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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 7 months

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I read Clementine Book Two so that you didn't have to: an in-depth review from a fan of the Telltale games.

Rating: 2.5/5

Spoiler free review: While better than Book One, it’s still not great.

“When is it safe to fall in love? After another brush with death, Clementine and her new friends are rescued by an island community led by an enigmatic doctor named Miss Morro. But, just as Clementine’s scars are finally beginning to heal, the safety of the island is called into question and Olivia reveals a shocking secret. With her world falling apart, Clementine must choose—keep running… or dig in and fight?”

Some things are improved with Book Two, and some things are worse.

The art style looks nicer, particularly with the establishing shots and environments. It’s cleaner without losing the grunge that comes with a post-apocalypse. The characters look better, even though they still sometimes have potato heads. Once again I wish this was done in color because I know how great Tillie Walden is with her coloring, but this is the walking dead and color would be too hopeful, I guess.

The pacing is better, but still not good. I had an issue with pacing in Book One where it dragged, then it gave me whiplash in the last few chapters. It was all over the place. This feels smoother, yet it’s the same issue as before: chapter seven feels like whiplash as everything spirals, then we go into a slower ending.

The dialogue is still awkward in a lot of areas; sometimes it tries to be whimsical, which is something prominent in Tillie Walden’s other works where it lands, but here in this setting it feels cheesy and unnatural.

There are a lot of flaws with Clementine’s writing, though, but that’s a given when you’ve played the games. If you haven’t and you don’t have context for her established character there, then I think this will feel like a natural progression from Book One.

The new cast is likable, but I have a few issues with Miss Morro’s role in the story. Olivia gets some much-needed development, but not all of it necessarily for the best.

The romance between Clementine and Ricca progresses, taking up more of the spotlight than it did in Book One. I went into Book Two with an open mind about clemricca. I can set aside my bias for clouis, I can tuck violentine, gabentine, and any other Clementine ship away to give clemricca a chance to show me it’s a good relationship. Except I don’t think it is. I have a lot of problems with it.

As for the actual plot, I enjoyed the island setting and the community, but it feels like a massively missed opportunity. The ending is… a lot.

My full detailed review is below. I give a quick recap of Book One and spoil everything for Book Two.

A Quick Recap of Book One

You can read my full review of Book One here, but to summarize:

Clementine left Ericson because she was unhappy. She felt like a liability to the group, so she’s traveling on her own when she comes across a group of Amish survivors. While there, a doctor treats her leg and gives her a new prosthetic, as well as some other supplies. Out on the road again, she meets Amos, an Amish boy set out on his Rumspringa to help build houses in the mountain in exchange for a ride in a plane.

Clementine and Amos become buddies by the time they make it to the mountain. There they encounter the twins, Georgia and Olivia, and Ricca, another survivor looking to help with this building project. Clementine decides to stay and help, too, since she’s untrusting of the twins and wants to look after Amos. They build in terrible, snowy conditions. Clementine, Amos, and Ricca form a little friend group all while Amos and Olivia grow close… apparently, it’s barely a thing but it’s important to know.

Clementine and Ricca also grow pretty close. Ricca confides in Clementine that her vision is worsening, and she fears she may not find another pair of glasses that work for her. She has some past trauma with her sight given her brother broke her glasses so that she had no choice but to rely on him, and once she found a new pair, abandoned him to set off on her own.

When Ricca falls into a pit on a trip to get a generator, Clementine reveals that she named her new leg Kenny. Ricca climbs up out of the pit and promises to look for help, but Clementine decides to explore and gets surrounded by walkers. Luckily, she’s saved by a man named Tim, who gets bitten. Tim gives her some encouragement about building a better world, and she leaves before he can turn.

Georgia and Olivia get into a fight, but everything else seems well and good: they got the lift working with the generator, and Olivia tells Clementine that she plans to leave with Amos. But then Georgia pushes Amos off a cliff, and then tries to kill Clementine and Ricca.

From there, everything goes to shit and they manage to overpower Georgia. With her and Amos gone, that leaves Clementine, Ricca, and Olivia as the survivors. They go back to Olivia’s place and it’s revealed that her mom was actually a walker this entire time and building the houses was pretty pointless. Good thing Olivia knows how to fly a plane, though—the three escape via plane. That leads us into Book Two.

The Plot: I'm on an island of grief, surrounded by an ocean of disappointment

Before I dive into individual characters, the romance, and other thoughts, I want to go over everything that actually happens in this book.

We pick up only weeks after the events of Book One; Clementine, Ricca, Olivia, and their cat, Dr Barnwell, survive crashing the plane they took... somehow. From what I can tell, there were no injuries due to that so props to Olivia for not only knowing how to fly a plane, but crash land it good enough to not die.

They've landed somewhere in Canada, which is where Ricca's originally from. The three girls and their cat are on what looks to be a roof, talking about how they need to get to the coast since Clementine feels they're getting closer to something. Then we get the first inklings of romance in the air with Clementine being a little optimistic, and Olivia telling Ricca it's because of her.

This leads into the section of pages that was teased prior to release. They're going over their multiplications when they see a rabbit. Ricca chases after it because of course you want to send the person with the worst eyesight to catch dinner, but I suppose if she didn't go, then Clementine and Olivia couldn't talk about how not okay Olivia is.

Which makes sense; her twin sister, Georgia, murdered Amos, her... boyfriend? Honestly I don't know if we can even call him that, the Amos and Olivia "relationship" in Book One was underdeveloped and practically non-existent... yet it has great consequences that we'll get into... oh boy, will we get into it, ugh.

But Olivia's feeling like the screw up of the group; she's worried that she'll ruin Clementine's plans; "I'm bad luck. I'll... just hold you two back." / "Georgia and Amos are dead. I keep waiting for them to be next to me when I wake up, but every morning they're not there. There's no place in the world that will make that feel okay."

Clementine has no time to comfort her as Ricca's lost the rabbit to a herd of walkers that chases them into this little shack. They grab a walker and begin smearing its guts all over themselves.

The manage to escape. It's raining as they try surviving off dandelions and acorns, and they're out of willow bark, which is the stuff Rabby gave Clementine in Book One to help with pain. "Kenny" has felt so uncomfortable since the plane ride, and I've been uncomfortable ever since Clementine decided to name her prosthetic after Kenny, of all people.

But never mind that, it's time for Clementine and Ricca to share a moment in the rain. On top of her leg hurting and Olivia struggling, Ricca's eyesight is getting worse.

And then Olivia gets grabbed by a couple of men. They demand that Clementine and Ricca drop their weapons, and Olivia asks them to not hand over the hatchet since it belonged to Tim... this is the last mention we ever get of Tim.

And they get away from them super easily.

These men never come back and have zero impact on the story.

Our three protagonists take refuge in an abandoned home where we see them bandaging their wounds. And this is where cheesy dialogue that might sound better in another work sounds less great here:

Ricca: Why is every day so hard? Clementine: It won't be like this forever. Ricca: The world might not give us a choice, Clem. Clementine: Then I'll change the world.

...Right. Also, take note that Clementine and Ricca's hands are touching. The build up of the romance isn't terrible, honestly... I just wish the actual couple wasn't Clementine and Ricca, but I'll get more into that later.

They're getting closer to the ocean when they hear other survivors above them... and just like that, Clementine's feverish. She can't get up from the ground, her leg looks terrible, and she starts blacking out. It's jarring how out of nowhere she's suddenly in terrible condition. I think we're to assume that the lack of rest, being stuck in the rain, and being covered in walker guts made her condition decline, but when you realize just how bad it is... it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Ricca and Olivia do their best to carry her. Ricca begins singing a Jewish song about angels, and they make it to the beach. There's a boat in the distance that they have to flag down if there's any hope in Clementine surviving.

This is very dumb on their part. Olivia just runs into the ocean screaming, Ricca goes to help, and they leave Clementine on the beach with the cat... bad idea.

And we get our first dream sequence.

When I said I wanted Amos back, I meant that I wanted a big reveal that he survived the fall and was back for revenge, but nope! In Book One, we had Lee showing up in these bits, but he doesn't make any appearance in this book. Neither does AJ.

My extreme disappointment aside, Ricca and Olivia scream at the boat for help. But the waves are strong, and Clementine ends up swept into the ocean... dreadful sorry, Clementine. Who could've seen this coming?

Don't fear, though, she gets grabbed and pulled into the boat... and we fast forward to a month later. Yes, really.

Clementine wakes up in a new room, a comfortable bed, with a lovely view of the cliffside and ocean. She's been in a coma for a month... a month! Olivia's been feeding her and changing her bedsheets the entire time which... I don't think that's how that works?? You can't just spoon feed someone who is in a coma? You need feeding tubes? Which she wasn't connected to any! And with the way Morro explains her condition later, by all accounts, Clementine should be dead!

But why did she black out and fall into a coma, you ask? Her leg had a massive infection. I guess she wasn't cleaning it properly.

Whatever, Clementine still maintains her protagonist powers, so she's awake and well. Suspension of disbelief, y'know.

They're in this place that isn't actually given a name. It's made up of five little islands that almost connect, but they only use one. They farm, compost, build; every week there's a list of chores that everyone signs up for, they all have their own little houses and areas. They don't have to worry about walkers too much, other than when they wash up on shore from the water. It's a pretty damn nice set up... sure hope nothing bad happens to it.

Olivia's happy to see Clementine when she wakes, but they can't get Kenny back on. Clementine's rolled out of the house in a wheelchair to go to a birthday party. At this party, Clementine and Ricca reunite with a hug, and we're introduced to our new group of eight survivors:

Emi - She picked Clementine, Ricca, and Olivia up in her boat as she's the only one not afraid to go out on the water and fish. John - Morro's son. He does a lot of work on the island, like building walls and taking care of the cow. Amir - A young boy who lost his arm when he was bitten by a dog and his father didn't believe him. Shu-Fen - but they mostly call her Fen. She's quiet and keeps to herself. Ginette and Giles - a old, married couple who only speak French. Mercy - a young girl that Ginette and Giles take care of. Morro - she's not at the party, but at this point we learn she's in charge of things around here. Also, she's a doctor.

It's a lot of characters thrown at you all at once, but they're fairly easy to pick apart and remember. Definitely easier than trying to keep track of Georgia and Olivia in Book One.

So, what's the deal with this birthday party? Not everyone in this group could remember their real birthdays, so they decided to make one new birthday for everyone. There's cake, games, little party hats, all around good time.

But Clementine's not convinced. She's uncomfortable, she's asking a lot of questions, and this is where we start to see some tension between her and Ricca.

Y'see, Ricca really likes this place, and wants to settle here. Remember, while Clementine was in her coma, she and Olivia have lived here; they've already settled in nicely. They live in the house that's on the highest cliff and is deemed quite safe.

But Clementine is naturally suspicious of everything and is looking for something to be wrong, like that there's only one boat- one escape. This is an ongoing thing where Ricca wants to act like everything is fine, everything is safe, this is what they were looking for to begin with... and Clementine doesn't want to ignore any possible red flags; "Everything is fine until it isn't."

Clementine can't sleep and takes her wheel chair outside for some fresh air, and there she meets Miss Anne Morro. It's actually a well done interaction where we see these two poke and prod at each other the way two strong, leader-like personalities would butt heads. It's also just a little... unsettling. Morro's got that vibe, y'know?

We learn that Morro used to be a pathologist who performed autopsies, but she knows enough to help the living. She says she surprised that Clementine survived given she was nearly septic and she didn't have much in meds... if Clementine was nearly septic and in a coma, she should be dead but it's fine. She just really wanted to survive, I guess. That's what Morro believes it was; "You must've really wanted to stick around." / "You held on like some one with unfinished work."

Morro asks Clementine if she's going to stay as a lot of resources went into keeping her alive, and Clementine points out that was Morro's choice; "Don't pin your regrets on me."

Morro tells her that, while trustworthy, Ricca and Olivia are depressed, and insinuates that Clementine probably is, as well.

Morro smirks, and tell Clementine she'll be expected to work, and that work is everything before leaving Clementine to watch the sunrise alone.

We then get another time skip. Amir shows up on his bike to tell the girls that walkers breached the wall at Borgot. The three of them agree to go help, but they've all got issues; Clementine's been off her feet for weeks and Kenny's not fitting right, Ricca's vision isn't great and it being so gray and rainy doesn't help, and Olivia's been throwing up all week. But it's fine.

They get down there and meet up with Fen, who is surprised Clementine's there to help. Clementine snaps at her that she's been dealing with this shit just as long as she has and can handle a few walkers. She's just gotta get her sock that Ginette's knitted for her first. Ginette also gives her a new hat, the one we see her wearing on the cover of this book.

There are a lot of walkers by the time Clementine gets there. Ricca can't see anything, so Clementine tells her to go to safety... and I want you to really keep in mind how much this book tries to hammer in that Ricca can't see, okay?

Once the walkers are dealt with, we learn from Emi that all of the walker bodies are dragged to Morro so she can "deal with them." Emi thinks it's a waste of time given she's the one who provides the food for everyone, I'm sure it's annoying for her to know what Morro does. John and Fen are too busy helping Morro to help gut fish, so Clementine volunteers Olivia to help with that.

Clementine goes to find Ricca in this little shed where she's working on a project. Clementine tries to comfort her, but Ricca says she just needs to wallow for a little bit and clear her head while she works. She won't let Clementine see what she's working on.

Clementine asks Ricca to meet her on the docks at sundown, and I'm forced to roll my eyes because the miscommunication is exactly what you think it is; Ricca assumes this is a date, but really, Clementine wants to check out Morro's place to see what she does with the dead.

We get Amir's backstory behind his amputated arm: He got bit by a dog, but his father thought it was a walker bite and he was too little to stop him. His father drowned right before this boat crashed on the island. He and Clementine has some cute banter about how she grew taller and waited for her stump to grow, too.

Then we get to know Fen a little bit more- She's originally from Taiwan, but her family was on vacation here with the apocalypse hit, and she's been trying to piece together a world map so she can make it back home. Emi's helping her build a boat but she's still unsure. The map's... well, it's inaccurate.

That night, Ricca and Clementine meet up. Ricca's clearly cleaned up for a date and expresses her disappointment when it's an investigation instead... Clementine's oblivious to this. Truthfully, I feel sorry for Ricca here. I mean, it always sucks when you're excited for something, like a date, only to show up and oh... it's not what you wanted.

Emi comes to pick them up in her boat, and Ricca asks Clementine what it's going to take to convince her that they could be okay here.

But here's Clementine's concern- She's liking the island, but not enough to settle yet. Ricca's eyesight is bad, her prosthetic isn't great. Olivia's depressed. What if there's more out there for them, like an eye doctor or schools? Something even safer?

Ricca isn't satisfied with that answer. In fact, she's kind of hurt with the way Clementine said, "I don't want us to miss out, make the wrong choice."

They go to Morro's place, who is annoyed at being interrupted and tells Clementine her suspicion is tiresome. Turns out Morro's just doing autopsies on the dead. Doesn't matter how degraded they are, she examines each one, takes note of defining details, items on their person, etc. They're assigned a number and buried. It's a lot of work that Clementine questions.

Clementine: Why? Why spend all this energy on them? Morro: They are people. They deserve to be remembered. Clementine: They deserve to be thrown back in the sea. Each of these "people" has maimed and killed who knows how many others... Morro: And? Clementine: And!? In case you hadn't noticed, that corpse and ALL the others are the reason our parents are dead and the world is a pile of garbage. Morro: On this young man I found a medical bracelet. He was allergic to penicillin. I also found a ring in his pocket. Older style. Perhaps it belongs to his mother. His first death was a bad one. Burns, from what I can tell. Anywhere else, he'd decompose and disappear. But instead he washed up here. Kind of like you and your friends.

...okay, we're doing this, I guess. I don't think I need to say that TFS did it better with James and his viewpoint on walkers; how it was deep rooted in his trauma from time with the whisperers, and was meant to make the player think about what actually happens when you become a walker... Are you truly gone? or is there still a piece of you inside that walker? And it showed how far James was willing to go for his fucked up vision of "peace," but it made sense with his character.

This is meant to show how Morro is older, doing autopsies used to be her job, and so she has a different view on the dead. Clementine, however, was raised in this world and has no other view outside of "they're monsters."

But here's the deal, I don't believe Morro's intentions are purely about doing what's "right" for these people. It's about ignoring the real problems on the island and trying to make herself feel like a better person... which I don't think she is. I mean, did'ja see that final jab at Clem? Morro's kind of a passive aggressive ass, and believe me, it's going to get worse.

But Emi shoos them out, and they meet up with John, who is also working this late at night. Ricca steps away from the group and asks Clementine what's out there since everything's fuzzy. It's the graves where all the walkers are buried. Ricca admits there's something off about Morro, and that maybe she's missing something about this place. Maybe it's not safe, but she's scared to start over again, scared of waiting for Clementine to figure out what's wrong and they'll have to leave.

Then Clementine tells her they can stay.

...what?

When I say that I think Clementine's a little fickle with Ricca, this is what I mean. She's watching everything on this island like a hawk, looking for something to be wrong, worried that there might be something better out there... and then she does a 180 like "Okay, we can stay. Didn't realize this was wearing on you."

But that stance isn't going to stay the same! She goes back and forth on things, then we get this:

Ricca: You can still surprise me, Clem. Clementine: I'm sorry that it took me a while. That I made you wait. Ricca: Oh, come on. You know I'll wait for you. Clementine: I know you will.

Put a pin in that exchange; it's important and makes me upsetti spagetti.

Speaking of upset, by now we're at Chapter Four... this chapter makes me unhappy for so many reasons.

The group is waiting for dinner, and we see Clementine's learned how to knit. Amir comes in and tells everyone that the boat is at the beach but Emi and Olivia are no where to be found. He looked everywhere for them but it's so foggy that he couldn't find them. Something's wrong, but Morro is weirdly against sending out a search party... and we see the way she treats her son.

Uhm, first of all, rude. Second, it's gonna get worse.

The group goes searching. Clementine and John talk about Morro, and he says that she's only a jerk to him. She wasn't always that way, but after his sister's bite, she changed.

His sister, Sarah, snuck out one night and came back with a tiny bite. This was back when they didn't know what that meant, so Morro bandaged it up and they went to bed... only for her to turn and eat nearly everyone: his dad, his other sister, Fen's parents... but Morro was able to save him and Fen. And even though all of that happened, they still live in the inn because Morro told them they need to face it.

How funny given Morro doesn't want to face certain things later.

Then Clementine guesses why she does autopsies on the walkers: if Morro looks at each one, then she'll never miss another bite.

That makes no sense.

They're already dead. It doesn't matter if they're bitten. Pi and I were talking about this the other night; wouldn't it make more sense for Morro to be obsessed with checking the living for bites? Every night, they're to report to her office so she can examine them for any bite before they're allowed to go? Who gives a shit if a walker has a bite? What's that going to do for you? Everyone else on the island wants to burn the dead and not waste that much time, but Morro just doesn't listen.

Again, this is why I don't believe her intentions with it are pure. Morro made a mistake that wasn't even her fault, and she lost most of her family because of it. That's traumatic, and this is probably her way of working through that, of "atoning," but she's neglecting the living because of it.

Also, she treats her only living son like shit, so honestly? Fuck her. John doesn't deserve it. I'm team John, he's chill.

He then goes on to explain the backlog of walkers behind the graveyard.

...an entire community of walkers backlogged, you say? And Morro keeps putting them off? I'm sure that won't be the downfall of this group, Anne.

John and Clementine eventually find Emi and Olivia in the lighthouse. They go there to chill after fishing, and Olivia's upstairs getting some air. Clementine rushes up there and we get the first big twist. Are you ready? I bet you're not.

Olivia tells Clementine she got bit.

Except she didn't.

Olivia: I got bit. It's over. Clementine: What? You- show me, Olivia! Where? I'll cut it out! Olivia: I don't know what happened! Clementine: Where!? We have to hurry! Olivia: You can't cut it out, it's inside! I'm starting to turn already, I feel it! Clementine: It's... inside? Olivia: Something moved in me, it's the start of it. I'm becoming one of them. You know, I really liked being alive. Clementine: Olivia, show me where it moved. Olivia, clutching her stomach: Here. Clementine, sobbing and hugging Olivia: Okay, okay, don't worry... it's not a bite.

I... have so many feelings about this.

Just in case you don't get it, Olivia's pregnant. With a baby. And she thought it was a bite.

Remember how I said Amos and Olivia's "relationship" was important? Apparently they had sex in Book One and now she's pregnant. With a baby.

But... why?

I will tear into this more in Olivia's section, but know that I am unhappy. And so is Clementine. She goes off by herself, climbs a hill to overlook the backlog of walkers and just starts screaming at them.

....she says as if this is a new concept to her?

And y'know... given she already raised a baby- you remember Alvin Junior, yes? AJ? Yeah, the kid she left at Ericson? That one, she raised him from when he was a baby, so you'd think she'd bring that up in all this anguish.... but she doesn't. Which is bizarre. This paired with the fact that there are no mentions of Lee makes me think we're moving farther and farther away from the games, trying to establish this as its own thing. Which is fine for those who haven't played the games, but it's a glaring issue for those who have.

Anyway... dream sequence. This time Clementine and Ricca are on a boat that has a bed. It's snowing, Ricca tells her to come sleep, but there's a walker in the bed. It's so... honestly, the only way I can describe the imagery is it's so Tillie Walden, and that's a positive thing, that's a compliment.

The next morning, Olivia doesn't want to talk about her pregnancy. She's going down the "la la la I'm not ignoring this except I totally am la la la I'm going fishing" route, and storms out. Clementine tells Ricca about it, we learn Ricca tracks their periods, and Clementine asks if you don't have a period when you're pregnant... I think Kate must've missed that bit of info when she was giving her the talk in ANF.

Clementine mentions she saw a baby born but blocked it out because it was so scary... either she's talking about Christa, or Rebecca. Christa's the only one we know she was there for since for Rebecca's, she could either help Kenny or help the group, but she wasn't actually there for the birthing process... she was likely watching Sarah get eaten alive, assuming she lived that long.

But that's not important because Ricca's upset again.

Ricca: Do you regret all this? Staying? Clementine: No! No. We'd have problems like this anywhere. It's more that... I've been distracted. I know we've been, like, um... and I want to do stuff, but I need to make it safe first. Once everything is safe, then we can, um... Does that...? Ricca: Oh. Clementine: Ric? Ricca: I think Olivia had the right idea. I'm gonna go. Clementine: Ricca, I didn't mean- Ricca: You did mean it. Go fight your battles. They'll keep you company. Clementine: I- [interrupted by Ricca slamming the door]

What the fuck, Ricca?

I'll be honest, the first time I read this, I had to reread it, like, ten times because I didn't understand why Ricca was so pissed. But just wait, we'll get it to. I keep saying that, but I need you to trust me on this.

So Ricca storms out because reasons, and Clementine goes to talk to Morro about the backlog of walkers. Morro doesn't want to deal with the walkers right now, even though she knows they have to be dealt with eventually. She believes there are more important things that need done first; "Summer is precious here. There's grain to harvest, fish to cure, wood to store. If this isn't done, winter will end us. On top of that, we're behind on herb collection. We're behind on the sea walls. We're behind on laundry."

Gee, I bet y'all wouldn't be so behind if you spent less time on autopsies and more time helping out, Anne.

But Clementine's not having any of it, nor should she.

She knows there's no secure way to hold walkers, and can't wrap her head around how adults can read, write, and know so much that she doesn't and yet still not grasp the way this world works now. So, she'll take care of it.

What could possibly go wrong?

Clementine recruits John and Fen to help her build a tunnel with a door that'll let them control how many walks come out, that way they can deal with them slowly but surely. John's pumped about getting to help so that he can show his mom that he's not a screw up. Some time passes, they build the tunnel, and Morro tells Clementine to be careful that she doesn't lose herself in her work.

This book's definitely making Clementine and Morro character foils, which I like.

On the beach, Clementine and Olivia show just how much they know about pregnancy and their bodies... as in very little. Morro told her "some wild stuff" about the cervix and uterus, and then Olivia's like "she kept asking me about my last period, and I was like, um, why?" She doesn't even know why her period is important! This sweet summer child! How did she and Amos even figure out how sex worked!?

It really showcases how young Olivia is, though. Apparently the baby will be here in about four or five months. It's so... casual? I don't think the whole group knows, but Morro and Emi do and no one is like... "hey, there's gonna be a baby, we should probably prepare for that."

I guess we don't have time for that, though, because we have more clemricca drama to deal with.

