#So have some half-assed trash that I struggled with over multiple attempts to write this prompt.

[averbaldumpingground]

“How come I always end up calling you when I can’t fall asleep?”

Maybe he wouldn't pick up this time, she tries to tell herself. Maybe it would just go to voicemail. And then they could pretend that she never called.

Except he wouldn't, probably. Pretend that is. But she'd hold on to her dignity, maybe enough that the next time she saw him, saw that horrible smile on his face, she could meet his eyes for long enough to get through the lecture. Get through the three hours of supervising the undergraduate lab section. Get through the door.

She doesn't want him to pick up. Not when it's two a.m. Again. Not when she's still half drunk, and she can't see the stars beyond the storm clouds on the roof that Darcy left her on somewhere between her second and fourth wine cooler.

She didn't even want to go with Darcy anyway. She's not sure why she did, but the music that she can still somewhat hear from across the quad is starting to give her a headache.

Or maybe it's the long, drawn out seconds between the first ring and the third, or now the fourth. She could just hang up. She could.

But she's not going to. Not until she gets his voicemail.

Because...

Because it's been a crappy night. Because her piece of junk computer crashed while she was mid-compiling.

Because doing her postdoc when she's barely older than most of the seniors has never endeared her to anyone, her weirdly outgoing roommate excepted.

The call connects.

"It's 2:37, Foster."

So much for the small mercies of his voicemail.

The comically put-upon sigh helps dampen the nauseous feeling in her stomach though. She's mostly pretty sure she shouldn't call him.

"The weather forecast lied."

A click. What sounds like blankets shifting.

Oh. He's never been in bed before.

"I could be on a date," he'd said, the last time that she'd called him.

"At four in the morning?"

"It could be a very good date."

She'd hung up on his obnoxious laughter.

But maybe--

Maybe--

"Foster, it's a Tuesday. Why are you drunk on a Tuesday?"

Is it? She probably knows that, but the frustration and the article edits and the lack of sleep are finally starting to catch up with her. The crappy alcohol still working its way through her system is probably not helping things either.

"Were you asleep?"

More blankets shuffling. An over-dramatic sigh.

"Some of us are covering a 9 a.m. lecture this morning, Foster." A beat. "Do you need me to get you?"

He's probably not on a date then. Not that she cares. Not that--

"--Foster? Jane?"

Oh. Had he been saying something? "Huh? What?"

"You're usually a lot more sober when you call me in the middle of the night."

"I don't call you in the middle of the night."

A laugh. The slide of a drawer being opened.

"Of course not, Foster. Where are you?"

She doesn't though. Not really. He's just an assistant professor whose lab sections she's usually stuck babysitting. And maybe she stops by his lectures sometimes. But only because the theoretical framework--

"--Jane?"

"Why are you calling me that?"

"Because it's your name, Foster. You do still remember your name?"

He sounds less asleep now, less soft. She's not sure that she likes it very much.

"Now, Jane, are you going to tell me where you are?"

Why would he--

"The roof," she tells him, almost despite herself.

"The roof. Alright. Which roof?"

She didn't bother checking when she and Darcy climbed up here. One of the residence halls. She'll figure out which one when she sobers up enough to climb down though.

"Jane?"

“How come I always end up calling you when I can’t fall asleep?”

She isn't sure she really meant to say that.

A pause.

"I do hope you aren't trying to sleep on the roof, Jane."

"You're not very good at conversation and you're pretty much always a jerk."

"...I see." She thinks there's something off about the way he says it. She doesn't think she likes the way it sounds. "Should I call campus security instead?"

"No."

"Will you at least tell me where you are, Foster? I've got 300 freshma--"

"--I like that you pick up."

She really doesn't mean to say that either.

"I--Okay?"

"Um. Yeah."

Maybe the wine coolers were an even worse idea than she'd thought. She--

"Okay."

At least he doesn't sound upset anymore. It shouldn't-- the feeling in her gut is probably from the questionable guacamole she'd had. Or those tasteless little cocktail sausage things.

"Do you want me to come get you, Jane?"

It's 3:14 a.m. He'd said he has a class.

"Why would you?"

She hears his car keys. She knows he lives a decent drive off campus.

"The same reason you called."

Edit: I wrote a follow up.

[inadaydream99]

Something You Can’t Deny

A/N - wow this has taken me ages to write and it’s a lot longer than I intitally planned it to be! Sorry 😬 I always get carried away with oneshots and this Mingi one just got me! I’m a little (or very) whipped for him 😂 but I hope you enjoy!

When someone asks what Mingi is to you the first word that comes to mind in enemie. He’s your rival, the reason for your anger, the person that drives you completely insane. Most people don’t understand the pure hatred you have towards each other. Your fued seemingly coming out of nowhere. At first even you were confused as to why Mingi didn’t like you, but then, after numerous attempts at trying to be friendly, you gave up and decided to hate him back. You can live with the fact that not everyone is going to like you.

“Do we really have to watch a scary movie? I won’t be able to sleep tonight.” You plea as Yunho selects the horror genre on Netflix, shooting your best puppy eyes around the room in an attempt to get any form of sympathy.

