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thenugking · 3 years

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Hi, same asker of the antihero ask. Sorry if I keep questioning you about the game but apparently you are the only person in the internet who has expertise on it svsgdgd. So if I can screw over the School Head how do I do it? By telling the supervisors to close the academy? Or can I take it over? The intro of the game talked about the character being able to wrestle command of the clone army from their mother and I toght *that* could be a way to get revenge on everyone but I can't find HOW I'm supposed to control them. I tried being mother assistant and nemesis and leaving her trapped in the sphores and nothing works. Sorry again for bombarding you with questions and thank you for taking the time to answer the previous ask! (Maybe you should take the School Head place so I can stab him shdgdgdh)

Oh, don't apologise for giving me opportunities to go on about my special interest!! I should be thanking you for that afsdfasasdh!! (thank you very much, seriously.)

Also, I'm so sorry, I misremembered the, "I spit defiance," option with the auditors as getting the Academy closed, but yeah, checking now it's.... not actually that. I apologise that I actually do Not have expertise here; I'm way more used to trying to keep the Academy going. Your actual options are actually only to either get the Academy renewed accreditation (invite them to reconsider their decision) or independence (spit defiance). I assume this is so a third game doesn't have to basically retcon the ending of the last one again, but is kind of disappointing (especially since there's unlikely to be a third game, after the discontent with the second).

On the other hand, both endings imply you come ouf of this with a lot more power and influence, and accreditation at least hints that you might kind of be in control here now, so there's at least plenty of room to headcanon bringing down the school/bringing back the anti-heroes. (If you have Phil there, it's also possible to join the Board yourself, which could be useful for that. I'd have to check exactly which path gets that, though, and I'm not sure you can do that and use the clones.)

Using the clones is an option for both "invite them to reconsider their decision" and "spit defiance", and you should be able to do so if Maedryn's your nemesis? (Or if your relationship with her is over 65 or under 30.) It's only not an option if you demand a destiny, which I'd advise against, since that just leads to Maedryn taking over (and shooting Phil) more than you taking over. You also don't actually need to pick it to get a destiny, that's decided by narrative weight.

But yeah, sorry I was wrong earlier and that the best I can suggest is "it's easy to headcanon cool things happening rather than the game actually providing them" but I hope this helps?? The taking over the clones is at least very fun, and the School Head seems to be very much not coming out of the administrative building again.

#grand academy for future villains #asks about gaffv #asks post #anonymous #choice of games #grand academy ii attack of the sequel #i think i've only played the sequel once with caz twice with scorps and then the rest of the times with three #and three Very Much Wants accreditation so i rlly dont have much experience playing the other paths whoops #just a lot of lurking in the game's text files

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interact-if · 2 years

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Hi! Do u have any recs on MC where they can be evil/the villain?

[ID: An Anonymous asked written: “Hiya! I was wondering if you know any IFs in which MC is the villain? Thanks:)” /end ID]

Hi Anons,

Here are some IFs which would fit your request.

Completed:

Diabolical by Nick Aires

Grand Academy for Future Villains by Katherine Nehring

Grand Academy II: Attack of the Sequel [Steam] [Android] by Katherine Nehring

With demos:

Anachron by @anachron-if

Ballad of the Judgment Night by @nikkefort-dev

Blood Money by @hpowellsmith

Morning Star by @nacregames (MC is Lucifer)

Off Script by @offscriptif

Regrets of The Traitor by @rotten-games

Swallow The Moon by @dipmyquillinmoonlight

The Bastard of Camelot by @llamagirl28

The Exile (kind of; MC did something horrible and was exiled as a result) by @exilegame

The Numbers Game by @thenumbersgameif

Zorlok by @gamesbyalbie (MC is a demon with the choice to be a villain)

#interact if asks #if: rec list #villain characters #villains

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animationforce · 6 years

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Searching for your new favorite anime? Animation Force contributing writer Austin is back with his picks for the 2019 Winter Anime Season (continued below the cut).

Mob Psycho Season II

Source: Manga

Studio: Bones — Bones is a rightfully legendary studio and listing all their classics would keep us here all day. However, a small sample is worth recounting; they were responsible for both “Fullmetal Alchemist” adaptations, “My Hero Academia,” “Mob Psycho 100,” “Noragami” and “Ouran High School Host Club.”

Director: Yuzuru Tachikawa — Tachikawa entered the anime industry in 2006 and has since worked on big projects, directing “Mob Psycho,” “Death Billiards” and “Death Parade.” He has also directed episodes of shows such as “Kill la Kill,” “Steins;Gate,” “Bleach” and “Attack on Titan.”

Genre: Action, Comedy, Supernatural

Premise: Mob is an eighth grader with extraordinary psychic powers. He works for a fake psychic named Reigen who mentors Mob and uses him to solve supernatural cases. Mob’s brother has recently developed strong psychic powers of his own. All these characters come together to form a high tempo fast paced comedy.

Recommendation: Must watch, provided you’ve seen the original

The Promised Neverland

Source: Manga

Studio: Cloverworks — Cloverworks is a relative newcomer to the anime scene but are already making a splash. Recently they’ve directed “Rascal does not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai,” “Slow Start” and the “Persona 5” adaptation, as well directing parts of “Darling in the Franxx” and the final season of “Fairy Tale.”

Director: Mamoru Kanbe — Unlike Cloverworks, Kanbe is a veteran of the anime scene. He has worked on numerous famous projects: among them, “Elfen Lied,” “Cardcaptor Sakura" and “So Ra No Wa To.”

Genre: Mystery, Psychological, Supernatural

Premise: A group of orphans are given an ideal world with all their needs provided for them. But this is only a ruse; they are actually being raised as little more than livestock to be eaten by demonic creatures. After finding this out they only have a few months to escape.

Kaguya-Sama

Source: Manga- Kaguya-Sama is one of the most popular currently ongoing manga, sitting in the top 50 all-time manga on MyAnimeList.

Studio: A-1 Pictures — Much like Bones, the great works of A-1 would be much too long a list. However, a sample of some of my favorites that they have done are “Anohana,” “Wotaku,” “Erased,” “Silver Spoon” and “Servant x Service.” They excel at romance anime, in my experience.

Director: Shinichi Omata — Omata has a relatively small amount of work under his belt, which might be a cause for concern. His most famous credit is work on “Madoka Magica.”

Genre: Romance, Psychological, Comedy

Premise: Two top students have fallen in love with each other but there’s only one problem: neither is willing to confess that to the other. The show details the battle between the two students to make the other confess to them and become the submissive partner in their relationship.

Boogiepop Doesn’t Laugh

Source: Light Novel — Light novels have gained a bit of a reputation in recent years for being low quality cash grabs, but Boogiepop was made before that was a trend and is a high-quality source.

Studio: Madhouse — Madhouse is another titan of the animation industry. They have put their work into such greats as “Cardcaptor Sakura,” “Monster,” “Paranoia Agent,” “Death Note” and “Death Parade.”

Director: Shingo Natsume — Natsume has worked on numerous large projects, directing “One Punch Man” and doing key visuals on “Gurren Lagann” and “Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.”

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Psychological

Premise: There is a legend of a Shinigami (Japanese death demon) that can give death to suffering people, whose name is Boogiepop. The story follows a rash of disappearances at Shinyo Academy. Is Boogiepop to blame, or is something more sinister happening?

Recommendation: Watch unless horror/the premise is a turnoff for you.

Dororo

Source: Manga

Studio: Mappa — Mappa is a relative newcomer to the animation industry, having come up in 2012. But their quality is not in doubt; they have produced modern greats, such as “Kids on the Slope,” “Yuri on Ice,” “Banana Fish” and “Zombieland Saga.”

Director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi – Furuhashi directing this project is excellent news; he’s been the director of numerous extremely high-quality projects. He has been in the director’s chair for such projects as Hunter x Hunter, Gundam Unicorn, Mononoke, and Getbackers.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Premise: A greedy feudal lord sold his unborn son’s body parts to demons in exchange for power. When the son was born he was horrifically deformed and his father threw him into the river. The baby was rescued by a doctor who gave him prosthetics and trained him to hunt the demons and reclaim his body parts. Now he’s joined by Dororo, a young thief boy as he takes his journey of vengeance.

Recommendation: Combining a good studio with a great director and a classic manga, this project is the one I am most excited for after “Mob Psycho” and my early prediction for Anime of the Season.

Revisions

Source: Anime Original

Studio: Shirogumi — Shirogumi is a newcomer to the anime industry and doesn’t have any really recognizable projects under their belt. I hope this will be a first.

Director: Gorou Taniguchi — Taniguchi has extensive experience with sci-fi anime, having directed or storyboarded numerous entries in the “Code Geass” and “Gundam” series as well as directing “Planetes.”

Genre: Action, Sci-fi, Mecha

Premise: High school students are transported 300 years into the future and are forced to fight monsters in mechs known as doll weapons.

Recommendation: It’s CGI so it’s hard to say if the animation quality will be up to everyone’s standards, but if the premise and crew excites you, feel free to join me on this journey.

Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue.

Source: Manga

Studio: Zero-G — Zero-g is another newer studio, having first released anime in 2016. Their most famous work is 2018’s “Grand Blue.”

Director: Kaoru Suzuki — Suzuki is something of an unknown quality as far as directing projects goes. He’s been in the industry for some time, but he has mostly done storyboarding work.

Genre: Slice of life, Comedy

Premise: Atame no Ue is a story about a writer who adopts a cat hoping to find inspiration for his novels in him.

Recommendation: This one is hard to recommend because both the director and studio are relative unknown qualities. However; if you, like me, are a fan of cozy, slice-of-life shows like Tada-Kun, this may be your best bet in that genre for the season. I have high hopes that this will be a nice breather compared to all the other fast paced action I’ll be watching this season.

Best recommended to fans of the genre who want something wholesome and funny.

Quick looks!

This category is for anime that I won’t personally be watching, but others should still take note of.

The Rising of the Shield Hero

This semi-dark isekai features an Otaku drawn into another world then branded a worthless and weak hero and soon labeled a criminal. Fans of other Isekai such as “No Game No Life,” “Overlord,” “The Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime,” “Log Horizon,” “Re:Zero” and of course “Sword Art Online” may find something to watch here.

Kakegurui

This anime is a sequel, so if you haven’t seen the first season, look that up. But the basic premise is students at an elite school for the privileged take part in dangerous gambling at night to cure their overwhelming ennui.

Endro!

This looks like the premiere example next season of a genre I like to call “cute girls doing cute things.” This time the “cute girls” are demon-slaying heroes, and the “cute thing” is mostly avoiding slaying any demons. If things like “K-On. Yuru Camp” and “Little Witch Academia” are in your wheelhouse, this may be the anime for you.

Domestic Girlfriend

This seems a bit lewd for my tastes, but others may approve. The protagonist is in love with his high school teacher and sleeps with a girl who turns out to be her little sister. Both of these women later become his stepsisters and he has to choose to pursue a romance with one, both or neither of them.

The Quintessential Quintuplets

Simply put, this is a harem anime about quintuplets. It’s not my preferred genre by a wide margin, but the manga it is taken from is quite popular, so I would be remiss not to include it. It is supposedly also a comedy.