Deep breath... okay. It's raining. Clementine's in her wheelchair. She goes to the little shed Ricca's used for her secret project. She won't let her in, by the way, even though it's pouring and they're both getting drenched. This is the conversation:

Clementine: I, um... Ricca: What? Clementine: I don't want you to think that anything is more important to me than you. Ricca: That's kind of how you made it sound. Clementine: What I meant to say was that I want this island safe for us. We can't do anything if we're dead. Ricca: What do you mean "do?" Kiss? Date? Talk about how we actually feel? The dead decide when that can happen!? Clementine: ... Ricca: I love you. And I'm pretty sure you love me, too. But you're not making me feel loved. You're making me feel like you just want to protect me or... Clementine: But I do want to protect you. It's all I think about. Every minute of every day. Ricca: I don't need saving, Clem. I need you to love me. And I need it to be always. It can't start and stop. Clementine: ... I... Ricca: Oh my god, maybe this has all been in my head-- Clementine: Ricca-- Ricca: I get it, okay? Clementine: If I let... if I let myself... Ricca: Forget this. Clementine: You said you would wait for me! Ricca: That's not fair. You want me to wait for the impossible!? Clementine: No, I-- Ricca: I'm done, Clem. Clementine: Ricca, don't go in yet, please, we can talk more-- Ricca, going back inside: What else is there to say? [slams door]

I..... hate this.

Again. We will dive into it in the Ricca/clemricca section, just know that I hate this so much... but wait, there's more coming!

So Clementine's left in the rain, crying, and I'm trying to keep my composure over all of this. Then we cut to her sitting on the beach, presumably the next day, where Giles and Ginette find her and Clementine breaks down crying in Ginette's lap.

We've made it to chapter six; they have the walker tunnel built, they're stabbing the walkers through it, and they're taking the bodies to Morro because of course she's still doing her autopsies. Fen tries to talk to Clementine about Ricca but she's not having it.

Morro's grumpy about this whole situation. When John offers to help her, she's just an asshole to him. She's going off about how this and that needs to be done, and Clementine stands up for John.

It doesn't go well.

And Clementine snaps at her with, "Your daughter getting bit really didn't convince you how dangerous walkers are? But I guess you didn't take that situation seriously, either."

Not gonna lie, I applaud Clementine with that one. But Morro's not going to just take that sitting down. She tells everyone to get out, and poor John is gripping his head, wide eyed, crying...

But Morro, suddenly calm, adds, "Oh, Clementine, I'm sorry to hear about the little break-up. My marriage didn't work out. My only regret is not leaving him sooner. I suspect you might be like me. We're just not suited for love. Better to realize that while you're young. Some things about yourself, well... you just can't change."

Ma'am, you are an asshole.

John is literally right that, and you just casually drop that you wish you'd left his father sooner even though he was eaten by walkers, eaten BY YOUR DAUGHTER who turned, and that you're not suited for love like??? Is that why you treat your son like shit??

Oh, but you're suuuuuuuch a good person for doing these autopsies and burying the dead, right?

Also, this is the second time someone's questioned Clementine's ability to love in this series. The first was Georgia before she was killed: "You've never loved anyone, Clementine, I can see it. You have no idea... how far I'll go... what I'll do..."

Hey, speaking of Book One- hard cut to a dream sequence with Amos and it makes little sense. Clementine's asking him how he and Olivia made their relationship work, they made it look easy and never seemed scared but like..... what relationship?? I have read Book One 10+ times! The relationship was practically nonexistent! He made a comment about her bright eyes and she invited him behind the curtain with her! Then suddenly she wants to go away with him back to his town!

But in this dream sequence, Clementine asks if she's too broken for this romance with Ricca, asking why she's so scared and shit, and just-

Clementine: Am I too broken for this? Amos: You think Ricca isn't broken, too? The only difference is that she isn't ashamed of her scars. She wants to face her fears with you. Not for you. Clementine: She deserves more... so much more than me. Amos, holding a baby??: She deserves the world. And that's you, Clementine.

I'm at a loss for words, I am so tired...

Ricca and Olivia find Clementine passed out in front of Ricca's shack. Fen told them what Morro said and apparently Ricca threw a plate at her head. Finally, she does something I approve of.

Ricca finally lets them in her shack to see the big project she's been working on- a synagogue; "It's like a church, but for Jews."

It's actually a really nice set up she's made, and it feels like Ricca's the only one who has the baby in mind since she's still trying to figure out a crib. She made groves in the floor so that she can move around even when she can't see. She talks about how this is a place for all of them where they can celebrate holidays, rest, pray, sing', etc. She's hoping to have a bat mitzvah one day, so the girls suggest they have one right now for the three of them.

So they gather together, light a bunch of candles, wrap themselves in blankets and put flowers in their hair. Ricca starts by reciting what she can remember from the Torah, and translates what she can for them; "Some of it is peace and God and stuff, then rest I really don't know. I just know that saying the words makes the ground feel... deeper. And it makes the sky seem so much higher up. I guess what I've learned is that I'm actually really lucky. To be here, right now. To have found you guys, this island. The mountain."

Now this is some development with Ricca I like. We've gotten snippets of Jewish culture with her character throughout these two books but this is the first time we've actually explored it and what it means to her.

Olivia goes next; "'It's not gonna be easy, it's gonna be really hard.' It's from a book we read in Vermont. Oh, and my favorite word from the dictionary. Speckle. It means 'a small part of something.'" She shares that she's thought about how everyone starts out as a baby and someone kept them alive without them even asking, and she's thought about them being super little when they had nothing to worry about... I'm sure this is all coming from the fact that she's soon to have a baby.

Now it's Clementine's turn to talk, and she asks to see what Ricca wrote down. It's a paper of words and phrases, symbols, and such that she could remember, and Clementine focuses on, "May there be abundant peace."

And this makes her realize that she does love Ricca.

....wait, what?

My head hurts. Breathe, CJ, breeeeathe.... It's fine, it's only Clementine apologizing even though she did nothing wrong. It's only us ignoring the fact that Ricca was out here pulling the, "I guess you never really loved me" guilt-trip because Clementine wasn't moving at her pace, it's fiiiiiiiiiine.... I'm not upset, I swear.

So... Clementine and Ricca confess they love each other and are officially girlfriends now, and we get more cheese from Clem; "Making it right between us... it feels like the whole world's been saved."

Oh boy. The girls talk about how they feel more adult after their bat mitzvah.

From here, we get into chapter seven where shit hits the fan. The problem I had with Book One had to do with pacing where it had this slow beginning and middle, and then crazy shit happened all at once toward the end... while the pacing for this book is a little better, this is where we just into that whiplash, "what the fuck, how did this happen??"

The girls fell asleep and now it's night. Everything seems chill as they deal with a stray walker and talk about Morro, and we get this line from Ricca, "Anyone who is mean to Clem is dead to me." which I find hilarious since that's literally the attitude the twdg fandom has. But the irony of that aside, shit's going down because they're surrounded by walkers.

The backlog of walkers got out.

There's hundreds of them.

Dr Barnwell, the cat, is back at the house so Ricca offers to go get him while Clementine and Olivia go to Morro's place where they assume everyone's held up... Remember that- Ricca, the one who can't see in the dark, is the one to go get the cat. They plan to meet at the docks.

Ginette, Giles, and Mercy are dead, being eaten by walkers outside of Morro's place. John's also dead inside, having been bitten. That's FOUR off-screen deaths, and lemme tell you, I'm pissed that John's dead. Morro's just standing there while while Emi watches the door and Fen holds a sobbing Amir.

Morro's still an asshole even when her son's dead, she's like, "My sweet, dumb boy." Lady, you were awful to him this entire book!

It turns out John was so upset last time we saw him that he convinced himself he could take all those walkers on, so he made the tunnel bigger for more to come through. He got overwhelmed and couldn't shut it down, got bit, panicked, and ran to his mother. Then he died on the floor. Just like that.

I..... am so upset about John, y'all.

The group plans to take Emi's boat and get outta there, but guess what? Morro's not going; "I'm not leaving my son."

She knows he's going to turn and doesn't care, AND this action of hers indirectly gets Amir killed. I'm serious. She's staying, so Amir starts throwing a fit that he wants to stay with John, too.

Before they go, Morro tells them to get to PEI, since years ago she traded with an herbalist named Saa who could potentially help them.

They leave, and a crying Morro goes to John while walkers break through the windows. She's dead.

Can't say I feel bad about that one, Anne, got gonna lie...

But then Amir gets killed when he continues to scream about going back to John. He gets away from Emi, goes back to the house and opens the door to find John as a walker. Walker John attacks Amir, killing him.

Characters are just dropping at this point, and we're not done!

Emi's crying out in distress, Clementine has to hold her back, and they all gotta make a run for it. They make it to the docks and Ricca's not there. Clementine refuses to leave her behind, and they get overwhelmed... and Emi saves Olivia, but gets bitten. Emi grabs a bunch of the walkers and drags them all down into the water with her... and she's gone.

I need to stress this... everyone except Fen from this new group is dead now, all killed in a SINGLE CHAPTER. This isn't like S2 where everyone from the cabin group eventually dies; that happened over the course of the season with each death hurting more and more until it all ended with Luke's death on the lake, and by then you're so numbed by the loss... this is just boom boom boom, DEAD.

And guess who shows up. They try to fake us out by making us think Ricca's a walker, but no. She's fine, and she has the cat.

Tell me... how the fuck did Ricca navigate the island in the dark to grab Dr Barnwell and make it to the docks in time when she can't fucking see anything??? HOW??? This book has hammered home that Ricca can't see. She can't see in the dark, she can't see in bad weather, she can barely see in the light! You expect me to believe she did all of this without getting chomped? That she made it back in time? UGH.

John's dead. Emi died to save Olivia. Amir's dead. Giles, Ginette, and little baby Mercy are dead....... but somehow, somewhat, Ricca managed to survive, I'm.......... I'm not saying I want her dead, I'm saying I'm upset laughing right now.

Anyway... that bullshit's over. Chapter eight, three weeks later, they're in this community looking for Saa. Their boat got stolen, they're living off rotten potatoes, and they still haven't found Saa. Clementine and Fen wander around until someone can point them in her direction, and they find Saa and Derrick.

Saa's a woman in a wheelchair, both legs amputated from before the outbreak, and Derrick seems to be her right-hand man.

Saa has Derrick get them a supply bag and lets them on her boat. She's planning to leave town and shows Clementine and Fenn her world map. Remember how Fen was trying to piece together her own map? Yeah, she gets overwhelmed when she realizes just how off her map was. Taiwan's farther than she expected, so she leaves believing she'll never make it home.

By the way, I am happy Fen survived. I think she's a neat character and I'm interested where Book Three takes her character.

Saa's quite likable for a character introduced so late in the book. She talks with Clementine about how amputees existed before the dead rose, and Derrick comes back with a box of supplies. We learn that Saa wants to go to Greenland since she got a letter from a friend who went there, and Clementine's surprised that letters are a thing.

Also, Saa's crew might be dead. She doesn't believe they are, but Derrick does. This gives Clementine a lightbulb moment, and she offers her group to be Saa's new crew.

Saa: Woah, woah, we need five experienced hands, not two kids. Clementine: Olivia is experienced! She knows boats! Saa: Are there five of you? Clementine: Yes! Saa: Are you lying to me? Derrick: Definitely. Clementine: No! No, it's just... Only four of us can help. One isn't born yet. Derrick: Oh my. Saa: No. No.

But don't worry, Clementine sells the group well enough that Saa reluctantly agrees. I guess we're going to Greenland in Book Three.

They camp, and in the morning Clementine drags Ricca and Olivia to this person who takes polaroid photos... because there'ssomeone who just does that, I guess. Then they head to the boat. They set sail, it's a grand ol' time.

Then Clementine and Ricca have their first kiss.. and we head into chapter nine.

I think everyone's heard of chapter nine by now, but whether you've heard of it accurately is another story. Do you know how many comments I've read on reddit about this chapter that are just... false?? Spreading misinformation?? It's ridiculous.

Clementine and Ricca have sex this chapter, but there's no sex scene. It doesn't even show any kissing. It's literally a fade to black. It's not explicit, and no, reddit, it's not like 50 Shades of Grey, you dumbasses.

They're laying together in what I assume is their room on the ship, talking about scars, and this is how conversation progresses:

Clementine: Back in Vermont when we’d bump into each other in that tiny cabin… my whole face would feel hot. Ricca: I remember. You were hard to reach, then. Clementine: I remember. Ricca? Ricca: Hmm? Clementine: Have you had sex before? Ricca: Yeah, have you? Clementine: No… I’m still not totally clear on what it is… Ricca: A lot of it is instinctual. Clementine: Bullshit, maybe for you. Ricca: I’m serious! You and the other person respond to each other. Clementine: Stabbing walkers in the head when they’re trying to kill you is instinctual. This… this is… so overwhelming. Ricca: Doing anything for the first time is… Think about the first time you shot a gun, or started a fire. Clementine: I remember my first walker… I was so scared that day. That year. Ricca: You were alone? Clementine: I was. But I’m not now. I don’t have to figure this out myself. You’ll show me everything? Step by step? Ricca: Of course. We can take our time. Clementine: Doesn’t it feel like… like we have to hurry? Do everything we can as soon as we can? Ricca: Why would we need to? I’m not going anywhere. And we are in the middle of the ocean. Clementine: I know, I know, it’s not that, it’s… Whenever I feel happy, when it’s peaceful like this, it always seems to get cut off. I want to make this feeling… this night… last. How do I do that? Ricca: You mean… How do we stop time? Clementine: Yeah. Can you teach me that, too? Ricca: Hmm… Clementine: I’m not asking for much, just for tonight to last a little longer. As soon as the sun comes up, there’ll be so much to do. Ricca: For you, Clementine. I’ll have a word with the sun… and ask for a little more time.

Clementine wakes up the next morning to the sunlight pouring in through the window with tears in her eyes.

The end; to be continued in Book Three.

That's the whole plot. That's everything that happened.

It's a lot. Book Two's longer than Book One, but I found myself enjoying it a little more... but with that comes even more disappointment than before. I can see a good, solid story here but it wasted a lot of opportunities. I hate that it introduced a new cast of characters just so it could kill all but one of them off in a single chapter, that hurt. The romantic subplot is bad because, in my opinion, the couple involved shouldn't be together. There's stuff to like, hence why I've given it a higher rating than Book One, but it's bogged down by some major flaws.

But let's get into the character's now.

Dreadful Sorry, Clementine...

The best way I can describe Clementine is she's incredibly inconsistent with the game's depiction of her, but she's consistent between both books. Ignoring the games, this feels like a natural-ish progression of her character from Book One.

I believe I mentioned this in my review of Book One, and if not there I've said it before, but this Clementine is like if we skipped TFS. Book One felt like we picked up right after ANF, except Clementine decided not to go after AJ and instead went off on her own, that's how angsty she was... even though that doesn't make sense because we know she was at Ericson and AJ was the one to cut off her leg. It's a regression you won't notice if you haven't played the games, but most of us have. That's why people call her Tangerine. We're backtracking to tell the same character arc in a different, less compelling way.

There were more points in this one where I feel the real Clementine peaking through, though, usually when she's sassing Morro. But the rest of the time it's just a shell of who she once was.

I will say that I find the approach to Clementine's knowledge... interesting? She's definitely dumbed down a little, but it feels like a situation where the book needs the reader to know something and uses Clementine to get that information across, resulting in her looking dumb. Remember when she didn't know she needed to wash her leg in Book One and everyone threw a fit? It's like when you're watching a movie and a character pulls the, "As you know," out; if the character already knows, why are you telling them? You're not, really, you're telling the audience. It's the same vibe; we need to know she needs to clean her leg.

But here we get to also look at Clementine's lacking in educational knowledge. I've already read some people being grumpy that she struggles with reading and writing her name, and fair enough... but remember that Clementine's education stopped at first grade. I think these books are trying to tell the story of someone who grew up in this world... as in Clementine's not exactly practicing her reading and writing every day the same way an average student does in the modern world. She's going to struggle. That's something the games just ignore and make her read super well, and they did the same thing with AJ. No five-year-old can read that well, especially if taught by another less educated person, c'mon now.

Also, y'all crack jokes about how Clementine has a first grade education and can't do math and shit but then the comic presents that in a more realistic way than the games and suddenly you have a problem? Mmhmmmm.

I like that Clementine airs that frustration with Morro about how adults know how to read and write and they know all these things she doesn't understand, but she has the knowledge of how to survive in this world better than any adult because she grew up in it and has little knowledge prior to this life.

She's also paranoid for a lot of the time on the island, which makes sense. She's witnessed enough community failures to be wary of things seeming too good to be true. Plus, she was in a coma. She has every right to wake up unsure about everything, and it's annoying that Ricca and Olivia never stop to consider that they've had a month to settle in and get comfortable, Clementine hasn't. She's trying to catch up. Ricca especially gets annoyed that she won't just hurry and feel safe already and that's a whole can of worms I'll get to.

This book hones in on Clementine becoming an adult after growing up in this world...whatever that means. By now I think we're to assume she's 18, and it gives us two growth scenarios where Clementine has a birthday and a bat mitzvah, which I think is supposed to show a "new chapter" in her life, so to speak.

This book also tackles her falling in love like it's the first time... which I guess means we're dealing with a single Clementine from TFS. I mean, if we have to do this, I'd prefer that. So y'know... anyone acting like this series made Clementine a "cheater," that's inaccurate and you know it, you're just trying to make everything worse than it really is.

I just wish Clementine fell for someone who didn't twist things to be her fault or guilt her into moving at a pace she clearly wasn't comfortable with. Then the book acts like Clementine had to have an epiphany that she does really love Ricca as if that's growth like.... stop. Stop trying to tell Clementine she's incapable of love as if romantic love is the only valid love that everyone has to learn to have. Clementine did love. She loved Ricca and Olivia as friends in this shitty world; she loved Dr Barnwell; she loved Amos enough to dream about him in order to seek his comfort, like... this Clementine is capable of love.

She apparently didn't love anyone at the school enough to stay but ahem not the point-

I can tell that Tillie Walden's not as comfortable writing for a character that's already established versus her original characters. It's so easy for everyone to throw around "this is just fanfiction!" like it's an insult [how ironic given the fandom tends to thrive on fanfiction but sure lets use it as an insult when convenient] but let's be serious about that for a moment.

There's a certain skillset in writing what's considered "good" fanfiction; I believe anyone can write fanfic, but tastes will always be subjective as not everyone will agree what's in character or not, and not everyone finds the same prose enjoyable. There's always room to improve when you're writing fanfiction, but not everyone will like your stuff.

I've read a lot of what I'd consider bad fanfiction in my time; clunky and awkward prose, unnatural dialogue, unappealing storylines and decisions, characters behaving in ways they never would in the source material. We all know how the thought of "They wouldn't say that," can take you right out of the fic you're reading.

When writing, the source material is a helpful tool that I encourage all fanfiction writers to take advantage of. The characters already have an established voice that you have to mimic, mannerisms and facts of their life to consider, and there's a lot of interpretation at play. Based on what you know of them, how would they react in this situation, or that one? If you're familiar enough with the source material and have the dedication, you can create some amazing stories.

I don't think Tillie has the right "toolbox," if you will, for fanfiction. She's skilled in writing her own characters and stories, something that's impressive as not everyone can do that, but she clearly struggles with Clementine. She's played the games [yes, I believe her when she says she played them, keep your snark in your lip] but she hasn't played them the way fans and fanfiction writers have. She's not using the source material the most effective way, and that might be on purpose, honestly. She only uses enough to remind us that this Clementine's originally from the games, but not enough to make her convincing.

All in all, Clementine's the most developed character in these books, obviously, but she's not as great as she could be. She's definitely more tolerable in Book Two than Book One.

Oh, Miss Morro, how you've disappointed me...

I don't like her.

I got beef with Anne.

I so desperately hoped she was conducting science experiments on the walkers. I wanted her to sew body parts onto walkers to see if they functioned; to see her create monstrosities for the sake of science or whatever other bullshit.

But no, she's just an asshole doing autopsies on walkers to make herself feel better while ignoring the big problem that eventually lead to their downfall. She mistreats her son even though he does most of the work around the island.

And she knows there's a lot of work to be done but spends that precious time doing these autopsies despite everyone knowing it's a waste of time... then she has the gall to lecture Clementine about not wasting time. She's passive aggressive, aloof, and just... unpleasant? Even when she's being nice, you get the sense it's fake.

While she's a better "antagonist" [if you can call her that] than Georgia was in Book One, she's just another disappointment. Why not go ham with it? We're on an island that seems too good to be true, you've got this old woman who leads the group but goes off to her little shack at night to work with the dead, you've established there's only one way of escape and that's Emi's boat... make her fucking crazy!

I get we're trying to be deep and psychological with her trauma over losing her family after she disregarded a bite, but it falls flat. You can't just make her an asshole the entire time and then her son dies and she's suddenly like, "ah, my poor, dumb son... I'm gonna stay here and be eaten by walkers now, I don't want to go on."

Imagine this, m'kay? Remember how I said she should be more concerned over checking the living for bites? Say she's obsessed with doing that and everyone sees her point since they don't want a repeat of what happened... then one of them does get bitten, either by a walker or something else, and they gotta deal with it... and then it's revealed that Morro used them in her experiments when Clementine finds them as a walker with parts sewn onto them and shit. Have John be in denial that his mother's doing anything fucked until he has to face it head on! Have everyone turn on Morro! Make her dangerous!

She's not a compelling character, she's just a bitch and I don't like her... and that's the wasted potential of this book right there.

Ricca upsets me

Okay, listen... I don't like Ricca.

I don't think anyone does, but I don't think any of you understand, y'know? She isn't a bad character just because she isn't Louis or Violet, or because you're pissy about the comics existence.

There are layers to why I don't like her. This is a "you don't understand her like I do" situation, except most people use that phrase when they're up their own ass and wholeheartedly believe their interpretation of their favorite is the only correct one, but me? I'm up my own ass about this character I don't even like!

Most of y'all haven't read the comics like I have. That's why you're here. Either you've read through them once or twice, you've only read other peoples reviews and formed your opinions based on them, or you've watched a video of someone reading the comic and they've influenced your judgement.... but me? I've studied these comics! I've read them critically, analytically! I went into this with an open mind about Ricca; I gave her a chance! I gave clemricca a chance! Which is more than I can say for most of you!

And all I've gotten in return is a headache!

Let me get the good out of the way, because there are things about her character that I do like. If you'll recall in Book One, Ricca mentions that she thinks she's the last Sephardic Jew left, and in this book we see her singing Jewish songs, she builds her own synagogue, and we get the big bat mitzvah. I really like that it wasn't just a throwaway detail that Ricca's Jewish, and that we get some exploration into that side of her.

Her worsening eyesight was interesting for me as someone who also has terrible sight and needs glasses to function, but it kind of gets ruined when we've built it up for so long only to toss it out the window in the end. She's supposedly blind at night, yet she made it through a herd of walkers back to their house, grabbed the cat, and made it back to the docks in just in time leave with everyone?

Absolutely not. The only way I could see that working is if she had a way of knowing where she was at all times without her sight, like what she did in her shed with the floor. It's unclear if she's covered herself in walker guts, but that's another way she could've made it without getting bitten... but that still doesn't help that she cannot see and doesn't have a means of seeing without her eyes.

Sorry, this is supposed to be what I liked... I do like the glasses stuff, just not when it's inconsistent. Ricca also has some funny lines here and there, she's definitely a little snarky and sarcastic at times. She's hardworking, and picks up the slack when Olivia's too depressed to do anything, which I appreciate, but... that's it. There isn't a whole lot else I enjoy about this character.

Everything I dislike stems from her relationship with Clementine.

First of all, they have little to no chemistry when it comes to romantic banter. It's bizarre, though, because I believe the trio's friendship more than I believe Clementine and Ricca have some sort of deeper connection. Without Olivia there, it's awkward.

Clementine's focused on the island, determining if it's safe, looking for something to be wrong or dangerous. Ricca wants to turn a blind eye to any potential danger as she wants this island to be their safe place to settle, and gets irritated with Clementine's paranoia.

And just... it pisses me off that Ricca tells Clementine that she'll wait for her. At this point, it's pretty obvious that they have romantic feelings for one another, for some reason. But, Clementine's rather fickle about it due to fear. Ricca telling her that is meant to be this romantic notion that she loves her enough to wait until Clementine's ready for a relationship... except no! When things don't go the way she wants it, Ricca throws it back in Clementine's face and it's so shitty!

Clementine wants to protect her and Ricca acts like that's a bad thing? You don't feel loved because Clementine wants you to be safe? You don't need saving?? Girl, you DO need saving because you can't fucking see! We've spent this entire book establishing that you need help because of it! And then you use that to tell Clementine that you need her to love you always!

Ricca's so awful in this moment. Then she accuses Clementine's feelings of not being real just because she's not responding the way she's "supposed to," and that's cruel.

