#NINTENDO I HAVE QUESTIONS AND YOU BETTER ANSWER THEM EVENTUALLY

[that-one-loz-nerd]

Nintendo casually rewriting pieces of the timeline while us fans go insane pulling at our hair trying to figure out how it could all work

[jasper-is-autistic-old-blog]

howdy! today i wanna talk about the aac system i use and go over how i use it

im currently using the app Coughdrop on an Amazon Kindle Fire 7. the version from 2022 i believe, which i think is the most recent. it was the least expensive new tablet i could get.

it's in a foam case that looks like Spiderman! i chose all black because it's unobtrusive and goes with my aesthetic but it was also available in red with black eyes and some other colors

i currently use a board called vocal flair 112. i previously used quick core 112 and this is similar, but has a built in on screen keyboard. which means i get less buttons on the home page but it's fine because i found myself pulling up the keyboard frequently to fill in the gaps even with that many buttons.

here's a screenshot, i haven't edited this page, i just use it as the default:

i don't actually make it speak aloud often when im out in public. the person with me who's supporting me (usually my mom) reads my screen if i need to talk to someone else. this is almost purely out of anxiety. the fear that someone will not hear me the first time, that they wont listen or won't understand, that someone will overhear a robotic voice and stare, etc. but it's an improvement over my previous method of texting my mom, pointing at menus, and mumbling or whispering until i either gave up or she finally managed to hear me.

i use this feature in coughdrop to have her read the screen:

it's found under the "repeats" section. it makes a large button you can press to voice the selection or you can have someone else read it.

i also quickly wanted to show my two "advocacy" boards. one is a premade board that ive edited and the second is made by me from scratch. i think im going to combine them eventually, but ive been lazy about it

these don't reflect my current "public use" pronouns, but that's fine.

my speech has always been pretty intermittent and unreliable in some situations, but more recently ive experienced some skill regression that makes it harder than ever to use verbal speech. even when relaxed and comfortable, typing or using aac is easier for me. and when even slightly stressed or overwhelmed or even overly happy or excited, it's very hard to impossible to get any words out.

im hoping to get better about actually using the voice feature instead of showing people my screen. the only time ive ever actually used aac to communicate with a stranger i showed them my screen. i have a lot of anxiety about not being heard which im sure comes from the fact that my voice doesn't always work and that's pretty scary at times. it seems im both afraid of not being heard and being heard but being made fun of or dismissed. im not sure what would be worse.

anyway, sorry for the anxiety tangent.

im hoping to get a strap for the case soon so it's easier to carry around. i tend to have several things with me at all times, my phone, talker, Nintendo switch, my small backpack, and a stim toy or comfort item. it's nice when i manage to cut back on what im carrying and it works out well, but sometimes i just need all those things to get through a situation.

i don't actually own the coughdrop app. im using a free version. it times out after about 15 minutes and you have to exit and enter again, as well as other premium features not being available. i was hoping to eventually save up for it but the price has increased recently to the point where it is out of my budget. maybe if i get a job eventually? even then im not sure if i can justify the cost. the monthly price also went up, which sucks. c'est la vie.

if you have any questions at all, im happy to try to answer! inbox or ask box or reblogs or anything works.

thanks for reading!

[genshinemblem564]

I am curious who is your favorite oc in feh.

I don't really think about favorites often, they just happen, so I'll list the ones that stand out and the reasons they do so. Sorry I couldn't answer your actual question, I hope this will suffice.

• Alfonse: His reason for remaining distant from summoned heroes was understandable. Just because they're here now doesn't mean anything. They will eventually have to return to their worlds and fulfill their roles. After learning about Zacharias however, my heart broke. He's self isolating due to trauma and grief, Anna and Sharena are hurt too, but he took it the hardest by a mile, and it's only made worse after the reveal. I never wanted a character to be real just to give them a hug more in my life, our boy needs that hug bad.

• Bruno: Man is loyal to the end. He fakes his death, takes on a new identity, and tries to get his best friend to kill him because of a curse on his family's blood where he's not in control of his own actions, all the while searching for a way to lift said curse for the sake of his sister.

• Veronica: I was always confused about how loneliness leads to wanting to destroy a nation, but after Bruno's explanation, I believe her actions may not be her own. This is only proven further by Brave Veronica since she holds no animosity towards the summoner, and now I just feel bad for her. Also, I love how Xander joins her willingly for the reason that she reminds him of Corrin. I think my teeth rotted from too much sweetness.

• Fjorm: Her story is a sad one from start to finish, and she still has the strength to press forward. Unless I missed an event, I'm fairly certain her contract with the summoner is the only thing keeping her alive, as I believe it's stated in game that Breidablik can revive heroes, even ones not summoned if I've interpreted the light's blessing mechanic correctly.

• Laegjarn: She is such a great character. She spent every day fighting to survive Muspell's cruelty using her smarts rather than her brawn. She was never as cruel as her father, only seeking combat because it's an order, wishing for peace between the nations of fire and ice. Even in her final moments, she thinks only of her sister's safety.

• Helbindi: Typical meat head, that's what I thought at first, I was DEAD WRONG. From his motivations for fighting to his betrayal of Surtr, he is a phenomenal and tragic character. I also headcanon that he acts as a second older brother to Ylgr, at least I think it's a headcanon, I can't remember if that's their in game dynamic or not.

• Lif: I haven't played book III yet, so I can't say much other than "I like his design." I mostly try to avoid spoilers unless I'm researching for my writing.

As for FEH original characters beyond book III, I know next to nothing about them, as I've been playing in a linear fashion, despite not needing to. I actually beat book II on my first account, but it wasn't linked to my Nintendo account, so it didn't carry over, but that's why I'm able to give my opinion on book II original characters, in case you were wondering after what I said for Lif.

Regarding Fjorm's section, FEH is honestly almost as bad as Genshin when events are involved. The only thing making them better is that you can rewatch event cutscenes, but only ones you unlocked or that occur naturally, such as openings and endings. I know Fjorm has one regarding the rite she underwent, but I forget its name and category.

[ollyou]

What mainly got you to like the Origami siblings so much?

OOH OKAY THIS IS A FUN QUESTION FOR ME. WARNING FOR LOTS OF TEXT!

TL;DR FOR EVERYTHING: I was obsessed with Olivia and Bobby as family to Mario, and just really found interest in how tragic Olly and the siblings are in general. Then, I had my obsession reignited by the dreaded (/j) “Ollys ship”.

Okay, first I gotta say how I got into the game in the first place!!

To make it semi-brief, I got back into my Mario fixation after years of lessened interest by playing Minecraft…. SILLY, RIGHT? Well, I decided I wanted to listen to video game OSTs while I play with my little sister watching, and naturally, Mario games have always consistently had my favorite OSTs— and actually, my two favorite OSTs of all time (even before this story) are the ones for Super Paper Mario and Bowser’s Inside Story! Eventually I decided I’d listen to more Paper Mario music, and then it led to me getting a short-lived fixation on Color Splash.

While I was listening to Color Splash’s OST in early May 2020, I recall telling my sister, “I wonder when they’re going to make a new Paper Mario game, if they will at all. I’d really wanna play it!”

And then not even a week later, PMTOK was announced. IT WAS REALLY FUNNY AND CRAZY TIMING. I was already at the peak of my Paper Mario fixation, so this was perfect!

Basically I was pretty much immediately excited to see two completely original characters in this game. I thought Olly looked really pretty, too, even though at first I wasn’t sure how to feel about the whole origami stuff. Nonetheless, I was OBSESSED. With the whole game. I vividly remember checking the website for it constantly and watching analysis videos of the trailers, as well as gushing over Bobby (before I even knew much about him at all) to my friend on Sky: CotL…. I also had made sure to watch the Nintendo Treehouse livestream for the game. I watched near EVERY trailer online, to the point that when I played the actual game, it felt like almost nothing was new. I had preordered the game too, on my birthday about a month prior to the game’s release. I WOULD CONSTANTLY TALK ABOUT THE GAME, SAYING “You should buy Paper Mario: The Origami King releasing exclusively on the Nintendo Switch for $59.99 USD on July 17th, 2020” FOR THE FUNNIES. No one I knew was super interested in the game, though, so I was just gushing about it by myself on my private Instagram.

When the game released, I livestreamed myself playing it! And.. my… my first livestream caption 😄😄 was um 😄😄😄😃😄😄

…YEEEAAAH. /J

Again, all silly jokes. I constantly joke about wanting fictional characters… it’s not a creepy thing, TRUST ME….

BUT ANYWAY, this kind of started the “public” gushing over the origami siblings (in quotations because it was only to my friends on a private Instagram account, before I even joined the PMTOK fandom).

Then, of course…

There goes my crazy attachment to Olivia and Bobby. I was so obsessed with those two (IN A PLATONIC/FAMILIAL WAY + MARIO). The drawing above is of myself playing the role of Mario, hanging out with Olivia and Bobby.

I also was just… super obsessed with how tragic but beautiful Olly was. I wanted to give him a better ending, which resulted in so many of the AU stuff going on. You can see how I felt in the moment in the image above.

The game itself basically got me obsessed with the siblings! But then….

I started drawing them as people. (I know, the art is kind of ugly. It’s from 2020, cut me some slack!)

I also apparently wrote this on my designs for them…?! So that’s why my human designs look so basic.

I’d never liked humanizations, because I’ve always had this thing where I hate human characters. However, this somehow changed things for me. These were pretty much my first humanizations, made in August 2020.

Well, that’s great and all, but how am I still so obsessed with them???

The answer is super embarrassing.

I actually had a moment where I was losing interest in PMTOK. This was around early 2021. Then comes along the worst thing to ever happen to me. /j

The Ollys.

I was randomly DMed fanart of me and Sega (Jaded_Is_Jade on Twitter)’s Olly designs by Sega herself one day. Kissing. Passionately. As a joke. It was based off this meme:

…Unfortunately, I don’t think Sega will ever allow me to share this drawing with the public.

Anyway, as someone who found selfcest absolutely hilarious due to its sheer absurdity and impossibility in real life, I thought this was a new funny recurring joke we’d have.

Yeah. “Joke”. We kept drawing art of the Ollys. It was all funny, but then we moved on to writing fanfics about them. Then, this sort of wound up becoming a symbol of our bond.

The Ollys have been a thing since February 24, 2021. It’s horrifying. I feel embarrassed every time I talk about it, because I don’t want people to think I’m often into selfcest (I don’t ship that stuff anywhere else, but if you do that’s cool, it’s just not my thing because I prefer more… possible ships), but this… somehow got me infatuated with Sega’s Olly. Which is really funny, because I used to say “why do people find him hot??? He’s literally a cube.”

So, now a lot of the obsession comes from the Ollys. They really do hold a special place in my heart, for some godforsaken reason. That, and I just love tragic siblings. And fictional siblings in general. I used to be OBSESSED with Papyrus and Sans’s relationship (in a familial way, ya freaks. /j).

SO YEAH. I WENT OFF… A LOT… BUT I HOPE SOMEONE FINDS THIS INTERESTING!! I’d be happy to answer more questions in the near future, so if anything is confusing here, please ask away!

Thank you for the ask! ^_^

[bellmo15-blog]

Will I Ever Be As Hyped For A New Smash Game Again?

No, probably not. Thank you and goodnight.

…………….. Okay, to all the people who stayed and actually care about what I have to say allow me to say thank you for actually giving a shit about what I have to say. And also allow me to say that me saying that I don’t think I’ll be as excited for a new Smash game as much as I was for Ultimate isn’t some sort of result of me becoming cynical or anything. Nor was it even a result of Ultimate being disappointing because it wasn’t. I love Ultimate and in the five and a half years it’s been out that hasn’t changed. Rather, I think the reason I won’t be as hyped for a new Smash Bros game as I was for Ultimate can be answered with another question. Where the Hell do you even go with this series from here?

The whole reason I was even as hyped for Super Smash Bros Ultimate in the first place was because of its main selling point. “Everyone is here!” Every single character who was ever playable in a previous Smash game was going to be playable in Ultimate regardless of if they were from third party franchises, only ever made one appearance in a game before hand or were previously DLC in Wii U and 3DS on top of the new characters we would be getting. No one was going to be left out. It was, for lack of a better term, the Ultimate Smash Bros experience. THIS was the whole reason I was as into Ultimate leading up to and after its release! And the best part is that every character felt good to play as two! Unlike previous games none of them felt really that overpowered unless you were playing with Spirit’s enabled, they all felt balanced and even characters who were literal jokes in the past like Pichu were actually good… I mean Pichu still hurts himself in this game if you use his electric attacks but still. I actually watched that overview trailer from Nintendo 2018 E3 presentation again while writing this and I cannot begin to tell you the amount of nostalgia I got just from watching that. And it was only half a decade ago two! The moment Solid Snake showed up in that trailer and the words “Everyone is here” showed on screen I knew my hype was justified.

This also meant that realistically, all kinds of people who play this game should have been pleased. Those who take these games very seriously, main specific character who might not be in every game and have a deep, deep, DEEP passion for this series to the point where they will play on nothing but Omega Stages with items off and normal human beings who just want to play a fun crossover game! And when the game eventually did come out, I felt like my hype paid off. I loved it! It was tied with Red Dead Redemption 2 as my personal favourite game that came out in 2018. I cleared every single challenge on the challenge board, 100%ed World of Light, got every single spirit before more were added via the DLC or free updates, cleared every characters classic mode routes, brought both Fighters Passes meaning I got every DLC character instantly and brought all of the Mii costumes especially because, come on, do I even have to say what characters that I really love some of those costumes belonged to?

Was it a perfect game? Of course not! No game is truly perfect. For as much as I love that every single character from past games was playable the way the roster is laid out where they are organized by when they first appeared in a Smash game instead of the characters being grouped together by series like in the past is something I will never come to love especially when the “Ready to Fight” text blocks half of the roster as well. Also, not every single stage made it into this game either. I mean some of the absent stages I don’t really miss that much anyway especially FUCKING YOU *Looks at Rumble Falls* but still. Not to mention for as much as I love that we got the Codex Calls back for if you’re playing as Snake on Shadow Mosses Island it’s only for the characters who were in Brawl and no new ones were added despite the fact that David Hayter admitted he would have been more than happy to record new conversations. Oh and of course Trophies > Spirits because at least the Trophies in the previous games actually told you some of the lore of those characters and series.

Even with those few issues I do have Ultimate is still in my opinion of the best and most complete Smash games in the series and one where my hype for it was more than justified. And by the time we got the final DLC character of Sora I asked myself “So… now what? Where does this series go from here? How are they going to top a game whose whole gimmick was that everyone was here?”

Yes, my whole reason for thinking I won’t be as hyped for a new Smash game if we ever get one as I was for this particular Smash is because it would be very hard to top a game that basically did what Mortal Kombat Armageddon tried to do but better and without feeling the need to compromise anything like MK Armageddon did! We might never get another game where every character is playable again. Because for a lot of these characters, mainly the third party ones, Sakraui really had to go out of his way to even get the rights to use them in the first place. I mean Sora alone cost the guy SO MUCH money just to get him into the game allegedly. Hell, I’m more impressed he managed to get BOTH Cloud and Sephiroth as well as the four variants of Hero in this game considering Square Enix when they did allow Cloud in Wii U and 3DS only allowed two Final Fantasy songs on the Midgar stage which came off to me as if Square was being WAY to strict with their properties.

If we ever do get another Smash game chances are high that we might not get every single character in it like we did with Ultimate. And I know for a fact that is going to upset A LOT of people. Especially if a character that doesn’t make it in is someone they typically main for one reason or another. Is that going to make the game bad over all? God no, of course not! Because as long as the game itself is fun and I’m having a good time with it then I’m not really going to be bothered to much if my man Robin really doesn’t make it into the next game somehow. But I know that it likely won’t ever reach that same level of hype that Ultimate did, at least for me.

