#all I’m saying is if you let him live Kui we could have all of this and more

[pollyanna-nana]

Thinking about Thistle’s potential character dynamics with the others.

He and Marcille have so much in common I bet after the initial awkwardness they’d have so much to talk about wrt feeling out of place and being scared of watching loved ones die before you.

I think he and Chilchuck would squabble a lot but in the “oh this is a punk ass teenager” kind of way. Ultimately though Chil’s a dad he can’t hold it against him.

I bet he’d be rly annoyed by Laios’ monster infodumping but secretly be fascinated and love listening to it. Probably gets called out for it at least once and is extremely embarrassed while Laios is oblivious (as always).

Senshi I actually think they’d get along well upon realizing that they both have a lot of experience thinking about and tending dungeon ecosystems but from different directions (as dungeon dweller and dungeon lord). Plus he would absolutely try to get Thistle to eat more.

Izutsumi I can see them clashing because their backstories actually have a lot of similarities except with very different reactions to the circumstances (Izutsumi hating her captors/the people who bought her and Thistle desperately wanting to please them) but in reality I think if they ever got over that they’d be terrifying together. Absolutely unhinged potential sibling energy if I’m being honest.

Falin would mother hen him into the ground but that’s a given. I can foresee him having to hide from the Falin-Senshi tag team “you need to take better care of yourself!” duo on a regular basis lol.

Mithrun. lol. Obviously Thistle hates his guts for (mostly) irrational reasons but I think hilariously Mithrun has a lot of respect for him. Bc like. He had a really good reason to become dungeon lord comparatively and we all know Mithrun’s favorite thing is talking about how much of a lil bitch he was prior to getting his desires eaten.

Kabru I’m not sure but I think there would be hostilities. Thistle I think would call him out for being fake immediately and with Kabru’s Elf Baggage™️ it might not go well at least at first.

Basically. Give him the found family he deserves.

[fumifooms]

Chilchuck’s wife and family - Facts, theories and headcanons

I want to keep this as a sort of masterpost on Chil’s family situation if I can, but if we get a lot of information on it (in the additional content that Kui is gonna make) that renders this more or less useless I probably won’t update this anymore. If you find other crumbs of information or I've said anything factually incorrect please do tell me! I'm planning to edit this as we go since I want to compile most if not all of the information and pages we get about this topic on here, and if I just wait to post it perfection paralysis will nip this in the bud. It focuses a lot on Chilchuck and Chilchuck's wife relationships, but the daughters and Chilchuck's own parents and siblings are talked about as well.

CW/disclaimer: This post talks about messy family dynamics and such, there’s no outright abuse I’m implying anywhere, but alcoholism and neglect are mentioned and discussed. I’m not here to demonize anyone! I love every character involved and I just want to theorize about the topic as a layered issue that involves complex characters. Also, I try to use very transparent language as to when I’m citing or analyzing canon information and when I’m giving a personal interpretation or headcanoning.

Abbreviated table of content:

Timeline and circumstances

Possible strains on the marriage

The hair question. Confirmation on what his wife looks like?

Other family dynamic & post-canon theories & headcanons

Parenting style + misc in a reblog addition (new)

Let’s start with the facts, shall we?

Timeline and circumstances

So, we see that Chilchuck and his wife are childhood friends, and they married at 13 years old and had two children in that same year. Since half-foots reach the age of maturity at 14, they seem to be what we'd call teen parents. It's a bit debatable though, since Laios says the age of maturity for tallmen (humans) is 16 instead of 18 or even 21, so what's considered to be the age of maturity is a cultural thing and isn't fully reliable when we want to compare to our irl understanding and what developmental stage it perfectly aligns with. Also, during the succubus chapter Chichuck says that his daughters were all now of age to be independent, and Chilchuck's wife leaves to live with Flertom, which would mean that Puckpatti was independent at age 10 and lived away from home as well (since she's the third/last daughter). Ah yes another interesting thing to note is that we don’t know the pregnancy periods for the races, since Meijack and Flertom were born the same year. It could be tight timing or it could be something else, but I don’t think they’re twins, they keep talking about them being the oldest and the middle child, them being twins is definitely the sort of thing that would get mentioned.

Him starting working on the island notably happens just one year before his wife leaves him. I don't remember the other instances of him mentioning it though I feel like it happened, but since he started working at the Island's dungeon, working as a dungeon diver and then forming the half-foot guild, that probably means he started being away for longer periods of time and having a less reliable schedule on when he'd be coming back home. It is said that he went back home somewhat regularly iirc, though he usually ends up sleeping at the half-foot guild quarters. I'm not sure if Kahka Brud is also where he lived with his family, or just since he rented someplace new after she left him. He and his timeline state that he was born in a small village "northeast of the island", which he left at 14 one year after being married, but it isn’t stated where they go after so it’s unsure how far his home was from the island if it wasn’t in Kahka Brud. We don’t know when his father died so if that factors in to him leaving his village we have no clue.

Chil also says that he hasn’t seen or spoken with his wife nor daughters since the incident, which would mean he's gone 4 years without contact with his family during the events of canon. I don't remember if Chilchuck is said to exchange letters with his daughters, beyond the initial one from Flertom saying her mother was with her, so I've been assuming he hasn't.

He also says "For about ten years I’ve been travelling to dungeons in various areas and doing work" which considering he’s turning 29 that year would mean he started around 19 years old? The panel also gives details what sort of work he’s been doing. Either way it’s confirmed that Chilchuck travels for his work a lot.

In addition, since Chilchuck has the seal of approval of the bicorn + says so himself, he has always stayed faithful to his wife. So that means that unless he's had previous adventures before he was 14 and got married, he's never dated anyone else in his life, nor had romantic or sexual encounters/experiences with others in his 16 years of marriage right up to canon (year 514). I feel it’s safe to say that it’s implied that during all these years starting from when they were married, Chilchuck's wife was a housewife whose main job was taking care of the kids and the house.

Marcille's take on what happened is unreliable, as Kui even takes the time to directly say so in the Adventurer's Bible, so I don't want to use it as a baseline even if it offers some insight on what could have happened (her feeling out of place, leaving to test his love, etc etc).

What Chilchuck says seems to be accurate though since it pertains to his perspective of the events! Unlike how Marcille's theory flows, Chilchuck was aware that something was off before she left since she "suddenly fell into a bad mood".

Piecing everything together, my theory: Chilchuck and his wife were childhood friends and have always always sort of danced around of each other, the classic movie love story with childhood sweethearts, until they ultimately confessed and got together. While dating, Chilchuck's wife becomes pregnant and they're both unequiped to deal with the situation but decide to marry, either a bit forced in order to cover it up or hopeful to make the best of it. They make it work as they can and Chilchuck works to provide for the family while she takes care of the home and the kids, which means that even though he's not a deadbeat father (he cares, he was at least a bit involved in their lives and raising them since for example he knows how to braid hair after all) he ends up being rather absent from home. It only gets worse over the years, especially when Chilchuck starts working further and further away from home and coming home less often, and since Puckpatti left home Chilchuck's wife is alone at home most of the time, never knowing when Chilchuck would be coming and if to prepare the table for two instead of one, or even if he'd be coming back at all since his work is dangerous. The humdrum and lifestyle would get to her, they've grown into different people in these 10 years of marriage and she doesn't feel the spark or feels valued & seen anymore, so she leaves. He feels confused and betrayed which turns into anger so he doesn’t try to reach out and mend things, and with the way he says they’re estranged and he moves away I think he’s avoiding his family somewhat.

Possible strains on the marriage

Tfw all your daughters are independent and your husband is gone to work almost all the time and he barely even tells you that he loves you, is there even a reason to stay together anymore? Every day it’s just you and an empty house and chores to do, wondering if you have to cook for one or for two today.

Alright it’s analysis and theorizing time! Although there are more facts down in this post if you care about Chilchuck's wife's appearajce, Chilchuck's parents & siblings or the kids, the essential facts so to speak were all in the first part.

We don't see Chilchuck showing any discontent with his wife through the manga so I'm assuming that he was content in his marriage, happy with his wife, and with how he stayed faithful to her even in the 4 years after she left (and never stopped calling her his wife. Which also shows a weird stubborn attitude since he wasn’t planning on reaching out to her and mend things but I’ll put aside the possible entitlement/coping mechanism for another time) I think he truly loved her and still does. Since she left him and not the reverse, I'm putting a lot of emphasis on his wife's side of things. Especially since we do see how Chilchuck is at work quite a bit but never see how he is at home. I’ll be sounding harsh towards Chil on this but he’s pretty much the only party we can criticize since we don’t know her, I still side with Chil on the leaving issue though, he’s justifiably pissed if she left without a word what the hell even.

Alcoholism and health

Chilchuck’s favorite food as listed in the Adventurer’s Bible is beer, and it’s shown that he’s prone to drinking until drunk whenever he gets the opportunity to. A cheerful drunk is still a drunk. (Extra reading: if interested here's a oneshot FMA fanfic by a friend that goes in depth about this very topic that really illustrates what sort of family dynamic that can bring about. It’s not dunmeshi but it’s a good read.) Chilchuck is also canonically underweight, starving himself for a strict weight management diet (Extra reading: you can look at a short compilation post about that here). Did you know under eating makes one irritable? And this is on top of Chilchuck sometimes/regularly coming back home with "horrible injuries", since Marcille guesses it and he acts like she’s dead right on everything that far.

It’s rough seeing someone you love mistreat themselves, not being able to shake them out of that and having to stay to see them wasting away. It’s rough seeing them put their work above their own health. Putting their work even above their family. Putting alcohol over family time. It's not that simple, but there's always that element when asking someone you love to tone it down with things like alcohol or such, that if they refuse, then it feels like they value that thing more than they value your feelings or opinions. That they love alcohol more than they love you.

You know how there’s often this thing of "Well I’m providing everything for this family, so whatever else that I do you don’t get to complain." I do think that it’s something they’d have argued over a little bit, not that he’d say it that way, but the essence of it. "Chilchuck, you’re drinking a lot of alcohol often, I’m worried maybe you should ease up on it." "This is what I want to do in my free time, give me a break.", "Dear, your mood gets worse when you’re hungry, I really think you should stop dieting-" "Would you rather I die in a trap because I was too heavy?", "Honey I don’t like when you work so far away from home for so long" "Well what else can I do, do you have any better idea?". That sort of thing. Even if not being passive agressive or snappy, or even spoken upon, these situations can cause tension, or a feeling of powerlessness or imbalance in the relationship. Although I personally feel like they were both rather passive in their relationship (thus having little arguments), which itself can be a problem since yes they let each other live but they grew more distant and less communicative as a result, more on that later. Content and tolerating, rather than happy and fulfilled.

Workaholism and long distance

Spending a lot (or even a majority?) of time away from home for years and years obviously can strain relationships in many ways. Besides becoming more distant, both with his wife and his daughters, there's just that side that maybe you grow apart or you end up not knowing them all that well. Like the fictional dialogue excerpts I wrote just above, the way Chilchuck puts work above most things can by itself be the source of a lot of unhealthy habits and strains that could not only hurt himself but his relationships too. Devoted doesn’t mean attentive, even if Chilchuck 100% devotes himself to only her romantically and works in the goal to support her that doesn’t transfer into being there for her, even when he physically is.

An absent father isn't necessarily a deadbeat father, but an absent father is absent. And alright, we don’t know what his schedule was like exactly, but he was busy and traveled around, I think it’s fair to assume that if we were to make comparisons it’d be like parents irl who are often on work trips. We don't know what Chilchuck's wife's social circle is like, but regardless of how big or small or supportive it is it would be easy to get lonely I think. Besides raising the kids undoubtedly falling more onto her shoulders as well. Managing a household can be very hard and tiring even when not alone, I can imagine she felt like she missed the support of Chilchuck either as help or comfort oftentimes. We know very little about her, but I don't get the impression that she'd build up resentment over it except maybe her ‘falling into a bad mood’, but exhaustion? Absolutely.

It’s also implied imo, even beyond Chil not often being at home, that they rarely go out together. And that could very well be part of why she was mad after the outing. In Marcille’s theory she says that her wife felt out of place amongst all the cool adventurer coworkers, and if it’s a rare time that they go out together and it was supposed to be about her meeting his coworkers… I feel like what could have happened was that she felt out of place yes, and even moreso if she ended up not participating in conversations much because of it and no one really seemed to care, and the evening was all Chilchuck and his coworkers chatting it up as always and she was an outsider, if she sort of just faded into the background, if it felt like nothing would have changed wether she was there or not... If she felt like her presence didn’t matter on this special outing that rarely happened, it could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for her to want to leave, definitely. He finally comes back after a long work travel and they finally go out and this is what their quality time is like? The outing that was supposed to be about her & them both ended up being all about him, and once more she was supposed to just orbit around him and his life without complaint or her own selfish wants like a devoted wife. With how Chil said that she got mad "all of a sudden" on the way home and he didn’t know why, plus that he was probably drunk (which may very well have made the whole thing worse), I feel like it supports that he didn’t pay her much attention during the evening, not that I’m assigning him ill intent at all, I’m sure that for him, it was a casual and fun night out and he didn’t think it'd been unpleasant or alienating for her.

That night

And all of this speculation in order to try and figure… What happened? Why did she leave? I've already gone into it a fair bit, but this is where I discuss it fully in depth.

We can’t rely on Marcille’s theory. Neither in the why she felt so out of place enough to want to leave, nor if her intention when leaving was to "test" him. I definitely agree that the reason why she left is layered and that the night/outing was the straw that broke the camel’s back more than the cause perse, but besides that it’s hard to say how much of it was impulsive and how much was because nothing else had worked to fix their relationship, or how long she'd been thinking of maybe leaving him.

Personally my favorite interpretation isn't that she found herself to be boring surrounded with Chilchuck's adventurer coworkers, or her reason for leaving is super centered around insecurity and if Chilchuck even loves her anymore, but that she sees how rich and eventful Chilchuck's life is and at the same time realizes how stagnant her own life has been. Chilchuck has adventurers for coworkers and they go out to bars and spend evenings together chatting it up, while she always does the same house chores every day and waits, and wonders, uncertain about when her huband would come back, and waits some more. She has a sort of passive role in her own life that gets pulled in one way or another by the people around her at their whims and needs, which is also a recurring theme in the manga: having a passive role in your own life, or a role that's devoted to others. Like with Falin who's always following her parents' directives or following Laios around, being the party's healer and eventually sacrificing herself for Laios and Marcille (she also doesn't seem to think much of marriage, as seen with Shuro proposing to her and her not having answered yet, which fits with how she was supposed to have an arranged marriage in her hometown too; a loveless marriage isn't something alarming to her). Izutsumi too, whose whole arc is about her gaining freedom and figuring out how to use this empowerment for herself and what she wants.

So she'd sit there, not knowing anyone except Chilchuck and not being able to follow their conversations about dungeons, and think about how this is a world she's totally apart from. How she knows so little of the world compared to him. She'd realize that while she's always waiting for Chilchuck to come home, dedicated to him and their family, Chilchuck's world doesn't stop and end at where and when he sees her, that while she's waiting he's living and experiencing things and being self-fulfilled. She's so passive and devoted and her tasks seem almost senseless now that the house is empty except for her, and in that time he's formed half-foot unions and she understands so little of what his life has become outside of her sight. This isn't a diss on Chilchuck or his attitude, I just think that it'd make her ponder about happiness and lifestyles, what's worth it and if she's content with her life. I think she'd find that her and Chilchuck aren't on the same page anymore, and probably they don't communicate much or even that they don't know how to communicate with each other anymore.

