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#so instead she has the dramatic spotlight and both the story and the characters are weirdly obsessed w her sex life

tossawary · 4 days

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Looking up some things has turned into reading the last 100 or so chapters of the "Naruto" manga for fun, because why not. Some random assorted notes so far (as of finishing Chapter 661):

This end fight is so fucking long, there are so many characters, and the pacing is bordering on excruciating. There's some stuff happening here that's delicious, but there's a lot of messy back and forth of the narrative focus that I personally am not fully vibing with. I cannot imagine trying to follow this split story weekly. This is common enough to a lot of big shounen mangas.

I generally like the basic artstyle here (the use of white and black especially), but the quality of page composition, panel composition, and scene clarity generally is obviously suffering heavily from these chapters being pushed out too quickly. I can barely tell some characters apart and some panels are just messes of lines. This is also common enough among mangas, so eh, it's also whatever.

It's kind of funny to me how Hashirama and Tobirama and Minato suddenly become major characters for like a solid 30 chapters or so. Like, yeah, I can see why Founders Era fic is popular. The flashback chapters themselves are pretty short, but Madara is one of the main villains in this fight, and the undead Senju brothers are suddenly here to kick ass on a level apparently far beyond most other characters. The grudges and betrayal here are delicious. These are also the people who founded Konoha itself, the main location of the manga for hundreds of chapters now, honestly not that many generations ago. It also helps that the Founders feel like they have nicely complete tragic arcs and lives to work with, instead of the relatively open-ended narrative mess that the main Naruto characters live in.

Also, Hashirama can definitely act the idiot and I think some of his choices / opinions are stupid as hell, but he's obviously a very clever and observant and ruthless person. Tobirama went on to become Hokage after his brother and will not hesitate to forcefully give his opinions, but it's also clear in some scenes that Hashirama is still the one in charge between them. Tobirama seems to fairly naturally fall into a very useful support role to whoever he's fighting with, including Minato and Naruto.

I like both Minato and Tobirama because I have a weakness for characters who engage with their magic systems to make new things. Minato improved on the Flying Thunder God technique and Orochimaru improved on the Edo Tensai technique, but Tobirama invented BOTH of those things? PLUS Shadow Clones??? All of which are basically carrying a significant part of the battle right now? Like, damn, Hashirama has his Mokuton, and Tobirama was stubbornly like, "Not being left behind. Fuck you."

So, yeah, the "Hashirama versus Madara", "Tobirama versus Madara", "Minato (plus Naruto & Tobirama) versus Obito", and "Kakashi versus Obito" are probably my favorite parts of this. Not knocking on Naruto or Sasuke or the large background mob of characters here, but they just do not have the same personal, ugly, emotional history in this fight, so I don't really care as much.

Ino can forcibly link hundreds of unknown minds together so Shikamaru can broadcast battle plans??? Holy shit??? The vibe I'm getting is that she was using the link apparently created by Naruto's chakra to do this, but still. Both Ino and Sakura have the potential to be incredibly OP badass characters and they are generally just... Not Allowed to take the spotlight here.

Shikamaru had this big dramatic chapter about surviving to become Naruto's future advisor someday, and I had to repress the urge to holler, "Gaaaaay!" at the screen. I do love the inherent homoeroticism of a right-hand man. (Also, *waves a hand vaguely* Gaara's whole everything.)

To be honest, though, I'm not even sure what Sasuke has spent the past fifty chapters doing. He's there! He sure is there! I think he just got stabbed, so now he gets to be emotional motivation for Naruto again. As far as I understand it, not being sure what Sasuke is actually doing sums up basically everything he does in the manga. There are too many characters here.

On that note, the vibe I'm getting from Orochimaru is that he's also mostly just here to spectate. Like, yeah, I know. Characters like Orochimaru and Sakura and Tsunade are keeping everyone alive with their bare fucking hands right now, but also, give Orochimaru some opera glasses and an alcoholic beverage and it wouldn't feel that out of place.

I'll probably have more to add at some point, but these are the (not that serious) notes off the top of my head.

#tossawary naruto #tossawary watching

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lowkeyerror · 2 years

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Her First & Her Future pt 4

Maddy Perez x Reader

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: Violence

Summary: Maddy, Kat, and Y/n go to see Lexi's play. Surprisingly they get their own spotlight when trying to save the play from Cassie's inability to handle seeing the flaws in her own character.

An: This is end hope you guys enjoy this little series. I really enjoyed writing for Maddy.

Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3

Masterlist

It was finally time to see Lexi's secret masterpiece. The art that she was afraid would be too real to handle. She didn't share a lot about the play with Y/n.

She said it was one of those pieces where art imitates life. She said that the people closest to her could end up hating her for this. Y/n thought she was being overdramatic.

However, once the play started, she had truly begun to understand what Lexi meant. This play was about them, her friends and her family. Maybe slightly protected by changes in name, but it was so obvious.

" Is that-" Maddy started.

" Us," Y/n finished, intertwining their fingers together.

Lexi was reading everyone to filth, especially Nate and Cassie. They sat a few rows back from Y/n, Maddy, and Kat.

Everyone had certain flaws and seeing them on stage was almost surreal. Y/n wasn't safe from Lexi's story. The part where they kissed under the bleachers made it into the play, also Y/n's small issue with marijuana was there, but so was her recovery. There are bits about her relationship with Maddy, but not everything.

In Lexi's play it was clear that she was scared the Y/n would turn out to be like Rue. She was scared that she would lose another one of her friends to addiction and unhealthy relationships. It made the recovery process more important for Lexi than it was for Y/n, in hindsight. It made Y/n tear up a bit.

" Are you good?" Maddy sees the tears collecting in Y/n's eyes.

The girl nods with a smile on her lips," Ya, Lexi is a fucking genius."

Then it happens. The musical scene about Y/n's brother. His hyper masculinity which can be seen as a cover for his questionable sexuality. Maddy and Kat share a look that says more than words can before glancing back at the boy.

Y/n catches her brother's eyes and she feels sorry for him. This is humiliating, it's damn near a public outing. After all he's done it seems like karma finally caught up to him, in the way it knew it would hurt him the most.

" Lexi, you're a fucking g!"

It's not a second later that Nate storms out of the auditorium and Cassie scurries after him. It only takes a few moments for the blonde girl to burst through the doors again.

An evil look on her face. She doesn't stop at her seats, instead she heads straight for the stage.

Y/n can't believe it when Cassie actually gets on stage and begins to hijack Lexi's play. Her true ego perfectly imitated the character Lexi was depicting in her play.

During her dramatic monologue she grabs Lexi from behind the stage and drags her out in front of the crowd. When Y/n sees her best friend in tears, she decides she's had enough. Unfortunately for Cassie, Maddy also decides she's had enough in that moment.

They both get up at the same time, but pause when they see Suze get on stage trying to handle the situation.

Cassie keeps going on her reign of terror. She even asks Lexi if this is the part of the play where she steals Jake from Marta, otherwise known as Nate and Maddy, is in the play.

" That's not in the play."

That's when Maddy can no longer hold her tongue," It is now."

The crowd ooo's as the actor playing Cassie tries to calm the real Cassie down. It's too late now, Maddy has already started.

" Not only that but she fucking him the entire time Marta was talking about getting back together with him."

" Why?"

Y/n answers this one," Cause Halle's a two faced cunt."

Cassie shoots daggers at Y/n," Oh like she didn't do the same thing to you when she left you for your brother!"

" At least she didn't let her ego stop her from apologizing in the end. We worked it out because she can admit to her mistakes. Every character in this plays has their flaws, but fuck Cassie for you to be the only one get on the stage and act just like your character speaks volumes, doesn't it?"

" Like she said, you're a two faced cunt," Maddy repeats.

" I'm not a cunt, you're the cunt," Cassie growls.

Maddie doesn't miss a beat," You're the fucking cunt bitch."

Suze tries and fails once again to get Cassie off the stage. It seems like the stagehands figured something out, the play just resumes where it left off. Which eventually pushes Cassies off the stage.

However at the sight of Halle on the carousel the audience can hear Cassie's high pitched scream from backstage. She bum rushes the actor and starts fighting with her on the stage.

Suze tries to break them apart, but it's not working. Maddy has officially had enough," Oh this bitch needs to be put down."

She's rushing towards the stage as soon as the words leave her mouth. Y/n is the first to follow the girl followed by Kat and BB.

Kat keeps screaming," Maddy no, no,no" as she tries to get the girl.

Maddy takes her shoes off on the stairs and tosses them to Y/n. Jacob's girl stops on the edge of the stage. Kat runs past her again screaming, "Maddy, no."

While Bb is the complete opposite," Beat her ass, Maddy."

Y/n watches with wide eyes as Cassie tries to run from Maddy. However, the stage is limited. When Maddy catches her, she ends up slapping the girl dead in the face.

Every time Maddy gets a hold of Cassie, Kat pulls her off giving the blonde another chance to scurry away. They exit through the back stage and that's when Y/n decides to follow them. She gets a glimpse of Maddy shoving Cassie's head into the brick wall, which causes her to speed up.

She passes BB who is still encouraging Maddy's behavior. They all end up in the girl's restroom. The fight was still going until Y/n finally separated the pair.

She held Maddy from behind, keeping from the other girl. Kat stood in between the girls just in case.

" You got her, it's over," Y/n whispers into Maddy's ear. She watches as her breath returns to normal.

Y/n hesitantly lets go of Maddy who then sits on the edge of the sinks. Kat takes her place in the middle and Cassie on the other edge.

" I gotta go check on Lexi. Please don't beat this bitch up, while I'm gone," Y/n pleads to Maddy. She kisses the top of Maddy's forehead after the latina agrees to not be violent.

Then she goes back to the auditorium entering the same way she had exited before. She asks a bunch of the stage crew if they had seen Lexi, to which most of them answer no.

She takes it upon herself to find her friend. It takes awhile, but she finds her sitting with her back against the wall talking to Bobbi.

" Lex," she says, getting both of the girl's attention.

" Y/n I-"

Y/n cuts her off immediately," I love it. Everything about it. You're a genius Lex and you deserve this moment more than anything. Don't let her take this from you."

Lexi looks from Y/n to Bobbi and then stands. She wipes the tears from her eyes and nods her head a couple of times.

Y/n scoops the girl up in a hug," I see you and I'm so proud, Lex. Now go break a leg, while I make sure Maddy hasn't beat the shit out of Cassie."

That gets her to chuckle," Thanks Y/n."

She watches as her friend centers herself. Her professionalism takes control as she makes her way back on to the stage. Y/n waits until she hears cheers as Lexi steps back on the stage.

When she does, it's her cue to go back to the restroom to check on that situation. The silence is vast as she re-enters the bathroom, the only hint of sound comes from BB's vape.

Maddy's icing a cut on her foot with a coke can. At Y/n's entrance Cassie finally finds it appropriate to speak.

" Do you know what's funny? Nate broke up with me before I even went on that stage."

There's a knowing look in Maddy's eyes when she responds," Don't worry, this is just the beginning."

Cassie looks around for a moment. The redness reappeared in her eyes. It's clear she wants to cry again. Maddy doesn't stick around for the tears and instead leaves the restroom. Y/n follows her out.

" Maddy-"

" I'm good, for real."

Y/n nods," Okay."

Maddy slips her hand into Y/n's. The bruises from the fight don't bother her in the slightest. She squeezes Y/n's hand gently," I want us to be official."

The pair walked down the school halls. Y/n responds," Are you sure?"

Maddy smiles up at the girl." Ya, I want you to be my girlfriend."

Her smile makes Y/n smile in return. " It's about fucking time."

Maddy playfully shoves her shoulder," Shut up."

Y/n laughs before pulling the girl closer into her side," I'd love to be your girlfriend Maddy."

They step out of the school doors hand in hand. The pink sky silhouettes the two as the stand atop of the steps. They stop and face each other. The birds seem to sing for them as they smile at each other.

They kiss. Passion, need, and longing, all running through their lips. They hold each other close as if they're both frightened to let go.

Finally reality doesn't plague Y/n anymore. She's no longer just Maddy's first, but her future as well.

#lowkeyerror #euphoria imagine #euphoria #maddy perez imagine #maddy perez x reader #maddy perez #maddy x reader #cassie howard #nate jacobs #lexi howard #kat hernandez

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theresistanceneverquits · 1 year

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Guide to TMNT media

{A mostly-comprehensive list by a lifelong fan who’s seen/read basically everything tmnt}

Mirage Comics

Original source, black and white

Nice stories, fun visually

Iconic moments

62 issues were published before the og creators passed true series to a different team

TLDR truly entertaining classics for comic fans

1987 cartoon

10 seasons

Created more iconic characters like Bebop and Rocksteady

Gave the turtles their colored bandanas

So fun, so so ridiculously funny this one is a guaranteed laugh every time

Fun voice acting

TLDR such an amusing cartoon if you want something that’ll have you cackling

1990 movies

Darker than the cartoon, but still family-friendly

Fun action, funny comedy

The films slowly go down in quality but they’re all pretty fun

Three films

TLDR iconic part of the franchise that balances a dark and light tone

Urban Legends comics

The grittiest tmnt comic series

Characters lose limbs and turn into cyborgs, etc.

Series was discontinued, but IDW recently brought it back and the story was complete

TLDR good for comic fans who love gritty comics

Next Mutation show

One season, live action

Introduced Venus de Milo, the female turtle

Retconned it so the brothers aren’t blood related so they can have a love triangle with Venus

Has elements of mystic powers

(I’m sorry I only watched the first episode so I can’t give a TLDR)

2003 cartoon

7 seasons + straight-to-dvd film

Follows the Mirage storyline

Darkest tmnt series in tone

Many fans don’t care for the last two seasons after the art style changed and the tone got lighter

Donnie has many excellent episodes, and Leo has an arc centered on ptsd in s4

TLDR has a darker tone and has a good consistent story

2007 film

CGI animation

The writing is meh but overall keeps you entertained

Has the famous Raph vs Leo scene

15-year old animation still holds up

TLDR very fun, has an iconic scene, good for Raph fans

IDW comics

Is currently on issue 136 at the time of this post, longest-running tmnt comic series

The tmnt were reincarnated

Covers a vast variety of characters, villains, and genres

Each turtle gets the spotlight

Standout arc has to be City Fall, with Dark Leo

Added Jennika to the roster a few years ago (she’s the female turtle with the yellow bandana)

TLDR excellent storyline, a lot of reading but honestly you can pick and choose where you want to jump in

2012 cartoon

5 seasons

CGI animated

A good compiling of all the tmnt media that came before

Has moments that are dark and serious, but also has a nice humor side

Has problematic ships

TLDR well-rounded action, drama, comedy and summation of tmnt lore with its own twists

Bayverse films

2 live action films (with cg turtles)

Produced by Michael Bay, very Transformers-esque

Entertaining if you like action movies

Leo kinda sucks tho lol

TLDR fun action movies

Rise of the TMNT

Animated series

2 seasons and a film on Netflix

Reinvented much of the tmnt lore

Raph is the oldest and leader, instead of Leo

Leo goes through a character arc tho

Comedy

The lightest of the tmnt series up until the season finales and the movie (The movie is very dark)

Very fun and dramatic animation

Deals with magic

TLDR beautiful animation, comedic with its own dark moments

Batman vs TMNT film

Animated

Based on the comic

Follows the comic very closely, actually

Fun for both fandoms

TLDR fun takes on the characters, and total fan service (in the most positive sense)

The Last Ronin

Graphic novel

For mature readers

Basically all the tmnt die except for one of them

Good, emotional story, with pretty art

A prequel/sequel is coming out soon

TLDR an emotional darker comic that you can get through pretty quickly

#tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2003 #this guide is meant to help people decide which version(s) to jump into #because imo it all really depends on taste #there’s really no ‘bad’ piece of tmnt media #everyone’s gonna like something different

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sunshinecherryblossom · 6 months

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Official news about Naruto's fandom... My opinions

I have to say, Naruto fandom in general will never cease to amaze me. Let's start from the beginning: remember that survey on the most loved couple in Japan as SS that we heard about with so much hype last time? Well, it turns out to be false (why am I not surprised?). There is no specific data on this poll nor is it known when and who voted; the SS simply published a screenshot of a post taken from a Japanese site but nothing else is known; there is no link or anything to access the site. Also, chatting on different forums and seeing how ships are currently rated it is highly unlikely that SS and NH are higher than KiriSuna or IchiHime, especially seeing how NH itself is received with most of the Japanese fandom complaining about Hinata as not a good mother or how there isn't enough chemistry between the two, so much so that the couple is defined as "boring". For SS the matter is a little different given that Sakura is an overly loved character, regardless of who her partner is or not but considering the disgust of the Japanese at the way she was treated after marrying Sasuke I honestly doubt it (of course, if this is a survey done only by young women who are excited by the handsome Uchiha and do not take history into account then we already have the answer to our questions). Among other things, I would like to remind everyone that to do a real survey requires a lot of time to collect data and everything, here we are talking about immediate responses from a random survey lasting a week perhaps? Remember, objectivity first and foremost. Secondly I have to say that it is always fun and ironic to see the constant wars between SS and NH even though they have both been canon for years now (like Sakura now Naruto and Hinata have also gotten their own post on the big screen in the big cities and now we have the war between who stole the idea from who and who is envious of who... right, because now these are the important news about Naruto. No the story, no the new video game with the main protagonist who eliminates himself, not a Franchise which, due to them and their closed mentalities, has been falling apart for years. No). Third, recently Boruto cards with different scenes have been made available and we have been asked to vote on the ones most requested by the fandom in general and as I suspected people are aiming for the real shonen sense with Sasuke and Naruto as the main requests and the return of the team 7 as adults (the story of Boruto and the canon couples are of no interest to anyone. People have always loved the dynamic of team 7 and it's a fact)

Last but not least, it seems that a live action of Naruto is underway apparently. I expected it after OP's success but honestly it worries me a lot. Hollywood works differently than Japan. If a character doesn't like how he is represented in the original story, the producers and directors will make sure to totally change his behavior in order to acquire more money and audiences (based on what Western fans want they will act accordingly). There can be three hypotheses at this point and it is not certain that the history of Hollywood will follow the original one. For SS (in case they see that the couple is well received then they will try to focus on their strengths i.e. anguish and dramatic tension and will try to eliminate Sakura's fangirl behavior with Sasuke. Be careful though, the same thing could happen with Karin because if the character is more liked with Sasuke than Sakura then that couple will have the spotlight). For NH, well their dynamic is not that of a typical Western fandom relationship (I tell you this from experience as I myself am part of that fandom) therefore, if the purpose of the live is to emphasize the current couples then it is possible that they will eliminate the defects of Hinata and those parts of her that may seem boring in a relationship to the public and instead will focus on her merits. In all this we must also understand whether Kishimoto himself will be involved in this work or not because it may also be that these years have served him as a lesson and he has learned from his mistakes and therefore this time it will be more for the continuation of his original story and an obvious NS final given Sakura's now well-known popularity. Or, it could also be that the live broadcast will have as its objective the main ficus of the story and therefore SasuNaruSasu and the dynamics of team 7. Many factors come into play and we don't know for sure how things will go... I don't know what to think but for sure I can say with certainty that it will not be a live action that will remedy the damage suffered to the Naruto/Boruto Franchise. What's done is done and now we have to live with it by accentuating reality and thinking about what could have been and wasn't

#anti naruto ending #anti boruto #anti ss #anti naruto fandom #anti nh #anti sasusaku fandom

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interact-if · 3 years

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Taking the spotlight for Day 6... Lucirene!

Lucirene, author of An Angel’s Song

Latino Heritage Month Featured Author

In the forest of Bres an otherworldly sickness corrodes the soil and changes the creatures within. “A parting gift from the fallen angels” say the citizens of the Hyaku Region and the mark on your hand confirms it.

Though the scent travelling in the air is sweet and enticing everyone knows better than to get closer. But the mark, it pulses, it burns, the pain spreading as fast as the corruption of the forest does.

Your masters are calling, and it seems like this time you cannot escape them.

An Angel’s Song Demo | Author’s Ko-fi | Author’s Patreon | Read more [here]

Tags: dark fantasy, romance

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!)

Q1: So, tell us a little bit about the projects you’re working on!

I have so many, but the only one public is An Angel’s Song. It’s, more than anything, a story about grief, loneliness and overcoming it all while navigating a hostile environment and discovering long lost secrets about the Divine and about the MC’s country. That one is very cathartic for me to make because of the themes, I feel like I’m working through a lot of feelings I didn’t even realize I had by writing it.

The next one is also an IF and it focuses on comedy, adventure and character interaction. It’s supposed to be more lighthearted, more fun, but knowing me… I don’t know if it’ll stay that way. Basically, it goes: A Captain’s boat falls prey to the storms and the strange creatures living under the sea, and they and their crew end up washing ashore an icy, snowy country. I already have the main cast written down and they have so much synergy, it’s amazing.

And the last one I’ll talk about (a traditional novel) actually happens in the same setting as my second IF, but many, many years before, when their local deity/guardian was born. It’s more of a romance-fantasy than anything, a love story between a Goddess and a half-dragon, however it also showcases many of the situations the people had to navigate and face before their country could become the place you’ll see in my second IF.

Q2: What excites you most about using interactive fiction? What are some of the biggest challenges?

What I like most definitely is how much freedom we have as authors. Of course, one is constrained by one’s ability to code but I think, for the most part, we can do so many things, reach an entirely new level of immersion that would not be possible with a regular novel. It’s amazing how sometimes I’m reading something and get so into it, feel so connected to the MC I feel dread when they do, panic when they have to make a choice that will clearly impact a lot of people in their world. With IF you can really feel like you’re part of the story.

Another thing I like is being able to explore other paths with my writing. Like for example, what if the MC had done this instead of that? How would that have affected their relationships, their world state? Writing branches is a lot of work, especially because they could change so many things, but it feels oddly satisfying when you do decide to include them.

Challenges… Coding, mainly. I feel like a lot of new aspiring IF authors are a bit afraid of coding and I can understand that, especially since, had it not been for the help of the community, I would have taken way longer to actually start using Twine. Hopefully with time for resources come up and it becomes less daunting.

I don’t know if any other author feels the same way but, though I think branching is a blessing, it is also a curse. I can only write the same conversation so many times, I mean I know I’m writing it in different tones and sometimes with different results but it gets frustrating after a while because it feels like you’re stuck, like you’re not progressing at all.

Another one would definitely be finding a balance between reader interaction and just following your vision. Since it’s IF at times I feel like I have to meet a quota of branches or ways in which you can react, sometimes I also find it difficult to make the MC feel like a real person instead of a reader-insert. I’m working on that.

Q3: What has been something in your project you’ve had to do a weird amount of research for?

That’s a difficult one… I don’t know if I would consider it weird but I do tend to investigate a lot about fashion, especially when designing the main outfits of the characters. I spend hours trying to find out what colors were used back then, what they meant, who was allowed to use them. I have this little image with some palettes for kimonos depending on the season.

I also spend too much time coming up with names, especially for places. Like I look up names of places that already exist, what they mean, I try to investigate if the words that I want to use make sense, then I panic because I can’t find anything, but I think that’s usual for writers. I also spent more time than necessary researching for the name of a tree that you will see way later in the book, which no one will probably notice what the name of the tree means or what it symbolizes but it makes me happy.

Honestly, I feel like the amount of research I have had to do has not been particularly weird? If anything at times I think I should research more, even if some aspects of Japanese culture will not apply to Kyou.

Q4: Which of your characters is most like you? How?

