#but that even when picking up that particular trait he was apparently always Peculiar in the deemed Not Personable Way

[unproduciblesmackdown]

fr is he, you know.............................................repeatedly described as being Impersonable and Lacking Charm and Pedantic and confused / bothered by things he supposedly shouldn't be while inspiring confusion / botherment in others in ways he supposedly shouldn't and like 99.9% of the grief he's given is over All That while he's just sitting or standing there rather than the like intimidatingly efficient hitman georg thing he has going on. which is in fact The Skill That Makes Him Useful Despite It All and also perhaps the least foothold in interactions because [worried he can & may kill you] affords power when otherwise just being the weird guy nobody likes(tm)

bonus mordecai balling

[commentaryvorg]

Digimon Data Squad Dub Comparison Episode 3 - The Return of Thomas!

This is a companion to my commentary on the original Japanese Digimon Savers! Reading my commentary on the original version of this episode (which you can find here) is recommended before reading this dub comparison.

Original name ~ Dubbed name

Masaru Daimon ~ Marcus Damon

Yoshino Fujieda ~ Yoshino “Yoshi” Fujieda

Tohma H. Norstein ~ Thomas H. Norstein

Sayuri Daimon ~ Sarah Damon

Chika Daimon ~ Kristy Damon

Captain Rentarou Satsuma ~ Commander Richard Sampson

PetitMeramon ~ DemiMeramon

[Since several characters share the same name between the original and the dub, quotes from the dub will always be in italics, while quotes from the original will not, in order to distinguish them.]

In the original, Masaru’s VA is always the one reading out the title card, but the dub mixes it up with different characters depending on the episode. This time, we get Miki and Megumi reading it, complete with fangirl squealing over Thomas. Uh, thanks, dub.

Sarah:  “I think Agumon has been a really good influence!”

Marcus & Agumon: “More, please!”

Sarah: “See, he even says ‘please’ now.”

Agumon giving Marcus a reason to wake up early on a non-school day, that makes sense, but Agumon giving him a reason to be more polite? I dunno.

As you can see, there is no dub equivalent of “Agu-chan”. This is understandable and not the dubbers’ fault since English lends itself a lot less to casual terms of endearment like that, but it is a shame.

Marcus: “You served him first?! What did you do, adopt him while I wasn’t looking?”

Marcus says this like it’s not exactly what she’s literally done, and also like it’s not what he’d want. Don’t you want Agumon to be your new little brother, Marcus?

Sarah: “Keep it up, tough guy, and I’ll give your portion to him, too.”

Her affectionate ribbing calling him “tough guy” is cute.

Sarah: “After all, Agumon is a growing boy.”

A neat little nod to the time Agumon said that about himself in episode 1 (even if it didn’t make sense for him to have known that human phrase, but).

Agumon:  “I won’t hand over the last of Sayuri’s fried eggs, not even to you!”

~~~~~

Agumon: “Boss, the only way to get this last fried egg is to take it out of my belly.”

Alas, since dub-Agumon is only referring to this particular last fried egg, we lose the future relevance the original line will have. The dub is not watching ahead to be able to pick up on these things.

Chika:  “What a child…”

~~~~~

Kristy: “What a doof.”

Similar snark – he definitely is a doof – but there’s something I like about Chika calling her older brother a “child” that isn’t quite there when all she’s calling him is a doof.

Most of Thomas’s shower scene is cut. I will grant the dub that one improvement it consistently makes is doing its best to remove all the unnecessary fanservice bits.

[as Agumon tumbles from the bike basket]

Kristy:  “…Doof Two.”

Agumon: [sighing] “I guess…”

What do you mean, Agumon admits and agrees that he is a doof (and implicitly agrees that his boss is one as well). Original-Agumon would not have nearly enough self-awareness to acknowledge that.

Marcus: “Why can’t you travel in the Digivice like all the other Digimon?”

Agumon: “Those other Digimon just show up when they’re called, but you’re lucky. You have me all the time, Boss!”

Unlike in the original, Marcus does actually bring up how Agumon ought to be in the Digivice. But Agumon doesn’t protest with “but I don’t like it in there”, despite him having made even more of a point of not liking cramped spaces in the previous dub episode than he did in the original. If the dub was going to have them discuss this onscreen, it would have been better to take the claustrophobia angle and show Marcus respecting Agumon’s wishes than to make it seem like Agumon’s just being contrary for the heck of it.

Marcus: “This one? No? Oh, just press everything!”

I enjoy the dub being even more obvious about how Marcus figures out which button on his earpiece is the right one to press.

Street punk #2: “Nothing’s going on at all…”

PetitMeramon: “Nothing at all!”

~~~~~

Street punk #2: “Nothing ever goes on around here any more…”

DemiMeramon:  “I agree!”

This is significantly different – here, the DemiMeramon isn’t just parroting the dude’s words, it’s definitely expressing its own opinion about things. The implication here is therefore that it starts setting things on fire because of its own boredom, and these dudes here who happen to also be bored have nothing to do with it. That is categorically not how this is supposed to work.

Masaru:  “Let’s fight!”

PetitMeramon: “Fight…”

~~~~~

Marcus: “There it is! Fightin’ time again!”

DemiMeramon:  “Oh yeah?!”

Again, it’s not parroting his words; it’s responding on its own terms like it’s lucid and thinking for itself. Not how this should work.

Masaru:  “You’re not solid enough, damn it! If I could just hit you once, I could get Agumon to evolve!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “It’s not solid enough to land a blow! But I’ve gotta punch it to start the DNA Charge! Otherwise, Agumon can’t Digivolve!”

The original version of this line sounds reasonably naturally like Masaru is just expressing his frustration at the PetitMeramon. But in the dub, it reads a lot more like awkwardly stilted exposition just to make sure the audience understands why this is a problem.

Marcus:  “Stop setting things on fire! I just got these shoes!”

This is one of those dub additions for comedy, but I’m not sure I like the resulting impression that Marcus is somebody who cares that much about what he wears, because Masaru definitely never seems to be that kind of person.

Agumon: “Now be a nice fireball and let us punch you!”

Pfft. This episode in a nutshell. More of that dub-Agumon trait of saying things that would be snarky if it didn’t sound like he obliviously means them completely seriously.

Gaomon:  “Yes, Master!”

~~~~~

Gaomon: “Sir, yes sir!”

“Yes, Master!” (spoken in English) is Gaomon’s catchphrase in the Japanese, and… I have no idea why the dub couldn’t just keep it exactly as-is. “Master” is a perfectly reasonable thing for him to call Tohma (especially since he’s a dog!), and it even comes already translated.

Instead, he calls Thomas “sir”, which on its own is… fine, I guess. But in particular, the “sir, yes sir!” catchphrase just makes dub-Gaomon come across as some kind of army grunt, rather than as the very good and loyal dog that he is.

Masaru:  “Damn it… That thing pissed me off…”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Urghh… I am exhausted. Whew!”

Masaru here is complaining that he didn’t win, but Marcus is basically just neutrally expressing being exhausted without any sense that he’s specifically frustrated at the DemiMeramon for getting away from him. Since the entire ensuing several scenes are supposed to be a lot about Masaru’s frustration that he’s not good enough, the dub is not starting this off on the right note.

Yoshino:  “Well, I didn’t think it would go easily for you from the start.”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “Don’t worry, Marcus, you didn’t let us down! No-one here at DATS actually thought you could do it anyway!”

Yikes, that’s some way more backhanded reassurance than she gave originally. And also, why does she even feels she needs to “reassure” him? Marcus was not expressing any sort of notion that he felt like he’d failed in the first place.

Agumon:  “Hi there, pal.”

[Gaomon ignores Agumon and walks past him]

Agumon: “Hmph! No birthday present for that guy!”

How does Agumon even know about birthdays, and birthday presents, and the concept of giving birthday presents to people you’re on friendly terms with? These are not things he should reasonably have learned about yet when he’s only been with humans for like a week.

Masaru:  “You bastard! You took away my prey!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Hey, you! When we talk, you listen!”

It makes perfectly reasonable Masaru-ish sense for him to be mad about Tohma winning what was supposed to be his fight. But Marcus? Isn’t even thinking about the fight, apparently, and is instead just being a jerk.

So far, all Thomas and Gaomon have ignored is Agumon’s greeting and a brief “who are you, blondie?” from Marcus (the “blondie” part is dub-only, unsurprisingly), which is a little rude but not really warranting this response already. Heck, “when we talk, you listen” implies Thomas has been ignoring something substantial that Marcus has been trying to say to him, rather than just a question and a greeting.

There’s a record scratch in the BGM as Thomas ignores Marcus’s attempt to challenge him to a fight and just walks past him. I liked the comedic record scratch they had in episode 1, but this one feels a little cheesy and unnecessary.

Megumi:  “His stern-looking profile is so wonderful!”

Miki:  “It really is!”

~~~~~

Megumi: “He’s so on top of things!”

Miki:  “He so is!”

I appreciate the dub changing the topic of Megumi and Miki’s fawning into admiring Thomas’s work ethic, rather than the original admiring of his appearance. (He is fourteen, you are adults, please stop.)

Tohma:  “…it seems rather peculiar that there are a large number of Digimon detected in this country lately.”

…

Satsuma:  “Is the frequency not as high in EU?”

Tohma:  “No. It must be because it has a larger area.”

~~~~~

Thomas:  “It seems there have been an unusually large number of Digimon appearances lately.”

…

Sampson: “Hmm. So do you think these numbers could eventually overwhelm the Data Squad?”

Thomas: “No. But of course, that all depends on having the right team in place.”

Seems the dub is ditching the fact that it’s specifically this country that’s been getting so many more Digimon appearances. Instead, Thomas just takes the opportunity to be a passive-aggressive jerk about Marcus sooner than in the original.

Satsuma:  “Oh, let me introduce you. This is…”

[Tohma barely even glances at Masaru; Masaru gets angry]

Masaru:  “Hey! I don’t care if you’re called Tohma or Tonma… but around here, I’m your senpai! I’ve only been here for three days, but make sure to call me ‘Daimon-san’ or ‘Daimon-senpai’!”

~~~~~

Sampson: “Oh. Go ahead and introduce yourself, Marcus.”

[Thomas barely even glances at Marcus. Marcus gets angry]

Marcus: “Say what?! Why doesn’t *he* introduce himself to *me*?! I’m the one with seniority, even if it’s only three days.”

This reads a lot less like Marcus getting angry has anything to do with the way Thomas just barely even looked at him, and more that he’s mad at Sampson for thinking he ought to introduce himself first. In that vein, it’s somewhat more reasonable for him to go ranting about seniority, I suppose. However, I liked the way that Masaru suddenly ranting about that with no real provocation was unreasonable and was very transparently him trying to assert some kind of superiority, not really about the appropriate-honorific-respect that he tried to insist was the point.

Marcus: “Who does he think he is, anyway? Look, kid! Agumon and I are the top fighters around here, and don’t you forget it!”

Meanwhile in the dub, the lines specifically asking for honorifics have no English equivalent, so we get this to fill the gap. I guess it has a reasonably similar effect and is a similarly uncalled-for assertion of superiority.

(I do like the “kid”, trying to make Thomas seem beneath him despite their equal age.)

Satsuma:  “Already blazing down the warpath, eh?”

~~~~~

Sampson: “You are completely out of line.”

Satsuma was being reasonably tolerant of Masaru’s argumentative nature, accepting that this is just how Masaru is and he’ll hopefully be able to rein it in if he just understands the situation better. But Sampson is simply having none of it.

Sampson: “Marcus, Thomas is *your* superior. Deal.”

I guess it’s a lip-flap issue, but Sampson just telling Marcus to “deal” sounds weirdly colloquial for him. Also, “superior” is not quite the same thing as having seniority in terms of just having more experience. This implies that Thomas is going to have the right to give Marcus orders and Marcus will be obligated to follow them, which is not quite it.

Marcus: “You mean I have to take orders from him?”

…Okay, apparently that literally is what the dub wants us to think, even though this is not how things are actually going to work here.

(This is in place of the line establishing that Masaru and Tohma are the same age, but that will be a fact that gets mentioned in a later dub episode.)

Satsuma:  “Be sure to get along with each other, as you are colleagues.”

~~~~~

Sampson: “Unlike some teams, *they* have got discipline.”

Satsuma was trying to mediate between the two, but instead Sampson is very clearly taking Thomas’s side, which he really ought to know is only going to rile Marcus up more.

(If Marcus and Agumon’s lack of discipline is really such a big dealbreaker for you, Sampson, why did you even want to recruit him in the first place?)

Tohma:  “I think it will be futile to do so, Captain Satsuma. There is not a chance that this person could benefit DATS.”

~~~~~

Thomas: “Commander, please allow me to say a few words about the new recruit. Based on my first impression, I feel he could never benefit DATS in any way.”

Thomas is being a lot less out of line here, asking politely to speak his opinion and qualifying it as being only based on a first impression. This is also not him pointedly refusing to even try and get along like Tohma was, since Sampson didn’t ask him to. The blame in the dub version of this argument is a lot more heaped onto Marcus’s side rather than equally with both of them, and Sampson obviously siding with Thomas doesn’t help matters.

Masaru:  “Say that to my face! Look into a person’s eyes when they’re talking!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Say that to my face! Look me in the eye! If you have the guts!”

There’s slightly less emphasis on Marcus caring about people looking him in the eye when they’re talking to him, since he turns it into a general jab about Thomas not having any guts, but I do appreciate that it’s pretty much still here and unchanged.

Marcus: “What fighting skills does Your Highness possess, you royal jerk?!”

Ehh, I don’t really like Marcus bringing in jabs about the nobility thing at this point. Thomas has just insulted his fighting strength, and in that particular fighting context, Masaru would not care about anything except his opponent’s strength and would not make uncalled-for jabs at something unrelated.

Yoshino:  “This is the worst… Go ahead, do whatever you want.”

~~~~~

Yoshi:  “Oh well… Good luck. Protect yourself.”

This is after Marcus refuses to put on his headgear in the boxing ring. Yoshino sounds like she’s just exasperatedly washing her hands of his self-destructive recklessness, because hey, at least she tried. But Yoshi still seems to be genuinely trying to help him, even as the “protect yourself” falls kinda flat because he literally just refused to do so. (It doesn’t sound especially sarcastic – the “good luck” at least sounds very genuine.)

Tohma:  “Why did you join DATS?”

Masaru:  “Huh?! It was so I could win, obviously!”

Tohma:  “Against who?”