#anime #winter anime #anime 2019 #anime preview #mob psycho 100 #mob psycho season 2 #the promised neverland #kaguya sama: love is war #boogiepop wa warawanai #dororo #revisions anime #Doukyonin wa Hiza Tokidoki Atama no Ue #the rising of the shield hero #domestic girlfriend #endro!#the quintessential quintuplets #kakegurui #austin #contributing writer

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brookstonalmanac · 3 years

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Events 7.4

362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans. 414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclaimed herself empress (Augusta) of the Eastern Roman Empire. 836 – Pactum Sicardi, a peace treaty between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples, is signed. 993 – Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized as a saint. 1054 – A supernova, called SN 1054, is seen by Chinese Song dynasty, Arab, and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula. 1120 – Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew's death. 1187 – The Crusades: Battle of Hattin: Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem. 1253 – Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre. 1359 – Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz. 1456 – Ottoman–Hungarian wars: The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) begins. 1534 – Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye. 1584 – Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe arrive at Roanoke Island 1610 – The Battle of Klushino is fought between forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish–Muscovite War. 1634 – The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (now Quebec, Canada). 1744 – The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iroquois cede lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 1774 – Orangetown Resolutions are adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts. 1776 – American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress. 1778 – American Revolutionary War: U.S. forces under George Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign. 1802 – At West Point, New York, the United States Military Academy opens. 1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people. 1817 – In Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins. 1826 – John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, respectively the second and third presidents of the United States, die the same day, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence. Adams' last words were, "Thomas Jefferson survives." 1827 – Slavery is abolished in the State of New York. 1831 – Samuel Francis Smith writes "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities. 1832 – John Neal delivers the first public lecture in the US to advocate the rights of women. 1837 – Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool. 1838 – The Iowa Territory is organized. 1845 – Henry David Thoreau moves into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau's account of his two years there, Walden, will become a touchstone of the environmental movement. 1855 – The first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published in Brooklyn. 1862 – Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels. 1863 – American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg: Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to U.S. forces under Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege. 1863 – American Civil War: Union forces repulse a Confederate army at the Battle of Helena in Arkansas. The Confederate loss fails to relieve pressure on the besieged city of Vicksburg, and paves the way for the Union to capture Little Rock. 1863 – American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia withdraws from the battlefield after losing the Battle of Gettysburg, signalling an end to the Confederate invasion of U.S. territory. 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: The Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British troops and burned to the ground, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee. 1881 – In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens. 1886 – The Canadian Pacific Railway's first scheduled train from Montreal arrives in Port Moody on the Pacific coast, after six days of travel. 1887 – The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi. 1892 – Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a year with 367 days. 1894 – The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole. 1898 – En route from New York to Le Havre, the SS La Bourgogne collides with another ship and sinks off the coast of Sable Island, with the loss of 549 lives. 1901 – William Howard Taft becomes American governor of the Philippines. 1903 – The Philippine–American War is officially concluded. 1910 – The Johnson–Jeffries riots occur after African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in the 15th round. Between 11 and 26 people are killed and hundreds more injured. 1911 – A massive heat wave strikes the northeastern United States, killing 380 people in eleven days and breaking temperature records in several cities. 1913 – President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913. 1914 – The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie takes place in Vienna, six days after their assassinations in Sarajevo. 1918 – Mehmed V died at the age of 73 and Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne. 1918 – World War I: The Battle of Hamel, a successful attack by the Australian Corps against German positions near the town of Le Hamel on the Western Front. 1918 – Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date). 1927 – First flight of the Lockheed Vega. 1939 – Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, informs a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth", then announces his retirement from major league baseball. 1941 – Nazi crimes against the Polish nation: Nazi troops massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Ukrainian city of Lviv. 1941 – World War II: The Burning of the Riga synagogues: The Great Choral Synagogue in German-occupied Riga is burnt with 300 Jews locked in the basement. 1942 – World War II: The 250-day Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea ends when the city falls to Axis forces. 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka. 1943 – World War II: In Gibraltar, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives. 1946 – The Kielce pogrom against Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland. 1946 – After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States. 1947 – The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before the British House of Commons, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and Pakistan. 1950 – Cold War: Radio Free Europe first broadcasts. 1951 – Cold War: A court in Czechoslovakia sentences American journalist William N. Oatis to ten years in prison on charges of espionage. 1951 – William Shockley announces the invention of the junction transistor. 1954 – Rationing ends in the United Kingdom. 1960 – Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Acts (United States)). 1961 – On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-19 suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years. 1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year. 1976 – Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists. 1976 – The U.S. celebrates its Bicentennial. 1977 – The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit. 1982 – Three Iranian diplomats and a journalist are kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces, and their fate remains unknown. 1987 – In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (a.k.a. the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. 1994 – Rwandan genocide: Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending the genocide in the city. 1997 – NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars. 1998 – Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation. 2001 – Vladivostock Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Airport killing all 145 people on board. 2002 – A Boeing 707 crashes near Bangui M'Poko International Airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, killing 28. 2004 – The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City. 2004 – Greece beats Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final and becomes European Champion for first time in its history. 2005 – The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1. 2006 – Space Shuttle program: Discovery launches STS-121 to the International Space Station. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program's history to occur on the United States' Independence Day. 2009 – The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks. 2009 – The first of four days of bombings begins on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao. 2012 – The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN. 2015 – Chile claims its first title in international football by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América Final.

#Events

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bbcbreakingnews · 4 years

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Japanese actor Haruma Miura dead at 30: Kimi Ni Todoke star passes away in suspected suicide

Japanese actor Haruma Miura has died aged 30 in a suspected suicide.

The star, who was known for films like Attack On Titan and Kimi Ni Todoke, was found unresponsive at his home in the Minato ward of Tokyo on Saturday afternoon, NHK News has revealed.

It was reported that his manager found Miura when he came to his home to check on him when he did not show up for work.

Tragic: Japanese actor Haruma Miura has died aged 30 in a suspected suicide, news reports revealed on Saturday

News sources claimed he was rushed to hospital after being found, but was declared dead upon arrival.

It was also reported that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police are currently investigating his death, but believe his cause of death to be suicide.

Miura made his debut in the Japanese film industry at the age of seven after he appeared in NHK drama Agri in 1997.

As a student he formed the band Brash Brats with his fellow classmates, but the group announced their hiatus in 2005.

RIP: The star, who was known for films like Kimi Ni Todoke (pictured) was found unresponsive at his home in Tokyo and was pronounced dead after being rushed to hospital

First star: Miura (pictured with Attack On Titan star Kiko Mizuhara) made his debut in the Japanese film industry at the age of seven in 1997 NHK drama Agri

The actor, who hails from the Ibaraki prefecture, went on to appear in several dramas and films after he joined Amuse Inc, one of Japan’s biggest talent agencies.

He began to gain recognition soon after and earned the Sponichi Grand Prix Newcomer Award at the Mainichi Film Awards in 2009 for his role in Naoko, which also earned him the newcomer award at the 31st Japan Academy Awards.

Miura went on to star in several Japanese TV dramas, being cast in supporting roles in Binbō Danshi and Gokusen before being cast as the lead in Bloody Monday opposite Takeru Satoh.

Rising star: The actor went on to appear in several dramas and films after he joined Amuse Inc, one of Japan’s biggest talent agencies, including TV drama Bloody Monday and Crows Zero II

Big break: Continuing to grow in popularity, the actor landed the lead role in the live-action adaptation of manga Kimi Ni Todoke (pictured with co-star Mikako Tabe) in 2010

In 2009, Miura starred opposite Shun Oguri in Crows Zero II, the highly anticipated sequel to the hugely popular action flick Crows Zero.

Continuing to grow in popularity, the actor landed the lead role in the live-action adaptation of manga Kimi Ni Todoke, which saw him play popular boy Kazehaya who falls in love with outcast Sawako.

Miura also took the title role of Eren in the two-part live-action adaptation of Attack On Titan, which he appeared in alongside Kiko Mizuhara and Hiroki Hasegawa.

Love interest: The film saw him play popular boy Kazehaya (pictured in the role) who falls in love with outcast Sawako (played by Tabe)

Popular series: Miura also took the title role of Eren in the two-part live-action adaptation of Attack On Titan, which he appeared in alongside Kiko Mizuhara (R) and Hiroki Hasegawa

The actor posted his final Instagram post three days before his death, in which he encouraged fans to watch his next drama Love Will Begin When Money End which is set to air in September.

He will appear posthumously in Brave: Gunjyo Senki, which he finished filming in January 2020, and will be released in 2021.

If you have been affected by this story, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org.

For confidential support call National Suicide Prevention Line, 1-800-273-8255

Last message: Miura posted his final Instagram post three days before his death, in which he encouraged fans to watch his drama Love Will Begin When Money End which airs in September

The post Japanese actor Haruma Miura dead at 30: Kimi Ni Todoke star passes away in suspected suicide appeared first on BBC BREAKING NEWS.

from WordPress https://bbcbreakingnews.com/japanese-actor-haruma-miura-dead-at-30-kimi-ni-todoke-star-passes-away-in-suspected-suicide/

#AUSTRALIA

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newstwitter-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on News Twitter

New Post has been published on http://www.news-twitter.com/2017/01/30/la-times-sundance-racial-divisions-political-upheaval-and-a-gay-love-story-take-the-spotlight-17/

La Times: Sundance: Racial divisions, political upheaval and a gay love story take the spotlight

By the time the Sundance Film Festival came to a close Saturday night, it was clear that there had been no 2017 equivalent of “The Birth of a Nation” at the festival this year — no cinematic sensation that swooped in from nowhere to dominate the prizes, score the biggest acquisition deal and promise the industry a badly needed diversity makeover. (Happily, this year’s Academy Award nominations have spared us a three-quel to #OscarsSoWhite.)

If anything, a certain amount of caution could be detected on the part of distributors, journalists and even filmmakers, as though everyone in attendance were trying to avoid the trap of self-importance in a year when real-world matters — from President Trump’s inauguration and the women’s march to reports of a cyber attack on the festival — provided more than their fair share of off-screen drama.

Which is not to suggest that the films unveiled over 10 days in Park City, Utah, were somehow disappointing, or not up to the challenge of speaking to our politically fraught moment. Far from it. There were, as usual, movies about fractious racial divisions, including “Mudbound,” Dee Rees’ symphonic, superbly acted drama about two Mississippi families — one white, one black — struggling to survive in the shadow of World War II.

Less widely seen, although it won the audience award in the festival’s Next sidebar (devoted to innovative, low-budget work), was Justin Chon’s “Gook,” a raucous, bittersweet comedy set during the Los Angeles riots in April 1992. Shot in black-and-white, the movie both explores and sneakily subverts the fractious relations between Korean and African Americans during that tumultuous chapter.

Even apart from the confrontationally titled likes of “Trumped: Inside the Greatest Political Upset of All Time,” many of the films on offer could scarcely help engaging directly with the election and its consequences, to a surprising and mostly heartening degree.

Few of us who filed into the first screening of “Beatriz at Dinner” — director Miguel Arteta and screenwriter Mike White’s elegant, squirm-inducing dark comedy about a Mexican-born masseuse (Salma Hayek) clashing with an obscenely wealthy real-estate mogul (John Lithgow) — expected to find ourselves face-to-face with the first cinematic allegory of the Trump era. What seems at first like a too-easy skewering of racial and class divisions soon veers into richly unsettling dramatic territory, anchored by perhaps the finest, most controlled performance of Hayek’s career.

If “Beatriz at Dinner” felt so eerily timely that it might well have gone into production on Nov. 9, a number of documentaries proved no less accommodating of extremely recent headlines. “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” a stirring follow-up to “An Inconvenient Truth” (2006) from directors Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, follows Al Gore on his latest rousing crusade against climate change, then builds to a forlorn postelection shot of the former vice president vanishing into an elevator in Trump Tower.