“Quit being such a baby and get over it.” Mingi snarls, causally throwing a piece of popcorn in the air in an attempt to catch it in his mouth. He looks so unphased by the premis of a horror but everyone in the room knows as much as he does that deep down he isn’t keen on the idea either.

When the popcorn bounces off his nose and ends up on the floor you smirk, feeling satisfied that he hadn’t managed to look suave and cool. It’s instant karma for his uncalled for remark.

“You’ll be ok, I’m right here to protect you.” San scoots closer to your side, protectively wrapping his arm around your shoulder and pulling you into his chest. You let out a quiet chuckle as you accept his hug, your arms making their way around his body so you can snuggle comfortably into his side.

“I think she has a better chance of getting through this movie if I protect her. With you, (Y/N) risks getting jolted around at every jump scare.” Jongho teases, laughing heartily as San whines and turns to complain to Seonghwa like siblings with their parents.

“Stop making a fuss, I wanna actually watch this.” Mingi snaps, throwing a pillow at San as the movie begins playing. He seems grumpy, a deep frown on his face as he glares in your direction, glancing between you and San momentarily before launching the pillow.

It ends up hitting you in the face, your cheeks turning bright red in embarrassment as Mingi snorts with laughter. He looks pleased with himself as you sit up, moving yourself away from San’s side. It’s like that’s what he had intended to happen.

“Oops.” He states with a mocking twinge in his tone, earning an elbow and glare from Yeosang next to him in return.

~

“I’ve left the pillow and blanket on the sofa for you, and there’s a charger for you to use on the coffee table, ok?” Seonghwa informs you as you enter the kitchen after getting your pyjamas on; an old T-shirt that you stole from Yunho and some pink spotty shorts. It’s your go to lazy outfit when you have a PJ day at home.

“Thank you Hwa.” You cuddle into his side, nuzzling your head into him affectionaly as he envelops you in his arms, laughing at your actions.

“It’s alright. See you in the morning.” He pats your head and you feign annoyance, forever adamant that you don’t like it when he does that. But deep down you both know you do.

“Goodnight.” You respond, turning around to grab a glass of water to take with you to bed.

You don’t want to acknowledge Mingi as he enters the room and let’s out a grumble upon seeing you, but you’re tired and can’t be bothered to put up with him right now. Your temper worn thin over the course of the day.

“What was that for?” You defensively question, a scour replacing the contented smile that was previously on your face.

“None of your business princess.” Mingi condescendingly mocks.

“Then why’d you have to snarl at me.” You’re trying everything in your power not to seeth at him, but it’s too difficult when Mingi makes your blood boil just from the arrogant look on his face.

“Because I’m always so happy to see you, can’t you tell?” His sarcastic laugh is enough to send you over the edge of anger, it makes your whole body feel like it’s going to explode.

It annoys you to no end how he treats you, particularly because he has no reason to be so rude all the time. He just goes out of his way to treat you like trash. To mock and belittle you. It’s infuriating.

“You know what, I’m done putting up with you! I can handle the fact that not everyone is going to like me, but when you act this way for no reason, it’s horrible.” Your explosion of anger takes Mingi by surprise, his whole expression shocked as he watches you with wide eyes. He had never thought you would become this angry in front of him, let along blow up in his face like this. But you have and he doesn’t know how to react.

“Don’t even try to excuse yourself.” You quickly cut in as you notice Mingi open his mouth, about to speak.

“Just leave me alone from now on.” You’re seething, bluntly putting him in his place before deciding you don’t even want to stay for the night anymore. You’ve had enough.

“Woah, what’s going on? Is everything alright?” You almost crash into Hongjoong on your way out of the kitchen. You look as though you could simultaneously punch a wall and burst into tears.

“I’m going home, I can’t stand Him.” You shudder bitterly, throwing your shoes on and brabbing your bag.

Hongjoong just stands frozen, confused and upset by your anger. He watches as you leave, odd socks stuffed into your shoes and oversized pyjamas, the door slamming shut behind you.

“I heard a bang! Is everyone alive?” San comes running into the hallway, followed my Wooyoung and Jongho.

“(Y/N) left, the bang was the front door. She was pretty pissed off.” Hongjoong informs the guys as they nod in understanding.

“Why was she pissed off?” Jongho questions, voicing the question that even Hongjoong wanted to know a proper answer to.

“I think I have a good idea...” San narrows his eyes in suspicion before heading off.

~

You wake up the next morning to your phone going off with numerous messages and missed calls. But it’s what you get for storming off without informing anyone as to why. They’re probably worried sick and desperate to get through to you.

With that thought in mind you reach out to grab your phone off the bedside table before unlocking it and swiping through all the notifications. Each of them have sent though multiple texts, along with a few missed calls from Seonghwa and Hongjoong. But there’s one that catches your eye. It makes your breath hitch as you read the message.