Masaru:  “Against strong guys!”

~~~~~

Thomas: “What made you join DATS in the first place?”

Marcus: “Huh? It was so I could meet guys like *you*!”

Thomas: “Seriously?”

Yoshi:  “He means, he wanted to fight. Strong guys, like you.”

Marcus: “Not him…”

I think what the dub is trying to get at with “guys like you” is similar to a change they made last episode, in which Marcus apparently specifically wants to beat up bad guys, and Thomas is totally one of those, right. I guess props to the dub for at least trying to keep that vaguely consistent? Even though it’s a change that I very much do not like.

I presume the “not him” after Yoshi just said “strong guys like [Thomas]” is Marcus wanting to insist that Thomas isn’t strong, because it otherwise wouldn’t make any sense for him to deny the thing that he literally just said himself.

But, hey, notice something else here? Yoshino doesn’t have a line here in the original. They edited the footage to take away Marcus explaining his own goals and put those words into Yoshi’s mouth instead. Why? Why would you do that. I’d say that maybe they only did so to remove some of the punching from the fight because oh no violence (there will be some Issues the dub has with removing punching from this anime which is very heavily about punching), except they still keep the bit where Thomas punches Marcus in the stomach, so that can’t be it. They actually keep all the punches in this fight uncut, which is Rare for the dub.

Tohma:  (He’s beyond help.)

~~~~~

Thomas: (I’m getting tired of this.)

Thomas’s thought is a lot less unreasonable than Tohma’s. Thomas is still coming across as significantly more in the right than Marcus in the dub, rather than them being equally as bad as each other.

Masaru:  “A fight doesn’t end until one side admits defeat!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Sorry ‘bout that. Why don’t you run along and catch up with Sampson. Maybe you can read a report together.”

Ughhh, I really, really don’t like this. The dub has apparently decided that, since Marcus is A Jock™, he must be disdainful of Nerds™ like Thomas and make jabs about that. Masaru doesn’t frigging care! He does not give a damn in the slightest how book-smart and workaholic Tohma is; the only thing that would ever matter to Masaru is how he fares in a fight.

And we get this instead of that fun line showing Masaru’s philosophy about street fights, giving more insight into why he insisted on getting up and continuing the fight even after the “match” had ended.

I also don’t like Marcus’s “apology”. He is very obviously not sorry for deliberately punching Thomas, and trying to act like he is when he obviously isn’t is such an insincere dick thing to do that would never even cross Masaru’s mind.

Yoshino:  “Tohma’s beaten Olympic champions in the past.”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “I’ve seen Thomas routinely beat Olympic champions in that very ring!”

…What, in that ring in the gym that’s presumably at DATS? Even if this is the dub assuming it’s not at DATS and is just some gym somewhere nearby in town, you’d have thought that if Tohma had fought champions, he’d have gone to them to do so, rather than inviting them to him. To them, he’s just some random rich kid; why would they go that far out of their way for him?

The “routinely” also serves to make Thomas’s talent sound even more ridiculously over-the-top than it already was.

Yoshino:  “Really, the only things worthy of a gold medal around here are your pride and your competitive attitude.”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “Marcus, I’m not impressed by your bragging, and Thomas isn’t even in the room!”

I miss the snark. A lot of characters the dub makes snarkier, but Yoshi kinda becomes a bit less so, it seems.

Kudamon:  “If even a small flame from PetitMeramon’s body remains, it has the ability to develop and multiply in a short time. It should have been prevented from doing so earlier.”

~~~~~

Kudamon:  “A DemiMeramon can regenerate itself over and over again, multiplying a hundred times in as little as half an hour. Apparently, the area wasn’t sealed off earlier.”

The dub manages to completely leave out the part where this is Masaru’s fault because embers from the PetitMeramon were scattered everywhere from his failed attempts to punch it and then he ran off and left things on fire for new PetitMeramon to regenerate themselves from.

Instead, apparently DemiMeramon can just multiply… whenever? It doesn’t do so from the flames it leaves behind, it just copies itself? Except, if Thomas secured the single DemiMeramon that there was to begin with, it literally should not have been able to do so. Sealing off the area would have been irrelevant once it had been safely turned into an egg. The only way it could have multiplied itself like this is if it did so before Thomas neutralised it – but it clearly didn’t do that in front of Marcus, so this is hardly his fault.

Marcus has the same flashback to punching the DemiMeramon and the same thought that this is his fault, but this makes absolutely no sense with the information the dub has given us. Great job there, dubbers.

Sampson: “And now, the DemiMeramon has been left on its own to multiply at will!”

Um, dub? Do you not remember the part where Thomas brought in the DemiMeramon’s egg? It was not left anywhere. That is not how this happened and not why this is (supposed to be) Marcus’s fault.

Masaru:  “Wait! Those fireballs are ours to beat!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Hey! Hold on a second, that’s our case!”

They really are watering down any sense that Marcus sees this as being about finishing his fight. Instead he’s apparently invested because this is a case, like he ever really cared about the official DATS investigation side of things.

Masaru:  “Damn right! We’ll pull it off somehow using our spirits!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “You bet! And we’ll do it with style, too!”

I miss the “somehow”, making it clear that Masaru has absolutely no idea how he’s going to do this and is willing to basically admit that, yet still wants to throw himself into it anyway.

Marcus: “You two can’t handle that many alone! We’ll help!”

The “we’ll help” is a dub addition, but I am surprised by the notion that Marcus sounds willing to just help Thomas, essentially working together with him. That definitely shouldn’t be something he’d want to do right now. (Suddenly the dub is making Marcus come across as more reasonable and less of a jerk than it’s been doing the entire time, because what is consistency.)

Megumi:  “His lightning-fast techniques look great!”

~~~~~

Megumi: “His reflexes are lightning fast! And he’s cute!”

Okay, never mind what I said earlier, I guess the dub is still keeping the idea that the computer ladies think Thomas is cute, adding in a reference to that where there wasn’t even one originally.

Agumon:  “Wow…”

~~~~~

Agumon: “Cute?”

And because of that, we also lose Agumon being in awe of Tohma and Gaomon’s performance and accidentally making Masaru feel worse, in place of him simply irrelevantly questioning Megumi’s comment.

Kudamon:  “Aren’t you going to stop him?”

Satsuma:  “Leave him alone.”

~~~~~

Kudamon: “You’re not going to say anything?”

Sampson: “Not yet.”

So apparently, Sampson is planning to give Marcus some kind of talking-to about this at some point probably fairly soon. We’re really losing that sense from Satsuma that he understands that Masaru will be Masaru and is being patient and giving him space to sort his issues with Tohma out on his own, which I enjoyed and am sad to lose.

Agumon:  “Aniki… Why are you angry?”

~~~~~

Agumon: “Don’t be upset, Boss! Just because Thomas is better than you!”

Originally Agumon didn’t really understand what was going on in Masaru’s head. Meanwhile, dub-Agumon seems to have Marcus figured out perfectly – and yet is also tactless enough to outright say the thing he’s already realised is upsetting him.

Agumon:  “Well, I think Tohma and Gaomon are nasty guys too, but…”

~~~~~

Agumon: “Boss, I’m sorry I said that about Thomas. You’re better than him.”

At least dub-Agumon realises this and apologises after Marcus is clearly not thrilled by it, but his “you’re better than him” reads as pretty empty reassurance when he just said the exact opposite.

(Meanwhile, original-Agumon still didn’t realise this had anything to do with who’s better than who and just thought it had to be about Tohma being kind of a dick, while still being confused at how that would make Aniki this upset…?)

Masaru:  “No… It’s myself that I’m mad at, not them.”

~~~~~

Marcus: “No, I’m not. I’m just pig-headed and I let my pride get in my way.”

Marcus, like Masaru, is capable of realising that the problem is himself here… but he goes way further than Masaru does as to why that supposedly is.

And the thing is, this isn’t actually supposed to be the problem in the original! Originally, Masaru’s issue was that Tohma is “better” than him simply in the sense that he’s a stronger and more capable fighter, making Masaru face the fact that he might not be as strong a fighter as he thought he was. But here in the dub, apparently the problem is that Thomas is “better” than Marcus because of Marcus’s personality, because Thomas is supposedly just a better person than some pig-headed arrogant jerk like Marcus.

Which is not the point! Masaru can be reckless and prideful sometimes, but it’s never in a way that makes him a bad fighter or a bad person. He’s been a bit of argumentative jerk in this episode in particular with regards to Tohma, but Tohma himself has been equally bad in that regard in his own very different way. The original was great in having both Masaru and Tohma be equally the problem in this clash between them, in very parallel ways.

Yet apparently the dub wants us to think that, no, Thomas is a perfectly reasonable guy and the problem really is that Marcus is such an arrogant jerk compared to him. Which I guess is somewhat consistent with some of the small changes they’ve been making to the rest of the episode to make Marcus slightly more of a jerk and Thomas slightly less of one, and having Sampson clearly come down on Thomas’s side, to make it look like Marcus’s attitude alone is the problem.

But, urgh! I hate that the dub is doing this to Masaru’s character, presenting Marcus as more of a jerk and as if this is his biggest character flaw, when that has nothing to do with what’s going on with Masaru and just makes Marcus significantly less likeable! Why would you ever think this was a good thing to do with the story’s main protagonist, seriously.

Masaru:  “Damn it! What am I doing? Really… what the hell am I doing?”

~~~~~

Marcus: “It’s time I realised it. I still have a lot to learn. Face it. I’m not the ultimate fighter.”

And now, while originally Masaru was unable to properly articulate what it actually was that was frustrating him about himself, Marcus has just fully completed this 100% self-aware reflection. From this, what you’d assume it’d lead into would be, presumably, Marcus trying to be less “pig-headed and prideful” and more like Thomas, since apparently Thomas’s way of doing things obviously makes him better than Marcus as both a fighter and a person?

Yeah, raincheck on that supposed character development. I’m sure you can already tell that’s not what’s going to happen here, since it isn’t in the original, because it doesn’t freaking need to be.

Also, remember how I made a point of how the original changed Masaru’s “already the number one street fighter” into Marcus’s “trying to be the ultimate fighter” in episode 1? That’s becoming extremely relevant right here.

This whole episode is a bit of a wake-up call for Masaru in terms of realising for the first time that maybe he’s not actually the greatest fighter like he thought and there’s still more growing he can do. But Marcus? He’s supposed to have already known that. “Face it, I’m not the ultimate fighter”? You literally never said you were in the first place. You were supposed to already know you had a lot to learn, so why is it only just now “time I realised it”?

There wouldn’t necessarily be anything inherently wrong with the dubbers changing Marcus’s ultimate fighter thing into this if they’d made sure to follow through on it and also change every character moment he gets to be consistent with the new version. Buuut they’re not doing that. I don’t think they realised how meaningful of a change it even was to make in the first place.

Old man:  “It’s hard lighting up a fire… The sparks go out easily whenever the wind gets a little too strong.”

Masaru:  “Well, obviously!”

~~~~~

Old man: “I’m having trouble starting a fire, though. Y’see, the flames keep dying out on me because the wind’s too strong and it keeps blowing it out.”

Marcus: “Yeah, that’s happened to me, too.”

Unlike Masaru, who was just expressing exasperation at this old guy telling him something obvious like he didn’t already know that the wind blows out flames, Marcus appears to be… getting the metaphor? His own experience that he’s referring to could just be his literal problem of not being able to punch fire, but based on what he’s just been reflecting on a moment ago and also judging from his tone of voice, that doesn’t seem to be it.

Which makes me sad! Masaru is a ridiculously straightforward doofus who wouldn’t know a metaphor if it punched him in the face, and I am disappointed to see the dub water down that delightful part of his character and make Marcus into some kind of regular person who can actually recognise that kind of thing.

Old man:  “But… once I get a larger flame going, it burns strongly no matter how much the wind blows. Fire is an interesting thing, isn’t it?”

Masaru:  “…This is…”

~~~~~

Old man: “Well… If you learn to use the wind instead of fighting it, you can make the fire burn brighter than ever before. Harness power, don’t extinguish it.”

Marcus: “…He’s right!”

But then, the dub’s version of the metaphor becomes something quite different. Instead of saying that Masaru’s “flame” will soon get so strong that no wind can blow it out, he’s saying that Marcus should harness the “wind” to make his “flame” stronger.

Originally, the metaphor was basically meant to be a reassurance to Masaru that he’s already doing fine – that he just needs to keep going as he has been and continue to grow and soon enough nothing will be able to stop him. But here in the dub, the metaphor appears to be prompting him to take new action of some sort, warning him that his flame will keep getting blown out if he doesn’t do whatever “harnessing the wind” is supposed to mean.

It’s ambiguous exactly what the “wind” could represent here. If it’s something that was getting in Marcus’s way until now, is it meant to be his “pig-headed pride” that he was just thinking was his big problem? Is the point of this supposed to be the old man telling Marcus through metaphor that actually he should keep being exactly the way he is and should just do that harder?

On the one hand I’d be okay with that because hey, guess what, newsflash, there is actually nothing wrong with Masaru being the way he is, and the dub is wrong to try and act like his personality is the issue and to distort his personality into being more of a jerk to make it an issue. But then that just serves to completely undermine the supposed realisation that Marcus had back in the tunnel and set him back on the track of not trying to change at all. (Which, yeah, again, spoilers, he’s not going to; of course he’s not going to be actively trying to make himself more like Thomas, because that’s not something that Masaru would ever do. Masaru has very strong convictions in who he is and wouldn’t change that for anyone.)

And somehow, despite this metaphor being a lot more metaphorical and ambiguous than it was in the original, and despite this being Marcus, he appears to completely understand what the old man is trying to say to him and take those words to heart. Whatever those words actually are. Somehow.

…I suppose it’s possible that actually the “wind” in the metaphor is supposed to represent Thomas, and that this metaphor is trying to encourage Marcus and Thomas to work together to make each other stronger. This would sort of make sense, since GeoGreymon uses fire-based attacks while Gaogamon uses wind-based attacks, and we’ll actually be seeing some metaphorical stuff being done with those attacks of theirs in the next couple of episodes. Still, if that’s the case, it’s nonetheless definitely not what Marcus gets from this metaphor right here.

But you know what else this dub version of the metaphor very much isn’t? It is not remotely useful literal advice about how to punch fire. At no point does it explain the part where a stronger flame won’t be blown out by anything (and will therefore be punchable). So whatever Marcus is getting from the old man’s words here, it isn’t that. This is kind of important for what’s about to happen next.

As Marcus hears about the trouble at the gas tanks and rushes off, the old man has an added line that’s just silence in the original:

Old man: “See what good fire does?”

