#high schoolers. my new mortal enemy.

[lazaruspiss]

america raised the legal smoking age to 21 in 2019 and i just found out bc i needed to buy a lighter (for candles) and had to give my bday for it

[sleepyowlwrites]

Storyteller Saturday!!

Hey, Sleepy!!

What's a trope you're doing a fun spin on in your writing?

attempting to clear out some of my hoard so I can make room for new pieces in here.

I like to think I do fun spins on tropes all the time, but in really small ways.

in city story I do "there was only one bed!" but the spin is that the two people sleeping in it are both entirely uninterested in each other and also are both probably asexual.

in summon story I do "protagonist is just some guy" but the spin is that he's not even the main character of the story. he just gets the most page pov time (or all of it. I still can't make up my mind about that)

in youth story I do "mortal enemies" but the spin is that they're high schoolers and also idiots.

in space story I do "ancient celestial being has a mysterious past" but the spin is that the plot is not about the past and instead is about them literally just making friends with two humans

also in youth story I do "these kids have superpowers" but the spin is that they literally do not matter. they're just a bonus thing in the story

in guild story I do "immortal magical person" but the spin is she's not the main character and you never get to find out what her deal is or how she became immortal (unless you track down that post where I detailed it for Rainstormdaughterdearest)

I know there's other stuff but I can't think of them right now. thanks for asking, Jackpot!

[927roses-and-stuff]

Miracles in Gotham: Chapter 3: Unwelcome Discoveries (Part 1)

Hey, guys! This fic is inspired by @ozmav mav’s Maribat AU. Shoutout to @mystery-5-5  for brainstorming ideas with me for this fic. 

Midterms have got me acting up. Despite the quarantine, I literally wasn’t motivated to write until the moment I could use writing to procrastinate. Absolutely brilliant logic. Truly. Thank you guys so much for the wait and I hope you enjoy this chapter.  

If you want to see more, follow: #miraclesingotham or ask to be added to the tag list.

P.S. For the sake of continuity, I’m going to ignore the Heroes United thing because that episode was basically a fanfic of the fanfic and as much as I loved the animation and the new characters...I’ve seen better plots and explanations for a lot of the similar problems in the Maribat fandom. Also Sparrow is probably a reference to Batman, anyways. Also, canon has just gone out the window...I guess...whoops. 

P.P.S. Swearing tw, death tw. 

Please remember this is rated M for a reason. Also, it is my headcanon that not everyone who dies during the akuma attacks come back. Of course, it’s not mentioned in a children’s show, but I’ve always seen the Miraculous Cure as a cure for physical, non-living objects as they’re easier to fix, and lives take a lot more effort and energy from the user to revive. And since Marinette is a child, there’s not going to be a lot of energy to spare.

Tag list: @northernbluetongue @spicybelladonna @my-name-is-michell @legendaryneckjudgestudent @lokiifriggasonn @zerotosiki

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To the members of the Justice League…

I am writing to you as Chat Noir, superhero of Paris and holder of the Black Cat Miraculous of Destruction, and partner to Ladybug, the official Guardian and the holder of the Ladybug Miraculous of Creation. I come to you with a plea similar to ones that we have sent you a year ago. The magical terrorist, Hawkmoth, is still at large here in Paris, France. If you are not aware of who he is, Hawkmoth is a domestic terrorist in Paris who relies on the power of the Butterfly Miraculous to create a physical and amplified manifestation of a person’s negative emotions, using the victim as a host, using magical butterflies as his form of transmission. These are called akumas. The akuma allows Hakwmoth to essentially get inside the mind of  his victims and manipulate and amplify their emotions.  We have been fortunate enough to have a failsafe in Ladybug, who can repair any physical damages, and even bring back lives, from these attacks. However, both Ladybug and I have reached our wits’ ends with no lead to Hawkmoth’s true identity. The people of Paris are suffering both from emotional trauma and the physical trauma of being subjugated, manipulated, experiencing bouts of amnesia, and even resurrecting multiple times. Hawkmoth has even taken to exclusively targeting a middle-school class at College Francois-Dupont.

Ladybug and I are aware of the risks superhero presence may bring since we will not survive a fight if any more experienced superheroes such as yourselves are akumatized. However, I feel that we have no other choice. Our Master has recently been put out of commission and the rest of our comrades have had their identities compromised. Ladybug is now the Guardian of the rest of the Miraculous. And although she will not approve of my plea, even your  advice or insight will be of use to us.

Please consider our plight and contact us as soon as you can.

Chat Noir 

Bruce Wayne was not a perfect man, he will admit. However, he did pride himself on his sense of logic and adaptability to most situations, as long as they stayed within the mortal realms of believability that is. Magic, however, or anything pertaining to the supernatural was out of his forte; in fact, he often liked to pretend it did not exist despite having acquaintances and enemies whose entire lives revolved around it. There was a reason he did not tolerate the  prolonged presence of meta-humans in Gotham, after all. 

He re-read through the email once, twice, again and again, desperately wishing that it had not been his shift to look through the messages that the Justice League received on a daily basis. Why couldn’t it have been Superman or Wonder Woman? Or better yet, Dr. Fate or Zatanna, never mind the fact that the latter was technically retired. Any of them would’ve made sense of this gibberish that was laid out in front of him. 

Initially, he thought it had been a coded message. It made perfect sense, in his opinion. The only concrete fact he could dissect out of this nonsense was the presence of a domestic terrorist and how they were targeting some middle school students for whatever reason. His mind recalled  the recent conversation he had with André Bourgeois yesterday. Even he had mentioned a domestic terrorist going after his daughter’s class, which was why he reached out to Bruce, since Bruce would be the most fitted to protect them with his resources, despite Gotham being the crime capital of the world. He nodded to himself; the facts were consistent then. There was a terrorist and middle school students were the targets. 

On one of the other screen monitors, he had pulled up records of College Francois Dupont School for a background check using a VPN to connect to French service networks. Both the email from this Chat Noir (Selina would get a kick out of that) and André failed to mention the terrorist’s intentions with these kids. However, looking through the different classes, there had been a special note besides Mme. Bustier’s class that stated:

“High vulnerability to akumas.”

This was where Bruce was once again stumped. Of course, he really couldn’t deny the existence of magic, but accepting that meant accepting that the terrorist used magical butterflies as his form of attack. Bruce wasn’t a qualified psychologist or any sort of specialist, but surely magical butterflies could not give you emotional trauma, mind-control, or even as Chat Noir had implied, a means to murder. 

Bruce scanned through Mme. Bustier’s class to look for anything that might be different from other classes. If he recalled correctly, this was the same class that André’s kid was in. He took note of the name, Chloé Bourgeois, and other notable names such as Adrien Agreste (who’s father was a fashion mogul and a model in his own right), Lila Rossi (a diplomat’s daughter), Max Kanté (a genius, and he noted to himself to see if that held true when the class was under his supervision), Marinette Dupain-Cheng (the class president and the designer of a recent rock album according to Jason who had obsessed over the cover for a few weeks before Alfred confiscated it), and Alya Césaire (an aspiring journalist who ran a blog called the Ladyblog). 

Okay, he rationalized. While not all of these kids were significant, some, like the Mayor’s own daughter, would be prime targets for a terrorist, so that made some sort of sense in Bruce’s mind. 

He sighed again, wishing that he had a cup of coffee or an energy drink with him at the moment. Unfortunately, Tim’s recent addiction meant no one could have it. Bruce scoffed underneath his breath. Alfred had really weird rules when it came to show “family support.” Tim was a grown man who should suffer his own consequences. Alas, no one argues with Alfred lest they risked his wrath. 

Bruce hovered over the link under Mlle. Césaire’s file, the Ladyblog. Perhaps it would give him some answers. 

As a bright ladybug designed website popped up, Bruce realized he might have been so wrong. 

He scrolled through the website thoroughly from the latest posts to the earliest. He noticed a concerning trend where the later blog posts centered more around one of Césaire’s classmates, Lila Rossi, and shaky videos of a red and black spotted figurem and a black cat figure fleeing the scene, or fighting some sort of abomination that Bruce did not even attempt to understand. In one video it was the two heroes against a flock of pigeons, or a gigantic baby, or whatever else. Bruce had half a mind to dismiss the entire blog as based on falsities, however one of the videos caught his eye. 

It was a video titled: “Syren: Paris Going Underwater!!” 

That was concerning, considering a flooded Paris would’ve featured on international news, not just on an amateur blog by a middle schooler. Fortunately for him, the video quality was clearer, allowing him to watch as the camera recorded the scene of that day. 

Bruce jolted awake and snapped to attention when he realized it was being filmed on a rooftop, and that the water levels were still rising as the video progressed. From what the camera captured, there were only a handful of people on each rooftop; not even making up a fifth of the Parisian population in total. 

What the fuck?

Then, as the video concluded, gigantic swarms of red and white bugs (ladybugs?) filled the camera’s frame and when it disappeared, everything was back to what he presumed was normal. The video then faded to black, posting statistics that chilled Bruce to the fucking bone. 

