#kinda rushed the second panel but that's okay

[bread-bastard]

Walk Mary Home side route my beloved (featuring my dadsona Antonio!) Mary needs more love in this fandom fr 🤍

[hoonnieyyz]

↳ ❝ I Wanna Be Yours ❞

↳ Pairing: work enemy!Jay x fem!reader

↳ Genre: fluff;

↳ Warnings: reader is claustrophobic, petnames (princess, sweetheart), they're stuck in an elevator, whipped jay, enemies to ??;

↳ W/c: 0.881k;

↳ A/n: likes, comments, reblogs, feedback are all deeply appretiaced! Hope y'all enjoy<3

↳ Now playing:

You don't know what's worse, having claustrophobia and being stuck in an elevator, or having claustrophobia and being stuck in an elevator with your enemy, who was currently hugging you tight to calm you down.

They're both really bad to be honest, but in this situation, the latter was worse.

You don't really know how you got yourself in this situation, but you knew that you wanted to be out from it in an instant.

It was supposed to be a casual ride up a few stories to the headquarters floor, when you saw him, Park Jongseong.

He was in a rush, walking towards the elevator door with long, fast strides.

The door was closing, and with your constant slamming of fingers on the close button, he was not gonna make it.

Well, at least you thought so, because the moment you heaved a sigh of relief, his hand flew between the doors, squeezing himself in.

“Thanks for helping me,” he remarked sarcastically, making you scoff.

You took a few steps back, distancing yourself from him, making him chuckle.

You looked down on your watch, 15:06, was this elevator always this slow that you needed four minutes to go up from second floor to the eleventh? Or was it that with him in the elevator the time just slowed down?

Tapping your foot impatiently, you prayed to the elevator doors to open anytime now, but they didn't.

Instead, the numbers on top of the door stopped on the 9th floor…?

“Did you press a button?” you quickly turned towards jay, pointing towards the buttons.

“Are you actually that dumb or do you just act like one?” he tilted his head to the side, smirking, “the number panel is on your side, how would I press one if I haven't moved from my spot ever since I entered the elevator?”

“Whatever, it's gonna go up in a few so,” you turned your back on him, clutching your documents tightly in your arms.

Two minutes passed, five minutes passed, even ten minutes passed, but still nothing.

“Why isn't this stupid thing going up?!” marching towards the number panel, you pressed every button you possibly could, after every press looking up at the screen, praying for the number to change, but again, nothing.

“You're gonna make it worse,” you heard from beside you, “we're stuck in here, deal with it.”

“No! We're not! The help will be here in a few minutes and get us out of here,” you argued, turning away from him to a corner.

“Believe what you want, sweetheart.”

You didn’t say anything after that, which was kinda strange since you always retorted when he called you any kind of petnames.

After another few minutes of nothing happening, you could feel your claustrophobia kicking in.

It was hot in the elevator, like way to hot, you pressed your back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling.

“Are you okay?” jay asked, noticing your discomfort.

You just nodded, shutting your eyes tightly.

You could feel the walls closing in on you, the heavy weight pressing down on your chest.

“Hey, are you okay? I'm being serious,” he placed a hand on your shoulder, turning your body towards him.

“I-I'm c-claustrophobic,” you finally mumbled out in between deep breaths, “are we gonna fall?”

“No, we're not.”

“What if the elevator falls? Oh my gosh, I'm gonna die,” you panicked, unconsciously gripping his shoulders with your hands.

“We're not gonna die, because the elevator is not falling,” he cupped your face, making you look up at him, “understood?”

“But-" “No buts, we're gonna be fine.”

He suddenly pulled you into a tight hug, you too, buried your face in his chest, sighing out in a bit of a relief that the hug gave you.

Why were you and jay enemies in the first place?

He always picked on you, like a boy would do to a girl in the kindergarten, when he had a crush on her.

But jay most definetely didn’t have a crush on you, he was just an annoying guy from work you'd tell your friends about over a can of beer.

“Calm down, princess, everything's alright,” did he always have a nice voice like that? Or was it just because you were having a panic attack?