It’s apparent it’s from Mingi, although it’s displayed as from an unknown number; you’d never bothered keep him as a contact because why would you ever want to message him anyway? But you must admit his message is kind of sweet: I didn’t think I upset you that much... I hope you’re ok.

You’re not sure why but it seems to fill you with some sort of weird feeling, finding yourself staring at the message in a daze.

Maybe it’s not real and you’re just imagining, hoping, that Mingi actually cares about you... maybe one of the guys stole his phone and sent the message for him.

Or maybe he really does care.

It’s a strange thought but one that you can’t seem to shake off. Your mind still thinking about the message as you hit call on Seonghwa’s number and wait for him to answer.

“Finally, it’s about time you answered one of us.” He scolds as soon as he picks up, tone unimpressed and you can just imagine the disappointed look he would be giving you if he were here right now.

“I’m sorry, I’ve only just woken up.” You mumble, voice hoarse and throat dry.

“You sound awful, how’re you feeling?” Seonghwa’s voice instantly softens when he hears you speak. Come to think of it you feel very sluggish, a headache brewing and eyes aching, still feeling sensitive from all your crying last night. There’s no doubt Seonghwa can sense this through the phone.

“I feel crap.” You dryly chuckle, trying to make light of the situation at least a little, but your laugh comes out half-assed, like you are forcing yourself to seem more fine than you really are.

You continue your conversation with Seonghwa, answering all his questions about what happened last night, both of you unaware of the prying ears that listen in carefully.

Hearing your voice alone makes Mingi’s heart clench in pain. He hates that he is the reason behind it, although he would never admit that to you.

Your relationship with Mingi is complicated, one that he would struggle to explain if asked to. You see, Mingi’s mean and spiteful attitude towards you isn’t because he actually hates you, it’s more because he gets a kick out of your reactions. He loves the attention you give him when you are mad, and even more so when you are sassy. It drives him crazy, making his head spin with how much his heart races anytime you argue. So much so it’s not healthy. But it’s the only way you actually give him attention and so he has found himself looking forward to teasing you purely for that reason.

He never realised he had taken it too far the previous night; with all the snarky comments throughout the movie and then his general attitude afterwards, it sent you over the edge.

Mingi holds his breath, hiding himself from view as soon as he hears Seonghwa begin to hang up, telling you to be over as soon as possible.

But there’s one prevailing thought in his mind as he begins thinking about what to do next. He can’t miss his chance.

~

“Do you mind if we go somewhere more private, I just don’t want to face anyone.” You mumble as you are pulled by Seonghwa towards the living room.

He stops mid way, turning to give you a glance and when his eyes meet yours he reads the anxiousness and sadness that they hold.

“Sure.” Seonghwa meekly smiles. He had hoped to get you and Mingi to cross paths so you could finally resolve your differences, but now that doesn’t seem likely.

“What do you want to do?” Seonghwa casually questions as you fall onto his bed and cuddle up into the duvet.

“I want to stay like this for the rest of eternity.” Your voice comes out muffled by the sheets which makes Seonghwa laugh, a fond smile on his face as he stands at the foot of his bed.

“Unfortunately that’s not an option.” He chuckles, watching as you complain and turn yourself to lay on your back, eyes gazing up at the ceiling as if it’s the most interesting thing you have ever seen. “I really think we should get your mind onto something else... what about we cook something?” Seonghwa suggests.

“No...” you whine, moving your focus onto your friend as he huffs. “All I want to do is hibernate in here with you and some movies... and lots of snacks.” You state, sitting up so you can gage what Seonghwa’s reaction will be.

“You know what, let’s do it. But you need to go buy the snacks.” He smirks, pleased with himself that he has found a loophole in your plan to stay hidden away.

You roll your eyes, feigning annoyance, though your smile gives away how you truly feel.

“Fine, I’m going now.” You push yourself off the bed, trudging lazily out of the room to grab some money before leaving to complete your task.

~

“What do I choose?” You mumble out loud to yourself, so deep in thought that you haven’t realised other people can actually hear you.

“I would go for the cheese flavour, it’s the best.” Your head snaps to the left, the voice having made you jump. You didn’t even realise anyone was in the same isle as you, let alone standing by your side.

But your heart begins to race when you realise who the voice belongs to, your mouth falling open so you end up gawking at Mingi beside you.

“I don’t need your help.” You flatly respond as soon as you regain your composure. Mingi watches you in amusement, taking great pleasure from catching you off guard.

When he saw you enter the shop he thought he must be hallucinating. His guilty mind playing tricks on him as he becomes increasingly desperate to see you, to have a chance to apologise. Then he realised that this was his chance to approach you, clear the air of tension between you, or at least that’s what he was hoping for.

“Alright, I was just trying to be nice.” He holds his hands up in defence, though his smirk only makes you increasingly more annoyed.

“You, being nice pft.” You scoff, rolling your eyes as you begin moving away from Mingi.

“It is possible you know... here, let me get them for you.” He reaches out to grab the bag of chips, gaining your attention once again.

“Oh no, that’s not gonna happen.” You shake your head, folding your arms defensively. You can’t allow this to happen purely because you know this is Mingi’s way of clearing his conscience. He doesn’t really care about you.

