#LOOK AT LE CUTE FISHIES

[anonymouscheeses]

Spending one day with a mentally ill mermaid (She almost kills me 😱😱)

[goldrockyroad]

now that the season is over here are chuang2021 moments i cannot believe are real, a list that only gets longer and in no particular order: 

- that entire bit of them choosing their dorm rooms, including but not limited to:

lin mo copping his double room only to lose it + his mental breakdown after that

almost 20 of them fighting to have hiroto stay in their room

nine and patrick's 'we break up' (only for patrick to move in after 1st round of eliminations) 

ak: ‘does rikimaru snore?’ santa: ‘yeah, very loudly’ ak: ‘oh NOOOO i’m scREWED’ 

- hanfu shop owner liu yu

- han meijuan training base: 

yu gengyin’s ‘i am a proud fishie swimming into your heart’ 

also yu gengyin: ‘i’m a little scared that the debut lineup will end up being 11 han meijuans’ 

zhang xinyao dropping it low. that’s it. 

han peiquan: ‘look at that santa, he can dance so well but can he do this? he can play the drums but ask him to come here, can he do it? no way’ 

the entire “just go where you want” performance including their intro + mentors comments + xie xingyang’s slogans

but even more so “just go where you want” 2.0 LIVE AT THE FINALS 

- the mentors dancing along to ‘vote for me xoxo’ during “just go where you want” 2.0 before carrying and promptly drOPPING zhou shen onto the floor before the rest of them pretend like nothing happened in time for the ending pose 

- “when i’m with you”, “unbreakable love”, “just go where you want” > the actual theme song all day every day 

- don't be shy @/tencent , give me all the clips of gan wangxing singing jing long's “lost you” (diu le ni) + more of the both of them dancing to crab dance backstage

- zhou shen, to shao mingming on the verge of having a meltdown over mean comments about him as practice for “i don’t care” stage: ‘do you want to hear the next comment?’ shao mingming, as the others start laughing: ‘plEASE NO’ zhou shen, reading the comment anyway: ‘he only knows how to cry’ cue maniac laughter from all of them 

- just hanjiang, really 

zhang xinyao, on “feng ding” stage: ‘it was so good. also i wanna add hanjiang you look like huluwa’

to wu yuheng after “i don’t care” team’s performance: ‘there’s only one word to describe you - handsome. first time i saw you i went, woah, handsome. saw you on stage performing - woah, handsome. seriously, handsome’ 

xue bayi, backstage: ‘i think he’s said that to me too’ 

when called up at 2nd eliminations: ‘what’s manga-like man?’ another trainee: ‘ means you look like you came out of a manga’ zhou zhennan: ‘yeah it’s like fei yang yang came out of the page into real life’ 

domineering ceo with all of them either screaming or looking mildly uncomfortable 

literally scREAMING to get people to join “zui kuen” team 

more importantly hanjiang’s dad imitating him scream to get people to join “zui kuen” team to a dAMN T 

- patrick: ‘hello everyone i am your ocean prince patrick!’ wu hai: ‘and i am the ocean’ [for non-chinese speaking fans of chuang, the hai 海 in wu hai means ocean] + the continuation of this on wu hai’s dorm diary

- “unbreakable love” 2.0 !!!! put it on spotify right now !!!!!

- da-geTM bo yuan 

fu sichao, on bo yuan getting 9th for 2nd eliminations: ‘that feeling when your own old man (laughs for a bit) when your old man gets a really good grade, it’s indescribable happiness’

amu: ‘bo yuan’s like my grandpa, and he might as well be’  

eisho’s ‘bo yuan gege’ 

hiroto getting other trainees to call him da-ge on dorm diary but having bo yuan as his da-ge 

or alternatively, yuan-shu [uncle yuan], as seen after using the term fanersai（凡尔赛）[literally means versailles, a slang that means the same thing as flexing / humblebragging in english] 

- gan wangxing unintentional comedian

han peiquan, on his first impressions of gan wangxing: ‘he’s such so good-looking, and then he opens his mouth (disbelievingly rolls his eyes) i almost died right there’ 

on being 11th for 2nd eliminations: ‘in the past, my life plan was that after graduating from university, i’d find a stable job and live a nine-to-five life. and i used to fantasize that in my future i’d be able to find a wife early, drive a car to bring her travelling, we can listen to some music and lift our heads to see the stars’ 

other trainees: laughing and going ‘oOHHHH’, notably including xie xingyang: ‘he’s still fantasizing!’ 

also other trainees, after seeing the video his family sent to cheer him on: ‘where’s the wife? where’s the wife!’ 

also ‘hello, look at me’ coming up everytime he shows up

case in point - the mentors erupting into laughter when gan wangxing steps forward to do his evaluation, notably zhou zhennan: ‘kill me with it!’ [i’m not sure how to translate what he actually said in a better way than that], nene following up by simply going ‘hello’, zhou zhennan immediately picking it up while still laughing: ‘look at me’

holding the umbrella for nene at the end of “it’s raining and i’m thinking of you” stage just for all the trainees backstage to go ‘why’s it you!’ 

Very Passionately telling gong jun what jing long taught him on singing

- ‘andy lau has come to visit our zoo!’ 

- wu yuheng’s quest for chilli sauce in his dorm diary:

wu yuheng and fu sichao terrorising a staff member for chilli sauce until the staff goes to wu yuheng ‘if you wake him (fu sichao) up every morning i’ll make sure you get your chilli sauce’ to which fu sichao says to wu yuheng ‘you know what chilli sauce isn’t that great let’s go’ 

wu yuheng straight up drinking zhou keyu’s chilli sauce because i could never 

- liu yu confessing to lin mo as a dare from shao mingming but lin mo’s in the toilet so liu yu has to awkwardly do it standing outside the cubicle door while shao mingming and xue bayi eat the drama up 

- oscar’s reaction to people finding out his real name + the entire ‘xiong xiong’ saga 

- lelush with a pearl earring 

- rikimaru moments that deserve a segment of their own 

having the first comment on his first solo performance be ‘drop your skincare routine’ [essentially] because the mentors didn’t have anything to critique on his performance 

at the start of his speech at 3rd eliminations, when it was clearly evening: ‘good morning’ 

getting very sad over the fact that yumeri didn't send him a video to cheer him on + being jealous every time someone's sister showing up in the videos

- speaking of sisters, the guys simping over amu's sisters + amu, asking the mentors when trainees had the chance to dedicate a few words to each other during the final livestream: 'can my sisters come next year?'

- santa, on preparation for nana party stage: ‘she (mao xiaotong) learnt the choreography really fast, and even if she made mistakes she’ll be like *makes cute expressions* so even when she did i’d be like “it’s ok! no problem!” she’s so cute’ the staff interviewing him: ‘is this the santa we know?’ 

- “the adventure” team making fun of their female guest before finding out said female guest was meng meiqi aka goddess incarnate AND had been watching them make fun of her through the cameras 

- lin mo’s bat song

- xie xingyang discreetly stealing food from the staff on their movie night that was originally supposed to only be for those who used their beans before a whole group of them [led by jing long, consisting of xie xingyang, wei ziyue, hu yetao and others] just go and outright take it with nine hugging the staff member to let them take the food that entire bts video is a mess and you know what? that’s what i’m here for

- zhou zhennan’s constant ‘wtf’ face 

- that chuang x GQ beach video 

- gong jun’s entire time on chuang, but especially the moments with zhou shen. felt like a fever dream tbh 

[coolgirl]

Hey what's Jason's relationship with nocturna? It's the first time I've heard of her😣 and nothing on her wikia mentioned anything about Jason. She seems interesting character and I would like to know more about her.

okay I went. A little insane. Here's a retelling of her pre crisis arc, long as hell  

(this part covers Batman #529 / Detective Comics #363 / Batman #530) ok for some context: it’s pre crisis, meaning this Jason was also a circus boy. He has recently lost his parents, and was taken by Bruce, but isn’t dealing with the loss well, finding himself missing his past life. PLUS Bruce isn’t allowing him to be his partner, and that has him sad as well. 

SO he wants to go back to the circus, since hes lonely and directionless etc.

NOW. ENTER NATALIA KNIGHT! Shes a villain, think.. Catwoman meets Poison Ivy? She’s a thief, but seduces men to do the stealing mostly. 

Her backstory is basically that she was an orphan living in the streets, and met who will then become his adoptive parent Charles Knight when she was 12. When she’s already an adult, Charles gets killed, and she finds out he had big money bags bc he was a criminal. and she said. awn man i like being rich. well. time to do crimes.

she’s rlly into the night and the stars (she was the head of the observatory, which Bruce was funding through his company or w/e)

anyways. she gets away, Jason helps bruce find her (but! bruce wouldnt le him help which rlly hurt jason), and as her and her partner anton are getting away (again) batman catches up to them, but only manages to bring anton to justice, while Nocturna escapes in like. one of those giant balloons idk whats the name

the issue ends with Nocturna/Natalia sending Bruce money for the maintenance of the observatory and with Jason deciding to leave

NOW onto the next part. So in this issue we have Jason escaping home, Bruce going to court against Natalia’s partner Anton, and Natalia just vibing around, and she happens to find Jason running away from home, and they have a conversation in which she tries to convince him to go back home.

but Jason. well.

So Bruce gets back home and Alfred tells him about Jason running away, and bruce, in real bruce fashion, is all like ughg i shouldve listened to him.. well lets go get him. and alfred is like. sir. do i have to remind u u arent his legal guardian yet. u have no right to decide where he stays.

so bruce is like ugh fine. i’ll go patrol then. which he does, and turns out Nocturna was trying to help Anton escape, and well it fails, and she gets captured too. 

and that’s that for Natalia… for now ;)

NOW. this isn’t relevant for Natalia & Jason but again some context. Covers um  covers fuck a bunch of issues. SO. what happens in this time

jason goes back to the circus but is deeply unhappy

he’s still doing detective work. hasnt seen bruce or alfred in a while

alfred visits

case stuff case stuff case stuff it was the clown all along

Jason ends up helping Bruce, since they were both working the same case separately, and they make up

NOW. a lot of shit happens not relevant to nocturna. Jason isnt robin for a while, then he uses Dicks costume, then bruce gets mad at him for that bc its not his costume, so jason uses his own costume, then dick gives him the robin costume, so jason becomes robin. um stuff stuff happens and all it matters is the panel below.

NOW! BACK TO NOCTURNA! 

her comeback arc kinda starts in batman #374, where this lady is like hold on.. bruce wayne isnt jasons legal guardian wtf, is he even fit to have a kid?

so she starts digging around, asking questions 

and shes like yea this is real fishy, give me that kid

so bruce and jason try to behave like uh yes no robin and batman business. let that kid be a kid.

but welp.

and so.. Jason is taken away :( and both of them are heartbroken :( 

but u know what! bruce wayne is one stubborn fucker! and he will fight to have the legal guardianship!

and even if they’re not living together anyomre they’re still the dynamic duo in a way, which like. lol. this lady took this kid away bc she was worried about him but he still ran away.. tch tch tch.

they’re both rlly depressed about the situation

AND THATS WHAT U MISSED ON GLEE!!