The initial version of the MC from An Angel’s Song, which I miss dearly since they had more personality. They were autistic coded too, and I hope some traces of that still remain. Apart from that I feel like all of the characters from the main cast share something with me, even if their experiences are, of course, more dramatic than my own.

A lot of them have issues with a paternal figure or an absent mother, which also resonates with me. Some of Saori’s traits draw inspiration from ways in which I talked or acted before I became a little better at masking, before I became more self-aware. Hazuki being emotional and caring, K being a bit clingy but devoted, Masa having a temper yet loyal, Miwa being friendly but reluctant to open up beyond surface level information. I think those things describe me.

There’s also Rei but I don’t think I’m writing her book anytime soon. She’s someone that’s very family oriented, she’s a bit temperamental but she means well and she’s not afraid to speak her mind. Now that I think about it, maybe Rei is more the person I want to become.

Q5: Does your heritage influence your characters as you create them? (How? Why or why not?)

I’ve been living in Venezuela my whole life so I think so, even if most of the time I don’t even notice it. I believe that this happens especially in regards to relationships because people in Venezuela are very family oriented and also, from what I’ve experienced, they form strong bonds with their neighbors, which creates this strong sense of community —sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn’t, but my mom and her friends always make at least some friends in their neighborhoods and they gossip with some coffee about the happenings of the rest—. So when it comes to writing a character it is very important to me to make an emphasis on family relationships because those are a strong part of my culture, of my identity.

In An Angel’s Song you have the main cast having issues or conflicting emotions about one or multiple members of their family, which influence their behavior and their outlook on life, but for the most part they are (or will be) able to form similar relationships with people that are not related to them, or to work towards restoring that relationship, transforming it into something healthier.

In my other books family dynamics are also immensely important. For example, I’m going to mention Rei again because I love her. So, Rei has a sister named Rin, and they are both very close, even if they haven’t spent much time together. Their bond and trust in each other helps them overcome a lot of obstacles and they rely on each other when they need support or encouragement. Rei also has other people that she thinks of as siblings, and restoring that relationship with them is one of her main goals. There’s also this recurring guilt she feels at leaving her birth family and her home to explore, because to her, families are supposed to stay together.

Another aspect that I think influences my writing is religion, even if I wasn’t raised in a particularly religious household nor do I belong to any religion. Religion is a big deal in this country, we have so many events and holidays relating to religious figures. I remember when I was very young I loved going to one of the churches here because the Virgin of that town had a building filled with pretty clothes to dress her with.

So, in that vein, I try to think about the character’s relationship with religion, do they believe in the Gods? Do they trust them? Do they follow local deities or prefer the main pantheon? How does this religion shape the way people interact with each other and the world? In regards to characters that are Venezuelan or Venezuelan-coded… I do have a few that are Venezuelan, but I don’t think I’m going to be releasing their stories soon, so I’ll keep it quiet for now.

Q6: What is something you love to see in interactive fiction?

People being passionate about their work! This isn’t something exclusive to IF, but it is something that I love seeing. I also like seeing the different ways people innovate within the genre. I feel like sometimes, especially with newer writers, there is this idea that an IF has to subscribe to a specific format and that’s simply not true. If you don’t want to use a stat system you don’t have to, if you want to add combat then go ahead, if you would prefer to write an MC that’s already pretty pre-established (which is something that I personally want to try) then there’s nothing stopping you and I encourage you to give it a go. IF is very versatile and it’s wrong to try and fit authors into a box, especially if they want to bring something new into our little corner of the internet.

Q7: Any advice to give?

In general, I advise people to have fun writing, to not worry so much about how good it is, about if people will like it. Writing, at the end of the day, ends up being a pretty solitary activity and having those thoughts in your head too long will make you spiral. Be kind to yourself, be open to feedback when it comes (and learn to distinguish constructive feedback from destructive feedback) and enjoy the exploration of your world and characters.

You are not alone in all of this. If you can, join a group of writers you can talk with, exchange ideas, get feedback from or just exchange memes (the ultimate bonding experience). Don’t be afraid, you’re not alone.

#if: events #latino heritage month #latino authors #interactive fiction #cyoa #choose your own adventure #choose your story

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anolyso · 3 years

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Utena thoughts...about 2 weeks later

I've been putting it off for way too long and so most of my thoughts stopped being fresh. On top of watching way too many analysis vids post-watch, but still I do at least want to put my 2cents of Revolutionary Girl Utena out there for the world.

Utena is perhaps one of the most famous "magical girl"/shoujo action shows out there for not only it's transgressive themes of relationship abuse and low-key pretty much being the poster girl for like actual feminist perspective on/in anime...but also just doing it all in both a heavily allegorical and understated, yet super over-the-top stylish fashion

But that's it's reputation preceding itself, is Utena worth while all these years? The answer is Yes, but it also really shows it's age and budget in pacing and repetition, tho as an appreciator for "behind the scenes" compromises in art, it's more showcasing Ikuhara's talent in working around both taboo and long-form budget constraints with just well-thought out and iconic imagery that - while episodic and formulaic - is just very good at filling the 39 eps with feasts for the eyes.

Utena broadly is about tomboy Utena with memories long ago after her parents died being "saved" by a princely figure like a princess...except she's so enthralled by the nostalgia that instead she becomes a full on Prince herself and receives a dueling ring to fight in the Ohtori Acadamy secret duels for "engagement" to Rose Bride Himemiya Anthy.

Utena is divided between 4 arcs, only the first and last being Manga adapted from hearsay:

1: Student Council Saga

2: Black Rose Saga

3: Akio Ohtori Saga

4: Apocalypse

From back to forth I'd say that Akio + Apoc is more just escalation into the finale while Black Rose being anime original comes off as a glorified side-character study which while complementing the secondary cast, feels like one of those Anime movies that has to say "but if you don't watch this part, it's pretty much optional for the main plot" despite it also actually introducing the most important antagonist within it's margins.

More importantly, it's the Student Council (arc and the actual people) that lay the foundation but also a large part of the show's focus which ironically puts Utena in the background until like almost the finale and some in-between developments, so it's less "Utena (and Anthy Himemiya)'s story" until the very end, but more like a showcase of how fucked up the system at large is (pin in that).

By the Council themselves is:

Kyouichi Saionji: The biggest jobber, like actually introduced as the most despicable loser ep 1 and proceeds to be a complete arrogant joke for the rest of the show. Honestly in another shojo "love" story, they'd find some way to redeem him but semi-compellingly they turn him into like an Aqua-lad type pathetic brat with an inferiority complex to the actual Student head

Miki Kaoru: the naive "nice, non-threatening soft boy" that also just never actually listens to the girls around him. Probably adds more complexity to the whole patriarchal idea on analytic reflection since yeah, the whole "nice guy finishes last" plays up better when the kid comes off as that "ally" energy of wanting to save Himemiya from being the Rose Bride but also low-key won't actually not just do the duels and win her cuz he's that sorta wishy-washy hypocrite. Arguably the least hateable guy in the cast (minus mascot Chu-Chu)

Juri Arisugawa: TRAGIC LESBIAN TRIANGLE LOVE. Probably the biggest point to of both "not-explicitly homosexual" but also really freaking obvious since her entire story is her girlfriend stealing her "boy crush" when actually she was crushing on her and being pretty much frustrated throughout her story as pining most of it. It's quaint by today's standards but also like damn girl, get over her she was like the worst back stabbing bitch (literally if Black Rose counts)

Nanami Kiryuu: SPEAKING OF QUEEN BITCH, it's been a long time since I've watched a High School girl bully and honestly it's kinda refreshing. If Miki is "soft-boy uwu" Nanami is a brat that gets her come-uppance often, featured prominently as an anime only with the MOST filler/comedic episodes but also not low-key, being the most out-spoken actual brother complex ironically spins perhaps the biggest twist and ironic relationships of "I love my brother but not-like-that but also like-that" by the end. Mostly comedic relief but I find her inclusion to actually add a lot more to juxtapose...

Touga Kiryuu: Big Student Council Prez himself, the first arc antagonist and also a strong foil to Saionji and later a stepping stone for Akio. Touga is THE image of a Princely Playboy Heart-Throb that in any other Shoujo romance would have the main girl win him over from all those "other girls" despite him being apathetic if not outright manipulative of them. Good thing Utena is better than that and really puts a spotlight on just not-actually-ok his power hunger for "the power to bring the world revolution" that leads him to heavily objectify Anthy, arguably even more than Misogynist Trophy Girlfriend beater Saionji, since he doesn't even see her as more than a means to an end despite professing and looking the Prince part but lacking all the actual virtues.

The Student council matters more since they're characters and subsequent tragic flaws are the ACTUAL meat of the show and on second rumination actual shows more how fucked up the system/gender dynamic/power hierarchy is since - while it blatantly fucks over Juri who can't just outright say who she likes - also show almost it's own sub-text of Masculine failings: Saionji desperately clinging to being TOXIC MASCULINE™ and completely falling short underneath Touga; Miki's "nice boy" act belying him trying to replace his low-key nostalgia for his sister (also a bitch, but apparently was more like Nanami in the manga); and best yet Touga being the quintessential "Prince in all but actual behavior" by emulating a cutthroat and Machiavellian world view but coming up empty because well, he's just an illusion of a prince...but that leads in way more to the big finale piece where I'll reintroduce the actual story's main trio

Utena Tenjou: Tomboy Prince with brain empty except for lesbian thoughts. Honestly probably what every western "STRONG INDEPENDENT WOMAN" archetype wishes they were since while having very tomboyish personality in athletics, blunt speaking and also VERY oblivious to the actual plot for REAL DRAMATIC IRONY, but also never actually demeaning her being feminine partially due to her love of an childhood prince and how she maintains her relationship with both her friend Wakaba and later Anthy. Honestly mostly a plot device after S1 until she gets ACTUAL development by the very end and instead kinda bumbles her way into undoing the entire REVOLUTION OF THE WORLD. I kinda wish she felt either more cognizant or at least felt like she was developing/properly rebuking the rest of the cast's power obsessions but I guess that's for the movie.

Anthy Himemiya: Actual Trophy Wife with a dark secret (darker than ski- wait no that's terrible scratch that). Set-up very much as an immediate princess in distress while also being the most femme Yamato Nadeshiko, Anthy being the Rose Bride as a literal prize who acts and behaves as whom she's "engaged" with desires while otherwise being quiet, wry, mysterious and noticably submissive, by the end it actually plays up into THE BIG REVEALS of just how abused she's been into a hopeless acceptance...like y'know actual abuse victims.

Akio Ohtori: Grade A Antagonist, probably the most insidious I've seen a villain in a while, Akio is notable for, back in 1997, being perhaps the big go-to of actual deconstructing the facade of a whole shoujo genre's "hots for a teacher/sexy man putting the moves" and highlighting how actually exploitative and abusive a person like that really is. Being Himemiya's brother (somewhat justified in the manga by both being a weird Sailor Moon-esque reincarnation of gods/godesses of Dios), despite how much of his motives are runing the background and how the entire back story is uh...brought up in like barely in the last arc with little lead up (some scenes feel like they'd be a full melodrama season and they just have like 1 scene in the final arc episodes) he manages to one-up Touga (in the plot as well) by instead of "just" objectifying girls, not-just-flat out saying Utena looks best as a princess, but y'know the fact that he is implicitly yet constantly exploiting and victim-blaming Anthy for her own suffering for "the power of Dios/Revolution of the world" turns it on its head

I've spent all this time on characters but in truth a lot of the meat of the show relies again on the Council Members fleshing out the issues of system leading to outright divorcing "being a Prince" (heroic altruistic virtues) and "being a man" (considering like all but maybe the comedic relief have some deliberately misogynistic behavior) and beyond just the plot (or rather character) synopsis, the talent goes far more in how it's framed, the symbolic/allegorical shots, the repetition adding a good episode formula flow to character showcases, probably the most "tasteful" allusion to uh...*ahem* sexual abuse that so many other edgier/prentious shows fumble. Both in how intimidating yet understated it's foreshadowing is until they hard-reveal it despite never explicitly naming it even tho it sends Nanami into hysterics

Really it's both a massive blessing and reason for it's cult beloved status for it's aesthetics but also it's burden, for being a full 39 episodic season by season character development study of everyone BUT the main trio except for snippets and the very end that makes it greatly appreciable as a legitimate work of art.

What I wanted more to say however (long overdue) is that a large part of following is, visibly at least, western feminist critiques and yes while it almost seems like Utena fits the "deconstructing patriarchy" story like a glove...it's weird how almost none of them actually can give a good historical account of actual Japanese female/gender/sexuality norms nor Anime contemporaries actually were. Like Tenchi Muyo and Berserk came out the same year (Cardcaptor Sakura the next) and despite how you can "feel" the influence in lots of modern shows like SHAFT's signature visual imagery cuts or many WESETERN shows having straight scene references to Utena....almost no one has a similar feel to Utena until like Princess Tutu comes out.

Really tho probably should've watched Utena and then Tutu because while it's undeniable that Utena is a major pillar of shoujo re-codification - what with everyone before Utena was saying they thought it'd be like a Rose of Versaille or Lady Knight rip-off...whose laughing now? - it's almost like there's a missing link between it and it's major western fanbase (probably with what few anime did get overseas, this one probably rose to the top), or how very noticeable there IS an influence on it's genre in Japan

Almost none of the big analyst fans actually know A) it's not "a deconstruction of Magical Girls" since despite Ikuhara working on Sailor Moon just before this, almost none of the tropes line up and instead more with Shoujo genre as a whole. or one of the major inspirations was Takarazuka theater.

And this is not to dismiss how inspirational it is to it's western fandom, but while I am notably cynical towards placing things on pedestals, there's probably something about cultivating the whole pop-culture feminist reading commune with people making weird time-loop theories while kinda most of it is just filling in a mad-lib mostly thanks to Ikuhara just keeping things on the vague and letting the audience take away their own perspective.

Again, most of the show is completely sub-textual or visually/symbolically depicted and never stated nor properly defines it's weird key words (End of the World, Revolutionize the World, Power of Dios, Rose Bride, all things said constantly but never really said what they "mean". But that's also perhaps its charm, in it's allegory and very Death of the Author approach, it has definitely allowed it's fan theorizing and appreciation to flourish so there's something there for that.

Ultimately I'd say Utena the TV series is great more so for what it isn't...or rather I should say it's great for not just subverting Shoujo tropes and archetypes for the Japanese audience but also that despite dealing with some very serious and heavy subjects in obtuse and perhaps understated ways for the time, people have allowed it to be put on it's pedestal because they can easily fit it in themselves.

Honestly though, not that a more "straight forward" approach wouldn't detract from Utena but I will say that the movie, Adolescence of Utena, is very much the best encapsulation of what Utena strives to be (for another big blog post) and while the TV series has plenty of time and flexes it's directorial muscles with budget constraints and season pacing UNrestrained, the movie will trim a lot of the fat

#long post #Revolutionary Girl Utena #I haven't actually done my Anime thoughts in a while #Maybe I'll keep this on my main blog this time #I wrote this mostly on facebook tho if I wrote it here first I'd better integrate images probably #anolyso's media time #uh...except now that's on my main blog

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ohshcscenerios · 3 years

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I was wondering, how do you think the ohshc manga would've gone if Moriharu was the canon ship as it was supposed to be? Like what would Mori's character arc be like? Would've Mori gotten a sad, dark backstory Like Tamaki? How would the confession scene look like? Would Tamaki (and Hikaru) ever be truly able to get over it (I mean he would be dramatic as always but it would've made a good arc where he gets more matur or something I assume)? I'm curious to hear your thoughts:)

I apologize for the wait Anon, this big brain question needed a big brain answer and I didn't have a big brain for a while. Now I will try to tackle it as I empty out my inbox.

If Mori x Haruhi were canon I feel many aspects to the story would change. The love-interest focus would shift to Takashi instead of Tamaki but I feel like their love story's arc would be more centered around Haruhi's arc before they finally fall in love.

Takashi had a relatively normal childhood with Mitsukuni. He didn't suffer through unfortunate circumstances and traumatic events like Tamaki. However that doesn't mean he has nothing to offer. The main arc's focus would be on Haruhi considering her childhood traumas. This would allow Takashi to be her supportive aid throughout her self-reflective journey until one day she realizes he's been by her side through it all and that she slowly but surely fell in love with him.

The way I see it, Haruhi would still learn to enjoy life to its fullest thanks to the host club. She doesn't have to marry Tamaki to learn this lesson. The host club being her close friends and dragging her along in their adventures would help her learn that life is more than working hard and achieving goals. However, while her friends are having fun and getting into mischief, Takashi is there by her side protecting her, keeping her company, giving her a sense of calm amidst the chaos, carrying her when she gets tired, actively paying attention to what she likes/wants, and accompanying her while she explores at her own pace. Takashi would offer her safety, security, and a sense of independence while with her without judging or mocking her. He would genuinely enjoy her company and she would enjoy his.

This would allow them to spend more time together, helping them both to come out of their respective shells in trusting each other with their thoughts and opinions. They both love history so they'd probably have many discussions revolving around that subject before they eventually venture into more personal and intimate territory; discussing their families, their childhoods, their likes/dislikes, their fears, their desires, and so on.

In doing this, Haruhi is having fun with the host club, learning to enjoy her life again, and gaining a wonderful friend through Takashi. He'd help her learn to rely on him as well as others, he'd keep every promise made to her, and his kind nature and strong character would bring her comfort and strength.

Haruhi doesn't need her love interest to completely renovate her way of thinking and living. While Takashi is wise and would help Haruhi make better decisions in her personal life, he wouldn't want to change her. His personality naturally compliments hers so there wouldn't be a need to change either person to build a relationship.

While Haruhi is learning to trust in others, allow their aids in her times of need, and to enjoy her life again, Takashi is also learning to grow more independent from Mitsukuni and into his own man. Granted, they're already their own persons, especially in the manga, and don't have a strong dependency like the twins, but in falling in love with Haruhi and growing closer to her would encourage Takashi to act more selfishly for his own interests.

Takashi not only puts Mitsukuni first but also his friends. This is why he canonically didn't pursue Haruhi, he didn't want to step over his friends. If he were to seriously purse Haruhi then he would also learn to prioritize his own happiness, stepping out of comfort zone in the process. I feel Mitsukuni would root for him all the way since this would be a big important step for Takashi and his personal growth, to essentially put himself first for once.

As for the other's arcs; although Tamaki's arc is pushed from the spotlight I feel his dilemmas would still be resolved, it just wouldn't be the main focus on the story. Hikaru and Kaoru's arc would act similarly the same as canon. Hikaru and Kaoru confess their love to Haruhi and are still rejected by her. Perhaps Hikaru still pushes her to confess her love to Takashi, even more since he trusts Takashi as his mentor and knows she's fallen in love with a good respectable man. Perhaps Kaoru and Mitsukuni connive sneaky plans to push the couple together since they can't help but create drama.

Perhaps there's a scene where Hikaru's anger in being rejected would force him to confront Takashi, demanding to know why his mentor has "overstepped him" and this leads to Takashi finally defending his desire to purse his own happiness with Haruhi, that he is entitled to happiness as quiet and impassive as he is. That his stoic nature doesn't default him to sacrificing an entire future with the woman he loves. And in that, Hikaru sees how his senpai has grown, making him realize that perhaps Haruhi is good for him.

As for the confession scene, I'm not entirely sure what it would look like but I'd like to imagine it'd be a spur of the moment ordeal. No planning, no rehearsing in front of a mirror. The scene I keep coming back to is Takashi comforting Haruhi during a thunderstorm. At this point in their story, Haruhi has grown to trust in Takashi and doesn't feel awkward finding comfort in him when the sky erupts with thunder. Takashi knows how to soothe her fears, gently playing her hair with his other arm wrapped around her middle while her back is pressed to his chest. She sits between his legs and his shirt unbuttoned to cover her shoulders as they rest in a dark corner of an abandoned farmhouse waiting for the storm to end. His chin naturally rests on her head, completely encompassing her to act as her shield. As the rain patters on the corroded roof above them, completely lost in her warmth and the feel of her safely tucked in his arms, he whispers his confession. At first he's unsure if she heard him above the storm raging outside and a part of him hopes she didn't, but after a few long silent minutes she surprises him by nuzzling her head into his shoulder and saying she loves him too.

#mori x haruhi headcanon #canon divergance #ask answered #big brain question #haruhi fujioka #takashi morinozuka #hikaru hitachiin #tamaki suoh

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oblivionhold · 2 years

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Miraculous Ladybug Season 4 Retrospective

I have recently rewatched the entirety of season 4 in an attempt to see if rewatching everything in English in a short time frame changed my perspective, as opposed to waiting a random amount of time every couple of weeks or so to watch episodes in a random language I don't speak. Shockingly, it did, but not as much as I hoped.

Teal deer: I liked the main storyline of the season, and both Felix and Alya were standout characters throughout, but I disliked basically everything that wasn't those three things, and even the main storyline wasn't executed as well as I hoped.

Elaboration and spoilers behind the cut:

Again, I really loved the 'main plotline' of the season, of Ladybug feeling pressured by becoming the guardian unexpectedly, feeling traumatized by Chat Blanc, and feeling like she needs to be the leader, to the point where she has to confide in Alya in order to avoid blowout and pushes Chat away in order to avoid hurting him and avoid getting too close so she doesn't let anything split. I, likewise, like Chat feeling mistreated and unloved because Ladybug is no longer relying on him as she once did, instead keeping him out of the loop of even more things as she gets more heroes by her side that can support her. This was a good shakeup to their relationship, with everyone making decisions that make sense from their previous actions in order to bring their relationship to a new and interesting way. I also like the minor throughline of Marinette becoming more aware of Adrien's distaste for his current lifestyle instead of her being blinded by the glitz and glamour of it all.

My primary issues with that plotline are that it suffers from Miraculous Ladybug's biggest problem, having plot important things happen off screen. I think there's, like, 2 or three actual akuma attacks that Chat Noir actually misses that happen onscreen? Everything else is just us being told that he misses akuma attacks increasingly frequently, to the point of his depression in Kuro Neko. I feel like this would be improved by having more episodes in which Chat can't make it; as is, it is difficult to take Chat's depression as seriously as it deserves when we only see him miss out on, like, two attacks, especially considering he's missed out on plenty of attacks in the past seasons.

Likewise, the Rena Furtive storyline only existed when it was plot relevant. We never see a flash of Rena in the background on an unrelated attack, she only shows up when the episode is about Ladybug's secrets or Chat Noir feeling sidelined. Maybe have her attempt to corral the simplified Ladybug and Chat Noir in Simpleman without revealing her identity?

Speaking of which, I liked Alya's arc. It's fairly simple, but it calls back to her first real episode as a hero and, given this show, any attention given to side characters is wonderful. Miraculous does not let its side characters grow nearly enough.

Likewise, Felix. I didn't really like him in his intro episode, both for obvious reasons of him being an antagonist and for the fact that he wasn't even a fun antagonist to watch, but he really stole the show in all three of his episodes this season, and I eagerly await to see how his story goes in future seasons.

Unfortunately, that's basically all the praise I have for this season overall.

Lukanette and Adrigami were never going to last but the way they ended in the first two episodes just made me feel like the creators only let them get together because they wanted the season 3 finale to be more dramatic. Luka's story for the rest of the season was okay, but it obviously isn't finished yet, so who knows how that's gonna go. And Kagami just basically completely disappeared, after a token episode where Kagami becomes yet another Adrienette shipper after seeing just how much Marinette loves Adrien, I guess? It's disappointing.