…which makes even more of a point that this is definitely only meant to be some kind of metaphor. Though, wasn’t he trying to say that the wind would do Marcus good? Marcus already is the fire in this metaphor, so stressing that fire is good seems besides the point. I’m getting increasingly convinced that the dubbers just didn’t have an actual meaning in mind for their version of the metaphor at all and were half-assing this entire conversation. (Yet they somehow still felt they knew better than the original writers enough to change it at all.)

Thomas: “There’s no chance he can secure the DemiMeramon. There’s too many!”

[cut to precisely *three* DemiMeramon flying around]

Yep, sure, three of them is totally too many. Originally the “too many” comment wasn’t there, and Tohma thought Masaru couldn’t do this simply because he hadn’t shown he could handle any PetitMeramon at all. Numbers are not supposed to be the issue here, or at least not the primary one like Thomas is making it sound like it is.

Masaru:  “Fire sparks easily go out whenever the wind blows on them. But… Once they burst into flame…!”

[Masaru leaps to punch the Meramon quite solidly in the face and lands with his Digisoul flaring]

Masaru:  “They won’t be extinguished so easily!”

~~~~~

Marcus:  “Just like the old man said, a fire can be blown out by the wind. Then again… you know what I always say…!”

[Marcus leaps to punch the Meramon quite solidly in the face and lands with his DNA flaring]

Marcus:  “You gotta fight fire with fire!”

So… yeah. In the dub, the old man’s words were not actually advice on how to solve this problem, and Marcus’s decision to deliberately make the DemiMeramon stronger had nothing to do with what the old man told him. He had no reason to believe this would work. He really was just being dangerously rash and hot-headed with no sense of actual plan or strategy, and it really did only work out of sheer luck.

(I mean, okay, maybe he could have just figured on his own that making the fire stronger would make it punchable. But Masaru is definitely not supposed to be the kind of person who could figure that out without being nudged in the right direction by someone else. And if Marcus really is perfectly capable of figuring that out on his own, why did he not do so the first time?)

Thomas: “Marcus made Meramon Digivolve on purpose so he could activate his DNA…”

It is very debatable that this was on purpose here, Thomas.

Megumi:  “Not bad!”

~~~~~

Megumi: “Marcus proved he could do it!”

Thanks, dub, we needed it made obvious that this fight was about Marcus proving himself, because we couldn’t figure that out on our own.

Thomas: “Don’t get cocky. You just got lucky this time, that’s all.”

This line is basically unchanged, but guess what? Thomas is right to say this, where Tohma wasn’t.

Tohma:  “Don’t be absurd. You don’t come up with any strategy or tactics. Do you think using force all the time will let you win at everything?”

Masaru:  “Hah, sounds like a sore loser to me.”

~~~~~

Thomas: “Just as I thought, you had no plan and no tactics, just raw power.”

Marcus: “Hah. For a genius, you’re a real sore loser.”

Still basically the same, but again, Thomas is right this time, not being a sore loser. In fact, the added “just as I thought” (and this line comes after the cut back to HQ, so there was conversation prior to it that we didn’t hear) suggests that Thomas has just heard from Marcus himself that, yes, he really did just recklessly charge in with no plan.

I mean, sure, in a sense Thomas is still being a sore loser because Marcus’s raw power still worked. But the point of the sore loser line in the original was that Tohma insisting that Masaru used no tactics in and of itself was him sorely refusing to admit that maybe Masaru actually did have some idea what he was doing after all.

Tohma:  “What did you say?”

Masaru:  “Wanna make somethin’ of it? I’ll knock you out with one hit to the face this time!”

~~~~~

Thomas: “What did you say?”

Marcus: “Oh, just this: I’ll take my raw power over your tactics any day!”

Granted, outright saying he’d prefer raw power over tactics is definitely something Masaru might also say (of course he would; look at how he never tried to point out that he actually did have a strategy because he doesn’t care about that). But this is a bit of a different way for the dub to show Marcus having his confidence back, since his “conflict” this episode was apparently about “oh no what if raw power is bad and I should be more like Thomas”.

(…Did the dub actually deliberately remove the part where the metaphor was literal advice about punching fire so that Marcus could win through nothing but raw power in order to facilitate this complete backpedal in what briefly appeared to be some ill-advised character development? Ugh, but even if that was on purpose, it’s so much more interesting to show that Masaru actually can do strategy sometimes, and it’s just that his strategies are a lot more risky and head-on than Tohma’s!)

Tohma:  “You want me… to act alongside him?”