Other factors

They really do seem to be on different pages and not know how to communicate with each other well, since for example Chilchuck thinks that on the way back home she "suddenly" fell into a bad mood and seemingly left it alone, or otherwise they didn't talk until he knew what was wrong. Or like how she left and Chilchuck never reached out to her to talk or mend things, just like she never reached out either. According to Marcille it could be that she wanted to "test his love" and see if he'd even care if she was gone, but Chilchuck just got angry that she left like that and never reached out to her, so if that's true they definitely have incompatible expectations or ways to deal with things like that. Maybe she thought of leaving as something he should react to by trying to win her back, but Chilchuck did nothing and let her do her thing, and tbh if that were me I'd also have waited on her to reach out because I figure out that if someone leaves me they want space from me idk. He seems to be rather passive when it comes to interpersonal relationships and how they can mess up, made an analysis post here that talks about it, so the way he reacted by not reacting doesn't feel surprising, maybe she didn't know/remember that part of him, or wanted to shake him out of that tendency. He has no clue why she left, and there are just so many misunderstandings here that it's impossible to know what happened and how she felt and what she wanted for the future.

Also, we’re shown that younger Chilchuck, when he started dungeon crawling, is much more "innocent" and optimistic, less closed off on himself and bitter, and maybe he hasn't even developed his famous "sarcastic retorts" and "abusive remarks" yet as is plastered on all his character introductions and stats. Chilchuck has definitely changed a lot over the years, and some would argue not for the better. Staying with someone for so long has implications that they'll change and be different of course, but signing up for marriage with someone can still leave you questioning that choice decades down the line when they're so different

We get to see his freckles fade in sync with his corruption arc /j

Tfw when you can’t recognize the man you fell in love with.

The hair question

Edit 1/13/2024 leak!!!! Things aren’t officially confirmed but this is a safe bet. You can still read this section to see my reasoning to thinking she had black hair prior to this tho haha

It's not all that important rationally, but the community's been split on the topic: is Chilchuck's wife blonde or not?

Kui highlights Chilchuck being attracted to blondes a grand total of three times, and many assume that his wife is blonde due to this. However, the only vision we see of Chilchuck's wife is Marcille imagining herself as a halfling, so it's up for debate! Flertom has black hair, and that's mostly been the key clue that has people arguing.

I'm not an expert in genetics but black hair is a dominant gene, but it also doesn't mean a black haired parent can't have a brown haired kid, or that two brown haired parents can't have a kid with black hair. As long as one of the parents have it in their genetic code from somewhere in their family tree, it's possible, if not maybe unlikely.

People have been taking Flertom having black hair as evidence that Chilchuck's wife has black hair, but it could be Chilchuck that has the gene and could pass it on. Although...

That seems unlikely. We don't know what Chilchuck's elder brother's hair color was, and his elder sister does have a darker brown hair color, but in the case their parents had black hair or the gene for it, it seems highly unlikely if not impossible for the dominant black hair gene to miss this many amount of time in the gene russian roulette game.

And so I shall now call a witness to the stand, and you reader shall be the judge… Dandan.

You know, this guy? He makes appearances throughout the whole manga, but only has one spoken line in an easy to brush over flashback iirc. He's most often seen hanging out around Chilchuck and other half-foots, but it's unsure how far back he and Chilchuck go.

Now. Remember how Chilchuck and his wife are childhood friends? What if, and hear me out, what if Dandan is related to her. A cousin, or a sibling. Or maybe he's Chilchuck's cousin, even, if we go the reverse route.

The chapter cover

Look at the chapter cover below! We see each member of the main party at a table that's meaningful to them and their history, mostly showing themes of family, community and routine. Laios and Falin sharing a meal by themselves, Marcille at a meal in the cafeteria at the magic academy, Senshi by himself cooking in the dungeon, Izutsumi with Inutade at the Nakamoto household, and... Chilchuck, surrounded by much more mysterious and unknown characters and surroundings.

The only face we see besides the infant is a young one on the left which strikes me as looking a ton like Chilchuck! I doubt it's Meijack or Puckpatti, or someone else, especially since Chilchuck left his hometown pretty early which must make family gatherings harder (and routine is implied with the others’ panels). If it were Meijack I think Kui would have drawn it to more closely match her too, and have her usual freckles. I also don't think it's just Chilchuck and his own family, since if that's Chilchuck the only sibling with black hair he could have is his elder brother and the infant in the middle is clearly, well an infant.

My thoughts are that the table is shared with family friends, or at least members of the community. The elderly person implies that either there's extended family or it’s a gathering, especially if Chilchuck's grandparents don't live with them. Community is implied to be very important with half-foots imo, and if Chilchuck is from a small hometown like he says that would surprise me even less. Childhood friends are often brought together as friends because of circumstances, such as proximity or their families being friends! Doesn't that kid almost off-panel on the right, with a Flertom-like hairstyle and black hair, look to be the same age as the Chilchuck on the left? 👀

Also… Notice the dragon plush she’s holding?

Passed down from mom to daughter? The "most likely belonged to his daughters" is interesting too

If he is related, Dandan could be the infant. I suppose he doesn't end up mattering all that much in the end if you theorize that the Flertom-like kid is his wife on its own though haha. But wether or not you think that this is convincing enough, it's all we have on the topic for now.

Ah yes! Lastly, I've seen the sentiment around that his wife should be blonde, that Chilchuck's taste for blondes, if not the thing that brought them together, should be an acquired taste from loving his wife. That if that's not the case, then Chilchuck's type being blondes is either out of place or insuting or unromantic, etc etc. I can't help but disagree! I think, especially with how Chilchuck and his wife are domestic and all about knowing each from a young age, familiarity etc etc, that it would be so sweet if she wasn't his type! Loving someone so deeply, even if they aren't an idealized type... Which is a common theme/story & character beat in Dungeon Meshi.

Family dynamic theories

Meijack is the most capable, takes after her father the most, seems to have her own business as a locksmith but has a stable steady life. Flertom is the most social, she works at a tavern which seems stable and is ambitious with marriage plans, she has a caring side to her since she sent her dad a handmade gift. Puckpatti is the most upbeat, though she has the most unstable lifestyle, seemingly doing odd jobs.

His daughters do seem well adjusted, which encourages me in that their family seems amicable on the whole and (at the very least) decently functional. We don’t hear what they think of Chilchuck but presumably none of them are on bad terms with him or each other. Flertom does say that "half-foot men are stingy" which, gee, I wonder what half-foot man would have made taught her that- though it does also seem to be a racial stereotype in general, with how for example Namari also says to "steer clear from stores with half-foot clerks".

Flertom seems to be the only one who reached out after their mother left (the only one who's mentioned to have done so at least), and it's because she was the one who took in her mother. It’s not implied that they exchange letters regularly too iirc, it possibly was the only letter they've exchanged since then. I wonder if the daughters even know the full story, if their mother told them all about it or very little. Maybe some are pretty out of the loop, or more distant.

It strikes me that they don't seem to be very close. We're not shown anything that leads us to believe they don't like their father, but I think they're so used to him being absent for work that such distance is normal for them and they don't really long for a deeper relationship or to see him often. They were already out of the house and it seems like they didn't see each other much at that time either so for them it would be just a bit less than the regular amount of Dad time. It's been 4 years Chilchuck what are you doing... But yeah! From what we see they seem mostly unaffected, almost indifferent, not that we can truly tell. I imagine Flertom is the one most attached to Chilchuck with how she sent him a handmade cowl, and I think he rubbed off the most on Meijack teachings wise (besides her attitude, she’s also the one who still wears braids, and we see that Chilchuck braids hair). It makes sense, since they're oldest, and on the contrary I think Puckpatti is the one that knows her father the least. It'd fit the timeline with him working away more while she grew up imo.

Wouldn't it be interesting then that she's the one that Chilchuck says is carefree, in the official translation "doesn't treat life real seriously"? That she's the most optimistic, the most go-with-the-flow, out of the bunch? To me that sounds like a result from her being the youngest and Chil being the most often at work, thus her getting raised by her mother without as much involvement from Chil. Far be it from me to say Chilchuck would raise his daughters to be unhappy btw, not at all, we just all know what down-to-earth values he wants others to have so he doesn't have to worry about them.

Although… Puckpatti spotted?? Seems like he wants to stop her from buying something? His heart meter for her is full <3 (Note: I’ve seen it be argued that this could be his wife. I disagree, since the "stop them" and way that the long haired one is off-center compared to everyone else gives the sense that it’s many of his daughters, and the fact that it’s styled after a dating sim doesn’t mean it’s romantic love as we see with the others. Otherwise imagine being her wife and he tells you not to buy stuff when you go shopping together rip)

Headcanons time:

When naming the daughters, together they choose a pool of names they’d like but only one has the final say, and they alternate between who that is. Chilchuck sticks around more near the end of her pregnancies, and he hasn’t missed any of their births. I don’t have any opinions on who named who right now, but there could be some interesting stuff to theorize with Puckpatti, like them taking extra care picking the name together because they settled on her being their last daughter for fluff, or it was supposed to be Chilchuck but he was so busy that he ended up not picking in time and she was the one to name her for angst.

Actually scratch that I have a new theory : What if it’s actually customary for each parent to pick one half of their half-foot kid’s name? So then each would have chosen half of each girl’s name… And this could be why Chil calls Puckpatti Patti instead of Puck which is her first name, because he’s stubborn since Patti was his pick lmaoooo. Pattipuck doesn’t have the same ring to it alas, his wife was so right

Chilchuck liked to do activities with the girls when they were young. He's not opposed to relaxing at home with them perse, but he likes to do workshops with stuff like arts & crafts to develop their agility some. I don't think they'd do much outings to places like restaurants or theatres for money reason, and I don't think Chilchuck is much of an outdoors type, but he could accompany them to nice fields to play in, or in winter places to play in snow and sled, and organize some activities at home. He's not home very often so when he is he likes to take it easy as a break from work and values the time he gets with his family.

Chilchuck would sometimes work from home as a locksmith, say, unlocking a chest for a customer. In those times, Meijack would take interest and watch him work, even handing him the tools he needs as he goes. In this way, Chilchuck taught her a lot about the work of a locksmith over time. He's also the one that would oil door hinges or do renovation around the house- when he's available.

Like the plushies under his table in his home that we see in illustrations, Chilchuck has a lot of mementos from his daughter (and his wife) he keeps around. Sometimes they take a bothersome amount of place, but throwing anything out isn't something he's seriously willing to consider. Flertom's the most artistic and she used to help with sewing clothes back together, so he has a cheap ceramic mug painted by her when she was really young and small embroideries around.

Imo Meijack would be the most distant in the present. Flertom makes efforts for her parents and is pretty involved, and Puckpatti's distance is more out of being a bit airheaded and being busy + not having a great grasp on time or what's a normal amount of family contact, but Meijack's the one who knowingly and intentionally keeps some distance. I think she’d be the least optimistic about their family situation, and although she’d be hopeful when Chilchuck reached out to them again she’d be a but hesitant. I think Meijack would hold some grudges, being the one most critical of their parenting, both grateful to her dad for working so hard for them and saddened that he wasn't in their life more. Since Flertom was born in the same year I think it’s possible that Meijack was pushed aside a bit to take care of the younger baby more, out of necessity rather than lack of love. Her mom probably needed a lot of help around the house too. Flertom wasn’t blind either, and she cared about & noticed her mom’s emotional states, but she’s on the whole more hopeful and forgiving.

This is my most far fetched one but it is a hc after all, but I think it'd be interesting if one of them had food hoarding tendencies/stress. I like to think it's Flertom, because she's the middle child and would get told that her older sister and younger sister are "growing and need the food" so she wouldn't be allowed to take as much refill or such, add that to them not having much money to frivolously spend on food and that makes a kid who's worried about not eating to her hunger and tends to be possessive over food (I'm projecting). Differential treatment is inevitable in families with many siblings, and it can manifest in small or big ways, maybe they realize it maybe they don't. Working in a tavern has helped eased that tendency of her though, and while she does diet a bit she always leaves a meal feeling satisfied.

When they were younger, Flertom was a real firecracker, loud and spirited with some troublemaking tendencies! She was the daughter that got in trouble & got scolded the most. You can still see slivers of it now that she’s an adult, but she’s much more poised and diligent. She has much more acquaintances than friends, but she has a couple of best friends and usually gets along well with most people. Puckpatti was always a bit head in the cloud, very kind if not gullible, and tended to make friends somewhat easily but didn’t keep them for long, preferring to keep meeting new people and not keeping in touch well. She isn’t super talkative but tends to ramble when she does. Meijack is very introverted, she has more trouble making friends, she has a good handful though they don’t meet up often, her friendships tend to last and she’s close to them. She’s grown more confident over the years, less repressed and more quiet. Meijack as the big sister tended to be the listener for her younger sisters who had more social mishaps. Flertom has dated once before and it only cemented to her that she was going to have very high standards from then on.

Meijack wears thigh-high boots because she hates when sand, dirt or snow gets in her shoes. She wears practical clothing but avoids anything frilly or flashy. Puckpatti also dresses practically, but she does enjoy pretty clothes, it’s more out of necessity and due to not having enough money to indulge. Flertom has a social stable job and she loves prettying herself up (especially as she’s in search of a husband) so she’s the one who gets the most and nicest fashionable clothes and accessories.

Chilchuck is hinted to have had a rather dysfunctional family himself (alcoholic father, distant siblings, etc). So he doesn’t really have the best model on how to raise someone and such. I imagine it was a sort of neglectful home situation, where the kids are encouraged to be independent. If they didn’t have to work or help around much, then free range parenting sort of thing. We do see how the family has full and warm feasts, where someone cleans his mouth with a rag, so it’s not like he didn’t have a caring circle or a tragic childhood though! I don’t remember if it’s explicitely stated, but he’s heavily implied to having grown up poor, as most half-foots, and I just think it's the hardened hardworking family type of childhood where just like he does with others they instill somewhat harsh life lessons in him, which in turn encourages him to indulge in the simple pleasures of life like alcohol and sex, or at least women’s beauty and crass jokes. We do see he seems more optimistic when he's younger in flashbacks, so a bunch of his harsh view on the world is still likely learned and earned rather than taught. I still think he inherited many flawed views from how his father acted, like his attitude about excessive drinking not being a big deal and worth it. That work hard play hard, enjoy life die young mentality he has, shown mostly in the "alcohol" section of his Adventurer's Bible profile, could very well be partly a result of the general poverty half-foot communities are that he grew in as well, like how he doesn't hope for things to be as best as they could be and contends with good enough. As far as I remember, his mother is never mentioned, but I doubt it implies she was out of the picture. She was probably a regular sort of mother that took care of the home as well and was still around when his father died. It looks like there’s a good age gap between one sibling to the next, that could be interesting to dig into too.

A part of Chilchuck’s character is that he takes responsibility for safety and actions of people around him and is very often looking out for them to not do faux-pas wether socially or literally with stepping onto traps. The way he says "I’ve got three people to think of here" makes me think that’s also how he’d think about having to provide for his family, and that could be a source of stress and insecurity for him. Caring for others is a pretty integral part of his character and we see time and time again that his family is very important to him, in any case.

