windwrackedstars

[wall-eye]

POV: Youre about to be lasso'd by the centaur lady circling you cause you, a feywild cow, have gotten out of the pasture again and its really not safe for anyone for you to do that actually

[stardust-walker]

High Hopes: Chapter 15

Previous Chapters:  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

word count: 3897

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Julian didn’t know what to think of the new group that had just come onto the farm. He didn’t trust the one guy, that was for sure. He’d gone into the city with Otis and had come back without him. Otis was a good person, but it didn’t sound right. He probably would’ve done anything to save a little kid but the guy seemed sketchy. He felt sort of relieved when it seemed like not everyone bought his bullshit either.

He was jumpy as he waited for Maggie to get back from her run to the store. Since Otis, the thought of people leaving the farm felt like they were marching off to their deaths. A smile was on his face as he finally spotted Maggie riding up on her horse with Glenn. That guy didn’t seem too bad, at least. Unable to contain himself, he leapt off the porch and had the reins of Glenn’s horse in his hands before the other man could say anything. “Let me help you put the horses back,” he said brightly.

Maggie and Glenn exchanged a look before Maggie replied. “Sure thing. Thanks for all your help out there, Glenn.”

Julian looked over his shoulder as the other man hurried off to join the rest of his group by the tents as the dark haired woman from before and her redneck companion came out from the trees. “What do you think,” he questioned Maggie before he clicked his tongue and began to lead to horse to the stable.

“Nothin to think. They find that little girl, odds are my daddy’s gonna make them leave,” Maggie shrugged her shoulders from atop the horse.

Julian nodded his head slowly, “You see anything out there?”

“We didn’t see her out there if that’s what you’re askin me, Jude.” Maggie shook her head before she let out a long sigh.

Julian’s shoulders slumped. He couldn’t help but stare out at the barn in the distance as he opened the door to the horse’s pen. A shiver ran down his back before he averted his eyes. “Better than the alternative, I guess.”

~

Dove rested somewhat easily that night, she felt some comfort in the fact that the next day would mean the search was in full swing. She still hated doing the laundry, though. She would rather be out there in the woods looking for Sophia, but Carol had roped her into her chore. “C’mon. No one wants to help me with this. Andrea’s off tryin’ to play Annie Oakley somewhere and Lori’s still sleepin.”

“I wish I was still sleepin,” Dove grumbled as she picked up a basket of clothes. She squinted her hazel eyes at the closest well. “Jesus, what happened over there?”

Carol shook her head. “You missed it. They sent Glenn down into the well. Apparently there was a walker down there.” Dove opened her mouth to reply but Carol cut her off. “I know you woulda raised all types of hell if you were here, but Glenn’s fine. You’ve seen him.”

Dove huffed and blew a stray hair out of her eyes. “I’m gonna give that little bastard a piece of my mind for not tellin me about that. When I’m done with him, he’ll wanna go back down that well.” She let out a chuckle.

It felt like hours, but it wasn’t too long until she was sitting on top of a picnic table, basket of wet clothes next to her. She handed Carol a wet shirt to hang up as Lori stepped out of her tent. “Mornin, princess,” Dove called over cheerfully, “Nice of you to join us.”

Lori managed a weak smile as she walked over and greeted the two sisters. “Can’t believe I slept in.”

“You probably needed it,” Carol smiled at her.

“Yeah, I think we all need to take turns sleeping in. It feels amazing,” Dove yawned as she ran a hand through her ponytail.

“You feelin ok,” Carol scrutinized Lori carefully as the other woman nodded. “I have an idea I wanted to run by you two. That big kitchen of theirs got me thinking, I wouldn’t mind cooking in a real kitchen again.” Dove smiled as she thought about Carol’s cooking. She definitely wasn’t a five-star chef by any means, but Carol was a good cook. There was no doubt about that. “Maybe we all pitch in and make dinner for Hershel and his family tonight. Kind of looking for things to keep my mind occupied.”

Dove leaned back on her hands with a heavy sigh as she looked up at the sky. She really wanted to be out there. She wanted to help look for Sophia, but she knew Carol would fight her on it. Maybe the right place for her to be was here on the farm; she needed to be with her sister.

“Seems like the least we could do,” Lori agreed.

Dove nodded her head, “Yeah sure. I’ll try to help. I’m not real good in the kitchen, but I’ll try my best.” She flashed her sister a quick smile.

“You mind extending the invitation,” Carol smiled at Lori. Would feel more right comin from you,” Carol reasoned.

Dove eyed Lori. “You’re like our unofficial First Lady,” Carol joked.

Lori and Dove both rolled their eyes but Dove let out a snort of laughter. “President Rick Grimes? I don’t remember votin, but that sounds about right,” she raised an eyebrow at Lori and raised a hand quick enough to block a clothespin from hitting her face.

Meanwhile, Julian had made his way over to the group by the car. He felt like he should be trying to help them look for that little girl. Every person out there could make a difference in finding her or not. He would want people out there looking for his sister like this if he had any idea where she was.

“She might have gone further east than we’ve been so far,” Rick stated as he laid the map out in front of them.

“I’d like to help,” Jimmy spoke up first and Julian narrowed his eyes at the younger man. Hershel would kick his ass for trying. Jimmy was just a kid, but Julian was grown enough to make his own decisions. “I know the area pretty well and stuff.

“I think I know the area better than you, Jim,” Julian spoke quietly as he approached the group.

“Hershel’s okay with this?” Good question. Julian would like to believe Jimmy, but he couldn’t help but think the kid was full of shit trying to look cool in front of his girlfriend.

“Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me,” Shane spoke from the car.

Shane gave Julian the creeps. “They found Elizabeth Smart nine months after she went missing on pure chance of someone noticing the people who took her,” he remembered seeing something about it when he was younger and it just stuck with him. Shane might be a cop, but it seemed like he wasn’t too invested in the search.

“Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high,” Daryl held his hand out to about elbow height. Definitely seemed like a little kid and unless Georgia was suddenly overflowing with feral children, Shane was full of shit.

“Maybe we’ll pick up her trail again,” Rick sounded hopeful.

“No maybe about it. I’m gonna borrow a horse,” Daryl pointed at the map. Hershel won’t be happy about that, Julian thought but didn’t speak. He didn’t want to get on the bad side of this guy.

“Good idea,” T-Dog spoke up, “Maybe you’ll see your Chupacabra up their too.” A short laugh echoed from behind Julian and he turned to see Dove, still perched on the picnic table, shake her head.

“Chupacabra,” Rick inquired.

“You never heard this,” Dale sighed. “Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time he went squirrel hunting and he saw a Chupacabra.” Julian shuddered at the thought of the goat sucking monster; Jimmy laughed. Julian gave him a quick slap to the back of the head as Daryl spoke again.

“What are you braying at, Jackass?”

“You believe in a blood-sucking dog,” Jimmy questioned.

“You believe the dead walk,” Daryl sneered.

“He’s got you there, Jimbo,” Julian shrugged his shoulders as he rested his hand on the hood of the truck. Jimmy reached for a gun, man that kid was really trying it today.

“Why don’t you come train tomorrow,” Shane offered. “If you’re serious, I’m a certified instructor.”

Andrea spoke up, “For now, he can come with us.”

“If it’s alright, I’d like to go with Jimmy.” Julian turned his attention to Rick. He didn’t feel like going in a car with Shane. The last man to go with him somewhere didn’t exactly seem to fare too well. Even if it meant going with the woman that he didn’t really know and someone who’d made fun of someone for believing in a Chupacabra.

Rick nodded his head and held out his hand to the younger man, “Alright. Thanks for helping us, kid.”

“Julian, sir.”

“Rick is just fine,” the sheriff smiled a little.

“Right, sorry. Not used to bein too friendly to the police. But, no problem, Rick. It feels right to help. Just hope we find her,” Julian nodded his head. The others didn’t notice him tense up as he turned his attention away from the barn and focused on the search plan.

~

Dove let out a heavy sigh as she turned her attention from the parting group to the house. She couldn’t keep Carol waiting much longer or she might send out another search party for her. As she ascended the steps, Glenn caught her attention. He seemed out of it. “Yoo-hoo. Earth to Glenn,” Dove waved a hand at him.