"I'll wait for you," is a lovely lie, isn't it? Pretty, but hollow. You don't get to say that and then when Clementine calls you out on it, throw a fit that she's in the wrong for making you wait for the impossible, as if you're a victim in all this!

Ricca, Clementine doesn't owe you shit. She doesn't owe you a relationship just because you supposedly love her. Hell, if you did love her, you wouldn't be acting like this! If Clementine isn't ready to kiss, or say she loves you, then she isn't ready and pressuring her is bullshit.

"Oh we should talk about how we actually feeeeel~!" Fuck off, Ricca, she told you why she's scared of having a relationship right now and why she wants to island to be safe.

Can you imagine if Louis and Violet behaved like this? Imagine ep2, Clementine tells them, "Hey, I like you but I want to make the school safe, we need to deal with the raiders first before we focus on us," and they were like, "I'll wait for you, Clem." Only for ep3 to come around and they're like, "That's not fair, you want me to wait for the impossible! I? I'm done, Clementine, your feelings for me weren't real!"

But Louis and Violet never did that because they respected Clementine as a person with autonomy! If she rejected them romantically, neither blew a gasket. Neither accused her of toying with their feelings. The only time something like that comes up is if Clementine romances Violet and then lets her get taken by raiders, but in Violet's defense, I think she has a good enough reason to throw that around, y'know?

Ricca's just being mean. She's intentionally trying to hurt Clementine's feelings because she's sour that the relationship isn't progressing exactly as she wants it and she's tired of waiting.

But the worst part? The book presents this as Ricca being right. At the bat mitzvah, Clementine realizes she loves Ricca and that she was wrong and I'm furious. Not a single mention of Ricca's shitty behavior, no apologies for the guilt-tripping or being vindictive, nothing! Clementine was wrong to prioritize the island's safety over her feelings for Ricca! What a lesson she's learned, folks!

How.... dare you, frankly. I hate it so much. It's acting like it's this deep relationship that's exploring conflicted feelings and handing all these emotions with care but... all I see is Clementine having valid reasons for not wanting a relationship right now and Ricca guilting her until she changes her mind. Clementine shouldn't be the one apologizing here.

I guess we gotta talk about chapter nine now.

I don't want to say all of you have blown it out of proportion, but most of you have. Clementine and Ricca have sex. It's not explicit. Nothing is shown. There isn't even any kissing. There's cheesy dialogue. It's a fade to black. I don't think it could've been done any more tastefully than that.

If it wasn't Clementine involved, not a single one of you would've batted an eye. But because y'all are white knights who put Clementine on a pedestal, her fictional honor is apparently at stake and here we are.

Look, I'm no prude, okay? I read and write Dragon Age fanfiction, and sex can be a big part of those games, for better or worse. I've read my fair share of fics with smut in them, and I'm writing a Dragon Age fic with sexual content in later chapters. I'm not here to clutch any pearls or act like exploring sexual topics is a bad thing, because it's not.

I don't love that this is in a book rated ages 14+. I don't think it was necessary, but I understand why it's here in the context of "Clementine's stepping into adulthood in a world where death forever lurks." I just wish the target audience for these books was older, like... if you're going to include sex and a teen pregnancy, your audience shouldn't be middle grade.

The reason it feels icky to me is I don't like the couple or how they got together. This isn't a good relationship. It's not built on a foundation of trust. The sex is consensual, which is good, but I can't help feeling like Clementine deserved someone who respected her more than Ricca does.

So yeah... Ricca's not a bad character just because she's not Louis or Violet. She bad because she's selfish to her core, but the books portray her as selfless and right.

And to everyone screaming "but Clementine's not 18 yet is she???!?!? UNDER AGE SEX!?!?!?!" I argue that you don't actually give a shit about ages. Y'know why? Because not one of you, not a single goddamn one of you, has had the same energy about Olivia's pregnancy. Amos was 16 when he and Olivia had sex in Book One, and I have feeling she's also around that age.

Y'all really glossed over that, didn't you? So no, you don't care about whether or not a character's old enough for sex. If you did care, you would've been just as alarmed, if not more, about Olivia and Amos... but you're not because you don't care about Olivia, she's not you're precious widdle Clemmy.

Olivia's pregnancy bothers me way more than Clementine and Ricca having consensual sex... which is a great segway into--

Olivia is my new child and that's why I'm mad that she's probably going to die in Book Three

I like Olivia a lot, actually. I'm adopting her. She's my child now, and her baby is my grandchild.

But I'm pretty sure she's going to die. It's predictable, y'know? So predictable that I hope Book Three subverts expectations and this isn't the case, but... my prediction is Olivia will die giving birth to her baby, leaving Clementine and Ricca to raise the baby.

Insert Amos Junior [AJ 2.0] joke here.

Olivia gets some much needed character development in this book. She's showing signs of depression; it's hard to get her to do anything in the beginning and Ricca has to pick up her chores. It's understandable, given her twin sister murdered Amos and then died, too. Her mother's a walker, she's lost everything.

It isn't until she and Emi go fishing together more that she comes out of her shell. I wish we got to see more of her and Emi's friendship, actually. Especially since Emi gave her life and boat to save her. She's kind and naive, a lot like Amos was but in a different way. Olivia's more aware of how shitty the world is than Amos was.

The pregnancy is bullshit. I hate it. Why are we doing this again? And with a teen pregnancy? Why are we bringing in another baby after we jumped through hoops to make Clementine leave the first baby behind? It's not going to end well. Either Olivia's going to die, or that baby is. These comics, and TWD in general, aren't above killing off kids or babies. What are the odds that both Olivia and the baby survive? That would be too happy for our nearing conclusion.

And with how little Olivia knows about sex, periods, and babies, and that Amos came from an Amish community, it's amazing that they even figured out how sex worked to begin with.

Thinking back on it, is THAT why Georgia pushed him off the mountain? Not only did she feel he was trying to take Olivia away, but he slept with her? That actually makes a little more sense! Too bad Georgia never bothered giving us that reason, huh?

It's just... this pregnancy is such a heavy thing for Book Three. Poor Olivia's doomed, and she's the only likable one of the trio.

I don't blame Tillie for this, or for anything else in this comic, since she's not the only one making these books happen. Skybound approved this, her editors approved this, everyone involved thought, "yeah, pregnant Olivia, good idea, that'll bring some tragedy." and I'm just sitting here with my head in my hands like, "noooooooooooooooo...."

These books already took my son away, wasn't that enough?

Speaking of-

Until I see a body, Amos ain't dead in my heart

We have one more book left, just let me hold out hope that Amos survived the fall and will come back as twist antagonist in Book Three, okay? Mark my words, if he comes back, Book Three will get an immediate 5/5 stars, regardless of the other bullshit.

Amos is just a vision in Clementine's dreams this time around. I miss my boy, he didn't deserve this treatment.

And now watch, the book will be cheeky like "You want Amos back? Here's AJ 2.0, that still counts!" Not what I meant!

This review's long, let's lightning round the rest of the characters since I don't have that much to say about them that I haven't already said

--I'm happy Fen survived and look forward to seeing what Book Three does with her, assuming it doesn't just kill her off or some other bullshit.

--I'm pissed John died. If we're going to kill everyone else off anyway, why couldn't Fen AND John survive? He worked his ass off on that island and his mother treated him like shit. To kill him off-screen's bullshit. Would've been way more compelling to have him survive and face the guilt of losing his mother even after the way she treated him.

--Emi's another great character that hurt to see go, but it's fitting that she saved Olivia and gave her the boat before taking the walkers down with her.

--Amir's great. Also pissed he died. Shitty way to go. Did we really need to see walker John eat him?

--Ginette, Giles, and Mercy are just kinda there. They're not too important, but it's still sad to see they got eaten alive by a herd of walkers... especially Mercy.

--I'm actually excited for Saa and Derrick. I hope they play a big role in Book Three and this isn't a Christa and Omid situation; as in they're around for five minutes and then die/separate from the group. They seem really chill and I look forward to hearing more of their backstories.

In conclusion, it's not great but it's better

Even though the clemricca romance legitimately pisses me off, I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I definitely had a different attitude going into it versus how I went into Book One which I think helped me have a better time. There are things to like about it if you'll give it a chance, but I understand why people aren't.

It has issues with pacing, character development/progression, and the romance. I hate that everyone but Fen from the new group got killed off. I hate that we have a pregnancy plot now. I'm disappointed with Morro as a character and antagonist.

But the art's improved greatly. Olivia's a better character now. The new cast is quite fun and likable prior to dying. There are themes and elements that are explored and done well.

The hate Tillie gets for these is absurdly gross. They're just comics. No, shut up, they're just comics. The games still exist. Tillie didn't ruin them, and in my opinion, if you truly believe she did ruin the games, that's a you problem. That's you letting these books ruin the games for you. No one's out here making you read them. No one made me read them, I chose to do that just as I chose to see them as not canon. Sending hate and threats to her and Skybound does nothing but prove what a piece of shit you are. By all means, hate the comics all you want, that's your right, but leave real life people out of it.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Clementine isn't real. I get that she's important to you, but she's a fictional character. She's not going to come to life and reward you for your twentieth comment on Tillie's instagram calling her vile names or threatening to find her for what she did. Clementine isn't going to like your video of you screaming into your mic about what an injustice these comics are, and she's not going to sign your petition to get the comics cancelled.... because she's not real. Go outside. Touch grass. Remember that you're only alive for a short time and try to do something of worth with that knowledge.

We only have one more book in this trilogy left, but do y'all really think it'll end there? Do you think Skybound will give a shit that fans hated the comics and will respectively leave Clementine alone? No, that's not how money's made.

I hope once Tillie's done with this series, she continues to have a great career. It's strange, like... I'm of two minds where I want Book Three to be super good in hopes that fans will just leave her alone... but then there's a little gremlin inside me that also kind of hopes she gets a final fuck you in aimed at the fandom. I'm sorry, the fandom's been embarrassingly terrible to her and they deserve it.

I hope she kills Clementine off... yeah, I said it. She won't because Skybound definitely won't let her, but it would be so good. I say kill Clementine off, turn her into a walker, let her eat AJ 2.0! No happy ending for anyone, just a middle finger!

Literally everyone else would be fuming and frothing at the mouth with shit posts on reddit about how Tillie "rUInEd" TWDG and then killed Clementine off and I would be in my corner just cackling and applauding her.

"How can you say that, CJ?? you fake fan???"

Look, my Clementine's still at Ericson, vibin' with AJ and Louis. Willy made her a new leg, she didn't name it Kenny, she named it Legolas [she still doesn't know who that is even after Aasim and Louis explained Lord of the Rings to her]. She and Violet play competitive cheater's uno every Thursday. She's living her best life.

Comic Clem's another Clementine to me entirely. If she lives, great! If she dies, oh no! Anyway-

To wrap this up... Clementine Book Two has issues, there are missed opportunities, and I think the romance is bad. But there's enough good here that made it enjoyable enough. I don't feel right about giving it a 2/5 stars, but 3/5 feels too high, so 2.5/5 feels right.

I also encourage people to actually read it for themselves. Don't just take my word for it, or reddit's, or whatever. Read it yourself and form your own opinions instead of parroting someone else. It'll make for better discussion rather than a cesspool for hate.

When Book Three comes out, I'll read and review that one, too. As of right now, we haven't heard anything about it, but I'll be sure to keep an ear out and share the news with y'all.

Now I'd like to hear from you; did you read Book Two? What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with any of my takes? Feel free to send in asks or leave comments below.

Thanks for reading! 💚

#Clementine Book Two review #twdg clementine #twdg #twdg aj #twdg louis #twdg violet #long post #clementine book one #clementine book two

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a-local-idiots-shitpost · 2 years

Text

Mc attacks with a pineapple

yay this post is nearly 1200 words

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Lucifer:

did someone… just throw a pineapple at him?

of course it was Mc (or Satan and Belphegor)

“Mc how do you even come up with such completely ridiculous ideas?” “I was bored”

surprisingly you get away without being punished

but this will only cause you to do this again (and rope the Anti-Lucifer League in your stupid ideas which doesn´t need a lot of convincing the ideas might be stupid but they work)

Mammon:

he´s going to sell it

his first thought while being hit was one of the many debt collecters he owns money to found him

the second thought was who attacks with a pineapple?

After he finds out it was Mc he will feel betrayed

“Mc why?!” “just felt like it” “just felt like it?! Who just feels like hitting people with pineapples! where did you even get that?!”

he feels like he just experienced the worst betrayal ever and will let you know

it will stop as soon as you try to leave

Leviathan:

how did you even get in his room without Levi noticing to begin with?

oh well guess we´ll never know

he hates to admit it but you actually scared Levi with this little stunt of yours

which to be fair was less because of the pineapple and more because he was playing a horror game and you (at least for him) appeared out of nowhere

it was hard to hold your laughter back

“MC?! stop it this wasn´t funny at all!”

it turned out better then you could have ever imagined

to bad no one recorded it (you totally did record it but your smart enough not to tell Levi)

Satan:

he caught it

he literally just extend his arm after you threw it

did he know you were going to throw it? no

is he going to tell you it was a lucky coincidence? also no

the only thing he will be upset about is that you disturbed his reading time

and didn´t use this idea on Lucifer

“Mc the next time you have such stupid ideas at least wait until the next meeting of the Anti-Lucifer-League”

both of you than decided to ditch the library and go to a cat café (you were forced to pay but it´s still better than dealing with an angry Satan)

Asmodeus:

you actually hit him when he was doing his make-up

don´t worry no Asmos were hurt during the making of this fanfic (I mean he did get hurt but nothing really bad happened)

you should be more worried about yourself though

because not only did you make Asmo ruin his make-up

you also indirectly broke his favourite lipstick

I would recommend running as soon as possible because Asmo´s pretty much going to kill you

maybe next wait until he isn´t doing anything

or get really good at running and hiding

Beelzebub:

he ate it in one bite

you just threw it and he immediately knew something edible was getting closer

it was somehow incredibly creepy and weird but also really cool and weirdly impressive

he also asked for more pineapples

and get´s upset when you say you only had one

“Mc why didn´t you get more?” “it wasn´t my plan that you eat it!” “you´re acting as if it´s a surprise that I can tell when food is near”

… it´s kinda a good point

Belphegor:

no matter how hard you throw it he will never wake up

you have a better chance attracting Beel with the pineapple than actually waking up Belphie

the best you can get is Beel not noticing that a pineapple lies beside his twin and Belphie waking up and wondering where the pineapple comes from

if you´re feeling particularly funny and have a lot of free time you can just stay there and throw it at him when he wakes up

he still won´t react though

the best you get is a tired “why?”

Diavolo:

not even the smallest chance of hitting him

Barbatos will immediately know what you´re up to and takes it away

“Mc no” “aww you´re no fun!”

Diavolo actually agrees that Barbatos is no fun

his argument is that pranking someone could be a wonderful bonding experience

and he could use it so you have to stay at the castle with him

and now Barbatos scolds both of you, you for trying to hit Diavolo and Diavolo get´s scolded for being a massive Simp

Barbatos:

he knows what you´re planning before you even had the idea

he just waits until you´re ready to throw it before appearing before you

“what were you planning with this Mc?” “n-nothing Barbatos”

as punishment you have to help him clean the castle

and you´re the one that has to look for mice/rats

but at least you can stay at the Demon Lord´s Castle for the night and you get tea and sweets for helping Barbatos (despite it being a punishment)

he totally didn´t do it so he has an excuse to spend time with you

Solomon:

both of you somehow got the same idea

it ends with both of you awkwardly standing with pineapples and neither of you knowing how to proceed

“so what are we planning now?” “no idea old man Sorcerer” “stop calling me old!”

both of you start fighting if you should be allowed to call Solomon old or not (you definitely should be allowed to)

it ends with you throwing your pineapple and hitting Solomon and then leaving

it´s a good thing he didn´t get the same chance because the pineapple he was holding looked like there was something seriously wrong with it

Simeon:

he doesn´t know why you did it

for some reason he thinks it´s because you don´t like him and not that you just love making life difficult for everyone you meet

but he won´t tell you that all he will do is send a badly written to text to Lucifer saying you don´t like him

Lucifer is going to be so confused

not as confused as you are though when Lucifer asks why Simeon thinks you hate him

this is going to take a while to explain (but not to Lucifer because he will hang you for this little prank of yours)

Luke:

Luke doesn´t get attacked

for the simple reason he´s a child

and life is already hard enough on him (being constantly teased)

you just ask him if he wants to bake something with the pineapple

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gunsatthaphan · 7 months

Text

GMMTV 2024 part 1 - review

another year, another lineup, another post that no one asked for dhkgdf

But here are my thoughts on the announced shows from today (in order of announcement, BLs are marked with a 🏳️‍🌈, personal favorites are marked with a 🌟):

My Precious The Series: This project has been lingering around for 4 years now since it was announced and I'm tired lmao why are they making this into a series now??? I have many questions. I never had any desire to watch the movie, it seems like a generic coming of age drama oozing with unnecessary nostalgia so it's a pass for me. .

Ploy's Yearbook (🌟): I like this one!!!! It's giving I'm Tee Me Too but with a female ensemble cast, all of which are fantastic and also the rest of the cast is very promising and we're in for a lot of new ships - I was hoping Earth and the other 30yr olds would finally be free of the blue shorts but maybe this the last one 🤡 but anyway yes I will definitely be tuning into that one 👍🏻 .

We Are (🏳️‍🌈): I'm just gonna go ahead and assume this is the WabiSabi show because it looks terrible. Like how lazy do you have to be to just throw a bunch of BL side- and 1 mainstream couple into the same show with the most basic plot you can think of like what a joke?? WinnySatang are another side couple in this so either they're getting their actual debut show in part 2 or this has all been a scam lol. I expected a lot more, same goes for AouBoom and MarcPawin, who I was hoping would maybe get a comeback show. Also PondPhuwin going from NLMG to this is.... a choice. Don't wanna judge too fast but the trailer made it seem like no effort went into this at all. Hoping for a better end result. .

The Trainee (🏳️‍🌈): Oh look!!! It's OffGun show number 6 lmao rip. I'm not gonna comment on this matter again, I guess they'll just be around forever and that's that lmao. But anyway I'm a little confused by this show, the premise seems fun but?? I have questions lol. I'm excited to see View and Piploy though and I'll just keep an open mind. .

Only Boo (🏳️‍🌈): How did we go from Only Friends to Only Boo lmao what a downgrade. I wanted an all-newbie BL and I'm excited to finally see some new faces but I guess I fooled myself into anticipating a setting that's not highschool lmao. This is another show that I'm clearly too old for but it's also the MSP of 2024 and that ended up being nicer than expected so maybe this will be the same. We shall see. .

Pluto (🏳️‍🌈 🌟): I'm 😭😭😭 This was such a huge surprise I'm still shook lmao. Namtan and Film is not only a couple I never expected in 432 years lmao but also a very strong combination in terms of acting and I'm SO into it. They're revisiting a plot about a disability which is still something I'm dreading about Last Twilight so I guess it comes down to the director again. Let's hope they do it justice. Also the twin story could be tricky, I'm getting some Not Me vibes plot-wise but regardless the trailer looks super interesting to me, also Ciize and Kapook?? YES please. I'm so hyped for this!!!! 🥺 .

On Sale (🌟): Ghostbusters but make it TayNew? I love it lol this looks so fun, I'm very intrigued. I wasn't a huge fan of New before but he climbed up the ladder with The Warp Effect real fast because he undeniably excels at playing awkward goofy characters and this looks like another chance for him to showcase that lol. Him and Tay have always worked better as a comedic duo for me so I'm actually excited that this will be more of a bromance situation lol. Also Mook and Jan are excellent additions so I will be watching this for sure!! .

Ossan's Love Thailand (🏳️‍🌈, remake): I have very mixed feelings about this, I have not seen the original show but from what I've gathered, this does not seem fitting for EarthMix, also is it really necessary to remake another Japanese BL? But this is coming from someone who's not exactly a JBL connoisseur so I guess I'm biased. It seems that after MLC they became enthusiastic about the idea of casting EM in more mature roles which I endorse very much but aren't the people in the OG literally 40 💀 idk I'm curious to see what they make of it and also if we will ever get to see a trailer because we all know how that went with Cherry Magic lol. oh well. .

My Golden Blood (🏳️‍🌈🌟): Well well well. what do we have here. This is for sure the biggest surprise since Be My Favorite lmao I can't believe Gawin is bringing yet another retired BL actor back from the dead and this time it's supernatural kjdhgd. The vampire genre is something I never thought GMMTV would take on but like?? I'm excited?? I'm so happy to see my boy Gawin in another main role and Joss is such an interesting partner but he fits the genre very well imo lol. Also Neo and Mond?? I'm so ready. Hoping for a release around Halloween next year for obvious reasons lol ✌🏻 .

Kidnap (?): Another show another confusion lmao this looks like Double Savage 2.0 to me, Ohm is caught in another mafia situation but this time not with his brother but with someone who's either a bro or a 💖 bro 💖 lmao but this smells like bromance to me. Ohm would never. And besides that I'm not really intrigued. next. .

Summer Night: This is kinda strange because everything about this seems like a BL but... it's not? the first 30 seconds had me convinced PhuwinDunk were gonna be the new thing on the block lmao but yeah apparently not. If I squint my eyes I would think this is Hidden Agenda 2 but with more girls lol and tbh I expected another JD series but regardless the plot seems a bit generic to me so I'm on the fence about it for now. .

Wandee Goodday (🏳️‍🌈): This looks like the Walmart version of Only Friends tbh but guess what I'm on board lmao. It's AllThis Entertainment's new project which means no Eclipse Season 2 (thank god). Great and Inn are a pair I did not see coming and tbh I did not expect Great to even take on a BL role to begin with but I'm intrigued! The director has been moving on a vast spectrum of different genres lately and this is another one that's completely different from their previous works. But I'm excited. It looks kinky and violent. perfect. .

Highschool Frenemy: All I'm seeing is people beating each other up and calling each other friends afterwards so yeah. not my thing. next. .

My Love Mix-Up (🏳️‍🌈, remake): I'm not a huge fan of this, not just because I didn't like the original but because I was hoping to see GemFourth in a different setting. I'm confident they can do it justice though and deliver a good outcome, especially regarding the comedy, but other than that this isn't going on my watchlist for now. .

conclusion: this was a wild rollercoaster lol, every trailer was a stressful game of Het, Gay or Bromance lmao - The majority of this lineup was not to my liking but then again I appreciated the variety because from puppy love highschool romance to gay vampires is a spectrum you really can't complain about lmao. My 2 highlights for now are Pluto and My Golden Blood simply because they're both a massive surprise that they kept very well hidden lol, I'm also intrigued by Wandee Goodday and Ploy's Yearbook because those have great ensemble casts.

One thing I'm missing from the BL lineup though is a genuine romance, something that's deep and genuine and more mature. What they announced seems fun but for the most part either silly or drowned out by 32 couples at the same time lol. so I really hope we will get something a little more serious that also talks about lgbt issues in part 2; Something like Be My Favorite would be nice, maybe minus the supernatural element.

I did not expect them to announce 15 series already, considering this is only part 1 so who knows what part 2 will bring. I'm expecting FK to make an appearance as well as PerthChimon since they are the only 2 couples that have not shown up, also possibly JoongDunk because I can't imagine they would separate them just yet. Looking forward to December! ✌🏻

Don't hesitate to drop your thoughts below! 🧡

xxx

#gmmtv #gmmtv2024 #gmmtv 2024 #gmmtv2024 part 1 #review #thoughts #opinions

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mr-orion · 3 months

Note

ok I must have more lore on this Icarus I keep seeing since I’m officially in love with him and want to kiss

he and I should kiss

also may I draw him bc that drawing you posted of him gossiping tickles my brain so much-

"I guess if the inspiration strikes... me being your muse must happen."

Oh boy. He's a bit of a firecracker and not very PG. He's in fact, kind of mean. As for the kissing, you and Ray both, though I think Icarus will shake you down for all your cash before you start getting any affection. As for drawing, yeah! I'm always grateful for any drawings and honestly treasure each one I get!

I don't see the harm in saying it as it is. He's a prostitute and escort. Man is raking in the big bucks working under Stags INC. The only reason Ray and him are friends is because Icarus has a lot of intel on the people manning the cartels. While Ray initially got his cooperation by bargaining to sweep his drug use under the carpet, he found Ray is a fun guy and not too sleazy to be around. Plus he's fun to tease, which is Icarus' favorite thing.

He's a Stav'raw, as opposed to Ray who is an Auveri. Unlike Ray he cannot fly. He has dense bones and his wings are only good for a glide. Which, he doesn't preen them. He was never taught so he is absolutely matted with feathers he hasn't thought to pull out. He's actually much more vibrant but because he's so fucking crusty with feathers from his whole existence you can't really tell. Additionally the sclera of his eyes is black. Along with his mouth and lips. He also gave himself a split tongue.