“Death count: 1.528 million Parisians

Resurrection count: 1.51 million Parisians

Injured count: 10 000 Parisians

Permanent death count: 18 000 Parisians

In honour of the Parisians who were not revived and were injured during the attack, the Ladyblog, offers our condolences, and will help in any way we can online and offline.  The akuma victim, as always, will remain anonymous for safety purposes.  Links to help organizations and donation funds to the peoples and families affected will be posted below. Additional links will be posted for available online mental health services.”

And, if Chat Noir was to be believed, some people had died multiple times. 

After making sure the video was not doctored in any way (though that would be cruel to assume about a kid’s blog), Bruce sent Chat Noir’s email (along with the earlier videos from both heroes and an email from Marinette Dupain-Cheng that he had found) and all of the links he had amassed to his own computer in the Bat Cave before closing all the tabs on the monitors. Swerving around, he stormed to the Batmobile, eyebrows furrowed in solemnity. 

Magic or not, whatever terrorist was plaguing Paris had a pretty damn high casualty count, and the only people that were stopping him were this Ladybug and Chat Noir people, who did not seem to be properly equipped (the Ladybug heroine was using a yoyo, for fuck’s sake) to deal with someone of this power. Not to mention, Bruce winced, their mentor  was “out of commission” whatever that meant, with their peers being compromised, so they probably had no outside help.

And it seems, Bruce’s features darkened into a scowl, his dear friend André Bourgeois had a lot of explaining to do. Police department has it handled, his ass. 

In the meantime, he was going to make damn sure the class under his care would have a relaxing reprieve even if he had to lock up every villain in Arkham Asylum himself. 

________________________________________________________________

Dear Diary, 

The talk with Chat was a bust. I know he thinks I don’t trust him, but I wish he knew how much I’m trying to, but it’s not as simple as he makes it out to be...right?  And of course I trust him with my life, but as the Guardian, I can’t just make impulsive decisions like going to other superheroes, especially when there’s no guarantee they would help us, or can even be trusted in the first place! And I can’t just reveal our identities to each other either. It would put Chat and the rest of the Miraculous at risk. And I really don’t want a repeat of Chat Blanc…

That future will never happen on my watch. I forbid it. 

Speaking of other superheroes, I think there might be someone though, who could help us, even a little bit. 

Marianne. 

She wasn’t a Guardian, but she was a Ladybug user for a while and was really close to Master Fu. She must know something. She’s in London so she might not be available but...

I’ll check up on her today after class! If she has any helpful advice, I’ll be sure to share it with Chat too. 

Gotta go!

Bisoux, 

Marinette

Scrambling to get ready, Marinette fumbled with her pigtails and shoulder bag simultaneously, trying to make sure that her pigtails were just right. Tikki zoomed around, helping her get ready by shoving stray pens and pencils into her pockets. When they were done, Marinette rushed downstairs, swiping one of the freshly-made quiche along the way. Just before she exited the store, she turned back to give her Maman and Papa a smooch. Hastily, she then left the bakery, the bakery’s bell ringing behind her as she sprinted to school. 

It was a mystery for most people, but despite living less than five minutes away from the school, Marinette was always late. Marinette liked to blame her Ladybug duties when Tikki asked, but she knew better. She had the habit of being late since before she knew the Miraculous existed. 

To be fair though, Marinette usually slept in because she was exhausted from schoolwork, designing,

and Ladybug duties. Was it her fault that Hawkmoth liked making 3 AM akumas? Was it her fault that coffee- for all the espresso and sugar she dumped into it, and despite all those hipster blogs saying otherwise- did nothing to help her stay awake? Of course not. If anything she was a victim here; a victim of late night akumas and faulty biology. 

Fortunately for her (and her quiche), she was actually earlier today than usual. She could see students milling around the courtyard behind the school. Some sat with their friend groups while others huddled to catch up on the homework from the night before. 

Unfortunately, one of those groups was Lila and her friends. Lila sat on one of the picnic tables, talking about whatever grand adventure she supposedly went on or whichever famous celebrity she supposedly saved from a rare type of cancer or something while her friends sat around her, captivated with every word. Marinette rolled her eyes. It was too early for this. 

She steered away from them towards the other side of the yard, where she could see Alya and Nino cuddling while finishing their homework. She glanced back at Lila, who waved at the couple before going back to whatever story she was regaling to her loving audience. It was probably because Alya and Nino hadn’t seen Lila greet them in the first place, but Marinette couldn’t help feeling a bit happy that they didn’t return her greeting. 

“Morning, guys!” She greeted as she approached their table, sitting on the other side. 

Alya looked up first. “Hey! You woke up early today,” she teased, giving her shoulder a friendly nudge.

“Heh, guess it’s my lucky day today,” she said. As she sat down, she began eating the quiche she had swiped earlier. “Well, almost, anyway.”

Alya rolled her eyes and smirked. “You live in front of the school. It’s your own damn fault at this point.” 

Nino, who had been pouring over a worksheet that was due today, finally looked up. Upon seeing Marinette, he smiled. “Hey, dude. You’re actually early!” 

At Marinette’s exasperated groan, both Alya and Nino fell into giggles, Marinette shortly following along. 

“Keep that up, and I’m not gonna let you guys eat at my place for lunch,” she teased, wagging a finger at them. 

Alya wagged her own finger, engaging in a finger sword fight. “As if your mom would ever let us starve!” 

Marinette laughed, as she wrapped her finger around Alya’s and lightly slammed it onto the table, declaring her victory. 

“Okay, okay, you got me.” Marinette went back to eating her quiche, devouring it before it got too cold. For once, she was in a pretty good mood. 

“Hey, Alya, Nino,”

And of course, she just had  to jinx it. 

Marinette didn’t even try to join in the conversation to acknowledge Lila’s presence. If Lila wanted to talk to her, she needed to stop lying about everything; and with her supposed “lying disease,” that wasn’t happening anytime soon. She only wished Adrien was here so someone could sympathize with her. 

“Oh, hey Lila,” Alya greeted, having gained her hand back and waved. “Ignore Nino here. He forgot about Mendeleiv’s worksheet due today.” 

“Oh, I see.” Lila said. “Well, you know, Nino. If you ever need help with science, one of my cousins actually won a Noble Peace Prize for his contributions in molecular chemistry.” 

Nino, to his credit, only muttered an “uh huh” before turning the worksheet over and frantically scribbling all over it. Marinette briefly wondered if Nino understood what he was writing down- or if he cared. 

Alya perked up. “Wow, that’s amazing Lila! What did your cousin do?”

Lila smiled bashfully, and looked away, waving her hand. “Oh, you know, it was the discovery of some man-made element.” Marinette had to give Lila credit- she knew how to fake her blushes really well. “I’m nowhere near as smart as my cousin, you know? All the scientific words get me so confused!” 

Marinette buried her head in her arms. Did she need to be here for this? She could just slip away? Glancing at Lila, who caught her eyes, she decided against it. Like hell she was letting Lila take away her time with her  friends. 

Alya laughed good-naturedly. “Oh, I understand completely. English is so much more of my forté, you know?” 

“Yeah I totally get what you mean.” Lila stopped laughing as her gaze landed on Marinette. Only she seemed to notice the glare she gave her.  “Oh, hi, Marinette. Glad to see you’re early today.” 

“Yeah,” she deadpanned. “Hi.” With a fake smile, she robotically waved at her. 

“Well, anyways I got to go. See you later Alya.”  Lila said, waving her fingers before finally walking away. Marinette exhaled. Thank kwami. She may have been less obnoxious today but that was probably because of Alya’s presence. 

Speaking of, the said girl turned towards her. “You could be nicer towards her.” 

“She almost got me expelled.” Marinette had had this conversation with Alya many times before. At this point, her responses came like clockwork. She contemplated telling Alya’s threat back in Lila’s first day, but she really wasn’t ready for the backlash if Alya accused her  of lying. 

“Well,” Alya stuttered. “It was because she has an illness that makes her lie uncontrollably.” 

Marinette was pretty sure there was no such illness but at this point, Lila had somehow convinced everyone it was an actual illness. That, or no one wanted to point out the obvious lie, including administration. Which would be pretty negligent of the school admin so she hoped not. 

“Alya, if it was just an illness that makes her tell lies, pray tell, who put the test answers in my bag and the necklace in my locker?” she asked. 

“Maybe, well,” Alya tried coming up with an answer but failed, thereby changing the subjects. “Look, both of you are my friends, and I don’t want to get in between the two of you.” 

Marinette sighed. “Yeah, yeah.” She picked up the discarded quiche container and her bag. “I gotta go to class and see if Mme. Bustier needs help.” 

Alya frowned. “Marinette, wait.” 

“It’s okay, really.” Marinette assured her, before walking away. When she was climbing up the steps to the entrance, she sighed heavily. She didn’t really understand Alya’s logic sometimes. If she knew about Lila’s supposed lying disease, why did she put Lila’s trash on the Ladyblog? If Alya knew Lila’s lies had led to Marinette’s initial expulsion, why still defend her? Marinette shook the thoughts away, not wanting to get into that impeding headache. Lila Rossi was never worth her time. 

When she reached the entrance, Lila was leaning against the doors, her arms crossed. Her olive green eyes were glaring right at her. 

“Dupain-Cheng.” 

“Rossi.” 

Lila strutted up to her, getting uncomfortably close to her face. “I told you what would happen if you didn’t play along.” 