Yeah, definitely the latter one.

You can't really tell how long you two were in that position, with your head against his shoulder, and hands wrapped around his neck.

But you knew that his gentle caress on your waist was calming you down faster than you thought.

There was a sudden bang against the elevator doors, startling you.

“The help is here! We'll get you out in a few!” you heard from one of the workers.

Finally breathing a sigh of relief, you tried to pull away from jay, but he wouldn't let you.

“Jay, I'm fine, let go,” you tried to shook away his tight grasp but he just pulled you in even closer.

“Let's just stay like this, I finally have you close to me, I can't let the opportunity slip away,” he said, landing a soft kiss on your forehead, leaving you as confused as ever.

What did he mean by that?

[loomingcastle]

You’re Weird, part 1

Part 2 (will be uploaded soon)

—RANT—

Sorry if the words are weird looking, I was experimenting with custom fonts but my drawing app didn’t let me upload it so I was forced (after an hour or so of searching for a solution) to resort to taking screenshots. Like, the laptop version allowed custom fonts to be uploaded but not the mobile?? 😭

I had the files, I had everything ready but then it just didn’t have the button to upload it. I go to the official website, guess what? The laptop version has it. I try looking for the mobile, nope. You can change text font but no customs cause fuck mobile users I guess djodwskfmow

Sketchbook is my one and only beloved app but it has its issues with being different on mobile and laptop. Like, I think laptop has blur but mobile doesn’t. Which, you can see my awful attempt at blurring Ink in the second to last panel on the third image. I just, I don’t know anymore.

Also the custom font looks cool kinda. It’s my own handwriting. I didn’t think my handwriting could actually be decent when I’m not rushing it. But also, it looks too thin and I think that’s one of the main reasons it looks weird. I could’ve probably fixed this easily but I didn’t feel like it-

But also, I could just be a huge dumbass and someone else who uses Sketchbook can go all Gordon Ramsey on me “You fucking donut”

Okay uh, rant over? Help I need someone to rant to about stuff ahah (I’m not okay)

[soupdots]

Hey, I haven’t posted on here in a while, but! I read Azula in the Spirit Temple (finally) and I wanted to give my thoughts on it.

Overall rating, 7.5/10

Things I liked:

• These two panels:

I love how her humanity is shown in both of them. I don’t know if we’ve EVER seen Azula given the humanity shown in the second panel— fear, specifically trauma-motivated fear (and a traumatic experience not frequently discussed, her institutionalization). It’s significant because she’s showing fear without anger, which is rare for her. And I was blown away by the first panel. I didn’t expect them to be so explicit about it. It’s almost too explicit, but honestly, it’s needed (because people clearly don’t pick up on subtext). It made me very happy to see what we’ve all been saying stated outright and in canon. These two panels pushed the comic up from more of a 6/10.

• I liked the idea of spirits and avatars (no pun intended) of Azula’s past friends and family talking to her (This is something that’s planned for my fic, if I ever get that off the ground again). It allows Azula to directly confront what has been done to her and what she has done, which is important for a redemption arc. It also allows for some healing, because she’s able to talk to those who hurt her.

• Azula is not given a quick redemption arc in 80 pages. Thank god. While of course she deserves a redemption arc, a rushed Kuvira-style redemption arc would be awful.

• I like that, true to her classic hair symbolism, Azula has her hair down throughout her time in the temple but puts it back up when she goes back to meet her Fire Warriors.

• She looks like a child in most of the frames. It’s good.

• This may have been unintentional, but I like that it’s Zuko who yells at her about how she’s hurt everybody, she’s a monster etc; then he turns into something of a monster himself. This shows that Zuko has hurt her, that he’s not perfect.

• I think the writing in general was better than past comics (definitely better than Yang’s writing) and it bodes well for the future. I think, all things considered, Faith Hicks did a remarkable job with the barely salvageable remnants of Azula’s character.

