#and now i am sitting here like wow :( it's too bad nintendo will never make my highly specific and impossible dream movie :(

[thegeminisage]

okay i have another zelda ask for you. save for whenever you want a meaty ask. in my recent zelda youtubery people have been revisiting/laughing at that wacky animated series or whatever, like 'lol this was SO bad we will never get a zelda movie now'. which.. i'm not even sure if i want in the first place. but i did think, "well liz could write a good one". so if nintendo kidnapped you and forced you to write the zelda movie. what's your vision for the vibe/big plot points/character arcs? or like. what would it need to be good. just for fun! i hope you never get sick of me sending you random zelda asks. xoxoxo.

I WILL LITERALLY NEVER GET SICK OF THIS. i am literally SO flattered you think i could do it justice. you are gonna regret asking me though because the more time i had to think this over the more elaborate it got. so. (also, i have seen the animated series in its entirety. a long time ago now but i did. it sure was an experience; some of it i liked and some of it i really hated.) also sorry this took me so long to do i took a week’s break in the middle to read 1.3 million words of fanfiction. I BET YOU THOUGHT I FORGOT well i didnt. i have devoted so much brainpower to this. too much brainpower even

anyway. the first obvious and easy answer is that i would simply have them shoot ocarina of time. with only the most nuanced of performances, the most tasteful CGI, the best on-site locations for shooting, a score by koji kondo himself which is then of course performed LIVE exclusively by tokyo philharmonic. this is the movie of my dreams. or, hell, i’d have them shoot, in particular, the movie version of the fanfic i wrote when i was 14, adapting ocarina of time. this was my first ever fic so as you can imagine it was a complete bastardization full of OCs and character death and i will forever be sad it was lost to the sands of time. 

HOWEVER. that’s the short boring answer, and having adapted it myself i know that oot is a challenging game to put into a story that doesn’t involve audience interaction, because a great bulk of the game is spent inside dungeons where, strictly plotwise, Nothing Happens. also i don’t think that’s the movie nintendo would want to make, or allow me to make. i think nintendo would want a new story with a new link, just like they would for a new game, to make it accessible for people who have never touched a zelda game before. (i think, mistakenly, they would want to make the movie primarily for that audience, but more on that later.) i also think that with the major game movies lately there’s been a push for things to be Funny - detective pikachu and the sonic movies are all packed with jokes, and from the looks of it the mario movie, while hopefully less successful (chris pratt...die), will attempt to be too. i also know that nintendo has a habit of trying out really risky ideas that sound bad but then work out well in the execution (smash brothers, to name one humble example - the mario movie will be an exception to this). i ALSO know that the most popular zelda games by and far are oot and botw, so while this project would require a new story i (and hopefully this hypothetical nintendo) would want to draw from and reference those games the most.

so. here is the movie i think nintendo would make, or allow me to make, if they trusted me a lot and were willing to take a few risks with me. THIS IS SOOO LOOOONG LOL (i am not kidding this post is ~7500 words) unfortunately this has to behind a cut. nobody is obligated to read it, it’s fucking insane. it would never fit into a 2-hour movie experience without feeling rushed, but we can just pretend i’m a deft enough writer to make it happen and execute it perfectly. i am going to reiterate that NOBODY needs to read this, oh my god, but anyway, here goes nothing:

ZELDA THE MOVIE (LIZ EDITION)

does link talk?

FIRST THINGS FIRST. this is undoubtedly the biggest question in any zelda movie, right? link talking is weird and not who he is, but how can you have a movie where the main character does not speak? in old games it didn’t really matter that he didn’t talk, but i think botw did a great job in showing us he does talk a little, sometimes, when he has to, without us ever actually hearing him, and that he has Believable Reasons for usually choosing not to do so. so i’m gonna go with something like that - link CAN talk, but usually doesn’t, probably due to some backstory reasons. i think he could speak in the film, but maybe only once - 3 times max, and each time it’s only one sentence or phrase. VERY limited. words are a precious resource.

animated or live action?

i think the previous question’s answer actually takes care of this one. now i LOVE animation, 2D or cgi, so this is a really difficult one, but i think a true human performance will almost always be able to capture more nuance, and if you are going to have a protagonist that is mostly nonverbal, you NEED an actual actor to be making good informative faces. i could POSSIBLY accept an actor informing the animation of a virtual character, like they do for tlou and quantic dream games, but it’d have to be like, pre-rendered, and not generated “in-engine,” if that makes sense, just for quality purposes. i don’t want this movie to look like a video game, even a really nice looking video game - i want it to look like a movie. i think it makes it fresher for old fans and more accessible for new ones!

the score

for sure we need old zelda tunes for this; my biggest disappointment re: the sonic movies was that there wasn’t enough of that jammin’ sonic music in them. so for zelda i think it’d be fun to have someone from nintendo collab with someone from hollywood to make a mix of something that’s faithful to the games and evocative of decades of nostalgia but also FEELS like a movie score. like, koji kondo + hans zimmer or something. that soundtrack, assuming those stingy bastards ever sold it, would FLY off the metaphorical shelves. it’d be really fun too to maybe some really well-known, very skilled fan musicians put in a few of the covers! a video game movie is FOR the fans, so it makes perfect sense. like letting that one guy sing in the sega 30th anniversary concert. i’m not saying let seth evermann and toby fox and david erick ramos and brock hewitt and theophany have tracks in the movie, but like, let them have tracks in the movie?!?!

i also think mashups between modern and classic games would be fun. if you’ve never heard this one that combines the botw labyrinth/lost woods theme with zelda ii’s temple theme, you are missing out! please feel free to listen to it while you read this, because i would definitely use it or something very similar to it as a theme for a dungeon scene. for the opening titles we OF COURSE need oot's iconic title theme i will accept nothing less

slightly related, i think if we need to pick a particular direction for the soundtrack (the way botw’s was breathy and quiet and full of piano, or the way link’s awakening’s was quirky and cute), i’d pick a slight techno/edm direction, owing to the setting i have in mind (more on that in a minute), but something that could veer into the traditionally orchestrated as well. tbh the tron legacy soundtrack was sort of edm and orchestrated at the same time so maybe something like that??? now i’m just showing my bias LMAO

the cast + the audience

animated or live action, i actually have no idea who i’d cast - oot link was actually based off of leo dicaprio in titanic, but he’s way too old now and also that’d be weird. like i’m not the person to do fancasts bc i don’t follow any actors and the like (idris elba could make a great ganondorf though). but i think the smart thing to do for link and zelda would be to get someone extremely talented but largely unknown. so we look at them and see their characters, not their very famous actors who are bound to have the wrong connotation for SOMEBODY. that is very hard! but this is a fantasy, this is never going to happen, so we’ll assume nintendo, who still has me at gunpoint, will take my advice to spend their vast millions finding the perfect link and zelda. i know they are out there somewhere

“but what about attracting new audiences” WELL i touched on this earlier but maybe we need to chill with attempting to grub for new consumers! of course nintendo’s instinct is to get new butts in those seats and make them want to buy zelda games bc they have dollar signs in their eyes (yen signs?) and diehard fans will ALREADY keep buying every zelda ever made no matter what. i have paid for ocarina of time like 5 fucking times now and if they port the 3D version to switch i’ll fucking pay for it again and thank them while i do it! but that’s my point exactly. like, look at the sonic movies: they get mixed reviews from critics unfamiliar with the series but sonic FANS will go to war for them. the people who are gonna show up to midnight release and pay to see Theee Zelda Movie in theaters like 6 times before it releases to video/streaming are the people already fucking obsessed with zelda. i think for this project it would be crucial to strike a perfect, PERFECT balance. if the movie fucking sucks bc they were just trying to use it to sell games there won’t be a sequel. there won’t be rewatches. it’ll just go down as another lame cash cow. but if the movie doesn’t attract ANY new consumers there also...still won’t be a sequel, and it still won’t be regarded as a success. so.

i think we should make up the Fame Factor of the protagonists being nobodies by having the side characters voiced by some big names. if/when people like malon, impa, groose, the sages/champions/etc appear they could be played by famous people. i think it’d also be fun to get some cameos in there - have shigeru miyamoto, eiji aonuma, and charles martinet show up like stan lee in a marvel movie. zelda williams too if she’s comfortable with that! the more the merrier! get that star power in! make that $$$ so our corporate overlords allow us to make a sequel and also don’t fucking shoot me! and the biggest star of all should be...

the partner

if link is nonverbal, SOMEBODY in this joint needs to be delivering the dialogue. i know the lack of a partner was a big hit in botw, and it worked really well there, but while books and games can survive without dialogue it’s much harder for movies - that’s the main method of communicating information to your audience. a good nonverbal performance certainly helps with communicating information, as do clever camera shots and other techniques for dialogue-less storytelling, but in the end, for a mainstream movie, link would need SOMEONE to be his voice, that’s part of why he HAD partners for so many games. it’s an age-old technique in games with a voiceless protagonist to have other characters guess at or describe what they want to say to pass the idea along to us, so i think it could work very well in film too.

now i think nintendo would want to make a totally new partner, since there’s a new one for each of the games, and they would want to cast the Most famous person possible to get non zelda fans in those seats, but again, if i was in charge of this thing i would advise heavily against it. casting the most famous person they can afford is fine if it’s not chris pratt, but we need a character fans already know, and my gut instinct tells me it should either be navi or fi. 

now, hear me out, because i know BOTH are characters that kind of annoyed players initially due to frustrating gameplay mechanics, but the fanbase’s impression of their CHARACTERS in-universe has softened a good deal over time. i think how annoying they are could also be played for a little bit of comic relief/nostalgia, which is good since zelda is often quite serious in its plot, and this character would be onscreen nearly constantly, likely having the biggest speaking role, so you could drop that comic relief in whenever you liked. 

reasons it could be fi: connected to the master sword, has been with every iteration of link from the very beginning and can explain the reincarnation/cycle thing, good way to induce a call to action or whatever

reasons it could be navi: plays on the nostalgia of ocarina of time, the undisputed KING of “best zelda ever” until botw, she could be with link from BEFORE the movie starts and know him a little better, and even express desire to resist the call

being a 90s kid i am favorable to navi, but i think the plot could work with either of them. just not a new character!!!

the setting

i’m actually gonna take a little bit of risk with my setting here and suggest all those flirtations nintendo has had with adding urban elements and tech (and space invaders?!) to the legend of zelda become real. the sheikah tech in botw came VERY close, so it doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch to have link wandering around a tlou-like hyrule, one that used to resemble our own modern urban life, or maybe even something even more futuristic. 

and i say tlou-like because oh yeah i think this also needs to be post-apocalypse. this one is not at ALL a stretch - even before botw, we also had versions of hyrule that were destroyed and/or taken over by hostile forces in the original legend of zelda, a link to the past (dark world) & a link between worlds (lorule), oot (bad timeline), wind waker (got mcfucking flooded), minish cap (hostile takeover leaving statues behind), twilight princess (coup + twilight realm), not to mention majora’s mask being ABOUT an oncoming apocalypse, and of course we can’t forget koholint either. give settings like this or this or this or this some of that quirky hylian flare that only nintendo can do, add some monsters (more on this in a sec), and i think you’ve got a world that is both easily understandable by audiences unfamiliar with the series AND one that is both nostalgic and fresh for old fans - in the same way that botw’s hyrule was.

but i don’t think this is the ONLY hyrule we should see. this leads into (at last)...

the premise

i’m just gonna say it: time travel.

obviously not a stretch by any imagination, since THEEE zelda game of all time involved time travel and helped produce the finalized branching timeline as a result, but we don’t actually time travel too often outside of that...like i said, i want to draw a lot from oot! 

i also want to explore the cycle of reincarnation* introduced in skyward sword. skyward sword and botw are very exciting to me as a longtime fan because these are the first attempts we’ve seen at pulling the games all together and making an entire universe/connected story out of them instead of letting them just float around in the ether as a collection of stand-alones that sometimes have barely-connected sequels if they’re lucky. botw in a way felt like the first proper sequel we’ve ever REALLY had. 

*yes, it’s actually more complicated than simple reincarnation, since the zeldas are all technically separate people and ganondorf never dies, but i think it’s good shorthand and tbh i wouldn’t mind if we switched to “link and zelda are always reincarnated but ganondorf never dies” or “everybody is reincarnated” for the movie just to make it more digestible to the Masses - i feel like a relatively small portion of the main fanbase would complain, especially if the rest of the movie was good. using the same actress for zelda in every timeline is easy visual shorthand, similar to using the same actor for link, whether it’s animated or live-action. it’s just easier!! sorry, this may a bit unpopular to our hypothetical hardcore fans.

i’d also like to explore what it means to accept the call of destiny/call to action and to refuse it. i had an anon once (posts here, here, and here) who talked about playing botw as someone who’d never touched zelda before and they had a totally different experience than me and how they wanted to refuse to save the world, and there’s also this comic! and i think that's the craziest brainiest shit ever so of course i’d want it in my movie.

and finally, i know it’s partially because botw2 will never give us this, but i am chomping at the BIT for some good guy ganondorf content, especially since skyward sword basically told us he didn’t ask for it to be like this anymore than link and zelda did. a lot of fanon around botw2 rehydrated ganondorf has him having been really close friends with a link and zelda at some point before being overwhelmed by his curse, and i like that a lot. because then not only is he a formidable villain, but he’s also a villain with STAKES - we like him and we want him to be saved from himself, and the monster he becomes. 

anyway, what with multiple timelines/hyrules (termina and koholint etc are also fine, they’re still from link’s adventures), it would be cool if the “older” hyrules had more traditional music, and the tracks for modern hyrule were a little more slamming. that’s a little risky, though; might be better to just straight edm or orchestrate all of it without a split.

the plot

so, i’m not getting into the specifics of each scene or how it should go because at that point i’m outlining a fanfic i’ll never write, and i have at least three ideas for how any given major beat could play out anyway, so think of this as more of a general overview.

i thinking something like: link roams the urban apocalypse landscape on his lonesome (or with navi if that’s the partner character) hunting treasure in the ruins to sell and living off the land the way he does in botw. (maybe he has steampunk goggles lol.) he’s a friendly guy who tries to go out of his way to help people but he does not have a Purpose. i’m thinking an early scene where he tries to save some passerby from monsters** and lacks a proper weapon (his is rusted or gets broken), or maybe a bit where he gets caught by monsters while looking for treasure, and again his weapon breaks, and that can throw us into the action. then later he sells his treasure to a merchant, and the people around him can give exposition on why the world is like this (something to do with ganondorf, of course - i’m thinking similarly to botw, he fucked shit up bigtime before he got sealed away by zelda) and how hopeless everyone is that anything will ever get better. again, navi can be link’s voice during this part, if she is his partner - explaining he doesn’t talk much, answering questions on his behalf.

**i am very firm on this: we need either newly designed monsters for the movie (likely what nintendo would do) or a mix of the monsters from various games. i don’t want to ONLY use monsters from botw for example, because this isn’t the botw movie, it’s the zelda movie. (i’m already drawing SO much from botw i’d be reluctant to use any monsters from it at all that weren’t exclusive to that particular game.) so maybe the botw guardians, the oot redeads, the wind waker moblins, etc. i think a guardian would actually be a great first encounter because they’re fucking terrifying and the piano chime coming in would have an entire theater ready to jump right out of their seats!! anyway

i think link should maybe get a glimpse of the master sword during that adventure, or see it in a dream or whatever, and if fi is gonna be our partner she can lead him to it as she did before in the night, or he can go back looking for it, but either way the next thing he does is find the sword and pull it out of the stone. LEFT-HANDED. idgaf which hand the actor is dominant with. it’s a movie! act! i hate righty link >:( both the sword from the stone and the lefty link are CRUCIAL imagery.

ANYWAY, this is why i like navi being the partner character. i think fi could and would come out of the sword, and explain why the world is like this, and tell link what he must do to save it, and beckon link towards the call of adventure. but i also think that is a little bit boring and lacks narrative tension. i think it would be more fun to actually give navi a plotline where she wants to REFUSE the call, because it would conflict with link’s stubborn insistence on always doing the right thing.

let’s say this navi is THEEEEE same navi from ocarina of time, right? that she remembers all of that, and she remembers how ocarina of time is actually the saddest zelda game, and she had a good reason for leaving at the end. (the actual reason is that apparently she had romantic feelings towards link, but that’s weird and bad and i don’t like it, so i am ignoring it, since nintendo also won’t fess up to it on record.) and so now she just wants to hang out with link and keep him safe and happy or whatever. adventures are hard! they’re sad! link has to sacrifice and suffer every time he’s called to save the world! ganondorf is fine where he is, so why bother! (link would not know or remember any of this - obviously, he wouldn’t remember his past lives, but it’s very possible he doesn’t remember his own life before navi came to him either; maybe he was in whatever wrecked hyrule and slept for a hundred years like in botw, or maybe it was like this when he was born, but this is, crucially, all navi’s big secret to carry.)

fi could still come out of the sword as a minor character in this instance to argue with her, but eventually link would successfully be talked out of taking the sword and put it back in the pedestal - which makes the spirit of the sword, whether she is seen onscreen or not, rebel and send him back through time. i am undecided on whether it’s an illusion and he just goes back to relive his old memories or whether he actually for real time travels - there are pros and cons to both approaches! either way navi would go with him (unless fi is the partner character and then i suppose she could) because link does still need a voice!

this will now be a call to adventure more convincing than any possible sword spirit: a glimpse of what link’s missing. the hyrule he winds up in could be HIS hyrule with all the future-y stuff but before the apocalypse fucked it up. the sky is blue, the sun is out, there’s no monsters! i think it could have kind of a solarpunk vibe, honestly. familar landmarks we passed before are restored, people like the ones he maybe couldn’t save are walking around. but in order to get back home link has to find the master sword in this era and put it back in the pedestal of time (or something like that...details aren’t important), so he spends a little time here, and, most crucially, meets zelda.

zelda and ganondorf

i think this will probably be the most important 5 or 10 minutes of the movie. you know how at the beginning of “up” you’re like ready to start bawling from 10 minutes of content bc it was that good and meaningful? we gotta do it like that. i’m not sure what happens, if it should be like an actiony adventure scene or just them hanging out, but even if they span days or weeks or months in-universe we would have 10 minutes, i think, to make the audience absolutely fall head over heels in love with this girl. possibly this is the first time we hear link actually speak - the fact that he says three entire words in front of her is a sign she’s something really special. but our movie-goers need more than anything to really believe link would want to save her, that she’s not just some chick he’s saving because that’s what you do. i think the entire conflict of the movie would rest on this premise: navi representing the part of link that wants to refuse the call, and zelda representing the part of him that wants to answer it.

it might be a good idea to have link meet ganondorf here, too, but not see too much of him, because i also think it’s a good idea for him to witness the beginning of hyrule’s destruction. we’d be due for an action scene, and also it makes the instinct to jump in and fight stronger. but when link finds and touches the master sword again (or whatever) - bam. different time.

i am picturing a non-linear jump through multiple hyrules, in which link meets many familiar faces (this is where our cast can be star-studded if budget allows) and tours many familiar locations, all the while trying to solve the mystery of the disaster in his own time and how he can make it right. it’s even possible that he could flip back to his own hyrule here and there - it would depend on the logistics of the actual time traveling mechanic. what he finds out as he goes back and forth through these various hyrules is twofold: that he has prevented and healed great suffering, but also suffered deeply himself, which again adds to the long list of pros and cons of saving the world or letting it fend for itself.

in this section link also finds out about demise���s curse, and the cycle he and zelda and ganondorf are all trapped in. if the ten minute opener to Old Hyrule was meant to make our audience fall in love with zelda, i think this section should make them sympathize with ganondorf. i would like to show him doing good things and bad things - i want to see the half-feral freak from twilight princess and the remorseful noble antagonist from wind waker. i think it’d be really neat to have link thrown into a final battle at one point, since if ganondorf is a “good guy” it’s not likely it’ll happen any other way and i’d hate not to have one. and of course we’d also have to see demise - it’s important to show that ganondorf’s agency over his own actions was somewhat limited. it’s a gray area because he chose to do some of it but how much choice did he really have in any of it? a scene where he’s sort of fighting with himself would be really good, because in struggling to decide whether or not to enter back into the cycle and suffer to save the world AGAIN, link is struggling with himself too. or maybe something where he’s looking at the aftermath of what he’s done and is horrified and wants link to put him down? idk!! there’s so many ways it could go - even before demise’s curse was canon, wind waker ganondorf sort of painted a picture of a man who was backed into a corner by the unfairness of life, which is again something link and zelda are very familiar with.

and we definitely wouldn’t leave zelda out of these sections! the goddamn series is named after her. like i said, every zelda would be probably played by the same actress, and while it’s always nice to see her, it’s not the same as knowing the zelda we met first is safe and happy. we can get to know her and her own struggle with living up to her role of protecting the kingdom, we can see her interact with ganondorf, and she she can help link figure out how to get to the next hyrule and dodge enemies, but in the end, he always has to leave her behind, and he has yet to find out what happened to the first zelda he met, the one from “his” hyrule, before the apocalypse.

i think it is in this section that someone, zelda or ganondorf, expresses the hope that there’s a way to break demise’s curse so they can all rest. there should be some back and forth on this - it could be possible, it could be impossible - but i think there should be a glimmer of real hope beyond “surely there’s a way!” but no guarantee. i think the triforce would be a good way to accomplish this - its power is theoretically unlimited, but you’d have to unite it first, and the only one who usually does that is ganondorf, and because he’s cursed, it responds to his evil wishes with evil. so it’s theoretically possible but practically impossible, you know?

and okay, like, you’d think ganondorf would think it was pointless while zelda would hold out hope that it could still happen, but i think it’d be fun to actually subvert those expectations! i think for ganondorf, who arguably suffers the bleakest fate***, to have the most optimism, would endear him greatly to our hypothetical audience, and make them want to save him too.