“Too late!” Mingi suddenly makes a run for it, dashing over to the register to pay, a cute little squeal emitting from him in excitement. You catch yourself genuinely laughing at Mingi, finding his behaviour highly amusing and quite endearing.

“Here, all yours.” You wipe the smile off your face before Mingi can notice as he approches you holding out the bag of chips for you to take.

“I told you I don’t want them.” You shift your gaze away from him to look unforgiving. Truth is you don’t want to see the disappointment on his face.

Mingi lowers his arm back to his side, bag of chips still clutched in his hand as he stares at you, saddened by your coldness. He’s aware that he deserves it but he was really hoping you would find some part of you to forgive him.

“Please accept my peace offering (Y/N), I really am trying to ammend things between us.” Mingi’s voice comes out delicate, his sincerity making you feel guilty.

You glance up at him, sighing in defeat as you see his eyes becoming glazed over with tears; you’d be heartless to not forgive him.

“Fine.” You coyly smile, reaching out to accept Mingi’s gift. “But you’re joining the movie marathon I’m having with Seonghwa tonight... as a thank you.” You continue, finally letting your guard slip away, a small smile tugging at the corner of your lips when Mingi’s face lights up.

~

“Finally! what took you so long? Oh, I see...” Seonghwa begins to playfully scold you, only stopping when he sees Mingi appear behind you, a knowing grin teasing his lips.

“Mingi bought us some snacks so I invited him along.” You attempt to keep a straight face, wanting to play down the fact that you are trying to start again. It’s no big deal right? Just one of those casual suddenly becoming friends with the enemie scenarios.

“Alright.” Seonghwa’s mind is filled with a dozen questions as to how you managed to get to this point in such a short amount of time, but he doesn’t voice them. There’ll be time soon enough.

“What movies have you picked?” Mingi causally questions, picking up the remote to scroll through the playlist on Netflix that has been lined up.

~

You aren’t sure what time it is when you suddenly jolt awake. It takes you a minute to gather your surroundings, the room blanketed in darkness and tv no longer on.

Seonghwa must have switched it off after you’d fallen asleep, it’s happened many times during your past movie marathons together. It’s like a sequence of events that happen every time, you both begin watching a movie and then around halfway through the film you doze off, leaving Seonghwa to finish watching it alone.

This time, however, is a little different from normal. For starters you are cuddled into someone, head resting on their chest as it calmly rises and falls. Their arms are wrapped around your waist, keeping you close and secure. But what has caught you off guard the most is that as you slowly lift you head away, you realise that it’s Mingi who you have fallen asleep on.

Never in a million years would you have thought this could happen. And yet you aren’t repulsed.

You catch yourself staring at him. He looks so peaceful, ethereal, as he sleeps and you have to stop yourself from admiring him too much. He could never like you. Even up until today he has always gone out of his way to be rude and make fun. You’re stupid to even think you have the slightest chance.

Feeling your heart sink you decide to distract yourself and look around the room in search for Seonghwa, to see if he is awake or not. It quickly dawns on you that he is nowhere to be found.

“What time is it?” You feel your heart rate quicken upon hearing Mingi’s groggy voice, shuffling away a little erratically to create some distance between you as panic overtakes your body. How long has he been awake? Does he know you’ve been staring?

“What’s wrong?” He tilts his head in confusion, pout resting on his lips as his arms reach out to draw you back in a little, though not too much. Mingi can see the panic written on your face and he doesn’t want to scare you off, but at the same time he wants to wrap you in cotton wool and keep you safe forever.

“I... need to go.” It takes you a minute to respond, suddenly jumping out of Mingi’s reach and rushing out of the room.

“(Y/N)! Wait up.” Mingi rushes after you, stopping when he finds you stood in the middle of the living room, face buried in your hands. “Why are you acting so strange.” He softly questions, his arm gently placed on your shoulder to try and provide some comfort.

“Me, strange! No no no, I’m not strange. What’s strange is this! Us, cuddling together and acting like we haven’t hated each other for years.” You blurt, your mind running wild in a frenzy as you can’t seem to calm down.

Mingi stays silent, watching you as he is deep in thought. He can’t help but find your reaction to falling asleep cuddled up together really cute. And truth be told he’s glad that it happened, being close to you has always been something he’s wanted. He’s seen it between you and the others, making him act out in jealousy. He’s always taken it out on you and that’s what’s pushed you away all this time. But watching you freak out now makes him think that maybe it could be because you have the same feelings for him that he has for you.

You fall silent when you realise Mingi is just staring, finally meeting his gaze as he looks at you. He looks deep in thought, a flicker of contemplation sweeping across his face when you notice his eyes glance at your lips before retracting back to your eyes, then back to your lips again.

You aren’t sure what to do, time seemingly slowing down as you watch Mingi move closer in slow motion. You feel a hand on your waist, the other caressing you’re cheek as it tilts your face up, his eyes staying firmly trained on your lips.