And again, that’s even assuming we DO get another Smash game! Because with everything Ultimate includes and tried doing I personally believe this might actually be the last Smash Bros game! Or at least, the last one we are going to be getting for a long time. Sakurai has to know a new game might not be able to top this one and he might want to work on some other stuff until he get’s motivated to make a new Smash. Which honestly, I can totally buy if that is the reason and even respect it. Double so if it’s a new Kid Icarus game because I loved Uprising and it’s been a while since we got a new Kid Icarus game. At least that’s what I personally would want. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to make another Smash for a long time because of how God awful the fandom is and doesn’t want to put up with the harassment and bullshit from it any longer just because he dared to put in a new character that wasn’t on all of those copy pasted “TOP 10 CHARACTERS THAN NEED TO BE IN SMASH BROS” lists and videos. Which I also totally get if that is the reason we might not get a new Smash for a while and it sucks that Sakurai had to go though all that shit! I do not envy game developers if you couldn’t tell.

[gamestop-compendium]

101 Pinball World (Teyon, 2012)

who greenlit this and can i go back in time to get them to un-greenlight it

the game 101 Pinball World is a dsiware title that attempts to be 4 themed pinball cabinets from the comfort of your nintendo dsi. it fails at this. the word "game" is doing some serious heavy lifting also

it boasts 4 worlds with a total of 101 tables when combined, but every "world" is really just the same set of board with different coats of paint. your ball can get stuck in places it cant get out of without tilting (which entirely disables your flippers until the ball is offscreen) and its happened to me multiple times a game before. it has 3 save files if you want to subject your friends to it and promptly lose said friends over it. someone made a trailer for it and noted how you can get a slow ball, tilt the board, or even have Ball Immunity, the number one funniest thing about this title

the sound design is both lacking and overwhelming at the same time. but the worst part is the... music? do i call it music? does it count as music? does any of this matter? does it ever end? do we get some sort of retribution for the horrendous auditory crimes of 101 Pinball World? i can answer none of these questions. as if you can even hear the music over the atrociously-mixed sounds of flippers and bumpers and points screaming from the ds speakers

here is the "soundtrack"/torment, uploaded in a video by a definitely unremarkable person who definitely didnt make a game everyone was talking about in like 2018. no siree. never happened

mystmans commentary on the game is pretty on-point, speaking as someone who decided this game was a good thing to spend my precious dsi shop money on a decade ago. i still get the title theme stuck in my head from time to time, though, since thats like the 2nd best song in the game. theres only 5 songs in this entire 5-dollar game, by the way. and also it was 5 entire dollars

which means theres no reason to rank them individually /ref

5. wizard theme - hilariously garbage. "ah shit, someone killed the keyboard player." worst thing i think ive ever heard from the ds. its even worse in person believe me. this is not music

4. space theme - kinda bland? idk. its like one synth loop forever. could be worse though, wizard theme proves that real well. has a weird buzzing in the back that really makes my brain hurt. i like the little ascending-descending sounds! very fun i forgot about those

3. pirate theme - good song, but ABSOLUTELY not pirate music. this sounds more like a beta track from club penguin: elite penguin force. i bet if you changed the soundfont itd fit the penguin bill just fine

2. title theme - catchy but empty. its like how modern deco*27 songs feel to me: good melody and beat, hollow instrumental. used to be 7-year-old-mes jam though. BEAUTIFUL bassline. goddamn. just gimme this for the whole ost honestly. itd only get a little grating.

1. spooky theme - regularly gets stuck in my head, albeit a better version i thought of so im not tormenting myself forever. this is what a song should sound like. it feels like this was made first and then the devs started running out of time to get the game out. keyboard drones in the back kinda give me a headache. but tbf that happens with all of the music and this is just the one that does it the least

overall, this game isnt even worth it for the bit. do not play this. i have found few games that are worse. maybe ill talk about them eventually. one day 101 Minigolf World will have its day. not yet though. 101 Pinball World was a soulless shovelware cash grab and it wasnt even fun. what a waste of 5 bucks. shame on you tiny tadpole past gio

overall rating: 2.7 - Real Bad. has 2 good music tracks and the menu ui looks nice. boring, broken, and somewhat painful under the surface -- like broken glass hidden under a shitty old paper-thin rug. cost too much money on the dsi shop channel for what it is. Do Not Play.

[treehouse-void]

Rattatatia

This is the final intro story before they all meet up. Pokemon belongs to Nintendo, the movie Ratatouille belongs to Pixar and Disney, which there are references to but names have been changed so as to try to avoid copyright, the OCs belong to Wraith, and make sure to check out Wraith's stuff on Wattpad. Also TW for controlling and toxic parent. It's not horrible, it could be worse, but just a fair warning that it's there.

It's been a few months now since the Gengar Incident, everyone was made aware of her powers, she encountered her first Karen, and made friends with other Pokemon. Gia felt like she could ride this high forever, if it weren't for the fact that sometimes she felt like there were people out there who got her stressed or made her use her serotonin towards them just to get a whiff of it. Those people, she felt, didn't deserve any of it.

The Eevee was lost in thought as a blur of purple sped by her into the nearby alley. Curiosity getting the better of her, she followed it to a Rattata hole in the side of an abandoned warehouse. Determined to find out who it was, she went to find another way in.

Once she was able to, she found a community of Rattatas. Young and old, male and female, everyone with a job or role to help maintain their little piece of society. So when she made a small noise with one of her steps, all of them stopped what they were doing and looked at her in confusion. Eventually, one of them, a female, stepped foward.

"Greetings, I am Rosa," the female Rattata introduced herself. "What's your name?" After Gia introduced herself, they started to recognize her more easily and Rosa had to tell them to go back to what they were doing so as to avoid their "guest" as Rosa called her from getting bombarded with questions and requests. After everyone got busy again, Rosa told her to follow, which Gia did.

"So I noticed everyone has a job," Gia noted while looking around, making sure to not step on any of the Rattatas going about their business. "What's your's?" Rosa answered by saying, "I'm the one in charge. I give them their jobs." Gia then understood why she was the one who started talking to her.

Rosa proceeded to take Gia on a tour of what the Eevee originally thought was a large town or small city, which turned out to be closer to a medium to large city. The Rattata introduced her to the major stores run by the locals and was even offered to try their food. It went on for awhile before they arrived at a living space larger than the others.

"Who lives here?" Gia asked, trying to narrow it down in her head the answer. "You?" Rosa chuckles and confirms that she was, in fact, correct. She then called out for someone named Reme so that they could meet. Gia wondered what a famous Paris Region Rattata was doing living here when he has his own restaurant.

Rather than a stressed out Rattata with a chef's hat looking like he was interrupted from cooking, a young Rattata close to Gia's age, still stressed but it looked like it was over other things and not cooking, came out of the living space.

"Yeah Mom?" The Rattata rubbed his eyes and blinked, looking like he hadn't seen natural light in awhile. Rosa, who Gia assumed was the younger one's mom, started smothering him with love and affection. This irritated the Rattata and caused them to push their mom off.

"Fine, fine, I'll stop for now," she says, ruffling his hair. She then intruces them as her son Reme. Gia was confused, and honestly a bit excited, and asked if he's the famous Rattata from the Paris Region and Rosa almost let out a laugh.

"No, no, that would be amazing, probably even a dream come true if I'm being honest, but no," Rosa explains. "I'm just a fan of his work, so when I found out I was having a boy, I begged my husband to name our son after him and he did." Rosa continued, saying that she was hoping that he'd make more friends and was hoping you two could hang out together. She then shooed them before heading into her living space, forcing them to even more.

Reme was noticably uncomfortable, saying they didn't have to if she didn't want to and that he'd explain to his mom if she did. She responded back that she wanted to get to know him, but also said that she wished it was by choice and not force. He then offered to show her "something cool". After making him promise it wasn't secretly anything bad, she agrees. He start to lead her to an alley in the city and makes sure she's able to catch up as they do parkour.

Eventually, they make it to a high beam and tight rope across. After they fully crossed, she's welcomed into a small den. One that, surprisingly, she could fit inside without taking up too much space.

"Welcome to my little hideaway," Reme says as he plops on a makeshift bean bag chair. Gia looked around for anything that might be similar to what the famous Paris Region Rattata might have and found nothing. She asks him if he's a fan of the Rattata's work and he answers no, but also mentions that his mom wishes he was as he starts venting about how controlling she is with his interest and hobbies. Gia simply sits and let's him let it out, thinking that this is something he needs.

"The worst part," he takes a deep breath as he struggles to continue. "The worst part is that the biggest thing that she pushes on me isn't making friends, or learning how to cook, or anything like that, it's that she wants me to take over the community, and I don't think I can't handle that." He starts rambling about how it isn't fair and that he wants a choice, and if he was allowed one that he'd use his choice to say no and explain that he wanted to live elsewhere. He said he'd explain that he would visit, but that he simply just doesn't want to live there anymore. Gia goes over and comforts him. He softly mentions that "it doesn't help that I'm an only child".

"Shh, it'll be alright," she tells him, reassuring him that everything will be ok. "Hey, why don't we try later today? That sound good to you?" Reme calmed down and nodded in agreement. They then talk about various other topics to pass the time. Before they knew it, it was time for him to head home.

"So once we get to your living space, you're going to ask her right?" Gia asked for confirmation as she jumped back down to the ground level. He confirms that it will happen, and when he asks for confirmation that she'll be there for support, she let's him know that she'll be by his side the entire time. With his confidence levels on the rise, they head back to his living space.

After knocking on a part of the wall next to the doorway, she comes out and asks how they're doing. Gia answers that they're doing well, and that Reme has something to tell her. When she asks what it is, he tells her that he doesn't want to take over being in charge. her loud exclamation of "WHAT?!" made Rattatas turn heads but she growled at them to "get back to work", making them scurry off. She then asks what he meant.

"What I mean, Mom, is that I don't want to be in charge once you retire or something," he restates. "I don't think I'd want to live here. I mean, yeah, I'll visit, but that doesn't mean I'll want to live here." His mom, looking like he'd broken his heart and put it back together only to break it again, asked what he would like to do. He said he didn't know, but mentioned that traveling sounded interesting to him. She was noticeably sad, but wished him well on his travels and asked that he visit as often as possible. He thanked his mom and told her that he'd try to visit often. Rosa then led them to a platform in the middle of the city square.

"Citizens of Rattatatia," she called out. Everyone stopped what they were doing and headed over to hear the announcement. She continues once she sees that everyone has arrived.

"As you all know, 25 years ago my husband and I made this place for Rattatas to live in peace, so that we and humans could live alongside each other the best we could. As you all also know, just over 11 years ago I gave birth to Reme, who is not only my only son but my only child. Today, we shall wish him safe travels as he ventures out of our community and goes off to explore the world. He'll no longer be taking over as I originally hoped, but I will think of something later for how to choose one of you to one day have a new leader when I am no longer able to. In the meantime let's give him a farewell and wish him safe travels on his adventures." As if on cue, as Gia and Reme head off the stage, everyone does as Rosa told them to. After getting through the crowd, they exit the way Gia entered as it was the only entrance she could fit through. Once they exited, they talked about where he'll head first and, after finding out, they part ways until they see each other again.

Thanks once again for reading. All of her friends have been introduced, now we're just to the meet up where all her friends finally meet each other. That should come out soon so stay tuned for that. Also there's a couple more references, but one of them is really obvious due to one of the things that's copyrighted that's mentioned before the story starts, the other is an Office Space reference which I don't expect most of you to get unless I point it out or you watch it.

[askagamedev]

Bayonetta 3 brought back an old issue, which is that the game is a Nintendo exclusive after Sega shelved the sequel. What you think about this discussion & do you believe Platinum did the right choice on a business POV?

I believe that Platinum did what they needed to do in order to get another Bayonetta game made. The original Bayonetta, despite being a really fun game, had some major issues. It did not perform well on the PS3 and it did not sell super well in its original run. Sega tentatively green lit a sequel, but (as you said) decided to cancel development for various and sundry reasons. Nintendo eventually came in with additional funding and that was what carried the game to the public.

The important question to answer here isn't "Would you like Bayonetta as a Nintendo exclusive or a multiplatform release?" but "Would you like Bayonetta as a Nintendo exclusive or no Bayonetta at all?" Without Nintendo's funding and publishing, Bayonetta 2 (and, likely by extension, Bayonetta 3) would probably never have seen the light of day. Personally, I think that having more Bayonetta games to play (even if they are Nintendo exclusives) is still better than not having them at all. 

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[renjuseyo]

if ur requests are open can i pls request Jaehyun x male reader where the reader is so drunk that he forgot that his boyfriend(jaehyun) is his boyfriend. then he asks a member if he is taken and they said yes and that will make reader to silently be sad in the corner and jaehyun asks if readers ready to go home......... andddddddd ill leaveee the rest to u hehehehe (iloveurwriting so much)

tipsy ; jaehyun

group: nct

pairing: jung yoonoh / reader (male)

synopsis: both you and jaehyun knew how much of a lightweight you were, but when has that ever stopped you?

genre: fluff, crack

warnings: implied sexual content, explicit language

i lost inspiration for this, so i hope this mess of a fic is okay anon! as always, feedback is appreciated!!

when you peek through the peephole, you expect to see the delivery man holding the package you had ordered online. instead, you’re pleasantly surprised to see your boyfriend on the other side of the door, wrapped in a hoodie, mask, and tinted sunglasses. his disguise is pretty unnecessary given how your neighbors are mainly made up of old people who have never heard of nct, but it gets the job done.

once you’ve unhooked the chain bolt, you unlock the door and swing it open. he slightly jumps at the noise, but visibly softens when he sees you. “hey (name),” he greets, slipping off his mask and sunglasses.

“hey yourself. what are you doing here?” you ask. with how hectic his schedule has been after promotions with the nct 2020 project and working as an mc on inkigayo, you two hadn’t seen each other in weeks. though you missed him, you sympathized with the tireless hours he spent working as an idol. at least you preoccupied yourself with netflix.

he slips off his sneakers and enters your home, taking off the rest of his disguise. you close and lock the door behind you, trailing behind him. “i managed to squeak in some free time today, so i came to visit you,” he explains. he faces you with a smile, pulling you close. you subconsciously lean your head onto his shoulder, humming as he sways your bodies.

“i missed you,” you tell him, fingers ghosting his waist. he makes a noise of agreement, resting his chin on your head.

you eventually pull away, eliciting a grumble from jaehyun. contrary to popular belief, he was the clingy one of you two, always using the excuse of “you’re just the perfect size for cuddling.” “stop grumbling, jae. you’ve come so far, so it’s only fair i make you something to eat,” you tell him, making your way towards the kitchen.

he follows suit, hand grabbing at the hood of your hoodie. you stop in front of the refrigerator and open it, canvassing the food you have in there. as you debate what to make for lunch, he rests his chin on your shoulder and snakes both arms around your waist. you roll your eyes, though you don’t make any movements to pry his arms off. “i can always eat something else,” he smirks.

you realize too late the implications of his comment, absentmindedly sorting through the bags of vegetables in your fridge. “do you want takeout instead then? mrs. moon from two doors down said that there’s this really good pho house near here.”

he nuzzles into your shoulder. “i’d really like to eat you,” he says as nonchalantly as one can, considering his implications. you nearly drop a bag of spinach, spluttering incoherent words as you spin around to swat his shoulder. he laughs, loud and proud, a stark contrast from the quiet, polite laugh he’s practiced.