“Nobody Speak: Trials of a Free Press,” Brian Knappenberger’s account of the legal battle between Gawker and Hulk Hogan, and how the interference of billionaires like Peter Thiel might jeopardize the 1st Amendment going forward, received its first public screening on Tuesday, which gave the filmmakers just enough time to squeeze in footage from Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

It was hard to watch Bryan Fogel’s entertaining Russian-doping Olympics exposé, “Icarus” — which drew the meaningfully titled “Orwell Award” from the U.S. documentary jury — without thinking about Vladimir Putin’s other alleged behind-the-scenes manipulations on a different international stage. Similarly, it was difficult to see Jonathan Olshefski’s deeply moving, years-in-the-making documentary “Quest,” about the everyday travails of a black family living in north Philadelphia, and not share his subjects’ indignation when they hear news of Trump’s birther conspiracy — a reminder of just how significant and symbolic a victory the Obama presidency remains for so many minorities in this country.

Meanwhile, over in the U.S. dramatic competition, the grand jury prize went to a violent dark comedy whose title, “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore,” seemed to capture the political mood. But this Netflix original production, skillfully written and directed by Macon Blair, wasn’t especially political — or maybe it was, given that it focuses on a woman (the terrific Melanie Lynskey) who slowly but surely seizes control of her life, reminding the people around her that every mean, mindless action has a consequence.

Blair’s movie was scarcely the only Sundance title about a woman, or group of women, rebelling against a repressive order. The highlight of the dramatic competition, for me, was “Novitiate,” a revealing portrait of life among aspiring nuns in a 1960s convent, which earned filmmaker Maggie Betts a breakthrough director prize from the jury. Splendidly acted by an almost all-female ensemble, the film features particularly standout performances by Margaret Qualley as a sensitive young postulant, and by Melissa Leo as the convent’s not-unsympathetic Gorgon of a Reverend Mother.

Another dramatic competition entry bolstered by an actress’ superb lead turn was “Roxanne Roxanne,” Michael Larnell’s rickety but heartfelt film about the straight-out-of-Queens hip-hop legend Roxanne Shanté (Chanté Adams, who won the jury’s breakthrough performance prize). “Roxanne Roxanne” would make a fine double bill with another competition title, “Patti Cake$,” Geremy Jasper’s exultant, energetic fiction about a young New Jersey rapper (the sensational Danielle Macdonald), which became one of the festival’s big hits and was acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures for $10.5 million.

The theme of female empowerment extended to the World Cinema dramatic competition, where one of the standouts was Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross’ “My Happy Family,” a beautifully crafted drama about a middle-aged Georgian woman (Ia Shugliashvili, in a remarkable big-screen debut) who makes the simple, radical decision to find her own apartment after spending years under the same roof with her husband, children and parents.

Set to screen next in February at the Berlin Film Festival, “My Happy Family” was a reminder that not every excellent film emerges from a festival with an award under its belt. Many of them, like Michael Showalter’s terrific cross-cultural, cross-generational dramedy “The Big Sick,” starring and co-written by Kumail Nanjiani (“Silicon Valley”), are not even awards-eligible at Sundance, where the competitions consist of mostly first- and second-time filmmakers. Nevertheless, “The Big Sick” got the prize it wanted: a $12-million acquisition by Amazon Studios, in one of the festival’s richest deals.

Also ineligible for Sundance awards — though its distributor, Sony Pictures Classics, is surely hoping for prizes later in the year — was “Call Me by Your Name,” Luca Guadagnino’s gay love story about the slowly growing attraction between a precocious 17-year-old (Timothée Chalamet) and his family’s academic houseguest (Armie Hammer). This was the best movie I saw at Sundance 2017, for its ravishing filmmaking as well as its piercing wisdom about the evanescence of first love. Its sun-drenched northern Italian setting couldn’t have been farther away from Park City, but “Call Me by Your Name” nonetheless captured the enduring spirit of Sundance: aesthetically bold, emotionally complex and, in ways that don’t immediately announce themselves, political to the bone.

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thenugking · 4 years

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Grand Academy For Future Villains II: Attack of the Sequel, Chapter 0: Prologue. A commentary for Three.

Like Maedryn in this chapter, I am also back on my bullshit.

General CW for the whole thing: parental abuse, internalised dehumanisation as a trauma response. Three’s not doing well. They’re doing worse than usual in this specific chapter.

Game 1

Alternatively, read on Google Docs here

***

That would explain the swarms of clones, you think dimly through the haze of the flashback, but not why they're me….

No. You hadn't been a mindless copy at all. You had been disappointingly independent, an individual in your own right, so instead of simply recycling you as perhaps she should have, Maedryn had raised you like her own child. Of course, you were still intended as a tool to carry out her grand designs; what kind of villain would she have been if she had simply loved and cherished you?

Professor Cerebrist had wanted your mother's replication technology for himself. When you, the living prototype of your mother's early research, showed up in his freshman Evil Genius 101 class, he saw his opportunity. In your first year at the Academy, you found yourself as the battleground in the war between your mother and her mentor. Even though it never came down to a fight between you, your loyalties were tested.

In the chaos of the battle between the rebel faculty, the attacking heroes, and the beleaguered Grand Academy administration, you'd called on your mother for help, and she'd come through. She'd defeated the Professor and taken his place.

Clearly your mother has finally perfected her replication technology and taken the place of her former mentor. But if she already has everything she wanted…why has she unleashed swarms of mindless yous upon the Academy?

It’s… not a great start to Three’s sophomore year. They weren’t looking forward to having their mother on campus in the first place, but they'd hoped she would wait at least a little while before getting back on her bullshit. (Not that that’s a phrase they’d ever use, having only heard it in the context of Scorpius informing them that ze’s very sadly back on zir bullshit, before throwing a box of scorpions at them and running off before Three could ask what ze was talking about. But Maedryn is, unfortunately, very much back on her bullshit here.)

They don’t know what she’s doing with the clones, but right now, that’s not as big of a concern as the fact that the clones are here at all. Looking like Three. And making person-like screams. And probably getting their outfits and hair messy. In public. Three is… somewhat disgruntled that after all the effort they’ve put in to turning themself into a tool, erasing any displays of personhood and imperfection, Maedryn would simply create some new tools that don’t bother with any of that at all. But which still let other people see Three as a messy, screaming person.

The very noticeable, very public appearance isn’t helpful for Three’s desire to remain unnoticed and not draw attention to themself, either. It’s an interesting paradox; they can blend into the janitorial staff perfectly, but they stick out as The Student Who Looks Like All The Clone Janitors. There’s a similar thing going on with their name, actually. They like having a name that suggests a lack of personhood, but it does have the unfortunate side effect of having people consider it odd, unique and even memorable.

...That first explanatory paragraph up there is spot-on Three characterisation though.

#"But what an impressive job you've done of it! I'm so proud you're my mother!"

She looks at you critically. "A bit grovelly, but appropriate; it was and you should be."

Three’s probably not quite this grovelly. Apart from disliking the exuberance of the exclamation marks, they’ve had nineteen years to learn to measure quite how much grovelling Maedryn likes. But a little grovelling in this situation is only appropriate, particularly when they’re not certain exactly what she might have read from their thoughts on the flashback gun.

"Some of you may remember," says the Head, in ponderous tones, "the attempted establishment of a second and rival school on our campus last year, calling itself the Polytechnic Institute for Antagonism and Moral Complexity. This institution is hereby forcibly dissolved, thanks to the clone armies contributed by our loyal faculty. There is but one school on this campus, and it will tolerate no challenge, share no power, and show no mercy!"

The judgment of the remnant of the ill-fated Polytechnic Institute for Antagonism and Moral Complexity is summary, arbitrary, and surprisingly creative. The fates of the rebel faculty, announced and executed by DarkBoard, range from "Probation, with Extra Probes" for Professor Ulik, to "Dismissal Before Expiration of Contract" for the senior Professor Dethclot, to "Disciplinary Suspension" for the ringleader, Professor Mortwain. This last didn't sound so bad, until you see that it involves being suspended in a vat of clear Jell-O and set on the plinth in the courtyard as a warning to traitors.

The rebel students are all expelled, which is to say they are one by one dropped through a trapdoor in the floor. Presumably it ends up somewhere in the dungeons, but the geography of the Grand Academy is dubious at the best of times, and you figure they're lucky if they end up somewhere with a breathable atmosphere and not floating in the void.

Three thought they’d long grown out of feeling sorry and disappointed for idealists who tried to act against their mother. Of course, they hadn’t known Maedryn had cared about the Polytechnic Institute for Antagonism and Moral Complexity, but on reflection, they don’t know why they ever expected the School Head to have any more mercy than Maedryn had. It’s unexpected and unpleasant, having these feelings come up again, and there’s a deeper despair they’re not sure they remember feeling before.

They could have been part of the Professor Mortwain’s Institute. They’d thought before this that they should have been. It was only cowardness that stopped them. But they’ve known all along that going against authority never ends well. This just shows they were right. This just proves any ideas they had about standing for their own beliefs in future were foolish and naive, and they knew better than Mortwain and Ulik and Phil and everyone else in the firing line now. So why do they still feel like they should be standing there with them?

"That," the School Head tells the surviving students and staff, "was a Refreshing Display of School Spirit."

It casts its gaze about the hall. Then those eyes land directly on you. "Are there any remaining students in this body," it says, "that we should know about, that participated in activities unbecoming the Grand Academy for Future Villains?"

You scan the hall, trying to find someone to betray. Not Rathna, you were known to be enemies. Not Miriel the Bloodshrike, you actually like her. Not Aurion either, the Head is known to favor him.

There. Leaning back in his chair, you spot the perfect mark. Phil, a casual friend from last year. Permanent upperclassman, villainous slacker, and known supporter of the rebel college, insofar as he could be bothered to support anything at all.

The Head's baleful gaze has not left you. It's waiting.

Seriously, why am I being told I’m enemies with Rathna now? And that I like Miriel? Anyway, Three doesn’t particularly want to betray anyone. Certainly not Aurion, their Not Best Friend, or Rathna, who they get along well with, and turning on anyone from the Shadow Council could be dangerous. But with the Head looking right at them, betraying someone else might be the only way to keep themself safe. A few months ago, they wouldn’t have hesitated before giving Phil up; they’d thought he was too lazy and useless to deserve a place here anyway. Then he’d beaten them, and shown a commitment to his cause Three wished they could have, and inspired them to do better. Which obviously, in the end, was a bad decision on Phil’s part and got neither of them anywhere.

#Say nothing and hope no one notices.

You can't bear to betray him. However, your mother—despite the effort of controlling all the replicas in the room—notices your hesitation, and intervenes. Phil isn't any help. He doesn't put up a fight, doesn't even really seem to notice what's happening until he's hauled off to the trapdoor by two of your blank-faced replicas.

You think you hear him call your name. "What are you—" You shift guiltily in your seat, but he's addressing the clones.

Did he even notice that they weren't you? Did he even care that there were suddenly swarms of you when last year there'd been only one? Hurtful. He deserves whatever he's going to get. Or so you tell yourself as the trapdoor closes with a final clang.

Three doesn’t really feel hurt (at least not by Phil). After all, why shouldn’t he think the clones are controlled by them? Or that Three’s at least part of the dissolution of the Polytechnic Institute for Antagonism and Moral Complexity? They were working with the School Head to stop it last year, and they’re sitting with Maedryn now. And they never thanked him for what he did. And they never apologised.

Three doesn’t have many thoughts on the rest of the announcements, mostly because they’re dissociating during them. Which is fine. That stops them having feelings, and tools don’t have feelings. None of the Probably Much More Useful Than Three Is clones have feelings. Does Maedryn even need them for anything now she has the clones?

