#being killed by a single mob is far down the list but definitely better than being killed by a lot of them at once

[spacedustmantis]

if we're being realistic, being ripped apart by a horde of zombies has to be the most gruesome, most painful death of them all

[ray-ray-writings]

Hello it's me and I love all of your drabbles about Techno x reader so far😍🥰. Your one of my favorite writers here in tumblr and if it's not too much to ask. Can you make a drabble where a reader is sick and all of the dream smp members and the sleepy bois are getting worried and panic(only to some members of the smp and this is not related to any of your drabbles recently. This is where the reader is single actually and has no relationship to anyone...yet😏). They only notice something wrong when one day the reader doesn't do their morning routines where she delivers some supplies that were asked by her friends in exchange for new and valuable things. And don't forget to stay safe and healthy 😘☺️.

Of course! Thank you so much for you super kind words!! 

So you would wake up one morning and just be feeling absolutely miserable. You knew you were sick and that there was no way that you were going to be able to get out of bed. You feel really bad because you usually deliver the things that people had asked you to collect for them in the morning and pick up new “orders” that anyone might have, but this morning there is no way that you’re going to be able to do that. And you can’t even find the energy and strength to send out a message letting everyone know what was happening. You just roll over, bury yourself in the covers and fall back asleep. 

At first, everyone is just confused. They’re all in their respective homes just waiting for you to arrive and deliver their things. They’re always really excited for this because they get to see you and talk to you for a little bit before you go on your way to the next person’s house. But as time goes on, everyone begins to get more and more concerned. You definitely should have been here by now, you’re never late, where are you. They all try separately to get in contact with you, but when all messages go unresponded, panic begins to build. I feel that Sapnap would be the first to act. He would go over to Dream’s house and ask if you had gone to his house yet. Dream tells him no and asks him the same question and Sapnap would respond with something sassy like, “Would I have come over here to ask you if they had”. Dream rolls his eyes but let’s the comment slide. So the two decide to visit everyone else and make sure that they just didn’t get skipped. As they visit houses, they’re group grows because everyone wants to make sure that you’re okay. So that by the time they get to Techno’s house (we’re going to pretend he lives in L’Manberg) almost the entire SMP had formed in one major “mob”. When Techno says he hasn’t seen you, the group just bursts into a lot of noise and connotation. Everyone began trying to talk over one another trying to decide what the best course of action was. It’s actually Tubbo who lets out a scream and gets everyone to shut up for a moment. “Thank you! Now why don’t we just go over to their house and see if they’re there? There is no use in panicking until we’re sure they’re not okay.” And everyone begins to grumble at that because ‘man they should have thought of that’. But everyone agrees and so this massive group quickly makes its way across the SMP to your house. Niki is the one to knock on your door to be polite, but when there’s no answer and everyone begins to murmur again trying to decide what to do, Tommy shoves his way to the front of the group and just kicks in the door. Some stare in shock, others are impressed, but Tommy just moves into your house with everyone following behind him. 

While you’re asleep, you here your front door bang open, but you’re too sleepy to really care or comprehend what’s happening. But then there are many sets of footsteps and there’s murmuring heading down the hall to your bedroom. You manage to pry your eyes open blearily as your bedroom door is opened and literally everyone pours in. “Y/N!” They all shout with glee. It makes you wince because your head is killing you, only a few people notice. The rest begin to try and talk all at once, causing the noise level to increase and you to bury your face in your covers. It doesn’t seem to stop but suddenly there is a pressure on the side of your mattress and the covers are pulled back from your face. “You alright?” It’s Philza who is staring down at you in concern. “‘m sick,” you manage to croak out causing his face to contort. “Head hurts, body hurts. Too much” you mumble. Philza’s gentle hand rests on your forehead and he winces at the feeling. “Guys,” he speaks softly. And although it’s loud and his words are soft, everyone shuts up and turns to look because it’s Philza and he’s beside you. “They’re sick, if you could keep it down. I’m sure they would much appreciate it.” A lot of them look like deer in headlights for a moment, mainly Sapnap, Dream, Punz, Fundy, Tommy, Tubbo, Ranboo and Quackity. “Oh poor baby,” Niki murmurs out in pity. 

But then she jumps into action, “I’ll go make some soup, Fundy and Bad, you’re with me.” the two called get big smiles and nod.  “Philza and the eldest two sons you get them medicine, cold rags, things like that.” Philza gives you a soft smile, a kiss on the forehead, and then gets up to stand by Wilbur and Techno. “Sam, Puffy, and Quackity. You’re in charge of taking the supplies that they were going to deliver to us today and distributing it to us. Y/N probably has a list and a chest where they store these things,” Niki looks over to you and you give a small nod, “Yeah, it’s right by the front door. The list should be in the item frame above it.” the three also give you big smiles and thumbs up. “Next, if you are under the age of 18, you’re in charge of making sure that Y/N has all the supplies that they need. Wood, cobblestone, stone, food, just all the materials they may need. Got it,” Tubbo and Ranboo give thumbs up but Tommy looks like he’s about to complain. One sharp glare from Niki, though, gets him to shut his mouth and nod begrudgingly. “What about us?” Punz questions, motioning to the four boys that were left. Niki looks over at you and then over at them and gives them a small shrug and a big smile, “You boys, Dream, George, Sapnap, Punz, are on cuddle duty”. The four let out loud cheers at that. You don’t even mind the fact it hurts your head because it makes you feel so loved that they’re cheering over cuddling you. Sapnap actually doesn’t wait for a ‘okay go do your tasks’. He literally just runs over to your bed and plants himself down on top of you like a blanket. “No fair!” The other three whine out before also rushing over to settle into a comfortable position. You are overwhelmed with love and support when Niki calls out for everyone to go and they all spring into action and just bustle around your house. Phil, Wilbur and Techno bring you water and medicine and towels and just everything you could ever want or need. The boys around you are snuggled into you so tightly that you are just so comfortable and could fall asleep again. Someone is playing with your hair. Another is rubbing your back. Another is messing with your fingers and someone’s fingers are trailing up and down your tummy and thighs. Philza helps you drink in a way that you don’t have to move that much and Wilbur brings up another blanket and tucks you five in while Techno places a cool rag on your forehead. 

After a while, BBH comes up to tell you that the soup is ready and then without another thought, you’re being carried downstairs. Somehow, your kitchen table has been extended and there is a place for everyone. Sapnap and Punz help you sit in your seat before sitting beside you. Punz holds one of your hands while Sapnap literally feeds you the soup and everyone stares at him in jealousy because they wish they would have thought of that. As you’re eating, everyone tells you about how the jobs they were assigned got done and how you don’t have to worry about anything. After eating, many people have to leave to get back to what they were doing, but many stay. There’s probably more than ten people on your bed after lunch, you didn’t even know it could fit that many, but you don’t mind. It’s nice and even though you’re sick, you’ve never felt better. 

[atinybitofau]

S E O N G H W A ⥈ mafia au series

RECAP: training with the boys begins and frustrations between you all get heated. Seonghwa offers you a kind gesture of motivation to get you to learn how to fight.

word count: 1600+ , tags: angst fluff

characters: ateez (ensemble), reader

⤩ CHAPTER 3 ⤩

character list . one shot

“So what DO you know how to do?”

Yunho has never recalled seeing such a pathetic attempt at shooting in his entire life. Up until today when he saw the way your hand trembles around a gun. San, on the other hand, was elated to watch you suck at every single thing you tried to do. You were downright frustrated knowing: learning how to shoot, physically defend yourself, and fighting back wasn’t something you sought to learn.

He kept his hopes high though, Yunho, wanting to see you prosper at the side of his ruthless boss. And even if San thinks otherwise of the circumstances, Yunho assumed your place beside Seonghwa would do the heartless southside king justice. Being with him for so long, Yunho knew of Seonghwa’s shortcomings. Love was undoubtedly one of the assets Seonghwa never had. Seeing as he’s at least trying, Yunho wanted to help out the fact.

He had become frustrated too whilst teaching you and decided maybe you needed a breather.

You were quiet despite San’s failed efforts to get into your head with his rambunctious insults. You only stared at the ground while the other two pondered over new ideas. You weren’t trying at all. You’d like to think it’s because you refuse to take part in justifying yourself for a self proclaimed husband. Honestly, you just had little motivation to try let alone exert any unnecessary efforts.

“Your husband’s arrived early.” A meddling voice fills your empty mind. “He‘s on his way to pick your ass up so look alive.”

Your lips curt a faint affirmation before taking your things and beelining for the building’s locker room. There was soft excitement that frenzied deep down in your stomach as you changed. Not that being around a bunch of buffoons bothered you much but you’d much more prefer the company of a senile swine like your husband than them any day. As pathetic as they sounds to you...

San’s picking at his nails cooly on the outside patio while Yunho leans against a pillar. You’re sat cozy in a chair with your bag over your lap as you all await the said mob boss’ arrival.

“Fashionably fucking late, as always.” San seethes through gritted teeth. “Does that asshole not know I have better things to do than babysit his sorry excuse for a wife?”

San was getting sick and tired of it already. Of course, unbeknownst to you, San absolutely adored his precious leader. It doesn’t excuse the fact that your obnoxiously attractive self gets to settle down with his own first love. To add to it, Seonghwa was effortlessly throwing you around like a treasure that must be watched at all times. Somehow, San realizes the time Seonghwa claimed he had when bargaining his new gift did not exist. So here San was doing Seonghwa’s bidding yet again.

Yunho notices the clench in San’s tight look and glares into his own. “Sannie. Let’s not get careless.”

“Bastard better think twice if he thinks I’m gonna still be sleeping in his house after this.”

San glances at you with no momentary comfort before sticking a cigarette into his lips. You note the face of shock that masks on Yunho’s face but says nothing at all.

“He’s here.” Yunho coughs out while glaring at the cancer stuck between San’s lips. “Kill that stupid thing.”

“With pleasure.” San growls back eyes groveling at you.

“San.”

You stand up upon seeing Seonghwa’s knowing glare from the cracked window of his sleek black SUV. The tables turned on the fellows around you when your heels flick on an opposite direction. Being unwanted never bothered you. Being unwanted forced into a situation has not once bothered you. Being victim to it and having the choice to walk out? Now that’s an additional option you’ve never always have and will always willingly take. You don’t do unnecessary efforts. And you know when you aren’t wanted.

“Y/n!”

You ignore them with heavy feet trudging in no resolute destination in mind. Your fingers play with the earphones in your bag before placing them in your deafening ears. You’re joined by a slow moving car at your side while you walk in no particular direction away from your fiancé.

“Honey, get in.”

You ignore him with a long press of your volume up button.

“Stop being stubborn, y/n.” His voice gets harder. “If I have to get out of this car so help me god I’ll—“

You snatch an earphone out of your ear. “You’ll have San deal with me?”

He abruptly brakes when you do. You let out a grunt of vexation before placing an earbud back in your ear.

Seonghwa decides to park his car right then and there to throw you over his shoulder like a sack of rice. Your face flushes in the hottest color of pink as you try to break free.

“S-SEONGHWA WHAT THE HELL?”

“This’ll be what stubborn gets you from now on.”

You resort to sulking in the front seat as your husband possesively holds his hand on the surface of your thigh. You don’t bother even looking back at where the both of you left San and Yunho, irritated eyes strewn on the outside of the moving vehicle.

“I���m assuming your training didn’t go too well.” He comments while driving faster this time.

You don’t reply making Seonghwa’s fingers twitch on your lap. So much for convincing yourself you aren’t wanted.

“Y/n, I’m no psychic. You need to tell me if something bothers you.”

You scoff. “And what, Seonghwa? You’re gonna fix it?”

“I most definitely will try if that’s what you entail me to do.”

You don’t move from your position as your husband drives you to what you know is back home. The eerie silence that fills the both of you in the car makes your gut clench. His fingers on your thigh aren’t helping the entire car ride either.

Seonghwa’s presence to you reminded you of air. He wasn’t a nuisance to have around and for an appraising relationship to move forth with lesser issues, that’s a good thing. Actually, to add to the fact, Seonghwa was much more meaningful company than anyone else. He never crossed any unnecessary lines and if he did, he did so with grace. It was hardly something you can’t sleep on.

He escorts you, with a distance between you two, towards your shared room and it feels domestic. There’s little need for words. Needn’t questions either. Seonghwa was far from an open book, but he’s not the type of novel that pegged your fancy anyway.

Seonghwa’s back was to you as he stripped out of his dark suit, shoulders bared with torturous temptation. Your mind was clouded no thoughts head empty when he brings you out of your trance with a slight quirk of his chin around his shoulder.

“I can at least draw to a conclusion,” He just keeps pushing the subject of matter you refuse to shed light on. “that the basics of living with a man like me weren’t taught to you properly then.”

Your face becomes shaded with amusement. “Living with a man like you requires basic training?”

“You always think so little of me, my precious wife.”

You feel like you’re in some fanatical love story— how fast he is to getting to your place, finger upon the tip of your chin. He lifts your gaze up onto his eyes with certainty and slight amusement too.

“I may not be of some threat to you but some people will think of you to them. I’m an expensive man and I don’t spend my money and the likes of it on just anybody.”

A twitched smile screws your expression. “And that’s supposed to impress me?”

“Scare you a better word for it.” He slips on a low cut long sleeve and a pair of casual pants before dropping you onto his lap. “I need to know. That at all times I’m never with you.. you’re prepared to take down the worst.”

Your breath hitches at the back of your throat as his fingers grace the exposed skin on your neck. His lips take upon the deed of pressing a sweet kiss, the feel of pain besting you. You don’t realize in the blur of the pleasure how a throbbing pain lingers where his lips lift.

“I know I promised not to take things too far but if you have no reason to fight, I’ll have to offer you one.”

It’s not a mark of lust nor was it a bite of love. It was a mark for people to see. It was a caligraphy of his own sort, making itvlegible for anyone to read. His lips relieves the vibrating pain and you’re curious. You turn to face him and his breath meets yours. You get caught up in something that isn’t there but you can taste. It was like something you need. A lot like air.

“It was meant for your skin.” He reassures you taking an inch of space back. “It’s not inclined for you to believe it’s also for your lips sake.”

You chuckle softly no blush apparent to his notion. “What a romanticist.”

He boredly hums. “Seems so.”

You wear a shirt that reveals the mark as if you’re proud to bear it. No, it’s not pride you feel entitled to, it’s the meaning. It gives you reason to fight.

Seonghwa stands beside you while you throw punches; in front of you when you kick and swing so he can teach you how it’s done.

It’s then you realize why he’s Southside’s king and why he deserves his title.

“Yunho informed me that your lack of skill was overbearing this afternoon.” Seonghwa speaks highly, eyes dawned with amusement and amazement. “That or I’m just one hell of a good teacher.”

You lean over to help him up. “I didn’t have a reason to defend myself. I think I do now.”

“While fighting me?”

“Something like that..”

@atinybitofau

a/n: ROUGH EDIT

[adenei]

Auror 99 - Ch. 6

Chapter 6: A Break in the Case

A/N: Special shout out to @avatarvader for helping storyboard the ideas in this mystery fic! I’d still be stuck on chapter 3 without him.

After receiving word that Jake had gotten home safely, Ron collapsed onto the sofa. Harry and Hermione joined him. “So what exactly happened?” Harry asked.

Ron took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “We waited for him to show up, which he obviously did. He was looking for some information from that wizard in the alley. They definitely exchanged something, but it was too dark and I couldn’t see anything.”