Masaru:  “You’re joking! I’ll never accept him as my partner!”

~~~~~

Thomas: “But sir, he’s completely undisciplined!”

Marcus: “This clown?! I’ll never be his partner – he’s way too annoying!”

Thomas and Marcus get given specific reasons to object to working together in the dub – and while Thomas’s complaint of “undisciplined” is perfectly reasonable, Marcus’s complaint of “annoying” seems rather beside the point. Too pompous, too uptight, (too makes-him-feel-like-maybe-strategy-and-not-just-raw-power-might-be-useful); something like that would be more relevant to Marcus. Is this supposed to be another Marcus Just Hates Nerds™ thing? Because ugh.

Overall differences

Oh boy. There’s a lot going on in terms of changes in this episode, and basically all of it is bad.

Rather than Masaru and Tohma both being presented as equally out-of-line for their own reasons in their initial arguments, the narrative firmly comes down on Thomas’s side by making Thomas less unreasonably harsh in his comments and by having Sampson clearly taking Thomas’s side.

The bit where they explain how DemiMeramon multiplied makes no sense and certainly doesn’t logically leave it as being Marcus’s fault at all, yet he still claims it is for no reason and we’re just expected to believe that.

Then there’s Marcus’s whole, ahem, “character arc” for the episode, if it can even be called that. Rather than some delightful subtle exploration of how Masaru deals with the realisation that he’s not necessarily the strongest fighter out there like he professes to be, it becomes this heavy-handed thing about how Marcus’s whole problem is that he’s Such A Big Arrogant Jerk. Marcus is way more self-aware about his supposed exact problem than someone like him really ought to be (including admitting he’s not the ultimate fighter when he never said he was), and for a moment it seems like his character development is going to be about him learning to be less of a jerk and more like Thomas. Except it won’t, because this won’t happen in the original, because this is not remotely Masaru’s problem in the original.

Then there’s the old man’s metaphor. Originally he was effectively saying that Masaru is doing fine the way he is and just needs to keep growing and getting stronger like this. Here, the metaphor is changed to imply that Marcus needs to take some kind of new action, except what new action is extremely unclear and is not actually going to happen, because, again, not how it went originally. Marcus apparently somehow gets this metaphor, which is ridiculous because I’m not even sure what it was on about, never mind that Marcus should be the last person who’s any good with metaphors, just like Masaru is.

And then there’s the part where the old man’s changed metaphor had nothing to do with teaching Marcus how he could literally punch fire and defeat the DemiMeramon. So his victory in the climactic fight really was complete boneheaded reckless luck without a semblance of strategy, and Thomas was right to call it that.

This entire dub version of the episode firmly wants you to come down on Thomas’s side and agree that Marcus is a huge dumb arrogant jerk whose personality is the entire problem here, and, urgh. I hate it. I hate it so much. I hate that the dub writers consciously chose to do this to Masaru’s character. Masaru does not deserve this.

(You’re probably starting to see why I’m actually quite glad that Masaru has a different name in the dub. Marcus may be a somewhat different character that the dub is insistently making worse, but at least Masaru will always be untainted and separate from the dub’s nonsense.)

[prettyboongi]

BTS Reaction | They React to You Having a Weird Personality

[A/N: Hey gang! I’ve been meaning to post this earlier but somehow I got hit with major writer’s block （￣ε￣）so to the user who requested this, I’m really sorry I took so long to finish this. Hope you all enjoy!

Seokjin 

When Jimin decided to tag along with you and Seokjin to go grocery shopping, he didn’t think much of it at first. He was running low on basics such as milk and soy sauce and, being his first time spending some time with you, he thought it would be a great time to get to know you better. And boy, did he. 

The three of you were browsing the produce section of the grocery store when you suddenly wandered off somewhere. Jimin didn’t think much of it and continued to stay by Jin’s side, checking the ripeness of the cantaloupes. It was only when he heard you speaking nearby. You were talking in a cutesy voice, the kind one would use when speaking to a baby or small child. It was only when Jimin turned your way to find you speaking to either. 

“Aww, aren’t you just the cutest thing ever!,” you cooed while holding a kiwi close to your face. “You’re so soft and fuzzy. Too bad you’re just too delicious otherwise I’d keep as a pet!” 

“What the absolute fuck?,” Jimin murmured, totally dumbstrucked of what he was witnessing. 

“What?,” asked Jin, too busy testing the cantaloupes. 

“Y/N is talking to fruit… like it’s an animal or something.” 

“Oh yeah, she does that sometimes. Pretty adorable, right? 

Adorable wasn’t the right word Jimin was thinking of. Plain bizarre was more fitting. Or embarrassing as a handful of passersby gave quizzical looks at you. But you were too busy to notice, focusing on your conversation with the small, fuzzy fruit. 

Mortified, Jimin calls out to you. “Ah, Y/N! Can you please quit it.? You’re being weird!”

Surprised but unfazed by Jimin’s outburst and overall embarrassment, you simply respond, “But come on, they just look so deliciously cute!” You even gave the kiwi a nice pet before lovingly rubbing it on your face. 

Utterly speechless, Jimin continues to gawk at you like a freakshow. His attention does break from you when he feels a sudden pat on the shoulder. He turns around slightly to find Jin next to him with a sympathetic look on his face. 

“There, there Jiminie.” says Jin, “you’ll come to love her weirdness. 

And Jimin eventually did. Begrudgingly so. 

Yoongi 

You were sitting alone in a cafe, waiting for your boyfriend Yoongi to arrive. When he mentioned that he had some time out of his busy schedule to hang out, of course you took the opportunity. Although you admired his work ethic and dedication to BTS, you still wished there was more time to spend time together. And it was days like this that you truly look forward to. 

He texted you he was running a bit late so all you could really do was wait patiently for him. A task that wasn’t so hard since you found yourself drifting into a daydream while staring out the window. It was only you heard the screech of the chair scooting that broke you from your daydream. You turn to the noise and see Yoongi sitting down in front of you. And with an unexpectant guess. 

“Hey Y/N, sorry I’m late,” Yoongi greets you, “Hope you don’t mind that I brought Taehyung along.” Taehyung sits down next to Yoongi and shoots you a cheeky smile. 

“No, I don’t mind,” you replied, “Now I have two of my favorite people in the world.” While there was a part of you that wanted to be alone with Yoongi, you were happy to see Taehyung as well. As an apology for being a third wheel, Taehyung even offered to order and pay for all your drinks: an Americano for Yoongi, a vanilla latte for you and a hot chocolate for himself. 

Once the three of you were all settled with your drinks, you asked the two men how their day was. 

“Surprisingly, it wasn’t too busy. Just going over…” you listen to Yoongi say before drifting into one of your vivid daydreams. You knew it was rude but sometimes you couldn’t help it, you get distracted way too easily. Yoongi knew this about you. This definitely wasn’t the first time you spaced out while he was speaking. Despite this, you always urge him to keep talking since you snapped out of it at some point. 

However, Taehyung didn’t know this trait about you and proceeds to wake you up from daydream mode. With a loud snap of fingers he called out your name and your attention was now back to them. 

“Oh sorry about that,” you said bashfully. 

Unbothered, Yoongi took a sip of his coffee. “No, it’s fine babe. Seemed like you had a good daydream going on.” Both of you chuckled lightly but Taehyung stayed quiet. He wasn’t particularly annoyed by your daydreaming but he did think it was rude to not pay attention. 

Half-jokingly, he retorted, “Wow hyung, who knew you were dating such a space cadet.” 

“Huh?,” you responded. Taehyung’s seemingly lighthearted remark caught you off guard. 

Taehyung chuckles. “I knew all knew you were ditzy but jeez.” 

You didn’t know how to respond so you giggled nervously. Even though you knew he was joking around, the way he said it made you feel a bit embarrassed. 

Seeing your reaction, Yoongi glares at Taehyung. “Hey, I’d appreciate you not making fun of my girlfriend.” 

“But hyung, I was just-” 

“I really don’t give a shit whether you were kidding or not, I want you to apologize to her.” 

Knowing better to not disobey this particular hyung of his, Taehyung turns to you with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry, Y/N,” he says genuinely. 

You reached over to give his hand a comforting pat and smiled at him. “Thanks, Tae.” 

You knew he was joking around but it was still nice to hear him apologize. 

Hoseok

Everyone in the group knew how close you were to Hoseok. Dating for almost a year already, he was your entire world. Your rock. Your knight in shining armor. And because of his supportive and caring nature, you always went to him whenever you needed something. Hoseok made it clear to you that you could always rely on him. 

“Hobi, can you please pick me up?” you’d ask him on the phone and Hoseok would immediately be on his way. 

“Hobi can you open my bottle? It hurts my hand”, and he’d gladly open it for you. 

“Hobi, I feel really scared and anxious right now, I need you,” and he would drop whatever he was doing to find and comfort you. 

To some people, you would see this as Hoseok being a great boyfriend. However, others might just view it as a little too dependent. Others like Jungkook, apparently. 

Jungkook didn’t have anything against you; he really liked for the most part. He just thought it was strange for a girl your age to be so reliant on someone, be it her boyfriend or not. He didn’t understand how someone as fiercely independent as his hyung would be interested in someone who is the complete opposite. It was an opinion that he kept to himself until one day. 

You knew that today Hoseok and the guys had a dance practice and you thought it would be a great idea to make a surprise visit. On your way to the studio, you were about to turn a corner when you see your boyfriend and Jungkook in the hallway. It looked like they were having a serious conversation so you contemplated whether to wait until they were finished or greet them anyway. That’s when you hear your name being suddenly dropped. 

“Y/N?,” Hoseok asks quizzically, “What about her?” 

“I noticed that she’s been asking a lot of you lately, things that she could definitely do on her own,” Jungkook hesitantly begins, “I just find it odd that she’s that so dependent on you.”

You felt a rush of heat rising in you from shear embarrassment as you hid away the two men. You didn’t know that Jungkook thought this way about you and you worried if the other’s felt the same way. “Ugh, this is why you don’t eavesdropped, stupid,” you thought to yourself. You were about to leave when you heard Hoseok beginning to speak. 

“To be perfectly honest, Jungkook, I like that fact that I’m the one Y/N comes to when she needs help. I like being needed, especially from someone I love. She’ll get to a point where she can be more self-reliant but I’m not going to rush her. So don’t worry too much about her or our relationship, okay?” He finishes his speech with a friendly pat on Jungkook’s shoulder.” 

“Sorry, hyung. I didn’t mean to be rude,” he says with a guilty look on his face. Hoseok just responds with a hearty laugh as he puts his arm around the maknae and leads back to the dance studio. 

Still standing behind that corner, you couldn’t help but contain the sweet smile on your face. You were still a bit dejected over what Jungkook said about you but the fact you had a boyfriend that will defend no matter what made you feel so blessed. He was truly your everything and you’d be lost without him. 

You took a moment to compose yourself before heading towards the dance studio. 

Namjoon

It was no secret to anyone that knew you that your favorite thing to eat was anything pickled. Growing up in a family that pickled everything from cucumbers to watermelon rinds, you always found comfort munching on the tangy, savory food. Your love for pickled foods reached an all new high when you moved to South Korea and fell totally in love with kimchi and all its regional variants. 

To an outsider, they might see your love for pickled food a bit obsessive, but not Namjoon. Knowing how much you love eating them, he made sure stock up on your favorites at the dorm. So whenever you come over to hang out, you’ll have a tasty snack to eat. This sweet gesture made you love the man even more, if that was even possible in the first place. 

The rest of Bangtan thought your obsession with pickles somewhat peculiar but also adorably quirky. Well everyone except for one person: Yoongi. As much as he enjoyed pickled foods himself, he personally thought you took it too far since he’d always catch you eating them. He even avoids sitting and speaking to you due to you sometimes smelling like strong brine. But he tried his best to hold his tongue since it didn’t hurt anyone. 

One day, Yoongi walks into the living room of the dorm and finds you and Namjoon sitting at the table. You, of course, was enjoying some pickled okra your mother sent you in a care package. 

“Hi, Yoongi!,” you squeaked as you got up to give him a hug. 

Yoongi became rigid in your embrace but soon reciprocated the hug rather awkwardly. Pulling back from the hug, he says hurriedly, “Uh, I have to run some errands. See ya guys around,” then hightails it out the door. 

His behavior leaves you puzzled. “What’s with him?,” you asked Namjoon but he just shrugs in response. 

That very visit, you decided to spend the night at the dorm. You were walking out of the bathroom after brushing your teeth when you heard Namjoon and Yoongi talking in the next room. As you tippy-toed closer to that room, you quickly realized they were talking about you. 

“I’m sorry Joon but I just think it’s her obsession with pickles is kinda gross,” Yoongi belts out, “I mean she eats them all the time.” 

Before even hearing Namjoon's response, you quickly walked to his bedroom and buried yourself in his sheets. A few moments later, you hear Namjoon walk into the room and feel the bed slightly shake as he climbs into bed. 

“You still awake, honey?,” he sweetly asks. 

“Yeah,” you said in a somber tone, still buried under the sheets. 

“Hey, is there something wrong?” 

It takes you a moment before responding. “Do you think I’m gross, Joon?” 

Namjoon sighs heavily. “I’m guessing you overheard our conversation. How much did you hear?”

“I only heard what Yoongi said then immediately went towards the room. Joonie, I’m sorry I’m like this.” 

That’s when Namjoon pulled the covers from you and cupped your flustered face. “Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about. Who cares what you love to eat? I love you for who you are, Y/N. That’s what I told Yoongi hyung and now I’m telling you.” He then gives you a warm, gentle kiss on the lips. 

Overwhelmed by Namjoon’s intense sincerity and affection, you felt your eyes start to water. “You don’t mind that my kisses sometimes taste like vinegar?” 

Namjoon chuckles at your question. “Not one bit.” 

Jimin 

The guys decided it would be nice to have a relaxing movie night and you were invited to tag along. 

“How long’s the movie?,” you asked?

“It’s pretty long,” Jimin says before he clicks the play button on the Netflix screen. 

“Bet Y/N’s gonna pass out halfway towards the middle,” Taehyung jokes. 

You scoff. “I’m not gonna fall asleep this time.” You said this with such confidence but the boys didn’t buy it. You were known to fall asleep at any time, at any occasion. Whether you were on a day trip or at an awards show, you’d often find yourself passing out somewhere, causing some slight embarrassment on your part. And unfortunately, tonight was no different. 

“Baby, wake up,” Jimin softly says to you as he gently shakes you awake. 

You quietly moaned as you sat up on the couch in the dorm’s living room. “Is the movie already over?” you said groggily, rubbing the sleepiness from your eyes. 

Jimin faintly smiles at you. “Afraid so. 25 minutes in - a new record for you,” he teased. You gave him a quick glare. 

“I had a strange dream. I wasn’t in it myself but you and Namjoon were there. Namjoon was kinda irritated and said something like ‘what’s the point in even inviting her to these things if she’s just going to fall asleep?’ Good thing it was just a dream, right?” You looked up at Jimin and saw a weird expression on his face. “What?”

He sighs and says, “That wasn’t a dream, Y/N. I was hoping you didn’t hear that.” 

“So, Namjoon did say that,” you asked. Jimin nodded. Even though you were the one that fell asleep during the movie, you couldn’t help but feel a bit hurt and ashamed. You bit your lip before speaking again. “Is he mad at me?”

Jimin grabs your hands, gently caressing your finger. “Oh, not at all, sweetie. But even if he was mad, it doesn’t matter,” he says assuringly. “Wanna know what I told him?,” he asked you. You silently nod. “I told him that you’re my sleeping beauty and I wouldn’t change that about you.” 

His lovely compliment catches you off guard, causing a light blush to appear on your face. Softly smiling at him, you respond, “You’re such a cheeseball, Park.” 

Taehyung

You were out on a dinner date with your boyfriend Taehyung, and you were trying your best to hide your nervousness. It wasn’t the fact that you were out with Tae that made you nervous since you've been together for a few months already. What made you nervous was that this date was actually a double date with Hoseok and his own girlfriend. Even though this wasn’t your first time hanging out with anyone from the group, let alone Hoseok, you still get anxious in settings like this. Especially settings that involved eating. You didn’t consider yourself a gross eater, you just become hyper-aware when you eat around others. Heck, it took you awhile to feel comfortable eating around Taehyung. 

The four of you were sitting together at a fancy restaurant, and you tried your best to ease your nervousness by engaging in the conversation. When the food arrived, all hope was lost as you felt the sensation of butterflies in your stomach. Everyone eagerly dug into their plates as you just sipped your water, hoping it will calm your nerves. 

Taehyung poked your hand, getting your attention. “You alright, babe?”

You quickly nodded. “Yeah, I’m just not that hungry for some reason.” 

Overhearing this, Hoseok turns your way with a cheeky smirk on his face. “What’s wrong, Y/N? Are you afraid we’ll all find out your disgusting eating habits?” he boffs. 

Hoseok was merely kidding but his joke still managed to make you choke on your water. Taehyung rubs on your back for comfort as he gives a stern look to Hoseok. 

“Hey, hyung,” he says in a rather serious tone, “Please don’t bully my honey pie.” 