Most of the new side heroes got their episode in the spotlight and that's about it, which isn't really new to Miraculous Ladybug but is incredibly disappointing for a season whose main plotline is Chat Noir feeling left out because Ladybug is relying on temp heroes more. Aside from their intro episode, I think, like, only Marc gets to do something? Everyone mostly exists to fill out team scenes and could be replaced with any other hero.

Speaking of which, yes, it is time for my regularly scheduled Chloé complaint. After Marinette decided, off screen, that her identity being revealed was a problem, after Miracle Queen, Marinette apperantly changed her mind, and decided (again off screen) that temp heroes having their identity revealed isn't really a problem, with Alya as the only exception due to the increased amount of information she has (or something). This only really got addressed in a single nightmare sequence, where Chloé's accusations of hypocrisy was only one of many bad things that Marinette was having a nightmare about. Hell, it might even be that the show is trying to say that Alya giving up her miraculous to Marinette was a mistake; after all, if she didn't, Hawkmoth would have one less Miraculous now.

Speaking of Chloé...Zoé was kind of a pointless character. She might do something interesting in the future, but as is, she gets an intro episode, her hero intro episode, and then she becomes a Generic Hero to be used for Generic Hero background slots. Again, Miraculous was never good to its side characters, and Zoé is really no exception.

Likewise, we did not need to add in 4 heroes in Penalteam. I'm pretty sure they're only there because they're giving every hero their own episode in season 5 and need to have set up who is getting which Miraculous beforehand, but it's still not a great look, especially considering the 4 involved were the two classmates who got the least attention, Marc (who only really had a single episode before this?) and Sabrina, who is supposed to be an antagonist at this point.

Speaking of which, Lila continues to barely exist outside of season finales. For someone getting set up to be a future villain, you'd think she would have more than one or two episodes a season.

I don't care that much about technical aspects when it comes to shows but the animation in a lot of these episodes were notoriously bad, even by Miraculous standards.

Overall, this season wasn't really great, but it was enough to keep me watching to the next season, to see both how the stuff I liked will play out (how is Alya gonna feel about giving up her miraculous and immediately having it stolen?) and to see if they can salvage the stuff I didn't (please give Kagami something to do).

#miraculous ladybug #ml season 4 #ml season 4 spoilers #miraculous ladybug spoilers #miraculous ladybug season 4 #ml strike back #miraculous ladybug critical

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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The thing that feels disingenuous about Miles answer about Ironwood is that he was part of the writing staff that framed the general as a cool character to start with. I do think that the signs about Ironwood's evil were clear since V2 and in V7 he was an outright dictator from episode 1. Nonetheless, he was still consistently framed as a cool character, someone you can trust and rely. You don't get to blame the fans for liking a genocide if you was the one framed him as cool in the first place.

I actually don’t think being cool is the problem. If we’re satirizing and/or making a statement about the toxic masculinity that leads to something like a dictatorship, then being “cool” is a crucial part of that. People don’t leverage the power they have by looking lame, they do so by appearing desirable, enviable, awesome. Being in the military is supposedly “cool.” Being a white guy with a giant gun is supposedly “cool.” Having power over an entire nation is supposedly “cool,” etc. If you only make such characters look revolting — even when they are — then you miss one of the main recruitment tools for this kind of rhetoric. Any version of Ironwood that’s meant to make a point about the dangers of following someone like him needs to make him look “cool” and then deconstruct that, pointing out the ways in which this cool veneer is a lie meant to pull you in. To do otherwise is to claim that evil people are always easy to spot. Making your villains “uncool” implies that the people who do appear cool in real life must be fine then. That good looking, charismatic leader is great. Why would I look critically at his actions? He’s too cool to be evil.

My personal problem is not that “They made the dictator look cool and we can’t possibly expect the audience to tell the difference between someone who is truly good and someone who is just using various Cool Points to skate by” because that would be the point of such a character — the work the show needs to do. My problem is that RWBY didn’t do that work. At least, not to the extent they needed to. Rather than making Ironwood a truly heinous character (prior to Volume 7 ‘s shooting, I mean) and allowing the audience to learn how appearing cool can’t hide that, they just made him good person. Straight up. Flawed, absolutely, but no worse than any of the other character on screen, particularly post Volume 6 when our heroes are frequently putting people in danger, seizing power, telling lies, keeping secrets, and generally acting in the ways we’re supposedly meant to condemn Ironwood for. Since talk of Miles’ vid last night I’ve seen three separate “Ironwood was always bad, idk how people can miss the signs” posts and those people are half right. There 100% were signs we were meant to pick up on. The problem is RWBY then went and deconstructed those signs. Ironwood didn’t just bring an army to a peace festival, he brought an army to an event he had good reason to believe wasn’t peaceful — and he was right. Ironwood didn’t wrest control from Ozpin (using a series of checks and balances that exist for this very purpose...) because he has an obsession with being in control, he did so because he honestly believed Ozpin was putting people in danger — and he was right. Ironwood didn’t step up post-Fall because he arrogantly believes he’s the only one capable of saving Remnant, he did so because he’s actually the most qualified: a fully trained huntsmen leading an Academy (like Ozpin) with an army and knowledge of this secret war. What, was Ironwood supposed to read the script and wait for the group of dropout teenagers to arrive and save the world instead? To say nothing of how his power and responsibility are framed as sacrifices, not something he sought out. Ironwood doesn’t want to be the sole ruler here. His desperate relief at having allies again proves it. Good setup for the rise of a dictator would have been Ironwood being cagey with his information and exerting control over the group... not telling them everything, not giving them more power, not letting them keep the Lamp, not taking arrest off the table so as to keep them in line, and generally doing the opposite of everything he did do to share that responsibility and power. RWBY got very good at giving us the first half of these red flags — he has an army, he’s stubborn, he’s hurting Mantle, etc. — but then time and time again introduced a context that changed that flag dramatically: they are fighting literal monsters, he’s no more stubborn than our title character, hurting Mantle is a consequence of a plan he thinks will help the whole world and our heroes back this. Those who insist that Ironwood was 100% a villain in the making (or a villain already) prior to shooting Oscar are working from their assumption of what his archetype represents, not what RT actually put on screen. Because RT is just really bad at writing a dictator character. They didn’t have the skill to manage someone who only appeared good on the surface, let alone a character with the complex nuance of wielding “coolness” to their advantage, which is why in Volume 8 they had to resort to cartoon villainy with literal, evil spotlights. It’s not that the audience is too dumb to pick up on those red flags, it’s that RT couldn’t manage to plant them without continually introducing valid justifications. You can’t say, “Bringing an army is a bad thing. Look at this dictator coding!” without me going, “Yeah, except in the fictional world you created an army does not represent the problems it does in our real life societies. This isn’t a guy amassing soldiers to go after oil, he’s trying to protect people from monsters. Not even metaphoric monsters acting as stand-ins for a minority group. Literal, evil monsters!” RWBY ignores its own context and a good chunk of the fandom ignored it too.

The problem with that (besides the general frustration of someone ignoring parts of canon to forward a particular reading) is that the fandom’s go-to claim is that everything is meaningful — and it’s a reading the writers very much support. Fans do not, as the above attests, push for a simple reading of, “Don’t think too hard about it. Just take the surface reading and run with it” which, while still frustrating, would have at least been a valid stance. Rather, they insist very strongly that nuance and depth are what drive the show. From the song lyrics to a tiny detail in the opening, everything is important and if you don’t accept that then you can’t appreciate RWBY’s complexity.

“Okay,” I said. “Then in that case Ironwood coming around to Ozpin’s position is meaningful too? Glynda — one of our best and most faultless characters — supporting him is meaningful? Flipping his gun, defending Weiss, Qrow writing to him, the group working with him for months on end... all of it is meaningful to his characterization? You said so yourself.”

“No, no, no,” comes the reply. “He’s just bad. But he’s also nuanced. He’s tricked you into thinking he’s a good person by acting kind sometimes, by getting support sometimes, but none of that is true. His actions are what matter and his actions are simplistically bad.”

“Ohhhh. So then does that mean this story is really about the creation of a villain?”

“Huh?”

“Well, Ruby. She’s ‘nuanced’ in the same way. She acts kind sometimes and gets support, but her actions are terrible. She endangered an entire city because she couldn’t wait to see if Ironwood got his letter. She condemned Ozpin for keeping secrets about Salem and then kept those same secrets just two days later. When the kingdom was under attack she sat around drinking tea, crying on a staircase, just hoping someone would come fix things for her — all while actively sabotaging the one person who was trying to save people, even if that action seems silly to us (let’s fly really high). So if we’re looking at the impact of someone’s actions outside of their intent, as we just did with Ironwood, then she’s a bad guy too, yeah?”

“No! She’s the hero!”

“... these characters don’t know she’s the hero from a meta perspective. If we’re supposed to judge the meaning of RWBY based on these details — ”

“But it’s not just the details. It’s also the allusions. Everyone in RWBY is based on another person or character. It’s very complex and that inspiration drives their story, so if you don’t have that information it’s no surprise you’re confused. For example, this is why Penny had to get a human body. That’s what happened to Pinocchio!”

“Oh! So then Ironwood is destined to be a good guy!”

“What?”

“Well, you just said the allusions drive their stories, right? The whole point of the Tin Man is that he always had a heart and just needed to realize that. So clearly — “

“No! He’s supposed to be a classic dictator, he’s only bad!”

And ‘round and ‘round we go. RWBY’s writing is atrocious yet the fandom pushes this narrative that it’s all a complex, multi-layered story that requires taking every part into account to understand the “real” message... but when you try to do that with certain characters like Ozpin and Ironwood it’s, “No, actually, they’re just simple archetypes of Bad Men.” Nuance exists for the bees, but not other ships. It exists for the characters fans like, but not the ones they don’t. And RWBY’s inspirations have to predict the ending for this character... but not that other character. It’s a nonsense grab bag!

Fans are right that Ironwood had a lot of red flags to set up this downfall. Fans are also right that those red flags were severely undercut, thus reversing their impact. Fans are right that Ironwood becomes a 100% bad guy who kills because he can and threatens to bomb a city. Fans are also right that this characterization feels absurd for Ironwood, both in terms of his morality and his intelligence (how does bombing Mantle help you now??) Ironwood is badly written. He was badly written in 7 and 8, if he was always meant to be a dictator in the making then he was badly written in 2-6, and he’s conclusively badly written when it comes to lacking a backstory and a canonical semblance — two things are are supposedly driving all of this characterization. That’s the answer: not that he’s good, or bad, but that RWBY can’t write a consistent character, let alone a nuanced one, so it’s no surprise the fandom can’t decide on anything. What’s there to decide on? It’s that nonsense grab bag. In a different show I think making the dictator appear cool would be a crucial bit of commentary, but RWBY doesn’t have the skill to pull that off.

#rwby #rwde #mymetas #Anonymous

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The Eternal Burden of Dea*th and Sisyphus; Sisyphus The Myth Ep 5-8

Well, Hello there, this is a surprise. I didn't actually think I was going to be able to come up with another analysis for the Korean drama Sisyphus The Myth. Mostly because, like in the last four new episodes, it's just been jampacked with too many stories, and plots, and villains and just too many things. So it's been hard, getting an understanding of things. When I analyse shows, I tend to have a map in my head; for Sisyphus, the myth, The Greek Myth was my map. I started to think that there was just a lot of deviation from it, and so it was time to throw in the towel and just leave my first theory and analysis of the show as the end-all, be-all. Nothing, in my opinion, has changed with the overall theme and outline used to predict the show. Still, at the same time, the characters start to muddle up with their selfish tasks, and their childish mindsets and the villains all seem to clump together with no real difference to them at first. I could just like group them into three categories based on the first analysis, but I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that because that's not how writers and directors typically use literature bases to tell a story. And that's why it's been very confusing to place where the story is going, and what is the point of watching these idiotic characters make these mistakes over and over and over again. The reason I was into Sisyphus is because it's a love story; it's a very angsty, forbidden, dramatic, crazy love story between Seohae and Taesul. It is their love that is essentially akin to the metaphor of Sisyphus, the reason for why we are stuck in this infinite loop of misery and suffering. And with these kind of love stories, my heart is affected because all they're trying to do is run away from fate and choose each other, and be with each other no matter what. It's powerful; it's romantic, it's selfish. But it's an exciting premise for a love story.

So I like Sisyphus when I think about the love story; that's all I can really focus on instead of all the time travelling logic, confusion with some plot holes and others. The love story is still interesting, but I also wanted to focus this analysis on showing how much Seohae and Taesul have to suffer for their selfish actions repeatedly. In one perspective, I am appalled by their actions Taesul is such a child, and he's so dumb and selfish, which is very similar to Sisyphus in his own myth, but at least Sisyphus had some benefits when he did something, like he saved his kingdom, I don't know I just hate that Taesul knows what his actions will lead to and yet he's still willing to throw the whole world, his wife's wishes, and his brother's warning to defeat Sigma because of pride. That's essentially what his actions are leading to. It's so annoying. Meanwhile, Seohae gets to unveil her own secrets and storyline, and all I can say is poor her; she's in love with someone who is the constant source of her strife and pain, but what can she do? He's also probably her continuous source of life and purpose, she's just a victim of Taesul's idiocy, but I also think she's just as annoying and dumb as him because she too is repeating the same mistakes over and over again. She's not strong no matter how much she believes in stopping Taesul or getting out of this cursed loop they're in. Now it sounds like because of my annoyance, I dislike this show because the characters are very annoying, but no, I'm just having to state that as much as I do think there's a weakness in directing, writing and character dimensionality, I still like the show. I still want to keep watching it to see how these twos love story ends. It's still powerful to see the effects of an unconditional and desperate love. And that's all that matters, the ability to be entertained and hooked into a story about flawed humans who fall in love and are punished for their flaws. All in all, I still believe there must be some kind of punishment for these two's actions, and so character development is key to later on being added to the story and resolution; character revelations, awareness, and forgiveness. And speaking of some of the kind of punishments that these two do have to go through, this essay is going to be breaking down the goals of each of the villains of Sisyphus and how they can also help us understand what's going on and what's going to happen to this love story unfolding. So let's back to Greek Mythology.

The Hidden Victims of Sisyphus

The first thing we have to focus on when reading the myth of Sisyphus and his adventures with the gods, is the characters. The last analysis focused on how both Seohae and Taesul play the role of Sisyphus in this show and how they both are connected to different parts of the same myth. But in the tale, there are more characters that need to be fleshed out, that need to be brought to light essentially just like the show (these past four episodes), brought to light all these new villains and aims, and character plot twists to show you the severity of the results of these twos Sisyphean actions. Just like with the show, although it may just seem that it's only Zeus and a personification of Dea*th playing the roles as the villains in the myth for Sisyphus, there's actually more characters that all add to the burden of this and have it out for him. So that's important to notice. Let's summarise the storyline of the myth whilst putting these other characters in the spotlight.

Before we even go into the actual myth of the Sisyphus and the boulder storyline. We also need to account for his character storyline and involvement in other tales before we start to see him act up. In fact, before he starts to want to chain and evade dea*th, he angers so many others before him, he already has enemies waiting to get rid of him. And these people are significant because some of the characters in the show mirror them. So before the act of Sisyphus and the boulder, there was so much more to know. Sisyphus angers Zeus by betraying him and making him lose someone he wanted; he does this by telling the god who's the father of the girl that Zeus is trying to steal her. He tricks/manipulates the god to give him wealth and success and this river of prosperity, so in the end, he ends up aggravating both gods, one because he betrayed Zeus, who now has it out for him, but also two because he just like took the most memorable thing from the other god to give him the information.

The Broken Bond of Sisyphus

Here, Sis is seen as problematic by Zeus and others because he's too clever for his own good, he's too cunning, and he's a problem to their power. But this is not just it; also in the story, when Sisyphus is meant to be the king of his kingdom by birth, he has a brother. Surprise? Probably not because surely this has to mirror Tae-san because Taesul has a brother. And yeah, there's a character who represents a familial bond, but in the myth, Sisyphus wants to get rid of his brother; their relationship is a maim in his life, utterly opposite to Taesan and Taesul, which is why I didn't trust Taesan for so long. The brother is Salmoneus.

But the details to know with the brother is that Sisyphus is usurped of his kingdom by the brother, who's connected to greed, naivety, hubris and ego. Something he was rightfully given to by birth (his reign and legacy) was stolen from him by his brother unfairly and just cruelly. And this is the reason for why he hates his brother in the myth and wants to get rid of him. So this is all feeling very different from what's been portrayed in the show; Taesan is apparently risking his life to save Taesul; Taesan has always sacrificed everything for Taesul's happiness and for him to own the company he has, which is the symbol of Taesul's kingdom. It is because Taesul wants to save Taesan that he is causing a Sisyphean effect to the world; he's ruining the world to save and find and bring his brother back to him. That's really confusing.

It doesn't end there, though, because Sisyphus proceeds also to steal his brother's wife by force and have her give birth to fulfil a messed up prophecy about her kids being the ones to get rid of the brother. She doesn't do this; she ends up instead of losing the kids to protect the brother. There's a bit of weird addition to this storyline because Seohae is the only girl who Taesul will have in his heart; he doesn't have any destructive aims as Sisyphus to find someone else, or has he not realised he's already played this role? I'll explain more as we break down this essay even further, but this is important to notice before we start to see Sisyphus enter his futile loop of trying to avoid dea*th, he's already had two big enemies, one is Zeus, who is his final enemy at the end of his story, the one who will later get his way and punish Sisyphus eternally, but two is Salmoneus this character who Sisyphus is meant to love but is betrayed by and wants to steal his possession. You can start to try to place in the show who this sounds like but let's continue.

The Severe Consequences of Sisyphus

So after this part of the myth, Sis goes and has a remarkable reign after his brother's demise; he uses his cunningness and craftiness to get whatever he wants. This angers Zeus so much who then sends Thanatos (a personification for Dea*th) to him undercover, but Sis knows, and so he tricks Thanatos and chains him causing everyone to become immortal in his kingdom. What happens next is Ares, god of war, is very upset with this action because it's making him lose his purpose in the world and his power, he enjoys seeing war lead to people's demise. It benefits the systems for the gods who punish and want to control the mortals as they fit. Sis doing this is making fun of the gods' power and finding a way to lessen their impacts. Ares forces Sis to let go of Thanatos which he does (stupidly), but both Zeus and Thanatos want to get rid of Sis because of revenge, especially Thanatos; his first victim once unchained is as you guessed, Sis. Let's pause because now two more people try to stop or get rid of Sis. Ares is affected by Sis's actions of evading dea*th for all mortals, and that is Thanatos, the actual personification of the person he's hurting and chaining and taking away freedom from. Thanatos is the one who finally at first gets to punish Sisyphus at the end. As of this moment, Zeus, although he's angry at Sis, although he's making threats and watching Sis; he doesn't still feel the need to intervene. He's not yet out properly for Sisyphus until the second part.

The Eternal Punishment of Sisyphus

So Sis goes and gets eliminated. He's sent to where everyone who's gone goes to. But Sis is smart; he finds another way, using his wife to evade the issue. To again mock the gods, this time he mocks Hades and Persephone. I mean, it's obvious why he'd already angered Hades, who could also be in the myth, a different version of Thanatos, but Hades is determined to keep Sis in the underworld. But he uses the disguise of being hurt by love, the mask of vulnerability, hurt and betrayal to make Persophone eager to let him escape the underworld. So he ends up tricking her; this causes Hades to lose it completely, he tries to get Sis back, but Sis is not coming back because he's back to being alive.

So Sis gets to get again what he wants, which is to live a long life as the king with the wife he loves, not the same wife as his brother's) So there's two more, or you can say; one other representation of the gods that Sisyphus has annoyed and angered who wants to get rid of him. We have Hades, his normal way of doing things is in chaos because Sisyphus is messing around and tricking people and making a mockery of him and his own kingdom. And we may also see Persophone as someone (though I don't know properly because she isn't the one who wants to get rid of him, she's the one tricked by the idea of love) who also may feel hurt and foolish for believing him. Either way, Zeus now is tired and frustrated by Sis; he decides to wait for Sis to come back after his old age and punishes him eternally, with the famous boulder. So as mentioned, Zeus is the one who truly ends up hurting Sisyphus with no end in sight. In order to avoid this eternal loop of pain and confusion, Sisyphus needs to defeat Zeus before he comes to this end.

So after this break down of the story, I'm sure you're all wondering, okay, what does this have to do with Sisyphus the myth, because, at first sight, these people all having a problem with Sis isn't very similar in how the show is showing the new issues and villains. And that's why I was confused at first; trying to place who's who and who represents what, was difficult, and I didn't understand what it would help with when trying to understand the show. But it's pronounced when you finally see episode 5-8 which is the new episodes. Remember from previous analysis there's two Sisyphus; Seohae and Taesul, they both take over a version of the myth of Sisyphus, Taesul is in charge of the first story he creates an action that chains Thanatos and causes chaos, he's the one who then is eliminated by Thanatos because of Ares; however, Seohae represents Sisyphus in the underworld, the task to go back to the past and convince a lover not to make a mistake, the act of using love to trick the gods so she can go back and stay with her lover avoiding the chaos that happens after her demise/his demise.

So the first thing to know to understand the villains is to place them with the right Sisyphus, which is represented in their story arc. This is so important because when you start to make a list of who is trying to get rid of Taesul for Taesul's actions vs who is trying to stop Seohae for her own actions, you start to understand which villain is which. You begin to see how the other characters in the show play a role and mirror a character in the myth, but you also start to predict and understand what happened to lead to the apocalypse and why Seohae and Taesul are constantly suffering and being victims dealing with the burden of Dea*th

Taesul: The Burden of Selfishness and Stubborness

So now that has started to be clear, let's first reverse and focus on Taesul. From Taesul's part of the storyline, we have a lot of people who want to hurt Sisyphus really badly and who lead to his first elimination. Because the end results for Taesul's actions as we know it is his demise, he gets removed and ended and his passing leads to the war, thats' the horrifying truth that Seohae has gone back to prevent. But she's also with him, and she also gets removed, so both of them actually end up being eliminated at the same time, it would seem, but it's by different circumstances. I'll explain. So with Taesul's version of Sis, his enemies are (the ones who are actively seeking his removal) is his brother Salmoneus, Thanatos, Zeus, and finally Ares. These are his main villains. At the end of the day, he is dealt with by Ares, who causes him to be Thanatos's victim. This makes so much sense when we finally see Sigma. Let's recap the first eight episodes with who is going to be excited at Taesul's demise.

Tyro: The Fight for Survival

We have Seojin and her father, all connected to his company and the politics of who should take over it. Seojin's father keeps an eye on Taesul on Sigma's orders to provide his wife a cure. (Ironically, they're also trying to cheat death and so become victims) but it's vital to notice that they're connected to one, his company and his possession, two Sigma and wanting to get rid of Taesul because he's the key to getting the woman alive. Before we focus on them and what they represent. Let's focus again on who is being chosen to replace Taesul by these two and others in the company. It's Eddie, his best friend, almost like his sworn brother, someone who is his most trusted connection. Eddie has constantly been defending and wanting to wait for Taesul to come back, but somehow he starts to switch, it's because of one his new relationship with Seojin if you don't remember Seojin is actually Taesul's ex who he played around with and couldn't commit to, two because he starts to have a hunger for the company that Taesul owns since he's been given a chance to be in the spotlight since Taesul was thought to be eliminated.