“Well, at least you got the facial recognition on him. I should be able to scour the databases tomorrow with Amy,” Hermione interrupted.

“How? We don’t have access to any MACUSA directories in the muggle world.” Ron looked warily at her.

“Don’t worry,” Hermione said, taking out a small flash drive from her pocket. “It’s all here, but disguised as muggle technology, so they won’t suspect anything.”

“Brilliant, you are,” Ron said.

“What about Gerteso?” Harry brought their attention back to the main focus. 

“Right. He was really quick to duel. We’re not going to be able to take him down single handedly. Have either of you really studied his picture?” Both Hermione and Harry kind of shrugged. “Here, take a look. He reminds me a lot of Scrimgeour. Could he be a vampire?”

“I don’t know Ron, the physical description matches, but the vampires in England were all but exterminated by Voldemort. And Gerteso isn’t listed as one..” Hermione contemplated.

“Maybe that’s why he’s not listed as one. To somehow protect him from that slaughter in 1998,” Ron suggested.

“Why did Voldemort kill off all the vampires anyway? Out of spite for Scrimgeour?” Harry asked.

“No,” said Hermione plainly. “He was threatened by Vampire Mob, so he thought it would be easier to just kill them all. I’m not sure what he was thinking since it’s far more prevalent in Italy and in…” she trailed off and looked at them.

“Hermione, you know we hate when you trail off like that. Will you finish the sentence?!” Ron admonished.

“....New York City.”

“You don’t think..” Harry asked.

“Maybe,” Hermione said.

“Finally a decent break in the case!” Ron pumped his fist in the air.

“We don’t know for certain, though!” Hermione reminded him.

“But it’s closer than we’ve been all week,” Harry countered.

“So, about tomorrow then,” Ron said with a renewed sense of optimism. “Hermione, you and Amy will search for the second person in the systems. I’ll work with Jake to find out more about Gerteso’s origins. Harry, it might be best if you, Boyle and Diaz went to visit McLeod’s to see if you can get any information out of that shop owner.  We wouldn’t want him to somehow recognize Jake or me from any cameras he may have set up,” He formulated the plan out loud.

“If we can get some solid evidence backing our claims, we should probably see Captain Holt about touching base with Kingsley,” Harry said.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t reached out. It’s been a week,” Hermione frowned.

“Well, hopefully we’ll have something for him tomorrow. Let’s get to bed,” Ron said as he got up and headed for the other room.

********************************

The next day everyone on the team had a lie in before heading into the precinct. Ron went through the plan he’d thought of last night, and everyone set to work on their respective duties that Ron had assigned. Hermione walked over to the copier and scanned in the paper that Ron gave her last night. She opened up the laptop and inserted the flash drive. When the picture came in, she forwarded it to Amy.

“Why don’t you search the NYPD database, while I search the British ones here,” Hermione suggested to Amy, who nodded. It took a while to sift through the electronic system, but suddenly a match came up. 

The mystery person’s name was Artie Rettinburg. He was a wanted smuggler, who specialized in selling stolen wand info. Hermione choked on the coffee she had taken a sip of when she saw it. Of course! Stealing muggle identities could have been practice for stealing magical identities. Is this why Gerteso needed access to the Woolworth building? Or did Rettinburg have what Gerteso was looking for? 

Hermione began furiously scribbling information down. She supposed she could have just printed it, but there was something satisfying about handwriting it. As she was finishing up, she noticed one piece of information at the bottom. ‘Has been involved in squib trafficking circles - known low level lackey for The Cryptic.’ 

“Whoa,” Hermione let escape her lips. 

“What’d you find? I haven’t had any luck at all,” Amy looked frustrated.

“His name’s Artie Rettinburg. He’s a wanted smuggler, specializing in selling identities.”

“So Gerteso’s still on the identity kick.”

“Looks like it. I’ll go call Ha-Jason and Boyle.”

Hermione got up and dialed Harry. “Hey, we’re just pulling up to McLeod’s. Did you find anything?”

“Yes, I did! The second suspect’s name is Artie Rittenburg. Try and see if the owner can tell you anything. Maybe you can find and apprehend him. We really need this Harry. There’s more to it that I can’t talk about now, but he’s all magic, no muggle,” Hermione lowered her voice.

“Got it. We’ll do our best, Charlotte.” 

Hermione hung up the phone and walked back in. Now she needed to learn more about the Italian mob, and see if there were any connections to the Vampire mob. Where was the Hogwarts library when she needed it…

*******************

“That was Charlotte,” Harry said. “We’re looking for an Artie Rittenburg,” he told Boyle and Diaz.

“Right, okay so how do we want to play this?” Boyle asked.

“I think Rosa should go in. Pretend to be looking for him because he owes her and hasn’t paid up. See if we can get a location out of him.” Harry thought out loud.

“That shouldn’t be too hard. Do you have the coms, Boyle?’ Diaz asked. She took the earpiece and tiny microphone from Boyle and hooked it up. 

Boyle did the same and Harry followed suit. They all nodded and Rosa took off. Harry was pretty impressed at Rosa’s ability to be intimidating and gather information. It didn’t take long for the shop owner to give up the whereabouts of Rettinburg’s location. Of course it all made sense that several of the goods from his store were smuggled illegally so he could take a bigger cut.

“...Okay, okay! He’s got a shipment coming in at 2:00 in the harbor!” the shopkeeper had said.

Rosa checked her watch and made her way out of the store. “Better buckle up Jason, we don’t have long to get there. Rosa’s got this one.” Sure enough, Rosa opened the driver side door and jumped in. The keys were in the ignition and Rosa floored it. 

They made it to the harbor in record time, just as one of the shipping freights was settling into the dock. “We’ll have a better shot if we split up,” Diaz suggested. Harry nodded, placed his hand on his holster and took off in one direction, while Boyle and Diaz went in other directions. 

When Harry was out of sight of them, he turned off the mic to his com, grabbed his wand and had it at the ready. He saw someone on the far side of the dock, and noticed a shipping container that was near that he could apparate to and hide behind. He did so, and then peered around the corner. That was Rittenburg alright. Harry looked around, and once he was satisfied that no one was around, he cast an anti-apparition charm around them.

Harry stepped out from behind the container and began walking up slowly behind him. When he was satisfied he was close enough, Harry said clearly, “Artie Rittenburg, you’re under arrest.” 

Artie jumped around in surprise, but before he could pull his wand, Harry cast incarcerous, and he was tangled in a set of ropes.

“I didn’t do nothin’!” He spat. 

“Maybe not yet,” Harry said as he quickly pulled out the muggle handcuffs and cuffed his wrists, “But you certainly did last night with Gerteso, and we’re interested in what it was. I’ll be taking that.” Harry took his wand and tucked it away in his jacket. “Oh, by the way, you’re being apprehended by muggles, er, no-majs, so they don’t need to know anything about magic.” Harry cast a complicated language jumbling charm that should hold through his questioning back at the precinct. It would change his words depending on the listener. If they were magical, it’d be the real story. If they were muggle, the spell would alter the story to make it believable in the muggle world.

Harry turned his com back on. “I got him. Meet you back at the squad car.” He vanished the ropes, satisfied the cuffs were working. Harry then yanked him up to his feet and half dragged him back to the car. 

“Nice work, Cooper!” Boyle said as Diaz nodded in agreement. “Let’s head back to the station and interrogate this piece of scum!”

***********

Back at the station, Jake and Ron were working on learning everything they could about Gerteso, with minimal luck. Hermione and Amy had teamed up with them after identifying Rittenburg, so they were looking at things from the Italian mob angle. But before they’d done so, Amy had pulled Hermione aside.

“Hey, about last night..” Amy had said.

“What about it?” Hermione asked, feigning ignorance.

“Just, suggesting I take the first ‘shift’ with Jake. You know Charles would have spent the whole night there with no break.” Amy was trying to play it cool, and Hermione tried to hide the smirk. “You know Charles, he would do anything for Jake. It was smart for you to suggest I stay there for a little bit. So I guess I’m, um, thanking you for Charles!”

“Anytime,” Hermione said, no longer able to hide her facial expression.

“What’s that look for Charlotte?” Amy asked.

“Nothing! Just that you’re a terrible liar,” Hermione laughed.

“I am not!” Amy said, acting affronted.

Hermione gave her a look. She leaned in closer and whispered. “Come on, you don’t have to lie to me...I can tell you like him.”

“I- no, that’s not-” Amy shook her head. “It would never work. He’s too goofy and not serious about anything, and I’m- a rule follower and maybe too serious for him.”

“Whatever you say,” Hermione said.

Amy wanted to retort, but thought better of it when she noticed Gina trying to eavesdrop from her desk. It was then that she’d suggested they team up with the guys. Jake and Amy set to work scouring the databases for mob members, hoping to find a match with Rittenburg, Gerteso, or The Cryptic, while Ron and Hermione were doing the same thing but on the disguised servers. There were no mentions of Gerteso anywhere, and Rittenburg was mentioned once or twice, but his involvement wasn’t notable. 

The Cryptic was mentioned many times, but only as a suspicion. No hard evidence was ever found that connected him to anything. There were dozens of missing persons cases. All squibs, which lined up with what Hermione found with Rittenburg. They were about to take a break when Harry, Charles and Rosa returned with Rittenburg in custody. Rosa brought him into the interrogation room as Harry and Charles joined the rest of the group.

“You got him!” said Jake, who tried to stand up, but quickly sat back down as he winced in pain.

“Yes! Who’s ready for interrogation time?” Charles asked excitedly. 

“Do you think he’ll actually give us some answers?” Hermione said worriedly.

“They always break eventually,” Ron reassured her.

“I think Brown and Cooper should go in first, and see what they can get.” They all turned to see Holt standing in the doorway of his office.

“But Captain Holt-” Jake started to say.

“Peralta, you were injured last night. He doesn’t need to see that. It may keep him tight-lipped if he knows what more Gerteso’s capable of. Brown, Cooper, I’ll expect a word in my office following the interrogation,” Captain Holt said firmly.

“Yes, sir,” Harry and Ron both said. Ron helped Jake up as Charles handed him his crutch and the six of them went to meet Rosa down the hall.

After making sure everyone was settled, it was time for Harry and Ron to enter on the other side of the glass and get some answers. They stopped outside the door. Ron looked at Harry, and knowing what he was thinking, Harry said, “Don’t worry, I did the dialogue changing charm. The magical elements will be adjusted for muggle ears.” Ron nodded as he opened the door and walked inside.

“Mr. Rettinburg,” Ron said first.

“Who’re you? You weren’t one of the cops that arrested me,” Rettinburg spat.

“No, but I am working this case with them. “I’m Agent Brown, and I believe you’ve met Agent Cooper. We’re with the British Auror division, and we’re hoping you’ll cooperate with us.”

“I wasn’t doin’ nothin! You can’t prove anything!” Rettinburg said quickly.

“We didn’t say that you were, though if you keep denying it, we may have cause to hand you over to MACUSA,” Harry threatened.

“You mean you’re not going to already?” This got Rettinburg’s attention. 

“Maybe not, depending on if you choose to cooperate,” Ron said. “You met with Howard Gerteso last night in the alleyway by McLeod’s shop. What did he want?”

“Can’t tell you that. Swore to secrecy.” Rettinburg clearly wasn’t going to give it away that easily.

“Did he force you into an unbreakable vow?” Harry pressed.

“Well, no I ain’t that stupid-” 

“Then there’s no real reason why you can’t tell us,” Harry said simply.

“Said he’d kill me if I ratted him out though,” Rettinburg defended.

“Ratted him out to who?” Ron asked.

“Can’t tell you that,” Rettinburg smirked.

“Us?” Harry asked, starting to lose his patience.

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

Ron didn’t normally play his best move this early, but they were on a time crunch. “The Cryptic?” He raised an eyebrow as he said it.

All of the color drained from Rettinburg’s face. “Y-you know about The Cryptic? Nobody’s supposed to know about him!”

“So he does exist,” Ron said, lying out of his ass. “We all thought he was only a figment of the imagination.”

“ ‘Course he exists! He’s as real as Al Capone, but better! Everyone would kill to be in his inner circles.”

“Are you in his inner circles?” 

Rettinburg laughed bitterly. “Nah. I don’t have the right make-up if you know what I mean.”

“So you’re not a vampire,” Harry said.

“You’re observant, aren’t you,” Rittenburg said sarcastically.

“So what does Gerteso want with The Cryptic?” Ron tried to get him back on track.

“You really stupid enough to think he’d tell me?”

“But it does have to do with The Cryptic?”

“I assume so, but I’d never be able to get my hands on those kinds of records.”

“What records?” Harry jumped in.

“You’ll let me go if I tell you?”

“That depends,” Ron said. “The very least, we’ll make sure your charges are lessened for cooperation.”

“But I didn’t give ‘im nothin! Wanted his wand records, didn’t he? I can hook ‘im up with lower level people, but somethin’ that high up? No way. He’s gonna have to break into MACUSA himself to get those records. I’ll keep to my low life smuggling, thank you very much!” Harry and Ron both grinned as Rettinburg realized what he’d just admitted. “Oh, shit, no! Did I say smuggle? I meant receive the perfectly legal goods I purchased!”

“Maybe we could forget the smuggle part if you can give us a day or time when Geresto is trying to break into MACUSA and steal the records?”

“Why would I know that? I only told him that wand records can be found on the fourth floor in the legal documents office!”

“Just keep digging a deeper grave,” Ron chuckled. “Is there anything else you can tell us about The Cryptic or Geresto that might make us forget that little slip?”

“Pretty sure Geresto’s a vampire,” Rettinburg offered. “Something about taking his ‘rightful’ place in the Sanguinity. But that’s all I know, I swear! Now, will ya let me go?”

Harry and Ron looked at each other, making sure they didn’t have any more questions between the two. They nodded in agreement as they uncuffed him and prepared to let him out of the room. Harry opened the door and saw him out as Ron stopped, blocked by the door, and discreetly placed a tracking spell on him. He’d make sure to tell Kingsley to have the MACUSA Aurors after him.

“I’ll see you out,” Harry said after they’d agreed to meet back in the common office space. Ron went to join the others in the room. 

“That was incredible!” Boyle gushed. “You and Cooper worked so well together that it’s almost like you two have been partners for years and not you and Charlotte.”

“Er, thanks, Boyle. It’s probably the best mate thing,” Ron said, trying to divert the insinuation.

“Nevermind that,” Amy said quickly. “We know what Gerteso’s after now! He wants The Cryptic’s personal information, and can only get that in the archives on the fourth floor of the Woolworth.”

“Yeah, Ames, but what’s he want with them? I doubt he just wants to steal his identity. Though that bit about ‘taking what’s rightfully his’ sounded creepy, yet intriguing,” Jake commented.

“If Gerteso can gain The Cryptic’s personal information, he may be able to track him down.”

“So we could potentially catch a mob boss and Gerteso if we let Gerteso keep going?” Diaz suggested.

“Potentially,” Hermione said slowly. “But I think that needs to be discussed with Captain Holt and Agent King first.”

Ron nodded. “Charlotte’s right, we should go meet Jason now so we can discuss next steps.”