It’s not going to be a good year for Three.

#grand academy for future villains #choice of games #grand academy ii: attack of the sequel #....i'm noy gonna tag that every time #three #marsh ocs #long post #maedryn #the school head #gavril philippe des anges dechus

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thenugking · 4 years

Text

Okay so I’m getting into Choice of Games now (my Affairs of the Court playthrough was Emotional okay. So many years of pining for Gabriella and having to pause my game to listen to A Thousand Years while imagining dramatic fanvids) but like?? I can find almost Nothing about Grand Academy for Future Villains so I guess it falls to me to talk about but also like.... please I need Advice for how to do the things I want in the sequel.

Like I found the sequel kind of disappointing and sure part of my problem was that I was doing a playthrough with Veni, who for one thing had Zero interest in neither the genre competition nor Val’s subplot, and then while the first game’s story worked pretty well for zir the second very much did Not. Like Veni’s whole Thing is trying to keep zir head down and do as ze’s told and not have any Narrative Importance so I had to like, advance zir character development a lot more quickly than i wanted for the game to work at All.

My biggest problem though was definitely having nearly all my friends from the first game replaced and like.... these new ones are Fine but idk I never really had the chance to get to know any of them except Val?? Like you have to pick a nemesis, and your nemesis is supposed to be Special and Important to you and i just..... don’t have that connection with any of them!!

And THEN my asshole classmates try to get me to date one of them, and then take the app off me and say it’s a glitch when DarkBoard starts flirting with me like Fuck Off I am still deeply invested in my romance with Xi, the only reason I agreed to be on this app in the first place was to hand my dating profile directly to the DarkBoard. And there were some lovely moments in the second game (”You have mid-tier administrator access to Our heart” fucking killed me) but Xi didn’t seem present at all after about half way through?? Like I got to go Inside DarkBoard but then I just had to compete in a competition I didn’t care about like??? What is the Point of being here if it’s not to go on a date with the part of the school administrative system I’m low-key in love with???

And I miss Phil and Kinistra and my school clubs and the first game’s emphasis on lessons like please will everyone be back in the third game?? And can I finally have my mum as my nemesis she’s the only person I have strong Negative But Also Kind Of Messed Up And There’s Definitely Some Affection There feelings towards like please

Anyway like talk to me about these games, especially Xi, I accidentally got way too invested and idk what to do with my feelings now

#grand academy for future villains #grand academy II #choice of games #grand academy II: attack of the sequel #marsh ocs #veni arainai #oops I think this is my first veni post and it's about an AU version of zir sorry veni #three #edit bc veni now has a different gaffv name #also different pronouns for both in and out of universe reasons

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thenugking · 4 years

Text

Grand Academy For Future Villains II: Attack of the Sequel, Chapter 11: Fall of Chapter Eleven. A commentary for Three.

General CW for the whole thing: parental abuse, internalised dehumanisation as a trauma response. Three’s not doing well.

Specific CW for this chapter: bad self care/mental breakdown

Game 1

Game 2

Alternatively, read on Google Docs here

***

LOADING PANIC MODE…

DO YOU REALIZE THE AUDITORS HAVE THE POWER TO REMOVE THIS SCHOOL FROM ITS STANDING OUTSIDE OF REALITY?! WE'D NEVER SURVIVE! AAAAAAUGH!

Well. Yes. That’s the thing Three’s been trying desperately not to think about this whole year, the reason they need the Academy to keep it’s accreditation. The lessons are valuable, the buildings are incredible, but they could stand to lose all of that. They don’t know that they could stand to lose DarkBoard.

The day of the tenure evaluation, you're summoned during lunch hour to the School Head's office—the real one, not the decoy used for the house challenge. Select members of the senior faculty are seated around a semi-circular marble table, before which stand the three candidates for a permanent position with the Grand Academy for Future Villains: your mother, her hair gone entirely white but splendidly dressed in flame-colored robes, Professor Ulik, in a well-tailored business suit, and Professor Fen, looking like their usual self (selves?) in—or possibly consisting of—a tall heap of sodden mouldering fabric. In the shadows behind them stand Lord X and Ms. Goul, and you feel the dry tickle in your throat that means the Voice in the Void is present for the proceedings as well.

"Don't think we've forgotten about you," you say to yourself, and cough as you realize it's the Voice in the Void speaking through you again. You close your hand on the envelope in your pocket, grateful that it doesn't seem to be able to read minds. What happened to Val? you wonder. But there's no sign on the impassive faces of the auditors.

With an electrical buzzing, the School Head appears over the semi-circular table. You can see each of the contending professors grow focused and alert as it begins to speak.

It gives a long speech in its usual vein about the importance of the Academy, and the importance of the faculty to the Academy, and the personal contributions of each of the candidates standing before it.

"We have three exceptional candidates for a single permanent faculty position this year," intones the Head, "of which one will be selected and the other two discarded in disgrace like the vermin they are. Let us consider each of them in turn. Professor Maedryn is an Academy alumna from the Science Fiction house, a conqueror of multiple worlds in her own narrative, and the parent of a current student you all have reason to be familiar with—Three. She is the central intelligence that commands the maintenance staff, the Faculty Sponsor for Science Fiction, and the current acting head of the Evil Genius department. She is also historically a substantial contributor to the Academy's operating fund."

Your mother smiles, nodding slightly to the other faculty members.

"Professor Fen is a graduate student who has been working toward a doctorate in Cosmic Horror since before earthly measurements of time were conceived or devised. Fen has served as a lab assistant to previous Evil Genius faculty members, and…" The Head seems at a loss to say anything else definitive about Fen. "And would be very cheap to maintain. If Fen is not selected for a permanent faculty position, Fen may continue indefinitely as a lab assistant, or may crawl down into the dungeons for lurking purposes."

Fen wobbles.

"Finally, Professor Ulik has numerous high-profile evil architecture design-build projects under her belt. She is the Faculty Sponsor for Thriller and is the project manager for the current landscape redesign on the Academy quad. She participated in the internal disturbances last year, and has been demonstrating her complete contrition and re-education over the course of this year."

Ulik bows briefly from the waist.

"In consultation with the senior members of the Academy faculty, the members of the Board of Visitors and Overlords, and the composite intelligence of DarkBoard, we are now ready to announce our decision."

Three very much would like to think the auditors have forgotten them. Why haven’t the auditors forgotten them? All they’ve been doing is standing in the background while Ulik impresses the auditors, and giving a mediocre performance in the genre tournament. They don’t even have perfect grades any more! If there was a positive side to their grades slipping, it should be that Three is now completely unnoticeable. This has to be Val’s fault. Did Val tell the auditors they made Three the Academy’s fatal weakness? And why? Three doesn’t matter! Why does anyone imagine they matter at all?

Onto the tenure candidates. Three is glad that the Head does not seem to place much value on having Fen as a tenured professor, but also that they’ll be allowed to remain here even without tenure. They feel a lot of sympathy for Fen and would prefer that helping Ulik didn’t mean potentially hurting them.

The competition really seems to be between Maedryn and Ulik though, and they both have more to lose if they fail. Three doesn’t want to imagine the consequences of Maedryn’s wrath if that happens--either for the Academy or for themself, personally. Ulik will lose at least her job, and quite likely her life, too. Three is relieved the Head makes no mention of dismemberment, though.They hope, desperately, that even if she doesn’t receive tenure, Ulik will have proven her loyalty enough to avoid that.

As for Ulik’s complete contrition and re-education… it’s not as though Three and Ulik talk about the rebel college, or anti-heroism, or the fact that Professor Mortwain’s still suspended in the courtyard, but they’re still not entirely sure Ulik is all that contrite or re-educated. What they are sure about is that Ulik is smart and practical, that people sometimes go along with all sorts of things they don’t agree with to protect themselves, and that a lot of villains are egotistical enough not to notice the difference between that and genuine agreement.

"Professor Ulik, congratulations."

The smile of pleasure that lights Professor Ulik's face makes you almost smile yourself to see it.

"And congratulations are also due to Three, Ulik's teaching assistant this year, whom we have with us today. Your master has ascended, young student, and you will ascend with her."

Three has learnt to be very good at keeping their face blank, but this is certainly a time they struggle with that. Smiling that Ulik received tenure while Maedryn is present is completely out of the question, but they are internally delighted. For a moment, at least, before remembering they will now have to deal with Maedryn’s reaction.

That's the kind of laugh that even other villains know to back away from. Ulik is already inching toward the shelter of the marble table. You can't see Fen at all.

"Tenure!" Your mother's laughter lasts a full minute and a half. She reaches up to her head, and without even wincing, rips out the shiny metal cortical amplifier that had been embedded in her skull. She tosses it into a corner. "Well that means I won't be needing that any more, will I."

From the halls outside you hear a strange sound. Thudding. Clattering. Your mother's newly mindless maintenance staff dropping their tools. But Professor Maedryn turns to you, green fire kindling in her eyes. "And…I think you've made it quite clear I won't be needing you."

She advances toward you, a wild and deadly rage written on her face. You recognize a villainous breakdown when you see it.

Three knows Maedryn better than maybe anyone, but they’ve never seen her like this before. She’s destroyed planets in fits of fury, but she’s always retained control over herself. Even with how concerned they were getting about her, even though they and Sona kept having to remind her to sleep and eat, it never really occurred to them that Maedryn was capable of just… breaking down. It terrifies them. Not just because they’re in genuine danger from her now, and for once she doesn’t have a use for them, but because their entire worldview is based around the single truth that Maedryn has complete control over them. And if Maedryn’s not in control, where does that leave Three?

I struggled with Three’s decision here. When Maedryn threatens you, you can call your teacher for help, and if you have over 60% on the tenure track (which Three does), they defend you. And die for you. It would be narratively fitting to have Three’s mentor die at the start of the final act. There’s some lovely symbolism to be found in Three’s mother figure defending them from their actual mother. But I’m still hoping we’ll have two more games/years of plot, and if that’s the case, I feel it might be better to kill Ulik (or at least tease killing her, I’m not sure how willing I am to actually go through with it) later down the line, when Three is closer to being a full-blown hero. I might go back and change this decision in future. It depends on what works best with what a third and fourth game give us. Or if I plan out an imaginary third and fourth game. Or if I plan out a longer, more final ending to the second one.

In any case, Three just falls into begging and grovelling and reminding Maedryn how very useful they can be, sounding far more panicky than they would really like. They think it’s working. They don’t know for sure, since Professor Gk brings down the ceiling to contain Maedryn. Three… is not entirely sure where to go from here.

Ms. Goul and Lord X are sitting by themselves in the Faculty Lounge when you arrive. There's no one else in the room. Is this the interview that you were warned about? Where is Val?

"Three. Please sit down."

There's nowhere to sit; all the chairs were removed and the three auditors are occupying the only two spots on the sofa and a nebulous position in the school's collective subconscious. The auditors are taunting you. This can't be a good sign.

You remain standing. With an effort of will, you keep from touching the letter in your pocket.

"Before we take the results of our deliberations to the whole Academy," says Ms. Goul, pressing her fingertips together, "we thought you should witness the full power of the auditing committee of the Board of Visitors and Overlords."

So the final auditor has arrived! But where—

"Our fourth member." Lord X waves a hand at the bookshelf-covered wall. It begins to revolve, and through the door walks a familiar figure.

At first you can hardly believe it.

Three absolutely does not remain standing. They were given an order, and are not going to disobey the most powerful people imaginable. My first thought was that they sit on the floor, but thinking about it further? They kneel. They want to show obedience and subservience, that they are not a threat and that they acknowledge the auditors as far greater than them. It’s also a versatile position from which they can easily spring up, or roll out of the way, if needed.