Who is that starting to seem like? Yes, it's Salmoneus. It's so heartbreaking because that's precisely the storyline of Sisyphus and Salmoneus well, the same similar basis. Salmoneus, because of greed and ego, steals Sisyphus's kingdom from him; he usurps him and betrays Sis, who was meant to be the ruler by birth. This is just like what Eddie is starting to become; he's beginning to want to take Taesul's fame, company and power because of selfishness, greed and also in case it's not as obvious insecurity and jealousy. He got a taste of power, and now he wants to be in charge, he wants Seojin's attention and love, and he wants what Taesul has always had that's been taking granted. And to just hone in on the similarity of Salmoneus and Eddie, Sisyphus has a hold in the myth on Salmoneus wife, and he tries to use that to hurt Salmoneus.

Now Taesul is not word for word like Sisyphus, we know there are differences as well in the story, for example, it shouldn't be Eddie taking this role; it should be Taesan he's the real brother in the story, but even though there are differences, and Taesan isn't purposely as cruel as Sisyphus, he does have a hold on Seohae, she has to put all her attention on him, she doesn't seem happy that he took her for granted especially when she says he hurts the people who actually care for him, she doesn't seem eager when she notices another woman in his life, because she's a vengeful ex. But it's not just because of love and being jilted; her family is also connected to the storyline.

Suppose you don't want to see Salmoneus as Eddie. In that case, there's also misconceptions in the myth that it's his daughter that Sisyphus had to marry to fulfil that prophecy he failed at, so it could be Seojin's father, still has a connection to Taesul, which he claimed was like blood-related, also wants to get rid of him in the company and put someone else there, so he's also connected to the usurping of Sisyphus. It doesn't matter who is Salmoneus the person to focus on is Tyro she's the one who is very hurt and upset with Sisyphus; she basically has to kill her kids to protect her dad/husband, and she has to end up losing people she loves because of Sisyphus's selfish actions. And this is what Seojin believes now; she considers Taesul is the reason for why her dad got eliminated by Sigma, why she lost everything (in the myth, Tyro loses two relatives (her kids) just as Seojin loses her two parents). Salmoneus wants to get rid of Sis, but he fails; in fact, he ends up being eliminated by the gods for his selfishness and hubris; he fails at pleasing the gods, so he gets taken down. Like Seojin's father but also Eddie, it's definitely his downfall in this situation; he's going to also be a victim by the end of the show by betraying Taesul. So there's already a mirror image to the villains. What Salmonaeus represents is wanting to get rid of Sisyphus for revenge, greed and power and for hatred. And that's the same aims building up for Seojin (revenge and hatred) and Eddie (greed and power).

Thanatos: The Fight for Freedom

So That's our first issue to deal with that Taesul needs to escape from. But we have the other two. Ares and Thanatos. And I've always predicted this from when I watched and did the previous analysis. I knew that Sigma was Ares, and would lead Taesul to his downfall, but Thanatos is not Sigma, and that was what was still confusing me. Let's recap that part, in episode 1-4, as the story unfolds; as much as Seohae wants to protect Taesul from Sigma though she does not know who he is, she also knows there are others. We misunderstand that Sigma is the one sending these weird, rushed downloads to find Taesul and get rid of Taesul. But that's not Sigma. Sigma wants Taesul to make the uploader, not get rid of him; he wants the war, wants the chaos, and wants the dea*th of millions, just like that's Ares aim as a god of war.

So who are these people who are scary and out for Taesul's blood. Whatever they are, they follow Thanatos's gain. Now I'm not saying that this organisation or people can't be connected with Sigma; they just don't have the same goals yet, because Ares and Thanatos work together to bring Sis to his downfall in the first part. And that's important to notice. So the aims of these weird people are going to mirror Thanatos's aims for Sis. One, Thanatos was sent by Zeus (really important because it might be the Control Borough from the future sending this, it might be an organisation focused on law and balance trying to stop Taesul from causing Korea to go into the war), to trick Sis but he fails, he ends up being the victim of Sis instead. Sometimes in the story, it's just Sis is selfish and just goes and bothers Thanatos as he's chilling and simply chains him to prevent dea*th for all. The reason for why Thanatos is trying to hurt Sis is because of vengeance and being hurt by the cruelty of Sisyphus's actions.

Because of it, he couldn't be free, he was affected and hurt, and he lost his power. Now we don't know the full results of Taesul's actions in making this time machine. Still, we know that a lot of people who survive suffer;

Because they're in an apocalypse with no control, money and have to fight to survive.

They lose their loved ones and are victims to the war,

They lose their power and self because they no longer have hope or happiness.

The reason for why these people are in this situation is Taesul; he's the reason for why there's a war in the first place. So we see that whoever has sent people to come to gun down Taesul is doing it for vengeance and to stop his selfish actions hurting them and chaining their freedom. So it won't be a surprise if it's a band of rebels/resistance who aren't downloading correctly because they either have a faulty uploader, or they are rushing because it's a sui*cide mission for them, it's all or nothing; the goal is to get rid of Taesul to save themselves. So that's still who we're waiting for, who is in charge of these people. Now Sigma could be connected to these people. Let's first break him down;

Ares: The Fight for Purpose

So Ares is someone who is annoyed and upset; he's also become a victim and mocked because of Sisyphus's actions to chain Thanatos. He's someone who has no care about mortals but wants to see chaos and see people eliminated, so he's not bored. That's like Sigma, the only person who gets to gain something from the war (we don't know what, all we know is he wants the chaos, he wants the war, he wants Taesul to make a mistake and lead to everything), who is nonchalant and unfeeling, who is playing games with everyone and is having fun on others demise.

Right now, Sigma's goal is to get the key but also to ensure that Taesul ends up yielding to him and not get in his way. This is how Ares felt with Sis; he wanted to get rid of Sis to ensure he had fun and had war. Ares is the person who actually causes Sis to fail in the first part; he is the one who tells Zeus everything and leads to Sisyphus unchaining Thanatos, who is the one who comes for Sisyphus. So if you're not seeing what's happening, Sigma leads Taesul to make the uploader and cause the world to end (he's the reason why Taesul won't stop searching, he's now Taesul's goal which is him staying and repeating the same mistakes), Sigma leads Taesul to his downfall, his downfall leads to the other people who are victims becoming full of vengeance to come to use his uploader in the past to rewrite the history and get rid of him, unchaining Thanatos and this is what causes Sisyphus to be eliminated, just like Taesul ends up being stopped at his version of the story. Sigma is not our final villain; he's not the one who gets rid of Taesul; it's the others, and if the others are connected to Control Borough, it's them because they're also at the fault of Seohae's demise.

Seohae: The burden of selflessness and sacrifice

Let's look at Seohae because this essay is becoming incredibly long. With Seohae, her challengers are Hades, Persephone, Zeus. And it's that simple. Knowing the patterns of understanding who's who, it's pretty apparent who Seohae has aggravated with her choice to go back and change the past. By choosing to save Taesul, Seohae has made enemies who want her; some are being puppets and lied to, others because of her being Sisyphus and tricking and mocking them.

Hades: A Fight For Control

So we have Hades he has a way of doing things, of controlling his kingdom, which is seen as the opposite of positive ideas, it's connected to the other side of the purity of the gods, it's hell, but it's funny because just as the Control Borough who represents Zeus stand for law and balance and order and look out for the illegal immigrants, there's another opposite version of them who is seen as the opposite of purity and goodness and that's the guy who wants the key at first. The broker. He has his own way of doing things; he makes money from illegal immigrants and controls them in his lair. But Seohae, not Taesul, Seohae is the one who betrays and tricks him, the one who he promises to get rid of because of her actions. Her actions lead to him getting arrested and caught, and he swears revenge if he ever finds her like Hades. Hades is not the one who's tricked, but he's the one mocked, and his system is failed because of Sisyphus tricking Persophone. And that's important to notice. It's not Hades who gets Sisyphus at the end of the myth, he agrees with Zeus later on Sisyphus's punishment, but he doesn't win. Sisyphus actually escapes and lives a long life at first with his wife. So whatever our broker is up to, he's not going to get rid of Taesul and Seohae, but he's still important in their demise.

Persophone: A fight for pride

So who's Persophone? Well, that's why I was confused because Seohae doesn't trick anyone with the idea of love that's connected to others, and so I was confused. When I first heard of Persephone, I saw her as Seojin because again, she's hurt and acts on the idea of getting Sisyphus to go back to his wife and rekindle their love but actually scold his wife for treating him wrongly and not showing respect to him when he left or something. That sounded like Seojin relating to being hurt and mistreated by a lover. But Seohae isn't tricking Seojin yet; however, I do think that she may end up being Persophone, only because Persophone is not a character out for Sisyphus's blood, she's just mocked and reduced by Sisyphus's actions like how Seohae if Seojin had feelings or resentment towards Taesul for actually finding a woman who he cared for more than her someone who he truly respected and loved, it would feel like an insult to her seeing Seohae, it would feel like she's being reduced and mocked because she still cares for him. That's the only mirror I saw with her, but again also Tyro is a better representative for her in this story. Perhaps in Seohae's version, she really ends up also becoming an obstacle that needs to be talked to or convinced as Sisyphus did with Persophone. Although getting rid of Taesul is her goal, i can see Seohae being the one who ends it and removes her from the story.

The reason why Sun is also mentioned is because his role isn’t yet understood about what he does at the end. He could even be Sigma I won’t be shocked if he’s a broken shell or hurt vengeful version of Sigma who has been turned to being unfeeling by the love of Seohae and Taesul. However he also could be Persophone, like he’s also connected to that hurt and pain of love as the second lead and he could be the one who helps her find a way out of the loop to be with Taesul. His role is not understood so this is just some ideas of what they may be but not connected to the map. For now I’ll lean on no one representing Persephone in Seohae’s version.

Zeus: A fight for Power

Finally, we get to the big issue. It's obviously our first-ever challenger in both stories. Zeus is just a funny character; the way he uses others and hides behind the scenes letting others try and get rid of Sisyphus, is so interesting to me. Because the ICB isn't yet out for Taesul, even though Sisyphus already had Zeus keeping an eye on him, including sending Thanatos to get him. So we do know and have seen that ICB did kidnap Taesul in episode 1-4., they give him a warning about not following the rules and still searching for what he shouldn't. This is foreshadowing, just like Zeus, they have started to keep an eye on him, they see him as an obstacle, but they're not the most significant threat in his version. So as Zeus shows up in that version, they also show up, but they're not the ones unless connected to the people in the future; the current ICB isn't the opposition to Taesul; it's Sigma

But unfortunately for Seohae, who plays the Sisyphus who gets cursed with the boulder; ICB is Zeus, ICB is the one who gets her. This is the thing that is sad about it is that they already have a reason to try and get her she's illegal, she's breaking the rules, she's mocking their power just like Sisyphus and Zeus however, the way they do this is just like how Zeus does it he uses others to get Sisyphus as he tried with Thanatos. The only thing that happens is Sisyphus ends up having nowhere else to run to after his goals have been achieved, he was going to always d*e in the end, and Zeus just waited for that chance. And this is how Sis is caught and punished. And we've already started to see how the ICB led to Seohae's downfall; they lied to Jung that she's the one who took his mother's life. And Jung from the future apologises to Seohae for being tricked, but unfortunately, he's in a loop destined to repeat and repeat and right now, he's out for her blood. It's obvious he's the one who ends her life the first time; he's the one who puts the eternal loop in motion. He gets rid of her, her future self finds the diary (this paradox really annoys me because it makes no sense, the 'chicken or egg plothole'), and she goes back to save Taesul, So like Zeus causes this futile infinite curse on Sisyphus to carry this boulder, this weight of confusion and loss of freedom, Jung used by ICB puts this on Seohae each time he shoots her and Taesul. It is the act of hurting her that causes the Sisyphean effect in the show; in fact, I think Taesul is eliminated before her by his own issues, but the final catalyst is Jung. So like I said, it's Zeus Sisyphus needs to stop before he gets to the end. It's Jung who Seohae needs to communicate with or stop before they enter the wedding scene. That is why he says to her, it's only if she forgives him for what he'll become, and it's only if they work together can the ending be alternated.

So I had more to say, but this ended up being so long; I'm not mad about it because this is precisely why I needed to break all this down, by knowing how the villains, their goals and their downfalls, knowing what is leading their actions, you can start to use that and predict their roles in the show, you can see how Taesul and Seohae end up in this godforsaken Sisyphean loop. You understand why Sigma is who he is and what he wants, but also, you get to know how these two end up getting caught the first time. However, there's still hope; there's a way to break the loop if the characters stop for a minute and just stop being selfish. But also like I said, Sisyphus gets his goals before he gets punished although it doesn't seem like a happy ending, he gets to be with his wife till old age, it is only after he has no other choice but to leave peacefully does Zeus show up and put him in a curse. So the ending is sad, but there's a way out, Taesul and Seohae may finally get to live that happily ever after and be together longer in this loop if they get rid of Zeus, or we get an open ending where they're in this loop forever, but they're aware. For me, I don't see a sad ending with this show because of the myth. I think Seohae and Taesul have a lot to deal with and I'm still confused by Taesan's role but for now, knowing this new outline about where the villains play a part, makes it so much more easier for me to continue following the story. As mentioned in the previous analysis I don't add up the science and logic and time travel dynamics to these theories; they might be more that I'm missing but I'm 80% sure this show isn't really focused on all of that and is using the myth as a map. Let me know your ideas about Sisyphus the myth, however I look foward to seeing if this theory is right or if I missed out a lot of things because of the lack of the scientific focus. Thank you.

#sisyphus the myth #sisyphus #sisyphus the myth kdrama #kdrama #cwg #march #korean drama #park shin hye #cho seung woo

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galladerocksgamer · 3 years

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Okay so I love the Paranormal Liberation War arc, it does so much fantastic stuff, dang near perfect across the board. But I think it’s pretty widely felt that the pacing got a bit off the rails near the end, we had big reveals and character moments stacking up and half of them barely even felt relevant. And me being the person who just thinks about things in depth and for long periods, I’ve still been dwelling on it for months. And now as the manga has continued, I’m finally seeing how some of the aforementioned War moments could have been better executed in different situations, because honestly this latest arc seems like it would have been tailor-made to address them all. So lemme take a closer look at three different components here: Mirio/Eri, Bakugo, and Hawks.

1. Mirio and Eri

Probably the most random moment from the war’s climax, don’t think anyone was predicting the sudden return of Mirio to battle. I love Mirio, he’s one of my favorite characters, but it was a pretty anticlimactic way to bring him back into the fold. He doesn’t even really bring anything special to the battle, nothing uniquely Mirio. His role is just backing up Best Jeanist against the Nomu, and anyone could have done that. Burnin could’ve arrived sooner, or Manual and Rock Lock could’ve come back after getting the injured heroes to safety. Heck, if you still wanted the Nighteye agency to be involved, then Bubble Girl and Centipeder could’ve been the cavalry to help Jeanist. But instead Mirio returns unexpectedly and none too remarkably.

And on top of that, we’re basically just told “oh by the way Eri has some control of her power now.” Something that the series had been building up toward for awhile just … occurs off-screen with no forewarning. Really feels like a disservice to Eri and her development to not give that intense moment any real spotlight.

It felt extremely weird for me at the time, but I also kinda wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the coming arcs just couldn’t afford to place focus on Eri and Mirio, so their respective developments were tied together to lend an extra surprise to the war’s final bout. But instead this most recent arc has gone the opposite route … through the return of Chisaki.

The man once known as Overhaul, now thoroughly broken and wanting nothing more than to fix his one great regret. With Nagant’s defeat, he winds up back in custody, but having now once again met with Midoriya and made his wish known. So indeed, the opportunity arises for Eri and Mirio to be brought back to the forefront. I don’t doubt that we will indeed have at least a brief glimpse at Eri healing Chisaki’s boss as Midoriya promised, but the potential for that scene could really have been through the roof if it was the impetus for Eri to willingly use her power on a person for the first time.

Imagine Midoriya coming to Eri with that heavy request, of Eri deciding to offer this kindness toward Chisaki of all people, using her power to heal before the man who always told her that she could only destroy. Because really, I don’t think there’d be a question of that, we know the kind of kid Eri is, and she won’t let anyone suffer if there’s any way she could prevent it. Even if Chisaki was the person asking, there might be hesitation and fear, but is there any doubt she’d offer what aid she could in the end? And for Pops to be the first person she helps, to undo the harm carelessly inflicted by Chisaki … well, it’d certainly be poetic.

As for Mirio in this scenario, that could go a couple ways. Route 1: Eri is hesitant to help Chisaki with Pops because she would rather help Mirio get his Quirk back, and we know that her power seems to have a bit of a limit on it via the energy stored in her horn. So what if it did work, but she ran out of juice healing Pops and then made Mirio wait even longer? Well, of course that’s exactly what he’d insist on, he wouldn’t let himself take priority over another person in need of Eri’s help. And he’d take it all in good spirits as always. Or Route 2, if there was concern that Eri’s power could run wild while trying to help Pops, then they could go the complete opposite direction and have Mirio offer to go first, to be the guinea pig for Eri in case of emergency. But of course, he’d have full faith in her all along and coax her through, ensuring her of just how helpful and brave she always is.

So yes, can see how Eri and Mirio’s development could have taken a more satisfying route, and cap us off with some good ole Chisaki angst to boot (though at least we’ve still got a decent serving of that). Now moving on …

2. Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight

So Bakugo’s long and arduous journey of personal growth reached a new peak during the battle with Shigaraki, where his body moved without thinking and he underwent his true heroic awakening to protect Midoriya. Such a sacrifice seems like a perfect cap for his development for the War arc … and then a couple chapters later he forces himself right back into action to back up Best Jeanist, and as promised he reveals his over-the-top hero name to his mentor. In this case I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with the reveal, but in light of his preceding big heroic action, it really feels like a hat on a hat.

It’s not like Bakugo’s hero name heralded some major turning point for the battle; Jeanist’s arrival (and subsequently Mirio’s) had already assured that. And like Mirio, there wasn’t any real special reason for Bakugo to rejoin the fight with the Nomu, especially with Iida and Hado on the scene. After getting skewered by Shigaraki, it would have been pretty simple for Bakugo to just spend the rest of the fight bleeding unconscious on the ground, rather than complicating matters by shoving him back into the fray. And ultimately, the moment feels a bit anticlimactic. All the suspense waiting for Bakugo’s hero name, and then it’s revealed at a time where he barely even has the spotlight.

Of course, such a bombastic name as “Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight” doesn’t particularly lend itself to a quiet or emotional scene, so it wouldn’t be thematically fitting to move that revelation to Bakugo’s hospital bed or his somber apology to Midoriya. That said, given his decision to announce the name first to Jeanist, there would at least be precedent for him to have a “Dabi says secrets in a black speech bubble” moment in the hospital in which he talks to Jeanist but leaves the readers in the dark, before coming back to the actual audience reveal later on.

And there must certainly be other opportunities to present the name appropriately. Bakugo is a master of making an explosive entrance, after all. And when Class 1-A finally catches up to Midoriya, if Bakugo really wanted to make a big impact on his friend/rival before getting into the sentimental stuff, then it would be a prime chance to reveal his hero name in grandiose fashion, both to Midoriya and the audience.

Or if his hero name had been Kacchan, then that reveal would have fit right in with his apology to Midoriya, but that’s neither here nor there

This could be one scenario, of course, but it hardly feels like that would’ve been the only option. And compared to the crammed-in reveal in the final fight with the League, it’s easy to say that there could have been plenty of smoother roads to take. But setting that aside, moving onto the final touch:

3. Hawks

The long-awaited Hawks backstory doesn’t really disappoint. Admittedly, there weren’t really a lot of holes necessary to fill in there; we’d had enough bits and pieces provided before this point to pretty much put together the whole picture of his crummy childhood. But even without any really surprising turns, the flashback is welcome and hits some good emotional beats. But really, the glaring issue in this area is the timing.

We’re presented this backstory at an instance where Hawks is hardly the most relevant character. Shigaraki is undergoing a personal crisis as All For One seizes the reigns of his own body, Endeavor’s dark history has been exposed and the Todoroki family is in turmoil, escapees from Tartarus roam the streets, and Midoriya consults internally with the vestiges of One For All ... and the narrative decides to take a chapter to look at Hawks. Practically nothing from his flashback directly relates to present events, serving only to further emphasize his already well-established devotion to Endeavor and his (misguided) understanding of Twice’s feelings. The timing is just kind of baffling, especially with some other more appropriate places being readily apparent.

For instance, only a dozen chapters later, we’re properly introduced to Lady Nagant. As Hawks’s predecessor within the Hero Commission, the two have a lot in common, and the similarities and differences between the two could set up some interesting comparisons if Hawks’s backstory was saved to follow up Nagant’s. Two idealistic young children, handpicked by the Commission and groomed into assassins, yet whose outlooks in the present day are starkly opposed? Nagant's guilt driving her to turn on the Commission, while Hawks holds few regrets despite the blood on his hands, longing for freedom from the Commission’s grasp? That kind of parallel could really have built a more solid foundation for Hawks’s past to be laid upon.

That could be an effective setup, but there’s another approach I’d actually much rather have seen, one that brings Hawks’s backstory not later, but earlier: during the dramatic confrontation between Hawks and Dabi. The instant that Dabi reveals he knows Hawks’s real name, the story opens itself up perfectly to dive into his past. And the timing would be superb, showing Hawks at his worst as he murders Twice, then turning back the clock to look at the innocent child who just wants to save people. A little boy whose feathers tingle with the need to rescue those in need, superimposed against the man whose same feathers are used to deliver the killing blow to a victim of hero society’s ills. You want angst? Now that’s how you do angst. Placing the backstory there would play up the tragedy of both Hawks and Twice simultaneously: a “hero” raised by the Commission to cut threats to their control short at the root, and a “villain” who could have been a kindred spirit but instead suffers for their would-be friendship.

And that’s not even the icing on the cake. The real matter of interest here comes in Hawks’s view of Endeavor. By the time we get to Hawks’s backstory, all of Japan has already learned of Endeavor’s history from Dabi, and the result of the timing feels a smidge tone-deaf, and fails to realize the full potential resonance of the situation. The flashback to young Hawks as a victim of child abuse, who is rescued (unwittingly) when Endeavor arrests his father, is presented to us as the moment when Hawks realized that heroes are real, not merely a fantasy. We see why he developed such an ideal view of heroes, and why he is so specifically loyal to Endeavor ... so just imagine if all that was presented during his showdown with Dabi. Imagine if all that came before the tragic revelation of Toya Todoroki. The true terrible irony, that Hawks was rescued from his abusive father by someone secretly guilty of the same crimes, that Hawks’s whole epiphany of “real heroism” was founded upon one of the most corrupt enforcers of all.

The end result would be the same, I’m sure. After all, this is certainly the same thought process Hawks was going through all along, and his decision to maintain his faith in Endeavor’s personal growth would presumably remain unchanged. But presenting Hawks’s backstory before Dabi’s would have opened up a lot more room for us as the audience to actually see Hawks’s views be challenged. If there’s one real complaint I’ve got about Hawks’s character, it’s that we don’t really tend to see him questioning himself or his actions; whatever happens, he rolls with it and presses on, no matter how his ideals are brought into question. But this simple matter of timing could go a long ways to remedying that, granting the audience the chance to watch Hawks grapple with his personal image of and approach to heroism, and his relationship with Endeavor, rather than allowing most of that to pass unseen in the wake of the war’s end. Even if he would ultimately come to the same conclusion, at least such a narrative structure would provide a much more satisfying presentation of his struggle up to that point.