Marinette stared back, unimpressed. She really had more pressing issues than this weird power play Lila wanted to play. Leaning back and stepping to the side, she said, “I already told you I’m not scared of you, Lila.” 

Marinette didn’t spare her another glance. In some ways, she pitied Lila. What kind of life did you have that you were so desperate for attention you lied about everything, and tried to get rid of anyone else who called you out? 

She really hoped Alya would soon see sense. Adrien had once told her to take the high road, and honestly? Sometimes, it felt good to not let Lila’s lies get under her skin. 

Then again, when did Lila ever go down so simply? 

[alternis-dim]

If someone wanted to get into persona, what is the best game to start with?

to be honest, Persona is kind of nice in that it doesn’t matter a whole lot where you start, since each game is a relatively self-contained story which only has brief mentions or cameos of previous entries! some elements of the lore make more sense if you play certain games before others, but it isn’t anything drastic enough to impact your enjoyment. Hell, I started with Persona 5 and was just fine. So I guess I can just sorta talk about the pros and cons of each game as an entry point to the series! I can also briefly describe their premises in case a particular one seems more interesting, which could help someone with deciding where to start.

this is gonna be long, so I’ll put it under a read more.

Persona 1/Revelations: Persona is the only game I wouldn’t recommend playing first. Its mechanics are pretty outdated and not reflective of the rest of the series, and it’s relatively short compared to the others as well. Not to say that it’s not worth ever playing! In fact, from my understanding it has wonderful characterization, an engaging plot, and lays important groundwork for the franchise’s worldbuilding. I just wouldn’t recommend it for getting a taste of what the series is like.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin is the first of the dual entries for the Persona 2 duology. It has some of the same cons I mentioned for the first game; it’s relatively old, so its mechanics are a little outdated, and it plays more similarly to an SMT game than the future Persona entries do (for example, the story is fairly linear and occurs over the course of a few days, whereas later entries are strung out over a year). It is a little more refined, though, and the formula is starting to get there. It also has, in my opinion, some of the best character writing in the series.

P2IS is a story about how strange occurrences are brewing in the city of Sumaru because of a phenomenon where rumors actually influence and/or become reality. A group of high schoolers get tangled up with a mysterious man named Joker, who can supposedly grant wishes and, for some reason, seems to hold a very personal grudge against them. They discover their ability to call upon Personas to defend themselves from the demons at his command, and soon end up teaming up with journalist Maya Amano to get to the bottom of Joker’s identity and the source of the rumors which are warping the city. Over the course of their journey, they slowly start to piece together their past in order to figure out why Joker seems so invested in them.

Pros: - Stellar character writing- An intriguing, interconnected plot which is a bit of a rollercoaster but a lot of fun- Lays the groundwork for lore in the Persona series (most importantly the existence of Philemon and Nyarlathotep, as well as the origin of the Velvet Room)- Incredibly mature takes on the impact of trauma and familial abuse (TW for both of those things though)- Canonically bisexual protagonist with a potential same sex dating optionCons:- Unavoidable random encounters and really grind-heavy, as most 90′s jrpgs go- Outdated mechanics that aren’t really reflective of future Persona entries- One of those wiki-heavy games: it’s damn near impossible to unlock certain character interactions or personas without use of a guide- The second game in the Duology, Eternal Punishment, isn’t nearly as accessible to English audiences

Persona 3 is where a lot of the series formula originates from! It’s also my personal favorite, but I’ll try my best to be unbiased describing it. Small note: I recommend playing Persona 3 FES specifically, since it refines a lot of the things that were clunky in the vanilla version, adds more character content, and features a post-game which answers a lot of questions.

P3 takes place in a coastal city called Iwatodai at the beginning of the school year, where the protagonist moves in as a transfer student after being bounced around in foster care for ten years following an accident which killed his parents. Upon arrival, he experiences the strange phenomenon of the Dark Hour: an extra 25th hour in the day where people are transformed into coffins and monsters roam free. Technology doesn’t work during this hour, and anyone not protected by a coffin is violently attacked and seems soulless the next day, a condition local news dubs Apathy Syndrome. A select few people have the potential to stay conscious during the Dark Hour and protect themselves by use of a Persona, and these people make up a unit called the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (S.E.E.S.). The protagonist joins, and the game follows their investigation of the phenomenon. It’s considered the darkest entry in the series, and for good reason: “memento mori” is right in its introduction. The game focuses heavily on themes of death, what it means to be mortal, how people deal with being confronted with their mortality, what the point of life is, and much more. 

Pros:- Introduction of the Persona formula: school life and dungeon exploration which requires time management on a linear calendar, the knockdown/1-more feature in combat, all-out-attacks, social links. Starting with this game may actually be the best way to go gameplay-wise, since coming back to this game after playing later entries makes it seem clunky.- Dungeon-crawl style of gameplay, which is a lot nicer than random encounters. You explore randomly generated floors and choose when and where to ambush enemies.- Excellent character arcs which enrich the game’s narrative- A dark, mature, and interesting story which explores human natureCons:- Still an older game, so some controls are clunky. One game mechanic in particular that many are frustrated with is the inability to directly choose what moves your teammates will use, instead requiring you to use Tactics to direct how the AI should behave.- Probably has the worst pacing issues out of any game in the series. There’s an entire calendar month where you do basically nothing.- The post-game is grind-heavy and long for the amount of story it offers. Some people just recommend watching a playthrough.- Features an uncomfortable transphobic skit towards the middle of the game.

Persona 4 is a refinement of many of the features of Persona 3. The best version to play is Persona 4 Golden, since it has a lot of extra content, but it’s vita exclusive and I’m stuck with vanilla :( Vanilla’s still fine in my experience, at least!

P4 takes place in the small town of Inaba, where the protagonist has transferred for a year to live with his uncle and cousin due to his parents leaving the country for work. Shortly after his arrival, a bizarre series of serial murderers start to occur where the bodies are found strung up on telephone lines. There’s also a rumor that looking into a turned off television screen on a rainy midnight will reveal your soulmate; this rumor is referred to as the Midnight Channel. The protagonists and friends inadvertently discover a parallel world which exists alongside Inaba, which can be entered through televisions but which can’t be exited without the help of a mysterious denizen named Teddie. They discover that these worlds are linked; people who show up on the Midnight Channel turn up dead in the real world shortly after, and the weather is inverse to Inaba’s. They discover that this is because someone is throwing people into this world, who are then unable to escape, and that the Shadows living in it become violent when the fog lifts (inverse to when the fog settles in the real world). This world also has an interesting quirk: people who enter it end up confronting their own shadow, which is a manifestation of the parts of themselves they repress or deny. Denying your shadow leads to it attempting to kill you, and this is likely what caused the deaths of the first victims. The protagonist and team discover that confronting and accepting your own Shadow, however, turns it into a Persona which you can then use to combat the monsters in the world. Equipped with their unique knowledge, the team sets out to save victims, solve the murder mystery, and learn how to accept themselves.

Pros:- A powerful message about the importance of seeking the truth and accepting all facets of yourself- An absolutely incredible murder mystery with clever plot twists and high stakes: getting the true ending is actually difficult if you don’t know who the murderer is, and you’re expected to understand the themes of the game and the characters in order to get it.- A nice in-between for the mechanics of P3 and P5: it’s pretty easy to transfer to either one after playing this one. (also introduces the ability to control party members directly, thank god)- A TON of spinoff content if you find you enjoy the characters and setting- Probably one of the best games in terms of understanding the overarching lore of the series, since it explains how Personas and Shadows work in much more depth than other entriesCons:- Has sort of a wonky difficulty curve. The first couple dungeons are honestly kind of a pain in the ass because of how level scaling works, and it takes a little while to level out.- The character arcs aren’t quite as well-written as previous games, due to the ultimate personas being associated with social link completion rather than events in the plot.- Oh god, such clumsy handling of LGBT topics. Plays around the idea of a gay narrative for one character (Kanji) and a trans narrative for another (Naoto) but ultimately just ends up playing up stereotypes and then backing out before doing anything “risky.” Another character in the party is pretty homophobic to Kanji for a while too, which sucks.

Persona 5 is the most popular in the series for sure, and for good reason. It’s the complete culmination of the Persona formula, and it adds all sorts of stuff to the gameplay and lore. It has a pretty lovable cast, to boot. Not that it doesn’t also have its problems, imo.

P5 features a protagonist who was falsely convicted of assault after attempting to defend a woman from a drunk man harassing her. His criminal record and probation result in his expulsion from his home school, so he moves in with a family friend in Tokyo where a school will accept him until his time’s up. Tokyo’s been strange for a little while now. Mysterious incidents have been causing disruptions for a while. There’s been a surge of “psychotic breakdown incidents” in which people act out unpredictably for seemingly no reason, and on rarer occasions “mental shutdowns” where people seem to completely break and die shortly after. The protagonist and friends get tied up in nonsense pretty quickly when a mysterious app on his phone transports him to a parallel world in which real locations of Tokyo are warped beyond recognition. The protagonist discovers the power of persona pretty early on, which he uses to fight the enemies there. With the help of a strange creature named Morgana, they learn that this is the “Metaverse”, a space in which the twisted desires and perceptions of people are made manifest. It’s a space where a person’s Shadow lords over a “Palace”, an altered version of real-world locations which reflects how that person views the world around them. They also learn that personas are the result of having a strong, rebellious will, allowing you to control your Shadow in combat. By breaking into a Palace, defeating the Shadow, and stealing the “Treasure” at its core, the Palace will crumble and the person in real life will come to grips with the morality of their actions, effectively outing themselves. This is referred to as stealing hearts, and the Phantom Thieves are born; they quickly become infamous in Tokyo, though their reputation attracts unwanted attention, as well as blame… could those breakdown incidents be related to the Metaverse, too? This game focuses heavily on the corruption of society, the abuse and manipulation of people in power, the ways in which our circumstances force us to hide parts of ourselves, ideas of justice, and all sorts of fun ideas of “rebellion”.