[bisexualsforprompto]

Guilt and Love Chapter 2

Marinette had heard of Gotham villains before, but seeing one in the flesh made her shudder. Sure she’d gone up against villains all the time, but Akumatized victims, save Lila, were terrorizing Paris against their own free will. These Gothamites did it for fun. Marinette knew she was out of her league but she refused to let anyone get hurt without a fight. Gotham didn’t have a miraculous cure, so those injured would stay that way. Marinette assessed the situation, each of the Joker’s henchmen had guns but they were nothing without their leader. Marinette knew Joker was brutal so her best bet would be to take him out while he expected victory. Marinette quickly formulated a plan, all she needed to do was give him enough rope to hang himself…

“Oh please don’t hurt me!” She said in her best damsel in distress voice. She saw Damian jump beside her, she knew he was confused but she just gave him a confident look that said, I have a plan. As the villains turned to face her and away from the crowd she laid it on extra thick. “I’ll do anything, just spare me.” She brought a hand up to her head, she was overacting a little bit but Gotham was known for its over the topness. The Joker walked toward her as he smiled thinking he found his newest target. As he sauntered over Marinette saw her opening. Swiftly, she swept his leg out from under him causing him to fall to the ground and moan in pain. She ran dodging bullets and punches from Joker’s goons and yelled, “Everyone Exit the building in an orderly fashion! Get out while you can!” People started hurrying out as Marinette held off the henchmen, being joined shortly by Damian and Dick. As the building evacuated Batman dropped in from a window. Seeing that his son, Dick, and this petite french girl were kicking a*s he took Joker over to the station letting the duo handle the rest.