***bro, at least link and zelda get to be heroes and people are glad to see them. ganondorf is hated and feared by all and he doesn’t even get to DIE. he always loses and even when he wins his reward is unchecked destruction. yikes.

the bad guy (not ganondorf!!)

i think in addition to needing to solve the puzzle of his and zelda’s and ganondorf’s incredibly complex histories, and the history of hyrule itself, link should also be running from something, to give the film urgency and action scenes. if ganondorf is the good guy, we need an antagonist and a threat. you know how in zelda ii, all the monsters want link’s blood because it could revive ganon? i think that would be a RAD callback, and also give a bad guy a reason to chase link through time - with his blood, they can unseal ganondorf. 

i have two candidates in mind for this. technically three, because the first candidate is twinrova/koume & kotake. they have the potential to be wickedly funny and pants-shittingly terrifying (they were both in ocarina of time, because they bicker but they also do scary mind control), they are ganondorf’s surrogate mothers, AND they have canonically tried to resurrect ganon(dorf) before. the other person it could be is dark link. dark link wouldn’t be as funny or as talkative as the witches, but he would be lots scarier and it would give link’s actor a chance to do a little vocal performance. (just because link doesn’t talk doesn’t mean his evil shadow can’t taunt him mercilessly.) these are both REALLY appealing to me, but if i had to choose, i’d go with dark link, because struggle with the self is a defining factor in this arc i am building. it’s also a good callback to zelda ii, where he first appeared, and where the “blood of link” plotline comes from. if we already have navi, i don’t think it’s fair to have another oot-specific character no matter how funny she/they would be.

so twinrova or dark link is heading up a monster posse chasing link through time, trying to draw his blood so they can go back to the present and unseal ganondorf. meanwhile link is hopping from era to era with navi trying to figure out what it is he’s supposed to see or know so he can get back home and maybe save everyone. i imagine he’s generally only one step ahead of the monsters, and i think it’d be fun if there was at least one early fight scene with dark link in which link gets his butt kicked and barely gets away, because it would be fun to have another one later where the results are reversed.

navi/the reveal

during the course of this adventure, i think it would be kind of fun if navi, like i said, KNEW what she needed to know, but kept trying to keep link from finding out, sabotaging his efforts to answer the call because she wants them to refuse it so badly. but it was never gonna work, because link can’t go home until he figures out how to go home. you know? 

so the very last hyrule link would go to is the much-beloved ocarina of time, where, unbeknownst to him, he and navi first met. we’ll say that maybe she left to figure out if there was a way to break the cycle, even though we never saw her find out about it in oot because it didn’t exist yet, and though she looked for thousands and thousands of years, she never found one, so eventually she decided to return to link. she was there the day the apocalypse started in “his” hyrule, and she saw that ganondorf went mad trying to resist what demise’s curse wanted him to do, and eventually snapped and idk torched everything. and that means she saw what happened after, and how he was sealed - zelda herself sealed him, just like she did in botw, and she’s stuck with him inside the remnants of hyrule castle. (is it still a castle if it’s all futuristic? maybe something like this or this or this except, you know, hylian.) she’s not conscious and suffering trying to hold him back the way she was in botw, i think they’re both just frozen in time or something, but nonetheless - the only way to free zelda is to also free ganondorf. 

and that would start the cycle anew, which is why navi tried so hard to let them just stay where they were. 

link learns other things about his life in oot’s hyrule, i think. this is veering into headcanon territory, but i always read oot’s link as an outcast; he’s stuck between two worlds, and in kokiri forest he was a bullied kid, and all but tossed out on his ass even after he saved them, and not recognized or welcomed upon his return because of how different he looked as an adult. and he also lacks a proper place in the world outside the forest; as a little kid, no one takes him seriously, and he has no family or adults to take care of him so that he might lead a normal life. people are usually glad to see link in oot after he becomes an adult because he’s rescuing them, but as a kid i feel like most of the time he’s told to buzz off and go play. 

anyway, since navi was a firsthand witness to this particular journey to save hyrule, i feel like you could definitely swing her reading of those events as “the world rejected link and only wanted him when they needed him.” i don’t think it’s true, and i don’t think link thinks it’s true, it’s obviously way more complex than that, but it’s a good way to show that in addition to link, zelda, & ganondorf suffering because of demise’s curse, the people who love them (navi, who in this case is standing in for us, the audience, who hopefully by now loves them very dearly) suffer along with them, and want to help ease their pain and regrets. “why would you want to save a world that doesn’t want you?” is a very good question, and it gets right to the heart of who link is as a person, in EVERY iteration: someone who cares deeply about others and wants to do the right thing.

and i think this might be the first break between link and navi’s partnership - he’d want to save zelda and hyrule, and she wouldn’t. and if she had told him about it honestly from the beginning it would have made a compelling argument, and part of him maybe wants to give it up just because he wants to spare her that pain, but the other part of him knows he can’t, and is hurt about being lied to and sabotaged, because he thought she was on his side. i think maybe they fight about it? inasmuch as you can fight with someone who doesn’t speak. (and see, if the partner character were fi, link would just have to be transported back to the apocalypse and watch zelda seal ganondorf herself. lame.)

the climax

BUT THEN. before they can finish fighting, before link can finish deciding what to do, dark link (or twinrova ig) & the monsters show up. i prefer dark link for this because he represents link’s struggle. link can’t save zelda and hyrule without going back into the cycle (and he’d have to fight ganondorf, who we like!). dark link also wants to restart the cycle but for the wrong reasons (he wants to bring back ganondorf with link’s blood). since he’s a bad guy, he makes navi’s suggestion of just leaving things as they are, which initially seems cold and selfish, look more reasonable by comparison.

so link and dark link would have to fight in oot’s hyrule (classic!), maybe in hyrule field with lots of rain, or the water temple, or perhaps an ever-shifting background like in final destination in smash bros yes i really said that. i think this is the “final boss battle” of this movie - this is an all-out fight with special effects and action and high stakes. it’s possible that link speaks in this battle because it’s a very important moment, possibly ironically to tell dark link to shut up. dark link could even put navi in a bottle or something, i don’t know. this is the reason i wanted an earlier fight with dark link (or again, possibly twinrova) where link got his ass beat, because it would establish him (them) as SCARY, and establish how badly things could go if link loses. 

i think for this fight, link would falter in the first half, not yet settled in what he wants to do, but eventually, navi would do something to help him out - warn him about a blow or take a blow or heal an injury - to show that she has finally accepted the call herself, she IS on his side no matter what that means, and that she’ll support whatever his decision is. when they fight together, they win handily, illustrating the newfound strength in their bond. 

the ending

finally, link goes back to his own hyrule, master sword in hand, free at last of dark link and his monsters (or who knows, maybe they are still chasing him and he only just got away again). navi could be with him, but if we wanted an awful cliffhanger, we could have her sacrifice herself to get link to where he needs to be, and now the enemy has her, and we don’t know if she’s okay. i think the ending scene might be more dramatic if link was alone, but it could go either way.

at this point i think fi could lead link back through the underground tunnels or wherever he is towards the ruins of the castle, similarly to how she may have led him to the sword - if fi isn’t in this at all, he could just have a feeling, a curiosity. but we see him walk through a cave much like the one in the botw2 trailer, and maybe some soundbytes from earlier in the movie play - lines about how there MUST be a way to stop the cycle break the curse, and lines about what a bad idea it would be to try. this is why i think navi might need to be absent here; link alone should make the choice, not influenced by anyone else, and soundbytes are a good way to show that he’s still struggling with this decision.

and he goes on and on, and the tunnels get darker and darker, more and more destroyed, and he has to shine a flashlight, and he looks just like he did at the start of the film when he was hunting treasure or whatever, but this time he’s alone. 

his flashlight beam maybe like falls across ganondorf’s snarling face, suspended in time, for a little jumpscare. a wider sweep reveals he’s found zelda too at last. the triforces on their hands are glowing, they’re locked in battle, it’s sad and scary. there is something like desperation in zelda’s eyes, but in ganondorf’s too. all three of them are all trapped in a moment in time, reliving it over and over, and they can’t get out. and link looks at them, and his little soundbytes play, and then he has to decide if one tiny impossible hope for breaking demise’s curse is worth accepting the risk of so much pain and suffering for all three of them, and more people besides.

close in on link’s bloody hand white-knuckling the sword. the triforce of courage is flickering to life on his own hand, because he is considering making the most courageous choice of all, to face down his fear of the oncoming suffering to fight for who he loves, for what is right. but he opens his hand, drops his weapon, and it flickers out. and you think, yeah, okay, he’s giving up navi asked him to, right?

then link lifts his hand, still bleeding, so close he could touch ganondorf and undo the seal at last, and the triforce blazes to life--

and we roll those motherfucking credits.

the midcredits scene/sequel hooks

zelda is such a complex series that it seems nearly impossible to sum up the entire thing in one movie. i’m sure in real life even the most skilled of editing couldn’t cut this concept down to an acceptable movie time without something feeling rushed. but we definitely don’t have time to set up the problem AND give it a satisfying resolution, hence the cliffhanger. 

after the initial animated cool credits, i think we’d need an epilogue scene. i am thinking something like, maybe we had a fakeout and thought navi and dark link were both dead and/or beyond link’s reach, but then we pan back to the battlefield and see that oh my god, navi’s okay! but whoops, so is dark link. he puts her back in a bottle or something and does a cool villain laugh and navi is like WHATS SO FUNNY and he’s like HAHAHAHAHA MY MASTER LIVES to confirm that link did indeed wake the slumbering beast

things the sequel would need to address: getting navi back (link looking for navi is a great callback to majora’s mask), fighting dark link again maybe, what happens when ganondorf, who has already gone evil this time, wakes up, how to save zelda from ganondorf, how to save hyrule, and of course, how to break the curse (whether or not it’s possible with the power of the triforce, and how it will go now that link got his piece). a sequel movie probably wouldn’t feature the same wide array of characters and settings as the first, but with the benefit of developed characters and plot that’s already been set up, it could tell a more satisfying story without having to rely on nostalgia and fight scenes for as much of its fun. it would also be a great chance to explore the futuristic hyrule which we wouldn’t have gotten to see as much of in movie #1

with all that potential, if i somehow managed to pull off that first movie, nintendo would SURELY greenlight a sequel in which link finally faces his greatest foe of all: not ganon, but destiny itself. not even the games have done that so it would be perhaps fucking AWESOME. but it's also quite likely that nintendo now regrets kidnapping me lmao

in conclusion/tl;dr

a perfect zelda movie needs classic zelda music, a nonverbal link + a funny partner, and lots of cameos. it has to strike a good balance with old and new fans and save the star-studded cast for the side-characters, not the main ones. it also needs to leave room for a sequel!! the most important plot point would be breaking link, zelda, and ganondorf out of their curse, because i am OBSESSED with that. obviously the games can never do it bc then there’s no more games, and nobody wants that, but if you’re going to change mediums, you can use that medium to what it is uniquely suited for - a showdown that is ultimate and final. there only need to be two zelda movies (MAYBE three if people just want a trilogy, but idk how you could possibly stretch it), which means they get to have something the games never could: an ending.

THANK YOU!!!! for coming to my motherfucking ted talk.

[dessiekarma]

My Harem is Entirely Bad Boy Types (Kirisaki Daiichi x Reader) Pt. 12

Chapter 12: This Will NOT End Like Every Other Harem Anime; We Want an Answer!

 (Y/N) smiled at the younger male who continuously made quite the show of staring at her. It would come as no surprise where he got the habit from, as the man sitting on the opposite couch didn’t do a much subtler job at gawking.

 “You’re not as hot as big bro made you seem.” The kid drolled out bluntly before flopping onto the couch and pulling out a Nintendo switch.

 “You rude little shit!” Hara exclaimed making his way into the room with a bottle of water. Just as quickly as the water was shoved into (Y/N)’s hand was the Switch pulled from the kid and held several feet over his head.

 “Triggered much!? Gimme my stuff! Oww!” The kid stopped taunting as an older woman delivered a smack onto his head.

 “Cut it out! Be nice to our lovely guest and don’t ruin this for your brother.” The woman hissed at her youngest son before smiling brightly at (Y/N). “Sorry my baby lacks some social graces much like I’m sure you’ve noticed with Kazuya.”

 “Mooooother please.” The lavender haired male groaned before dropping the switch onto his little brother’s face and sitting next to (Y/N).

 “I’m just teasing, sweetheart, she knows that. Do you need anything? Water, snacks, dinner?” The woman said being just a bit too generous and eager-sounding.

 “No, that’s okay Kazu-chan just brought me a bottle.”

 “Kazu-chan?” The woman smiled even wider, if that was possible and delivered little excited smacks onto her husband’s arm.

 “Darling, I think you might be scaring the poor girl.”

 “Says you, old man. You’ve been staring at her since she walked in the door.” Hara rolled his eyes, pulling the water bottle away from (Y/N)’s lips and taking a drink.

 “Ahh my son is right! I apologize, my wife may be a little excited to meet a girlfriend of Kazuya’s. We are just not used to him bringing girls home.”

 “Yea at least not ones that still have their clothes on.” His brother muttered quietly, sticking his tongue out at his brother death-glaring him.

 “Dad, ma, I already told you she’s not my girlfriend just my team manager.”

 “Sure bro, that why you never shut up about her?”

 “Ight imma beat his ass.” Hara stood up quickly and the preteen curled in on himself. Attempting to diffuse the situation (Y/N) took quick notice of the t-shirt the kid was wearing.

 “Hey cool shirt! Ochako is best girl, am I right?!”

 The kid instantly unraveled himself and sat straight up.

 “You like bnha?”

 “Hell yeah, it’s so cool! Lemillion is everything.”

 “Oh my god, did you see the new episode!?”

 “Surprisingly, I haven’t started the latest season yet.”

 “WHAT!? Well you have to watch it like right now!”

 “Are you offering?”

 “You’ll watch anime with me?” The kid now had a clear sparkle in his eyes as he jumped off the couch and pulled the girl up by the arm.

 Hara rolled his eyes as his weeb brother ran off with his equally weeb friend. Turning to his parents he could see the questioning in their eyes. Clearly wanting to know why he was bringing home a pretty beaten up girl at nine pm to meet them.

 “Look, you know how I mentioned having a female friend who was getting picked on? Well it’s gotten worse…much worse. She doesn’t feel okay going home right now and I didn’t want her to be alone. I offered for her to stay here.”

 Both his mom and dad looked at him blankly. The silence in the room was heavy.

 “I mean, please? Or is it okay if I stayed at a hotel with her?”

 The older woman suddenly shook her head, looking shocked. She turned to her equally flabbergasted husband.

 “Wait, honey, are you ASKING us?”

 “Well yeah. So, can she stay here for a bit?”

 “Of course she can.” His father responded still sounding a bit astonished.

 “Thanks. I’m gonna take a shower.”

 The two parents watched as their son made his way out of the room.

 “I can’t believe Kazuya actually asked our permission for something.”

 “Do you think it’s because of the girl? I think I like her already!”

 “What if he screws it up?”

 “Well…we still have two other single sons!”

~~~~~

 “Hey my mom sent me in here to clear out a pest problem.” Hara said nonchalantly bursting into the guest bedroom.

 (Y/N) jumped like a cat, startled by her friend’s abrupt entry.

 “I could have been changing or something!”

 “And? Come on, my eyesight is shit anyway.”

 “Not the point! Besides what pest problem?”

 Hara leaned against the wall and pulled open the nightstand to reveal a baby monitor. Talking into it he grew a shit eating grin.

 “What exactly were you hoping to hear through this you little perv!?”

 “Why don’t you mind your business you jerk!” A voice crackled through the monitor.

 (Y/N) couldn’t help but chuckle just a bit as Hara flung the device out the window.

 “You watched anime with that loser. That’s like third base in that kid’s eyes and you’re basically his girlfriend now.”

 “I’m flattered but I don’t think I can travel to America from prison.”

 The young girl tried to ignore the loud sigh that came from her friend. She knew that Hara was probably the one who disagreed the loudest with her decision to leave Japan. Flopping back onto the king size bed, (Y/N) wasn’t fazed when she felt Hara flop down beside her.

 A comfortable silence washed over the two. It went on for so long that (Y/N) was almost sure that she was seconds away from falling asleep. That’s why when Hara finally spoke, she easily chucked it up as her dreaming or hearing things.

 “(Y/N)?”

 “Hmm?”

 “If I told you I loved you…would you stay?”

 “If you told me you loved me would you even mean it?”

 “When have I ever shown myself to be someone who doesn’t say what they mean?”

 (Y/N) finally opened her eyes and turned her head. Instantly she was swept into the whirl-wind of Hara’s fantasy eyes. There was no playfulness in his face nor hidden joke. She waited for a punchline that never came.

 “Love is a strong word. Not even any of the other guys used that word.”

 “Because none of the other guys have enough experience to identify. And even those who do are too stubborn to admit it.”

 “And you’re not stubborn?”

 “I am. But right now all my stubbornness is focused on convincing you not to leave. Please? I’d take care of you. I wouldn’t let Mei, or your mother or grandfather so much as look at you if you didn’t want them to.”

 “But you know my plans.”

 “And you can accomplish them here. I would help and I’m sure my parents would literally bend over backwards to give you anything they could. Don’t you worry about leaving us? Worry that you’d miss us? Miss me?”

 “Of course. But it wouldn’t be forever…I just don’t know for how long it would be. But wow ‘love’ really?”

 “Yeah seriously. I’ve had more flings than I can count and a good number of girlfriends to boot. I know what infatuation feels like. I know what sexual desire feels like. Attraction, crushes, curiosity. I’ve felt all that before, but I never felt this one. I’d say the only thing left is love. Of course not that it means anything with you leaving.”

 “It doesn’t mean nothing.”

 “Don’t give me that shit. Do I seem like the type of guy to promise to wait for you however long it takes?”

 “Do I seem like the type of girl who would expect you to?”

 The silence came again this time feeling only a bit awkward.

 “I mean of course I’d fuck other girls while you were away. But uhh in terms of love…. A shitty guy like me? I wouldn’t have such great karma, to meet another girl. So I suppose no matter when you’d come back…”

 His voice trailed off and (Y/N) smiled at the thought of what he was trying to say. Feeling more comfortable than she had in days, the girl let her eyes close heavily and drifted to sleep.