He comes from a very neglectful household with a mother who was a first generation Earthian and a non-existent father. He found his profession as a way out of that bad situation. Though Icarus' dream job is being able to help kids someday. He wants to be a pediatrician for alien children, believing that if one adult had noticed the abuse happening to him he could have been helped.

While Icarus doesn't think he'll make it because of his job history, Ray encourages him. Also reassures him that there are other ways he can help people. While Icarus is bummed he's only just starting to get into the 9 years of schooling at 28, he remains hopeful.

His hobbies consist of video games, nursing classes, clubbing, taking his dogs for walks along the beach, and riding his motorcycles around.

Another fun fact is that this man is absolutely the best of friends with Rays older brother Rowan. Though he has no clue the two are related because they look nothing alike and it's just never comes up. It will be chaos when all three of them figure it out and Rowan tries to beat him for trying to rizz up his beloved sibling. Ray will also get a scolding for bringing sweet, innocent Icarus into his less ethical detective practices. Ha.

Additionally, in freak coincidence Rowans child, is also his niece! He genuinely had no clue until one night in a deep conversation his best friend opened up about how similar Icarus looks to his niece, Onyx's egg donor. Icarus developed an even deeper hatred for his twin sister that night upon Rowan opening up even more about what his sister did to him. (It gets real fucking dark, so I'll spare those details.)

Icarus absolutely hates talking about his blood relations unless its Onyx. Who he treasures deeply and is so proud of. And by proxy Rowan. Of course. Who is his bro, his best friend, his pogchamp.

I can't think of much more, if you want to know something specific please feel free to send more asks!

#art #ocs #character art #my ocs #sketch #drawing #digital drawing #digital #oc ramble

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goose-duck · 4 months

Text

trolls x Male reader //characters mentioned: Floyd, Veneer, Velvet, Y/N

I thought abt this and decided to write it, ur velvet and veneer's little brother. Why brother? Why not gender neutral? Bc I'm male and I want to be the center of attention, okay?YOU ARE SIBLINGS IN THIS, DONT GET WEIRD!! AND FLOYD AND YOU ARE JUST BUDDIES!! NO FUNNY BUSINESS!!

~~~~~~~~

Veneer's PoV:I was just laying on the couch in the living room, it's just a Saturday, no shows no nothing, boring. Velvet doesn't even want me to do anything today and I haven't seen Y/N yet today so he's probably still asleep..or doing something foolish, you never really know with that guy.Y'know, I could go talk to the troll...oh what's his name..? Do trolls have a name..? Oh! Flower? I think that's his name! Flower! I'll go talk to him.

••••••3rd person PoV:Veneer walks into the studio room to talk to Floyd when he sees that Floyd is in fact, not there. The whole diamond perfume bottle is gone actually! The troll Veneer trollnapped has been double trollnapped!

••••••Veneer's PoV:Sh*t...oh no...Vel's gonna kill me when she finds out Flower is missing! What do I do? What do I do? Aaaahhh.

••••••3rd person PoV:Veneer starts running around looking for "Flower" and yelling "Flower, where are you?" . Everyone in the building assumes he either lost his mind or is looking for flour for baking, not that they've ever seen him bake, but who knows what those twins get up to in their free time? I mean, their little brother bakes so who's to say the older siblings don't?

••••••Veneer's PoV: I still haven't found that dang troll! What do I dooo? Ughhh!I walk past my little brother's room to hear him talking to someone, maybe he's in a phone call...but I like to know who he's talking to because he's ended up talking to some real strange people without knowing it thanks to me and Vel bringing him to put shows. I kind of feel bad about it so I try to protect him where I can while still letting him have fun.I stand just outside Y/N's bedroom door, which he's conveniently left open. I'm just out of view from where his bed is. I don't understand why he wanted such a small room actually, he just insisted on it, saying it was more cozy or something? Maybe it is, but I'm not interested in finding out.Anyway, I stand outside his room and listen quietly to hear who he's talking to.It's that troll! I recognize that voice! What's he doing talking to my little brother!? What was Y/N doing in the studio? ...what has that troll told him..? If he knows what me and Vel did will he still love us...?I start to get worried and lean against the wall, sliding down it until I get to the floor. It's really hitting me now just how bad everything we did to that troll and everyone else is. I knew it was bad, but now that I'm worrying my little brother might never want to talk to me again...I don't know...it just really solidifies how bad of a person I've become just to make Velvet happy...

••••••Earlier in the dayY/N's PoV:I was just wondering around the mansion, it's early morning and I woke up before everyone else, as per usual. It's winter break so I don't have to go to school, but I'm still stuck on that schedule for waking up at 5, which is annoying because I was really hoping to sleep in. My older siblings are so lucky! They're famous so they don't have to go to school right now, they make so much money off their music that it doesn't matter what else they do.I remember them always being really bad singers...I guess maybe they took voice lessons? I vaguely remember Veneer saying something about that...I wish the would have asked me to sing with them but I guess that would have thrown off the twins gimmick if their little brother is also with them. I'm a great singer...I did choir for years...I've sung on stages for crowds many times...I can even play a few instruments...maybe I should just make my own music career?Actually, that'd be something to do with my morning since no one's awake to tell me not to...I can use their studio! I don't think I'll actually become famous, but it might just be fun to play with the equipment and pretend I'm a famous singer like Velvet and Veneer!

••••••3rd person PoV:Y/N starts walking to the recording studio. Normally Velvet or Veneer would make him leave but since they're both asleep no one's there to him from just going in, except maybe a lock? But Y/N doesn't believe either sibling is attentive enough to actually lock a door.

••••••Y/N PoV:I slowly push open the studio door, trying to be quiet just in case Crimp hears me and goes to wake the twins up.Once inside the room the first thing I notice is this diamond perfume bottle with this little blue thing in it, it seems alive.I walk over to it and pick up the perfume bottle, the thing inside groans, I feel bad for it and set it down."Sorry...did I hurt you..?" I ask shyly, feeling bad that I upset whatever it was.The blue thing looked shocked at my apology and shook it's head, "no, no, who...who are you? I've never seen you before, it's usually just Velvet and Veneer and sometimes Crimp.""Oh..um..I'm Y/N, I'm Velvet and Veneer's little brother. Who are you? And why are you in a perfume bottle..?" I ask curiously, I'm rather confused by why my siblings have a tiny thing in a perfume bottle."I'm Floyd, it's nice to meet you, Y/N. I don't know how you're gonna take this or if you'll even believe me, but your siblings have been keeping me in this perfume bottle and using my talent so they can sing! It's...kinda killing me..." He said nervous for my reaction.I'm upset that my siblings would go that care but not surprised either, I figure it's more Velvet's doing than Veneer's as she tends to push him around a lot, he actually kind of seems scared of her...I wonder what she does to him when I'm not around if she also does things like this to tiny blue men... actually...that's a weird looking man...I should ask him what he is."What...what are you..?" I ask awkwardly, it's such a strange question to ask someone, but I wanted to know, he's something I've never seen before.He gives me a weird look before collecting himself and saying, "I'm a troll."I gave him a weird look but nodded afterwards like it was normal. I kind of remember Velvet saying something abouts trolls in a band called "BroZone" but maybe I'm delusional? Maybe I should just ask Floyd since he's here."Um...like...from BroZone..?" I ask with some suspicion that I'm correct.He responds," yeah, Floyd, from BroZone...that's me." "Sweet." I say casually before continuing, "so...my siblings trapped you in a perfume bottle and are kinda killing you, yeah?" Floyd nods. "Cool cool...well, not cool, but, like, I'm comprehending the situation, y'know? Why am I still talking...ahhh...um.." you looked at the clock seeing it's almost 10, the time when the twins wake up, so you panic and grab the perfume bottle and run to your room. You were in such a rush that when you got in there you didn't even close the door, you just hid under the blankets with Floyd."Sorry for just grabbing you...I hope you didn't get hurt..." You say worriedly."No no, I'm okay..." Floyd says, clearly a little shaken up."Ahh, what do we do? My siblings will be awake any minute! I'd just let you go but what if they see you and hurt you?..." Y/N starts thinking out loud about how to keep Floyd safe.Floyd comforts Y/N a bit, telling him that it's gonna be okay and that they can stay under the blankets and talk about how to do this.

••••••Present timeVeneer's PoV:I start panicking in the hallway about what might happen, there's no way Y/N doesn't know what Velvet and I did, he's gonna hate us! What do I do now?I see Velvet walking over, she looks angry."Veneer! Did you take the troll!" She yells at me, not even realizing the door to Y/N's room is wide open.I give her a worried look and shush her, pointing at Y/N's room. She then groans and storms off, telling me that we'll talk about this later.I see Y/N slowly pop his head out of his room and look at me, he doenst look happy, he looks disgusted and maybe even a bit scared.He asks me, "why'd you do it..? Why are you hurting this troll..? If you couldn't sing you could have been a model or an actor...it's still not too late for that stuff...just stop hurting him..." He sounds so sad, so dissapinted in me.I'm supposed to be his older brother yet I'm the immature one who was so desperate for fame and money that I hurt an innocent troll..."I'm sorry for what I did to Flower...I... shouldn't have done it...it's too late to go back on it now...I know that...but...I can help you get him past Velvet and out of here...we'll talk more about what I did later, okay? The priority right now is to get Floyd to safety. Sound good, Y/N?" I say sincerely, I truely do feel bad, I'm just so afraid of Velvet, but seeing that look on my little brother's face...I just couldn't take it any longer.Y/N agrees without a second thought, he just wants Flower to be happy and free, I guess maybe they've become friends while Velvet and I were sleeping? Anyway, not the time for logistics! It's time to save this troll!I see Y/N make a weird face for a moment before looks at me and saying, "Flower?" In a very judgy tone.I was confused and responded, "t-the troll..?"Y/N rolls his eyes at me and sighs, "yup.. definately his name...""Well what's his name?" I ask awkwardly."His name is Floyd, ya damn kidnapper!..trollnapper!" Y/N says rudely before getting up and picking up the perfume bottle with Floyd in it.I apologize quickly before I hear Velvet's heels on the ground and grab Y/N and run down the hall away from Velvet.••••••A few minutes of sneaking around the house later...Y/N's PoV:I was so shocked that Veneer was helping me, I thought he'd just cry or something like that, but he's actually helping me help Floyd...hm...that still doenst make up for what he did and we'll have to talk about this later, but it's still sweet that he's trying..my big brother has always been soft hearted...so it's nice to see him show that side.

••••••Floyd PoV:Dispite Velvet and Veneer's behavior their little brother is very kind hearted, he wanted to help me without a second thought. It's nice to know that some people aren't just power hungry succubi...I guess Veneer isn't either is he..? He's just the scared brother to Velvet. Still doenst make up for the fact that he joined in on Velvet's plan, but it does explain it...so though he's not completely off the hook in my mind, I don't hate him either.

••••••Veneer PoV:We're almost at the front door and we haven't ran into Velvet yet, this is good, maybe everything will go smoothly..? Damn it! Now that I thought that something's gonna- "Aaaa!!" I scream as I slip on soapy water in the hallway, falling onto my butt.Y/N laughs at me as he gracefully slides past me and over to the door, "haha! Should have taken ice skating with me as a child!" He opens the door and lets Floyd out of the perfume bottle."Bye bye, Floyd" Y/N waves sweetly at Floyd and he waves back. I also wave at Floyd and give him a shy smile, he nods at me as a thank you before saying to Y/N, "Thank you for saving me, I thought I was gonna die in that bottle...haha, goodbye, have a nice life you two!" He then starts walking away.Y/N says one final thing," I hope to meet again sometime!"Floyd responds by looking behind him and nodding with a smile before continuing on his way home.

••••••After Veneer and Nolan talk in Nolan's roomVeneer PoV:Me and my little brother talked about what happened, he still seems dissapinted in me but he understands why I did it. He doesn't seem to want to hold it against me but said he'll support Floyd if next time we see him he holds this over my head and honestly I agree with that, I deserve it.Y/N told me he's gonna talk to Velvet about it and that I don't have to join him if I'm too scared to, but that he's going to be giving Velvet and earful about this.Heh, for the youngest sibling, Y/N sure does act like our older brother.

~~~~~~~~~~

Stories over <3I hope u liked it :>I tried very hard to get my thoughts into words

#trolls #trolls 3 #trolls band together #venner #Velvet #trolls floyd #trolls velvet #trolls veneer #x reader #x male reader #male y/n

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skye-huntress · 5 months

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I’m in Love with the Villainess Reaction

Episode 12 / Finale

I feel like they could have skipped the OP and just showed the title like so many other shows.

Guess they don’t plan on leaving us in limbo, they skipped straight to Manaria’s confrontation.

Seriously, Manaria, you’re the one who was trying to drive Rae away and now you’re mad at her because you succeeded. Like I get what you were doing, but maybe opening this test of yours up with a magic duel of all things wasn’t your best approach. You beat her so badly and completely you crushed her spirit.

Her methods aside, at least we’re getting to the heart of the issue now. Rae’s love for Claire is not as selfless as she claims, how could it be? She wants Claire to love her back, to be in a relationship with her but she was afraid of being rejected.

In many ways, Manaria and Rae are similar, which is part of why Manaria knows she can’t leave Rae alone, lest she make the same mistake she did.

I hate to say it, but after everything that happened, this had to be the last card Manaria could play. Claire’s safety and wellbeing is still Rae’s priority. The only reason she could even imagine leaving Claire’s side is because she knows Manaria could protect her from any threat, even if that threat is Claire herself. But if Manaria is the one who becomes the threat…

“Again, I wasn’t consulted.” Look, Claire, you were free to step in at any time but you let this play out. You allowed your affection for Manaria to blind you, but everyone else from your minions to the Princes knew what was going on.

Sorry, Claire, you’re too late to stop this and Rae doesn’t have the time to idle about, not with what she’s looking for.

Ah, the tediousness of farming for that ultra rare drop.

Claire kept that necklace Rae gave her the entire time. In fact, she’s been wearing it everyday since. It’s proof that she wants to believe in Rae’s love, if only she wasn’t given so many reasons to doubt.

Woah, woah, woah, that vision of the future! They didn’t just include the two together, and their house, they also showed the twins! Don’t tease me like that, I want to see it all in anime form! If only the odds for a second season weren’t so low, this wouldn’t hurt so much!

Damn, Rae is going all in and all out. That line made more sense in my head.

Yes, Claire, tell us how you really feel! None of this will matter if you’re not even honest with yourself or with Rae.

All those damn expectations of being a noble lady. Let’s be frank, nobles don’t marry for love, marriage is a formal contract between families.

Predictable. This is yet another contest that is practically rigged in Manaria’s favour. There is no offering known to be heavier than the Flower of Flora, so the best you could hope for is a tie, and even that is a difficult feat, given how rare that flower is and how difficult it is to obtain.

Ugh, more poems. And it’s so obviously fake, too. You’re just reciting someone else’s words that don’t carry the same meaning or feeling as the original.

Cutting it a little close there, Rae.

Wow, Manaria actually looks happy to see Rae, meanwhile Claire is immediately concerned by the state she is in.

Manaria has a flower of legend, and Rae has what looks like a random stick. Not hard to imagine the reaction she’d get.

They have no faith in her. As if Rae hasn’t proven that she tends to know more than she could possibly know.

Well, Misha, you got your miracle.

Rod, don’t act like you didn’t have your own doubts not two seconds ago.

YES! THAT’S HOW YOU DO IT! THAT’S A REAL CONFESSION OF LOVE!

That 180 is just as jarring in anime form. It’s like this girl just forgot she’s been playing the role of the villainess for the past few weeks.

Look at Claire’s hand, like it’s still searching for Rae’s.

The most shocking part about this is Manaria is actually serious. In fact, at this point in the novel Rae suddenly remembers a little bit of trivia about Manaria from the game. It was possible that Manaria might confess feelings for the protagonist, not that it actually led to anything if she did.

This is even better than the novels and manga, Claire didn’t just yell her true feelings (and Rae’s name, finally), she actually grabbed Rae and put herself between them.

Oh, how we missed this banter. It’ll take a bit longer for Claire to get over that knee-jerk reaction but now we know she doesn’t actually mean it.

That crowd’s getting a full show today. The following year’s festival is going to be a snore fest in comparison.

Early credit again, I see.

Someone actually made an accurate prediction that the story of Poesie Amour was foreshadowing Rae and Manaria’s fates. Like the two suitors in the story, Rae would go on to marry Claire, while Manaria would go on to be a great queen. I can’t believe it never occurred to me before, not even on rereads when I knew the outcome.

No, no, Rae has a right to feel the way she does. Manaria spent most of the time being a menace to Rae, stomped all over her feelings and even threatened Claire. Even if it was all ultimately for her benefit, that doesn’t erase all the emotional damage or the scars.

Wow, Rae, you just figured it out. And yeah, there very likely was a better way to go about it, but Manaria has already admitted she’s kind of a shitty person.

After those confessions, everyone’s pretty much accepted that they’ll be getting together.

I’m surprised more people haven’t confronted Rae about the things she seems to know. I suppose everyone else is taking the wait and see approach, but since she’s leaving, Manaria had to ask now.

As has been hinted many times, a revolution is coming, and those don’t tend to end well for the people in power. Even if Claire doesn’t turn full Villainess, she’ll still likely be executed for no other reason than that she is a noble. That is the future Rae has been working to prevent.

Look at their classmates, they clearly have no idea how to react, yet all their friends have accepted that this is just the way they are, even as a couple.

And that’s a wrap. While I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a Season 2, I will recommend that novels and manga. The next few arcs are particularly interesting. Personally, I’m a big fan of Chapter 6: Yu’s Secret (FYI, this episode ended Chapter 4: The Scales of Love). That chapter is packed with all sorts of good and interesting stuff.

#i’m in love with the villainess #i'm in love with the villainess

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mintmoth · 1 year

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OKAY I'm gonna do a big ask response here! There's a few I didn't grab which are mostly just people saying sweet things- to which honestly I can't thank you all enough 😭 it's so wild to me to see people enjoying my art so much

I'm gonna keep most of the replies under the cut since it's gonna get a bit long but I wanted to touch on this one real quick-

Absolutely anyone is free to use my art as an icon wherever! Just be sure to have something crediting somewhere and yeah absolutely go for it!

OH ALSO my submissions don't work on mobile for some reason? The formatting messes up I guess, but check out this awesome coloring!! I love how the layers of shading look 😭

LMAO okay so I've seen a good handful of older/mafia au designs for Floyd and Jade and a lot of them have either both of them with double sleeves or Floyd with sleeves and Jade with a back piece- though I've also seen somewhere both of them having one sleeve on the opposite side

Right now I'm just messing around so I don't have any official tattoo designs for either of them, but I do know I want Floyd with at LEAST the double sleeves, and Jade with some pieces he keeps hidden by mostly wearing business attire lmao

XBSISNK THANK YOU 😭😭 honestly drawing hair is one of my absolutley FAVORITE things to draw lmao, most of my ocs have long hair I just can't help it honestly

YES ABSOLUTLEY probably not too often but I could definitely see Azul going to bed and waking up to a very full bed lmao. Funnier yet because I think all three of them are the type to cling in their sleep when they have someone else beside them. They're just weird sea creatures used to small comfy spaces

I actually haven't thought about this! Honestly I think that would be really cool! Or even if he found that he had a specific shade range of color blindness as a human- though I could see Jade and Floyd taking advantage of that by doing something like giving him the wrong color shirt to wear that day or something lmao

Though you also reminded me! Eels also have terrible eyesight! So I've seen people both having the headcanon that the twins wear contacts, and also the headcanon that Azul needs glasses now because he did a deal to give part of his vision to both of them

Honestly it's really cool to think about! I don't know which headcanons here I like the most, but I love seeing them

Okay honestly I absolutley have to draw this because I LOVE this idea and part of why I'm answering this is to mentally catalogue that I need to draw this lmao

I also love this idea! Like at lunch, after classes before they go to work at the lounge, and after the lounge closes up for the night it just becomes the twins' gossip hour lmao

Because yeah they do spend a lot of time together, but they're still apart a lot, and there's no way they're not telling each other about all the nonsense they're getting up to once they meet back up

DBSISNSK DONT CRY LMAO I got a handful of questions about Niles I want to try to touch on here

Absolutley he wouldn't mind helping anyone set up games on their computer lmao, especially if it's a hard to get visual novel that he's a fan of because he's the type to want everyone to play and love the games he loves

He's definitely dropped hundreds of hours into "creature crossing" with one of those islands with tons of customization and cute shit, and his "island creatures" are mostly cats with a couple dogs and the pegasus LMAO

Also while he's not directly inspired by any specific character, since he's in Ignihyde he does have a little Greek mythos theming and has some inspiration from Eros, which is also why he's very "love" themed/romantic

OH MAN I'm actually not 100% sure which moray I think the twins would be, I'd have to look more into them specifically

But I did want to mention that my idiot self is tempted to make Yet Another Oc (though I probably won't post this one since I feel very oc heavy already) that's also a moray- but specifically a snowflake just because wow I want to make a design around the coloration they have 😭

ALSO!!! Regarding Eel Anon!

I wasn't able to screenshot everything you sent but it was absolutley fun hearing about the dorm idea you have!! I love hearing about new dorm concepts and I've seen a couple nightmare before christmas dorms so it's neat to see the different ideas people have! Also no way do Eri and Rika sound like knock offs of the twins lmao they both sound really fun and I like how they juxtapose one another- also how you have their whole family worked out??? It just reminded me I need to do some more backstory work for my group lmao but honestly it was really cool reading about them so don't even worry about long asks or anything!

#ask #anonymous #felix-the-lemon-king #verticalsea #freedfromthedark #echoversit #eel anon #mint rambles

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broz0neglitters · 4 hours

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I'm not a bad guy Fanfic pt 2 -Floyd

~If you haven't read part one yet, then you should probably read part 1~

Also, I like to go straight into the fanfic, so enjoy <3 also, this will be more on floyd focus since this about him trying to tell his story

Link:

Warning: Cuss words

Days later...

As both Poppy and Viva once again made the five brothers sit in a circle again, and this time, it was floyd turn to explain everything, but Branch knew to be careful not to trust every little thing that floyd said; Branch had to stop trusting every word that floyd was saying ever since the fight that they had the night before about him lying to branch about coming back...

As floyd stood up and stand in the middle as he faced Branch mostly him then clears his throat " Listen here branch I'm not a bad guy so don't treat me bad and I know I fuck up my words, but please don't think I'm absurd, alright?." Floyd said as Branch still had his arm crossed he didn't bother to look at floyd

"You don't know how hard it was being stuck in a diamond prison for two months straight, and I'm physically exhausted and Tired of my knuckles beating while Velvet and Veneer would use me for their frame and personal gain." floyd said

Floyd would just talk to himself to past this time of sadness and wish he could see his brother, especially Branch, whom he had lied to and promised to return, but both Velvet and Veneer were too busy seeking selfish wishes. They Don't care how floyd was feeling

"I would Pretend that everything's alright, but I'm stuck in this diamond prison, which was detention for me." floyd said as he looked at Branch, who still didn't want to hear his excuse, although Branch would believe that it happened to floyd cause he was there to save floyd from the twins...

"The twins don't care about me, Fuck how I feel as long as they make money. They do whatever they want to me 'cause I'm basically chopped meat." Floyd said as Bruce stood up and placed his hands on floyd shoulder, comforting him

"You know, out of all the brothers, John Dory was the one who knew about me. He came to see me. He was the one who brought you guys to come set me free." floyd said looking at John

Fuck, being alone all alone in the diamond prison waiting for Jonh to gather the rest of the brothers to hit the perfect family harmony to set floyd free from his detention from the pop-obsessed fraud twins

As floyd sat back down, Bruce spoke, "Although John was always bossy and bossing us around, he actually kept his promise; he actually cared about us, like how he promised floyd that he would gather all of us to come to save him and how he did indeed came back for branch and us he actually cared." bruce said as the younger brothers all gave john a hug expect floyd who still felt terrible for lying to branch

As Branch looked at floyd, "Out of all the brothers, I thought you would come back for me, and you would never lie, but I guess you lied, and I can't forgive you for that. I can try to talk to you again, but I can't always trust everything you say or tell me; now it is hard. I'm sorry, floyd. I should have seen it coming because you let me drown; you didn't even try to save me." Branch said, giving floyd a light hug and walking away with Poppy following behind him.....

Floyd knew to accept that his baby brother would no longer trust a single word that he said. Floyd wishes he could fix his mistakes, but Branch was right. Floyd did indeed let Branch drown...

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

I'm sorry if part 2 was short, but I think you should read part 1, which is linked. I should start studying for finals anyway. I'll keep you all updated soon. wish me luck heheh

Also, the request will be reopened on May 31st and closed back down on Aug 9th, so don't be disappointed if I don't get to your request. As I mentioned, it takes a while to write them, and although it will still be around summer, I have a summer job and need to get ready for the school year, so please be patient. Thank you <3.