Things I didn’t like:

• Azula is still hung up on her “rightful place on the throne!” She never showed any real desire for the throne in the show, and yet for some reason that has become a key piece of her identity. It really doesn’t make sense. Also, didn’t she drop that in S&S? She is still seeking to destabilize Zuko in AITST, but appears to also have regained the desire for the throne. It’s confusing and weird.

• I think Azula could’ve been shown being a little nicer to her ‘Fire Warriors,’ given that she doesn’t have the same pressure to keep them by her side as she did with Mai & Ty Lee, but it’s fair that she’s not. In S&S she’s a pretty terrible person and takes several steps back in her redemption arc (several extremely OOC steps), and while I want to forget the Yang comics ever existed, Hicks still has to adhere to them and that means not suddenly making Azula a lot more chill.

• It felt rushed, but of course it did, it’s 80 pages long. Still this did affect the satisfaction I got from it.

• Azula ought to have been more distressed when she found out that her friends left her given that that’s literally her biggest wound. However I also kind of like that she wasn’t, especially at the end, because it hints that she’s getting tired of the whole friendship through manipulation thing.

• I wish Azula had gotten to talk to the spirit in its monk form a little bit; we could’ve had an Iroh moment for her which would’ve been cool to see.

• In general Azula’s character has really been through the ringer so it’s hard to get anything good out of it, but again I’m impressed at what Hicks has been able to pull off. Still, it felt kind of unsatisfying that at the end of the comic Azula said that she would “find new followers, a new place to rule,” which is like, oh okay, so you kinda haven’t really learned anything? It would be nice to at least get a bit of an idea that she’s on a path towards redemption and healing.

Again, overall, 7.5/10, I really enjoyed this, honestly. There were some parts that made me roll my eyes but ultimately I was surprised at the amount of kindness given to Azula (not a lot, but more than usual). I’m thankful to Faith Erin Hicks & the rest of her team for doing the best they can with our girl. I hope this means she’ll get more good content in the future.

[spamtoon]

DCRC Week 8. In week 10.

This is normal at this point, but this time I have an excuse for being late! Vacation! But everybody else is taking naps so like come on now's the perfect time to read Dangerous Disguise by Carl Barks, obviously. Oh wait hold on let me get on Club Pengui.n

First thought I like how they phrased it that the only reason he'd send them on a vacation is if he NEEDED them out of duckburg at the moment. alright donald your bad luck is only going to make things worse here lets get you and the boys out on holiday. Here, go ruin the mediteranian

im so mad i just like. looked down a textbox and thats literally what donald confirms help

Okay there we go I'm in now we can REALLY read this story, which I've heard is generally bonkers but I'm unaware of the extent

Lord the humans are uncanny. by now i've gotten used to some of the basically humans with dog noses but these are just. kinda humans. 50s comic style humans yes but they're sitll humans

i love how the triplets' gut reactions to remembering that spies exist is accusing every single person around them of being a spy. shoutout to that guy with a long beard though he's just here to have a good time

needed to include the picture actually. he deserves to stand on the shore and gaze wistfully into the ocean

no don't worry guys donald flirting with real human woman is par for the course right now. for context i just came back from gran fiesta tour featuring the three cabs, a ride where like the movie donald goes after real human women

it might be cliche but madame triple x might just slap as a spy name. i thought about a certain friend's certain duck oc for a split second. you know the one

i like how the spy and the counter spy are complimentary colors. donald just sees a man shaking at the thought of a lady and he's like ok. i get it you don't even wanna deal with this right now

i know this joke has been done to death but the fact they all have the same gun got a good chuckle out of me

what if i started using this as a reaction image. maybe not because of the me but oo la la and that pose is speaking to me right now

chiliburgeria. chiliburgers probably are a thing but i've never exactly thought about one actively before

tied with beard guy this is the best background character

THEY JUST KILLED A GUY OKAY we're not even that many pages in and the triplets have already killed a guy that they don't even know--that guy could have been working for the US government and they would have absolutely no idea because you literally cannot tell

donald just got a power rush after killing the guy he's like HELL YEAH . im a REAL SPY NOW no you're not

this guy's fit slaps. i like to think the nevermind in his declaration speech means that he un-countered at some point. a rogue counterspy that decided to counterspy for a different spy organization.