Hoseok scoffs in return. “Come on, I’m just kidding!,” he belts. Hoseok’s girlfriend proceeds to slightly hit him hard on the shoulder. “What did I do?”

She looks at him. “Like you’re one to Hoseok. Most of the time, you eat like a feral pig.” 

You and Taehyung tried your best to stifle your laughter after hearing such a brutal dig. Although shocked at first, Hoseok just laughs it off and goes back to eating. 

You then look at Taehyung and smile. “I think I’m actually hungry now.” 

Jungkook 

You were meeting the boys for the very first time today. Despite you and Jungkook’s relationship being relatively new, he just couldn't wait any longer to introduce you to his hyungs. While this made you feel extremely special, you were also scared out of your mind that you’ll embarrass yourself in front of them. Possibly making Jungkook regret being interested in you in the first place. 

When you told Jungkook about your worries, he reassured you that everything will be fine. As you were standing outside of the door of their dorm, you really hope what Jungkook said was true. With a shaky hand, you rung the doorbell. As you expected your boyfriend opened the door. 

“Hey,” he says flirtily. 

“Hey, yourself. Are they here?”

“Yep, they can’t wait to meet you. Come on in.” He takes your hand, leading you towards the living room. 

“Hyungs,” Jungkook begins excitedly, “this is my girlfriend, Y/N.” 

The six men got up from the couch and hurriedly walked over to meet you. They politely bowed and flashed friendly smiles, however it doesn’t ease your anxiety. 

“H-hello, it’s not to meet you,” you stammered. You let go of Jungkook’s hand and started to fidget your fingers self-consciously. 

It was clear as day that you were extremely nervous. Knowing how important you were to Jungkook, the guys went out their way to make you feel welcome. You spent the entire day having fun with everyone; eating snacks, playing party games and just overall playing around. It seemed like the guys really liked you, which caused you to fidget less as the time went by. 

By evening, it was about your time to leave and you went to find Jungkook so he could drive you home. You asked Yoongi where Jungkook was and he mentioned seeing him toward his room. After getting directions, you head towards his room. Seeing that his door was opened you cautiously went inside, not realizing that Jungkook was having a conversation with Seokjin. 

“Don’t take it too personally, Jungkook. I’m just not sure if I like her yet,” Jin says to Jungkook, neither noticing you in the room yet. 

“But why hyung?,” Jungkook says, hearing the slight hurt in his voice. 

Seokjin sighs before speaking again. “She’s just super awkward, you know? Painfully so.” 

His blunt words hit you hard inside. It turns out you were wrong about everyone liking you. The room fell into a brief yet excruciating silence. It took you clearing your throat for them to finally notice you in the room. 

Surprised, Jungkook turns to you. “Y/N?” 

“It’s time for me to go. Can you take me home?” 

“Uh, yeah, just let me get my keys?”  

Before following Jungkook out the room, you gave Seokjin a meek wave goodbye then left. 

On your way to the car, you tried to distract yourself by talking about how much fun you had but Jungkook could tell you were still hurt by Seokjin’s words. Before having the chance to open the passenger door, Jungkook spins you around and pulls you into his embrace. 

“I don’t know how much you heard from Jin hyung,” he says into your ear, “But it’ll be fine, Y/N. Soon enough, he’ll see you how I see you: an amazing and beautiful girl.”

You didn’t know what to say at that moment, so you just quietly sobbed into his shoulder. 

[raziroo]

Karma | The Marauders

[Chapter 3] The Mudblood Hate Organisation

Karma was nervous, and extremely so. Her visit to Diagon Alley, in which she'd been accompanied with some creepy bloke who she was supposed to call Professor Fisher, had gone surprisingly well. She'd bought books and robes and cauldrons and gloves and whatnot, and although they were all second hand, Karma was satisfied – she was going to school, and she would at least have a sense of ownership over her belongings, because she certainly didn't have any idea on how to use more than half of them. She'd also bought a wand – holding it was one of the best experiences she'd ever have, she knew of it.

Professor Fisher, in all his light ginger-haired and musty cinnamon-scented glory, lead the way to a narrow shop just down the street. It was old, Karma could tell – there was nothing on display in the windows, through which Karma saw that the shop was quite not as big as all the others she'd been to. Over the door was written,

Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC.

As Fisher pushed the door open, Karma peered inside, not paying any attention to the tinkling bell that had rung somewhere overhead. This shop, Karma thought, this shop is the most expectedly magical thing I've seen.

And true her thoughts were, for the shop's each and every content – be it the awry chair that stood in a corner, the thousands of narrow and thin wand boxes that lay messily stacked in shelves, the dust that covered them, the very air - it gave an old, witch-like feeling that Karma had been expecting all along.

A man – old, wrinkly, and with a wistful look in his moon-like eyes – emerged from the shadows. He said in a soft voice, 'Good evening, Karma, I've been expecting you. Took quite long, long enough...' he trailed off, staring at Karma with those silvery eyes. It might have felt weird to some, but Karma couldn't help but stare back, right into the man's eyes. It seemed as if he had seen entire eras pass, and noting his appearance, he might as well have.

He spoke up once again. 'Your wand arm?'

'Uh... I'm not quite sure I- '

'What hand do you write with?' said Fisher, in an exasperated sort of voice. Karma didn't like it.

Mr. Ollivander, Karma assumed, just now seemed to notice Fisher's presence. He exclaimed, still in a quiet tone, 'Oh, Maurice, no? Maurice Fisher, Ash wood, 11 inches, unicorn hair... I expect it has served you wondrously, yes?'

Fisher nodded, still seeming tired of the very fact that he would have to use his voice. 'Yes, Mr. Ollivander.'

'Hm... well, Karma, time is precious, not to be wasted...' and he whipped out a measuring tape with silver markings, seemingly out of nowhere.

'Wand arm?' he asked again.

'Right.'

And so Karma was measured – not by Ollivander, just by his tape, mind you - shoulder to finger, wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and round her head. He asked the wand to stop, and so it crumpled up and fell to the floor. Karma watched it vanish just before it touched the ground.

Ollivander piped up. 'Now, now, Karma, here, take this. Ash wood, dragon heartstring core, 12 ¾ inches. Give it a wave, go on...' Karma sort of jerked the wand, but it was abruptly snatched back by Ollivander.

'No no, that won't do, certainly not...' Another box was pulled out. 'Here – beech wood, unicorn hair, 13 inches, swishy and bendy...' Karma waved the wand around. It felt... not right, even when it made the spindly chair's legs break. It was promptly taken back.

After a bit of searching, now for a longer period of time, Ollivander pulled out a sleek cherry shaded box, which was so dusty its true colour was hard to decipher.

He pulled out the wand, a roughish looking affair with little to no design – there was an engraved loop around it, a little way off from its rear, and twine was encircled around this rear. As soon as her slender fingers gripped the wand, Karma felt a tingly kind of shockwave go through her body, and as she waved the wand in a roundabout motion, the chair's legs repaired themselves.

Ollivander had a smile on his face, but his eyes seemed so far away, Karma was almost sure he hadn't even seen her enormous grin, or the satisfied-but-still-exasperated huff of air Fisher had produced.

'M- Mr. Ollivander...? Are you alright...?' The man blinked his moon-like eyes twice, and said in an even softer voice, so that it was just above a whisper, 'This wand... this particular wand – alder wood, unicorn hair, 14 ½ inches – this wand has been in the shop since the beginning, the very beginning...' The man's wistful voice had a slightly grim tone to it; so slight, in fact, that Karma failed to notice it, but Fisher didn't.

'This wand, Karma, its existence... quite curious, quite peculiar, yes...' Karma seemed inclined to stay silent. She was scared that Ollivander would stop his words and lose his train of thought if she broke the silence. 'This wand... its core, as you know, is of unicorn hair... a core that is prone to melancholy... it might "die", you see; if mishandled, it will need replacing. It doesn't make for the most powerful wand. But what's curious, Karma, is that even though alder does not- should not, rather, compensate for that weakness, your wand is still a quite powerful one. The reason is what is so curious...'

Ollivander trailed off once more. After a bit, he said, 'The reason Karma, is that the tree your wand's wood was taken from... it was not normal... certainly not usual...'

'How so?' Karma's curiousness became too much to bear.

'That... my dear girl, that, is something better left untold...' and the man had once again retreated into the shadows.

All Karma could do was share a look with Fisher, who, for the first time since she'd seen him, didn't look exasperated.

That encounter had been quite nerve-wracking, but not this much; standing amongst a crowd of small people such as herself in the centre of the Great Hall, Karma felt nauseous. The queasy feeling in her belly wouldn't go away, and as she watched all the other children talk among themselves, she felt oddly singled out. The fact that about a hundred other people were watching wasn't helping. Even in the Hogwarts Express, she was sat with a third year Ravenclaw called Pandora who, apparently, no one wished to sit with. All through the journey, there was an awkward energy in the compartment, and multiple attempts by Karma to diffuse the awkwardness had been in vain, because Pandora seemed to speak only in riddles, that too in a voice dreamier than even Ollivander's. Karma suddenly knew why Pandora was a reject.

Although all the first years had been briefed about the Sorting Ceremony and the four Hogwarts houses, Karma was still feeling immensely overwhelmed. She had read absolutely nothing in her magic books; she'd been too busy sharing her excitement and sadness and disappointment with Jade and Morgan.

Her wand-

'Abbott, Hailey!' a voice said loudly. Karma's gaze focused back on the scene in front of her eyes; she hadn't really been paying attention to the Hat's song. As everyone watched McGonagall and the teachers all patiently waiting, a little girl, certainly undergrown for her age, briskly walked up the stairs and placed herself on the stool. McGonagall put the Hat on her head, and Karma was sure that before it even quite touched her head, a screech of 'HUFFLEPUFF!' echoed through the hallway. The table to their left, whose students were all clad in yellow and black, gave an enormous round of applause, and "Hailey" ran to her house table, smiling with glee. Next, a slim, pale boy with dirty blond hair, called "Geoffrey Bailey" made his way up the stairs. He was quite frail-looking. He quietly walked to the stool placed there, and took a seat. The Hat was sat atop his head, and after only a few quiet moments, it bellowed, 'SLYTHERIN!'

The table to the extreme right gave a quite unenthusiastic round of applause.

Karma wondered what surname Professor McGonagall would use for her; or if she would use none at all. Deep down, deep, deep down, so deep down she wasn't sure if it was there, Karma knew the answer. Although she hoped she was wrong, prayed that by some miracle she would be proven wrong. She was given the unwanted answer pretty soon.

'Beauregarde, Karma!' Said girl made a thoroughly disgusted face at the fact that she would now be known as "Beauregarde" by the school. Couldn't the teachers have picked a better name? Harrison as a surname had always sounded pretty cool to Karma, and Montgomery was a quite intriguing one, too. But no, due to stupid rules and regulations and laws, Karma would have to go around being called "Beauregarde", because that's what kids do, right? They don't ever address you as the person you're supposed to be, you'll mostly be called by your last name.

These vicious thoughts were swirling through Karma's mind when she sat on the stool, and it was only when the Sorting Hat was perched on her head did she stop complaining about rules and Beauregarde and who-knows-what.

'Eh,' a small-ish voice sounded, 'a bit tricky, but not to worry. Hmm... got a multitude of traits in you, have you? Impulsive, even a bit reckless, I'll go as far to say... not very chivalrous though, not very brave either, but quite outspoken, no unfair behaviour accepted... clever too, huh? But not bookishly, no... you'd rather read about ghosts than do your homework... self-preserving, definitely, borderline selfish... definitely not too kind, but you are loyal... bit of a surprise, honestly... not very ambitious, but still... you'd do good in... SLYTHERIN!'

The hat was taken off, the girl opened her eyes; Karma was speechless, because holy cow, the ruddy thing could talk!

But even though Karma tried to focus her thoughts on that personality-deducing, talking, tattered hat, she couldn't shake the feeling of dread off when she looked at the Slytherin table – its occupants all gave off a particularly vicious aura, even more so when she looked at them. They were all dressed primly, except a select few, and all looked like they would curse her into oblivion and shred her to ribbons, if only they could lay their hands on her. All, but not that frail boy – what was his name, Geoffrey? He looked just as confused as Karma, and actually shot her a sympathetic look. Karma was grateful, and she was hell-bent on making that boy her friend.

She took a seat on the very edge, as far as she possibly could without falling. She was in front of Geoffrey, who was now trying to ignore her, most probably because he didn't have a death wish; the other students were all glaring at the both of them with gazes so sharp they, Geoffrey and Karma, should have been split in half. And Karma was thankful that looks couldn't kill, because if they could, she'd have been six feet under.

After the Sorting, Slytherin had five new pupils under his wing – Karma (not Beauregarde), Geoffrey Bailey, Alec Hartley, Arabella Lestrange, and Adrian Pucey.

Karma knew she was scre- sorry, messed, because 1) her house members already seemed to detest her more than she detested Gertrude Beauregarde, or as Karma liked to call her, Beelzebub, which she hadn't thought was possible, and 2) the first thing Adrian had said after seeing Karma was, 'Ey, Lestrange! This scum here is a mudblood, no?' and Arabella (who was, by the way, too pretty to be just eleven) had responded in jest. 'Yes, yes, Adrian, she is... I'd consider her decent-looking, if only she hadn't been filth. And I would rather you call me Arabella, seei-'

Adrian hadn't let her finish. 'You know what, we should form a society against mudbloods. Call it, uh, We Do Not Support Filth, Scum, Or Mudbloo-'

'You fool, that's what you're gon' to call it? You purebloods, honestly, thinking you're better than the world-,' This was Alec Hartley, the kid who was so pale he could've been a vampire and it wouldn't've been a surprise, spoke at the speed of light, Karma was sure, and had donned a gray beanie hat for some reason.

'I never said-'

'-The name you've chosen would make it W-D-N-S-F-S-O-M. So dumb. Might as well just name it "We're Bullies Troubling A Fellow Pupil, But Will Most Probably Get Away With It Because Our Parents Are Cousins And We're Results Of Incest – W.B.T.A.F.P.B.W.M.P.G.A.W.I.B.O.P.A.C.A.W.R.O.I.'

Adrian flared up. 'Oh, is that so? Well, why don't you-'

'Yes, you dingbat, I already have a name, because I am not as stupid as you are, honestly, call yourself filth instead of the mudblood, such painful stupidity-'

'Shut up, you scrawny little-'

'Oh wow, resort to name-calling, wow, stupendous really, what pureblood values you have, Pucey, Slytherin would be embarassed-'

'Do not utter a word against my famil-'

'I never did, and you would've known that if you weren't so thick, but you know what, I'll just tell you the name, because knowledge is power, and knowledge conquers all, but pity really, that on one hand I have such an amazing mind, and on the other hand are people such as you, without brains; truthfully, I think your brainpower's also been given to me-'

'You-'

'Geez, calm down, will you, no need to wave fists around like that, the name will be "Mudblood Hate Organisation".'

Adrian had resumed a sitting position, having stood up to try and punch Alec; Geoffrey had been straining to prevent him from doing so. Arabella had barely even batted an eye, content with filing her nails using a nail filer which had diamonds on the handle; Karma had been watching the scene unfold with equal parts curiosity for the meaning of mudblood, amusement at Alec's way of speaking and Geoffrey's lack of physical strength, earnest awe at Alec's ability to find acronyms so easily. and fear for her life.

Adrian nodded. 'Well, that is a better option-'

'See, dumb; you could call it a better alternative, but no-'

'Hartley-'

'Ok, sor-'

'SHUT UP!' screeched Arabella, throwing her nail filer across the floor. Karma, and quite a few others, including but not limited to, Geoffrey, Adrian and the boy sitting next to Arabella. Alec hadn't moved an inch; he was too busy sketching cat portraits in a leather journal. 'Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut...up,' Arabella's voice lowered as she took quite loud deep breaths.

Karma asked in a tentative voice, 'Are you oka-?'

'Don't talk to me,' Arabella replied, her voice back to that calm, collected tone. 'I apologise for screaming, it's just that I was filing my nails, and misdid it because of all the disturbance. I have slight temper issues. And yes, "Mudblood Hate Organisation" is a nice name. Simple and to the point.'

'No one's looking out for us. Not for the Slytherins.'

[blaster-aichi]

Cardfight!! Vanguard Extra Story IF 20 things

changing up the formula for the week

12 seconds in and we’re threatening murder, a new record.

What did we do to deserve Miwa and what did he do to deserve the treatment he gets from the writers?

When there are only bits and pieces of his original memories coming through, having the most nightmarish moment be one of them, one could only imagine how unsettling it is for one poor ultra-soft boy. And if it might cause him to sympathize with Aichi’s belief in brief moments, from undeniable proof that engaging in Vanguard has hurt a number of people around them.

Weekly yearning for the relationship between Outside World and IF World to get an explanation rises.

IF continuing with the softest Kai-kun faces, cause of death determined. That is all.

The fact that Morikawa’s dismissal serves towards the plot is startling, but at the same time, in-universe, it’s still baffling why he was chosen as opposed to anyone else. Perhaps because of his role in Aichi’s actively playing the game? But otherwise, drawing a blank.

There is a lot to say about the Kourin/Miwa scene, see below.