He stops when you are millimetres apart, your lips agape as you become breathless. It’s a dizzying sensation, being this close to Mingi. You’re frozen. You don’t want to resist in case he backs away, but you also don’t want to be the first to make a move in case that’s not what he’s intending.

His eyes glance up from your lips, meeting your gaze and staring deeply into your eyes in search of any reluctance. And when he finds none his head dips, lips connecting to yours tenderly.

You respond instantly, eyes fluttering shut as your hands move to grip onto his arms tightly. Your legs feel like jelly, whole body becoming distant as you indulge in this moment. It’s filled with affection and care, a tenderness that you never thought you would see from Mingi, yet here you are. Just you and him, alone in this moment.

You break away gently, heavy breaths mixing and foreheads resting together. Your eyes meet Mingi’s as he watches you nervously, a smile of relief overtaking his face when he hears you giggle.

“What was that for?” You whisper, acting coy as you feel a deep blush rise up your face.

“It felt right.” You feel Mingi’s thumb rub over your cheek as he watches you fondly.

“Alright love birds, can you be quiet now? Some of us are trying to sleep.” Your attention is diverted onto Yeosang as he stands in the door way along with Seonghwa. You can tell they aren’t really that mad for keeping them awake, but you do still feel a little guilty.

“Hey, let us have our moment! Do you know how long I’ve waited for this?” Mingi complains, mock annoyance in his tone as he tries and fails to hide his smile.

“Believe me when I say we do.” Seonghwa chuckles teasingly. You roll your eyes playfully before turning back to Mingi and reaching out to take his hand. Your fingers interlace with his, making his attention fall back to you.

“Come on, we should get back to bed.” You raise your brow, smirk playing on your lips as you pull Mingi back to bed. Mingi complies with a wide grin, shaking his head as he laughs at your teasing behaviour.

Although you had spent so long hating each other, you’re glad that things have finally changed. I guess there’s just something between you that is bigger than all of that. Something you can’t deny.

[letswritefuriously]

Excerpt - Drunk!Ari

Before you read this, you have to read Ari is a badass. The overview for my WIP and Ethan does NOT want to talk about college are optional (but I’d like it if you did)

ARI arrived at ‘Face the Rainbow’ at 6pm for the tail end of the happy hour. It’s now 8pm, and THE STRANGER had a fair amount of money in his wallet.

To say the least; ARI is as drunk as a skunk.

ALICIA enters the bar; a different drag queen is singing, and she waves hello. She walks up to the bar.

FEMALE BARTENDER (the shift has changed it’s been two hours do you really expect the BARTENDER to stay there that long?!) (Flirtatiously btw): Aren’t you a little young to be in here?

ALICIA (also flirtatiously): Who’s checking? She leans in. Who says I’m here to drink, anyway?

FEMALE BARTENDER wags a finger.

FEMALE BARTENDER: Don’t pretend you have any clue how to flirt. But she’s already getting her a drink. Just sit over there – she motions to the back – so that nobody... important sees you.

ALICIA: I think the most important person already has seen me.

FEMALE BARTENDER: I mean cops, you jackass. Sit your ass down.

ALICIA winks and walks away with her drink.

Scene change.

Camera cuts to ARI, who is practically asleep on the bar top. He’s getting some pretty strange looks from onlookers. There are about three empty glasses next to him; clearly, FEMALE BARTENDER stopped bothering a little while ago.

FEMALE BARTENDER (coming over): Are you meeting someone, or are you just depressed?

ARI (raising his head): Ugh... He blinks multiple times... I think I might be meeting... someone?

FEMALE BARTENDER: Dude... I stopped giving you drinks like an half-an-hour ago, why the f*** are you still here? She thinks for a moment, and then becomes concerned. Do you have a way to get home?

ARI doesn’t move from where he put his head back on the counter, except to raise his thumb. FEMALE BARTENDER sighs.

FEMALE BARTENDER: So... you ARE meeting someone... have you even looked to see if they’re here?

ARI raises his head to give her a look with the most sarcasm it is possible to fit onto a human’s facial features. After a moment, he realises he hasn’t, and then looks around the room slowly, like a turtle.

ARI: ...Nope... They said they’d be here at... He taps his fingers on the bar top. Six hours? He frowns. What time is it now?

FEMALE BARTENDER (chuckling): It’s 8. Go home.

ARI nods slowly, and looks around the bar again. He’s just about to stand up, when he whips around again, nearly falling over. The camera catches on ALICIA, sitting the corner.

Scene change

ARI drops into the seat next to ALICIA, nearly causing it to overbalance. He corrects sloppily.

ALICIA (without missing a beat): This is a gay bar.

ARI (ignoring her): Your glass is full.

ALICIA: It’s just for effect, really. I’m here for the people.

ARI: Great, I have-

ALICIA: The ladies, specifically.

ARI: No! No... no no no no no no. I’m NOT flirting with you. To prove his point, he schooches his chair back a bit. I just have a few questions that really really really need answering pretty please?

ALICIA (frowning): Gosh, how many did you have?