As Damian fought he finally understood why this girl was his soulmate, it didn’t really click that he had one until this moment. Seeing her fight like a bad*ss and use her wits was when he finally realized, ‘maybe I’m not so alone after all.’

~~~~~~~

With Marinette’s help the fight was over quickly, everyone had been evacuated and most people left the building completely unscathed, others with minor injuries. Bruce decided to check up on the French class, one to make sure they were okay and two to see if he could adopt the fighting girl with black hair and blue eyes. He was kidding of course about the second detail, well not really. As soon as he arrived he heard an Italian girl with brown hair yelling at the girl who had saved the French class.

“I can’t believe you were going to let Joker kill us all just to save yourself!” She fake sobbed as the other students comforted her, all of the class scowled at her. “Are you kidding me?! She saved you!” Bruce heard his son shoot back in French, ‘uh, oh’. That tone usually meant he was on the verge of murder. He walked over and ignored the looks of recognition. “Oh my god it’s Bruce Wayne! Didn’t you say you knew him Lila!” A pale short blonde squealed. The Italian girl rubbed her neck and chuckled guiltily. ‘God, I hope Bruce Wayne doesn’t know French’ she thought as she said, “Yes, but don’t mention it. We try to keep it on the hush hush so I don’t get mobbed everywhere.” Bruce raised an eyebrow. ‘F*ck’ Lila thought. “Is that so? Because I distinctly recall that I’ve never met you.” Damian smiled triumphantly, ‘that should knock her down a peg.’ Bruce didn’t dwell on the teenage drama, he didn’t want to be here when the liar was confronted, “I just wanted to see the girl who single handedly took down Joker and his men.” Bruce smirked as the petite midnight haired girl blushed. Damian gestured to her, “This is her. Marinette, mysoulmate.” Damian mumbled the last words and spoke them quickly. Bruce almost didn’t catch it, but he smiled a little and looked up to see both the girl, Damian’s soulmate, and Damian, himself a blushy mess. Damian didn’t blush, obviously this girl hit him hard. Bruce smirked until a caramel skinned girl with dyed red hair at the tips shouted, “Wait! I thought you were in love with Lila, Damian! How could you move on so quickly?! Especially for someone like Marinette of all people?” Alya scrunched up her nose at the word Marinette, like it was the plague. Damian almost growled, “First of all, I don’t know any Lilac girl! And second, I don’t like what you’re implying about Marinette, from what I’ve seen so far she’s the best one out of all of you!” It was deathly silent, Marinette shot a thankful glance up to her soulmate. It was still so surreal for her, having someone stick up for her and actually getting a soulmate! She never expected to ever get a soulmate ‘especially not someone so handsome’ Marinette mused.

Damian had defined cheekbones, a tan skin tone and piercing jade eyes. They were so much more gorgeous than Adrien’s, and his rugged black hair was styled in a way that was perfect. Marinette was grateful that he wasn’t just handsome, he stuck up for others and definitely fought well, maybe better than her. It made Marinette be even more attracted to him, and she barely knew him. There was only one thing Marinette thought could make him more attractive, a smile. He always seemed to frown, ‘I’ll just have to change that’ Marinette decided.

Lila seethed, everything was slowly tumbling down. Marinette had a soulmate now, Damian AND Bruce Wayne were there calling her out, and her classmates were starting to wise up. Lila looked for a fast escape and saw none. She was trapped, there was no way this could end well, so she did what always worked, cried.

Nobody noticed as Lila signaled behind her back. Directly following the signal was a purple akuma. It flew into her hair ribbon. ‘You’ll pay for this Marinette Dupain-Cheng’

“Yes Hawkmoth.”

(Just so you know, and before you ask I WILL explain how an akuma got in Gotham in the next chapter).

Tag list (let me if I missed you or you want to be added):

@interobanginyourmom

@beaversuenightly

@legendaryneckjudgestudent

@luciferge

@northernbluetongue

@Mandy984

@Zebrabaker

@violatiger8

@gingerdaile

@poshplumcot

@thanks-captain-obvious

@miraculous786

@superrrpc

@souleateralicestein

@mochinek0

@shamefullove

@satans-favorite-homo

@heldtogetherbysafetypins

@draco-kasai

@worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry

@synnesstra

@ace-aro-agender

@almstreet

@winter-gardenflower

@dast218

@novicevoice

@chaosace

@hypnosharkrebeldreamer

@emjrabbitwolf

@kuroko26

@eliza-bich

@mystery-5-5

@mewwitch

@shreky-boi

@zerotosiki

@imanerddealwith

[justphilia]

There’s a definite chance I might not be writing this BUT

I had a detroit become human idea for a Mob Psycho fic, it’s pretty loose considering I had the idea while sitting in the back of a car and standing under the shower head.

There’s probably a chance I would be writing it but it’s kinda leaning to a “Nah, probably not”.

With that being said, I kinda don’t want to trash the idea as a whole without it meeting the light of day, so I’m gonna spill my ideas here so I can look back and think; “Wow. That’s shit.”

To add, this whole thing will sound more like babbling than an actual summary, so excuse me lmao.

Tsubomi doesn’t have any friends. But coming from a wealthy family, her parents decides to buy her a friend. Cue Shigeo/Mob. 

I had a funny model name for all the child androids ‘ESP(insert number, for Shigeo it’s 100)’ despite this being a no powers AU. Then I realized it probably wouldn’t fit because I am low key planning for all the espers to be androids and realized ‘Wow, ha ha, that’s a lot of androids’ so now SOME of the espers are androids.

Okay so fast forward and Tsubomi’s parents are thinking, “We should replace Shigeo, he’s kinda old fashioned now.”

“Mom we only had him for 4 years.”

“Exactly.”

But Tsubomi’s really attached to Mob because he’s her best friend, and doesn’t tell him he might be replaced until he finds out himself. He goes bat shit crazy and tries to kill himself and Tsubomi. Cue Serizawa, a cop android.

Serizawa calms my boy down and Shigeo’s like, “You’re right, I shouldn’t be doing this. I’m so--” bang. Tsubomi low key gets traumatized, Shigeo is bleeding blue on the floor.

We shift to the next scene where Shigeo wakes up on like a bed except it’s actually a table. Cue Reigen, he works at Cyberlife as a child therapist/repair worker. Actually, my man was suppose to be just a repair worker but he got promoted to child therapist for calming down a raging Teru.

“Kid, you remember anything?”

“I- Sorta? Where am I, am I gonna be killed?”

Reigen’s like sweating because he isn’t sure himself, Shigeo’s the first kid who tried to commit murder. But as they talked, Reigen’s kinda surprised to realize that Shigeo’s actually a really really sweet kid.

Shigeo asks how Tsubomi is doing and if she hates him. Reigen tells him she’s fine and she misses him. Which is the truth, but he doesn’t mention that Tsubomi did end up getting a replacement in fear of ticking Shigeo off. Cue Ritsu, the replacement android best friend.

There’s a sort of cell holding all the ‘defect’ child androids, like a little playroom but also an actual cell, and inside there’s: Gou, Rei, Takeshi, Daichi, Kaito and Teru.

Cue Teru, who is the only one who has a similar case to Shigeo; he punched a kid in the nose and sent him to the hospital, which made his mom very very pissed and sent him for repairs. Because of this, he’s enraged further and the staff can’t send him back unless his attitude changes to the “ideal son”.

Teru thinks being an android is a gift, he can’t die and he’s pretty much flawlessly shaped. When he meets Shigeo, he asks why he looks so plain, and it’s revealed it’s because Tsubomi didn’t want anything flashy.

And mostly because Shigeo’s an older model.

Each kid (except for Teru) had an actual defect to their system. Gou has somehow obtained a built in lighter function, which isn’t suppose to be there. Rei has the reconstruct and construct feature for unknown reasons. Takeshi is basically a walking magnet, except he doesn’t really know when it’s turned on or off (when it’s turned on, it’s strong enough to accidentally pull all the others towards him and it gets pretty annoying). Daichi and Kaito’s memory cloud keeps syncing with one another, which disrupts them from being able to remember the right things correctly (i.e Daichi gets Kaito’s memories and believes they are his own and vice versa).

The only reason they’re still stuck here is because they come from middle class families (except for Teru), so they’re way behind on the waiting list to get repaired.

Shigeo, on the other hand, came from a rich family, so he’d be out in no time. This makes Teru very mad, he states it isn’t fair that Shigeo gets to be let out sooner than them even though he just got here.

He tries to attack, but unfortunately for him, they’ve installed a software that prevents Teru from being able to kick and punch. Like a parental lock sorta? The same has been done to Shigeo.

Shigeo only makes Teru even more mad when he says he wishes he was human. If he wasn’t human, none of this would’ve happened, “Teru, if you were human, you wouldn’t be right here y’know? Your mom wouldn’t need to send a real human boy for repairs.”

And Teru is pissed because he knows Shigeo’s right. 

But being the cunning bitch he is, he smiles and pretends to accept Shigeo’s opinion, and he asks for a hug. Shigeo happily agrees and let’s Teru wrap an arm around him.

Then Teru squeezes.

“Teru, I can’t, you’re crushing- I can’t--”

“Oh, I know. If I break you enough, you’ll have to stay here with us even longer.”

Shigeo tries to retaliate, but due to the software, he’s unable to kick himself free. The rest tries to intervene, but Teru threatens them to stay back or he’ll squeeze harder.

“Can a human do this? Shigeo? Can they?”

Shigeo manages to break through the system and finally breaks free, he’s back in his aggressive mode and actually starts attacking.

He takes it too far when he rips Teru heart out.

Everyone is screaming at this point and Reigen’s rushing towards the cell like mad. Serizawa is there too, because he wanted to visit Shigeo to see how he’s doing.

“Why are you running?”

“Something bad is happening, I need to be there- Woah there buddy!” Serizawa picks Reigen up and surprises him. Then the android fucking bolts.

When Reigen finally reaches the cell and enters, he finds Shigeo on the ground, bleeding out once again, and Teru staring motionlessly at Shigeo.

“He...gave me his heart.”

Shigeo is sent to be repaired again and this time, he’s kept in a separate cell, because no one knows how he managed to break through their system. It’s almost impossible for a child -and not to mention an OLD- model to be able to do that.

While Reigen’s thinking in his office, cue Mitsuura, who says it’d be a shame for all those child models to lose their cool abilities. He jokes about just creating a child model meant to possess those abilities, like a tiny cop or something.

Cue Suzuki, no no, the other Suzuki. Mommy Suzuki. Except she’s a single lady who surrounds herself with Touichirou, the first ever android model made. That’s right, she’s head of Cyberlife.

She comes in, because she can’t sit still, and says, “Not a bad idea, man.”

Mitsuura has a fit and thanks the woman.

“So, about that old model that broke my parental control lock?” She turns to Reigen and he huffs, shrugging.

“I really don’t know, ma’am.”

She hums, definitely interested. Unlike the OG DBH, in this AU, they’re more lenient in the deviancy of androids because Suzuki believes they can have rights too. Except they don’t need to get paid, unless they want to? Honestly my idea for that aspect is low key fuzzy.

So anyways, Suzuki remembers Mitsuura’s idea and basically starts sketching out the draft. Cue Shou, who doesn’t exist yet but he’s in the making.

“Can you take the extra components of those child androids and keep them somewhere for later use? I’ll be needing them.”

“Ma’am, those androids are at the back of the waiting list, we can’t just--”

“Just do it.”

Cue Roshuuto, who seriously believes they should just kill Shigeo. “He’s too dangerous” blah blah blah SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Anyways, Reigen doesn’t want to do that because a) android or not, that’s a kid and b) You can’t make that decision and neither can I. Only Suzuki can.

Roshuuto sorta frowns, because everyone knows Suzuki plays favorites; and that favorite is Reigen. He’s the reason why Touichi now has a bit of sentience, before that android was pretty ruthless.

So if Reigen personally doesn’t want to get rid of Shigeo, then Suzuki would say the same too.

Meanwhile, Teru has been showing signs of positive improvement in attitude, there’s a speculation it might’ve been because Teru now has Shigeo’s heart, but that’s just dumb. That kid believes he just killed another android and he’s not sure how he feels about it, so he decides the least thing he could do was to be a better android.

Since Shigeo doesn’t share the same cell as them and nobody told them Shigeo survived, everyone in the playroom thinks Shigeo is dead.

Teru gets sent back after that, and the rest of the kids got their needed repairs.

Meanwhile, Shigeo and Reigen has daily consultation sessions, where they try to find the source of Shigeo’s issues. It takes about a month and Reigen hands Shigeo his cellphone number, saying if Shigeo ever needed him, Reigen would be there.

Shigeo gets sent back to the Takane’s family, because if he doesn’t, Tsubomi will throw a fit. She doesn’t do it often, but when she does, it’s ugly. It’s not like she’s spoiled, but when she strongly and firmly wants something, she’s determined enough to get it.

Originally, Ritsu was meant to be a direct replacement of Shigeo. He even had the bowl cut and everything, but Tsubomi’s intelligent and manages to figure out Ritsu’s a fake. She doesn’t get mad at him though, he doesn’t deserve it, instead she just befriends him too. Ritsu becomes a whole new person he wants to be, even mussed up his hair to look different.

So Shigeo meets Ritsu for the first time, and he’s sorta confused and upset, but Tsubomi got attached to Ritsu as well and refuses to leave him. Ritsu says he’s glad to finally meet Shigeo, because he has heard so much about him, and Shigeo decides he could like Ritsu.

I kinda stop making ideas from here, but I had a rough idea what happens next. Teru and Shigeo do meet again at some point, and Ritsu does meet Shou at some point too.

There will be background Serirei, and Shigeo does eventually grow a crush on Tsubomi and confession and oh no it went wrong. I think that’s when Shou makes his first appearance?

Because they think a child can calm another child down. It doesn’t work.

Nobody realizes Reigen’s probably the only thing that can help until the very very last minute.

So anyways, that’s the end of it. I don’t know what to do with this idea because now that I’ve spilled them all on the table, I kinda feel like writing it now. Though I already have two other projects planned, one being Nap’s birthday gift fic and another being a secret project that features Ritshou and amnesia, so it might be delayed to maybe June :(

[megaboy335]

Mega’s 2019 Top Anime List

Another year of anime has come and gone. This year I ended up watching a lot less due to the over saturation of Isekai and light novel anime, but there was still plenty to enjoy. As usual I consider any show that ended this year as a contender to be on my list. This is simply my opinion and there will be spoilers below.

1) Pokemon Sun & Moon

Starting this list with a show I watched for 3 years, Pokemon Sun and Moon was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with the Pokemon anime. It took the best aspects of XY and added loose animation to the mix. Ash and friends have never had so much personality as each episode brought the characters to life in new ways with funny facial expressions. As an adaptation of the game, Pokemon SM did better in some areas compared to others. The trials were simplified or restructured to account for Ash’s classmates being trial captains in the game. While the Kahuna battles were spaced out very far apart in the anime. I always thought it was strange that in-between major story battles, Ash barely ever thought about the challenges.

The two major story highlights of the anime are Lusamine’s arc and the Pokemon League. Lusamine’s story was the main plot of SM and it played out almost exactly like the game. Her downfall to her Ultra Beasts obsession and then Lillie knocking some sense back into her mom is still an emotional highlight of the series. In any Pokemon anime, the Pokemon League is what brings meaning to Ash’s entire journey through the region. SM’s league is similar to the game where it’s the first league of the region. The rival pairings and matches were completely predictable, but it ended with two big surprises. First, Ash was actually allowed to win for once (matching your character becoming the first champion in the game), and secondly he had a full 6 v 6 match with Kukui. It spanned 3.5 episodes with Ash’s Litten completing its character arc by reaching its final form during the battle. It was a rare match where both parties are battling it out for fun and it ended with a flashy finale of two hype Z-moves. Pokemon SM will be remembered for its simplicity, yet ambitious approach in always showing something new week after week.

2) Mob Psycho 100 Season 2

Mob-Psycho continues where it left off in season 1. The main protagonists have come away from a battle with Claw and now daily life resumes. This season featured a love story, Reigen’s arc, deeper exploration into psychic powers, and the return of Claw. Just like in season 1, Mob continues to excel in two major areas. First is of course the animation. An average episode of Mob is literally that one stand-out episode of a one cour anime. Psychic power usage is often a reflection of emotions and they are animated in different ways depending on the characters thoughts in a particular scene. There were so many highlights this season that it would be impossible to list them all.

Mob’s second strength is the character writing. In season 1 Mob was a boy struggling to create his own identity. This season Mob actively tries to break out of his shell and become his own unique person. We see this through his efforts with the fitness club, again when he separates from Regien, and again as he shows everyone that having psychic powers is no substitute for personal growth or status. Mob is no longer a timid boy like he was at the start of the series. He can now stand on his own two feet and help others who are struggling to get up. Considering there is still a little more manga left to cover, I can only hope it gets one last season to finish out the story.

3) Kaguya-Sama: Love is War

In order to understand the appeal of Kaguya-Sama, just for a second imagine if Death Note was a romantic comedy. Both of the protagonists are locked into a battle of wits to outsmart the other in the events of daily life. The mere act of choosing a vacation spot, going somewhere, or giving an item to each other suddenly becomes a high stakes duel. Kaguya-sama follows Kaguya herself and Shirogane as they try to avoid being the first to admit their love for each other. The side characters only help to add wildcards to each battle such as Chika being able to change the tide of battle with a single phrase.

I enjoyed seeing how absurd each battle would become week after week. The presentation is simple, yet very effective in this anime. Resources were definitely allocated for use in certain places for maximum impact. The voice acting also helped a ton in selling just how important each battle was in the minds of the characters. Overall, the series knows how to play with your expectations. Some battles turn out as expected, some with a twist, and others end on some kind of middle ground. However, each battle brings them a little closer together. I can’t wait for the next season in April.

4) Run with the Wind

Almost all sports anime revolve around high school students trying to become as good as possible and win nationals before the 3rd years graduate. However, Run with the Wind takes a different approach to this formula. It focuses on a group of college students who, at the start at least, would rather do anything else than run. It takes about half of the show before our group of characters even get on the same page about running. I enjoyed how this anime put us into the heads of each character. Some have personal reasons for not wanting to run, while for others it was something trivial. However, by committing themselves to the team they each gained a new outlook on themselves and those around them. It was quite literally an uphill for the team to reach the level of success they got at the end. The final run brilliantly showed how each character learned from the experience and how the time they spent on the team was a positive life changing moment. Run with the Wind shows that it's never too late to try something new.

5) JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind

Jojo is back on the list after an extended break between parts 4 and 5. Compared to previous stories, Part 5 is most similar to part 3. There is a quest to clear and it involves the main group traveling across the land and defeating enemy stand users each step of the way. The differences between part 5 and its previous stories becoming apparent right away. First off, the protagonist is not a traditional Joestar. He is the son of Dio born from when he had Jonathan’s body. Secondly, the group of main characters are not exactly good guys. As mafia members they display a sense of unity, but lack the high integrity of previous Jojo characters. A connection they all share is being looked down upon in society, but placing a place in the world through Bucciarati’s squad.