Post-canon

This pic has so much to say!! It’s the ‘thank you for reading’ double page spread where they’re going to a big dining table at the castle with Laios and the main gang. First family gathering in 4 years perhaps?! I’ll say, not feeling very hopeful that his wife isn’t in this, not even implied to be just off-panel with a hand or anything… I imagine before this he still talked to them at least a bit and figured their family situation out, but I think this is still in the early stages of reconnecting. Haha imagine being one of them and receiving a letter saying "Hi it’s been a while… I want to introduce you to my ex-coworker the king and his friends, you up for that?" I don’t want to reconsider all my hcs for this yet, but this pic does seemingly show an eagerness from all the daughters to reunite and reconnect! Meijack’s could be seen as more hesitant, but I think it’s just awkwardness from meeting so many new people, of high status no less. Chilchuck does seem awkward and somewhat self-conscious though, and while that could be just from say Marcille and the others meeting his daughters and him not knowing how to act, I think that also shows that Chilchuck is unsure how to act around his daughters too. Can’t blame him, I’d be stressed too. Anyways, the daughters are all dressed up! Puckpatti even brought flowers! And I doubt it’s just for Senshi, or just to be in with the king. Oh also also, Puckpatti chides Meijack here, seemingly on manners?, so that implies new/different family dynamics there~

We know with the succubus chapter that he does plan on reaching out to his wife again and shooting his shot, and when Marcille was dungeon lord he told her she could help think of a plan to make up with her together at which point Marcille showered him in gifts and flowers intended for her and his daughters. So we do know that whatever happens and however it happens, Chilchuck definitely will at least reach out to her to win her back or worse case scenario get closure on the situation.

-

These are his plans before it’s revealed that the Island is… Well, not an island but the golden kingdom, so the news that Laios is king and that might have changed them a bit, but I think he’s still gonna stick around to help with the half-foot guild for a while.

My personal ideal post-canon Chilchuck life is that after around a year or two of helping around in the golden kingdom, especially regarding half-foot working rights, he gets his shop and finally settles down. He prioritized the whole half-foot guild because there are changes to attend to and people to help, but also used that to procrastinate a bit on getting in touch with his wife again. He does send a letter though, and when she replies they then meet face to face. They explain how it was like on their end, their grievances and their feelings, and they do reconcile. But… It’s been 4 years and his wife has frankly moved on. She’d rather they stay as friends, and Chilchuck has mixed feelings on it but is ultimately fine with it. He was halfway resigned to not reconciling with his wife in canon after all. But no longer do they have cut contact! They get together with the girls for the holidays and the ambiance is nice! He starts exchanging letters more regularly. He also gets a second family of clingy asses with Izutsumi and the main gang and so though he lives alone in his shop he’s well surrounded and well loved, and his daughters visit to check up on him every so often.

I really like the… Maturity of Chilchuck’s plotline, if that makes sense? To me the ending that fits the most is him and his wife reconciling, but not getting back together. I like that they could still be adults about it and at least amicable even after divorce, and that that wouldn’t be treated as a tragic ending. In the end, they were childhood friends and teenage parents, they rushed things a bit and I genuinely think they’re just not that compatible. If not then, at least having it be a gradual process, getting back together and making it work until they’re truly comforatble with each other. Destroy the relationship to better build it again stronger!

Although, his arc in the manga is to allow himself to form connections and be optimistic, which would fit well with him and his wife getting back together. I def think Chil would get healthier post-canon which could fix the issues they had in their relationship though. Like for one he starts eating more, which improves mood & irritability & health, and also after the whole half-foot guild he plans to settle down with a shop so it wouldn’t be long distance or unstable anymore which would definitely give his wife some peace of mind. If they still do some long distance at first while he gets the half-foot guild stable, it’d be really cute if he sent pressed flowers with his letters to her… That could make a nice fic concept, like over time all the pressed flowers and exchanged letters hehe (oh shit that’s a nice title)

My post-canon timeline is Chilchuck lives a nice life living alone in his house except his friends all visit him and care and even tho he likes living alone it’s also bittersweet and every corner of his life is haunted by mementos of the ones he loves and the moments he had with them. But then it’s also like the shared duty of everyone to pass by his shop when they can and keep the old man company and sometimes that means many people come at the same time like if both Meijack and Marcille came the same day~ Cozy life, no regrets except a lil regrets still. That’s it that’s all I want.

Misc

I didn’t know where to put this, so new category time! Family truly is a central theme of Chilchuck’s character. His reaction to learning more about how life gets made is so awed by the wonder of the world. Life indeed…

The implication of this page is that Chil didn’t know about the science side of how procreation works, though of course he did know about the practical side of it. This is speculation, and we have no clue how widespread the information of how reproduction scientifically works lol, but I think it’s fair to think that half-foots’ education especially in smaller communities is handled by the parent, school of life style, or if there are schools then the education is very general and it probably ends early. I think this is supported by how for example half-foots’ jobs we’ve seen are based on experience rather than knowledge, like being a locksmith. Of course any job has its fair share of specialized knowledge to learn, but jobs you learn on the fly pretty well. This sort of dynamic contrasts a lot against elves many tallmen communities, like with the magic academy, where education and knowledge are valued almost above experience, this is what the mandrake chapter was all about after all. Poorer communities tend to have poorer education systems as well irl, it’s a whole issue.

So I already said my piece about his wife not being blonde and it being nice and romantic because literally you don’t need someone to be a beauty ideal to love them and that’s fine and normal and even more romantic imo. But!! I do have an headcanon, now that his wife’s appearance is all but explicitly confirmed. While their hair is blonde, yes their hair is wavy and the ‘main’ one has deep-set eyes, not unlike his wife! Now this is a ‘which came first the egg or the chicken’ question, but while most people seem to be assuming that he got with his wife because she was his type, since they’re childhood friends I feel like it’s his love for his wife that shaped his preferences in that deparment. Like ok he loves golden hair and hers is black, but isn’t it so much more romantic that he has so much love and devotion for his wife and has stared lovingly at it so much over the years, that it’d become his ideal? He loves her eyes <3

Conclusion

Reminder that I’ve got more observations and tidbits compiled in a reblog addition now.

More stuff I should workshop for the masterpost:

Compile more info on Chilchuck's father and his other family. Edit: I compiled all I had pretty neatly here in a speculation post, but there’s no other concrete piece of info other than what I’ve covered here sadly. Same with stuff like Chilchuck’s past work schedule and exchanged letters, there seems to be no other bits of evidence, except…

On the chapter cover and extra where he’s in his basement room we can see one letter and a few papers across his desk. Maybe family letters? Wether his daughters or relatives. Seems too few to me, could just as well be job descriptions, but truly who knows, it’s hopeful.

Excellent analysis on half-foot culture here by a friend that I should read and incorporate the good info into my own meta~

And thus I leave you with a lil web weaving I made about Chil & his wife’s relationship~ And this is where I’d put panels of Chilchuck’s wife… IF THERE WERE ANY

Should we even call Chilchuck's wife Mrs. Tims... We don't know dunmeshi marrital traditions though, and half-foot already have somewhat complex naming conventions... I hate that we don't really know if the daughters' last names are Chils or Chilz. Although that seems to be a japanese to english translation issue, since japanese used the suffix zu and not su, likely to imitate the english S sound at the end of a word. Oh yeah the last names change each generation, that’s odd right? But in english it sounds like saying Chil’s, like, [father]’s, so I think this also supports how half-foots communities tend to be tightly knit and live in the present, for them to be like "Ooh so you’re [father]’s little one eh? I know who that is and this is insightful as to who your family is to me!". Iceland’s a place where last names are like this, though I don’t know about pros and cons of it in that context. It’s called a patronymic.

Ah and I have a bittersweet spotify playlist about her and Chil too, here if ya want. That’s it the post is over

[akatsuki-shin]

Review: 狼殿下 Láng Diànxià (The Wolf)

I’m finally done marathoning this show in the past week, so I thought I’m gonna write my comments on this drama here.

Summary: As a teenager, Ma Zhaixing, daughter of Kuizhou City Governor, Ma Ying, met a young boy at the mountain near her hometown who was raised by the wolves. A severe misunderstanding caused the boy to be implicated of murder and the two were separated, with the boy falling off a cliff, thinking that Ma Zhaixing had betrayed him, and Ma Zhaixing, with her leg broken, continued to live her life ridden with guilt.

Eight years later, the boy, who was apparently saved and adopted by their Emperor, Chu Kui - given the title Prince Bo (Bo Wang) - encountered Ma Zhaixing again after her family was suddenly massacred by an unknown assailants in the middle of the night.

However, their relationship was no longer as how it used to be and the two were tangled in the political conflict between the warring nations.

Main Cast(s):

Li Qin as Ma Zhaixing

Wang Talu as Bo Wang

Xiao Zhan as Ji Chong

Xin Zhilei as Yao Ji

Kuo Shuyao as Yelu Bao Na

Ding Yongdai as Chu Kui

Lin Yowei as as Chu Yougui 

Notes:

This review contains my personal view on the drama and does not represent the entire audience

There are spoilers

THE GOOD(S):

1. Action

Realistic, believable action and fighting scenes, both in small and large scale. A few weren't exactly perfect, but the majority of it is more than good enough to cover for the flaws.

Bo Wang's solo fights, his duels with Ji Chong, and Ji Chong's first battle in the forest (when he and the bandits were trying to kidnap Bao Na) were among the best; those are super cool and intense. They do use quite a lot of CGIs, and while it isn't exactly marvel (as in, you can tell it's fake), the visualization and movement are quite smooth so it doesn't disturb the atmosphere and our watching enjoyment.

Though, I'm a bit sad that Ji Chong's eagle, Zhui Ri, turns out to be a CGI, as well. It looks so real, I thought they were using a real bird. :'))

2. Supporting Characters

With the exception of the two main leads and a few other characters, I can say with confidence that I love the characters of this drama.

The charming, smart, and kind-hearted second male lead, Ji Chong.

The loyal Night Fury Trio - Wen Yan, Mo Xiao, and Hai Die.

The spoiled princess Yule Bao Na, whose first impression was nothing less than annoying, but grows to be the most lovable, supportive girl ever that makes me want to keep rooting for her.

They also have two of the best father characters I've ever seen in awhile, the King of Jin and Ma Ying.

Even a considerably minor character, like Grand Supervisor Shi, was nothing less than lovable, especially when he scolded Ji Chong like a worried mother after the latter finally returned home in seven years.

3. Music

The Wolf has some really beautiful soundtracks, and the songs are placed perfectly in every corresponding scene

4. Cameraworks

This is something quite technical and to be honest, I'm also not an expert in this. But I think the cameraworks in this drama were really good. The angle, how they switch the focus when taking certain characters in a certain scene further emphasizes the atmosphere, and it often serves as a great shot to the breathtaking outdoor sceneries where they shot this drama.

5. Visualization of how the story starts and ends

Xing-er and the Wolf Boy playing in the forest of Wolf Mountain.

------

THE BAD(S):

1. The Main Leads' Relationship

Generally, the big plot and conflict are actually pretty interesting. The politics, the wars, the betrayals, how the opposing sides are trying to trick and outsmart each other are all a classic that we've often seen in many historical dramas and movies. Personally, I never get bored with this theme as long as it is executed perfectly and I think The Wolf executed this in a good way.

Unfortunately, the main pairing ruins this for me and this ends up becoming the biggest flaw that destroys the enjoyment of watching this drama.

"Childhood sweetheart turns enemies" is something we've seen pretty often, and it's not something bad. If anything, when they finally fixed the misunderstanding and reconciled, it would be the climax, the best part of the entire development.

But The Wolf sadly dragged Ma Zhaixing and Bo Wang's relationship to the point that it became annoying.

When Bo Wang first discovered that Ma Zhaixing has never betrayed him in the past, the scene when he rescued her from the kneeling punishment at the palace was so moving I was almost in tears, more so because it finally looks like they can rebuild their relationship despite Ma Zhaixing still hasn't figured out that Bo Wang was the Wolf Boy from her childhood. It should've ended right there. Maybe later, they could add a plot where Ma Zhaixing would finally find out the truth.

But no, they just have to keep switching between love-hate-love hate right to the last few episodes. At this point, there was no more character development, no more relationship growth. It's just a purely unnecessary drama that makes Bo Wang look inconsistent, that strips Ma Zhaixing of any character development that she should've had as the main character of the story.

And speaking of relationships, although Ji Chong being paired up with Bao Na was the best conclusion for the two of them, the development was way too fast, it looks like the drama team is just forcefully pushing it to happen as soon as possible.

At the point where there are only 3 episode left, they didn't have to add that bit of drama between Ji Chong and Bao Na, because 1). They weren't the main characters, 2). The story was nearing its climax, why would you slow down the pace for an unnecessary drama of two side characters?

It almost looks like Ji Chong and Bao Na are taking the spotlight from the main characters. It would've been perfectly fine to end it when Bao Na was accompanying Ji Chong at the bonfire after he let go of Ma Zhaixing to return to Bo Wang; the audience would understand that these two would end up together, and the closing scene where Ji Chong invited her to travel the world with him can still be shown without the intervening drama.

2. The Main Leads’ Hero Complex

Both Ma Zhaixing and Bo Wang keep sacrificing themselves for others and putting themselves at the bottom as if they have no value. It might look heroic the first time they do it, but since they repeated this pattern way too often, it looks to me like they're playing victim instead.

What's more?

Whenever they're about to sacrifice themselves 1). They would always put a burden on the side characters who genuinely love them by asking them for some "one last favor"', 2). They would just end up being saved by the others after all those big talks.

But of course, all of the other characters ideally will still cry for them every single time they're about to do this whole sacrifice thing.

This is seriously the first time I'm watching a drama where the main characters barely have any character development from start until the end.

In fact, I think the main character of this drama is supposed to be You Zhen, the fourth, youngest prince of Yang. He was ever only a supporting character here, but he's got the most character development among others and if you've been paying attention to his story from start to finish, you'll see that is very fitting to be the main character of a political/war drama:

"An innocent, youngest prince who was doted on by his three brothers, but this brotherhood was severely broken by a misunderstanding caused by their own power-thirsty father, and after many struggles and suffering, he found out the truth, fought for the truth, and became the last surviving member of the royalty who would finally govern his people in peace."

3. Inconsistent Character(s)

First of all, the second female lead, Yao Ji.

From the drama's opening, to the first few episodes where she appears, it feels like we are getting this super big villain vibe from her. I really thought she's going to be one of those people the main characters would have to defeat, or maybe turn into an unexpected ally, later near the climax.

But no, she was only strong in the beginning. For the rest of the story, she was only a woman who actually loves the main male lead and wants to keep him safe.

Secondly, Chu Yougui.

What even is his motive to be a villain?

First, he wants to frame and kill Bo Wang because he thought Bo Wang caused their eldest brother's death. But this has since been proven to be wrong because their father, Chu Kui, was the one who set up his own eldest son's death (for whatever reason I don't remember because I don't think the drama ever told us clearly). And then when he was brought back later, suddenly he wanted to overthrow his father and become the King? Just where and how does all this motive come from?

It would've been fine to make Chu Kui the main villain because he's been portrayed as such since the beginning, the power-thirsty tyrant who would stop at nothing to gain authority and glory.

4. Some Technical Things

Ma Zhaixing kept wearing that keepsake of a bell on her belt, even during undercover missions. How come she doesn't get caught?

Ji Chong keeps accidentally hearing everything over the wall in the most perfect timing far too many times

Also, there are many instances where the characters could travel so fast between places, you'd think they are all living in the same town

------

My Verdict: 6/10

Honestly, I almost drop it before I'm even halfway through... o(-(

It has great concept. It has interesting conflict. The actors all did amazing job, I have no complain about their acting. But the execution is just ugh...

