re more Shakespeare than we thought, eh ladies?))

#2: We make up most of mobile gaming

Most male gamers think mobile games “aren’t real” and I tend to agree, but a mobile game is invaluable for when I, a woman, have time to kill between the 3 jobs I hypothetically have and I and don’t want to whip out something like a Nintendo 2DS that is both unwieldly and attracts the eyes of every impoverished, thieving human being in a .5 mile radius. #RiskAversion. These games are often low-quality, mindless, and insanely easy, but that is WHY WE LIKE THEM. Our entire life is a job. #Hustle

#3 We also love farming sims and RPGs

While we-- and most male Millennials-- beg god to not have to birth calves, milk cows, or labor in the tomato fields under the hot sun, most of us have no objection to having our virtual avatars perform the same back-breaking tasks to the tune of cheerful chiptune music. Also, even though men definitely enjoy them, too, I have never met a woman gamer who didn’t enjoy a nice RPG; why do you think we’re such avid readers of fantasy/romance YA?

We want to be transported to a different world, and if you won’t take us there, we’re happy to go there virtually ((because we probably can’t afford travel; we’re still millennials)).

Ability to murder people who threaten our young or our partner(s) (Okay this one is a bit more complicated, but I’m just going to tell you a bit about female animals. DON’T MESS WITH THEIR BABIES IF YOU WANT TO LIVE. Human females, are, in that regard, just as savage, if not more so, than our male counterparts.

I’ve never heard of any woman ((outside of prison, maybe)) who killed another woman for “looking at her weird” or saying “your mama” too many times. I’ve heard plenty of women threaten literal murder because another woman ((or man, we’re #progressive)) came too close to her romantic/sexual partner, or another human being threatened harm on our kids or our “squad.”

I don’t know where the meme truly originated from, but “Don’t talk to me or my son ever again” is SUCH a Mom thing to say. So much misandry is wrapped up in the idea that men are predators, and that is true, but not in the excessively sexually deviant ways you think ((that’s only sometimes true)). They just like hunting things, including people, but if you give them a toy to play with ((I MEAN ACTUAL TOY OMG)) they seem alright. Let them go play with their cars, Xbox, [insert whatever] or something. They’re men, okay, they’re easily distracted/impressed/occupied.

Women, on the other hand, have seemed to be having an EXTREME amount of trouble curbing that baby-making urge, or the Excessive Nurturing Urge, that one that makes you ask your grown husband if he’s remembered to pack lunch for work or if he remembered to pack money for his playdate with his bros, because he’s gonna need money at Six Flags and you aren’t going to bring it to him because he should’ve remembered, you reminded him 30093390 times.

THAT’S NOT HIS FAULT. HE HAS MANAGED BY SOME MIRACLE TO STAY ALIVE FOR 33 YEARS. THAT’S YOU, SWEETIE. STOP BEING SUCH A MOM. GO BE A NURSE, DOCTOR, OR SOCIAL WORKER OR SOMETHING OMG.

In summary...

What separates the “men from the boys” or the “women from the girls” isn’t the era that we were born in to, our economic status, or whether we’ve been able to “conquer” our biology. That’s definitely not possible yet, chiefly because transhumanism involves a lengthy, ethics-guided process, and even if we all turn into cyborgs, the goal is to become BETTER humans, not LESS humane. Societal advancements have done more in terms of making us healthier, less destructive citizens of planet earth than raw technology ever can and ever will. Rapid technological advancement, when not combined with respect for morality, ethical standards of living for humans and all other life forms, almost always leads to human slavery, widespread abuse of animals, sex trafficking, and environmental destruction, because the “rules of supply and demand”, when not governed by strong international trade laws, dictate that consumers should be supplied with whatever they demand, because the suppliers can profit, and their right to profit should be defended at any cost.

So, in summary, I believe that “adulting” involves giving up on entitlement. What separates a truly childish human being-- regardless of their actual age-- from someone who is, in essence, “adulting” is experience, and how much those experiences serve to broaden that person’s perspective. It is an extremely childish, self-centered view, to think that you “deserve” anything for being “a good person” or, in the case of many a “woman child” or “man child” in media and in real life, just being “not so bad.”

Grown-ups are able and willing to do something that is known as “delaying gratification” which is the simple ability to delay a temporary pleasure for a long-term gain. Grown-ups are also able to perform true “cost-benefit analyses” to determine if a course of action, business deal, or even relationship is worth their time and effort. Finally, grown-ups are able and willing and able to make an informed choice and stick to it; in essence, we don’t try to “have our cake and eat it too” we understand that once we’ve eaten that cake, the cake is gone, but we also realize that if we are willing to work hard and make sacrifices, we can earn the ingredients to make ourselves another cake to eat, even if we might need a lot of help from other adults in getting those ingredients (we call this teamwork and cooperation).

Children, on the other hand (in literal and metaphorical terms), are very impatient. They get angry when things don’t go their way, and instead of taking the steps needed to improve their situation, they storm off and return home. It doesn’t matter if their home is with their parents, with their 3 roommates, or with their husband or wife, these people throw tantrums, refuse to communicate/cooperate, and stew in their displeasure until someone feels sorry for them and fixes their problem for them. They lack the ability to work through daily life problems and refuse to take any responsibility for how their actions or inaction contributed to their dilemma.

There is one difference with an actual human child or teen, though, is that they have an excuse. Their brains are still developing, and they haven’t had the chance to live through these situations yet; these are new challenges to them. Even if they do have a “bad attitude”, with help from peers and patients, principled adult mentors and teachers, these cantankerous kids can grow into well-adjusted, able adults. The high levels of neuroplasticity in their brains actually make it so that it is easier for them to accept large amounts of sensory data and to learn from processing and practicing using it.

An “adult child” is someone who, more often than not, has been coddled instead of challenged. These people have often faced no significant hardships in life. There is a reason why, even after we have recognized the immense downsides of authoritarian parenting and have demonstrated psychological harms of corporal punishment for kids, we still call “bad kids” and “irresponsible adults” spoiled.

Authoritarianism produces rigid, scared people who often struggle with critical thinking and self-esteem or end up being authoritarian parents themselves, but that last one is actually one of the less likely options. Children of authoritarian parents often develop Borderline Personality Disorder or become defiant against authority (shocker). Overly permissive or overly neglectful parenting, though, are parental styles most associated with producing narcissists, who often become authoritarian parents, because when their kids challenge them, they completely lack the patience or emotional capacity to deal with it and resort to “because I said so”, stonewalling and/or physical abuse as forms of “character-building.”

The reason why overly permissive parents spoil their kids is because kids actually do need discipline and guidance, and so these kinds of parents produce kids who are outwardly capable and confident but completely lack any of the life skills to justify it, and when they ask their parents for advice they are just met with a bunch of hippie mumbo jumbo or told to just avoid the conflict rather than resolve it. These kids grow into adults who are still sad little kids inside, because they never grew up, but now they’re sad little kids who are articulate and well-spoken and now can-- and often have no choice-- but to con their way through adult life because they’ve maxed out Charisma and they have almost no points in Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Dexterity.

The only parenting style worse than Authoritarian and Neglectful/Permissive is Mixed, in which a child grows up in a COMPLETELY unpredictable environment where the rules of the game change from day to day, and parents either give their children no attention at all, or they practically lock them up and throw away the key. Being raised like this is associated with the worse outcomes for the child throughout life.

So, why am I now talking about parenting styles? Because, for all that we love to trash Boomers and large swaths of Gen X on this page, we can’t forget where they came from, so we cannot allow them to forget WHO THEY MADE. It isn’t an accident that even though we live in the times of incredible economic hardship, WE are the generation (and Gen Z, to some extent) that got hooked on reality TV, video games, and social media in incredibly unhealthy ways. A lot of us 30+ millennials are growing out of it, and a lot of us have realized that it is an invaluable (and damn near unavoidable) way of marketing our products and talents. We’re often self-employed because that’s our only option in most cases.

The issue with Gen Z (who, while we called “Zoomers” now just all themselves “Doomers” and I think we should be a bit concerned about that) is that unlike us, they have no memory of “Before the Internet.” We remember dial up, we remember before that when you played outside untl the sun went down. They don’t have the privilege of being linked to that history.

Now, we have to be the Bigger Person. It’s our time to be Grown-Ups. Gen Z feels really fucking lost right now, and hearing us whine about our parents probably makes them pretty pissed off, when some of us older millennials are the parents, aunts/uncles, and older siblings to Gen Z kids. Even if we can’t be mentors, we have to lead by example, because we have a responsibility to these kids. A lot of them aren’t stupid, they see exactly what’s happening and they feel incredibly hopeless about it. Greta Thunberg is still 16 years old. She shouldn’t be out there doing that; I mean seriously, climate change is accelerating, but it isn’t even as bad as Al Gore said, it’s still reversible, but the fact that SHE FELT SHE HAD TO makes us shitty people. ALL OF US.

So you know, we all need to stop being hypocrites. We need to stop being entitled. We need to stop thinking this is about us. It isn’t. Not even close. We’re not important, even if our videos go viral or if we’re swimming in cash next to hot models by a huge swimming pool. America’s fucked up. I hate to sound Republican, but it’s because of our values. We suck at valuing what’s important, and if we don’t change that soon, it’s really going to suck to live in America.

It already does.

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and-the-world-is-quiet-here · 4 years

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Live 2020 debate commentary from a salty, disabled, and VERY pissed gen Z

Yall he just said he’s immune

My dad just left the room

Bitch are u saying Johnson and Johnson is going to make the vaccine?

sir that’s the diaper company…..smh

Biden just said its going to be a dark winter

#winter is coming

“virus.....that came from china” -trump 2020

“were learning to live with it”-trump 2020

apparently “Biden lives in his basement”-your president 2020

totally accurate.....obviously

ohhhh biden just said were learning to die with it

trump interrupted biden

Mam I thought you said you were muting them?

biden laugh count at 3

he all about the once percent till its the dead ones

trump interrupting at 3...nvm its now 4

this debate is making my dog sad

interrupting now at 5 for trump

trump saying his young sons illness just “went away”

bitch he’s may age and no it did not just “go away”

he was in quarantine for two weeks

apparently nyc is a ghost town

its not a ghost town trump I live right next to it

loudest neighbors ever

trump don’t call him Anthony

his name is DOCTOR Fauci

treat him with the respect he deserves

Biden looks so sad

nvm he legit looks like the joker right now

HALFWAY MARKKK

why is this at 9?

sir its a school night

I need time to scroll through my feed for hours before collapsing

Biden don’t use the word sovereignty

trump doesn't know what it means

thats discrimination against trumps

ohhh hes attacking hunter (biden) again

so he has a wee drug problem?

at this point everyone got one!

your the one making lewd comments about your infant daughter on national tv

(look it up he talks about his 6 month old daughters legs but and breasts)

get him big b!!

h876689908776- my dog 2020

he wants to express his disappointment

the light boxs is stealing his mother attention

ohh hes being rude to the moderator again

u a strong independent Indian woman get him girll!

mute his mike

prty plz

I am dissapionted in you

he’s saying he’s not allowed to release his taxs

(that is a proven lie)

“i was put through a phony witch hunt”- you'll never guess 2020

hes going after his BROTHER now

how is this allowed?

who decided trumps strategy would be to accuse his opponent of his own crimes?