ARI attempts to count on his fingers. ALICIA grabs his hands and places them back on the table.

ALICIA: Never mind.

ARI shakes his head as if to clear his vision, and blinks a few more times. Upon realising his vision can’t be cleared, he sighs dramatically and turns to ALICIA.

ARI: So I had some contacts that I was going to meet here, we were gonna discuss about how the war we’re fighting was going, but then for two hours I sat here and they didn’t come, and then-

ALICIA (Clearly treating this as a way to use her psychology skills): A war? That’s nice. Who are you fighting against, Hitler?

ARI: No, I’m not Hitler.

ALICIA: I was asking if you were fighting Hitler.

ARI: No, he died years ago.

ALICIA: Cool. What sort war is it? Why do you feel you need to fight?

ARI: Because they’re killing people, duh. But anyway my question was-

ALICIA: Do you ever see things other people don’t?

ARI: Could you please stop- well I was actually going to ask you the same thing.

ALICIA: Really? And why is that?

ARI: Well you see there’s this particular birthmark, and you’ve got it underneath your eye...

ALICIA self-consciously raises her hand to her right cheekbone where the birthmark sits just under her eye, while ARI continues to babble.

...and see this mark it’s really magical and s*** and most of the time people don’t have that complete mark and-

ALICIA: That’s nice. How are you gonna get home? You’re definitely not safe to drive.

ARI (grabbing her arm): Wait-

ALICIA, on reflex, slaps him. He falls onto the ground, and then tries to rise, but slips and falls on his face again.

ALICIA: Oh my God, I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to-

ARI: S’okay, I’m fine, just... having a little... a little rest.

He begins to lay his head on the floor, but ALICIA grabs his arm and drags him to his feet.

ALICIA: Come on, you. I’ll help get you home.

Scene change

ALICIA stumbles out of the bar, struggling to support ARI, who is at least 5 centimetres/two inches taller than her.

ARI: ...m fine, I can... walk...

ALICIA: Whatever you say then. She drops him. He promptly falls to the ground. You sure?

ARI (staggering upright): Yep! I’ll just- he stagger forward a few steps, and then stumbles, grabbing onto the wall to support himself. His momentum swings him around, and he stumbles into the next alleyway.

ALICIA hurries after him, but when she rounds the corner, the alleyway is empty.

ALICIA: ...Dude?

There’s a loud crash, but it’s just a dog knocking the lid off a trash can.

ALICIA stands there for a second, and then shrugs. She walks back around the corner.

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[paulisweeabootrash]

First Impression: Re:ZERO - Starting Life in Another World

It's time again for Paul is Weeaboo Trash!

Today's topic: Re:ZERO - Starting Life in Another World (2016)

Review based on 6 episodes.  Or 5 if you count two two-part beginning, episodes "1A and 1B", as one.

The characters are plastered all over everything at conventions!  It keeps getting casually mentioned in reviews of other shows!  Rem is apparently everyone's waifu!  And yet... I knew absolutely nothing about the actual details of this show.  I think I might understand why after the first few episodes, because it seems like one of those things you can't really discuss properly without resorting to spoilers, so people evade mentioning them.  Or maybe the things I'm calling "spoilers" seem so obvious to other people that they don't think they're worth mentioning.  Or the spoilers may be “common knowledge” in the weeb community so people don’t think they’re worth explicitly describing.  Whatever, I'm notoriously dense when it comes to picking up foreshadowing, and often "anticipate" different twists than the ones that end up happening.  I'm the perfect rube for twists.  I didn't know the twist of The Sixth Sense (a movie which, incidentally, I still haven't seen) until The Lonely Island mentioned it in a song nine years after the movie came out.  You’ll see what I mean soon, hopefully, because I think enjoying this show is very dependent on the audience learning what’s going on along with the main character.

Anyway, my point is that all I had heard that this was an unusually good isekai, a genre which I have somehow avoided reviewing up to this point even though I've enjoyed some isekai quite a lot.  The idea of being transported to another world has been around for a long time, even being a key feature in the archetypal “hero’s journey” story format.  In its current anime incarnation, it tends to be set in medieval-flavored fantasy worlds and be very action-oriented, but there is some nice diversity out there in the scenarios and spins different works take on the general concept.  It has even been inverted and descended into total absurdity.  But there is a shadow over the genre: a shadow cast by unpleasant and overpowered characters and escalatingly-stupid writing.  And it is that kind of world our, er, hero(?)... well, main character at least, Subaru, expects.

Subaru, you see, is a shut-in gamer who suddenly finds himself transported to another world while shopping.  One moment, he's on a deserted city street at night in our world.  The next, he is on a busy city street in daylight in — surprise — a medieval-flavored fantasy setting.  And he is very familiar with what that means: he has been summoned here.  Plucked from his mundane life, he must be a superpowered protagonist, about to find himself on a grand adventure!