[vyther16]

wip wednesday

hello it is a reasonable time today and i am giving you some Lang Dianxia/The Wolf content bc... the ending. I started writing this after I watched ep 46 instead of watching 47-49. Spoilers for up to that point under the cut

so, this is called “Fuck the last three eps fic” in my docs, so yeah. Basic premise is I looked at Wolfie and Xing’er being happy, said “they deserve to stay like that,” and made the rest of the characters do narrative backflips to keep them there.

first scene is Ji Chong convincing Yao Ji to stage a coup.

“He’s dying, isn’t he?” Ji Chong says, leaning against a tree. “You and Zhaixing wouldn��t have freaked out so badly is he wasn’t dying.”

“Why do you care, Chuan-wang?” Yao Ji retorts. It’s probably meant to be scathing, but it falls flat, betrayed by the thread of a tremor in her voice, the red rims of her eyes.

“Because if he dies, Zhaixing will die too. She’ll waste away with a broken heart.”

“He has six months left, providing he doesn’t strain himself. Which he will, because he wants to save Si-dianxia.”

Ji Chong scratches his nose, thinking. If Bo-wang goes after Si-dianxia, Zhaixing will follow him, and Ji Chong didn’t divorce her just to let her run off and sacrifice herself. 

“What if we saved him?” he says, thinking aloud now. “You have Chu Kui’s trust, I’ve snuck into the palace before, we could do it.” He tugs a hand through his hair; he’s left it out of its topknot, instead pulling it back into the ponytail he’d worn during the seven years he was Ji Chong and no one else. Zhui Ri is perched on his shoulder.

Yao Ji, in contrast, looks almost like she could be a princess, with her perfectly manicured hands and immaculate hair. “I can save Si-dianxia or I can look for a cure for Bo-wang. I can’t do both.”

“I just need you to get me to the capitol,” he says. He can do the rest of it by himself; he’d spent enough time helping the second prince before he fell in love with Zhaixing. He knows how to get around the man’s security.

“Don’t be an idiot. She may not be in love with you, but you’re still her friend. If I can’t save Bo-wang, she’ll need someone to help her, and it won’t be me.”

“I know what I’m doing, Grand Diviner. I’m not planning on getting anyone killed.”

“Yes you are. You’re going to kill Chu Kui and Chu Yougui. Don’t lie to me.”

“I think Zhaixing, Bo-wang, and Si-dianxia should get to decide what to do with them. Or my father, at least. I’m not their family or the princess of the previous dynasty or the king of Jin. I’m just a second prince who wants to protect his people.”

Yao Ji snorts. “You’re less prideful than I remember. It suits you.”

“Will you help me?” “

Fine.”

Second scene is Ji Chong telling Si-dianxia he carried out a coup on his behalf

“I got you a present, your highness,” Ji Chong says when he sees Si-dianxia’s eyes open, dumping the sack he shoved Chu Yougui into on the floor in front of his bed.

“Ji Chong-ge?” The incredulousness in his voice is almost hilarious, but Ji Chong is too keyed up. “

In the flesh. Aren’t you going to open your present?”

Si-dianxia jerks out of his bed, revealing that he's fully dressed underneath his covers. “Is san-ge alright?”

“Bo-wang is alive. And with any luck, he’ll live long enough to see you become his emperor.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, your old man kicked it earlier this evening, and your second brother is, shall we say, indisposed,” he kicks the bag for emphasis, “and your third brother has no interest in the crown, so…”

“Not that part,” he says, “the part before that. San-ge is dying?”

“Yao Ji is looking for a cure as we speak, but unless he finds out that you’re safe, he’ll insist on trying to save you, which will kill him faster.”

“Yao Ji will find a cure. She has to. She’s the best with poisons and medicines in the whole palace.” Si-dianxia sits down with a thump, his hair bouncing off his shoulders with the impact. “Why did you bring a giant sack into my palace? Wait, no, how did you even get into my palace?”

“You all really need to up your security. It really is far too easy to get into all your fancy palaces.” He scratches his nose, sitting in a chair that moves back as he does so. It startles him, but then he realizes it’s si-dianxia’s wheelchair for when he’s pretending to be comatose. “And consider the sack my personal coronation gift.”

Si-dianxia kneels next to it, carefully pulling up the opening. “Er-ge? Did you kill him!”

“Of course not. He’s just unconscious.”

 “Why!”

“Because he’ll contest your right to the throne, and once he has it, he’ll kill you and everyone else. He’ll be just like your father, but more desperate.”

“What about Yun-wangfei? Is she okay? She doesn’t have anything to do with this!”

“She’s fine. She’s asleep in her bed still.”

this is long in part to make up for last week and in part because I legitimately could decide which part i liked better. They’re both far too dialogue-heavy rn, but that will eventually get fixed. 

I am making no promises on the “Screw the last eps” fic bc I’m not putting that much pressure on myself. I’ll finish breathe au and my other assorted JoL fics about the time testing season starts and i’m not putting any sort of fic deadlines on myself then

[nitewrighter]

The Symphony of the Universe, The Blueprint of Life

Felt like writing some first interactions between Sigma and Talon. Mostly lots of Sigma and Moira talking because I like how they bounce off each other.

----

The interior of the room had been rendered his own personal solar system, or even galaxy, of a sorts. Papers and books drifted around him in wide ellipses, not hitting the walls. He was the sun, or the black hole at its center, his bare feet not touching the tiles as he frowned at the whiteboard which hovered off the floor closest to him—presumably the object of the greatest mass in the room. They had let him change from the orange jumpsuit of his previous holding facility to a slightly more dignified set of teal scrubs with a gray long-sleeved undershirt.

“So. We brought a bomb back to base,” said Sombra, folding her arms as they looked through the one-way glass.

“Not a bomb,” said Akande.

“Yeah yeah, bombs explode, he implodes—let’s be pedantic about it,” said Sombra, “The point is, he’s one skipped xanax or one too-strong coffee away from turning the base into rubble.”

“So he’ll fit right in,” said Reaper.

“I love you, Gabe, but I’ve never seen you crush a guy like a beer can with your mind,” said Sombra, “The guy needs help. Like help-help or this could end up blowing up in our faces.... or imploding in our faces.”

“Nonsense. He has to have some control if he can keep it contained to the room,” said Moira, leaning close to the glass, “I don’t believe the human brain yet has the architecture to shoulder what he’s been burdened with. But if anyone could grow to understand it, to control it… it’s him.”

“He merely needs an environment to foster that growth,” Akande agreed, “And we will provide it.”

“Wow, we’re so charitable,” said Sombra, flatly.

“Talon stands for the advancement of humankind, Sombra,” said Akande, “Our friend here has been gifted with something great, and how did his government treat him for it? Imprisonment, isolation, sedation… is this how we treat the next steps in human evolution?”

“So, who’s going to be the first to un-isolate him?” said Sombra, putting her hands on her hips.

Moira briskly stepped over to the door into the room.

“I was only being half serious,” said Sombra.

“You’re right. He needs someone to talk to. To help him acclimate,” said Moira, sipping her coffee.

“Not to rag on your bedside manner but---” Sombra started but Moira put her hand on the panel next to the door. It slid open and she walked in. 

Sombra looked between Doomfist and Reaper. “So we’re just letting her do this?”

“Yes,” said Doomfist, putting a weighty hand on Sombra’s shoulder in a ‘Settle down’ motion.

“She knows what she’s doing,” said Reaper, “...most of the time.”

Sombra gave a deep inhale through her nostrils.

“Doctor De Kui--” Moira started and then flinched as her feet drifted off of the ground. Her feet flailed beneath her briefly but she saw she was caught up in the same ring of revolution as several books and a few loose sheets of paper. The furthermost ring of the room from him. She suddenly gripped her coffee cup with alarm, expecting the liquid to float out from it.

“Your coffee should be gyroscopically contained to your cup,” said Sigma, observing his own mug as it drifted by. He took it and sipped it. Decaf, of course, but there was still an equalizing element about it.

“Thank you,” said Moira, glancing down at the liquid spinning in her cup as she neared her first complete revolution of the room, “Well--I certainly don’t like floating against my will, but thank you for not spilling my coffee.”

“My apologies for any inconvenience,” said Sigma, not even looking up from his whiteboard, “I think better like this. I would have to rearrange everything to keep you on the ground, you understand.”

“Typical man in STEM—everything has to revolve around you,” said Moira, tilting her head.

Siebren glanced up from his whiteboard to her, watching as she floated by. She was smirking.

“I recognize you.” There was a flicker in his eyes, fear, maybe. “Moira O’Deorain.”

“...you read my paper,” said Moira.

“Everyone read your paper,” said Sigma, “Unfortunate... what followed after.”

“Unfortunate? You believe my findings?” Moira arched an eyebrow. 

“I’m living proof that you can follow an experiment model to a ‘T’ and not get the expected results,” said Sigma, “Is it fair to label someone a pariah simply because you can’t replicate their experiment results?” He looked at his own hands, “Do you think anyone would try to--no--” he shook his head, “No. They wouldn’t. They shouldn’t.”

“Siebren,” Moira spoke his name and he seemed to compose himself again.

 He glanced over at her. “That’s not why I recognized you, however. You and the others--you were at the facility.”

“I wanted to see your condition for myself,” said Moira, “A very interesting case, yours... The Dutch government claimed you died on the space station, and yet... there you were. There had been reports of certain phenomena in the area so... we investigated. And we liberated.”

“’We,’” Sigma repeated the word and then gave a glance to the glass. He couldn’t see through it of course, but he frowned. “They’re watching us now, aren’t they? Your associates?”

“For our safety, yes,” said Moira.

“Safety--” Something seemed to flicker in Sigma’s expression again, “How long has it been since I was last sedated?”

“With the dosages of your old facility?” Moira glanced off in thought a moment, “I’d say... 22 hours.”

“Twenty-two!” Sigma repeated with some horror, “No--no--It’s not--you shouldn’t--”

Just stay calm,” said Moira.

“But at the facility--to keep everyone safe they had to-- they had to---” Sigma pressed his fingertips to his forehead, “I can’t control it--”

Moira looked down to see the liquid in her coffee cup floating upward in a liquidy cloud. The objects in the room previously caught in a leisurely planetary revolution around Sigma began shuddering. He was losing control.

---

“Should we do something?” Sombra was close to the glass, watching the objects shudder around Sigma as he pressed the heels of his hands to his forehead, “She’s in there! She could be--!”

“She can handle herself,” said Reaper.

---

“Siebren,” Moira spoke his name but he seemed to hardly hear her, inhaling sharply and erratically, “Siebren,” she said again, more harshly this time. She released her coffee cup and faded, turning to smoke and shooting through the other rings of objects floating around the room until she reformed and took ahold of Sigma’s shoulder, “Siebren!” she barked.

He startled at her touch and the objects shuddering around the room froze.

“You’ve been in control,” said Moira, “But your control isn’t going to improve if we keep knocking you out. The people at your old facility were wrong, Siebren. They were afraid. They didn’t understand what they were dealing with. They kept you from your work.”

It was as if those last six words flipped a switch in Sigma. He blinked. “My work...” he said quietly and then looked back at his whiteboard, “Yes--my work--they wouldn’t let me...” he trailed off, “They didn’t understand,” he said softly, before looking up at her, “Do you understand?”

“We want to understand,” said Moira, “But we believe the first person who’s going to understand this, if anyone, is you.”

Sigma’s eyes seemed to light up and the objects floating around the room suddenly dropped to the ground with various thumps, flutters, and clatters. Moira herself stumbled as her feet met the floor, then she flinched at the sound of both hers and Sigma’s mugs shattering on the tiles.

“Oh...” Sigma looked around the room, now a complete mess without everything revolving around him in neat ellipses, “My apologies--”

“We’ll clean up in here in a bit,” said Moira, “Maybe you should get some fresh air while we do that.”

“Beg pardon?” said Sigma.

“Outside,” said Moira.

“Outs-out--No--no that’s not... I shouldn’t...” Sigma glanced down.

“When was the last time you saw the sky?” asked Moira.

Sigma’s eyes flicked up to her. “I... I remember seeing the earth from the space station...” he scratched at his temple.

“I’d say you’re overdue, then,” said Moira smiling.

---

“This is fine,” Sombra was pacing back and forth on the Talon headquarters airfield, “This is fine. This is good. Great, in fact. I am super glad we’ve got Captain Gravity out here surrounded by dropships he can just chuck at us with a thought.” 

“You’re working yourself up,” said Reaper, “Just give them space.”

“Look. Look. Here’s the thing, okay? I can plan around virtually everyone’s abilities. You and O’Deorain’s weird vampire nanobot cloud thing? Sure! Hacked into those schematics years ago. This guy’s augmentations?” Sombra gestured at Doomfist, “What am I, five? I know them like the back of my hand! That guy?” she gestured over at Sigma, floating and staring upward at the sky a few dozen yards away, “I don’t know what that guy’s limitations are. Or even if there are limits. That is what’s freaking me out.”

“This is probably healthy for you, then,” said Akande with a smile, “You know there’s only so much you can control.”

“Oh ha-ha I feel so healthy,” said Sombra, folding her arms tight across herself.

“I think we’re making a good impression,” said Akande, gesturing as Sigma chuckled at something Moira said a ways away from them.

“Because Moira making the good impression isn’t worrying at all,” said Sombra, still keeping her arms folded.

---

“They’re talking about me, aren’t they?” said Sigma, still staring up at the sky.

“Well, in their defense, you’re very interesting,” said Moira.

“There’s more to it than this, isn’ there?” said Sigma, “There’s more to it than understanding my condition. There’s more to it than helping me control it.”

“Oh naturally,” said Moira, “The world we lived in would have all your friends and family believe you were dead, Siebren. It would have you drugged and strapped down to a table. That’s not a very good world, is it?”

“....No, no it isn’t,” said Sigma.

“We become scientists to change the world,” said Moira, following his line of sight up to a cloud drifting by, “Talon just... helps us do that.”

“Talon?” Sigma looked at her.

“Your new friends,” said Moira, “I think you’ll do quite well here.”

“Well...” Sigma opened his palm and allowed two hyperspheres to form, “There is much work to be done.”

[errantcanis]

☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜

send me ☜ for a ship i have, ☞ for a ship i want

i feel like i am going to end up talking about a lot of the same ships that my friends have already mentioned, but here we go anyway! also i tagged my ship partners because i love them, but if any of you don’t want tagging just let me know! i dropped it under a cut because it got a little long.

odango - @narrationis

i weep for odango. y’all don’t even know. i adore them so so much, they’re so soft and in love. oda knew that ango was different from the moment that he walked into that bar, and many nights of staying late after dazai left to talk and talk lead to oda asking ango if he could kiss him, and that lead to oda walking him home every night, and that lead to ango eventually inviting him in because oda was always too respectful to ask. in verses where he lives, oda never blamed ango. he knows ango was just doing his job. they are so in love and i love them so so much.

steincraft - @giftandguile

i am blessed. west blesses me with this ship. when i decided to write lovecraft i genuinely wasn’t even certain i’d ever have any ships for him, i just love him and wanted to write him, but then here comes west to hurl steinbeck at him and i love them so much. lovecraft is so ridiculously soft for him and there is nothing in the world that he wouldn’t do for steinbeck. they’re both so love starved and touch starved and they’re so good together, they just fit together so perfectly and i could talk about them all day honestly so i’ll stop here.

fukumori - @errantscriptor

kui is a gift and they bless me with fukumori. these two are so difficult, but i love them so much. i’m a sucker for ships on opposing sides, and fukumori have all this history and it’s just so good. fukuzawa pretending like he isn’t soft for mori fuels me, and i just love their dynamic so much. fukuzawa is so determined not to ruin the reputation of his agency but he can’t stay away from mori forever.

ransano - @narrationis

okay so i have a few ships with dani but ransano? ransano is just such good content. i love them so so much, they have so much respect for each other and they know each other so well. honestly these two are just so good together and so good for each other and i love their dynamic so much. i completely fell in love with them and they both deserve to be happy and i love the idea of them finding it together.

skk - @lucys-chamber

hi lucy ily. i also love skk. these two just get me. they’re so hopeless, and dazai is such an ass and chuuya deserves better and yet they just get each other. they’re so perfect for each other and they both know that. no matter how much dazai tries to push chuuya away, he’s always there and i just. love them. so much. this ship gives me life.

zadipo - @lucys-chamber

i love zadiepo so much. when i went to lucy about potentially shipping this i really didn’t know what she’d say but she was on board pretty much immediately. i just had this idea about ranpo asking her to play clue finding games because they both work on solving murders at their respective offices and then that was it, she said yes and now we ship it. they still play their game and ranpo wins every single time and zadie doesn’t mind because she loves him, she loves him so much. they even have their own little sign language signals that they’ve invented so that no one knows what they are saying to each other.