NOW. SHES BACK. look at this epic cover

shes now parterning w a dude named nightshade or smth, and he like. rlly wants to hit that, but shes like um pause ⏸️✋my love is the night. the dude, like every other man, is like so im not getting anything from this? fuck u, and leaves. shes like whatevers, ugh how annoying i dont have a partner again & anton is still in prison… &  while shes again chilling she finds out about Bruce trying to legally adopt jason & recognizes jason from the time they talked

& goes to visit him

and theres also this dude, whos not rlly relevant for now, will try to stop bruce from adopting jason which will be relevant later hehe (there's a whole subplot with him and bullock but like it's not rlly relevant to Jason n Natalia) (shrug emoji)

and so. Bruce finds out..

and so the cover becomes a reality, Bruce and Natalia WILL fight in a chuck n cheese parking lot to become Jason’s parent.. and Natalia may try to pull a reverse card on Bruce

and well. Bruce rlly has no chance now does he? and turns out Jason wants this to happen since hes convinced he can unreveal Natalia’s secrets from the inside

and a lil sweet moment between father & son

and then a moment with Amanda, who, in my opinion, did nothing wrong ever

meanwhile Anton comes back, tells Nocturna he killed the dude that was bothering her, and she gets PISSSSEDD OFF shes like u TARNISHED the night by SPILLING BLOOD, u absolute BEAST, Bruce gets there, some weird stuff happens that aged rlly poorly, then Nocturna stabs Anton to save Bruce, turns out she knows hes batman, again shes like marry me to have our son (Jason) and hes like no! and leaves. While Bruce tries to find Anton, Jason is like ive HAD IT i wanna go out, but Natalia stops him

then the next morning Amanda gets her head straight and talks to Jason

but well Jason is hellbent on exposing Natalia from the inside or w/e, and eventually she gets the custody, even if Amanda tries to convince him and the judge Bruce is a better choice (since she noticed Jason clearly favors him and was in pain when he wasnt at the wayne manor)

and everyone is coddling Bruce which im adding bc its cute and i miss this relationship Bruce had with Vicki and Julia 

MEANWHILE, at the knight house. mad hatter is a a weird creepy rat bastard n tries to get control of Natalia & get the information of her brain or smth. Batman gets there & we get a Batman vs Controlled nocturna fight and then Robin also arrives and its Batman & Robin vs Nocturna, but B tells Jason to focus on getting Mad Hatter, which he does and then gets Nocturna back to normal whatever, and she again asks Bruce to marry her, which hes again like no thank u! the issue ends with this page which is rlly sweet imo

next up Anton is back but it doesnt matter rlly. a woman is tending to him, n because shes blind hes like. im batman. yeah. and she believes it. 

AND then Jason is formally adopted by Natalia

Jason is still trying to find proof that shes evil, and they share a moment. 

but jason is like. gotta fight crime! and so Natalia is like well i tried. wanna go be robin a bit?

Batman & Robin go after mad hatter, and then Nocturna joins them bc shes epic

and takes jay home bc its a school night smh

Natalia & Jason spend some time together but Jason still doesn’t warm up to Natalia which like. makes sense since shes a villain and all that, but she tries nevertheless

and then everyones most hated bitch comes back (Yes, anton) n he attacks Natalia, and then Jason when he hears the ruckus and goes to help

but gets a chop

but! Bruce was just on his way to visit them so 

fight fight bruce gets shot in the head n gets amnesia and thinks the dude anton shot & killed was him

Anton swaps their costumes n makes Bruce believe that Anton is batman not him? or smth

afterwards Jason blames himself

and him & Natalia team up to find Bruce which includes.. carrying a corpse around

for three days (well. nights) anton just runs around stealing n shit dressed as batman, n bruce is. literally chilling on a rooftop. alfred is losing his mind bc !? jason hasnt contacted him!? about what happened!? but Julia comes home and comforts him

gotham is a lil in chaos with gordon vicki vale n bullock being suspicious, and the girl who was helping anton finds the stuff he stole and realizes hes not batman.

on the fourth night Jason n Natalia find Anton

n they fight him

but Anton gets the upper hand w Nocturna so Jason jumps in to defend her

and then Nocturna defends Jason bc thats his baby

but Anton doesnt get like. killed w that ofc, and hes like fuck u i’ll kill u one day but when the kid isnt here and after batman has fallen, bye (throws jason from building)

and Natalia reagroup n well.. some things are said

bc like even if Nocturna is helping shes a villain.. right? (thinking emoji)

meanwhile Bruce finally got his mind back. not important. who cares. the lady who was helping Anton goes to the police to tell them about Anton/fake batman dun dun dun. but Anton finds out and knocks out the policeman who went w the girl (Tina!) to check for proof n shit.

and guess whos back! amanda!

back to new dynamic duo

so Jason the little rascal (can i say hes a rascal when hes doing the hero thing n trying to expose a criminal?) goes looking for proof that Natalia is Nocturna n stuff, and finds some stolen things

1. singsonging.. hes such a little shit lmaoo, 2. she was worried… pause…

anyways. they have a confrontation 

in which Natalia swears shes reformed, but Jason doesnt buy it, and is like. im gonna get gordon! and Natalia is like.. do what u think is best

but. he can’t do it..

n hes like. well shes not bad anymore.. i wish i could go back to bruce without sending her to prison which… please development..  n natalia DOES want his love..

AND THEN! BRUCE IS BACK! and he teams up with Nocturna to find Anton, but its just their luck Amanda sees them

they do sm stuff not relevant and then Bruce is like go back to ur son now, and Natalia is like.. OUR son :)

well whatever whatever they get Anton, Bruce goes back to being Batman, they clear his reputation, Jason goes back to the manor since Amanda saw Natalia, etc

(he munches he crunches) also im gonna add this that isnt relevant bc its just so funny, buenos dias alfred

anyways stuff hapens, like idk 14 issues without nocturna, the most important bit that happened is that selina is back. which she was gone. yeah. but shes back and around.

ANYWAYS! 15 issues later! shes back! some dudes entered her old observatory n were vandalizing and she was like hold up

meanwhile we have Jason calling amanda bc he well.. misses his mom and as much as he loves bruce and hes his dad its not the same for some reason

jason in every universe: i miss my mom i want my mom :(

at school Jason overheards some kids talking about Natalia in the observatory

Jason goes looking for Natalia n turns out Bullock was also trying to see what was happening in the observatory, so they kinda team up for two whole panels to find her

but Jason is like im not telling u shit.. n goes w Natalia on his own

google always taking pics

n they share a moment ;_____;

n theyre reunited.. now ur gonna have to excuse me bc i didnt download the high quality of the next tec issues n all the download links are sadly broken

but… what about natalia?

then bullock finds them

well bullock lets her go n while retelling the stuff to gordon he has.. a theory

meanwhile Nocturna.. well Nocturna is back at it again, taking charge of a band of thieves.. sigh. 

anyways, they talk, theres something weird happening w the sky that may mean the world is ending or smth, and they make up AND make out

n they have a talk thats basically like. what now? should we be together? well depends if ur still gonna steal. i need funds to get the observatory back in track (HELLO BRUCE IS RICH HE COULD PAY IT..) and hes like oh so ur gonna be a thief again.. and shes like well havent u noticed im only stealing from corrupt rich politicians!? (QUEEN) n theres this gorgeous shot

n then they go their separate ways bc its fucking batman

anyways. Selina was also investigating the group of thieves (that were like black masks old gang but he was sent to prison so Nocturna took over etc) and she sees Nocturna leaving and follows her to the Observatory but.. Jason is there too

Selina wants her GOOOONE she needs to clear her name but Jason is like. over my dead body

n well ……. the girls are fightinggggggggggggggggggggggggg

but Bruce intercepts

n now Batman n Catwoman fight and its like the girls are fightingggggg… 2! but doesnt matter look at them

and then Selina gets struck by lightning

n then theres a earthquake bc god what a damn comic, and the observatory collapses, and Natalia is trapped inside

anyways Selina is in the hospital, Anton is still killing people and knows where she is and is trying to get to her, and this little scene happens with Jason n B

n while Bruce stays with Selina Jason goes to find Natalia which is so funny like. she went to Natalia, his mom, when Bruce told him to go home and well– we al know that story.

n now its a race to get to Natalia before Anton gets to her

n its rlly sad bc like Natalia is ready to die

n 

but both Bruce n Jason are trying to reach her

and here comes Jason!

AND LIKE. the fact she wants to live after all bc of Jason rlly makes me emotional not gonna lie! not gonna lie!

and no offense but a mother’s love………………………………….. no thoughts head empty

first of all i hate anton so fucking much. secondly here comes batdad..

n Jason tries to help Natalia escape and then get back to Bruce who is getting his ass kinda kicked

guess whos coming in that helicopter.. selina freaking kyle.. the legend.. and she helps Bruce with Anton. 

I REALLY DONT GET THIS TBH LIKE. he puts her into the giant balloon so she can get away but like shes hurt buddy shes gonna die up there.. 

and. shes gone.

n Jason is absolutely devastated

n like. Bruce. as always. is like ok champ i see u got it in control, lmk when u wanna go home

LIKE HES SO SAD.. OF COURSE HES SAD THAT WAS HIS MOM....

And thats. pretty much it. Natalia is gone. 

However Jason still grieves her, and when Bruce and Selina are trying to get back together and... hes not a big fan of their relationship.. at all. But bruce tries to pair them up so they can become at least friends, since he loves them both and doesnt want to like. pick between his son and his lover

and they make a fine team, even if Jason grieving Natalia and how Selina doesnt want to take her place is brought up a couple times :(

and it gives it a bittersweet ending to the arc

and well. thats it. thats the Jason and Natalia dynamic.

Natalia reappers later post crisis but well w/o her connection to Jason.. and i really dont wanna talk about the version of her that appears in batwoman comics LOL.  

conclusion: natalia was a bad lady, who at first wanted to use jason to get money from bruce, but then she had a change of heart, and development and became a kind of anti hero? well not antihero just.. she was trying her best man. i wish she hadnt disappeared like she couldve stayed relevant to jasons story without having to be romantically with bruce? bc if u read her comics u can see that she was killed off/voided for batcat to comeback which... typical batcat! anyways. i think she genuinely loved and cared for jason and that jason loved her and cared for her right back :( 

[juanitasupreme]

I mean this in the most respectful way i can, but what is cleopatra’s ethnicity then? I thought she came from a greek dynasty🤔 but if thats not correct pls answer

The things is that we don't know how she looked like and white people (always them🙄) to come scream "She was greek blablabla". Yes her father Ptolémée xii was macédonien this is very true,he may have some spices in his background too (persian or others in him)  but even if he was 100%, well we have no idea of who was Cleopatra mother 🤷🏽‍♀️. At this moment right here claming that Cleopatra was white as factual become fishy. Without scientifical or visual évidences we are going nowhere.

What History told us most of the times about Cleopatra is that she wasnt that cute (selon le canon de beauté de l'époque bien évidemment) but she was an extremly smart person (a genius if you ask me), she was a Queen 💁🏽‍♀️ capital Q. Her character lies more in her qualities and capacities as a leader than what we are debating about today.

This part of the world at that time was cosmopolitan, so comming with your white certitude of 2020 don't make that calling Cleopatra white for a fact valid because we don't even know.

One of the problem of guessing Cleopatra ethnicity is that a lot of people approached the subject with a strong eurocentric point of view of nowadays. The world had much diversity back then. I feel like white people have a hard to grasp that she may have not be fully white or what being white mean during our ages. We all know that medias have been whitewashing the world and history for themless (aka white people). The incertitude of cleopatra make it easier to play on this ambiguous whitewashing (they never cared about the background of what egyptians looked like back then anyway). I would love for white people to come down from their white pride and stfu for one minute from Cleopatra's ethnicity debate.

[aseriesofvariousevents]

The Legend Series

The Legend Series is yet another series I received for Christmas years ago and never finished. This break, though, I finished it in what quite possibly could be a PR for time it took me to read a series. I started the books on a Friday evening and was done with the series by Sunday afternoon. Marie Lu wrote a riveting saga of strength with characters wholly unafraid to stand for what they believe in. 

*SPOILERS*

The first book in the series, Legend, is a strong start, though not perfect. I’ve technically read this book twice before, once as a physical book and the other as an audiobook during a long car ride, so I may be overly critical of my reading this time around, since I don’t typically re-read books, but I found parts of the story to be unnecessary. This may just be coming from my perspective as an “older reader” instead of a young teen, but I found Marie Lu did the characters a disservice by making them 15. The age itself is fine hypothetically, but the emphasis on the romance at times, especially toward the end, felt forced between the two characters and I think, at this point in the series, it would’ve made more sense for them to be just friends. I thought the author wrote June’s loss of innocence surrounding the world she grew up in very well and I truly felt for the girl who had to watch her world crumble around her, bit by bit. I did appreciate the Les Miserables analogy throughout the story, with the June realizing that there may be more to Day than she thought. I also enjoyed Tess’s characters and, briefly, Metias’s, though I found Tess to be a bit one-dimensional at times. Overall, I found the book enjoyable and thought it was a good start to an interesting series. 

Favorite Quote: Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything's possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time.