The man jumped slightly as he turned his head to look at his friend. The smile on his face fell slightly as he realized who was standing in front of him. “Hey, Dove. You not heading out today?”

“Nah, decided I might as well tend to my womanly duties,” she flicked her hair behind her shoulder in an exaggerated manner. “You alright, bud? You see kind of out of it since you got back yesterday.” Dove frowned as she leaned against the post.

“I’m fine. Just…a lot going on in my head, you know,” Glenn smiled sadly as he rested his hand on the guitar in his lap.

A sly look was in Dove’s eye as she spoke. “Well channel all of that emotion into a song and I’m sure you can woo yourself a farmer’s daughter in no time,” she wiggled her eyebrows at him.

The blush that shot up into Glenn’s cheek answered any questions she might have had. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothin! Just that I think a blind man all the way in Korea can see what I’m talking about! But that’s none of my business,” she shrugged her shoulders and took a step closer to him. “But if you do happen to want to talk about it, just let me know! I’m your friend and I’ll always be here to listen. Plus, no better person to go to for girly advice than a girl.” She chuckled as she ruffled Glenn’s hair.

Glenn smiled at the woman as she took a step back towards the door, “Thanks…”

Dove thought that Hershel’s house was nice and she made sure to tell them so. “Well thank you,” Patricia nodded her head politely.

Dove bit her lip as she looked around the hallway. “I just want to thank you,” she turned her attention back to the older blonde. Her expression seemed to be unreadable. Something about these people was off to her. They all seemed nice, but something wasn’t right about any of them. “For letting us stay here while we look for our niece. It’s not something you have to do especially now, you don’t know any of us from those walkers in the streets.”

Patricia held up a hand to stop her, “It’s not a problem. I just want to make sure that Rick and Hershel have made it very clear to you…”

“Once we find Sophia, once Carl is good to roll, we’re gone,” Dove nodded her head. “But still. Thank you,” she smiled as she turned on her heel to walk into the kitchen. “Just hope you don’t mind your mashed potatoes with a little crisp,” she called as she entered the room, “I suck at cooking!”

Carol shook her head at her younger sister as Lori laughed. “You can measure the ingredients,” Carol patted her arm.

“Listen, we all have skills. I was not made to be a house wife,” Dove raised her hands in surrender. “You, however, were a better housewife than any man ever deserved.” She winked at her sister.

Slightly uncomfortable, Lori changed the subject quickly. “You know you weren’t made to be a housewife?” She looked over her shoulder at the younger brunette as she began to peel a potato.

“Sure do. I was a few months away from trying it out, but let’s just say I had to cancel the subscription before the free trial ended,” Dove popped a piece of carrot into her mouth.

Carol clicked her tongue disapprovingly, “Still think you were better off. He seemed unstable.”

“Who? Owen,” Dove questioned her sister with a raised eyebrow. Carol just turned her attention to her. Dove rolled her eyes as she picked up a bigger carrot and started to peel it. “I mean he was a little…quirky.”

Lori let out a small groan at this, “Honey, we all know what quirky means. Quirky is code for ‘you’re unstable but I love you’.” The older brunette elbowed Dove lightly.

Carol let out a quiet snort of laughter at this, “You got that right. The one time when we went up to visit, we stayed in DC so-”

Dove cut her off with a panicked laugh, “Alright listen, I get it! Owen was unstable and I have terrible taste in men, but it’s over now so…we don’t have to rehash that story! Alright.”

It was quiet in the kitchen for a moment before Lori whispered, “You’ll tell me later?”

“Oh, you bet,” Carol whispered back as Lori picked up a bucket to go collect more water.

“The hell you will,” Dove shouted as she picked up a carrot shaving and whipped it at her sister. “Be serious and cut up your god damn carrots,” Dove laughed and shook her head. Still, her thoughts went back to her life before everything went to shit. Actually, this was more like her life going to shit take two. Carol was right, she was way better off.

~

“Bout time you strolled on up here, Dixon.” Daryl’s attention snapped to the side, back to the direction of the farm.

“Hell do you want,” he snapped at the figure in front of him even though he knew she wasn’t real.

“Should really be getting home,” the figure spoke as she twirled a small pendant between her fingers. She wasn’t really there, but her hazel eyes stared right into his soul just like if she were there, “getting dark out.”

“Shut up,” Daryl snapped as he started stomping back towards the farm. The figure was a few steps ahead of him as he shuffled forward. “Don’t give a shit anyway.”

“Like you said. Merle wasn’t there for you, so why should you listen to him,” the voice was further ahead now and he glanced around before he spotted it a few yards ahead between the trees. “So man the fuck up and use you head for once, asshole.” When Daryl blinked, she was gone.

~

Dove had decided to take a break from the kitchen, but she didn’t seem to be able to find anyone that she wanted to see. Glenn seemed even more miserable than before, the other men were back without much news, and Daryl still wasn’t back yet. The last part made her feel uneasy. It was getting dark out. A creek on the porch made her turn her attention. “Julian, right? You find anything before,” she stepped towards him.

The young man lowered his binoculars before he shook his head, “Not a thing. Sorry. Maybe your friend found something?”

“Who?”

“The redneck guy. Daryl?”

Dove scoffed, “I don’t think that you can really say that me and Daryl are friends but…”

Andrea’s panicked shouts about a walker cut through the relative silence. Dove felt her pulse quicken and Julian shook his head, “we don’t get many walkers out this far.” He stepped quickly off the porch to help out and shoved the binoculars into Dove’s hand as he went.

Something in her gut told her to look through and when she did, the binoculars fell from her hand as she took off at a run. “Wait,” she shouted as she ran faster than she thought she had in years. She didn’t even realize how quick she was running until she was about halfway across the field.

“Is that Daryl,” Glenn said.

“Holy hell, man. You look like shit,” Julian shouted.

“That’s the third time you’ve pointed that thing at my head,” Dove heard Daryl reply and she slowed down to a walk as a relieved laugh left her lips. “You gonna pull the trigger or what?”

It was silent for a few moments as Dove continued to approach the group. Glenn turned and noticed her but as Dove opened her mouth to call out, a gunshot rang out. What left her throat instead was a panicked scream as adrenaline took over and she took off again. She didn’t even realize what she’d done until her knees hit the ground. Rick was screaming back at Andrea and there was blood on her hands. “Jesus Christ, what the fuck,” Dove turned her head back in the direction of camp before she turned her head back to the sight in front of her. “Dumb fucking bitch, cmon don’t be dead please.” Dove muttered as Rick dropped to the ground next to her. “She shot him in the fucking head,” Dove’s voice shook as she reached a shaking hand out and turned Daryl’s head slightly.

“Good thing she’s a bad shot,” Rick mumbled as Daryl let out a pained groan. His eyes fluttered open for a moment and Dove felt relieved as she realized that he might look out of it, but he wasn’t one of them. He wasn’t dead yet. A hand on her shoulder pulled her to her feet as Glenn wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

Glenn gave her shoulder a squeeze as they watched Rick and Shane haul Daryl to his feet. “I was kidding,” he growled before he passed out.

Anger flared through Dove as Andrea approached them asking if he was dead.

“He’s wearing ears,” Dove heard Glenn’s panicked voice over the pounding of her blood in her ears. Her gaze fell to T-Dog as she fought to control her anger. How could you be so stupid Rick told you not to do it, she raged internally. Even the sight of Sophia’s doll couldn’t calm her down. All she could think of was how, if Andrea had killed Daryl, they would never know where Sophia might be.

She reached a boiling point as they crossed over into camp. All of the bullshit thoughts and prayers about Sophia. All of the wanting to save people and act like she was big and tough. On top of losing Sophia, it was too much. “I’m so sorry,” she heard Andrea say again as Glenn finally released her arm.

“You’re sorry,” Dove rounded on the blonde woman. The few people who hadn’t rushed into the house froze, Carol put a hand over her mouth and shook her head. “You’re sorry that Sophia’s missing. You’re sorry that you wanted to blow yourself up. You’re sorry that you fucking almost killed the one person who might have the best shot at finding Sophia,” Dove’s voice was eerily calm as she stepped closer to the blonde.