~~~~~

 “She doesn’t wanna fucking see you and you have about one second to get the hell out of this gym before I turn you inside out.”

 Hara and (Y/N) looked at each other, hearing Yamazaki’s voice boom from outside the gym. She knew deep down what to expect and had come to terms that she would have to face everything head on before leaving.

 Filling her lungs with air, (Y/N) pushed open the door and was met with not just Ryo, but the entire Touou basketball team.

 Her ex looked like shit and maybe she was wrong for saying that she couldn’t bring herself to feel bad for him right now. Before she could even open her mouth to get a word out, Momoi was speaking up.

 “Please (Y/N), you really need to give Ryo a chance and listen to what he has to say!”

 “Huh you know I am really just tired of people telling me what I ‘have’ to do. But let’s say I’m willing to talk to ANY of you, what is there to say? Or actually should I get Mei in here, so you don’t have to rehash anything to her?” (Y/N) sarcastically retorted.

 “That’s not how it even happened! If you would let him explain you would understand that he wasn’t trying to tell that girl, he was talking to us and she overheard.” Wakamatsu called out loudly and almost accusingly, causing (Y/N) to scoff.

 “And if you would remove your head from that far up your ass you would understand how that only makes it worse. I’d give less of a shit how someone talks about me to my enemies then how they talk about me to my friends.” The young woman finally turned to eye up her ex. “What did I ever do to you for you to go and tell them the most personal thing that was between us?”

 “I was angry and…you moved on so fas-”

 “Fast? You think that was fast? You think months of me feeling like shit, of wondering where I went wrong, of thinking maybe I made the mistake…isn’t enough? How long was I supposed to hate my life for you to feel better about yourself?”

 “You know that’s not what I meant. You chose strangers over me, how was I supposed to feel about that?”

 “NO! I was never going to choose. YOU made me choose. I wanted to be a part of a team again but I wanted you too. You didn’t let me have both. Don’t resent me when you turned yourself into an option.”

 “I was worried about you! All of us were, don’t you get that? You had a tough enough time at Too and knowing your personal situation, we didn’t know how things were going to go for you at some rich kid school. The you go and befriend literally the only people we warned you about…It’s like you do it on purpose!

 “Do what on purpose?”

 “Cause problems for yourself! Then I hear you were attacked last night when even Aomine has told you to stay away from Haizaki and instead of just being quiet you have to always instigate. It’s like every bad thing that happens to you is becau-”

 “You need to stop talking.” A gruff voice came from behind the smaller male.

 (Y/N) was shaking with anger and tears at this point but forced her glare away from Ryo to look at Aomine.

 “You came because you wanted to apologize but all that’s come out of your mouth is bullshit.”

 “Sakurai, regardless of what you think I didn’t choose a lot of this. I didn’t ask to be born into a manipulative and abusive family, I didn’t ask to be born at all. I didn’t ask for Haizaki to attack me or any of the guys that have in the past. And I definitely didn’t ask for you to come here an insult me and my team. When you’re ready to actually apologize I’ll be willing to listen. Until then get out of my face.”

 Sakurai looked like he wanted to burst into tears, but he blinked his eyes harshly. Nodding gently he took a deep breath.

 “I still love you, you know. And I don’t know why I can say it all the time but had a hard time right now…I really am sorry more than you probably believe. I was so busy on trying to get the chance to talk to you at all that I didn’t think about what I was going to say. I’ll get it right next time, I promise.”

 “Now that you got your chance to give your sob story, you can go.” Hanamiya waved off the entire team before turning around and walking into the locker room.

 With nothing left to say each team turned and walked off, one side out of the gym and the other following their captain. Only two remained under the net.

 “Thanks for calling Sakurai out on his shit.” (Y/N) smiled softly at Aomine who didn’t have a readable expression.

 “It was annoying me plus I didn’t even want to be here.”

 “How did they manage to convince you?”

 “Told me it was a scrimmage. I’d be willing to play anyone who managed to piss off Tetsuya.”

 “Sorry to disappoint.”

 “I have a question though.”

 “Shoot.”

 “You’ve fucked all of them right?”

 “Aomine! How could you ask me that!?  I thought you were on my side!”

 “Calm down. I didn’t know there was a side to pick here. But you were the one who always hassled me with anime facts I didn’t want. And if anything stuck in my head it was big tiddy 2d girls and ”

 “Harem.” Both said at the same time.

 “We both said we weren’t pulling any weak bullshit if we ever found ourselves in the center of a harem. We were gonna use harem privileges to get laid. So, come on tell me some numbers. No details! I just want a body count. All five?”

 (Y/N) face grew red as she remembered all the times, she sat on the sidelines watching her boyfriend play basketball and rambled off to his less than participating teammate. To be fair she always assumed Aomine was asleep unless they started talking ecchi.

 “NO!”

 “No you won’t tell me or not all of them? At least 3?”

 “Look if it was any more than one, these guys would have ‘School Days’-ed my ass by now.”

 “I have no idea what the anime reference is but I can get the subtext that you did cash in your protagonist card once.” Aomine had a smirk on his face as he continued to tease his old teammate.

 The girl felt her face burn red but nodded her head in agreement.

 “Do they know you still love Ryo?” (Y/N)’s head shot up which made Aomine let out a cross between a scoff and a chuckle. “Even if you do love one of these assholes, even if its not the one you totally banged…you love Ryo too. Word of advice: don’t give up anyone you can’t imagine NOT being in your life 3 years down the road. Cutting ties with someone sometimes doesn’t have regret that hits you until you see them tied to someone else.”

 “Sounds like that’s coming from experience.”

 “Does it? Well even more of a reason to hear me out. I would say I’d see you around but something tells me I won’t…that right?”

 (Y/N) nodded at her surprisingly perceptive friend.

 “Good luck then.”

 “So, is it really true then?” A soft voice rang from behind the girl as the tan male closed the door to the gym. (Y/N) didn’t have to turn to know it was Yamazaki.

 “That I still love Ryo? Well-”

 “No, not that. We all know you do, I don’t think you’ve ever gone a week without talking about him. That’s the reason none of us have actually kicked his ass, y’know? I meant is it true that you love someone from this team?”

 (Y/N) turned around and for the first time in a while she made complete eye contact with the ginger haired male.

 “Yeah…at least I thought I did.”

 “You thought?”

 “Seems pretty horrible to love anyone if I’m not completely over my ex, doesn't it?”

 …

 “That wasn’t a jab at you, Zaki.”

 “No, that okay. There’s nothing you could say to me that I don’t deserve at this point. Not that I’m trying to throw myself a pity party or make you feel guilty for me feeling guilty or…ugh why is it so hard to talk to you!?”

 “You think I’m hard to talk to?”

 “I didn’t mean it in a bad way or anything! I just mea-”

 (Y/N) took a step closer to her friend and attempted to shift a piece of hair behind her ears only for Yamazaki to take a microstep back. Her eyes scrutinized him more before tucking the hair away.

 “Mei hasn’t been kind to you ever, has she?”

 “Why did you bring her up?”

 “You flinched away from me right now.”

 “No I didn’t!” His voice practically boomed before he seemed to realize the volume.

 “I know we’ve always just talked about her as your bitch ex and joked about how crazy she was. We only took her seriously when she came after me…but she’s been awful to you for a long time, right? Emotionally, verbally…physically?”

 Yamazaki’s eyes went almost as dead as Furuhashi’s. He didn’t like what she was implying, that he was some kind of victim. He especially didn’t like hearing that shit from her. She was the one who was abused, in every way a person can be.

  So what if his girlfriend said things that hurt his feelings sometimes?

 Was someone supposed to feel sorry for him because she screamed at him for little things in public, in front of his friends?

  What right did he have to get sympathy for his 5 foot nothing girlfriend slapping him now and again?

 His thoughts were cut off when he simultaneously felt a tear run from one of his eyes and felt (Y/N) wrap her arms around his waist to embrace him.

 “I’m so sorry that we, your friends, didn’t notice. And even when we did…all we did was joke about your crazy ex instead of helping you. We heard her yell and threaten you…abuse you. We would hear all her manipulation and the guys heard more than I ever did. I’m sorry we didn’t stop her from hurting you too.”

 “Don’t apologize to me! I don’t deserve it! Abuse or not, it doesn’t excuse any of the choices I made!”

 “No, it doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean you retroactively deserve any of what she put you through. You apologized to me and I can’t forget what happened, but I forgive you.”

 “I never meant to hurt you! I was just jealous because I barely had a chance to start with and then to think that you had all this experience and I only had Mei. I didn’t know how anyone besides her could ever see anything in me and it seemed like everything was working against me. And I know I don’t act like it but…I love you (Y/N)!”

 A loud throat clearing drew the attention of both teens. The rest of the team had emerged from the lockeroom, all clearly having heard the confession. (Y/N) turned and smiled at the guys widely.

 “Ready to play?”

 “No.” Seto said firmly. “We can’t put it off anymore. I think it goes without saying that everyone in this room is aware of their feelings for you. I don’t think any of us will fight each other over you.”

 “Shit I’ll take any of you right here right now.” Hara scoffed.

 “BUT…I do think we deserve an answer.”