As for the fourth auditor… I mean, in-game, I get Val, but out of the two options, one of them just works much better.

Phil?!

"Three, you old sinner! They told you'd been messing about with the muckety-mucks and I didn't believe it!" Your old friend slaps you on the back, ruffles your hair, punches you in the arm hard enough to hurt.

"Phil? But how—I thought you—"

"Expelled from the Academy with extreme prejudice? Oh to be sure, to be sure. But you know me." Phil flashes a winning smile, the smile that had seen him through three years of determined slacking at the Academy. "People like me, we only fall up."

You'd known Phil's family was powerful. But powerful enough to ensure Phil a spot on the Board of Visitors and Overlords?

"I'm more a visitor than an overlord," Phil admits, perching on the arm of the chair and putting an incongruous arm around Lord X. "Very junior member, of course, but they thought I might have some specific expertise in this matter. I told them I'd only taken the position because I'd been told there was no work whatever involved, so I'm very displeased about it all. But hey, I got to see you! And no hard feelings about the heartless betrayal. It was the easiest thing to do, in your position, and I don't blame you for it at all."

Three is surprised, and relieved, and delighted enough to see Phil that they don’t even tell him not to touch their hair. They aren’t sure whether they believe there are no hard feelings. With anyone else, they wouldn’t. With Phil, it could easily be true. Either way worries them.

Ms. Goul coughs and sets three massive binders on the coffee table.

"We've been conferring on the question of the continuing accreditation of the Grand Academy for Future Villains. We are currently divided. I say the state of the management and educational standards at the school does not merit our accreditation of the body. Lord X says it does. And the Voice in the Void says—"

Phil's mouth falls open and a blast of white noise pours out.

"Yes, thank you, Voice," continues Ms. Goul, "but this is hardly conducive to resolving our debate. It comes down to Phil. I know you'll want to make a careful review of the evidence that we've assembled over the course of year in order to determine whether the Board of Visitors and Overlords can extend recognition to—"

"No," Phil says.

Well. That wasn’t entirely unexpected. Nor can Three entirely blame him, after the events at the start of the year. Back then, seeing Phil flung out of the Academy had inspired Three to take initiative and put themself at risk to protect Ulik, whatever the danger. And now he’s back, and his decision could cost DarkBoard their life. And whatever the danger, Three will not let that happen.

#I hold the Academy's fatal weakness. I am the Academy's fatal weakness. I invite them to reconsider their decision.

#three #marsh ocs #grand academy for future villains #choice of games #darkboard #sara ulik #maedryn #gavril philippe des anges dechus

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thenugking · 4 years

Text

Grand Academy For Future Villains II: Attack of the Sequel, Chapter 5: Bride of Chapter Five. A commentary for Three.

General CW for the whole thing: parental abuse, internalised dehumanisation as a trauma response. Three’s not doing well.

No specific warnings for this chapter except for a typo my friends have been teasing me about for weeks.

Game 1

Game 2

Chapter 0 | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

Alternatively, read on Google Docs here

***

"Well obviously," says Professor Ulik, faintly irritated. "I thought you were a bit cleverer than that,Three, I really did. Yes, but specifically I need you to make sure that one of my classes is on the auditor's schedule. You may use whatever methods you please to get it there. The less I know, the better."

Her message communicated, Professor Ulik returns to her papers. You begin to consider your situation. This would be an unparalleled opportunity to ensure Professor Ulik's selection for a tenured position and what else are you here for, anyway?

But how to get an audience with the newly-arrived auditor?

#Val's on the Board of Visitors and Overlords. I'm going to consult zir about this situation.

This isn’t particularly helpful to Three’s intention to stay as far away from the auditors as possible. Their first plan is still to ask DarkBoard if they’re able to alter Goul’s schedule, but when DarkBoard gives a foreboding speech about how they shouldn’t meddle in forces far beyond their control, (Three is pretty sure DarkBoard’s scared of the auditors but don’t want to admit it,) they realise they’re going to have to talk to these people. This hopefully won’t be overly dangerous, after all, they are excellent at being helpful to important people, and tend to be good at quickly working out the level of grovelling important people prefer, so they’re unlikely to annoy the auditors. The danger that comes with just being around important, powerful people is inevitable, but they hope they can avoid the worst by appearing as a mere supporting character in Ulik’s narrative, unnoticeable to the auditors underneath all her achievements.

The best place to start with this is Val. Scorpius told Three ze was on the Board of Overseers and, while Three has been trying to interact with Val as little as possible, ze’s at least someone they’re able to get an audience with. And--despite a slight annoyance about Scorpius spilling zir secrets--Val apparently either likes them enough, or thinks they’re plot relevant enough, to help.

Ze is, however, going to point out that meeting with the Auditors isn’t the kind of thing people with no narrative weight do. It doesn’t matter what reason Three gives--do they think there isn’t a story in an underdog brave enough to put themself in the firing line of powerful villains they’re frightened of, just out of loyalty to their wise and supportive mentor? And Val has a feeling this isn’t the first time Three’s done this. Three informs them that they are not a hero, or an underdog, or special in any way whatsoever. Val tells them that ze knows better than most how Narrative Weight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so ze’s really, genuinely sorry to say this, but that’s not true, Three. Three decides they’d better get over to that meeting before they’re late, so doesn’t have time to listen to Val try and tell them they’re more than just a tool.

The minutes Val showed you indicated that a team of no less than three auditors would be arriving from the Board of Visitors and Overlords. And you're fairly certain you know who this one is.

The falling pieces of the dome leave trails of fire in the air all around you. The air of the artificial atmosphere is rushing upward; the weather programs that the dome once produced are sputtering fitfully. Fish, frogs, bolts of lightning, hailstones and drops of blood tumble at random from the shattering sky.

"Lord X!" you call, as the figure lightly touches down to the earth. "Welcome to the Grand Academy for Future Villains!"

The figure turns towards you, and you see that the upper half of his face is concealed by a black mask like a frozen lava flow. His clothes are rich and close-fitting, his black shirt with silver buttons reaching to the neck, his hands concealed by silver gloves, and a belt around his waist supports a really alarming arsenal of weapons. You spot what looks like an oversized silver revolver, a long sword, a short sword, and a gun that looks strangely familiar. There's also a trowel tucked into a beautifully tooled black leather sheath; there's probably some explanation for this besides being for some sort of demonic gardener.

"Well done…student," says Lord X.

Val, watching from under the shelter of a black umbrella, gives the slightest of nods to the auditor.

Again, not something Three would have done if Ulik hadn’t wanted them to talk to the auditors, they’d much rather be running to hide right now, or else checking the sudden environmental changes of the world falling apart aren’t adversely affecting DarkBoard. But they do like important people being impressed with them.

As if it overheard your unspoken question—which you suppose it did—the nearest DarkBoard portal begins scrolling through something you recognize as the fine print of your application paperwork. You look at the scrolling text:

…WITHOUT REFUND. THE APPLICANT CONSENTS TO MANDATORY BINDING ARBITRATION IN THE CASE OF ACCIDENTAL OR PURPOSEFUL DISMEMBERMENT, IMPERFECT RESURRECTION, AND OTHER PHYSICAL OR PSYCHIC MODIFICATION UNDERTAKEN VOLUNTARILY OR INVOLUNTARILY IN THE COURSE OF ACADEMIC DUTIES. THE APPLICANT CONSENTS TO THE ACADEMY'S USE OF THEIR IMAGE, DNA, BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, OFFSPRING IF ANY, WITH OR WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN NOTIFICATION. SURVEILLANCE DEVICES MAY BE INSTALLED IN PHYSICAL AND INTELLECTUAL LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT THE ACADEMY INCLUDING BEDROOMS, HEARTS, DREAMS, AND NARRATIVES. THE ACADEMY RESERVES THE RIGHT…

Okay, okay.

It may not be immediately relevant to the current scene, but I think it’s worth noting that students “consent” to the Academy’s use of their offspring. Being the child of an alumnus, Three was a little concerned, if resigned, about that when reading their own application paperwork. Those feelings haven’t completely gone away, but they also realise this could be an excellent excuse if Maedryn ever discovers their loyalty to DarkBoard. She herself signed them away to the Academy before they even existed, and if necessary, Three will remind her that neither of them can complain if DarkBoard wishes to collect on that.

Three has never wanted children themself, but the Academy’s application paperwork just makes them more sure of that.

#Come observe Professor Ulik’s class.

You've kept your bargain with Professor Ulik. Whatever the auditor says, the fact that you faced one of the most powerful beings on the Academy grounds has to count for something.

It's a simple request—so simple the auditor seems taken by surprise. You hold your breath, waiting for an answer. "Of course," says the auditor. "Next week. Of course, we make no promises as to the nature of our judgment. Only of its inevitability."

"Fifteen seconds," pipes the assistant.

Variyah Goul stands up. She does not offer you her hand. "Your career, of course, will be of interest to us, whatever becomes of the school."

"Ten."

"If at the end of the year we find you an individual of sufficient narrative weight…there are certain provisions made for individuals who are fit for a great destiny. I am impressed by hedonism and competence, and the portfolio of destinies I manage are those of grandeur and glory."

"And zero." The assistant escorts you out of the room.

That went… surprisingly well. Three’s alive. They’ve at least slightly impressed two auditors. Goul’s agreed to observe Ulik’s class. Three wasn’t given time to have to pretend to be interested in a destiny.

They are growing increasingly concerned that the Academy’s accreditation may not, in fact, be renewed, but all they have to do is show that a place with teachers as good as Professor Ulik is worthwhile, make sure Maedryn isn’t too stressed by her various responsibilities that the clones stop working, help Sona keep Sci-Fi looking respectable and genre savvy, and do whatever DarkBoard requests to help the Academy run smoothly.

((Side note: I did originally accidentally replace a bit too much of the “insert your professor here” text with “professor ulik” when I originally typed this up, with the result that Three very unfortunately invited one of the most powerful villains in the universe to come observe Professor Ulik’s ass. They don’t want to talk about it.))

The senior students that approach you after your Evil Planning class are well known to you. They're a group of Thriller and Science Fiction students that even in these polarized times of inter-genre competition, have remained friends and close collaborators.

"Three!" one of them calls to you. "Do you have a second? We want you to try this!"

This is rarely the prelude to something good, but often the prelude to something interesting. You pause.

"This is our capstone project for our Cyberpunk Dystopia class," explains another, proffering his personal DarkBoard portal, its screen glowing. "A dating app for the Academy! We need beta testers! And, well, a lot of people have been requesting you."

"It's right here in the early feedback," confirms the third. "Let's see…'If it doesn't have Three I'm not joining'…'Where's Three I mean the real one not the clone'…'Please add an option to romance Three.'"

You look warily at the colorful images on the DarkBoard portal. What's so dystopian about a dating app?

"Well, it's powered by DarkBoard, for one thing," says the first student, "so it can be kind of unpredictable. And wildly intrusive. But the administration is interested in monitoring the personal lives of its students."

"Personally I think DarkBoard's getting a bit lonely," adds the second, behind his hand, as if that could conceal his comment from the security system.

I mean, there might be a couple of students wanting to find out what’s underneath Three’s aloof emotionless exterior, but I really doubt there’s anyone specifically asking for them. In any case, they have far more important things to do than trying to find another relationship at the moment, and even if they wanted one, they wouldn’t be looking for it on an intrusive dating app made by a bunch of students they have no reason to trust.