So, I’m not great at endings, but that brings us to the conclusion of my rambling though process here. To recap, the more I’ve thought about it, the more obvious it is that the backloaded War arc could be remedied, and the following arc only made that more obvious. Why force Mirio’s return so soon when he could be tied in later with Eri mastering her powers and the desperate pleas of Chisaki? Why shove in Bakugo’s hero name when the boy has already made a tremendous impact on the arc, and will be more open to further focus during the conflict with Deku in the next? And why throw in Hawks’s backstory as a standalone chapter at a time when it’s largely irrelevant, when there was such great potential to emotionally contrast him with the backstory of Nagant or Dabi? These are the kinds of things I think about. Little things, really, and honestly the whole reason they stand out to me is just that the rest of the arc around them is so dang fantastic. So … yes. This is the testament to my love for this manga, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk, byeeeeee

#mha #bnha #mha manga spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #paranormal liberation war

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border-spam · 4 years

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Hello! I've been reading up on a lot of folks' critiques of BL3's writing here & there, including the writing quality of the twins, but I'm curious as to what you'd think of instead of the twins as the main baddies, we had the other two we saw a couple times, Pain & Terror, as the primary baddies. I personally thought they'd have made for more entertaining baddies, where they host a reality show that attracts all the bandit gangs to them, instead of the cringe inducing Twitch stream references.

Ah yes, I’m right back on my shit again. Buckle up!

I want to get off Border-Spam’s wild ride.

OK, so! Pain and Terror. Great stuff. Dramatically theatrical entertainers who live stream sacrifices and raids in honour of the beings they worship? Nice.

Know what’s juicier than that though?

Two cursed twin Sirens (one a male!!), locked in a spiral of both loathing and relying on each other to reach their goals while they lead a massive pyramid scheme scam-religion as self-made false Gods, bleeding their followers dry through predatory megachurches and donation tiers while they scrabble against the Crimson Raiders in a race for ultimate power.

So.. how come the Twins were completely shit then while Pain and Terror, who you had about 2 hours with, came across great?

It’s because Pain and Terror got a short, satisfying arc of introduction -> threat -> urgency -> climax -> payoff... and the Twins got fucking 30+ hours of non-stop TELL don’t SHOW while Randy Pitchford made fart sounds in the background.

And guess what, every ��bad” character mostly disliked by the fans and every “good” character that’s mostly liked, follows this same pattern. The longer their screen time within the story, the more likely they turned into a trainwreck. Essay under the cut. /dab

One of Bl3′s main failures in writing (bar all the other shit everyone and myself has brought up 1000s of times jesus christ oh god oh god hhh), is the complete lack of “Show don’t Tell”.

“Show don’t Tell”, for anyone who’s not heard of it, is one of the crux points of any characterisation or story writing. It’s the idea that if you only tell a reader about something and it never actually takes place as a tangible scenario or character action, it ceases to actually have any weight.

Now I am not a professional writer, I’m a tool with a Tumblr blog and a bad case of loving a pair of fucking atrocious characters, but the Bl3 writing team are professionals. They know this rule, so I still maintain this isn’t their fault and whatever crapped all over the plot of this game was out of their hands.

Either way though, any character who was in the spotlight for more than 1 or 2 chapters was a complete shitshow. Yes, you may have your favorites within them, but looking at the game while unbiased shows too many pain points to ignore, even when it’s with a character so many people including myself love... like Tannis.

The Twins and Lilith are great examples of how “Show don’t Tell” being ignored destroys characters completely regardless of their backstory or what possibilities they had to be amazing.

We are told that the Twins lead a mega religion. That Troy is desperately cunning. That Tyreen is horrifically vicious. That their sway over corporations and billions of followers is so powerful, they have an unstoppable army of unlimited, deathly devoted followers.

We are told that. What are we shown for 30 hours?

Idiots. 2 people who barely are even shown on screen, have absolutely no sway over Pandora bar mayyyyybe a couple of hundred poorly equipped bandits we mow down, and who’s Grand Cathedral had like.. ten people in it. Two fucking morons who kinda hated each other just a lil bit till one of them popped his clogs and the other shrugged and walked on. The COV isn’t even the main enemy in the game. That’s Maliwan... for some reason. COV forces just randomly show up in between Maliwan fights. Even the takedowns are Maliwan. Maliwan is on Necrotafeyo long after Katagawa is dead with no logical explanation other than the only other enemy option was the COV, and they held so little threat that no one playing would have cared.

We are told that Lilith is an incredible commander, that she’s seen as some kind of awesome leader, worshiped as a hero across Pandora. That she’s trusted to lead the entirety of the crimson Raiders to the point of not being questioned by her subordinates, that after the events with Hector, she’s reaffirmed her maturity and prowess as someone to follow.

We are told that. What are we shown for 30 hours?

Idiot. Mistake after obvious mistake. Clueless leader. Atrocious at managing even a tiny crew. Acts like the VH’s victories are the raider’s, then sacrifices herself at the end while we are treated to a montage of everyone loving her so much as Thiiis girl is on fiiiiyaaaaa plays, like we are meant to actually be remotely invested in an NPC who did nothing but sniff her own fingers and proc “Speak to Lilith” quests the entire game.

The characters who survived this slow assassination are the likes of Winny and Hammerlock, Clay, Katagawa, the ones most fans agree are good.

But they are only good because they got short, concise story arcs that weren’t stretched out into absolute bullshit by atrocious writing for the entire rest of the game. It’s the same reason the DLC’s are so much better than the main plot, the story is clear, has an actual flow, and always follows introduction -> threat -> urgency -> climax -> payoff... the main game didn’t for any major character.

If Winny and Wainwright had been main story characters for more than 1 or 2 chapters? Folks, I can assure you they would had ended up terrible. If Katagawa, P+T, or Aurelia had been the main villains instead of the Twins? They would have been assassinated the exact same way.

All the characters in BL3 are good characters, Ava included, the bad ones were just handled so poorly that they were ruined before they got the chance to shine.

Asks are Open!

#borderlands #borderlands 3 #bl3 #lilith #tannis #wainwright #hammerlock #troy calypso #tyreen calypso #aurelia #ava #katagawa #critique #my writing

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sanstropfremir · 3 years

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Okay, time for my weekly rant so buckle up. The vocal stages were okay-I cant really remember them well because I watched them only once so take what I say with a grain of salt. Well I watched the Spark one once and I only got through half of the other one because I can’t stand ballads especially when there’s no interesting movement on stage to keep me engaged. Like it’s no fault of the members themselves or the song (I actually think their singing was incredibly beautiful and Eunkwang always sings like his wife just left him with the kids which is how you know he’s good) but I physically could not pay attention. That’s why I liked the spark stage a bit better-there was enough movement that I was able to focus on it. I really liked the use of the fire and the way they were walking in and out of the frame trading off parts so there weren’t too many awkward moments where the other members where on stage but not doing anything. The opening was gorgeous with each members being lit by the spotlight as they harmonize. So stagewise, I prefer Spark but vocally I think the other group was stronger. I love Spark and Taeyon is such an incredible vocalist (I mean the song is great because of her) so I don’t get why their delivery was, I don’t want to say weak, but subdued might be a better word. The only one that really stood out was Junhoe (but also that man couldn’t not stand out even if he tried, not with that incredibly rasp) and even he seemed to be holding himself back a bit. Though it was a bit slow it built up well to the two last choruses but still the first half could have been stronger. I know they were trying to draw it out to a strong pay off but I don’t really know if it was enough. And yes the suits were *chef’s kiss*. I think at this point in their career the FNC stylist has put SF9 in so many suits they’ve got it down to a science. Also I’m a sucker for those shirts with the triangle cut out and we got not one but two of them here.

Okay moving on, I’m not sure which group was next but I’ll talk about the Ikon stage. It seems like they finally realized that they’re on a performance based competition show so they decided to pull out the big guns. Love the little skit at the beginning (making sure people don’t forget that they’re YG), it was cute and refreshing. I really appreciated how they leaned into the campy acting in this stage (Stray kids did it too-just adding to the similarities between their stages). The song was meh but I also don’t really like BP especially not their recent stuff so it’s not a big deal. I would have preferred if they had gone with another song maybe Whistle or As If It’s Your Last or if they’d done a 2NE1 song like Chanwoo mentioned some point in the episode. I also think the stage would have been way smoother if they’d let Ikon and Lisa interact. Like if the boys appeared in her set after her section and then they all moved back to the first jungle set and then the whole thing turns gold and they did a dramatic outfit change (but with better jackets because theirs look like they came out of Party City). I also get what you mean about the dancers outfits not being that great. I actually really liked the outfits of Lisa’s dancers in isolation but they didn’t match with her or the set so they threw me off a bit. At least with the ikon members they were going for a modern look so the dancers outfits didn’t look that strange in comparison. Do you think it would have been better if they were white? How would you have improved then? The best way I can describe this performance was that it was a stage, stuff happened, I enjoyed myself but I don’t plan to revisit it anytime soon. Oh and we also have to give points for them cursing on national television not once but twice (at this point Jinwan deserves to say fuck).

Now to Stray Kids. So I feel like I need to preface this with the fact that I am actually a stray kids fan (I won’t call myself a stay because I don’t associate with the fandom) and though I’ve been really critical of them and their stages tend to be my least favorite I still have a soft spot for them (I got into this show because of them after all). I loved, loved, loved the intro with Felix (and yes his biggest flaw is that he’s Australian but I forgive him for it) and the way it immediately transitions into the chorus of DDD-the abrupt transition does fit really well with the Deadpool theme and I guess it is the closest they’re going to get to the feeling of yeeting themselves into traffic like in the movie. Interesting choice to start with the chorus. Now that I’m rewatching it I do really wish they stuck with the comic theme. I think that’s my gripe with SKZ-they have a lot of good ideas but they move on too quickly from them. Just pick a handful of things and sprinkle them throughout instead of cycling through them at breakneck speed. Like okay they’re doing Deadpool and he’s a comic character so keep the comic styling (it would have been a good thing to put in the projection behind Seungmin’s scene), maybe in the subway they could have had some fight choreo so the guns coming in at Lee Knows part aren’t out of nowhere (also someone please tell me they were trying to recreate the meme with the cat and the knives, please I need to know). I absolutely agree that them having a goal or an antagonist would have really helped the story along. I mean they literally have a spoken intro so why couldn’t Felix just tell us who they were fighting (and I’m pretty sure in the movie Wade tells us he’s trying to kill Francis in that scene sooo). As always they put more focus on the rappers (please can we get less Changbin and more Seungmin, Jeongin, or Lee Know or at least give Felix more parts). Seungmin was the real mvp of this stage and he had the best outfit (I think it qualifies for Hanya’s best gay little outfit list). Personally I with they hadn’t gone with Gods Menu again. I’ve been hoping that they would perform My Pace (and maybe remix it with their B-side TA off their Go Live album) because that would be such a fun stage. Again, I enjoyed myself but I won’t revisit it anytime soon. At this point the only groups I actually look forward to are BTOB and SF9 (they’re doing fucking Move and I don’t know whether to be excited or terrified-there’s a clip of Taeyang covering Move from a variety show or interview and I think he does it really well so I know at least one of them can pull it off). Again thanks for creating space where I can info dump and I hope I said something of interest to you!

i think you wrote more than me!! i love this, im gonna put my response under a cut im not being super obnoxious on the dash.

i get that the mayfly stage would be not as visually stimulating for people and usually i would count myself in with that crowd because i love a good spectacle but i think because i watched the spark stage first and my colour perception is sometimes weird so when there's a lot of movement with very little colour variation my tiny pea brain loses track of whats happening really quickly. especially with red. so it was kind of difficult for me to pay attention to the spark stage in the second half. also i absolutely HATE watching people flub on stage because it brings up such visceral secondhand feelings that i couldn't even watch the stage when i started the full episode today.

i love a good suit but you know what i would also love: sf9 in more costume variations. tbh im just getting nitpicky about it because im a costume designer down to the core and i got trained by a designer who specialized in doing avant garde costuming so i tend to skew more towards wild than reserved. it looks like the move stage wont be be suits so ill take it, but oh man to do i want to see some really crazy stuff. which i know they'll never do because idols have to be pretty at all times or the fans get mad but oh i want it so badly.

do you mean how i would improve ikon's backup dancers outfits or lisa's? here why dont i do both. for lisa's dancers i would have just done away with that harness shape all together, its almost exclusively a military style. the jackets by themselves would have been fine but really what they should have done was put them in something that matched the gold but contrasted enough to give them shape. by having at least her dancers in all black on a gold stage there was a lot of "haha look at me do a duck walk because lets throw in some voguing for spice." they could have gone with a mesh bodysuit idea similar to what she was wearing or even just different colour coats. as for ikon's backup dancers, firstly pants. not black. or even a longer skirt. genuinely a part of the reason why i dont watch girl group content is because i HATE the hem length of the shorts they make everyone wear. words cannot describe how much i hate that cut. kpop is so obsessed with showing off women's bodies and especially their legs but they do it in the LEAST flattering way possible because it "can't be too risqué," just shoot me now. i hate it. i hate it so fucking much. yea yea everybody was on cocaine in the 80s whatever but at least they were all wearing french cut bodysuits so their legs looked fantastic. stop interrupting the lines!! anyways. pants so the only section of skin showing is thigh to mid calf, especially because they weren't even doing any fun legwork! if they really wanted to keep the full sleeve bodysuits they shout have done them in a fabric with a texture or external embellishments, like a patent/vinyl or sequins/rhinestones. something to catch the stage lights so we can actually see the shape of the limb. but the easiest way to fix it is literally just cut the arms off the bodysuits. stages are lit to show off skin, sometimes the best way to have something be seen is just to have it bare.

i agreed skz cycles through ideas way too fast, they need to just pick a couple and stick them out through the stage instead of just adding more and more different ones throughout. also ok good someone else noticed that there is just...so much changbin. we don't need that much changbin. i know there's other boys in the group let them do something! also im pretty sure theyre not recreating the cat knife meme but actually the promo image from john wick chapter two, which i also could have sworn i saw a deadpool version of as an instagram ad back when movies were happening, but now that im looking for it it doesn't exist so i might be crazy.

im excited for the move stage but im also trepidatious because...its move. i have NO clue what the concept is from the previews so i just hope its weird enough to take it enough out of the taemin context for me to enjoy it.

#kingdom #youre very sweet im glad you like sending asks in!!#realistically im just trying to replace going out to the pub and talking about art with people #this is my virtual pub you are welcome to a have a pint at my table!!#theres some costume talk in this one for anyone who reads the tags first #as you can see do not get me started on the shorts issue because it is one of the few things that gets me irrationally angry #i can ignore it most of the time by willfully not thinking about it #kpop questions #text #kingdom asks

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proxylynn · 3 years

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Underfell: File Name not Edgy Enough #27

Chapter 27: Burden

WARNING: I WANT NO RESPONSIBILITY OVER SPOILING THINGS FOR OTHERS. THAT BEING SAID, THIS IS HOW FILE NAME NOT FOUND WOULD FUNCTION IN THE AU OF UNDERFELL. BEFORE YOU READ THIS, UNLIKE THE NICE TIME OF UNDERTALE, THIS WORLD IS KILL OR BE KILLED. THIS STORY WILL BE GRAPHIC, GORY, USE SWEARS LIKE NOBODY'S BUSINESS, AND DEAL WITH SENSITIVE SUBJECT MATTERS. FOR EXAMPLE, THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE READ THE FILE NAME RELOCATED SPOOF WILL KNOW HOW I PICTURE THIS VERSION OF LYNSIE COMING TO THE UNDERGROUND. IT IS NOT AN ACCIDENT. IT IS NOT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING DUMB. IT IS BECAUSE SHE CHOOSES TO END HER LIFE. SO TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT. I MADE IT BECAUSE I NEEDED TO LET SOME OF THIS EDGINESS OUT OF MYSELF. WHICH I GUESS MAKES UNDERFELL LYNSIE EVEN MORE TRUE TO WHO I REALLY AM. ANYWAY, ENJOY. ^_^

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[A quick recap]

My melancholy blinds me to my current surroundings. I only come out of it once a spotlight hits me.

"The hell...?"

Things look funny. No doubt it's a setup by Mettaton. But I'm unsure what this act is. I mean, it looks like a receptionist's waiting room. A desk and some random chairs.

"GOOD EVENING, LADIES AND GENTS...!"

Mettaton zips in wearing a red suit and shoves me in a chair as he takes center stage.

"FIRST AND FOREMOST, WE HERE AT MTTTV WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE FOR THE LACK OF ME OVER THE COURSE OF THE PROGRAM. DUE TO THE LACK PREP WORK WITH MY COSTAR HERE, WE SADLY HAD TO FORGO A THRILLING ACT BACK IN LEVEL TWO INVOLVING HUNDREDS OF EXPLOSIVES!!"

I so freaking called it. I should let him have his moment...Nah!

"I thought you said that act was shit anyway?"

He extends an arm to cover my mouth.

"FORGIVE HER. SHE'S LOST A LOT OF BLOOD AND NOT ALL THERE MENTALLY."

I leer at him flatly.

"BUT...DARLING HERE IS GOING TO MAKE AMENDS WITH US ALL RIGHT NOW. IT'S TIME TO ANSWER SOME BURNING QUESTIONS."

I'm so confused as he lets go and leaps onto the desk, posing dramatically.

"IT'S TIME FOR..."

A large neon sign shaped like him drops from the ceiling.

"BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL WITH A KILLER ROBOT! THE LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOSTED BY YOURS TRULY."

Huh. Not a bad title.

"I thought you were working on a courtroom trial program?"

He scoots to now sit behind the desk.

"UNFORTUNATELY, WHILE I DO HAVE THE FUNDS, I DON'T HAVE AVAILABLE WORKERS TO MAKE SUCH A SET. SO...WE'RE DOING THIS INSTEAD."

"Heh...Must be hard to meet your expectations."

"DARLING, YOU HAVE NO IDEA."

A tense dramatic score plays.

"SO, DARLING...ARE YOU READY TO TELL ME EVERYTHING?"

Ah. I see now. Fine, Metta, have it your way. Just be careful what you wish for. You may not like it. Now don't get me wrong. I know my limits. I'm not about to tell him EVERYTHING. I'm not that stupid. But if he wants truth, he's going to get a version that's missing some characters and other junk.

"As you wish. You wanna know the truth? You want to scar the entire Underground? Sure. Why not. What else do I have to lose at this point since you exposed me? So congratulations! I hope you like the prize you've been longing to get. Because I sure as hell don't."

Let the show commence.

[Now our featured presentation]

"RIIIIGHT...ANYWAY...WHY NOT INTRODUCE YOURSELF. LET THE UNDERGROUND KNOW JUST A BIT ABOUT YOU."

I wave with a stupid grin to where I think a camera is.

"Howdy, monsters of the Underground. My name is Lynsie. Last I checked, I'm 5'8'', twenty eights years old, born November 7th, am a Scorpio, blood type A+, and enjoy long naps by the beach."

Am I introducing myself or recording a dumb dating profile video?

Mettaton whips out some cards from his desk.

"REALLY? YOU'RE THAT OLD? HUH."

"Yeah. Why?"

"YOU LOOK OLDER THAN THAT."

I sneer.

"It's the raccoon eyes. Insomnia is a hell of a slap to the face."

"THAT ASIDE...HOW ARE YOU FEELING? YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH A LOT SINCE THIS PROGRAM STARTED."

"I'm grateful to have this reprieve. It's nice to not be flung into fight after fight for a moment. I don't like fighting. I'd much rather avoid any conflict if able."

"SUCH A KIND GIRL. ARE ALL HUMANS THESE DAYS LIKE YOU?"

I eye him funny.

"WHAT?"

"Do mean 'kind' or 'stupid'? Because every monster has called me a fool for being nice."

"STUPID IS A STRONG WORD. NAIVE IS MORE LIKE IT."

I rumble lowly in my seat.

"But...To answer you properly, no. Not all humans are like me. Or...I'm not like most humans."

"OOOOH~, SUCH AN AMBIGUOUS ANSWER. FINE THEN, IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE LIKE THAT, I'LL HAVE TO BE MORE BLUNT IN MY QUESTIONS. LET'S SEE..."

He flips through some of his cards.

"OH! HERE'S ONE...HOW DID YOU COME TO FIND YOURSELF IN THE UNDERGROUND?"

Blunt? I'll give you blunt.

"Easy. I tried to kill myself."

[SNOWDIN: Skeleton House in present time]

The mood in the room sours as the human continues.

"Yep. You see, Mt. Ebott has a reputation, a legend dating back lord knows how long, that those who climb the mountain never return. This has made it a popular place to die. Not as bad as the literal 'Suicide Forest' of Japan, but it does the job okay."

Mettaton's screen blacks out.

"Don't give me that look. You wanted this. You wanted the truth. So take it. Take the blunt no holds bar truth of the matter. And you know what else? It wasn't the first time either. I can think of at least five other attempts. Each more pathetic than the last. But, if memory serves me right, I do believe my very first try was when I was still so very small. Somewhere around age six to eight. I had learned that apple seeds contain cyanide, a very toxic poison. Of course, there's not a heck of a lot in a single seed, but if you ingest a lot...well...Kid me didn't know how many were needed. Just that it was deadly. As you can see, I didn't have enough and I didn't try that form of suicide again. I don't try the same kind twice. I'm too fearful of messing things up the second time. What if it only partly works and I end up surviving? Heh...Trying to end it all only to live but in even worse condition? The irony would be such a hilarious joke. Then again, that's my life in a nutshell. One big cruel unrelenting joke."

Toriel's eyes water. She knew her child had her demons, but she knew not just how far back they spawned. Mettaton's screen relights.

"I...I WASN'T EXPECTING..."

"Yeah, no one does. No one expects me to be so dark. But what can I say? I do a damn good job hiding it."

"BUT...WHY THOUGH? WHAT WOULD MAKE A CHILD THAT BENT ON KILLING THEMSELVES?"

She takes a deep breath and lounges back in her chair.

"You ever feel guilty for something? Something you have no idea why you should feel that way for but you just do?"

She runs her hands over her face.

"I don't remember why I asked her that question. Maybe I was just morbidly curious. I knew my siblings were unexpected pregnancies. The eldest never came to be, so whether it was a boy or girl is forever unknown. My brother came about in the randomness of my mom hooking up with my dad. She married my dad because, well, she did like him but also so that he wouldn't be deported once his school visa ran out. He and his family escaped their homeland to start a new life...but did so illegally. Even on the surface, there's no true freedom. Four years into the marriage, I was born. Things only seemed to spiral from there. Dad would stay out drinking. Mom would be pissed. Bro and I would hide in my room and try to keep the fighting out. Mom gave up on him, someone else charmed her heart and would later be the father of my sister. Eight years into this world and they divorce and months later sis is born. She was unknown and with how old mom was at the time, she now suffers from spontaneous seizures."

The girl looks up in thought.

"So a few years ago, I asked mom...Was I unplanned like they were? Was I another surprise baby?"

She looks back down, her face holding a more cold expression.

"No, she told me. You were the only planned one. ...I should've stopped there. *sigh* I then asked...Why? She answered..."

Emotion leaves her.

"We had you in the hopes that you'd fix our marriage."

Silence. Dead silence.

"So much pressure. And to put that on a babe? How was I supposed to solve your problems? How is it my fault you couldn't stand each other when things got rough?! How is a kid supposed to make sure you don't start taking drugs and acquire sixteen felonies?! How is it my job to make sure you don't regret loving someone else?! How is that fair?! Why not take some fucking responsibility for once in your god damn life?!"

She becomes irate, grabbing one of the chairs and beating it into another one till both are useless before ending with a guttural roar that pains the throat in its harshness.

Toriel recalls similar words from her not long after they became close and she found her.

"Child? You're trembling. Is everything all right? Child, please. Just speak to me. Tell me what's wrong."