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

Like + Follow are very much appreciated! <3

Part 3 is out now!

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aihoshiino · 5 months

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I haven't read the Spica novel since I don't know Japanese, so your latest ONK post had me wondering why you thought it was a bad novel?

So full disclosure: I have not read Spica in full yet in its original form but I have been working on a TL of the free preview which was posted by the publishers (which you can see here) and the rough TLs/summaries posted by folks in the fandom who bought the book - I, uh, feel slightly off about directly linking to those since they are reproducing content from a paid published release and I don't know exactly where that falls in terms of Piracy And OnK Leaks which I know Mengo especially feels really bad about, but you can easily find them by looking up the associated search terms on Pastebin (tho be aware, you apparently have to be logged in to search Pastebin's database??? TIL I guess)

If it wasn't for the free preview, I'd be more willing to put some of my issues with it down to just TL choices made by people who were quickly summarizing the novel for the fandom but like... between having access to the actual prose and how much the summary TLs are just straight up giving you chunks from the novel, there was enough consistency with the stuff that was not passing the smell check that I feel pretty confident in saying that Spica just flat out has issues. I actually did a bit of a ramble elsewhere talking about my issues with it way more concisely than my initial attempt here

(message from claire 40+ minutes after writing the above sentence: i'm sorry. i'm so sorry. i lied. the following passage is 900+ words long.)

Spica stands out pretty distinctly from Akasaka's short stories in that the Tanaka written parts of the novel are all in third person limited POV vs 45510 and Viewpoint B being in first person. Spica also has the issue of being EXTREMELY heavyhanded and hamfisted in terms of its emotional beats to the point where I felt it was straight up tacky and emotionally manipulative at multiple points, in ways that betrayed the spirit of the story it was trying to tell.

Like, as a point of contrast, in Viewpoint B, Ai casually mentions that she's on the verge of aging out of the children's home she was in and that her relatives who were supposed to adopt her backed out and dumped her after meeting her for the first time. The story does not linger on this beat, aside from Kyun's stunned reaction that something so shitty is happening to the invincible seeming Ai. The situation is just laid out in front of the reader and they are allowed to have their own emotions naturally arise from their own sense of empathy for Ai. In contrast, in the Ai-centric prologue to Spica, the story cannot go more than a few exchanges of dialogue without hammering in just how horrible everyone in Ai's life is to her and how tragic everything is. It is SO eager to do this that it trips into straight up contradicting how Akasaka has talked about these events and it's not the only time.

It's maybe a nitpicky complaint, but there are a lot of small moments in Spica that have timeline snarls or just contradictions in vibes and tone that make it feel like it was written by someone who just… didn't really know or care all that much about Oshi no Ko. For example, the first song Sarina makes Gorou listen to is implied to be Sign wa B and he quotes its opening line ("We're your idols, the sign is B!") while talking about it. The issue here is that Sign wa B wasn't released until after Ai came back from her hiatus following the twins' birth so its appearance here is at least four years out from it actually being created.

There are various other small timeline snarls like that and a few that are not necessarily textual contradictions but feel off from how things are portrayed in the manga — Gorou being totally ignorant of how bad Sarina's condition is in Spica vs the implication that he was well aware of it in the main manga. These sort of contradictions happen because the story is CONSTANTLY reaching for like… there's no kind way to describe this, but it is constantly grabbing at cheap emotional payoff by leaning excessively on references and calls forward to beats from the main story, hamfistedly setting them up and repeating them so clumsily that it almost feels like it cheapens them by comparison. To once again talk about Ai, because the Battle Royale collar around my neck will go off if I go more than 1000 words without doing so, the epilogue of Spica has this absolutely fucking excruciating conversation between Ai and Ichigo where they look up at the actual Spica star itself and Ichigo goes off on this random tangent about how it's a BINARY, TWIN STAR known for its AQUAMARINE SHINE and Ai (who is 12 at this point btw lol) has this whooooole speech about how it's so lovely that the star has a twin so it's never alone and she hopes that if SHE has a family that SHE has twins and WOOOOWWW WOULDN'T THAT BE CRAZYYYY… and basically the whole novel is like this. It's like the emotional equivalent of the fucking Superdictionary LMFAO

My other big issue with Spica is just that I absolutely despise how it chooses to characterize Sarina. While I can't necessarily say she's OOC just because there's so little Actual Sarina Herself pagetime in OnK, there's this really… honestly skeevy as fuck bent to the way she's written in Spica that actually really upsets me. Spica really leans into sexualizing her feelings for Gorou in a way that feels like pandering to people who have a thing for bratty, uppity loli characters perving on adult men. It 99.99999999999% almost absolutely definitely was not but those are the only words I can find to describe the vibes here.

The INSTANT she and Gorou meet, before they've ever had a full conversation or ever started idol fangirling together, Sarina immediately goes GOSH WHAT IF I WANTED TO BE UR GF ;) and makes a joke in her brain about Gorou being an S (Sadist) and not an M (Masochist). Later, after the two of them have spent time together and she's come to a bit of epiphany about her feelings for him, Sarina cries and laments his lack of interest in her, putting it down to the fact that she has "absolutely no charm as a woman" and like… I'm sorry but what the actual fuck is going on here!!! Sarina is twelve years old!! She is a prepubescent child!!!! NOTHING about Sarina's behaviour in OnK or her upbringing that we hear about elsewhere has the slightest indication that it should organically result in her articulating herself like that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with writing a child developing a puppy love crush on a reliable adult like a doctor or a teacher because… that stuff happens in real life! You can write that stuff without it feeling creepy or objectifying but Spica absolutely indulges in both of those things.

I'm forcing myself to stop here because I genuinely thought this was going to be a quick response banged out before I had to start dinner prep and then I ended up in hell but the long and short of it is that I feel like the Spica-original portions of the novel just... betray the spirit of OnK in a way that I really don't enjoy. To put it in academic terms, it just lacks the sauce.

#oshi no ko #onk spoilers #idk how we're tagging for spica so that'll have to do #oshi no posting #SPICA ENJOYERS IM SORRY IM REALLY GLAD YOU LIKE THE NOVEL I JUST HATED IT I LOVE GORO AND SARINA I PROMISE #I JUST DIDN'T LIKE WHAT TANAKA DID WITH THEM I'M SOOOOORRYYYYYY

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wuxianxkexing · 6 months

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GIVE ME 5 REASONS I NEED TO WATCH/READ MDZS

I can only speak on the live action version The Untamed. I haven't been able to find anywhere to watch the donghua for free and while I have the books I haven't gotten around to reading them yet. 😅 I'm currently stuck in the Heaven Official's Blessing rabbit hole. Don't send help, I'll probably get out eventually.

1. If you have any siblings you will probably really relate to either the Yunmeng siblings story or the Twin Jades sibling story. The dynamics between them are all very realistic and you even get representation for those who have been adopted into a family (which is pretty rare in media, but as someone who was also adopted I know that the dynamics are more complex than "Yay! Family! Happily ever after!" or the typical horror story tropes of adopted children.)

2. The story has various different villains. Some of them have a good point, but not all of them. A lot of the media I consume tries to always give the villains a "good" or "understandable" reason for being like that, so it's nice to have a story where I can take a villain, spin them around in my head, and be like "Nope, no matter how I look at it I just don't get it. A lot of villains get called "crazy" but you? You actually take the cake."

3. I love the fact that side characters are actually important in this story. Granted I have had a life long love of random side characters that I think are cooler than the main character but some people have been annoyed by how unexpectedly important the side characters are. They forget that this is a story about /society/. Wei Wuxian's story is nothing without them. Or at the very least it would be a very different story without them. They can't be removed or replaced without changing the entire narrative and that is good writing. No one is just there without a reason.

4. This is also a story about the very real human experience of change. I have heard that The Untamed does a better portrayal of this than the book (in regards to Wei Wuxian) but things change, for better and for worse. It's bitter and remorseful but it doesn't matter because life will go on regardless. Even if you try to hold onto the past with a death grip things around you will change and you yourself will change even if you try to resist it. I personally haven't seen any other media, aside from the Legend of Korra, that actually tackles this subject well. Most other media seems to resist change, or will only accept the "good" changes. That ain't life. You don't get to pick and choose.

5. Along with studying society as a whole it also does a good job of studying individual characters. Because you know what? It's easy to just make society "like that", but to examine the characters that actually make up that society and see in which ways they contribute to that society, for better or for worse, through mere thought or actual actions, is really interesting! And it's not even just the big things, the little things can and do end up changing the entire course of the story.

As for watching The Untamed my only "tip" is that the first couple of episodes are set in the present and then the story goes into a long flashback. However it never tells us that this is a flashback so if you watch it completely blind like I did you'll be pretty confused until you figure it out. I'm a kind of go with the flow person so I was just like "I guess this is just the story now" but other people might get frustrated and drop it because they don't know what is going on. So that's my heads up. I guess they chose to start the story like that because the book starts like that as well and it does have some artistic merit in making the viewer feel pretty much as confused as Wei Wuxian but when it comes to making television for a wider audience they probably either shouldn't have done that or at least put something on the screen telling viewers about the flashback. But maybe I just know too many people who don't have the patience to watch a story long enough to figure things out for themselves. 😅 If you do decide to watch it I just don't want you to drop it because of that confusion.

As for my "silly" reasons to watch The Untamed.

1. Wei Wuxian is pretty.

2. Jiang Cheng is scary and sexy.

3. The music is beautiful. I loved it so much that I actually bought a working replica of Wei Wuxian's flute so I could learn to play the music, I just haven't gotten around to actually playing it. 😂☠️

4. Jin Guangyao's dimples.

5. Zidian is so pretty. Like if I ever have enough money to spend on a piece of jewelry like that I would 100% get an exact replica from the show made in my size.

#the untamed #mdzs

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 2 years

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I read Clementine Book One 9 times so that you don’t have to read it at all

Spoiler-free review: It’s not great. 1.5/5 stars.

"Clementine is back on the road, looking to put her traumatic past behind her and forge new path all her own. But when she comes across an Amish teenager named Amos with his head in the clouds, the unlikely pair journeys North to an abandoned ski resort in Vermont, where they meet up with a small group of teenagers attempting to build a new, walker-free settlement. As friendship, rivalry, and romance begin to blossom amongst the group, the harsh winter soon reveals that the biggest threat to their survival...might be each other. “

The best way I can describe Clementine in this is if TFS never happened and this is an older, slightly less angsty ANF Clementine who also lost a leg. She’s not great.

Amos is the best character. He has a goal, a drive to reach that goal, and an actual personality that shines through in every page he’s in. He’s also the only character Clementine has any real chemistry with, which isn’t good news for her new love interest.

Speaking of which, Ricca didn’t reach the potential I felt she should’ve. She has a fine backstory, but the way it was delivered was info-dumpy and not built up well. Her “romantic chemistry” with Clementine is practically non-existent, rushed, and a little awkward.

The twins, Olivia and Georgia, were bland and annoying.

The baddie of the story is weak as hell. They do something terrible for a reason so overdone that it actually makes my brain mad.

The story is okay for the first half, but takes a steep nose dive in the second half that ruins what little good will it got outta me. Everything mentioned that was from the games felt shoehorned in for fanservice points and not because it contributed to the story. The pacing is all over the place, and the ending is just... annoying. The artwork isn’t Tillie Walden’s best, I know she can do so much better when she’s allowed to play with color and give her work a more dream-like quality, which the story doesn’t.

I originally rated it a 1/5 stars, but after reading it 9 goddamn times, I bumped it up to a 1.5/5 stars mostly for Amos, the few chuckles it got out of me, and one part that I genuinely liked.

My full detailed review is below. It’s long, gives a recap of the 12-page Clementine Lives comic from Skybound X, addresses the harassment Tillie Walden has gotten over this, and spoils everything within book one.

so how the hell did we even get here?

On August 14, 2018, the first episode of Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season was released, a game developed by a team that showed great care and passion for the story they wanted to tell and was meant to give Clementine’s story a satisfying ending. It’s not a game without flaws, both in its storytelling and mechanics. If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know I have my complaints about each of the games but at the end of the day, I love them, flaws and all.

On September 21, 2018, we got the news that Telltale Games would be closing its doors. About 90% of their employees were let go with only about 25 remaining to fulfill the important obligations they couldn’t wiggle out of... y’know, like finishing a version of Minecraft Story Mode made for Netflix.... which if you know me, you know how I feel about MCSM and I’m sure you can guess the speed at which my eyes rolled upon reading that.

With the closure of Telltale Games came hundreds of people suddenly out of a job, the cancellation of several games, and the realization that we wouldn’t get the rest of TFS. Sad times all around, statements were being made by Telltale [ex] employees, not fun in the slightest, you would go to youtube to watch playthroughs of episode 2 when it dropped and every creator was original enough to title their videos “GOODBYE TELLTALE” or “THE END OF CLEMENTINE.”

But then Robert Kirkman told everyone to chill the hell out, Skybound Entertainment worked out a deal with Telltale, they’re going to finish off TFS through their Skybound Games division, all with the original development team who were working on it.

The fans rejoiced, the Telltale team got to complete their game the way they wanted, and Skybound were heroes being praised by the fans. TFS was great, my personal favorite of the four main games. 10/10, would play it 100 more times. Clementine finally got the happy ending she deserved.

....But then we got Clementine Lives as a part of the Skybound X collection...and Clementine Book One was announced for summer 2022.

A lot less happy after that.

“blah blah die a hero or live long enough to be the baddie or something.” -Scarecrow, probably

In hindsight, we should’ve seen this coming. What, Skybound gets all the rights to Clementine and we expected them to respectfully leave the conclusion of her story alone? That’s not how the money is made, babe!

Clementine is a cow who just wants to be free and eat dewy grass all day in the warm sunlight but that isn’t about to stop Skybound from locking her up in a barn stall before getting on their hands and knees to pull and twist and squeeze every single last drop they can get outta her. Even if she runs outta milk, they can just shoot her and turn her meat into steaks and ribs and tenderloins and anything else you can get out of a cow down to the bones. When they’re desperate enough, they can make some bone broth.... I don’t really know where I’m going with this, we can just pretend I meant this as a metaphor for how they butchered her or something.

Anyway, anything to continue making money on a franchise that is still fairly popular... I think? Aside from Telltale’s The Walking Dead, I’m not a big fan of the TWD franchise in general, any other content I tried intaking was meh at best. I lost interest in the show after S1. The books about the Governor weren’t all that interesting. I browsed the comics and they couldn’t hold my attention.

I even played and finished the awful Daryl Dixon prequel game that no one else played. The most interesting thing in that game is if you run for more than 3.5 seconds, sweat blurs and drips down the screen as Daryl shits himself... riveting.

Now we have a Clementine trilogy to throw in there.

Skybound decided they wanted to branch out into the young adult and middle grade world. Makes sense. Reach out to new fans, get some young blood to flow into crevices left by old fans who are no longer interested, expand your reach as far as possible... all they have to do is tell a compelling story in their well-established world with fleshed out characters while also checking all the boxes to ensure success. Sounds easy, right?

Enter Skybound X and within it Clementine Lives, a 12-page comic tying together TFS and Clementine Book One.

I have a full in depth look at that comic here, but for a refresher:

After the events of TFS, Clementine sneaks out of Ericson one morning without telling anyone and we find out that she’s planned her departure for a while. She has maps and supplies hidden away, as well a car stashed somewhere. Before she can get away, though, an older AJ appears wearing Clementine’s hat... Ugh.

He’s rightfully pissed that she would ditch out on everything like this, insists that he’s coming along, and Clementine tells him no. Her explanation for all of this, the reason she’s abandoning AJ and everyone at Ericson, is that she’s not happy... which spoiler alert, is kinda contradicted in chapter 8 of book one??? but we will get into that later. AJ lets Clementine leave and she sets off on her new journey that brings us to the events of book one.

To say Clementine Lives was poorly received would be a vast understatement. Fans ripped it to shreds, they hated the damn thing, and they were vocal about it. There’s no way in hell Skybound didn’t know how much fans despised Clementine Lives. I mean, people were making long-winded posts/videos about how it was an insult to Clementine’s character and asking everyone to not support the Clementine trilogy, to let Skybound know that this isn’t what they wanted.

Fans hated the portrayal of Clementine and AJ. They felt it had more in common with a fanfic written by someone who didn’t play the games themselves but instead watched a youtube playthrough one [1] time, thought Clementine was cool but didn’t like anyone else and said, “Hey what if Clem ditched everyone and hung out with my OC’s instead??” than it did with the canon of the games.

I mean, who wrote this, right? Did they even play the games? Well...

Tillie Walden and the Curious Case of Clementine’s Character [and other short stories involving obnoxious twdg fans who have nothing better to do with their lives than stalk her instagram account]

I hadn’t heard of Tillie Walden prior to the announcement that she would be the one writing this Clementine book trilogy.

I’ll admit, I hated the 12-page comic, too. In my review I said, “...Skybound and Tillie made this comic, they put it out there and asked for money for it, therefore I’m allowed to explain why it’s garbage as well as ponder over the questionable intent and whether or not Tillie actually has played these games.”

“This comic is awful. It misses the point of everything TFS, and the rest of the series, stood for. There is no heart here. I feel no happiness in reading it, and I don’t detect any passion behind it. It’s a lifeless comic that retcons everything in order to throw AJ away and start fresh with a new adventure for Clementine that makes no sense because the cow isn’t profitable unless it’s milked.”

That was then and this is now, though. While I still don’t like the comic and feel it’s not in line with Clementine as a character or a good direction for the comic, I do believe Tillie has played the games... the problem is she admitted during the Skybound Games XPO stream that she hadn’t played the games prior to getting the job. Skybound reached out to her and THEN she played through them, and she played through them fast...and I doubt she played them more than once. That’s an issue.

I’ve read some of her other works- On a Sunbeam, Spinning, A City Inside- and I think they’re good, I think she’s a talented artist. Some of the writing choices/themes are a bit iffy but most times I can overlook that because I genuinely love the art. It’s colorful, surreal, dreamy, creative, the kind of art you look at and feel something, y’know? Oh, and she likes to point out, “very gay.” Even if you hate the Clementine books she’s writing, I still encourage you to give her other works a chance. There’s a lot more life and creativity there. I can see why she was considered, despite Tillie saying herself that she didn’t think she was the “obvious choice” for this project..... which yeah, even she knows.

This one pesky little problem has more to do with Skybound than it does Tillie: creating a continuation of Clementine’s story after TFS is a dumb move... especially when the artist you hired didn’t work on the original games, doesn’t typically write stories in a zombie apocalyptic setting so their art style doesn’t let itself well to this particular project, doesn’t have a good grasp on the main character’s previous establishment, hasn’t played the games more than once or twice, probably has to follow a strict set of rules put in place by Skybound because they’re just like that, is under an extreme time constraint of having to finish a trilogy only three years mostly by herself, and is forced to make shit up about the previous games in order to make this comic’s plot exist.

In my honest opinion, Tillie wasn’t a good match for a Clementine story, and if she was allowed to write something completely original within the TWD universe, then this would’ve been a more compelling story to follow.

Let me say this about Clementine Book One: If anyone else was the protagonist of this story, it would’ve been better. I would’ve given it a 3.5/5 stars if Clementine was replaced with an original character.

That’s the problem.

I know a lot of people put the full blame on Tillie for how bad this whole thing is. She wrote it right? She “ruined” Clementine, it’s all her fault that this beloved character and reputation is “tarnished” and she should just cancel the rest of the series, blah blah blahhh.

I don’t entirely blame Tillie for this. She was hired to write this story because Skybound knew people would buy anything with Clementine’s name on it, good or bad. They knew Tillie had a fanbase who would buy anything she wrote. They knew that no matter how much fans bitched and moaned about it, Clementine Book One would sell. I believe she should’ve familiarized herself with the source material better, but she’s a professional artist. I believe she tried her best to create a good story for this trilogy but it’s weighed down by the fact that the main character had to be Clementine.

Which leads me to this bullshit that pisses me off.

There are plenty of assholes out there who stalk her instagram so they can harass every post she makes [even ones that have nothing to do with Clementine] with “#notmyclementine” and “dis comic make no sense clam wuld never lev aj u sux” as if that’s going to do anything. Not to mention the comments wishing for her to be fired, hoping she loses her entire career over this, calling her a fucking groomer, and other disgusting things that you don’t have to scroll far to find in her instagram comments.

This is the part where I tell everyone to sit the fuck down and stop. There is no reason to harass Tillie for doing the work she was hired to do. Telling her [and Skybound] that she should be fired, making homophobic remarks, insulting her appearance, wishing harm on her, telling her how much you hate her, calling her a groomer, and harassing fans of hers who want to support her is fucking disgusting.

Clementine is not real. She is a fictional character in a video game. This comic doesn’t hurt her feelings because she doesn’t exist. Clementine, the video game character, is not a real life person. I don’t give a single shit how important Clementine is to you. You are not defending anyone’s honor or protecting them from harm when you post shit like that. You’re causing the harm over a fictional character. Tillie Walden is a real person. You can dislike the work while still showing human decency to the creator. You can criticize the work while remaining respectful to the creator. It’s not hard.

Now that you’ve scolded us for the shitty people on instagram, are you gonna actually review the book or are you gonna keep procrastinating...?

Hey, don’t call me out on something I’m totally doing.

And yes, we can review the actual book now that I’ve gone over how we got here and hit you over the head with the “don’t harass Tillie over the comic, shithead” bat.

Yeesh, so impatient.

The Plot: it’s thickening... like curdled cheese

First thing’s first, let’s go over the story, the plot, of this thing. Then I’ll go in depth for each of the characters, talk about the “romance,” finish up with my final thoughts, and then talk about Clementine Book Two coming out June October 2023. Cool? Cool.

Clementine has left Ericson behind and is traveling alone with nothing but a pair of crutches to keep her warm at night. She's discovered by a group of Amish teens after being startled by her own period. Gotta say, I love the attempt to include Clementine having her period tastefully by having one of the other girls be like, “Oh, I just started mine, too,” only for another to be like “Don’t tell her that, ewwwwww!”

Remember how well ANF handled that? No? Just me? Whatever.

Anyway, they notice Clementine has a prosthetic leg and offer to take her back to their town to meet Rabby, a dentist who creates prosthetics. This town they take her to is actually neat. They have high walls, guards who have a system of keeping track of everyone who comes and goes, they’re not rude to her during the entrance procedure, there are several buildings with a lot of people walking the streets, they have horses..... oh and Meredith, one of the girls who found Clementine, calls the walkers “devils,” which is fun.

Clementine gets her new leg before ditching them to go back on the road where she meets Amos, an Amish teen who is out on his Rumspringa [a period when some Amish youth experience greater freedom. The idea is that teens will come back after tasting the modern world] with his horse, Helen, his carriage, and his 16 shirts.

Amos is heading to a mountain base up north in Vermont to help a group build a “strong homestead” throughout the winter, then when the snow melts, he’ll be rewarded with a plane ride. Clementine thinks that’s bullshit, planes don’t fly around anymore, but Amos insists that he saw the plane in the sky.

Y’see, a man showed up looking for recruits to help build these houses and then flew his plane over as proof that this was real. Amos really wants to ride in a plane, something he’s not supposed to do, hence why he’s going on this adventure for his Rumspringa.

Clementine gets a ride from him where they save a group of people who were under attack by walkers. However, one of the guys they saved gropes Clementine and she attacks him.

It’s difficult to tell that’s what happened due to the sloppy art, though. Initially I interpreted it as Clementine thinking he turned into a walker and attacked, but uh no, he groped her. She stomps on his hand after he challenges her with a, “do it,” and then as she’s hurrying to get away, someone else from inside the carriage says, “What did you do to that girl?!”

I would say I’m surprised but given some of the other stuff in Tillie’s works, I’m not.

Anyway, Amos leaves the carriage with those people, takes Helen and catches up with Clementine. He wants to travel with her, she calls him ridiculous and “I’m not interested in being a bodyguard anymore.”

It doesn’t take much to convince to her, though- Amos promises to leave Helen with her once he gets there since he knows she’d take care of her.

And I’m strangely reminded of Clementine’s trauma regarding horses from TFS where dead horses appear in her nightmare due to the one she was riding getting shot at the ranch... no mention of that anywhere, but are we surprised?

They spend a week traveling together. We get a montage of them that I actually like, and adds to my point that Amos has the most chemistry with Clementine in this book.

They make it to the mountain base where a pair of twins are waiting, and they’re suspicious as hell.

Red flag #1: No names. They refuse to give their names.

Red flag #2: One twin shoots Helen without even talking to Clementine or Amos, they just assumed they brought the horse for them to eat when nooo, Amos wanted to leave Helen with Clementine when they parted ways.