“you’re the worst,” you hiss, reluctantly closing the fridge. he pecks your cheek, eliciting a disgusted screech from you. he leans back with a laugh before attacking your face with kisses. you shut your eyes as you try to wiggle out of his grasp. but jaehyun’s been working out, evident from his arms, and he’s always had an intense grip. when he leans away, satisfied, you flick his forehead. with how clingy jaehyun’s being, making lunch isn’t an option anymore. “i hate you.”

jaehyun eventually relinquishes his attacks, threading his fingers with yours. “you’re usually not this clingy, jae. actually, now that i think about it, you don’t flirt all too much either, much less suggest sexual innuendos. what’s the occasion?” you ask as he walks you two to your living room. he doesn’t immediately respond, flopping down onto the couch and dragging you along with him. you land on his chest with an oomph, your cheek squished against his chest.

he combs his fingers through your hair, smiling as you make a noise of approval. “well, i wasn’t going to say anything before the news outlet, but...” his smile only widens when he sees you look up at him with curious eyes; he nearly coos at how innocent you look. “a certain idol you know might make his acting debut soon~”

your eyes widen, and you quickly prop yourself up with your elbows. “what! no way!” you exclaim, jaw hanging open. jaehyun laughs at your shell-shocked reaction, though it’s a given; when you were in a mood to vent, he would always take your hand and pepper your knuckles with butterfly kisses as you ranted about how he deserved better and shouldn’t only be seen as a visual, whining about how sm failed to show his talents as a singer and an actor. well, those days are over now, he supposes.

“yes way, love. are you excited?” he isn’t sure why he asked that question, considering how shell-shocked you already look. plus, the squeal that leaves your throat and the way you throw yourself onto him is answer enough already.

“do you even have to ask? you used to send me videos of you acting out different roles because you wanted to try acting, and you always did them so well! i’m really proud of you, jae. you deserve it.”

“i’m really glad you think so, (name). do you want to hear-”

“no!” you interrupt, slapping both of your palms on his mouth. he tilts his head in confusion, surprised by your sudden outburst. “knowing you, you’re going to accidentally tell me everything, and then i’m going to know the whole story line before the show even airs!”

he’s about to refute your claims, but he can’t really considering how you’ve layered both of your palms on his mouth. plus, judging by the look you give him, he’s certain he’s going to be eating his own words sooner or later. with a sigh, he peels your palms off. "you’re no fun. can i not even tell you the name and the basic plot?”

“i’m sorry for wanting to give you ratings,” you snort. “and no. then i’ll be waiting in anticipation and will force you to tell me everything, even if you tell me you can’t because i told you before not to say anything. you can’t even give me a drop of information.” well, jaehyun supposes that is true. you’ve always been enticed by television shows; he’s personally seen you react to cliffhangers a show gives before it ultimately gets cancelled. needless to say, it isn’t a pretty sight. “this calls for celebration! we can invite the boys too... do you want it to be extravagant, or are we keeping it low key?” you ask, sitting up and reaching for your phone.

“what happened to just you and me?” jaehyun asks, batting his eyelashes with feigned innocence. “i can think of a lot more fun things we can do.”

you don’t even bat an eye; unlike earlier, you were prepared for this kind of comment. “shoving my foot up your ass sounds really fun, but unfortunately that won’t get me any food. the boys probably already knew before i did, so you’ve probably already celebrated with them... i guess we can keep it simple.”

“i’d take your foot any day,” he fires back with a heavily exaggerated moan, to which you respond with a slap on the arm.

“i’m telling johnny to bring over beer.” you’re texting a group chat with you and the other 127 members. you’re only dating jaehyun, yet sometimes it feels like you’re dating all of them with how close you are. plus, gossiping with jungwoo about your boyfriend is always fun. with him being his roommate, you both often share similar struggles.

he rolls his eyes, stretching over to wrap his arms around your waist. he peers over your shoulder to look at your screen. “please, (name). you’re the lightest lightweight i’ve ever met. who are you telling to bring over drinks? you’re like a baby.”

“fuck you.”

“i think it’s the other way around, but i’d gladly let you order me around~” he flirts.

you shove a pillow in his face as you fire off a text.

after ordering pizza, tteokbokki, and fried chicken, your dinner is nearly complete. the boys were coming over soon, with johnny being in charge of drinks, jungwoo in charge of takeout, and donghyuck in charge of entertainment. you had a nintendo switch jaehyun had gifted you two years ago, and you intended on making full use of it tonight.

(plus, you have yet to beat yuta at super smash bros. today is going to be that day.)

you had finished clearing the table for the food before you notice jaehyun’s sleeping frame on the couch. you’re about to walk over and reprimand him for being unproductive, but seeing how tired and peaceful he looks stops you. instead, you grab a blanket from your room and drape it over him.

you’re about to walk away and grab water bottles for everyone when you feel something tugging your hand. craning your neck, you smile at jaehyun’s hooded eyes laced with sleep. “c’mere,” he murmurs.

water bottles can wait, then. you pat jaehyun’s side, and he scoots over to allow room for you. as you slot yourself in his arm, spreading a leg across his, he makes a noise of satisfaction, eyes fluttering close. “someone’s tired,” you observe, pushing the mop of black bangs obscuring his eyes. “did practice run late?”

he avoids your gaze. “no, i spent the night playing uno with johnny, ten, and mark,” he admits.

you laugh. “must have been intense. i bet you were so burnt out from uno,” you sympathize with sarcasm. “but in general, don’t overexert yourself, okay? i know you’ve been busy, but you need to remember to take care of yourself.”

jaehyun nods, but a yawn rips out of his chest. you give him a knowing look, one that reads what did i say? which causes him to laugh. “yes sir,” he lazily responds.

“as tired as you may be, don’t go falling asleep on me now. the others are going to be here soon. what would they think, the guest of honor asleep at his own party?” you chuckle, leaning down to press a chaste kiss on his forehead.

he beams at the gesture. “give me more kisses and i’ll think about it,” he coaxes.

usually you don’t give in to his bratty demands, but seeing how tired he is reminds you of the accomplishments he’s achieved in the past year. a kiss is the least you could down. you lean down, breath fanning his lips, and he closes his eyes in contentment.

a few seconds pass, but the kiss never comes. when jaehyun opens his eyes, he’s surprised to see you’re no longer by his side, instead standing by the door. “that’s one way of telling a guy to come and get it,” he sighs, sitting up. he wearily rubs his eyes, blurry eyes watching you.

“sorry jae, taeil-hyung just texted saying they’re here,” you apologize. he sighs, eventually standing up after a few moments of stretching.

just as you had said, knocks resonate throughout your home, signalling their arrival. you peek through the peephole to verify their identities and sure enough, all nine other members stand outside, arms loaded. you undo the chain lock and swing the door open, greeting everyone.

“thanks for having us,” taeyong smiles, stepping into your home. everyone else echoes his message, but it comes out mumbled, like they hadn’t thought of saying anything until taeyong. the power a leader has, you suppose.

“no problem. here, let me grab some of the food.” you scurry over to jungwoo and mark, whose arms were loaded with the takeout you ordered.

as you grab a box of pizza from mark, johnny slaps you on the back. you nearly lurch forward and drop the pizza; if you had, johnny would be first on your hit list. “so jaehyun finally told you?” he asks with a grin.

“thank god. he spent days talking about ways to tell you, knowing how excited you’d be,” sicheng snorts, slipping off his shoes.

you laugh, especially when you see jaehyun spluttering in embarrassment. “you could’ve fooled me. all he did was waltz in and drop the news after he nearly fell asleep. made me feel like a proud parent and everything.”

“you may feel like one now, but wait until you watch him act. just going to be lots of cringing and teasing,” doyoung sneers, elbowing his shoulder.

yuta rolls his eyes. “like you’re one to talk, mr. lead actor.”

your eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. “lead actor?!” doyoung laughs, answering your question. “good for you, hyung!”

jaehyun narrows his eyes. “why do you look more amazed at his news than mine?!”

i’m not a lightweight, you told yourself. i can handle whatever yuta throws at me, you told yourself.

you were sorely mistaken.

jaehyun notices this too, seeing you sway in your seat. he chuckles at the sight; you were never able to hold your liquor, and when you got drunk, you were quite the spontaneous drinker to deal with. one time you had drank so much that you cried over cute things, like when sicheng showed you a picture of his dogs. or the one time you were a man on a mission, flirting with all of the members. needless to say, that led to a very interested jaemin and a very pouty jaehyun.

you had initially planned on just sticking to soda, but yuta had wanted to make things more interesting and challenged you to a game of super smash bros. each time the loser lost, they would have to down a can of beer. despite your inability to hold your liquor, it activated your competitive nature. but of course, yuta is crazy good at any games he suggests, completely demolishing you with lucina. no matter which character you chose, you were just no match against him.

after several fruitless attempts, you’re seated between taeil and sicheng, who seem way too interested in the tteokbokki to notice your behavior. everyone else seems occupied, too; johnny, yuta, jungwoo, and donghyuck are playing mario kart 8, taeyong and mark are immersed in yet another one of their deep, contemplative conversations, and doyoung’s watching the whole scene unfold, supervising everyone (probably to ensure nothing ends up in flames). on the other hand, jaehyun’s sitting on your sofa, alternating between watching the four men in front of your television screaming and you in your tipsy state. he decides to stick with the latter.

eventually you lift your eyes up and make eye contact with jaehyun, who responds with a wink. seeing you flush and look away has his chest swelling with giddiness; you’re just too cute sometimes. the table isn’t far from the sofa, so he can hear any conversation that goes on there. he watches as you take another sip of your can, eyes shifting back and forth from the television and to him. you stare at him for a bit longer, eyes canvassing his face, his posture, his thoughts.

it seems sicheng notices your staring, sitting back down and nudging your shoulder. “what’s so interesting that it’s gotten your attention?” he asks, purposefully raising his voice so jaehyun can hear.

you flush at how loud he is, lazily putting a finger to your lips. “shhh, i’m staring at the pretty boy there.” you point your chin towards jaehyun, who pretends to not see. you’ve never been subtle when you were drunk, but telling you that would just lead to you loudly slurring your arguments. “do you know if he’s dating anyone?”

jaehyun nearly spits out his beer. of all the times you’ve gotten drunk, you’ve never once forgotten that you were his boyfriend - if anything, you were all too eager to prove just how much you belonged to him. he’s not sure whether to feel startled or amused.

sicheng chooses the latter, a smirk forming. “yeah, he has a boyfriend,” he tells you. jaehyun hopes you’ll realize that you’re the boyfriend in question, but seeing how you deflate like a balloon, he guesses not. he questions how much you’ve had to drink.

you slide off of your chair, pouting. “of course a guy as attractive as him has a boyfriend. i’m not surprised,” you grumble, crossing your arms. jaehyun can’t help the amused smirk that makes its way on his face. watching you envy yourself for being his boyfriend is very amusing.

sicheng must feel the same, stifling his laughter. “don’t look so bitter, (name). his boyfriend’s a good guy.”

you pout, crossing your arms. “well, i bet i can treat him ten times better! pretty boy there doesn’t know what he’s missing out on,” you boast, standing up.

sicheng can only watch in amusement as you stagger towards the kitchen. if only you knew how strange that statement was. “if you’re so confident about that, then what are you doing? planning on hiding in the kitchen to wallow on your sorrows?” he teases.

“i’m not!” you protest. “i’m just going to get some water because i’m dizzy as fuck and possibly cry about how single i am.” you mumble the last part, though because sicheng has uncanny hearing, he probably heard, if the smirk on his lips is anything to go by.

jaehyun decides it’s time to intercept, because as amusing as things were, he hoped you weren’t actually going to cry about being single, especially since you had no reason to. he stops by the dining table where taeil and sicheng are. “so i heard you and (name) were talking about me.”

sicheng snorts, rolling his eyes. “just because we said pretty boys doesn’t mean we were talking about you.”

though unaware of the topic, taeil leans in, chewing on a mouthful of pizza. “yeah, for all we know, he could be talking about me!” he chirps. he’s met with an annoyed glare from sicheng (though both of them can see him stifling his laughter), which he responds with an air kiss. typical taeil.

“well, i’m going to check up on him. i’ll leave you two lovebirds alone for now,” he teases. taeil looks a little too happy at the joke, whereas sicheng threatens to stab him with a fork. it’s amusing watching their reactions, considering how everyone around them already knows that they’re dating. those two just haven’t admitted anything yet.

he follows you into the kitchen, though you don’t seem to notice, too busy pouring yourself a glass of cold water.  “(name),” he greets.

you jump in surprise, nearly spilling water on yourself. when you turn to face jaehyun, your confident nature immediately disappears, quickly replaced with one of bashfulness. “you know me?” you ask, in awe of how said pretty boy could possibly recognize you.

if only you knew just how well he knew you, he thinks to himself. instead, he decides to play along; you’re obviously too drunk to realize how silly this seems. “i do,” he hums, patting your shoulder. he isn’t sure if your red cheeks are from the alcohol or him, though he hopes for the latter. he never gets less prideful when you get all shy because of him.

hoping to maintain the confident facade you had earlier, you quickly clear your throat, looking away. “how can i help you?” you ask, taking a sip of your water.

“well, i was hoping if we could talk in a more... private area?” he asks.

you nearly spit out your water, eyes the size of saucers. he has to stop himself from laughing, afraid the drunk you would get the wrong impression. “just to talk, that’s all. it’s kind of loud here, don’t you think?”

the screams from the living room (which are mainly from johnny and donghyuck and the occasional ones of distress from taeyong) and the volume of the television are evidence enough, so you nod in agreement. “yeah, sure.”

“perfect. let’s go then~” jaehyun laces your fingers together before you can say anything, and your ears are practically fuming with smoke. you’re too distracted by his touch to question how he knows where your bedroom is. when you both enter your room, he flops down on your bed, patting the empty spot beside him. at this, you gasp, scandalized and very flustered. he chuckles at how shy you’ve gotten, shaking his head. “my my (name), get your head out of the gutter. we’re not going to do anything... unless you want to,” he flirts.

jaehyun never tries to take advantage of you, especially when you’re not sober. but when the sober you would throw pillows (or anything that wouldn’t actually hurt him) at him for flirting with you, the drunk you would always fire back with equally flirty remarks, or the shy you would just splutter in embarrassment. he can’t help it, spewing sweet nothings to you - you’re just too fun to mess with for him to not to, especially when you’re drunk.

reluctantly you place your water on your bedside table and lower yourself beside him, heart thumping erratically. he chuckles at how timid you are, a stark contrast from the snarky (name) that he knows so well. he turns to face you, both of your faces only centimetres apart. the smell of alcohol lingers on both of you, though it isn’t as prominent on him as it is on you. he makes a mental note to ask yuta how much you’ve had.

you squeak at how close you two are, hands flying to cover your face. “you have a boyfriend,” you whisper. you’re undeniably flustered, but you would rather die than be known as a homewrecker!

his laugh startles you, even more so when he presses a hand to the small of your back. you look like you’ve committed a heinous crime, potentially causing an attractive man like jaehyun to cheat on his boyfriend. the statement is so abusrd though, considering how you’re the boyfriend in question. “i do, you are right. he won’t be mad at me, though,” he hums, leaning in so close your noses would touch if it weren’t for the makeshift barrier you’ve made from your hands. you flush red in embarrassment, hiding your eyes behind your hands. if you make eye contact with him, you’re sure you’re going to melt into a puddle.

“even if he didn’t mind, i don’t think we should be doing this. i know i wouldn’t be happy if my boyfriend did this,” you whisper.

jaehyun sure is having a field day with this. you’re too flustered and worried to notice the pure look of adoration he’s giving you. “call it a hunch,” he says. “i promise you, he won’t be mad at this.”

“why?”