donald's fucking luck i'm giggling so much in public i'm so. this comic is great i think i needed a dumb fun read today

IM SO MAD great excuse to save him. labor unions saved donald duck everybody

the way the stakes are escalating in these old cartoons i just. taking a concept and running with it

IM SO MAD the way donald is like "my bad luck! when are you gonna kick in!" and the universe was just like "lmao time to spend your vacation fighting a bull"

THE VERY SMALL PANEL everyone is utilizing the very small panel but its. the single best part of the comic they're so little. they're so teeny. carl barks knew it. the secret secret service. i'm so. this comic got my grandparent to ask me what i was laughing at so that's a really big compliemnt. im excited to read more of these random little duck stories in the future

[johnbassplayercutie]

okay, so I fr messed up and went to autographs at the 5 pm instead of 10 am & regret it bc a lot of people at 10 am got special messages on their autos while later on we had to rush through due to timing and poor hayden had to basically speed-run autographs within a few hours which I was a bit bummed about. although i'm super grateful that hayden took the extra time to finish signing everything for us at like 9 pm <333 also he's so freakin' sweet like I can't even BEGIN to start saying it. when i met him for the photo op I was watching him with other people ahead of me and was already freaking out but when it was my turn i was sooo happy i just ran right up to him and hugged him and he was already ready for it 😭😭🥹

AND WHEN I TELL U he smelled so good like I can't even remember the specific scent or cologne since the photo ops were rushed but OMG HE SMELLS GOOD LMAO and then while hugging him the first time i said "hiii!!" and asked him how he was and that it was so nice to meet him. we hugged for a few seconds and he pulled away a bit but had his arm around me and he said he was doing good n then i was freaking out inside cuz when he talked his voice was SO DEEP like i wasn't expecting it and his voice would just rumble in his chest like I could feel it when he spoke i can't even explain it 🤣 he was a bit taller than me but i had to look up at him and when I tell you THIS MAN WAS LOOKING DOWN AT ME AND SMILING SO MUCH AND JUST LOOKING INTO MY EYES LIKE 😁🥹🤗 I was melting inside and i asked him if it's okay if we do a hug for the picture and he said "of course" in a tone that was giving 'why wouldn't we hug of course we can!' i was legit screaming inside w joy when he seemed so happy to do a hug for the 2nd time and he kept smiling so much at me like if u guys saw the pics of him at the panel with the bracelets and him just grinning sm that WAS HIM when i talked to him at the photo op.

he also hugs so good you just melt into it and it's so comforting. we went to hug again for the pose then when I pulled away he had his hand on my shoulder then my middle back and i faced him a bit and said it's so nice meeting you thank you so much and he said you too & of course! and smiled a wide smile, right while looking down at me into my eyes LIKE OMG THIS MANS SMILESSSS 🥵😳🥺🥺😵‍💫 and he was holding me so close to him like he didn't wanna let me go while saying of course, it was like he was so grateful i was there with him and then i began walking away and smiled and he just kept grinning like CRAZYYYY 😭😭

ALSOOO this poor man only had a lunch break and another quick break 😭😭 tysm hayden <333 despite the problems today I had SO much fun and I'm so happy I got to meet hayden he's so sweet and he really cares about the fans and even remembers those who see him multiple times <3

also i got my picture signed by him but i'll post abt that separately cuz it was kinda quick and my dad tried to sneak a picture of him signing mine but the staff were getting upset at people with their phones out

[positivelybeastly]

Are we 100% it was actually X-Force’s beast that gave his life for Simon and not Defenders Hank? Maybe the evil one decided to cut his losses and fuck off to bang a d list actor bc making another black hole gun at this point would be the definition of overkill and surely he had no better ideas if that was plan A.

"There's a quote, that I think you will find apropos.

'There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.'"

"I appreciate, greatly, that I have filled you with such fear that my spectre lies, half-asleep, in your mind now. You wonder. You guess. You second guess. You think, is he still there? Is he around the corner? Is he still among us?"