look at the insults guys its a crystal ball

stay ahead of the scandal's

WILL YOU LEAVE HIS SON ALONE PLEASE

THESE ARE HIS CHILDREN LEAVE THEM ALONE

“i was a business man doing business”-trump 2020

no sir you were another rich white guy taking advantage of tax brakes and cheap foreign labor in asia

#american jobs as long as i don’t have to pay minimum wage

#you know like a DECENT FUCKING PERSON

Trump interrupted again

I lost count a while ago

Biden is staring into my soul

oh Biden just played the middle class childhood card

I haven't heard a single mute so far?

trump just said his bromance with kim jung un saved america from nuclear war

dont through my boy Obama under the bus

and another interruption

my big bro just screamed “MUTE BUTTON MUTE BUTTON MUTE BUTTON”

honestly same

10 more min guys

hang in there

OHHH trump just got MUTEDDDDDD

Biden is now on legitimate policy

ahhh hes proud of his plan

annd trump just interrupted

trump just kissed up to the moderator

trump just said biden’s more liberal than bernie

ohhh

biden just said trump dosent know who hes running against

hes like “this is joe biden”

like I know bro but slick burn anyway

ohhh they muted trump again!!!!

perfect opportunity to mute missed

trump just blamed healthcare issues on nancy peloski

biden says the the republicans wont pass it

(btw hes actualy right)

2 mins left

and trump is speaking through it

1 min left

omg what a waste of air

I really want him to test his “immunity”

preferably during a harsh winter

ITS TEN GUYSSS

there running over

they still haven't covered immigration

shit

I have just learned there is 30 min left

I think I would rather kill myself than watch the rest of this

I’m seriously have a sensory overload right now

I’m doing this for u

“children are brought here by coyotes”-presedentail cown 2020

what a wack ass sentence

hes like ohIi haven't been putting kids in cages

and then just went but I didn't build them they were built in 2014

(contradiction much)

“who built the cages”

yes it was Obama but guess what

THEY WERNT BUILT FOR KIDS

there ment to house animals, evidence, and adult prisoners in emergency situations

THEY WERNT MENT FOR 3 YEAR OLDS

Biden was just like “well no actually kids come with PARENTS”

(kids hardly ever come over with out parents)

and then he was like and also WHO LOST TRACK OF OVER 1,000 PARENTS

(thats 500+ new orphans at the least)

hes saying only the illegal immigrants with the lowest IQs come back after being deported

we said the same thing in december about you but ya’know

my mum was like “anyone eating chocolate” and I was like “im snaking on this ignorance” and she was like “dont do that you'll get indigestion”

“no one has done more for the black community then Donald trump except for maybe Abraham Lincoln”

oh yeah Biden just brought up how trump publicly campaigned for the execution of the central park 5

WHO WERE CHILDREN

AND OH YEAH THEY WERE COMPLETELY INNOCENT

trump just yelled at Biden, got muted, and just yelled louder

trump just said he cant see the audience but hes the least racist person in the room

“Abraham lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents in american history”- biden 2020

biden just went “oh god”

he just said that he used to not support the blm movement because they chanted rude things about police officers

I would like to reiterate that “pigs in a blanket” has never been chanted in a protest or been a prominent statement in the blm movement nor “fry em like bacon” so what trump is saying is factually incorrect

unless hes on some sort of far right conservative twitter feed were he came across a video of some drunk white college kids chanting it

but you know what ever fits you narrative

plus I would be pretty pissed if I kept getting shot at for no reason so....

Biden making more logical decisions

trump was like why have you never done all this stuff when you were vice president

“we had a republican congress” -biden 2020

we have the cleanest air

we have the cleanest crystal clear water

sir, i know you've been to mexico

don’t lie

the waters gorges down there

and not owned by your smug ass

trump just called china filthy

so you know....

*whispers* racism

ok 5 min left

for real this time

trump just went “aoc plus 3: and then hes like she knows nothing about the climate

ummm.... you dont even believe in climate change

bidens like “are....is...is is”

good for you

correcting your grammar

trump just said “the wind kills all the birds” out of the godamn blue

(he means wind mills and its untrue)

“Whats the next question baba”

“the final question is leadership which he doesnt have”- baba 2020

I feel bad for anybody watching this on the toilet

bidens starring into your soul

he knows what your doing

there officially overtime

its 10 33

they haven't even done the last section yet

btw ITS A SCHOOL NIGHT

why do they host these so late

I should be pretending to be asleep right now

this is generational discrimination

plus trumps supporters are so old there asleep by now

ohhhh its over

1036 final time

okay so thoughts....I generally dont like the party system i think its ridiculous the system was not designed for it, and its now more about loyalty then the actual candidates. I also am really hesitant to put another strait white male in the oval office, especially one thats from “the lucky few” I.E. the smallest voting generation in the country and also the one that already holds the most positions. That being said, at this point its really anyone but trump and I think bidens got the experience to turn things around.

I AM IN SCHOOL I CANNOT VOTE. I am relying on all my older friends, followers, neighbors, and community members. To make an educated decision that wont further degrade the once hopeful future my generation awaits. Please if you can vote VOTE the kids are relying on you!

P.S. sorry i wasn't able to edit this earlier i struggle alot with spelling and didnt have the time to edit this because I HAD TO GO TO BED AND THEN GO TO SCHOOL. Why am I more politically active then people twice my age you might ask? Well, thats because adults are lazy and need to get of their gd asses and VOTE. So kids dont have to do the legwork for them.

I have said my peace now, have a wonderful day!

#2020 #election #covid #trump #biden #debate #byedon #flyden 2020

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yggdrasil-mith0s · 3 years

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I had a dream last night where I played a game I had created a tremendous film concept that really rocked my dream and it wasn't even edited together or created as s film. I worked on it really hard. I did some of the writing and created character meta. I was putting it together and to this day I think it would be a top film if directed right. It was heavily based off of me and my personality, my family and friends, and the young life I have lived. It is also based off of fictional elements and anime features you domt see in the real world. You hardly see the two mixed. along with having a kind soul that wants to help others thrive. Others love.

Others can be more comfortable and follow their own hearts and kindness, while listening to different dialogues and then would intervene and say "No. No. This is Yukosa. He grew up fatherless aftter a certain point and has always cared about others. Especially since his kind mom did a bulk majority of raising him. He absolutely would save those people instead of leaving them behind." These people actually would follow him into being batter to free a young kid trapped by demons trying to take control over him dur to his weak personality. Or something like that. But I wrote down the dream because it is actually brilliant and I plan to get the rights to it because its unique. It deserves more work, though.

Every single action you choose can have completely different consequences and they aren't "gotcha moments." They are merely personality traits/points the main character has. That makes the game really easy or extremy difficult. It all depends how you play it and with the current hellscape of things I am sure it would be mostly really tough for players. But there are some good intentions can turn into a bad thing setting you back for a while another good things can bring you farther to peace than you expected. It depends on who you are and how you play. It would be an absolutely stunning game if people wanted to play. how convincing you are, and where you are coming from with your words and compassion makes a big difference.

Here is some background to the main character, Yukosa. He has two older brothers, the oldest is 9 years older. The next brother is 4 years older. He also has a younger sister that is 5 years younger than Yukosa. This stuff would play at the start, of course. But yeah... Yokosa is the third born out of four. His older brothers got a long well and he was often left behind. In turn he played with his younger sister a bit more, which created a beautiful bond between them two but a bit of disdain for his older brothers.

He often helps people who end up using him, breaking him down, his brothers included. They used him for money because of trust fund money dad left behind to him. They stole thousands and left Yukosa without much as all but he was okay with it. He only needed money once, which they rejected by the way, and accused him of money laundering and other ridiculous schemes. His sister knew the truth, at least, and he still maintained his kind, gentle side. He is still a nice person but now he puts a wall up to guard users from taking advantage.

He uses this wall to be a solo adventurer that takes on quests. It's how he helps people but also maintains it as strictly professional. He doesn't do party quest for he worries about betrayal. Well the game is set around this person who is a solo adventurer. He does his own work, makes his own decisions, and chooses his own quest. Based on his decisions he meets new solo adventurers, new party adventurers, and then also guilds and/or clans of people. He can choose to enter any guild/clan based of the limited morals he learns about those clans/guilds. But if it turns out these guilds/clans go against his morals then he leaves, and in some extreme cases, he destroyed it or disassembles it in some way. You get this main protogabist's morals in the beginning of the game based off questions you answer in early game, the childhood of his you play as and how you react to certain "traumas," as well as how you treat others. Your personality varies based off of interests and mini games you do, which can help with bartering or joining people in adulthood. In late teen years, it's almost the same except you get more freedom. You can choose to do illegal activities nonchalantly and alone or with a small group (buying a blunt or 6 pack for the night and no one drives) or go to wild parties and rebel. All that shapes character personality, charisma, some strentghs, some weaknesses, and helps shape what kind of character you become for the true gameplay. I think this concept would be amazing. Of course I need to be more in depth and go on. I especially rushed the ending but long story short, you can choose to do it solo, reluctantly create a party, let the traumas turn you evil, or save evil before it's too late. The possibilities are endless and all included in the game!!!! There are 30 something endings and all are just as amazing and we never take the lazy way out!

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lostgirlrewatch · 4 years

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1x11 - Faetal Justice (gettin real tired of your puns, Michelle, jk I never will)

Written by: Peter Mohan

Directed by: Robert Lieberman

Original Air Date: November 28, 2010

Oops. I missed a week. Sorry :( I’m back with episode 1x11.

Dyson gets framed for murdering some Dark Fae, and the gang has to prove him innocent.

Hey, remember the club, guys? Remember what that was like? Also Vex is back. Yay.

I wish my kitchen looked that fancy. I can’t keep vegetables that fresh. Their setup only looks like it will produce tasty food, though, because apparently they can’t cook for shit.

I am excited enough to see Hale that I took this screenshot for no reason.

But anyway, Bo and Kenzi are of course investigating the crime, as they do, while Dyson invokes sanctuary back at the Dal. Which basically means that Trick clears the whole bar out and lets Dyson hang out there for some amount of time where the Dark Fae can’t immediately come after him for killing one of their own.

They end up back at the club that Dyson woke up next to, which is Vex’s club. They start to suspect Vex may have something to do with framing Dyson for the murder. I can’t imagine why.

Vex makes a comment about how “another killer in the room (Bo) adds to the excitement,” to which Kenzi fiercely replies that Bo isn’t a killer. Vex is skeptical, considering how many people she has killed over the years, and suggests that he and Bo compare “scores.”

That hit below the belt.

Evony arrives at the Dal to pick up Dyson, in spite of sanctuary, because she has decided that the rules don’t apply to her. “Just think of me as a VIP,” she says. “I do.”

What a queen. Listen, is she wrong? Do the rules apply to Evony? Need they?

She has such queen energy that I love every time she shows up, even if she does absolutely nothing except make snarky comments. You have to appreciate the dominating energy of the woman in charge of the entire darker half of the supernatural underworld. She eventually backs off though.

Meanwhile, to Bo’s surprise, Lauren shows up at the precinct to discuss the case with her and Hale. (Hale invited her, and didn’t think to tell either of them that the other would be there, because he has no idea what’s going on between them.)

Bo is still pissed as fuck. I didn’t bother getting a screenshot, but the glare she gives Lauren is just as withering as it was last time.