Ha.  Nope.  Try as he may, it seems like the only power he has is above-average strength from working out (but no real skill at using that strength to fight).  And he doesn't even have normal functioning here otherwise.  He's illiterate in the local language, comes off as insane to everyone he meets, and almost immediately finds himself being beaten up by muggers he thought he could heroically take on by himself.  Rescued and healed by a magical mystery woman and her cat-like familiar spirit, Puck, he knows right away: she is the superpowered protagonist, and beautiful to boot!  She too has been robbed, and he will help her recover what was stolen!  Ha.  Nope.  Subaru soon finds that his situation is far stranger than he expected.

See, Subaru and his new magical mystery companion search for the woman who robbed her of her item, described only as a jeweled insignia.  On the way, he learns that she is a half-elf and her name is Satella, and that although he treats her like a stock tsundere, she both isn't one and doesn't understand why he expects her to act like this.  And I appreciate this, personally, because realistically we should ask: what does he expect?  They've known each other for only a few hours, after all!  They track the thief, a professional named Felt, down to a bar in the outskirt slums of the city run by her fence, Old Man Rom, and Subaru enters to find it full of merchandise but no sign of people.  Then he finds the corpses.

Because of how the first few episodes unfold, it will be necessary to go into some things you might want to leave as spoilers even though they happen so soon in, because there's really something to be gained here from being confused and surprised with Subaru, and maybe even seeing your own expectations contradicted along with his.  If you don’t want spoilers but are intrigued by the summary so far, go skip ahead to the Weeb Ass Shit ratings and then watch the show.

If not, now we're going to finish episode 1A, and go onward from there, okay?

Okay.

Subaru and Satella are quickly killed by an unseen attacker, the same one who already dispatched Rom and Felt before they arrived.  At this point, we remember that back in the very first scene of the episode, before Subaru was transported, the camera cut back and forth between Subaru shopping in a convenience store and a hand reaching out weakly as the voice of the person to which it belongs talks about saving someone.  Because now we see that the hand was his, and he was reaching out for Satella.

And then he's back in the city, right where he first appeared.  And apparently also right when he first appeared.  Was it a dream?  A premonition?  He certainly thinks so, and wants to use this knowledge to help Satella.  So he goes to Rom's bar, finds Rom alive and working, and tries to negotiate to barter for the stolen insignia.  Felt shows up, as does Elsa, the woman who hired her to steal the insignia in the first place, who turns out to have been the one who killed him in his premonition.  And she kills him again.  And then he's back in the city, and the same time and place.  Oh no.  It's not a premonition, it's a Groundhog Day-style time loop.

After a third death and reset, he has learned three important things: first, that Satella's name is definitely not Satella.  Second, that much to his relief, there is some sort of police force in this world, although so far the only part of it he has encountered is Reinhart, a single off-duty knight.  Third, that this insignia is worth much more than Felt is being paid for it and has some significance he can't yet guess at.  Oh, and also he has decided this loop must be his “power”, and has named it “return by death”.

That gets us up through episodes 1B and 2.  After that, he makes (and survives this time, albeit just barely) a fourth attempt to recover the insignia from Felt, and to keep it and all of the people involved out of the hands of Felt's murderous employer.  Emilia — who called herself Satella before as what now seems to have been a sort of off-color joke, due to her resemblance to the real Satella, whom we have yet to encounter but who is clearly Bad News — brings the wounded Subaru home with her.  He wakes up to find himself fully healed and in a bed at Emilia's palace, attended to by maids who look like near mirror images of each other.  Maids?  Palace?!

Yes, it turns out that the country Subaru has been transported to, Lugnica, is undergoing a succession crisis, that Emilia (sponsored by the flamboyant Margrave Roswaal L. Mathers) is in line for the throne, and that the insignia is a sort of proof of her authority that she must possess to be eligible when the new ruler is decided.  Subaru asks to work for her, and the twin maids Ram and Rem (aha, now we meet everyone’s waifu), struggle to teach him the basics he needs to survive here, like cooking and reading.  At the end of an unspecified number of days of trying but failing to learn to work alongside them, Subaru speaks to Emilia alone, and they seem to be getting along very well.  He very badly attempts to explain the concept of a date to her, and successfully asks her out on one, and goes to sleep happy...  And he wakes up to find Ram and Rem waiting at the foot of his bed... just as they were when he woke up here the first day...  Yes, it turns out that somehow he died in his sleep and has been “reset” again.  But he has at least obtained a new "save point", as it were, with his power, and must now work out what happened to him this time — and how exactly his power works, since he went back multiple days this time.

You know what?  I'm not even going to go onward in my summary into the sixth (fifth) episode.  Those of you who have seen the show will notice that my summary is getting more and more cursory, but it's because I don't want to just recap the show for you, I want to provide enough overview so you know what kind of show it is.  There is so much to enjoy and appreciate that I haven't gotten to.  Here’s an assortment of highlights:

- Subaru's interactions with Emilia and Beatrice (the librarian who I didn't even get around to mentioning in the summary above) are particularly nice because he treats them with otaku-y genre-savviness and they respond not just with some moe twist on confusion but with actual annoyance.