 (Y/N) looked between all the faces of her team before taking in a deep breath.

~~~~~

 A knock at the door had the girl jumping from her skin. Shoving her suitcase under her bed, (Y/N) quickly walked to the entrance of her guest house and opened the door slowly.

 She was expecting her mother or grandfather. Hell, she was even expecting one of the guys.

 Ryo, instead, stood in her doorway trembling slightly. As quickly as she opened the door, the boy gave a deep bow.

 “I’m so sorry! For everything…I have a lot I want to say. That is…if you’ll give me the chance to say it.”

 (Y/N) looked between her ex and her room where the packing still needed to be done. Opening the door widely, she waved him inside.

(Author’s Note: Talking about Yamazaki being abused is NOT supposed to be a plot element I pulled out my ass to get him back in everyone’s good graces. I have always written Mei with the intent that she be read as an abusive girlfriend because she IS.

Take care of your male friends too, never assume they are okay just because they are bigger or louder or stronger. His backstory is NOT his redemption, his actions for this chapter and the last are him working his way there. His backstory just gives us some insight on his character and why he does some of the things he does.)

[6rookie-writer0110]

Your hugs feel like home

Brie Larson x Reader

Summary- Reader has a bad day and Brie knows what to do.

Your day was just horrible and your boss is a huge douche. Everyone was making you angry now you are happy to be home. Brie is at home and she is happy to be back home, she has been gone for weeks. You walked into the apartment and walked by her. Usually, you would kiss her and talk but you went to the bedroom and flopped on the bed.

Brie was reading a book but she stopped and went to the bedroom, to check on you.

”Y/N, what's wrong?” Brie asked.

You turned around and you don't sit up.

”Worst day ever! I'm glad this day is over but I still feel like crap” You sighed.

Brie starts to take off your sneakers and socks.

”Sit up,” Brie said.

You sighed and sat up. She kissed your head and she helped you take off your jacket and sweater.

”Get comfortable. Do you want to talk about it?” Brie said.

”Not right now, maybe later,” You said.

You frown. Brie sets up the bathtub and adds bubbles, you and Brie start to get undressed then get in the bathtub.

”Come here, babe,” Brie said.

You have your back against Brie. You feel her arms around you and you tilted your head and she has her chin on your shoulder.

”This feels really good,” You said.

”It will be okay. Whenever you want to talk about it, I will listen. Now let's just relax and enjoy the moment” Brie said.

”I’m just glad you are back home. Those weeks without you I hated it” You said.

”I hate being away from you too. Next time, I will bring you with me and I mean it” Brie said.

”I take you up on the offer,” You said.

Your fingers and her fingers linked together. Then she starts to massage and clean your back.

”Oh wow, Y/N you are so stressed out. Your shoulders feel like boulders, you definitely need a vacation for like a year” Brie said.

”I definitely need a vacation,” You said.

⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟

Brie puts on your favorite pajama shirt. Sometimes she wears your shirts to bed, she took half of your hoodies and shirts. She keeps it her side of the drawer and closet.

”When am I getting my shirt back?” You asked.

”Mhmm, tomorrow of never,” Brie said.

You and Brie laughed.

Brie grabbed the pillows and blankets then set it up on the couch. She went to grab the food and drinks from the kitchen. You sit next to your girlfriend, she covers herself and you with the blanket.

”Comfortable?” Brie asked.

”Yeah,” You said.

She gave you a peck on the lips. You and Brie start to watch the order on Netflix. In the middle of the episode, you and Brie start to throw popcorn at each other to see who can catch it with their mouth.

”Let’s cuddle. I really don't want to watch tv right now” You said.

”Whatever you want, babe” Brie said.

Brie pulls you on top of her. She turns off the tv and she wraps her arms around you then her leg is around you. She starts to play with your hair and you sigh.

”I love you, Y/N” Brie whispered softly.

You smiled to yourself.

You and Brie fell asleep on the couch, holding each other. You did drool a little bit on her shirt. Her leg is wrapped a little tight around you.

⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟

In the middle of the night, you and Brie woke up. You and Brie had a midnight snack in the kitchen. Later, you and Brie went to the bedroom and tried to sleep.

”Babe, are you sleeping?” You asked.

”No. I can't sleep anymore, what about you?” Brie said.

”I can't sleep either. What you want you to do?” You said.

You and Brie are lying in bed in the dark. Brie gets out of bed and turns on the light, you watch her get back into bed but she is sitting down.

”I actually got two new games for Nintendo Switch,” Brie said.

”Show me,” You said.

You sat up and you watched Brie get the games and the Nintendo Switch.

”I got Luigi's Mansion 3 and Pokémon Sword & Shield,” Brie said with a huge smile on her face.

”Awesome!” You cheerfully yelled.

”Let’s play Luigi’s first,” Brie said.

”Let’s do it then we play pokemon,” You said.

She nods. Brie sets up the game now you and Brie play together Luigi's Mansion. You and Brie are having a good time playing the game. Then you two get stuck in the game, you and Brie check online of what to do.

”No! Don't go there” You said.

Brie died in the game now have to start over.

”Ugh!” Brie said.

”I told you not to go there. Now we have to start over again” You said.

”As if you can do better than me” Brie scoffed.

”Oh, I can and I can beat the level,” You said

She gave you the controller then she watches you play.

Now it's 3:47 am now you and Brie are playing Pokemon.

”Who did you pick as your Pokemon starter?” Brie asked.

”I want three. So, want to trade and reset?” You asked.

”Yes. Because I fell in love with Scorbunny and Grookey” Brie said.

You and Brie reset the game and traded Pokemon many times. You are lying on your stomach across the bed and Brie has her legs on your back.

Brie gave her Pokemon nicknames but you didn't give them nicknames. You and Brie now have all three starter pokemon.

”Wanna battle?” Brie asked.

”You are going down” You joked.

”Okay, whoever loses the battle has to um... Has to cook dinner for a month” Brie said.

”Deal,” You said.

Now you and Brie are having a pokemon battle. It was a draw but you and Brie are having another Pokemon battle. You won and Brie pouts. You turned around and Brie gets on top of you.

”You cheated,” Brie said.

”How?” You asked.

”If you didn't use the super potion then I would have won,” Brie said.

”You didn't say anything about using potions,” You said.

You and Brie smiled at each other. She bends down and she starts to kiss you.

Now it's 6:50 am, you and Brie just went straight to bed holding each other.

[askthetotallynotcampcamp]

field trip to didney

Ava: as yes of course

-----------

Max: *sleeping* (him, david and jasper live in a house-)

Jasper: *vibing* M A X

Max: ugh whatttt *rolls over on his bed*

David: *humming a surprisingly happier tune than normal, how is this even possible??* Big day today!!

Max: if you take us on a nature walk one more time dad-

Jasper: It’s going to be way more fun than that!! If that’s even possible, that is-

David: mhm! as much as I love nature walks, this is probably going to be even better!!

Max: and we need....suitcases? *gets out of bed*

Jasper: We need to be out of the house by, uh, what time is it right now? 6? We need to leave by 6:30-! So hurry up and get ready!!

David: dont worry, we'll make it! it could get could outside, so bring a sweatshirt!! I'll go start the bus *goes off to find the keys to the bus and trail mix*

Max: *super tired* ugh okayyyy

-after he packs stuff-

Max: *gets on the bus with mr honeynuts*

Jasper: *lmao sits on the bus or smth* Woo this is so EXCITING

David: Okay, we just gotta pick up everyone else and well be on our way!! Is everyone buckled in?

Max: *is just chilling on the window seat* dad, this bus doesnt have any since it's like a house but I'll just say yes- WAIT THE WHOLE GOD DAMN CAMP?

Jasper: We can’t leave anyone out!

David: Exactly, what your dad said!! first we're gonna pick up Neil, of course, and we'll go from there! *starts the bus* Anyone want some trail mix?

Max: dang I havent seen any of them since summer- and no dad *eats fruit snacks*

Jasper: Don’t eat too many fruit snacks, that’s unhealthy for you

David: we're here!

Max: time to do my job, I'll knock *runs off the bus and onto Neil's porch and knocks*

Carl: *opens door* Hello?

Max: oh uh- hey Carl, is Neil ready? Hes the first to be picked up-

Carl: Ah yes, got it. Neil!

Neil: *approaches* Hello?

Max: wassup dude! Are you all ready- my dads are in the car *puts his arms around his buddy pal Neil*

Neil: Oh yeah! Let me get my stuff, hold on

Max: okay, not like I care!- *pretend angy and walks to the bus*

Neil: *grasps stuff and goes to bus time*

Max: *plops on one of the beds in the back and waits for his buddy pal*

Neil: *plops next to max*

Jasper: Hello Neil!

Neil: uh, hi

David: Goooooood morning neil! Are you ready to go on the adventure of your life!

Max: dad please-

Neil: *awkward silence oop*

Jasper: Alright let’s go get the others!!

Max: sorry about David, I guess where hes taking us is "exciting" but takes over 24 hours to get there-

Neil: Huh? Oh, I know where we’re going

Max: they told you? Ugh why cant I know

Jasper: Neil don’t spoil the surprise for Max!!!

Neil: Oh I won’t

David: max will be happy for once! Oh I'm so excited!!

Max: this is shit! I should be able to know *crosses his arms*

Jasper: Language! You’ll know when we get there!

Neil: Yeah MAX

Max: in 24 hourssssssssss *lies across thy Neil in the most dramatic way possible*

Bus: *beep beep gather children*

Nerris: *walks on the bus* awe I knew they would end up together! He fell asleep on you Neil, how cute

Preston: ah! Best Romeo and juliet ever!

Jasper: Children do not wake up Max if he is sleeping! We had to wake him up very early for this

Neil: *is mr honeynuts*

Max: *wraps his arms around thy neil bc sleep*

Nerris: aweeeeeee

Preston: oh my goodness so cute!

Neil: *mr honeyNUTS*

David: kids just leave them alone and let them have their little snuggle fest, awe so cute- anyways! *parks the car at a rest stop* anyone hungry or need to use the bathroom?

Nurf: i needs to peepee

David: ooooookay then! I'm going to go get some McDonald's so, let's go Nurf!

Max: *still sleeping bc his weird dads woke him up at 6 am*

Jasper: Get chicken tendies or I am divorcing

Neil: well, this is uh, g gay

Max: *awakenand realizes what's going on* what the hell? *sits up and is embarrassed bc hes max* that's gay, AND IM N O T GAY

David: okay honey!

Neil: Oh- hi max

Max: why didnt you move me or something?

Literally all the campers: *looking*

Neil: well your dad told me not to wake you up-

Max: *gets up and walks over to his papa* dad, what did I do to neil? Was it that embarrassing you couldn't wake me up?

Jasper: Hey, calm down kiddo- you fell asleep and you needed sleep and Neil was just- there

Nerris: it was really cute-

Max: SHUT UP NERRIS

Jasper: Language!

Neil: It really was-

Max: that's not bad language!- wait what Neil-

Neil: Oh, uh, nothing

Max: *red boy* you agreed with Nerris-

Nerris: see harrison, I'm a match maker! That's better than your magic!

David: I'm back! Here are you chicken tenders sweetie *gives them to the jasp* let's get this show on the road! *turns on the heater and starts the bus*

Neil: *not vibing*

Jasper: *is vibing with chicken tendies*

Max: *smirks* you like me, dontcha Neil

Neil: What? No, ew, never

Nikki: pft please I know love when I see it!

Max: *crosses his arms and smirks at neil*

Neil: What? Shut up!

Nikki: aweeeee

Max: jesus christ Neil you look like a god damn tomato

David: language!

Neil: Just shut up!

Max: okay no need to be so feisty

Jasper: we’re getting closer wOOO

Max: sits on the couch and takes out his Nintendo switch and plays animal crossing*

Nikki: *goes up to Neil* so, when ya gonna make your move?

Neil: Make what? I’m not going to do anything!

Nikki: awe c'mon Neil look at him! Go sit with him! Make your move!

Neil: What? Why? What’s the point?

Nikki: he probably likes you too!

Max: likes who?

Neil: Nononono! Nobody! I like nobody leave me alone! *neils away*

David: leave Neil alone guys

Max: *genuinely concerned* sorry neil-

Neil: Just go away! I wanna be alone right now *angree neil*

Max: um okay *sits on the couch again*

Jasper: *approaches max lmao* What’s happening? Is something wrong?

Max: well I guess Neil likes someone and I was annoying him and hes pissed

Jasper: Watch your language- also, did you consider that he maybe likes you and he’s being defensive because he likes you?

Max: what! He doesnt! Hes like, my best friend!

Jasper: Okay but he started getting defensive when you fell asleep on him so I’m just saying

Max: *red boy* I uh- no he didnt! *crosses his arms*

Jasper: Oh really? I saw the whole thing and it seems like I’m right homie

Max: looks over at neil then back at his papa* HOLY SHIT YOURE RIGHT

Jasper: Don’t say bad words!

Max: *whispers* dad I think I like boys too

Jasper: oh wow i wonder who you got that trait from

Max: literally both of you!

Jasper: Yeah I know dumdum

Max: yall are g a y

Jasper: Why don’t you go try to like, calm him down or something instead of talking about who in this bus is gay

Max: *knocks on Neil's curtain that covers his room cot thing??* Hey dude, can we uh- talk?

Neil: About what?

Max: about what happened dingus

Neil: Fine.

Max: *sits on his bed* I'm sorry dude. I didnt mean for you to get pissed off or anything-

Neil: It’s fine, Nikki made me frustrated I guess

Max: *kisses his cheek* that never happened!

Neil: *oraneg* *red* I- WHAT??

Max: jesus christ you're so difficult neil *kisses thy neil*

Neil: *crimson*

-when they all have to s leep-

Max: DAVID WE'RE GOING TO FKING DISNEYWORLD?!

Time: it is now 6 pm when they get there

Jasper: WE ARRIVED

Max: YAY! *grabs his stuff and gets off the bus*

The rest of the campers: *get off the bus*

-when they get to their room-

Max: *throws his stuff on to his bed*

Jasper: *bursts in* We’re all going swimming woooo *throws floaties*

Max: ugh fineeeee *changes into swim shorts and walks down to the pool* sup losers

Jasper: Max! Don’t call others losers that hurts their feelings

Harrison: *loses pants cutely*

Max: pft whatever

David: max! You dont have your floaties on!

Nerris: you suck Harrison!

Jasper: Max! You might drown!!

Harrison: *pees*

David: gosh dang Harrison how many times!

Harrison: I COULDNT HOLD IT IN

Nerris: *literally laughing way too hard* HARRISON HOW ARE YOU SO STUPID

David: *walks over to harrison and gives him a towel and whispers to him* put you pants back on-

Harrison: I don’t know where they went!!

Jasper: hooey *>:(*

David: Nerris, since Harrison is your dearest most bestest friend, help him look for his shorts-

Nerris: what the hell! Why me!! I dont want to see his small thing!

Jasper: Nerris don’t talk back to David!

Harrison: twerking is fun

[17sclouds]

A Helping Hand

pairing: jungwoo(nct) x female oc

summary: jungwoo is your lab partner that helps you study and get through class.

words: 2.2k

tags: fluff

author’s note: i started writing this a looooong time ago during spring semester when i was taking bio and it isn’t that much, but i’ve been meaning to post it and since we’re in a jungwoo drought i decided why not. i hope you enjoy!

“Mia, your exam,”

Mia smiled politely as her professor handed her results back, looking over the scantron for her overall score. She sighed at the demeaning red 62% written at the bottom. Her paper contributed to the unfortunately large percentage of students that didn’t pass the exam. Mia sat through the rest of the lecture feeling quite disappointed, expecting more out of herself. Considering she had studied the past few nights, she had hoped to at least get a B or something close, not fail the entire exam. She knew science was her weakest subject and this wasn’t the first test she got a bad grade on, but it was the first one she had completely failed. The walk to her lab afterwards made her feel even worse, remembering that she still had a lab quiz to study for.

“Hey, Mia! What’d you get on the exam?” Johnny, a classmate in her lab group asked as he sat next to her. He was an old high school friend of Mia’s that automatically drifted to her since he knew no one else taking the course. They weren’t exactly close, but had enough mutual friends to be comfortable with one another and talk.

“I don’t want to say exactly but… I basically failed,” she frowned.

“Aw, it’s okay! If it makes you feel better, I only got a C- because of the curve,” he laughed at himself. “What about you, Jungwoo?”

Mia glanced at their other groupmate, Jungwoo, who sat in front of her. He was reading today’s pre-lab, prepping for their experiment of the day. He was always fairly quiet, only speaking when it was about their classwork or laughing every now and then at one of Johnny’s jokes. Mia often wondered about him, feeling like he had more to him that no one knew about but she didn’t want to pry into his personal life.

“Oh, I got an 86%. I just missed some of the multiple choice questions,” he said.

“An 86%?! That means you’re part of the like, four people that got their score curved up to an A, right?” Johnny asked in amazement and Jungwoo nodded, making his two peers look at him in awe.

“I could never,” Mia chuckled. “and I actually tried this time!”

“If you need help, I’m in the STEM Center before class every week,” Jungwoo mentioned.

“I have a break right before class, maybe I could meet up with you? Building 3900?”

“Yeah, 3900, right around the corner.” Jungwoo nodded.

“Sounds good, I’ll see you Thursday then!”

Mia was actually excited, happy to have someone she could study with that could help her get on track. It only took a few weeks into the semester for her to notice that studying alone wasn’t the best thing to do, finding herself constantly distracted by her phone or random Youtube videos instead of working on assignments. She never got any work done on her own, and figured that studying with Jungwoo would be a great way to be productive while socializing. She also realized it would be a way to get to know her classmate better, hoping it would allow her to see how he is outside of lab.

Two days later, Mia walked into the cafeteria to grab breakfast after her morning class as part of her weekly routine. She took her phone out to scroll through her contacts, stopping once she saw the name ‘Jungwoo(Bio)’.

‘Hi! Are you in the STEM center already?’

‘Yeah, I’m in the far left corner by the long tables. I can save you a seat if you want.’

‘That’d be great, thanks :-)’

Mia grabbed her toasted bagel and cream cheese before heading to Building 3900, just across the main science building. She had never actually been inside the building before, never really finding a reason to since she hadn’t taken a science class since high school. She made sure she signed in at the front desk computer before looking around, spotting the tall boy in the back corner like he said.

“Hi Jungwoo,” she greeted him, setting her things down onto the table.

“Oh, hi.” he gave her a small smile, looking up from his textbook. He was in the middle of highlighting a word, labeling it with a definition.

“Wow, you actually bought the textbook? She said it wasn’t required,”

“Yeah, she said that after I already ordered it so I figured I might as well use it. It’s actually pretty helpful,” he said. “Did you need help studying anything specific?”

“Um…” she paused, feeling a bit embarrassed. “I kinda need help with everything, really.”

“That’s okay,” he chuckled. “I’m here to help.”

Mia thanked him as he handed her his notes, showing her what was going to be on the next exam in the current chapter they were learning about. She noticed how neat everything was, from his handwriting to the way he organized all of his papers.

“You’re so organized,”

“Yeah, my roommate gets a little bothered by it sometimes, but it’s just a habit.” he said after she pointed out everything.

“Roommate?”

“I live with my friend Doyoung in the apartments just a few blocks away. My parents are always gone on business trips so I decided moving in somewhere with a friend would be less lonely.”

“Makes sense. Do you work?”

“I do, I work at a pet store not too far from here.”

Mia nodded as she listened, gradually learning more about Jungwoo as the study session went on. They’d go back and forth asking questions as they went through their notes, both of them slowly beginning to open up as time went on. After a while the two noticed the clock said 1PM and began to gather their things, heading to class together. 

This became a weekly schedule for them, Mia always meeting up with Jungwoo to study and hangout. It had gotten to the point where they would even meet up outside of campus, finding time between their schedules to study together at nearby cafes. Jungwoo quickly became someone Mia found comfort in, constantly reassuring her that she was doing great in school and helping her through difficult assignments or quizzes.

“Hey, are you two like… a thing?” Johnny nudged Mia’s arm one day during lab, Jungwoo on the other side of the room collecting samples.

“No, we’re not. Why?”

“I don’t know, you two seem pretty close now. Hanging out before class, studying with each other every week, sharing food. I wouldn’t be surprised if you guys ever got together,” he shrugged, going back to writing in his lab manual. “you guys would be cool as a couple.”

“What’s happening?” Jungwoo said as he sat back down, placing a beaker onto the table.

“Nothing, just asking Mia why you guys aren’t in love yet,”

“Good question,” Jungwoo laughed before going back to work.

Johnny raised an eyebrow at Mia, making her blush. She had to admit, Jungwoo was a handsome guy. He was tall, had a cute smile, a joyful laugh. She would often catch herself looking up at him during their study sessions, admiring his good looks. It was just an added bonus to his kindness, Mia appreciating how much he’s helped her this entire semester.

“Hey, Jungwoo, can I ask you something?” she said to him as they walked to the student parking lot after class like usual.

“Go ahead,” he said, swinging his keys around his finger.

“Are you free tonight?” she asked, knowing he didn’t have another class and it was his day off of work. She wouldn’t be surprised if he said no considering how tired he must be, but even if it was for just a little bit, she hoped that she could get some kind of quality time with him without having to look at the chemical equation of photosynthesis.

“I am actually, why? Did you need help with anything else this chapter?” he looked at her obliviously.

“No, I was just wondering... if you wanted to hangout? Not study, but go out or something?” she stopped in front of her car, looking up at him for an answer.

“I’m down to hangout, what were you thinking of doing?” he said causing Mia to pause for a bit, slightly panicking because she didn’t expect to get that answer from him.

“Um… I don’t know, to be honest. Do you want to go watch a movie?”

“Sure,”

The two agreed on meeting at Jungwoo’s for a movie night, not wanting to spend money on an actual movie at the theaters. Mia trusted him offering his place to hangout, everything she’s learned about him allowing her to enter his apartment with ease. 

She looked around with curious eyes as she set her stuff down on the couch, in awe at how clean and cozy his home was. The tables were clear, floor clean, shoes lined up neatly near the door. She observed the frames on the wall, seeing pictures of Jungwoo and his roommate together with their friends or family. She figured the two must have a close friend group, every picture including the same amount of people.

“Doyoung’s home but he’s probably napping or watching a drama,” Jungwoo mentioned. They settled on a Studio Ghibli film to watch after grabbing some snacks out of the pantry, sitting on the couch in the living room. Jungwoo sat on one side, Mia on the other. There was a comfortable silence all throughout the movie, both of them only making small comments at their favorite parts. Mia would glance at him every now and then only to see him focused on the movie, fully immersed into the plot. She began to wonder if she was just overthinking, letting Johnny’s words get to her head. She was just another classmate, a simple friend. There wasn’t much else to their relationship, nothing else could happen.

Soon enough the movie was over, the end credits scrolling across the screen. The clock on the wall only read 8:04pm, Mia thinking it was still too early for her to go home.

“Question,” Mia eyed the Nintendo Switch stood in front of the TV. “do you have Mario Kart?”

“Maybe,” Jungwoo grinned and Mia laughed before getting up to grab a controller, ready to beat him in every race.

The two spent the rest of that night playing Mario Kart and other multiplayer games, the room full of playful banter and yells. Mia found herself practically sprawled across the couch while Jungwoo sat on the floor in front of her, both of them concentrated on the bright screen in front of them. It was around 11:30 when she began to doze off, driving her bike off of the Rainbow Road course several times before falling asleep.