Semi-sortof-half-right about the Miwa/Takuto collusion but also see below.

Weekly yearning for the relationship between Outside World and IF World to get an explanation intensifies.

The Dinner Table Scene. Rena.exe has stopped working. See below, I flip the table.

This is the most adorable thing ever and boys, PLEASE.

Miwa picks up the mantle of roasting characters, the KaiMiwa is strong.

Pot. Kettle. Mirror. Bitch?

The choice to have Dragonic Overlord’s Deletion visually mirror its occurrence during the cardfight-based season is a strong choice; due to its haunting Kai-kun since it penetrated the IF illusion, and his facing Ibuki without letting any distress showing, in spit of what he’s seen, it demonstrates just the strength of his character and builds on his being able to take the punches and roll with them thus far.

Everyday, I relate to Kai Toshiki even more.

Very much appreciate Emi chiming in where Ibuki is concerned because though the emphasis is on his relationships with Kai-kun, Miwa and Suiko, their time understanding one another in episode 7 remains a personal favourite thing from the season.

Suiko’s intervention to protect Emi and Shuka; yes, yes, yes! Best big sister doing her thing.

Along the same line of thought; Miwa taking the bullet to save Kai-kun feels a natural conclusion to his role within IF, but also playing upon how he stressed Kai-kun’s happiness was his priority in his cardfight with Neve. His strongest trait through the franchise has been his dedication to his best friend, no matter the cost to himself, and seeing that occur in the literal sense feels as though it was always a case of when, not if. Although with the likely remaining time left in the season and its focus, there won’t be a spotlight shone on it again or for Kai-kun to really convey his feelings about it, it was nice to see and think about through the day after.

Episode 102: the KaiMiwa edition.

All Hail the Overlords and their Realizing.

Kai-kun takes back his other part-time job of literally roasting people with Miwa gone.

Though it’s likely down to how he was recruited into the Sanctuary Knights (and his past being repaired erasing the entire ordeal from his perspective), Ibuki’s lost memories of joining them begs the question of the fate of everyone’s memories once the timeline is fully restored, given it hasn’t been made clear if there are two different versions of characters that exist or their Outside World selves pulled inside and overwritten to fit IF’s continuity. Cases such as Emi, Aichi and Kourin in particular, seeing as Naoki, Shingo and Miwa have thus far retained their memories of IF despite returning Outside.

Not entirely sure why Kourin is so aggravated by the Sanctuary Knights’ numbers thinning when Naoki, Shingo and Miwa felt much more like nuisances to her and it means she’s alone on Aichi’s side. But okay, play cosmic fuckery with your sisters.

IF 21 preview

Rekka sighted. Hopes raised for her re-entering the story properly raised. Hopes realized when the preview caps from Bushi’s Twitter confirm as much

The season that continues its joke of memeing anime deaths.

With the perspective of Kourin’s weekly nightmarish face and the typical use of the angle, eager to see the girls getting the upper-hand over her, as it dawned on me that Naoki and Shingo had weekly stints being the main antagonistic force but Kourin, in essence, is on four and counting. And with the jarring fact that Aichi’s just sitting back, possibly oblivious, possibly not?

The unidentified Sanctuary Knight in the preview had gotten hopes up that Misaki was finally entering the fray but the aforementioned tweet popped that like a Genshin Impact Anemo slime. Rude.

the four breakdowns (for comical effect, it was one Wild call)

Takuto: From what’s been shown of Takuto, one could summise that he’s unable to leave Sanctuary by some force Aichi (or Kourin, with or without using Aichi to do it) has imposed on him, but considering his position, his personality doesn’t quite fit. With the gravity of the situation, particularly when he had pinpointed Aichi as the strongest Psyqualia fighter and (Destiny Conductor) personally input extra restraints to keep him under control, with him being the enemy, it's puzzling how Takuto is so lax. Even more in that he didn’t use Miwa as a means of passing on any message to the other Tatsunagis. While he couldn’t be expected to know Ren and Rekka were dispatched specifically to find him, one would imagine it was natural there would be someone coming and he may have been able to offer anything from within Sanctuary and its populous. But apparently not.

Kourin: To be honest, the way in which Kourin is being handled rubs me the wrong way, and in a different way from Legion Mate (if anything, its the very opposite problem to then in some regards). It appears to be a sentiment spreading among viewers, at least from what have been able to discern. But in regards to this episode alone, she’s proven herself atrocious at her job. Why wander around a public school in her Sanctuary Knight uniform? Why alert Miwa to her being outside the door? Why divulge essentially her entire job description when all he said was her name? Why are you hovering in a public school? Also has no room to talk about Suiko and Ibuki with how she is around Aichi, let alone around the other Sanctuary Knights and playing bodyguard between the two. It feels with each week she becoming even more territorial and possessive of Aichi.

The Dinner Table Scene: This was initially what really stood out as jarring. The scene feels out of place in many regards; from Aichi’s behaviour to its serving no purpose (not when Takuto’s very last line right before it already established they’re two peas in a pod).                  If anything, it strikes as antithetical to IF Aichi until this point; it’s possible to excuse his lack of reacting to Naoki’s removal from the scene in 18 as being kept in the dark to keep him from struggling to process the news, but with the time that’s passed and losing two others, there’s no way in hell he isn’t aware. Yet he isn’t fazed, not even when Vanguard has essentially ripped away people from him and played right into his beliefs.                 The choice of setting is peculiar; was it just for the gag of Ibuki having a biscuit for a meal? (does Kourin get groceries in her uniform too?) To be truthful, it feels like the two could have met elsewhere in the castle — the throne room, Aichi’s quarters, a corridor where the city could be seen through a window with Ibuki’s back to it (or it behind Aichi so Ibuki could watchthe view past him) — whether Kourin was involved or not, but additionally, Aichi’s acceptance of Ibuki (and in spite of their past and the Deletion, which hazard a guess he remembers in full) simply doesn’t feel coherent. With how vicious they were to one another, even with the dust settling and them both moving on plus Ibuki’s role in IF thus far, wouldn’t it make sense that there would be some tension between them? The scene as a whole encapsulated some of the concerns that had at points during the season, though it’s redeemed itself with some. But where Aichi is concerned, I worry greatly it’s much like Legion Mate where it feels they don’t know what to do with him and are putting off him making a move personally until the end, drawing out Kourin and the new element of fuckery with characters’ pasts.                    Don’t want to get down on this season, it’s got its highs and lows like any other, but the episode in particular was concerning and this scene was the pinnacle of those feelings. It could sweep those worries aside with a great episode (for like the fourth time because it keeps coming back strong when alarm bells ring).

The Pacing: Courtney initially mentioned the episode feeling rushed and when sitting down and thinking it over, have to say that agree. Assuming IF is running a tight schedule with OverDress around the corner, it probably wouldn’t have had the time, but it may have benefitted from the episode being drawn across two. It would have allowed time for Kai-kun and Suiko to try and grapple with Ibuki turning coat, as well as draw out the tension of his being on the enemy’s side, the rapid resolution takes away the threat that has been made to Suiko in her own predicament, and Miwa could have been allowed more time to fully flesh out his actions thus far, as well as anything else that his meeting with Takuto could have provided. Though we’re all well familiar with him, there could have been more glmpses into the unique friendship he has with IF Kai-kun and how it might have contrasted their Outside World’s selves’.

Probably debunked super-fast again but will dream:

Misaki’s absence due to her being Aichi’s Sanctuary Knight secret weapon:

Stemmed from the glimpse of the Sanctuary Knight in the preview and the hype that it might have been Misaki’s re-introduction to the story, given her disappearance since epi 8, even when Kamui returned and Shin filled in her gimmick at Card Capital in epi 16. With the emphasis on Miyaji in Reboot, her lack of presence has been particularly strange, with not so much as a passing mention other than her appearance in the ED. Judging by Kourin and Aichi alone appearing in the preview, it feels safe to say she, Naoki and Shingo won’t be a part of the illusion being forced upon Suiko, prolonging this. Maybe Izumi is simply busy with other work and reading too much into it, but dreamt up a theory for the heck of it.

Whether to recruit the Miyaji Cardfight Club as a whole or in response to identifying Kourin’s apparent independent agenda, Aichi brought Misaki aboard, keeping her a secret from even Kourin and the other Sanctuary Knights. With Kourin overstepping her boundaries and their numbers withering, Aichi’s patience runs out and Misaki is revealed, usurping Kourin’s place by Aichi’s side and delivering a devastating blow to her, who has been fiercely loyal to him but recognizes how far gone he has been driven. Misaki’s appearance is coupled with her verbally tearing into Kourin and dealing her comeuppance (which honestly, she really deserves and has for some time now), Aichi may or may not be there so that the sight of himself and Misaki continuing on without her twists the knife.

It would also echo the interactions between the Psyqualia Zombie Aichi and Misaki, with Kourin watching on helplessly with Naoki and Shingo. Just thought it’d be a neat call-back.

[im-abanana]

“Meant to Belong” [2/3]

The second part of my Bendy x Alice story, I’ve just updated AO3 as well!

This is still a “safe” chapter, only Fluff in here, ‘cause I’ve decided to put the Smut part on the third. Hope you’ll enjoy this one, too!

The song I used is “My Escape” by Ravenscode, btw.

You are a total idiot. Yes, you are, and such a scaredy cat too. Compliments.

Alright, alright, enough with that shit! Let's say that Bendy didn't find the bravery to actually talk to Alice during the long break they just had, and let's even say that the still very nervous angel was now standing right next to the little devil on stage, waiting to find herself in front of their teeming audience once again, with a terrified and uncomfortable expression painted on her slim face and evidently not really up to perform or sing... fucking Hell, they were ruined, and the demonic character knew it well, too. “Great, really great. Oh for Satan's sake, why are girls always so complicated?” the minute star of the show thought as he carefully fixed his own black jacket, the refined piece of clothing Alice rudely tossed against his rounded face when they met in the main corridor just three or four minutes ago. “She's really mad at me this time.”.

Oh, and judging by the death stare Joey and the rest of the worried crew were giving them from behind the busy scenes, an earful or a punishment were the best options the united trio could hope for, especially if they'd mess up again during that important performance. Come on, those annoying creators were definitely exaggerating, his loyal co-workers were professionals and it wasn't entirely Bendy's fault, to be frank! Besides, he had a great plan to cheer Angel Face and his beloved fans up after the previous failure, with a little help from a certain best friend of his and a clarinet. If being successful and famous could allow you to disobey your bosses' direct orders and breaking tons of rules from time to time, heck yeah, Bendy was more than ready to do it his own way and make peace with the angelic singer of his band. “Ready for it, Boris?” the short devil silently whispered to the tall wolf, grabbing a microphone, winking at his kind-hearted buddy and getting an excited thumbs-up as a response; very good, it could finally begin. “Time to set this stage on fire, Bendy.”.

“Would you help me to find a new way? Would you guide me through all of this again? Don't let me slip away.” Bendy's unmistakable voice suddenly sang in the complete silence and darkness when the little devil met the angel's still irritated gaze, surprisingly and promptly accompanied by the peculiar sound of Boris' clarinet, as if those two had arranged to perform that unforseen song together, without saying anything to Joey, to the rest of the crew and especially to Alice, who was the one supposed to follow the right dance steps and don't mess up again. That wasn't on the syllabus, what was happening!? What was Bendy planning that time!? For fuck's sake, that disgusting demon was surely doing that on purpose, he truly enjoyed embarrassing her and get his friends and co-workers in trouble with the creators and the audience! All. The. Time. “I need you here 'till the very end, so stay here with me. There's so much love in your smile when I look at your face, and I'm here to stay. You're my first and my last love, and you're my escape.”

.

But no, not this time: instead of staying still and ruthlessly watch the angelic cartoon's certain failure, grinning at the fallen girl from afar or internally make fun of her lack of preparation and actual panic, evident and almost tangible in her elegant traits, Bendy slowly stepped forward and tilted his round head to look in the young woman's black orbs and lifted his tiny arms up, to gently intertwine his thicker fingers with her tapered ones, silently asking Alice to dance with him; only a simple gaze was more than enough for the two of them to understand each other's thoughts, doubts and secret desires or fears. Natural chemistry, or just an artificial connection? Well, it didn't really concern her now, since Bendy was trying to truly “apologize” for the very first time of his life, so better take advantage from this situation. “So tell me you'll be right here with me, hearing your voice is like hearing an angel sing. Through the good and bad and all in between, you're the one that I want and the one that I need, and I know.” the little devil happily intoned as he guided and moved with his surprised partner on the tidy stage, reminding Alice that his main innate talent was, in fact, dance. Oh, and probably charm too, since the stunning girl couldn't take her eyes off the demon, feeling hypnotised by his sly but caring grin.

Their inky and agile bodies were beautifully lit by the powerful light bulb of the spotlight, that was closely following their graceful and expert movements, almost accentuating the shiny fabric of their fancy gown and suit and each curve of their relaxed muscles, that were freely tensing and flexing to create an unequalled physical harmony and simultaneously a lovely but tacit tension between the apparently mismatched couple. It was like “seeing a fierce predator carefully interact with a frail prey”, that's how Joey and the others described their complicated and burning relationship; you could never know when one of the two would attack, or run, or growl at the other, or angrily submit without a fight, so as not to cause stupid disasters or useless problems to the superiors.

Yeah, the last option occurred pretty rarely to be completely honest, especially before an important performance or worse, a premiere; sometimes, a cold punch in the face or a firm kick in the delicate guts were way more satisfying than a plain compliment by the bosses or a nice communication with the patient and poor crew that had to put up with their unpredictable behaviour 24 hours a day, every single day. Egoism, you might say? Maybe a little bit, alright, but ehy! Brawling with an arrogant rival was one of life's few joys, maybe the sweetest, but the moments of complete peace or dammit, even tenderness between the spiteful devil and the fiery fallen angel were so incredibly rare that right now, seeing the two cartoons performing together with such grace, trust, respect and strength was almost unbelievable, definitely jaw-dropping.“You taught me to live each day, to live each day like it's my last. I won't make you turn away! So come with me, and never look back!”.

That particular song and its deep meaning couldn't be random at all, but the dancers' regal and measured steps surely were improvised... or at least things would have looked like that under the keen and trained eyes of a critic, or a journalist. Luckily for everyone nobody important was there that night, only the inexpert kids and the parents were watching the duo's little show, staring at Bendy and Alice with fascinated expressions and enchanted faces, not speaking as not to disrupt the magical and intimate atmosphere of the busy and pretty crowded room. “After all that we've been through, you are still by my side and I'm grateful you're there and I, I love you. You're my best friend and I want you to know I care!”. Only the tapping sound of their refined shoes hitting the wooden floor of the magnificent proscenium was audible, and the much more taller fallen angel smiled benignly as she spotted the tiny demon having an hard time keeping up with her own fast pace and hold her gloved hands in his, very careful not to step on her pale feet at the same time. Fucking height difference...

Poor thing, maybe he needed some help? Very well.

“So- Uh!?” a loud gasp of surprise and pure fear escaped from Bendy's parted lips as Alice unexpectedly bend over, curled her long fingers around his slim waist and easily picked him up, leaving her black haired partner with his short legs pitifully hanging in midair and feeling his pointed tail snugly wrapping around her curved hips, tightly, to probably get some sort of support and better security. Despite the minute star's evident confusion and distress, those momentary emotions were soon replaced by irrepressible excitement and frenzy as the young woman kept dancing with him in her arms and whispered a quick “I won't drop you, don't worry. Just sing with me.” against the demon's flushed left cheek. That wish was his command and besides, being so tall was awesome indeed! Cool! So that's how Boris and Alice always felt while walking around or simply standing!“S-so tell me you'll be right here with me, hearing your voice is like hearing an angel sing. Through the good and bad and all in between, you're the one that I want and the one that I need, and I know!”.