The aspect that makes or breaks a JoJo story for me is usually the villain. I consider Diavolo to be the weakest of any villain across the various JoJo stories. During the early arcs of the story, Diavolo comes off as an interesting character. He has a mysterious personality and will clearly stop at nothing to keep his identity hidden, including killing his own daughter. The series then adds layer of complexity when we meet his alter ego Doppio. The two personalities are clearly distinctive, but the line between which one is charge can be murky. However, his character intrigue quickly comes crashing down as the final arc fully brings Diavolo into the limelight. The story comes down to who can control the stand arrow, which is a sharp contrast to previous villains who drove the final arc on the back of their eccentric personalities. While JoJo part 5 is still a good anime, it will always come near the bottom of my favorite JoJo parts.

The Year of High Profile Weekly Shonen Jump Anime Adaptations

As the 2016-17 hits from Weekly Shonen Jump have aged up, all of their anime dropped in succession this year. I am a huge fan of the magazine, so here’s a section with some quick thoughts of their anime.

The Promise Neverland - The anime changed the escape arc from a mental battle to a horror series. While animation is definitely better suited to playing with the idea of show don’t tell, the result ended up being telling the story through a different lens. While I appreciated the idea, I feel it came up short. The loss of Posuka Demizu’s art was another major blow to the mood they were trying to create.

Kimetsu no Yaiba - When the manga first began, I never imagined it would become a 1+ Million seller. Ufotable brought their top class digital effects to a manga that at a quick glance would make anyone think it would be the last series to get such treatment. The anime brought a lot to the table and greatly helped to bring the manga to life. It was a great experience from start to finish (episode 19 is a major highlight of the year). I’m looking forward to the upcoming film.

Dr. Stone - Compared to the other Jump anime this year, Dr. Stone’s animation and presentation stuck very close to the manga (if not even inferior to Boichi’s creative spreads at times). The aspect that sold this anime best was the voice cast. They brought so much life into the characters and conveyed the passion each one has for science and learning. I enjoyed seeing Senku create his inventions in animated form.

Bokuben - This might not exactly be considered “high-profile”, but I can’t help but find myself impressed by the anime week after week. It adds a few touches here and there to better tell a cohesive story and occasionally adds a scene or two. I appreciated the heart the anime brought to the series through the seiyuu. Introducing a new seiyuu unit from the cast was also a nice bonus as well.

Best OP/EDs of the year:

1) One Piece Opening 22 - The One Piece anime has changed dramatically under Tatsuya Nagamine. This opening is fast paced and filled with future story teases. It changes the format by cutting the op run time down to 2 minutes and includes clips of the episode. The final sequence of Luffy vs. Kaido always gets me hyped each to watch the episode each week. 

2) Mob Psycho II Opening - This opening feels like a natural continuation of the first season opening. It once again showcases how the show is full of creative animation and unusual characters.

3) Mix Opening 1- Mitsuru Adachi is known for his nuanced writing of giving characters the space to convey their thoughts. This opening fully shows these traits through its sequence of character shots that feel like a natural usage of his writing style. 

4) Kaguya-Sama Chika Ending - Cute song and amazing choreography. There’s a clear reason why this swept across the internet last winter

5) JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5 Opening 2 - Not only is Traitor’s Requiem a very cool name for a song for this part of the story, but the plot teases are perfectly timed in the song. The opening animation also kept on giving with the villain version and Giorno later recapturing the opening.

This brings 2019 to a close and another decade comes to an end. As my way of recapping the decade, here is a list of my top shows in each post I have made since I started posting them in 2014:

Space Brothers

Hunter x Hunter

Kill la Kill

Nisekoi

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3

Sore ga Seiyuu

Death Parade

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3 (Second Half)

Hibike Euphonium 

One Punch Man Season 1

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4

Mob Psycho 100 Season 1

Yuri on Ice

Konosuba Season 1

Sakamoto Desu Ga?

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

Tsuki Ga Kirei

Re:Creators

Ero-manga Sensei

Owarimonogatari (the Monogatari series in general)

Hugtto Precure

A Place Further than the Universe

Yuru Camp

Dragonball Super

S.S.S.S. Gridman

[kushamisaru]

ReigenxReader that I promised the people but I suck at titles so I am advertising that fact here instead

“Hellooooo? Anybody there?”

Once again, your voice had to snap Reigen back to attention. He jumped a little, but, used to being startled, recovered quickly.

“S-sorry! I was just thinking about something.”

“The same something you’ve been thinking about for nearly the entirety of this date? Or a new something?”

“The same one, haha...” he trailed off nervously

“You know, you could tell me about it. It might make for interesting conversation.”

Your tone was teasing, but he could see that you were concerned. And that made him feel more guilty than it should have. Still...

“Don’t worry about it! You have my full attention now. What were you saying?”

You scrunched your face. “Okay, well...”

Relief washed over Reigen as you continued talking. He’d have to be more careful. This wasn’t like him. He had his nervous fumbles with clients, sure, but he was always able to bounce back quickly, and he rarely messed up this often. But that was why he was here wasn’t it? That was how it’d started.

He hadn’t thought much of you when you’d first shown up in his office. It seemed standard stuff; your back had been killing you and you blamed it on a curse some “witch” had placed on you. He asked a few basic questions, how old was your mattress, did you do a lot of lifting, etc, and decided on the best “course” and “treatment” for you.

When you paid for it, you lingered a little, like you wanted to say something but were too nervous. He asked you about it, and you mumbled some nonsense before leaving.

It had been strange, but not unprecedented.

But then you came in a few more times, for the same problem, and you seemed different. You were telling the truth about the back issues, he could feel the knots everytime, but you seemed... more relaxed about it. Almost as if it was a joke he should have been in on but wasn’t. Still, since there was still a problem and you were still paying him, he continued to help you. 

And then the day that lead you both here happened.

“Listen...” you started after paying for your latest session, nervous like you had been the first time you came in, “I know it’s like. Bad form or whatever to ask someone this while they’re on the clock, but... are you doing anything this weekend?”

He blinked at you a couple times in disbelief, and you began to panic.

“Y-you don’t have to if you don’t want to! I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything because I am a client right now, it’s just I wouldn’t know where else to find you and I didn’t wanna -”

“I do work weekends. But I close early, so maybe afterwards?”

The words spilled out of his mouth without any input from his head. But before he had a chance to really think about it you beamed at him.

“O-okay! Um, hmmm...” your face changed from excited to thoughtful, as you looked him up and down. “I know a place that’s kind of low key and also not super expensive where we could grab dinner.”

In hindsight, he’d realized you were probably judging his income based on his clothing, which made your teasing comment of “Oh wow, when you said ‘after work’ I didn’t think you’d meant ‘right after work’!” sting a little more. Once you’d gotten your yes, it seemed like any lingering nervousness you had was gone. Yet here he was, still very nervous.

Well, nervous wasn’t the right word. Suspicious was more like it. The year he ran his business on his own, Reigen had learned the art of reading people, and in the years since he’d nearly perfected it. But you kept throwing him somehow. Everything about you seemed earnest; the way you lit up when you saw him, how intently you listened when he DID talk, your laugh when he told a bad joke, as far as he could tell, everything else checked out. So why wasn’t he able to shake the feeling something was off?

He was determined to find out.

"So," he began the next time there was a lull in the conversation, "Have any other... spirit problems in the past few days?"

You smiled and let out a small giggle. "You know, I can't say I have! Weird, huh?"

There was that tone again, the one that made him feel like he was missing something. But he continued to play it cool, returning your smile. "You wouldn't be seeing other psychics behind my back, would you?"

"Nope, just you. Guess that makes you special."

He felt his face burn a little, but if you were lying, he couldn't tell.

"W-well, I'm glad to hear you're doing better!" he coughed.

He was certain you messing with him somehow. But how? What was your game? He racked other explanations in his head until...

"...to go?" you asked.

"Huh?"

"Dude, again? I asked if you were ready to go."

Damn it. He'd been caught off guard again.

"Oh, sure!"

"I know you said your car was in the shop, so I can give you a ride if you want."

He probably shouldn't have lied about that, but he had been arrogant enough to assume he could figure you out in a single date.

"Y-yeah, that'd be nice."

He grew more quiet on the ride home, only opening up to give you directions. Eventually you gave up trying to talk about other things, and aside from the music on your radio, the ride was silent.

"Nice place," you said sarcastically (but not cruelly) when you arrived.

"Yep," he agreed in a similar tone.

"Listen, I know it's probably none of my business, but you seemed really distracted tonight. Is something going on with you?"

For some reason, that question rubbed him the wrong way.

"Is something going on with you?" he shot back.

"Huh?"

Your genuine confusion annoyed him even more. "What is your deal?! You're not working for any competition, or possesed, or anything else as far as I can tell. So what was this about?"

"...I'm sorry, I just wanna make sure I understand. Are you asking me why I wanted to go out with you?"

"If that's what you're sticking with."

At last, you seemed annoyed. "Okay, one, I don't know what you mean by 'sticking with', because that is what it was, at least to me. Two, I asked you out because I like you."

"...That's it?"

"That's usually all it takes. Is that hard for you to believe or something?"

And then it hit him what was bugging him. You were just so... honest. Not a thing to hide, not even an attempt. How could you live like that? To a man who made a living basically lying to people, it was infuriating. It was one thing to be like his "student", who more often than not just didn't know when to lie, but to know and to choose not to, at least most of the time... He envied you, your freedom, your confidence, no one could live like that. That was why he was certain you were hiding something.

"Okay, " you started when he was unresponsive for the umpteenth time that night, "Clearly you've got some stuff cooking upstairs, but it's not something I'm interested in eating. So why don't you just-"

"Wait!"

You gave him an irritated look, but also your attention.

"I like you too! And I know I've said this a million times, but I am really, genuinely sorry about tonight. You hit the nail on the head, it was hard for me to buy that you were really into me. Not because I don't think I'm incredibly handsome or charming -because I definitely am- but..."

This was already more than most people knew about him. Being so open made him feel a foot tall. But you looked at him with expectant eyes and he figured he might as continue.

"I just... I'm not used to people being so openly caring towards me. I've had people hit on me, and I have Mob, but that's different."

You were silent for what felt like forever to him, so when you spoke you had his full attention for the first time that night.

"I get it."

"You do?"

"I used to be the same way. It was hard for me to accept others loved me. So I learned to love myself first. You know how I did that?"

"How?"

"I faked it. I pretended love myself, and then one day, I really did."

Ah, so this was how you handled it. When you're the only one being honest, it's suffocating, similar to the way it felt when you were the only one caught in a lie. But when you're honest, and the other person answers that with honesty of their own, it's liberating. Intimate, even. And that was really the basis of any relationship, wasn't it?

He wanted more of that feeling.

"H-hey, speaking of 'fake', you know I'm not really... you know..."

You blinked in confusion a couple times before recogniziton lit your face. "Oh, a psychic? Duh. But I mean, it's not like there's such a thing as a 'real' psychic, right?"

"..."

"... Wait, really?!"

"I may not have powers myself, but Mob and I have run into plenty of very real spirits."

"That's so cool! Oh man, so how do you deal with them? Are they always evil or are some misunderstood? What do they look like? Like people? Monsters? Ooh, have you ever seen a ghost dog? No wait, don't answer that one. That means a dog died, and that's sad."

"More sad than a person dying?"

"Infinitely more."

You both laughed a little at that.

"For real though, I gotta make a list of questions for our next date."

Reigen perked up. "So there'll be a next date?"

"Well, I still like you, despite the rough start, so if you want..."

"Yeah!" he said just a liiittle too enthusiastically, then added after an embarrassed cough, "I mean, yeah. That sounds nice."

You giggled. "Okay. But this date has to end for the next one to begin so..."

With a swift movement, you shifted over and planted a brief kiss on Reigen's cheek.

"Would you kindly get the hell out of my car?" You finished, tone much warmer and affectionate than your words.

"Oh, y-yeah..."

The buckle seemed a little more difficult for reasons definitely not related to his slightly shaky hands and jumbled brain, but after he managed to get out and you exchanged farewells, he realized that was another feeling he didn't mind.

And he planned to make you feel that way next time.

____________________________________________

Alright lads, it's done it's done! I hate it and probably wouldn't share it if I hadn't opened my BIG MOUTH, but it's done!

This is arguably the least romantic romantic reader x fic I've ever done, but as much as I love Reigen, all canon evidence I've seen points to him being rough with love. And that's what was more important to me, trying to keep him in character. I think he deserved better than this to that end, but I did sprinkle in undeniable canon traits (his insecurity and self loathing under a fake confident exterior, the fact that he can drive but doesn't have a car, his distrust of other people, and other things) so hopefully that makes up for it?

I love this hot mess of a man, and if you love him too, I hope you enjoyed this!

[armsdealing]

▌real name: marcelo giancarlo reyes marconi. ▌single or taken: single or taken depending on the timeline.  ▌abilities or powers: mixology, cards (don’t play poker with him because you will lose; for that matter, don’t play baccarat or faro or even uno -- again, because you will lose), public speaking, gun handling (has been taught how to use them since he was 14), dancing (breaking/hip hop; salsa; merengue, among others), kickboxing (trained since he was 7), playing sports (primarily soccer; he’s a forward winger) + the powers that come with being a werepuma (being nigh indestructible; healing factor; heightened senses and superhuman condition; shapeshifting, and immunity to psychic attacks, just to name some relevant ones) ▌eye color: dark brown. the puma eyes, when shifts into them, are pretty striking: besides the fact that they gleam, the iris is a ring of green/blue inside a ring of yellow. they seem almost hypnotic, and in the dark, they retroreflect light. (reference / 2) ▌hair color: brown ▌family members: gianna marconi-reyes (mother, deceased), ysmael reyes (father, deceased); a lot of aunts and uncles but primarily -- on his father’s side -- berenice and emmanuel reyes, and daniela and adán, all alive; then there’s his many cousins, all of which he’s very close to (acting sometimes more like siblings than cousins). on the maternal side there’s the marconi family which is big and complex on its own right but he’s not particularly close to any of them. it’s worthy to mention that he’s the grandson of giancarlo marconi, a very prominent don in the east coast mob, though.  ▌pets: he doesn’t have any, but he feeds any and all stray cats he comes across, and they end up following him around.  ▌something they don’t like: he doesn’t like stuck-up attitudes and people out of touch with reality. doesn’t like people noseying into his business, either. alas, he chose to work in social media and he deals with both of those things on a daily basis.  ▌hobbies/activities: the abilities above mentioned count as hobbies, frankly. marcelo is so good at them because he enjoys doing them and practices as often as he can. he also likes cooking (it’s a good sign when he cooks for you) and talking walks, running, swimming, watching movies, listening to podcasts, riding his motorcycle, camping, bouldering, hiking, taking pictures (with a camera and his phone), playing instruments (piano + guitar) and singing. he also likes traveling.  ▌ever hurt anyone before: yes. though big on pacifism nowadays, marcelo is not a stranger to fighting, and not just the kind of fighting where you throw a few punches and then quit. i’m talking full blown brawls where bones have been broken and eyes blackened and he’s had to get yanked away from the other party. he used to be much worse when he was younger, when he was more temperamental and less mindful of his own strength, and when his tolerance towards bullies and insults was zero point zero. nowadays you can still catch that side of him under specific circumstances. however, it’s rare -- he much prefers to remain unresponsive to insults and provocations. and as for hurting people emotionally... tbh yes. sometimes, he doesn’t think before he speaks. and sometimes, he does thinks he speaks, but you deserve to hear what he’s about to say (at least according to him).  ▌ever killed anyone before: in his main verse, not just yet.  ▌animal that represents them: puma, cougar, catamount, mountain lion! but if you want other examples, all felines in general.  ▌worst habits: he pours all his emotional labour into other people and none on himself, usually without noticing that people just use him. he’s gotten a bit better at this (he’s lost some “friends” because of it, no doubt), but still... he worries a lot and whats to Help, and he stresses out when he can’t solve the problems of people he cares about.  ▌role models: his parents but that’s kind of falling apart the older he gets. his aunts, berenice and daniela, and his older cousin natalia (played by @neotropical​). his godmother, also named gianna played by @tribeof​​. emiliano @riverbodies. and his best friend ivana played by @neotropical​​. nearly all his role models are women because men kinda suck, frankly.  ▌sexual orientation: bisexual.  ▌thoughts on marriage/kids: he wants both those things very much. he would definitely love to get married someday and have a small, intimate, but fun wedding and he would love to have kids (he’s thinking three) to raise and love. he would be a natural as a father, far from perfect, but definitely the type of parent that just intuitively knows what his kid wants and needs -- and works to help them even if he doesn’t.  ▌fears: as a result of past traumas, marcelo is terribly afraid of losing people he loves, cue him being very protective over them. he can’t stand the thought of them getting hurt, nevermind actually dying.  ▌style preferences: marcelo values his family above all other things, and it shows pretty much in the fact that he carries them everywhere with him and they really have an impact on his sense of style. he always carries his father’s silver cross necklace not out of a sense of faith (that hasn’t been there for a long time) but because it belonged to his father. he has the birthdate of his twin cousins (inigo and ignacio) tattooed on his shoulders in roman numerals, and the names of his parents on the back of his neck. he’ll often wear necklaces with pictures of family members, and pieces that belonged to his aunts, from chains to rings and bracelets. he made paintings and drawings by his little cousins into shirts he often wears. he lets alba sew patches into his jeans. he gets his nails painted by camila and his hair cut by elián. much of his wardrobe is actually hand me downs when not thrift finds and tend to be combined with high fashion clothes that are, more than often, gifts (from either industry friends or, let’s just say, benefactors) -- but yeah, when not wearing sportswear, he’s mixing and matching repurposed clothes with luxury fashion items. point is: there’s a lot of history to a lot of the things marcelo wears and much of it goes back to his family, which he’s gone as far as to immortalize on his skin in some form. ▌someone they love: ivana, his best friend, is basically his soulmate as well tbh and the person he loves the most. on that same tier go charmaine and rafael (@neotropical). in a platonic and familial manner, he loves gianna (@tribeof), zephyr (@isolctions), emiliano and alondra @riverbodies, and honestly.... this list ain’t long enough. he’s so full of love and you’re all missing out on that shit, smfh. of course, he also loves his entire family to bits.  ▌approach to friendships: marcelo would do, and does, anything for his friends and he loves always making new ones. he’s the helpful, generous type that is happy simply spending time with you, but will also try and get you involved with new things he’s doing, and will always be down for whatever you’d like to do. as a matter of fact, involved is the best way to describe the way marcelo always tries to make his friends feel. he’s not nosey or pushy, but if y’all haven’t talked in a while he will often send you a text to check up on you. he treasures his friendships and devotes time to them. as mentioned before, he’s also very protective and very much a mom friend. ▌thoughts on pie: he’s not crazy about it but he enjoys a good strawberry pie now and then! ▌favorite drink: (non-alcoholic) water, and coffee. colombian coffee to be precise: don pablo colombian supremo, but any colombian brand will do. (alcoholic) his go to alcoholic brands are bacardi, havana club, josé cuervo and antioqueño. he loves his mojitos, daiquiris and cubalibres and those are his usual orders, when not ordered plain.  ▌favorite place to spend time at: his apartment. he isn’t gonna pay rent not to spend time in that shit. that being said he equally enjoys both the city and nature. he thrives in the night life and in clubs, parties of all kinds, the neon HQ and high end bars, and he loves beaches, and parks, and forests, and mountains).  ▌swim in the lake or in the ocean: he won’t refuse either, boy just loves swimming.  ▌their type: honestly it’s really flexible. he can date from the sweetest angel to the biggest asshole if you’re ultimately a good person. he likes people that are comfortable in their own bodies, that are confident and got spine without being conceited. mutual interests definitely help, but a similar desire to grow together and put effort into things and each other is even more attractive to him. just be mature and know how to communicate. 