Mia woke up the next day in silence, the TV turned off and a Snoopy patterned blanket laid across her. She checked her phone to see that it was only 7:54am, a little earlier than she’d usually wake up.

“Oh, good morning,” Jungwoo turned around in the kitchen to spot her awake, placing a bagel onto a plate. “Cream cheese?”

Mia smiled as she nodded, acknowledging how he remembered a detail from her usual breakfast meal.

“Sorry for falling asleep on your couch, I meant to go home before midnight.”

“It’s okay, I really liked spending time with you,” he said and she blushed, remembering how he would high five or hug her whenever they passed a level in Super Mario Bros. They were small gestures, but considering they were never that physically close before, Mia enjoyed it all.

Mia headed to the bathroom to freshen up, opening the bathroom door to walk back to the kitchen only to bump into a tall figure.

“Oh, sorry! I didn’t think you were still here,” Doyoung apologized, letting her walk ahead of him.

“It’s okay,” she smiled politely before sitting next to Jungwoo at the dining table.

“Doyoung, this is Mia. She’s from my-“

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Your class, you talk about her all the time,” Doyoung waved his hand before heading towards the front door. “I’ll be at Jeno’s if you need me, bye! Nice meeting you Mia!”

Once the door shut Mia’s eyes darted to Jungwoo, whose cheeks turned red. He was looking down at his plate of food shyly, embarrassed at his roommate’s words.

“So, you talk about me?” she teased, taking a bite of her bagel. Jungwoo just laughed, struggling to make eye contact with her.

“I do talk about you, to be honest. I talk a lot about you,” he said. “you’re cute to me.”

Now Mia was the one blushing, taken aback by the sudden confession. She expected Jungwoo to only look at her as a friend, not get ratted out by his roommate that she had just met.

“I think you’re cute too, Jungwoo.”

The two continued to eat their breakfast like that, sharing shy giggles and quick eye contact. They weren’t sure as to how to go on with their mutual crushes on each other, both too scared to make the first move.

“Do you work today?” Mia asked as they washed the dishes together, standing side by side.

“I do, I work 12-8pm,” he nodded.

“I’ll pick you up at 8:30?”

“Yeah, that’d be nice. Another movie?” Jungwoo suggested. Mia agreed and the two grinned, carrying on with the dishes.

[impromptu-breakdancing]

All the odds 😈

How dare and at the same time thank you

1. If we’re being realistic here, I would like a cat or a parakeet. Being unrealistic, I think it would be so cool to have like a big cat or some form of wild dog as a pet. THEY LOOK SO CUDDLY! Deadly but cuddly

3. Oh god, that’s a hard one. There are certain rock songs that I will full-on dance and lip-sync to. And then in public, I’ll just tap my foot and sometimes unconsciously lip sync. Weirdly enough anime intro and outro songs get me hyped up too. I think it’s just the fact that they are so catchy and high energy (depending on the show). I was actually listening to Weezer while writing this...

5. Does dessert count as a meal? If not my favorite meal might be dinner. I feel like that’s when the best stuff is served.

7. Fruit candy. Chocolate may be really good but I want my gummy bears yo

9. I think the worst way to break up a fight is to yell at the people as I think that’ll only increase the anger/tension. But sometimes yelling is necessary to grab their attention. Also taking a side and saying someone is right/wrong is a bad way of breaking up a fight as that might make things worse.

11. My bedsheets are either blue or light green depending on the season. But the overall design is like hand-drawn circles-ish that are different colors. It’ s from IKEA. 

13. My mom had these really cool mason jar classes and I loved those things. Still do. Otherwise, I would drink everything out of a mug if I could

15. My favorite board game is CLUE. Hands down best game ever.

17. Dude I have to keep the heat on and have multiple layers on. I am always cold and for some reason, my feet are always blue. Heat is essential to my survival and I will use everything to keep myself warm.

19. My favorite song to belt out when I’m alone would have to be Don’t Stop Me Now. No one can stop me when that song comes on.

21. I have no idea when I first found out how awful alcohol tastes. I think maybe 8? I’m basing this off of the size of my glass. I set my glass of coke down and my dad set his glass of whiskey down next to it. When I came back to get my glass I didn’t know which one was mine and just took the glass I thought was mine and just took a HUGE swig of the whiskey. Whiskey is nasty don’t ever drink it.

23. I think the most amount of money I’ve ever spent on a piece of clothing was maybe $30. It was probably on that shirt I got when I went to see Twenty One Pilots perform when they were on tour.

25. My guy, I have many favorite memories. One of the best would be when I spent a week up at my friend’s mountain house. it was a lot of fun but the memories that pop out most would have to be all the times we played Just Dance and when we went on a hike and ran into a bear. Later that night we went stargazing. Gillian and I kept hearing noises while we were out stargazing but didn’t tell the other as the other person didn’t hear the noise. Once we both heard a noise we ran inside as fast as we could and locked all the doors and closed all of the curtains.

27. My favorite shoes would have to be either my poor converse that are begging for death or my Doc Martins.

29. If I don’t style my hair, it will dry weird and I’ll look like an emo from the early 2000s

31. I have no idea. I’m not the person to seek out dangerous stuff for thrills. Maybe that one time I went on the canyon swing in Glenwood Springs in Colorado. That was fun but also scary.

33. yep nope not answering that one

35. Mac. Definitely Mac. I am typing this on my Mac.

37. Natural. Definitely Natural. I never wear makeup and when I do it’s for some special occasion and people look at me weird.

39. I love winter! It’s such a cozy and warm season! I love being curled up in ten layers of blankets with a cup of tea while it snows outside and the soft glow of the Christmas tree and the fairy lights just give off this warm and soft glow fills the house. Sure all the seasons are great, but I definitely recommend winter.

41. Have I ever fallen out of a tree? I’m sorry but who do you think you’re talking to? As a kid, I was wild and always getting scratches and bruises and I loved climbing trees. I don’t climb trees anymore unless I have to like for photography but as the clumsy dumbass that I am, of course, I would fall out of the tree.

43. I try and go to bed around 11. I’m an insomniac and my meds keep me up so I try and get to bed early. I normally end up falling asleep as 2.

45. I don’t like pink. I only like certain shades of pink and those shades are really light. Sure there are gross colors out there but I hate pink.

47. Both? But if I had to choose between sweet and salty, I’d go with sweet.

49. Salt and Vinegar. Those are always my first choice of chips.

51. I really like to create art. So making any form of art is a hobby of mine.

53. NONE OF YOU ARE ALLOWED TO YELL AT ME FOR THIS!!! My favorite kind of pizza is Hawaiian. If you think that pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza, I respectfully disagree.

55. HANDFUL OF FRIENDS!! I’m not the type to have a lot of friends. That seems exhausting to me. Plus if I had a lot of acquaintances I wouldn’t really have that group of close friends who I can tell anything.

57. Really I don’t know any labels I have. I know people have called me really nice and charming so do those count? I like being called those

59. That’s a tough one... I like staying in with friends but then again I find it fun to hang out in public with friends but it depends on where in public we are. If we are hanging out at Comic Con, bro count me in. I hate people but Comic Con is full of nerds and amazing people. 

61. I think maybe my favorite thing about myself is how I try and make everyone happy. Well, that’s a lie. If I like you, I will go out of my to be super nice to you and please you.

63. Nope. I’m still single and always have been.

65. I love fruit! You can’t do this to me! For now, I’ll just say my favorite fruit is pomegranate

67. uh... cucumber? Yeah that’s my favorite vegetable...

69. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (come on, what did you expect?) Um I can eat maybe two plates at a buffet. I get full easily.

71. I do not play any sports. I do archery and ice skate for fun.

73. When I used to go camping with this group, I was the designated scary-story teller. One year I brought a story called The Purple Bishop and hyped it up as it took place in my home state and the setting of the story wasn’t too far from where we were camping. The kids didn’t think it would be scary at all and just wow they were so convinced it wasn’t scary. Anyways the time came to tell the story around the campfire. When I read the story and got to a part where I could do a dramatic pause, I looked over the papers to see some of the kids had moved from their individual chairs to either sit with their parents or just with other kids. Not scary my ass.

75. Don’t know how to answer that one

77. I would really rather watch a tv show than a movie. It really depends as I’m always down to watch a Studio Ghibli movie.

79. I really love it when people compliment my hair or my clothes. 

81. When I was younger I always ordered the same thing when I went to restaurants. Now I’m trying to be more adventurous and switch it up.

83. Oh my god, anything? I would definitely want to learn how to speak and understand every language. That would be so cool and I could travel all over the world and I wouldn’t have any trouble with language barriers.

85. I have a love-hate relationship with a birthmark on my neck. I think it’s unique and adds to my weirdness, but at the same time, people always mistaken it for a hickey

87. A B S O L U T E L Y! I am 5′5, but I was supposed to be 5′7. Then ya boy got epilepsy and some of the meds I was taking made me not eat and so they stunted my growth. I would definitely change my height. Maybe 5′7. Maybe taller >:D

89. Flats. Fck heels. I like how they make me tall but from every time I’ve worn them (messing around in stores or with my mom’s heels), they have butchered my heels. 

91. Eeeehhh. I don’t know. I feel like being famous would be exhausting. But I mean if I was famous I would get a lot of money and I could donate all that money to charities and research for epilepsy. I don’t really need a lot of money. I couldn’t be trusted with it. I’d go and spend it on merch from my favorite fandoms, expensive art supplies, stickers from Redbubble, and games for my PS4 and Nintendo games. (Dude I am so excited for Animal Crossing New Horizons to come out I just oh my god I can’t wait)

93. Spirit animal? Um... I am loyal and loving like a dog. 

95. Organized mess. I may be a mess but I know what I’m doing for the most part.

97. I like to be planned. I’m flexible but if I don’t know like a general idea of what’s going on/what I’m doing I will kind of stress

99. I really hope the relationships that I have with my friends never change. I love them dearly and we have been through some sh*t, so in my mind, it would be really sad if we weren’t friends anymore.

THERE I MADE IT! 

[eggoreviews]

E3 2019 Nintendo Direct - BREAKDOWN

Oh wow. That big ol direct sure was something. So now I’m here to break down everything that happened in unnecessary fashion and give my personal reaction to everything that happened with my tried and true Excitement Rater. Want to see my heavily scientific and not at all arbitrary process? Then click down to see the deets.

Before we kick off my (very very scientific) breakdown of this year’s packed direct, I thought I’d briefly go over how I rate things:

A random string of letters/numbers = Immeasurable excitement

YEEHAW BABEY = Big excitement

Heck Yeck = Vague excitement

Yeah! = Not really excited, but still could be good

Sure, why not? = I’m more confused than excited but sure

Oh = The excitement isn’t there

Oh no = Used on the rare occasion I really don’t like what I’ve seen

The Hero from the Dragon Quest series in Smash!

After a brief montage of some games that already came out I guess, the direct jumps straight into an ominous shot of World of Light baddie Dharkon, followed by a seemingly hopeless fight between Link and one very possessed Marth. Then the Luminary turns up gloriously on his horse. With all the leaks that had been flying around for so long, I think pretty much everyone had accepted the presence of Dragon Quest at this point and I was totally stoked when this happened! I love Dragon Quest! And my boi from 11 is here, along with a few other DQ veterans as alt swaps and a pretty awesome looking stage overlooking what seems to be the land of Erdrea and the World Tree. Now to wait until summer and hope the Smash team have some sick ass remixes for us when the time comes!

Excitement Rating: YEEHAW BABEY

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition

In a move that makes it a lil obvious that DQ’s Smash addition was more than a little commercially minded (not that I really care I’m still big hyped), a trailer for the expanded edition of the series’ latest installment follows. Seeming as I’ve already played this, I doubt I’ll be picking it up again but I still heartily recommend the game to any JRPG fan. Admittedly, the fact you apparently get to explore worlds from past games is pretty exciting.

ER: Heck Yeck

Luigi’s Mansion 3

In a way I thought was surprising, Nintendo’s first proper focus of Luigi’s Mansion 3 actually took up more time than Animal Crossing, but I guess that’s because it’s further along in development. We now know that the game is set within a haunted hotel and had some new gameplay features shown off, including the various ways Luigi can succ a ghost. Most exciting I think for me was the various multiplayer aspects, such as the local co-op option to play as Gooigi and the seemingly challenge and minigame-based ‘Scarescraper’ which I think incorporates online co-op too. Overall, this is looking to be a creative and well thought out entry in the series and I’m here for it.

ER: Heck Yeck

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance - Tactics

A licensed tie-in game for a thirty year old film feels a little odd, but I suppose stranger things have happened. This looks to be a sort of top-down tactical thingy involving the various characters from The Dark Crystal and for some reason Netflix is involved, I don’t know, but I guess it could be interesting.

ER: Sure, why not?

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

The adorable remake of this classic Game Boy title seems to be coming along great and this direct’s extended trailer gave us a good look at what we’ll be exploring come September 20th. The overhaul Koholint Island has had is phenomenal, giving us designs for Link and various other characters that we’ve never seen before and that makes this remake look especially unique. Another very exciting aspect for me was the dungeon builder that looks like great fun! You collect different dungeon parts as you go and then you can build and explore your own! Am I a goblin child or does that sound like the best thing ever?

ER: YEEHAW BABEY!!

Trials of Mana / Collection of Mana

I’ll admit I’m not really familiar with the Mana series, but from what I was shown in this direct, it looks to be a fairly standard JRPG. That’s definitely not a bad thing, as most JRPGs are amazing, but nothing in this trailer really stood out and came into its own. That being said, the gameplay and graphics look pretty solid and I’m sure the Mana fans have been fairly starved for content for a while so that’s something to look forward to. On top of this remake/new game with the same title as an older game (I really don’t know), the Collection of Mana containing the series’ first three games is being released real soon on the eShop.

ER: Yeah!

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition

Following a few scattered rumours, we finally have confirmation that a Witcher 3 port is in fact in the works, coming packed with all the game’s DLC. This basically legendary RPG is not one I personally had a great experience with, but I’m sure a lot of people are gonna be happy to play this in handheld. I’d keep expectations tempered however, with the likes of Assassin’s Creed 3 and Saints Row the Third proving that these ports don’t always function brilliantly on this platform.

ER: Yeah!

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Yet another and probably our last Fire Emblem trailer was shown in this direct, giving us a better look at how the story might play out and what our villains are going to be. With most of the gameplay features explored in the previous February direct, it’s good to have a slightly better idea as to what’s actually going on in terms of story and, to me, the results seem pretty damn good. Definitely one to keep an eye on!

ER: Heck Yeck

Resident Evil

In a slightly unnecessarily convoluted advert, we were given a two minute reel of two teenagers playing the original RE in tabletop mode in an abandoned house (??), along with the kind of less than exciting announcement that we’re getting the two weakest entries in the series for Switch, RE 5 and 6. I probably wasn’t the only one who felt a little passive about this whole thing. That being said, definitely not complaining about 1 & 4 being ported over.

ER: Oh

No More Heroes III

After the very slightly disappointing Travis Strikes Again, I really wasn’t expecting them to drop a trailer for the series’ third mainline installment so soon after. What we’ve seen looks pretty much like classic Travis, with a smidge of gameplay seen that looks just a bit more like what we’re used to. Of course, with this being the first reveal, there’s still a lot to find out but this looks very promising.

ER: Heck Yeck

Contra: Rogue Corps / Contra: Anniversary Collection

I’m not gonna pretend to be familiar with the Contra series, but this doesn’t at all look like what I’ve seen in the past. Honestly, this seemingly tactical shooter didn’t elicit much excitement from me and neither did its rushed character drops or its oddly rough textures. I’m unsure of actual fan reactions to this, but in my mind this one kind of sits in the ‘guess this exists’ category. As well as this, we got a shadowdrop for the Contra Anniversary Collection, whereas Rogue Corps comes on September 24th.

ER: Oh

Daemon X Machina

In what seems to be almost a mainstay in Nintendo directs, we’ve got another vague trailer for this mech shooter that finally has a confirmed release date of September 13th. The gameplay looks harmless enough, with the mechs seeming to be a blast to pilot, but beyond that, I can’t really see a lot of substance that would draw me in beyond the cool robots. I’m sure it could be good, but not really one for me.

ER: Yeah!

Panzer Dragoon

I was completely unsure of what this one was, but it looks a bit like a cross between The Last Guardian and those bullet hell sections from Kingdom Hearts 2. They’ve certainly nailed the smooth graphics and the cool looking creatures, but this one is mostly a case of needing to know more.

ER: Yeah!

Pokemon Sword & Shield

This one’s obviously a title so monumental that it consistently needs its own directs, but there wasn’t any *real* news about it in this direct. We were given a brief explanation as to how the Pokeball Plus works in conjunction with the games (something to do with taking your Pokemon for a walk) and the fact that we’ll see more gameplay during Nintendo’s Treehouse streams. Still, excitement remains pretty high for these titles.

ER: Heck Yeck!

Astral Chain

This game, to put it bluntly, looks awesome. The newest Platinum Games IP seems to be set in Blade Runneresque futuristic city with an alien threat and some cool ass looking fighting police people. Our second proper look at this game has cleared up a few murky doubts as to what exactly is supposed to be happening, so now we’ve got a much better idea of what this game is going to be. The story seems pretty full and polished, the gameplay looks like brilliant fun and I’m definitely not mad at the cool monster designs. This is one I’m definitely watching.

ER: Heck Yeck!!!

Empire of Sin

I know very little about what this game is supposed to be, but it looks to be a 40s gangster XCOM, substituting alien fighting marines with gun toting mafia dudes. The trailer went for style over substance, giving us an edgy visual thing of some burning playing cards and broken bottles, but the little gameplay we saw looked decent enough and may just end up injecting more variety into this genre.

ER: Yeah!

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

An obvious pick for any Marvel fan, this hack-and-slash is jam packed with various heroes and villains from the comic series’ rich history. Ghost Rider and Elektra were among those revealed to be playable, while the likes of Mysterio, Hela, the Destroyer, Doctor Octopus, Surtur and MODOK are seemingly part of growing cast of villains. Looks like a good bit of fun if nothing else, though the immediate presence of a season pass is a tiny red flag.

ER: Yeah!

Cadence of Hyrule

In an unexpected but greatly welcomed crossover between Nintendo’s RPG titan Zelda series and the indie developed Crypt of the Necrodancer, a new rhythm based dungeon crawler with some brand new Zelda remixes and the presence of Link and Zelda as playable characters. This game’s retro graphics look totally adorable and the addition of the Gohmaracas were a definite highlight.

ER: Heck Yeck!!!!!

Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Tell you what, this definitely looks like a Mario and Sonic Olympic Games game. There looks to be a decent amount of variety in terms of what sports are involved and with its online multiplayer, there’s no shortage of vaguely cartoon sportyness to be had with friends both real and virtual. I’d be lying if I said I was totally disinterested because it does look a bit fun, but we all know it won’t be anything groundbreaking.

ER: Yeah!

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

In a fairly drastic formula change, Nintendo have decided to strand us on a desert island rather than move us innocently to another village, but Tom Nook is still here and oh yes he’s coming to collect his bells. From this surprisingly brief trailer, most of Animal Crossing’s core gameplay seems to be intact, with the return of craftable items from Pocket Camp, and the sudden bombshell that the game has been pushed back to March next year. Never going to be a bad thing if the finished product is all the better for it, but I guess that just means more info is to come!

ER: Heck Yeck

Highlight Reel

In what looks like a list of honourable mentions, Nintendo gave us a laundry list of other titles coming to the system:

Spyro Reignited Trilogy is joining Crash on the Switch with his acclaimed remaster trilogy.

Hollow Knight: Silksong, the prequel to the original game, looks just as charmingly dark as its predecessor.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is showing up I guess, but I’ll come out and say I know nothing about it except that it looks cute.

Minecraft Dungeons looks better than it has any right to be and looks a bit like blocky Diablo I guess

The Elder Scrolls: Blades sure exists and I’m unsure of what it’s trying to be, but whatever quells off the need for Elder Scrolls 6 I guess.

My Friend Pedro, another strangely unique title from Devolver Digital, looks like it somehow incorporates banana peels into its combat system.

Doom Eternal looks like Doom always does, but a distinct lack of gameplay may put its dual release with the other consoles into question.

The Sinking City with its Lovecraftian inspiration looks totally brilliant and looks to be a unique experience for sure, so eyes firmly open for this one

Wolfenstein Youngblood definitely looks all Wolfenstein-y, but rumours of Dishonored-like sandbox levels has definitely piqued my interest.

Dead by Daylight still looks unfortunately a bit eh, with its slightly not great graphical quality from what we’ve seen in the trailers.

Alien Isolation was an extremely odd one, but I’m not gonna say no to more good horror content on the console.

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles seems to be continually delayed, but they’ll probably get round to it eventually.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 looks adorable and I’m very into the idea of Dragon Quest Minecraft, so sign me up.

Stranger Things 3: The Game looks a little more SNES-like in terms of graphics than its 8 Bit mobile predecessor, which is definitely a decent step. An obvious pick for fellow fans of the show.

Just Dance 2020 is definitely a Just Dance game. Yep, sure is. I even checked. And it is.

Catan is a tabletop game of sorts, but I really couldn’t figure out what kind from that few seconds of vague footage.

New Super Lucky’s Tale looks like Bubsy, but actually good and worth real money

Dauntless looks like a bit of a Monster Hunter clone, but you know, doesn’t look terrible.