So Lauren does...science-y stuff, I guess. I don’t really listen to what she’s saying when she talks about her science shit. I think Lauren is suggesting that Dyson turn himself in to the Dark Fae, though? So they can compare bite marks or something? Okay, I just rewatched the scene. Lauren suggests that Dyson turn himself in and wait while they go through a whole forensics analysis of the scene to determine his innocence (not acknowledging the possibility that evidence against Dyson may have been planted). Bo is like, “fuck no.” Lauren claims that in spite of the fact that she and Dyson “haven’t always been on the best of terms,” she is “actually trying to help here.”

It doesn’t end well. It’s awkward.

Hmm...*narrows eyes* Wait.

Stick around, Lauren fans. You’ll love this. I’m analyzing Lauren.

Lauren’s solutions to problems are always very...clinical. They’re clinical without fail, often to the point of being...not good solutions.

Lauren’s solution to Dyson’s problem--being accused of murder--is to have him turn himself in so that they can run tests and have the evidence prove him innocent. This is such a clearly half-assed idea, I don’t even really know why she suggested it. This idea is like if you could not care less about Dyson or this entire situation at all but you were dragged into being a part of the brainstorming session and you were forced to contribute something. It scans as laziness. Like either Lauren’s brain is too exhausted to put any energy whatsoever into trying to help Dyson, or she actually doesn’t care about him at all and is only there out of obligation and because of Bo. Hm.

Lauren’s solutions to problems don’t just rely on science, I get she’s a scientist and those are the skills she brings to the table. She goes a step farther. Her solutions are always devoid of emotion. Think about why that is.

I mean, turning Dyson in to the Dark Fae is objectively a terrible idea, first of all because they would one hundred percent immediately string him up and torture him for information. (Which is exactly what they do later in the episode!) Lauren is not stupid. She’s a smart gal. She should know this. If she knows that Dyson would be tortured, why would she suggest he turn himself in unless she has absolutely no emotional investment in his physical or mental wellbeing whatsoever? Again, it’s a clinical solution that treats the people involved as though they are pieces in a puzzle.

Second of all, Lauren suggests they run a bunch of tests and rely on forensic evidence to determine whether or not Dyson is innocent. She says, “Hopefully [the animal hairs on the body] won’t match Dyson’s DNA, and hopefully we’ll get [the results] on time.”

“That’s way too many ‘hopefully’s,” Bo snaps back.

Lauren doesn’t seem that concerned with whether the hairs do or don’t match Dyson’s DNA. I mean, “hopefully” they won’t, but she is content to take the risk, let the situation play out, and let the evidence speak.

But she is also completely ignoring the possibility that even if the evidence incriminates Dyson, it might have been planted there by whoever is trying to frame him. What then? There would be no way to prove that it was planted in time--the Dark Fae would instantly execute him, and no one could stop them because he’d be in their custody. Even a cursory review of Lauren’s half-assed, not-thought-out plan reveals that it’s past risky and more in the realm of stupid.

So you tell me. I’m more interested in hearing what anyone else has to say about her than writing what I think. What is the deal with Lauren? Why is she like this? Is she so cold and unfeeling that she doesn’t have any concern for the physical and emotional wellbeing of others? Does she just not give a fuck about Dyson specifically? Or is she so burnt out and exhausted by the mental strain of her job and her enslavement that she can’t summon any emotional energy whatsoever, and has to completely rely on cold logic to offer anything at all?

I said Lauren fans would like this because I was analyzing her, but I neglected to mention that I would also be dunking on her. Sorry if you were duped. I feel like I offered her a way out at the end there, though. Give me all your pro-Lauren arguments if you feel so inclined.

Anyway, Bo and Hale have a nice little mini-conversation afterwards. Hale confesses that he once thought Bo might be bad for Dyson, that she’d break his heart or he’d destroy himself for her.

He tells her he was wrong, and that she’s “the real deal.” How sweet.

The only witness to the crime is apparently this human girl named Porscha, who reminds Kenzi a lot of herself. Porscha is also young, on the streets, and a runaway from a bad home situation.

I don’t really care about her or like her as a character, but I do appreciate that her presence prompts Kenzi to drop a few more tidbits of information about her past here and there. For instance, she mentions that she’s been on her own since she was 15, which seems like a long time but is actually only like four years because Kenzi is 19 and therefore a literal baby.

More interesting is this exchange. Porscha comments that it must be nice that Kenzi and Bo have each other. Kenzi responds a little awkwardly. She agrees that it is nice, but then she says that she’s still getting used to it. She’s still getting used to “being noticed.” Because when she was at home, she says, it was always better to not be noticed. “That’s when things got ugly.”

Yeah. So as if we didn’t already know, Kenzi comes from an abusive home. A home that was so awful that it was better to run away and be on the streets at 15. Then she was completely alone for four years, and homeless for that entire time.

Think about it. Living with Bo like this must feel so odd. Kenzi has never lived in a house with another person before where it actually felt like a home and she actually felt safe. The way she sort of averts her eyes, tenses a little bit when she says she’s still getting used to it (Ksenia is fantastic as always by the way) is such a realistic portrayal of a response to recovery from trauma.

The way I like to think of it is this. Going from being in a long-term traumatic situation to being in a safe and loving situation is kind of like putting a frostbitten hand in warm water. Warming it up is good, it’s healing, but when your hand is so used to being cold, warming it up is going to hurt like hell. Recovering from trauma is kind of like that. Good things can hurt, especially when you’re not used to them.

But it doesn’t hurt quite so bad for Kenzi that she’s ready to flee and go back to being alone the streets, which is what is familiar to her. It just seems like it’s mildly uncomfortable. And that’s good. Because it means she can get used to being loved and having a family.

Jesus, why am I writing these things every week, they’re so long. LMAO help

So the episode ends with the reveal that it was the bartender all along! GASP! Side note: the whole reason this episode happened is because this bartender, who is clearly an adult man (physically in his 20s or 30s but actually much older since I assume he’s Fae?) was apparently “in love” with the human girl Porscha, who, based on her conversations with Kenzi, is definitely supposed to be a teenager. And also based on her conversations with Kenzi, Porscha has even “stayed over a few times” at his place. Can you say creepy? Adult man taking advantage of a young girl on the street who has no family and nowhere else to go? Grooming her? Just saying.

In a moment that I find somewhat disturbing and rather cold, the main gang all walk out and leave the bartender to be (most likely) brutally tortured and murdered by Vex and the Morrigan. That’s him up there. I mean, I know the Dark Fae are a practically untouchable political powerhouse, and there’s not really anything Bo and the others could do, but still. They totally just left this guy to his death.

But significantly, the episode ends with Bo and Dyson sharing a kiss, as they reaffirm their feelings for one another, and seemingly enter an official romantic relationship.

Oh boy! How cute. :) I wonder what’s next for these two.

Surely not heartbreak and suffering?

Big plot developments of the episode: Bo and Dyson are (it’s implied) officially an item now. This is Bo’s first legit committed relationship in the series. #dybo #neverforgetwhereitallbegan #rip #F and respect to the two people and a potato chip who like this ship #will this actually tag this post

#lost girl #bo dennis #kenzi malikov #lauren lewis #dybo #dyson #lost girl rewatch #1x11

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blackcatmanor · 4 years

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RWBY V7 Ch13 Photo Review- The finale

A solid ending that wraps up V7 decently while still leaving good set up for V8.

The good:

Fights

Fights as usual were good. I liked Winter riding a griffin into battle, and I liked the power disparity between JNPR 2.0 and Neo when the writers forgot what power disparity meant last chapter. JNPR 2.0 was clearly no match for Neo, but they only managed to succeed because of their teamwork. The fights this volume were very, very well done. I hope they retain the same fight animation staff going forward.

More to this point, I thought that Winter or Penny would get the powers, and another Maiden showdown would happen in the Relic Room. I’m actually glad it didn’t. Having the fight stay in the hospital walls was nice. It was a way to force the fight to stay grounded (literally and figuratively) and focus more on cool animation moves rather than just magical beings flying around and smacking each other occasionally like V5 finale. They had a flying bit but it still managed to be grounded to the characters rather than just vague magical beings flying around. Penny’s obvious use of flight and Winter riding a griffin was true to who they are as combatants, and they don’t just rely on some magical plot device that makes them fly around.

James

James has been the strongest Character of this volume, and this chapter was the same. I really liked his quote “All great philosophical points that won’t Matter if Salem wins.” It shows his motivations well, outlines clearly his beliefs, and actually makes a decent argument for doing something that is morally wrong. It was also interesting to see the argument with Oscar go from 0 to 11 SUPER fast, as soon as Oscar accused him of acting out of fear and beginning to say “It’s what we do in fear that shows who we-“ as if to impugn James’ character because of his actions. It was shocking to see him shoot a kid, but his character is staunchly committed to carrying out his plan so it fits. And since Oscar didn’t die it’s still something that James can be redeemed from.

The good, but

Winter Maiden powers.

Fria’s final stand was really interesting to see. BUT if she was going to be so integral to stopping Cinder, it would have been nice to fully understand how these powers affected her life, who she was before and after she got the powers, and more importantly show what the powers are fully capable of. I hate that we never get to see flashbacks anymore, and the story now exclusively exists in the current day. Even Amber’s flashback was just to the day she was attacked, but at least we got to see how she landed in a coma. It’s frustrating we don’t develop anyone anymore with much-needed background and flashbacks, but obviously we have no time and 20 other characters to cram in and under-develop so…. *shrug*

Penny getting the winter maiden powers became kind of obvious as time went on, with as much development as she got this volume. However, I don’t totally hate it because it at least means they didn’t bring Penny back just to kill her again, and she’ll probably be an important character going forward. She may even be a big part of the FINAL battle against Salem, since I still believe that the final confrontation will involve having to get the Maidens altogether, PLUS the relics, plus Ruby the silver eyed warrior to beat Salem. I THOUGHT the writers would be kind of lazy and just find ways to eventually give the powers to team RWBY, but now I think this may not be the case

Cinder’s voice acting

Every bit of dialogue Cinder spoke was trash, but her screams of pain upon getting her arm cut off and growing it back, her screams of anguish upon losing the Winter maiden powers and being banished by Ruby and the team were really, really good! It shows that Jessica Nigri is capable of delivering good performances, but the directors and writers don’t give her good dialogue to say, nor do they pull from her a decent delivery in the lines she speaks.

Watts

Am I glad he’s not dead because I think he’s a great villain? Yes. But am I also annoyed he’s back because it negates Chapter 11? Also yes. So as it turned out, Chapter 11 accomplished nothing, and was ultimately undone by Chapter 12 and 13. At least Tyrian escaped custody because of his own cleverness (And Qrow’s idiocy). But we don’t have any idea how watts mysteriously survived being dropped into lava pits without aura, seemingly unscathed. James’ sacrifice of his arm was for nothing, and it’s SUPER TROPEY the whole “no body, no death” thing. I hate the writers played into that stupid cliché

The bad:

OMG Cinder die already!

I really appreciated Jessica Nigri trying her ass off, but the writers just REFUSE to give her a character. When she started talking I thought the writers were finally going to heed everyone’s complaints and give her some sort of character, but with each sentence I literally groaned louder and louder. No backstory, no motivation, just more cobbled-together edgelord lines about being hungry for power. We already know Cinder wants power- since volume 3. THIS ISN’T CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! Either get a character or die.