"I hate you! I hate all of you! You fucking pieces of shit! Why?! Why is it so hard for any of you to care?! I've been missing for days or weeks and none of you care! *sobs* Did you ever love me?! Why did you even bother having me if you don't even care that I'm gone?! *bawling* Why? Why? Someone tell me why...please..."

"I know this isn't the most pleasant of times to ask...But since we've come to know more about each other, I have been curious about something. The humans that fall down here...They tend to not fall down for the happiest of reasons. If it is not too painful...Can you share with me your reason? What made you come to a cursed mountain where none ever return from?"

"*hard sniffling* They used to care. I used to know what it was like to know others cared. I can't remember when they started to pull away. When I became invisible. I just want to know why. Was it something I did? Did I do something wrong? Did I not make them proud? I thought I did everything right. I was a good girl. *voice cracking* I'm a good girl. Aren't I?"

Even Grillby had memories of such talk pop into his head.

"You are an amazing person. You live in his cold place and open this bar to every sad face willing to cast aside their mean spirits for spirits of another kind. You put up with a lot of nonsense, a good bit came from me today, and I'm sorry about that."

"Where is all this coming from?"

"I'm not done. You have been nothing but nice to me. And doing that isn't easy in this world we live in. Since meeting you, you've shown me more kindness than I got from my own family, and this is only our second meeting. Heh, how pathetic is that? I fell into the Underground trying to die, only to end up wanting to live because of the few that showed me any decency. And for that, I give you my thanks."

"Pussycat?"

"I don't know if it was the punch or I'm just in a weird mood. I'm probably making things awkward. No one wants to hear someone ramble about lame junk when at a bar. This is a place people go to forget things. I know I've got a lot I want to forget. Like the three or four times I ran away from home but never had a plan and always had the cops take me back. Or the time I cussed out my grandma because I thought she lost my dog when it turned out my mom had dumped the pup at a shelter and told me it escaped. Or the suicide attempts..."

"Attempts?"

"Oh yeah, there was more than one. Hard to believe, but I'm a very sad person. No, that's being too nice. Depressed is more accurate. 90% of the smiles you see me do are fake. Just part of the mask I wear to hide how truly miserable I really am."

"God, I hate myself. I'm a sad pathetic mess."

Sans now gets a clearer picture of the baggage weighing on her.

"oh! and don't forget, you're making dinner. pap only let that slide because you were practically dead. so don't get any ideas thinking you can get out of it."

"Did you just really say that?!"

"the hell is your problem?"

"Did you really just insinuate she'd harm herself?"

"i dunno...maybe?"

"You can't say that kind of stuff to her!"

"why not?"

"You...You don't know how she came to the Underground, do you?"

"she told me that she fell."

"I'm not comfortable telling you this, seeing as she hasn't and I don't think it's my place, but I can't let you say idiotic things like that."

"okay, weed, you have intrigued me. if she didn't fall, then how did she get here?"

"Well...Falling is how she came to the Underground. But...She didn't fall from an accident."

"you're telling me she..."

"She fell on purpose. She...was trying to die. I don't know about her life on the surface. She doesn't tell anyone about that stuff, not even Mom. But I have been with her since the start and I can tell...Under all that toughness and pass the goofy dork innards...She's very sad deep down."

And that moment that recently happened at Grilbby's.

"enough with the act! you act all calm, with your little quips and remarks. making you look so well put together. but i know better. i know you're just as messed up as the rest of us. so why don't you get off your high horse and get out of my life!"

"You're right. This is an act. Every day, I wake up and I pretend to be this way. To play this role of the girl that never gives in and can smile through it all. I put on my mask and face this world as best that I can. But inside I'm dying. I'm being crushed by insecurities, doubt, depression, and so much negativity that I let myself fall into a pit hoping for the sweet embrace of death. I have attempted to end my life a good handful of times. Each more pathetic than the last. Even now, I'm just a few triggers shy of crumbling into a blubbering mass of tears. Yet there are few things that keep me from doing those bad things now that I'm here. And if putting on this act keeps me in, relative, ease...Then yeah. I'm gonna pretend my ass off that all is fine with me. Because I'm a fucking moron that is too afraid to open up to those closest to me and ask for help!"

Papyrus, of course, takes all this in as vital information he could use against the human. Her emotional and mental instability can be used to manipulate her. Grooming her to be more obedient to his will.

"I'm sorry."

"DAMN RIGHT YOU'RE SORRY."

"No...I mean, I'm sorry for earlier. It was wrong for me to hit you. You just...*sigh* How do I say this without sound like a dweeb?"

"JUST...SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY. DON'T ALTER YOUR WORDS. THEY LOSE IMPACT THAT WAY."

"If that's true, then don't make a big deal out of this."

"W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"I am an emotional wreck and going through so much internal bullshit that it ain't funny. So know that the stupid things I'm about to say are true because this is making me feel very vulnerable and uncomfortable which I think you feel too."

By now the human was breathing heavily over the shattered remains of once recognizable objects, slowly regaining her composure. She stares at the mess for some time. Mettaton doesn't even try to do anything that could get her attention while in such a state. Eventually, she drops the bits in her hands and takes a seat in the chair she spared. Slumping in remorse and holding her face.

"I'm sorry. That...That was shameful. I'll pay you back for the damage."

"DO YOU NEED A MOMENT?"

She rubs her eyes of faint moisture.

"N-No...No. I'm fine. That...That was just a moment of venting weakness. I normally cry this crap out of my system. But...I'm so sick of crying. Yet...That felt good though. So much pent-up bullshit I don't or can't let out was just dropped like weights off my back. ...Does this count as therapy? Because this feels better than that child physiologist mom sent me to after I ran away...the first time."

"SOUND LIKE YOU DON'T CARE FOR YOUR PARENTS."

"You'd think that, but no. Don't get me wrong. I love my parents. They could've been far worse even with the flaws I've mentioned. Dad never missed work and made sure bills could be paid. Mom always made sure we could eat even if it meant she didn't and often broke the law to do so."

Her head lolls back as she lounges.

"It's easier to dwell in the negatives than the positives growing up. It can make for a bitter soul. This is just the tip of a massive iceberg, there is so much more crap hidden below. But now is neither the time nor place to dive deeper into those murky waters. I'll drown if I stay under too long. *sigh* I don't hate them for the life they brought me into. I'm just...disappointed. Disappointed by the choices they made and things they expected to get from them. Disappointed in myself for allowing all that to have so much of a hold on me. Disappointed...So very disappointed...*long drawn out groan* Could we please leave the personal questions for now?"

"VERY WELL."

He flips through the cards.

"YOU'VE BEEN IN THE UNDERGROUND FOR SOME TIME NOW. HOW HAS THAT BEEN? WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE A HUMAN AMONG MONSTERS?"

This gets their attention. The human knows better than to tell all. But she's so far been extremely open. They hoped she was of sound mind enough to remember to keep some secrets.

"Even after all the attempted murder...I prefer monsters to humans. Because at least once the fighting is over, things can be somewhat normal. It's like 'hey, I know I just tried to kill you, but do you wanna maybe hang out for a bit?' and then that happens. It blows my mind how there's no animosity or spite afterward. After Humans fight with each other there's no calm, no peace of it being over, hell, a war might break out if it was bad enough. You never know how bad someone feels after and if the grudge they carry will make them go to extreme measures to make them feel better. Well...Except for the Irish. Those lads can tussle and then be all chummy after like it was a bonding experience. Nice folk. Always fancied them. Heh...Kinda like Monsters. A tough outside but nice inside. Maybe that's one of the reasons they were persecuted too. ...God, my kind is trash. All it knows is hate. We even hate ourselves. And one day...That hate will be the end of us."

She moves some hair from her face. A small smile coming to her.

"Moments like this...It's nice. Brief pauses of reflection and repose. Typically I end up doing this kind of thing in my head or I talk to myself. Funny how that works, the mind I mean. It is a self-aware entity in itself that can be both you and not you at the same time yet won't confuse itself by doing so. Probably why the imagination is such vital part of it. *pause* Heh...My bad. Lost myself for a moment. Back on point...Sure, this all began with you nearly killing me and it's probably just leading up to something else. Something good or bad. Yet till that happens...This is nice."

"SPEAKING OF NICE...YOUR LV HASN'T GONE UP FROM ITS BASE LEVEL. WE'VE SEEN YOU GO INTO FIGHTS, SO IT'S NOT THAT YOU'VE AVOIDED THEM COMPLETELY."

"As I've said...I don't like fighting."

"YOU MUST BE AWARE THAT PACIFISUM IS NOT A RECOMMENDED OR AN EASY THING TO DO IN THE UNDERGROUND. IS IT HARD BEING NICE FOR YOU DOWN HERE?"

"Is it hard for a fish to swim or bird to fly? Nice is my default. I don't have it in me to be genuinely mean. I can be rude or even a bitch, but that's only if that was how I was treated first. The real hard part about it is getting others to understand this niceness is real. Some pick it up with no trouble. But others are difficult. Going so far as to think I'm trying to lull them into a false sense of safety as part of an evil human trap. Can you believe that?"

Sans eyes Papyrus who rolls his sockets at his brother, both knowing damn well she meant him.

"EVEN SO, HAS THERE BEEN A TIME WHERE YOU WANTED TO FIGHT BACK? SURELY EVEN I PROBABLY INCURRED SOME IRE FROM YOU?"

She looks at the mechanical machination with a mix of confusion and annoyance.

"Ire is a strong word. True, I'm not happy about this situation. Exposing me for ratings. One of your goons bashing me over the head. The creepy stalking behavior by watching me through cameras. The needless puzzles and fighting. All of it wasn't necessary."

"I DISAGREE. EVERY BIT WAS COMPLETELY NECESSARY."

"Bull crap."

"NOW NOW, LET ME EXPLAIN. REGARDLESS OF YOUR INTENTIONS, YOU HAVE TO AGREE THAT YOU BEING HUMAN DOES CALL FOR CERTAIN MEASURES TO BE TAKEN. HUMANS DEAL PHYSICAL DAMAGE AND MONSTERS ARE WEAK TO SUCH ATTACKS."

"I know that. Get to your point, Metta."

"MY POINT? VERY WELL. MY DATABASE CONTAINS THE COLLECTED INFORMATION WE'VE GATHERED FROM THE PREVIOUS HUMANS THAT CAME BEFORE YOU. EACH WEAKER AND WEAKER AS TIME PASSED. YOU, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAVE BEEN DISPLAYING STRANGE ABILITIES..."

A monitor comes down, displaying the human in her earlier distress and giving off that strange energy.

"NOT TO MENTION YOUR SOUL HAS BEEN CHANGING IT'S COLOR WITHOUT MAGIC INFLUENCE."

The monitor shows the many different colors her soul was throughout the show.

"SO, DARLING, AS YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING HAS BEEN COMPLETELY NECESSARY. EVERY LITTLE OBSTACLE ALLOWED FOR MORE OF YOUR UNKNOWNS TO BE REVEALED. HOWEVER..."

The monitor goes back up.

"I GET THE FEELING YOU'RE STILL HIDING SOMETHING."

She glares at the robot.

"I repeat, this wasn't necessary. All you needed to do was ask."

She sits up straight and focuses. Her soul emerges...it is a deep dull blue.

"I don't know everything. Seeing as this whole 'soul' thing isn't known on the surface anymore. To use now, the soul is an intangible thing. It leaves when we die and does whatever since no one truly knows what happens after death. But...I do know my soul isn't normal. Not normal from what I've learned here anyway. I possess ten traits for which my soul can become."

Shock smacks them. Even Mettaton spits oil from some port.

"T-TEN?!"

She nods.

"Ten traits. Ten colors. Nine of which are completely fine."

Her breathing falters as she concentrates harder, forcing the soul to change color to her will.

"Blue, integrity. Cyan, patience. Green, kindness. Pink, passion. Purple, perseverance. Orange, bravery. Red, determination. Yellow, justice. White, hope. ...These are my main traits. The nine that make up my core personality. Yet...There is one, the last one, that I will not show you. No matter what."

A question mark appears on Mettaton's screen. Toriel and Sans know full well which one she means.

"WON'T SHOW? HOW COME?"

"That soul is too dangerous. One that I can't control. The black soul of relentlessness."

Papyrus sockets widen. Sans wasn't making it up after all.

"IF YOU TRULY EXPECT ME TO BUY INTO THIS BLACK SOUL NONSENSE THAN YOU BETTER FIND A WAY TO PROVE TO ME THAT IT'S REAL!"

"and how do you expect me to do that? have it triggered and let her kill half the town?"

"OF COURSE NOT! SHE'D NEVER GET THAT FAR INTO SUCH A SPREE ONCE I SLAY HER."

"YOU DON'T THINK I CAN KILL HER?"

"her? sure, you'd kill her no problem. she'd probably let you do it if things got really bad. but the black soul? that's a different story all together."

"YOU TALK AS THOUGH YOU'VE SEEN THIS 'BLACK SOUL' IN ACTION."

"..."

"YOU HAVE, HAVEN'T YOU?"

"that thing isn't something you want to mess with. don't go after something you can't handle."

"YOU DARE THINK THAT PITIFUL CREATURE CAN HARM ME?!"

"no! i don't think it would harm you! i know it would kill you!"

"I have no will over that trait. It consumes me utterly. Coldly targeting anything and everything as a threat, then calculatingly eliminating victims brutally with no remorse by any means. Pain doesn't phase it. It has no fear. But I do. I fear this soul. I fear becoming that...that thing. That beast."

The robot's screen blips.

"YOU MAKE IT SOUND TERRIBLE. IF IT'S AS BAD AS YOU SAY, HOW HASN'T YOUR LV INCREASED? SURELY A MURDEROUS SOUL LIKE THAT WOULD HAVE A BODY COUNT ATTACHED TO IT?"

"I have thankfully been taken out of that state when it happens. My brother down here, the flower you may have seen me with, he's the one that saves me. I don't know how he does it as I only barely register what happens when the Black Soul is in control. But it's one of the reasons why we stay together. He doesn't want to die and I don't want to hurt anyone, so it's a good deal for us both."

"AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT TRIGGERS SUCH A STATE TO HAPPEN?"

"I'm not 100% sure but I have a theory. The worst of times. Moments when I lose all hope or can't take the pain. Mentally and/or physically. It takes over when I can't deal with things. And I guess it tries to 'solve' the problem...by getting rid of it."

Her demeanor is becoming more unsettled as she continues.

"I...I normally am unwilling to share this information. I don't like being personal with strangers. But since this is a live broadcast, and I've basically torn open a can of worms full of my emo baggage, I want this to be known. I need others to understand the danger. Because you all seem to view me as an easy kill. The dumb nice human that doesn't fight back. It'll be easy to get her soul. Hell, if it weren't for the black trait, I'd have given this thing to you guys ages ago. But it's not worth it. There's no point going to the surface, otherwise I'd be more inclined to leave and be subjected to the crap I deal with. And trust me...You don't want to know what I deal with."

Her eyes get dark and her expression serious to the point it's unnerving.

"The death that can possibly happen if the black soul activates and isn't stopped could be limitless. As the bearer of this curse, I remain here. Not because I see less harm if it triggers around monster, hell no. I trust my death to you because I have faith in monster kind being able to handle it. It's because I don't want to risk it being weaponized by humanity. Magic...REAL magic like this is gone from the surface. If it were to be discovered now...Magic will be coveted like any other valuable resource. Blood and dust will be spilled over ownership. The experiments to find a better means of harvesting it, the torture, the suffering, the endless cycle of hate feeding upon the lack of morality. I have no doubt monsters wouldn't even be seen as people. We've done it to different creeds of humanity throughout history, hell we still do it. I...I don't want that for Monsters. Part of me is saying I'm overthinking it, but I can't that optimistic side of me knowing all the fucked up shit Humans do. I don't want you guys to suffer. I don't want to cause harm. I don't want to see any more death! Please!!"

Her eyes are watering and her body trembling.

"I...I-I hate this feeling. This h-helplessness. I'm caged. I'm useless. I'm nothing on the surface. I'm a danger underground. I'm my own worst enemy and I don't know how to fight. *struggling* Why? Why didn't the fall kill me? Why can't I just die? Why am I so weak? I can't even bleed to death!"

She's a mess, weeping into her gloved hands. But Mettaton dismisses this display and keeps going.

"WEAK? YOU SELL YOURSELF SHORT. CLAWING INTO YOUR OWN BODY ISN'T A VERY WEAK THING AT ALL. COME TO THINK OF IT...IN YOUR ENCOUNTER WITH MUFFET, YOU TOLD HER WHY YOU DID IT. CARE TO EXPLAIN WHAT YOU MEANT?"

A recording is played.

["I have just spent an ungodly amount of time trapped in that elevator over there having my soul violated by people that don't even exist anymore on this plane of reality. I have clawed my skin off to stop feeling their hands on me."]

Her face has the look of someone biting their tongue fairly hard to stay in control.

"What's to explain? I meant what I said and said what I meant."

"YOU'RE AVOIDING THE QUESTION, DARLING."

"No. You're refusing the answer."

"YOU SAID YOU'D TELL THE TRUTH!"

"I am!"

Agitation mounts.

"BULLSHIT! HOW THE HELL CAN ANYONE BELIEVE THAT?"

"I don't give a crap if you believe me or not! You weren't the one there!"

"JUST TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!"

"It doesn't matter! You can't do anything about it! No one can! You can't stop people that break the laws of reality!"

Sans didn't like what he was hearing. And none of them liked that her still exposed soul was sparking with that strange energy.

"THERE ARE NO PEOPLE LIKE THAT!"

"How would you know?!"

"IF EVEN A FLY FARTS ANYWHERE IN THE UNDERGROUND, I KNOW ABOUT IT. IF ANYONE WITH ABILITIES LIKE THAT WERE HERE, THEY WOULDN'T BE UNKNOWN FOR VERY LONG."

"Did you not hear my words? They don't even exist anymore on this plane of reality! You can't find people that are outside time and space, you fucking idiot!"

"I'M THE IDIOT?! DO YOU NOT HEAR YOURSELF?! OUTSIDE TIME AND SPACE?! YOU CAN'T EVEN MAKE A CONVINCING LIE!"

"I'm not lying, you insufferable ego-maniacal narcissistic jackass!"

"TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!!"

"I did! Accept the fact there is shit in life you can't fathom or comprehend yet is true! Like Bigfoot, life on other planets, or stigmata! Unexplained phenomenons are the backbones of reality! Deal with it!"

"THAT'S NOT AN UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENON! THAT'S A PURE IMPROBABLE IMMPOSSIBLITY!"

"By who's rule?! Are you God?! Do you know every infallible law the universe runs on?! No! You know nothing! No one does! So stop digging for shit that isn't there before something bad happens!"

"THEN GIVE ME A REAL ANSWER!"

"Stop...Please stop!"

"DARLING..."

"I s̷ái͟d͝ s̷t̢̛o̧͘p̀͟!̵̕͜!̧"

A surge of energy bursts from her soul, the flash whites out the screen and hurts the eyes. While blinded they all can hear the garbled sounds of pain and the sudden thud of weight hitting the floor. Their sight comes back to see the human writhing on the ground and gripping her soul, teeth bared in restrained growling.

"DARLING?"

She struggles to make her body move. Just slightly getting her head off the floor.

"Th͜i͞s͠...͜T́h̴i̵s̸ ̛įs ̕y̕our ̛f́aul͝t͏..̢.̴I͜ ͟a͡ske͝d ͠y̕o͏u t̷o͜ ͜s̛top..̢.̵"

The energy courses from her soul over her form, a brighter than normal light emanates from her clutched soul. She weakly pulls herself up to be supported by her free arm and the reason for the light is made clear, a crack has marred her soul. But that is far from the worst part. Sans spots it before Toriel but she's the one that points it out.

"Oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

"The darkness!"

Indeed. Black began to appear in the human's heart. The darkness corrupting the white light and faintly leaking out of the crack. The girl feels this. Panic flashes in her eyes but she's in no condition to handle so much on top of what has already happened.

"Wh̸en̢ wil̡l҉ ̛yo͡u̶ le͘ar͜n.͞..̡Y͘ou ̴fuc̀kín͜g id̴iot.̸..W͢hén wil̡l yoų ́a̶l̢l͜ léar͘n that͏ ̵y͘our act̵i҉o͞ns ͏ha͡v̛e ͘co͡n̴seq͘uenc͘e̶s͘?͘!"

The distortion. The off tone. The malice that seeped out. Perhaps it was enough proof for the automaton to believe her earlier words. For Mettaton seems to be distracted one second and then takes it all seriously the next. One of his hands snakes under his desk and the next thing to happen is the floor beneath the human opens up, dropping her into the unknown. Glitched roaring echoes as she plummets. A sickening crash leads into dead silence.

"WELL...THAT WAS INTERESTING."

His nonchalance about the whole thing is upsetting.

"SADLY, MY CO-STAR SEEMS TO BE HAVING A BIT OF TROUBLE. NOT EVERYONE CAN HANDLE THE STRESS OF BEING IN THE SPOTLIGHT, LIKE MOI."

His flamboyance is rubbing them the wrong way.

"HOWEVER, DESPITE HER TEMPER TANTRUM AND LACK OF COOPERATION, I WILL ASSURE YOU ALL SHE IS NOT DEAD. I MERELY GAVE HER THE SMALL BREAK THAT SHE CLEARLY NEEDED."

It's likely that the break involved her bones or some body part.

"BUT...I CAN GIVE YOU ALL SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO...THIS WAS THE LAST PRELEWD ACT. THE NEXT TIME YOU SEE US TOGETHER, IT WILL BE FOR THE MAIN EVENT. THE FINAL BATTLE APPROACHES, MY ENCOURAGABLE VIEWERS. DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS HISTORICAL MAKE OR BREAK MOMENT."

The show shifts into a commercial break.

Toriel begins shaking. She can't deal with this much longer. Grillby does what he can to give her support, but he too has much on his mind. His pussycat unloaded a TON of things and a lot of it was incredibly concerning. Papyrus ushers his brother away from the other two as not to be overheard.

"SO...HOW LONG?"

Sans looks at him funny.

"uh...what?"

"HOW LONG WERE THE BOTH OF YOU GOING TO HIDE THIS PART OF THE SECRET FROM ME?"

"um...which part?"

"THAT POWER. SHE HAS TEN TRAITS, SANS. JUST HOW STRONG IS THAT GIRL?"

Sans scratches his skull.

"i honestly don't know, pap. i didn't even know she had that many. my main worry was always the black trait, so i never asked about others."

Papyrus folds his arms and shuts his eyes in thought.

"i swear, i ain't lying to ya."

"I KNOW YOU'RE NOT."

"then...what's wrong?"

"*HUFF* I DON'T LIKE THIS. I DON'T LIKE THE IDEA OF THAT WEAKLING BEING POWERFUL."

His eyes open but look at nothing.

"I SHOULD'VE KNOWN SOMETHING WAS OFF THAT NIGHT...THAT PUNCH...SHE WAS HOLDING BACK SO MUCH..."

Papyrus clenches his fists into tight balls of rage.

"THAT BITCH."

"ya know she didn't want to hurt ya."

"THAT'S THE THING. SHE THOUGHT SHE COULD HURT ME. HOW WEAK DOES SHE THINK I AM? THAT'S WHAT'S PISSING ME OFF MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW."

Sans sighs. One day his brother will taste humble pie and not like it.

[HOTLAND: LAB]

Undyne finishes off her sixth bowel of ramen and looks at Alphys.

"Well...That wasn't how I thought it was going to end. Was it really necessary to tell him to drop her?"

Alphys takes a few more notes and ponders.