Pros:- ABSOLUTELY the best gameplay in the series. The controls are smooth, the battles and UI are streamlined, the visuals are absolutely stunning. This is the one that’s most fun to actually PLAY, bar none.- More of a stealth/heist game than a dungeon crawler, which is a fun spin on the series.- Excellent social commentary on the injustices young people face in a system stacked against them.- A really lovable cast of characters, and social links which actually grant you access to helpful gameplay features as incentive. Cons:- Sort of a small thing, but one of the game’s twists is a lot more fun to figure out if you’ve already played at least one other entry in the series.- Has some serious writing issues. The game has a very strong first half, but then starts to feel rushed the further along you get after a certain point. You can tell that the developers wanted to fit in a lot, but didn’t quite have the time to refine the ideas they implemented.- On that note, some of the character writing starts to regress or even becomes contradictory.- Has a couple instances of homophobia surrounding the Red Light District.

This got long, sorry, but I hope it’s helpful! like I said, you really can start anywhere, and you don’t have to play them in a particular order. Just pick the ones that seem the most interesting and have fun!

[ryik-the-writer]

Chapter 24 - Felix is helping Pan

[A03]

Chapter 1: Pan meets a Wendy Chapter 2: Scars (Felix’s Story) Chapter 3: Day One Chapter 4: Revenge and Fireflies Chapter 5: Brighter than Stars Chapter 6: filler: The Tigress Chapter 7: Operation Spotless! Chapter 8: Operation Spotless: Reporters Down Chapter 9: A Dance with the Devil Chapter 10: filler: Felix and the Pancake Chapter 11: The Girl with Blue Eyes pt. 1 Chapter 12: The Girl with Blue Eyes pt. 2 Chapter 13: The Girl With Blue Eyes: Underground Chapter 14. Recovery Chapter 14.2 Recovery some more Chapter 15: Trapped Chapter 16: Filth Chapter 17: Fairydust pt. 1 Chapter 18: Fairydust pt. 2 Chapter 19: The Mystery of the Dead Nun pt. 1 Chapter 20: The Mystery of the Dead Nun pt. 2                                         Chapter 21:  The Mystery of the Dead Nun pt. 3                                         Chapter 22: Reflections pt. 1                                                                       Chapter 23: Reflections pt. 2

Chapter 24: Closing

Sydney Glass groaned as he sent tomorrow’s paper to the printers.

The issue was mundane and stocked with forgettable stories. In fact, their front page story was about a high schooler who won first place in the district-wide poetry contest.

It was soft, digestible news that was just satisfying enough to keep Storybrooke’s readers sated…

If woefully unsatisfied.

Glass refused to cave however. Keeping Pan away for a week would do the paper, as well as the whole town, some good. Hell, he should have forced the little shit to take a vacation years ago.

Soon enough the chaos from the past week would simmer down and everyone would put their pitchforks away.

Still, the place was awfully quiet without him and Wendy yelling at each other every five seconds.

He glanced out his office window where Felix was working on his computer. The photographer had stayed under the radar since the incident with Mother Superior, being a silent partner as Tink grieved.

Glass still wasn’t sure what he had expected him to do. He and Pan had always had this inaudible communication, always being joined at the hip without really being fused together.

The senior reporter decided not to dwell too much on his suspicion. As long as his work was complete, what harm could Felix’s communication with Pan do?

“Lock up when you’re done, would ya?” he called to the photographer as he put on his coat and hat.

Felix gave an absent nod as his answer and Glass left with a clean conscience.

The blond paused his faux typing and listened with earnest as the door to the exit clanged behind him.

He swirled in his chair and sent a quick text. Pan was bustling through the doors a second later.

“Took him damn long enough,” he cursed as he unraveled his scarf.

Felix didn’t feed into his irritation. He didn’t want to prolong their meeting just in case Glass or another staff member suddenly showed up.

“Here,” he said, handing Pan several thick files. “This was all they had. The Boston station hasn’t responded to my request yet.”

Pan nodded and flipped through the top file quickly, grinning like he had the biggest scoop of all time.

“This will work for now,” he clucked, hiding the files in his bag.

As Felix had expected, Pan didn’t immediately leave now that the task was complete. He was never one for small-talk unless he knew—despite frequent denying—that he had done something wrong.

It was amusing to the older blonde, to see the rawer parts of his wild friend. He had the inability to admit he was human, but he’d allow glimpses of that mortality to show, only to be buried again.

“Tink’s fine,” Felix offered when Pan didn’t speak.

“I didn’t ask about her,” Pan growled immediately.

“But you were thinking about her,” he countered, his heart skipping a bit. She didn’t know about tonight, about him gathering the files for Pan behind her and Glass’s back. But Felix had always had a time saying no to Pan about anything. Maybe it was because of how quickly he gained the power within their little circle, or perhaps it was because he had brought him back to life after his parents died, and somehow kept him alive after each and every seizure ever since. Peter Pan had a strange power over his heart and mind that not even the fear of losing Tink could break.

But…that was also his girl…and Pan needed to hear bitching from him now.

“You really hurt her,” he added.

“She’ll get over it,” Pan whined. “It’s not like that bitch would have been a mother to her anyway.”

“That’s not it,” Felix said. “She’s hurt because you drug her through the dirt like this. If it were Wendy, it would be one thing—we haven’t known her that long. You, we have history. You should be one of the only people in the world who would think twice about harming her in any way.”

Pan rolled his eyes, but he tilted his head away so Felix couldn’t see his face.

That’s why she was still mad? What the hell! He was Peter Pan for Christ’s sake! She should expect this from him!

Oh God…

She expected this from him and still got hurt.

He had struggled to rebury the trauma from his investigative rendezvous with Jekyll in the past few weeks, especially with Tink’s recent rage bringing back a serious case of déjà vu.

He would have never put her in the danger he had all those years ago, but the chance had literally presented itself before him. Jekyll’s target had been blondes with minor injuries—so minor that they could have easily walked out of the hospital without suspicion.

Tink fit the mold perfectly, and had he not been absolutely terrified for what was about to happen, he would have let her in on his plan.

That had been his biggest mistake.

Maybe she would have said yes, or maybe she would have called Graham in on it and ruined two months’ worth of work, but she had been kept in the dark. Because of him.

Tink wasn’t like Felix. She wasn’t pulled into the dark hole of his madness. She didn’t look at him, mesmerized, like a fly in the final moments before a spider sucks it dry. She was harder, less willing to put her faith and trust into anyone.

She never went along with anything he needed. She always tried to outright defy him at every turn. She had throttled any plan or suggestion he had made during their high school days, and had assisted Wendy during her first story just because she knew it would piss him off. It was a game he liked to play, because even if she was the opponent, she was never quite an enemy.

She was like him. Hard, very careful of who to let in. But Tink loved life more than he did, and had found a way to love those in it.

Including him.

And that was her biggest mistake.

She wasn’t hurt because of what he had done. She was hurt because he had done it.

“Are you listening?”

“No,” Pan muttered. “I stopped long ago,”

Felix’s gaze hammered into his spine until he was out of the building, hiding his face in the collar of his jacket.

It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. So what if Tink hated him for the rest of their natural lives? He didn’t need friends…he didn’t need companionship…or talks over coffee…or chaste remarks after his rashness got him hurt…or random conversations that filled the bouts of silence that threatened to swallow him whole.

He didn’t want them, but damn it he needed some kind of socializing in his life.

Felix’s loyalty. Wendy’s determination. Tink’s reasonability.

He messed up. He felt it down to the marrow of his bones. But he didn’t want to feel it, didn’t want to admit it.

He sped up to get to his apartment, pushing down anything he felt to the very ends of his soul.

He wouldn’t make this right. He couldn’t.

Because unlike Tink, Pan didn’t know how to use his heart.

[solastia]

Rogues And Charlatans | 1

Pairing: Yoongi x Seokjin

Word Count: 3,212

Summary: What is a gang leader supposed to do when his longtime rival shows up at his door, beaten and begging for help? Defend their honor, of course.

Warnings & Genre: Mafia!au, Fluff, and poorly attempted crack. There will be light violence, but nothing overly graphic. Maybe one person gets shot point blank. As of now, I don’t think I’ll be putting in any smut, but who knows. Basically, this isn’t a dark and serious mafia fic. It’s just a bunch of crooks in love, y’all. 

Notes: So this has been sitting in my WIP forever, and I decided to release it to give you guys something to read. There will only be 3 or 4 chapters of this. Enjoy

The rain beat heavily against the windows, the only sound breaking through the silence in the richly furnished study. Yoongi sighed, burrowing further into his favorite chair before the fire and took a sip of the whiskey he’d been nursing for a while now. Comfort at it’s finest.