Red flag #3: They immediately view Clementine as a liability for her leg and tell her they’re not feeding anyone who can’t pull their weight... two people who refuse to give their names are in charge of your food and shelter, huh?

Red flag #4: Clementine says they’re dangerous and refuses to leave Amos alone with them.

Red flag #5: the mountain they’re on is literally called Killington. My eyes, look at them roll, there they go across the floor...

Hey, do you think these twins might be bad news? Because I dooooo~

But there’s a really sweet hug between Amos and Clementine after she insists she stays with him. You really feel that he’s scared and hurting after Helen’s death and he’s relieved to have her.

Up the mountain, we’re introduced to Ricca and.... y’know, not even Louis and Violet eye-balled Clementine this fast. I’ll save it for the romance section but uh... yeah. Ricca’s interest is apparent pretty quick... like right after their first conversation and then it goes no where.

So the twins explain that they need wood for building and the stove, snow melts down for water. Stick to the paths when out because the twins won’t come looking for them [red flag #6], they work from sunrise to sunset but the days are short up in the mountains so they need to move fast. They lose a lot of days to storms, they need to keep track of all their tools and bring them in during those storms or else they’ll never be seen again. Walkers don’t come up here because it’s too cold.

The twins refuse to answer more questions, and Ricca says she’s been calling the one with the ponytail “Right” and the one with her hair down “Left.”

Side note: I had a helluva time trying to keep these damn twins straight, you cannot tell them apart for shit especially since they change their goddamn hair styles and have the same goddamn face!

Oh but put a pin in the fact that Amos can tell them apart because “Left has much brighter eyes.”

So they all get to work. Clementine, Amos, and Ricca get pretty close. They go on joyrides with the snowmobile, they spend their nights reading novels together, getting into snowball fights that Clem takes too seriously, hunting, and talking about how sus the twins are. These sections are good, I like them. Especially when they’re reading together- Amos and Clementine read out loud, and when they don’t know a word, Ricca looks it up for them in the dictionary. The three of them are curled up in their sleeping bags, reading by candle light, it’s very sweet. It’s too bad there isn’t more of that in here.

While out chopping wood one day, Clementine hears a noise that is supposed to foreshadow walkers being underground, and we find out Ricca is a smoker.

Oh, and Amos gets sick with a fever. Not fun.

Now let’s talk about the generator because this is funny. Not good funny, though, so don’t get too excited.

So they have this portable generator, right? It’s for the other lift that they just fixed, so Clementine and Ricca have to drag it about three miles away from the main base, but can take a shorter way over a bridge the twins built. They take a map, put it on the snowmobile, and Ricca let’s Clementine drive. Smart.

But uh oh, the bridge is broken! Guess they gotta turn around and go the other- just kidding, they’re gonna tie a rope around the generator and swing it to the other side. I wish I was joking but I’m not, aren’t you laughing???

Ricca fucking falls down with the generator and Clementine jumps down after her.

While down in the pit, they’re attacked by walkers. Turns out the twins weren’t entirely truthful about there being no walkers up here. Ricca breaks her glasses, Clem breaks her prosthetic [which we learn she named Kenny UGH] and Ricca dumps her backstory which I’ll get into during her section.

Ricca then climbs back up and promises to come back, we get a flashback of AJ about to cut Clementine’s leg off? for some reason? and then she starts exploring the cave for a way out... only to be overwhelmed by walkers and then saved by this random dude named Tim who comes out of nowhere.

Tim gets bit, or scratched...? I don’t know, you can’t tell what the fuck is going on during the part. He says it’s just a scratch on the cheek but I thought you only turned if you were bit? Or is it a bite and Tim’s trying to downplay it? I don’t fucking know.

Clementine feels super bad that he’s gonna die because of her. They have a heart to heart, and it’s one of the better parts of this book. Tim talks about how he lost his husband at the start of all this, how he actually used to look after the twins [whose names are revealed to be Olivia and Georgie- correction, her name is GeorgIA, not GeorgIE, but characters just call her one or the other and it gets confusing] and how this whole building houses thing is for their sick mother. Clementine opens up about how she can still feel ghost pains in her leg and how she ended up alone- every group was the same, they fell apart, so she wanted to come up north to live alone.

“I can’t... I can’t do this. I can’t keep watching people die. That’s why I wanted to be alone.”

Tim gives her some encouragement about building a better world and lets her to go, she does, and then she reunites with Ricca. Yay.

Back at the base, Clementine tells the twins what happened and they’re freaked out because Tim’s alive. They interrogate her about him, and Right runs outta there to go find him... Left tries to stop her, and it turns to violence.

With Right gone, Left is super sad, and Ricca is super sad that Clementine didn’t tell her about Tim after they were reunited and then outta nowhere just, “I don’t need a girlfriend or to know all your secrets, just... God, I sound stupid. Just... next time you meet a stranger in a cave, a heads up might be nice.”

Feel that romantic tension?

Speaking of romantic tension, Left asks Amos to come behind the curtain to her area, and Amos is like “Can I get you something?”..... and then Clementine’s hears a gasp from behind the curtain and Ricca is like “let them have their fun.”

So apparently Amos and Left were fooling around... remember when Amos said Left had brighter eyes? I guess that was foreshadowing all the smoochin’ they were gonna do in the background? I dunno. I’m surprised Amos would be chill with foolin’ around, and Left just got into a fight with her sister which I don’t imagine is a mood setter.

Right comes back in the middle of the night covered in blood. I believe we’re assuming she found and killed Tim, who was a walker... maybe? She later mentions that Tim told her something sooo did she kill him when he was still alive? Maybe. Who knows? We never find out for sure.

Oh, and Amos was sleeping behind the curtain with Left.... Keep that in mind.

The next morning Amos fixes up Clementine’s leg, and Clementine asks for the whole story behind him and Left, who he calls Olivia... meaning she told him her real name. But Clementine asks him if he wants to take a walk when night falls because they haven’t gotten to spend much time together, to which Amos tells her, “That would be delightful, Clementine.”

Can I just- Clementine, why don’t you ever ask to spend alone time with Ricca? That’s a serious question, why? I’m seriously truly to feel something with Clementine and Ricca but all I can say is she has better chemistry with Amos.... Tillie, I don’t understand, you write wlw and you’ve done it well before, why is this so... full of nothing?

Anyway, Right is being pissy, and Left tells Clementine that she’s going to leave with Amos once they’re all done here. She wants to go back to his town, but her sister can’t know...... because of course not. I’m sure nothing bad will happen because of this.

Right comes in even more pissed off because Amos is gone and so is the snowmobile. Turns out he took the generator [which Left fixed after it was broken in the fall] to save this “screwed up camp,” as Clementine puts it.

And Right goes, “there’s a storm coming in, he’ll never make it... but at least it’ll be one less mouth to feed.”

RED FLAG #8 HELLO??

The storm hits, and Right just stands outside like a brooding, suspicious asshole who refuses to come in. Left then explains that they’re here building houses because of her mother. Her mother grew up in the area and thought this would be the perfect spot to rebuild when the world went to shit. She kept them alive, so the twins feel like they owe her, especially since she’s sick.

Which.... okay? But also what? Like alright, jumping ahead a bit, we do get to see the mother and the place they’re staying in and it’s huge, AND there are people.... why is it just the twins doing this shit? Tim fucking dipped out last winter so why are the twins here? Do they think building houses will make their sick mother magically better? Spoiler alert, it will not!

This whole part doesn’t make sense.

But then RICCA decides to go out looking for Amos, and tells Clementine to stay behind because she doesn’t want to leave Left alone with Right....

But then fucking CLEMENTINE goes out by herself to look for both of them, all while thinking about Ricca and Amos and the nights they spent reading together.

But guess what? You’ll never guess- Amos and Ricca are alive and he did it, Amos got the lift to work! He crashed the snowmobile, but that’s okay! The other lift works now! They rush to bring the twins the good news, everything is happy!

And then Right pushes Amos off a cliff.

...............................Yep.

This is where the story takes a nose dive into shit- Amos is killed because Right found out about Left’s plan to leave with him... apparently?? Left is sobbing on the ground, Right fucking stomps on her back and tells her to shut up, and then pulls out her gun on Clementine and Ricca, who run away.

Are you laughing? because I’m not.

What was the fucking plan, you moron??? “Oh step one, push Amos to his death in front of everyone. Step two, break my sister’s back. Step three, fucking shoot Clem and Ricca. Step four, ??????” It doesn’t make sense.

Up until this point, I was fine. It wasn’t great by any means, the plot is kinda dumb with them building houses in extreme weather, everything with the generator was dumb..... Right’s always been an asshole, but now she’s decided to be evil.

The story just killed off its best character out of nowhere. It feels very “we have to kill someone off, and Tim wasn’t enough, we have to kill off a likable character so that the reader is sad.”

And like... I can’t even say it wasn’t foreshadowed? because right from the start, you know Right is a bitch. You know she’s an asshole, much more so than Left. Then Left starts smooching Amos and asks Clementine not to tell Right? C’mon... even though we get no indication that she knows about Left’s plan to leave with him. Maybe she saw him peeking from behind the curtain where she knows her sister sleeps and figured out they were smoochin’? I don’t know, I really wish things were actually clear in this damn thing.

So yeah, Right decides murder is a good idea because she won’t let anyone take her sister away... I feel like I’ve seen something similar to this before.

We get another Lee flashback, and now Ricca and Clementine are crying. Ricca wants to go looking for him, but Clementine tells her there’s no way Amos survived that fall.... even though he probably could have, we never see his body so I dunno if this is Tillie leaving things open for him to come back or if she didn’t want to show his body to all the middle graders reading this but this is TWD... no body? they can always come back.

Clementine and Ricca decide they can’t just ditch the mountain yet, they have to save Left from Right- oh excuse me, Olivia... they have to save Olivia from Georgia.

So they sit outside of camp and wait for sundown... but here is where I get even more pissed than I was before: Clementine explains why she left Ericson.

“I spent so many years trying to find somewhere safe. And I did. This old school. There were good people there. People I loved. But after I lost my leg, everything felt different. No one said it, but I could feel it- they thought I was a liability. But I think the real issue... was that I couldn’t talk to any of them about it. They were all around my age, and I... I just wanted to talk to Lee about it. Someone older, and... I don’t know...”

“Lee?”

“He, um, was with me in the beginning. Took care of me, as long as he could. After leaving the school, I was alone, like I was when he first found me. And I realized... I was waiting for him. For Lee to come find me. And I was so pissed at him for not trying harder, which doesn’t make any sense, he’s dead... When I was on my own, it was nice for a while. I was so focused, my mind got quiet... I got so sad I would just cry for days, and then I’d get scared... about what my future would be like. That maybe this sadness would never go away.”

“Has it?”

“Honestly? No... not really.”

................I just-

I thought Clementine left because she wasn’t happy? That’s what she told AJ in Clementine Lives, so what? “Well actually, I really left because everyone at Ericson thought I was a liability and I just wanted to talk to Lee again but he’s dead and I’m pissed at him for being dead and not trying hard enough to save me again.”

This “reveal” is so... bad. It’s bad, I don’t like it one bit because I actually played TFS... more than once. I’ve played it several times, I’ve streamed it about what? Four or five times? Shit, maybe more? I know the story, I know the characters, I know Clementine.

You’re gonna look me in my big dumb face and try to convince me that Louis and Violet looked at Clementine like she was a liability? After everything she did for them? After all they went through? Clementine didn’t feel like she could talk to them about how she was feeling? That they didn’t care enough to reach out to her?

I don’t believe you.

I think you’re full of shit.

I’ll rant about this more in Clementine’s section. We gotta move on because believe it or not, we have even more bullshit to cover.

ANYWAY.... Georgia has Olivia gagged and tied up so she can’t escape.... I just, what is the plan?? What does she expect to happen??

Clementine and Ricca trick her into coming outside and-

Clementine gets her with the hatchet, but Georgia has a gun up her sleeve and shoots Ricca. The gunshots cause an avalanche. The place is covered in snow, Ricca and Olivia are *not* okay, and Georgie is just spouting cheesy villain lines about leaving Clementine’s body on the mountain.

Oh, and she starts trying to guilt Olivia with the whole “Everything I did was for you! I’ve always protected you! He was going to take you away from me! Tim told me not to let you go!”

...Again, I feel like this is very familiar.... hmmmmm....

“You’ve never loved anyone, Clementine, I can see it. You have no idea... how far I’ll go... what I’ll do...”

No seriously, why do I feel like there was another, much better written twin character behaving like this.....? hmmmmmm....

Anyway, Georgia gets bit by a walker while trapped in the snow, and Clementine FINALLY says something I agree with:

“Out of everyone in this world that your sister could’ve picked... you were so lucky it was Amos.”

Georgia and Olivia say their goodbyes, Ricca calls Clementine “baby,” and they drag her outta there.

Now it’s just Clementine, Ricca, and Olivia left. The three of them travel to the lift and get off this damn mountain. They get the bullet outta Ricca when Clementine hears a noise outside. She follows it and finds a one-eyed kitten alone under some junk... because sure. They name the kitten Dr. Barnwell.

I can’t wait for that kitten to be tragically killed off for dramatic effect later in the series. To be fair to Tillie, she couldn’t possibly write an beloved pet death as bad as Rueben’s in MCSM.

Now the plan is to get back to Olivia’s place, sneak past her mother, and steal the plane. Reasonable, yes? Planes are easy to steal, and easy to fly, too!

Ricca also mentions that Clementine talks in her sleep, but won’t tell her what she says until they’re in the sky.

They finally make it there, sneak in, Olivia tells her mother she’s sorry before slipping a note under the door, they run around and knock some guards out, and it’s revealed that Olivia’s mother is a walker.

I think.

The art is too sloppy to fully tell but I think that’s the big reveal.

So... did they know that the whole time? This is what they meant when they said she’s sick? or was she sick before and then died during this time so they have no idea? Ugghhh I don’t know.

They find the plane that Olivia just happens to know how to fly thanks to her uncle teaching her, they take off into the sky, and they plan to go back to Vermont so they can fly over and “let’s show Amos the plane one more time.”

Oh, and that note Olivia left?

The FUCKING END.

That’s it, that’s everything that happened in Clementine Book One. I can’t believe I’ve read this time nine times, holy shit-

The Art Style: I have no idea what’s happening

I struggled with this art style.

Remember how I said Tillie’s a talented artist? She is, she truly is... when it’s her original works and she’s allowed to play with color and doesn’t haven’t to be gritty to fit the TWD aesthetic. Her original stuff is so clean and you can actually see what’s happening.

Some examples:

and I get it, her style won’t be for everyone, and that’s fine. I happen to really like it.... but not when it feels like she’s trying to implement elements of TWD grit while also working in greyscale.

Tillie’s style doesn’t lend itself well to this story. Maybe it would if there weren’t such restrictions put on her by Skybound because I’m sure they gave her a bunch.... but this ain’t it, chief.

As I talked about before, trying to tell the twins apart in this was a nightmare. Olivia has a ponytail, Georgia doesn’t.... but when this is so messy and at times sloppy I can’t tell shit about the hair.

There’s also the fact that if you removed Ricca’s glasses, she would look exactly like the twins. Clementine and Amos are the only two of the five who you can always recognize.

Rabby has a good design, and so does Tim... but they aren’t around enough. The walkers- oh god, the walkers- look like blobs most of the time.

And don’t even get my started on Clementine’s face.

I can’t with Clementine’s face.

Clementine: there’s a reason fans are calling her “Tangerine”

This section of the review is the most overwhelming for me because where do I even begin?

There is never a point in this book where I feel like this is the Clementine I remember from the games. And y’know, I always like to remind everyone who plays the games that no Clementine is the same. We all play the games our way, she shape our Clementine through the choices we make, we have different interpretations of her personality, relationships, how she rationalizes her decisions. My Clementine is different than yours, that’s the fun of these games.

When you take a character who has thousands of different interpretations, who can follow several different paths, and try to make her into a condensed version for a graphic novel while also trying to stay true to her character and not invalidate any choices.... it’s not going to work. It’s just not.

So how does Tillie Walden interpret Clementine for this first installment? Who is Clementine here?

She’s dull. Awkward. Angsty. Feels more in line with ANF Clementine than TFS Clementine but toned down. She has a few moments where she teases Amos and Ricca and that’s cute, that’s some personality I want to see... but then she starts on about how talking is hard or makes a rude comment so... that’s cool.

She feels dumbed down when it comes to first aid solely because the book needs a way to inform the reader of proper amputation care... even though we never see Clementine washing her leg after that.

She’s pessimistic, grumpy, and again, only really shows a soft spot for Amos... which is not good news for Ricca, her actual love interest. Even when she opens up to Ricca after Amos’ death, it doesn’t feel... earned? warm? It doesn’t feel tender, or comforting.... ugh, I’ll talk more in the romance portion.

Clementine does get emotional after Amos’ death, she cries and explains why she left Ericson and I’m still shaking my head at the fact that this book is trying to sell this to me.

This would be an emotional moment if it were coming from anyone BUT CLEMENTINE.... I played TFS and this doesn’t add up.

Clementine wasn’t happy at the end of TFS, everyone around her looked at her like she was a liability, so she left. She left AJ.

Except no? What are you talking about?

Oh, and by the way? She never mentions AJ to anyone. Not by name, not in passing, nothing. AJ get a single panel flashing back to when he cut her leg off. That’s it.

Also look at the way he’s drawn. Someone who never played the games would probably think AJ was a baddie who cut off her leg but you and I both know how fucking raw and painful it was for AJ to beg her to get up and come with him. That one lousy image holds nothing from the original.

AJ might as well not exist. If you took that panel out, nothing would change. Honestly? I almost get a bit of bitterness from it. She goes on and on about how she realized she was going to live while everyone around her kept dying, she would spend some days just crying and crying.... it’s not great.

Clementine feels... immature? And yeah, she’s seventeen in this and seventeen-year-olds aren’t the pinnacle of maturity. I feel like Tillie was trying to present her as mature for her age given her life experience in the apocalypse, but it comes off as emo teenager who thinks they’re mature because they write faux deep poetry on tumblr and wear combat boots.

This isn’t like Clementine in TFS where you do feel she’s mature. She has to be, she has a child she’s raising and protecting. She has to be strong and smart for him. She has to be the adult in their relationship... but she has those moments of vulnerability to remind you that she’s not an adult, she’s a teenager who was forced to grow up too fast and it hurts.

In ep4 of TFS, when they’re in the caves after getting separated from the group, she and AJ get into an argument. She tells him that he’s just a child, and he throws it right back at her- “So are you.” and you can see it on her face... y’know?

You want her to be happy, you want to give back the childhood that was taken from her at the start of the apocalypse, you want her to overcome every obstacle thrown her way. You understand her feelings about Lee, why he meant so much to her and why she struggled to let him go even after accepting that he was dead.

You remember that she is a teenager who makes mistakes, she doesn’t know everything, she fucks up. She’s doing everything she can to protect those she loves. You feel that she wouldn’t hesitate to give her life for the little boy she raised. She still has a lot of growing to do but you don’t doubt that she’s gonna do it.

This Clementine? She has none of that. This Clementine doesn’t feel like the kind of person who could raise and protect a child, who would give her life to ensure that child was safe. You don’t get the vibe of a teen who had to grow up too fast in order to survive, someone who is clever in their survival tactics. This Clementine doesn’t know basic first aid. She was mad that Lee didn’t save her despite being dead. This is a Clementine that I can’t imagine breaking onto a boat full of kidnappers to get her friends back... and it’s not the amputation.

TFS Clementine, amputation or not, she would’ve charged that damn boat herself if it meant saving those she loved. Comic Clementine couldn’t even be bothered to check and make sure Amos really was dead, it’s just easier to assume there was no way he survived... but then she turns around and insists they go back for Olivia, a character she has no real connection with. It doesn’t make sense.

It’s just.... not her. I’m sorry, Tillie, but this characterization is okay at best, insulting at worst.

Amos: I’m signing the adoption papers as we speak, he’s my son now

Amos is the best character in this book, and I’ve yet to find anyone who would disagree with that. Every review I’ve read/watched boils down to “this comic was bad but I liked Amos.”

Let’s be real- he was only made so likable so that we’d all be forced to feel something when he died.

Before I get more into his character, I wanna nip something in the butt that I keep seeing even after this book’s release- Amos isn’t just white Louis. Amos isn’t a “hey can I copy your homework” of Louis’ character. The most they have in common is freckles and being the friendliest person in the group.

A key difference being Louis uses cheerfulness as a shield to keep people at a safe distance from him where Amos is just genuinely cheerful in a very naïve and selfless way.

Or uhh, @pi-creates put it much better when we were talking about it-

So no, Amos isn’t just a rehash of Louis, you can stop calling him the white Louis of the comic now, you’re only making it clear that you know nothing about Louis as a character when you do that. As much as I like Amos, he isn’t anywhere near as nuanced and layered as Louis is soooo stop.

Anyway, Amos! My dude! The only character I liked! The only character with an interesting personality, motivation, and a set goal he worked his ass off for.... only to fucking die.

Of all the characters to die in this damn thing, it would be Amos, wouldn’t it? Ugh.

Amos grew up in an Amish community his entire life. When a man, presumably Tim, showed up to recruit workers to help build houses, Amos got to see the promised plane fly over his head and he describes it as the best day of his life.

So, he worked to convince the council to allow him to go on his Rumspringa, they agreed, and here he is on the road. He fights with an axe, he owns 16 shirts, love his horse, and wears a fun hat. Overall positive, glass half full kinda guy.

He wants to help people. It’s mentioned by the townspeople that he brings survivors there often, he saves that group of people while he and Clementine are on the road and even goes as far as to leave his carriage with them to go after Clementine and stay with her.

Amos trusts Clementine enough to leave Helen with her even though they’ve only known each other for only a week, but through the “montage” page you really get a vibe for how well they work together. I wish it wasn’t just a spread of moments but instead gave actual depth to their journey through dialogue, y’know?

He finds Clementine funny [good for him, I wish I did, as well] and likes being around her. Also they share some looks that I feel should’ve been reserved for the love interest.... sooooo what the hell.

When they meet the twins, Amos is quick to be like, “well actually no-” when they start talking about her being a liability for having only one leg, which was sweet.

I felt so bad for him when Olivia just fucking shot his horse, too... he’s so upset and Clementine’s trying to calm him down, really sucks.

Oh speaking of Olivia.... their “romance” makes no sense? There wasn’t any build up to it, the only hint we got that he maybe liked her was the comment about her having brighter eyes than Georgia, and her sticking with him when he was sick... but then she asks him to come behind the curtain with her, there’s a gasp, and I assume they were doin’ kissing stuff. Like... why? Why even bother? Unless you needed an excuse for Georgia to murder him? You couldn’t think of a better way to kill him off? So dumb.

He’s not all that complex or anything, just an all around good dude. His biggest flaws are his naivety and being too trusting of the wrong people [Georgia]. I mean.... he just wanted to fly in a plane. He wanted to help people, work hard, and fly in a plane. It’s hard to dislike him for that.

When Amos died, it was the first time while reading this that I felt something other than “eh this is fine.” I’m still annoyed, pissed even. His death ruined a lot. It marked the start of a steep decline toward the ending. So much bullshit, and for what, y’know?

In conclusion- Amos makes up an entire star of my rating, the only one worth reading this book for, and he’s supposedly dead now so that doesn’t bode well for Book Two. The only way I’ll forgive Tillie is if Amos comes back as a twist villain, angry that they didn’t even try to go after him.

Ricca: wearing glasses doesn’t qualify as an entire personality, baby

Oh good, I get to talk about Glasses now....

Ricca is... fine. She’s not terrible, but not great. I feel like she had the foundation to be a cool character, but a lot about her falls flat. Her best moments are when she’s with both Clementine and Amos, but things become a little more awkward when it’s just her and Clementine.

She’s a smoker, she’s Jewish, she owns 36 pairs of glasses, has a drier sense of humor that works well with Amos, those two have a couple cute moments in this... uhhh let’s see, she threw a snowball at Clementine once, who overreacted and attacked her which prompted Amos to get between them and Ricca was like “whaaa don’t stop, I was just having fun,” so y’know.... flirting, I guess.

She does come off as a bit whiney sometimes, which gets grating... especially when she gets butthurt at Clementine for stuff and then tries to act like “but whatever” about it.

The reason she’s here is to learn how to build houses. That’s why she agreed to work out there, she wants to have the skills to start over, to rebuild what has decayed.

But her big backstory reveal has to do with why she owns 36 pairs of glasses-

At the start of the outbreak, Ricca was with her brother. He looked out for her at first, but as time went on, he started using her as a “canary in a coal mine.” Basically whenever there was any potential danger ahead of them or if he got bored, he’d push her in to things like camps, caves, herds. She was just a little kid, and there was no where else for her to go... but then she got older, and when he sensed that she was going to leave him, he broke her glasses.