"Would you rather there be no main event? Besides..."

She adjusts her glasses.

"If what the human said is true, then the Black Soul being triggered in an open area would result in mass casualties. The zone in which the ending will be shot in is, for the most part, closed and under my remote control. So even in the event of something going wrong, which the odds of such are highly unlikely, then any and all threats can be dealt with in an optimum manner."

Undyne nods.

"I guess that makes sense. Still...I don't what I saw. There was real fear in the human's eyes."

"Good. She should be afraid. She should be very afraid of what's to come."

"And what's that?"

"That would be spoilers."

"Damn it. *sigh* A human soul with ten traits...Sounds tough. I wanna fight it!"

"It does raise a lot of questions. One, in particular, is on my mind."

"What's that?"

"If a human soul, deprived of magic, possesses ten traits and begins gaining magic...What will happen when it attains 100% magic?"

A cold chill runs through the captain.

[HOTLAND: SOMEWHERE ON LEVEL 3]

I am getting so sick of this crap. Why can't I just die at this point?

"*muffled* Lynsie?"

The voice and light jostling is bringing me back to consciousness. Damn it. Here I go again.

My eyes weakly open to the sight of dirt and rock. Just an inch away from losing the ability to see. Like I need a handicap in all this.

"Lynsie? Are you okay?"

Ah, Flowey. It's about time we met back up.

"*groan* H-Hey, bro. I missed you."

He smiles sadly.

"Are you okay? Can you move?"

I roll over on my back and check myself.

[HP ██████████ 10/40]

[HEARTBREAK level ONE in effect]

I figured that's what happened. No wonder the Black Soul was triggering. Thank goodness for the fall knocking my ass out or things would've gone bad fast.

"I think I'll be okay. Sore, but okay. I'm sadly getting used to falling and possible brain damage."

My answer has him pout.

"What's with the face, bro? You know I'm a tough cookie. I'll be fine."

His face gets full of concern.

"I...I heard what you told Mettaton."

Yeah, you and the rest of the Underground.

"I...I understand now why you didn't talk about your past. Why you kept to yourself. I'm sorry."

God, he's too sweet for this place. I reach over and gently stroke his petals.

"I love you, bro. You have no idea how much it means to me that you care. But don't pity me. I do that enough on my own."

I wearily sit up, shaking my head of all that baggage I brought up for the show.

"I wasn't pitying you. It's just..."

He fiddles with his leaves in a shy way but I cut his words off.

"Bro, I get it. I do. It's the same feeling like when you told me your history. Yet, let's be honest here, you're more mentally mature than me and I'm still not completely okay after getting all that off my chest. We can talk more about it later after this ordeal is over. Maybe over mom's cheesecake? Deal?"

"...You mean it?"

"Yeah. I promise."

He smiles brightly.

"Okay. I'd like that."

I pick myself up and stretch, taking a look around at where we are.

"Don't tell me he dropped me back at the start."

"Nope. This is still Level Three. In fact...I do believe MTT Resort is just past this place."

"...For real? Is it a safe space?"

"Yep. There are shops and rooms to rest."

I hear a heavenly choir sing in my head.

"Finally! The universe throws me a decent bone!"

I regret saying that the moment it leaves my mouth. Flowey looks at me funny.

"Don't take that out of context, you know what I meant."

"I don't know. You and Smiley Trashbag are eerily close."

My eye twitches. Things I wish Gaster didn't show me try to pop into my head.

"Are you okay? You look like you're about to puke."

"Never insinuate something like that ever again."

He shakes his head at me. I try to change the subject before I have a heart attack on camera.

"So...Are you able to follow me to the resort? I'm sick of being separated."

"There's ground outside of it and parts I can reach beyond it, but the resort itself I can't get in without some sort of aid like a pot. Cement and tile flooring is a pain to break into."

"Damn, bro, you hella strong."

There's a deactivated reversed conveyor belt that's attached to the artificial platforms.

"Is it safe to cross? It's kinda giving me 'trap' vibes."

"You should be fine. This is normally the part where the colored tiles would be used again, but you know, stuff changed. It's probably off."

"Ah. Gotcha. I guess...See ya soon?"

"You bet."

He ducks into the ground so I take it as my time to leave this pit. The entire time I feel on edge. With my luck, the trap will turn on and I get screwed. Thankfully nothing happens apart from some jets of flame randomly going off in the distance and making me jump like a wuss. At least it got me to the stairs quicker.

After a quite the climb, I reach the top perturbed yet undaunted as a four-way crossroads greets me, though the two paths on the sides are blocked. More Royal Guards, a cat to the left and some kind of insect on the right, both in that imposing armor.

"Well if it isn't my best customer..."

The Ice Scream rabbit pops up from behind the cart I wasn't paying attention to.

"Fancy seeing you again."

As odd as seeing him here is, he's a familiar face that is a sight for my sore eyes. I approach.

"Hey, guy, what's up? Haven't been seeing you much in Snowdin Forest for a bit."

He leans on the cart like a cool guy.

"Yeah...Been moving around seeing if I can make mad gold somewhere where the weather isn't the same temp as my product."

"Any luck?"

"Waterfall wasn't so bad. Even started a new program with rewards cards. Turn in a card with ten punches and get a free doubling of your next order. Speaking of which..."

He reaches into his pants pocket and hands me a punch card. Some holes have already been made.

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have had the funds to get this far. So...Instead of starting your card full, I may have added your previous buys. Can't say I haven't gotten better at my wonderful salesmanship."

I can't help but smile. He's come a long way. I'm proud of him.

"Well then, wonderful salesman, I'd like to add some more holes please."

"Heh...sure. But I'm warning you, prices have gone up. 25G. Got to charge more here 'cause of the heat."

"Understood, my dude. Um...Just curious...Got fudge pops? Kinda have this hankering for something chocolate."

He shakes his head.

"Sold out. The Royal Guards bought those like crazy."

"Damn. Oh well. One blue, orange, grape, and blood. All bisicles."

He fills my order and I pay the 100G.

"Here you go. All five ready to enjoy."

I look at him funny.

"Five?"

"Yep. Five. I definitely didn't toss in a strawberry one because of customer loyalty. Nope. Didn't do it."

Must...resist...the urge...to HUG!!

"...Thank you. That...That means a lot."

He gives me a wink and I practically skip away up another set of stairs. I place the treats in my inventory for now. I know not what crap will happen from here, so healing items are a big help.

I am met by a large complex. Redbrick that's been tagged with graffiti, yellow-tinted windows with some broken, a gold MTT sign with two Mettaton images with devil horns, a black & white checkered awning over the door, two large plant potters that have dry withered flower remnants, and a blood-red or just stained that way rug embroidered with gold MTTs.

"Classy."

I'm about to head inside when something hits my leg. A paper airplane? I inspect it to find it's a note.

[Hey! Go up the creepy alleyway on the right for some great deals!]

"...I'm gonna get mugged, aren't I?"

It's against my better judgment, but this is a neutral zone, so I should be okay. I wearily creep around, following spray-painted arrows, to end up finding two girls gossiping among garbage. They notice me and straighten up.

"Hey! Check it out!"

"Yeah! Check it out!"

"So, like, what's up? I'm Bratty, and this is my best friend, Catty."

"I'm Catty, and this is my best friend, Bratty."

Oh no...More valley speak!?! Why is that a thing down here?!

Bratty is a tall, green alligator or crocodile monster that wears a primarily black shawl with yellow and red details on the sides. She has yellow hair that flows into curls and red lipstick.

Catty is a plump purple cat creature who wears a set of black overalls with yellow buttons and tufts of red fur with yellow highlighted tips coming out from under it on either side. She has black hair with a red streak in it and a yellow earring on her left ear.

"Uh...Hi? So...This is a shop?"

"Like, the best shop!"

"You should buy ALL our stuff!"

Catty gets this blanket out and opens it out to show me their items. They don't have much, just four things, but I can't turn away from these items.

[25G - Junk Food - Has a big bite out of it]

[350G - Rusty Revolver - Bullets NOT included]

[350G - Tattered Western Hat - ATTACK up when worn]

[600G - Mystery Key - Probably to someone's house LOL]

A gun...How the fuck is that here?

"Oooh! I know that look!"

"That's the look of some wanting something!"

"Bratty! We're gonna be rich!"

"Where did you find this stuff?"

"I mean, like, where does anyone get guns, or food, or..."

"We found it in the garbage!"

I so called it.

"It's GOOD garbage."

"It's like, really good garbage."

"Where do you get the garbage?"

"Like, the garbage store, duh!!! ...Waterfall mostly."

"I found a gun in a dumpster!"

I check my gold...I don't have anywhere close to 1,300G for their garbage.

"Um...Maybe we could work out some sort of arrangement?"

They glare.

"That's poor talk."

"You need WAY more money."

What I need is to get that stuff away from them. That stuff is bad enough with humans, I don't want monsters messing with crap like guns.

"Ladies, I'm sure there's something we can do. Shops run on trade. This is just a trade of a different kind. I can't give you the gold, but I can get you other things. There's gotta something you'd both want that I can fetch for you in exchange?"

They mull it over.

"Thanks, but we, like, don't really need anything."

"Oh my god, can you go get us some Dazzleburgers?"

"We don't. Really need. Anything."

"Wait! I'll pay you 1000G if you get Mettaton to autograph my butt!"

Catty seems to be the easier one here. Maybe I can work with this.

"While I do know the guy, I'm not sure I can get Metta to sign your butt."

"Damn."

"Wait...You know Mettaton?!"

Their eyes sparkle.

"...Yes?"

They squeal with fanatical glee.

"Oh my God. Mettaton."

"Oh my GOD, METTATON."

"He's like...My robot husband."

"Actually he's like...MY robot husband."

"I think we're like...both going to marry him."

"We're both like, ALREADY married to him. He just, like, doesn't know it yet."

They're insane.

"Okay...Can I ask what's a Razzburger? I could try to get that."

Their eyes widen in shock.

"You don't know what a Dazzleburger is?"

"Do you, like, live under a rock?"

Don't we all do since this is a mountain?

"Dazzleburgers are epic!"

"They're only sold in the resort."

Interesting.

"Inside huh? Let me guess...Very pricey."

Bratty nods.

"The stuff inside, is like..."

"TOTALLY wicked expensive."

"But, like, this stuff we found is like..."

"TOTALLY wicked cheap."

"You should..."

"Like..."

"TOTALLY wicked buy all of it?"

"Cheap? You're selling a random key for 600G!"

They giggle at me and I sigh. Bitches, man...bitches.

"So where inside am I gettin' them?"

"The MTT-Brand Burger Emporium."

"You have to get them from Bugerpants."

That name...That name brings back memories...as well as sore spots. Douche-cat...

"Burgerpants."

"Yeah, that guy from the store. Yuck, what a creep."

"Yeah! He's a creep! But he's kind of cute, too..."

"C'mon Catty, don't you have ANY standards?"

"Nope!!!"

...You need standers, Catty.

"Yeah, I met him. Not so much a creep but he is a massive prick."

"OK, like, the annoying thing is..."

"He'd be OK if he just treated us with some respect."

"But he just acts..."

"Really weird."

"And then acts like it's OUR fault he acts that way!"

"Like, when we asked him to get those Dazzleburgers..."

"He dropped them and ran away before we could even say anything!"

"We were, like, going to share them."

"Really? I wasn't."

"Catty!"

This zone is full of awful people.

"One last thing...How many you want?"

Catty waves her paws.

"So many! Enough to fill a dumpster!"

"The mega value pack should cover us."

I give Bratty a thumbs up and leave their shady establishment. Now I enter the main building and this time I'm greeted by someone for once. It's either very diamond-like or very origami-like, but above all, it's a tiny monster.

"Welcome to MTT Resort - Hotland's biggest apartment-building-turned-hotel! Whether you're here for a night or still live here, MTT Resort prides itself on a great stay! Just passing through...? Nice! MTT Resort prides itself on being passed through!"

"Interesting business model. Does it work?"

"Oh, indeed it does, human."

"You know what I am?"

"Oh yes! The staff has been informed of your coming and instructed on how to handle you upon arrival."

Oh god, what now?

"Over on your left, we have a dine-in restaurant complete with a stage which hosts a wide cast of live acts. Either comedy done by locals or Mettaton entertains when he isn't too busy."

"Neat."

"If you're feeling like you hate yourself, behind me is the MTT-Brand Burger Emporium, home of the Dazzleburger!"

Well, they know how fast food works.

"All further questions can be taken to my coworker behind the desk."

I scratch my head and shrug.

"Thanks."

I walk away and head for the other receptionist. It's not a bad-looking lobby at least. Red & yellow checkered tiles and the rug from outside continues forward into parts unknown. The obnoxious fountain of Mettaton is gaudy though. I reach the desk and the monster behind it is a weird one. It's blue and its head is a hand with very well manicured red nails.

"Yes, we know. The elevator music volume is super loud and the song is stuck on a three-second loop. We are working on it. Because of this incident, rooms are running at a special rate! 200G a room. Interested?"

Someone sounds grumpy.

"No thank you. I was told to come to you. I'm the human if that helps."

Their head fingers extend in alert.

"Oh! Sorry. I was instructed to inform you on where to go next."

"That would be helpful, yes."

It motions to where the rug is heading.

"If you follow the rug there, you'll be lead out back to the entrance of the CORE. Mettaton will be waiting for you at the top."

"Could I use the elevator instead? All this travel is exhausting."

"No can do. The elevator leads to the Capital and main residence of our people. You're not allowed to go there."

"Oh...That's fine. I didn't want to go there. Just trying to take shortcuts if able."

"*ahem* If you require a small rest, might I suggest renting a room?"

"I don't the gold, sorry."

"That's fine. Mettaton has pre-paid a room for you. One time only."

I'm stunned. Damn him! Why does he confuse me so much?! I want to like and hate him at the same time!

"Um...In that case, sure. Where are rooms?"

They motion again.

"Down the hall to the right."

I wait for them to give me a key or card but nothing is there except awkwardness.

"Is there a problem?"

"No...not really. But...uh...Isn't this the part you give me a room key?"

"What? Room...Key? No, we don't do that. If you leave your room, you'll have to pay again."

So if I enter I can't leave or else I'll have to pay? That's insane!

"On second thought, maybe later."

"Shame. Do let us know if you change your mind. Have a sparkular day!"

I'm getting the feeling they're being nice because they were told to be. Otherwise, I doubt I'd be given such a warm welcome. Oh well. Time to pay a certain someone a visit.

I stroll up to the emporium and find myself paused. I can go about this in many ways. The different choices and outcomes play out in my head super fast. After a few, I settle on something...something that'll leave an impression. I push the doors open. A digital bell sounds. I look at what appears to be a sadder version of McDonald's. And like a mindless corporate drone, he speaks while moping the floor before seeing "who" just walked in.

"Welcome to MTT-Brand Burger Emporium, home of the Dazzleburger. Sparkle up your day (TM)."

He begins to turn around.

"What can I do to..."

His eyes widen seeing me, grinning sadistically at him like a lunatic.

"Uh...help?"

This hurts my throat to do, but it really sells this whole thing. I deepen my voice to imitate Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget and just laugh. He is unnerved to say the least.

"*menacing* No one will help you."

"H-Hey now...Don't think of doing anything funny."

I walk up to him and he backs away slowly before leaping behind the counter.

"Stay back! You can't hurt anyone in shops!"

I keep the deep voice.

"*menacing* Hurt you? Foolish boy...Why would I do that? It's not like you put a cigarette out on my wrist and bashed my head with a bat!"

That last part was done a bit too harsh and I end coughing. All seriousness leaves.

"*coughs* Nah, man...*normal* I ain't gonna do anything. For reals. I was just messing with ya."

He eyes me funny.

"Riiiiiight...What do you want then?"

"Preferably, my phone."

He flinches, his eyes looking quickly down then darting back up.

"I..."

"Metta doesn't have to know."

"What do you mean he won't know?! He knows everything that goes on here!"

"Look, you either give me my phone, or I'm gonna go back there and take it."

"You're not seri..."

My dead stare shuts him up. He seems to freeze up now. I sneer and put my hand out. He looks at my hand and then starts sweating. I'm beginning to lose my patience.

"You have five seconds."

His fur stands on end and he suddenly slams his face on the countertop, giving himself a bloody nose.

"Sorry, (Ha ha) it's against the rules to talk to customers who haven't bought anything. And talking with you this long has put me in serious shit. If you want this 'exchange' to continue, you're going to make a purchase."

I'm not happy.

"...What do you have?"

[60G - Sorebet - Very popular food.]

[120G - Dazzleburger - Very popular food.]

[300G - Mythical Villain - Anti-Hero Sandwich. ATTACK UP in battle.]

[500G - Biltong Slab designed to look like Mettaton - Don't ask. Please.]

I huff through my nose and shell out the 60G.

"That Sorebet better come with my phone."

"Yeah yeah. Don't get your panties in a twist."

"Fuck you. I wear boxers."

He eyes me with a blush before heading into the back. Might as well chat him up while I can.

"So...Do you know the chicks behind the building?"

"Huh? Oh...Them. Yeah, I know them. What of it?"

"They were talking about you."

"The girls were...Talking about me...?"

Hooked him.

"They mentioned you threw burgers at them and ran."

"Bullshit! That is not what happened."

He comes back to the counter with a glass of frozen dessert and my phone.

"Care to enlighten me?"

He sighs and lights a cigarette. I wonder if he can do that while on shift?

"Never interact with attractive people. Unless you're 'one of them', they're just gonna take advantage of you. Those two chicks asked me to sneak them some Dazzleburgers. And I, the naive teenager that I was, said yes to them. Bad idea."

"What happened?"

He takes a dag and lifts the collar of his uniform shirt open, blowing the smoke in there.

"Does that really keep the smoke from spreading?"

"It's worked so far. *puff* So I went out to the alley to see those two ladies, and uh...you know, see what'd happen next."

"Like...Naughty stuff?"

"...Maybe."

"Nice."

He blushes.

"Anyway...Then my boss comes out of nowhere, sees me, and demands to know what I was doing. I was so startled, the hamburgers in my pockets tumbled out onto the ground. Not wanting to lose face to the girls, I scrambled to pick them up! But, as I was bending down, the weight of the remaining hamburgers...*puff*...caused my pants to fall down."

He expected me to mock him. But I can't feel anything more than pity for the guy. This surprises him and he continues his story.

"Then the girls laughed at me. Everyone calls me Burgerpants now. It's gotten to the point I can't remember my name half of the time. It's even on my name tag for fuck's sake!"

Poor douche cat.

"I think you're the first to not laugh at me or that story."

"Why would I laugh? That's...That's messed up, man."

He takes another drag.

"You know something...I misjudged you, human. I know it ain't much, but, I'm sorry for being an ass."

I rub the back of my head.

"I'll be honest, guy...Since the bar thing, I've seen you only as a prick. The idea of you having hard times and lashing out didn't cross my mind at all. That's my bad right there. Sorry on my part for being a bitch."

He smirks.

"So...You're really not going to tell Mettaton about this?"

He hands me my phone.

"Dude, this stays between us. Besides, he's kinda been pissing me off lately."

"Yeah, he does that."

He takes a deep drag before putting the cigarette out on the bottom of his shoe.

"Can I give you some advice? I'm getting on in years, so take it from me...You've still got time. Don't live like me. I'm 19 years old and I've already wasted my entire life. I'll probably be trapped at this stupid job forever. But wait! There's one thing that keeps me going! If ASGORE gets just one more SOUL, we'll finally get to go to the surface! It'll be a brand new world! There's gotta be a second chance out there for me! For everyone!"

"Maybe. So, what did you want to do before this?"

"Oh...I wanted to be an ACTOR."

"Neat."

"When I first came to Hotland, it was my dream to work with Mettaton. Well, be careful what you wish for! God, look what that idiot has done here. This place is a labyrinth of bad choices. And every time we try to change something for the better, he vetoes it and says that's not how they do it on the surface. Oh! Right! Humans are always eating hamburgers made of RHINESTONES AND GLITTER."

"...I can assure you we don't eat that. Eating that would be very bad for our health. Maybe even fatal. Monsters don't really eat that...Do they?"

His eyes shift and I facepalm.

"And you guys think I'm gonna hurt ya?"

"You should probably get going. The boss will get his gears in a bunch if you take too long getting to the CORE."

"Fine."

I put the Sorebet in my inventory and remember my awkward side-quest.

"Oh! Before I bounce, can you help me with something?"

He tilts his head.

"What?"

"The chicks, Bratty and Catty, they have items I want but don't have the crazy amount of gold. They say they'll trade for a mega value pack. Any way you might be able to help make this trade happen?"

He sighs.

"Really? Do you know how much that is?"

"1300G close? Because that's how much I need."

"...What kind of shit are they selling that's worth that much?!"

I goofily shrug. He groans and rubs his face.

"I can't just give you that much for free."

"Catty thinks your cute."

"...For real?"

I nod. He fidgets, fingers tip-tapping and pitter-pattering.

"Okay, I'll tell you what...You score me a hook up with her and I'll give you the burgers."

Damn you rule of three in side-quests!

"Argh...I guess I can try. It won't be the weirdest thing I do today but it is on the list though."

His eyes light up with excitement. I can't mess this up now. How often does he actually smile like this?

"Thank you! *ahem* I mean...Cool."

I slink out of the emporium and head for the exit.

"Um, excuse me, human...The CORE is the other way."

I groan.

"I know. I'll be back."

Exit building, go into the creepy alley, and meet the girls again.

"Look who's back."

"Do you have the Dazzleburgers?"

I show my empty hands.

"Ha! I knew she'd blow it."

"Sucks to be you!"

"Hold up. He'll give me the goods. But..."

"But...?"

"Catty...Do you really think he's cute? 'Cause he thinks you're hot."

Catty's face flushes. Bratty rolls her eyes.

"For reals? He wants a date?"

"A date? A hangout? A simple meeting while he's working? I don't know. For all I know she can walk in, say hi, and that's it. All I need is confirmation and you get all those shiny burgers."

"Yes!"

"Catty...?"

"What a deal! A cute guy and free food! It's the score of a lifetime!"

"Catty, he's a loser. You hang out with him once, then he wants to hang out... All. The. Time."

"But don't you feel bad for him, Bratty? Poor Burgerpants...Think about how cool we are compared to him!!! We'd be saving his LIFE with our awesomeness!! His LIFE, Bratty!!"

"Uh, so?"

"Think of all the Dazzleburgers he could get for us!!"

And just like that, I feel like shit for doing this.

"...So is he free after work?"

"*huff* I'll be back...again."

Leave the alley, enter the building, meet up with Burgerpants.

"I don't like the look you have there. Did she say no?"

I can't lie to this guy.

"Dude, I'm really uncomfortable with this."

"What's wrong?"

"She said yes. But..."

"She said YES?!"

"I mean, she agreed, but please listen..."

"Ha! Ahahaha!! Yes!!! You've brought a tear to the eye of this old man."

I feel so bad.

"Dude, please...I'm, like, 100% sure she's gonna use you for free food and maybe gold."

"...So?"

I'm taken back.

"Look, you don't think I didn't think of that? I know she's probably going to use me. Everyone does. If it's for the food, I don't care. That's just another way I can stick it to my boss. Speaking of..."

He plops this cardboard case down on the counter.

"A deal's a deal. The mega value pack for the girl."

...Okay, they're made for each other. Everyone here is trash!

"So, uh, what time did she say she wanted to hang out?"

I hate everything about this!!

"I'll be back again."

Take food, leave, exit, alley. At this point, I nearly shove the shit at them.

"Oh my God!"

"Is that the mega value pack Dazzleburgers?"