I found Prodigy to be an improvement overall from the first book (not that the first book was inherently bad in any way), but I still had some gripes with some of the plots Lu chose to explore. I really enjoyed the politics aspect of this book, with Anden’s utter desperateness to succeed as a ruler and the double crossing of the Patriots by Razor, lying about who is funding this assassination. I had a feeling Razor was not the character he was believed to be for a while, but I never put two and two together that it was the Republic behind the scheme, but when Kaede explained everything, it all made sense, which I found to be a really cool plot point. Once again, the romance in this book frustrated me to no end. The romance between the deceased Metias and Thomas seemed more like a throwaway gay couple than anything of significance, especially since Lu did not explore their relationship as anything other than friendship in the first book, with Thomas even flirting with June (though it was implied that that was all a ruse to keep her safe, but I found that a feeble excuse). It was intended to make us feel worse for Thomas and the “sacrifice” he made for duty, but it instead just made me more sad for Metias. Tess’s sudden love for Day seemed super random as well, especially since they were basically surrogate siblings for each other for years, and, at the end, June’s and Day’s break-up of sorts seemed overly formal for being fifteen-year-olds who had only known each other for a month or so. Prodigy was definitely a page turner, but aspects were still frustrating to get through as a reader.

Favorite Quote: My heart is ripped open, shredded, leaking blood. I can't let him leave like this. We've been through to much to turn into strangers.

Champion was a satisfying conclusion to the series (though I haven’t read Rebel yet, the newest book in the series). Eden’s character was sweet and it was exciting to see him as an actual character for the first time, and not just a sick child that Day constantly thought about. I appreciated that the Tess romance thing got resolved in this book, but Anden’s love of June was creepy to me, considering the age difference, and in the epilogue, I found it weird, but not unexpected, that the two of them dated, though I was glad they broke it off. Day’s illness throughout this story seemed out of place as a plot point for me, especially since it took five years for it to really develop, but I was glad he wasn’t “perfectly cured”, after getting shot. I’m not sure if Lu meant one of those last few chapters as an homage to Les Miserables, but June’s repeated pleads of “let him live” are in the song “Bring Him Home”, which I found to be a nice Easter egg in the story, whether intended or not. June being the cure made sense in a way, but I don’t understand how she got better completely. It’s implied that the colonies gave her some sort of cure and took the virus to spread, but how they got hold of a cure seems fishy to me. In the epilogue, when June sees Metias’s grave and says that they’re finally the same age, I teared up a bit. I can’t imagine having to come to terms with effectively outgrowing someone lost far too young, and I thought the author described her grief really beautifully here.

Favorite Quote: That's why I'm sorry. I'm sorry because you shouldn't have to be everything to me. I had you, but I'd forgotten that I had myself too. It's a new feeling, something I'm getting used to.

Okay, I know this is an unpopular opinion but this was my favorite book in the series. Although I found June and Day more compelling characters than Eden and Day in this book, I thought this story was so much more poignant and had a much more complicated and interesting villain. Ross City was fascinating and the class divide present there held such poignant implications about technology and so much more that I thought it was a much more interesting and complex setting than the original trilogy. Eden and Daniel's (still weird to refer to him by that name) bickering was tiring at times, but their relationship as siblings was really touching and I thought it brought out an interesting perspective of both of the characters. I didn't love Pressa at the beginning, but toward the end, she was such an interesting character and I loved her and Eden's dynamic. The very ending of the book was so so so good and definitely made me tear up a bit. I was wary coming into the book that I would just find it a totally unnecessary addition to the series but I actually really enjoyed it and I thought it added to the overall story (though I did miss June's narrations).

Favorite Quote: There is nothing to figure out, there is no how or why. Sometimes things just happen.

*END OF SPOILERS*

The Legend Series started out as an interesting, updated take on Les Miserables, but quickly evolved into something much more. Though not my favorite series in the whole world, there was never a dull moment and I’m really looking forward to reading some of Lu’s other works, hopefully finding them as immersive as the world of the Republic!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Books in Series: Legend; Prodigy; Champion; Rebel

Author: Marie Lu

BONUS REVIEWS

Life Before Legend is a duology of two short stories surrounding June and Day prior to the events in the Legend series. I much preferred June’s story to Day’s and found that her story had more heart to me and was more interesting. It was cute, but I found largely unnecessary, but still enjoyable nonetheless. Fun for lovers of the series!

Favorite Quote: Someday, someone out there will see you for the girl you really are. Someday, you’ll find someone who understands you.

Fun to see the epilogue of Champion from Day's perspective. Not a ton of new info but definitely a cute little story that fans of Legend will enjoy.

Favorite Quote: I loved you. I love you still. I want to be with you.

Really short but sweet nonetheless! It's nice to see June and Day together again with his memory mostly intact. Like the other Life After Legend story, didn't offer really any new info but it was exciting to see the duo interact once more, however briefly.

Favorite Quote: Your past is forever part of you, just as it is a part of me. And I loved that person, just as I love you.

Bonus Books: Life Before Legend; Life After Legend; Life After Legend II

[sushigal007]

Boggs Hall Dorms

The final household in Academie Le Tour!

In addition to the First Years bin household, I also sent youth-wish Luis Aspir here.

Ellen: BREAKDANCE PARTY!

And David Ottomas is also here, playing strip poker.

Hula Streaker: *naked hula* David: You know, you don’t have to strip unless you lose, right? Hula Streaker: Now where’s the fun in that?

I think Luis or David had this karaoke machine in their inventories, so I plopped it down in the middle of the ground floor for everyone to use. No more dragging everyone out to the student center to get charisma points! Phineaus: *banshee howling*

You’re never too old to say “fishies!” when you look at an aquarium. Phineaus: You really are. Am not. Shut up.

Luis: In my day, we didn’t have university. University was the very first expansion. Yours was seventh. Luis: And I still didn’t get to go.

David: Hi, I’m David. Ellen: Hi, I’m awesome.

What are you painting? Chaz: A mess.

Luis brought along a telescope. There’s no space for it outside, so I put it in front of the window.

You know there’s showers here, right? Chaz: I’m not getting naked in a room with strangers. A sponge bath keeps them all away. Interesting loophole!

Ellen: No, nobody died, it’s just one of the other students “singing”.

Studying.

Chaz: Hi boss! Hello, stop looking at me.

David: I love college.

Phineaus: Huh. Turns out I love Science.

Chaz: Oops. Chef: Step back, kid. This is a job for professionals.

Makoto: Excuse me- David: WHOA I’M NAKED WTF!?

Term paper time.

Dormie: So close!

Spot the Knowledge Sim.

Spot the Fortune Sim.

Vivian: Has anybody told you about the birds and bees? Luis: I’m older than you. Vivian: And I’ve been pregnant for seven years. I think I know more about it than you.

Ellen: Lol.

Ellen: Hello, who’s the silver vixen!? That is... uh... either Faith Goodie or Coral Oldie, rendered unrecognisable by my CC purge. Either way: married. Ellen: I can’t get to her anyway. :(

Ellen: Pool instead then.

Ellen: *please don’t let me embarrass myself in front of the cute alien girl*

David: Right, that’s enough strip poker, time to write my term paper. Yes, good priorities! David: And then if I max out my class metre, I don’t have to go to class and I can play more strip poker. Yes! Excellent priorities!

Why did I take so many pool pictures? Chaz: Don’t think of it as a pool picture, think of it as a Chaz picture.

Phineaus: On that note, this is a Phineaus picture, not a painting picture.

David: I finished my term paper! Excellent. Back to strip poker.

Luis: Yeah, I’m studying again.

Camille: Excuse me! I can’t play strip poker with her in my way!

Luis: Well I don’t think the floor is an acceptable place to sleep. May I go to bed? Go right ahead, I’m not stopping you.

Ellen: I love this song!

Chaz: Anyway, here’s- Wonderwall? Chaz: You need better jokes.

Ellen: Tennis, amiright?

So, Chaz. His aspiration is Romance and he wants 20 lovers, so he’s been pestering me for a date. I had a look at his contacts and saw he had decent chemistry with Stella, so I let him ask her out. Chaz: This is a traditional Earth greeting. Stella: Sure, I’ll buy that.

Stella: So when do we move on to the traditional Earth pounding? Chaz: Uh, after dinner.

Server: I’ll help you with it now, if you like. Chaz: If this guy’s bothering you, I can have him thrown in jail. No you can’t. Chaz: Ugh, shut up, you’re making me look bad!

Chaz: Wanna try some? Stella: Absolutely not.

Thankfully this is not a strip poker table. I’m not even sure Mrs C can strip. And I don’t want to find out.

A+ for everyone!

And look! You win a sleeping doormie! Chaz, David and Luis: Can we swap it for something else? Nope!

See, this is why I hate TV workouts. Why can’t you do that in front of the sofas? Next time, I’m just gonna buy an exercise bike.

Oh hello, triple bolter!

Phineaus: You know that’s one of your business employees and not a YA, right? I do not. I will not find this out for several days.

Double term paper combo!

Ellen: CATCH! Phineaus: Wait no no no I’ve changed my mind!

Phineaus needs a body point but is refusing to roll any study/skill wants, so I sent him to the gym in the hope he’d do something about it himself. Phineaus: Nothing but net.

Phineaus: I’ve been impaled.

Ellen: I kissed a girl and I liked it. Ellen: Well. One day.

David: What if she dies? Then you’ll have a haunted dorm! Cool, right? David: No!

Chaz: I kissed a girl and I liked it. Chaz: That’s it, no need for me to sing any more.

Speaking of kissing girls... Luis: DAVID OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?

Ellen: I don’t wanna play the drums. I didn’t ask you to. Ellen: I don’t wanna play the drums though. So don’t play the drums. Ellen: I DON’T WANNA DO IT.

Chaz: Heyyyy sleeping dormie!

Luis: Look, I just really wanna do the best I can with this second chance I’ve been given.

David: I too am taking college seriously. Sometimes.

Phineaus: I think I love him.

Well to be fair, he is rather adorable. Luis: All I want for Christmas is yooooooooou. :D

I sent David and Luis out to the Leisure Lounge to lounge leisurely.

And then they started arguing? Luis: What is your problem!? David: You stink!

Luis: OK actually he’s not wrong there.

Damn, David’s striking out everywhere today! David: I’m just saying, some of these professors are absolute perverts! Townie: Yeah uh, that’s one of the perks of university.

Luis: So what are your thoughts on world domination? Good Witch: I think you want the other witch. David: Look, Luis! Magic butterflies! Cat: They’re regular butterflies. I am a magic cat though.

More A+s

Phineaus: He’s so smart and funny and cool. He’s also like, 50 years older than you. Phineaus: He looks great for his age!

Chaz: Aww, what happened to the magic butterflies?

Muse: Here’s a music invite. Come on over. Ellen: Eh, maybe next rotation.

Luis: Woo music! Where’s my music invite!? Chaz: What a dork.

I just screencapped this because the class description seemed more than a little on the nose right now.

Phineaus: Bored. So do something. Phineaus: I would, but you removed him from my contacts.

Chaz’s OTH is Nature, so I ordered him to trim all the hedges. Chaz: I don’t like Nature that much. You will by the time you’re done. Also I need you to unlock hiking so I can trick you into earning a body point. You can get body points from hiking, right?

Ellen: I completed my term paper! Yay! Ellen: I want a present. Sure! What do you want?

Ellen: Just one itty-bitty little ceiling fan! We can afford it! You’re right, we can! There’s just one problem...

You already have a ceiling fan. Ellen: I WANT ANOTHER ONE.

Ellen: I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now. Ellen: *strikes a pose* Aww. How can I say no to that? Oh right, like this: no.

Luis: That’s hilarious! I’m gonna put it in my diary!

Ellen: -And the radio version has this riff in the middle- Phineaus: I don’t remember asking you. Ellen: Remind me again which of us has a music invitation?

Someone (not Luis) rolled a want for a toy bench, so I brought it so Luis can hobbinate. It’s either that or make him study mechanical, and I think he’s maxed that one out already.

Chaz: I just had the most horrible nightmare! I dreamed all my romantic relationships imploded! Gosh I sure do hope that’s not a prophetic dream or anything!

Ellen: Hellooo pretty lady. I’m just walking past. In my underwear.

Ellen: -And that’s how I met Almeric- Chaz: WOW EXCUSE ME WHAT THE FUCK!? Ellen: What the fuck?

Camille: Your friend seems mad. Chaz: HOW DARE YOU CHEAT ON ME!?

Ellen: I’m a lesbian, dumbass! Camille: So this is awkward. I’m gonna go dormie around somewhere else.

Cheerleader: ALL HAIL THE KARAOKE MACHINE!

Get over it, dude. She never liked you back. Chaz: Yeah, but- Makoto: Excuse me?

Chaz: YIKES! Don’t sneak up like that with that face on! Makoto: Yeah, I get that a lot. Can one of you hurry up and want a makeover station and fix me already?