“I thought he was a walker! I was just trying-,” but Andrea didn’t get to say what she was trying to do. There was a shout and all of a sudden, both women were on the ground. Dove only managed to land two punches to the woman before she was wrenched away from her.

“Bitch,” Dove shouted as she was pulled back towards the house. She watched with narrowed eyes as Dale helped Andrea back to the RV.

“Holy shit,” Julian mumbled as he held the squirming woman tighter as he tried to pull her towards the porch. It was quite a task, but once it was accomplished, he sat her in a chair and hurried off into the house.

Dove’s attention finally turned from the RV as she winced. A quick look down showed her that a cold washcloth was being placed on her knuckle by Carol. “You shouldn’t have done that,” Carol mumbled.

“Yeah well, she shouldn’t have shot someone,” Dove closed her eyes and shook her head.

There were quiet footsteps as she heard Carol walk back into the house. She sat like that for a while before the door creaked open. She opened her hazel eyes and her shoulders slumped as Rick walked out. The sheriff knelt next to the chair and she felt her shoulders tense as she waited for him to reprimand her.

“I’m not here to yell at you,” Rick sighed as he ran a hand down his face, “I very well should be for the stunt you pulled. I don’t wanna have to hear about you tryin to fight like that in front of my son like that. I’m sure you understand,” Rick glanced over at her.

Dove nodded her head before she turned her gaze over to Rick. “Sorry…I just got,” she took a deep breath, “I got real angry like I haven’t in a real long time.”

Rick frowned and nodded his head, “I understand the last few days have been real hard on you and Carol, so you don’t need me to be hard on you too.” Dove sat up a little straighter and faced Rick fully. “But I just wanted you to know that Daryl’s just fine. He’s resting, we didn’t tell him that you punched Andrea.” She raised an eyebrow. “I think that’s a discussion that you should be able to have by yourself. But he did tell us where he found Sophia’s doll. Pointed it out on a map and everything so we have an even better grid to look for her,” Rick smiled and Dove felt the corner of her mouth quirk up into a smile.

“Thank you, Rick,” Dove whispered.

“Not a problem,” Rick patted her arm.

Dove moved the washcloth from her hand and flexed her knuckles, “Guess it’s best if I don’t sit next to Andrea at dinner, huh,” she joked and Rick chuckled quietly.

“I would advise you not to do that. Just in case,” he rose to his feet and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I want you to know that I’m gonna do my best to find her. I promise.”

_

@crossbowking​ @momc95​ @chaotic-gary-king-stan​

[bmpmp3]

JUST finished watching Angel Beats after being obsessed with the song from the 6th promotional video since I was 11 years old and being recommended to watch it since i was 14 by all my little weeb friends AND NOW here’s a review no one asked for (spoilers for a decade old anime no one has talked about since 2015 under the cut):

SO my takeways

bi king otonashi

bi king hinata

bi queen kanade

yuri voice: this is my girlfriend kanade and her boyfriend otonashi and my girlfriend’s boyfriend’s boyfriend hinata and my girlfriend’s boyfriend’s boyfriend’s girlfriend yui

i wonder if they had conceptualized the ending visuals (all the characters fading in the static shot and changing it up) before the final story was how it ended up cause they didnt get a lot of opportunities to remove cast members from the end card (to make you cry). oh well at least they got some use out of it in the last episode with all the fading out. i imagine i probably woulda took another 10 years to actually watch it if it had more episodes but with such a large cast they really did need more episodes, i wonder if the initial concept woulda had a character vanish each episode per the ending credits visuals

there was a visual novel but it was one part out of like six (the first game had only 3 of the characters stories, understandable since it has a cast of thousands) apparently and the rest were never made tho which is a shame cause it probably would work so much better as a visual novel, i mean this is key....this is key............this is the king of visual-novels-where-watch-anime-girls-die-to-sad-songs-sung-by-ethereal-sounding-female-vocalists key, you know what this is

oh god i just realized there mightve been a full TK focused story if they had ever made all the other games and now i understand why people are so sad the other games were never made.....imagine...........

speaking of anime girls dying to sad songs sung by ethereal sounding female vocalists i was wondering how they were gonna do the whole girl-dies-in-main-characters-arms-and-its-really-sad-and-emotional-and-also-the-lighting-is-very-pretty-and-the-saddest-anime-girl-dying-song-is-playing thing if everyone’s already dead and has been dead this whole time but they did it! those crazy sons of bitches did it!!! disappearing to be reborn in a new life instead of dying but close enough! i did cry and also i laughed because it was funny but also i wouldnt be able to make this much fun of key if their dead anime girl shtick didnt work on me every single time theyve done it

im very mean to key and ive mentioned this before but its really truly because watching air tv when i was 10 years old gave me brain wormsIM SORRY IM BEING MEAN AGAIN what im TRYING to say is that keys works are something akin to some kind of obsession or fixation or something for me and i will be mean to them. because i will consume all of their media whether i like it or not

stupid anime girl dying company *buys everything theyve ever put out*

the show was good tho or well if u got key brain worms from watching air tv when u were 10 like i did then you’ll adore it, its moreso just good but a little rushed, id recommend it if you want a pretty show with fantastic music thats very emotional sad but usually in a melodramatic and heightended sorta way, yknow? i liked it a lot

i think “i am god” kid and “call me christ” kid shoulda hung out

i watched it in the dub (although with the subs on at the same time because im fucked up and evil and also sometimes i switched to the japanese audio to see how some of the voices were) and i thought the dub was honestly pretty great outside of some slightly odd name pronunciations and TK....i think their TK was fine and they definitely did the best they could, localizing a character like that is so hard, but also part of me wonders if it wouldntve been funnier if they coulda somehow got the licenses to use the japanese voice acting for TK cause it has like, a different slightly off audio quality and it added a lot to his performance OH maybe they even coulda got their dubbed version but recorded it from like, the other room to get that weird audio quality hfsjakmdsdfs i dunno i think its a little funny

anyway those were most of my thoughts on the show but also none of that matters because the real thing we need to talk about is HOLY shit my guys i CANNOT stop thinking about the npcs likE WHAt

THRE FUCk

I KNOW its not the point and i KNOW i should not be thinking this much about them but WHAT kinda turing test bullshit IS THIS they are indistinguishable from humans.....they all have very human emotions and responses (except for that one guy in the second last episode) and like their CODE....THEIR CODE CAN BE FUCKED WITH??/ these are normal people....i know at one point they were like “they dont have souls” but like is the soul really the end all be all thing here......a human could become an npc......a human could be turned into an npc..............im so fuckinng invested in these npcs you guys what if you were a program that perfectly mimics a human highschooler in every way but the only difference is time doesnt seem to move the same and also at any second your code could be fucked with and youd become some kinda shadow creature

and like early on when naoi would keep the balance of his model-student-ness by beating up npcs so he wouldnt get obliterated..........those are people.......those are just people...

is there culling. do they get culled out of the environment when no dead people are around in order to save on memory. i need to know. jun maeda put down the piano synths for one second i need to KNOW

key accidentally made some of the most compelling pieces of speculative scifi ive ever seen in the background of their anime girl dying show i cant stop thinking about those npcs like they like music...they have favourite bands....they can be fans of in universe band gldemo....isnt that just as human as having a soul...... i njust

AND ALSO what was the DEAL with that last npc the one who was like aware of his programming...is that why hes so fucked up and weird or maybe when he was altered by the guy who turned himself into an npc he added that in AND LIKE i KNOW the real reason is cause the writers needed to retcon just how human the npcs were last second for the story to work BUT LISTEN *starts drawing up a giant conspiracy theory board with red string and newspaper clippings)

[nctsukashii-archive-blog]

Most disliked arc (chapter)? Why?

The saltiest cracker you know is me, Bepsi!10. Most disliked arc (in this case, chapter)? Why? 

I bet you saw this shit comin a mile away huh?

Chapter 2.