Ren

Ren sucked this volume. And it’s not fair to say he sucked, it’s more like the writing SUPER sucked. They kept having his emotions all over the place- sometimes he’s totally fine and then suddenly he’s SUPER angsty. They didn’t grow or develop it, they just kept randomly looping back to it. I get that V8 is a straight continuation of this volume, so they weren’t going to RESOLVE it, but we don’t even get a set up for these problems, we don’t understand what is happening whatsoever, and they didn’t seem to evolve. It’s just jarring, and him suddenly becoming dumb and thinking Neo/Nora was Nora so he can get hit in the face was just weird. He knew who it was, it was just probably some arbitrary reason for Ren to blame Nora for his inability to focus. *Groan*

Random thought: If the fight between JNPR 2.0 and Neo was just going to end with Neo taking the lamp- why did she even stick around to fight in the first place when she had the lamp before Oscar punched her?

Overall: 7.5/10. It was solid. The character’s actions actually made sense this episode, and no one did anything super stupid just for plot’s sake. The set up for volume 8 was good while still wrapping up the story of volume 7 (I had a weird feeling that the Winter powers would be a cliffhanger but settling on Penny was nice, and RWBY on the run was a nice ending to how things unfolded).

The chapter was slightly hindered by good things having huge drawbacks, like Fria ending up an important climax dues ex Machina despite lack of development, and Watts just coming back again because...of course.

Unpopular opinions for V8:

JNR should leave

JNR should head to Vacuo for reinforcements in V8 and leave the cast. I think they’ve peaked in usefulness, and now Oscar seems split off and trying to do his own thing they especially won’t matter. It will give the writers time to develop RWBY and Penny and Oscar. They were severely minimized this volume and it didn’t hinder the story at all, so we can actually have them doing their own thing and we can occasionally check on them without missing much. With Ren’s “issues” I doubt they’ll just leave for volume 8 but I wish they would

Qrow needs to go, too- it looks like he will be a martyr and be locked up in V8, which I would love. If not HE needs to head out to Vacuo to try and get reinforcements. I’m done caring about his character. He’s a one-dimensional pit of sadness that is becoming boring to watch. We actually saw a glimmer of hope that he would become something other than a writer punching bag, but it didn’t happen and the writers insist on just finding new, contrived, and sadistic ways to continually torture him. Oh look- a friend to cancel out your bad luck? BAM, DEAD! It’s getting old, so I just hope to not really see him next volume.

It turns out Salem has been lagging behind because she was picking out her prom dress.

#rwby spoilers #rwby volume 7 #rwby v7e13 #rwby vol 7 #rwby finale #ruby rose #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #weiss shchnee #winter schnee #james ironwood #oscar pine #nora valkyrie #lie ren #jaune arc #ace ops #qrow branwen

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profanityfairchapbookunb · 4 years

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A Dyke Named Lilith & Some Actual Blasphemy