“So this is how we planned it, knowing that we won't be alone. And this is how it's supposed to be, when you knew it all along!” Alice elegantly sang right after her limp co-worker, her voice echoing in the thin walls and reaching such perfect high notes Bendy couldn't even imagine existed. In those unique moments, the little demon could clearly understand why he felt that huge tension when that majestic, angelic creature would walk on stage and stop by his tense side, giving all she got to their loyal and cheering fans: Alice's powerful but also mild singing was capable of making your fragile ribcage shake in total bliss, your weak heart faint with overwhelming emotion, your knees turning into slimy jelly and your head soar on the clouds of Heaven and drown into the sweetest dreams and wildest fantasies. And her face was so incredible too, her body so damn sexy, her smile so tender and so cute... her freaking everything was perfect, designed to appear breathtaking and absolutely appetizing to everyone, and especially him. Dammit, was he really that helpless in front of her undeniable beauty? Yeah, most likely. “So tell me you'll be right here with me, hearing your voice is like hearing an angel sing...”.

“... through the good and bad and all in between, you're the one that I want and the one that I need.” brushing her smooth and pale chin with the covered tip of his index finger, Bendy encouraged the young angel to look into his pitch black orbs, that were shining with great amusement and sincere entertainment as he took a final breath and filled his small lungs with air, ready for the last verse which he hoped they would sing together. And so they did.

“So tell me you'll be right here with me. Hearing your voice is like hearing an angel sing! Through the good and bad and all in between, you're the one that I want and the one that I need, and I know.” mixing and caressing each other like two passionate lovers would, the couple's voices generated an harmony that fit the romantic song, a very strange thing since they were technically natural enemies: an angel and a devil, good and bad, white and black, grace and disgrace. But maybe sometimes you just needed to forget about the differences to change your condition and embrace a new experience, or a surprising point or view; in fact, that was the very first time they performed together with such composure, without punching or trying to toss the other off the stage every five seconds. Even the audience seemed uncaring about their physical nature or their former relationship, since every single person in the big room immediately got up and started to clap forcefully and merrily, shouting out enthusiastic compliments and cheering at the top of their lungs, yelling their beloved names non-stop. Yes, their names, Alice's and Bendy's at the same exact time, as if they were one, as if them both had... the same importance. “And I know...”.

“Eheh, you hear them, Angel Cake? Listen carefully: this is all for you, you should be proud of yourself! Great job, not as good as mine of course, but pretty close!” Bendy weakly mumbled and laughed under his unsure breath with his usual sly and smug grin, panting a little to regain his yearned breath and still holding onto her narrow but robust shoulders. At this point, the tall angel seriously started to think that his dumb smile was indelible from his round visage, and soon after she felt his long black tail dropping down, the little devil trusting the girl completely and relaxing every single muscle, his tiny limbs imperceptibly contracting because of the previous exertion, and his sore throat aching slightly. Meh, singing wasn't that great after all... who cared about that stuff anyway, despite that he was still the most awesome star ever, and dancing was the most appreciated talent! “They love you, toots!”.

“No Bendy, you're wrong. Not only me.” Alice replied with a gentle and ecstatic smile, that only became wider as the angelic cartoon met the joyful gazes of the little kids, of the adults, of the teenagers and elders all around them. To the devil's tired and burning eyes, that amazing smile could lit the whole town, even the whole world. As the reddish curtain was rapidly brought down by the staff, the black haired woman turned her head towards her short co-worker and sincerely declared: “This is for us, for me, Boris and you. They love us all.”.

The sudden and rather scary sound of a powerful thunder broke the respectful silence that was deeply connecting the duo's blurred thoughts, and the violent rain started to ruthlessly beat against the thick windows, the grey rooftops, the hard asphalt, the greenish trees and everything standing outside their safe and warm building; at that precise moment, as the couple heard the noisy people, who just a few instants before were cheering them and clapping, standing up and quickly walking towards the exit to return home before the storm would get worse, the two talented cartoons knew that their show was finally over, at least for the night. Tomorrow was another day, hopefully a successful one.

“I guess... I guess it's time for me to rest and get some sleep, but only if Joey and the other creators don't wish to discuss the next performance with me, of course. Nice work by the way, I had fun tonight.” Alice kindly explained to her oddly attentive partner, clearing her throat and putting Bendy down with the needed attention, then scratching her cold nape with her nails and hearing another deafening rumble coming from outside. The young angel gently snickered and blinked a couple of times, feeling totally unafraid: “Now, that is what I call a real storm! Right? Bendy, what the...?” the black haired girl questioned and immediately spotted the little dancing demon hiding behind her calm form, his pointy tail tightly pressed between his curved legs and his tiny knees shivering in pure terror. No way, was he seriously...? “Bendy, are you... are you afraid of thunder and storms, like Boris is?”.

Snarling and frowning deeply in response, clearly irritated by her insolent insinuation, the minute demon promptly opened his thin lips to growl: “Pff, if I'm scared!? Do I look scared to you, Angel Face!? Pff! Me, Bendy the Dancing Demon, afraid of thunder and storms like some kind of crybaby, or like that wolf? You're insulting my pride and underestimating me, woman! I'm not scared at all, ok? No, no, no, no, no, no, no...” the stubborn star repeated mostly to himself with his slightly high-pitched voice, causing Alice to let out a pretty frustrated groan and cross her pale arms as she patiently waited for the truth. “... no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, maybe a little bit. Ugh, okay fine, yes! You won, I'm scared of thunder and storms, too! Are you happy now?”.

“Nah, not really, I'm just amused.” Alice shrugged it off with a brazen and superior look, laughing in front of her terrified co-worker without shame and with a vicious glint shining in her dark irises, almost enjoying the awkward situation and seeing Bendy so vulnerable and fragile. “What's the matter, Bendy? Afraid of sleeping all alone, in your isolated and lonely room, with that terrible storm right outside the building and those thunders roaring in your ears? Ahah, you're very cute sometimes. I personally think that you should share a bed with someone tonight since you're so scared, little one!”.

After a moment of total silence and wise reflection, a squealing phrase that the beautiful, young angel would have never expected to hear was desperately shouted by the pleading devil, who dropped down on his weak knees and left the girl completely speechless: “Please toots, we both know that we hate each other's guts with all our soul and passion, but can I sleep with you tonight!?”.

… wait, what the fuck?

[ladysnausages]

Where There’s Smoke_C3

Pairing: NaLu

Modern Day AU ~ bodyguard/heiress

Cover photo courtesy of @fainttwinkling

Summary

Lucy, a cynical heiress, longs to find meaning in life. At a party, she meets Natsu, a strange man who drags her into a world she never expected to be a part of. Greed, espionage and organized crime, it becomes a three way battle for her life – one to kill her, one to exploit her and one to save her.

Chapter Links

C1 C2 C3 C4

Where There’s Smoke

Chapter 3

Open Impetus

It had been a long five minutes upon her return. She was surrounded by guests vying for her attention. Their shallow conversations laced with puffery and tittering and she was unable to focus on any of it. Her mind kept going back to one person, their banter still fresh in her mind and easily leading her thoughts astray.

Natsu.

He was a peculiar young man, abrasive and tactless and he carried with him an air of mystery. But he was warm, kind and straightforward. Someone who actually seemed interested in her for her and not her name or the money that came along with it. He had an inviting presence, disarming and friendly, and though he seemed rather inept in social situations, he had the unique ability to lift a person’s spirits with nothing but his smile.

She had gotten used to reading people, easily discerning who was sincere and who was not. A trait she inherited from her father and honed through her lifestyle. But unlike her father she did not use that knowledge against people but instead to avoid them. It was just a very small few people who she had encountered in her life that she felt comfortable getting close to. And she was hoping that he could be one.

She wondered where he had gone. She got back just moments after him and thought he might still be close by trying to convince the guard against any perceived wrongdoing but it seemed he too had gotten swept away by the crowd.

She separated herself from a small cluster of people, trying to scan the crowd for him. If nothing else, she figured, his hair would give him away.

              “Miss Heartfilia.” She was snapped out of her thoughts and search and turned to the source of the voice. He was tall, with dark hair and a distinct tattoo above his right eye. “What an honor it is to finally meet you.” He was imposing, invading her space and acting overly familiar with her like so many people did – an action she detested.

              “Hello, mister…” She trailed off and noticed the two glasses of champagne he held.

              Acknowledging her glance, he held one out to her. “You can call me Bora.”

              She accepted the glass. “Thank you.”

              “My pleasure.” His voice was like velvet, smooth and soft, and along with his good looks, he was probably popular with women. Something about him though made Lucy uneasy. “I was hoping to have the chance to talk to you a little more if you wouldn’t mind.”

              She nodded respectfully and moved the glass to her lips but she paused. Natsu’s words crossed her mind.

“I recommend you not drink anymore tonight. You reek of booze.”

She was simultaneously self-conscious and annoyed. She thought about not drinking it but if he was watching, she would happily do it just to spite him. I’ll show that jerk. Forgetting about Bora, she brought the glass to her mouth and tipped it back. She could feel the chill of the liquid touch her lips and took one large, unladylike gulp. But suddenly, the glass was pulled back and out of her hand.

She blinked, stunned as Natsu stood to her right, her glass in his hands and smirking at the now very irritated Bora. “Natsu?”

He shoved the glass back in his hand. “You can finish that. This one has had more than enough to drink.”

Bora frowned, growing irritated by the sudden intrusion while Natsu maintained a calm demeanor, the smug look on his face only baiting the other man. “Who do you think you are, interrupting our conversation—”

Natsu cut him off. “Well, to be fair, there was no talking going on when I got here.”

“Why you…” Bora growled and took a step forward.

Natsu pulled Lucy just slightly, positioning his body so it was partially in front of hers. “I promised Lucy a dance and it would be rude of me to leave without giving her one. Perhaps when we’re done, you can have her back.” He looked at her, that charming smile on his face again. “Provided she would want anything to do with you.”

Lucy was in disbelief as she watched him, dumbfounded as he took her hand and led her to the dance floor. They began a very simplified waltz. “I thought I told you not to drink anymore tonight.”

“I thought that was none of your business.” She turned her head away, cheeks puffed in annoyance but made no move to separate from him. It had been a long time since she had danced with someone like this, even longer since she had done so willingly.

              Their dance was slow and modest and she could tell he was not familiar with the steps.

              “Yes, I know, I’m not very good at dancing. Hopefully I don’t step on your feet.”

              She giggled. “I hope not, I’d rather not have all my toes broken.” She adjusted slightly, moving to take a modified lead to help him. “You can follow me.” And so he did. They chatted and laughed and smiled and many of the other guests stepped aside for their somewhat sloppy but innocently charming dance.

              For Lucy, it almost felt like being a kid again, being able to experience something just for the fun of it. She had long forgotten this feeling but as it came pouring back into her on the dance floor, she could not hold back her laughter and her happiness. Nothing was being expected of her and she expected nothing of him and they were able to just follow the music, flowing to the beat of a song that only they could hear.

              Lucy stepped out, their arms stretched as far as they could and he pulled her into him, far stronger and faster than she anticipated so her spin was awkward and clumsy and almost sending them both stumbling. He caught her and laughed and she did too. She spun away, going back into the slow, small steps before the song ended and he dipped her, leaning in close with the smile that had become so familiar to her in such a quick time. Teeth white and straight, with canines that were just slightly more pronounced, sharper and peaking her curiosity.

              She blushed.

              Lucy, who had spent so much time pushing people away, who had never felt she could trust anyone and as such unwilling to give them a chance, found herself allowing this strange man, that she had known all of fifteen minutes, to charm his way into her safe space. She no longer knew how to react and so she just let herself do as her body and subconscious felt. She was being natural, she was being herself. And as she was, she found it easy to forget everyone and everything around her.

              “Lucy!”

              She paled, recognizing the level voice as that of her father. He was angry.

Natsu pulled her up and let go of her. She felt her hair tickle her back and she breathed a heavy sigh, closing her eyes. A lot of the guests went back to their mingling, their interest quickly lost in the unique couple. The rest feigned apathy in her father’s incoming reprimanding of her but she was well aware of the peripheral stares and whispering.

“You’re not presentable like this.” His frown weighed heavy at the corners of his mouth, eying the loose waves that bounced on her shoulders. “I don’t have time to send you to get fixed up, you’re already later than you were supposed to be.” He put his hand on her shoulder, pulling her away.

She looked over her shoulder. She caught Natsu’s eyes for just a moment before he disappeared in the crowd.

“Who is that man?” The tone was demanding, easily read as a statement rather than a question.

She turned her gaze up at him. He did not look at her, as was usual. His eyes, even when looking directly at her, never truly saw her – always looking through her, past her and what she would bring him. A present father who was no better than one who was not. She looked down. “Natsu.”

“No matter,” he brushed it off in his typical callous manner, “there is someone I need you to meet.”

He led her through the crowd, finding a ring of people all chatting and drinking. All eyes were turned to one man in particular. He was tall and handsome, with fair skin and well-groomed blond hair. He had enraptured everyone who made eye contact with him, anyone being captured by his amber eyes unable to break free.

“Lucy, this is Larcade Spriggan. He is the head of the Spriggan Corporation in Alvarez.”

She greeted him, holding her hand out. He brought it to his lips. “Lucy Heartfilia, it is so lovely to meet you.”

“Likewise.” A simple answer for a simple greeting. She had no interest in the conversation or in him. Her mind was wandering back to Natsu, wondering where he was and what he was doing.

He remained undeterred. “If I may be so bold, I must say that you are most enchanting, Miss Heartfilia.”

“Thank you, that’s very kind of you to say.” She quickly moved past the shallow compliment. “Are you one of my father’s business partners?”

That was when Jude cleared his throat, bringing her attention to him. “Lucy,” he motioned to Larcade, “this is your fiancé.”

The surrounding crowd of people all gasped in disbelief and excitement, hands politely clapping for the newly engaged couple.

“My…what?”

He continued, disregarding his daughter’s apparent shock. “I know, we had previously agreed to letting you choose your own husband. But with your age and your inability to connect with anyone, I decided it would be best if I moved forward on the process. And I just so happened to meet Larcade last month at a meeting and I thought between your union, our two businesses would be able to thrive.”

His words began to trickle off, gradually sounding further away despite their proximity. He was acting as if it was a completely trivial matter. This wasn’t some insignificant matter of her not being able to decide on something to eat so he took it upon himself to pick, this was her life, her happiness. And he seemed perfectly content to trample all over it without a second thought. Because it would be able to benefit him and his life.

For years, this freedom was what she held so tightly to. It was the last piece of respect she had for her father and now she didn’t even have that. The final fragment of trust snuffed out by him so easily and with no remorse. It was a deal to be made and she had become the ultimate bargaining chip. It made her sick.

They were all cheering, congratulating the “happy couple” but Lucy was unable to feel or hear anything. Suddenly the people all felt too close, it was warm and suffocating and she could barely catch her breath. She needed to get out, get away. Sweat was beading at the back of her neck as she tried to fill her lungs with air. Had it always been so hot in here?

“I…I’m sorry.” She croaked out, backing away. “I need to go.” And she left, her legs struggling to keep her upright. Some patrons tried to stop her but her father held a hand up, allowing her the privacy to take in this shock. At least he had the decency to give her that much.

Anxiety was tightening her chest, her heart racing and breath coming out in short huffs. She had no way to stop it, not when this was weighing so heavily upon her. She needed fresh air, she needed to be alone, to look at the night sky and calm herself. To get away.

The quickest way out was through the back. The guards were ready to follow her but it seems they also got the message that she needed to be left to herself. Whether from her face or her father’s orders, she didn’t know, didn’t care. As long as they didn’t follow her. No one needed to follow her. This was not something anyone could just fix.

Tears were forming in her eyes as the night air chilled her flushed skin. She shivered but welcomed it. Lucy took in a deep breath, grateful for the calming air. She admired the twinkling sky, thinking of her mother and how she wished she were here to protect her from her father’s tyranny.