[nataliecarsonsuniverse]

What A Wicked Game Pt. 2

Summary: A hot tub bet between Jake and Amy goes completely wrong.

Pairing: Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago

Part One

Jake sat on the other side of the door mentally cursing himself. Why did he kiss her? He was perfectly happy before imagining what it would be like to feel her lips against his or what she tasted like. But now he actually knows, and somehow that is a thousand times worse.

His lips still tingled from where they had met hers. He groaned slightly to himself. He should’ve quit that bet far sooner. But in the back of his mind he knew there was a very real possibility that this is the closest he will get to being intimate with Amy. She made it pretty clear that he was not husband material, let alone boyfriend material. Jake had never thought too much about being married, in fact it wasn’t even something he was sure he wanted to do. But for some reason, the fact that she didn’t think he could be a good husband hurt.

Jake wandered out into the kitchen, looking for anything containing alcohol. There were cartons of beers left on the table from outside in the hot tub. He sat on the couch in the dark living room and silently drank his beer. Before he knew one beer had turned into two which had turned into three. Finally he decided he couldn’t sit on the couch until he saw the sunrise, so he got up and went back to his room.

He laid in bed staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours. The only thought on his mind was her. In the little sleep he did get, he dreamt of her. Wearing that blue bikini, that was far more revealing than anything he had ever seen her in. He woke up in the morning to a series of knocks on his door. It was eight am in the morning, way to early for a non work day. He opened his door rubbing his eyes. “Hey we’re eating breakfast.” Charles said. “I made kuy teav pork and seafood noodle soup- a traditional Cambodian dish.” Jake slammed the door in his face trying not to throw up in his mouth at the idea of pork and seafood in one dish.

He threw on a clean plaid shirt and yesterday's jeans before he left his room to join his colleagues, he reminded himself - they were colleagues, at breakfast. “Look what the cat dragged from the garbage.” Rosa said cocking her head to one side. “You look like hell.” she noted.

“Yeah, well that’s what happens when you have one too many drinks.” Jake said taking a seat as far away from Amy as he possibly could. Unfortunately that mean in between Boyle and Hitchcock. The smell of whatever Charles had created piled on top of Hitchcock's body odor made him want to vomit. Yet it was still better than sitting next to Amy. Probably.

“You didn’t drink anything at the hot tub.” Amy said looking at him as if she was concerned about him. She didn’t care he reminded himself. If she cared, she wouldn’t have agreed to sit on his lap last night. Or tried to kiss him, and then later kissed him back. She wouldn’t have agreed to pretend the whole thing never happened. And she definitely wouldn’t have worn that little blue bikini, that will definitely haunt him in his dreams.

“We have a big day planned for today.” Terry said breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over them. “We’re going to do the ski lift that takes us to the top of the mountain. Then there's the mountain coaster that will go up into the mountain as well. Then I thought we could play a game of laser tag. After that we’re going to go hiking in the state park to a waterfall.”

“Good lord Terry.” Jake said putting his head in hands trying to ignore the headache that was coming on. When everyone was done eating, they all piled into Terry’s minivan. Jake chose a bucket seat, careful not to get the seat next to Amy.

Eventually they pulled into the parking lot for the ski lift. “We’ll have to do it in partners of two.” Terry told the group “so everyone pair off.” Jake looked to Boyle, who tilted his head toward Amy. Jake sent daggers at Boyle with his eyes.

“Looks like we are the only two left.” Amy sent with a grin on her face as she walked over to him.

“Oh yeah, looks like it.” he replied. They waited in line with everyone else. Neither Jake nor Amy said anything to the other. Silence usually wasn’t awkward between the two of them. But this silence was suffocating. When it was their turn to load into the cart, they each sat as far apart as they could from each other.

“There’s a camera up there, so make sure that you smile.” The attendant told them as he lowered the safety bar.

“Lovely.” Jake muttered under his breath. Just like standing in the line, going up the mountain was painfully quiet. Jake swung his legs back and forth in a nervous like motion.

“Look.” Amy said to him finally. “I’m sorry that things got so awkward last night.” He stopped swinging his legs. There was no escape. He was trapped in this little car hanging on a cable wire, only half way up the biggest hill he had seen his whole life. “But that dosen’t mean that we can’t like still be friends. Nothing has to change.”

He closed his eyes for a second. “I’m sorry that I’ve been kind of a dick about it.” He admitted. “It’s just you know, awkward.”

“Like so awkward.” Amy agreed with a laugh. “At least you didn’t get Hitchcock's stripper money.”

“How have we not talked about that?” He said laughing.

“Well, you should know, that there is no one else’s lap that I would rather have sat on then yours. In the group. At the hot tub. Not just in general.” Amy said stumbling through her words.

“Aims.” he said laughing at her trying to stutter her way out of that one. “It’s okay and for what it’s worth, you’re a good kisser.” Oh god. Why did he say that. The cart had started descending back down the mountain, and Jake wanted more than anything to jump. But instead he forced himself to look at her. It was as if she could read his mind, because the next thing he knew she was leaning in and they became far closer than they were the whole way up the hill. Her lips touched his, and once again that tingling feeling was back. He wrapped an arm around her deepening the kiss and pulling her closer to him. It wasn’t as passionate as last night. It was the kind of kiss where if it was the last one he would be totally okay with that. Well mostly okay with that. Okay he could never be okay with not kissing her but this would come close to being okay.

His hands moved up to cup her cheeks, while she moved her hands into his hair. When she finally pulled back, there were close enough to the ground to see Terry’s van in the parking lot. “So that happened.” He said still resting his forehead on hers.

“Yeah.” Amy said raising her voice an octave. He recognized the tone, it was the one she used when she was regretting something. Shit he thought. The attendance at the bottom undid the safety bar. “How was the ride?” He asked them as they got out of the car.

“Great.” Jake said dramatically. Amy and him walked into the gift shop at the bottom of the lift. They had all the pictures on the wall.

“Oh no.” Amy said pointing to one of the pictures. Jake followed her finger to see a picture of the two of them kissing. “What do we do? What do we do?” She was clearly panicking.

Jake walked up to the employee working the photo booth. “If I buy a picture, will you take it off the screen?” The employee nodded her head. “Okay I will take the picture of us.” He said motioning back to where Amy was standing terrified that any one of their co workers would get off the lift come in here and see the picture. Jake gave the girl cash, and the girl handed him the picture in a plastic bag. “ See problem solved.” Jake said as he handed Amy the bag.

“What? I don’t want that.” She said pushing it back towards him. “ Well I don’t want it!” he pushed it back towards her. They continued like this until Terry and Gina got off the lift and came into the giftshop. Jake frantically tossed the bag at Any one last time, so that she would be stuck with it.

“Oh what did you buy?” Terry asked her.

“Uh, I bought a snow globe.” She said grabbing one off the nearest shelf. “I have a collection at home, and thought this one couldn’t be passed up.” It was a good lie, but she over confiscated with a dramatic laugh.

“What’s next Tear Bear” Gina asked when the rest of the group showed up.

“Laser tag.” Terry informed the rest of the group.

----------

The group gathered in the lobby of the lazer tag. “Alright, we’re going to do this in groups. There will be two team captains. I will be one, does anyone volunteer to be the other.”

Rosa raised her hand. “Great. So I will pick who I want first. Jake.”

“Amy.” Terry said.

“Boyle” Rosa chose.

“Gina.” Terry said.

“Scully.” Rosa decided that he was the lesser of two evils.

“Damn.” Terry muttered. “Hitchcock.”

They went back into the holding room and put on the gear. “This is so much lighter than what I’m used to.” Jake said.

“It’s cause your playing laser tag, and lasers don’t hurt when you get hit.” Gina said to him. “I should create a twitter account and tweet all the stupid things you say.” She walked away back to her team.

Amy walked up to Jake, “So whose team do you think is going to win, cause I have a pretty good idea.”

“You really think you guys are going to win. Please you have Gina who doesn't shoot a gun for living and hitchcock.”

“Yeah, but we have Terry and myself.” She said with a smirk.

“Wow someone is feeling a little confident. Even if you are that good, there is no way you are going to rack up more points than me,”

“You want to bet?” She asked getting slightly aggressive. “Fifty dollars says I get more shots than you. And you know I have plenty of money.”

“Your on but be warned I am going to beat you Santiago. And take your stripper money.”

“We’ll see.” She said winking as she walked away back to her team. It’s like she’s trying to kill me he thought. The employee quickly explained the rules to them, although no one in the group was listening. Except for Amy, because of course she was. When he opened the door and told them they could go, everyone in the group took off running into the dark room.

Jake made his way into the back wanting to find a good hiding spot so he could shoot people who ran near him. The laser sensor on his chest lit up letting him know that the game had officially begun. He could hear running on the top level, so he positioned himself so he was ready to shoot whoever was about to come flying down the stairs.

He needed a radio, someway to communicate with Diez about who was where. Laser tag should really up their game. Whoever was above him just keep pacing around up there. It was probably Scully who didn’t understand how to play the game. He was startled when he heard the sound of a laser hitting his vest. He looked down and sure enough the red was flashing. “Ha got ya.” he heard Amy say. “Take that. Santiago one, Peralta zero.”

“That’s not fair you distracted me.” he said as he got up from his apparently not so good hiding place. He dropped his gun to his side and let it dangle from the wire.

“Oh please, do tell me how I distracted you.” She asked also dropping her gun and putting her hands on her hips. Jake took a step towards her while she instinctively took a step back.

“Well for starters, I think that you put someone up to the job of pacing around upstairs. Because you knew I would be down here and get distracted. That gave you the perfect opportunity to sneak up behind me.” He kept walking towards her and she kept walking backwards until her back hit the wall. He could audibly hear her breath hitch.

“Secondly, I think you knew I would be laying low in the back, as you gave me the idea last year during one of those stupid mandatory trainings that the captain made us go on. Which I will say it’s not a bad idea.” He put his hands on either side of her traping her between him and the wall.

“And lastly, I'm beginning to think that you kissed me on the ski lift solely for the purpose of making me too distracted to beat you in laser tag. You probably knew you would make a bet with me before we got into the cart.” Both of their vest had lit backup, but neither one of them moved to grab their guns. Jake was standing so close to her he could smell her vanilla perfume. It was intoxicating, and he wanted to bury his face into her skin to soak up as much of it as he could.

“Some of those may be correct.” She admitted standing on her tiptoes. “But I think we both know the real reason I kissed you on the ski lift.” She put her arms around his neck, playing with the ends of his hair.

“Cause I’m just that good?” he asked in his boyish voice.

“Well I think you did say it the best. ‘You’re a good kisser you know?” She said quoting his words from the ski lift. She reached up and grabbed his hair pulling his lips down to meet hers. Jake moved his hands from the wall, one to wrap around her waist, and the other into her hair. Her hair was slightly tangled, probably from running, but it was still soft, and he imagined it smelt as good as her perfume.

He licked her bottom lip and she opened her mouth slightly more, allowing him to slip the tip of his tongue into her mouth. God, he was going to end up addicted to way she tasted. He moaned into her mouth as she bit his bottom lip.

All of a sudden the room was lit up with lights that were obnoxiously bright. Amy’s face grew bright red and he quickly backed away. “So uh I’ll go this way?” He said pointing to his left.

“Yeah and I’ll go this way.” Amy said pointing in the opposite direction, before each of them quickly left the corner. Outside the whole group was standing looking at the tv monitor showing the score.

“We won!” Terry exclaimed at Rosa. “Take that.” Rosa looked at the board for a second as if she was looking for a reason the score was wrong.

“Wait a minute.” Gina said. “Look at Jake’s score. He scored no points.” Gina pointed at Jake’s name on the tv, and sure enough attached to his name was a big fat zero.

“His gun was broken, that’s the only way Jake wouldn’t have had more points than the rest of us combined. Jake is like a God when it comes to laser tag”

“Yeah that’s definitely it. I kept trying to shoot, but nothing would happen.” Jake said mentally thanking Charles to throw out that excuse.

“That’s weird I never saw you.” Gina said.

“He was hiding, under the stairs, probably trying to shoot people as they came down them.” Amy said trying to distract people from the fact that she herself had only shoot one person. “It’s actually a great idea” She added.

Gina looked between Jake and Amy for a second. “Are you guys having sex?” She asked her eyes still darting back and forth between the two of them as if she was trying to solve the mystery.

“What? Gina, how could we have possibly been having sex during the laser tag game?” Jake asked.

“I meant like last night after the hot tub, but the fact that you just brought up the laser tag game makes me a bit curious.” She tilted her head to the side looking only at Jake now.

“I’m not having sex with Amy.” Jake said.

“Okay.” Gina said giving up her argument, although she never did wipe the smug grin off her face. As the group walked out Gina came up right behind Jake. “I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re horny, and well, I know. Don’t try to hide anything from Gina, because Gina always finds out. Tootles.” She skipped ahead of him to the front of the group. Jake felt like his face was on fire.

-------

The hike to the waterfall was only a mile, but if that mile went anything like the rest of day, Jake knew it was going to feel more like ten miles. Everyone had gone except for Hitchcock and Scully, who said walking wasn’t their thing. No one protested their decision.

“After this the only thing we have left is the mountain coaster. And luckily for us, it’s going to be dark which means the track will be all lit up. The girls always loved it.” Terry told the group.

Jake and Amy had fallen slightly behind the group. “We have to stop secretly making out. Someone is going to catch onto us eventually.” Amy whispered

“Like you could resist all this.” Jake said gesturing down to his body.

“What exactly is all that?” Amy asked raising an eyebrow at him.

“The thing you can’t resist.” Jake said repeating what he had said two seconds ago.

“You’re such a idiot. I can’t believe I am actually attracted to you.” Amy said with a sigh.

“Oh so you admit it. You find me hot. I’m so going to tease you about this. Score for Peralta.”

“Of course I find you attractive, I don’t make out with people that repulse me, although I guess people can fall into two categories.” She said looking directly over at him, with eyes that glared ‘that’s you’.

“Aww Aims. That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.” He said with a big goofy grin on his face.

“I hate myself.” She said right before she grabbed him by the wrist and pushed him back until his back hit a tree. “How does it feel to be cornered?”

“I’m so turned on right now.” He said as she kissed him, her hands once again making their way to his hair. “Grab it like you did in the hot tub.” He told her in between kisses. She did what she was told grabbing a lock and pulling it back harder than she had the day before.

He opened his mouth, and she ran her tongue over his teeth. Jake put his arms around her waist pulling her as close to him as he possibly could. He then moved his hands under her shirt to feel her skin. Soft. Just like he had imagined. He moved his hands up from her waist to the edge of her bra creeping his fingertips under the fabric.