He grins.

"I'm proud to be the monster that warrants your fear."

I feel like there's half a second where they kind of set up a potential switcheroo when evil Beast breaks normal Hank's glasses, but none of the other contextual clues really line up to make it make sense. In order for X-Force Beast to have made it out alive, in the time before Logan arrived, he would have had to:

Work out the plan with good Hank in between panels.

Dust off his acting chops, which are notoriously rusty (seriously, X-Force Beast is a bad actor).

Take off his Krakoan war suit, teach good Hank how to fly it properly, and give it to him.

Get embroiled in the fight with good Hank to make it look good for Logan.

Be okay with the younger, more idealistic version of himself, that he explicitly calls his favourite, that he likens to a treasured photo album he couldn't stand to watch burn, dying to save him.

Pass a telepathic litmus test with Kid Omega breathing down his mind.

Fool Logan's senses, who would probably notice that evil Beast doesn't smell like clone juice or like Simon like he should, considering he's been hanging around him for at least a day by this point.

Commit to being a good guy around Simon until he can get away.

Like, there's just too much here. That's so many steps. And god knows X-Force are incompetent enough that he could maybe pass the telepathic litmus test somehow, but . . . nah.

Also, while good Hank is obviously very willing to try and save his evil self, he's also actively interested in his own self-preservation, given his conversation in X-Force #49 about proving himself as an ally, and I don't see him staking that continued existence on a quantifiable madman. It just doesn't really make sense.

I also don't see the point in it, narratively speaking. If this was X-Force #20 and we weren't dragging over the finish line like racehorses with gunshots in our knees, maybe, because that's a plot thread that can at least go somewhere, but this is the final issue. Percy's done.

MacKay is Hank's next shepherd, so anything set up here would be at his request. Maybe MacKay would want to keep OG Hank so he can do a redemption arc, but . . . that's a reach. That's a Reed Richard style reach.

Also, maybe this is dumb, but I don't think, even as part of a deception to save his older self and Simon, that good Hank would have it in himself to call Simon a fool.

In the end, this kind of thinking, it's just . . . I think we're kinda reaching to find some kind of cleverness in a Ben Percy comic book, and I . . . think that's, ultimately, a bad idea. Because you won't find it. He plainly either doesn't give a fuck or is so self-deluded about what he's putting out that he thinks this is what passes for clever.

Let's not give the man credit. He wrote this, and it's exactly what it looks like - shoddy, ill-conceived, incredibly rushed for a nearly 100 issue plus finale, badly characterised, barely in continuity, and as lazy as the rest of his writing has been.

Plus, do we really want to rob ourselves of domestic gay boy good lad Hank McCoy and his boyfriend Simon Williams . . ?

Like, evil Beast and Simon is probably a funny sitcom pilot, like Heil Honey, I'm Home, but we know what we want, and it's 80s Hank and Simon curled up on the couch, with Simon doing for Hank what Hank did for Simon did all those years ago - getting him caught up on all the culture gaps in his knowledge.

That's right. It's time for Simon to get to catch Hank up on all the Star Trek that came out since his Cerebro back-up was made!

[kimberlyannharts]

LAST TIME ON.....Power Rangers Hyperforce?  A bunch of crazy stuff happened that would take too long to explain because my god I am not rewatching all of those three-hour tabletop episodes just for a single one-shot book.  You just need to know there’s a team of rangers called Hyperforce that was mentored by Jen who went through a lot of shenanigans across their time stream until everything broke and they didn’t get a second season and everything sucks.  Also the pink ranger’s dad is the main bad guy and she works for him now.  Got that?  Okay.  Power Rangers Unlimited: Hyperforce.  