“you’ll find out tomorrow.” he pauses as a yawn rips out of his chest. “i’m really tired, so i’m going to sleep. the boys probably won’t quiet down on my account, anyways. you can always go back to them if you want, though,” he offers. a small part of him hopes for you to stay and cuddle with him, but judging how you’re so sure he has a boyfriend who would be absolutely devastated for literally sleeping with another man and how you have no knowledge of where you stand, he wouldn’t be surprised if you left.

what does surprise him, though, is when you stay rooted in your spot on the bed. “i’m tired, too,” you say.

jaehyun smiles so sweetly, the one that has his eyes dripping with honey, that your hands fly up to cover your face again. his boyfriend must be lucky to see that sight all of the time, you bitterly think to yourself. still, even if you’re not sure why he’s flirting with you or where you stand, you decide to savor every moment that you get to spend with him. even if you don’t really know who pretty boy is, he’s sweet and kind. plus, only a fool would cover their eyes when someone as beautiful as him lays before you.

he moves an arm to pat your thigh when he freezes in midair, remembering how he’s supposed to have a boyfriend to stay loyal to (even though he’s right in front of him). he retracts his arm and instead pulls your blanket to cover your lower bodies. “goodnight, (name),” he hums, shutting his eyes.

before jaehyun can begin the long process of trying to fall asleep, he feels you tug at his t-shirt. cracking an eye open, he sees you laying before him, staring at him with curious eyes and red cheeks. oh no, now he’s really tempted to kiss you. you’re impossibly adorable, seeing how vulnerable and curious you are. “yes?” he hums, trying to stay awake. the effects from last night’s uno matches have really begin to take a toll on him.

“i don’t think i’ve gotten the chance to ask, but may i know your name?” you ask.

jaehyun chuckles. he’s flirted with you and is even sleeping in the same bed as you, yet he’s forgotten the basic courtesy that is introductions. he didn’t think he would’ve needed it, considering how you’re his boyfriend. but then again, you’ve forgotten that you are his boyfriend. “my name’s yoonoh, but you can call me jaehyun or jae.”

no one actually calls him jae except for you. it’s a short and simple nickname that you have for him, nothing endearing. but because it’s something that only you call him, even though there isn’t a meaning to it, he’s grown fond of the way it sounds leaving your lips. which is why hearing it from anyone that isn’t you only leaves a weird taste on his tongue.

you’re so drunk you don’t even remember jaehyun, nor who he is to you, so it isn’t surprising that you stick with jaehyun instead. he doesn’t mind though, because he knows when you’re sober again he’ll hear you calling him jae and cuddling into him and doing all of the coupley things he wasn’t able to do tonight.

wow, jaehyun really is a lovesick fool. it’s only been one night of not being able to cuddle or kiss you, but he feels like he’s missed a whole eternity of them. he really isn’t sure how he’s lived before you came into his life.

for an hour, you pester jaehyun on how you two became acquainted and who you were to him. he indulged you, of course, purposefully skipping over the part of you becoming boyfriends and doing things that friends definitely didn’t do. his stories seem to be an effective way of getting you to sleep, because in the middle of a story of how a pair of swapped backpacks led to your relationship, you’re lulled to sleep, tired hands clutching onto his t-shirt.

he can only chuckle, leaning down to press a kiss on your nose. you’ll sure be in for a storm when you sober up tomorrow morning.

your jaw drops as you stare at the video on doyoung’s phone. it’s of you and sicheng, and right now you can only watch in horror as you pester him for information on the pretty boy you were so interested in last night. you have no recollection of last night’s events, though watching the video makes you glad you don’t. the problem is, the boys were there to witness them, even recording evidence of it on their phones. you’ve already seen pictures that johnny and taeyong have taken from when you and jaehyun were cuddling in your bed.

“please tell me that isn’t me,” you whisper, utterly mortified.

mark pats your shoulder in sympathy. “that’s you, all right.”

at his confirmation, you groan, burying your face in your hands. doyoung and donghyuck are cackling at your demise, with sicheng reciting your complaints word from word to a very amused johnny and yuta.

“...and then he was like well, i bet i can treat him ten times better! pretty boy there doesn’t know what he’s missing out on,” sicheng mimics, purposefully raising his voice an octave higher as he mocks you. out of embarrassment, you reach for a pillow on your couch and fling it at him. unlike jaehyun, he’s very good at dodging, proven when he ducks. instead, the pillow smacks yuta square in the face. he throws it back at you with even more force.

you duck, the pillow smacking an unsuspecting jaehyun. he really is horrible at dodging things - how shameful. “what the hell was that for?” he splutters, picking it up from the floor.

you turn to face him, eyebrows furrowed with annoyance. “you watched me make an utter fool out of myself, and you didn’t once try to do anything about it?” you hiss.

jaehyun frowns in confusion until doyoung dangles his phone in front of his face. when he watches the video, his face eventually contorts to one of amusement. “oh, that.”

your face is red with embarrassment. “yeah, that! like seriously? where is your loyalty? do you not care about my well being? you know how vicious these monsters can be!” you whine, gesturing at the said nine monsters behind you.

he nonchalantly shrugs, though you can see the corners of his lips threatening to curl into a smirk. “i do, but you were just too cute, seeing you all flustered. what about my own well being, huh? seeing you like that isn’t good for my heart,” he coos.

your heart leaps, but you mask it by smothering his face with a pillow. “you’re the worst,” you grumble.

“you act like you don’t like it, but i know you do~” he retaliates, albeit muffled from the pillow.

behind you two stands nine other boys, obviously unimpressed. watching you two engage in petty banter is always amusing, but not when it makes you flustered and encourages jaehyun to flirt with you like the cheesy, lovesick fool he is. “they’re so gross,” donghyuck gags.

johnny nods in agreement. “let’s get out of here before they start fucking on the counter.”

at johnny’s comment, you turn away from jaehyun so fast you swear you hear your neck crack. “do you have no filter?!” you shriek, exasperated.

with your guard down, jaehyun takes this as a chance to wrap his arms around your waist. a noise of surprise leaves your throat as he places his chin on your shoulder. “you’re so mean, (name). i liked the shy you a lot better~” he hums.

the other boys don’t even blink. “we’re going to leave now before things get bloody. good luck, (name),” taeyong says, saluting you.

jaehyun’s already tugging at the hem of your shirt and peppering your neck with kisses by the time the boys leave.

[makeste]

Have you seen the take that the official VIZ translator is biased? Because I'm still trying to process that, given with the stuff he's gone through with people sending him leaks and being overall disrespectful to him regarding translating (which is not an easy job)

Caleb’s biggest strength as a translator is also arguably his biggest weakness -- he has an excellent grasp not only of Japanese, but of English as well. meaning he’s very adept at translating Japanese dialogue into smooth-flowing, natural-sounding English. this is a different approach than what some fan translators use, because he doesn’t always go with the literal direct translation, e.g. “here’s exactly what this person said, word-for-word.” rather, his approach, which is the one most often used at the professional level, is to approximate what the person said, but in a way that flows naturally in the adapted language. e.g. “here’s how that person would have said this if they had been speaking in English.”

this type of translation has a lot of advantages, the biggest one being that the dialogue often sounds better/crisper/sharper than the somewhat-stilted dialogue often found in more literal translations. another advantage is that if done properly, this type of translation is easier to understand, because rather than trying to to reproduce exact sentences, the translator often strives for more simplicity while still preserving the essence of what the person was saying, and so the resulting dialogue gets the meaning across in a simpler way. one good example that shows how effective this style can be is “Catch-a-Kacchan”, which perfectly captures the playfulness and wordplay involved in the original dialogue by taking the pun that was originally used (see here for an explanation), and translating into something that is unique to the English language, but perfectly captures the spirit of the original. this is the kind of thing that Caleb is very good at, and it’s why he’s a professional.

however, the major flaw inherent to this style of translation is it relies very heavily on the translator’s understanding of what the original author intended to convey. you’re basically taking what they wrote and putting it into your own words. and so if there’s even the slightest difference between what you think Character X was saying, and what the author meant for Character X to say, the resulting translation is going to be off. this means the translator has to be dead-on in their interpretations 100% of the time in order for their translations to be 100% accurate. which basically means that they will never be completely accurate, seeing as that’s impossible.

so this is where the problem really lies, imo. to answer your original question anon, yes I have seen that take, and I do think he’s biased. but not any moreso than anyone else. every single person who reads the manga is biased in some way or other. we think the way that we read and interpret the series is the correct way, and that people who don’t see it that way are wrong. every single person has felt like this at some point or another. we all have our biases; they’re unavoidable, and the best we can do is try to be aware of them and avoid saying “this is objectively the only right way to interpret this” as much as possible.

so the problem isn’t really that Caleb is biased. the problem is that unlike most of us, his biases when left unchecked have a vastly wider reach than just about anyone else’s in the English fandom, because he is the official translator. and unfortunately, Viz’s particular style of translation means that even if Caleb tries his absolute best to be as objective as possible, some of his biases are still inevitably going to seep through anyway, because he’s essentially rewriting dialogue at times, and so his perception of the characters is going to affect that.

I know in recent weeks the discourse on this has mostly been about his translations of certain lines said by Best Jeanist, Dabi, and more recently Deku. but if we go back a bit, I think Bakugou is an even better example of this tbh. Caleb, like many people, wasn’t the biggest fan of him at first (i.e. he thought he was a giant asshole, which to be fair wasn’t exactly wrong), and as a result he was slower to pick up on the hints of his eventual redemption arc. he also didn’t quite grasp the nuances of Bakugou and Deku’s relationship at first. chapter 63 is a good example of this.

compare this to Fallen Angels’ version:

it’s abundantly clear, in the wake of Kacchan vs. Deku 2, that FA got it right here. this is a perfect example of how mastery of the Japanese language can still only get you so far. because Caleb’s understanding of Bakugou and Deku’s relationship was clouded by his biases, he went with words that lined up with his interpretation of them. “disgust” rather than “antipathy”; “inferiority” rather than “pursuit.” and of course, the completely warped Bakugou analysis of “awe, conceit, and rejection” rather than “fear, pride, and denial.” he literally couldn’t conceive of Bakugou fearing Deku in any way, so he went with a totally different word (which to be fair was still one of the possible meanings of the word used, but only rarely as far as I understand). also note the inherent put-down in the use of “conceit” rather than “pride.” and lastly, because he thinks Bakugou hates Deku’s guts, “rejection” rather than “denial.” so yeah. completely dropped the ball on that one lol. thankfully he has improved since then with regards to these two, though.

“wow makeste, you really took an ask about translator discourse and turned it into a post about BakuDeku” I think you mean I took a post about biases and used it to show off my own biases lmao. anyways lol my bad. so yeah, Caleb is biased. however I think it’s unavoidable, and he’s overall an excellent translator in spite of that (and literally anyone else would have the same exact issues, just with a different flavor). I think he does his best to be as accurate as possible, and I also admire that he strives for clarity and accountability by posting translator notes up on his Twitter every week. all in all I’m happy to have him as the translator for BnHA, even if he isn’t always perfect. also, completely unrelated to anything, but y’all should check out the Legend of Zelda town he made in Animal Crossing earlier this year if you’re into Nintendo at all, because dude put some serious work into that shit and it is honestly really cool.

[0nerd-at-heart0]

How We Got Here

not my gif

A/N: still working on other stories, but had a dream about this so I had to write it.

Steve Rogers x Reader

Word count: 1.6k

Warning: fluff and angst

You had an itch, a problem per se. You needed everyone to like you.  So you tried really hard. To smile, be happy, be likable. 

You never faced a problem of someone not liking you, at least not until recently. Not until you met the one and only Steve Rogers. Or how you liked to call him Mr. Perfect. Perfect in the way he smiles. Perfect in the way he cares. Perfect in the way he is America's golden boy. You two could have been friends. Maybe if the situation was different. 

You joined the avengers not so long ago. With your training as an agent and your bad-ass powers of mind-control. You were the best candidate to join the elite superheroes.  Besides all that you had a talent. A talent with technology. 

Your obsession began when you accidentally broke your dad’s computer at the age of 12. You were so determined to put it back together before he could find out. In doing so you used some spare parts from your also broken Nintendo console and upgraded his computer.  You were considered a prodigy from that point.

A plan was set for you. You were going to become a computer engineer. With the support of your parents, you continue your studies all through college. And a month before graduation Hydra found you. 

They wanted you and they werent going to stop until they had you. Your parents so valiantly fought them. But at the end, they lost the battle and you, well you lost your parents. 

Hydra had a hold of you. They experiment on you like crazy. You were going to be their new super weapon. As much as they tried to turn you. You wouldnt let them, you would be their rag doll to use and abuse. You weren’t about to let your parents die in vain for you to become a monster. 

What felt like centuries of being locked up were actually a month. A month when Nick Fury came bursting in and saved you.  After a much needed shower and sleep, Fury and you had a chat. 

You didnt know how to repay him for what he had done for you, you should have chosen better words than that. Because sooner or later he was asking to train you, use your powers for good. How could you say no to the man who saved you?

Two years of training, Fury took you to meet the Avenger. You arent going to lie, you fangirled hard over them. They were all so welcoming. Even Steve. 

Fury made it your new assignment to learn from them, which meant you were going to  be staying in the compound.  

It was a lot to get used to. You mostly stayed by Wanda’s side. Occasionally you and Peter would train together. Tony was more of a mentor. And Nat loved playing around with your powers. But Steve and you had never had a chance to interact other than the welcoming party.

You really wanted to be friends with him. There was so much you wanted to say but always bite your tongue when he’s around. A friendship could blossom or better yet could have. 

The possibility of a relationship flew out the window when he overheard a conversation you had with Tony one early morning. You wanted to give the compound a technical upgrade. Including everyone suits and equipment. Tony was intrigued, not because he never thought of that because he has, but because of how bold you were. 

You had so much faith in your skills and Tony respected that. He agreed to let you mess around with some of the equipment for starters. You were smiling, you were excited like a child who had too much candy and was on a sugar high. But that sugar high came crashing down as soon as Steve made his appearance.

How could you forget the conversation. The way he yelled. 

“Excuse you! You can't just come in here and demand for change. Our dynamic works, it has worked for a while. I dont know who you think you are but you dont get to mess with our equipment and you certainly dont get to mess with MY team”

His voice rang throughout the whole compound and the image of his nostrils flaring as he yelled haunted you for weeks. 

It still haunts you. You hate being yelled at. Tony told you to ignore him,  that he is too “perfect” for his own good, but even all perfect people have their flaws and his way technology. Hence the name Mr. Perfect. 

Tony and the rest of the gang kept encouraging your journey well all except Steve. Your fighting got better and you were proud to say you were finally in control of your power. 

It was their pleasure to finally declare you one of them. As you all party Steve stood there scowling. Not even Bucky could wipe that scowl off his face as he had a mouth full of cherries. 

You weren’t going to let him get the better of you. If he wanted to be snarky you would be snarky. If he wanted to be cold you would be cold. 

That became your new routine. He pushed you, you pushed back harder. From bumps in the hallways to calling him Mr. Perfect every time you can. 

The team thought you guys would get over this, that over time you two would learn to get along.  But you were always at each other's throats. Missions become harder and harder when there’s a constant argument. 

You werent like this. You knew that but that man was just too infuriating to do nothing about it. 

Currently you were on a way back from a mission with Nat. You two were sent to stop a shipment of guns from being delivered. As smoothly as it was going, Steve was on the comms just nagging how it should have been him and Nat out there. You turned off your comms, knowing the earful you are going the get when you arrive back.

As you walked into the kitchen, there was Steve nursing a glass of what seemed to be bourbon and tapping his foot. You knew what was going to happen. 

Nat made a B-line for her room, not wanting to hear the argument that's about to go down.

You stood in the middle of the room thinking of all the comebacks you can. Ready to fire at any moment. Steve stood up from his seat and made his way towards you. His jaw was set and his fists were clenched. 