tagged by: i forgot but i love them. tagging: @neotropical​ (ivy), @tribeof​ (gianna or abel) @isolctions​​​ (zephyr or rue), @belissimae​, @withlwolves​​ (maria) @dirtypaw​​ @zkljns @curdledmiilk​ (your pick, someone you haven’t done) @undones​ (griff) @wheelmans​ @strikier​ (yes im tagging all ur fuckin blogs) 

[storiesthatmove]

My Top 11 Films from 2017 (in no particular order)

WARNING: SLIGHT SPOILERS BELOW!

Blade Runner 2049

dir. Denis Villeneuve

The jaw-dropping sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 dystopian masterpiece. Not only was this film a visual masterpiece, it was an epic, yet genuinely contemplative dive into the human psyche—a feat rarely seen in blockbuster releases.

Every performance was amazing—Ryan Gosling was able to put his stale gaze to use—and I always find myself coming back to the score whenever I’m in the mood to relive this meditation on human consciousness.

Get Out

dir. Jordan Peele

Easily one of the most controversial [mainstream] films of the year, Get Out held its own against a slew of criticism from people who, most likely, hadn’t even seen the film and based their assumptions on the provocative trailer.

While it did tackle the issue of racism in America, the main story was one of jealousy, trust, friendship, and the human desire to conquer at all costs. There were definitely some ignorant people who took the film as a green light to hate an entire group of people, but for those of us who appreciate films for their ability to expose us to new ideas in creative ways.

The Shape of Water

dir. Guillermo del Toro

The Shape of Water was everything I hoped it would be and more! Yet another masterpiece from Guillermo del Toro, indisputable king of the modern-day fairy tale [for adults].

I'm constantly amazed at how he can create characters you immediately fall in love with. Every single person in this film—gills or no gills—touched me in some way, and left lasting impressions of their individual experiences on my mind. 

The Cold War backdrop was perfect for this tale of love, identity, suppression, and liberation. And let's not forget about Guillermo’s trademark aesthetic that really makes a world feel mystical and grounded at the same time.

Logan

dir. James Mangold

I’m a shameless fan of comic book movies! However, despite my love for them, I have found myself suffering from multiple short-lived bouts of fatigue. And when you do the math, you’ll see why...

We’ve been getting at least 2 superhero movies—from multiple studios—a year, every year, for the past 9+ years; and that’s not even including the pre-MCU days. That’s a lot of interconnected, self-referential stories to sit through.

Logan took that fatigue and put it on screen for the world to see. In the film, Hugh Jackman plays an aged Wolverine, beaten from years of fighting, feeling, and being exploited by a studio eager to make millions.

mother!

dir. Darren Aronofsky

mother! was yet another controversial film. But what else would you expect from a Darren Aronofsky project? Regardless of how you feel about the director and his narrative style, you can’t deny mother! is a life-changing cinematic experience packed with meaning.

This fever dream of a movie follows a woman as she is forced to navigate her husband’s fragile ego, all while a near mitotic mob of people invade her home and tear her apart, both physically and spiritually. Throughout the film, you see her fall apart and lose her faith in humanity, leading to a thought-provoking climax that will definitely divide the senses.

It Comes At Night

dir. Trey Edward Shults

No one likes deceptive trailers. It was for this reason why I was ready to avoid It Comes At Night. However, I adore A24, and out of loyalty to them, I eventually sat down and watched it. Spoiler: I’m glad I did.

While it isn’t a horror movie in the traditional sense of the genre—much like 2015′s The Witch, also from A24—It Comes At Night is more of a post-apocalyptic family drama with horror elements sprinkled throughout. The titular ‘It’ is more of an idea than an actual entity, and it is this notion of psychological haunting that drives the heart-breaking narrative forward.

If you’re open to long moments of contemplative silence, plenty of awkward stares, and rigid depictions of death, then this film is definitely for you.

A Ghost Story

dir. David Lowery

“A Ghost Story is not built to frighten. But it may indeed haunt you.” -Paul Asay

Every film on this list will stay with me, I’d imagine, until the day I die. But if I had to choose, A Ghost Story would be the one I’d take with me when I don my sheet and travel the infinite sea of memory. Of all the words that could be used to describe this film—slow, ethereal, deliberate—I believe A Ghost Story’s charm lies in its ability to speak to our innermost selves, the aspects of us that defy language.

This film subjected me to countless nights of sleeplessness, as it focuses on time and the futility and meaning of life. This quote from the film sums up the existential nature of the film:

"Your children will die, and their children will die, and so on and so forth until the mountains fall and there's only a few of us left... There's nothing different between Beethoven writing his 9th symphony for his God and digging a hole in the ground for a fence post... But someday, when what's left of us has made it for the high ground, someone will hum a melody from a distant memory, and that little melody--how it's survived for generations and through disaster after disaster--will give those people something to hope for, something to hold onto besides all their fear and hatred.”

It

dir. Andrés Muschietti

Before I go any further, I must say that I’m not one of those people who believe just because something is new, it’s inherently better. But, in my humble opinion, 2017′s It is far better than the made-for-TV version from 1990. That one definitely had charm, and there were some legitimately terrifying moments; however, the sheer darkness of Andrés Muschietti’s vision really sets this film apart from most of the mainstream horror films released in 2017.

The Disaster Artist

dir. James Franco

Probably the funniest film I’ve seen, The Disaster Artist spoke to me, not only as an artist, but as a human being. The story of Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero is inspirational, hilarious, and heart-breaking all at the same time. I absolutely loved the chemistry between James and Dave Franco, and how it mirrors the real-life chemistry of the characters they portrayed.

You don’t have to see The Room, the disaster-piece this film was centered around. However, doing so does enhance the viewing experience, as you’re sure to be in a theater full of people who have seen it—and let me tell you, hearing a room full of strangers shout lines of dialogue at a screen is a testament to the communal power of film.

The Florida Project

dir. Sean Baker

I saw this at a small arthouse theater in Detroit. They were serving waffles in the lobby in honor of the protagonist’s favorite treat. I cried tears of joy at various points throughout the film.

I never thought I’d be able to say this, but The Florida Project was able to make me consistently laugh at a movie about a homeless child. I felt odd at first, but I eventually caved to Brooklyn Prince’s undeniable charm and began to see the world through her painfully aware, yet optimistic eyes. And not to mention Bria Vinaite, the actress who played her mother. She did such an amazing job showing the complexities of being a young parent; of loving your child, but being too immature to show it properly.

This may be an overused term, but this film was truly heartwarming, even at its darkest moments.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

This modern retelling of the Iphigenia myth is... mysterious, to say the least. It is a whispered tale that offers more questions than answers, so if you love those kinds of stories, I’d go see this as soon as you can.

Yorgos Lanthimos has a way with the medium that can’t be described—by me, at least. His characters speak like aliens trying to be human and the spaces he films in are unnaturally sterile. And yet his stories are full of so much life.

It also has Carol of the Bells in it, so it’s technically a Holiday movie.

These are all opinions based on the films I’ve had the time to see this year. I’m yet to see Lady Bird, Call Me By Your Name, Phantom Thread, Baby Driver, Okja and a few others, but when I do, I will surely make another list of films I love.

[gingerly-writing]

Hello? I'm currently trying to write a superhero novel and I'm extremely bad at it. Can you help me, like just give a few tips? I'm really excited about this project so your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Hello dear Anon! You have definitely come to the write (hehe) place. I have so much advice (and hard lessons learnt) to share that I almost burst with information when I saw this ask in my inbox. I’ve tried to trim it down a bit so I don’t clog up people’s dashes, but this is still gonna be pretty long. (Also, this is my 4,500 post on this blog, quite coincidentally, and I also just passed 700 followers. Consider this advice post my celebration!)

This is a novel, not a comic book series.

You won’t be able to convey every awesome aspect of your characters’ looks without boring the reader to death.

Some tropes don’t translate well. At all.

Nothing is wholly original, not anymore. But you can still come up with something you can comfortably call your own.

Action scenes will either become your trusty sidekick or your archnemesis (and each one can turn out to be either).

LESS. IS. MORE.

1) This is a novel, not a comic book series. Even if you write a whole series of novels, you don’t have the page space to waste on the tens or hundreds of smaller villains you might find littered across a Batman series. First of all, everyone your hero encounters has to be fleshed out at least somewhat, and that takes up both space on the page and in your reader’s mind as they try to keep track of everyone you’ve introduced. If you need to make your hero seem as though they’ve been around for a while and save a lot of lives on the regular, have them namedrop villains they’ve defeated or muse about just how many civilians they must have saved over the years and how that makes it all worth it.

What I’m saying is, you need a coherent plot. Obviously the journey from A to B needs ups and downs, but those probably shouldn’t consist of 18 minor villains with the Big Bad at the end unless all the attacks turn out to be related. Keep your plot tidy, and remember, this is a novel. For the first book at least, you might be better off sticking with one supervillain/group as your major antagonist, with subplots constructed from other, less major conflicts (tension with law enforcement, other heroes, collapsing marriage, love interest, high school issues etc. etc.). In my first attempt at a superhero novel, I had my hero (Ace) fighting gangs and cleaning up the streets, saving kids from their own stupidity, dealing with a new addictive and highly highly dangerous drug pouring into his city, trying to uncover who or what the Crime Syndicate was, fending off the police who were trying to arrest him, and a bunch of civilian life problems too, including his mother and best friend trying to work out what he was hiding, passing university and finding a job, all on top of tracking down and fighting his newfound nemesis. This is a slightly exaggerated list, but you can see what I’m talking about. Too much going on can kill your coherency, even if it’s the kind of winding plot you’re used to seeing on comics.

My tip here: pick one main villain, or gang, or anti-hero etc. –pick only one major villainous entity. Stack in one to three sideplots. Make sure everything is coherent and leads your hero from A to B, whether they know it or not. It might be a superhero novel, but it’s a novel above all. Stick to your basic plotting rules, and you’ll be a-okay.

2) You won’t be able to get down every aspect of your character’s awesome outfit. This is another rule applicable to everything, but it’s especially hard to resists in a genre where a hero’s public image is often built from their outfit and powers as much as what they stand for. But imagine if you had to read a block paragraph description of Batman’s outfit? He wears all-black, with a cowl covering the top half of his face that has pointy bat ears which electrocutes you if you try to take it off. He also wears eyeliner to cover the skin around his eyes. He never smiles, and his voice is a deep growl. His chest plate is black and decorated with false abs and a bat-symbol, which is yellow or black depending on whether he’s in camouflage- YAWN! I’m bored just typing all that out.

Pick defining characteristics for all of them. My villainess has candyfloss pink hair, a slow smile and a dappled black outfit fit for a thief. My hero is half-Japanese, wielding a glowing blue sword (which might become a shield in the edits) and donning his heirloom hero suit of black and matching glowing blue. It’s not a lot, and I drop in other details here and there (she carries smoke bombs and knives in her boots, he can’t wink), but sticking to core, important details when describing their outfits in particular can give a pretty clear idea without choking the reader.

3) Some tropes don’t translate well. At all. Put aside the rampant racism, the homophobia, the general mistreatment of many minorities in the comic industry. Put aside the America-centrism and the fridging of ‘pure’ girlfriends and the slutty villainess alike. These are all problems, but they also exist outside of the superhero genre.

Here, I’m talking space radiation giving people powers, killing their loved ones, serving the plot in any which way. I’m talking Superman’s 800 superpowers and Luthor’s inability to figure out his secret ID despite being the smartest man on the planet. I’m talking fallacies of logic, stretching the suspension of disbelief far past breaking point, Gary Stus galore. I’m talking Guy Gardener’s bowlcut. Y’know, just generally bad writing.

You’re going to have to come up with more original power-origins and better haircuts than they did in the Golden Age, I’m afraid. While I genuinely wish I could get in the invisible brainwave-controlled escape boomerangs from Captain Boomerang in the Silver Age, it doesn’t work so well in a pseudo-serious novel. But work a little harder at your worldbuilding than the golden oldies had to, and you’ll have everything down pat.

4) Nothing is wholly original, not anymore. But you can still come up with something you can comfortably call your own. This is linked to point three. Everything has been done. Every superpower, every storyline, every outfit, magic item, warping of genes. You name it, someone, somewhere, whether inside or outside the big comic houses, has done it. This is common with all ideas, but with superheroes you know some all-knowing jackass will pop out of the woodwork like ‘actually this was the plot of Assman #236 in 1987 and your just a hack’ if you ever publish your work.

Fuck ‘em. You might not be able to create something wholly original, but you can create something with a twist. From your superpowers and gadgets, to your plotlines and your worldbuilding, to your hero leagues and villain cadres and your mob squads –you can create something fresh, something we’ve never seen before, something that will open mouths and eyes and hearts. Everything can be original if you take it and play.

5) Action scenes will either become your trusty sidekick or your archnemesis (and each one can turn out to be either). Some will flow from your pen (or keyboard) as though the Muses themselves are scribing your words with golden ink. Other times, you will want to strangle every one of your characters, and throw their weapons, your writing implements and yourself out of the window. The real problem is that action scenes tend to be crucial to this genre, and you never know which fight scene is going to bite you in the ass.

It’s okay if you’re terrible at them (like me). Sketch what you need out of the scene in terms of plot, and then research to your heart’s content (while remembering this is a genre built on ridiculousness and you can stretch reality as far as you need). Then, as with wit, remember you don’t have to be an expert fighter. Unlike your characters, you can write and rewrite and play and mess with until everything is exactly how you want it.

LESS. IS. MORE. I think this is the sum total of my advice, though bear in mind that I’m a massive overwriter: if you underwrite, you might need to flip some of this advice on its head. In my experience, keep your original plot tight, because it will expand with heroic shenanigans and villainous sideplots. Keep your initial character description to key characteristics, and build in the cool, extraneous details over time. Watch out for some of the good old tropes (and not just the bigoted ones) that simply don’t translate well into a modern novel. Play with your assumptions, your tropes and anything else you can get your hands on, but don’t be too afraid to hang onto some of the old classics: this is a genre known for its fun tropes, after all.

If you need any more general writing advice, feel free to come back! You are talking to someone who wrote 60,000+ words of my core superhero novel and scrapped every single one of them, who’s plotted out seven superhero novels and counting, and who may or may not be far too in love with this genre.

But over everything else, remember to take all advice -including and especially mine- with a large pinch of salt. Come talk to me off anon if you just want to chat about superheroes, I don’t bite (and I really, really love superheroes).

Thanks for the ask!xx

[jadeimpression]

Criminal (Part 2)

Part Two

Reading List: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

(Bucky x Reader) Summary: AU where Bucky is part of the white collar crime division of the Brooklyn police and you're a well known thief that he's had in his sights for years but has never caught. What happens when you get in too deep and have to turn to the one person who's been longing to lock you away for as long as he's been after you?

Word Count: 1736

Warnings: 18+, AU, language, threats, sexual innuendos.

A/N: Not much Bucky in this chapter but he will make an appearance in the next chapter in a very big way. Feedback is always welcome and appreciated.

It had been a month since the night you left your little taunt for Detective Barnes at the club. You weren’t exactly sure when he found it but within the next few days he was really trying to make trouble for you. The Detective was offering deals to fences, forgers and other thieves trying to get information about you, but of course no one was talking, after all there is honor among thieves whether people believe it or not.

The game of cat and mouse had escalated and you honestly found it to be a bit of a turn on. Who didn’t want a drop dead sexy man with access to handcuffs chasing after them? Besides from the stories you’ve heard Detective Rogers might be the good cop but Detective Barnes was definitely the bad cop. A few threats may have been made with the attempt to get information so of course someone was going to eventually cave, you just hadn’t suspected he had that in him.

Your first name, (y/n), was apparently one of the bits of information to make its way to Detective Barnes from someone under duress. To most normal people it might be terrifying the lengths he was willing to go to gather information on you, however you found it rather flattering. Apparently the man had dubbed it his personal mission to bring you down and you honestly haven’t a clue why. Everything you stole was insured and it wasn't as if the owner couldn’t live without it. Half the time it took longer than necessary for people to even realize they were missing their “prized” possession which they loved to show off to friends to reestablish their ranking in the social order.

You of course were passionate about your job so it only made sense that the person trying to catch and stop you would be passionate about theirs as well. You did have to wonder if Detective got bonuses on recoveries and bringing thieves in, at least then his obsession with you would make sense. Maybe you had stolen something from someone that he was acquainted with, the potential reasonings for his crusade were countless and you didn’t really care very much about the why it was just nice to have the attention of a stunning and brooding man despite the way it occurred.

Sitting in front of vanity in your room you ran a brush through your (y/c/h) the damp strands becoming detangled and cascading over your shoulders. Your cell phone began to ring and you reached over pressing your index finger against the cool glass screen to answer before putting it on speaker. “What can I do for you Dimitri?” Your voice was a smooth as honey as you answered one of your best clients of the Russian mob. For a moment he said nothing and that caused the fine hairs on your arm to stand on end since he wasn’t a quiet man and always knew exactly what he wanted.