Now, it might surprise you, but Hoshi dying isn’t even the worst part of the chapter for me. That’s more emotionally gut punching me and my hopes and dreams that joke characters can live past chapter 3. Actually, Hoshi is without a doubt the BEST part of Chapter 2 even with his death, just because of how amazingly he’s written. 

Sadly, even Hoshi cannot save this chapter from showing just how RUSHED and UNPOLISHED it is. Because holy jeEZ THERE’S A LOT WRONG (albeit it’s personal opinion for the most part). So while you may know them, or may learn something new from my opinion, that’s all cool! Under the cut as Chapter 2 is dissected and torn into to learn why it is sadly, my least fav of V3.

- RUSHED.

Now, this is really easy to see, and I’m sure many others have noticed it as well, but it bears a lot of repeating because it’s a problem. Chapter 2 was rushed to high heavens, in the sense that it mainly serves to push the plot along and nothing more. Things happen too quickly in the story at that point, and while the rest of the game is better off for it, this is the ONLY chapter that REALLY does it so blatantly, and it feels very choking as a result of it.- Tenko’s attachment to Himiko needed to happen, absolutely, but I feel like more should have been done in Chapter 1 to show Tenko trying to talk to her more? Maybe, “OOO maybe himiko wants to be my friend??” and more interactions that show that Tenko isn’t just attaching herself to Himiko b/c she’s “the creepy gay” character. - Toujou becoming the fucking supermaid. This one is the most obvious, but mmm. Everyone relying on her suddenly feels super forced, as characters like Shinguuji and Hoshi and even Maki herself, all ask Toujou to do something for them. It feels out of character for them, and the fact that THAT interaction is the MOST she gets in Chapter 2 before the trial is fucking trash and I’ll explain why in a later point, but you can just TELL that they needed SOMETHING to give her ANY story relevance, and it hurts her character a LOT. - Kaito suddenly wanting to help Maki’s super fucking weird. Maybe if it showed Kaito like “sorry Shuichi maybe later, I wanna try talking to Maki” more in this Chapter to really see that he wants to help her, or even just him going more like “hey Shuichi wanna include Maki in our training? I feel like she could use it.” or ANYTHING that mentions Kaito reaching out to Maki more. Because as it is now, it feels like he’s suddenly placing an all or nothing bet and it makes him, p unlikable at that point b/c Shuichi just goes with it for seemingly no reason because “yeah I guess i gotta progress the plot”. - Those are the main points. Maki is done surprisingly well, actually, she’s really good here. Being sus like that and actually not letting you do FTE’s was cool, and i liked it a lot. Angie’s slow buildup was also pretty good as well, but I think they coulda put Tsumugi in w/ Himiko at some point so it’s not ‘suddenly everyone’s brainwashed!’ in chapter 3, as a slower buildup would do it good! Or at least, more buildup, I should say.

- CLUNKY.

This one is a bit harder to explain, and it goes in hand with the pacing issue, but lemme try. Some of the events and dialogue in Chapter 2 just feel, really clunky? Like, Shuichi’s an emotional guy and I totally understand that, but I don’t think he’d just spill his feelings to the guy that punched him for showing weakness not even 2 days ago? I dunno, maybe it’s just me. It feels like a lot of Chapter 2 was glued into the story as requirements rather than actually to tell a story. It comes in a lot of ways, as previously mentioned a lot of relationships are just ‘suddenly there’ rather than actually built up, IE Kaito and Maki, Tenko and Himiko, etc... and it makes the entire Chapter feel like it’s meshed together with ideas that Kodaka REALLY wanted to be in the game or knew would happen later on, but just couldn’t fit them in, so he shoved them in an early chapter and hoped for the best.

- TOUJOU’S ABILITY TO DO JACK DIDDLY SHIT IN TERMS OF STORY.

Somehow, they managed to make one of the stars of this chapter barely active in it. Can you fucking believe that? Like, no really, if you work off of fan translations I want you to open the translation you have, hit CONTROL+F and search for Toujou and see like, the 30 lines she has before the trial. It’s so MINIMAL, it’s so BASIC, and in those 30 sentences she’s treated like a PLOT DEVICE rather than a CHARACTER. I’m sure a bit of the reason as to why Toujou isn’t as popular as most of the other girls is just how hard the Chapter hits her in terms of not giving her any character development (even in the bonus interaction she’s just “i do this for my job” for fucc sake). Like, even if it was played for a laugh that she’s just so constantly work-focused, or the writing took it as a bit of a punchline for some dry humor (”hey toujou what’re ya doin?” “working.” and just have awkward eye contact and the ‘WOW this is awkward’ thought in Shuichi’s head after a few “...” between the both of them as it happens. easy comedy. see???) it at least would make her seem somewhat important compared to the cast. Honestly, it’s like the Tsumugi Effect but in 2 chapters instead of 6. By doing nothing in terms of plot, she basically puts on this huge fucking sign that says “HEY GUYS IM NOT STORY RELEVANT BECAUSE NOTHING IS HAPPENING TO ME SO I WILL PROBABLY DIE AS A KILLER OR VICTIM” Her trial behavior is really hit or miss as well, because some might find her ruthlessness to be really cool and makes her actually fucking interesting at any point in the story, while others might find it unlikable, excessively cruel, or just out of character for Toujou no matter how desperate she may be. Let alone that her US demographic prolly tanked quite a lot w/ her story focusing on POLITICS of all things (one of the three no-no’s in any conversation), making her very very hard to like, besides on an aesthetic level. Let alone her FTE’s are the worst in the game, as you still barely learn anything about her outside of “im a maid and im good at my job” or other points that the main story already tells you (besides that she once coddled a man so hard he became dependent and that her only weakness is not cutting konjac right ever). It just makes her feel like a barren and incomplete character.

- TOUJOU’S ABILITY TO DO EVERYTHING SO WELL SHE CAN EVEN FUCK HERSELF OVER AMAZINGLY.

Everyone has heard me go on and on about this, but if it doesn’t get said no one will know it so I keep repeating it until the end of time.By making her plan so complex, she basically fucks herself. By making a crime that only someone as competent as her could accomplish, it fucks her because only she can do it. XD. Literally, who do you think would have been able to do all that shit in one night? Saihara’s too weak to drown Hoshi. Don’t fight me on this, because if you seriously believe the detective in training with little self defense training (he worked on infidelity and missing pet/kid cases for fuck sake, his life isn’t really on the line all that often so he prolly wouldn’t know or have to train all that much to protect himself) can take the tennis player that killed over 200 people and has been playing tennis basically all his life (enough to go INTERNATIONAL in MIDDLE SCHOOL) in a fight, we’re gunna need to have a talk.Gonta’s too heavy to use the ropeway.Kiibo’s too heavy to use the ropeway and too weak to carry Hoshi’s body.Himiko’s too weak to drown someone and attempt to shove them in the staircase (which I will touch on real soon here on why even attempting to frame her the way Toujou tried to was dumb as shit).Angie’s... lbr here, prolly missing a few too many tools in her toolbox to really think of a ropeway to kill Hoshi with.Shinguuji’s too weak (and before I get arguments on this, if u think this underweight twig of a man can take out Hoshi when Hoshi’s prolly faster than him and could just run ur wrong)Maki who was the Child Caregiver at the time would be seen as too weak to do anything to Hoshi too (even if she lifts kids, again, Hoshi is fucking rIPPED and has killer legs)Ouma’s too weak (i mean he’s underweight and looks like a twig)Kaito’s a fucking moron when it comes to master plans and wouldn’t have been able to plain something like a ropeway murder (let alone his idol complex wouldn’t have let him kill Hoshi most likely... unless it was a Mondo situation but that’s a later talk)Tenko’s also a fucking moron when it comes to long term planning let alone she wouldn’t touch a man unless to flip him to death, which makes the ropeway seem almost pointlessTsumugi’s too weak to (i mean... rlly. u rlly think she could take him down? under the assumption she isn’t the mastermind ofc at this point in the story, but even then sneak murdering all the kills seems kinda.... eh? too hard for her to do.) Miu’s also a fucking moron that wouldn’t think of using a ropeway (actually, she prolly woulda done the smarter option and just pushed Hoshi’s body out his fucking window since a ropeway would be too much effort)By process of COMMON SENSE, only Toujou would make something so NEEDLESSLY COMPLICATED in an attempt to murder a guy. 