He stalked over you and you suddenly felt small.  His stare was burning through you, you have never seen him like this. You looked down at your feet but Steve stopped that movement and he grabbed your chin with his hand forcefully to make you look at him. 

With your chin in his hand he had a full view of your face. As he looked at you, his demeanor changed. The tension in his body was gone, the look on his face soften and the force in his hand was replaced with a gentle touch. 

“ Who?”, he asked.

You were confused, “ who what?”

“ The bruise under your eye, who did that”, he asked, a little more annoyed this time.

He noticed the bruise? It's so small it doesnt even hurt, you forgot it even happened.

“ Oh, that bruise. The mob boss Sergio showed up. It surprised us and in our state of surprise he sucker punched me in the face and got away. But dont worry we got control of the shipment, we will get him eventually”, you stammer out.

He lets go of your face and takes out his phone. He turns around,  “ Tony, yes it's me. Apparently Sergio, the mob boss got away. I need all focus on him, can you do that? Okay thanks!”

“ What was that”, you surprisingly ask. 

His focus goes back to you, “ No one hurts my team and gets away with it”

He turns around to walk away. But stops in his tracks when he hears you murmur, “ You hurt me everyday with your words''

He goes back towards you. “ My words are never meant to hurt you, Y/N,”

“ But they have, since the moment we met.  I let it happen but then I had enough and started to talk back. If one thing I learned from my parents is to always fight back”, you quietly stated. Looking down at your feet shifting weight from one foot to another.

All that energy to fight back was gone. You needed answers. 

He grabbed your face, cradling it between his two hands. This time there was no force but it was a touch so soft, so warming, so welcoming.

“ No words can describe how sorry I am. I let my emotion get the better of me.  You joined the team and you were everything I am not. The person I am is thanks to a serum. But you, you have it all. You have the strength, the smarts and the beauty”, he sincerely apologizes.

“ Beauty?” you question looking into his eyes. Using his eyes are filled with what looks like hate, but right now they are filled with something more, could it be love?

“ I dont deserve this but if you allow me”, he asks, leaning closer. 

You know what he is asking and you too want it.  The ball is in your court.  You move your body closer to him and he takes that as an indication to smash his lips onto yours.

The kiss starts off rough, like you are in need of each other. But it becomes softer and more passionate. An apology in itself. Both of you cant and wont pull away. You were deprived of each other for so long. 

Now you knew, Steve Rogers did like you. Maybe a little more than you would ever imagine.

[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 28

A/N: Thanks for all the love this past week ❤️ It meant a lot to me.  Here’s 4600 words of subpar writing 😝 And FYI, we’re not getting too sad around here.  This is the only chapter they’ll be apart.  That means reunification next week!

April 12th, 2020

Aberdeen Bloom was with her family.  

It was Easter, and they were celebrating together, thankfully.  She was more grateful for it now more than ever, considering the state of the world.  She had stayed camped out at her apartment for the last two weeks with Kasha, who had come back from Evan’s place and was none the wiser about William being there for the fourteen days prior.  It made the most sense to Aberdeen because she still had to pay rent, and because she didn’t want to put Minerva through a stressful move again.  So, she stayed put.  Plus, now that she was living on her own, she’d know she’d go crazy if she lived with her family again.  Especially with Siena back from Ottawa because of classes in some weird state of limbo.  The sisters were thankful that Camden was independent enough to be able to learn on his own and not be constantly watched – and so was Orla.  She had enough to tackle, having her grade one class turned into online learning until further notice.  Everything was messy, and unprecedented, and weird, and not understandable, and weird, and chaotic, and confused.  

But Aberdeen had her family.  And Aberdeen had Willy.  

They’d kept their promise about calling each other every night.  Aberdeen would lay in bed and put in her headphones (so Kasha wouldn’t hear) and they’d FaceTime each other for a majority of the night, alone in their rooms, talking about anything and everything.  Sometimes they’d fall asleep talking, and their phones wouldn’t shut off, and Aberdeen would wake up an hour later and see the brightness of her phone screen still lit up, and she’d see William sleeping on the other end, his face so peaceful yet so burdened with responsibility of caring for his siblings while his parents and other siblings were eight hours and an entire continent and ocean away, and she wouldn’t have the heart to end the call.  

Things were fine in Tampa, from what he told her.  Jacquie had calmed down considerably.  Alex was…Alex – always trying to make jokes and make light of the situation.  They barely left their house, but because there were three of them there, it wasn’t too bad.  There were a lot of board games played, a lot of Netflix series watched.  From across the countries, Aberdeen and William were watching Tiger King together.  She didn’t think she’d watched anything as horrifyingly crazy.  William would crack jokes about her putting him in a meat grinder and feeding him to tigers.  She could only giggle.  

She knew that today the siblings were going to go for their first “outing”, just to get some sunshine, along the Courtney Campbell Bridge.  She hoped the weather would cooperate for them.  And once they were all home, and once Aberdeen was back at her place, the routine would begin, and she’d crawl into bed, and she’d FaceTime Willy to hear all about it.

Good Friday meant they had fish.  Easter Monday meant Orla’s roasted lamb and much of the same sides that were prepared on Christmas.  They’d still video chat with their grandparents, Camden would still play hockey in the driveway, and Aberdeen and Siena would go down into the basement and watch episodes of Brooklyn 9-9 or another show.  Routines, in a time of a global pandemic that brought so much uncertainty, were accepted with warmth.  Even for just a day, life was going to feel normal.  Orla and Mirza had even gone so far as to get their kids chocolate eggs.  It didn’t matter that the youngest didn’t believe in the Easter Bunny anymore or that the girls were in their early twenties – the gesture went farther than that.  They were all together again, even if it was just for the day.  

When Orla placed the roasted lamb at the centre of the table, asking Mirza for his plate first, Aberdeen took a giant whiff of the smell and immediately felt more relaxed.  She filled her plate with carrots and asparagus and Yorkshire pudding before her mom piled on the lamb and sauce.  

“So where’s our good friend William these days?” Orla asked as she finished serving everybody and sat down in her seat.  She immediately grabbed her knife and fork to dig in.  “He didn’t want to come for Easter?”

“I’m sure he wanted to come and have your lamb, darling,” Mirza said.

“He’s in Tampa,” Aberdeen answered, smiling slightly at her parents’ interaction.  “His brother and his sister went there at the start of lockdown, and so when he was good to go too, he went.”

“William quarantined for fourteen days too?” Mirza asked.  “Why?”

“He spoke to one of his Swedish friends on the Predators so he had to.  I bet the whole team did,” she explained.  

“Did you guys quarantine together?” Siena asked.

Aberdeen rolled her eyes.  “Hah.  Good one.”

“William has sisters?” Camden asked.

“He has three,” Aberdeen smiled.  “All of them are younger than him.”

“I can’t imagine three of you and Siena.”

Everybody at the table snorted.  “We can’t imagine three of you either, buddy,” Siena quipped back.

Camden smiled, then focused his attention back to Aberdeen.  “So what’s he doing in Tampa?”

“I don’t know.  Hanging out with his brother and sister.”

“Why don’t you call him and ask?”

“Camden,” Aberdeen said, “I can’t just call William Nylander and ask him what he’s doing so my little brother can know,” her tone made it seem like it was the most out-of-this-world idea.  But it was a total lie.  William would be at her beck and call – he always was.  If she called him right now, he’d answer.  If she called him and asked him what he was doing because Camden wanted to know, he’d answer her and tell Camden what he was doing.  He was just like that.

“I think the most important question we should be asking about William, considering the circumstances in our world right now, is whether or not he’s safe in Tampa,” Mirza interjected.  He stuffed a roasted potato into his mouth.  “Is he safe?”

Aberdeen nodded.  “He’s safe.  And he’s with his family, just like we are.”

***

Aberdeen could hear the video game sounds coming out of Camden’s Nintendo Switch as she lay in his bed, cuddled up to him while browsing through her phone.  It was later – later than she thought – but she wanted to stay at home for a little while longer, at least until Camden went to bed, because, well…it was a global pandemic and she wanted to see her family.  Her dad would drive her home eventually – she knew that.  But she wanted to spend some time with her younger brother, even if it was just cuddling with him while he played video games and she browsed Instagram.  Sometimes physical contact was the best contact; sometimes nothing needed to be said.  

“Hey Aberdeen?” he whispered.

Apparently something needed to be said.

She looked over at him and saw that he’d placed the Switch face-down on his chest.  He was looking up at her.  “Yeah bud?”

“Are you scared about the pandemic?”

Aberdeen softened immediately.  God, she wished he could stay this age forever.  She didn’t want him to grow up and turn into a moody teenager.  She wanted him like this forever: young and innocent and the little boy who cries over meeting Kyle Lowry.  “Of course I’m scared,” she admitted.  “Are you scared?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded.  “Mom’s home so it’s okay but I’m scared about dad.  What if the virus is on one of the envelopes or packages he has to deliver?  Or, like, on a mailbox?”

Aberdeen cuddled closer to her brother, if only to provide physical assurance.  There were so many unknowns about the virus.  It didn’t help that there was wall-to-wall coverage of it on the TV all the time.  “I don’t think the virus works that way, Cam.  I think—”

“But did you see how fast it spread in New York City?  Mom and dad were watching the news one night and the number of people who have it is so high,” he was so concerned.  

“I think dad’s work put a lot of, like, safety rules in place so nobody will catch it,” she tried to calm his nerves.  “Dad wouldn’t be working if it wasn’t safe.  Look at my work.  They’re not letting me work because it’s not safe.”

Camden considered his sister’s words.  She could practically see the gears shifting in his mind.  “I guess so,” he acquiesced.  “But I still think about dad a lot when he’s working.  Mom’s even praying a lot more now.”

“I figured she would be,” Aberdeen nodded.  “Listen Cam, I’m scared about everything too, but the reason why I’m not worried about dad is because dad’s a really smart guy, and we’re a family that listens to doctors and public health experts who are trying to make everything better,” she explained.  

“And don’t forget the epado…epid…”

“Epidemiologists,” she smiled, saying the word for him.  “Them too.  I’m listening to them.”

“Mom thinks I won’t go back to school this year at all.  She told me I’m gonna help her teacher her first graders,” he giggled.  “Imagine that!  At least I don’t have to take EQAO this year.”

“Lucky you,” Aberdeen wiggled her eyebrows at him.  “Hey, if I order some masks, what designs do you want on them?”

“Raptors and Leafs, obviously,” he smiled.  “Do you even need to ask?”

“Well excuuuuuuse me—”

Their conversation was interrupted by Aberdeen’s phone ringing from its place on her chest.  When she flipped it over to see who would be calling her at this hour, she should have known better than to wonder.  It was William.  It would only be William.  But he was requesting to FaceTime her.  Just as she was about to reject the call, she heard Cam gasp.  “Is that William Nylander?  He’s calling you?!”

She gulped.  “Cam—”

“Answer it!  Answer it!”

She swiped her screen.  She prayed to every saint that he wasn’t already topless.  When he finally appeared on the screen, he was wearing an oversized t-shirt.  She’d have to pray the rosary tonight.  “Hi William,” she greeted formally – no “Hi baby” or “Heeeeeyyyyy” like she usually did, hoping he’d get the hint.  

“Hello…” he answered back awkwardly, not realizing immediately why she was being so formal.  When she tilted the camera and he saw Camden lying beside her smiling from ear-to-ear, waving frantically at him, he understood.  “Heeeyyy Camden,” he greeted, waving back.  

“Hi William!” Camden said.  “How are you?”

“I’m good, buddy, how are you?”

“I’m okay,” he shrugged.  “Aberdeen told me you’re in Tampa Bay with your brother and sisters.”

“I am,” William nodded, shooting the quickest of looks to Aberdeen.  “She texted me to let me know you guys were apparently missing me today at lunch.  I already know my lunch wasn’t as great as the one your mom made.”

Camden giggled slightly.  “It definitely wasn’t.  Mom made lamb today.  Hey William?”

“Yeah bud?”

“Aberdeen told me you have three younger sisters.  I have two older ones.  How do you do it?!”

William burst out laughing, as did Aberdeen.  “Ooooooh Camden.  If I knew, I’d tell you.”

***

“How are you, minskatt?” William asked as he watched Aberdeen get into her bed.  He’d called her again when he knew it was safe – when she was back at her apartment after her dad drove her home.  He hadn’t expected Camden to be on his earlier phone call, of course, but they’d spoken for about ten minutes until Camden was satisfied.

Aberdeen took a deep breath.  She was going for it.  “Jag mår bra hur mår du?” she replied in near-perfect Swedish.

She watched as William’s eyes bulged out dramatically and smiled mischievously.  “Minskatt?!” he gasped dramatically, even going so far as to sit up in bed.  She could only giggle.  “Minskatt where did that come from?  Are you…”

“Mhm,” she nodded before he could finish his thought.  “I ordered a bunch of Swedish language books and I’ve been learning since you left.  I wanted to surprise you.”

“Minskaaaaatt,” he repeated, except this time in a more playful accusatory tone.  “What have you taught yourself?”

“Just the most basic stuff,” she said.  “Hello, how are you, where is the washroom, that kind of stuff.  Verb conjugations are going to come later.  And…” she trailed off.

“And?”

She smiled again.  “Jag tänker på dig när jag inte ens tanker,” she whispered.  

It was the most amazing thing William had ever heard.  It didn’t matter that the pronunciation was a bit off – it was incredible.  Incredible.  So incredible that he couldn’t handle it.  He smiled from ear to ear and buried his face in his pillow as he giggled.  “Minskatt…you have no idea how beautiful that sounds,” he said.  “Like…you honestly have no idea.”

“Do you like the surprise?” she asked.

“I fucking love it,” he said.  “Minskatt, you’re too good to me.”

“I want to learn more.  I want…I want to like, become as fluent as I can so that I can speak to your family in Swedish.  You know, when we’re in Sweden.  Whenever that is.”

William’s heart practically burst in his chest.  If it was possible, he would have spontaneously self-combusted right then and there at her words and their sweetness.  “If I could take you to Sweden tomorrow, I would.  God minskatt, I miss you so much.  I’m dying over here.”

“Me too.”

“I want to touch you so bad,” he admitted.  “I was dreaming about it the other night but then I woke up, and I couldn’t fall back asleep again.”

Her heart fluttered.  She’d dreamt about the same thing too last night and woke up sweating.  She’d never been this sexually frustrated before, even in her single days.  To think of the time they spent together during quarantine, only to have him leave and be unable to do those same thing…it was a lot to miss.  A lot to look forward too, as well, once they reunited.  But for now, she could only miss it.  “How were you touching me?” she asked, biting her bottom lip.

She could see his Adam’s apple bob in his throat.  “You know how,” he whispered.

“Tell me,” she said, slipping her hand underneath the covers.  She snaked it down her body and underneath her pajama pants and underwear.  “Tell me how you were touching me.”

William watched as he watched her one arm move and her hand disappear.  He gulped at the sight of it.  “I was touching your pussy,” he huffed, slipping his own hand under the covers.  

“Was it wet for you?”

“Of course,” he said, grabbing hold of his cock, stroking it almost immediately.  “Is…is it wet right now?”

“Getting there,” she nodded.  

“Are you touching yourself?”

“Mhm,” she said, her eyes drooping slightly.  She waited a few moments as she continued to touch herself before she finally continued.  “Tell me how you were touching me.  What were you doing?”

“I was fingering you.  And my thumb was rubbing your clit…how you like it,” his voice was low.

“Mmmmm,” Aberdeen hummed, mimicking what he was saying and doing it to herself as best she could.  She’d done it for so long as a single woman that she’d practically mastered it, but ever since she’d been with William, he’d mastered it in the short amount of time too.  There was nothing he did that didn’t turn her on.  “I had your cock down my throat in my dream last night.”