And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. – King James Bible Genesis 1:27, 1611 Adam said: “You lie beneath me.” And Lilith said: “You lie beneath me. We are both equal, for both of us are from the Earth.” – Alphabet of Ben Sira 23a-b, circa 1000 [Corrective rape] is now used more broadly to refer to the rape of any member of a group that does not conform to gender norms or heterosexuality when the motive of the perpetrator is to “correct” the individual. – Sarah Doan-Minh, Hastings Women’s Law Journal 2019 *** The original sin had very little to do with apples. And I don’t mean that it was a pomegranate, like history nerds on the Internet will say to prove God isn’t real or whatever. God is real. And on the day that #MeToo was trending across Eden, He said, “But Adam has so much potential,” and cleared him of all charges. I lost the title of “original woman” to some doe eyed, goody two shoes named Eve. She was made from Adam’s rib, so she owed him her life. That’s why she was supposed to be better at obeying him. Better than me, specifically. But that’s just what happens when you’re made from the same dirt as the first man, I guess. Equality meant nothing to Adam. Patriarchy starts early in this story, and we all know what men high on patriarchy think sex should be like. I left Adam as soon I realized that God didn’t put the word, “No,” in his vocabulary. The Angels tried to bring me back and brought back a rumour that I ate babies instead. Angels are gossipy bitches. When Eve first arrived on the scene, I probably should have felt sorry for her. Making her out of Adam’s rib was a filthy trick. But, even though I watched her, over and over, trying to get his hands off her hips, I told myself she could do better. I heard her squealing “No!” in that vaguely polite voice men use to justify their lies, “I thought you meant, ‘Yes!’” so many times and still told myself she was an idiot. That if she really felt scared, she could just leave him, like I did. It was her own fault for staying, I told myself. See, I wasn’t really hip on the feminist theory until the feminists started calling me an icon. No, I used to hate on Eve. A lot. Lucifer and I would creep on her and Adam some nights. We’d lounge in the Tree of Knowledge, passing a joint, talking about how overrated they were between blowing smoke and blowing each other. I was always complaining about Eve. Her ass was too round, her tits were too perky, her skin was too smooth, her build was too tiny. Usually, Lucifer would just smile and nod. But there was one evening that was different. “Y’know, Lily,” Lucifer said. There was slowness in his voice like his words were swimming through the smoke to get out of his mouth. Really, his words were swimming through his hair. The man had a lot of coarse blond hair, and never seemed to care if it fell in his face. “What, Lucy?” I growled. Lucifer glared at me out of the corner of his eye as he passed me the joint. I raised an accusing eyebrow at him from behind my wavy brunette bangs. He sighed. He looked back to the gap in the branches we were peering down through. “You got the hots for Eve or what, Lilith?” I coughed on the smoke that was tickling the back of my throat. “Little Miss Perfect? You’re out of your mind.” I practically threw the joint back at him. The fallen angel chuckled and took a deep drag. I squirmed on the hefty branch I was perched on. I kept my glare as steady as I could. When your best friend is a sass master and King of Hell, you don’t give him any clues he might be right about anything, ever. Especially not this. “Who the fuck do you think you are, saying some shit like that?” I said, overcompensating. He grinned. The sharp corners of his mouth nearly pierced his ears. “I’m the asshole who scares The Big Man upstairs. I say what I want.” He dramatically brought the joint towards his lips like he was in one of those French movies. There it was; the sass. I snatched the joint from him before he could breathe in. “Hey!” he whined. “You know what I mean,” I said. “Okay, Lilith, come on,” Lucifer said, holding out an open hand. I sneered and slapped the joint back into his palm. He looked me right in the eyes as he blew the smoke into my face. My sneer became a grimace. He laughed. “You’re obviously obsessed with Eve, Lilith. You never stop staring at her, you never shut up about her…” “Which means I’m in love with her? Get over yourself.” I reached for the joint, but Lucifer’s hand dodged mine. He held it above his lazy body with a delicately bent wrist. “I’m not talking love. I’m talking obsession. More to do with Asmodeus than The G Man.” “You think I want to fuck Eve?” Lucifer gave a toothy grin, licking his lips in a pure mockery of seduction. “Don’t you? Don’t you just wanna have her all to yourself for a night? It could be fun, like that orgy you have with the Gorgon sisters and Perseus in Greece. Or maybe something more sensual, like what you have with Donatello in the Renaissance. Something kinky, maybe, like the fling with Mary Shelley from the 1800s. Or maybe…” He brings a thin finger to his cheek and gazes at me with a doe eyed expression that looks as disturbing on a demon as you probably think it would. “Maybe there’s a reason you used the L word. Maybe you want something more special with Eve? Something long term? Maybe… a commitment?” “Shut up!” The shout barely made it out before Lucifer pressed a hand to my mouth. He glanced cautiously to the space between the leaves. I shook my face free from his grasp and, scowling, looked as well. I realized my mistake. I caught a glimpse of Eve glancing with innocent intrigue towards the Tree, just before Adam demanded her attention again with a firm grip on her shoulder. His face was more suspicious as he looked back in our direction before walking away with Eve in tow. I looked at Lucifer who was, to my surprise, laughing silently. I raised an eyebrow. He leaned in to whisper, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t Shakespeare me before he’s even been born yet.” “But am I wrong? Why would you care so much if there wasn’t something you wanted? Don’t you want her? All to yourself, in sickness and in health, ‘til death do you part?” He motioned a hand to his heart as he recounted his irritably dramatic parody. I rolled my eyes and pursed my lips as I looked back towards the naked figures below in the Garden. The evening light was dim, but Eve’s skin glowed with a disturbing perfection. I told myself it was disturbing, and, yet, there was something about that kind of visual softness that made me wonder about her physical softness that made me wonder about— Lucifer stumbled slowly to his feet, balancing on a branch as lanky as himself, and motioned for me to follow. “Tell you what,” he said. His voice seemed more sincere than before. We slithered between the branches and made our way down the trunk and out of the Garden for the night. As we did, he made his suggestion. “Why don’t you talk to her? See if she ‘sparks joy’. And if she doesn’t, well, that’s that.” “You want me to talk to her?” I scoffed. But then, after a moment, as we returned to the Gates of Hell, I thought about what he’d said. Pausing to give Cerberus a scratch behind the ear just inside the Gate, I asked, “How?” Lucifer’s eyes glimmered with Hellfire and mischief. He curled a finger towards me, urging me to hurry up, as we made our way to the white picketed lawn and up the driveway to the quaint little house. Lucifer loved making Hell look like a nuclear family lived there. It made the real nuclear families that lived there, in the River of Fire, feel uncomfortable. That was the point. That day our home had a charred wooden “Welcome” sign on the door, and a picture window that overlooked the riverbank brimming and bubbling with damned souls. Lucifer hung his keys on the hook by the door and sashayed from the entryway into the open concept kitchen. Swinging the fridge open, gesturing towards the crisper drawer near the bottom, he said, “Pick your poison.” Lucifer had this theory that fruit could do anything. He won’t admit it to me, but he’s probably responsible for vegans. Anyway, I snorted condescendingly at first. But the more I looked at the bright, fresh produce, the more I wondered if it was worth a shot. Lucifer must have seen the shift in my expression. He walked away, leaving the fridge open. “That’s my Lily!” he called over his shoulder. “Lilith.” I retorted. Then I bent down to see what we had. It had to be a peach. Eve wouldn’t get it, obviously, there was no cell service in Eden. But there was in Hell, and in Hell we sexted with enough desperate and horny 21st century college seniors to know that this would be hilarious in 6000 years. I smirked, thinking about how fun it was going to be to tell Lucifer I gave Eve the butt emoji. But picking a fruit to seduce her with was the easy part. Getting to talk to Eve, that would be harder. Eve was sometimes near the Tree of Knowledge, but rarely alone. Adam would sometimes be with her, but she was more often accompanied by a swan or wolf or some other creature. The animals of Eden were dangerous. In the age of Genesis, they were God’s most loyal disciples. An outsider might see them as harmless and innocent but, let me tell you, every bug in that Garden was up to something. And that something was usually to keep Eve from poking her nose around the Tree. Left to her own devices, Eve might explore every inch of Eden, a sense of curiosity that she probably passed down to women like Alice and Dorothy. That’s what the animals were for. Eve would follow them away from trouble, skipping light on her nimble feet, to safety and obliviousness. Eve trusted the animals. It was late afternoon one day when I saw Adam and Eve dozing off in the pale light a few trees down, heads resting on the laps of lions. The lions appeared to be falling asleep, but their ears were still perked up. I waited. And as I waited, unmoving, I watched the sun begin to set and the muscles in the lions’ ears relaxed. This was my chance. I ascended the Tree of Knowledge, curving my long spine side to side. I folded my limbs into myself and grew soft scales that wrapped around the peach in what was once my hand. I extended the fruit towards the Earth as I dangled from the lowest branch. I flicked Eve’s name off the tip of my tongue. “Eeeeeeeve,” I hissed softly. “Eeeeeeeve.” The woman stirred. Her eyelids fluttered. At first, she seemed to be going back to sleep. Then she shook herself awake, eyes widening as she saw me. She gasped and I said, “Sssssshhh.” She looked reluctant and moved as though she was going to wake Adam. “Don’t!” I said. I let my true voice slip out for only a moment but assured myself she was too dull to notice. “Snake?” she said softly. She pushed herself to her feet and began tiptoeing through lions’ paws towards me. “Yesssss?” I said, drawing out the S for as long as I could. “Snake, I haven’t seen you in a while, I thought you left with Lu—” Eve raised an eyebrow. There was an expression in her that I hadn’t seen before at the distances I’ve watched her. This wasn’t an expression of curiosity. It was one of intelligence. “You aren’t Snake, are you?” she said. “Of coursssssse IIIII—” That look. That suspicion I didn’t know she was capable of. I was caught. I released the grasp my tail had wrapped around the branch and leapt to the ground, feet first, flesh taking the place of scales. My thick curls fell around my face as I landed, fist clenched around the fruit in my hand. The juice dripped from my fingers. Eve tilted her head. The suspicion in her eyes softened and she reached her hand towards me, slow and steady. “Who are you?” she whispered. I stepped back quickly. My heel hit a root, but I kept my pain to myself. “Don’t touch me,” I hissed. I hadn’t completely shaken the snake voice yet. Eve lowered her hand and nodded. “Okay. I won’t,” she said. Her compliance made me angry. “You think you’re perfect, don’t you?” I growled. Eve’s eyes widened, but she didn’t look offended. Only confused. This made me angry, too. “You think that because you’re so gentle and agreeable and you’ll do anything anyone says that you’re perfect. You think that you deserve this, don’t you? You deserve to be the ‘original woman’ more than me. Well that’s just fine. You can have Adam, you can have God, you can have the perfect life with the perfect family in the perfect Garden. But not all of us want that, okay? Not all of us want what you have. Not all of us are jea—why are you just staring at me?!” I could feel myself heaving for each furious breath. Eve stood facing me, breathing more calmly, but her chest still rose and fell in synch with mine. The silence was unbearable, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak. At last, she did. “Lilith,” she said. “Are you…? You’re Lilith.” I scoffed. “So, he mentioned me, huh?” Eve’s eyes seemed locked on mine, no matter how hard I tried to shake her gaze. Looking up, down, around, every time I glanced back, she was still there staring. “Not that you were beautiful,” she said. I glared at her. “Don’t make fun of me.” “I’m not,” she said. She didn’t insist, as though she knew she didn’t need to. “They said you were a demon, but your hair, your skin, your breast… They’re so much like mine, yet somehow more stunning.” She broke eye contact with me to look me up and down. “What’s that?” She pointed at the remnants of the peach. I looked down at the crushed fruit. I frowned at the exposed pit in my fingers. “It’s a peach, duh,” I said. “I see,” said Eve. “Is that what grows on this tree?” She glanced at the Tree of Knowledge behind me. I let my head fall back to look up at the leaves. The branches were bare of fruit. “Nothing grows on this tree,” I said. “Just leaves and bark.” When I looked back at Eve she seemed confused. “But the Lord said not to eat the fruit—” I laughed. “Your ‘Lord’ lies to you all the time,” I said. “‘Thou shalt not eat the fruit of this tree’ really means ‘Thou shalt not associate with the whore and devil who hang out there’.” Eve blinked. “You? But why? Why would He say that about you? Why would He call you such things?” “Why do you think?” “Why are you here?” Eve asked abruptly. “I thought that you had left the Garden.” She took a small step towards me. “I thought that you and Adam didn’t get along, so you decided to walk your own path.” I stepped backwards again, closer to the Tree, my spine leaning against the trunk. “Is that what they told you?” I caught myself looking past Eve to Adam’s sleeping body in the distance. I hadn’t been this close to him in a long time. I pushed the feelings of terror and regret and rage deep down into the pit of my stomach where they could storm without me. My attention was drawn out of my own thoughts when Eve whispered, “I’m sorry.” “What?” I said. There was a solemn, knowing look on her face. “He hurt you, didn’t he?” My mouth fell open and I stuttered. “What makes you think…?” “The way you look at him,” She took another half step towards me. She lifted her arms and asked with her eyes. “It’s how I wish I could look at him, if no one was watching.” After a moment, in some spur of poor or good or some kind of judgement, I nodded. She leaned in and hugged me. “I’m sorry,” she whispered again, into the crook of my neck. “I’m sorry that he did it.” My body shook. The feelings in my stomach had spread to my heart and were coursing through my veins. Terror, regret, rage… and sadness. My body shook as it tried to understand what it was feeling. I felt Eve gripping me tighter, as though to keep me from shaking myself into pieces. I felt her chest move as she breathed. I let myself sink into Eve’s arms, feeling us breath together, and I cried. Eve pulled away. I felt myself leaning towards her body to try and keep the feeling of us breathing together on my skin. But she kept her hands on my shoulders, and, for now, that felt like enough. We stared at each other for a moment. Eve smiled gently. I let the last of my tears fall silently down my still face. “I’m glad you came to me, Lilith,” she said. “I understand that kind of pain can be hard to carry alone. I’m glad you confided in me.” I looked at her sincere expression and I felt comfort. But it wasn’t alone. There was another feeling. Guilt. I didn’t come here to confide in her. I didn’t come here with pure intentions at all. Eve interrupted my thoughts, chuckling. “The truth is, I thought you were here to tempt me,” she said. “Tempt you?” I laughed. “Why would you think I was here to tempt you?” Eve smiled. “Well,” she said, “there is the fruit, and the Tree, and—” “Well,” I said, “if I was here to tempt you—hypothetically—what would you say to me?” My eyes darted away from her. I tried to hide my shame. “Would you get pissed and tell your God to smite me or whatever?” I joked. “No,” Eve said sternly. I looked back at her and saw that her expression was just as serious. I realized I had seen her face go through more emotions in this moment than in an eternity watching her in the Garden. “No, I wouldn’t. You know why?” She took my hand, pit, and all, and lifted it to her face. She leaned her lips toward my index finger and whispered, “May I?” I nodded, and she kissed the juices on my flesh. “Because I trust you, Lilith.” “You shouldn’t,” I replied automatically. “Why not?” Eve asked. “You are the first in the Garden to show me fear. That kind of vulnerability is courageous, and genuine, and unusual, in a place like this. You are the first in the Garden to show me that you don’t believe in Adam’s perfection. I thought I was the only one. I thought I was crazy. But, Lilith, if he did to you anything like what he’s done to me…” She averted her eyes. Another emotion I hadn’t seen in her before. Sadness. A sadness I knew myself. “Run away with me,” I blurted out. I don’t know what came over me. I felt as shocked as she looked at my words. But I couldn’t stop. “Run away with me, Eve. We can get away from all this. Together. No Adam, or God, or even Lucifer—that annoying bastard is my best friend, but I’d leave him in a heartbeat just to get away from… everything… with you.” She stared blankly at me, and, for once, I couldn’t read her. I felt the tears coming back. “You understand me, Eve. You understand me like no one has, like no one will. I live my whole life at the same time, Eve, I can see it all. Every person ever born, from the Creation to the Rapture and I just know… you’re the only one who will ever understand me.” Still, she was silent. I saw her eyes glisten with tears for just a second before she leaned in and hugged me again. “I’m sorry, Lilith,” she said. “You are so much more than I could have imagined.” The breath of her words felt like daggers on my neck that stabbed through to my heart. I knew what was coming was bad. I knew I wouldn’t want to hear it. “Lilith, you’re—” “Just say it already,” I sobbed. I tried to force a voice of anger, but it came out sounding pathetic. But Eve didn’t laugh or make fun of me. She simply said, “I love Adam, Lilith.” She nuzzled her face deeper into my neck. For a moment I hoped I misheard, that she would stay there forever, but then, “I can’t leave him,” she said. “I won’t tell him you were here. I’ll—” I placed my hands on her chest and pushed her away. “I don’t care what you tell him,” I said. I refused to look at her face. I couldn’t predict what I’d do if I looked at her face. “Just go.” “Okay,” said Eve, still standing there. “I will, but will you be alright—?” “Go!” I shouted. I didn’t wait for the sound of the lions’ roars as they awoke, or Adam’s shouting as he ran towards the Tree. I swung around the trunk and folded in on myself, hoping that I could fold in far enough to disappear. But I didn’t. I just turned into a snake again. So, with disappearing off the table, I slithered up the Tree and across the branches. I left the Garden and through the Gates of Hell, leaving Cerberus to whimper for pets as I passed. I ignored the screams from the River and burst through the door of the house with the white picket fence, my emerging legs still partially covered in scales. Lucifer was laying on the ugliest couch, in a black satin robe, reading a 1960s edition of Playboy, circling the names of article writers whose souls he would collect. He glanced up at me, twirling his ballpoint pen between his fingers. “How’d it go?” he asked in a sing song voice. I stormed past him to the stairs, still shedding scales as I marched up to my room. “Fuck off,” I said. “Okay,” he said nonchalantly, looking back at his magazine. I heard him shuffle to his feet shortly after I reached the second floor. Before I could slam my bedroom door, he called up to me, “Lily! Lily, I know you’re moping, but do you know if we have any apples?”

Alistair J. Cusak

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ourimpavidheroine · 4 years

Text

Yeah, so I read the comic. Spoilers below, consider yourself warned.

I think the artwork is great, and thank fuck they got a decent colorist. The first series was hideously colored with some sort of an overall mustard tone, I still can’t get over it. In this one the drawings are crisp and animated, and the color is rich and has more than three tones to it. Michelle Wong has a knack for nailing facial expressions which works so well in this kind of story. Huge thumbs up from me.

(Although I still hate that Mako went back to his teenage hair. I do not at all get this. AT ALL. Why the hell would he want to do that? This says a LOT to me about how Bryke sees the obviously temporary maturity they gave him in Book 4 since I sincerely doubt the return to his teenage hair was a choice made by either of the comic artists.)

The writing, though? A huge thumbs down from me.

The first Korra comic had Asami In Danger ™ as a means of moving the plot forward and now the second one has it as well. Sure, we’ve got Mako and Bolin thrown into the mix to up the stakes a little. But at its heart? That’s just lazy writing. And it’s very, very male writing as well. I loathe the damsel in distress trope precisely because 99.9% of the time isn’t written well. (This is definitely not one of the .01% of the times it is right.) Ho-hum, Asami has been brainwashed to hate Korra. I mean...there’s no real drama there. It’s not really her! The drama the two of them were having over even having Kuvira along was more interesting than that. There are no stakes with the brainwashing. We know that it’s going to get fixed; the Krew (and Wu) won’t stay brainwashed forever.

Listen, Korra is the fucking Avatar. She is the most powerful person in that Universe, and her job is to bring stability and balance. Not to chase around her girlfriend who keeps getting kidnapped. TWICE.

At least we didn’t have to deal with straight white cis dudes writing about systemic homophobia in this one. (Or at least not so far. They aren’t done yet.)