"OH MY GOD!!! GIMME!!!"

"God, Catty. Try to have some self-control."

"Sorry..."

"'Cause they OBVIOUSLY brought the Dazzleburgers for ME."

"NO WAYYY!!!!!"

I point to the items.

"Trade. Now."

Bratty puts the key and gun into the hat before handing it over to me.

"Thank you."

I put the key in my inventory and equip the other two.

[You equipped the Tattered Western Hat]

[You gain 12 Defense and 5 Attack]

[This battle-worn hat makes you want to crew on straw for some reason. It also raises attack by 5.]

[You equipped the Rusty Revolver]

[You gain 12 Attack]

[An super old gun. It has no ammo. Must be used precisely, or damage will be low. Duh.]

[HP: 40 ATK: 62 DEF: 50]

I am becoming OP!!

"Oh! Give burger-boy this!"

Catty hands me a scrap of paper with her number.

"Fine. I'm just glad this is done."

Back to Burgerpants. I slap the paper down.

"Here's her number. I hope you don't regret this."

His face contorts in a weird way...Is he...Happy?

Sweet! I need to pick a spicy outfit for my little shindig later. Though, now that I think about it, I had to throw away all of my clothes to make room for the outfits Mettaton gave me."

"...What?"

"Don't take it the wrong way. They're just all these...Weird getups. 'Promotional' costumes. For 'holidays'. Or 'specials'. Or 'because he felt like it'. The thing IS though! Most of the time I'm the only employee who has to wear this stuff! Sometimes he even calls me into his office just to...Make me put something on...Then he laughs and lets me go back to work as normal."

My pity meter is breaking.

"Anyways, I won't sweat it. I'll take it casual. NEVER let hot people think you care. That's how they GET you."

And the pity meter dropped dead.

"Good luck with that."

I leave on that note. Fuck this resort. Fuck this quest plot. Fuck this whole damn thing!

Wanting this shit show to be over and done with, I do as instructed by following the rug's path out some doors that have a giant sign above that says "CORE". Lazy-ass designers, I swear.

Weirdly this leads to a balcony. A balcony that has been opened and a walkway built that connects to the massive facility. The light from the resort barely shows half of the path as the CORE itself surprisingly gives off the faintest glow. The CORE is an entirely mechanical complex that is largely black and yellow with red accents. The blah colors aside, what gets my attention are the two monsters that were minding the entrance that slip inside when I show up. I don't like this.

"Flowey, you better be able to get here. I have a bad feeling about this."

Approaching shows more of this crazy thing. The CORE appears to be the most industrial and modern region of the Underground. Ozone, a byproduct of electrical power, is omnipresent below the floor level of the CORE. This could mean the CORE might be made of stainless steel, titanium, or platinum; as ozone is highly corrosive to most organic materials. If this is the case, they could use this stuff. The CORE could be a source of ozonated water, which cleans clothes, sanitizes food, and purifies drinking water. This also implies this might be the greatest source of oxygen in the Underground as ozone simply decomposes into oxygen at high concentrations and temperatures. The only hazard I can think of is that oxygen is a shitty thing to breathe. Breathing pure oxygen at high pressures can cause nausea, dizziness, muscle twitching, vision loss, convulsions, and loss of consciousness. Breathing pure oxygen for a long time can irritate the lungs causing coughing and/or shortness of breath. Higher exposure may cause a build-up of fluid in the lungs and subsequent death. Guess how much more O2 is needed to do this to a person? 20% more. God, Humans are so freaking weak. I'll need to be careful here.

The lobby of the CORE has an elevator to the north and two paths to the left and right. Not a bad looking place, very lavishly decorated, the floors are engraved with intricate patterns and multicolored neon tubes serve as wall ornaments and embellishments. I check the elevator, which is disabled, I'm not shocked at this point. Not much else to do, I go to the path on the right, which turns out to be a small room with a square platform overlooking a pit of fire. Not bad. I do enjoy looking at fire. It's pretty. Moving on! Going through the left path leads to a rectangular stretch of wall-less hallway with a doorway at the end.

"Hmmm...My bullshit senses are tingling. I'm willing to bet a random encounter/ambush is about to happen."

As if cued by my words, something cracks the back of my head and then hits my gut as I turn.

"*wheeze* Called it..."

My attacker appears and my dull cracked purple soul is forced out to play.

[Madjick pops out of its hat!]

Madjick has a typical appearance of a wizard. It wears a curved wizard hat, a pair of boots, and two rotating orbs emitting cross-shaped particles. Madjick has a sly smile on its face, but a pair of bright eyes are hidden just under its hat.

[FIGHT]

[ACT]

[̴͝SP͜͞E͡L̵͜L͟͠͏]͘͢

[ITEM]

[MERCY]

I wonder if SPELL will work on this thing? ...N-No. No. Can't chance it. Stick to normal tactics.

[ACT selected.]

[New options available.]

[CHECK]

[TALK]

[STARE]

[CLEAR MIND]

...The fuck kind of options are these?!

[CHECK selected.]

[MADJICK – HP: 190 ATK: 29 DEF: 24 – This enemy can only speak in magic words.]

Finally! My states aren't shit compared to my attacker. Also, only speaks in magic words is the most fucking adorable thing I've ever heard.

"Abra cadabra."

An orb spawns off to my left and rapid-fires crosses at me. I dodge and the orb tries to cut me off by going where I'm headed. It fires about eight times and moving around is not so great.

[HP ████████████████ 16/40]

Thank goodness my defense got increased during all this crap. I could've been really messed up.

[Madjick flaunts its orbs in a menacing manner.]

It snickers.

"A smug one. I like that."

[TALK selected.]

"You know...I can do magic too."

It looks at me intrigued.

"Yep. I can make your smile disappear."

It pauses before sneering at me.

"See? I made it vanish before your very eyes!"

It didn't seem to like my humor.

"Hocus pocus."

[Madjick begins chattering to itself. Its gibberish dizzies you...Your DEFENSE drops by 1.]

My head feels fuzzy. Did it just jinx me? Are there more types of magic than what I've been told?

One of the orbs begins to chase me while deploying harmful but immobile crosses. Yet due to the jinx, my sense of direction is ass-backward. Left is right and right is left. Up is down and down is up. However...much to Madjick's dismay...I'm used to being incredibly dizzy. My childhood was filled with countless hours of boredom appeased by spinning around till I couldn't see straight.

[HP ████████████████████ 20/40]

Ha ha...Suck on those magic balls, wizard-boy!

"*slur* Is that what you call magic? Boo! Disappointed!"

[Madjick whispers arcane swear words.]

"*slur* Oh...Someone needs to put some gold in the swear jar. I'm gonna tattle!"

It growls.

"Eh eh eh. It's not your turn."

I slap my face a few times.

[CLEAR MIND selected.]

"I wonder where Flowey is?"

[You think of pollen and sunshine. Your confusion abates. Your DEFENSE increased by 2.]

"...What?"

"Alakazam!!"

It tries to surprise me with that following orb trick. But now that I know that move it's not so bad.

[HP ██████████████████████████ 26/40]

Huh? Am I auto-healing faster? Sweet! Surely that only means good things for me.

[Madjick peers at you with strange eyes.]

"What? You scared? My sick moves and auto-healing too much for you? No worries, wizard-dude, we cool. I got you."

The hell did I just say? Am I magic high? Fuck it.

[MERCY selected.]

[New options available.]

[FLEE]

[SPARE]

[SPARE selected.]

It looks at me funny. Then it looks at my HP.

[HP ████████████████████████████████ 32/40]

It flinches.

"Please and thank you."

Madjick accepts my act of mercy.

[YOU WON!]

[You earned 0 XP and 120 gold.]

The fight ends, my soul returns to my body and I give my opponent claps of approval.

"Good show, buddy. Keep up the good work."

It seems confused but nods, hovering away behind me towards the exit.

"Well...That was weird."

My head still feels odd. Nothing a few brain sloshing shakes of the old noggin won't fix. Anyway, no time to question strange feelings or whatever. I gotta get through this so I can get back to Toriel. Onwards I go.

Continuing forward, I enter a room with a bridge that is cut off by a tesla coil. Wow. Hadn't seen that in a long ass time. How much do I wanna bet there's a convenient off switch nearby. Oh, look! A super obvious switch right there on the wall. Who could've ever had guessed! I flip the switch and lasers fire at me! First blue, then blue again, and orange. Thankfully they're slow, so once I triggered the first blue laser I easily hit the deck to avoid the others that pass by.

"Setting booby traps on top of other traps now. Geez, Metta, I'm starting to think you don't like me very much. Well, that's fine. I don't like me either! So come at me already and quit this pussy bullshit!"

Calm down. No need to get riled up. Get through this and go home. Then I can just stuff my face with Nanny's awesome cheesecake and pass out happy. I march on, doing my best not to look down or notice how some of the walls and floors are chipped away. Now I'm paranoid about if any other laser that turns up is functional or decorative.

The path leads into a crossroads with a path to my left and a path straight ahead. My bullshit sense is tingling when I look at the left path. Straight ahead it is.

This room contains a bridge with many blue and orange lasers followed by a massive wall of blue lasers.

"Nope. Just nope. Screw the rules! I have plot armor importance and common sense!"

Fuck this outfit. Fuck this shit! I have lost all my fucks! I get down on the floor and combat crawl the long as fuck cold metal catwalk.

"*muttering* Stupid bullshit. Why do I have to be nice? If I wasn't nice, I wouldn't have to put up with shit like this. Bitches don't end up in laser catwalk traps. But no...I have to be a decent person. *getting louder* I have to be a good girl. I have to not give in to the overwhelming urge to punch assholes for being assholes because that's wrong for dumb reasons! *shouting* Why am I pissing myself off?! This is extremely counterproductive given my current situation! Fuck!!"

I blame all this on Mettaton. That's a healthy way to look at it. Probably not. But I'm not a mental health doctor! The fuck do I know?! After crossing the bridge, I storm grumpily along another walkway only to reach something called "Core Branch".

Turns out the "Core Branch" is a four-way intersection. Fan-fucking-tastic. Man, my mood is fucking sour. Maybe the digital sign can be useful and give me directions.

[North, the warrior's path. West, the sage's path. Any path leads to The End.]

"*growling* This is so...FUCKING STUPID!!"

Nope. Not falling for anymore of this. I choose neither side and go straight. This middle path of the "Core Branch" has me entering a vertical room with a right path leading to the eastern portion of the "Core Branch". There's nothing to my left. It just drops into the ozone, so it's certain death. I'm so sure this place followed all safety measures. There is a sign on the wall that is telling me to "Get lost...And stay that way".

"Wha...Why have signs telling me to leave when you told me to come here?! Stupid metal moron giving me dumb mixed messages."

I hate everything. No monster better encounter me while I'm in this mood. I take out a gold piece and flip it. Heads for straight and tails for the right. It lands on tails so right I go. This has to be the stupidest designed building ever! What the hell was Gaster thinking?! Was he on the drugs? Because this seems like he was on the drugs! 'Cause now I'm at another four-way crossroads. Only now I have two digital signs.

[To the East! This is The End.]

[I cannot fight. I cannot think. But, with patience, I will make my way through.]

A third, and hopefully final, tesla coil blocks what has been established as the exit. This means there's a switch somewhere. F that shit. Know what? You know what'll piss everyone off? I'm gonna do what that sign said. I'm going to be patient. Because if I know Mettaton, and I know massive egos very well, he won't want boring content to be televised and eventually spice things up. I plop my edgy tush under the sign and...wait. Using this time to chill. Let this negativity go and...

*Clank-clank-clank*

Oh hell no!

A large monster ominously approaches. Knight Knight is a monster that wields a great staff with a sun symbol in her right hand. She wears a suit of black armor and what resembles a horned helmet with a crescent moon emblazoned on her forehead. The helmet's eyepiece occasionally widens and un-widens as if it is her mouth. Her torso is dominated by a dragon face whose beak occasionally opens and closes, revealing a small eye. It is unclear whether which face is the true face.

"Let me guess...You're here to make me move?"

"Yes."

"No."

She's confused.

"...No?"

"Did I stutter? I'm not moving."

She readies her spear.

"Then prepare for..."

"Let me stop you right there. I get that you're doing your job and following the law, and blah blah blee bloo, whatever. I have been through one of THE worst days in my life. My mind, soul, and charitable goodwill have been pushed to limits that are very VERY thin now. I am in no mood to deal with any more crap. So I'm going to say this once because I ain't fighting you or moving from this spot till this electrical blockaded is gone...Turn around and go home."

She doesn't take me seriously and laughs.

"Heh heh...You have no power to give me orders, human."

She takes a step closer and I snap.

"I͏͟ ̧̀̕W͝IL͘͡L̴ ̶Ŗ͟͜I͝҉P͘ ̵O͜F̧F̛͞ ̸̀Y̧͡O̡͢U̡͠R ͠H̸EA̶͏D͏͢ ̸̕A͜N͢D S̢̛͜Ḩ̶Į͢T̵̕ ͝D̶̀OW͞N̷̴͠ ҉͞Ý̸̢O̡͡U̡͢R ̸ŅE̴͝CḰ̡̧!͞͞!̧͢"

She stumbles back in shock. The strange energy sparks off me. I regret everything.

"I̵'͘͟͏ḿ͢͞ ̧̕͞so̧̨͡r̴̢ŗ̷͜y̧.̵̛.̢͞.̛p̢l͝ea̷se͢.͟.́͢.leave me. I'm so sorry."

I seem to have disturbed her. She slowly steps back and turns around when she's convinced I'm not going to move.

"Adieu...Human."

She leaves me and I let out a shaky exhale. It's getting worse. I'm losing control. I can't do this for much longer. I haven't been given any proper time to deal with this shit. My internal bottle has been shaken too much! It's going to explode! I...I...

"What the heck was that?!"

Flowey pops up beside me and I'm too freaked out to be startled.

"Sis? What's wrong?"

I hold myself in an attempt to squeeze into a tiny ball of self-loathing. This only worries him more.

"Lynsie?"

I...I can't...I need a break. If only I had my music. I could drown out all this. Lose myself in the lyrics.

"B-Bro..."

"Yes? Talk to me. I can help. Tell me what you need."

"...H-How fast can you get to Snowdin?"

He frowns.

"You want me to get 'him', don't you?"

All I can do is nod.

"I...I can help too. You don't have to turn to him."

My eyes dart to the blocked path. He puts things together. He is a smart boy after all.

"True. Mettaton is that way and the room his encounter takes place in is an elevating platform. I can stretch from my roots pretty far but not THAT far."

He pouts.

"*huff* I guess there's no other option. He does have experience helping you out when things get bad. And he can teleport."

I feel bad that I'm making him do this...again. Like in the dead timeline.

"I...I'm sorry."

"Wha...N-No! Don't apologize. I understand. You're worried. It's okay. We'll get through this. Family helps family. What kind of big brother would I be if I didn't do everything to help? Even if that means getting others to help when I can't."

"...I need a hug...please?"

It pains me to see him hesitate. But vines come out to wrap around me for a bit.

"Thank you."

The vines retract and he extends to nuzzle my cheek.

"It won't be like last time. I promise. You won't kill anyone. No one's going to die."

"H-How do you know?"

"Because you're strong. You just have to believe in yourself. I know I do."

...I needed that. I give him a smile.

"There we go. There's my sis. Now keep that smile. I'll get Smiley Trashbag and we'll be back home with mom in no time."

He really is too sweet for this world. He sinks into the floor and I forgot to ask how he was able to get through this floor. I mean, I guess he said he can get through cement so metal can't be too far of a long shot. Asriel sure is a super strong boy even as a flower.

*BUZZ*

The power to the coil suddenly is shut off remotely like I so knew it could be. Damn it. I was hoping to have more time. How impatient is Mettaton for this? Reluctantly, I get up and walk down this new road. Halfway along this bridge, I am blocked by three vaguely familiar monsters that look like tougher versions of monsters I see in the Ruins.

Final Froggit has spike-like protrusions on its head and eyelids, accompanied by a crown-like muff on top of its head. Its lips are marked with lines, as though wrinkled from age. Its "shoulders" are decorated with sharp excrescents, while the silhouette between its legs forms a face with a triangular smile and cross eyes.

Whimsalot has a more human-like appearance than Whimsun. Also, its antennae are thicker, and there is a muff on their head that branches in two. Whimsalot's appearance is also accompanied by a double-bladed spear and a knight mask. Its ghost-like torso is skinnier and shorter.

Astigmatism's body consists of a large ball and four spiked limbs. The ball is accompanied by two "horns" on each side. When idle, a large eye can be seen on the ball also with three eyelashes. However, it changes from this face to another where the eye hollow is changed with a smile. When having its eye closed, the two side eyelashes become Astigmatism's eyes, while the middle one simply becomes a marking.

I don't know what I must look like to them. Probably dreadful. Because they move aside with not a word being side. I nod in thanks, proceeding to the end which for all I know might be the most tragic moment of my life second to Grillby dying. No! Stop it! Do as Flowey said. Smile. Stay chipper. Think of something silly. Like how dumb this place is. Honestly, was Gaster high making this place? I'll have to ask him later. Nah...I'll ask Sans. Less hassle.

The bridge comes to an end, leading to a shadowy doorway and an elevator that probably would've been super handy but was out of order to pad out the length of this bullshit subplot. Augh...It's so much easier to think my life is a fictional story or internet abridge series. It's the only way my brain allows most of this crap to make any sense.

"So this is it, huh? The epic conclusion of this grand show. Heh...I want to feel accomplished for making it this far. Almost. But all I do feel is..."

I can't finish my sentence. The weight I thought I got off my back earlier begins pressing on me again.

"Nothing...I feel nothing. *sniffling* Damn it...Don't fucking cry!"

With a breakdown seconds away from happening, I enter the doorway to the room of darkness and a door shuts behind me then locks. There is no going back now.

Please...I made a promise...Please...Don't make me have to RESET...Please...I'm begging...Please...

#undertale #underfell #Anomaly #Lynsie #sans #papyrus #gaster #grillby #grandpa semi #flowey #Asriel #toriel #asgore #frisk #chara #undyne #mettaton #napstablook #alphys

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direnightshade · 4 years

Text

Hope In A Faraway Place

Chapter 1

The year is 1917. America has just declared war on Germany after suffering hundreds of civilians lost at sea at the hands of German submarines. Nearly a month after signing up for the newly implemented registry, Kylo finds himself on a boat to France, drafted in the first World War. Little does he know just how much his life is about to change when he meets you, a nurse at the Hautmont Hospital. But outward appearances are not at all what they seem.

A quick note: This will be the only chapter that's set up with the timeline format. I just needed to do so in order to get the story set up.

You can also find this over at AO3.

April 2, 1917

On the third of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean.

The radio crackles, static filling the silent pauses between carefully crafted sentences of Woodrow Wilson’s impassioned speech to Congress. Kylo’s joined a group of his coworkers, the lot of them surrounding the small device, listening intently to the broadcast. There’s a feeling of dread that settles into the pit of his stomach, and he knows, he just knows what’s to come of this all. There had been far too many attacks by Germany on neutral ships, and this latest—with 128 Americans on board—had been the final straw for the United States.

Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom: without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe conduct through the proscribed areas by the German Government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle.

“This is it, boys,” says Hux, his hand clapping Kylo on the back. “Wilson hasn’t even said it yet, but this is it.” Kylo shrugs out of his touch, scowling at both Hux and the broadcast. The redhead pays him no mind, instead turning to Poe, practically grinning from ear to ear.

It is a distressing and oppressive duty, Gentlemen of the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance.

“You hear that? What’d I say? Did I call that or what?” Hux is beyond pleased with himself, though he seems to be the only one in the group that’s anything other than fraught with uncertainty. “We’re goin’ to war.”

Thirty-six hundred miles away in Hautmont, France, amidst the chaos and the war itself, the same broadcast blares through the otherwise quiet nurse’s station of the hospital. You and two of your coworkers are bent over the desk, elbows atop the counter, chin in your hands as you hang on every word of Wilson’s speech.

“Do you think they’ll come here,” asks Rey, her gaze shifting between you and Phasma. “The Americans?”

Both you and Phasma exchange a worried look at the prospect, and with a sigh, you rise up and away from the desk, posture straightening while your fingers drum against the counter top. “It’s either here or Belgium,” Phasma says first.

“It’s been getting worse here,” you counter, to which both women nod their heads in agreement. They’d be hard pressed to disagree, of course. The Germans have already come to occupy the town, as well as the surrounding communities, declaring Northeastern France for themselves. Life within the town you’d grown to love so much has drastically changed; open air markets and bustling streets have tapered off dramatically, what with the German soldiers ensuring everyone stays inside unless absolutely necessary. Hautmont’s become less of a home and more of a prison.

But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts,-for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own Governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.

The words fade into the background, lost to the chatter of the three of you as you exchange your worries and your woes, taking comfort in one another’s presence. It won’t be long now until the Americans officially enter the war, throwing the once European war onto the world stage, shining a spotlight on the atrocities committed by the German leadership.

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May 19, 1917

PRESIDENT’S PROCLAMATION! Selective Conscription Law Presented To Country.

The bold headline is everywhere, seemingly on every newspaper in some shape or form. It had taken just a little over a month for Wilson to sign off on the Selective Services Act, requiring that every American male citizen between the ages of twenty-one and thirty register with the United States government, increasing military establishment within the country.

Kylo steps out of the recruitment office, taking a moment to glance down at the thin piece of paper in his hand. REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE. The words scream up at him, effectively sealing his fate for the foreseeable future. He’s done his duty, did what the country required of him and registered for the military. All that remains to be seen is whether or not he’ll be one of the poor bastards his own country forces into battle.

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June 25, 1917

The creaks and groans of metal sound as the ship that carries Kylo and the remainder of his fellow soldiers bobs up and down in the waves of the Atlantic. France is just out of sight, but it won’t be long now until they join the Western Front, taking up occupancy in Chaumont. The plan is to advance towards Belgium, and should they succeed, drive back the German forces—and with any luck, put an end to this war once and for all.

“How much longer?” Poe’s voice pulls Kylo from his thoughts, his gaze shifting over to where Hux and Poe sit, the former shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly while he shovels another bite of food into his mouth.

Poe’s attention turns from Hux to Kylo, who gives him the same type of shrug that Hux had only moments prior. “Hard to say. Shouldn’t be too much longer, though.”

“Heard we’ll be fighting alongside Canada and Australia too. Can you fuckin’ believe that? Australia, of all places, has shown up to fight.” Poe huffs an amused breath, and Hux does the same, both men shaking their heads in disbelief.

Kylo picks at his food aimlessly, any sense of hunger long gone and has been ever since he’d received notice that he’d been one of the unlucky ones drafted up to take part in this war. Commotion sounds from the opposite end of the room where the men sit, heavy footsteps clamor down the metal set of stairs leading to the room until another one of the men makes an appearance; Finn, if Kylo remembers the man’s name correctly.

“We’re here,” he says, nearly out of breath, and Kylo can’t tell if it’s from nerves or excitement. “We’ve made it.”

— — — — —

Tagging my fellow Kylo lovers!

@mind-p0llution, @candycanes19, @duty-isnt-always-honour, @holacherrycola90, @safarigirlsp, @little-laamb, @gurl-ly

If you’d like to be added to the tag list, give me a shout!

#KYLO WEEK #Kylo Ren #Kylo #Soldier!Kylo #Kylo x Reader #Kylo Ren x Reader #Soldier!Kylo x Reader #WWI #World War I #Historical Fiction #cw: violence #cw: depictions of violence #cw: gun violence

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