The voice which greet you in return was in fact Dimitri’s but he began to speak in a hushed tone that you weren’t used to. “There’s a big card game going done in two days and it’s being held by the Irish, I need you to get into the game and sell the money that’s going to be held in the safe.” Your breath caught in your throat and the hairbrush nearly fell from your hands. You were accredited with far more thefts than you had actually done and never had you stolen anything from any of the mob families, only things for them because it opened up doors to favors in the future. This however was not a job that you could do and Dimitri of all people ought to know that.

“I don’t steal from the mob Dimitri, only for the mob when necessary. I know better than to shit where I eat and the Irish pay good money when they want something returned. I’m not going to risk my reputation over this. It doesn’t sound like you’re offering me protection and you know they will kill me if find out I stole from them.” You lay the hairbrush on the smooth wooden top of the vanity and tried to stop your hands from shaking from the mere idea of going against any of the mob families.

Stealing from the Irish was suicide and saying no to the Russians was an equally dangerous move to make but you had always made it clear you worked for how paid and wouldn’t steal from any of the mobs in the city. There were just some lines which shouldn’t be crossed and some risks you weren’t willing to take. “(y/n), you’re the only one who can get into that game without rising suspicion and we’re willing to offer you protection and get you out of the city once the job is done.” Dimitri was hearing your words but he wasn’t truly listening. “It’s just one job, (y/n) and it would set you up for life. Just think about it and I’ll call you tomorrow, if you don’t take this job you’re going to regret it.” There was a lack of malice in his voice and you could hear voice in the background which seemed to be coming closer. Did he mean you would regret in a mob retaliation way or in a you would regret turning down good money way? You weren’t sure since his voice gave nothing away. “I have to go.” There was a click followed by silence as you stared at your reflection in the mirror the shock evident on your features.

The next day when your phone range when Dimitri called you didn’t answer. You had made it clear the day before that you weren’t interested in the job in question, it wasn’t the type of job you took on and why he thought it was you weren’t sure. Normally when the Russian mob needed something you met with the head of the family but you had made friends with Dimitri and now things were often funneled down through him to save time.

The one single call was all you recieved so he must have gotten the point. Dimitri would find someone else for the job because it wasn’t going to be your body found in Brower Park. Even with the offer of protection from the Russians it was just going to start a mob war and no matter what Dimitri said you knew the Russians wouldn’t start a mob war just to protect you. The moment the job was done your life would be void and any future you may have had would be over.

Since Detective Barnes had been doing such a fluttering job on finding out about you today was all about finding out more about him. The illegally good looking team of Barnes and Rogers apparently had the day off and the two were playing a basketball game with some friends at the courts in Leif Ericson Park. You had the feeling the two men were more than just partners but also friends and their outing today proved it. Of course that was the farthest thought from your mind as you watched Detective James Buchanan Barnes run up and down the court shirtless in a pair of black and red basketball shorts. Even from this distance you were sure sweat was trickling its way down his face, caressing his jaw and sliding down his throat and over his chest before highlighting that deliciously sinful six pack he had.

Before, you had been attracted to the Detective by what little you could see of him but right now there were only a few things left up to the imagination and he could have easily had a career in modeling opposed to police work. Of course you had the feeling most people didn’t want to see a model with scarring along his shoulder and prosthetic metal arm but it just gave the Detective an air of danger. You vaguely remembered skimming a news article about a rookie cop a few years back who had sacrificed his arm for the safety of a little girl. Maybe it was time you find that article again and read the whole story because you were intrigued to say the least the sun glinting off the reflective surface.

Readjusting the designer Ray-Ban’s on the bridge of your noise you glance up at the bright sun which was slowly beginning to descend in the sky marking the end of the day. As much as you truly wanted to continue watching the two gorgeous detectives you knew the longer you stayed here the more of a risk you were running since Detective Barnes now knew what you looked like. There would be time enough in the future to observe him so you decide to throw in the towel for the day and return to your loft and just enjoy an evening in since you didn’t have any jobs planned for the next fews days and no recon to do. A bottle of wine and hot shower later you were curled under the fine Egyptian cotton sheets with a high thread count and teetering on the edge of sleep consciousness barely hanging by a thread. That’s when you heard sound of something heavy slamming against the front door of your loft.

Leaping out of bed in a panic you quickly grabbed a pair of jeans of the floor and slid them up your thighs and over your hips before zipping and buttoning them as something once more slammed against your door. Grabbing a shirt you pulled it over your head and slid you arms though being as quiet as possible in the process of slipping into your tennis shoes and tying them quickly. You could hear angry Irish voices coming from the other side of the door and you didn’t understand why nor did you have the time to consider or figure it out. Shoving your phone into your pocket along with your keys you’re quick to retrieve your go bag from the corner. Given the life you lead you knew there were times you might need a quick exit and you already had yours mapped out, the problem was where would you go? The other question was, what in the hell was going on?

[autolovecraft]

So don't ask me any questions when I call.

In the evening he wrote a note to Mr. Ward, which was then much below the level of Newport in its patronage of the liberal arts. Respiration and heart action had a baffling lack of symmetry; the voice was lost, so that now Dr. Allen did not keep them in shape. Servants' imaginations, fortunately, are limited, else comment might have been Allen's there was not one who did not think it necessary to take some sort of secret and coordinated action. 'Twas Number 118, and I conceive you would have shook had you looked it up in my list in the other room, its tag numbered 118. His elaborate studies and experiments, whatever they may have been after more than a twelvemonth afterward Capt. Whipple led the mob who burnt the revenue ship Gaspee, and in town i. The interview was, as always, inconclusive; but Willett felt that some direct conversation with his patient was necessary. At nine o'clock the three detectives presented themselves and immediately delivered all that they had indeed come to be the leader, Capt. Esek Hopkins to steal down into the river valley behind the Curwen farm and demolish with axes or gunpowder the oaken door in a frame of heavy masonry, which was delivered the next morning and which caused the half-dazed parent to ponder long and deeply. He was mad, and he knew that he had passed the open pit; for he had attended Ward all his life and could appreciate with terrible keenness the extent of his physical disorganization. On the Pawtuxet Road. Houses were still few here, and there is reason to believe from his speech and unmistakable replacement of modern by ancient ideas in his consciousness marked him out as one definitely removed from the normal.

Only by degrees did they absorb what it seemed to evoke. Now definitely leagued together to do all he could to restore the boy to normal poise. Charles had lost, and marked two items as of possible significance. She could hear no more than the cheap inventiveness of baffled curiosity. But far more interesting were the two vacant walls, both of which were plainer here than they had been at all specific.

Instead of triumph I have found, but I am not well spoke of by ibn Schacabao in the ⸻. Every possible moment was spent at the Pawtuxet bungalow and moved to it all his scientific effects. Ward was reminded when his son barked forth those pitiable tones to which he had been before; keeping close to his work and watched the men fascinatedly as they finished their installation of the picture with its woodwork above a cleverly realistic electric log, setting the mock-fireplace in Charles's third-floor study or library of Charles Ward from the time the typewritten notes began to reach his parents. Y’ai’ng’ngah, Yog-Sothoth was uttered, the hideous change began. There were futile, bewildered head-shakings from both men, and once Mr. Ward ventured a hushed suggestion, 'Do you suppose it would be, and I suppose that when I feared the work I feared him too as my greatest helper in it. The next morning Willett received a letter from one Jedediah Orne of Salem. This was a chemical rather than animal smell, and came clearly from the room beyond the door was of medium size, and had ordered the required kind and number from agencies which he had so long deserved. Faced by these baffling and contradictory reports, Dr. Willett substantially dissents; basing his verdict on his close and continuous knowledge of the matter. Upon returning home he broke the news with an almost evil chuckle very painful to hear. His exotic studies and his curious chemical importations being common knowledge, and his father recalls only a drowsy realization of stifled oaths and stamping feet on the night the goods were taken away. He wished it were not so willing? You know better than I who or what wrote that minuscule message will never trouble you or yours. Curwen or Orne Ward could not tell; but something in that combination affected him very badly and very peculiarly. The morning of April 6th dawned clear, and both the family and Dr. Willett set about collecting every scrap of data which the family had retired, the butler was nightlocking the front door when according to his uprooted and savagely splintered slate headstone, was found very curiously through correspondence with the heirs of the loyalist Dr. Graves, who had taken with him a duplicate set of records when he left his pastorate at the outbreak of the Revolution. But of this he hath doubtless writ you.'Raised Yog-Sothoth ’Ngah’ng Ai’y Zhro So haunting were these formulae, and so many clues to similar data elsewhere, that he was indeed right; for the miniature avalanche had left behind a solid wall of mixed earth and shrubbery from aloft. Willett relies on them to help establish his theory that the youth was sane and himself at the Ward home to be present when the detectives arrived. Those guards, according to the Fenner letter, above the doomed Pawtuxet farmhouse on the night the goods were taken away.

It was in January 1770, whilst Weeden and Smith drew their own inferences. They were robbing the tombs of all the ages; snatched by supreme ghouls from crypts where the world thought them safe, and subject to the beck and call of madmen who sought to kill Charles as too squeamish, and why had his destined victim said in the frantic note of the previous year. Curwen abandoned his midnight sailings. They had not, regrettably enough, located the Brava Tony Gomes as they had been at the foot of Olney Street.

Dr. Willett rested as if recuperating from something past or nerving himself for something to come. One night late in March he left the room. Willett's that the next move in this singular case proceeded. They had heard he was an omnivorous reader and as great a conversationalist as his poor voice permitted; and shrewd observers, failing to foresee his escape, freely predicted that he would like to say more if he thought any considerable number would believe him. None ventured to pierce the tangled shrubbery on the river-bank which old manuscripts mentioned. And now swiftly followed that hideous experience which has left its indelible mark of fear on the soul of Marinus Bicknell Willett has not hope that any part of his timidity. Willett waited vainly in Charles Ward's library, watching the dusty shelves with their silent and perhaps watching sentinels. For over a week Dr. Willett pondered on the dilemma which seemed thrust upon him, and he would not be well for the national—or even the international—sense of decorum if the public were ever to know what was uncovered by that awestruck party. He bore the name of Curwen, and perhaps it was something different and irrelevant; but in any case purely book research; and he could not rise to his feet after a time; lamenting bitterly his fright-lost torch and looking wildly about for any gleam of light in the clutching inkiness of the chilly air. Hence the rambles—from which St. John's the former King's Churchyard and the ancient Congregational burying-ground in the midst of this mephitic flood there came a very perceptible flash like that of the Hutchinson cipher, which he urged his Connecticut relative to destroy, remain to tell what was seen and heard. Before trying any of the Fenners had ever encountered before, and the half-dazed parent to ponder long and deeply. He engaged in shipping enterprises, purchased wharfage near Mile-End Cove, helped rebuild the Great Bridge, followed by the sound of a single whistle-blast, then wait and capture anything which might issue from the regions within. These had suffered damage at the hands of the raiders, a thing which was discussed for weeks. Peck, Waite, and Lyman were not inclined to attach much importance to the strange correspondence of young Ward's companion; for they knew the effect of publicity would be to miss its quintessential loathsomeness and soul-sickening overtones. Then, by insidious degrees, there appeared to develop a curious sequel to the matter of the covered pits and the nameless hybrids within. Promptly at four Dr. Willett presented himself at the time.

There was no mistaking the isolated bungalow with its concrete garage on a high point of land at his left. The attack was to begin as soon as it was delivered to the widow of Joseph Curwen, resumed, along with her seven-year-old daughter Ann, her maiden name of Tillinghast; on the ground 'that her husband's name was become a public reproach by Reason of what was known after his decease; the which confirming an ancient common rumor, though not to reveal their object. Late in the afternoon young Ward began repeating a certain formula in a singularly loud voice, at the request of the senior Ward, while denying this latter wish as absurd for a boy of only eighteen, acquiesced regarding the university; so that in time it became exceedingly difficult for Curwen to keep his oddly assorted hands. One may picture him yet as he was in port; spending hours at night by the wharves with a dory in readiness when he saw lights in the Curwen warehouses, and following the small boat which would sometimes steal quietly off and down the bay some distance, perhaps as far as Namquit Point, where they would meet and receive cargo from strange ships of considerable size and widely varied appearance. If you are disposed to travel, do not neglect to make use of the words I have here given. P.S. Shoot Dr. Allen on the second of that pair of formulae, recurred so often that Willett had ever heard before despite their wide knowledge of foreign parts, and many times bruised his head against the frequent pillars, but still he kept on. Here his only visible servants, farmers, and caretakers were a sullen pair of aged Narragansett Indians; the husband dumb and curiously scarred, and the father deep thought.

[mononohke-archive]

Anime Roundup Pt.2 - Fall 2016 [Spoilers]

More rambling~

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable [8/10]

Another season of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has come and gone, and it’s been quite a wild ride. Personally, I think it was about on par with the first season of JJBA. I liked it better than Stardust Crusaders because I liked the main characters better and the plot was not as much of a repetitive “monster of the week” affair, but unfortunately, it seems like they didn’t put as much effort into the animation and production values. This 39 episode season was also a full 11 episodes shorter than the two 25 episode seasons of SDC, despite the manga being slightly longer. It definitely felt a little rushed, and I’ve had my manga reader friends inform me that some of their favorite parts were cut out.

But there were a lot of things I really loved about DiU as well. Josuke quickly became my favorite Jojo after Joseph, and I like Jotaro more in this part than I ever did in SDC. The villain, Kira, is also one of my favorite characters period and so is Rohan Kishibe, played brilliantly by Takahiro Sakurai as usual. Many of the stands are hilarious and creative in this part too. I also loved the whole Scooby Doo-esque mystery of a serial killer in the town and the slice of life elements. The scale was brought down from “evil villains try to take over the world” to one serial killer who “just wants to live a normal life”... and kill women and take their hands to satisfy his compulsions, of course. It was a really refreshing change from the typical formula.

The only thing or character that I didn’t like is Koichi - partially because he gets more attention than Josuke, kind of like Polnareff in SDC (except much less likable) and partially because his voice actor, Yuki Kaji, is fucking annoying as him. Unfortunately, on top of that, he’s the character who spends most of his screen time yelling exactly what’s happening, like Polnareff and Speedwagon before him, except his voice is literally ear-splittingly irritating.

I sincerely hope that in the next part, they don’t take shortcuts like they did with this part. JJBA is one of my favorites, so I will still be waiting for it eagerly.

Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru [5/10]

I wasn’t expecting much from this anime and it still disappointed me lol. Touken Ranbu is basically a moe anime (but with a diversity in character designs that moeblobs wish they had), except the characters are male. Some of it was sort of mildly entertaining and cute, but for the most part, it was pretty boring.

... Maybe I’m just peeved because they didn’t focus that much on characters I personally find attractive, like Kogitsunemaru. You know the only reason I watched this show in the first place was because I’ve seen a ridiculous amount of yaoi for it on pixiv? The porn was nice, but I would never play the game itself, so I figured the anime would give me a little more insight into the characters and their relationships. The anime did, but it still failed at entertaining me.

So, yeah, this anime perfectly average and forgettable. Only watch if you’re super dedicated to the game.

Poco’s Udon World [9/10]

The biggest surprise of this season for me was this show. Yes, this show is my AotS (by about .2 points) over that other anime which got super popular and had a ton of praise. Well, we all go against the grain sometimes and this is my turn. Poco’s Udon World is an underrated masterpiece in my opinion. This show came off the heels of the much more popular Sweetness and Lightning, which came out the previous season. Both shows have a similar premise - a young man in his early 30s with black haired (voiced by Yuuichi Nakamura) becomes a single father due to sudden circumstances and has to take care of an adorable toddler-aged child. There are some key differences, of course, but they are still similar enough to be comparable.

Personally I think Poco’s Udon World is far superior (for reasons I will discuss), and it saddens me that it hasn’t got half the popularity of S&L. (Probably because there isn’t a cute waifu character as one of the mains, heh.) So what makes PUW so good to me? Well, besides all the cute and the incredibly heartwarming/touching nature of the show, it’s also just very well-written. The characters and their development, as well as a plethora of themes I don’t see being portrayed very often in anime or when they are brought up, are handled in ways that make me uncomfortable.

Here is just a short list of themes PUW manages to masterfully cover in a 12-episode, single cour season:

career vs family

career and family separately

fatherhood

grief and nostalgia

growing up

love

And those are just the main themes? There are other things that are covered on a more subtle level. See, I explained in my review of S&L that it was lacking an exploration of its themes and was constrained by its repetitive slice of life format. Most of the supporting characters were not very fleshed out either. PUW fixes all or most of these problems.

Every episode brings something new to the table and there is no set episode format. I also absolutely love that every character outside of Poco and Souta feels like they could be a real person, instead of being a plot device or 2-dimensional character. They all have lives outside of their interactions with the main characters, so that even when they don't get much screen time, they feel fleshed out. All of them represent a different sort of family or different sort of lifestyle or different sort of mindset, which you can easily compare to Souta's situation because they all serve as foils to him. A lot of supporting characters even get their own character development like Nakaji and Rin (Souta' sister).

And... okay, I want to analyze this show in-depth one day, but I need to rewatch it (maybe several times) before I do. Trust me, it’s cute and all, but it’s much more than that too. You might be surprised at how high it is on my Top 10 Anime of 2016 list.

Kiss Him, Not Me [7/10]