- THE DUMBEST PLAN ON EARTH AND HOW YOU COULD PLAN A SIMILAR MURDER AND GET AWAY WITH IT EASY. 

Toujou’s plan is fucking dumb when you can think of SO many other ways to get Hoshi killed with more leeway as to who coulda done it. So I bring up the window in his lab, because literally you could just push him out of it and the fall would prolly splatter that midget cunt on the ground no problem. Hell, even handcuff him. Nearly anyone could have pushed Hoshi out of the window, meaning there’s a possibility that Maki or Kaito could have done it w/o that stupid fucking ropeway let alone anyone at night (or hell even during the DAY since time of death was obscured), and it wouldn’t LEAVE THE FUCKING GLOVE.MMMM OKAY RANT HERE REAL QUICK I MEAN IT THAT FUCKING TRASH BAG GLOVE IRRITATES ME. Like, hhh I know Kodaka wanted to make a case where something like the glove gets the killer caught, but HOLY SHIT was it poor to use in a case like this. It not only feels like it’s out of place for her not to just get it in the morning, but why the fuck would she use her gloves anyways?? Why not use Hoshi’s hat? Anyone could use Hoshi’s hat as hand protection down the moronic ropeway and since it’s a beanie it’s prolly made of more strong material than I guess whatever her shit gloves are made of, since they tore like fuckin trash when she went down the ropeway. As someone that wears cut and heat protection gloves because of my job, the gloves she uses are HORRIBLY inefficient (let alone if she’s cleaning before touching food w/ them on... like please don’t that can cause so many health problems) to try and stop ropeburn. She could have also just poisoned everyone, or killed them all in their sleep, to make her job easier on herself. Can’t have a trial if no one’s there after all right? No one would suspect Toujou working on her fuckin job to come and snap their necks during the night or w/e, or poison their food before the show. But also framing Himiko is really fucking dumb. Like, she expects me to believe that Himiko, who is only 2 more pounds than Hoshi mind you, managed to drown him and stuff him in that staircase, and pull him out during the show in under a minute. LOL no. Hoshi looks like he can break her arms like fucking toothpicks without even trying?? Let alone her laziness makes it look REALLY hard for her to have planned a fucking murder. The fact that like, the first hour of the trial wants me to believe Himiko could be the killer is asinine, just because of how basically fucking illogical it is.What Toujou could have done instead, was leave his body drowned in the sink. Yeah, it’d be harder because not everyone can drown Hoshi (ie. Himiko and Ouma and prolly a few others that are considered sticks or weak), but there are a lot of people who could, and drowning someone is a lot easier than the stupid ropeway piranha bullshit. OR PUSH HIM OUT HIS WINDOW. JUST KILL EVERYONE THAT WAY COME ON.Actually, she coulda killed two people easy. Just have someone gullible like Saihara come to meet her at night in the lab after she’s already pushed Hoshi out the window (or even just come running to his room with a bullshit excuse that she saw a shadow ‘running away’ and saw that something happened in the tennis lab) and push him out the window too. Boom, makes it look like a murder gone wrong, and the only alibi that’d be able to testify about the events is hers. Easy win, everyone else gets executed.I get it, in the end, it needs to be a solvable mystery in a mystery game, but it ends up making Toujou look like a complete moron as a result of it, which is unfortunate.

- MOTIVE VIDEOS ARE RIGGED AS SHIT.

Upon learning what hers and Hoshi’s are, it seems almost rigged that they would have to be the killer and victim respectively. Hoshi’s telling him to ‘kys’ and Toujou’s saying ‘lol go kill someone’ makes it like... even if everyone else saw theirs that they’d be like.. the only two to really act on theirs besides MAYBE Miu or POSSIBLY Angie. And then we also see Ouma’s?? And his is just actively “lol u don’t kill bitch but u should do it anyways” making it seem almost counter productive. Like, bitch it just said Ouma made a rule that no killing was a thing and u genuinely expect his ass to break that? ha. The odds were stacked against the two of them, which makes it only seem more forced in the long run. Which is great from a meta standpoint, but a story can be meta while still being fun, enjoyable, and flowing functionally and logically. Which this chapter isn’t really.

- THE SADLY NOT REDEEMING BUT STILL SUPER GOOD HOSHI FACTOR.

Now, the one thing that I can praise this chapter for really well despite all its shortcomings is Hoshi’s characterization and his story. For one chapter he really makes a hard hit at the time, and it’s easy to become engrossed in his little background story about him wanting to find a reason to live. The real cherry on top is his writing and his interactions with the few people he interacts with. with Kaito, it really shows the disposition that Kaito has against him and just how Hoshi is so understanding of others and like... nice. Even when he wants a goal that goes against everyone, he still respects them. “I won’t do something reckless to endanger everyone.”, and acknowledging that it’s an entirely selfish reason why he wants to find the videos and will still not hurt anyone to do it. He may have threatened to show Maki’s video to everyone in exchange for his own from her, but he never hits her or directly harms / threatens her w/ violence or anything extremely dirty. It’s respectable. Ohhh, and Saihara’s dynamic with him is just so sPOT ON HERE. Between the great advice and compliments in general he has for Saihara such as “the world can be bright for someone that’s looked down for so long, be careful” and “you’re confident compared to before, like a weight is lifted off your back. it’s a good look for you” and other such flattery, to Hoshi being a bit more open to Saihara about his feelings (feeling jealous about everyone else having a reason to live, wanting to find one himself, openly admitting he feels he has no purpose in his life and wants to find a reason to be happy like everyone else, etc.). But this dynamic goes both ways, as Saihara also can read Hoshi super fucking well. Like, seeing the Tennis Lab is a great example of it. When Hoshi states the past is behind him, Saihara thinks to himself ‘but then why are you looking at the court with such sad eyes Hoshi-kun?’ and it’s like, just really nice that Saihara’s not dense? Like, Hoshi expresses himself pretty poetically, with the way he talks and whatnot, acting like a wise sage type w/ endless wisdom all the time, so Saihara being able to read past all the flowery language to just hear “god i miss tennis” or “im depressed” is really REALLY refreshing, and a nice balance to see. If you do Hoshi’s FTE’s it personally makes it even better, but that’s not a requirement so moving on. Even just Saihara asking him things like “are you doing well?” or “Is this what you want?” or “or just the small but surprisingly deep talks they just seem to have with one another are tiny details that really complete the dynamic that they can both read each other and can react to one another super well. It feels balanced between the both of them, even in Chapter 1, and it’s a shame Hoshi had to die because I would have LOVED to see how far it could go and how much it could have been expanded on in the later chapters. 

Sadly however, no matter how great Hoshi is, it can’t save Chappie 2 from it’s endless faults and gripes that I have with it, that ultimately make the story less entertaining as a result.