“Oh fuck,” William huffed, not expecting that at all.  He thought, as always, this was gonna be about pleasuring her by some good old-fashioned phone sex.  He didn’t think she’d go so far as to include him too, considering how new the experience was.  But they were doing this.  “Was it deep in your throat?” he asked.

Aberdeen nodded.  “It hit the back.”

“Fuuuuuck Aberdeen,” he huffed.  He imagined the feeling and it sent shivers down his spine.  He got hard almost immediately at the thought as he kept stroking himself, but ever since he’d been with Aberdeen, his own hand didn’t fucking cut it anymore.  She gave him the best handjobs, the best blowjobs…everything she did was the best to him.  

“Remember when I sucked you off in the backseat of your car?” she asked, her voice sugary sweet.  William nodded his head quickly.  “Remember how you came in my mouth?  You tasted sooooo good, Willy.”

“Ab—Aberdeen—fuck, don’t—”

“I can’t wait to taste it again.”

William’s eyes rolled back.  “I can’t wait to taste your pussy again.”

“When you come back home, I want you to fuck me like you did during quarantine,” she continued.  “Fuck me hard how I like it, Willy.”

“Ab—are you—look at me when you cum, Aberdeen,” William demanded.  He could tell by just a quick look that she was almost there.  “Look at me when you cum.”

“Are you close?”

“Y—Yeah.”

“Cum with me, Willy.  Think of my tight pussy when you cum.”

She could see his face contort slightly as he closed his eyes.  She bit her bottom lip and tried to suppress a loud moan, writhing in her bed and squeezing her legs together as her orgasm took over her body.  She heard William moan too, low and guttural, and when she saw his chest heaving just as much as hers was, she knew he came too.  

As her breathing steadied out, Aberdeen couldn’t help but giggle slightly.  “I can’t believe we just did that,” she admitted.  “That was—”

“That was really hot,” William finished her sentence, albeit more bluntly than her tone.  “That was—we did that quick but God it was hot.”

“Yeah,” Aberdeen nodded.  “Nothing compares to the real thing though.”

“No, it doesn’t,” William agreed.  “The second I land in Toronto – finish quarantine – whatever, I’m taking you to my place and I’m fucking you senseless.”

Aberdeen couldn’t help but giggle and smirk at his words.  “Promise?”

“Promise.”

***

April 14th, 2020

“What did you and your brother do that day?” Aberdeen practically screamed into the phone as the video played on what seemed like an infinite loop on her laptop.  “Seriously.  What made you think to film that?”

“We practiced for a long time!”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure the Toosie Slide dance took a lot of practice.”

“It does!”

“Your poor sister.”

“She lived.”

Aberdeen snorted.  “And what are those shorts, William?!”

“Um, excuse me?  Are you making fun of my shorts?” he giggled.  “I thought you’d like them, seeing as they show off my thighs.  We both know how much you like my thighs…”

“Stop it.”

“No.”

***

April 20th, 2020

“Did you get some sun today?” Aberdeen asked sarcastically, seeing William on FaceTime looking redder than a tomato.  

“You’re funny.”

“Have you heard of sunscreen?”

“I wore sunscreen,” he grumbled.

“Sure you did.”

***

April 25th, 2020

“Have you been writing a lot, minskatt?” William asked as he watched Aberdeen concentrating on her screen, hearing her furious typing through the microphone.  They were on the type of call where the participants just went about their business, connected through the screen, watching the other do their work while also doing their own.  William was just being dumb and scrolling through golfing websites, but Aberdeen was actually being productive.

“Mhm,” she nodded.  “I just…well, you saw how much I wrote when we were together too.  In between the sex,” she chuckled slightly.  “But after you left, there was just this huge burst of inspiration and energy.”

“I think it was the sex,” William deadpanned, causing Aberdeen to laugh.  “The sex inspired you.”

“Well you definitely gave me the energy,” she smiled.  “Too bad what I’m writing isn’t a sex diary or something.”

“What are you writing, minskatt?” he asked, genuinely interested.

“Um…” Aberdeen began, trying to formulate what she was writing into words.  “It’s about a girl.  Well, a group of girls.”

“You mean like that TV show Girls?”

“Better,” Aberdeen huffed.  “Lena Dunham is awful.”

William smiled.  “So a group of girls?”

“A group of girls and their relationships with each other.  And the expectations they have for each other that sometimes may not work in their favour.”

“So is it semi-autobiographical?”

Aberdeen side-eyed him.  Everything in writing was at least somewhat autobiographical.  But he didn’t need to know that.  “Maybe.”

***

April 27th, 2020

“I miss you so much,” William mumbled, his voice sleepy.

“I miss you too,” Aberdeen said, equally as tired.  “I can’t wait for you to hold me.  I can’t wait to just cuddle.”

“Me too.”

***

April 30th, 2020

For the first time in weeks, Aberdeen wasn’t doomscrolling about COVID-19.  She was doomscrolling about William.  

It started innocently enough, by Aberdeen reminiscing on the first time he drove her home from the airport and he spoke about his contract negotiations and how they turned a lot of people sour on him.  She believed him right then and there, but she didn’t go looking.  Now, with nothing to do and a curious mind, she went looking.

And she hated what she found.

Entire articles, practically one written every week, about his trade value.  Those same articles devalkuing him as a player and downplaying his role on the team as a top-six forward.  Panels of analysts and experts demanding that the Leafs trade him.  Entire Twitter accounts dedicated to blasting every single little thing he did on the ice.  Men with nothing better to do than to obsess over him and call him every name in the book.  

And then there was the video from Tim & Sid, the popular sports radio duo in Toronto that Aberdeen listened to for fifteen minutes once, but couldn’t get past Sid Seixeiro’s dumbass opinions.  In the video she watched, he took a less than 10-second clip of something William had said in a post-game interview during a loss against the Panthers and asked, indignantly, “What the hell is wrong with him?”  He then proceeded to go on a five-minute rant about the entire locker room having an attitude problem, how Willy had an attitude problem, how he didn’t care about the team…and people believed it.  She knew it.  People gobbled it up.  It was their serotonin while they hated him and called him a pussy on the internet and threw glasses at him in bars while drunk.  She felt sick to her stomach that these people felt this way about him.  

She’d been crying for a while before she picked up her phone to call him.  Her hands were shaking as she dialled his number, waiting for him to answer.  “Hi minskatt,” he cooed after the fourth ring.

“Willy,” she greeted, her voice shaky.

The last time she’d called him in such a state, she was being followed from her apartment.  William’s mind immediately went into overdrive.  “Minskatt?  What’s wrong?”

“Willy you know I love you, right?”

He softened slightly.  “Of course I do.  Why would you—”

“—I love you every way you are—"

“—Aberdeen—”

“—And I know you’re a good person and I love you so much, more than anything—”

“—Aberdeen—Aberdeen—stop.  What is this about?”

She took a quick breath.  “What everyone says about you, Willy.  They’re horrible.  Horrible.  I was reading and I was watching these videos and they’re just awful to you and—”

“Aberdeen, I told you not to watch those videos,” he said.

“Willy, please,” she begged.  “How could they say those things about you and not even know you?  How can they still be so bitter after your contract negotiations?!”

“Aberdeen—”

“I love you, Willy.  I love you every way you are,” she repeated.  “I don’t care what anybody has to say about you.  I love you.  I love you.”

“I love you too, Aberdeen,” he said calmly but fiercely.  “Aberdeen, you can’t listen to them.  I learned how to tune them out a long time ago.  Even if I did…I don’t care what they say about me.  I know who I am, Aberdeen.  I know the truth, and they don’t.  And you do too.”

“I do, but I just…they’re so awful, Willy.  I don’t know how you can stand it.”

“Like I said…I know my truth.  My family knows.  And you do.  The most important people in my life know the truth and that’s all that matters.  I don’t give a fuck about what they think of me,” he said.  

Aberdeen stayed silent.  She knew she was overreacting, but damnit, she needed to overreact.  She’d been a part of the hockey world now for what felt like a century, and if what she had with William was going to last, it would be a major part of her life for years to come.  She needed to learn to roll with the punches.  But at the same time, she felt like if those punches were unjustified, then she was justified in being upset about them and wanting to speak out.  “I just love you so much,” she whispered, her voice much calmer now but still a bit shaky.  “God, I’m such a horrible girlfriend.  I’m calling you crying about the stupid Toronto media on the night before your birthday—”

“It’s okay, minskatt,” he interrupted.  “I would rather you call me then cry alone.  Besides, my birthday isn’t going to be special because you won’t be here.”

“Willy, don’t say that.”

“I mean it,” he replied.  “I wish I could spend it with you.  Fuck, I wish I could fly you down to Florida on a private fucking plane just so I could spend time with you.  I’d kill someone just to hold your hand right now.”

Her heart fluttered.  “I wish you’d come back to Toronto,” she whispered.  “When you get back, Willy…I’m gonna let you hold my hand so hard.”

They both snorted.  “I’ll be eagerly awaiting my gift, by the way,” he said, knowing that whatever she had in store for him for his birthday would be waiting for him when he got back to Toronto.  She made it that way – she promised, and he’d accepted.  He was dying in anticipation, but he’d accepted. 

“Want a little piece of it now?” she asked.

He smiled.  “You know I do.”

***

May 1st, 2020

Happy birthday I know you’re spending the day with your brother so it’s okay if you don’t text back I just want you to know how much I love you.  I’m sorry that I waited so long.  I’m sorry I denied it for so long.  You have been so good to me Willy.  I hope I’m half as good to you as you are to me.  I’ve never felt the love that you give me every single day from another person and I think that’s because the universe was saving it for ~you, for  ~you to show me, because I can’t picture it being from anyone else.  I love you so much and I miss you.  Jag tänker på dig när jag inte ens tanker.

i love u more than anything minskatt Jag tänker på dig när jag inte ens tanker Jag tänker på dig när jag inte ens tanker always i will always love u i wish u were here with me nothing is the same without u

nothing is the same without you either I love you so much Willy

i love u aberdeen

[thesacredtwink]

I actually ran over to him and had Link talk to him like, half a dozen times trying to get Link to at least pat his shoulder.

When that didn't work I straight up pulled out the goddess sword and used the motion controls to try and make the motion on patting his shoulder because I could not leave him there without offering some kind of comfort. Which looked really weird, considering I was patting his shoulder with Fi.

My sole comfort going forward is that this is just step one of him and Link becoming friends. Things get better and eventually he gets to fling Link into a tree using a catapult that he built.

And yes! I did get a charger! Actually, what happened was I hit post on the swimming fic and then was out the door to the bigger city to go and buy some. Like, instantly. I hit post as I was moving to leave. And now my joycons are charged and I am back to playing! (Also, shout out to my best friend, who has been willing to answer my questions when I got stuck. Second Fi who looked up the walkthrough for me because I don't want to use a walkthrough my first time playing but sometimes I get stuck. I have literally sent them a text that started 'Hey Fi,' followed by my question. Blessings be upon them for helping me get through Eldin and find some of those timeshift stones in Lanayru.)

-Attllhak

LET US COMFORT GROOSE NINTENDO. LET US.

Okay the mental image of you patting his shoulder with the sword is hilarious, but also fantastic lateral thinking. And it's the thought that counts.

Yeah knowing that Groose and Link are going to be friends is such a great comfort when Groose has his breakdown. Like, it won't last my man! Don't worry, things will get better.

Whoooooo yeah charger!!! Okay but the swimming fic is amazing, like absolutely wonderful. I was resisting stimming the whole time I was reading otherwise I would have dropped my phone. It was so PERFECT.

Countless blesses be upon your friend atta! A backup Fi, for when Fi's hints don't actually tell you anything. Oof yeah Eldin and some of those times gift stones are tricky to get through. I have to resort to the interwebs when I get hopelessly stuck. My memory is not the best. But seriously, blessings to your friend.

[kusagrasskusa]

Light X Reader Part 2 - Betrayal

Part 1, Part 2

READ THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU'VE RESD PART 2 BEFORE- So this paragraph used to talk about how I kept on remembering to save my drafts, and evidence of which isbthat when this was posted, it wasn't finished. I completed the whole story, and it was pretty long, but it all went to shit. So if you read this story before, feel free to check out the real ending.

@comradedani you brought me deep into the Death Note fandomm- And again, sorry for the low quality writing. I'm writing this at school lol

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Y/N, Y/N help! I messed up!" B/N yelled as he busted in Y/N's room and opened his schoolbag. He pulled out a piece of paper and turned it towards his older sister so she can see. Y/N sounds around in her chair, facing her brother.

"Jesus, you scared me!" Y/N huffed, reading the paper B/N had. Turns out he had a report card in his hand; one with 3 Fs, 2 Ds, and 3 Bs. "And those grades scare me more, what the hell," Y/N stated, a sly smile appearing on her face. "Dad's gonna be pissed when he reads that, haha," Y/N laughed, leaning back in her chair.

"It's not funny! You know dad's all about good grades and ever since his detective work increased, he's been more stressed about grades! I don't want to get grounded," B/N retorted, making a pouty face. He put his report card back into his bag and picked up his bag. "And dad usually comes home at this time. You know he's gonna be curious."

"Well, just don't tell him you have your report card," Y/N said casually, returning to her homework in front of her. She leaned on the desk, writing down answers as if they nothing.

"Oh, why didn't I think of that," B/N rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Mom gets emails from my school, Y/N. She's gonna find out about and tell dad, y'know." B/N sighed, fumbling with his hoodie strings. He opened the door and spoke, "dad's gonna be home soon, so bye I guy." He then left.

Y/N sighed, trying continuing to work on her assignments as if nothing happened. Although her focus was never fully on her assignments anyway, and our reader should know why. It's hard to concentrate when your mind keeps on going to the man you love who you felt betrayed you. Though to be fair, Light and her were never dating to begin with however Light was completely aware of Y/N's feelings towards him yet he choose to put her in that situation: where she had to be calm even though she was hurting inside.

Y/N took a deep breath before leaning back in her chair and shutting her eyes tightly. Don't let the tears fall, you're too strong for this, she told herself. For the past week, she's been feeling nonstop regret and of course, sorrow. Not to mention pure jealousy of Misa Misa; a pretty, popular model/actor. She refused to question how Light got to meet a women like that, since afterall Light was popular as well.

"You know what? I overreacting," Y/N said to herself, standing up sharply in her chair. She stretched her arms before taking a deep breath and putting on a smile. "There's more important things to worry about; like that damb Kira case. All I need to do is just call him and ask to meet up, right? He's forgiving..." She told herself, taking a deep breath again to ease her anxiety.

For the past week, Y/N had been thinking nonstop about her yelling at Light. She hadn't seen him sense, and there's been no communication between them. From a certain perspective, it almost seems like they really are overdramatic and acting very edgy, which is definitely true to an extent. However two friends arguing over something that's pretty serious for the first time is bound to cause some trouble. And when one friend feels almost betrayed, it gets worse.

Anyway let's go to B/N after about 15 minutes.

"Good afternoon, B/N," the tall, H/C haired man with grey ends due to stress, spoke. He held a nice smile on his face as he took his jacket and put on the coat hanger then took off his shoes. B/N smiled nervously, chuckling unsteadily as he waved.

"Hi, dad! Uh...how was your day?" B/N asked, holding his report card to his chest. His dad raised a brow and snickered.

"Strange. You never care to talk to me when I get home. Only when you're hungry or your mom says no to something," he teased, making B/N huff and cross his arms. His dad chuckled, "I'm joking. Anyway, what's that you're holding?"

B/N smirked nervously holding out the paper for his dad to grab, which he did. "I got my report card today, haha." His dad scanned over it for a few moments, frowning and his eye brows furrowed together.

"Are you skipping school son? I've never seen grades this bad and you've had rough years," he mumbled as he walked towards the living room. He say on the couch and sighed loudly, making a shiver crawl down B/N's spine.