Wu singing along to peeing actually made me laugh. That is very teenage Wu. (Also? His Jungle Outfit was EVERYTHING.) I did like the swamp vision of Hou-Ting and it actually showed that despite the accusation she was making that he was giving up the crown because he didn’t care/was a coward that it wasn’t the case. Which obviously is more in line with how I see the character. Although Toph calling him Spindleshanks pisses me off because now I can never have Lin do it in my fanfic. DAMMIT. Also? Pabu on his shoulder was frankly adorable.

Toph was great, as she usually is. Although you know what I loved the most about her in this volume? The way she’s cradling an injured Opal at the end. That’s the first gentle thing I think we’ve EVER seen Toph do, on the show or otherwise. I thought it was beautiful.

I do like that Korra is still trying to work forward in how to be the Avatar, even when the things she does as an Avatar aren’t always approved of my her nearest and dearest. That’s one thing I always did think Bryke got right for her; it’s been a struggle for her to find the balance between having her own life and being the Avatar and I personally think it’s one she will always have, even if age and experience ease it for her as she gets older. I think all Avatars do.

I did like that even when brainwashed Mako took charge. That’s just what he does; even being brainwashed doesn’t change it.

Oh lord, and I guess I have to address Kuvira. So look. Here’s the thing. Bryke clearly wants to redeem her. Which...I know there are a lot of Kuvirastans out there that are happy about it. That’s not a slam on my part; I am not interested in it, but that’s why I write my fanfic the way I do. Fans like what they like, and redeeming her is a big one for a lot of people. I’ve got no problem with redemption stories, if they are done well. (Zuko’s redemption arc remains one of the best I have ever seen.)

But in order to redeem Kuvira they have to retcon her. They have quite literally no other choice in order to redeem her. And I loathe that regardless of what story it is. I mean, just walking her back by saying that Guan was doing experiments without her approval? Come on.

The thing is this: canonically speaking, Kuvira commissioned a weapon of mass destruction that she had every intention of using, and which she did use. She killed we don’t know how many people (I mean, the idea that a city as big as that one had a 100% clearance rate is just silly, there were plenty of people who didn’t evacuate for various reasons, never mind the sailors on that ship she took out), left who knows how many homeless in Republic City, caused who knows how much yuan worth of damage. She took out half a fucking foreign city, which she attacked without any provocation. You cannot erase that by saying that she didn’t approve human experimentation and had a rough childhood. You just can’t.

That’s not even getting into her attacking Zaofu as well as conscripting soldiers from all over the Earth Kingdom and coercing provincial governors into allowing her to take control. I mean, she was a security guard who became a fascist dictator in the space of three years. You cannot forget that, no matter how hard you retcon her. If you do forget it it’s because you wanted her to have never done those things in the first place, you know? But she did do them. It’s canon.

Bryke’s whole stated approach - and it is stated, Mike DiMartino has done interviews - of Kuvira just wants to do good but can’t understand why Asami won’t forgive her for killing her father and never mind all of those other people is just painful to me.

Now look. The idea that Korra recognizes that as the Avatar she has to put aside her personal feelings and deal with Kuvira as a means to an end for a political situation she cannot handle on her own is not one I have a problem with. AT ALL. And having her and Asami clash over that? GOOD STUFF. In fact, I hope like hell some of the better fanfic writers out there are jumping on that, because that’s something that I firmly believe they’d have to deal with as long as they have a relationship with each other. Asami isn’t dating the Avatar, after all; she’s dating Korra. But Korra IS the Avatar, and that’s something the two of them will have to come to terms with, which they clearly have not. So I am onboard with this, absolutely. Yes!

But Korra does not have to retcon Kuvira. She does not have to understand nor forgive her. She does not need to be her BFF. As the Avatar, what she should be doing is using Kuvira to help bring about the balance that is her entire job and then putting her back where she found her, because the Avatar’s job is not to dispense justice or override what has been decided in a court of law. If Kuvira is going to be pardoned from her jail sentence forever then that’s for Zhu Li to decide as the new president of Republic City, not Korra.

(I have a sinking suspicion Bryke is going to have Zhu Li - who was the only person actually working directly under Kuvira to have the courage to not only defy her but to call her out on being the monster she was and get sentenced to death for it - pardon her. UGH. LAZY WRITING.)

I am sorry that Kuvira’s parents were shitheads. My own mother punched me in the face and broke both my nose and glasses when I was cast as Mercutio in my high school rendition of Romeo and Juliet because...well, I guess because she didn’t like that I would be playing a guy and not Juliet? (I dunno, it was 35 years ago and I’m still not sure but I’ve got a crooked nose to remember it by.) She was not exactly winning any prizes in the mothering department, believe me. Nevertheless I am still responsible for the decisions I have made as an adult. Having a shitty childhood was not my fault, but it certainly is my problem if I hurt others because of it. Kuvira is no different. I have a nagging suspicion that we are being set up to give Kuvira a get out of jail free card for the whole FASCIST MURDERING DICTATOR thing because her parents sucked. And frankly, I think that’s a terrible message for Bryke to be giving to people reading this comic and to be frank I am just bewildered as well as angered by it. I mean...they aren’t, right? They are setting up the whole bad childhood thing in order to prove that no matter how rotten things were for you you are never justified in cruelty (or you know, dictatorships) towards others? Right? Please?

Not to mention I am all for forgiveness but Kuvira didn’t pull a few pranks as a teen. She attacked foreign countries without provocation, commissioned and used a weapon of mass destruction, conscripted armies, set up camps for dissenters, and so on. If you want to redeem her, then have her recognize that she did wrong and willingly GO TO PRISON BECAUSE OF IT. The homeless, grieving and devastated people she left behind deserve that, they really do.

I did like that Su came when Kuvira asked. Her feelings about Kuvira are clearly complicated ones - to say the very least - but she was able to put them aside when her help was needed. That’s the Su Beifong I believe in and write about. She brought her three warrior children along as well. (Although what Opal was doing in Zaofu instead of RC I don’t know, but hey, what’s a plot?)

But if she goes on to forgive Kuvira for straight up attempting to murder her son then I call bullshit all the fuck over that. I’m a mother. NOPE. There are limits. I am telling you, anybody who tries to retcon that doesn’t have children themselves. The end.

My baby Baatar is coming back. Ya’ll know how I feel about him. I have no faith that Bryke will do him right, especially as Bryan once said that he was the character he hated the most. I cringe to think of what they are going to do to him. Blame him for all of Kuvira’s mistakes in order to continue her retcon? Retcon him into being the one actually responsible for her leaving and doing the things she did, making him the puppet master behind the scenes? Would not surprise me at all if it happened. Not at all.

#Not tagging this to avoid wank #long post

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ayakashiramblings · 5 years

Text

If you came out - Dawn Faction

In celebration of Pride month (that is about to end and I lost track of everything because of work, ughh...), this is dedicated to everyone who wants to love!

Disclaimer though: I am a straight, cis girl so while I can write this based on my friend’s opinions, I won’t be able to fully capture the whole scope of being in the LGBTQ+ community. I am also a bad writer by nature, LOL. That said, if I have written anything harmful, please let me know so that I can correct it.

Also, this is technically in the Taisho era so like... I don’t know the history of Japan well enough. Plus, I can’t cover the whole spectrum here, I was hoping to do more with the other groups after gauging the reception here, LMAO.

Finally, Yura sucks for being too perfect.

Koga Kitamikado

His sweetheart is bisexual. And by the way? Very scared of telling him.

She has been dumped faster than burning coal all because it seems like MC would cheat with not just one but two other parties.

AND has also been hurled with accusations of not making up her mind and stringing people along so easily without a hint of remorse.

But he’s the second-most supportive man here. (We’ll get to the first later)

You, ever-the-intellectual knowing that, hit it for Russia when you thought you saw your ex-girlfriend and Koga turned his back on you for 10 seconds to tend to Masanobu’s new watch chain.

Fear does crazy things.

He and Kuya found you in 27 minutes, sobbing into an empty tub of ice-cream you stole from the tengu as your only food supply and frankly, the only item you brought along.

Even Kuya found it pathetic enough to leave you and Koga alone at the random bar.

Everything was pounding. Your head, people taking shots, and leaving with the resounding slam of the doors.

Again, and again, and again.

Yet, Koga was still there, letting you nurse your head against his burly shoulders and stroking your hair away from your face to look you in your bloodshot eyes.

His steady gaze returned some semblance of composure to your drunken mind.

"It's always been hard to look away from you... especially if I think you are troubled by something or someone."

Yup, that’s right. He has had his suspicions.

“Are youz gonna break up witz me...?”

“HELL NO!”

Ok so his calm mien was finally broken by that whispered question and his Japanese bellow had certainly garnered attention until he glared at the other patrons.

His control only returned when he said this.

“If they didn’t love you being bisexual, they didn’t love you. Period.”

... This is the first time you have ever heard of the term. Heck, you had always been too shy to ask Ginnojo for books on the topic but WOW KOGA KNEW? HOW?

You didn’t even know if that was the right term, how the heck did he even find it in the Taisho era of all eras?!

Boy was fully prepared to smother you with all his affections with just the hint that you haven’t been properly cared for.

“Lady Luck was on your side so many times. But here’s the thing; I knew you could love and have loved people. Not sides.”

“I would like to be on your side and your loved one now, in the next 1000 years and beyond.”

That night, you had celebrated coming out and being strong with the strongest man, vodka and of course, hangover in your life.

Kuya

Trans male who actually sees Kuya making an effort beyond wraith-fighting.

You lucky boy! He is a bit confused at first but not dismissive. Anything involving you and your happiness is serious business to him.

Takes some time getting used to the shift in pronouns, but the one in 2892019280923092 chances that he messes up, he will always apologize with ordering whatever you want from the Milk Hall.

Now you wished he would mess up more.

When he is too lazy to buy paper, he just writes on whatever scars you have from your gender reassignment (if you go for it... wait, did they have it back then?) or the marks left from your binder that would have made you self-conscious once upon a time.

And he keeps doing it on each new mark as you slowly transition.

One day, you decided to buy the most classy paper a writer could ever hope for. One that would ensure no bleeding, feathering, and basically ‘The Dream Paper’.

All he did was give a smile and thank you before dipping a feather... and writing on the 273rd scar.

“But why?”

“I need to write the 273rd page of my boyfriend’s strength.”

Yura

You are a trans female, that has been practising her coming-out-speech on forest animals...

... that you knew would know Yura.

You were so scared about seemingly leading others on and deceiving others. Every time some discovered any secret part of yours that you had hidden, suddenly EVERYTHING was exposed.

“Oh, my lady...”

“I am ever so delighted! You came out to me first AGAIN!”

... So it turns out, your past self was also trans. And Yura had been the proudest friend you had confided in first.

His part is so short because guess what? He is a perfect man. I seriously don’t think you would need to worry about him.

We just need him to be our boyfriend soon!!!

Ginnojo

Asexual acing everything but sitting down with the bae and talking about it.

Not that you have to, only if you are comfortable.

And you were super comfortable honestly. Maybe the whole quiet patrol at the park had lured you into a false sense of security.

... Into giggling at poor Ginnojo blushing at some shameless couples.

Seems like the birds, the bees and make-out sessions were in season.

“Can we agree to never do that?”

“Of course.”

“Like, ever? Like forever never?”

“Er, yes?”

“Like really no smashing of bodies also?”

“.... No? Wait, why are you asking? Come, let’s sit over there.”

This is probably the most Ginnojo has ever talked but you are so ecstatic that he can take it all in and without you feeling flustered over the occasional ramblings mixed in with serious explanations.