[wroef]

how would you characterize the finches (as in who are they a person, what is their personality like, their aesthetics, etc). you don't have to write essays, i'd just like to know what you think of each of them. that would really interest me.

mod milton just went to go get food which has left me unattended so (peace sign emoji)

(EDIT MOD MILTON GOT BACK FROM GETTING FOOD AND IM ONLY ON WALTER, you can’t tell me to not write essays i will anyway im trying to be as brief as possible this is just how i AM)

milton is the aesthetic dude so he can either reblog or go back and edit this with what he thinks everyone’s aesthetics would be, i’ll just give descriptions of them and their personality. also im only gonna do the ones with portraits!!

odin - probably has an attitude a lot like dawn? i mean, he uprooted his whole house to sail to america to try to escape the curse. so like, paranoid family man that wants to keep his family safe. also probably likes boating/fishing or something. he’s probably sorta like my dad in that he cares deeply about his family, doesn’t like really anyone else, and can almost be sorta hotheaded when it comes to something getting in the way of him and his family. i sorta get that vibe? idk

edie - probably like how mod milton has described her before, like a kooky but weirdly lovable grandma? like the kind that would babysit the kids and then give them a bunch of chocolate and candy just before sending them back to their parents or something. probably a sweet old lady but also the kind that’s like ‘youre too nice wtf’ because she’d also be weirdly paranoid and such because of the family curse. definitely a person you could sit with and hear all of her stories though.

molly - i feel like she’d be the kinda kid who’d eat bugs and stuff as a kid and break her toys to figure out how they worked. she reminds me a lot of me as a kid, just more happy? and more interested in sea stuff. i feel like she’d be the kinda girl that you’d have to drag away from the beach whenever yall had to go home. just super bubbly and sweet but with sorta a weird fascination with dissecting things and figuring out how the innards of stuff work together. also probably spends more time eating than doing literally anything else

barbara - definitely the cute blonde that everyone said ‘she’s gonna be big one day’ and she did. she probably woulda loved watching child star stuff and when she had the opportunity to be in a movie she begged edie to let her audition. as she got older and america ‘grew out of her’, she probably was a theater kid type in high school, just waiting for another big break and auditioning anywhere she could. definitely the kind to roll her eyes whenever she had to babysit her little brothers, but she still cared a lot about them.

calvin - the kid to have probably gotten his head stuck in a fish bowl pretending to be an astronaut more than once. he was probably a big nerd growing up about space, begging for stuff like a telescope or astronomy books or anything he could get his hands on. he was the kid who said ‘im gonna be an astronaut when i grow up’ and was actually gearing to do just that. he was probably amazing as heck at school and sam might have even had him do his homework more than once. so smart kid, very hardheaded. think of like, how the majority of the fandom portrays clay terran from ace attorney (if anyone around here plays AA?)

sam - perfectly content staying on the ground, thanks. total one-with-nature type kid, probably wanted to be a nature photographer before calvin died. after the fact, he probably geared himself more toward military because he figured the thought of achieving your ‘true dream’ was all bs since he had then lost two siblings trying to achieve their dreams. so he dropped the photography except for recreational usage, and focused on gearing toward the military probably because this is vietnam war time and he didn’t really have a drive to go for anything else. he liked the structure that being in the military gave him and raised his kids with the same strict schedule, but it was probably a combination of his general stubborn pessimistic personality (which was never shown around the kids, of course) with his history and being away from the kids for a lot of their younger years because of the USMC that lead to his and Kay’s divorce. i feel like ive rambled a lot about sam for someone who doesn’t like him. tl;dr bad dad but also sad dad?

walter - my poor, sweet, paranoid delusional baby. he was probably the type to, like molly, enjoy the sea a lot. he probably wanted to be a marine biologist growing up, and when barbara died because of the supposed ‘monster’, being exposed to that kind of trauma of literally hearing your sister’s last words as she screams while being killed, that would kinda fuck you up. i could see him locking himself in his room for days on end, eventually forcing edie to have to drop him out of school and homeschool him. it probably took him months to even be able to step outside of his room. when calvin died he probably re-shut himself in, just terrified of everything. it said in game he had been down there for 30 years, and since he died at 53, that would mean he retreated to the basement at 23 years old. possibly, when no one else was living in the house aside from edie, she and him worked together to create the bunker that took a few years to make before it was livable.

dawn - she probably took after her dad a lot, not in the fact of the hunting or other activities he enjoyed but more in the pessimistic view of life. she’s seen in his story reading a lot and i feel like that’s because she’s the quiet type that would rather submerse herself in a fantasy world in a book than she would interact with the real world. sorta like how the whole “sam seemed to go out of his way to meet [death]”, conversely, dawn tried to stay away from it as much as possible. she probably grew up wanting to explore and ‘see the world’ before she died, which was why she started joining volunteer programs to help people in other countries. she probably became more religious after her dad passed but hid it more when she got close to sanjay because of religious differences, which was why she and sanjay would have decided to raise their kids without religion. she cared a lot, but she showed it in a weird way; she was angry and paranoid, sure, but she did care. sorta like how i wrote odin.

gus - rebel kid. probably grew up with a resentment for his dad and saw him as the source for ‘mom leaving’ and such. gregory died when he was around 8 years old, which is just around the time hormones are about to go wild and puberty sets in, so he probably launched himself into a punk rock lifestyle to sort of rebel against his parents and deal with his grief in his own way when he felt no one else really understood him. since dawn was pretty hardheaded and stern and pessimistic like their father, gus probably didn’t feel all that comfortable talking to her, so he just bottled a lot of stuff up. sad baby

gregory - i feel like his story sums him up personality wise pretty well, idk, hes a baby

lewis - stoner kid. he probably grew up in india learning both english and hindi from his parents, and was generally a normal happy kid until his dad died. when he did and they moved back to the states, he would have been about 14, with milton at 10 and edith at 3. milton and lewis probably got along a lot for the year they were together in the finch house and while they were being homeschooled, and when milton disappeared he probably fell into a depressive state as he had no one else to really talk to around his age about the losses he experienced. not to mention as another anon said, he was the only finch to not really show any artistic talents, which further ostracized him from his family and everyone else. he probably took to drugs as a means to cope, which became a habit. when he graduated and isolated himself in his room to smoke and occasionally talk to edith, that’s when dawn signed him up for a job at the cannery to try to help coax him out and into a more healthy life, which of course backfired. overall though, he would have been a really nice person, if not sort of standoffish emotionally. he loved spending time with his siblings and his dad, though never really had much attachment to his mom. nice dude, 10/10, would smoke a bowl with him

milton - (in the words of mod milton: college art student doesn’t get sleep) ok thanks mod milton. ok so like. i see milton as being the super artsy kid in class, the one who’d say ‘i wanna be an artist when i grow up!’ and fucked around with paint all the time and stuff. as he got older he figured out how to make stuff work better (might have even been signed up for art classes) and figured out how to make landscapes and animate (with flipbooks) and such like that. he was probably a kid very eager to learn and discover new things, like how in an entire year he managed to find all the passageways in the finch house and disclose that information to lewis before he disappeared. very smart kid, practically a prodigy for his age in the world of painting and art

edith - sweet sweetheart baby child. probably grew up like the others, wanting to learn and figure out as much stuff as she possibly could. she took to drawing a lot and maybe even took pointers as a young 4 year old from her 11 year old brother milton before he disappeared. when he disappeared this probably raised a lot of curiosity in the young child and she wanted to learn more about her family history, but dawn wouldn’t allow it and edie wanted to respect her grandchild’s wishes despite her great-grandchild’s arguments. once they stopped being homeschooled (which idk what age that would be, i’d have to do math) and edith started going to public school, she may have been kind of insecure and introverted and kept to herself a lot of the time. when lewis died and she had to switch schools she probably gained more confidence from being in a place where no one knew her or her family history anymore and got herself a boyfriend which would lead to current situations in game.

I KNOW YOU SAID TO NOT WRITE PARAGRAPHS BUT THIS IS JUST HOW I DO MAN SORRY

-mod lewis

[survivorjohto]

Ep. 10: “Who Better To Fuck Shit Up Than Despairsaac?” - Isaac

MADE MERGE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN PI HALLELUJAH

I want CP SOOOOOOO 

 Im ready for this merge because the villains? Mostly dead to me. Like I love Isaac, Karen, and Jordan M. But DO I TRUST THEM?!?!?!?!! FUck that no they can go. But do I trust any heroes? Duncan, I trust him. I'm hoping there's a way Jordan Pines and I can get with a few heroes and vote the middle and get our way. I just don't know.gif

Okay, so I made merge!  Yay me!  This is the first time I made merge as myself without having to return in a redemption twist.  Thank GOD.  And Allison won Malibu? True kink!  Honestly, had Andrew or Carson won, I woulda been happy, but I (proudly) voted for Allison twice, so it was like a mini-victory right there, especially considering the only time I didn't vote in the minority post-merge in Malibu was when I got Luke, my one shot at not fucking everything up, voted out. l o l 

 Anyway, I don't really trust anyone on the villains side, but I love my hero guys.  They're beautiful and faves, and I will trust them for now. :,) I know Drew and Billy 100% will have my back, and I assume Duncan, too... Mitch will be loyal to Billy, but he tried to throw my name out to Ash last vote sooo... don't really trust 'im!!!  I'm his 5th, and that does NOT make me happy. 