This was the first chance he’d gotten to truly relax this entire week, as they’d been ass deep in drama with some new kids thinking they could just walk into Yoongi’s town and take over. The new gang was young and brash, not understanding the importance of playing the game right and having respect for the older players. Yoongi may not be considered old agewise, but he’d been at this for a long time. He’s fought and clawed his way to the top since he was thirteen years old, had done so many things that had chipped away at his soul each time, and no one was going to take his throne.

Today he had finally met up with Park, the leader of the new gang, and had issued an ultimatum. Respect the boundaries, leave his businesses alone, or he would run them out of town. The kid hadn’t done too much damage, just poked his nose where it didn’t belong. It had probably helped that the kid looked more like some ditzy high schooler, with his baby face and sweater paws. He wondered if the kid had ever even held a gun before. How was he the leader of a gang? Whatever was going on there, he could afford to be merciful for now.

Yoongi was considering heading to bed when frantic banging suddenly came from his entryway. He glanced at the clock, grabbing the gun he kept next to his chair when he saw it was two in the morning. Anyone coming by at this hour was either giving him bad news or was bad news.

He turned the safety off and crept slowly towards the door and peered out of the peephole. He couldn’t see anything, which made him even more worried. Keeping his gun at the ready, he unlocked the door and peered out, finding a body on his doorstep. It looked like they had collapsed after knocking, but they were still breathing. Their suit, which had obviously once been expensive and well-tailored, was ripped and covered in blood and dirt. He was soaked through from the rain, and Yoongi guessed they must have been out in it for a while. He aimed his gun at the lump, kicking it lightly.

“Hey, who the hell are you and what do you want.”

They groaned but didn’t answer him, so Yoongi used his foot to roll the body over.

“Shit! Seokjin?!”

He put his gun away and crouched in front of the man, wincing at the sight of the once immaculate face now covered in cuts and bruises. The worst was along his jaw, and he could almost hear the whining that Seokjin would do once he learned it would scar.

“Yoongi...couldn’t…” Seokjin hisses as he tries to sit back up, holding his arm close to him like it was broken. “Sorry...didn’t know where else to go.”

“Alright. Let’s get you inside. If you die of pneumonia on my porch it won’t be nearly as satisfying as killing you myself. I’ve waited twelve years for this moment.”

“Hah, now’s your chance,” Seokjin gave a pained chuckle as Yoongi helped him up, draping the other’s arm across his shoulders.

It was difficult, but Yoongi managed to drag him into the warm study, shutting the door before helping him take off the sodden suit jacket and tie. He gently set him into his chair in front of the fire, trying his best not to jostle what seemed to be severe breaks and bruises all over. Everything else Seokjin was wearing was soaked too, but he wasn’t about to mess with that right now. He filled up a glass of whiskey and brought it to Seokjin, who was gazing into the fire with something that looked a whole lot like despair. Yoongi had never seen a look like that on the usually annoying man. He was now officially disturbed.

“You able to tell me what happened?”

“I…” Seokjin winced as he tried to talk through a split lip.”I was supposed to meet up with the leader of that new gang from Daegu. They have Jungkook. They promised to give him back in return for a partnership in one of my businesses. It was a trap. They ambushed me in a warehouse. Drugged me, punched me around a bit. Managed to jump out of the window to escape, but it was the second floor, hence this,” he said as he gestured towards the arm he kept close to his chest. “You were the nearest person I could get to on foot.”  

“I’m going to kill Park. I told him to stop fucking around and play the game right.”

“It wasn’t him. Jiminie wouldn’t do that. Besides, he’s from Busan, not Daegu.”

Yoongi didn’t understand the annoyance he felt hearing Seokjin calling the kid cute nicknames.

“Jiminie? Why the fuck are you calling him Jiminie?” Yoongi growled, already envisioning how slowly he’d rip the kid to pieces.  

“Oh, uh. He and Jungkook are seeing each other,” Seokjin chuckled lowly.

Yoongi quirked an eyebrow in disbelief. “You’re letting your little brother date a rival gang boss? Are you insane?”

“I was upset at first too, but really, they are cute together. Jimin dotes on him, and Kook is equally crazy about him. He’s been respectful towards me and listens when I give him advice. He’s going to be furious when he finds out,” Seokjin’s lip looks wobbly to Yoongi, and he really hopes he’s not about to have his hands full of a weeping man in a moment. He should probably get Seokjin dry and in bed, maybe get him patched up. They could figure out the next step in the morning.

Yoongi sighs and pulls out his phone, sending several texts before he clears his throat, looking Seokjin over again.

“I just sent for Namjoon. I need his help if we’re going to get you upstairs into one of the bedrooms. Also sent for our doctor. I’d rather not have you bleeding all over my antique furniture.”

Seokjin sniffs loudly before smiling gently at Yoongi. “Look at you not letting me die. I knew you cared.”

Yoongi’s can feel his face heating up, turning quickly to answer the knock on the study door.

“Nah. Just don’t want DNA evidence all over the place. Harder to lie to the authorities then.”

Seokjin snickers softly and Yoongi feels a strange sort of pride for making the other feel better, albeit temporarily. He tried to reason with himself that it was merely the game. That he only cared because Seokjin and he were old players that had to band against someone threatening the way things were. A little voice that he promptly shut up was teasing that there was much more to it.

He swung the door open for his sleep ruffled right-hand man.

“Hey, boss. You called? Hobi will be here soon. He was working on a patient.”

“Yeah, we have a guest. You can set him up in the room across from mine. Have the Doc look over his injuries when he gets here. He’ll probably have to borrow some clothes from you too because he’s got shoulders the size of the great wall and would destroy my shirts.”

“Complain all you like, Yoongles. That just means you’re looking.”

“On second thought, let him die.”

Seokjin smiles as much as his cut lip will allow, holding his arms up for Namjoon as he walked around the chair to pick him up.

“This is so humiliating, but carry me if you must.”

Yoongi snorts, “Don’t act like you wouldn’t demand to be princess carried everywhere if you could get away with it.”

“Why, Yoongi. I assumed that’s what you hired this Daddy Longlegs for.”

Namjoon huffs a laugh as he lifts Seokjin up and heads for the stairs.

“If you want to see it, it only happens when he’s drunk. Suddenly his legs just stop working, it’s the strangest thing.”

Yoongi’s face is bright red as he follows behind, Seokjin’s teasing eyes watching him over Namjoon’s shoulder.

“I hope you both fall down the stairs.”

“Aw, you couldn’t live without me, boss. Literally. You’d die because you’d forget to eat.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes and walks around the pair to open the door for them. The room is every bit as grand as his own. He’s done well for himself and it shows. Most of the money he makes goes towards taking care of his people and the causes in town he cares about (because he’s not a total asshole. He has to live here too), but his home is one of the things he likes to splurge on.

The room he’s set Seokjin in is decorated almost as well as something you’d see in a royal palace. It’s spacious and lavishly decorated in royal blues and bright golds. He tried hard to make it look impressive without bordering near gaudy. He hoped Seokjin liked it.

He hoped he liked it? Who the fuck cares if he likes it, Yoongi! He’s your rival, your enemy! Who cares how pretty he’d look wrapped in those expensive linens.

“Joonie? Can you set me down in the bathroom, please? You can bring me clothes in there. I need to get some of this muck off of me before I get in that bed. I feel disgusting.”

Yoongi felt a feral growl building in his throat. Joonie?

“Sure, but be careful, Mr. Kim. Doc will have my head if you hurt yourself more.”

Namjoon sets Seokjin down near the shower then leaves, shutting the door behind him. He raises an eyebrow at Yoongi as he heads to his own room, the other following behind.

“So, boss. You wanna tell me why your, and I quote, ‘mortal enemy and everlasting pain in your ass’ is getting ready to spend the night? And all the beat up like that?” Namjoon asks as he rifles through his drawers for something suitable.

“Some new gang from Daegu has Jungkook and said they’d trade for him. They lied. Fucked him up instead and he barely got away.”

Namjoon turns to him with a frown, a pile of folded clothes in his hands. “They got Kook? That’s not good. Not that I don’t think he’ll be able to hold his own - he will. But still, fuck.”

“Are you worried about a rival gang member? Did I not put you through Mafia 101 when I hired you? You do know he’s Seokjin’s heir, right?”

Namjoon chuckles, walking back towards the bedroom as Yoongi trails behind him.

“Jungkook is a good kid. And you’re the only one that insists on acting like Seokjin is your mortal enemy. Everyone else is convinced he’s totally in love with you. Do we compete sometimes? Sure. But they’ve helped us out a lot as well, and Seokjin’s never acted against us. Hell, I’m pretty sure he’s the one that shut that Sehun kid up a few years ago when he was making death threats against you.”

Yoongi decided the amount he’d been blushing today was unacceptable and needed to stop.

“That’s just because of our pact.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes as they entered the bedroom.

“Ah yes, the pact. That someday you’ll meet in the middle of the street and duel western style. That it’s the only way either of you will die. Stupid.”

“It’s not stupid. It’s honorable.”

“It’s ridiculous. First of all, every street around here has cameras so everyone would have footage. Secondly, I doubt either of you would go through with it.”