Didn’t you already have a girlfriend? I can’t remember. I’m sure it won’t be important.

Even Luis realises the authentic college experience should include ~lurve~ Luis: And I’m aiming for the ultimate college girlfriend - the cheerleader. I’d commend you, bur Marla already fucked the Llama mascot. No-one’s gonna be able to top that. Luis: I’m willing to give it a try.

Luis: So what’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this? Emmy Lou: Strip poker. By the way, is he OK? Luis: Who?

Dormie: Zzzzz... Luis: Oh shit, this guy.

Luis: Well the one out on the sidewalk hasn’t died yet, so I’m sure this one will be fine. Emmy Lou: That’s a relief. Wanna make out? Luis: God, yes.

Luis: I’m not looking at you and you can’t make me. Makoto: Thank goodness for that. I’ll just drop the hobby card on top of your clothes.

Hey David! What are you up to? David: Meh.

That’s more like it.

I have no idea why she looks so sinister here. Ellen: That’s just my face. >:D

HURRY UP AND DIE ALREADY.

Ellen: Magic lamps. Thoughts? You should talk to Luis about that.

Chaz: In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have dragged her out on a hike.

I didn’t bring you here to sit there and look pretty. Chaz: But I do it so well.

Chaz: This better? Much.

Chaz: I’m buff! So I see! Not that well though. You picked a terrible place to get fit.

Dormie: Please let me out. Ellen: Nope! You must SIIIIIIIIIING!

Dormie: How long have I been asleep? A couple of semesters. Dormie: Shit! I missed finals!? Several!

Phineaus: So speaking of that barista, damn, you’re cute!

And he finally nabs his first kiss.

Phineaus: BEST DAY EVER!

Grades are starting to slip, but everybody passes.

Just capped this to show you the dormie who’s been sleeping there for three semesters is gone now. Unfortunately he’s still alive. As soon as he woke up, he disappeared into the portal and came back fully restored.

David wanted to talk to a relative, so I had him invite his parents over. Peter: Hi son!

You know you can take your coat off, right, Samantha? Samantha: I know, but honestly, I’m terrified to find out what’s happened to my everyday outfit. Peter: Mine’s a crop top.

Nyx: Travelling! Chaz: yawn. I thought about fixing that lowercase Y. but honestly, it fits the apathy of the scene.

Peter: Nice strip poker table you’ve got here. I’ll be keeping my shoes on though.

Oops. David: How dare you cheat on me! Technically you cheated on her first, she just never found out. David: I’m a playable! The rules are different!

David: NPCs aren’t allowed to cheat! Chaz: Are you done? ‘Cause we were kinda in the middle of something.

Chaz: Don’t go breaking my heart! Guinevere: I couldn’t if I tried!

Chef: Can you wake her up again? She’s in my way. Nope, this time, any that fall asleep can wake themselves up or die. No exceptions.

Ellen: You want me to flirt with Mitch? No, I want you to flirt with Camille. I dunno what Mitch is doing in your speech bubble.

Ellen: I did it! Can I stop now? Do you want a girlfriend or not? Ellen: What I want is a goddamn ceiling fan. You already have one!

The nice thing about Chaz getting a love interest is that when I’m not watching him, he’s more likely to be doing this than trying to antagonise Ellen.

But when I wasn’t watching David, the coach got him. David: Please let me stop. Honestly, I think I’m gonna let you keep doing that. It keeps you away from Chaz.

Luis: I don’t see what the problem is. Exercise is fun!

This is basically Ellen’s life now.

Phineaus: The stars are looking good tonight. Constellations? Phineaus: The Kim household.

Luis made a pet brick. Luis: I love this brick more than anything in the world. You have a whole family back in Desiderata Valley. Luis: I said what I said.

Phineaus and David bond over darts.

Ellen: The fuck is this?

Ellen: He’s behind me, isn’t he? It’s all right, he’s not here for you.

Coach: I thought I told you to work out!? David: That was yesterday! Coach: Did I say you could stop!?

Phineaus: This is such a turn off.

Ellen finally gets her first kiss.

David: Emmy Lou! I’ve got something for you? Emmy Lou: Is it my uniform? Because I do need that b-

Emmy Lou: -aAAAAAAAHHHH SO COLD!

Ellen: I miss the sun. Luis: I miss the pawn you stole when my back was turned.

Guinevere: If music be the food of love, play on! In this case, music be the first rent payment when Chaz graduates, so thanks!

Besides, it’s not like we’re hurting for musical instruments in here.

There might be some hurting in general though. David: You stole my girlfriend. Chaz: Back off or I’ll steal the other one as well.

Ellen: I’m so happy my girlfriend agreed to sing a duet with me like I wanted! Ellen: -500 Ellen: -250

Ellen: Ha! Look at this idiot!

Ellen: HAHA I HOPE SHE DIES! Camille: Having second thoughts about our relationship right now tbh.

David: Did I ever tell you about how Guinevere cheated on me? Phineaus: Probably, but tell me again!

Makoto: I suppose this job does have its perks. Two of them, to be precise. Ellen: If I kill you now, your ghost will have that hair and makeup forever.

They’re still mad at each other, but it’s nice to see them sitting down and studying together.

Chaz: Bitch.

Chaz: Perhaps I should solve this with counselling. Chaz: After I punch her.

Ellen: Oh shit, I caught feelings.

Finals! Everybody passed again.

And the round ends with Ellen and Luis becoming besties.

UBERHOOD INDEX

[dreamingsushi]

The King: Eternal Monarch - Episode 3

So I did watch the episode last Friday, but couldn’t type my reaction before today. Well I could have, but I chose not to because moping around and pretending being a larva was an interesting state of mind. I was actually looking forward to the next episode, I couldn’t have waited any longer before satisfying my curiosity about where is this all going. So sit down, take your pop corn and enjoy. Food is mandatory for this drama, trust me. You HAVE to eat when you watch it.

The guys are waiting for Tae Eul at the fried chiken place but then she sends a message saying not to wait for her, she’s not coming, which is quite surprising for them. Seems like she must like a lot fried chicken and beer. We do too. Honestly, now I am afraid to keep watching this because it makes me crave fried chicken and beer. So much. Which is kind of cruel to me because of isolation since there are no Korean restaurant near my house. Like NONE.

Which brings us back to Lee Gon telling Tae Eul he’s going to take her as his queen. She’s not buying it. And then he tells her she’s like his favorite number, which is zero, because it’s amounted to nothing but has absolute power. And he rambles on mathematical stuff. Wow, if it was me I would have sent him away, or maybe just have gone for the fried chicken, I do not need to be told about maths, especially not on such a boring tone. And being compared to 0 isn’t a compliment. He needs to change his flirting techniques. Okay, it still turns out to be a little cuter than I expected., he says he is powerless here because she doesn’t really care for him, but it’s okay because she’s greater than what he expected her to be. Then she’s lire are you done speaking nonsense, he says she’s stupid like a bear. Which is weird. Then she tells him to take her to this parallel universe of his. So he takes her to the bamboo forest. But the obelisques won’t show on that day, nope. Not convincing Tae Eul with any of those details, she’s more upset that he took her into the woods like that when it’s freezing cold. She tells him the results of his DNA tests are about to come out and hopefully they will find him some relatives. And she tells him to stop calling Eun Seop. He tells her that even if she found a relative based on his DNA, they won’t be his real family. He says his parents died when he was eight, well at least his dad, the mom probably died before that. She looks shaken. He gives her his coat and asks what’s the name of the guy she calls brother, he knows she’s an only child so he’s not her brother. She asks him what’s his name, how come he can ask people’s names when doesn’t tell his? He said that she can call him by his name even if she knows, he didn’t say he can’t tell nor that he doesn’t have one. She gets angry and walks away first. And she ignores him.

So cute. Taekwondo guy (that would be the guy she calls brother, but he was studying Taekwondo at her dad’s school) keeps on waiting for Tae Eul to come back and starts talking to the horse. Then he notices a symbol on the saddle. Which corresponds to a drawing in his block note. Which looks so much like a Canadian passport somehow.

So granny is hiring Jo Yeong’s fangirl. Partly because she liked the fanfics she wrote. Also because she applied for like the past four years.  But this is priceless. The granny reading fanfics and talking about hashtags, knowing more stuff than I do. I am living it.

So seems like the Prime minister and Lee Gon are on some sort of competition? I didn’t get it really. I guess they didn’t agree on political stuff? I don’t know, don’t ask me. Madam the prime minister is unhappy though that the king disappeared. Oh okay, so basically, since the king started paying taxes, it would look bad if they in the party got a raise so she has been opposed to that to keep popularity amongst the people, which makes the ministers unhappy. She puts them all back into place.  Fierce woman.

They finally get a new member the police unit team. And they kind of made it funny, well it’s very cliché, but basically a guy looking like a thug comes in with an handsome guy and of course they all think the latter is the newbie, but it’s actually the first one who is in fact younger than what he looks like, a little dumb but in a cute way, is nicknamed rose and has unicorn in his email address.  Nothing you would expect.  Then they head out to find the weapon that was used for the murder they are investigating. In the end it’s newbie guy that finds it at the end of the day.

Some thugs try to bribe mister taekwondo. Seems he used to be really rich and when bankrupt when he was a teenage. I mean, it was most likely his parents money. His mom has lots of debts so he basically makes no salary. While he walks, he has flashback of when he was teaching taekwondo and Tae Eul’s dad tells him to stop teaching because he’s scaring the kids away. Well he indeed was scary. By the name, the name is Shin Jae. And seems like tae Eul’s dad is the one that made him chose the path of police awww.

Back at the office, Tae Eul keeps on making fun of the new recruit and then Lee Gon calls her. Eun seop gave him her work phone number. But she hangs upon him. Later, Lee Gon and Eun Seop are at the grocery store and Eun Seop is like what did you say to her for me to get handcuffed, I told you to keep it a secret. Lee Gon to comfort him appoints him as the chef of the royal guards in this universe and names him the unbreakable sword too. I’m sure Jo Yeong wouldn’t like this, Eun Seop doesn’t like it either and calls him crazy.

So lady Noh (granny) says that the King won’t come out of his study room but because he hasn’t showed up in public people start to think maybe he is ill. The new girl says she has a solution and meets privately with Jo Yeong. It seems she opens an SNS account for him. Which gains a lot of popularity.

Lady Noh asks Jo Yeong to investigate the lady from the ID card, however he tells her he already did that on demand of His majesty and that girl simply doesn’t exist.

The results of Lee Gon’s DNA test came out and they match to nobody. She then receives a call about the horse: that kind of horse isn’t even in South Korea right now, so it wouldn’t be a stolen horse.

They go for beer and fried chicken. AGAIN. I hate this drama so much. Stop making me craving fried chicken! With beer. I am trying to eat healthy. And to go vegan, slowly but surely. Stop this torture now! Anyways, she takes a shot and asks him if he’s from another world and who else could have taken that portal. He says he can’t tell her unless she becomes a member of his court, which makes her annoyed again. He guesses she got nothing from his DNA tests, but still can’t trust him. And she says they leave? BUUUUT, they didn’t even eat the chicken. WHYYYYY? The chicken did nothing wrong, it HAS to be eaten...

Lee Gon orders to eat the carrots Tae Eul feeds him. He’s so happy. I don’t know why.

Jo Yeong goes to Lee Gon’s office. He remembers of His highness always looking into the autopsie of Lee Rim. He feels there’s something fishy and that Lee Rim isn’t dead. And it seems Jo Yeong guesses it’s related to Lee Gon’s disappearing. Well, kind of.

There’s a storm and Lee Gon has something going on with his shoulder.

Le Rim is back in the Kingdom of Corea. I guess you need the storm and the flute to go back?

Tae Eul has little problem with her car an Lee Gon comes to the rescue, but while she starts tying her hair up, time freezes, except for him.  I am not convinced by the time freezing thingy. Lite not at all. It’s enough already with the uncle not aging up and the parallel universes... I hope they don’t make it too much... Because so far, this is good. Anyways. She leaves asking to watch for her car that is broken and he just drives away with it. He goes to the bamboo forest and the door is there, so he finally realizes the flute is the key.

Back in kingdom of Corea, seems like Lee Rim has his little army.