“I need you.” She whispered into his ear noticing the way he swallowed his adam apple bobbing. His eyes were far darker than the sweet chocolate brown eyes she was used to.

“Well then you should’ve worn a skirt.” He said back is voice low and laced with desire.

“I hate you.” She whispered back although she couldn’t help the smile that crept over her face. She went back to kissing him shoving her tongue into his mouth. It was sloppy, but he didn’t mind. They were cut off when they heard laughter that was unmistakably Gina’s. “Fuck.” Amy hissed. “Did they make it all the way to waterfall and back down?” Amy quickly backed away from Jake and kneeled on the ground pretending to tie her shoe.

Jake walked over and stood next to her. “Hurry up!” He shouted just as the group rounded the corner. “They’re probably already at the top.” He glanced up and saw everyone walking towards them. “Damn it Amy. I really wanted to see the waterfall.”

“I didn’t ask you to stay with me.” She defensively as she got up.

“Wait were you guys not up there?” Charles asked.

“No I had to wait on Amy to tie her shoe.” Jake responded. The group continued to walk and Amy joged up to the front to be away from Jake.

“Uh huh.” Gina whispered into his ear again. “I’m sure that’s what happened.”

“It was.” Jake said dryly as they continued to walk towards the van.

-------

Terry was not joking about the coaster having a lot of lights. Jake could see lights all the way up at the top of the hill. “Uh how fast does this thing go?” Jake asked watching the other carts come flying off the hill.

“About thirty miles an hour. Not too bad.”

“Thirty miles an hour? In a cart with no sort of roof?” Jake asked freaking out slightly. “Not too bad?”

“Aw are you scared Jake?” Rosa asked clearly mocking him.

“Yeah a little. I’ve never been a big roller coaster fan.” he admitted.

“Well they put two people in a car, so there will be someone else in there with you.” Terry told him as they got in line.

“I’ll go with you.” Amy said. Turning around to smile at him, he knew exactly why she wanted to get in his cart. He had to give her credit though, that was far more brave than he expected her to be. From behind him he could hear Gina snickering.

Soon it was their turn. Jake got into the car first, while Amy climbed in after him. The employee buckled them into the seat and told them to have a fun time before the cart was slowly moving up the hill.

It was quiet out in the middle of the woods. The only thing he could hear was the crickets chirping, and the sound of the cart being pulled up the hill by the cable wire. “This is nice.” Amy whispered.

“Yeah.” he agreed tucking her head under his chin. And then it hit him, that’s what boyfriends would do, and he was definitely not her boyfriend. Unless she wanted him to be. He quickly jerked his head back up away from her. He heard her sigh.

“Jake?” She asked.

“Yeah?”

“The whole reason I got into this cart with you, is so that you would kiss me again, and we’re almost halfway up the hill. Tell me I did not risk everyone knowing that I am... “ She took a deep breath “attracted to you for us to just sit in silence.”

Jake leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “Well, I can’t reach your lips.” He said kissing down to her ear, biting lightly on her cartilage. She let out a small moan as he worked his way down to her neck circling the skin with his tongue before lightly sucking the area. Her hands gripped onto his arms that were wrapped tightly around her, digging her nails into his skin.

“I hate how good at this you are.” She whimpered as his mouth found a sensitive spot on her neck. He would have to remember that for later tonight he noted.

“Title of your sex tape.” He said. Jake looked up momentarily and realized that they were almost at the top of the hill. “Shit. I really don’t want to do this.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, thirty miles is like how fast the kid’s roller coasters go.”

“Thank you for distracting me.” He said as the cart reached the top of the hill. Right before it started to go down, Amy grabbed onto his hands giving a supportive squeeze. The cart was soon plummeting down the hill, Amy’s hair flying behind her. And yep, it smelt amazing. Jake gripped on to her hands so hard, he was slightly worried that he was hurting her.

It didn’t take long for Jake to be able to see the ground. He let out a breathe as the cart started slowing down. “See that wasn't that bad.” Amy said.

“Yes it was.” he said. “Don’t ever ask me to go an amusement park.” Amy laughed and let go of his hand. His hand had never felt so empty, so unnatural.

“Back to the cabin now right?” Amy asked Terry very anxiously the second she saw him. Jake couldn’t help but crack a slight smile for the reason that she was so anxious to get back to the cabin.

-------

At the cabin, everyone had decided that it had been a really long day. So they all decided that they should just go to bed. In his room Jake took off his flannel and threw it on the ground searching for a t shirt to wear. A knock at the door stopped his search. When he went to open it, he was not surprised at all to see Amy.

Jake moved from the doorway and let her into his room. He quietly closed the door behind her. “Alright, I’ve been waiting for this moment, since the second I sat on your lap yesterday in the hot tub, so no funny business okay?” She had her eyes squinted as if she was already pissed at him.

“Funny business? Who do you think I am Holt?” He asked sarcastically with a smirk.

“Oh I wish you were Holt.” she said back her eyes still narrowed.

“Okay just gonna ignore that.” he said. She took her shirt off and his mouth suddenly became drier than it ever had.

“Stop staring and take off your pants.” she ordered. He did as he was told throwing them into the pile of clothes that was now growing. He stepped towards her and kissed her the way he had several times already today. It didn’t take long for her to end up on his bed, and him hovering over her kissing down her neck, paying special attention to the spot he had discovered on the coaster.

His hands roamed up and down her stomach, while her hands did the same to his chest. His fingers found their way to her underwear. “You sure?” He asked playing with the band.

“Jakey” She whimpered. “So help me God.” he took that as a yes. He slipped a finger under the band.

“God I love it when you call me that. You should do it more often.” Just then there was a knock at the door.

“Who the hell is that?” Amy asked with fear in her voice.

“Who is it?” He shouted looking into her eyes, brows furrowing with the same fear that she had.

“It’s Charles. I’m coming in.”

“NO!” Jake shouted, but it was too late Charles opened the door and dropped whatever he was holding when he saw the way Jake and Amy were laying in his bed. With no clothes on other than bra and underwear.

“Are you two…” Charles asked his mouth. “Oh my gosh, you two were going to make love. I knew you wouldn’t be able to deny your chemistry after the hot tub.” Amy moved her hands up to her face. “Well forget I was here, and go back to what you were doing.” He closed the door behind him, but they could still hear him say “Oh! I love it! two young kids in love!” from the hall.

Amy moved her hands away from her face, and Jake thought that she might be about to cry. “This.” She started her voice breaking. “This was a mistake.” She finished. He moved over to get off of her. “I should go.” she got out of his bed and gathered her clothes that had been discarded on the floor. Jake watched her go lightly closing the door behind her.

Why didn’t they lock the door he mentally cursed himself. Jake grabbed his phone off the bedside table and sent a text to Charles. “Please don’t tell anyone what you saw.”

Charles responded almost right away. “I can try, but you know I can’t promise.” Another one came through “I really well try though” And then another one. “Like I will try my hardest.” And another “But you guys should definitely go at it tonight.” And another “don’t forget that washing her hair is the most romantic thing you can do.”

“I will block you.” Jake finally texted back before shutting his phone off completely off. He got up and was about to put back on his shirt when he decided to screw it. He left his room turning off the light and closing the door behind him.

He didn’t even knock on Amy’s door, instead he just barged in. “You know what. That may have been a mistake, but it was the best mistake that I’ve ever made. I’ve had more fun sneaking around with you all day, than i’ve had with any girlfriend I can remember. The damage is already done. Charles is going to tell people we had sex whether we do or don’t, so shouldn’t we give them something to really talk about?” He finished, he didn’t mean to say that much it just kind of came out.

“I was hoping you would come over Jakey.” She said as she got up and kissed him for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

[yuki-d-raizel-blog]

Hero

Chapter 29/??

Relationship: Todoroki Shouto x Reader (Your/Name), (Full/Name)

Summit: It all begin at the Sports Festival when Shouto’s other half met Endevour by mistake. The student never thought to see his partner fight against his father just to show him that he is wrong. It started from that instant, Shouto’s new path started exactly from that moment thanks to his friends and his beloved one.

---

<<Fenrir.>> the wolf hits you with his big claws breaking your ice and throwing you towards a building, which collapse for the massive impact and buries you under its heavy ruins. “She is holding back, why? It’s not only the earring, she is doing it on purpose. She isn’t stupid, she understood right away that there is an abyssal difference between me and her, still, she refuses to use her full power.”

Curious about you, Seatiel pierces the concrete with Verg Avesta and starts a hand-to-hand fight. She dodges only at the beginning, the more the time passes, the more her body is in pain and is hard to move. After a few minutes, Seatiel leads the match and beats the girl mercilessly, until he understands that he could kill her, he stops with a last kick on her stomach, sending her far away. Her body rolls on the black cement and paints it with her blood.

<<(Y/N)!!!>> Tenka and the others are blocked by Seatiel’s beasts, they don’t have energy to call theirs, and attacking without a support, it’s a suicide… What they can do to save their little sister? Why heroes don’t come? They don’t see that this section of the city is half burned, collapsed and frozen?!

She groans in pain, poses a hand and tries to stand up once again. She must endure until a pro will be there, someone will see all that mess, she did it on purpose, then why they are so late? Ran too… Where is he?

<<Why are you smiling, little girl?>> asks Seatiel, <<You’re crossing the death line right now, are you happy to die so young?>>

<<Of course… not…>> her voice is hoarse and low, but that smile; why she is smiling? <<… A certain hero says…. Go beyond... And that’s what… I want to do… I’ll show to you the meaning… of “Plus Ultra”.>>

“She clearly can’t do anything anymore. Kirin burnt her arm, Fenrir hurt her and I broke a few bones. She is still using her beasts to endure the pain better, but when all of this will be over… Will you survive to the hunger of your own beasts?” <<You have my full respect, (F/N). As a sign of recognition, this will be the last hit.>> Seatiel calls all his beasts back and the spear shines brightly, <<Show me that you can overcome this wall that born in your path, third coming of Kafka.>> he jumps reaching an enormous high and poses ready to throw Verg Avesta towards the town.

“….That move…. He is planning to raze to the ground the entire city….” (Y/N) looks at him and does a few deep breaths, “There’s no way out, I must activate it… I really wanted to spend more time with Shouto, making him less worried and happier… I promised to him to go to the next matsuri and watch the fireworks together.” you grab your earring and with the last deep breath, you throw it away.

Your iris turns red, and the sclera black with red veins across the eyes and into the skin around the eye. Your hair become darker and darker, and behind your back rise the most beautiful fire never saw. Black flames with no shape, but slowly, colorful strips are decorating them. Purple, silver, yellow, red, blue… All the colors blend magnificently together, making you like a true fallen angel.

<<(Y/N) no!!>> Tenka, Lenka, Shuu and Joel start to cry and scream your name as loud as they can, <<(Y/N)!!>>

Staring at Seatiel, you see his spear surrounded by vortexes of the power of the beasts, if that hits the ground, Hosu will be destroyed, and not only that.

<<The great half-god, half-human king born from the union between the King Atlas, Yaha-kui and goddess ZaShunina. He was an ultimate, transcendent being so divine as to be two-thirds god and one-third human, and no others in the world could match him.>> the prayer is awaking all your beasts at once, they stay still as if their power is not ready to go against Seatiel’s, <<He was a despot not merely a legend, and is said to have existed and ruled during the dark era, five thousand years ago. He was the King of Heroes; Kafka. I, child of yours, have inherited your power to fight the evil and protect the light…>> “I wanted to talk more with Izuku and Kirishima, do more girly things with Uraraka and Mina… I should be less asshole with Bakugou, he cares a lot for his friends, but he’s too proud to show it… Ah, I was enjoying this life…”

The ground shakes hardly under the two forces that are fighting right now. In the sky, Seatiel finished his prayer and he moves his body as a gear to throw Verg Avesta towards his target, while (Y/N) uses everything she has to defend thousands of lives.

<<Breath of Gungnir!>> Seatiel attacked… <<Roh Arias!>> (Y/N)’s seven beasts get in line and transform into a thick lay of crystalized fire, making a rigid defense.

The girl is sliding on the ground due to the pressure that she supports, if she gives up, too many innocents will die, she can’t let that happen, but her body surrenders first. Her sight is fading away, her hearing is becoming deaf, her body warmth is stolen, the pain is too much…

<<KHA!!>> she coughs out blood, her arms and legs shiver intensely. “No, I mustn’t fall now…” the first three shields are broken, Verg Avesta doesn’t stop and doesn’t lose its strength, “I can’t…” her arms slowly fall, as her legs are guiding her to the black and cold concrete…

<<(Y/N)-chan!!>> Midoriya turns his quirk on and jumps with all his might. He repelled the fearful weapon and rushed to your side, <<(Y/N)-chan, hang in there, we are here!>> “The wound on her side is deep, if we don’t take her away from here, she is not gonna make it!”

<<I…zu…ku…?>> you open your eyes, and recognized him for the color of his hair, you can’t see him even if you are so close to him, but that shade of green is like his ID document.

<<That was completely unexpected.>> Seatiel lays the lance on his shoulders and looks at the student. “He erased my skill and repelled the lance… He is a mate of the beasts?” when he moves a step to neutralize Deku, a weaved spear, pierces the ground right in between his feet, “What a huge control. These students are all so strong. Wait, that kid… The Wrath mate?!”

<<Stay away from her!!>> Shouto protects with his body both Midoriya and you, he fully unlocked his quirk, surrounded by a freezing ice and a melting fire, <<You bastard…>> his voice is so upset and his gaze is terrifying, <<I’ll let you go for today, but the next time, I will fucking kill you!>> after that scream, Ash Crow rises behind Todoroki and encloses him in its fiery black wings.

<<Don’t come near (Y/N) never again!>> without notice it, a beast rises behind Izuku too. His attention is stolen by his friend that coughs hardly, vomiting blood and groans in pain, <<Hang in there, I’ll take you->>

<<NO, DON’T MOVE ME!>> she grabs his costume so hard that she almost rips it off, <<It hurts…>> she cries and breaths quickly and hardly, <<So much… It hurts….>>

<<Don’t worry.>> Midoriya grabs your bloody hand and holds it to reassure you, “… If I move her, she suffers too much, she could pass out for the pain and we can’t control her vital signs anymore. What do I must do?” the boy tights the grip on your hand and prays that someone come there and save you.

<<Too many people are coming, too troublesome.>> Seatiel actives his Gluttony form and walks backwards, <<I’m looking forward to our next date. Bye-bye!>> he waves and jumps high, disappearing in the dark sky.

“Oh crap, crap, crap…!” <<Todoroki-kun!>> Midoriya is pale and with watery eyes, his voice is scared. When his friend turns to see what happened, a cold and strong shock hits him hardly.

<<No, no, no, no!>> he kneels in front of him and touches your face without minding the blood, <<(Y/N) stay awake!>> her head is hanging backwards and her body is becoming colder and colder, <<Guys->>

<<Take her and look for a hero!>> screams Shuu, <<Leave us here, she must be cured first!>>

Without losing another second, Todoroki picks you up and runs as fast as he can to find someone that can help you to survive. Midoriya runs after him, he doesn’t even feel the pain on his ankle anymore, he is too shocked and worried for his friend. He literally felt her body becoming heavier suddenly and her hand lost that tiny grip that (Y/N) could find that moment… Is a feeling that he doesn’t want to feel never again…

<<Dad!! Iida!! Someone!! Help me!!>> screams Todoroki looking everywhere, <<Someone!! Please!!>> he keeps his quirk activated using only his flames to warm the girl up, that dream mustn’t become reality.