And lastly, Super Mario Maker 2 was tacked on the end there to remind us all that Nintendo is taking our money in 2 weeks.

Banjo-Kazooie become Smash Ultimate’s 3rd DLC Fighter

Just when we all petering out a little and the hype seemed all but dormant, they go and drop this on us out of nowhere. While I personally don’t have an attachment to the bear and bird, I’m fully aware of their significance and how much they mean to a lot of people out there. And that excitement ended up being contagious, so this fact coupled with a pitch perfect reveal trailer has got me hugely hyped to see these guys join the fight come autumn.

ER: YEEHAW BABEY

Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

And now, dear reader, for the reveal that removed my scalp and cut out my eyeballs. At first, I was totally confused as to what this could be. And then I recognised the symbols, and then my perfect lil Hyrule eggs come on the screen and it’s all spooky and there’s dead Ganondorf and I don’t clock the fact that I’ve just screamed out loud. A direct sequel to my absolute favourite game of all time is happening and it’s real and I get to live another adventure in the best game world ever crafted all over again. I think it’s safe to say I have transcended the definition of hype when it comes to this one.

ER: AAA!!! AA!!! GFFGF!!! THIS!!! ZELDA!!!! HGGGG!!!!

So there’s my probably a little stupid breakdown of everything Nintendo bestowed upon us this E3. Guess I’ll jump in after the next direct to give you yet another heavily scientific analysis of its events. Or I’ll babble at you until I start punching the keyboard. Either way, happy trails my dudes. Don’t let the hype bugs bite.

[krreader]

save me | chapter 1.

pairing: suk hansung x reader ; kim taehyung x reader (platonic) fandom: hwarang ; bts warnings: non idol!au ; alternate reality!au ; mentions of death ; language genre: angst ; fluff ; possible smut

summary: taehyung has been your best friend for so long, almost as long as he has been sick. but now it was getting worse and for some reason, the only person that has any idea as to why that is, is a lunatic that tells you it's because taehyung is connected to someone from another universe. and then you suddenly find yourself on a quest in an alternate reality, trying to prevent the death of a boy named hansung, so that your best friend could live. however, developing feelings for the hwarang member hadn’t exactly been the plan..

a/n: listen, I really didn’t plan on posting this today, but this might be the happiest I’ve ever been with any fanfiction I have written. and I’ve been meaning to write something with hansung for ages anyways so I REALLY hope you’re going to enjoy this fanfiction because it means a lOT to me. (also, bts’ save me fits this fanfiction so well, I’m crying, hence the title)

ask box | masterlist | fandoms | faq | multifandom reader blog

“Hey beautiful,” he said weakly, almost as pale as a ghost, even though he once used to be quite tan.

“Hello handsome,” you chuckled and leaned down to press a kiss against his forehead, “How are we feeling today?”

“Better, now that you're here.”

Taehyung has been your best friend ever since you could remember. But it was almost just as long that he was sick. At first it wasn't impacting his life that much. He stayed at home more than other children during his school days, because he was often sick and had to visit the doctors every once in a while, but none of them ever knew what was wrong with him. They said it was the flu, a cold, an infection. Anything that they could come up with, basically.

But now he was 23 and permanently tied to a hospital bed because it had gotten so bad.

Now, they knew that the reason for his weakness was the loss of blood. But the crazy thing? There was no wound anywhere on his body. It just seemed to vanish into thin air. And even though they were giving him blood transfusions, they couldn't pump it back in fast enough, because he was losing it at such a high rate.

Doctors were at lost, even the specialists from all over the world that had visited had no idea what was wrong with him.

Some even said he might be the first to have this ‘disease’, but that fact wouldn’t help him in any way, unfortunately.

What he needed was a cure.

Desperately.

But there couldn't be a cure, if nobody knew where the disease was coming from.

And so now all they did was pump blood into him regularly and hope that he would make it for a bit longer even though everyone knew there was no chance of him surviving, his loss of blood becoming worse and worse every single day.

“So.. I brought you a new game for your Nintendo, cookies, potato chips, a new teddy, and some underwear because your mother wanted me to bring it.”

“My mother made you bring me my underwear?” he laughed, “That's so embarrassing.”

“I've seen you naked too many times for it to be embarrassing,” you smiled and sat down on his bed, “Want to go for a stroll? I'll push you through the gardens and we’ll race old Johnny from the fifth floor again?” you wiggled your eyebrows.

“Please.. it's so stifling in here.”

And so with the help of a nurse, you helped him into a wheelchair and made sure the blood bag was secure, before you pushed him out of his room.

Some days were good, like today, where he was able to at least sit in a wheelchair, others were absolutely horrible, when all he could do was sleep and try not to die.

That's how it's been for the past two months and you spent most of your days crying now, not quite believing that one of the most important men of your life was about to die soon.

It just wasn't something you could imagine, you know? A life without him.. 

So you and him just never really talked about it. Every time he brought it up that he was going to die soon, you told him that he wouldn't. Because you just couldn't see it happening. It was a stupid and naive thing to do that would get your heart broken on the day it actually happened, but you needed to hold on to that hope, otherwise you were going to break down. And you didn't want that.

You wanted to be strong for him.

If everyone else had given up hope, you wanted to be the one person who wouldn't.

“Do you have some money?”

“Why?” but when he eyed the ice cream truck that was parked on the hospital lot, you laughed and pushed him towards one of the empty tables, “The usual, then, Mister Kim?”

“Yes, please,” and even though his condition was fucking horrible, he still managed to show you his beautiful boxy grin.

And so you walked over to the truck, pulling out a few coins, before you smiled at the person on the inside, “Hey.. can I get some chocolate and vanilla please? Make it two scoops each, please.”

The guy seemed normal at first, friendly and not weird at all.

But when he turned around to look at you, he suddenly said: “Taehyung is going to die soon, (Y/N).”

At first you had thought you had misheard him say those words, but when he looked up and directly into your eyes, you realized that you probably hadn’t, “What?”

“I've never seen a connection this strong. If Hansung dies, Taehyung dies.”

“Who is Hansung? And how do you know who we are?”

“I am the only person that can help him. And you are the only person that can save him.”

Wow, a lunatic.

That's exactly what you needed today.

“Listen, I don't know what pills you took, but..-”

He pushed the cups of ice cream towards you, “When all hope is lost, the only solution is doing the unthinkable. You will soon realize that. But please believe me when I tell you that you're his only hope of surviving.”

Yeah, alright. He seemed like the kind of guy that broke out of the mental hospital. You just gave him the money and walked away with the ice cream, Taehyung laughing weakly when he saw your face.

“What happened?”

“Dude, that ice cream truck guy was so weird? He knew our names and babbled about you and a guy named Hansung having a connection or something?”

“What? And you still took the ice cream?” he immediately grabbed both of them and threw them into the trash, “Who knows what he put in there.. maybe he wants to poison us.”

True.

Better save than sorry.

Still, what he said worried you. Not just the fact that he knew who you were, but that he said Taehyung would die soon. That you were his only hope.

Crazy, right? Absolutely mental.

But when you found the napkin the guy had given you, and saw that he had written down his phone number, you didn't throw it in the trash like the ice cream, but shoved it deeper into your pockets, remembering what he had said.

'When all hope is lost, the only solution is doing the unthinkable'

“You keep letting me win,” your best friend laughed, staring at the screen of the Nintendo.

“Am not! You're just that good,” you smiled happily, “Even in the hospital you beat me at Mario like a pro.”

He knew you were lying.

And he wished you didn't have to.

Sometimes he had those moments where he didn't know why you were with him, when you should be out there and enjoying your life.

Other girls your age went out to party, have lunch with their best friends or go shopping.

You?

You spent every single day with him.

Even if you were busy, you always managed to make time to see him.

And he felt guilty for that. For taking away so much time of your life that he thought you were wasting on a dying man.

But he was too selfish to tell you that. He wanted you to be here, because he was afraid, to be honest. He was afraid he'd die alone. So each hour you were here, was a good one for him. The only good ones he had these days, actually.

“I'm scared,” he suddenly said, not looking at the game anymore, but at you, tears welling up in his eyes.

And you knew what he was scared of, because you were just as scared as he was. But you still weren't able to look at him.

“You don't have to be, Taehyung. You're not going to die.”

“I am. I can feel it, you know? I can feel that it'll be soon.”

“Stop..- stop saying this kind of stuff,” you forced a smile and nodded towards the Nintendo, “Come on, one more round, I'll let you beat me again.”

“I just keep thinking about all the things I never did. That I never will do. And then there's mom and dad and my siblings that are going to be devastated and.. and you will..-”

“I will be fine, because you won't die, for the last time.”

“Stop lying to yourself,” you knew you shouldn't have looked at him, because when you did, the tears were already running out of his eyes and a sad smile was on his face, “I'm going to die, (Y/N),” it shattered your heart, seriously.

You had prayed for a miracle. You had begged the doctors to find somebody else to treat him. You had personally called every single hospital that was specialized in blood diseases in hopes of any of them being able to treat him.

But nothing helped.

No one helped.

“I will not let you die, Taehyung. You hear me?” you slid closer to him and cupped his face in your hands, before leaning your forehead against his, “You will not die. I promise.”

For the first time since they had taken him to the hospital, he broke down.

He had held it in for so long, had tried to pretend like he had already given up on life and was now heading towards the light with a smile, when in reality he was mortified. He didn't want to die. He wanted to live..

But no matter what you tried to promise him and now matter how much he loved and trusted you, there was no way you could save him.

No way that made sense.

But there was one that made absolutely no sense.

And it was your last resort.

Your last beacon of hope.

And it would probably get you killed, but if this guy wasn't crazy, he was your only chance of saving him. And in your desperation, you called him the second you left the hospital.

“I knew you'd call,” was the first thing he said.

“Are you going to kidnap me and sell me? Are you one of those guys?”

“No. I'm not even from here. I'm a traveler, trying to help people in need.”

“God, I must be crazy,” you snorted, brushing your hand through your hair, “Tell me what I need to know to save him. And tell me what it'll cost me.”

“There is an old warehouse not far from the hospital. I'm going to send you the location. Meet me there in twenty minutes and I promise you, you'll get your chance to save your friend.”

You wanted to tell him that you would NOT go to a secluded warehouse when it was dark and no one was around, but he had already ended the call and set you the location a second later.

“I'm insane. I'm absolutely insane,” you muttered to yourself when you started walking there, already coming up with possible escape plans if need be.

But when you arrived..

..well.

“What the fuck is this?” you eyed the machine that looked a lot like a.. portal, for some reason.

“It's how I travel around,” the guy said, having you turn around in an instant, “You don't have to be afraid of me. I won't hurt you.”

“Yeah, that's what every guy says that wants to hurt girls.”

“(Y/N), do you know what an alternate reality is?” he sat down on a table, far away from you, because he didn't want to make you any more uncomfortable.

“I guess.”

Since it really wasn't what he wanted to hear, he decided to explain it to you, just in case: “An alternate reality is a parallel universe to ours. There is an infinite amount of them, where it's different versions of our world. Every time a decision that changes something is made, an alternate reality is formed. Therefor, the infinite amount. Some of these realities are connected with each other, more precisely, some people of these worlds.”

“And I take it Taehyung is one of those people in this story of yours,” because you really didn't believe it.

How could you?

“Exactly. In one of these realities, there is a boy named Hansung. He is a member of an elite warrior group in a time period that has long passed in your world. Hansung is almost a copy of Taehyung and for some reason, these two have a connection that most people don't.”

“I still don't understand how any part of your story is going to help save my best friend.”

“What do you think happens to the other when one of them dies? Do you think that strong connection will just.. disappear?”

You blinked a couple of times, trying to wrap your brain around it, before saying: “Hansung is the reason Taehyung is losing all this blood?”

“Hansung was destined to die early on his life the day he was born. That is why Taehyung has been sick ever since he was a kid. When a person who is connected to the other dies from old age, the other person won’t notice. But Hansung is going to die from poisoning and is going to lose a lot of blood. That is the blood that Taehyung is losing. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?”

“So if Hansung dies.. Taehyung dies as well. And because he is close to dying, Taehyung is too.”

“Indeed,” he took a deep breath and pushed himself off the table, “For a long time, I've been trying to figure out what makes these two what they are. Why they are connected in the way that they are. But until today, I had no idea what their connection was.”

“And now you do?” you crossed your arms in front of your chest.

“You are,” he smiled. You just didn’t know if it was a sad or a happy one and that worried you, “You are the connection that both of them share. Because as scientific as I wanted it to be, the strongest connection isn't anything chemical. It's love.”

“Love,” you snorted, “Is that so?”

“You love Taehyung as your best friend and even though I do not know what connection you are going to have with Hansung, there must be one,” he slowly approached you. When he took a step forward you took one back and so on, until your back suddenly hit something hard, “But know this. If you do not prevent his death, Taehyung is going to die as well.”

“Prevent his death? How the..-”

“I will come and get you the day after he is supposed to die,” then he suddenly grabbed a handle next to your head and pulled it down, taking two big steps back, “Good luck, (Y/N). Save them both.”

“Wait, what are you..-”

But before you could say anything, a bright light engulfed you and the next thing you saw was pure blackness.

“Shit.. my head,” you pressed your eyes shut, holding your head as you tried to sit up.

“Wait, wait, wait! Not so fast,”

“No, I'm okay, thank you,” but when you opened your eyes and found a girl dressed in traditional Korean clothing looking back at you and not one of the doctors that treated Taehyung, you let out a scream.

“Don't be so loud, or they're going to get suspicious!” she hissed.

“What.. what the hell? Who are you? And who is going to get suspicious?”

“My name is Ahro. I'm the physician of Hwarang, so you can be lucky I was the one that found you and not one of the guys.”

“Found me? Found me here?”

“Right in front of my door, actually. No idea where you turned up from. And you look really odd as well, if I might say so. Where exactly are you coming from?”

A quick look around made you realize and say: “From far, far away, apparently.”

That lunatic was right.

[the-progress-bar]

You Wore Out a Path Recap

I haven’t written something this long in … well, I don’t want to check.

The Inception

I don’t remember where the idea for this came from, specifically. I wrote the beginning of the first chapter for Camp NaNoWriMo, along with a whole slew of other FE:A material. It turns out that I’m extremely bad at writing linear narratives, given the absolute mess and if you say goodbye is to straighten out and more casually in the boy across the hall.

Chapter One

The fairy tale was written first actually. I filled in around its scene breaks with Robin being in a Bad Mental State™ as a way to carry this. weird, meandering fairy tale. Also, there’s a much more comedic story in the works that involves Grima and Robin again and I wanted to do something more serious on that vein at the same time.

He strikes to the south east. For some reason, Donnel didn’t stay in the armed forces as Robin hoped but went back home for good.

Donnel! I love Donnel for the sheer comedy of some country boy latching onto the Shepherds, which is otherwise comprised of nobles, and him being able to take on a whole battlefield by himself, leaving the rest in the dust. But he doesn’t stay in Ylisstol and Robin and I are forever sad over that lost potential.

Thunder crumbles around the spirit. They press a stone into the prince’s hand and sighs.

Here’s an instance where it’s clear that I didn’t outline the first chapter at all nor was I thinking about how the pieces fit if I expanded the story. This stone was supposed to do your normal fairy tale shenaniganry with like. Blessings and shielding and magical properties. Then I completely lost that vein and only left the part in where spirit!Robin basically gives Chrom, the prince, their heart. Good job, me. This constantly bothers me, but I also don’t have the motivation to rewrite this bit.

He freezes at Frederick’s stare.

I sincerely love Frederick for reasons that are spoilers for a giant FE:A fic I have in the works, but he’s also so, so fun to wind up.

Chapter Two

So, now I had to actually sit down and outline how this story went. Just a bunch of sentences jotted down, but enough to make me realize how bizarre the geography in this game is. Like, what even is going on with the story’s timeline? Do you know how long it takes to move an army over a continent, when its fastest mode of transportation are horses? I never get how they’re able to run from Plegia over to Mount Prism, then back to the opposite side of the continent and onto Grima’s back. Did Grima just wait for Chrom and co. to arrive? Like, they’re extra enough, but Nintendo, come on.

Let me just say, the FE:A world map has been a permanent fixture in my browser for months and I’m glad to see it gone.

Chrom sinks onto the bed and stares at the coat in his hands.

It’s been almost a decade.

The reason it took Chrom so long to appear among the character tags is because he wasn’t supposed to appear. Not until the last scene. Somehow he snuck into the open and close of the rest of the chapters and I didn’t kick him out.

“I died, Frederick,” Robin snaps. “Please leave it alone.”

Rereading the earlier chapters, I’m a bit surprised myself about how bitchy and defeated (?) Robin is. Being possessed by Grima sucks, and so does slowly turning into a dragon-human thing, but wow boi. Normally my characters are more on the “body slam our problems into submission” side of the spectrum. It all works out eventually, but for a while I had to deal with the nasty problem that apparently only the female characters have any of their shit together.

“Blood magic is a sorry inheritance,” his mother said sadly, thumbs rubbing at the brand on his hand.

I hope you all love Modron as much as me, because I love her and aggressively ignore how Nintendo did her dirty by including her as a key character in a whole bunch of fics coming down the pipeline. Though in this particular fic, her presence snuck in while I wasn’t watching, but not enough to recreate the Chrom situation.

The fisherman knocks on the wooden door of his younger brother’s stone house.

I planned on putting a fairy tale of my own creation into every chapter, with each linked in a tangentially narrative way to Robin’s family. Obviously that didn’t happen. This tale was supposed to be involving Robin and two Morgan’s. That plan derailed immediately.

Chapter Three

Robin’s daughter greets Chrom in Chon’sin’s silks and lacquer, the twists of dark purple contrasting her currently golden hair.

I keep making Say’ri a lesbian. That point doesn’t come up in this story, because Chrom wasn’t supposed to take over so much, but Morgan and Say’ri are together by this point, even if that gets muddled a bit by their weird work relation. I’m just saying, like father, like daughter.

And yes, Morgan dyes her hair. This is more established in the remix I wrote out of boredom of yet another chapter of Robin and Frederick yelling at each other in the snow.

“It’s a wonder your wayward mother never tried fleeing the continent all together,” Grima says.

At this point, I just accepted that I had no control over character barging in because they felt like it. Grima kept the story interesting at least, or else this whole plot would have been the slowest, most boring road trip ever.

At the cost of bloating this chapter and shoving out some other content I initially wanted to cover.

Due to Ferox’s waveringly official stance of neutrality, we spent a few years moving back and forth here.

[Cackling laughter]

Lon’qu and Olivia drop unannounced into the unoccupied seats at the table while Frederick and Robin waited for their dinners.

This scene is … weird. A slight mess. Originally, Lon’qu and Olivia had the same level of screen time as Donnel and Nowi did in the first chapter. But I already had the outline sectioned off into five chapters and writing even more scenes on boats was not a good usage of my time. Presumably, the khans got word that Robin and Frederick were back and heading to Valm and since Lon’qu and Olivia were already in the area with the same destination, they decided to do a favor and sent a message ahead.

What are the Ferox kids doing in Valm? Spying Something, wasn’t important.

A hazy memory of before. Sumia stumbles into Robin’s shoulder, the two of them laughing, drunk on wine and mirth.

In my drafts, there’s half of the fairy tale that was supposed to go in this chapter. Sumia drunkenly tells an equally sloshed Robin the story as they stumble around in the castle. It’s a more standard tale paralleling Modron hiding her children from the Grimleal and made much more sense than whatever was happening in the last chapter. Unfortunately, I cut it out because certain parties used up too many words when they weren’t even supposed to appear.

Chapter Four

Chapter four and five were supposed to come out back to back because I assumed I’d have time to write over the holiday break. As we all know now, that didn’t happen, like so many of my plans.

More importantly though, at this point I realized that Robin needed to start getting his shit together, fast.

A beat from Grima’s many wings carried them on the hot winds blowing off the fires below, covering several hours march in a fraction of the time.

This passage from the bad timeline is one of those sections I wrote nearly immediately since it just clicked. (The other significant passage is the final scene.) Honestly though, I was starting to have a hard time not repeating the same imagery and words over and over again. My grasp of English and vocabulary has never been anything to write home about, first language notwithstanding, and I literally had to pull out the thesaurus a few times in the later sections so I wouldn’t keep writing “scream” but completely forgot what other words existed. Linguistics amazes me, but it is so not my department.

Is it anger? Is it despair? Is it exhaustion, ascending to the Exalt’s throne alone, …

How to Tell I Wrote a Section by Hand Rather Than on My Computer: when the sentences get long and on this roll of phrase after phrase after phrase, that’s me with a pen. This whole section from Chrom was handwritten on my then-new iPad to test out some software.

By this point, I accepted that Chrom was just going to Be There and started working on his scenes to also try ramping up the tension in the fic by going backwards in his history to when the grief gets rawer and rawer. you wore out a path isn’t primarily about grief or depression, but some of those beats snuck in?

Chrom is a Mess™ at this point.

They dream feverishly.

What the fuck was this section.

“How am I supposed to keep this army and your father alive if you won’t tell me what happens? You’re one of our greatest sources of information and you refuse to share with anyone. Stop hiding.”