They got the result from the forensic team, which incriminates the suspect, but Tae Eul feels it’s falling into place too perfectly, as if it was planned. So they go to investigate and Shin Jae and Tae Eul bumps into a bad guy Shin Jae sent to jail some years ago. And bad ass fighting!  Yeaaah!!!! With Lee Gon as a witness, until big boss is about to stab Shin Jae, so he gets targetted while saving taekwondo boy and kicks everyone’s asses with his whip.  Lol. Shin Jae and Tae Eul were having a hard time, but just one hit from the whip master and BAM! Over. Shin Jae and Lee Gon fights a little. Shin Jae and Tae Eul shares a popsicle, Lee Gon feels forgotten. They have lunch together and then Lee Gon bids his farewell to Tae Eul because he’s going back to his world.

Shin Jae drives Lee Gon back and asks him the company who made the saddle for Maximus. Of course Lee Gon doesn’t know. He asks about the logo on it and Lee Gon tells him it doesn’t exist here, because it’s for his kingdom in another world.

When Tae Eul comes back home, no more Maximus, they are going back. And like what? He’s already in love with her? Well, has he made it to his world? We will know next week I guess! From the previews though, it looks like he made it and goes back to his loved girl too. I like that the plot of this is quite clear, we know where we are going at least roughly and I enjoy that in those times of uncertainty.

[sparda3g]

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma Chapter 281 Review

“Soma and other Elite Ten members did a great job for making a great comeback; even surpassing the expected number of $27,000. While that’s all nice and all, it’s sad to know the arc will go to another serious threatening arc that will probably use the ladder routine like one hero will say, ‘You guys go ahead and save Erina. I will take him on!’ Oh well, it was fun while lasted.”

That quote was my early intention to write. I was certain that it was going to be the case. I was wrong. I was so happy to be wrong. This chapter is an example of what if you wait for a little longer and see what this arc is truly capable of. By no means, it did start fishy with the Noirs and the Underworld concept, but this chapter is what I would like to think the one that pulled 180 for the greater good. Needless to say, I am excited.

The chapter begins with Soma and others celebrating for passing the exam. I was beginning to wonder when we will get to see Erina, but in due time. Polar Star Dorm also passed the exam, which is expected but good to know. Elite Ten is being heavily praised by Yuki because it’s in their title. I love Alice taking it all in and gloat about friendship power, even though Nikumi knows that’s not completely true.

I like the fact Hayama and others elaborate Megumi’s accomplishments in the exam. If you thought she was only greeting them, think again because she was everyone’s waitress. That’s incredible; hospitality at its finest. It shows how great she has improved. I can’t say she can do Shadow Clone now, but give her time. She will soon enough.

Always the charming Alice thought she can go on a vacation, but because she’s an Elite Ten member, there’s no time for that. She got all pouty about it, which is always adorable. If she wants freedom, got to drop the title then. Not that I want her, I’m just saying. It is now that Soma realizes Erina has been missing for a while. Judging by the chapter’s title, I thought it will mean he will suffer the blue for her disappearance.

Megumi suggests that she could have gone to the Mountain Course and it appears that they buy into that story. Now I get why we have a small mention of Hisako at a different location. That being said it dismiss the idea of Soma feeling the blue, let alone anyone. It’s as if the writing wants everyone to take time before realizing her disappearance, and then engage the rescue mission. After reading this whole chapter, it doesn’t appear to be the case. In fact, it’s far better than I expected.

Most of the chapter is technically a flashback, where Erina was locked up a day ago. Erina gathers all the information from the past and quickly discovers the identity of the group. I know Saiba exposed himself, but Le Cuisiners Noirs was something she learned from her grandfather, Senzaemon, so she is very aware of their capabilities. What’s hilariously cute is the fact she learned about them when she was a grade-schooler. He told her stories in a most haunting and disturbing way possible; so much so, she couldn’t sleep for a while. And you thought Azami was evil.

Seriously, why would you tell her stories so violent at a young age? I know we all eventually learn outside world isn’t all sunshine and rainbow, but goodness gracious, talk about traumatizing a kid to her sleep. Poor little Erina. It is comical how her visual of Noirs being cliché criminals seem to be accurate with drugs and deadly weapons on the floor like no one’s business. What a friendly home.

Saiba finally speaks up to advance the plot or exploit the reason behind the kidnapping. He wanted to settle the point that he’s a bad dude and what better way to do so than a place filled with bad stuff. Plus it does make conversation easier for him. In case you’re wondering, the guy with black hair and glasses was the kidnapper. I know it because Saiba flat out said it. This series is so self-aware. The guy sounds very loyal to him; I’ll bet he’ll be shouting, “Boss!” So now come to the real meat of the chapter.

Saiba challenges Erina. Oh no, that means he’s going to derail her hype. That means for the time being she will suffer a disorder where she was once showed greatness, but once she becomes hostage, all of her “power” will be wiped out and cry someone for help. It looks like it was starting already with Erina asking him for why he did all of this mess. I got to admit, I do like how Saiba is self-aware that there are things that can’t work the way he wanted, so he’s just like, “Yeah…I’m just going to kidnap you and demand a challenge.” Way to go, guy…

It’s like what he said, he truly wants to marry Erina for supremacy. His bet is if he wins, she will marry him. The whole reason why the Noirs spread out earlier was to test her; uncovering her prowess to be legit and not a rumor. If it’s Erina, anything incredible is true. Once he confirms the truth, that’s where he begins to go after her at Tootsuki Academy. It doesn’t explain the ordeal with him and Joichiro, but in due time, especially with that ending.

Apparently, the members he sent out weren’t their best, rather their worst. Who said they’re the true pillars? I assume the ones in the room are among the best. It’s expected Shounen formula to hype the real threat. So what Erina can do about this? Surely, she has to stay and feel helpless; unable to do anything. This is what fans feared the most: unable to stand up for herself.

Well thank God, she broke the so-called code of WSJ Heroine of remaining hopeless as a damsel in distress, because she does stand up for herself, literally!

This is what fans was hoping for, myself included. Not only she exploded with rage, but she wants to slaughter the hell out of him. He wants challenge? He sure damn got it. Keep in mind, she didn’t know he was Saiba back then, so there was no reason for her to take in charge. Now that she knows, she won’t let him get the best of her. She was ready to throw down a face down (yeah, I said it). Hell, it’s even better that she mocks his agenda as a foolish act, which we can all agree on.

She didn’t back away one iota. I thought she will just break free and win; I can buy into that. I don’t know why but when she asks for a knife, I can’t help but vision in my head, thinking she said it like, “Give me that f*****g knifc!” Talk about close call before making her return to the state during Azami’s reign of terror, which was understandable at the time. It’s good to see some series in WSJ not succumb to the so-called “Heroine doesn’t matter” law. I don’t need to be SJW to know that’s nonsense. That’s nice and all from her, but she’s going to lose to him right now, right? Not exactly.

As much as I enjoy the characters, the arc could have been rough if it was following the Shounen law of escalation or tower of doom system. Plus, it would have been less believable to buy in characters taking on one enemy at a time where everyone could just barge in and rescue Erina altogether. It’s like some form of Yu-Gi-Oh! Why let card games stop you? Punch him. The world literally depends on you. Ahem. Bottom line, it would have been odd. Thankfully, not only there’s another (better) way, but it’s at this moment where my interest increased tenfold.

Saiba challenges Erina, but not in a form of Shokugeki. Instead, he actually has a good idea for once. It goes through a slow hype build to the revelation, starting with the mention of The Blue. How foolish I was that I didn’t think of the grand competition, The Blue, rather the mood. It’s one of the fans’ most anticipated tourney, so when he brought it up, he got my full attention. In case you don’t know it, it’s a tournament that gathers the top-tier chefs from around the world; as long as he/she is younger than 35 years. Sorry, no Joichiro.

This begs one question: why would Saiba brought it up if it’s a tourney for legal chefs only. This year however is different because Chief Executive changed the policy to go beyond. The rules no longer has a limitation, which means Noirs can in fact enter the tournament. That Chief has gone mad. What does this all means? Saiba will challenge her through a genuine match at The Blue, and everyone will be at the tourney to claim the best of the best title. This is surprisingly a great move.

This removes the idea of rescuing Erina at the Tower of Doom system, because everyone, including Noirs, will be at The Blue. It’s like Tsukuda takes the best aspect of “serious” arc and tournament arc. The serious side is the personal bet between the two and the tournament side is self-explanatory. We don’t have to worry about the world ending stake or anything too dramatic. It’s inserted within The Blue. It’s more of character’s subplot than the main plot.

The best part is the tournament. We’re going to see plenty of new/old characters across the world, so we can expect plenty of new style/type of dishes. Another good part is it removes the complete predictability as there will be other characters to worry about. As long as it doesn’t format the predictable straightforward Noirs versus Elite Ten. It could mix up with some other character(s). There are tons of possibilities. I got to hand in to Tsukuda to pull a 180. First the pairing moment, now this. Well done. Of course, Saiba really believes he’s going to win and marry her. Haha. Okay. Maybe if she was in another manga, she would easily lose, but here, well, we’ll see, buddy.

If that whole revelation wasn’t good enough, the chapter ends with Joichiro arriving to the beach to meet Soma at the shop. He looks rather happy after losing his knife to Saiba, let alone losing. This is a great time to clear out some confusions with his ordeal with Saiba. There’s a good chance that he will avoid it, but I’d prefer to clear it out now. Either way, I look forward to the next chapter.

This was one of the best chapter that involves with Saiba and Noirs. While I didn’t mind so much back then, it wouldn’t be my ideal of introducing a new arc involving with another dark storyline. Instead, it’s more of a personal grudge manner and that’s how it should remain. What better way to settle it than at the Blue. And some people thought it wouldn’t happen at all, because “it’s Soma lol.” I suppose so. Still waiting on that “moon mission” in that other series.

Hm. I feel bad for that shot fired; I apologize.

Anyway, Erina remains great as I was expecting. I told you, fans. Don’t let mainstream series get to you. She is above that, believe it or not. The artwork is solid and comical with Erina exploding like a volcano. Seriously, I think she can kill them by herself. With Joichiro arriving, this arc is looking very promising. Let’s hope Tsukuda can keep this momentum strong. We’re counting on you.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Artbook data - Kokichi Ouma

Chapter 5 spoilers but frustratingly no chapter 6 spoilers.

Seiyuu’s comment: Hiro Shimono

As Ouma is an emotional rollercoaster of a character, he was very fun-yet-difficult to play. The impression I got from him is that he is really meek if you take away his strong wish to outwit everyone. At first I was worried he was going to be hated because he is the guy says the things no one wants to say, but I’m very happy to hear so many people find him interesting exactly because of that. Please keep a close eye on him!

Kodaka’s comment: The always sensational liar character

His name was made combining the grandious, big-sounding, mastermindish family name “Ouma”(king horse) with the very small-sounding given name “Kokichi”(small luck). His characterization was focused on duality and the name reflects that nature. The keyword on his initial design was simply “shota”, so we made him look like a cute and personable boy. However, we also wanted him to feel creepy, so we made his uniform as white as we could and gave his hair and scarf colors that contrast with this white. We thought of making him as aliar to add to the story’s main theme of lies and, speaking in Mafia terms, the double-agent role. And becaus of this, making him into a trickster stirring up the Trials was indispensable. Looking from this perspective, he would feel more in place as a Super High School Level Liar than a Supreme Leader. As he is the character who personifies this game’s central themes, I put more thought into him than into everyone else.

Besides, his design was popular when first revealed and he got a fanbase fitting of his part after the game was released. I have to thank Komatsuzaki, Ouma’s craziest sprites were completely his idea. “Crazy” is a word with lots of meanings, but Ouma’s case is completely different from Genocider Shou, Junko Enoshima or Nagito Komaeda. You could say his case is more of a line of thought taken to it’s logical conclusion. They’re not overdramatic expressions, they’re instead phisically impossible, or should I say, otherworldly expressions. I think their creepiness express his true nature to some extent. I had my second guesses about them as they are a little overblown and I thought this would be too much but I ultimately decided to keep them.

So far, the DanganRonpa series never had a character who just simply enjoyed the Trials, even if that was just a lie. That’s why we decided that for his final moments, we would have him naming himself as the ringleader and battle against the real ringleader. I managed to make chapter 5′s plot a seesaw back and forth of truths and lies, so I like it quite a lot. He’s not the kind of guy I would want to met in real life though.