Ricca had no way of surviving without him after that. She had no choice but to fight mostly blind and deal with her brother. It got to the point where she started wishing for death.... until she was out looking for food one day in a dark building and felt an entire wall of glasses-

-but I’m gonna ignore that for right now. She tried on every single pair, found one that worked, and then ditched him. She has no idea if he’s still alive or not. Wonder if he’ll come back as a surprise villain, who knows.

Sooo... glasses are a big part of her character, which is fine. I like seeing characters with glasses, personally. There’s also an uncomfortable feeling seeing her talk about her brother and describing how she felt when she got to see clearly again only for the world to be so disgusting that she was sick for weeks.

Unfortunately that’s about as deep as her character goes and I wanted more.

She does want to go after Amos after he dies, which I appreciate, but Clementine tells her no. She gets shot, so that sucks for her.

For being Clementine’s new love interest, and the fact that this is Tillie Walden’s work we’re reading, I expected her to be waaaaay more compelling but she didn’t hit to mark.

But to be fair, she’s going to be in Book Two so I’m assuming that with Amos dead until he comes back as a twist villain we’ll get to focus on her some more and her personality will shine a bit.

Olivia: the left twin

Olivia is bland.

A block of raw tofu has more meat than Olivia does.

I have read this fucking book NINE times now, and the only thing I can tell you about Olivia is that she’s the “nice” twin, she did some smoochin’ with Amos in the background, and she’s super sad that her sister’s an asshole.

Oh and she shot Helen without asking if they brought the horse for food or not, and then is like “oop sorry, I didn’t know, but it’s cool, I get it, my sister ate our hamster when this started.”

If I was Amos, I’d tell her to the hell away from me, you shot my beloved pet! and I certainly wouldn’t let her be smoochin’ on me!

Anyway, she knows how to fly a plane, which upon looking back through the book, it turns out it was her uncle that taught her... so that’s cool. She’s the one who named the kitten, she... gets sad a lot?

I’m sorry, but Olivia is so forgettable and it sucks. I want to be invested in these twins because they clearly have a troubled relationship, and Georgia steps all over her [sometimes physically] and it could’ve been interesting to see her deal with the conflict of staying vs leaving her sister..... kinda like the dilemma Ricca had with her brother..... were those supposed to be connected somehow....? parallels...? hhhnnnnngggggggg thinking too much into it-

ANYWAY... I honestly don’t have much to say about her. Maybe Book two will give her more characterization, but at this point the pothole in my driveway has more depth than she does so... lame.

Georgia: the right “evil” twin

Ugh.

Alright, no more beating around the bush, Georgia is a watered down version of Minerva... but where Minerva is a great, tragic character with good writing... Georgia sucks.

AND she killed off the best character in the book so she sucks extra hard! Oh my god, she fucking sucks.

Like okay, the twins are here to build a community for their sick mother because the mom thinks this would be the perfect spot so they’re gonna build some goddamn houses in the middle of winter for her with the help of strangers... if that sounds like a dumb reason to you, then you’re right, it IS dumb but here we are. I don’t know what Georgia’s deal is, but she’s an asshole. That’s her entire character: ASSHOLE.

Right off the bat from meeting her and Olivia, you can tell she’s the baddie. You can tell where this is going, she’s going to be the one who turns on the group, maybe she’ll convince Olivia to her side and then she’s gonna try to murder everyone on this mountain called Killington.

She’s the one who tells Clementine that she won’t feed anyone who can’t pull their weight, immediately assuming Clementine can’t do shit because of her leg. She never smiles, never cracks a joke, is never kind to anyone, and apparently she’s super possessive and controlling of her sister.

Also, she’s a goddamn moron because what did she think would happen when she killed Amos?? that Olivia would just be like “oh okay sorry” after you murdered her boyfriend and then gagged and tied her up while waiting for Clementine and Ricca to come for her so that you could also shoot them??

Y’know, when Minerva confronted the group on the bridge in order to kill Tenn, it made sense- she was bitten, dying, and had pretty much lost her goddamn mind after a year of trauma and brainwashing, being forced to kill her sister, and then losing her new “family” after Clementine blew up the boat. She was furious, out of control, bitten, covered in guts and completely out of her goddamn mind. There was no saving her from the start, and she had nothing left to lose.

Georgia’s just an asshole who doesn’t give us any real indication that she’s dangerous. She’s all talk and glares... then she comes back covered in blood after finding Tim soooo are we to assume that’s when she lost it? When she was like “I think killing Amos will make everything better,” or was it a sporadic, in the moment decision?

In fact, why wasn’t she the one to shoot Helen then?? Why did you have Olivia, who is supposed to be a thing with Amos later, when you could’ve really established Georgia as the real threat when she shoots the horse and is like, “too bad, so sad” and then have Olivia come in and calm the situation?

Establish that she’s possessive of Olivia early on, not when she’s two seconds from death and spouting, “He was gonna take you away from me! I had to kill him! I did it all for you!” nonsense...

There’s just so many little things that could’ve been tweaked or added to make her a better antagonist, but no, we’re left with nothing with irritation.

God, Joan from ANF was a more layered villain than this and she was boring as hell.... ugh.

Tim: where did he come from?? where did he go?? where did he come from, Cotton-Eye Joe???

Tim’s pretty chill, but a waste of a character.

He comes outta nowhere to save Clementine and gets bit in the process, but he’s fine with it because it was bound to happen sooner or later, and at least he saved Clementine.

There isn’t too much to say about Tim that I haven’t already said. The scene with him was pretty good, but he’s not around enough to feel like an actual character. He’s just here to make sure Clementine feels bad that she got yet another person bit and to give some info on the twins.

But he’s dead now so... cool.

The “Romance”: if you squint hard enough, you might see it?

I don’t understand why the marketing around this book put such an emphasis on the romance aspect. Remember when the trailer dropped and we got a look at Ricca and it was like “ooohhh new love~”

What love? There is no love, there’s no chemistry, there’s no soft sad uwu wlw love story here! What the hell?? Just gonna lie to me like that, huh??

Okay look... I went into this with an open mind about Ricca. Truly, I did. You know me, you know I’m a never gonna change my mind that clouis is the best, but I took both clouis and violentine and set them aside. I put them out of mind and let myself go into this wanting to ship Clementine and Ricca. I was ready for the sad girlfriends trying to survive this bullshit together with their token straight buddy.

And then I came outta this wondering why Amos wasn’t the love interest? I mean, I know the answer to that so a better question: Tillie, why not just make Amos a girl and have Clementine fall for her instead? The foundation was set, there’s a lot of interesting things you could’ve done with that given Amos being Amish and all. They had a solid thing going on and the only reason I knew they weren’t going to end up together was because it was written by Tillie Walden, a queer woman who writes wlw.

So I’m baffled at everything lacking between Clementine and Ricca! I mean, Tillie could be saving the meat of the romance for the next installments which fine, if that’s the case then I will happily keep an open mind and see if this relationship improves since right now? This ain’t it, chief.

Lemme give you an example of something that could’ve been sweet, m’kay? After they have the generator fixed, Clementine asks Ricca why she always leans in so close to her.

Ricca begins to explain that everything has started getting blurry... meaning her eyesight is getting worse and all these glasses she owns may not work for long. A scary thought, especially when you factor in her backstory with her brother.

This feels like a set up for soft moment, something I wanted to see more of... only for it to be rudely interrupted by Amos being murdered.

Like.... C’moooooon maaaaan...

UGH

There’s no warm fuzzy feelings here, and the only time I went, “they could be cute if it could get me invested” was the ending where Ricca is clinging to Clementine as Olivia boots up the plane and starts flying.... but even then, that moment is cut short because Clementine has to be all, “let’s show Amos the plane one more time.”

They don’t kiss here, either. There isn’t a first kiss moment, there isn’t a confession scene, there isn’t even an admission of feelings on either side. Ricca calls her “baby” and now I guess they’re something?

“Clementine, baby, don’t let me die here~”

Ugh. Do you know what I think of when I hear the words “Clementine” and “baby” in the same sentence? I think of the voicemail Clementine’s mother left in ep1 of S1: “Clementine, baby, if you can hear this, call the police... it’s 9-1-1... and we love you... we love you...”

So excuse me if I don’t have a great response to that.

Anyway, maybe it’ll improve with the next book which shouldn’t be too hard given all the nothing this book gave.

The Lee Flashbacks/Nightmares: hey, remember season one? remember Lee? remember when Lee died and Clem was sad? do you remember??

Uuuuggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......

To their credit, these flashbacks are pretty loyal to the games as far as dialogue and setting, but the main point of them is for fans of the games to read this and be like “ohhh I remember Lee, he sparks joy!” and for new readers to have a face to a name when Clementine talks about him to Ricca.

But they don’t do much to improve the story. The only time I appreciated how one tied into the story was when Clementine watched Amos fall. We see her and Lee on the train, and we get this dialogue:

“Ask me anything, Clementine.”

“Will the pain ever stop?”

because yeah... watching Amos die was pretty damn painful, ties in well.

But other than that? Meh... which is crazy to say about LEE but that’s the comic for ya.

Final Thoughts: I can’t believe I read this 9 times

What’s that thing called when you keep repeating a thing hoping it’ll be different but never is? Madness? Is that what I’m feeling right now?

9 times, good god....

It wasn’t worth reading that many times and yet, here I am, a mad lass dissecting a comic I don’t like that remains unfaithful to a character I love. I watched and read so many interviews with Tillie, I kept tabs on reddit threads about this book, I pestered my discord buddies about it... can’t wait to do this two more times...

In the end, this book isn’t good. I like a couple things, but the good doesn’t outweigh the bad. It’s definitely not canon with the games, no matter how hard Skybound whines that it is.

I can’t recommend it to any of you. If you’re gonna read it, you can find the whole thing for free on youtube. If you wanna support Tillie Walden without supporting this series, check out her other works. I’d recommend On a Sunbeam or Spinning.

btw did y’all hear they released the description of Book Two?

“Clementine and her new friends are rescued by an island community led by an enigmatic doctor called Miss Morro, but just as Clementine's scars are finally beginning to heal, she discovers dark secrets that threaten to tear her new life apart. Can Miss Morro be trusted? What about the rest of the islanders? And just how far will Clementine go to protect the ones she loves? Tilllie Walden's acclaimed trilogy continues! ”

I dunno how I’m gonna survive Book Two if I don’t even have Amos to look forward to..... guess Tillie’s just gonna have to make me like Ricca, huh?

I also need to keep in mind that this IS a trilogy, so questions I have now and am annoyed about may get answered in the next book, Olivia might go from being stale white bread to a wonderful slick of cinnamon and raisin bread, and the romance may start existing... won’t know until June.

No wait, excuse me, October... they’ve already pushed the release date later for the next one soooo that’s interesting.

This is the part where I ask what you thought. What are your thoughts on Clementine Book One? I’m curious to know. Send an ask or leave a comment on this review. I know this was long but hey, thanks for sticking around to the end, it’s appreciated.

Thanks for reading! 💚

#Clementine Book One Review #twdg clementine #twdg aj #twdg lee #twdg louis #twdg violet #twdg #twdg kenny #long post

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mzannthropy · 5 months

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I absolutely agree that Camilly>>>> Daisybilly. Also Edmila. I'm just gonna pretend none of the cheating happen. Also, what do you think about fics that make Billy a bad father? I hate them lol. Billy was there for Julia's plays,soccer games, and to see her grow into an adult. You can tell he loved her.

(This got long...)

Thanks, it's good to see someone still cares about Billy x Camila! Tbh I've been thinking that I probably misunderstood the story, which is not unlike me with the way my mind works, but the thing is, I was only in it bc of Sam Claflin. I would never have had picked the book up if he hadn't been cast in the series. I barely care about real 70s bands, never mind fictional, and I didn't know anything about Fleetwood Mac (in fact I only started listening to them bc of DJATS and, funnily enough, I saw that 1997 performance on TV which they just happened to show at the time when the filming of DJATS was going on--but I didn't think anything of it. Don't those two hate each other?). That's my kind of longwinded way of saying that I had no idea I was supposed to ship Daisy and Billy, especially as I rooted for Camila right from the beginning. I'm also much older than majority of the fandom and have one failed marriage under my belt already, so I see things differently.

I think that Camila liked the rockstar side of Billy, hence why she was able to overlook some things (after all, this was the 70s), bc she knew he would always come home to her. Relationships are laundry and taxes, not omG tHE wAY thEY LooK aT eAcH OthEr on stage, but I guess that's not cool enough for the show. I'm not a fanfic person, actually, I read maybe about three a year (and that's only short ones) and with the exception of Jane Eyre, I don't write any (I prefer writing original). Occasionally I check AO3 for some particular piece of media or a ship, just to see what's there (in fact I did so twice in the last week, once for a particular pairing in a L.M. Montgomery book and once for all The Count of Monte Cristo fics, Sam's next project). I've never looked at any DJATS fics ever and I'd rather not know. So I didn't know there were fics that made Billy a bad father. I suppose people can write what they want, if they need to make Billy worse for their preferred ship to exist, well, they're free to do so, if it makes them happy. I loathe cheap, lazy plot devices and villainisation for the sake of making the protagonist look better, or making the reader/viewer care about the author's favourite pairing. I tend to feel the exact opposite of what the writer(s) want me to feel. So merely hearing about the Billy as bad father fics makes me hate them, lol.

It's not true, anyway. The show didn't exactly do Billy any favours with erasing the twins, bc in the book, he was with Camila while she was giving birth to them, holding her hand etc, in contrast to Julia's birth. But even so, we have some evidence of him being a better dad, like when he rang Camila while on the Aurora tour and wanted to hear Julia just sleeping. They could have done more and I suspect they really did, that there were more scenes that they eventually cut. Idk, but this picture just makes me think there must have been more. Who knows...

So while he may not have been the world's best dad, he was not a bad one either. After all, as I started saying lately, (about real people but it goes for fictional too), people can be more than one thing.

Saying that, Eddie gives me mild incel vibes. If Camila wanted to be with Eddie, she'd be with him. "I'd choose you over everyone" means nothing, it's just words. It was a bit of a lazy shortcut for Camila to cheat with him, but that's just one of the show's sins. They gave Camila a creative profession and then did a fuck all with it, like why couldn't she have connected with a fellow photographer? Like that dude she talked to in the dark room or whoever it was.

I wonder if soon we'll start seeing articles on Screen Rant et al about how "wrong we were to ship Billy and Daisy and how emotional affairs ruin the lives of everyone around them" or something similar. More likely, though, the show will fade into obscurity which I will honestly be thankful for. I'm glad that Sam got what he needed out of it (he talked about it in interviews) and I'm glad Camila got some recognition, she just won a breakthrough award at Critics Choice and I'm glad Suki and the others got to be in it and the songs are good, and I wish them well, and I wish the writers a very hope your pens break and drafts get deleted and I hope Hello Sunshine burns down.

#billy dunne #billy x camila #camila dunne #answered #bad writing #bad fanservice

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inkblotsandpapertrails · 2 years

Text

Unstoppable Force, Immovable Object [K.O] [Chapter 2]

Tags: Enemies to lovers, slow burn,

Pairing: Kyoya Ootori x Reader

Description: For reasons you don’t care to express, you find yourself in need of sanctuary. It’s a shame you have to share that sanctuary with Kyoya Ootori, of all people.

A/N: yknow how i said 'no other fics until my race fic is done' well i fucking lied i guess (do not judge me it's been SO long and i just need to write and feel something). iiiii feel as if the 'reader' persona is nowhere NEAR as vague as it should be but i hope you're able to project anyways. also ooOOooOO we're getting lore now babyyyy

Taglist: @shawkneecaps @katiebug0603 @kisskissshutmydoor @sukuna5slut

Working at the Host Club wasn’t too bad, all things considered.

Despite only being Vice President, Kyoya ran a very tight ship. He’d ordered, in no uncertain terms, that your lunch hours and free periods would be spent running errands for the club, and even though he had made a point of sharing your work number with the entire club, he still insisted on you being present in the club room in case they needed to talk to you directly. No hiding away in any broom closets or spare rooms. Honestly, you thought he was just trying to make your life hell. Well – he and everyone else in the club, it seemed.

The twins, true to their word on that first fateful day, had taken you as their new plaything. While Haruhi was without a doubt their favourite toy, you were certainly the toy they liked to abuse the most. They had spent the previous week making you miserable. They had a talent for twisting a situation until you didn’t know which way was up and which was down; for example, only the first day after you’d been hired, they had you fetch about ten multipacks of gum. You’d had questions, of course - was this much gum really necessary? – but they waved you off.

“Don’t ask us,” the twins had shrugged, “Kyoya-sempai thinks having a bad-boy character in the club will bring in more guests. So we’re trying to fit the bill!”

You’d frowned at the time – it did sound like the kind of fan-service weirdness the Host Club was known to pull, but on Kyoya’s orders? It was possible, you’d supposed, but it felt odd, even for him.

Kyoya’d caught your eyes – when had you turned to look at him? Even now, you still asked the question – and, with a flat look, gestured vaguely around the room. Well?, those pompous eyes said. You’d grit your teeth. Fuck Kyoya, you had thought. If he wants ten stupid multipacks of gum, then he was going to get it. You’d get that little trust fund baby the best fucking gum he’d ever seen in his life.

You had then spent the rest of your night holed up in your room, attempting to cut out the bits of chewed-up gum that had ‘accidentally’ gotten stuck in your hair. It was a wonder how it got there, since you hadn’t even seen the Hitachiins chewing anything – surprise, the “bad boy” thing was a lie, why did you ever come to this stupid place? You thought you’d done a good job at cutting out the chunks without the rest of your hair looking uneven, until Kyoya got a look at you and gave you that look – the Ootori stare, some students called it. You called it the asshole-eyes. He bent at the waist, the picture of elegance, and held an irritating little cowlick you couldn’t manage to flatten between his thumb and forefinger. He raised his eyebrow, only a few inches away from you, and you had to force your hands to fist against your uniform to keep you from punching him or – something.

“Find a hat from the dressing room.” Kyoya had said. He’d smelled like purposefully unscented soap – sterile, chemical, no-nonsense. You held his gaze. Fought a shiver. “And find an actual stylist the next time you come here.”

You were going to kill him.

Thankfully, the rest of the Hitachiin’s games felt like standard schoolyard bullying – confusing you as to who was Kaoru and who was Hikaru, making up club rules and coming up with stupid errands for you to run – there was one especially bad incident where they’d told you it was perfectly fine to use Kyoya’s laptop to print off your club to-do list.

It had not been fine.

You sighed as you made your way back to the club room from the seventh grocery store Kyoya sent you to, your arms laden high with bursting paper bags. Kyoya. You had no idea what the Shadow King thought of you – whether he hated you or simply found you amusing, you had no clue. He seemed to be testing you, seeing how much you could take before you snapped. Well, you were afraid you’d have to disappoint him – the club may have been hell, but it was better than spending your free time at home. Besides, Haruhi was pleasant enough to talk to, and Hani was sweet enough. Mori was strange, but he wasn’t annoying, nor did he seem to outright hate you.

Still, you couldn’t help but feel a little jab in your stomach whenever Kyoya simply ignored all the tricks the twins played on you. You knew he wasn’t your friend, but hadn’t he been the one to get you your job here? Had he really seen something in you, or had he just wanted to spite you, the way a child might roast an ant with a magnifying glass and then walk away? You shook your head. You didn’t need to worry about some smug second-year. You just needed to worry about doing your tasks, that was all.

You tried to sneak through the club doors as quietly as you could, so as not to disturb the club members as they prepared for their clients. It did not work.

“Kyoya-sempai!” The twins hollered in delight. “Your project’s back!”

“I thought I told you not to distract our hosts?” Kyoya sighed, not bothering to glance up from his laptop.

“How is that my fault?” You snapped – you shouldn’t have, you really shouldn’t have, but you were sweaty and tired and god you hated this place. “I didn’t even do anything!”

“Oh, my apologies.” Kyoya hummed absently. “By the way, I’ll need you to pick up the new costumes for our next theme day.”

Hani-sempai frowned around his piece of cake.

“We’re having another theme day?”

Kyoya smiled at you politely.

“We are now.”

You fought the urge to throw a jar of instant coffee at him.

“Oh, [Y/N] dear!” Tamaki called from the couch was lounging on. “A cup of tea before club hours start, if you please?”

You forced on a smile and tipped forward in a small bow.

“Any particular flavour in mind, Suoh-sempai?

“Hmm...” Tamaki hummed, tapping his chin. “Rose tea, I think! Perfect for a delicate flower like moi.”

You were going to get wrinkles, holding smiles like this.

“Of course, Suoh-sempai.”

Hikaru rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers with a petty smirk.

“Fetch Kaoru and I some African black tea, too, doggy.”

“Of course, Hitachiin-kun.” You sighed, doing your best to ignore your new, unfortunate nickname. You made your way to the snack table and began busying yourself with the various kettles and jars of loose-leaf tea. You shot a quick glance over your shoulder – Kyoya was tapping away at his laptop, the twins playing some video game together, and everyone else seemed to be busying themselves with club activities. Slowly, carefully, you fished your phone out of your pocket and popped your earbuds into your ears. You moved to the same rhythm as the music, trying not to make your swaying and toe-tapping too obvious as you got the cups ready. You were just getting a tray for the cups when a finger hooked around each of your earbud wires, tugging them out of your ears.

“Oh, doggy,” Hikaru tutted condescendingly. “Slacking off on the job?”

“That’s not very nice.” Kaoru sighed. “What are we going to do with you?”

“We knew you hadn’t been at Ouran Academy very long, but we thought you knew some manners.” They finished in unison. You growled and made to snatch your earbuds out of their hands, but they easily side-stepped, tugging on the wire and pulling your phone out of your pocket.

“Hey!” You cried. The twins grinned wickedly, Kaoru tossing his earbud to Hikaru and allowing him to snatch your phone from the floor. “Give that back!”

“Sorry, we can’t hear you!” Hikaru smiled, tossing your phone across the club room and into Kaoru’s waiting hand.

“Your music’s playing too loud!”

“I said, give it back!”

“What was that?” Kaoru giggled as he raced to the other end of the room. He pitched the phone across the room, practically giving you a heart attack. You ran to catch it, your fingertips grazing over the earphone wire when Hikaru jumped up and snatched it from over your head.

“We don’t speak dog!”

“Guys, give it a rest!” Haruhi jumped to their feet with a piercing glare.

“C’mon, Haruhi, we’re just having fun!” Hikaru laughed as he leaped onto a couch and hurled your phone to his twin, the two of them cackling in delight when they saw you skid in the opposite direction.

“They did promise to be quiet and respectful!”

“We’re just making sure they do their job right!”

“Both of you, stop!” Tamaki snapped. “This is not how hosts behave!”

“Sorry, boss, but club hours don’t start for ten minutes!”

“Hika-chan, Kao-chan, stop being mean!” Hani whined.

“We’re not the mean ones!”

“That’s enough!” Mori snarled, hoisting Hikaru over his shoulder with ease.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a flash of grey metal.

“Mori-sempai, wait-!”

Your phone collided into the floor with a sharp smash.

The silence of the room was deafening. Haruhi had both of their hands slapped over their mouth in horror, and Hani looked close to tears. Everyone else simply stared in shock. You took a quivering breath, taking shaky steps towards your shattered phone despite the heavy weight in your stomach.

“[Y/N]...” Kaoru murmured. "We didn't... I mean, you can probably replace-"

“What the fuck is your problem?!” You snapped, the force of your yell echoing throughout the room. The club stared at you in shock – you had always been rough around the edges, but you’d never actually sworn in front of them, nor had you lost your temper so fervently. Hikaru, who had somehow made his way out of Mori’s grip, at least had the decency to avert his gaze.

“It’s not like we tried to-!“

“What did I ever do to you?!” You yelled. “Seriously, what?! Tell me! What did I do to have you hate me so much?! What, is it because I’m foreign?! Because I don’t want to be a host, because I don’t have as much money as you?! Tell me what I fucking did and I’ll apologize for it, I just don’t-!” Your voice cracked. You heard something splash on the floor, and it was then you realized you were crying. You screwed your eyes shut as humiliation over took you, scrubbing your face harshly with your uniform sleeves. “I just don’t know why you have to treat me like this. I know I’m just your – dog, or whatever but I don’t-“ You let out a broken hiccup as more tears began to stream. “If this is how you’re gonna treat me, I’m better off being at home!”

The club members blanched, exchanging confused glances and concerned looks.

“[Y/N]-chan...” Hani whispered. “[Y/N]-chan, please don’t cry...”