I hate! This dumb trope! Of not sharing info when traveling back in time! What’s the point of time traveling with the express purpose of changing history and then not! Changing history!

I have strong feelings.

By private captain, Robin means pirates. They must find pirates to board with.

This was entirely for my own amusement. There’s no other reason. Another key sign that my characters are getting a handle on their lives is that the writing starts getting snarkier.

Chapter Five

If by some future machination, the count increases to three out of three, he’s going to wholesale stop trusting magical mountains.

Case in point about the snark.

The master revived, the blood burning, the sacrifice slain, the master revived, the lORD, the FelL DRAGON, death, glory, the gOD and its vessel, returned, returned.

It turns out, messing with AO3’s formatting to have some font fun is a pain in the ass involving work skin shenanigans. The picture work skin already failed to do its job, I wasn’t going to wrestle with another skin just for this sentence. How it’s supposed to look:

A good two-third of this chapter just all came at once, in a sudden dash of productive writing. The muses are fickle that way.

Back on the point about how I Did Not Outline, there were a few items I wanted to reappear through the narrative. Elements from the fairy tales come back in this fight, for example. Another point I decided in the fourth chapter when writing the opening scene are the cathedrals. 

(Disclaimer: I’m not religious and thus don’t know the full symbolic significance in cathedrals. What I know can be distilled into: You Thought New York Construction Was Slow? and Very Pretty Because Very Important and Yes, The Organ is Behind You and Very Loud. Not a lot.)

“Why do you fight for Chrom?”

Robin getting interrogated on this point keeps coming up in my fics, but the scenes are always fantastic short bursts that are good at breaking up a section that’s been running too long.

Suddenly, Robin is quite literally on fire.

I already drew the picture. The boy’s on fire. There was a good explanation when I first thought this up, but then when it came time to writing the scene, I forgot why, and my outline didn’t have any notes. Bonds? Naga’s flame? Dramatically dissolving Grima’s marks from Robin’s body? All of the above?

“One last tale for the road,” Modron says to her son, …

Modron’s name. I’ve seen people taking cues from Morgan and going with Morgana, but I’m a contrary soul that always resists whatever fandom decides is a good idea. This works out well half the time.

Morgan and Morgana led my brain to the Arthurian legends, and I decided to see what some of those character’s mothers were called. Went to Wikipedia, clicked a bunch off links radiating from Morgan le Fay and somehow landed on Modron? She’s interesting. Nor did I know about the DnD Bill Cipher thing. 

Normally, though, I would not have started with a Welsh name. Some of the name choices for Plegian characters have vaguely Middle East origins (which is a completely different discussion about real world politics in that casting decision) and I would have started there.

I’m not a linguist though. Or someone that knows about naming conventions. So.

Now he stands grounded and as well rooted as the Mila Tree, the fire traded for a calm glow and Robin’s so grateful.

And this line here, this line here, is the sole reason I humored Chrom kicking his way into the story. This final scene was one of the first things I wrote after deciding to expand past the first chapter.

Look at these two dumb boys growing up.

In Conclusion

[staring at my file archives]

Have I ever actually finished a multi-chapter fic before?

[megamanx1994]

Captain Falcon: The First Peacekeeper (Part 2) Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Great Divide (Disclaimer!! I own nothing of Nintendo or Inuyasha! Except for my OCs.) I was walking into GSI where I was called for some kind of meeting. “I wonder what they want from me,” I said, “Its not like I did anything wrong.” I finally found the boarding room. There, I saw Little Mac, my old friend Tessa, and others. “Sit down Mr. Shay,” said Someone. I sat down. “I don’t believe we met,” he said, “My name is Joseph Dimaccio, head of the N.G.O.S, the New Government of Seattle.” “Sooooo what’s all this about?” I asked. "We're here to congratulate you Nicholas for all of your hard work," he said, "The world owes you and your friends for all of the things you've done for us... however..." "However what?" i asked. "However, some have been concerned with how your actions have resulted," said Dimaccio, "People are afraid." “That’s why I’m here,” said someone. I turned around and saw Korra. "Korra... what a surprise," I said. “I don’t know how else to say this,” she said, “We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes I’m all for it.” “What are you talking about?” I asked. “Nicholas, while many people see you as a hero, there are some who prefer the term vigilante,” said Dimaccio. "What word would you use?" i asked. "How about Dangerous," said Dimaccio, "What else would you call a group of biologically enhanced superhumans that seem unconcerned about the mess they leave behind?" He showed us footage from my beginning days as Power Man to the most recent fight at the party. “For 2 years you’ve been acting with unlimited power and no supervision," he said, "This is something the world can no longer tolerate. However there is a solution” He gave me a document that asks that I resign from doing herowork. “From now on you will have to oblige to my rules,” he said, “The Hyrule Accords is a document that will sign all bio-humans with the government, and will allow you to go to specific places only when and if the panel deems it necesarry.” “What?” I asked. “And if you defy these rules, there will be consequences,” he said. “Y-you can’t do this to us,” I said. “I can and I have,” he said, “This discussion is over. You have 72 hours to decide.” I was walking out angry about the situation. “Nicholas I….” said Korra. “I can’t believe you’re siding with them!” I said, “I thought we were friends.”  “OF course we’re friends, but sometimes things just happen,” said Korra, “And there’s nothing you can do about it, so why bother?” “Look,” I said, “I can’t just sit back pretending I don’t see something happening. If I see someone in danger, I have to save them.” “Look you have every right to be angry about this,” said Korra, “But if you can’t accept limitations, then you’re no better than the bad guys.” “Korra, if I see that someone’s about to get hurt, I can’t ignore it,” I said, “Sometimes I wish I could.” “Nick, it would do everyone a favor if you just sign the document,” she said. “Forget it,” I said, “I’m not selling my soul to them just to keep Seattle safe from anymore collateral damage.” I walked away. “Nicholas, some things are just….. beyond our control,” she said. “That’s not the way I see it,” I said. Colleen was looking for me. “There you are,” she said. “What do you want?” I asked. “Dude some soldiers were waiting for a demonstration and you never showed up,” she said. “What do you care?” I asked. “Well for starters, I had to cover your ass,” she said. “I didn’t ask you to,” I said. “No, but the commander did,” she said, “I was just doing as I was told.” “Whatever,” I said. She followed me. “Ok what’s going on dude?” she asked, “You’re not your useful cheerful self today.” “I don’t wanna talk about it,” I said. Bryan, one of Colleen’s comrades came by. “Come on dude, talk to us,” he said. I pushed him to a wall and put a fake blade near his head. “I said I don’t wanna talk about it!” I said. “And I can respect that,” said Bryan. “Nicholas?” asked Colleen. “Fine, I was just at a meeting and apparently they want to put a law against half humans,” I said. “What?” asked Colleen. “After my little mess yesterday they decided that enough is enough,” I said. “Can’t your team do something?” asked Bryan. “First off this ‘team’ you speak of doesn’t exist anymore,” I said, “And second of all…. They’re gone.” “Well look Nick, no matter what happens I’ll be by your side,” said Colleen, “Because you’re my best friend.” “Thanks,” I said. I started to walk away. “Look,” she said, “I know how you feel.” “Don’t,” I said. “When your friends left….” I pulled away. “I said ‘don’t’,” I said. “Maybe its time we moved on from the past,” said Colleen. I headed out. “I may have fast healing, but even I have wounds that take longer to heal,” I said. Later I was heading to the place where Wendy works. “Hey,” she said, “I didn’t expect to see you here.” “Well here I am,” I said. “Did Colleen forget something?” asked Wendy. “No, I just thought we could hang out,” I said. “I guess you can’t get enough of the infamous Wendy,” she said as she grinned. “Unless you only like me because you know I’m power man,” I said. She came to me. “So…. What’s the deal?” she asked, “I rarely see you hanging around other people. Antisocial much?” “Not exactly,” I said, “I had a group of really great friends. I don’t….. I don’t talk to them anymore.” “Why?” asked Wendy. “Things just got complicated and now…. They all left and I’m the only one here,” I said. “It happens,” said Wendy, “I actually know how you feel.” “You do?” I asked. “So my friend Rose and I were semi-finalist in the dance competition right?” she asked, “Rose was determined to win first place and make sure I won 2nd, she was training hard with me and them wham! I kicked her right in the face.” “Wow,” I said. “She had a broken jaw, swollen lip, and a black eye,” said Wendy, “My best friend since the sixth grade…. Never spoke to me again.” She looked down to the floor. “Ohhh, but…. Its not like you meant it,” I said. “Yeah… some stuff is just beyond our control,” she said, “Give me a sec to close up shop and we can get somethin’ to eat. Sushi.” I heard glass break. “What was that?” I asked. I was looking at a strange white haired guy. “Its here,” he said, “I know it. “Who the hell are you?” I asked. “You don’t recognize me do you?” he asked. “No why should….” I said. Something jogged in my memory. “OH my god, you’re that guy from the party,” I said. “What’s it to you?” he asked. “Why’d you dye your hair white?” I asked. “Ok are you gonna ask a bunch of questions?” he asked. He saw Wendy come out. “Found ya,” he said. Wendy started to run. The guy chased after her. “You picked the wrong day to mess with InuYasha!” he said. “Get away from her!” I shouted as I pushed him away. “alright now you’ve done it,” he said. He got out a giant sword. “Ok let’s do this,” I said as I got my beam sword out. We clashed at each other. “Your sword’s no match for my Tetsuiga,” he said. He dashed at me. “Try this one for size!” he shouted. I countered and kicked him in the face. “Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!” he shouted. He did a claw attack and it scratched my face. I kept fighting him. “What the fuck is your deal?!” I said. “You’re not stopping me from taking down that half demon!” said InuYasha. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I said still blocking his attack. “Liar!” he shouted. He kicked me in the knee and slashed me and I fell to the ground. “Time to finish it,” he said. Someone lunged at InuYasha stopping his attack. It was Wendy…. But she looked different. Her skin was pale and she had some kind of mark on her face. “Keep. Away. From him,” she said. She suddenly regained control and turned normal again. “The next time your symbol comes up, don’t answer it,” said InuYasha, “Power-Man is dead.” He started to walk away. “Tell me,” I said, “If you’re a half demon, do you bleed?” He ran off. “You will,” I said. I turned around and looked for Wendy and it started raining. “Wendy?” I asked, “Where are you?” I saw a purple light. “Wendy?” I asked. She turned and saw me. “Go….. run away like all the others,” she said. “What are you talking about?” I asked. “You saw it…. Didn’t you?” she asked. “Yeah,” I said. “Then you have a right to be scared of me,” she said tears streaming down her eyes, “Now I get to go back to having no friends…” I took her hand. “Wendy, I’m not going anywhere,” I said, “I made a promise to be your friend no matter what, and I intend to keep it.” She looked at me. “Thank you,” she said as she hugged me. “Its ok,” I said, “Tell me everything.”

Wendy told me everything about how sht got her powers and why she spent the rest of her life hiding. “So you just kept running after your parents threatened to turn you in?” I asked. “Yes…. They knew what they would do to people like me… and they did it anyway,” she said with tears in her eyes. “That’s horrible,” I said, “I’d never do that to someone who’s close to me.” She noticed blood on my hand. “You’re bleeding,” she said. “Oh, its nothing,” I said. “Don’t say that,” said Wendy. Her hands glowed with energy and she touched them. The blood healed and my arm wasn’t hurting. “How did you do that?” I asked. “I have some kind of magic tricks,” she said, “They can heal other people’s wounds.” “Incredible,” I said. “You mean…. You don’t hate me for being a bio-human?” asked Wendy. “Of course not,” I said. She hugged me. “Thank you,” said Wendy. Inuyasha was getting his scars healed after a fight with me and Wendy. “I could’ve gotten him,” he said, “He’s the one causing all this chaos.” “I don’t think so Inuyasha,” said Kagome, “He seems to kind of a person to hurt others.” “But still.. he just doesn’t seem like a hero,” said Inuyasha. “Are you by any chance jealous of him?” asked Kagome. “No,” said Inuyasha, “I just wanna make sure he is who he says he is.” Ghirahim was watching. “Oh you will,” said Ghirahim, “And by then it will already be too late.” Some servants brought something into his lair. “We’ve found it,” said one of them. They opened the bag revealing Zant’s corpse. “Its time,” said Ghirahim. The next day I was asleep on my bench doing research. The phone rang. “Hello?” I asked. “Hey,” said Korra, “Its me.” “What do you want?” I asked. “Is that any way to greet a girl?” asked Korra, “Anyways you gotta check this out.” “What is it?” I asked. “The half demon,” said Korra, “We found it.” We were at the secret weapons facility where Luna was. “It looks like I finally got a picture of the half demon,” said Luna, “Now we just have to find it.” “Then what will we do?” I asked curiously. “We’ll bring it to commander Dimaccio and he will decide his or her fate,” said Kuviera. Luna got the DNA and put it in the computer. It revealed someone familiar and I gasped. “No….” I said. “You know her?” asked Asami. “I…. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. “You saw her,” said Kuviera. “……Yes,” I said. “That’s all we need to know,” said Korra, “Now we have to find her.” “Who says we have to do that?” I asked. “The N.G.O.S,” said Korra, “We have our orders and you have ours.” “Korra, is this what Avatar Aang would’ve did?” I asked. “If it was for the good of his loved ones then yes,” said Korra, “You’re either with us, or against us. Its your choice.” That word echoed in my head. “Now if you’ll excuse me,” said Korra, “I have to get ready.” Asami looked at me staring out into the sky. “I know how much she means to you,” said Asami, “You’ll do us all a favor if you stay out of this one.” I was at a bar talking to Colleen, Finn, and Princess Bubblegum. “I can’t do this by myself,” I said, “I need your help to do this.” “So basically someone is framing Wendy for the mass murders going on,” said Finn, “And you think Wendy is innocent.” “That’s right,” I said. “Nicholas…. I’m not gonna turn against you,” she said, “I just wanna make sure we consider our options. Because people who shoot at you will more than likely shoot at us too.” “So are you in?” I asked. “Yeah,” said Colleen. “Count me in too,” said someone. It was Luna. “Something tells me we were given the wrong blood,” she said, “I wanna help you guys find out who’s the real half demon behind all this.” “The more the merrier,” I said, “Where’s Megaman?” “Recovering after an intense battle,” said Luna, “But luckily I still have my paintbrush.” She swung it around like a sword and smashed something. “Dude, put thing away!” said a man, “There’s like children here!” “Oops,” she said. “We’ll have to do it in secret though,” I said, “If we’re gonna get intel on the real half demon, we might as well make a few adjustments.” Colleen was giving us some makeovers. I got a lether jacket and a new hairdo and put on some shades. “Its funny, I almost didn’t recognize who you were,” said Colleen. “Well at least you know a familiar face under the shades and we can all work a normal light,” I said. We spent the next few days getting intel and information on the real half demon. With all the info we realized that someone was pulling the strings. I then took them to where I was hiding Wendy. “Nicholas…” she said, “Who are they?” “They’re here to help,” I said, “We’ve been getting intel on the half demon we think is responsible for what’s happening.” “I promise you I didn’t do those things,” said Wendy. “And I believe you,” I said, “But the people who think you did are after you, and I don’t think they’ll settle for taking you in alive.” Wendy was scared. “But I won’t let them lay one finger on you,” I said, “I promise.” I heard sirens. “Oh shit,” said Colleen, “Its their task force!” I grabbed my beam sword. “Get Wendy out of here,” I said. “I’m not going without you,” said Colleen. One of them busted the doors down. “Time to break out the heavy artillery,” said Colleen. She put on a backpack. “What is that?” I asked. Wings came out of it. “You think you’re the only guy Luna makes stuff for?” she asked, “Now let’s fight!” The task force came upstairs. “Arrest them!” said their leader. I jumped at them and fought them off while Finn and Princess Bubblegum took Wendy out of the building. I kept fighting the task force soldiers. “No doubt they work for N.G.O.S!” said Colleen. She flew by one of them giving them a hard punch. Wendy and the others were surrounded by soidiers. “We can’t get by them!” said Finn. “Stand back,” said Wendy. She used magic to push them all out of the way. One of them shot me in the arm. The wound healed. “Motherfucker!!!” I shouted. I kicked him in the balls. I saw Bolin and Opal fighting them off. “What’s going on here?” asked Bolin. “Apparently more than we know,” I said. “You won’t know anything by the time we’re done,” said Kuviera. “Oh shit,” said Colleen. She shot an earth attack at us and I deflected it. “Arwing!” said Wendy. I saw it and we all got inside. “Start, start you piece of junk!” I said. It started and I flew us away. “Asami, follow them!” said Kuviera. Asami appeared in some kind of exo skeleton. I remembered all my lessons in flying a plane and avoided her. “Freeze!” said Asami, “You’re under arrest!” Colleen flipped her off but tripped when I hit the brakes. “Why are we stopped?” she asked. “The lights red!” I said. “THERE ARE NO GODDAMN RED LIGHTS IN A GODDAMN SKY CHASE!” she shouted. I started flying again. “Why’s she trying to kill us?” asked Bolin, “Um… why are you trying to kill us?” “She works for the c.i.a!” said Finn, “We’ve seen too much!” “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” said Opal, “We don’t know she’s trying to kill us.” “CAR!!!!” said Finn. “SHE’S TRYING TO KILL US!!!” shouted Opal. I avoided the car. “D-d-did you just put your blinker on?!” asked Colleen. “You gotta indicate your turn,” I said, “It’s the LAW!” “That. Does it,” she said. She took the wheel and flew faster. “Wait what are you doing?!” I said. She saw the task force soldiers and started shooting at them. “Woo!” said Opal, “Now that’s a sky chase!!!” Kuviera was following us. “Oh no,” said Finn. She was summoning two rocks and tried to crush us. “Hold on guys!” said Colleen. She used the boost. “We’re not gonna make it,” said Bolin. “We’re gonna make it,” said Opal. “We’re not gonna make it!” said Bolin. “We’re gonna make it!” said Opal. “WE’RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!!!” said Bolin. “WE’RE GONNA MAKE IT!!!!!” said Opal. We made it. “We made it!” said Bolin. “Oh fuck!” I said. We crashed into a building and landed on the ground. “Is everyone ok?” I asked. “Yeah,” said Wendy, “We’re good!” Colleen got out. “They’re coming!” she said, “Hide.” Kuviera looked in the ship trying to find us. “Sir, the ship has been brought down, but there are no signs of the bodies,” she said. “Then they’re not dead,” said Dimaccio, “Continue the search.” “Understood,” she said. I looked around the area to make sure we were clear. “They’re gone,” I said, “Now let’s get moving.” “Where?” asked Luna. “The lab,” I said.

[psvrsales-com]

Is PlayStation VR Worth It?

Hey guys, this is Austin. And today, I'm here with one very important question. Is PlayStation VR worth it? You guys may have caught a video I did a few months ago where I compared a developer kit version of PSVR against the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive and I was pretty impressed then. So I have some high expectations here. Okay, so this looks like the fun stuff, so we'll wait one second on that. And we've got what looks like the accessories. Okay, first of all, we have PlayStation VR Worlds. So we get The London Heist, Scavenger's Odyssey, Ocean Descent, VR Luge, and Danger Ball. On top of that, we also get the PSVR Demo Disc. So this has a bunch of demos for things like Eve, DriveClub, Rigs. A lot of the games you're probably going to want to try anyway. Next, we have a controller which has actually been around for a while. This is the PlayStation Move. So these were originally made for the PlayStation 3, and they were essentially Sony's answer to the Wii Remote from Nintendo. Now, they were not massively popular. A few games took advantage of them. However, it looks like there's gonna be a much better use for them with PSVR. We also get the PlayStation Camera. Now it's important to note that there are actually two different PSVR bundles. So this is the full launch bundle, which has all of the accessories in addition to PlayStation VR. However, some of these things you're just going to need. So for example, you need a PlayStation Camera to make PSVR work. You don't necessarily have to have Move. However, a lot of games will require it. So it's probably something you're gonna want to pick up one way or another. So, speaking of the camera, this is a slightly redesigned version. Now, as far as I know, there's no real major difference between this and the original camera. So it's not like if you already have one of those, you need to go out and pick this one up. Essentially what this is going to do is track your actual VR headset. So essentially as you kind of move around the space, the camera will be able to tell exactly where you are. Oh, s**t. That is cool. The little things, you know? The little things in life. Oh, what? (laughing) I thought this was a box. This is your quickstart guide. You know what? Sony, I would never normally read something like this, but you went through the extra trouble. Let's see what's inside your quickstart guide. Oh yeah, it's a quickstart guide. Never mind. Okay, so another instruction manual. And this is the actual breakout box. So what looks, actually like sort of a mini PS4. So this is the processor unit. So everything is still going on on the PS4 itself. However, this is going to give you a couple extra features, so it kind of enhances the audio for a full 360 VR effect. And it also gives you an HDMI out to your TV. So for example, if you're playing a VR game, and your friend wants to watch, you can still see what's going on on the TV through this box. And we have a headset. So PSVR doesn't actually have built-in headphones like Oculus, so you can plug in pretty much anything. This is a standard 3.5 millimeter headphone jack. So if you like, you can use these low-profile options or bring your own cans. Alright, it's time for the fun stuff. So, what? Oh. Nope. Psych. Not fun stuff. More cables. The future--I thought the future was wireless! This is not wireless. We have... wow, that's light. The PSVR headset itself. Wow, that is super light. And even though it looks big and bulky, it's really lightweight. This actually seems like something that I could be wearing for quite a while without getting uncomfortable. Whoa, look. I'm in the future! The future's really dark. So with this kind of rubber on the sides, it really kind of helps to block light out. And even though I wear glasses, I feel like this is totally comfortable. Ugh, the real world. I didn't sign up for this. I wanna go back to PSVR. (laughs) Oh, you know what? This is the VR game I wanna play. "Feel the exhilaration of an illegal street race." An illegal luge, alright, let's do this. You know something interesting. I didn't need to adjust the screen at all for my glasses. I literally put it on and it immediately was nice and sharp. There's a little button on the bottom where you can pull it in and out to kinda adjust it, but super-simple set up. Alright, immediately not digging the motion here. This is like motion sickness 101. Yikes. And sort of more of the static sort of things, the screen resolution's not bad. Here, everything is very blurry. It's cool, I can get the idea, but, it's... Yeah, it's noticeably less sharp than something like the Vive or Oculus. Let's do The London Heist. That sounds like fun. One thing I'll say about using the Move controllers, it's pretty obvious that they really weren't designed for VR, because while you have your X and Square and all your normal PlayStation buttons, without being able to look at them, it's a little unclear as far as which one you're actually pressing. The actual presence is not bad. It seems like it's able to track in 3D space reasonably well. It's not anywhere near as accurate as something like the Vive controller, but this seems fine. Like, this is easy. Okay. Shake hands? Oh, no. - You'll need these. - Will I? Okay. - A mobile phone. - Of course, hope it's Sony. - It's clean. - That's actually a Sony. Can I light the money on fire? I wanna light the money on fire. Ah. Open this up. This--oh, okay. Oh, wow. I should probably grab my gun. (laughs) This is cool. So I am noticing a few limits to the tracking. So if I try to lean too far out, the PlayStation Camera can't see me or if I actually hit like the, well, you know, the actual couch I'm sitting on. (alarm sounds) Oh, I got him! (gunshots) Alright, next, let's try DriveClub VR. So this is one place where I can see the PS4 is a little less powerful, well, a lot less powerful than a gaming computer. So for example, when I look at the BMW, I can see a lot of aliasing with the sharp edges. There's actually a lot of detail in here, I gotta say. Looks like I'm sitting in an actual car. You know, I've been playing for about 45 minutes or so right now, and PSVR is still staying very, very comfortable. So my face isn't sweaty. Everything feels nice and smooth. Oh, I'm on the wrong side of the road. Perfect. Oh, burnout! What? (laughs) Oh, that's cool. Let's do it. (laughs) Alright. This is solid. I gotta say I'm not disappointed right now. So EVE: Valkyrie is an interesting game because it's also available on the Oculus, so it's a really easy comparison to make. I mean, there are definitely some differences. I think the lower resolution screen on the PSVR is a bit noticeable. Graphics-wise, it's hard. I mean, a good experience is sorta seamless. You really don't think about it. You really get immersed in the game. And I think the PSVR is absolutely up to the point where I can totally do that. Frame rate is dead solid. Like, out of all the games I've tried today, I have not seen one dropped frame. Nothing torn, nothing. It's been a very, very smooth experience. Valkyrie is not the, my first choice of a game to try in virtual reality. But it really kind of gives you an idea of the scale and the scope of what you can do here. Get it, get it, get it! While PlayStation VR is less expensive than something like Vive or Oculus, it's also still 500 dollars, and that's still not even including the price of a PS4. Now something like the PS4 Pro might make a bigger difference to quality. However, the main thing you need to keep in mind is that VR is still very new. There's a lot of potential here. However, it's still very much an early adopter thing. If you really want to try VR, this is a great way to go. However, it's not a must-have. So I only had time to play a few games today. However, if you want a full run-down of the best of the best games for PlayStation VR, definitely check out my buddy Kevin Kenson, who did a full rundown of all the latest. And I'm curious, what do you guys think about PlayStation VR? Let me know in the comments below and I will catch you in the next one.