After watching two absolutely terrible otome/harem anime that really pissed me off (Uta no Prince Sama and Kamigami no Asobi), I went back on my decision to never watch an otome because this one was about a fujoshi and written by a yaoi mangaka. Somehow... it paid off. I came out of this pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this show.

Don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty that annoyed me (the fatshaming, how Serinuma’s voice changes, the shoujo cliches, etc), but overall I enjoyed it more than I disliked it. Although I was only rooting for two of the love interests, Mutsumi-senpai (who is mild mannered, friendly, genuine, liked her when she was fat) and Nishina (the gay option™, also a fujoshi and otaku who has a lot in common with Serinuma, also liked her even when she was fat), I didn’t really mind or hate the others either. All of them still treated her more respectfully than LIs in the other otome I watched.

The ending was brilliant too, and if they make a second season, I would still watch it for the characters and humor.

Yuri!!! on Ice [9/10]

How do I even begin to tackle Yuri!!! on Ice? This is the AoTS for sure (in general, not to me personally) and is by far the runaway smash hit in terms of both popularity and ratings. This anime is a game changer, to put it lightly. It did something no other popular anime has done before, and the praise is honestly well deserved. But, hey, remember that it’s still not perfect. In fact, up until the very last episode, I was debating on whether it deserved an 8 or a 9 on MAL. I settled on a 9 (a low nine by my standards) only because I cried a whole lot the last episode and realized that the overall impact of the show is bigger than my minor gripes. What are those minor gripes?

#1) Off-model/inconsistent animation. I will give a slight break to the animators because I know that animating ice skating is very complex and intricate, especially if you consider just how much ice skating there is in almost every episode. There are about a dozen ice skaters, each with two different 2-minute routines. Yes, many of them are reused multiple times, but regardless it’s still a lot of work. Unfortunately, YoI missed the chance to be stunning all the way through and join the other always-praised animation greats like Cowboy Bebop and much more recently, Mob Psycho 100. Only the first episode truly impressed me with how perfect and fluid the animation was, and I was dearly hoping that they would keep up that level of quality all the way through. Sadly they don’t, but we should all thank the writing of this show for being so damn good and making up for it. Besides, aside from a few, rather obvious off-model shots, it didn’t ever get too bad, not like Cheer Danshi!! from the Summer season.

#2) Slightly rushed pacing. Yeah, some of the events of this anime just go by too fast, especially the beginning few episodes where months pass between Victor arriving in Japan and Yuuri beginning his journey to the Grand Prix Final. It’s not really made clear to the viewers how much time has passed, and even I didn’t realize until I read a tumblr post on it. Originally, I wanted a whole other cour so that I could see the ice skaters interact more outside of work, but I think that would be too much as well. One more episode (a full 13 episode cour) would’ve been perfect, imo. Thankfully, we are getting another season, so there will definitely be more time to develop the other side characters and resolve some of the remaining threads! But seriously, I hope they do slow down a little bit in season 2.

Other than that...? Gripes so minor that they’re not even worth mentioning. The amount of good that YoI has done is overwhelming my comparison. I’ll just go through them like a list again because why not?

#1) Viktor and Yuuri’s relationship. A healthy canon gay interracial relationship in a non-yaoi anime. That is just shy of revolutionary in terms of LGBT representation in an anime. “We are born to make history”, indeed. Yes, some other anime have done it too like No.6 and Revolutionary Girl Utena. But was No.6, the other one where the main couple is M/M, popular like YoI is? Not particularly. Most of the viewership comes from yaoi fangirls or LGBT anime fans seeking an anime with a canon gay ship in it. What about Utena? Well, Utena didn’t have a happy ending, not for the canon lesbian character and not for the main F/F relationship of the show. Nothing is also explicitly stated like it is in YoI. Ofc, Utena by the very nature of the show, explicitly states very little but still. There’s also a goddamn kiss!

The best part of this is that Viktor and Yuuri is that, despite their happy ending, they don’t sacrifice depth or conflict between them and the drama doesn’t feel forced either. That balance is hard to achieve and it takes writing talent to pull it off. Every action and reaction feels natural and in-character. The writing featuring them is as good as any well-written romantic drama with a hetero couple! The other great thing is that even though Viktor and Yuuri’s relationship is incredibly important to the narrative and is the main relationship overall, romance is still not the primary genre. It equally shares genres with sports, comedy, and drama.

TL:DR; Their relationship is important. It sets a precedent that a gay couple can be the main couple of an anime and still be wildly successful. Now future manga and anime writers can take risks knowing that they won’t end up being financially compromised due the lgbtphobic culture of Japan.

2) Yuri on Ice perfectly balances its genres. This may not seem that important, but it kind of is and ties into the last point about how romance is not the main genre. If romance were the main genre, then this would be a yaoi/shounen-ai anime and it wouldn’t have gotten nearly as popular as it did. Yuuri’s evolution as an athlete and his desire to win the gold for the first time is just as important as his relationship with Viktor. Yurio, Viktor, and the other skaters’ relationships with each other and ice skating is also given a lot of attention. The love and dedication to ice skating in general is prominent and that passion has attracted the attention of countless professional ice skaters. (In fact, It’s like the anime singlehandedly brought attention to a niche sport that doesn’t get a whole lot of industry unlike American football and soccer/European football.)

There’s also a lot of comedy, which may be hit and miss for some people, but I found it pretty damn hilarious when it happens. Of all the sports anime I’ve seen, only a few others try others bringing in other genres. Most are pure sports because pure sports are usually the most successful (Haikyuu!! and Kuroko no Basket). So far for me, only YoI has successfully melded together all the genres it attempts.

3) Characters. It is said that sports anime highly depends on its characters to be good and set itself apart from other sports anime... and that’s pretty true. Most sports anime follow a rigid, predictable plot structure that doesn’t allow for much creativity on that front, so aside from technical aspects like the production values, the characters’ likability are the only things that it can rely on for originality. Of course, as I’ve already discussed, YoI blends genres and isn’t just pure sports so it has more freedom, but even it follows the same basic plot structure: main character is an underdog (they’re usually underdogs) who wants to win the finals.

So, what about the characters? Honestly, they’re fucking great. The problem with sports anime characters in most cases is that authors will fall back on tired stereotypes. Even the best of sports anime tends to have really obvious archetype characters you can recognize instantly. YoI doesn’t really have that. Yes, some of the characters do follow archetypes a litte, but even in the short amount of time they are given, they end up having miles more depth than the average sports anime character. It helps that we get to see them interacting with each other off the ice too. YoI is a character driven show much more than it is a plot-driven one. The plot is fairly simple, but the characters and their development are the most important part, particularly the main character, Yuuri Katsuki. He is relatable but also very believably talented and multifaceted. Viktor comes off as kind of a passive aggressive jerk at first, but he is one of the kindest and most caring characters in the show. Yurio comes off like an aggressive little brat (and he is still a little shit, I hope he gets more development in s2), but he’s genuinely a prodigy and he cares about Yuuri’s career. Listen, I could keep going and list another 5 characters that I like, but that’s not the point of this review.

That about covers the major things... I could go on, but then I might never shut up. To summarize, YoI is not perfect, but it is still so important for the gains in made for gay representation and besides that, it’s a rich, funny, heartwarming, and interesting portrayal of figure skating. I am sincerely looking forward to season 2 and hope that it’s just as good or even better than season 1.

[earthenthoughts]

The New Year's New Look: Post Patch 6.9, and Syndra.

The Crystal Ball is Wild and Dangerous

It is with no small distaste I look back upon my predictions and see how they have come to fruition. For the first time in many years, Syndra found herself thrust into the spotlight in a way that can only be described as 'damaging'. Clocking in a 97% ban rate at Worlds 2016, and earning the World Casters' bristling ire, her solo queue performance achieved around a 50-70% ban rate depending on any day's given temperament. Now, as we stand in the twilight of 2016, the world is looking pretty different for her.

My predictions back around August didn't play out as I thought they would, but ultimately did come true. Upon the landing of the Patch 6.9, Syndra's kit broke with a couple different bugs that would remain until Patch 6.12. Namely, her ultimate no longer detected spheres correctly, so if any of her abilities modified a sphere, there was about a 1-2 second window her ultimate wouldn't see the sphere. The net result, quite often was something like a 6 sphere ultimate only firing as a 4 or 3 sphere ultimate in turn. In all my time in playing her, it was the single most frustrating thing to deal with, and that's a pretty tall statement in over 5 years of League of Legends with her.

As Patch 6.12 landed, however, and these bugs were corrected, Syndra also received some AP ratio help, bumping her damage even further with the Patch 6.9 changes. This rode upon the back of many other different champions, many of which were the S-list and A-list competition she had to deal with, getting nerfed. The net result was a near meteoric rise to the top in competitive play and the world at large gleaning what would happen in a meta where Syndra is handed the queen's seat on a silver platter. This isn't entirely new to her, as Syndra's last rise to the top saw some stiff nerfs to her complete lane domination some years ago.

In the course of Patch 6.12 to Patch 6.24, much of the lukewarm reputation Syndra possessed was pretty much destroyed. Any notion of skill involvement disappeared as the roving bands of mob mentality paid their seasonal visit with her in their sights. I didn't really expect her to survive it any better than the rest, though I do find myself irritable nonetheless over the matter. My own personal misgivings aside, it was quite the useful learning experience, as it ever is, in watching how powerful public perception is. After all, when the man on the television preaching to you and millions of others that a champion has, "Absolutely no counter play", why wouldn't you believe him? Certainly not when no defense or counter argument is given in favor of the problem, of course.

  A New Year, and More Patches.

As we step out of the shadow 2016, and the clock turns over, the future is looking interesting for Syndra. The nerfs are on the horizon, and they aim at correcting what is arguably the biggest problem in her kit currently. Her W, Force of Will, is (as of the last PBE I looked at), being changed to something like this:

AP Ratio reverted to 0.7 from 0.8. Base damage reduced by 10 at all levels.

Old: Force of Will grabs 2 additional spheres near the target.

New: Force of Will now deals 20% bonus true damage.

The developers are fairly confident it will ship 'as is', but as ever, the Crystal Ball is dangerous. They may post something different tomorrow and explode this entire blog post like a destroyer in Battleship.

Notably, her new Q passive (+2 seconds to Dark Sphere life timers) and E changes (+0.1 AP, -2s base CD) are being retained. The rest of her kit, otherwise, remains untouched or considered as far as I'm aware. I find myself quite welcoming to these changes, as they will largely return Syndra to her prior playstyle and with easier-to-tune levers. An instrinic problem of the multisphere W is that it has no way to be balanced–your only recourse is to reduce the grab targets from 3 to 2, and this opens up other issues. The natural throw pattern would be a V-shape, which would ironically make it so awful to level you'd intentionally avoid it, as this would destroy her stun pattern. As a designer, you're forced to adjust it so one sphere is center mass and … where does the second go? Then you have to argue how it throws, and so on. As her kit is designed currently, the idea just opens more problems. Just looking at it can make a new problem appear out of thin air, seemingly.

Damage, however unimaginative it might be, is easy to tune. You make it go up or down, and if damage as a mechanic is undesired, you visit the project when you have more time. In this regard, although Syndra's W having a considerable amount of true damage (that's BONUS true damage, not a conversion. Her W overall has more damage), it's simple to change. From a gameplay perspective, it definitely empowers her skill route for W second max, as level 13 is when the mid-game/team fighting phase happens. Being true damage, she'll hammer all targets equally, though squishy ones will fear her W throw the most as they have less over all HP to absorb true damage with. Magic Resistance rushers, particularly those favoring Abyssal Scepter and Maw of Malmortius, will get stung pretty heavily by it and relieve some of Syndra's crippling issues with fighting those build paths until Void Staff is complete.

Her tank killing prowess will enjoy a slight increase, though out of all her targets, I imagine she'll still feel very cramped against them. Flat true damage is not necessarily an elegant way to kill tanks, but it does help.

The only problems I can foresee with this is squishy carry champions getting slammed particularly hard by Syndra's W sniping. However, lacking the multi-sphere throw now, she can no longer infinitely maintain her ultimate or a stun wall as large as a lane. Whether or not that's a fair trade off, time will tell, but if the true damage is a problem (in being too weak(?) or strong), a quick number change is all it needs. It is certainly a much better alternative to the multisphere mechanic and her original W passive.

  In Defense of the Multisphere Mechanic

I'll take this moment to kind of step aside and try to frame the vitrolic I have around this idea. So, standing in defiance of my past remarks, let's be a little different. On its own, the principle idea of manipulating multiple spheres with Syndra is a thematically interesting idea. It also has potential for zone control, power ramp, and everything her kit is based as an idea. As Syndra exists, however, it's inclusion destroyed safety levers many parts of her kit relied on to permit the power she has. Notably, her incredible team stunning and nuking power went from 'very timing sensitive' to 'whenever I want because I can'. The core idea itself can work, as experience has shown, merely not with the iteration Syndra herself currently exists in.

I feel that in a future VGU, or whenever the idea of a radical redesign for Syndra is in mind, it can be revisited. The concept of multiple sphere management is powerful enough you could redesign her whole kit with it in mind, and emphasize a lot of her unique strengths in the process. But, I fear it would be necessary to no longer consider Syndra a Burst Mage in that iteration. Her single target nuke ultimate as it is right now would not play nicely with that idea, so it would have to go. The multiple sphere ability (Force of Will, in this case) may even evolve into becoming her ultimate in such a world. Where it would go, or do, is a matter of speculation. You run the very real risk of making Syndra the best AOE nuke mage in the game, rather than a powerful single target problem remover. That's a wild ride of speculation and theory design I've played with for a while, but, no matter what, we'd have to fundamentally redefine a lot of who and what Syndra is.

So, the idea is good, the game just doesn't allow for it as it is. I'd be very curious to see how it'd play out on a theoritical design in testing with a bigger scope of work in mind, though.

  The World At Large

Assassins got their update and promptly fell on their face (except for LeBlanc, as always), as many of the current mage mid laners are quite comfortable against them. I'm honestly not certain if Assassins will find a happy existence, as their class entails a range of fundamental assertions that are problematic for the League of Legends environment. The largest one is the 'always losing until they're winning' one. Assassins do not have fallback mechanics in exchange for their incredible target selection and maneuverability. Thus, this means a stalwart defense and neutral farming playstyle can put them into a 'losing the game' position by just simply ignoring them. The onus to succeed is on the Assassin, and they must pursue an almost dangerously reckless degree of gameplay to stay relevant, then to win.

This in turn means player agency is a bit more suspect, as the Assassins are given–by design–the tools to out play, out manuever, and defeat their opponent. If they cannot do this reliably enough, they will simply never exist in professional League of Legends unless they're a wild card pick. Regular play will see them more convincingly, as skill and play style varies wildly there, but the class as a whole won't be regarded with some modicum of seriousness. I ponder if this is an issue of how League of Legends, as a game, is designed, and whether or not this problem can be answered by tuning the Assassins directly. Time will tell as Riot's attention goes to stepping down on the mage mid laners and giving a boost up to the Assassin class, and everyone gets to fight Fizz again(again).

Tanks are prowling around quite happily right now, and a fair number of other classes who shouldn't be, with the new Courage of the Colossus mastery. Word on the street is that will be getting slammed, so hopefully that draws that array back in line. Overall pleased with tanks having a menacing presence, though the damage available to them is brow raising. I suspect new mechanics unique to them would help give them more 'tank' and less 'tank by damage threat'. Reworking Taunt, for example, has interesting potential. Imagine if Taunt made it so a targeted enemy can only auto attack or use targeted abilities to the tank taunting them, but the target was normal otherwise (so no pseudo-stun lock mechanic). This means some of the existing tanks would either have to gain a Taunt effect, or some sort of item for them alone to use. It's one idea that comes to mind, anyway.

As is tradition, the entire jungle role is once again on fire as the new year of 2017 and Preseason 7 comes. The whole place is on fire, in a very literal way.

Bot lane is currently a whipping post as the ADC(marksman) role is finally contested after 7 years of League of Legends. That is, marksmen as a class are finding themselves constantly stepped on, smacked around, and new picks coming to contest their relevancy to the game. I find this particularly interesting to watch as, while I don't want a whole class to disappear, they're unique in that they have always 'been there'. The entire history of League of Legend metas is defined by 'Marksman+X', where X is the flavor of the month. It got to the point you had marksman in all 5 roles, though that got nerfed down. They maintain a presence in jungle and midlane, and the occasional terror pick arrives in toplane (to every top main's insatiable ire). To find a playing field open up where there are viable and desirable team compositions without marksman is a breath of fresh air in the potential of the game.

What the marksman bring to the table will still always be there, but I wonder if it will no longer be the mandatory must-have it has been. A team that could field no marksman, and make a dangerous yet viable choice in doing so, is not often considered nor held in any regard except 'I'm being trolled'. Mordekaiser as a marksman was arguably the first foray, however awkward, into this idea. The execution of that plan kind of exploded like a transformer on a power pole when the bristling hate mail came down the line … but still, it had merit in testing. Yasuo, amusingly, was somewhat envisioned as a potential marksman replacer, but he does every role. Now, we have Ziggs showing up in bot lane, not even as a marksman, but as a siege war waging machine whose unique strength is one of the few virtues the marksman class is built on. Where the marksman will end up after the dust has settled, I think, is a very telling point in how League of Legends could evolve.

If they're put back into their mandatory position, then it's reasonable to assume a degree of 'this is how it is, period'. If they're not mandatory, then it's reasonable to assume a greater degree of fluidity in design.

In what ways I can remember, I'd be historically inclined to say 'Riot will pursue a rigid method of design'. The ever changing balance team seems open to new approaches, though. I'm hopeful they'll experiment in this regard, though I live with an ever traumatic fear of what happened to Zyra, The Stolen Mage. Nonetheless, positive thoughts are better than anything else.

But, I'll be here, playing Syndra like I always do.

I'm a Syndra Main, not an OTP guys.

Seriously.

I'm serial.

staph calling me a one trick

The New Year’s New Look: Post Patch 6.9, and Syndra. was originally published on Earthen Thoughts