“No!” You snapped. “No, just – fuck you guys. Fuck you guys, I’m not-!” You took a heavy, shaking breath, and turned to face Kyoya. He was standing now, staring straight at you. You took sick satisfaction in the way his eyes were ever so slightly widened behind his glasses. You were officially important enough for the Shadow King. Yippee-ka-fucking-yay.

“I quit.” Your voice was numb, barely recognizable. “Call your lawyers on me, I don’t give a shit. I’m going.”

You left the music room before any more tears threatened to fall, the ringing in your ears muffling any desperate calls of your name. Then again, it was probably just your imagination.

---

The trek home was difficult, to say the least. You’d told your driver you’d be staying late with the host club, meaning he wouldn’t be back for hours, and you did not intend on waiting around in the cold for someone to take pity on you. It was pathetic. You weren’t a dog. You weren’t a dog.

So, you walked. If you weren’t so tired, you might’ve questioned how slinking around the streets and avoiding people’s concerned looks at your tear-stained face was any less pitiful than the alternative. At least you could focus on your steps instead of wallowing in your own misery, you supposed.

By the time you reached home, the sun was beginning to set. The soles of your feet felt as if they were splitting down the middle, and your forehead was slick with sweat, matting your hair to your skin. As you stumbled your way up the driveway, you could see your driver, Masao, pause with one hand over the car door handle, looking at you the way one might look at – well. A stray dog.

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” You said before he could open his mouth. Masao wasn’t a friend, by any means, and you doubted he had any intention of comforting you, but since he was the servant you spent the most time with, you supposed he must’ve felt that it was his duty to check on your mood. It was an annoying trait about him, sure, but you at least valued that he did genuinely care about your wellbeing, even if it was only a little.

Masao nodded and let you pass, and you only hoped he wouldn’t report anything unusual to your parents. While you appreciated Masao’s concern, you could still find it annoying. Especially when he involved your parents on things that weren’t their business.

As you entered the house – the word ‘mansion’ was probably more accurate, but the sheer brattiness of the word sat uncomfortably on your tongue – you could feel your spine grow rigid at the tension in the air. Your mother sat, poised to perfection, at the coffee table in front of the large French windows, embroidering a circle of shiny fabric with careful precision.

“You walked home.” She didn’t phrase it like a question, and did not once looking up from her work.

“Yes.” You said around your clenched jaw.

“I thought you were enjoying that club of yours.”

You forced your face to remain still.

“I am. It’s fun.”

“And yet you left early.”

“I’d finished all my work and the Hitachiin twins were bugging me.” You said, a half-truth. “So I decided against sticking around.”

“You could’ve told Hideo.”

“I didn’t want to tell Hideo.” You snapped, against your better judgement, and winced regretfully. Your mother sighed and set down her embroidery, but still did not look at you.

“[Y/N], Hideo is a kind man. He is patient and understanding and you are beyond lucky that we found such a good match for you.”

You rolled your eyes, forcing yourself not to point out that they didn’t exactly pick pure-bred Hideo for his patience, did they?

“You said I had a choice.”

“Of course you have a choice.” She sighed, irritated, as if you were a poorly trained animal pulling on its leash. “But you are going to have to marry someone, and Hideo is not going to wait around forever.”

“Oh well, sucks to be Hideo!”

“That is enough!” Her voice rose just shy of a yell. She stopped herself, her whole body freezing and retracting back into its elegant poise, and picked up her embroidery again, returning to the perfect model of the upper class housewife.

“As I said,” her voice had returned to its lilting monotony, “Hideo will not wait around forever. I understand that you are independent, but you must marry someone, and Hideo is-“

“Why? Why do I have to marry someone?”

“Because, dear-“

“Because of social standing and connections and whatever, but what if I don’t need those?”

A derivative scoff broke your mother’s elegant façade.

“And how do you expect to succeed your father’s company without the proper connections?”

You gritted your teeth. Your ribs felt like they were rattling with each furious breath.

“Maybe," you growled, "I won’t be working for dad’s company.”

Your mother’s needle slipped, tearing through the fabric like paper.

“Go to your room.” She said icily. “Now.”

“You can’t just force me to-!”

“Now!”

You shoved your growl down into your throat and stormed into your room. Slamming the door was childish and petty, yes, but listening to the undignified clang of wood and metal ring out against your oh so perfect house was beyond satisfying. Your muscles twitched and tightened with the urge to kick and scream and punch the wall until the world became fair, but-

But.

You forced a heavy breath through your teeth. Your fists clenched once, twice, and relaxed. Sleep. You needed to sleep. Everything was just – too much, right now. You couldn’t deal with it. You shouldn’t have to deal with it. It wasn’t fair.

You flopped onto your bed with a heavy sigh. The sheets were silky and slippery, cold against your skin. You’d tried buying your own sheets, but your mother had merely tutted and told you they ‘weren’t appropriate’. You didn’t see the reason why you couldn’t decide on what was appropriate for your own room. It was yours. Mother dearest controlled your house, and your school, and your future, but couldn’t you control your room? Apparently not.

You reached for your phone, ready to scroll to the nearest ‘white noise’ video you could find on YouTube, before remembering the entire... Debacle at the host club. You groaned and reached for your laptop. Best to keep that one a secret until your mother was a little less pissed at you.

The moment you opened your laptop, a notification pinged. Facebook, it seemed. You frowned; you rarely used Facebook unless it was to comment something on a relative’s birthday post, and you could count the number of Facebook friends you had on one hand. So who was messaging you?

Ouran Highschool Host Club (Official) has sent a message.

Ah. Of course.

You rolled your eyes and clicked onto the message tab, expecting some vague threat about the consequences of quitting. You could manage that. It wasn’t like Ootori’s family would let their youngest son waste money and reputation on a bullshit court case.

Ouran Highschool Host Club (Official): This is Ootori Kyoya. Meet me in room D-4 tomorrow during the lunch hour to discuss today’s incident.

There it was, the vague threat. Perhaps you should make bingo cards about all of Kyoya’s annoying traits. You began typing your own message, one not nearly as polite, saying that if Ootori thought you’d come into D-4 on your hands and knees, begging for forgiveness, he could go ahead and shove his ego up his-

Ouran Highschool Host Club (Official): I shouldn’t have let it get so out of hand. As vice president, it was unprofessional of me.

Your fingers hovered over the keys. That was... Unexpected. It wasn’t an apology – Kyoya Ootori never apologized – but... It was dangerously close, let’s say.

You flailed at your trackpad and closed the tab, forcing yourself not to look at it any longer, and opened YouTube. Sleep, that was the important thing. You were mentally and physically exhausted, you had absolutely no energy to think about weird, cryptic Kyoya and his pseudo-apologetic messages. You found some lo-fi rain sounds video and placed your laptop on your nightstand, forcing yourself to turn over and stare at the wall. After the seventh time you looked back at the laptop screen, definitely not hoping for another message from Kyoya, you forced a shut-down and shoved it under your bed.

It was safe to say you did not sleep well for the rest of the night.

#ohschc #ohshc x reader #kyoya ootori #kyoya ootori x reader #ouran highschool host club #kyoya x reader

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melis-writes · 1 year

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I was wondering if I could and a request.

It’s sort of an add on off your Victoria x Sonny fake death.

While it’s Cool that Vic and Sonny got to fake their death and live happily ever after. (personally I’m a hardcore Vichael shipper) Maybe there would like a 15 or 20 years time jump, maybe the children of Sandra and Sonny’s learn for their fathers deception and track him down.

I could imagine they would feel very bitter that their father essentially chose to abandon them, perhaps they could confront him and Victoria about their actions.

It’s just an idea.

Oh, I see. I see… 😶 Very, very interesting. I guess we can definitely go ahead and say that the happily-ever-after Victoria and Sonny would get together is finally being able to flee to Venice and marry there. 😅 You know how it is. Roughly 15 years later from Victonny’s first appearance in 1954, that would bring us to 1969! Sonny is 53 and Victoria is 45! Frank and Francesca would be 29 and 32 upon finally confronting their father in Venice. 👀

The past fifteen years passing by didn’t happen in the blink of an eye nor did it drag on, rather you felt for the first time in your life that you could live every day to the fullest and feel the passage of time as a gift, not a curse.

From the first year that Sonny and you fled to Venice together, all you could do was think about the possibilities of being found, caught, recognized or even worse.

Despite the fact that the Corleone family virtually has no power in Venice, that may not be enough to stop a potential assassination should Michael have sent one if he suspected anything.

Neither you nor Sonny knew what came of the family ever since. Naturally, neither of you were in contact with anyone whatsoever and unlike you, Sonny had left all of his children behind without so much as a ‘goodbye’.

Just as Sonny wanted it and planned for back then, thinking his family to consider him dead for eternity is much better than them expecting closure or feeling bitter. Bitterness in the family always lead to grudges and deaths.

Three years in and you no longer cared. You stopped thinking, stopped imagining what anyone thought of you or how they mourned you—your own family included.

You know deep down in your heart that even if your own family discovered the nature of what had actually happened, they would not seek to harm nor kill you. Still, the thought of their everlasting disappointment, reactions and perhaps how they’d treat you is something you can no longer afford to think about for your own peace.

Neither Sandra nor Michael ever remarried, remaining widow and widower.

From the bloody mob war that ensued after you, Sonny and the twins’ “deaths” in seek of revenge, Michael had also become a hardened, cold man. He had lost his wife and his only children which in return robbed him of his own humanity.

Sandra on the other hand carried on as well as she could, taking care of all of her children and telling them the bitter truth regardless of how they needed to hear it. She knew it was a loss she would never recover from, but she couldn’t give up on the rest of her life or her children’s.

Life had to go on with or without you and Sonny, and as many years came by and went, what “happened” became a memory to all. A painful, heartbreaking memory and loss riddled with guilt, but nothing more.

You can no longer remember much of Michael. His gaze, his facial features and much of the sound of his voice you saw and heard everyday is lost to you; memories felt and imagined in a haze without clear details.

On the other hand however, everyday you wake up to the love of your life snuggled up next to you in bed. Everyday your hands run through Sonny’s soft curls, down his stubble as you caress his cheek and you’ve memorized every inch of your husband’s body as he has yours.

Neither you nor Sonny ever regretted what you both did to get away and finally be able to live a free life together in love. Neither of you lived that past life anymore and thinking of it didn’t provide you two anything either.

It was Frank, Sonny’s eldest, who lived in a constant state of denial. He refused to believe his father, let alone you or the twins were dead because no bodies were recovered.

Of course it made sense—to Michael especially—as to why there would be no bodies. The sight of two dead bodies and two bodies of infants would be a grisly, but highly wanted revelation in the media’s hands and the manner of which you, the twins and Sonny were “killed in” would be another direct message to Michael.

It was better off for everyone’s sakes not to find the bodies, as macabre as it seemed, but that was never a good enough reason for Frank.

For many years, Frank presumed his father might be living as an outcast in another state. Frank had suspicions since the twins were so young that they may have been raised elsewhere by another Sicilian family only for the Molinari family to take them once they reached of age. If that was a possibility, it would mean endless bloodshed to Michael.

Frank had also thought you may be with Sonny, whereever you are, but as far as he was concerned, he didn’t think either of you had left the United States and it took Frank another revelation to understand what truly happened.

Kathryn, Francesca’s twin, grieved quietly but questioned nothing more after hearing about the “deaths”. She wanted nothing to do with the bitter memory or reminder nor reminisce about it, but the same couldn’t be said for Francesca.

Just like Frank, curiosity boiled in Francesca to understand what had happened and how deeply it impacted the family with the aftermath lasting years to come.

It was when Francesca kept a keen ear to the wall, listening to her aunt Connie and Deanna’s drunken antics and gossip that she heard Connie mentioning Sonny and your name one late night.

“Knowing Michael, I thought it would be revenge,” Connie raised her wineglass to her lips, “it would make sense, you know. Especially after the New York incident.”

“The New York incident?” Deanna snorted, “is that what we’re calling it now? Nobody ever gives me any details on it. All I heard was that Victoria left for New York, then attended that—what’s her name—that American girl’s preliminary trial or something.”

“You’re not wrong,” Connie confirmed, “that is what happened, but nobody ever says a whisper of why Victoria left and why Sonny came after her, right?”

Francesca felt the color pale from her face, but she couldn’t stop herself from listening. Something inside of her urged her to sate her curiosity and understand that if there was anything between you and her father, that she must know everything.

“I warned her about my brother, I did,” Connie began, “and he just proved me right. Kept lying to Victoria like nobody’s business—breaking that poor girl’s heart. I think he hid something about her family to her and she ran off. She was pregnant and she went off to New York like that.”

“Huh, I do have to applaud her then,” Deanna hiccupped, covering her mouth. “Can’t just go to bed and call it a night next to a liar.”

Connie shrugged, continuing her story. “Definitely not. From there I already assumed it must have been really serious. Next thing you know, Michael and Tom are trying to cover up the reason why Victoria’s missing at the breakfast table the next morning. Went to see her sick mother, my ass. I mean, God bless Ludovica Ferrari’s soul but we all knew her condition then and she was doing fine. Michael barely spoke to any of us. I know my brother—he looked stressed. Whispering things to Sonny and Tom like nobody’s business and then Sonny’s off to see Victoria. He sure as hell didn’t make the trip just to ‘check up’ on Victoria.”

Francesca held her breath, remaining quiet and listening to the rest of the story.

“What makes you think that?” Deanna asked, taking a swig of liquor straight from the bottle.

“Because when Sonny got back, Michael almost broke his nose. Punched him bloody and I heard Victoria screaming for him to stop.” Connie revealed, “I know damn well something happened in New York. Sonny had his opportunity, didn’t he? Sandra supported his promiscuity—she always has, as you know, and there you have it. Victoria alone in New York and three months pregnant with twins. Then you wanna tell me it’s a coincidence they insist on sitting next to each other at dinner, the giggling, the conversations, how Sonny can’t get his eyes off of her?”

Francesca’s eyes stung with tears as she clasped a hand over her mouth, feeling sick to her stomach at the thought.

“Victoria, Sonny and Victoria’s babies all disappear without a trace. Now, I’m not saying anything, but the New York incident always had me thinkin’… It’s like they were just a couple not meant to be, and not like it could be fixed if Victoria and Michael divorced, but that if there’s something going on with Victoria and Sonny, Michael would make sure no matter what that they’d never have peace or each other.”

When confronting Frank who was the only other one in the family that cared and continued to think of and question what happened to you and Sonny, the two were both convinced Sonny and you were still out there alive and well.

Feeling deeply bitter and angry with the revelation Frank and Francesca put together, the two knew that if anything they suspected was true in any way, they could never tell Michael unless they saw you and Sonny face to face.

Michael and Sandra could never know of any suspicions out of fear they would lead to your deaths if you were both still alive.

Despite the fact neither Francesca or Frank would ever come to forgive you or Sonny for what you two did even if you had provided them every reason you could to justify your actions, neither wished for harm or death to come you or Sonny’s way.

There was no trace of you or Sonny in Sicily and such had been confirmed by your family years back and now again.

Giuseppe Ferrari was more than willing to hope that if you were hiding in Sicily, that you would rejoin the family and that no consequences would be held over you for faking your death but just as it was true, you weren’t in Sicily and you’d never be found there.

Francesca and Frank did not relent. Contact after contact in Sicily with questions unanswered, they were able to find someone who had connections and family all throughout Italy to search for anyone named ‘Victoria’ and ‘Santino’ or ‘Sonny’.

There were too many women named “Vittoria” in Italy to count, but only one named ‘Victoria’ residing in the town of Asolo admist many Santinos.

Francesca and Frank were dead set on finding the two of you there no matter what it took and cost them. They could not stop then with what they considered to be a strong lead and did it behind their families’ backs so nobody else could come to suspect anything.

Days of inquiring in the little town later did Francesca and Frank come upon an elderly woman confused by their request of finding a woman named ‘Victoria’ who under the presumption that Francesca and Frank’s intention on finding their ‘parents’ was pure, essentially gave it away.

“Non capisco cosa intendi. No, no... C'è solo una Victoria qui. Si chiama Vittoria. La chiamo Vittoria. Vive ai margini della città con il marito Santino.” (I don't understand what you mean. No, no... There is only one Victoria here. Her name is Vittoria. I call her Vittoria. She lives on the edge of town with her husband Santino.)

‘Her husband Santino.’ Frank would never forget the appalled look over Francesca’s face as she attempted to hide her shock.

The two had expected at this point for you and Sonny to be romantically involved, but hearing that you were both married after fleeing the United States and faking your deaths, fooling everyone involved and continuing your lives on like nothing killed any sympathy Francesca and Frank could ever have towards the both of you for good.

Francesca and Frank didn’t have to go knocking on door to door or ask anyone living towards the edge of town where to find you or for directions, because Sonny and you were already there.

Francesca and Frank were facing your garden when they walked down a beaten path towards the villas of the neighborhood, but froze in their tracks at the sight of the two of you from afar.

“The best ones,” Sonny chuckles, adding another orange to your basket. “Isabella would love these.”

“She already can’t get enough of the lemonade Verona made yesterday,” you let out a laugh, looking inside your fruit basket. “I’ve barely had to go down to the market at all!”

Sonny adds another three oranges to your basket, picking them off the tree. “I say we wash these up back inside and have another fruit bowl when the kids get back, eh?”

“Sounds perfect,” you smile back, leaning up for a kiss.

Francesca’s mouth runs dry, watching her father kiss you sweetly with a loving arm wrapped around your waist.

Just as stunned as his sister, Frank and Francesca slowly begin to approach the garden—staring, in shock, and attempting to process everything let alone how happy and head over heels the two of you appear to be with one another.

“Dad?” Francesca croaks out, standing in the midst of the garden.

Sonny and you both turn around abruptly at the sound of a familiar voice, spotting a dismayed Francesca and Frank standing before you.

“Dad,” Francesca repeated with a more forceful tone, on the verge of tears. “You’re…”

The sight of the two of you alive and well remains to be the most difficult one to process after years of believing you and Sonny were assassinated; a rush of emotions surrounding Francesca and Frank.

Sonny keeps his arm over your waist, holding you close to his side. The gaze you give your husband is one of exhaustion from your heart and defeat; you don’t even want to know how or why Francesca and Frank found you, knowing where they must be, Michael can’t be far.

“You’re—” But before Francesca can approach Sonny and rush into his arms, Frank grabs his sister’s arm and frowns at her.

Neither you nor Sonny appear bewildered, in fear or saddened. Rather it’s defeat that the two of you accept knowing if Michael or his men are here, everything else will be short-lived momentarily.

It matters very little to you and Sonny in terms of your own lives; having spent the past fifteen years in marital bliss, watching Niccolo and Verona grow up, welcoming Angelo and Luciana to the family and then your youngest—Isabella—was nothing short of perfect.

It’s no longer your own life or wellbeing you care about if its forfeit, but ten year old Isabella, and what would become of all your children too.

“You’re alive!” Francesca cries out, still in disbelief. “You’re alive, you’re here and youre—” She can hardly bring herself to say the words as Frank hugs her tightly. “You’re with auntie—”

“Where is he?” Sonny asks flat out, his mind over Michael and his men’s whereabouts than a confrontation with his own children. “I know he’s here, so tell him to come face me.”

“Who, dad?” Frank speaks out. “Who are you talking about? Expecting the rest of the family too? Only Francesca and I tracked you down!”

“I don’t believe that,” you say back, coldly.

“You…” Francesca hiccups, her eyes meeting yours. “Auntie, why—”

“Where is he?” Sonny asks more forcefully, raising his voice.

“Nobody’s here, dad,” Frank gestures around him. “Nobody but us. Everyone else still thinks the two of you are dead, remember? Or did you forget that like you forgot us?”

“No, I’m not having this,” Sonny holds up his hand, rolling his eyes. “Alright, so here you are. Here you two are. The big confrontation—the best day of your lives. Happy now? Huh? Is the part where you two run off crying and then your uncle’s men take care of the rest? Because if so, can we please get to the point? I’d rather take a bullet to the fucking head than listen to this.”

“Listen to this?!” Francesca’s eyes widen, “do you even hear yourself, dad? Frank and I spent years searching for you! Thinking of you! Crying and grieving over you! We came all the way down to Venice—you think any of this was easy for us?”

Before you can say anything, Sonny speaks up again. “I know there’s nothing I can say or do that would ever change your minds—not yours, not Frank’s, not Sandra’s and not Michael’s either. Nothing! So what the hell does it look like if I just stand here and listen to all of this? What do you two want? Why did you think Victoria and I left in the first place?! To get away from all of this—”

“To get away from your own children?” Frank interrupts.

“But you aren’t children anymore, are you?” You speak up, keeping your voice calm and collected. “And you weren’t when we left. You were already both adults. Don’t make this out to be something it’s not, please.”

“Then what is it Auntie? Huh?” Francesca bursts into tears, hiccupping through her words. “You and dad ran off together…just like that… Uncle Michael grieved for you, for Niccolo and Verona!”

“You don’t think we know that?” Sonny raises a brow. “You don’t think we thought about all of this? Continued to think about it? I’m not gonna have a pity party over a decision we made fifteen years ago. I don’t know why the two of you came here. Nothing I say is gonna redeem myself anyways, is it?”

“Maybe not,” Frank’s voice begins to tighten. “But seeing is believing, isn’t it? I just had to know, dad. And it wasn’t easy. You didn’t make it easy.”

“That was the point.” Sonny’s eyes harden. “And I hate to say this to the two of you but I have to. I let my old life go a long time ago. I was done with all of that. I was sick and tired of lying and pretending to be a man I’m not—stuck in a loveless marriage with your mother.”

“You could have divorced her then!” Francesca grits her teeth, “you could have made it easier on all of us.”

“Divorce her?” Sonny scoffs, “and then do what? Ask Victoria to do the same? Then you think your Uncle Michael will let us have our happily ever after?”

“You abandoned us!” Francesca shrieks. “You left us, dad! Auntie, you did the same! Both of you were selfish! You both went as far as to fake your own deaths! Do you know what that did to us? How it broke the family?!”

“We’re not gonna tell Uncle Michael,” Frank frowns at you and Sonny. “We’re not gonna tell anybody.”

“I don’t believe you,” you admit. “I’m sorry, but I don’t.”

“You don’t seem sorry,” Francesca swallows hard. “Both of you seem so happy, living out your lives here. It’s been almost twenty years and you didn’t even think of us? You two abandoned us to live out your fantasy here?”

“What fantasy?” Sonny crosses his arms. “She’s my wife. She has been for fifteen years—”

“Mama is your wife!” Frank exclaims.

“Don’t raise your voice at me, boy,” Sonny scowls. “You’re on my property and in my world now. I don’t care what you think. What the hell is it gonna change?! What have either of you gained by doing this?”

“Uncle Michael would at least want Niccolo and Verona—”

“Oh no, I don’t think so,” you stare back. “Niccolo and Verona are both nineteen years old now. They’re adults who can think and decide for themselves. You don’t think they know the truth?”

“You…you told them?” Francesca clasps a hand over her mouth.

“Daddy? Daddy!” Isabella’s voice rings out as she rushes into the garden with a beaming smile over her face, holding her favourite doll in her arms.

“Isabella,” Sonny turns to face her as both of your expressions soften.

Feeling heartache rack over her heart, Francesca watches as a ten year old—the spitting image of you and Sonny—snuggles her father’s arm shyly.

“Who are these people, daddy?” Isabella whispers.

In Isabella, Francesca practically sees herself. She too grew up in Sonny’s arms, being spoiled with Kathryn as daddy’s little princess and now Francesca faces her half-sister who doesn’t even know of her existence.

“It’s nobody, honey,” Sonny reassures her, “just some visitors who came in out of town. They’ll be leaving soon, won’t they?” He looks back up at Francesca and Frank.

“Yeah, we will,” Frank affirms.

“You don’t even regret it, do you? You’re happy with everything you’ve done despite all the pain you’ve caused,” Francesca’s voice croaks.

“If it meant securing my own happiness, I would do just about anything. I’m in love with her, Francesca. Can’t you see that?” Sonny gestures to you, holding your hand tightly.

“Uncle Michael’s in love with Auntie, he still is,” Frank points out.

“But I never was,” you confess, “my family made me marry Michael. It was a loveless marriage from the start and yet you all came to ignore it. I wasn’t happy. I was forced.”

“It’s best if you still pretend like…” Sonny pauses for a moment, peeking down at Isabella hugging him before continuing to speak. “Like we aren’t around anymore. There’s nothing we can say or do for you two.”

“Yeah… I know,” Francesca’s breath hitches as she forces herself to turn away—her back facing the both of you with Frank. “You’re not my father anymore. You haven’t been for a long time.”

#godfather au #victonny #sonny corleone #santino corleone #sonny corleone x reader #moth to flame fic #moth to flame fanfic #prompts #moth to flame au #godfather x reader #not canon

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