Design notes:

Hairstyle: Moderately long black hair flowing to all directions, with the tips moving up and down. A hairstyle resulting of him playing with his hair. He seems not to care about his hair, but Ouma sometimes makes use of the shadows his bangs form to make himself look evil...

Scarf: Black and white spaces alternating exactly like a chessboard. The way its tones also contribute to his clown imagery make it a perfect fit for the incorrigible Ouma.

Buttons: Buttons, all of different colors. There a couple more hidden behind his scarf and it seems hard to close them all.

Ripped uniform: His eye-catching white uniform is in a misterious state, with the hem ripped and big parts of it are fixed with metal clips. The collar part is also completely gone. Is that the decadent fashion style of the evil supreme leaders?

Underwear: Ouma’s favorite pop underwear. He hides his playful heart and true fashion sense in a place no one can see. So vibrant colors hidden inside the black-and-white uniform.

Punk-style pants: An essential piece of punk fashion with bondage belts tied to both legs... Or so it seems, but that’s a lie, they are actually just fake belts sewed to thicker part of the thighs. It’s all about feeling fake here. Nishishi.

Slip-on shoes: Two-colored black and purple shoes that mixed simplicity with an expressive sense of fashion. Wearing 9/10 lenght pants and no socks is trending nowadays, you see. And of course, those shoes are very well polished by Toujou!

Favorite presents:

Electempest: A pop electro-water gun capable of continuously shooting water up to 10 meters for one entire minute. Undoubtly exciting for both grown adults or evil supreme leaders.

Hammock: Everyone’s favorite sleeping tool, the braided thing you hang between trees or pillars, famous for its relaxability. This should be able make Ouma feel like a child again and enjoy himself.

Hated present:

Oil for Robots: Oil used for robot construction, not maintenance. If he ever feels like doing Ki-bo the kind favor of helping his maintenance, it would be a problem to let him have that.

Key phrases:

The Supreme Leader Covered in Lies: As the supreme of an evil secret society that claims to have over 10 thousand members, Ouma was chosen as a Super High School Level talented student. Not unlike his claim of being evil, his speeches and action are always teasing and scaring his friends, plunging them in fear whenever they are feeling too confortable and overall messing around with them. Only someone as plastered in lies as Ouma could look at this killing game enforced by Monokuma with cruel rules like “only someone who commits a perfect crime can graduate” and call it “not boring”. He is heavily burdened with his suppposedly enormous organization that controls the mafia, politicians, businessmen and has underlings in the White House, the Kremlin, Wall Street, City of London and even Kabuto-chou. Does it make sense that he can laugh even when his is life is being threatened?!

Games Should Only Be Played on Hard Mode!?: Using the “Run” command is forbidden and “Continue”s even more. He wants his enemies to be as strong as they can and figure his way out solid lockdowns. Ouma talks about real through references to the videogames he’s been playing his whole life. He came up an original theory that enjoying the extreme thrill of cornering yourself with all exits sealed is the definition of fun. He thinks of even the killing game he has been forced into as life-threatening entertainment. That’s exactly why everyone assumes his line of thought is not just abiding by the told rules, but taking the most enjoyable outcome of outwiting both his friends and Monokuma alike... The nerves of steel necessary to constantly dismiss the abnormal situation with the simple catchphrase “It’s less boring this way” are what you need to play life on Hard Mode!

Lockpicking Victims: One of the few(?) non-lies that come out of Ouma’s mouth: his “evil supreme leader-ish” ability to pick locks. When his friends watch over his actions under the lens of suspicion, he proves the truth by picking a cilinder lock right in front of them. We know it’s an useful skill to have and not something a regular high-school student wouldn’t need, but don’t you think that suits a small-time criminal better than an evil supreme leader?! 

Main Quotes:

“Half of my lies are made out of kindness": The truth will not always spare all living beings from suffering. If you say some people were saved by lies, many will agree. But why does this sound so fishy when its by our matchless liar Ouma?! To completely decieve a person with sugar-coated words and short-lived joy is the truest form of terror... After pulling off many overblown lies just to tease, he’s gotta have a lot of nerve to go around saying half of them are kind!?

“Lies have infinite possibilities, you know?“: Ouma’s Trial method involves frequently toying with his friends with lies and driving the accused into dangerous corners. However, unlike the only one cruel truth, lies have infinite possibility, even ones that can save people. Ouma is an expert on this subject. Despite all his friends claiming that lying for no reason when their lifes are on the line is begging to be killed, some who enjoys the risk wouldn’t pull any punches. Is he serious about this? Is it bluff? The Super High School Level Supreme Leader cares not for such questions.

“Common sense, le sens commun, sentido comun, huh... I wonder who decides what gets to be common sense?“: Starting from the way he calls himself the supreme leader of an evil organization, Ouma is quite scenical when talking about his past deeds and crime plans. His stories are so away from common sense that even Akamatsu, the character defined by wanting to believe in everyone, is always taking him with a grain of salt. “I wonder if what you consider ‘right’ on your definition of ‘common sense’ is the same everyone else considers ‘right’?“, he says. Sounds legit but not when Ouma is the one saying it!? Akamatsu’s lack of patience for his drivel is so relatable.

Final comment: Lying is like breathing to Ouma and that makes him an extreme entertainer who pours all his energy into stirring up his friends. He is giving his all so that no day is ever boring!

[starrywinters]

7 Minutes!AU — Park Jihoon Fic

requested by anon!

genre: fluff

synopsis: both jihoon and you secretly loves each other, both of you are oblivious to the other’s feelings but everyone else can clearly see it, and you don’t confess until you play 7 minutes in heaven.

Ever heard of the saying, “A guy and a girl can be best friends and stay as best friends”? Yeah, that’s a lie. One will bound to fall for the other, if not maybe both will fall for each other. Sometimes at the right time, sometimes at the wrong.

“Hey Y/N! Mommy said we kiss the one we love when we’re older. So. when we’re older, I’m definitely going to give you many many kisses!” Stretches his arms as far as he can to emphasize his point.

That was said by a five-year-old Park Jihoon, your childhood friend since diapers. The one who is always there to mend your pain away and sooth your anger.

–

“LEE DAEHWI. YOU LIL-” You began, stomping your feet and splashing droplets of water everywhere, sentence cutting off as Jihoon pulls you into a hug. You wetting his entire self in the process. It was just like any other day where Lee Daehwi, your best friend, would pull a prank on you. One time it was tampering with your alarm clock, another time with a caramel ONION. Yes, onion, instead of an apple he used an onion.

This time, a bucket of water and a classroom door was involved. You can already guess what happened. You opened the door to your first period class and the whole bucket of water fell. On you. Not on Jihoon, who was standing beside you the whole time. No, it fell on you.

Already a Senior in high school, Daehwi has still not grown out of his childish side. Sinking yourself more fully into Jihoon’s warm embrace, you slowly calm down. The thought of getting revenge on Daehwi at the back of your mind. Standing at the doorway, your face nuzzled into the crook of his neck, someone can be heard clearing their throat behind you. Bae Jinyoung, Daehwi’s accomplice in most of his pranks and Daehwi’s #1 best friend.

Grinning, waggling his eyebrows, and winking at you two, “Hey lovebirds, stop blocking the doorway and keep your PDA indoors please.”

Never separating from your hug, “Shut up Jinyoung, you and Daehwi got her mad again. When will you two stop?” He pats your head slowly, lulling you into a sleep. But at the same time, it isn’t helping your situation as your heart begins to pound against your chest harder and faster. Yes, you have a mAJOr crush on Park Jihoon, your childhood best friend. What a surprise.

“Dunno, maybe never?” Seeing that you aren’t paying attention to them anymore he mutters to Jihoon, “We’re doing this for your sake bro, let us live a little. These are the only chances where you are bold enough to hug Y/N. When will you confess to her?”

Unfortunately for Jihoon, that was when you came back to the real world, finally separating from Jihoon’s hug. “Confess what? And to who?”

“N-nothing! Jinyoung is just saying nonsensical things like he usually does, le-let’s go to class, the bell’s about to ring.”

–

The bell rang as lunch period began

Literally stomping to your table, Jihoon right behind you, you see Daehwi sitting with Jinyoung, chatting very animatedly. ’Hah, not anymore you little devil.’ Wringing the collar of his shirt in your hands, “LEE DAEHWI. HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO STOP WITH THE DAMN PRANKS. IT’S NOT FUNNY ANYMORE.”

And here comes Jihoon, your personal teddy bear. Bringing you into another hug, you hiding your face in the crook of his neck again, slowly calming down your anger and breathing. During that whole process of you trying trying to calm down, your stomach growls. Loudly. To hide from further embarrassment, you dig your face further into Jihoon’s neck and curl yourself up, practically sitting on his lap.

Across from you sits Jinhwi, witnessing everything, “Eewww, guys, please. I feel like throwing up.” Dramatically, ”Jinyoung, take me to the restroom.”

“You can go yourself, you have legs.” And he indulges himself with his slice of pizza, ignoring the nonstop blabbering to the right of him. Offended, he turns to you and Jihoon, but ends up staying mum since you were still sitting on Jihoon’s lap as he’s hugging you. Daehwi knew you were still mad, so he proposes a compromise.

“Ok so Y/N, i’m sorry I pulled another prank on you, this will be the last time. I promise. So to make it up to you– HEY! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!??1”

Repositioning yourself so you’re facing him, head against Jihoon’s chest, you glare at him. If glares could kill, Daehwi would’ve been long gone already. “What?”

“As I was saying, to make up for my childish actions, i’m inviting you to the party I got invited to last period. It’s this Saturday at Kang Daniel’s place. You know, the popular jock?” As expected of the ever friendly chatterbox Lee Daehwi.

Closing your eyes, you feel Jihoon’s grip tighten around you (be it unconsciously or not, you really liked it) and you focus on the vibrations as he talks, “I don’t know Daehwi, Y/N doesn’t do parties. You know that.”

“Ok but, just give this one a chance. You can leave early if you don’t like it, but at least stay there for 5 minutes? C’mon! It’s senior year, please?”

–

’Curse Daehwi and his cuteness. Evil otter lookalike.’ Were the thoughts that ran through your head as you stood outside your door, pouting, waiting for Jihoon to arrive. Wherever you go, Jihoon goes. You dragged him with you to the party since you didn’t want to be alone, plus you needed a savior if ever Daehwi or Jinyoung comes up with something fishy at the party. Which they will do, you can feel it.

“I don’t get it, why do I have to be here,” childishly stomping your feet, you complain to Jihoon.

Jihoon chuckling, “Because you fell for Daehwi’s cute acts. Like always.” Shaking his head in amusement.

“lisTEN, you do too ok?? Don’t target only mE.”

–

Knocking on the front door of captain of the dance team, Kang Daniel, you were let in and greeted by him. You can tell he’s a teeny bit tipsy as he leaned in to give you a hug, but you don’t even know him?? Jealous, Jihoon drags you away and closer to him. In the back, he can see Daehwi giggling to Jinyoung. Narrowing his eyes at them. ’Now, what is their motive?’

Yes, this isn’t their first time trying to set him up with you. They’ve been trying ever since they’ve met the both of you, almost giving up as they felt discouraged since they were getting nowhere. But once they found the both of you are actually really in love with each other, their motivation skyrocketed.

Throughout the night, Daniel and a few other guys consecutively tries to approach you, to get you to have a few drinks with them. Most of the time, Jihoon’s the one rejecting the offers, rarely do you ever get a chance to say (not like you’ll ever accept anyway).

Other than that, you actually had fun. Jihoon didn’t, he spent majority of the time glaring guys off.

A few minutes later, Daehwi bounces towards your direction, yelling out, “HEY Y/N, JIHOON! LET’S GO PLAY A GAME WITH THE OTHERS, JINYOUNG’S ALREADY THERE SAVING US A SPOT.” Pulling on your right arm and Jihoon’s left, “C’MON LET’S GO!”

–

And that’s how you found yourself sitting on the floor in a bedroom with many other people, staring at the spinning bottle on the floor. You still don’t understand the point of this game, ’what’s the name of it again? 7 minus oven? What? What kind of-.’

The first round’s pair was chosen, Ong Seongwoo and Kang Daniel (ONGNIEL(((;). They came out 7 minutes later, hair and clothes disheveled. What the heck is this game? Lost, you look to your right, where Jihoon sat. Understanding your confused gaze, he shrugs. ’I don’t know either Y/N.’