Checks the boundaries established like the following;

If you don’t mind him occasionally finding you sexually attractive, especially considering you are one of the few women he interacts.

Promises on telling when to stop.

Getting sexual relief from outsiders (No surprise that he shoots the whole premise down. Ginnojo without you, it wouldn’t be him to the ayakashi)

Kisses and the art of cuddling.

Ultimately though, he just needs 2 things and that would be enough.

“I want to love you like a book. Let me hold the pages and move with you when your story tells me to until the end.”

“And in return, I’ll share my cover with you to spread around any corner of the world you want.”

Aoi

Lesbian that chose to come out to the right ayakashi... but at the worst place possible.

To be fair, you had tried your best in luring him to sketch at a discrete, isolated place.

You had even pictured the scenario, which later turned to be a screenplay of all the disasters and worst reactions that could arise from the even the simplest, vaguest confessions.

Had Aoi known of this whole script, he would have probably said it was the writing Kuya could only dream about having.

It’s just that the Golden Week makes the Milk Hall super packed for once.

So there you were, with the milkshake that should have brought an annoyed satori seer over and scolding you for remaining with the probably-spoiled drink.

And everything snaps. His pen snaps, your straw snaps, you snap.

“What, I’m a spoilt milk bottle because I’m swinging the cap the other way? HUH?!”

By some miracle, Oji was too busy flirting with the onslaught of female customers and the aforementioned group was too preoccupied with giggling at that dork.

Aoi had heard everything though. You knew he had heard everything... so why wasn’t he responding?

Then you heard it, the girliest of giggles.

And the sweetest grin you have seen in the world.

Again, you couldn't blame Koga for mistaking him for a cute girl cus dayum...

Loving a man or woman, his tsundere mind and mouth finally cooperate to say the exact same thing.

That you are a lovable dork who had been the very muse for the painting he has been slogging over.

A whole triptych.

The first one was of you at the river, grabbing the rock to seemingly skip across the water. It was undeniably warm and set at dusk. So the transition to the next frame was jarring but somehow familiar.

The second depicted you walking away with the random stone, and being largely ignored by others and nearly engulfed in the darkness between you and the rest of the crowd.

And finally the last was someone's hand sharing the stone with yours. Curiously, it was only inked and without any palette.

“The only thing they all need is your colours, whatever you have chosen and wanted. I want to see them when you want to show me her.”

And you did, spending his 1-hour break just using all the paint supplies that you could find together.

#koga kitamikado #ayakashi romance reborn #arr #kuya #aoi #ginnojo #voltage inc #ayakashi: romance reborn #lgbtq #yura

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juniperhillpatient · 5 years

Note

Could you write Richie introduces Beverly to comic books? Obviously a friendship thing

Thank you for the prompt ❤️❤️❤️ I’m sorry it’s so late. I spent forever editing it and then Tumblr reloaded & I had to re-edit. Save stuff on Microsoft Word always, I guess.

Anyway, this was so fun to write. Richie & Bev’s friendship is so important. I based this off the book partially because I’m currently re-reading and that’s where my mindset is and partially because I wanted to reference this really cool fifties horror comic anthology I have, so this is set in the fifties like the book. It’s just a fun little one-shot though so I think if you’ve only watched the movies this will (hopefully) be just fine!

Anyway, I really hope you enjoy ❤️❤️❤️

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“You cheated!”

“Did not.”

“Richie, come on, you distracted me by pointing to the window and stole one of my cards.” The two of them were sitting in Richie’s kitchen, a bowl of chopped melon and two cups of juice as well as an array of card games between them on the table.

“But I tawt I taw a putty cat!” Richie protested, waving his arms wildly. Then, in his normal voice. “Come on Bev, I wouldn’t cheat. I saw a cat out in the yard and because I am a good friend who points out cute animals, I wanted you to see it too.” He paused and rolled his eyes with an air of over-the-top drama and spoke in his most sarcastic voice. “I’m sooo sorry for being a considerate friend, Beverly, truly, sooo sorry.”

Beverly couldn’t help but giggle, but she stood her ground all the same. “First of all, it’s wet and gross out there so if there was a cat it wouldn’t have been cute it would have looked like a rat. Second of all, Richie, I would’ve won if you hadn’t done that and we both know it.”

Beverly recognized a spark in Richie’s eye that told her yes, he had stolen the card and would admit to doing so but not until after some decent banter. It was a lazy sort of afternoon, and this was not the first time the two of them had fallen into amiable arguing. There was a light rain pattering against the window. Maggie Tozier was sitting in the living room reading a novel by Beverly Cleary & Went Tozier was away working at the dentist’s office.

Beverly appreciated spending time at Richie’s, and her willingness to play along with his shtick was her way of thanking him for inviting her over. Neither of them would ever in a million years bring up the fact that he’d been staring at the yellowing bruise on her cheek the previous afternoon when the losers were playing in the barrens, or that he’d obviously overheard her confiding to Eddie, as the two of them sat quietly off to the side, that she didn’t want to go home. Richie thought privately that Beverly had told Eddie this because she thought Eddie might understand such a feeling. Richie, however, never would have shared such an insight with anyone.

“Why I never,” Richie said, taking on the voice and demeanor of an overtly proper British person. “How dare you accuse me of such blasphemy!”

“Beep beep Richie,” Bev said, rolling her eyes. “What is that voice even supposed to be?”

“It’s a British guy,” Richie said in dramatic outrage. “I know you know what a British accent sounds like, Bev. Come on, give me something!”

“A British accent is more like this, Richie. Listen,” she made her voice much higher and did her best impression of a British accent. “Jolly oh, jolly oh good sir, oh yes indeed.”

“That’s terrible!” Richie groaned, falling back in his seat dramatically and throwing his arm over his face in disgust. They spent the next twenty minutes or so arguing over what a British accent sounded like and doing horrible impressions. The notion of playing any more games, it seemed, was gone. Beverly hadn’t expected card playing to last long anyway. Any kind of activity that required lasting attention was unlikely to be of great success with Richie. Richie had suggested they go to the movies when he called her up in the morning, there was a good monster picture showing at the Aladdin, but neither of them had any money. So, instead, they were spending the afternoon at Richie’s, to which Beverly had no objection. The Toziers’ place felt the way a home should. She thought Richie knew that she felt that way, and that’s why he often invited her over on days like today when the other losers were busy (Bill with speech therapy, Mike with housework, Ben with summer reading) or didn’t want to come out in the rain (Stan and Eddie).

“Alright you two,” Mrs. Tozier, whom Beverly liked a lot, interrupted just as Richie was halfway through a stream of truly profane words in an embarrassingly bad British accent.

“Sorry, Mrs. Tozier,” Beverly said in a hurry.

“Yeah, sorry, Mom,” Richie said.

“That’s okay. Just keep it down a little, alright?”

“Sure, of course, Mom,” Richie said.

“And keep that trashy language out of your mouth,” Mrs. Tozier told her son. “Especially around a lady.”

Beverly, who had been squealing with laughter before Mrs. Tozier entered the room, felt her cheeks flush. Richie’s mom, she thought, got what being a mom was about. She always had snacks, though usually healthy ones due to her husband’s dental profession, and often said nothing when Beverly would stay over late into the night on days when the thought of going home made her too sick to handle and she just needed to listen to Richie talk about nothing and make stupid noises for hours.

“Come on, let’s do something else,” Beverly said, putting the cards away as Mrs. Tozier left the room.

“Yeah,” Richie said standing. “I’ll show you my new ‘Weird Love’ comic!”

“Your -what now?” Beverly asked, intrigued.

“My new Weird Love comic. It’s a great one. It’s all about this girl who’s in love with a man who acts in a circus as a clown. She really likes him, except she’s embarrassed because she’s dating a clown.”

“I’m sorry what? What the heck are ‘Weird Love’ comics anyway?” Beverly asked.

“Oh, you’re kidding me!” Richie cried. “You’ve never read a ‘Weird Love’ comic? They’re great. They’re horror comics but about romance. Like, people who fall in love with monsters.”

Beverly shivered. “Who would want to fall in love with a monster? Or a clown? Yuck.”

As Beverly followed Richie out of the kitchen and upstairs to his room, thoughts of another clown, a distinctly unlovable clown, clouded her mind. She shoved such thought way as she and Richie entered his room. On the floor were toy soldiers he and Mike had set up in lines facing each other in preparation for battle, a jigsaw puzzle he had been working on with Stan, and a Mad Libs story he and Bill had been filling in with increasingly dirty words.

“Check it out,” he told her, grabbing a comic with a clown and a pretty lady on the cover from his dresser and flopping onto his belly on his messy bed.

Beverly followed suit, laying on her belly next to him and looking over his shoulder at the comic.

Years later, Beverly would remember the comic book clown, who was called Ben, and his creepy makeup and how it had delighted her child’s mind. Sitting in a much nicer and fancier home than she could have dreamed of at twelve years old, Beverly Hanscom would put her feet up on the coffee looking across to where Richie sat, looking off into the distance, being much quieter than she was used to. As the sounds of Bill and Mike’s argument about who would win in a bike race despite both of them being too old, and, on that particular occasion too drunk, to participate in such a race, she would remember that rainy afternoon and ask Richie about it. She would ask him if he ever thought it was kind of amazing how much they loved those silly horror comics at the time, considering everything they had been going through. “Nah,” Richie would respond in a quiet voice. “We were kids. Kids aren’t as easy to rattle as adults.”

Adult Richie would be right. As the two children read the comic together, flipping the pages eagerly as they became acquainted with Janie, a respectable and pretty woman, and Ben the clown, they giggled and gasped in equal measure. Neither of them brought up the real clown, the one that was stalking their every move and taunting them with things they didn’t like to think about like the soft way Beverly’s dad would sometimes ask “are you still my little girl, Bevvie?” or the way that werewolf had been wearing a jacket with Richie’s name on it and maybe he was the monster and it was him and his bad and secret (dirty) feelings causing all this pain.

Instead, they read the comic and laughed and Beverly asked Richie if she could borrow it so she could read it again.

“I don’t think so, I wanna show it to Eddie. He goes nuts over these things. Loves 'em more than I do. And he hasn’t seen this one yet.” He paused and rolled off the bed onto the floor. He dug under his bed for a moment and produced two more comics, also with 'Weird Love’ printed on the covers in weird, gooey looking letters. “Here though, you can borrow these. This one,” he tossed her a comic with a woman screaming in terror on the cover. “Is about a woman who’s going crazy, but the guy who loves her has no clue. And this one,” he tossed her a comic with a man standing in front of a group of serious-looking people, “is about a woman who falls for a commie.” He said 'commie’ like a dirty word, soft and reverent. Beverly giggled.

“Thanks, Richie!” she said with a grin.

“Well, you’re gonna have to let me know what you think of them,” he said. “I’ve already read those ones like a billion times.”

“You have no idea how much a billion is you dummy,” Beverly said.

Richie stuck his tongue out at her and she proceeded to whop him in the face with a pillow.

The rest of the afternoon the two of them watched television and argued over whether the girl in the comic, Janie, had been crazy for being in love with that clown or if maybe that circus clown had some odd charm about him after all.

Another thing Beverly would remember, years later as the losers sat together in Ben and Beverly’s house, visiting as they did every few months, would be how very happy they had been. Even with everything going on and their lives in danger, they’d laughed so much that afternoon.