 I can't win this game, but I will try my hardest to make it to the end.  What we need to do is play up using the villains that wanna flip.  We need to make them think we have a clear target, so even if the vote goes 5-4-1, we still have majority as heroes.  And in the case of this "sapphire idol", the person with 1 vote goes.

I love tea, especially when it's scalding tea.

 Billy told me that Isaac told him that he used this power revealer, and now Billy knows that Mitch has a super idol.  Ugly?  Yea.  That means we can't really touch Mitch, which wasn't a plan right now anyway, but he does need to be the first of the 5 to go, in my opinion.  Like he can't be around.  If he uses it on someone like me or Billy or Drew or Duncan, aka any of the other heroes, I mean... we should survive the round, and we should have numbers because they won't be able to out-do a super idol, so????  I don't know why he has to be so fake unless it was in case we blindsided him pre-merge which LOL wish I coulda done. 

 He already threw my name out there for Ash last vote, so I'm not surprised if he wants me at the bottom of the 5.  That's weird that he's like that considering how I'm the WEAKEST member of the 5, and he has people like Drew and Billy, who are both strong in the game (Drew for physical strength and Billy for strategic value), who he won't betray because... of reasons I don't know.  No matter what, we should be getting through this round okay, but.... I gotta hold out some hope.  It better not be my name that comes up.

Ok so we merged and I hope the villains can destroy the heroes because the villains are better and will always be ;3 also I hope our plan with the idol works and the villains get numbers but I don't know if it will work

Honestly, the Villains sound like one messy ass tribe.  Not saying the Heroes are any better, but like... they're in 2 factions, and they just want the Heroes gone first... like Y I K E.  I hope they try to use me .3. 

Fuck I'm probably talking too much 

They're probably gonna beat me up for thinking too far ahead like I did in Sri Lanka I'm so dumb dslkfjsdlkfsd 

me: I should stop talking 

me 5 minutes later: 

GUYS WHY DID THEY PUT A LINK TO JOHTO IN THE IMMUNITY POST http://i.imgur.com/N1lx7db.png 

So I've been contemplating flipping for the past few days. The only issue is that Jordan Pines is unwilling to flip unless a hero is voted out. And Duncan doesn't want to do that. 

 The ultimate problem is I've said to the heroes I trust that I want to flip. If I don't flip I'm going to become the person who always says they'll flip and then doesn't. And look where that got me in Malaysia. However I will still be badly perceived if I flip alone. I feel like if two people make a flip it's seen as a big move, but if only one person does, they're a flipper.

 I just don't trust Karen and Isaac at all. They've been after me since the start. And I'm certainly ready to make my move, but I'm not sure if it's viable yet.

1:20 AM. Time for a confessional. 

So voting out Ash was kind of hard. It sucks that I ended up on a tribe with people who are early premerge boots, because I felt even worse about reinforcing the fact that that's almost where they're destined to stay? Although Chrissa made FTC in another game, Brandon got pretty far in Canary, and Ash got 4th jury member in PI All stars. I hate that they had to die for our sins, but there's not much I can do if I don't want the vote turning on me. Speaking of the vote turning on me, I'm so grateful and amazed that I didn't get a single vote for me premerge. I knew being positive and being useful to my tribe would give them a good impression of how trustworthy I can be, but I didn't think it would work that well. People just kind of go along with what I say and it's nice. I feel like the heroes trust me, and I trust them. I hope in my heart of hearts that's the truth, but you never know when Billy or Brian or Drew will decide it's not a good idea to let me near the end. 

So merge happens, and the heroes immediately decide we need to make an alliance chat to discuss votes, which is great. I'm glad Drew took the initiative on that. I feel like Ash's unanimous vote really made us a cohesive unit, and we drop tea, discuss votes, it's a cute community. Our first night we discussed how this vote might go, and about all the legendaries that have been caught and all the powers that go with them. We learned Jordan had Entei and a vote burn and used it on Karen, Jay has a Suicune and the power to freeze someone's vote (we're not sure what that means), and Jordan also has Lugia and a sapphire idol. We don't know where Raikou is or what it really does (Billy was kinda vague about that, suspicious maybe?), Celebi apparently had nothing, and the heroes speculated on what Ho-oh could have.

 Of course I already know what Ho-oh has. Speculation happened on what it could be, so I pretended to have this moment of grand realization where Ho-oh has a super idol because it's a phoenix and it symbolizes rebirth. That and several other comments probably strongly hinted that I have it, but as far as I know, Billy and Brian didn't think much of it. However, I did know that Drew and Duncan could pick up on what I said because I told them Ho-oh gave me an idol before. Drew figured it out pretty quickly, Duncan took some guidance (he's been really tired lately, I hope work isn't dragging him through the mud.) I don't regret letting them know either; Duncan is my #1 ally as always, but Drew knowing I have the super idol means he can't turn on the heroes (me) without getting caught. I'm pretty sure he's smart enough to figure that out. It's an olive branch and a warning. 

 This super idol is my ticket to defending myself or defending the heroes, and I'm super glad I have it, because I think I'm the person with the most potential to use it in a game-changing way. Everyone knows I'm a threat, but everyone is focusing on other people to take out at the moment. That's not to say I'm getting out of this tribal with votes, I'm guaranteed at least one for sure, but I think some things are changing with the villains that can give the heroes and I the upper hand. I want the heroes' success, more than my own. As long as a hero wins this game, I can come out of this game feeling like I did something, which is bring my tribe to victory. I dread having to turn on each other at final 5 (ideally) because I know my ass is probably grass at that point unless I beat Drew for immunity. Or I could vote him out before then and not worry, but we just don't know.gif 

Ahh, I'm suddenly thinking about Final Tribal Council. I feel like I have a good shot to go really far with this super idol. Can you imagine me getting to the end without having to use a super idol? I'd be a nicer and more likable Tony Vlachos. That's an ugly comparison. I already feel more narcissistic. 

Anyway, let's move on to merge. The heroes are a tight group of 5 (Five Guys Burgers and Furgers Drew calls it) and the villains are something else. They seem like they're all over the place, and not as kumbaya as the heroes are (seem to be?) Within the first 2 hours of merge, Jay immediately comes to me and starts spilling tea like a clumsy butler wearing greased loafers. He tells me Jordan has a Sapphire Idol, that Lily, Karen, and Isaac have been targeting him since Stevie's vote-off, that he has a Suicune, and that he desperately wants to vote off Karen or Isaac, to the point that he's willing to join the heroes' camp to do it, and that he'll even drag Jordan Pines over with him. Score one for the heroes I guess. 

 AH yes, so let's expand on this a bit. Jay wants to create a heroes/villains alliance of me, Jay, Jordan, Drew, and Duncan (OK, assume whenever I say 'Jordan' from now on, assume it's Pines. Means is a sleeping fish who doesn't do anything socially) While I'm not opposed to the idea, the thought of turning on Brian and especially Billy makes my stomach flip. I'll let Jay and Jordan believe this alliance is legit, but ultimately I'm going to let my gut decide this much later. 

Of course, Jordan Pines complicates things like he always does. His existence in this game... basically scares the shit out of people. Billy is dead afraid Jordan will beat him again, while Jordan proudly announces on call that he wants to vote out Billy purely because he's about to have played more days than him in PI (Billy was not on call, 'twas Isaac, Drew, him, and myself.) Brian probably just feels whatever Billy feels? Duncan doesn't want to deal with him. I think Drew stands where I stand. 

 Where do I stand with Jordan Pines? Mutual respect. Sure he can be a bit off the wall, hell I'm scared of his unpredictability at times. But the very first time I met Jordan Pines, I went toe to toe with him and won, even knowing his chaotic background. That's not to say he can't kick my ass too, quite the contrary. But he and I are challenge rivals, puzzle rivals, we're like two sides of the same coin. I'm playing the heroes game, loyalty and all. He's playing the villains game, trickery and chaos. And I can respect him for that. And in a weird way, I think it would make us a powerful duo to be reckoned with. Of course, in an ideal situation he'd be a meat shield (Why vote off the person who has showered you with love and support over Jordan Pines, who is known to deceive and trick like he was born doing it [or so he says]) but for now I think he could be an incredible ally for the heroes. 