"Nuh-no... It's just that the teachers have been putting a lot of pressure on us since we're about to go into highschool, heh."

"I don't understand. Are you just not understanding the material or are they putting too much work out?" The dad looked his son right into his eyes, making the atmosphere a bit more tense. B/N felt weak under his eyes; it's not because he was scared of his dad, it's because his dad has really high expectations and he's scared of failing them.

"Both. It's both," he mumbled, fumbling with his hoodie strings and tapping them together, making that quiet metallic clinking sound. "And I've always struggled with math, too, y'know. I don't understand how they expect me to know the Pythagoras Theorem after simply giving me 5 assignments daily about it."

The dad stood up from the couch. There was a moment of silence before he spoke: "I have to make a phone call. If you go to the trunk of the car, I got you something in a plastic bag. Don't tell your mom," he smiled to his son as he walked away, leaving B/N both confused and curious.

A few hours later and Y/N hummed to herself, watching a movie featuring her favorite actor on the couch besides her dad. He was on his laptop typing away on the keyboard while occasionally glancing at the TV. B/N was in the corner of the living room, playing a new game his dad just bought him on his Nintendo. It was quiet aside from the TV playing, at least until their dad spoke up.

"So, son, I forgot to mention who I called earlier. I asked if a coworker of mine would mind tutoring you for a bit."

"You...what?" B/N asked, pausing his game and turning back to see his dad. "Why?" Y/N gasped quietly, covering her mouth to stop herself from laughing. Her little brother glared at her and their dad, his nose scrunching up from annoyance.

"Well, you don't understand the material, right? That's why?" He explained, staying the obvious. Y/N giggled at his tone.

"Who is it, dad?" Y/N asked, rubbing her tired eyes.

"Oh, I won't say. But you two have met before," he replied, smirking playfully at his daughter as if he was planning something. "That's all the hints you get.~"

"Okay, now I'm so curious," Y/N mumbled, yawning. Who do I know who he works with? I know he works with the Kira investigation and I never met anyone there, I don't think. She shrugged it off as she kinda didn't care too much about whatever would happen in her brother's life since why should she? "Whatever. I'm tired," she mumbled as she rubbed her tired eyes. Her father looked over at her and smiled.

"Heh heh, alright darling. Get your sleep; you have a long day of school tomorrow." Her dad pat her head as she giggled and stood up. She hugged him before mumbling a goodnight. She then headed up the stairs, though she overheard her dad speak as she was walking. "Your tutor lives in the same neighborhood so he will come over shortly after you come home."

Y/N hummed as their conversation went quiet due to her being too far up the stairs to hear. She found her way into her room and closed the door behind her whenever she got in. Huff. Her hair was lifted from her shoulders as she put her hair in a ponytail in order to keep it from being too messy when she wakes up.

Layjng in bed, she furrowed her eyebrows together and sighed. Four entire weeks since she's talked to Light all because he found a girlfriend. Y/N felt more embarrassed of it then upset; well, she's still jealous but she knew she didn't have to avoid her friend of years because of something so stupid. What happened to the Y/N who would tell herself that even if he found a girlfriend, she would be better? Those were good times. And she would tell herself that she would call up Light and ask to meet up as friends but she gets so anxious about it and that anxiety turns into embarrassment.

It was kinda hardt to fall asleep with thoughts circulating her mind all night. But eventually, sleep came, and she sokn found herself waking up a couple hours later, going to school, and then coming back home.

Y/N waved goodbye to her friends as they dropped her off at her house. "Bye! Haha," she giggled as one of them stuck their whole body out the car window to yell out goodbye and wave her hands.

"Bye-bye, girl!" She yelled playfully as the car drove away to drop off her other friends. Y/N giggled again as she watched them pass and playfully rolled her eyes before spinning around. She took her time walking to the front door and pulling out her keys, as the door isn't unlocked ever and her parents are at work. Yet as she stuck her key into the house, the front door cracked open.

"....What the fuck," she mumbled as she took her key out of the door and pushed herself inside. It was so quiet which was weird considering B/N was loud as hell on the couch when he got home. He got home like 15 minutes before she did too. "B/N!" Her voice called out as she shut the front door and locked it.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Thank God he isn't dead. Well, sorta thank God. Y/N smirked as she set down her bookbag, took off her shoes, and took out her phone. She checked her notifications as she walked into the kitchen/dining room.

"You forgot to lock the front door," she said as she giggled, looking up from her phone. Bam! The phone hit the floor as Y/N's eyes stayed on Light's, almost like a staring contest was happening between them. Well, it sorta actually was because the brunette who was assisting B/N on the dining table spoke up once Y/N blinked.

"You blinked; I win, heh heh," he smirked. "Hey, Y/N! Long time, no see, huh?" He leaned back in his chair, waving his hand towards the stunned girl.

"I, uh...I wanted to call and meet up with you but I thought you were mad," Y/N said shyly as she picked up her phone. Blush dusted her cheeks as she examined her phone to check if it were broken.

"Same here, actually. I'm happy it's not like that."

"Muh-Me too, heh..."

Y/N but her bottom lip nervously as the room went into an awkward silence. B/N sighed before breaking the painful silence, much to Y/N's relief. "I think I understand this now," he said. "To find A, it's C^2 - B^2 = A^2. To find C, it's A^2 + B^2 = C^2."

"Very good!" Light smiled warmly as he pulled B/N practice assignment from him and examined it. He had a red pen in his hand and with it he marked a few things. "You did very well on these, apart from 3, 7, 8, and 12. But then again, those questions were hard for me to solve when I was in 8th grade."

"Really? But you're so smart! And I'm actually in 7th grade, advanced math," B/N said proudly with a cheerful look on his face.

"It really shows how smart you are, heh heh," Light chuckled as he handed back his assignment to B/N. "Can you try these again? I circled the part of the equation you messed up with so hopefully it helps."

Y/N was across the room in the pantry to grab chips. Once she grabbed her favorite kind, she headed out of the kitchen and towards her room. Light looked over at her leaving and sighed. Suddenly, he heard Ryuk talk. "You do realize that this is a good thing, right? You can spend more time with the Death Note and watching the police this way." Light couldn't reply of course, but in his mind he disagreed. After all, he knows she's bad at remembering time and he would have an alias every time he's with her, so he could lie to get out.

For example, let's say he was accused of somehow killing 5 people one day between 5-6pm. But at 3-5pm, he was with Y/N. Because she can't remember time very good at all, he could easily say he was with her while the killings were happening, and with her agreeing because she doesn't know any better. Y/N can also easily be turned into an abused puppy in his eyes; a loyal punching bag who he can manipulate for certain circumstances.

"While your doing that, I'm going to use the restroom," Light excused himself as he stood up from the table and walked away. He walked over and up the stairs, down the hall and to a certain person's room. Once he got to the door, he softly knocked on it. "May I come it?"

Y/N on the other side jumped from the sudden arrival. "Just a second!" She called out as she took her hair out of the bun and fixed it, because let's face the fact that a lot of us are very insecure about our looks. She quickly fixed her shirt because calling out, "come in!" A mere moment later and her door was open to reveal a tall brunette.

"You look lovely today," he complimented as he stepped inside her room and shut the door behind him. Y/N blushed a little bit.

"Thanks, heh. Um...you look nice too," she replied nervously.

"Don't be nervous with me please. You know I'm not mad at you. Actually, I came in here to formally apologize," he spoke as he walked up closer and bowed in respect. "The least I could have done was call you about her earlier that day, or told you I was seeing someone way ahead of that. It was foolish of me not to and led to both of our hears being hurt. I'm sorry." Y/N frowned as she comprehended what he just said then sighed. She walked up to him and grabbed the sides of his face and pulled him up.

"You're face is so squishy, sir," she said as Light stood up all the way, however Y/N didn't go of him. "It's weird someone so very collected and serious became friends with someone as dimbas a bag of rocks. I mean, have a told you about how my IQ test came back negative? Because it did."

Light chuckled as her comment, playing with a strand of her hair. "Did this really happen? You're so weird sometimes, haha." Y/N giggled softly before frowning.

"Hey, y'know, I really wasn't mad. The first week we stopped talking was so painful but I knew I had to make it up to you somehow. Yet even though I really wanted to just call you and have a drink of coffee with a long conversation full of pleasant topics and laughs, I was so scared. It's embarrassing," she confessed, keeping her head low.

Pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, Light smiled down at her. "Then I hope today takes all that weight off your shoulders."

"It did, heh heh," Y/N smiled as she looked him in the eyes. With how close they are, the eye contact, and the smiles, they seem almost suggestive towards one another. Or at least in the eyes of none other than-

"Ew!" Yelled B/N from the doorway. He must have opened the door while they were distracted. Y/N furrowed her eyebrows together and glared at her brother whereas Light just smiled. "All I wanted was help, not this teenage romance scene. I finished all my problems by the way, ugh," B/N spoke, sounding dead.

"I'll be down there in a moment," Light responded as B/N walked away. He turned towards Y/N again; "well, it was nice seeing you. Your dad is paying me for this so I should probably get back to work." Y/N nodded as she hugged him softly.

"Alright. Make sure you let me know when your done or free," she responded before she pulled away from the hug.

"Will do," Light replied as he pat her head. "I'll see you later." Light waved goodbye as he walked out of her room and shut the door behind him.

Y/N took a deep breath to ease her nerves. That's it, she thought. This man is about to be my husband-

[iamakiller]

Zoom call with Henry

Today, Mom talks with Dad for ages. She makes Henry leave the room like always, ordering him to go play, and she closes the door behind him.  As if that ever stops Henry from being able to hear everything she says.  She always talks in such a loud voice to Dad.

But today, her voice is really quiet.  Even with his ear pressed flat against the door, the only words he can make out are right at the end of the conversation: “I just don’t want you to tell him yet, Charlie.  We both know what you’re like.  He’ll only be disappointed.”

Henry knows she’s talking about him, but he doesn’t understand what she means.

When Mom opens the door again, he’s sitting in the middle of the hallway with his colored pencils and sketchpad, deeply engrossed in his latest masterpiece.

“Henry? Do you want to talk to Dad?”

Henry’s heart leaps with excitement.  He tears off the page he’s been working on and brings it with him, leaving the rest of his mess on the floor.  He bounds into the office and climbs into the comfy leather chair, wiggling around until he’s comfortable.  His feet almost but not quite touch the ground. Grandma said the other day that he’ll be as tall as Dad soon, and Mom gave her a look that Henry didn’t get.

There’s a lot he doesn’t understand sometimes.  Grownups are strange, he thinks.  Especially his parents.

“Hi Dad!”

“Hello, Henry.”  Dad’s little smile is the same as ever, but he looks tired today.  The same kind of tired as when he was sleeping on the couch, when him and Mom thought Henry didn’t know.  “How are you today?”

“GOOD!” Henry happily rattles off a list of all the fun things he did.  A playdate at the park with Josh.  Frozen yogurt on the way home.  Helping to bake cookies to take to Grandma’s tomorrow.  Mom even let him lick the spoon because he’d done such a good job of measuring out the ingredients without making a mess.  The only dark spot on the horizon is the bath that Mom has been threatening him with since this morning, but Henry thinks he can probably sweet-talk her into an hour of video games if he goes without protest, so it’s not all bad.  

He has to take a big gulp of air at the end, because he’s forgotten to breathe in his excitement to tell Dad everything all at once.  “How about you, Dad?  It’s late there, right?  Did you and Britt do something fun today?  Is she there?  Can I talk to her?”

Something weird happens.  Dad flinches, like Henry does when Mom catches him doing something he knows he shouldn’t do.  But when he starts talking, it’s completely normal.  “Britt’s not here, honey.  We were both very busy doing different things today.  She’s been … planning something.  And I’ve been working on my writing.  Well, trying to.”

Dad picks up a funny-shaped glass of something red, and takes a long swig of it.  He told Henry once that it’s grape juice for adults.  Henry asked Mom about it afterwards, and she said something about Dad being just like his parents.  But that can’t be right, because Dad doesn’t have any parents.  That’s why Henry only has one grandma, right?

Dad likes to write like Henry likes to draw.  It’s his favorite thing to do, and he does it a lot. Henry can sit silently so much better than any of his friends, because he learned very early on that if he could be still and quiet, he could sit with his dad for as long as he wanted to.  He loves visiting Dad in New York.  Going out and doing a million different activities is so much fun!  But the best times are when they’re in Dad’s study, and Henry is sprawled out on the rug with his pencils and sketchpad, doodling whatever comes into his imagination.  He likes hearing the sound of Dad’s fingers flying over the laptop keyboard, and the way he occasionally mutters to himself while he thinks.  And he really likes the way Dad will often close his laptop with a frustrated sigh, and come sit on on the floor next to Henry, and listen to him talk for hours about whatever he’s been working on.

Speaking of which, Henry has something he wants to show him. “Dad, look!  I drew this for you!”  He holds up the picture he finished only moments ago.

Dad peers at the screen, makes an impatient sound, and then reaches off to the side, retrieving his glasses and putting them on.  For a moment, he tilts his head to one side, and then the other.  “Why don’t you talk me through it,” he suggests eventually, his voice very kind.

Henry huffs.  Isn’t it obvious? Dad must have really bad eyesight.  Probably because he’s so old. “This is you,” he says, pointing at the tallest figure, who has very long legs.  “You’re wearing black, of course.” He points to the next largest person, with long hair.  “This is Britt.  She’s wearing her favorite big cardigan.  And in the middle, it’s me.”

Dad nods slowly and appreciatively.  “Very nice.  Your grasp of proportions is improving, and everyone has the correct number of fingers this time.  But can you explain why we are surrounded by so many dinosaurs?”

“Because we’re at the Museum of Natural History!”  It’s Henry’s favorite place in New York, aside from Dad’s study, and maybe that pizza place they go to every time he visits.

“Ah. Of course.  Silly me.  And … what is that strange looking dinosaur in the middle between you and Britt?”

Henry rolls his eyes.  “DAD!” he complains.  “That’s not a dinosaur!  That’s the baby!”

There’s a spluttering sound as Dad, who is halfway through another mouthful of his “juice”, begins to choke.  “W-what?” he stutters eventually, grabbing a tissue and wiping frantically at the front of his sweater.

This is it.  Henry’s big chance.  

“Well … Josh’s Mom had a baby during lockdown.  She brought it to the park today and it was so cute, and Josh says it’s annoying and cries all night, but I think he’s just jealous because HE still wants to be the baby, and I actually think it would be really fun to be a big brother, so I asked Mom but she said absolutely not, so basically you and Britt should have a baby so I can play with it and teach it all about dinosaurs and show it how to read and write and draw.” 

Henry runs completely out of steam at the end of his big speech, and has to take another of his massive gasps of air as he’s started to feel a bit lightheaded.

Just for a moment, there’s a strange expression on Dad’s face.  He almost looks sad.  But then he’s smiling again, although he still looks tired.  “Now, Henry.  That’s rather a big ask.  There’s an awful lot more to take into account than you wanting a sibling, I’m afraid.”

“But Dad – I asked Mom where babies come from, and she said that when a man and a woman love each other very much, they can have a baby.  And you and Britt love each other very much, right?  So you can have a baby, RIGHT?  By Christmas would be great.  It can be my present, instead of a replacement for the Nintendo Switch I lost last time I was there.”

Dad is laughing now.  Properly laughing, like he hardly ever does.  It’s hard to imagine how sad he looked a minute ago.  Maybe Henry just imagined it … “Henry, it takes an entire nine months for a baby to grow in a woman’s tummy.  Even if we were to acquiesce to your request immediately, there’s no way we could produce a baby by December.  Indeed, at the very most, Britt would merely be looking slightly round in the middle by Christmas …”  He tails off for a moment, as if lost in thought, with a little smile on his face.  But then he shakes his head slightly and continues talking.  “The answer’s no, honey.  You will get your new Nintendo Switch, and that Goose game you’ve been talking about nonstop, and you will be grateful.”