#richie tozier #beverly marsh #it #losers club #it fanfic #prompts #I hope you like this ahhh <3 #rose pretends she can write about it

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popatochisssp · 5 years

Text

Snips & Snails 4/7

Series: Undertale, Horrortale Relationship(s): (Unfulfilled) HT!Undyne/HT!Alphys, HT!Sans & HT!Undyne, Suggested HT!Undyne/??? Chapter Warnings: Briefly referenced suicide, not graphically described

There are some things only she can do... even if it hurts her. Undyne learned that from someone really important to her.

AO3 Link

KINDNESS

Undyne’s never had so many letters in her life.

The pile looks especially huge on her modest little writing desk. It feels like it gets bigger by the day and there was a time she’d have laughed at the idea of being intimidated by a measly stack of paper, but that time is well behind her.

She gets it now, and looking at all her letters just makes her feel an uncomfortable kind of sick.

They remind her of the letters she found in Alphys’ lab, after she…

After she…

…

Undyne wonders if she felt this kind of sick, too, thinking about what nasty, accusing words could be in the unending stream of letters delivered to her. She wonders if Alphys stared at them like she does, trying not to think about all the people she failed and wishing they’d all just…go away and leave her alone.

Were they the reason Alphys did…what she did? Was she thinking about Mettaton or Asgore, or was it the letters that made her feel like she needed to escape so badly that she was willing to…?

Undyne should’ve noticed.

She was so caught up in everything, so hurt and so angry, but Alphys was struggling, too. If she’d paid just a little more attention, maybe she could’ve…

Maybe she’d still be…

Damn it…

Undyne’s not supposed to think that way and she knows it. It’s not ‘healthy,’ or whatever, to dwell on what-ifs and coulda-woulda-shoulda’s, she’s heard that enough times from her shrink.

But the letters make her think stuff like that and maybe that’s why she keeps pretending they’re not there.

She already gets all the updates she needs about the outside world from her visitors, anyway.

Papyrus probably tells her the most.

He comes by every other week, like clockwork, and he yammers on and on about as many of Undyne’s former subjects as he can think of.

It’s nice to know what everybody’s up to, that they’re doing okay, and really the only downside is that he always tries to sneak in a lecture at her in between all the important stuff.

‘Did your best’ this, and ‘forgiven you’ that, she doesn’t wanna hear any of that mushy crap…

Gerson’s a lot easier to deal with, even if he only checks in on her every couple of months.

Undyne doesn’t take it personally, though— he’s the King of All Monsters now, and she knows how busy that job can be.

Either way, he’s not as sappy as Papyrus but he still talks a lot. Mostly about how he’s working on reducing her sentence all the time, and that’s its own kind of annoying.

She tunes out a lot when he starts talking about stuff like getting monsters’ imprisonment counting towards her time served and extenuating circumstances, blah blah blah.

Undyne, uh… actually has no idea how long her sentence still is and how much of it she has left to serve.

It’s not her fault, though, that crap is just so boring!

All she knows is that Gerson keeps threatening that ‘in just a couple years,’ he might be able to officially name her his successor, like that was actually a good idea after how that went the first time.

Undyne knows better than to argue with the old man by now, though.

“Now, listen here, ‘Dynie,” he said last time, “you were a good queen when things were bad, so when things are good, you’re bound to be a greatone!”

She’d scoffed at him, rolling her eye and pointing out, “You still have to dust before I can succeed you, y’know. Aren’t you immortal or something? Fossil.”

“Keep that kinda talk up and I really will live forever, just to mess with ya’! Wa ha ha ha!”

…Crazy old codger.

But his opinion is one that she…

If he wants her to take another shot at the Queen thing, if he thinks she should, then maybe…

Hell, she’s done crazier things.

But she’ll burn that bridge when she gets to it.

Undyne has another visitor today, one who’s never come before, and she’s not sure what to expect.

She’s gotta give him one thing, though: the red glow of his eye, watching her in the darkness of her cell is actually pretty damn spooky.

“Are you here to kill me or what?”

The question makes Sans flinch, and she immediately feels a little guilty for asking it.

It makes her bluster a little, demanding, “Well, what am I supposed to think? Sneaking around in the dead of night like a ninja, all creepy…”

But Sans hadn’t always looked so creepy…had he?

That was Undyne’s fault.

Before everything, Sans had just been Papyrus’ lazy older brother and her absolute worst sentry, with harmless white eye-lights, a whole skull, and a lazy grin.

He never asked to be her executioner and it wasn’t fair to keep trying to pin that role on him.

“How’d you even get in here, anyway?” she wonders.

Finally, Sans speaks. “does it matter?”

……Fair point, she supposes.

“Alright. How about…why are you here?”

Undyne can’t imagine anyone would break into even a minimum security prison without a reason.

“…gotta question for ya,” Sans admits after a moment. “always…always meant to ask. never felt steady enough before.”

She hears the unspoken, ‘but i do now’ and it makes her feel…

Good.

Undyne is glad he’s steady. She’s glad he’s doing better, and she’s even glad for whatever role that…human…spouse of his had in it.

But she’s starting to feel like it’s the letters all over again, that dread of the unknown rearing up in her gut.

………

Fuck that.

“Ask away,” she says, because if there’s anybody she owes answers to, it’s him.

Sans looks her dead in the face and asks, “why’d you take the fall?”

Well.

Somehow the most obvious question he could’ve asked her, and she still didn’t see it coming.

It makes her laugh a little, at herself.

“What,” Undyne chuckles, “you really can’t guess?”

That red light is still locked on her, immobile in its socket. “don’t wanna guess. i wanna hear it.”

And she guesses that’s fair, too, so she bites the bullet.

“Come on,” she says. “We both know I wasn’t the best queen, don’t we? Things were bad and…I wasn’t ready for the responsibility. But that doesn’t really do much for the people who got hurt, does it?”

She knows her meaning is clear, but she gestures towards the glaringly huge hole in Sans’ skull anyway, void-black even in her already-dark room.

The victim of her handiwork just shrugs.

But really, that’s just an explanation for what she did, not an excuse. And even if it were an excuse, Undyne’s not big on those.

“I really hurt you. I know that.”

“ya’ hurt Papyrus, too.”

It’s probably the quickest retort Undyne’s heard out of him since she cracked his skull open. She’s not too surprised it was in defense of his brother.

She rolls her eye, anyway.

“Duh, dude, I was there, I remember. But that was…”

She struggles for a word that won’t make the both of them feel like crap.

“…Fixable.”

She fails.

At least Papyrus’ teeth could be filled in and set straight. With his braces off these days, he looks almost the same as he used to, like that awful fight never even happened.

There isn’t a brace in the world that can put Sans’ head back together, and they both know that it isn’t just a superficial wound.

He has to deal with what Undyne did to him every day of his life.

Sans huffs, something that could almost be a laugh. “so…what? it’s guilt?” he asks. “y’wanted to do my time for me, make things ‘even’?”

Sorta…?

But that’s not everything and she wants him to understand.

“Hey. You used to be friends with Alphys, right?”

“………?” The confusion in his silence is palpable. Eventually he admits, “wouldn’t say ‘friends.’ worked together. knew her.”

“Yeah, good enough. You heard her talking about her history tapes at least once, then.”

“…her…? oh. her anime.” It looks like Sans is wondering if he missed a piece of the conversation somewhere. He obviously has no idea what Undyne’s getting at and it’s almost funny. “what about it?”

There’s no way she could explain it right.

Alphys had such an amazing way with words when she was excited, so passionate and overflowing and there’s just no way Undyne could ever replicate that night she remembers so fondly now.

“O-oh, this next one i-is one of my favorite episodes,” Alphys had gushed, her claw over the PLAY button. The light of the TV was reflecting off her glasses and she’d looked so cute, but Undyne was too chicken to try to hold her hand, so she just kept her mouth shut and let her talk. “It’s, it’s actually really s-sad, but! It’s r-really powerful, too, ‘cause Wan-Wan comes back and, and even after he wrecked Mew-Mew’s school at the beginning of the season, he has a change of heart right before the final battle! And he cuts off his own tail just to heal her and it’s really, really cool because, y’know, it shows that he’s not really a bad guy, he just made a lot of mistakes, but that’s not all he is! He can do good things, too, when they give him the chance to, and he does it even though it hurts him and he can’t fly without both of his tails, but it was something only he could do and that’s just so! It’s really beautiful and important and—……oh jeez, I just…s-spoiled the whole thing, d-didn’t I? Oh no, s-sorry, Undyne…! I-it's still good, I promise, we c-can still watch it, r-right…?”

Undyne does her best to sum up, the memory of Alphys’ shyly reddening scales bringing a tired smile to her face.

“It’s something she told me,” she explains. “There’s some things only you can do, even if it hurts you. And this is my thing.”

She’s not sure Sans understands yet. He’s still just standing there, staring at her, so she keeps going.

“You’re…you’re a good guy, Sans,” Undyne says, as gently as she has in her. “You never wanted to hurt anybody. I knew that. You’re not…like me.”

Because she did want to hurt somebody—anybody, after Frisk did what they did and vanished—and it was not keeping that in check that messed things up for everybody; that made Sans do her job for her.

She still remembers, vividly, the hollow expression on his skull when he stood before her that first time, telling her that he’d secured a human soul. It was a sad look, pained and reluctant, yet…

Determined.

He reminded Undyne so much of Asgore, then. He still does, and it makes it feel even more right that she’s doing this instead of Sans.

“Besides,” she smirks, “you’re way too soft. You’d never survive in jail, not even cushy, rich-human jail! Me, I’m tough as nails, so just…go back home and…let me do this for you, alright?”

By the light of Sans’ eye, Undyne sees a slow smile start to break across his face.

“heh…you gotta way of hammerin’ your point home, don’cha?”

A pun.

Two puns, technically.

Sans must really be doing better these days if he’s punning again.

Good.

Undyne’s grin falls a little when Sans adds something else, though.

“listen. …you were…probably a better queen than ya’ give yourself credit for.” His tone is begrudging, but that just makes her feel more like he actually believes what he’s saying. “just ‘cause it didn’t work out great for me, specifically, doesn’t mean… doesn’t mean there aren’t a whole bunch of monsters out there that really care about you.”

……Oh, stars above, not him, too!

But before Undyne can think of anything to say, Sans and his glowing red eye are gone, leaving her alone in her cell.

Typical Sans.

Undyne flops back on her cot and tries to go to sleep, even though she’s feeling…

She’s not sure.

But the next day, when she sees the letters on her desk… she doesn’t feel the same dread as before.

If what Sans and Papyrus and Gerson said is even a little true, then maybe…maybe whatever’s in there isn’t so bad?

Undyne rummages through the pile, half-heartedly at first, until she find something that sticks out to her.

The stationery is neon pink and smells like perfume…and a little like the dump, honestly. Like water and rusty springs and…stuffing?

It’s familiar, but what really gets her is that it says it’s from Mew-Mew and it’s gotta be a joke, but hell, it has her attention.

Undyne opens it up.

“Dear Undyne,” it reads in a flowing, cursive script, “sweet, strong, violent, perfect Undyne, I hope this letter finds you well! You may not know me, but I have very fond memories of you…”

Missing scene from Fur a Good Time, Call…

A/N: Maybe someday, Undyne will write a letter back to her secret admirer...

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#snipsnsnails #undertale #fanfiction #undyne #sans #horrortale #ht!sans #myfic

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