<<Shouto!>> a young man waves at him rushing to his side escorted by Endevour and a few heroes, included Gran Torino, <<Give her to me! It’s me, Hakkai.>>

That man is Hakkai? Hah?! He is younger, like so MUCH younger… But it’s not the right moment to think about him, there’s something more important.

<<Please do something!>> the man uses his quirk immediately on (Y/N), while Endevour and Gran Torino send the heroes to call a medic equip, they must bring Belial at the nearest hospital. While your wounds are healing, Shouto holds your hand on his mouth, praying with his heart that you will be fine, “Please, please, please, do not take my light away from me…”

<<You are injured too, guys?>> Hakkai looks at the two students and finds a few wounds, <<I’ll he->>

<<(Y/N) first!>> they shout at the same time, <<Her first….>>

<<I already did all that I could… The rest depends on her and on the doctors…>> he smiles sadly and convinced the boys to heal their wounds as much as he can.

Since the medic equips will not be there in time, Endevour picks Belial up and escorts her personally to the nearest hospital. Shouto and Deku tried to chase him, but the man that was with you and a few heroes stopped them, saying that for the moment, there are more injured people who needs help.

---Continue...

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 21.5, 22, 22.5, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, Last Chapter

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 9/11/17

Absolute Duo, Vol. 1 | By Shinichirou Nariie, Takumi Hiragiboshi, and You Asaba| Seven Seas – In general, fans tend to dislike a couple of things in the manga they read, especially Western fans. The first is the tsundere female lead, and the second is the super-powered male lead. Not sure yet whether we’ll get the second, but Absolute Duo seems to be free of the first. Unfortunately, that does sort of make it clear why manga and light novel authors enjoy writing tsundere female leads—the conflict here is rather mild and undramatic, with our hero fighting against a nice girl, and when she loses, she just… says bye and leaves. As for the actual heroine, she’s nice and shy and sort of self-sacrificing. Absolute Duo is decent, and I like everyone, but if you didn’t see another volume you’d barely care. – Sean Gaffney

A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Vol. 6 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Arata Yamachi| Seven Seas – I said last time we were down to the final fight, and we’re still on it by the end of this volume. Index is filled with long, drawn-out battles, but in Railgun and the main series they tend to be separated by more mundane matters. Accelerator, true to its antihero, never really lets us relax, and humorous escapades are at a minimum. It also makes it rather difficult to review. I mean… the fights were cool? I actually understood the action, which is not always the case with heavy action manga. The villain is bad and you want to see them go down? And I’m pretty sure one of our team of heroes is going to die, though I’m also pretty sure it’s the girl who’s already dead. A good spinoff that’s not as good as Railgun at its best. – Sean Gaffney

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 2 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – I’m enjoying this second volume more than I did the first, I think. We get a bit more backstory on the characters which makes them a bit more likeable, and Marcille is no longer whining at absolutely everything. On the opposite tact, Laios gets to do some truly ridiculous things showing that he’s a lot more impulsive than we expected (and we get flashbacks showing that his sister really was a major part of their party—I wonder if she’s actually died by now?). And Senshi, while he’s still the wise sage of the group, is also shown to sometimes be wrong. But of course the main draw here is the ridiculous food, detailed in loving “this is actually a cooking manga” detail. A lot of fun. – Sean Gaffney

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 2 | By Tsukumizu| Ywn Press – This volume sets itself up much like the last one did, with about 2/3 devoted to Chito and Yuuri’s slice-of-life adventures among the ruins of the world, and the last third has them meeting with another living person and helping them try to achieve a dream. Both times they do this the dreamer fails, though it’s not really the girls’ fault. It does make me wonder what sort of mood the author wants to convey here. There are occasional scenes of Yuuri being an airhead or Chito a grump in that Chika and Miu sort of way, but the air of melancholy you’s expect to hover over this world is more prevalent here. Is there an endpoint the author wants to get to, or when they run out of cute situations will we just have the girls quietly die? Good but odd. – Sean Gaffney

Haikyu!!, Vol. 15 | By Haruichi Furudate | VIZ Media – Karasuno has advanced to the semifinals of the Miyagi Prefecture qualifier tournament. Will their next opponent be Aoba Johsai or Date Tech? Readers are treated to some of that match-up before Aoba Johsai emerges victorious. There are some nice moments here, particularly one in which Kageyama actually admits to Hinata that he’s scared to face Oikawa again and a brief interlude where Sugawara is brought in to shut down a high-scoring newcomer, but not quite as many as in the last volume, which fleshed out background team member Ennoshita. There’s no such thing as a bad volume of Haikyu!!, and this has plenty of excitement and a cliffhanger ending, but the final page suggests I will like next volume’s payoff even more than this volume’s setup. Looking forward to it, as ever! – Michelle Smith

Kase-san and Shortcake | By Hiromi Takashima | Seven Seas – Well, the girls have gotten together in book one, and gotten to know each other more closely in book two. Book three has a double shot of plot, with Yamada realizing that Kase-san is going to a Tokyo university on a sports sholarship, while she’s going to a local college. This… really doesn’t sit well with her, and she frets about it as best you can do when your manga is meant to be cute and fluffy. We also deal with Kase-san wanting to take things further physically, but not wanting to pressure Yamada, and being somewhat stymied by Yamada’s complete ignorance of what to actually do—at one point, she even googles how to have sex with a girl, with hilarious results. Still adorable and fluffy even when everyone is crying. – Sean Gaffney

Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Vol. 3 | By Canno | Yen Press – We’re back to the first volume’s couple at the start of this new book, and it’s become pretty clear that their story will tie into all the others we see in this series, which is also why it’s not official as such. Ayake is still overdramatic and difficult to like, though you sympathize with her having to deal with the blase Yurine. As for Yurine, she’s dragooned into the gardening club, which is short on members and about to lose its garden to the sports clubs. And, as it turns out, is also being sabotaged. Luckily, Yukina is the utterly straightforward sort of ojou-sama type, and so it doesn’t end quite as badly as it possibly should. The series continues to detail how absolutely EVERY girl at school is falling for another girl, but that’s not uncommon in this genre. – Sean Gaffney

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, Vol. 6 | By Koyuki and Mamare Touno | Yen Press – It is not a good sign when the best, most interesting part of the spinoff is the one that’s basically telling the events of the main series. I have no doubt that we see Raynesia because she’ll be interacting with our heroes in future volumes, but seeing her and Krusty here made me wish that we had a side series focusing on them instead. Instead, we get a predatory lesbian who seems to be in the West Wind Brigade for only that reason, though Soujiro can still calm her down. The other minor plot is the newbies training at the beach, and how Kawara may not be a dependable sempai but that her type of personality is probably just as good in the long run. I wish this was more consistent. – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 3 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – This series continues to be super violent and super uncaring about the status of its victims—TWO loving fathers are graphically butchered, one right next to his daughter, and we don’t even stay behind to see the horror and grief. It’s all about the killing and the killers. Now, that does not mean that we can’t have fun—seeing Kuroko go to town is the purpose of this series, and it’s nice to watch her be cool and take down actual monsters. And you get the feeling that the next volume, involving Kuroko infiltrating a girls’ academy, will be funnier. But you really need to not really care what happens to anyone at all in order to get into Murcielago. It’s pure rush, but the rush is filled with sociopaths. – Sean Gaffney

One-Punch Man, Vol. 12 | By ONE and Yusuke Murata | VIZ Media – Even though hero-hunting Garo is on the cover, he barely appears. Instead, this volume mostly consists of glimpses of Saitama’s progress through the martial arts tournament intercut with various heroes fighting against a slew of monsters. Genos handles quite a few himself, including a skittering bad guy called Roach Awakening who is wonderfully icky, and it’s also fun to see a few other Class-S heroes in action, especially Watchdog Man, who I bet would get along well with Saitama when and if they actually meet. The tournament stuff is okay, and the action scenes are great, but it all seemed to zoom by so quickly without leaving much of an impact. I’m not sure what exactly I’d change about it, though. Could the answer be as simple as Saitama doing more punching? Maybe so… – Michelle Smith

Tokyo Tarareba Girls, Vol. 6 | By Akiko Higashimura | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The last time I reviewed Tokyo Tarareba Girls, I found it to be majorly depressing. As a result, I let a few volumes accumulate and, honestly, kind of dreaded reading them. To my surprise, I didn’t find them depressing at all, despite Rinko and friends still being in the same awful relationships as before. I think the difference is that they’re beginning to see the truth, and there’s a strong suggestion that they’re going to do something about it. In this volume, for example, it’s Key to the rescue again as he helps Kaori finally (hopefully) break free of Ryo. Interestingly, though, when Rinko seems about to reunite with Mr. Hayasaka—and they’re genuinely cute together—and Key is poised to intervene again, I suddenly found his interference very unwelcome. Very eager for volume seven! – Michelle Smith

Yowamushi Pedal, Vol. 6 | By Wataru Watanabe | Yen Press – As I’ve mentioned before, this is one of those sports series that runs in a shonen magazine whose Western audience is predominately female, and the BL fandom is huge. (Pity poor Kanzaki…) I was not really expecting to see quite as much of why the BL fandom was huge till I got to this volume, the last half of which is Makishima and Toudou’s race, which may in fact be the gayest thing I’ve ever seen in a non-explicit manga. It’s incredible. The first half is also very good, involving Onoda getting into a crash which leaves him in last place, and having to pass 100 bikes in order to catch up. Which he does, because of course he does. The series is a pure exhilarating thrill ride, and I desperately want to read more. – Sean Gaffney

By: Michelle Smith

[sleepylioncub]

"

Feeling the hot air from Chaurmine’s lingering irritation and frustration, you’re reminded of encountering him out in the wastes; he cooled off when calming down, which swiftly happened after an orgasm.

You delicately bring up his rising body heat, wondering how dangerous being in such a state for long can be. You imagine that could get unhealthy if he doesn’t release the stress heating him up.

Chaurmine raises a brow, glancing down at an empty, sweating glass; the ice having melted a while ago and now sits as a shot of water, tinted with traces of the drink it held. “I’m fine… Out in the wastes there, that was the hottest I’ve been, I think. And that was with the pink slime those bugs smeared on me; must have been some aphrodisiac or something,” he states as he looks back to you, an odd look on his armored visage, “So right now there’s nothing to worry about. Are you suggesting that we…?”

You nod and, with a nonchalant shrug, add how distraught he seemed out in the wastes. You’d rather not seem him in such a state again, if you can help it.

Chaurmine leans back in his seat, his features softening, before breaking into a lecherous grin. “Well, uh, thanks for the concern. Though a better place to cool off after heating up would be my ship,” he growls, trying to sound seductive.

Chaurmine moves out of the booth, stretching as he and his empty seat groan in relief, and motions towards the exit, “C’mon, we have better places to be.”

You do much the same, stiffly stretching once you’re standing out of the booth. Once that’s done, you follow Chaurmine out of the bar. After several long minutes walking along the landing bay, still quite far from your own ship, you note that you’re passing by larger and larger vessels.

“You’ve never seen a saurmorian ship before, right?” he grunts, snapping your attention back to him, “Well if not, let me warn you, our spacecrafts are known for two things; they’re durable as fuck, and they’re big.” He punctuates this with a jerk of his snout towards the ship you’re now standing before.

Well, it is big. With its thick, blocky hull girding its triangular shape, you wonder how the mammoth thing can even fly, let alone be piloted by a single person. Though faded and scratched, you can still clearly make out its matte black finish trimmed with chrome. Two massive cannons hang from the bottom of the ship near the middle. At the prow of the space vessel, you see the words ‘Vigilantus Gemma’ in the same matte black as the trim, though without the same wear and tear; it looks more recent.

Chaurmine leads you up the swiftly lowered ramp up and into his ship, giving you your first look at what he must call home; in contrast to its blocky hull, the ship’s interior is made of round, concave walls, giving it a more airy feel. Though quite spartan, you’re sure you see a large workshop at the bottom of a flight of stairs, many weapons and other tech strewn about in pieces.

A sudden punch to your shoulder forces a grunt out of you, and you turn to see that armored, reptilian visage grinning down at you mischievously. “Yeah, tour’s over. Bed’s this way,” he growls, leading you to a surprisingly cozy room, given the airy feel the rest of the ship gives. A glance around the place shows rather average furnishings, aside from what must be his bed; looking more like a soft beanbag with a heavy frame. Seeing your look, Chaurmine gives a shrug before explaining, “My kind essentially sleep in beds of sand; comfortable for the scales. But I’ve found that most in the galaxy don’t, so I had to get a covering that, uh, my scales wouldn’t tear apart.”

Standing next to the sand-bed, Chaurmine removes the few pieces of armor he has, letting them hit the floor with a hard thump. Since his crotch was basically the only thing covered, that’s where your eyes are drawn to, now that he’s fully bare; his large balls hang low, the thick but supple reptilian hide a rich amber, and his monstrous cock droops out if its sheath, half hard. The ribbed, onyx-black shaft pulses and grows in the fresh air, its blunt tip bobbing. The tin lizard crosses his arms over his muscular chest, heavy tail swaying excitedly behind him, “So rad, what do you wanna do?”

“Well, I was thinking; our lives seem to have plenty of lively and vigorous moments. Why not have a more relaxing time, just the two of us? Maybe a certain half kui-tan getting pampered by a walking space heater?” you suggest seductively. Your tail twiches nervously as Chaurmine raises a brow at the request.

“So what you’re saying, is that you want me to do all the work,” he teases, a grin splitting his armored snout. Not really caring for a response, he slowly turns you around with a scaled hand, his other one pawing at your bare skin. With your back to him, Chaurmine wraps a heavy arm just under your manly, rippling chest, and pulls you against him, careful not to grind your Atma Armor Mk. I, undershirt, and plain panties against the edges of his hard, heavy scales. With a pleased huff, his hot breath billowing down against you, he runs a hand through your neck-length hair; his scale-claws feeling like a warm comb as they caress your scalp.

Reveling in the heat and continuing affections, you reach up to Chaurmine’s bestial visage, tenderly rubbing his armored jaw, your pre-slicked, red shaft pulsing excitedly as your pussy flushes in arousal between your thighs.

You let loose a sigh as you relax against his surprisingly comfortable body; almost as if he were a sun-kissed stone, feeling warmer every moment, not a mass of hard muscles and metal scales. Gravity shifts as, at the sound of heavy scales scraping together, Chaurmine sits on his previously neglected bed, the thick cushion groaning in protest with you now held in his lap. The soothing heat of his scales against your skin is exquisite, and the lizard is quick to loop his arms under yours and place his scaled hands above your manly, rippling chest, clinging to you tightly. Already captivated by the virile brute, his claws gliding along your collarbone, your only reaction to the feel of his armored snout against your neck is to pull him harder against you.

Chaurmine gives an amused huff and a snort, taking a moment to indulge in your essence. His black canine-like tongue darts out to lightly brush the nape of your neck, and he rumbles happily as the next, more insistent, caress of his tongue draws a deep moan out of you. Before long the scaled titan is contentedly lapping along your neck, turning your face this way and that, virtually purring as your arms slip from the grip they had on his face to hang at your side. All the while the lizard absently grinds his turgid shaft against your crotch, your oozy pussy coating the thick cock in girl-cum as your extra-knotty dick bobs with every movement and your large balls lightly bump and bounce on top of the brute’s ribbed length.