–

Your heart was beating rapidly, your breath hitching. You felt dizzy, nervous, your palms are sweaty. You’re pretty sure if the lights were on, the bright pink that dusted your cheeks can be easily seen. How you ended up here? You were chosen by the bottle for the third round, the other person you’re not sure who.

“H-hey, I’m Y/N. What’s your name?” Hoping to start a conversation and not do what the previous pairs did, you ask for the identity of the other person.

You feel movement, shifting closer and closer to you. He pulls you into a hug, at first you panic. Thrashing in his hold, trying to get out, but once you recognized the warmth the body radiated and the feel of the body you stop. What didn’t stop, however, was your beating heart. And that is where you are now.

You feel another set of heart beats, coming from the person who is currently holding you. “Jihoon? Why’re you holding onto me?”

“Because I don’t know when the next chance I’ll get to bravely hold you in my arms is. I’m a coward, I’m not able to hug you in broad daylight or for no reason. I want to do this now to get everything over with. Y/N, you’re literally the sweetest girl I’ve ever met. You were there for me when we were young, you never left me. Even when I was going through that phase where I stayed away from you for a few weeks because you had cooties -feeling offended, “NO I DID NOT, YOU HAD COOTIES NOT ME”- You dealt with the pain in the butt I am, and you dealt with my terrible fashion sense. Thank you for being my best friend, but I don’t think I can stay a ‘best friend’ anymore. I’ve fallen for you, hard. I’m in love with you, since 6th grade actually, and I want to take this to the next level, if you’ll let me. So, Y/N, will you agree to date this pink-colored loving boy and do me the honor of becoming my girlfriend?”

Taking a few minutes to gather your thoughts and keep your heart from leaping out in joy, he nervously smiles awaiting your response.

“I-i yes! YES! I will, I’ve been in love with you since 6th grade too, when you first came to school dressed in pink. Not giving a care to what others thought about you and how you kept moving on, always trying to make me happy by hugging me to calm me down. So, yes, I will date you and I will be your boyfriend.”

Leaning further into the hug you look up at him, leaning up closer you initiate the first move. Slowly moving forward, you peck him slightly on the lips–and that is when the door opens.

Bae Jinyoung is stood there, grinning like he won the lottery, “Oho, what’s this? Are you two finally together?” Speeding off towards Daehwi, he screams, “DAEHWI! DAEHWI! HWIIIIIII, I WON THE BET, PAY UP BRO!”

Upset, you chase after him (Jihoon once again on your tail) “YAH! BAE JINYOUNG, LEE DAEHWI, YOU BETTED ON US?!?!???”

–

Sitting on Jihoon’s laps, the amount of PDA done intensifies. This time it’s more romantically than platonically. Small and short kisses were being stolen from time to time, staring into each other’s eyes were happening more often, and playing with each other’s fingers became a small competitive game between the both of you.

“GUYs, where is the gratefulness?? We don’t deserve this diSRESPECT especially since we helped get you two together.”

“YES JINYOUNG IS RIGHT, ALSO STOP FLIRTING IN FRONT OF US. MY EYES ARE BURNING.”

“Shut up Daehwi, you’re just jealous Jinyoung hasn’t asked you out yet.” (JINHWI(((((;)

“i-”

unedited!

y’all i typed this at 4AM and i kind of squealed, giggled, and smiled (very widely) as i typed this story…uhM like my heart??? was?? melting???? and i need to stOP???

anyway! i hope you like it! ♡

[its-abroad-world]

Adventure #5: June 7, Tallinn, Estonia: Fortresses, cobbled streets, and herring???? June 8: Sea Day #3 June 9: Warnemunde, Germany: Sausages and Clocks

This stop on the cruise was one of the shortest ones (we had to be back on the ship by 4 pm), so we woke up early to have breakfast so that we could be off the ship as soon as the gangway was open for disembarkment. After purchasing shuttle bus tickets into the city we headed out to see the fortress “Kiek en de Kӧk” that the city was best known for. We got a little turned around for a bit which my dad was upset about for a bit, but eventually, we were able to locate Old Town. It was amazing to see a medieval city so well preserved in the center of a modern city; it was like a small pocket of the past amidst the present. All of sudden the streets were cobblestone instead of cement and we were surrounded by towering walls with watchtowers and old stone buildings.

Tallinn, a trading city on the Baltic Sea dates back to the 13th century and is a registered UNESCO World Heritage site. While Old Town is a historic landmark and a popular place for tourists to visit, it still functions much as it did back in the day with people living and working there as well as having commercial and religious functions.

As we wandered around Lower Old Town, we stumbled upon the entrance to the famed Town Wall. My parents didn’t want to join my sister and I, so we climbed to the top of the wall while they watched for us from down below. The steps were really steep and slightly slippery from years of being worn down by constant foot traffic. While we were up there, we were able to see this gorgeous view overlooking Old Town. We visited the Stout Margaret Tower (Paks Margareeta), a cannon tower that is best known as “Fat Margaret”. They say that the tower got its name from a large cannon that it housed or from a cook named Margaret who used to work there. It was funny going up there with my sister because she is deathly afraid of height. Every time that she thought I got too close to the railing or leaned over too much, she would start freaking out. I definitely got some butterflies in my stomach from how high up we were, but being the younger sister, of course, I had to mess with her a little bit. It’s safe to say that by the time we climbed down, she was stressed and sweaty.

After spending some time on the wall, we walked around for a bit longer, looking at the various highlights on the map before grabbing lunch at this pub. There were so many drinks that we wanted to, and since we were only going to be there for the afternoon, of course, we ordered everything we wanted: juniper beer, a le coq beer, a local pale ale, passion fruit cider, and rhubarb lemonade. We also ordered some herring, something that my dad and I had been wanting to try for a while after seeing it on various travel shows. Herring is a popular dish in Scandanavia and is served many ways, and the one that we wanted to try was raw cured herring. I was not a fan. It was served with fried potato balls and a garlic cream sauce. The flavor was salty and very fishy and a little bit slimy. The funniest bit was watching my sister try it, who is not a fan of fish to begin with. She dunked the smallest piece of fish in the sauce and was writhing as she put it in her mouth; she refused to chew it and then swallowed it whole. In comparison, the savory chicken mushroom cheese pancakes that we ordered were very yummy. They were more like crepes rather than American style pancakes.

After lunch, we walked around some more, without anything particular in mind. Most of the buildings or landmarks worthy of note were on Toompea Hill, which was actually a bit of a steep walk. In Palace Square, there was Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church built in 1900. It looked so much like the churches that we saw in St. Petersburg.

The highlight of my day was really freaking my sister out while looking out over one of the oldest medieval towns. Next to one of the lower parts of the fortress, my family and I were looking at the Toompea Park down below and I asked my mom to take a picture of me laying on the wall, but my sister got scared and tried to pull me down. My mom got the picture mid-pull. I couldn’t breathe from laughing so hard.

After walking around a hilly, cobbled city, we were pretty tired so we headed to the shuttle so we could go back to the ship. Because we went back to the ship early, we were back in time to make it to tea-time. Princess Cruises has tea time from 3 pm to 4 pm every day. They serve finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, small pastries, and English tea with sugar and cream. On previous cruises, we always looked forward to going to tea time for the scones with clotted cream and jam. After tea time with my parents, I headed up to the pool deck to read outside, then later moved to the piazza in the center of the ship to listen to the string quartet perform.

Our night ended much like it did the other nights. At dinner, we ordered everything new (of course) and then listened to the performers in the piazza before heading to the karaoke lounge.

June 8 - Sea Day #3

Having a sea day after 3 days of non-stop touring, it was nice to be able to sleep in and get some rest. I slept into the afternoon and then grabbed some lunch with my parents. On sea days, there is usually a lot of activities to do on board but I usually like to spend my time reading or watching whatever is on the jumbotron on the pool deck. That evening, they would be hosting the formal night and everyone would dress up in tuxedos and evening gowns. Because we were grabbing dinner with the Flores’, we got ready earlier so we had enough time to take pictures before dinner.

Dinner with them was a riot and we were stuffed full of escargot and lobster. After our usual time at the karaoke lounge, we joined the dance party in the piazza and stayed there until we all headed to bed.

June 9: Warnemunde and Rostock, Germany 

Our 9th day on the cruise, we docked in Warnemunde, Germany. Because the ship would be docked until 9 pm that night, we weren’t too fussed about waking up early to head into town. This port was where cruises docked so that passengers could take a bus to Berlin about 2-3 hours away. We already planned on going to Berlin after the cruise so we instead spent our time going around Warnemunde and Rostock, a 15-minute train ride from the port city.

We started our day off going to Rostock. Rostock is a Hanseatic City that is considered often referred to as the “Gateway to the North”. True to its description of being a quaint town, many of the buildings were in an older style and just overall, very European-looking. We didn’t really know too much about the city before coming here, so we spent most of our time wandering around. There were a bunch of clothing and shoe stores lined along the way, however, because it was Sunday, almost everything was closed and the city seemed a little deserted.

As we walked around, we spotted a food stand selling sausages and currywurst, both of which I am a big fan of. My aunt married a German, so growing up, I ate a lot of German food because I was always spending time with my cousins, so of course, when I saw the sign of currywurst I had to get some. Currywurst is basically sliced sausage topped with curry powder that you dip in curry ketchup; we also ordered a Rostocker, the local sausage. We were shocked when the man handed us the Rostocker because the sausage was ginormous but the bread it was served in was the size of a dinner roll. I didn’t end up liking the Rostocker because it was so porky, but the currywurst was quite tasty.

We wandered into one of the older, larger churches, Saint Marien-Kirche, where we stumbled upon my favorite thing that day: The Astronomic Clock of 1472. The clock was built by Hans Düringer, a master clocksmith from Nuremberg. The clock shows, hours, days, months, years, phases of the sun and moon, and the Zodiac. The clock had computation of the dates of Easter up until 2017 but was updated in 2018 to add on more years. This is the oldest and last working astronomical clock from the Middle Ages that still tell the time, date, and more. The highlight of the clock is at noon when there is a procession by the Apostles. The Apostles circle Christ, then file through a door that is supposed to represent heaven, and just before Judas enters, the doors close and he is left outside. It was so cool that we were actually there at noon when the procession occurred.

After our time at the church, we headed back to Warnemunde to wander around there as well. It was a cute coastal town with restaurants and cafes up and down the marina. We wandered in and out of some of the shops that were open and tried fried fish sandwiches at one of the boats docked there.

By 4 pm we were done walking around and headed back to the ship to get a little bit of rest before dinner, which was, as usual, very filling and entertaining. 

[titchymitchy16]

An epic Russian bromance...

So today Fishy (@fishylife) and I stumbled across the adorable friendship between two baby Russians, one belonging to the Leafs, and one belonging to the Habs *le gasp* So here are the fruits of my stalking or as fishy so eloquently called it ‘sleuthing’ of the relationship between Rinat Valiev and Nikita Scherbak :P

So first we saw these, which made us curious on how well they knew each other!

Then googling their names gave me this - so they definitely played AGAINST each other but so has like, everyone, so...

Then we delved into Instagram and Twitter where they adorably support each other even after being drafted to rival teams and this is where I got very emotional... 

... #bestboysyouwilleverhave...

... summer training together...

GET THIS CUTENESS AWAY FROM ME! They both posted this photo and this was Val’s caption “valei61 Little talk before the game with my buddy @nikscherbak #InstaSize#brothers”

... Nikita retweeted the callup tweet and then wrote another tweet to say congrats to his BEST FRIEND - fyi the tag says ‘#master’...

... yes, this is a team photo but they’re sat next to each other...

... Val’s draft day...

... rival team caps but still bestest buds... 

... the return ‘1st NHL game’ post...

... they both look hilarious but it’s cute...

Alas, we reach the end of the photos... BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!

An interview with Val from just after the draft:

– Did you enjoy the draft ceremony? Nikita Scherbak said that he was so worried that he didn’t know what to do once he heard his surname. Well, he got picked during the first round. In the third round it’s not as shiny as the first, therefore I had nothing to worry about. (Laughs.) By the way, me and Nikita are friends, we congratulated each other after the draft.

– And now you can play against him in very meaningful games. After all, one of the top NHL rivalries is between Montreal and Toronto. Yes, it would be great. I would be very glad to “greet” him with a big hit. (Laughs.) 