As she calmed, she was able to faintly hear the music in the background. She cringed. She wanted to get further away, to no longer be able to hear their raucous laughter.

Lucy could see the gate at the end of the path straight ahead, the one that lead to an expanse of land and foliage. It was a tempting thought, to run away at this moment and never look back. But it was an endeavor that would bear her no fruit. It would be minutes before she was brought back and her father would keep her on a tighter security than ever before. She longed for an escape, to be taken along with the wind and find herself in new, unfamiliar and exciting places. A pleasant fairy tale to tell herself at night but far removed from reality come morning. It was simply not possible for someone like her.

She quickly walked down the large stone steps, deciding instead to head to the gardens. Not too far but far enough.

              She was nearly at the bottom of the steps when a familiar voice called out to her. She turned around.

“Bora?” Lucy said, hesitating.

“You left in such a rush.” His voice was smooth, practiced and devoid of any emotion. “Is everything okay?” She took a step further down but he followed.

His words conveyed thoughtfulness but their tone did not. It was taunting, as if it knew exactly what was wrong but was waiting to trap her in a lie and use it against her. She had already developed a distaste for him but there was an entirely different air around him from just minutes ago.

She squared her shoulders. “Ah, yes, I just really needed to get some air. There’s no need to worry about me, you can go back to the party.” She smiled politely and turned away.

He grabbed her arm, jerking her to face him. “Perhaps instead we could talk a bit more,” he smiled, a thinly veiled wickedness in his tone, “alone.”

Lucy’s eyes widened. This was not happening. Her mind was still reeling from what her father had just told her and now this monster was threatening her. She was terrified. But more than that she was furious. About him and his lies, her father and his. About this party and the guests and all the lies they spewed to her and everyone around her. She was absolutely livid and absolutely tired of all of it.

Angry tears burned at the corner of her eyes, refusing to be held back to matter how hard she tried.

“Let go of me.” She ground out, leveling his condescending gaze with hers of rage. The smirk on his face never faltered. It just infuriated her more.

Her hand shot out, ready to deliver a pointed slap across his smug face but he effortlessly caught her wrist.

She struggled against his hold and was ready to scream for help from somebody – anybody – when a new voice brought her thrashing to a halt.

“That’s not the proper way to treat a lady, y’know.”

“Natsu!” Relief washed over Lucy when she saw him at the top of the stairs.

Bora grimaced and looked at him, not releasing his capture. “And why exactly do you insist on interrupting our conversations?”

Natsu stuffed his hands in his pocket, his stance relaxed. “Because they don’t seem to be much of a conversation. And I don’t think you have the purest of intentions here.” He motioned his head behind him. “Otherwise there would have been no reason try and poison her earlier or take out her security back there.”

Her eyes widened. “Are they okay?”

He nodded. “Just unconscious.”

“Thank goodness.” She whispered, relieved.

Bora’s grip on her suddenly tightened. “Now really isn’t the time for you to be worrying about them. You may want to start concerning yourself with what will be happening to you.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

Just as Natsu moved to attack, another of Lucy’s guards came walking out. Seeing what was happening, he rushed forward to help Lucy but Natsu reacted quickly. He gripped his arm, twisting and pulling the man’s weight over his shoulder, slamming him to the ground and knocking him out.

He crouched down. “Sorry pal. Can’t have you getting caught up in this.” He whispered, patting the man’s chest.

Lucy’s jaw dropped. It all happened so quickly and her mind still could not properly process it. “W-why would you do that? I thought you were here to help me!” She shouted, confusion, anger and anxiety tightening her chest.

He stood back up, removing his jacket and placing it over man as if it were a blanket. “I am. But I can’t have you going back there to keep living life all peachy keen.” He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows.

Bora stiffened but Lucy ignored him, her frustration continuously mounting. “What—” she struggled to get out of Bora’s hold, “—are you even talking about? You don’t make any sense at all!” She was seething, trying to make sense of anything that was happening tonight. No matter how much she tried, how much she ran the events of the evening through her head, nothing made sense, nothing gave her peace of mind. From meeting Natsu, to meeting Bora, to dancing with Natsu, to learning of her new fiancé, to this – whatever this was. It was making her crazy. He made her crazy.

Natsu descended the steps, that amicable smile on his face – unchanging even in a situation such as this.

The silent Bora released her, backing from the advancing man. “You…you can’t be…” Gone was the confidence and degrading nature of his character. Lucy looked at him, the terror plain on his face.

Natsu’s smile remained. “So you do know who I am?”

“St-stay back!”

Lucy was stunned. Natsu was peculiar and crass, cheerful and possibly a little immature. And seeing him so easily put one of her elite guards out as if it were not even able to classified as a minor inconvenience, basically threaten to kidnap her and strike such fear into the very core of another man who apparently just did those two very things made him seem much less the goof that had teased her on the balcony or the one she spun awkwardly with on the dance floor.

She knew she did not know him. But she honestly felt that he was genuine and sincere. So why did Bora act like he was staring straight into the face of a demon?

He held his arms out in front him, a feeble attempt to keep Natsu away from him which quickly proved to be completely useless. “I-I’ll leave. You’ll never see me again, I swear!”

“Don’t worry,” Natsu tightened his fist, pulling his arm back, “I know I won’t.”

He brought his fist down on Bora’s face, sending the man to the ground. He lay there, unmoving and out cold.

Lucy would have thought he were dead from how hard Natsu hit him if it was not for the steady rise and fall of his chest. She looked at Natsu, hesitant to say anything. She considered running but she knew he would have no problem catching her – especially in these uncomfortable heels.

For the first time, she saw the tattoo on his forearm. A black dragon with its wings spread wide. Despite its simplicity, there was a unique ferocity to it.

His hand shot out, grabbing her by the wrist and taking off in a run. “We’ve gotta’ get out of here.”

“Wait, what?” She said between breaths, cursing her shoes and how out of shape she actually is, “Why?”

“Because it’s not safe for you to be here.” He said simply, as if that provided any actual information for why she could not go back home. He expected her to just take his word for it?

“You’re not going to say something ridiculous like ‘come with me if you want to live’ are you?” She deadpanned, not sure how she felt about his actions.

“No but yes,” he stopped, turning to her and bringing his face close to hers. His eyes were firm, imploring her to listen. “You are at the middle of something big. And you can either lie down and accept your fate or you can come with me and you can fight it.”

Lucy’s breath lodged in her throat. His words were heavy on her mind and she was in complete disbelief. Lucy, who spent her life being pampered and groomed to be the ideal heiress and bride, who had virtually no experience of the world outside that of her comfortable mansion, was supposedly the heart of a conspiracy that was growing in her own backyard. It was just too unbelievable. But everything that just happened was too so she could not write it off just yet.

“How do I know I can trust you?” She whispered, unable to bring any other thought to her voice.

“You don’t. But right now, I’m the best chance you’ve got.”

She looked over her shoulder at the only home she ever knew. It was a quick realization that she felt nothing towards it, having every reason to return to it while simultaneously having none. Her home had not felt like one for a long time, just an ornate dwelling that was used to keep her caged and sheltered. She found her best memories above, not grounded like she had spent all of her life being.

Now she was here, finally being offered a chance at freedom from a life that demanded complete submission that she never wanted to give but had no choice.

It was her time to choose, to decide for herself what the best route to take was, to decide for herself her own life.

Closing her eyes, she looked up, inhaling deeply and letting the crisp air of the night envelop her. She could always find her answers here, wrapped in this pure feeling beneath the stars. Releasing her breath, she turned back to Natsu, her voice carrying a resolution she didn’t know she had within her. “Alright.”

He grinned, pulling her behind him once again. “Then let’s go!”

[mikeswheeler]

I was tagged by the lovely @finnxwheeler​ and @jewishstanuris​ ♡

Okay so answer the questions and then tag 8 people!

What made you sign up to Tumblr? HOOO BOI well i’ve been on this site for,,, a long time lmao i signed up with my first account aka my main, personal one in around early 2011 ??? and it was honestly just bc i wanted to see what this site was all about bc i kept hearing ppl talk about it on other sites and reference it and i was like ???? what is Tumblr anyways ?? (like it was all bc of that “What is air?” stuff that was happening and i was so confused bc i was like why is everyone asking about air and then my older brother was like oh it’s a Tumblr thing so i was like what’s that and well,, the rest is history)

What did your blog start off as being? WELL my first account was basically cringe-central, like this was in 2011 so my content was basically Memes and Tumblr-esque inspirational quotes and cheesy, basic lookin’ photography (i was also really into anime and Harry Potter at the time so that was another thing) (oh and for some reason i had a Lolita phase where i was super into that style of fashion) (i was a weeb as a child)

Have you ever received any creepy asks, and if so, what did they say? Ehhhhhh,,, kind of ??? like i’ve definitely gotten a couple that i either wanted to deflect or i just kind of conveniently deleted it from my inbox and pretended it never happened lmao 

Have you ever had a bad experience on Tumblr? All the pornbots like it’S SO ANNOYING ??? AND GROSS ?? it’s especially apparent on my personal blog idk why but i have to block so many at a time smh 

If you had to pick a favourite English monarch, who would you pick? This is like a question i’ve never had to think about so I’m not really sure what to answer... 

Do you prefer hot or cold? COLD COLD COLD i’m also in California though so our cold isn’t like...... unbearable ya know ??? but i can’t stand being super hot and sweaty, it’s so uncomfortable !!! 

Do you have a special skill or talent? UHM I GUESS ACTING ????????? idk i kinda don’t wanna say that bc that’s implying i’m like ‘good’ at or whatever, but i have been in multiple plays/musicals before and even gotten an award for one of my roles so i guess that counts for something !!! 

Do you have a phobia of anything? Tight spaces, spiders (or just bugs in general), the dark, heights, anything medical related so blood and needles and hospitals and what not, aliens/the paranormal/supernatural (it’s not such a wild concept ok like it’s all totally plausible)... uHM yah i’m a big baby about a lot of things 

If you had to pick a favourite real life villain from history, who would you pick? Again, never had to consider this question before in my life so i’m not really sure !!!

Do you have any dark traits?

There are times where i’m pretty withdrawn and moody and easily irritated 

If you could do anything, literally anything, like fly on a unicorn or something, what would it be? 

Is it weird if it’d be something like,,, be cast on Stranger Things ??? like i think i fantasize about being on that show ten times a day, i just...... i really wanna be on Stranger Things gOD IMAGINE HOW AMAZING THAT WOULD BE 

What is the scale of the worst argument you’ve ever had? Slamming doors, raised voices, lots of crying...... fun times !!!

What is your favourite slush flavour? Not really into slushies tbh 

If you could bring back any food or drink from your childhood that has been discontinued, what would it be? DUNKAROOS ????? i feel like any snack from the 90s tho like we just don’t have anything as fun as what we had back then 

What is your favourite and most vivid childhood memory? Nothing specific but i remember playing outdoors with my siblings A LOT like we had a pretty big backyard so we’d constantly be out there, being imaginative and coming up with fake scenarios and acting them out, or like playing with the hose in the summertime or THE POOL omg we had this pool and we’d be in it so much...... also video game battles with my older brother ! my childhood was kinda shitty but at least i have those moments to reflect back on 

If you could bring anyone back from the dead who would it be? My first theatre teacher from high school... he passed away due to cancer around my sophomore year... he was really inspiring to me, i mean he’s kinda the reason why i stuck with that class and didn’t totally give up (thus resulting in me finding out that i love acting and that’s what i wanted to do with my life) 

If you could go back to any time period and live there for a week, which period would it be and why? GIVE ME THE 80′S OH MY GOD my mom grew up in the 80′s as a teenager so i always hear all the stories from her about what it was like and it seemed like ??? so cool ?? especially if you were a teen like what a dream ! give me my 80′s teen movie memories !!!

If you could visit any abandoned place to take pictures, where would it be?

Wow, this is actually a good question....... maybe like a retro arcade or art museum or amusement park ???? i feel like those could make for some Neat Photos (the aesthetic tho)

Do you have any particular, peculiar interests? Hmmmmm psychology interests me ?? i took a psychology class my junior year of high school and it was really fascinating, learning about human behavior and those stories of old psychology experiments (so Wild too like damn, i can’t believe they got away with so much shit back then)

Do you have a creepy/scary experience that has happened to you, and what was it? Not necessarily to me personally like, i’ve heard things before but idk to what extent that could mean so i never really looked Too Much into it bUT UHM i know my family has, especially in my childhood home (that place was straight up haunted like i swear) ALTHOUGHHHHH one night my mom was talking to us about something she saw in her room and all of a sudden a bunch of weird shit started going on in our apartment like our printer kept turning on and off and noises came from the kitchen like a cabinet shutting and things like that IT WAS CREEPY OK 

Do you like/read creepypasta stories? If so, what’s your favourite story? Don’t really have a favorite, but i have read creepypasta stories in the past before - they’re pretty intriguing ! (i’m a total wuss tho!!!! which is why i don’t read enough to have a personal favorite)

If you were in the Wars of the Roses, would you be a Lancastrian, or a Yorkist? Haven’t given this any thought before to decide so I DON’T KNOW !

What is your recurring nightmare? Don’t really have any ????? 

Have you ever had a lucid dream? Nah, because the moment i become aware i’m dreaming and i can do whatever i want, i wake up !!! it’s so frustrating lmao 

If you could go to another planet, which would it be? UHM i just really like the way Saturn looks lmao also Venus bc it sounds Nice but in terms of living conditions, i’m sure none of those are suitable  

What is your religion, if any? Don’t really have one !!!! (in the sense of actively practicing) although my mom is Jewish so i have always felt the most connected to that one 

Have you ever got so drunk, that you did something really embarrassing, and if so, what did you do? i’ve never gotten drunk before so lmao 

Mike, Dustin, Lucas, or Will? THIS IS ???? NOT FAIR ??? THEY’RE ALL MY SONS HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME CHOOSE JUST ONE but fine, i pick Mike just bc i feel the most related to him in the sense of personality traits 

Do you like Marina and the Diamonds? SURE ??? she’s got some good stuff 

Charli XCX? YAH SURE WHY NOT i like some of her stuff !!

Tag a blog that you’ve seen, and you love their posts, but have never told them, and would like to talk to them. @miliebobbybrown HER EDITS ARE ALWAYS SO ??? GOOD ???? her whole blog is total #goals just bc of how Nice everything is like wow i am,,, Intimidated but in the best way possible

Pick one thing you like/love from the 80s. The pop culture :^) (movies, music, fashion...... like wow, i just love it all so much)

What year were you born, and name something cool from that year. 1998 and Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets was published 

What was your blog name originally? (If you had another blog name) This one was originally lifeisdefinitelystrange (rip) 

Do you follow any blogs that you know the user in real life? KIND OF ?? I JUST MET @telekineticeggos FOR THE FIRST TIME IN REAL LIFE LAST NIGHT SO LMAO but we’re also planning on doing more things together in real life in the next few months so YEET 

If you are in the ST fandom, which is your favourite song off the ST soundtrack? Africa by Toto (duh), Atmosphere by Joy Division, Heroes by Peter Gabriel, and When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die by Moby (those last two songs were too emotionally impacting to not name) and from the score itself i LOVE KIDS THAT ONE IS SO GOOD TO ME LMAO but tbh i love the entire score and soundtrack ???? it’s so hard to pick just One Favorite

Finally, give your opinion on the person who tagged you! @finnxwheeler - YOUR WRITING NEVER FAILS TO AMAZE ME WOW ??? i’m always in tears over how flawless your fics are like Whiskey and Broken Hearts destroyed me my dude like oh my goddddd i love your characterization of Mike and Will in all your fics :’) one of my favorite byeler blogs ♡ (also you’re super cool in general like wow what a Neat Person)

@jewishstanuris - I LOVE TALKING TO YOU !!! you’re so nice to me and understanding when i take ten years to reply LMAO also your writing is also super good ??? you should do it more often tbh like i swear you don’t do it enough bc i remember only seeing a few things written by you on here in the fandom buT LIKE THEY WERE SO GOOD AND LIKE ???? DO MORE OF THAT MAYBE ??? another rlly good blog apart of the byeler ship ♡ :’) 

OK SO I’M GONNA TAG THESE GOOFS - @telekineticeggos, @dadharbour, @baileytsample, @elevenknope, @nessa007, @theamiableanachronism, @eggo-my-leggo, and @ghost-grantaire ♡ (obviously you don’t have to do it if you’re not interested or if you’ve done it already!)