After what feels like a blissful eternity, Chaurmine deems you clean with a final slurp along your jaw. You laugh lightheartedly at his enthusiasm, only to yelp as his claws scrape down your immense chest. He starts toying with your buds, and your body wants to writhe from the stimulation, but his hot scales soothe your tense muscles; instead you shudder lightly in his grip, jerking suddenly with every tug and pull of your nipples. “Gentle… You were supposed to be gentle,” you moan, your bovine tail twitching to the rough sensations as his hard nose presses against your neck, taking another deep draught of your scent.

He freezes, no longer mauling your immense chest. “Yeah… sorry,” he whispers, smooth scaled lips brushing against your skin. In a surprising display of dexterity, Chaurmine slowly lays the both of you along his strange bedding, both arms still wrapped around you. Satisfied, he runs a hand down your six pack, his claws grazing your skin so lightly it actually starts to tickle. Gliding lower, his hand moves to your crotch, and he wraps his scaled fingers around your tool, his grip a little unsure. “I’ve, uh, held very few cocks. So bear with me…” he bluntly admits, his hand treating your shaft to shy strokes and caresses, “Starting to see the appeal, though.” His smooth scales feel warmer and warmer against your cock, and as he gets more familiar with your penis he often slathers the head in your leaking pre-cum, drawing deep moans from your core. He even probes your cock slit, lightly teasing the sensitive flesh. Your two large gonads receive similar attention whenever his touch reaches your sheath. His warm and slick hand on your sack cups the churning orbs, as if weighing them. Meanwhile, his own virile cum tanks virtually slosh to every movement in sympathy. Your jaw clenches in concentration, eager for more of the slick reach around but not wanting it to end, grunting as the titan’s hand bottoms out with every thrust. Just as you are reaching that glorious peak, breath ragged and body tense, he lets go of your throbbing cock.

He quickly zeroes in on your clitty, the lizard’s fingers teasing your clitty as he runs them along your mons. Moans slip from you at his touch, your lower lips wedged between his girl-cum-slicked digits. You suddenly jolt, half in alarm and half in pleasure, when two of his sharp scale-claws curve and dip into your inhuman slit; the grip he has on its outer folds is delightfully smooth. Writhing and whining in his arms, you’re thankful that his claws are apparently too wet and lubed up by your girl-cum juices to cause harm or discomfort; instead, his claws and scales have just enough of an edge to stimulate your inner walls with the most lascivious friction. On the verge of a toe-curling high, you cry out in distress when he slides out of your zil-twat, the mind blowing friction gone as he brings his girl-cum sheened fingers to his rapacious tongue, rumbling happily as he licks himself clean.

“Fuck… It’s time to fuck,” he pants, overexcited from exploring your body. Shifting so both armored hands cling to your curvy hips, he draws his dripping, xeno-dino cock back so his blunt tip bumps into your black and gold pussy.

You feel him tense up, using his grip to pull you tighter against his blunt head as he grinds against you. “Relax, rad, and I guarantee you you’ll enjoy this,” he sultrily breathes, his words almost hot enough to feel like flames licking at your neck. His hot breath, steamy atmosphere, warm embrace; all these have made you pretty relaxed already, but you let out a sigh and give him a wiggle of your rear anyways. This seems to satisfy the metal lizard, and he abruptly thrusts, your breath catching as he enters with a wet pop.

You cry out in shameless ecstasy, your body gleefully accepting the deliciously thick kind of shaft it’s been made for; your cunt clinging tightly to the obscene penis as if it were a perfectly made custom glove, your stretched inner walls pulsing along its length. Chaurmine rumbles appreciatively as his scale-studded sheath presses and wrinkles against your succulent slit.

You move a hand to your washboard six pack, softly gripping the bulging outline of his fat cock against your skin, and gasp as you feel - and see - the titan’s blunt head lurch and throb at your touch.

Deciding you’ve adjusted to his ribbed shaft, Chaurmine begins giving slight, almost delicate thrusts, gradually drawing more and more monstrous girth out each time, your gasps growing louder with his intensifying rhythm. It almost feels like he’s counting each fat rib on his penis, withdrawing one by one. You stifle a laugh with a lip bite and a moan, your pleasure headed towards an immense peak as more and more cock is repeatedly thrust into your cunt. Even as things grow heated, your wide hips writhing to match every thrust, Chaurmine seems to remain focused on your pleasure as he pants searing breath against your neck; a large hand catches you by surprise, moving from your side to your crotch.

You moan with abandon as he flicks a claw past your button, pale pink skin glistening with a growling layer of sweat from a coiling heat building with each thrust and grind against your most sensitive flesh. Your cunt contracts excitedly, milking Chaurmine’s monstrous shaft for his strong seed, and fill your womb to the brim. His armored hips thrust a touch faster, metal scales smacking wet and loud against your butt, but maintains enough thought to diddle your button, ignoring your jouncing cum-dribbling, bulgy dick. He seems to be waiting for you to give in first.

You do exactly that.

Gasps and moans slip from your lips, legs thrashing as your overcharged nerves send bolts of bliss up and down your body, setting off the tense heat coiled tight around your core; your body tensing, your furry arm absently swings back to grab onto Chaurmine’s armored muscular ass and you throw your head back as if to scream.

But all comes out is a surprised gasp as Chaurmine wraps you in his arms, clutching you softly but safely as he all but stops his thrusting. Wrapping a heavy arm around your six pack, he holds you close to his hot scales, ignoring your orgasmic writhing against his grip. At the same time, his other hand cups the chin of your face, and affectionately runs his wide, black dog-like tongue along your skin, lapping up the glistening sweat.

As you pant, coming down from your high, you frown. Did he just… ? You were just over that glorious peak, why would he-

“Relax, rad,” he hums, still washing your upper body, “We’re not done yet. Just. Relax.”

With a calming breath, you do your best with his iron-hard shaft still throbbing in your depths. His hot grip while his tongue lavishes your skin does help, though.

Before you know it, Chaurmine is tenderly thrusting into you again, his tongue now caressing just behind a ear with the occasional nip. Though not as intense of a peak, your still-sensitive nerves quickly have you at a luscious edge once more; your hand still clasped onto the titan’s ass, otherwise you remain much more lax. Your ‘nuki-dick remains at full mast, however; leaking cum with every thrust.

You gasp, the fat cock spreading you wide, grinding against your tight walls, hits that spot. Swooning as the renewed inner heat boils over, you all but cream yourself silly on that juicy shaft, streams of girl-cum running down into the lizard’s studded sheath. You can’t help but shudder with each luxurious contraction.

Chaurmine hums, continuing to thrust even as your pussy massages and milks his alien dino-cock and you twitch nervelessly in his grasp. Just as one climax tapers off, another is hot on its heels, and another after that; Chaurmine keeps a steady pace as he plays your limply writhing form like a fiddle, fucking you from one warm, luscious high to another. All while lavishing gentle but insistent licks wherever his black tongue can reach.

Mercifully, after a few more orgasms, Chaurmine decides to end it, growling as he thrusts one final time into your pussy. His bloated, sloshing sack jerks, potent seed being pumped from his cum tanks. You moan as you feel his fat, iron-hard shaft twitch and flex in your depths, practically stirring your insides on its own as his pent up load distends his cum-vein, the bulging ribs along his length almost pulsing with the titan’s powerful heartbeat. Your breath hitches as his thick and hot cum surges into you, flooding your pussy while he holds you still.

Soon, your six pack starts to round out, and you pant and sigh at the sensation. As his own pleasure comes to an end, he pulls his monstrous cock free and aims his last blast to coat your shaft, large testes, and exotic pussy in his hot seed, while the rest oozes out of your soaked, black and gold cunt.

To your surprise, Chaurmine wraps both arms around you, and his armored snout softly presses into the nape of your neck. You signal your readiness to part, only for the lizard to growl and clutch you possessively. “You had your time, rad, now this is mine,” he rumbles while rubbing his snout along your masked face, softly pinning your head against a pillow in covetous affection.

Well, you are pretty worn out, and the warmth encompassing you is incredibly soothing. Would you rather leave, or stay with the lizard for a while?

With a contented sigh, you melt into Chaurmine’s warm arms as you both bask in the afterglow. As you both doze off, he continues to rub his snout along your shoulders, neck, and masked face with affectionate caresses. You absently moan whenever you feel his teeth poke your pale pink skin with soft bites and nibbles.

This continues for what feels like a blissful eternity, luxuriating in the steamy and surprisingly tender treatment from the cuddly lizard. At some point he even turns you around to face him, tilting your face back to lavish you with soft licks from collar bone to jaw; he ends up washing this side of your neck just as much as the other, his chest rumbling happily to every moan and sigh you make.

Eventually though, time catches up, and Chaurmine sits upright, saying that he has things to do and it’s time to part. You give a heavy sigh, reluctant to release your arms from around his neck. If only-

You let out a yelp as Chaurmine abruptly stands, holding your weight while your feet and your bovine tail kick, thrash, and flail for a grip. You laugh with mirth as his stomps take you to the ship’s crew showers.

" From T.I.T.S

[izanaginookami10]

Now let’s talk about Seikaisuru Kado  or KADO: The Right Answer. This also was a quite surprising finding. I believe this is really too underrated.

Firstly, I completely understand being put off by the CGI. I personally quite like it, but I would also like to remember to not always judge something from its cover, and well… it can’t be worse than reality now, can it?

Furthermore, just look at him! Isn’t he just wonderful? I do have a certain particular preference for white-haired and red-eyes characters, but our manalien? God? here also reminds me of Merlin from Fate/Grand Order! As a Fate/ fanboi, this really please me and well, it already constitutes a reason to watch it.

But objectively speaking (or at least trying to do that), I think it’s really good as a sci-fi genre. It builds up quite well the “Kado” and the related techonologies and concepts: anisotropic (kind like the fourth dimension?), wam (MUGEN NO ENERGYY), Kado, etc.

I really like the Opening theme. I think it really fit the tone of the show.

Not really from the anime, but just wanted to share.

See, you should trust the white-haired-self-proclamed-outer-superior-being. He kept the promise and released 2 people. Ok, that’s nice and all, but how did negotiations go? I’m really curious. It should be quite clear that the right answer is to accept, the point is how?

Whoa! Equibalent decision-making powers to the prime minister?! (in national security, political and economic fields) That’s insane, or at least, I think getting so much power is a lot. And Shindou refuses? Oh, right. My inferior brain couldn’t think about the actual facts: you would be really chained by the Japanese government in that case.

We need your abilities, Shindo.

Lol. Nope, give that hassle to Hanamori.

Cuuuutee!

Have I already said how I find her cute? I liked her character from the beginning, and although I was expecting a more heated confrontation during last episode (like Light Yagami VS L, I suppose? Well, this wasn’t really the time to do that though) between the two of them. Hope to see in the future some high level negotiations in a more… intense way.

Yeah, Wams are simply incredible. Just thinking about the possibilities, the unlimited possibilities of their usage make me shiver. Hm? Why would be the most common opinion neutral? I would agree immediately. Umu, what about overseas? That’s really important to know.

…Sasuga humanity! You never stop to confirm my image of you! I understand that having one sole country managing the Wams, but seriously, for some illogical reasons I just can’t stand it. They were given by Yaha-kui zaShunina to the japanese, so it should be up to them to choose. Not to be forced by someone else. Or at least, request to simply share them, what’s the need to secure them and just make the UN manage them?

By the way, I really liked the reason zaShunina used for giving them to the japanese, the “bread”. What a beautiful concept, too bad it doesn’t really apply here. Also, isn’t the UN worried about having a super-advanced God/alien, who used as first coin bet a freaking unlimited source of energy, as enemy. I suggest reconsidering the choice of getting on his bad side.

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Cute. CUTE. Seriously CUTE! My GodYaha-kui zaShunina, how can she be so cute? See? Screw CGI, cuteness is justice whatever the animation type.

Hm… I suppose you’re against it because mankind is still too unprepared. There isn’t enough “bread”, huh. That’s a good point too. Still, my greed make me want to disagree, strongly disagree, but your cuteness is too strong for me.

JijiOld Man, you don’t understand? Don’t worry, I and many others don’t understand either. NO CO2? Clean energy?! Holy, this is seriously a gift form God. Just… just how many problems would it resolve? Sure, it would bring more problems, but I think the former far outweight the latter, as conflicts are often caused by lack of resources, which could be produced somehow with infinite energy.

But… why the heck am I thinking so hard about it when it doesn’t exist in reality? Oh, well. Just another otaku’s rambling. Daydreaming is a skill we usually develop quite fast.

Umu, staying there for a month without anime, manga, light novels or visual novels. Oh, God. i would die from boredom, or at least go into vegetative state.

Hanamori-kun… you’re easily convinced, huh.

The Wam are not gifts to countries.

They are gifts to humanity.

I can’t stop liking Yaha-kui’s character. I just love how he evolves, and now he’s analyzing countries in a really… how to say it, convincing way? Anyways, I just like his explanation, all of his explanation. When he talks, it almost seems to create a solemn atmosphere, though this is also the result of a perfect combination between Voices, Visuals and Sounds/OSTs I suppose. Well in the end, you get it: I just really like him.

Another way? Japanese’s resolve? I wonder what’s the new method, it must be quite inconvenient compared to the first.

I can’t stand it.

UN being unreasonably realistic.

The whole reason zaShuina chose Japan was for the “bread”, and look how mankind lives up to your great expectations: “you either give us all the Wams, or the World will crush you”.

I seriously hate that kind of thing, be it your parents, be it your friends (yours, not mine as I don’t really have any), be it your classroom, be it society, be it the world; I truly hate those that force their views and beliefs on others, while trying to crush the minority and being able to do that because you are the majority. Let me quote what a woman said in a Light Novel I really like:

The world is narrow-minded. It is arrogant. It is cruel. The world does not acknowledge people who do not act according to its point of view. The world is not kind to us. It laughs at us, sneers at us, denies us. It dunks us into the coal tar and the bottom of the sea. In this world, we, who deviate only slightly from the conventions of others, are utterly alone. – Chigusa Yuu, Kuzu to Kinka no Qualidea (LN)

But my illogical rage towards the (human) world, which can go and explode, aside.

Let us return to the episode. No, wait. Something else came to mind: regarding the UN, I now wonder what was it actually doing in Gate: Thus the JDSF fought, I may have a short-term memory, but I believe it didn’t really do anything at all? Well, I suppose having the whole UN against is far worse than what actually happened in Gate.

Ok, let us continue.

Financial restrictions? Travel prohibitions? Ending diplomatic resolution? INTERNATIONAL MILITARY ACTION?!

Sure. Bring it on, World. I’m getting excited, excited to see how Japan destroy you (with zaShunina’s aid though).

Sorry for being naive, but I seriously hope, that Japan can stand against the UN. Please zaShunina, learn about their lack of “bread” and show them your superiority. Wait, now that I think about it, WAM ISN’T YOUR ONLY CARD RIGHT? AND TO THINK YOU USED IT FIRST… WHAT THE HELL DO YOU STILL HAVE? A TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN!?

Yeah, please let us know Shindou. Let us know the way around this.

…her? The a little-too-excited-scientist? (though I’m far more excited than her…). I’m curious about the criteria now. Sadly, Endingh theme already started…. Hm, ED is also really nice.

And I’m really excited by the preview. Can’t wait for next episode!

I’m seriously enjoying this show. It’s just so interesting, and the atmosphere it generates is great. The sci-fi elements are perfectly on point in my humble opinon. I have great expectation.

Great show! Strongly recommended! Izanagi’s score is: 8/9!

Regarding Seikaisuru Kado Episode 4 “And Thus War(?)” Now let's talk about Seikaisuru Kado  or KADO: The Right Answer. This also was a quite surprising finding.