Henry pouts.  “BUT DAD …”

“No.”

Henry tries a different approach.  “I love you, Dad.  I miss you …”

“Nice try.”  Dad folds his arms across his chest.  “But that pout you wield originated with me, and you should know by now that it holds no power over me.  The answer’s still no.  However, I do love you an immense amount.  And I miss you. Very, very much.”

Dad looks a little bit sad again.  Henry feels sad now, too.  He really does miss him.  Mom is great, but Dad gives the best hugs.

Suddenly, Mom’s voice calls out from the hallway, loud enough for him and Dad to both hear. “Henry?  It’s getting late.  You need to finish up and take a bath before bedtime.”

NOOOOOOOO.  

Henry doesn’t want any hecking bath!  And he isn’t done talking, either.  He casts his mind around, trying to think of a way to stall for time.  Finally, something strange Dad said earlier comes back to him, and he decides to ask for further clarification.  “Dad? I have a question.”

He knows Dad knows that he’s stalling because Dad’s super smart.  But he also knows that he doesn’t mind.  He never wants their calls to end, either.  “Yes, honey?”

“How exactly does the baby get into the woman’s tummy?”

Dad’s eyes widen for a second.  Then he grins.  “Why don’t you ask your mother,” he suggests, voice loud enough for Mom to hear him from the hallway.  “She knows all about it.”

***

Twenty minutes later, Henry is wallowing in the bath.  It isn’t as bad as he thought it would be.  (It never is.)  Mom let him choose one of her Lush bath bombs, so the water is pink and sparkly, and covered in a thick layer of foam.  At least twelve of his dinosaur figurines have joined him for moral support.

As he lines them up along the side of the tub in alphabetical order, his mind wanders to something Mom shouted just as Dad finished the call.  What’s a bastard? he wonders.  She uses that word a lot when she talks about Dad.  

Mom said that when a man and a woman love each other very much, they can have a baby.  But Mom and Dad haven’t ever seemed to even like each other very much.  So Henry can’t help but wonder how he came to be.  Maybe Mom got it wrong, though that doesn’t seem likely.  Maybe Henry misunderstood.  That’s probably right.

There’s a lot he doesn’t understand sometimes.  Grownups are strange, he thinks.  

Especially his parents.

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 8: Rinkah’s Burning Loins

My Castle

After fully dedicating ourselves to Hoshido, the game finally really begins. We’re given access to a customizable castle in the Astral Plane where our army waits between battles. We can talk to our units, giving them minor stat boosts or new weapons. Right off the bat, we have a farm and spring to give us resources, rooms for Corrin and Lilith, and a Hall of Records.

In Lilith’s spring, we can feed her to make her level up. Different foods affect her stats in different ways. Note that, although Lilith now has stats, she isn’t usable in battle. Other players can invade our Castle through spotpass, which I’ll discuss in a later entry, and Lilith is only usable in those battles.

Lilith

Lilith is a weird squirrel dragon thing that floats around clutching a random ball. She used to be our stable girl and is now our pet. I think she has a crush on Corrin. Her design is unique and cute, I like it. Gameplay wise, she can only use a modified Physic staff. I don’t dislike her personality, but she feels like a throwaway character added at the last minute. She raises a ton of questions that I doubt will ever be answered.

In the Hall of Records, we can see descriptions of all the units we’ll ever recruit, rewatch cutscenes, read unreadable poems, and play around with a relationship tester. The relationship tester is randomized, by the way, which kinda makes it pointless. That said, it told me that Corrin expects betrayal from Rinkah, while Rinkah’s loins are set afire by Corrin. This is now canon, I have decided.

In Corrin’s room, we can change their hairstyle and invite an ally over to chill. I chose Kaze. He complimented Corrin’s piano skills, which she apparently has, then stared at us, blushing, while thanking us for saving him from Garon.

So, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. In the Japanese version you get to rub units while in close up mode. Like Pokemon Amie except...with people. This was removed in the English version. A lot of Fire Emblem fans were pissed, crying about censorship because Nintendo of America had the gall to remove the minigame where you rub Camila’s tiddies while she moans. And I’m going to say a hot take right now: they made the right call. That stuff was weird and indulgent. It was the living embodiment of the fanservice focussed design that plagues modern Fire Emblem games. Good riddance.

Inviting allies to Corrin’s cool sex treehouse boosts our support levels. I suppose it's time I mentioned that. In Fire Emblem games, units form bonds from fighting next to each other, unlocking short conversations that flesh them out as characters. Units also fight together better when they have high supports. Now, here’s the fun thing about supports:

There are more than 600 supports in this game. Not support conversations, support lines, each of which is made up of three or four conversations. And, because God has cursed me for my hubris and my work is never finished, I’m going to read all of them.

Admittedly, I’m not going to unlock all of them. S-Rank conversations result in marriages and each unit only gets one. It’d take a few dozen playthroughs to get all of Corrin’s S-Rank conversations and I don’t hate myself that much, so I’m reading the transcripts from the wiki. I think I’m going to do four supports per Entry; that’ll leave me with a few extra by the time we reach the end, but I’ll just do a support grab bag entry or something.

Before we do supports, let’s finish up improving the castle. I built a weapon shop and a statue of Corrin that boosts her max speed. We are limited on the number of buildings we can build, but that isn’t a big deal yet because the only other option was to build a stave shop.

Support: Corrin/Rinkah

C: Corrin attempts to discuss battle tactics with Rinkah, but Rinkah blows her off and tells her to stop trying to be friends. Rinkah does acknowledge that Corrin’s authority and that Corrin saved her life, but tells the princess leave her alone.

B: Corrin pesters Rinkah until she explains why she’s so aloof. Rinkah explains that, the Flame Tribe keeps a great flame burning in the center of the village to honor the God of Fire. In the past, outsiders have extinguished the fire. One such instance was followed by a volcanic eruption that decimated the tribe. As a rule, the people of the Flame Tribe are wary of outsiders. Rinkah also explains that she’s working for Hoshido because her father commanded her to, much to her chagrin.

A: Rinkah explains that she would have preferred to die an honorable warrior’s death than be captured and resents Corrin for sparing her. Corrin says that she’s glad Rinkah is still alive, because it means Rinkah and her can be friends. Corrin also says that, despite the chaos of war, she believes in fate and its ability to bring people together. Corrin encourages Rinkah to use this opportunity to learn more about the outside world and bring that knowledge home with her. Rinkah begrudgingly agrees.

This is how the conversation will end on my playthrough, but if Corrin has a penis, you can get an S-Rank proposal conversation. I’ll be listing all of these off along with the normal conversations.

S: Rinkah comes to Corrin, blushing, and tells him that he has been a constant reminder of her shame and regret over being captured. But, over time, these feelings were replaced with love. Love that she hated, because Corrin is an outsider. Corrin says that he’s loved Rinkah since the day they met and only told her to be friendly to other people as an excuse to spend time with her. Rinkah states that, from now on, she will remember her capture as the happiest day of her life and the two get married.

Review: I really like this support line. It expands Rinkah’s backstory and culture, ties it into Corrin’s own isolation and belief in fate, and deals with the tumultuous meeting they had in Chapter 2. The confession comes out of nowhere, admittedly, but I do like Rinkah grappling with her mixed feelings of hate and love. Solid support.

Support: Corrin/Jakob

C: Corrin comes to Jakob to ask for a favor. Jakob interrupts her by humorously listing off the things he would do for Corrin. Things like slay dragons for her, which is actually kinda offensive now that I think about it. Corrin begs Jakob to allow her to be independent and Jakob refuses. Corrin explains that she’s his boss and he tells her that servitude is his reason for living. Jakob explains that, when he started working for Corrin, he was incompetent, and her kindness towards him made him indebted to her. The two compromise on the agreement that Jakob will teach Corrin how to make tea. After Corrin leaves, Jakob mumbles to himself that things might get apocalyptic.

B: Corrin repeatedly tries and fails to make a decent cup of tea. Both of them get some funny lines in, with Corrin telling Jakob that she can’t hear him because she’s ignoring him and Jakob saying that, saying that they’ll run out of leaves before Corrin makes decent tea. They meaning the nation in this case. Corrin eventually makes a passable cup, after Jakob secretly adds in sugar.

A: Jakob admits to Corrin that he messed with her tea and she laughs it off, admitting that she knew all along. She apologizes for being stubborn and accepts that she still needs Jakob’s help sometimes. Jakob says that he falls apart without Corrin. Corrin says that the two of them are alike in that way and Jakob literally faints from joy.

S: Jakob is acting more distant than normal. When Corrin asks him about this, he admits that he’s fallen for her and resigns from his duties as butler, because it is improper for him to have feelings for his mistress. Corrin begs him to say because she needs him and admits that she loves him too. The two of them get embarrassed and Corrin fires Jakob, giving him the new job of husband.

Review: This was a hilarious support that really made me appreciate Jakob’s snarky yet loyal personality. He is the perfect butler. The conflict of Corrin wanting to be independent and Jakob wanting to take care of her is a good dynamic that made me appreciate the relationship between these two characters. I do like them more as a platonic couple than a romantic one, but Jakob quitting his job because falling in love with Corrin is improper is a nice character moment.

Support: Corrin/Kaze

C: A villager gives Kaze a bunch of radishes because he’s super hot. And I mean, he is. Kaze apparently doesn’t realize that he’s hot until Corrin explains it to him. Kaze mentions that he dislikes the attention because he isn’t a good person before running off.

B: Corrin asks Kaze to follow her around so she can figure out what’s bothering him. Kaze says no, so Corrin annoys him until he agrees to hang out with him. Then he runs away again.

A: Kaze admits to Corrin that it was his fault that Garon kidnapped her, because when he was a child, he noticed the Nohrian soldiers that killed Sumeragi were in the city but said nothing about it. I don’t know how that makes Corrin’s kidnapping his fault, you’d expect there to be soldiers guarding a king. And the fact that Kaze was there means that there were also Hoshido soldiers, which means there was no reason to be suspicious of the Nohrians. Also, Kaze was a teenager at the oldest, so he should probably get some leeway. Whatever. Kaze apologizes to Corrin and Corrin, in turn, apologizes for making him live with guilt for fifteen years. Corrin also points out that Kaze led her home, meaning that they’re even now. Kaze compares Corrin to Mikoto because of her kindness and pledges to serve Corrin as her loyal retainer.

S: Corrin and Kaze joke around about Corrin’s kidnapping. It’s cute. Corrin mentions that, now that she’s spent so much time offscreen with Kaze, she likes him even more. Kaze blurts out that he loves Corrin, despite being her bodyguard, and the two propose.

Review: I found this chain a bit lacking, to be honest. The first two conversations were filler and the origin for Kaze’s guilt complex is kinda dumb. Kaze’s relationship with Corrin defines him as a character. He is so guilt ridden over her kidnapping that he would betray his country and his family to protect her. Later parts of the game hinge on this relationship. But, three of their four conversations are dull. I do like Kaze’s guilt complex as a concept, and think becoming Corrin’s retainer alongside Jakob and/or Felicia and a way to repent, but it isn’t enough to save this support line.

Support: Kaze/Rinkah

C: Kaze gets a bunch of candy for being hot and shares it with Rinkah, who secretly loves candy.

B: Kaze continues to give Rinkah candy.

A: Kaze continues to give Rinkah candy.

S: Kaze reveals that he’s been giving Rinkah candy because he’s in love with her.

Review: This one was a big let down. The fact that Kaze and Rinkah are introduced together made me think it would be about their capture, but no. It’s just Kaze giving Rinkah candy for four conversations straight. And it’s cute fluff, but it’s nothing more than that. There is something interesting below the surface with Rinkah hiding her love of candy to protect her image, but it’s never really explored.

So, off to a mixed start with the support conversations.

Birthright Chapter 7: A Vow Upheld

Team Corrin heads to a Hoshidan fort where Sakura is tending to wounded soldiers. We are introduced to Sakura’s retainers, Subaki and Hana. Suddenly, the fort is attacked by Nohrian forces. Corrin and Azura point out the ridiculousness of them attacking immediately after they arrived. Sakura freaks out because the fort is being used as a hospital and has no military value. So apparently Nohr is now being evil just to be evil.

Subaki and Hana agree to help Corrin defend the fort and argue over who’s more important to Sakura, much to her annoyance. Subaki and Hana give me a good opportunity to discuss a few interesting things about classes in this game. First off, unlike in most Fire Emblem games, classes are NOT gender-specific, as demonstrated by Subaki being the first male Pegasus Knight in the series. Secondly, the classic Fire Emblem classes were divided between the two nations. Nohr got Mercenaries, Hoshido got Myrmidons. Nohr got Wyvern Riders, Hoshido got Pegasus Knights. Etc. I really like this, it gives the two countries different feels in combat both aesthetically and mechanically. Finally, a lot of Hoshidan classes were renamed to be more Eastern, shown by Hana being a Samurai instead of a Myrmidon, or by Sakura being a Shrine Maiden instead of a Cleric.

Subaki

Subaki is a Sky Knight, this game’s equivalent of a Pegasus Knight. He can fly over terrain and has good speed and resistance, but is decimated by arrows. His personal skill buffs his hit and avoid when he has full health. Design wise, I like how ridiculously smug he looks. Personality wise, he seems over-competitive yet fiercely loyal to Sakura.

Hana

Hana is a Samurai with high speed and skill. Her personal skill damaged nearby enemies when she scores a kill. Her design is fine, if a little bland. Personality wise, she seems over-competitive yet fiercely loyal to Sakura.

Starting with this chapter, we have a prep menu, where we can choose which units to use and rearrange them on the map. We can bring our whole team in with us, so it’s a little pointless, but it's nice. Worth noting that you can have units start in pair up via this menu, unlike in Awakening where you had to pair them up after the battle started.

At the start of the battle, the chapter’s boss, a Cavalier named Silas, shouts out to Corrin that he’s her childhood best friend. She does not remember him even slightly. Okie dokie.

This map is decent. It’s a bit short, but it features a lot of good bottlenecks. The Dragon Veins can be used to open heal tiles, which is a bit pointless because you have two healers. When Silas and Corrin fight, he reiterates that they used to be friends. Corrin says that she can’t remember her past. And that confuses me, because I was under the impression that she got amnesia when she was taken to Nohr, which would have been before she met Silas. Unless he’s lying.

After the battle, Corrin refuses to kill Silas. She interrogates him about why he was so hesitant to attack them and he explains that, when they were children, he helped Corrin sneak out of the walls to have a picnic. The guards tried to execute Silas for this, but Corrin stopped them, because apparently guards listen to small children. Because of this, Silas feels he owes a debt to Corrin.

Question. Why was this random child allowed to play with the super secret hostage princess? Whatever.

Corrin eventually recovers a vague memory of Silas and asks him to join the gang. She explains that Garon is crazy and evil and that’s enough to make him swap sides. Silas is now officially the most sane character in the game. I mean, he should have probably realized this stuff before being sent to destroy a hospital for shits and giggles, but still.

Also, Silas mentions that Corrin’s favorite food is surf and turf. Perhaps this symbolizes how Corrin is stuck between both kingdoms? Or maybe it’s a random throwaway line. You be the judge!

At the end of the chapter, Saizo and a new character named Orochi show up, wounded, and report that Takumi and Ryoma have gone missing. Uh oh.

Team Corrin decide to help search for the missing princes. Sakura decides to come along, despite Corrin and Kaze’s objections. Silas also decides to come along and Saizo points out that he totally could be a spy or traitor. He’s a dick, but he is infinitely smarter than Kaze.