- I find it interesting that we can't be sure whether nobody knows about his power yet or whether they just aren't letting on that they know (although it sounds like Beatrice might know something), even though it doesn't make that much sense to me that Subaru has not tried to explain it, or the fact that he's from another world, even though he has established that magic is downright common here.

- On that note, I love that it sounds like there may be a thought-out, maybe even "hard", magic system that the people of this world know as a normal and understandable part of their environment and not just ad hoc contrivances.

- And I love that Subaru hasn't adapted well to his power, unlike many fantasy characters who, upon obtaining magic, take to it seemingly instinctively.  He behaves just as you might expect from someone who (1) has never experienced magic before and (2) has a power that is clearly horrifying to experience.  He even has difficulty not talking about things that happened previous times through, constantly confusing people in ways that are sometimes dramatic and sometimes just plain funny.

Much to my surprise, this also seems to be one of the very few shows I can watch more than three episodes of in a row without getting restless and wanting to go do something else.  Even shows I love, I can not usually binge watch.  But Re:ZERO sets up and uses its cliffhangers excellently.  Some shows have clear self-contained stories in each episode.  Some seem like they try to end in a way that at least sets up the next part of the story, if not necessarily do so suspensefully, but they choose bad places to break up the ongoing story.  Some shows end in ways that practically obligate you to keep watching because a single episode is so unsatisfying (and maybe they should've made a movie instead).  But here, I both end each episode having watched a useful and well-paced unit of story and it leaves off with open questions that keep me interested in what will happen next.

I am looking forward to the political intrigue or succession war or both that will presumably happen because there's no way "will Emilia take the throne?" doesn't become at least a main plot line.  I am looking forward to finding out why everyone loves Rem so much.  I am looking forward to seeing if (and how) Subaru ever matures and adjusts to his situation, and what his relationship to Emilia ends up being once they really know each other.  I’m just overall very excited and optimistic for the future of this show.  And I will be very upset if it unravels.

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For scoring on this review, I'd like to try something a little different.  I think I would like to add two things to supplement the Weeb Ass Shit scale, and I'll try this new approach for a few more reviews before deciding whether to keep it.

First, I was inspired by Yuri Reviews, which breaks ratings down much more specifically than the W/A/S, into Story, Characters, Animation, Sound, Yuri (of course), and Total Enjoyment, most of which would be merged incoherently into “Shit”.  Keeping in mind that combining unrelated features was exactly my problem with the "Shit" scale in the first place, I will try breaking down my evaluation roughly into writing vs. everything else.  That is, although I’ll still provide a single summary “Shit” score, I will try to explain it more thoroughly by having a category for things like characters, story, and translation (if egregious enough that even I, with almost no knowledge of Japanese, notice problems — I'm looking at you, Full Metal Panic!, with all your subtitles that keep trying to insist that "Teresa" is spelled "Teletha"), and another for character design, animation, sound, and anything else I feel like commenting on.

Second, given how "sexual content" can mean anything from risqué jokes to non-sexualized nudity to fanservice to depictions of sexual violence and there is no way in the W/A/S framework to evaluate other aspects prospective viewers should know (e.g., the surprise pivot from stylized violence to disturbing violence in R.O.D.), I will now provide "Content Notes" that, although not necessarily warnings in the "trigger warning" or "viewer discretion is advised" sense, highlight some things I think viewers should know about when deciding if this is appropriate for themselves or others.

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Deluxe W/A/S Scores: 4 / 3 / 2

Weeb: Although he announces what he means fairly explicitly, Subaru's dialogue and assumptions probably make more sense with some background knowledge on other isekai, especially the ones with bad reputations.  The genre isn't totally unknown to Western audiences, especially in the English-speaking world, but it's more common to see it with magical artifacts or wishes being the triggers for the transportation, not just leaving it as a mysterious force or reincarnation.  These are not well-known things to non-otaku American audiences.

Ass: Elsa’s costume is, er, quite revealing, and a few shots of Felt and Emilia are framed in fanservicey ways, but so far it's also hard to think of this show as titillating.  There is some barely-covered male nudity later on, too, but in one scene and not explicit.

Shit (writing): The characters who we encounter more than once are mostly interesting and have some depth and motivation to them, except for the gang that repeatedly mugs Subaru in the iterations of the first day.  The surprises surprised me, but as I said at the beginning, I'm dumb as a brick when it comes to twists.  So I'm not sure whether that's good writing or me being oblivious.

Shit (other): It's well-above-average-looking in terms of consistency and detail, and the designs of characters and places just consistently appeal to me.  I have a vaguely-formed idea I can't articulate that this seems very... well-framed, I think the word I'm looking for?  I don't know cinematography, but I know what gets my attention and leaves an impression.  I also want to bring special attention to a nice touch in the sound in episode 1B: when Subaru tells Felt, Rom, and Elsa that his occupation is "unemployed", the music pauses momentarily along with the action on-screen, emphasizing the other characters' awkward silence.

Content Notes: As might be expected in a show where the main character repeatedly dies, some of the violence crosses the line from stylized to unsettling and maybe even into disturbing.