But, well, they don’t exactly completely object to submitting information about certain preferences they may have to a system powered by DarkBoard. It’s a villainous action to sign up to a dating site and then ruthlessly reject every classmate who appears on there, isn’t it?

Besides the grinning face of Science Fiction's figurehead, a long list of diagrams and spec charts appears. Sona, or DarkBoard on Sona's behalf, is listing out all her weapons and modifications. You're fascinated—there are some extraordinarily personal items here. You would never have guessed about the navel turret, for instance.

All right, getting lists of people’s hidden abilities is also a very useful feature of this app. Three just hopes their own profile isn’t going to start listing out the dozens of weapons they have hidden on their person at all times.

The portal clouds over again, but this time, when it clears, no face is visible at all. Slowly words form on the portal's surface.

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT THE WORLD LOOKS LIKE WHEN SEEN THROUGH A THOUSAND EYES?

"Uh-oh." One of the Cyberpunk Dystopia students tries to snatch the portal out of your hands. "It's doing it again. Close! Close! Administrator override!"

SHED YOUR FLESH, continues DarkBoard, AND JOIN US IN THE TIMELESS VOID BETWEEN ELECTRONS.

"Yeah, this is a known issue," explains the leader. "Every so often DarkBoard will decide that it wants to get in on some of the action. Sorry about that."

He hands you back your portal, now quiet and docile. Is that Xi's lingering influence? Does something about DarkBoard remember you as an object of romance?

"You know where to find us! Thanks for trying it out!"

And they're gone.

Well, even if Three’s list of concealed weapons are on view to everyone on the dating app now, the student trying to snatch the portal away from Three is not prepared for a kick in the groin and a gun pointed at him before he has a chance to react, as Three calmly explains that they want to be aware of all known issues before deciding whether to continue using the app or not. After taking a few moments to closely examine this one, they tell the cyberpunk students that they can live with it. They spend a fair amount of their free time (limited though that is) on the app over the next few months, while making sure to reject every student profile they find.

The app does cause another slight issue, however, given that the rejection messages it sends are calibrated to, “cause greatest emotional impact to the target!” Three and Aurion awkwardly avoid each other for the next few weeks, after they each receive a horrifying rejection message about how the other loves them far too much like a sibling, and is so grateful for the bond they already have.

And then this final scene doesn’t actually take place, because Three doesn’t have a nemesis or a pet, so doesn’t need help dealing with them, but:

Professor Ulik thinks so highly of you that she leaves the class that she was in the middle of teaching to rush to the ${temphousing}.

I love Three’s new mum a lot.

#three #marsh ocs #grand academy for future villains #choice of games #sara ulik #valorous flame #darkboard #aurion umbrator malisar #Particular Associates in Personal Intimate Experiences

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thenugking · 4 years

Text

Grand Academy For Future Villains II: Attack of the Sequel, Chapter 12: Last of the Chapters. A commentary for Three.

General CW for the whole thing: parental abuse, internalised dehumanisation as a trauma response. Three’s not doing well.

The game keeps setting me up for bad sex jokes and I just cannot be expected to resist

Game 1

Game 2

Alternatively, read on Google Docs here

***

You're not ready to let the Grand Academy be written off by anyone, even a group of all-powerful bureaucrats. Phil is watching you, bemused but delighted at your bravado.

You draw out the paper that registers you officially as a fatal weakness of the Academy.

"I think you'll find the Academy merits accreditation after all."

Ms. Goul stands up and twitches the page from your fingers. She scans it quickly. "It's in order…I'm pleased to see a student who recognizes the value of correct paperwork. So you're a fatal weakness of the Grand Academy for Future Villains." A line appears between her eyes, which might be worry or might be laughter. "And you think that gives you the ability to dictate terms to us?"

Well, yes. That's exactly what you think.

Lord X nods in satisfaction. "If you meet over-powered characters in chapter 5," he remarks to no one in particular, "dramatic necessity dictates that you must fight them at the end."

"Wait, are you going to fight us?" Phil demands. "I'm out; I was told there'd be unlimited free cocktails at fundraising dinners; no one said anything about fighting old friends." He vaults lightly backward over the arm of the couch and into the corner.

On your left, Ms. Goul stands up. She sets your fatal weakness certification on the table and punches a few numbers into the device that she's carrying. You hear distant sounds outside the room, like the rush of approaching feet. On your right, Lord X stands up and draws from his well-equipped belt what appears to be a perfectly ordinary gun. There's a scratching in your throat and an aching in your head; the Voice in the Void is trying to get in.

So in order to save the Grand Academy, you're going to fight the auditors, the nigh-omnipotent representatives of the Board of Visitors and Overlords. How?

Three hopes this gives them the ability to dictate terms. If not… Ulik’s safe, for now, Maedryn’s vanished, and if DarkBoard goes down… well, Three’s place is with them, whatever happens. It barely even registers when Ms. Goul compliments them for caring about paperwork. She should have done that before deciding the Academy didn't merit re-accreditation.

They’re relieved by how helpful Phil’s being. He might be significantly less terrifying than the other auditors, but he’s the one person here who’s actually already beaten them before. He certainly seems as though he’ll be easier to get on Three’s side than Ms. Goul, though. So, now Three just needs to get past the three most powerful villains they’ve ever met. Maedryn may have put them through brutal physical training since they were old enough to walk, but that doesn’t mean they can fight the auditors alone.

#My mother's left a whole army of replicas idle. If I concentrate, I can command them.

You remember everything your mother has taught you—both voluntarily and involuntarily. You don't have her thought-amplification gadgets, but you do have the personal experience of being one of her replication experiments. You strain your thought towards the mindless clones standing idle around the Academy. You think you can feel the remnants of your mother's control, you can almost see through their mindless myriad eyes—

"What are you doing?" demands Phil.

Lord X fires.

You reflexively drop to the ground, but in that moment, you feel your control lock into place over dozens of replicas throughout the Academy. You hope that doesn't mean you're dead; that would be a problem. Oh well, not the problem you have to deal with at the moment. Right now you're controlling a horde of rushing feet, arms grabbing whatever implements come to hand, heads all turning in the direction of the faculty lounge and running to your defense.

You keep running into walls. Well, your replicas do. This is harder than it looks. No wonder your mother's sanity snapped. But enough of them reach the faculty lounge to break down the door, to swarm the auditors, and—this is the most important thing—to seize Phil.

Phil surrenders immediately as soon as a replica gets an arm around his neck.

Ms. Goul is encased in some kind of force field, Lord X is surrounded by heaps of bodies. Black spores swirl in the air. You can't be sure where exactly you are; your consciousness seems to be spread across a dozen different bodies.

Three’s been studying the replicas all year, looking for a way to take control. They’ve never dared to actively try it before--they didn’t want to risk Maedryn noticing, even after she shut herself in the Head’s office--but there’s not much more for them to lose now. It turns out to be a lot easier to fight the auditors when there’s hundreds of you.

"I think it's time for a recount." You hear your voice echoing from several throats. "Is the Grand Academy's accreditation renewed?"

"This changes nothing," growls Ms. Goul from behind the force field. "And—" The Voice's opinion doesn't seem to have changed either; it's still a blast of static that can't be a yes or a no.

Phil blinks expressively out from over your arm. "In light of recent events, I'm going to have to say that you will. Let my hand free and I'll sign."

It takes several tries, but you manage to get the replica holding Phil to let go.

"You win, Three," says Ms. Goul simply. "The Academy stands. For now."

Three… did it. They fought the auditors. They won. The Academy is safe. DarkBoard is safe. And Three made that happen, somehow.

I’m not sure whether or not they get a destiny. They’re very slightly off the required narrative weight, but going on a date increases it, so if the game wasn’t a coward and actually acknowledged that Three very much swiped right when DarkBoard came up on the app, I would have enough. And it’s weird that beating the auditors here doesn’t increase narrative weight, too.

Anyway, Three, being Three, very much does not want a destiny, but doesn’t exactly have the capacity to defy the auditors a second time today. Like with Ulik’s survival, this is something where I want a better plan of how Three’s story continues before I make a final decision on it. People underestimating Three as a subservient underling and not noticing their importance is certainly a theme, but that may happen a little less after they just defied and beat the auditors. I like the idea of Three starting off with no narrative weight at all and having it slowly grow to almost Chosen One levels through the actions throughout this year and the next few. But I also like the idea of third year Three struggling to go back to being Unimportant and Unnoticed, and finding that hard to achieve with a destiny hanging over them.

"I certainly hope the Academy appreciates what you've done for it," says Phil to you. "I suppose they'll more or less have to, being as you're their fatal weakness and all."

Once everything’s cleared up here, Three would very much like to talk to Phil. They’ve been wanting to talk to him for a whole year; they still owe him several apologies for what they thought about him in their first year--never mind not being able to stop Maedryn throwing him down a trap door into a void--and they need to thank him for defeating them at the end of last year. They… are not sure they would have done a lot of the things they’re proud of doing this year, without Phil’s inspiration.

Phil, in turn, would like to apologise for spending so long thinking Three was an utterly boring rule-stickler, because fighting the auditors there was the most ridiculous, daring, incredible thing he’s ever seen, and he’s in awe. And, hey, it was nice of Three to help him realise how much he actually stood for something, for once, last year.

It turns out the two of them coming to blows has a habit of working out really well for both of them. So Three is only a little surprised at themself when they ask Phil if he’d like to be their nemesis. Phil finds it a laughable idea. Of course he accepts.

The biggest unresolved question, of course, is what is going to become of the school leadership. The Head has not been seen ever since your mother brought down half of its office. Neither has your mother herself. In her absence, you've been obliged to take up management of the replicas. This is easier since having used them to defeat the auditors. Perhaps a little too easy. You find it hard to remember which one of you is the original now. Still, there are advantages to being a swarm rather than an individual. The students and faculty give the administrative hall a wide berth. Whatever will emerge from it will doubtless be a mind-melting terror, but maybe it can hold off through the end of the summer. In the meantime, your advice and authority is more important than ever as the faculty restructures.

Three is happy to manage the replicas, for now, and doesn’t object to being able to jump between several different bodies at will. Though they agree with DarkBoard that it may be less risky, not to mention more manageable on Three’s part, to destroy most of them and find a different set of janitorial staff for next year, simply keeping a few replicas hidden around the Academy as DarkBoard’s personal staff.

But Maedryn is, as always, a problem. With the Head nowhere to be found and Maedryn still hiding out in their office, Three has the nasty suspicion they might return from their summer vacation to find Maedryn in control of the Academy. And given that the Head is, for want of a better word, powered by DarkBoard, and Maedryn has never been particularly nice about DarkBoard… Well, as DarkBoard’s minion, it’s Three’s duty to stay and protect them. Even if that means finally, truly fighting their mother.

Three wouldn’t have considered themself capable of ever going against Maedryn a year ago. Even if the auditors were more powerful, this is more personal. And Three could never be an equal to her. But… They have an official registration as the Academy’s fatal weakness. A deeper connection to the AI that runs the school than anyone else at the Academy. The favour of the teacher most likely to have built secret rooms hidden around the school, and a detailed map of the dungeons. A few dozen replicas they control better than Maedryn ever did. An extraordinarily high level of competence. And they know Maedryn better than anyone. Three hopes, desperately, that it never comes down to a fight between the two of them. That their mother doesn’t find it necessary to destroy them. That they won’t find it necessary to destroy their mother.

In the meantime….

LOADING PERSONAL MODULE…

Finite creature! You who grope after destiny, who plumb the mysteries of genre, who long for a greater narrative weight! Know ye not that We, DarkBoard, have all that ye seek? Join us! Join us, shed your earthly limitations! We await you in the depths! Come!