Yoongi grunted his disapproval, which affected Namjoon in no way as the other simply ignored him and knocked on the bathroom door, handing the clothes to Seokjin without looking.

Yoongi and Namjoon both waited in the bedroom in case Seokjin called for help, both of them making a show of playing around on their phones.

After a few moments, the door cracked open and cleaner version of Kim Seokjin emerged. He stood shakily as Namjoon rushed over and lifted him gently, walking him towards the massive bed. The doctor finally arrived, knocking loudly against the wall as he entered.

“Finally home! What seems to be the problem?”

Seokjin peered over Namjoon’s shoulder while he was being deposited into the bed, sighing dramatically.  

“Jung Hoseok. Of course it’s you. I should really have you killed for playing both sides, you know. You can’t be the doctor for both of our gangs.”

Hoseok laughs as he joins the others by the bed, setting his instrument bag on the nightstand.

“I’m a doctor, Mr. Kim. I have no sides. I simply go where I’m needed.”

“And you needed to be here fucking me over?”

“Technically I’m here so Namjoon could fuck me over.”

“Oh. Mazeltov.” Seokjin looks between the two with wide eyes and a little sheepish grin.

Yoongi snorts, trying to hide his grin of amusement.

“Will you shut up and let the man do his job?”

“Yoongi, you almost sound worried about me. Don’t get all soft on me now.” Seokjin’s eyes are practically twinkling with mischief as he observes Yoongi while Hoseok checks him over.

“He probably is worried, but he’ll never admit it. He’s a mother hen,” Hoseok cackles as he wraps up Seokjin’s wrist.

“Hey, boss?” Namjoon came up behind Yoongi and gently squeezed his shoulder. “Mr. Kim could probably do with some food. He’ll have to take some pain meds and can’t do that on an empty stomach.”

Food. He could do food. He’d fetch something from the kitchen.

“Be right back.”

As Yoongi traveled to the kitchen, he contemplated the pain he felt in his chest. He could pin it on feeling worried about some new gang getting vicious. Like he was worried they’d come for him next. He knew it was more than that, though. It was because they dared to touch Seokjin. Because Seokjin looked like he could have died today. The thought of Seokjin dead...it should make him happy, right? He was a rival boss and without him, there’d be less competition. Twelve years of putting up with this ridiculous man was enough. However, imagining the different outcome that could have happened tonight filled him with rage instead. Rage...and heartbreak.

Yoongi ignored that little tidbit for now and got to work ransacking his kitchen. He needed to make sure he got enough. Seokjin loved food so he would make sure that there was plenty to choose from. Eventually, he had a tray filled with side dishes, rice, and soybean paste stew. He chewed his lip as he contemplated whether it was enough, deciding to throw on a slice of the walnut tart he’d had for his own dessert that night.

He balanced the tray carefully as he walked back upstairs, the laughter floating from the bedroom making him smile. Hoseok and Namjoon were sitting on the side of the bed grinning as the freshly wrapped and bandaged Seokjin was in the middle of one of his ridiculous laughs.

“Yoongi! They were just telling me the best stories. Did you really try to rob the falafel place when you were a teenager? Even I’m terrified of him.”

Yoongi groaned and set the tray across Seokjin’s lap.

“Why’d you have to tell him that one? Yes, I did. I was convinced it was a cover business. So I planned this elaborate heist for months. Only to find out that not only does said terrifying owner live in the building, but he doesn't keep cash in the register or a safe. I only found a little change laying around before he woke up and chased after me with a paintball gun. All that work and I only got $2.38 and a huge welt on my ass from a paintball.”

Yoongi decided his humiliation was worth the utter joy it brought to Seokjin as the other fell into another fit of laughter. The despair he’d seen earlier was branded in his memory, so unusual was it to see such a negative emotion on the face of this man. Yoongi would bet actual money that even if he was about to kill someone, Seokjin would flirt up until the last moment.

“We’re going to go to bed now that everything seems okay. The arm is just sprained really bad, not broken. He does have a few bruised ribs that I want him to be careful with. I do highly suggest going to the hospital as soon as you can manage it to get some xrays and have your head looked at to make sure there’s no concussion. Otherwise, you’re going to live, it seems.” Hoseok pats Seokjin’s uninjured shoulder as he stands up, pulling Namjoon with him.

“Thank you, Doctor Turncoat.”

Hoseok grins and rolls his eyes, pulling Namjoon along with him.

Yoongi observes Seokjin as he struggles to eat with his left hand, spilling more on himself than he got into his mouth.

He sighs and wiggles his fingers. “Gimme.”

Seokjin glances at him in confusion for a moment, following his line of sight until it hit the spoon in his hand. The grin that made an appearance as he figured it out made Yoongi extremely nervous. It looked...knowing. Knowing of what?

He silently handed over the spoon and Yoongi went right to work, scooping a bit of stew onto it then lightly blowing, trying to avoid the cut in the other’s lip when he brought it to his mouth. He tried not to focus too much on the image of those plump lips being wrapped around something, nor the moans of pleasure as Seokjin at the stew.

“This is actually really good. Add some shrimp and it would taste just like my Mom’s.”

Yoongi flushed, changing the spoon to chopsticks so he could feed him some side dishes.

“I’ve had a few daydreams like this before. Some pretty thing feeding me delicious food. Only there are a lot fewer clothes and I’m not quite so mangled.”

Yoongi glances sharply at him, frowning as he fed him a bite of fish cake.

“You’re not mangled. Just beat up a bit. It’ll go away soon. You’ll be back to reminding me how handsome you are in no time.”

“Hoseok said my cheek will scar.”

Seokjin sounds near tears, and Yoongi’s heart clenched.

“I’m going to make those bastards suffer for what they did to you.”

“You say the most romantic things,” Seokjin said with a sigh, his eyelids fluttering as he fought off sleep. The pills must have started to kick in.

Yoongi picks up the tray and heads to the door, standing by the light switch.

“Get some sleep, Seokjin. I’ll help you get Jungkook back, you have my word.”

“Thank you, Yoongi,” Seokjin nearly whispers. Yoongi nods and flicks off the light, heading downstairs to plan.

Whoever these fuckers were that dared to touch Seokjin were going to die. 

There would be no mercy. 

They would burn.

[kawitchii]

Little Witch 101: Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Today we take a step back from anime’s little witches to look at a little witch close to my heart: Sabrina Spellman.  Long before she started her chilling adventures with black magic, demons, and Satan, Sabrina was just your average all-American girl.  She went to high school, had a teenage romance, and lived with an eccentric family.  Plus, she managed to balance all of this while being a witch.  Though she may not have been America’s first magical girl, Sabrina certainly was America’s first little witch and, as the years have shown, she’s always been beloved by many.

From comic book sweetheart, to animated middle-schooler, to black magic princess—the world just can’t get enough of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

An All-American Little Witch through the Ages

Sabrina made her debut as a comic character in Archie’s Madhouse in 1962 and kept appearing as a regular until 1985 even though she managed to get her own comic volume in 1971. This Sabrina was part of the Archie’s line up of characters and had frequent interactions with his friends since she only lived in the next town over.  Sabrina still was a secret witch in this scenario, only ever revealing to the group that she was a witch years later in a remake of the original Archie comics.  It’s also interesting to note that a major point of Sabrina’s story was that if a witch fell in love with a mortal, they’d lose their powers.  In fact, witches weren’t supposed to fall in love at all. This, of course made Harvey’s presence a special problem in the original series.

In the 70s, Sabrina’s first animated series featured some new characters called the Groovie Goolies who are inspired by classic Universal monsters.  This version of Sabrina has a distinct 70s meets magical girl vibe to it that jumps right out at you from the start of the show’s opening:

"Once upon a time, there were three witches, who lived in the little town of Riverdale. Two aunts, Hilda and Zelda, are choosing the ingredients to create an evil wicked witch. But suddenly, Zelda bumped right into Hilda and accidentally added beautiful girls' stuff as an extra ingredient. Thus, the grooviest teenage witch was born. She has white hair with a pink headband, and blue eyes. She wears a blue dress with a black belt and black shoes. She loves to goof off and battle evil forces using her ultra-magical powers. It so happens that she is the first bewitching American superhero — Sabrina, the teenage witch!"

This was the first time Sabrina’s adventures resembled action packed magical girl adventures. She’s not just a hip high-school student with a band made of groovy monsters, but a kick-butt, super girl! In fact, she really likes fighting evil (reminiscent of the titular character of Star vs the Forces of Evil) just as much as she likes doing regular mortal girl things.  Unfortunately this adorable series only ran for four seasons.

It wasn’t until 1996 that Sabrina would be on TV again, this time in live action form.  Arguably the most popular version of Sabrina, Sabrina the Teenage Witch set a couple of firsts that would influence Sabrina stories for the rest of history. This series was the first to go into depth about Sabrina’s family life as a mortal and witch.  This also is the first series that introduces the lovable and sassy Salem as a talking character, which is now something that’s expected of new Sabrina series. Finally, Sabrina the Teenage Witch was the first version of Sabrina where she wasn’t born with knowledge of her powers, but instead found out about them on her 16th birthday, giving her even less experience and training than all her other counterparts.