IN CONCLUSION! They’re freaking adorable and I love them and their friendship and so have spent this evening getting very emotional over supportive, rival-team BFFs and spamming Fishy (and now all of you) with my findings and feelings :P I hope you enjoy :)

[flabbergabst]

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW 2x09 REACTIONS (may include spoilers)

I'm just gonna type away as I watch through the episode.

OH HOW I MISSED THIS SHOW 

 God the freaking Oculus explosion scene. 

STOP HURTING ME. 

 omg the swoosh of Sara's boe staff 

 Yass kill em girl 

 NOW THIS IS JUST RUDE WOW REALLY?! YOURE GONNA SHOW ME LEONARD RIGHT NOW?! 

 ARE THEY GONNA SHOW THE KISS BECAUSE THAT'LL BREAK ME 

 OH YEAH SKIP THE CAPTAIN CANARY KISS SURE GO AHEAD assholes 

AND THEY SKIPPED SARA'S "but that's what he was" LINE?!?! @LOTwriters whats good?! 

 Wow not one minute in and im EMOTIONAL 

 God mick my son I'm losing my mind too, tbh 

 LEGION 

OK THE LEGION NEEDS TO GET TO WORK RIGHT NOW 

 Ok I'm calm.

 I actually missed Rip. Arthur, actually. Rory. And Amy. 

WHAT 15 YEARS?! 

 Let's be honest here. None of us know what's happening in this intro. 

 STEIN IN A ROBE IS EVERYTHING I NEED IN LIFE 

 "You're my bestfriend. I love you, man." 

SAME SAME SAME SAAAAAME LEONARD WHAT THE HELL WHERE ARE YOU WE MISS YOU HE'S TALKING TO SNART 

 Hey 

 HEY 

 OH MY GOD MICK RORY MY POOR BOY 

 Im broken

 IM BROKEN 

 TELL SARA.

 SHE'S THE CAPTAIN.

 Martin pls help Mick. Please. Please. 

 GOD HE'S SCARY 

 Nate srsly with the boombox?! 

 RAY IS RIPPED, GUYS 

 "We're not together" YEAH BECAUSE FIREFOX 

 God amaya's gorgeous

 I love how they woke everybody up for this 

 And Jax and his tattoos 

 Captain's having none of it 

 "What? I went to Sunday school." 

 JAX I LOVE U 

 sara's sleepwear yas girl bring it 

 Indiana jones movie hehehehehehehehehehe girl 

 SARA FITS EXACTLY ON THE CHAIR Im sorry i cant keep my eyes off of her 

"Would Rip?" Well... 

 MERLYN IS COOL 

OK 

 Barrowman is cool 

 Wow they're gonna mug assassins. Good luck. 

 SARA LOOKS HAWT SORRY GUYS

 also, i hope sara/nate never happens 

Sara wearing black does things to me 

 "Darhk and Merlyn, former LOA?" 

 I love this show so much

 Martin and Mick. Pls. 

 For a second there i thought it's david beckham 

 G e o r g e L u c a s 

 WHAT IS HAPPENING 

 RIP HUNTER WHAT THE HELL 

 Things are insane in this show guys what are we expecting  

Time drift mhm 

 HERE IT IS MICK AND MARTIN 

 Yeah, Len. Set me straight.

 Sara knows something's fishy. Somebody tell her about Snart.

 Lol Lincoln at JCAT

M I C K 

 Just knock him out, guys. 

 "Mick..." 

 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHGA 

GREAT 

AMAZING

 Everything's happening so f a s t 

 Ugh legion 

 THEY'RE THE DEFINITION OF EVIL YA KNOW THAT 

 Ray is bae tbh 

RIP IS MAKING IT SO HARD FOR THEM 

WHAT THE HELL 

 GOD THEY'RE SO EVIL

 I LOVE IT 

 angry sara looks hawt 

 RAY IS FORGETTING SCIENCE

 NATE IS GONNA FORGET HISTORY SOON 

 This is amazing.

 I mean, it's gonna be hard for them but this is amazing 

 "My gluten allergy is very real and challenging..." RAY IS PRECIOUS 

 G e orgs Lucas is SALESMAN OF THE YEAR 

WHAT 

 George Lucas is inspiring tbh and this is the proof 

 RAY AND NATE ARE CUTE. Get married.  

"Stay in school!" 

A M A Z I N G 

 amaya i love u ur an amazing woman and i love you 

 "YOU'RE OUR ONLY HOPE" IM DED IM DYING IM DEAD HE GOT THE LINE FROM AMAYA OK HEADCANON

 Mick's room is my room tbh 

 Time ghost

 TIME MASTERS BECAUSE THEY'RE ASSHOLES 

 blasted away in million pieces 

 SNART GOD SHOW YOURSELF

 The fact that Mick wants the thing on his brain removed means he wants to be on the ship and YES LOVE YOU BELONG THERE 

 And I thought I heard Mick curse 

 DOMINIC PURCELL'S ACTING 

 Also, pls let the captain know 

 Also, if sara/r*p happens, I'm gonna quit 

AND GEORGE HAS THE SPEAR 

 wow the surprise entrances are cool 

 And rude 

 MERLYN IS SCARY

 IM SO SCARED 

 And Amaya's totem!?! 

 Darhk is so evil I CANT 

 "Brain surgery, what does it look like?" Wow so casual 

 SERIOUSLY?! GARBAGE CHUTE?!?! ALL THE STAR WARS REFERENCES YAS THIS IS AMAZING

 THE REFERENCES ARE AMAZING 

 now how are they supposed to find it if THE CHUTE IS CLOSING 

 I love it everytime sara fights darhk I kinda want to punch him too 

 AND GOD PLEASE DONT HURT JAX 

 Gideon is gonna make him remember, isnt she? 

 I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH IM SO GLAD THE SHOW IS BACK 

 Wow rip is this the real rip or phil acting like rip 

 OH BUGGER 

 "Gideon, fire! FIRE EVERYTHING!" Same tbh 

 What is it with Sara and the hatch closing 

 The failure in the wardrobe continuity bugs me. 

 JAX AND HIS PEP TALK IS EVERYTHING I NEED IN LIFE 

 He's not dead, Martin. 

 HE'S ALIVE 

 HERE 

 IN MY HEART 

 God someone reassure Mick that the team needs him 

 Ugh the mere mention of Snart in this episode hurts me 

 ARTHUR'S ACTING YAS

 Pls dont torture rip goddamnit 

 LE GION OF DOOM GODDAMNIT 

 Im gone 

im now a ghost

 Im dead

[mvryyy]

Surviving 2016: Year of the Extremes

Nineteen years of existence and I must say, 2016 really was (so far) the most challenging of them all. I’d rather not bore anyone at all with a detailed story of how 2016 made me experience the best of both worlds so here is a glimpse of the highlights of my year in photographs and a short description:

January

Angels Walk for Autism - The ASP annually organizes an event wherein its main goal is to spread both awareness and happiness. It was fun seeing people with autism happily dancing with a big smile on their faces. The sweaty atmosphere sure did give off that euphoric vibe.

Intramuros - It’s been a long time since I last visited Intra. I’ve always wanted to come back now that I’m a bit older and more curious with our history. Luckily, my lola, who worked as a tour guide in her younger years, invited me to go there. It’s nice because as we walk, she always has an interesting fact to tell.

February

DLSUST Psych Swap - If you’re unaware, I had a struggle before in choosing what college to attend to. I ended up going to UST. So when the opportunity to become a lassalian for a day knocked, I didn’t hesitate.

Photo credit: Tina Ocampo

Shiela’s birthday bash @ SUN - During this time while all my friends were getting wasted, I was taking photos using my polaroid. Surprise, surprise, hindi pa ako umiinom nung mga time na ‘to. When my friends and I bought alcohol, she had to buy an ice cream and pizza just for me. Ah, the simple joys in life

Project SAWI - I was the mastermind behind this event and it was my first time. This event gave me the opportunity to talk to Ramon Bautista, Joyce Pring, etc. I was so stressed trying to look for speakers. Unfortunately, they all had a jampacked schedule. It’s Valentine’s, duh. Ate Pat Yulo even assigned me to lead the prayer before the event. I was so nervous that time. Good thing I listened intently, little did I know I was about to face the pitfall of my relationship a few days later.

March

Goodbye, walwal virginity - March 02, 2016 was the very first time I let alcohol in my system. It tasted good but it made my head throb. I felt so dizzy as if my whole world was spinning. There were a lot of crying and laughing. I ended up puking on my friend’s bedsheet. I remember waking up from a sleep, asking Jem for a plastic. And while they were all panicking, voila, I already vomited. Bea ended up giving me a bath and Jem ended up washing his bedsheet. I’m not proud of it, but that was a great first walwal story.

Les Misérables - I LOVED IT SO MUCH AND I TRIED TO KEEP MYSELF CALM BUT I COULDN’T CONTAIN IT

Cavite Crew - My friends and I went to my friend’s place at Cavite to walwal (March 18-19). Another memorable one for me. I was crying in the bathroom while staring at my reflection, I puked a lot of times, I played beer pong for the first time, and just like any other walwal session with me, there were a lot of crying and laughing. Thankful for my friends.

April

Serendipity - I got the chance to be someone’s prom date! It felt like highschool all over again. I also made a new friend, Yana.

Jumpyard - The inner child in me was jubilant. Although tiring, jumping everywhere was such a fun and thrilling experiencing.

Kat’s birthday bash - I was shookt. I guess I’ll keep the reason to myself. I’m just gonna leave this here: I never thought I’d survive but I did.

May

Comm Dev at Rizal - I really love attending community development activities. It makes me feel like I’m slowly contributing to the betterment of the country. And kasama ko isa sa mga crush ko dito I can’t.

Spontaneous hangout - “2AM in your car. You pass my street, the memories start.” First time to get out of the house at midnight just to have a mini roadtrip and have deep conversations with someone. We went home at 8AM haha the struggle was real.

Bea’s birthday bash - Another hotel night with my friends. It was fun, I guess. I didn’t drink at all just so I could take embarrassing photos of my friends and use them as a blackmail in the future. I’m kidding. I did drink, though. Ian went to Pasig all the way from Fairview, idk why, but he did. The rest is history.

Baccalaureate Mass - Yay I was a staffer here, lol. The fireworks were the bomb. And after everything, I went to Jollibee to eat late dinner with Yana and Miel. So cute kasi Miel went to QPav to give me food just because. Huhu my heart.

The Big Reveal - I’ve always wanted to go to Barkin Blends. Thanks to Miel for accompanying me. HAHAH after this we went to eat at Buffalo’s then we spent the rest of the afternoon (to night) talking at Sunken Garden. We were both vulnerable, exchanging life stories. That was our first hug (May 30). The next day we went to UPTC for a PsychSoc thingy. We ate at S&R and again, shared life stories. That night he kissed me on the cheek NAKAKALOKA.

June

Double Date - I have no picture of the four of us. Miel, Franclem, Nikki and I went to Gateway to watch Now You See Me 2. While waiting we killed time at Timezone

Girls, girls, girls! - Finally had the long overdue hohol with my bffs.

July

Zoobic Safari - A different kind of family date

sleepHOEver - Fun sleepover with my LOML

Sleeping with the fishies - Had an overnight stay at Hotel H2O + a visit to Manila Ocean Park. I LOVE ADVENTURES LIKE THIS

August

Dorm Buds + BFF4L - First time to live away from home. Best thing is that I’m with my best friend!

Singapore - It’s good to be back.

September

My birthday bash - Along with Kat, Jade, and Abby, Miel surprised me on my birthday too. I actually thought that it was my friends’ plan. I didn’t expect anything from him lol. And he asked me to be his girlfriend.

October

Class Pic - I’ll always be home.

CommDev - Another exciting comm dev activity thanks to Psych Soc!

Photo Credit: KC Dilla

Photo Credit: Angel Dizon

Photo Credit: Angel Dizon

November

PsychSoc team building - SUPER FUN EXPERIENCE!! Sleepover at Rizal. Plus, I made new friends. Amazing bonding experience for everyone.

Photo Credit: Irish Uy

Photo Credit: Angel Dizon

Photo Credit: Irish Uy

Photo Credit: Dave Vergara

Photo Credit: Irish Uy 

Au’tis the Season - Fun experience with the bae. It’s so fun to see the smles on everyone’s faces.

Power dressing - We’re required to wear a corporate attire for the whole day. V nice

December

Mea’s Birthday Bash - Sleepover at Diamond Hotel and walwal sesh at BGC

BatanGang at Tali Beach - V fun semender getaway