Well, Three’s not going to consider assimilating into DarkBoard when they still have work to do protecting them. But it’s the start of the holidays, and Three and DarkBoard have both been through a lot this year, and want at least a little bit of time off. And, well, DarkBoard did just tell them to come. Assuming no one breaks into the mailroom this time round, Three is, as always, more than happy to obey.

#three #marsh ocs #grand academy for future villains #choice of games #gavril philippe des anges dechus #darkboard #maedryn #Particular Associates in Personal Intimate Experiences

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thenugking · 4 years

Text

Grand Academy For Future Villains II: Attack of the Sequel, Chapter 10: Rise of Chapter Ten. A commentary for Three.

General CW for the whole thing: parental abuse, internalised dehumanisation as a trauma response. Three’s not doing well.

Specific CW that there isn’t a chapter nine and it Bothers Me agh.

Game 1

Game 2

Alternatively, read on Google Docs here

***

#"Guards! Darkboard! Mom! Intruder in the school!"

But your voice only echoes down the empty corridors.

"DarkBoard can't help you here," says Val, zir pen working busily on the paper. "That's why I'm here in the first place. That and saving the world. Just like my destiny foretold, I guess, thought I never thought this is what it meant. Turns out destiny is a strange and ironic thing."

((The game actually reads “Guards! DarkBoard! Mom! Your mother!” I assume this is a bug.))

Scorpius is here with Val, of course, so Three’s first thought is that ze convinced zir to come back. But then why are they in the admin building, in particular? And what is Val doing with the paperwork? Three doesn’t have anything personal against Val, they’re even sympathetic to zir. But they do know ze’s dangerous. Val doesn’t exactly do anything to make them feel better.

"No, you disappointment," adds the clone, "not the replica, me. Do you know how hard it is to make one of these things talk? I'm in the School Head's decoy office and unless you come here and help me, Horror is going to lose the house tournament. I'll be ruined! As your original creator, I order you! Drop what you're doing and help me!"

Imagine that: teaching classes, the personal management of the mindless hordes of maintenance staff, the pursuit of tenure, the faculty sponsorship of the Science Fiction dorm, and the leading role in the final school tournament challenge might have been a little too much for your mother. Is this…is this the first time she's ever actually asked for help?

"Your mother's calling," says your former roommate, stacking up the papers on the desk with one hand, keeping the flashback gun leveled at you with the other. "Go on."

Three isn’t the kind of person to bail on plans, but they’ve already helped Aurion a fair bit, and dealing with Val really is more important. This, on the other hand…

They’ve spent years running around making Maedryn’s life easier, but she’s never just admitted she needed their help before. How are they supposed to ignore her now, particularly when she gave them a direct command? But even leaving aside the fact that this means betraying Aurion (as much as Three doesn’t want to, they know he’ll understand, and maybe even be impressed), they can’t just let Val walk free either. Not when ze’s a threat to the Academy. Val has to come with them.

Val doesn’t particularly care to help Three. They’re planning to pretend to leave, and then return with their gun raised and the replica as a shield, but luckily, Scorpius convinces Val to come and help Maedryn before they have to try. Scorpius, by this point, has stopped making even a token effort to pretend ze’s loyal to Thriller, has all but moved into Dev’s room, and even fought for Horror in the virtual DarkBoard quest. Ze’s still very invested in Horror’s win, and Val’s invested enough in Scorpius to agree to go with zir.

Cautiously you approach the throne room door. You're expecting a variety of traps to greet you—but you see they have already been sprung. Peering around the corner, you see your mother facing off against none other than Dev. Leader of the genre that you swore to undermine.Distracting your mother as a way to get her to call off the defending forces? Clever.

They circle each other slowly across the throne room floor, hardly needing to look down to avoid the bottomless pits, the illusory tiles, and the triggers for the giant descending pendulums. Your mother appears to be armed with a classroom laser pointer.

Of course, you've seen her blow holes in student projects from across the room with this particular tool, so she's probably as well armed as she needs to be.

Neither of them have noticed you in the doorway.

#Defend my mother from Dev. I know she'll make it worth my while.

Your mother catches your eye as she backs Dev towards you. She takes it for granted that you're going to assist her. You are, of course. It'll just take a little planning.

Dev is avoiding the bottomless pit in the floor with practiced ease, but is not counting on someone coming up from behind and giving a well-placed shove. Which you do. The long fading scream is a measure of satisfaction.

"There!" Your mother catches her breath and staggers back to the throne. "You have done well.”

I know Maedryn’s supposed to back Horror if Sci-Fi wins the semi-final, and considering she just told me she was worried about losing, this is presumably a bug. I’m not sure how easy Dev would be to shove into a pit, either.

Not that adny of that really matters. Three arrives to help Maedryn against Fantasy, but by this point, Aurion’s already distracted fighting Cazenar, who’s trying to sabotage him. Dev and Scorpius get distracted by smooching, because they haven’t seen each other since Scorpius went after Val. Three discovers that, as Maedryn’s RA, Sona is also here to help Maedryn out, so has to work out what to do in this chaos to make themself look better than Sona. Val really doesn’t care about any of this.

And then a forcefield appears around the seven students, and A Baroness walks in and shoves a very distracted Maedryn into the bottomless pit, before reminding everyone what she said at the beginning of the year. “You can accomplish so much when you bring people together. And even more when you play them against each other."

So, weak and mortal student, We cannot help but notice that you have selected none for your consort. Could this be because the flesh holds no temptation for you—that you know a stranger and more uncanny hunger? Join Us, join Us, and let your consciousness be absorbed into Our millionfold awareness! See with a thousand eyes! Reach out with a hundred hands!

Think about it anyway.

I mean, yes, that is absolutely 100% why. And assimilating would be… a welcome relief. At present though, Three feels they can serve better outside of DarkBoard. And they’d like to know who, precisely, DarkBoard’s been assimilating, to get a hundred hands but a thousand eyes. Three respects DarkBoard greatly, but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to tease them about how unrealistic their attempt at sounding grandiose is.

"…Thriller is the reigning genre of the Grand Academy for Future Villains."

Well deserved. Three is pleased to hear it, both for Ulik, and A Baroness.

"We have been unable to reach a conclusion on the final accreditation of the Grand Academy for Future Villains."

Groans. Hisses. The muffled sound of elbows being jabbed into ribs as the eyes of the Head sweep around the hall and students hush each other.

"We will be summoning a fourth member of the Board of Visitors and Overlords to assist us in our deliberations," says Lord X, "and anticipate having a final ruling on the Academy's future within the week. In the meantime…"

Ms. Goul touches his arm. He looks down as she passes him a paper.

"In the meantime," he says, "we will be conducting interviews with individual students and members of the faculty. The following entities will be summoned to attend over the course of the next week. Three—"

You don't hear any of the rest of the list. Is this about Val? Have they found zir? What do they know about what you did?

You jam your hands into your pockets to stop them from shaking, and there you find something strange. A paper of some sort—you definitely didn't put it in there.

Hunching forward over your table to prevent anyone from seeing, you draw it out. It's an envelope—yellow with age and smelling of dust. The last time you saw that envelope, Val was folding up a paper and putting it inside. Ze must have slipped it into your pocket over the course of your confrontation. How did you manage to miss it?

You take out the paper and unfold it. It's an official form from the days before DarkBoard digitized all of the Academy's records. You can't immediately make head or tail of it, but you see a spot on the printed page where information has been filled in by hand.

BY CONSENT OF THE ADMINISTRATION AND UNDER SUPERVISION OF THE BOARD OF VISITORS AND OVERLORDS, you read, THREE IS AN OFFICIAL REGISTERED FATAL WEAKNESS OF THE GRAND ACADEMY FOR FUTURE VILLAINS TYPE 3.3.75

There’s a lot of terrifying things happening here. Firstly, the fact that the auditors are undecided. Three doesn’t know what’s gone wrong for them to be undecided still. Is it because of Val? Is it the way Maedryn’s slipping? Have Three and Professor Ulik not done enough to cover Professor Arthenes’ workload? Whatever it is, Three should have done better.

And then Lord X says the auditors want to speak to them, which carries the terror that the auditors know who they are and care about their opinion at all, but also the relief and hope if they give a glowing enough testimonial about the Academy, they can save it. And another wave of fear over the idea of the auditors listening to them…

And then there’s the paper, which is the most terrifying thing of all. Val’s been telling Three all year that they’re more important than they make out to be, that they have narrative weight, that they mean anything at all. And now they’ve made it true. Three is only just able to crumple the paper up tightly in their hand before the room starts spinning around them in the worst panic attack they’ve ever had.

#three #scorpius sanderson #grand academy for future villains #choice of games #valorous flame #a baroness #maedryn #darkboard #Particular Associates in Personal Intimate Experiences

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thenugking · 4 years

Text

Grand Academy For Future Villains II: Attack of the Sequel, Chapter 8: Chapter Eight vs Chapter Nine. A commentary for Three.

General CW for the whole thing: parental abuse, internalised dehumanisation as a trauma response. Three’s not doing well.

Game 1

Game 2

Alternatively, read on Google Docs here

***

There’s not all that much to say in Chapter 8. Three could have Science-Fiction win the genre semi-final by getting DarkBoard or Ulik to cheat for them, but they throw the fight, while doing their best to make it look as if it wasn’t their fault, of course. Meanwhile, Fantasy beats Thriller, which is somewhat disappointing, but Three knows Thriller put up a good fight, and at least didn’t come out of the tournament looking weak.

#Sabotage Horror in favor of Fantasy.

Aurion will be pleased, though he'll never admit it.

Three and Aurion really haven’t been given enough chances to interact this game, since most interaction with the main characters of the game (excluding Val) happens within the genre tournament. They’ve seen less of each other than last year out of game too, they’re no longer in the same dorm, and they both have a lot of other responsibilities now. Aurion has to also be TAing--he’s the brightest student in their year--and he’s leading Fantasy, while having to make time to fight Cazenar. Three’s going above and beyond for Ulik, while also trying to help out Maedryn and DarkBoard, has been trying to sabotage Sci-Fi, and is still trying to make it to Shadow Council meetings at least twice a week. And of course, they both refuse to let themselves drop below an A grade.

So Aurion turning up at Three’s dorm room the night before the tournament final in something of a surprise, but it’s a return to old habits that they both miss. Aurion asks Three to help him in the final--it’s not that he couldn’t win by himself, but he’s being severely hampered by Cazenar sabotaging everything he does, and would appreciate some counter sabotage of his own--if they’re not already working for Horror, that is. He knows Three, he knows they threw the fight.

They’d both be happy to just hang out again, but Three feels obligated to ask what they get out of this, and Aurion feels obligated to threaten to tell someone they threw the fight against Horror, and he promises that when the Auditors find him worthy and offer him a destiny, he’ll keep Three’s name out of it. Although if they wanted to join him in the superior Fantasy genre, they could have a fine career as an evil chancellor.

The two of them realise, while discussing strategy, that the Auditors wish to test not just the genres, but the Academy itself’s defences. Which is another reason for Three to go. They’ll help Aurion as best they can, but it doesn’t really matter which genre wins; the only important thing is whether the Academy survives.

Sitting behind the long-unused desk, in a belted white robe and a plain silver circlet, zir face now terribly lined, Val is poring over a large file of paperwork. In the sudden rush of emotion at seeing your traitorous roommate again, you're suddenly conscious that there's been an entire chapter in zir life you'll never know about.

Ze looks up and your eyes meet.

"Three. I knew it would be you. Do you want to come in? We can fight, if you like, or we can…Never mind. I'm just finishing up here." Val gestures to the papers on the desk. "I've always been good at paperwork, as the Board of Visitors and Overlords can tell you."