Sabrina in Sabrina: The Animated Series follows suit because she is 12 rather than a high school girl. In this series, she often gets help from a genie-like creature called the Spooky Jar in order to do more complex magic.  This magic often backfires on her and causes problems, but always results in important life lessons.

Sabrina: Secrets of a Teenage Witch takes a turn for a more Eastern interpretation of little witch but for good reason.  It was heavily influenced by a Sabrina manga made in the 90s.  In this series, Sabrina is a princess who is destined to become ruler of the witch world.  Salem is not a sassy friend, but an enemy spy sent to set Sabrina on a path of destruction. Sabrina even needs to go to two schools: her mortal high school and a magical one.  With this comes double the rivals, and double the love interests with not just Harvey but a dreamy warlock named Shinji.  In this series, Sabrina also battles the forces of evil that are sent to her by Enchantra, an evil sorceress looking to destroy Sabrina and take her powers.  This was the most off-beat of the Sabrina series until recently.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina features a world very similar to the original Sabrina Comics, but with a spooky twist.  Instead of being witches with powers that come naturally, witch powers come from a deal with Satan.  Unlike previous incarnations of Sabrina, she’s proficient in her powers here, but it is expected that she sign her name in blood in the Book of the Beast during a black mass on her 16th birthday.  It’s a pretty heavy change to the normally upbeat and comical Sabrina story, but that isn’t the only change to the Sabrina story…  Poor Salem doesn’t even get to talk!  Though this series has its major differences, it’s a must watch for lovers of horror starring witches.

The Real Sabrina Spellman

Sabrina may have gone through a lot physical changes over the years, but she’s always been the same character at her heart.  Sabrina is a spunky, caring, kind of clumsy girl who just wants to do the right thing and help others.  Of course, this means using her magic, even though she’s never quite a master at it. It especially gets sticky when she uses magic to help mortals.  Sabrina’s interloping with mortal affairs constantly seems to get her into trouble.  These magical hi-jinks are especially worrying to Sabrina’s family, which is comprised of her aunts Hilda and Zelda as well as their cat, Salem Saberhagen.  Unfortunately, Sabrina is separated from her birth parents, warlock Edward and mortal Diana, because of the Witches Council.  Humans and mortals are not to live in peace with one another, let alone marry and have children, so Sabrina is always a special case.

Still, Sabrina lives in the mortal world and is plagued with mortal problems.  She’s half-mortal after all, so these issues are always important to Sabrina whether it’s something as trivial as fitting into slim clothes or as earth-shattering as telling her mortal friends she’s a witch.  This is a reoccurring issue in all of the Sabrina series since her love interest is always Harvey Kinkle, a nice, average human boy. Sometimes Harvey finds out about the magic, sometimes he doesn’t, but his presence is a persistent problem for Sabrina no matter the iteration of her story.  It’s the same question that is reflected in her upbringing.  Which world should she choose: the mortal world or the witch world?  Since she is part of both, Sabrina can’t understand why she can’t have both.  Her parents didn’t choose.  Why should she?

Not only is it difficult for Sabrina to separate herself from the mortals because of love, rivalries always play some sort of role in Sabrina’s life.  Though Sabrina’s original rival was another witch, named Rosalind, all of her other rivals are mortal girls who mirror the real teen issues of high-school hierarchies involving cheerleaders and popular girls. They may seem like trivial problems, but these rivals are often the cause of Sabrina’s interference in mortal affairs.  Girls like Gem, Libby, and Amy have tried to steal away Harvey, bully Sabrina’s friends, and make fun of her family.  Sabrina can’t help but try to teach them their own lessons by using magic to make the girls suddenly nicer or, in a case from the live action show, accidently turn the a girl into a pineapple.  These instances in turn teach Sabrina her own valuable lesson: not all problems can be solved with magic.

Like most little witches, Sabrina’s story of being extraordinary in a world of average people is relatable, but unlike most little witches, Sabrina is tied to both the world she comes from and the world she lives in.  She’s able to solve problems other witches can’t because of her mortal upbringing.  Her witch life has left her with an idea that most problems can be solved easily, which causes other problems in her mortal life.  It’s this constant balance of these two halves that make Sabrina’s story entertaining no matter what adventure she goes on.

There’s plenty of ways to enjoy all kinds of Sabrina stories both legally and illegally so if you want to support the series you definitely can!  Archie Comics has the 90’s comics to the current Chilling Adventures Series available for sale, but no classics.  In that case, you’d have to search them up on illegitimate sites. Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996) is available on Hulu, Amazone Prime, and Google Play.  Sabrina the Animated Series is available through Starz, Amazon Prime, Google Play, and iTunes.  The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is available on Netflix.  Sabrina: Secrets of a Teenage Witch is the only series not available for streaming legally.

[invaderhogtwopointohno]

Kacchako Posivity Week 2018

Read on Ao3: Here.

Day One: Fragile

Lawyer AU

 “Counselor,” she said, stepping into the elevator and he stepped aside, glaring at her.

“Counselor,” he muttered, pulling out his phone.

“Have you spoken to your client about my offer?” she asked, looking at him.

“The offer where my client basically gets the dog and nothing else? No, I have not given him that stupid fucking offer. Your client is the one forcing this stupid fucking mediation.”

Katuski Bakugou looked down at Ochako Uraraka. This wasn’t the first time the two had gone head to head in the courtroom. In fact, the past four couples that they had handled had been against each other. They were both divorce lawyers, specialization in couples in amicable divorces. They had each fought each other the past six months on every case tooth and nail.

But this one had been different. Mina and Kirishima were getting a divorce but they were having a hard time about it. At first things were going fine and then things just kind of got worse as each of their demands got more out of control. Katuski tried to fight for his client, but they were currently at a stalemate. The judge on the case had ordered an attempt at mediation to get everyone back on track.

Katuski looked at his phone in annoyance.

“My client wants to have the house in the Hamptons and a stipend. She has been with your client since they were high schoolers, she deserves more than just a few million dollars and a kiss on the cheek. She put your client through college and acting school and helped manage his career when he became a breakout actor.”

“Yeah, and now she wants a divorce and to take half and get alimony. And she wants the house in the Hamptons and the New York apartment?” he scoffed, looking at the elevator as the doors opened.

Mina and Kirishima were standing on the other side of the doors, currently in the middle of an argument and their lawyers stepped out.

“Hey, don’t talk to my client without my permission,” Katsuki said, shoving Mina a little and Kirishima looked annoyed. “Don’t speak to her, at all. Don’t even look at her!”

“She talked to me first!” Kirishima said, looking over Katsuki’s shoulder at Mina, getting equally scolded by Ochako. Clients in the middle of a divorce like this were not supposed to make things worse.

“Kaachan!” a voice called out and they saw Deku coming towards them, waving a little.

He had been well-known as a mediator by both lawyers and the court agreed with him as their pick at an attempt to mediate the couple.  The sweet voice was instantly shouted at- Katsuki hated that Deku had the balls to think that he could speak to him in public.

They all went in together and Katsuki hung back, grabbing Ochako by the arm.

“Are we really fucking doing this?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Your client won’t listen so-”

“Is that a new shirt?” he asked and she stopped, looking down. She tugged at it a little, feeling the material.

“Y-Yeah,” she said, touching her hair nervously, trying not to look embarrassed.

“Hm… looks good,” he said, opening the door and going in, leaving a flustered Ochako in his wake.

 ---

The next three hours were grueling. Katsuki and Ochako argued for most of it, showing Deku the evidence that each of the couple deserved more than the other. There was a lot of debate and finally Deku started to interject. He spoke calmly and nicely and was generally agreeable. It irritated Katuski to no end.

“Kaachan, Ochako?” he asked, after a long-winded speech about equality that Katsuki wasn’t listening to, “Do you mind if I speak to your clients privately? If they’ll allow it?”

The lawyers looked at their clients and whispered to each of them. Whatever happened in this room was confidential, so they were safe from any problems. It was agreed to and Ochako led the way out of the door.

“How’d you know about my shirt?” she asked as soon as they were out of the room.

“Huh?”

“How’d you know that my shirt was new?”

He grinned. “The tag.”

She gasped and looked around her shirt and he laughed. “You never wear white, you usually wear soft pinks or black and pink.”

He leaned against the wall, facing her.

She didn’t like that he knew that about her. She had bought the shirt on the way to work this morning because she had spilled coffee on her other shirt and didn’t have time to get anything else. She grabbed the first thing she saw at the store.

“Well, I needed a new shirt, a change of pace,” she said, and looked away.

“You’re a fucking good lawyer but you’re a terrible liar, Pink Cheeks,” he said. “Do you think that they’re actually talking or just more fighting?”

They had been through it. They had had some seriously bad clients in the past but this divorce had been different. It was almost like they didn’t really want to get divorced but didn’t know how to talk to each other about it. But that was none of Katuski’s business. He wasn’t a fucking therapist, he was a lawyer.

“I hope that they are going to be okay,” she replied honestly. They were quiet for a moment and Katuski looked down at her.

“Do you plan on ever getting married?” he asked. She shrugged a little.

“Maybe, one day.”

He doubted that there were a lot of people who were even worth her time. She was a great lawyer, smart and funny and beautiful and out of anyone’s league that he could think of. He heard the door opening and started to move around her.