 Is this what he does? Does he brainwash people with mutual respect? I always hear people saying he's always condescending, but he and I don't have that banter? It's strange, I can read him and yet I can't describe him. The thing is, I have been blindsided by Jordan Pines before (not in Survivor, TAR rather) and I have also blindsided him (by turning his ego against him, Happy Jordan Pines Day) So I feel like I have a sense of when Jordan strikes. Right now I think he's telling the truth about wanting to vote out Karen/Isaac, but I'm very on the fence, like 55% truth, 45% lies. Like, look at this conversation, this is the beginning of our talk today: 

[3/6/2017 7:50:44 PM] Jordan Pines: hey how did you do on immunity for johto btw? 

[3/6/2017 7:51:09 PM] Mitch: To be quite honest, I saw it was a flash game and kinda gave up hope knowing you were playing it lmao 

[3/6/2017 7:51:16 PM] Mitch: I only had 3 hours to do it anyway

 [3/6/2017 7:51:26 PM] Jordan Pines: okay thats incredible i was debating giving up assuming you would do the same 

[3/6/2017 7:51:33 PM] Jordan Pines: cause flash games are between me you and drew realistically

 [3/6/2017 7:51:38 PM] Jordan Pines: but i ended up playing for a decent while [3/6/2017 7:51:40 PM] Jordan Pines: so i hope i win 

[3/6/2017 7:51:54 PM] Mitch: I wouldn't be surprised if you did honestly Me? Scaring Jordan Pines into almost quitting immunity? Holy shit. Wow I did not mean to turn this into 3 paragraphs of me being confused over Jordan Pines. Anyway. So right now I think the vote is in a weird spot. Everyone's afraid of merge votes. The sapphire idol is in (arguably) the most chaotic player's hands (And he's actually afraid to use it! That's amazing to me, that an idol's power is keeping him from doing something with it) and he's immune. Of course this could be a facade and Jordan's going to play the idol while he's immune to eliminate the risk of him getting voted out with it. See? I'm already confused about this, ANYWAY. The heroes are 5 strong, we need a direction to go in. I think turning the vote toward Isaac would be smarter, according to Duncan he's better at challenges than Karen. If Jay votes with us, we could easily have 6-4, and if Jordan joins in, 7-3. The alternative is splitting the vote in case Jordan plays the sapphire idol for fun. 6-3-1, 5-3-2, 5-4-1, so many possibilities. I'll wait for new information to come tomorrow before talking it over with the heroes. I'm excited for the possibilities of this vote, because I'm not gonna be merge boot one way or another. Praise the Ho-oh. 3:20 AM. I got distracted with videos about the Switch. 

Oh, here's a quick assessment of the villains. 

Isaac - Went on call with me, Jordan, and Drew, and proceeded to spill small but crucial details about the villains tribe dynamic, talking about Karen and Isaac's votes for Jay out of fear of the sapphire idol. An interesting character, but I think he could gain ground if he goes farther. Ideally he goes home now. 

Karen - Surprisingly quiet, hasn't messaged me with a "Bitchell" yet. I'd like for her to go sooner than later, for voting Jay, but also forgetting to vote in Palau and sending me home in the process. (I know, I told myself I'd seperate games, but come on, she had ONE job.) 

Jordan M - Listen, the only thing I know about this kid is how many memes he spreads in the tribe chat. He's playing almost no different than he did in Hawaii, I'm surprised he's lived this long without falling off a cliff. He votes early and goes to bed like always. Ideally? I'd give him 8th place again, only this time I'd actually be voting for him. 

Jordan Pines - Please just read what I already wrote. I've talked about him enough. 

Jay - One of my best friends in the community, but I have played TWO games with him now and being aligned with him has screwed me over very badly. I'm not looking to repeat that. I love him to death, but I will vote him out in a heartbeat (Sorry Jay, please forgive me if I do anything nasty to you in the future) However, he is a CRUCIAL source of knowledge, and he clearly trusts me enough to come with it in the first two hours of being on a tribe. I will certainly use my connection with him as much as I can before letting Billy and Brian eat him or something.

 Current Pokemon Team: Cardamom the Crobat with a vote reveal Vec the Tyranitar Klaus the Deliberd Shimmer the Ho-Oh with a super idol Dawn the Sunflora Bloom the Bellossom Badges obtained: Zephyr Badge Hive Badge Plain Badge Fog Badge Storm Badge Gonna clocc Jasmine with Shimmer/I might pick up a fighting type Gonna clocc Pryce with Shimmer/Dawn/I might pick up a fighting type Gonna clocc Clair with Klaus/I should get a Dragon type?? 

I love messy bitches with messy plans, considering I'm the messiest bitch usually and have the messiest plans usually.

 I need more info because otherwise I'm a chicken without my head, and that's of no use.

It's finally that time... we merged. And as soon as it happened I turned by back on the original five guys. Karen Isaac and I made a pact that we are getting Jordan out ASAP. We have Drew and Brian with us, who are also two people I trust more than anything.

 I also found the merge idol. So I guess I am as good as I thought.

 Jay has suicune, and Isaac found out about Mitch's super idol. So now I know where all the power lies. And we're going to have them wasted.

 ISAAC DID THAT AND EXPOSED IT AND NOW JORDAN IS TRYING TO SAPHIRE IDOL ME OUT. YOU THOUGHT HUH? We're breaking the Saphire Idol tonight. And jay should be the one leaving. Plus if it is me, I have all my advantages. If I sense anything funny I'm playing my idol. I'm not fucking around. Jordan WILL NOT beat me this game. No way, not this way.

 Plus once Mitch sees that their plan wasn't what we said it was, he'll be with us 100%. No more Jay to feed him false information. 

 Jordan has every reason to be scared of me. I'm not a light player. But yo come after me this way, after I just dealt with all this shit in my personal life is a low blow. So get fucked. You better hope you win all of the immunities from here on out. Because you're GONE next chance with no idol to save you.  And I know you have none, because I have the only two real idols and Mitch has the super idol. Surprise bitch.

hehehehehehehehehhe - my thoughts about tonights vote if it works boooooooooooooooooo - my thoughts about tonights vote if it fails

Okay so we've merged which is fun and I'm in an alliance with Karen, Drew, Brian, and Billy and we're working together to fuck shit up™ And I thought to my gay self "Who better to fuck shit up than Despairsaac?" So I let him out and he exposed Mitch having items and now everyone knows about all the powers in the game with the exception of Jay having suicune and Billy having Raikou. Honestly this vote is so messy I can't put into words the strategy that's gone behind it. It's just fugly.

How does it feel to be in a game full of powers with absolutely zero powers? Pretty good. Pretty good. Anyway I'm so ready to die. Maybe Mitchy will save me with his super idol, probably not.

ok so ill gve u a summary of today: 

-villains come up with a 3-1-1 plan in which billy and mitch are both the ones and billy gets elimed 

-me billy isaac add drew and brian to our alliance -i scream 

-billy brian and drew all tell me the jp and jay have told them that theyre on the bottom, in which i yell bc its not realistic like what kind of crack 

-jp comes up with the plan to say that him and jay will "flip" on the 5-5 revote that the heroes think will happen 

-jay basically reveals that hes close with duncan and mitch 

-isaac exposes mitch about the super idol and vote revealer 

-everyone pretends to be (me billy and the others in the alliance)

 -the villains try to work the vote bc of the super idol -it is confirmed that mitch and duncan are gonna be voting for me billy comes up with a 3-3-2-1-1 in which i get 3 votes, frank gets 3 votes, jay gets 2 billy gets 1 and mitchum gets 1, hopefully this plan works with and without the sapphire idol being played, i should be kept if the vote ties and jay gets clocct with the sapphire idol if jp does play it 

-isaac is gonna expose jay? 

-tribal is happenin and im gonna be sicc

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