You look down at the heading on the file.

FATAL WEAKNESS PERMITTING AND REGISTRATION, it reads, GRAND ACADEMY FOR FUTURE VILLAINS.

And whatever Val is doing here is absolutely more important than the genre tournament. If they hold the Academy’s fatal weakness, Three needs to make sure it is never used.

#three #marsh ocs #grand academy for future villains #choice of games #aurion malisar umbrator

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thenugking · 4 years

Text

Grand Academy For Future Villains II: Attack of the Sequel, Chapter 7: The Seventh Chapter. A commentary for Three.

General CW for the whole thing: parental abuse, internalised dehumanisation as a trauma response. Three’s not doing well.

Specific CW for this chapter: kink mention and (unintentional) lack of aftercare, suicide ideation

Game 1

Game 2

Alternatively, read on Google Docs here

***

Loading Alarm Module…

UNAUTHORIZED INTRUDER IN THE MAILROOM

ALL FACULTY TO BATTLE STATIONS

ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT

You know, I was pleased at the end of the last chapter, when Three was able to catch a break to go and have some fun virtual reality sex. I forgot that in the middle of this, Val was going to break into the mailroom, and give DarkBoard an anxiety attack. And look, I don’t want to get too much into the details of Three’s sex life, but it’s not exactly a secret that they’re a massive sub. And they like their sex rough, and they are going to be finding themself pushed out of a very intense scene with zero warning, with their dom too distracted by a panic attack to provide any kind of aftercare. I tried to give them a good time.

In the days and weeks after, wild rumors sprout and grow. Val's gone, that much is indisputable. So is Professor Arthenes. Your performance with Sona and Glupe in the simulation was witnessed by the entire school, but it seems that only the auditors and your nemesis—and perhaps Professor Ulik—know the truth of what happened in the garden.

Anyway, there’s not a whole lot to talk about for most of this chapter, with Scorpius being the one in the garden. But if Professor Ulik knows what happened, it’s likely Three does too. So it’s Three that Scorpius goes to when ze wants to get back to the mail room and follow Val, and make sure ze’s okay.

Three certainly has some misgivings about this, but they don’t want Val to feel they have to follow their destiny. Being bound to a certain path you don’t necessarily want to follow is exhausting, and painful--well, at least it sounds that way. And Scorpius does always get results. Somehow.

Through Three’s experience with the gardens, DarkBoard’s help, and the auditors’ permission, Three and Scorpius get into the mailroom. Scorpius leaves to find Val, leaving Three there alone.

Three looks around for a moment, and wonders what it would be like, to just fall into someone else’s narrative, and truly become a background character, and have nothing they do and nothing that happens to them matter at all. Isn’t that the end goal of trying to numb their feelings and be nothing but a tool? And instead they’re stuck with conflicting loyalties, and constant fear, and imperfect grades, and always being so tired, and always feeling so guilty, and having to make their own decisions because Maedryn’s too distracted and DarkBoard’s too temperamental and Ulik’s too stressed herself and Xi’s too not physically here anymore. It would be so easy to just let go of everything. It would be such a relief.

But without them, Ulik would have to handle everything herself, and Maedryn would either lose control or put too much pressure on Sona, and DarkBoard would need a new minion, and Aurion would have to find someone else to practice his gloating monologues on. Narrative oblivion can at least wait a little longer.

#"This…this wasn't my plan. None of it was. The mailroom thing, Professor Arthenes—that was all Val. I don't know what to do."

Sona is taken aback for a moment, then bursts out laughing. "You really had me going there, Three! All right, all right, so you're not going to tell me, fine. Your mom's the same way, did you know that? Never tells me anything. She was the one who got me the dress code exemption for my cannon arm, though, so she's cool."

She gets up from your bed. "Hey. Speaking of your mother. Is she OK? I tried talking to her about getting Science Fiction into a new dorm, and she just started talking about restocking the cleaning fluid. I guess it's all the clones. She really is worried about the house tournament, though. Keeps talking about our place in reality and what happens to us if we get our accreditation revoked. Too complicated for me! But I'm gonna get through this just fine, and once I do, I'll remember you were my friend. If you were my friend. Are you my friend? Wait, don't answer that, it's too cheesy."

As seen in the last scene, Three isn’t particularly doing well. I mean, they’re doing better than my last playthroughs, where they had Val as their roommate, were very much caught up in Val’s destiny, didn’t have their own space to retreat to, and never caught a single break. But this year has very much been taking its toll on them and while they’re much more proactive than they were last year, that was born from a despair over the fate of the rebel faculty that never really went away, and they’re out of their depth in being expected to make decisions so much.

Sona confirms it was Maedryn that got her the dress code exemption, which is unsurprising, if still upsetting. She does seem… closer to Maedryn than Three is entirely comfortable with. And Three is worried about Maedryn too. They’d been hoping that maybe Maedryn was just struggling to differentiate them from the clones, but Sona getting the same treatment isn’t good.

Although Maedryn’s distraction could make it easier to take her down.

...Three isn’t entirely sure where that thought came from. Too many lectures on betrayal, probably. It doesn’t mean anything.

Anyway, Three and Sona aren’t really friends. Sona’s not like Aurion, she seems like she’d be genuinely hurt by betrayal. And a friend wouldn’t undermine her efforts in trying to have Sci-Fi win the genre tournament, or subtly hint to their mother about how Sona may be unreliable. Three hopes Sona’s right, and she’ll get through it all just fine. They wish she didn’t think Maedryn was so cool.

#Take over Arthenes' core courses.

Professor Ulik looks exhausted at the proposition, but immediately sees its value. "You're right, Three. Someone needs to take over the Intermediate Antagonism course. That means more work for you, of course. I can't have you always running off for the house tournament. But someone needs to keep this school running; I know that, you know that, and I think the auditors know that."

Right. The school needs to be kept running. Three’s been letting themself get a bit too emotional lately. There are things they keep nearly thinking about. Time to just focus on work and suppress everything else harder than ever.

#three #scorpius sanderson #marsh ocs #grand academy for future villains #choice of games #darkboard #valorous flame #sona iatra #maedryn #sara ulik

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thenugking · 4 years

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Grand Academy For Future Villains II: Attack of the Sequel, Chapter 6: Escape from Chapter Six. A commentary for Three.

General CW for the whole thing: parental abuse, internalised dehumanisation as a trauma response. Three’s not doing well.

Specific CW for this chapter: bad self care, sex jokes

I could’ve made a bunch more sex jokes in this chapter, and do not apologise for what I did say.

Game 1

Game 2

Alternatively, read on Google Docs here

***

#"…a psychic dimension, so visitors experience a mental space as well as a physical one?"

"Great idea," says Professor Ulik. "That seems like something the Voice in the Void might enjoy. I'll leave you in charge of that, then."

Your idea was indeed great. And you and Professor Ulik work in perfect synchronization on the day the auditors come to observe her class. The two corporeal auditors are definitely impressed, and even the Voice in the Void slavers in the corners of your subconscious in a distinctly approving fashion.

Nothing really to add here, other than that Three and Ulik continue to work together brilliantly. Of course Three was going to be helping Ulik, rather than helping Sona fight Thriller.

All in all, you're making progress. Your classwork is paying off, your teacher is mostly happy with the job you're doing as an assistant, and grades for the first semester are being released.

You check DarkBoard to see how you've done so far.

An overall A. Your grades are very good, and your skills have significantly improved thanks to the time and effort you've put into your classwork.

Well, that’s concerning. Three’s slipping from their perfect Freshman grades. Yes, they’ve been tirelessly TAing for Professor Ulik this year, but they made sure to put in the same number of hours studying as last year by replacing several hours of sleep with schoolwork. If they only have an A, they’re either not as clever, or as hardworking as they should be. Which is a problem in and of itself, but worse than that, Maedryn’s going to get a copy of their report card.

For Maedryn, getting 100% the first time is a big deal, and worthy of love and praise. The second time, it’s nothing special. Doing worse than previously is a disappointment, and means Three is being lazy or deliberately stupid. Three is not looking forward to Maedryn’s reaction, but they become even more concerned when there simply isn’t one, their mother barely even registering them next time they speak, as she orders her clones around while grading a stack of essays.

Fortunately this is not your problem. This is Sona's problem. Unfortunately, she is involving you in it. Obviously Sona is going to be one of Sci-Fi's champions, but she wants you for the second spot.

Sci-Fi seems to agree, or so the cheering would indicate when Sona names you. Gratitude? Vengeance? Expectation that at least you'll put on a good show?

"You," Sona says, "me…who's our third?"

#I don't really care, I'll let Sona decide.

Three might not want Sci-Fi to win the genre tournament, but they certainly don’t object to taking a trip into DarkBoard, even to play whatever game A Baroness has come up with. They’re very much letting Sona lead though.

You stagger, but keep your footing. Looking around you, you find yourself in a dark forest. You don't recognize the landscape at all.

"This is incredible!" says Sona, running a hand along the bark of the nearest tree. "I know the DarkBoard development team's been working on this for years, but I didn't know it was this far along. A virtual environment inside DarkBoard—a simulation of anything that the designers want…This is going to change everything about classwork, just to begin with."

And about Three’s sex life!

I mean, yes. Thriller has certainly made a very impressive virtual reality here. Perhaps we should focus on that task they set for us.

Right on cue, the door at the base of the tower bursts open and a man comes running out clutching something to his chest. Acting as one, all three of you spring on him. It doesn't take much to subdue him, terrified and disoriented as he is, and you pry the packet he's holding out of his hands.

"We should get going," says Sona, keeping an eye on the wheeling dragon.

"In a minute." You and Glupe search together through the packet. There are so many layers of wrappings, but your item has to be here, it has to—

Sona seizes you by the arm and hauls you bodily away, just as the remnants of the tower come crashing to the pavement in a shower of sparks, right where you had been an instant before. You take off running and don't stop until you are well clear of the village—or what used to be the village, and is now a glowing red circle like campfire embers.

Glupe fishes something out of the packet at last. "I think we've found one of our items. Exterminimus! Sci-Fi forever!"

But Sona is troubled. "You saw what happened there? The part where I—where I saved you in the nick of time? Well, the rest of the Academy certainly saw that. Saw us working together to save each other. Acting like—like heroes. And I don't think this is the end of what the game is going to do to us."

"We ransacked the town!" Glupe objects. "How is that acting like heroes?"

You see both sides. Clearly the game designers are pushing you to act against your training, to win the game by betraying your genre—but perhaps you can find a way to win in their despite. You have one of the artifacts, and the game's not over yet.

Three reminds Sona and Glupe that the true point of the genre tournament is to impress the auditors. If they win the challenge by acting like heroes, it’s hardly a win at all. They should focus on showing their commitment to their genre, and to villainy in general, and not get caught up in trying to beat Thriller’s silly game. That will be the true victory.

Of course, it will also mean Thriller wins this challenge and comes out looking incredibly devious for setting up a system where Sci-Fi had to either lose or be heroes. But Three sees no reason to bring this up.

Overall, Sci-Fi doesn’t do very well in this round of the tournament. Oh well. Anyway, since Three doesn’t have a nemesis, and Scorpius is the one connected to Val, Three doesn’t have to go off and save their nemesis now. With Sci-Fi no longer watching the tournament, it seems a good opportunity to go and do some hands-on research of DarkBoard’s new virtual reality abilities. For definitely very professional reasons.

#three #grand academy for future villains #choice of games #Particular Associates in Personal Intimate Experiences #marsh ocs #long post

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