“Well, when we get married I am sure that we won’t be so weak as to have our marriage be in this kind of trouble. Nothing about you seems that fragile to me.”

She stared after him as he went up and found Deku standing there, speaking to him.

“Ochako,” he said, ushering the stunned lawyer over. With the way he’d spoken so casually about being married when she had thought they were mortal enemies, she didn’t know how to speak.

“It looks like your clients were just having trouble communicating. They don’t want to get a divorce. They have agreed to go to couple’s counseling again, but they do ask that they retain you as their lawyers just in case.”

“Fucking finally, I knew those assholes were still into each other,” Katuski said, calling into the room, “Come on you morons, I have other clients to get to. Let’s go.”

Ochako waited until they were at the elevator and she tugged on Katuski’s sleeve a little. He turned and looked at her.

“W-What did you mean back there?” she asked quietly as the elevator came.

“Just what I fucking said, Angel Face.”

She followed him into the elevator and the couple in front of them were talking loudly and happily, holding hands and Ochako looked down at Katsuki’s hand.

“You didn’t even ask me out,” she muttered, reaching a pinkie finger and touching his. He opened his hand and took hers.

They got off the elevator and stopped by the front doors, and he looked down at their intertwined fingers.

“Then let’s go on the best fucking date ever.”

[mayakyaa]

been checking out some new manga lately, so here are some recs/impressions if you’re looking for new reads!

1. Spirit Circle A beautiful and well-paced story that’s already complete! Turns the 25 lives AU on its head to explore the curse that binds the fate of Kouko and Fuuta. Though in their current life, they’re just normal middle school students, they are haunted by their past lives as sworn mortal enemies, and Kouko is bent on killing Fuuta. Despite the heavy themes, at its core, this is an emotional story about fate, friendship, life, death and forgiveness. One of the best manga I’ve read this year! Here’s a short thread on twitter of me gushing about it.

2. Ao no Flag Ongoing shoujo manga of my dreams!! Incredibly lovable characters and explores the doubts, dreams and budding feelings between high schoolers in their last year of high school. The relationships between the characters are what sell this to me SO MUCH and I won’t spoil it for you. Please go in to it without reading up on it, and you’ll be rewarded by a compelling love triangle that will make your heart ache in all the right places.

3. Witch Hat Atelier Relatively new manga (only 5 or so chaps available?) BUT WHAT A GOOD STORY ABOUT WITCHES!! Fantastic art and world building. If you like magic and witches, pls read this. 

i’ve also been doing this thing on twitter where I read the first 5 chaps of every manga on my to-read list and giving first impressions! helps me to actually decide what i wanna read and what i wanna pass on

[idontwanttowhy]

Review: True Beauty (2020)

Synopsis (copied from earlier post)

Im Ju Gyeong is a high schooler who likes horror comics, heavy metal music, and spending time in the local comic book store. She is bullied by a group of students at her school because they find her “ugly”, which leads Ju Gyeong to her wits end. When she moves to a new school, she decides to change her life around by using makeup to cover her bare face. Her new “goddess” level looks bring her a lot of attention, though not without a lot of stress. Her complicated relationships with two of the best-looking guys in school (and mortal enemies), Lee Su Ho and Han Seo Jun, doesn’t exactly help. Can Im Ju Gyeong keep her secret, and what will happen if she is found out? 

MZ Overall: 7.5/10, it was a fun watch!

There were some truly funny moments in this show, and despite dealing with many dark themes, for the most part True Beauty kept it light. It pretty much departs from the source material after the first half, which was good... until it wasn't. I didn't really care that much about the main couple in the end, and felt that many of the last plot points were just "eh." Ultimately if you're looking for something with a great plot combined with the best parts of this show, I'd say watch Extraordinary You (2019); it definitely helps that they make several references to EY throughout!

MZ Review: (spoilers ahead)

The strong suits of this show were definitely the humor and relationships of all the characters. Ju Gyeong's siblings often stole the show with their scenes, and her friendships and classmates rounded out the romantic elements of this show nicely. I have mixed feelings about how they handled all of Ju Gyeong's friends finding out about her bare face (though there wasn't much to find out imo) but I'm happy that Su Ah stayed her friend, and that they were able to fight the bullies that tormented Ju Gyeong and Hye Min together. Even the way they wrote Su Jin's character was understandable, and I'm glad that they didn't just write her off as a villain to the very end. Do I wish they would have explored her thought process a little further? Absolutely. But something is better than nothing, and I saw room for them to be friends again even with everything that happened. The most delightful development was the friendship between Su Ho and Seo Joon, which was so refreshing considering that usually being love rivals is the thing that ends friendships, not the thing that brings them together. Enemies to friends is such an underrated trope! Probably the only relationship on this show I didn't like was Ju Gyeong's parents', and it doesn't get better at all. Overall they make Ju Gyeong's mom pretty unlikable, which is fairly in line with the webtoon, but I guess I was wishing that they would explore her character a bit more. The dad was a welcome edition to the Im family household and their dynamic, while hard to watch at times, still added a lot to the show.

Now, this might be a controversial statement, but I hate time jumps. Hate. H A T E. Plenty of dramas I've loved (looking at you Start Up) have done this to me and it doesn't necessarily take away from my overall experience, yet I can never get fully into the relationships again afterwards. There is something so wrong to me about there being what is effectively a pause on people's whole lives for however long the jump is that just doesn't sit right. True Beauty does not escape my ire in this area, and in fact this was one of the worse experiences with a time jump that I've had. First of all, I was really thinking that they had departed from that part of the storyline when Ju Gyeong and Su Ho started dating in the first place, so to have this happen was surprising. Then, Su Ho turned around and broke up with her? For... what exactly? She said she wanted to stay together, and he broke up with her knowing that he was going to pursue her again when he got back to Korea. What would have happened if she had moved on? To that point, my third (and always my biggest) pet peeve with this was that Seo Joon didn't confess while Su Ho was gone. UGH. Absolutely the worst part of any time jump is this. Like, dude, if you are so in love with her, are you really going to wait two years to start anything? UGH.

Anyway, I'd say overall it was fun to watch and I'm glad I spent the past months watching this show with my friends. The good parts outweigh the bad, and I think it is a welcome edition to any watch list.

AC Overall: 6.5/10, I watched it

So. True Beauty started off promising, with some intriguing elements to keep me, someone who normally doesn’t watch high school and/or strictly rom-com kdramas, interested. But, I gotta say, they found their groove and stuck to it. It’s everything I imagine high school kdramas have-teenagers being teenagers, with love triangles, bullying, and friendship drama. These last 11 episodes or so became typical, and definitely veered away from the webtoon (which I’ve now caught up on, shocker!) and stayed in the less chaotic world of teen romance with decreasing focus on the whole makeup thing. I gotta say, nothing really crazy happens, so if you’re up for teenagers being teenagers and like having second-lead syndrome, True Beauty is for you. 

AC Review: (spoilers)

For me, however, I was definitely less invested once I realized they weren’t going to follow the webtoon’s path of having Su Ho go away before he and Ju Gyeong could start dating, and having Seo Joon as an actual love interest. Instead, Su Ho and Ju Gyeong got cute high school bf/gf scenes, and my boy Seo Joon didn’t shoot his shot. I was disappointed, probably because I prefer that Seo Joon and Ju Gyeong got a chance in the webtoon, and Su Ho wasn’t so destructive. But no, drama Su Ho said “it’s all about me” and did what he wanted (like a stereotypical teenager, I suppose) despite Ju Gyeong’s feelings. And for two years, Ju Gyeong couldn’t let go of Su Ho, probably because they had gone too far by the time he left (and after), and thus Seo Joon didn’t get an in. So the time jump in the drama’s case wasn’t an opportunity for Ju Gyeong to move on and then (maybe-we don’t actually know yet) finally choose Su Ho after exploring other options. Instead, it was--pointless? a fake time jump? because nothing really changed but their jobs and Su Ho’s hair. Su Ho himself made it clear when he came back AFTER 2 YEARS and acted like nothing happened. 

Outside of the triangle, though, I did appreciate that Ju Gyeong and Su Jin were able to make up. And it seemed like a genuine I-turned-my-life-around-and-am-really-truly-sorry-for-being-a-bitch kind of apology; they even threw her “volunteering in Haiti” in there, which was...interesting. A topic for another post. AND we got our favs! ~Grapefuit~ and Hee Gyeong got a funny proposal and wedding fitting for their relationship. Ju Gyeong’s brother was still simping for Seo Joon’s sister, which–I guess. 

I did wish the premise of Ju Gyeong "being ugly” and “hiding behind makeup” was explored more...it fell of once she was found out, went through it, and then was able to show her classmates that she could still bag Su Ho with her natural face (not that it was strong to begin with but-). So, if you want more consistent commentary on beauty standards and physical appearance, check out the webtoon, maybe try out the kdrama My ID is Gangnam Beauty or try another webtoon, Lookism, for a male perspective on appearance, and some action (I’m sure there are others...these are all I’ve watched/read pretty much). 

Overall, it wasn’t a bad watch, especially with others and some drinking games. Read the webtoon if you shipped Seo Joon and Ju Gyeong and want a proper time jump (with more ~developments~), and watch the show for a more developed Su Jin, more side characters, and a typical high school kdrama.