https://youtu.be/tXqQs7oMwmg

[forkanna]

[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

NOTES: Guess what, everybody? This might be the first time I've ever had the chance to do this: I'm posting this chapter ON LOCATION! Yep, I'm currently in Toronto, Ontario, about to head back out into the city for more exploration. Who knows? Maybe I'll bump into Kim and Knives!

Also, sorry about the cliffhanger/teaser at the end, but I'll get the next one up soon, I promise!

I didn't call or text Knives back the next day. Probably made her feel bad… or maybe not. Can't always tell how she thinks.

Problem was, I needed time to recover. Any college girl can tell you that there's a huge difference between a sloppy, drunken make-out session, and actually kissing a girl you're semi-interested in. Twice. In the same day. God, did I like her… which surprised me a lot more than it should have, given how cavity-inducingly sweet she is. Guess I was just used to hating everybody and everything, so anything that messed with that status quo was going to be regarded with heavy skepticism until I felt like I could trust it.

But she seemed to understand, because I didn't get a bunch of sappy texts or selfies of her making kissy-faces or whatever. She only texted once that night, and once the next day just to say "So I have this cute redhead's number ; )". Which made me roll my eyes, but I'm pretty sure a customer heard me giggle.

He must be destroyed. No one can know.

The day after that, I texted her a single word: "Bored." Less than a minute later, she was racing into the video store, blue paisley scarf around her neck soaked in sweat and a light smoke coming from the soles of her running shoes.

"What took you so long?"

"Sorry!" she panted, hands on her knees. "I… stopped to breathe!"

"Dude. Kidding." Something weird came over me; I got up from my chair and gestured for her to sit and recover from obviously sprinting all the way here. Was I putting someone else's needs before my own? What the hell?

When I came back from getting a glass of water from the back, she looked way more calm and relaxed, though she still accepted the glass gratefully and chugged it. "PWAH!" she gasped when it was empty. "Thanks!"

"Sure."

Setting it down, she turned to smile up at me. "Watch a movie? You pick again."

"We could make out," I suggested in a deadpan voice.

"I'm all sweaty and gross. You probably don't w-"

My lips cut hers off. Seriously, I don't know what I was turning into; maybe it had just been so long since I let anybody in that all that pent-up "relationship energy" was bursting to get out and do something for once. Maybe she was just a great kisser. All roads led to Snogtown, anyway.

When I pulled back, I wrinkled my nose. "Yeah, you are pretty sweaty. But you don't stink or whatever; just have that… you know. The salty smell."

"The wha…?" She was clearly still a little dazed from the kiss.

"That salty skin-smell of someone who just started working out. Not like, old gross sweat, but fresh, clean…" I fell silent. How did she keep getting me to talk more than I normally would? The whole reason I didn't say much was because I didn't want to sound stupid, which I felt like I was a lot more lately. Being stoic was a defense mechanism, I don't need a shrink to tell me that.

Not that Knives cared. Lucky for me, she never cared when I sounded dumb. "Oh," she said with a slight nod. "Yeah, I know what you mean, kinda. Never really thought about it before."

"Right. Anyway… I dunno what to watch. We have a French film that sounded kinda interesting."

"I don't speak French very well," she snorted.

"Mine's pretty rusty, too. But there's subtitles."

"Cool."

So I put it on. And this time, the experience of watching a movie with Knives was totally different. I mean, not that much different from before, because the oddly comfortable silence was still there. Her comments were about the same as they would have been before. There was just… I dunno. Holding hands and kissing, snuggling slightly — once her sweat evaporated a little, of course.

I had a girlfriend. A fucking girlfriend. It was really starting to hit me, and every time it did, I felt my face getting warmer. Apropos of nothing! Just thinking about that being what Knives was to me now was impossible enough that it made me embarrassed without any specific event to trigger that reaction. Even just this, holding her close while we sat through some sappy avant-garde piece that made me roll my eyes with every scene, watching her nibble at a bag of Skittles she found in her purse… not even kissing very often because we were still awkward, shy nerds… yeah. Was off the beaten path for me, something I hadn't felt in forever.

What the hell did she see in me? Still no idea. But she seemed to think I was "nice" and "cool", or whatever.

After the movie, we went around the corner into Honest Ed's for some lazy window-shopping. Ordered some Chinese and went back to my place, talking while we ate. Mario Party for a while. We kept nudging each other and threatening not to kiss the other person if we lost… well, the second one was mostly me, but yeah.

The best way to describe it was that it was what I needed. Basically everything I'd needed but didn't want to admit to needing.

"You're such a cheater."

"I am not!" she cried out as she shut the Nintendo off, pouting a little. But I was beginning to learn the difference between when she was just pouting and legitimately hurt or sad; I always felt this deeply-buried desire to hug her either way, but it was easier to ignore when it was nothing serious. "Like, it's my game, of course I'm gonna be better at it. You're out of practice."

"Oh, stop trying to make me feel better." But I was already smiling a little. Just a little, though. "You really don't mind leaving this here?"

"Nah. It's nice having somewhere to hang that's not in my parents' house. Like, you probably get me."

Nodding, I helped her wrap the cords around the claw-like controllers as we nipped it away for the night. "Yep. Cramp your style no matter how old you are."

"In fact… I could, um, sleep over? Not tonight, and not for, um…" The way her eyes looked away, I didn't even have to guess what she was trying to say. "But just to play a board of 50 turns, and have breakfast together, I guess. Is that dumb?"

"Pretty dumb." But I felt bad instantly, so I added, "That you thought you had to ask. But this place is tiny; it'll probably be super uncomfortable."

Her pout turned into a grin. "Nah. I like your couch. And um, your bathroom's not bad, just sucks you don't have a legit bathtub. Though the shower stall is pretty roomy."

"Why, do you wanna shower together?"

The minute I said it, I could tell it was going to send both of us into fits. And I was right. Of course, my fit was basically just me facepalming and holding my hand there until my blush subsided. Knives kind of let out a strangled squeal, then flopped onto her back and rolled around for a few seconds. When we both recovered, we kind of glanced at each other, then away, then back again.

"Y-yeah. Maybe. I mean, I know you're probably kind of curious about my body…"

"Wow, listen to this self-confidence." Her red cheeks made me want to kiss them. So I did, and she gasped very quietly. "Man, this is weird."

"I'm curious about yours, too, though," she admitted very softly. It was so shy that I couldn't even tease her about it without feeling like some kind of puppy-kicker.

"Well… I think if I tried either one right now, I'd explode, so… we can kinda put a pin in that."

"Sure!" she agreed instantly, and the sheer relief in her voice told me it was the right plan. "I don't want you to explode into coins!"

Snorting, I started pushing up from the floor. "Didn't mean like that; just figuratively explode. But good to know."

Walking her to the door felt even more different now than it did the last time. My date. My girlfriend, Knives Chau, who was walking extra slow so she could spend more time with me. Everything was the same, but everything felt different. Pretty lame. We kissed, and it was longer, sweeter. With her shoes on, we were closer to the same height… I don't know why I noticed that. But she still leaned up to kiss me. Complete with one foot popping up and everything, like in some classic silver screen romance.

Around the time we started getting hotter and heavier, and I kind of naturally started poking at her lips with my tongue, she pulled back with a sudden gasp and a shiver. "Ooh… mm, wow, Kim…"

"Shit."

"S-so I'll see you tomorrow?" She suddenly seemed to be in a hurry. As if hanging around with me would keep her from leaving. Which might have been true, actually; I knew I was starting to feel an inclination toward trapping her in that apartment and never letting her leave.

"Hell yeah, tomorrow."

                                                                ~ o ~

It snuck up on me. Like, for some reason I was thinking "twenty-four hours", and it was more like sixteen or something. Because she had to work, so this time she didn't drop in on me during my shift, but around the time I got off she was right there out front, wearing a cute tank top, skirt that came to her knees, and strappy sandals, bags packed and grin in place. Ready to go.

"Are you moving in or something?" I demanded, having taken one of the bags to help carry them to the bus stop. "What the fuck?"

"I brought my Ninja Ninja Revolution pads! You're in a basement flat, right? No downstairs neighbours… we can stomp around all we want!"

My eyes just deadpan glared. "Ninja Ninja Revolution. I don't really play… I mean, I barely ever…" But her earnest grin made me roll my eyes and grunt, "Fine."

"Plus I got hair dye and nail polish and face masks and all that stuff if you wanna get super girly." At my scowl deepening, she added, "Or not! We don't have to use any of it!"

"You'd paint my nails some horrible Dayglo green."

"Nuh-uh! Like, forest-green. It would complement your hair. But I could do black or like, an electric blue maybe? Or just a clear-coat with sparkles…"

That topic lasted most of the way home, with her off on a tangent without me having to contribute much other than stubbornly refusing to accept that this inevitable course of events was going to eventually catch up with me. Ah well… it was only one night.

Or was it? This was getting a lot more serious a lot faster than I had anticipated. And if I had known what would happen later that evening, I'd probably have thrown both hands up in the air and realised that my life was never in my control to begin with.

Luckily for everyone involved, I had no clue.

                                                                 To Be Continued…

[oldnintendonerd]

Pickup Post #5 - Sony Weeks II

Alright, I apologize to any hardcore Nintendo fans that are reading, if you follow me specifically for Nintendo content. However, this is ultimately a Game Hunting blog, and sometimes you do have to take the deals that come along. As you may have guessed from the title, this is another Sony find. Playstation 2 to be exact. Couldn’t pass it up. You’ll see why as we go through it. I’ll tell you how the deal transpired.

I peruse Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and LetGo regularly. I have been doing several searches every other day or so. Including but not limited to “GameCube”, “SNES”, “Super Nintendo”, “Wii”, and “Nintendo 64″. Of course just “Nintendo” as well. With the latest pickup of Gran Turismo and Hotshots Golf 3 I’ve thrown in “Playstation 2″ as well. I just wanted to get a feel for what they cost, and I have come to see that people, on average, want somewhere in the neighborhood of about $30 for the Fat model, and around $40 to $50 for the slims. This is generally with no games, and one controller. If you add games, memory cards or extra controllers, the prices go up from there.

A Yard Sale ad appeared in my search results for “Playstation 2″ on Facebook Marketplace the other day. I thought, that is odd, I didn’t search for yard sales, they must have a Playstation 2 listed in the listing for it to match. I read the description, and sure enough there it was. I was looking at this on a Tuesday, and the listing said “3 Days Ago”, which would have put it about the morning of the Sunday in the weekend before. So I figured the listing had to be for the upcoming weekend. Which means the swap meet reseller vultures hadn’t gotten a crack at it yet, I need to see what there is, let’s check pictures to see if they included any of the video games. You have no idea how many listings for Yard Sales will list video games, and then include 30 pictures of the stuff they are selling, but not even show the games. The one thing I want to see to gauge what they have, and they overlook it completely. This one though, had the pictures, so I could see a lot of what they had.

There’s the first one. Right off the bat my jaw hit the floor, TWO PS2 systems. The fat model, but still, two of them! The fact that they have two leads me to believe one of them might not work. Why else would they have two? What do you do when one breaks? You buy another one.

I see controllers sitting there too, three of them, and just from the pic I can tell it is two Dual Shock 2′s and one Dual Shock. They only want a buck a piece for the controllers too, which is a good sign. That is already a solid yard sale price for the controllers. At this point I laugh to myself for getting that Dual Shock from Goodwill last week for $4 by itself.

The pic is too small to read the price on the PS2s. I need to ask them how much those are to ascertain if I should try and get to this sale when they open.

Popped off a quick message asking what they were looking to get out of the PS2s. Half not expecting to even get a response. But, to my surprise, she replied pretty quickly. She said one PS2 had no power cord so they were looking for $8, and the other had the expansion on the back, and had all cords, so they had it at $10.

$18 for both?

That is less than most people are asking for just one, with no games and like, one controller. Throw in the controllers here and it’s $21. At this point I figure I might as well try to get both, to improve the odds of getting a working one. Just in case. Even the cost of both is less than most people are asking for even one. By almost half. So, no brainer.

Flipped back to the pictures to look at them further, maybe they have games for it too.

Looks like a stack of 10 or so on the back right hand side of that table. Just from this pic though I can’t really see titles, hmmm, let me zoom in, maybe...

Nope. Still just too grainy/blurry, I can’t see what they are. No matter, let me see if she would be willing to meet me before the sale and be willing to sell them before it starts this weekend. This is kind of a long shot, I’m sure she was not expecting to get a message about this, let alone be asked to sell something before the sale even starts.

I pop off another message: “Would you be opposed to selling them before the sale? Or at least one? I’m kind of starting a PS2 collection and this would be a perfect little jump start without breaking the bank. I will be too busy to come to the sale on Saturday.” She comes right back with “Well, our garage sale was last weekend so I have no problem selling them now.”

Wait. What?

Garage sale was last weekend?! They didn’t sell?! In this town where swap meet and flea market resellers are out in front of people’s houses an hour before the sale starts for video games? Even when the listing says no early birds?! Well, maybe that makes sense, if she only listed it on Facebook, and not on Craigslist, and listed it basically day of, since it was Sunday when she put it up...

No one saw it.

Good for me.

So she’s on board to sell them. I let her know I’m available to meet that same day around the lunch hour. She agrees, and asks if I want the games too. I said sure, depending on price and titles. Within 15 minutes she goes “Here are the games. We were looking for $1 each” and I had this on my screen:

Wow! a nice, high resolution picture where I can read all titles. I’m really liking this seller! So I start looking them up immediately on eBay to see what kind of value we have here. I am completely unfamiliar with the PS2 library of games. Not only is it HUGE, I know nothing about values. I start with the Kingdom Hearts games, since I recognize the title, and while not one I care to play, they go for about $20 as a pair shipped.

So about $15 in value there already. Good start. What else?

Dawn of Mana looked to be going anywhere from $13 shipped, to $20 shipped. So another solid $10 value there. Lets keep going...

Innocent Life, after looking this up it appears to be a Harvest Moon title, and is going for between $8 and $15 shipped. So another solid $10 value there. Already we are up to $35 in value and I still haven’t checked all the games. One more...

Steambot Chronicles. Never heard of this in my life.

Wait.

WHAT!?

FIFTY SIX DOLLARS?

Granted this is one of the highest ones, but this was a SHOCK. Some are $35 to $40 average. Pricecharting shows this one at $50 CIB. This auction was CIB and in great condition so it clearly went for more than the others, but at this point there was no way I wasn’t getting this deal. I immediately asked where I should be headed. Either an address, or a location if she would rather me not come to her house. She just gave me her address. I told her thank you and about when I would be there. I said I would take both systems, and all the games, $10 + $8 + $9 = $27, I asked if twenty five even would cover it. She said yes. I hit the road.

On the way she asks if I want the controllers too? No extra charge. I said sure.

This deal keeps getting better. I just bought a Dual Shock at Goodwill for $4 and thought it was a good deal and you want to give me THREE for free? Let me think about that one for about 0.0382 seconds. Yep, I’ll take them.

So I arrive, we exchange greetings, I give the stuff a quick once over, and check a couple of the more valuable games (Kingdom Hearts II, Steambot Chronicles and Innocent Life), yep all in there, complete and in good shape. I didn’t want to linger, she had everything stacked up neatly, and she said she was on maternity leave, so there was probably a sleeping baby somewhere. I gave her the $25 and she helped me out to the car with everything. I did inquire how it was they didn’t sell at the sale, and she said they only had two people show up. TWO. Ouch. As I guessed earlier, probably not advertised well. If she was on Craigslist I guarantee someone would have cleaned this out in four point two seconds.

So here it is now that I’ve picked it up and brought it home.

Now, after doing this for a couple three months, and getting a few finds, especially the one where Monkey ball 2 wouldn’t boot up, I’m used to there being bad news. I’ve come to expect something to be off with alost every deal, that’s why I look for prices this cheap. Buying like this gets you good deals, but you are also doing all the work, travelling to the seller, taking all the risk if something isn’t right. This one was only slightly disappointing, but probably because it was not unexpected. The PS2 on the left, the $10 one, doesn’t read discs. Not a single game would boot in it, even the absolutely flawless Gran Turismo 4 I got in the last post. It does turn on, controller works, I can manipulate the files on the memory card, just no disc action. This is not a huge surprise, I said that I suspected going in that there was a chance at least one didn’t work if they had two. The $8 one reads discs and plays fine, though I noticed a bit of a video issue, if I would wiggle or move the video cable, the picture would scramble and jump on the TV screen. I tried the second cable and it did the same thing. So I tried the other PS2. Same issue. I find it highly unlikely that both PS2s have the same issue, but it also seems just as unlikely that both cables have the same issue. I do hope it is just the cables.

I will probably order a component cable for one of them since I do intend to keep one, and try it again. It is only about $6 or $7. Hopefully the problem will go away with a new cable. I’ll update on that later when I have a chance to try it.

One of the Dual Shock 2 controllers has a little chunk of the rubber missing from the start button. Minor issue.

Finally, ATV Offroad Fury, is actually a Rugrats game instead. The funny thing is, Rugrats is worth more disc only, than ATV Offroad Fury complete. HA! Battlefront II and Dawn of Mana are also not complete, they are missing manuals. That devalues Dawn of Mana slightly, yes, but at least Steambot is complete, and boy is it ever complete. It is near mint condition. I’m hoping this one will fetch near $50 or more like the other very good condition one did.

In any case, I’m still very happy with the find, down to $25 from the asking price of $30, and there is a lot more value than that in this find. Especially with just one game at $40+ on eBay right now. I estimate this find at

$30 for PS2 Fat model with cables and one controller, another $10 each for the two additional controllers. Another $3 or so for the Memory Card. Add in a conservative $35 for Steambot, and another $25 total for Kingdom Hearts and Innocent Life. That comes to $103. I’ll throw $5 on the non working PS2 and maybe $10 total for the rest of the games as a lot. Grand total $118 for $25.

Winning. 

As I mentioned before, I do plan on keeping at least one of the PS2s. Probably with a component cable. I dug up an old PATA hard drive that’s 200GB, and will see if I can hack one of these things to load ISO files. Would be cool to have a permanent PS2 in the collection that can store my games without needing to keep swapping them out over and over.

I do plan on looking at the one that won’t read, it could be fixable, who knows.

Official business:

$54.36 - $25 = $29.36

$29.36 game hunting money remaining. I will be selling something soon, probably my old copy of PaRappa the Rapper.

I was never a big fan, and now that I have a PS2 and it tested good, I can sell it as working, instead of untested.

I will be posting the results of the tinkering on the non-working one as soon as I know whats up with it and if it can be resurrected.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. Talk to you all soon.

2017.06.18