- eh you know what, let me just repost the recap from the previews.  it does a decent job at summing up the first season so we might as well have it again as a reminder for what’s happening

- fuck you dad i’m supposed to be taking down my dad

- yeah sorry Chloe but your plan never would have worked.  Jen is not allowed to die in any story ever written with her inclusion

- Alpha 55!!!!!!!!!  I did miss them.  Even if they started the confusing trend of taking MMPR stuff and repainting them gold and black  

- I still can’t fucking believe Joe/Nadira is canon.  Literally for what reason

- It took me a second to remember that Hyperforce went to the North Pole during the first season and I have to say I laughed imagining newbies picking up this mostly serious and dramatic book just to get to this page

- it’s a shame the answer to this was Eddie dumping this beautiful woman at the alter for Vesper and not Vesper simply adding herself to the marriage

- let her cook honestly 

- great character development, everyone!  now anyway 

- [always sunny theme] the gang gets betrayed.  also Marv and Joe are here

- I already made the Emperor Belos joke but now I’m distracted by the fact he’s stealing Drakkon’s half hair/half bald style.  It doesn’t look good guys, no matter where you part it!!!!!!

- you know, serious question here.  Did they give Marv shit for not getting the Battlizer in Hyperforce???  I thought it was just a Thing That Happened and everyone was like haha cool

- “upgraded Rita Repulsa” 

- see even Big Bad Dad thinks this story is rushed

- well at least he’s honest

- I find it funny that they’re pressuring Marv to be the leader just because he’s red when they were mentored by fucking JEN

- it’s a shame Hyperforce is canonically set in 3000s because you know if it wasn’t this would have set off a string of “[random ranger girl] is Chloe’s mom” theories  

- I mean she’s right.  what hope do we have from a team who couldn’t even get a second season

- idk Shattered Grid got fixed pretty easily.  Even the cracks that were supposed to be some huge existential consequence just kinda............were fine 

- Funny coincidence how the Hyperforce team goes to recruit the Wild Force team only for them to already be beaten.  I feel like this would have worked a little better if they went to the Wild Force team because they were pinging for help, because they genuinely don’t give a reason as to why they go to the Wild Force rangers specifically kjlskdlfksj just based on vibes, I guess

- first of all: going from referring to Spa’ark with he/him to they/them pronouns in the span of a panel makes me feel like the misgendering was an editor mistake, which........come on, guys

- second of all: it’s not a surprise that Taylor is the only one left considering her popularity but lbr her popularity is because she’s basically Wild Force’s version of Jen.  Jen, who was a main character in Shattered Grid.  sooooooo not helping the “this is just Shattered Grid” allegations

- third of all: IS DRAKKON THE ONLY VILLAIN TO LOOK AT WHAT RITA’S DOING AND GO UHHHH NO THANKS?  Spa’ark wanted to FIGHT Dark Specter!!!!!  why are they joining him now!!!!!!  why must we continue to destroy any of their nuance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t mind them having a body though despite it being a plot point that they're only a spirit/consciousness that exists inside their morpher/zord because I feel that’s easy enough to bullshit an explanation like Rita fixed them through magic or whatever

[ddruxyart]

Hi I just wanted to let u know that I haven't stopped thinking about ur femc comic since I saw it. The colors are so good and the quote tears me apart it's sosososo good

Yo... the COMPLIMENT of this, unparalleld. IN TEARS is what I am. I know I'm only replying now, but I've been thinking about your ask the last few days and I'm still riding that high, so thank you fdfdf

more under the cut bc it turns out I always have way more to say than I think haha

That quote has been a sleeper agent inside my brain for sooo long and as I was on my 6th or smth try of beating P3 (I kept playing past the halfway point and then falling off bc of adhd), it came across my dash again and I connected the fucken dots dfdfdf. I think it was also kinda around the time when the remake leaks started to go around and I had several, uncheritable thought & onions on that. Another artwork idea that i had for when I finished the game was a still life called "Treasure" and it would've depicted all of the items you get when you complete a social link. But I'm not strong eough for that haha Obvs a very applicable quote to a lot of media but oughghgh it fits Hamuko SOO well. Narratively ofc but also in the way atlus treats her lmao. < I've never got through PQ2 myself but thinking about her in that game makes me SO sad jfc wdym you got dropped here all on your own, none of your friends remember youand also you're playing the second fiddle to some short emo guy??? < I'm going insane

uh sry about that, coming back to the topic at hand: I think I did the sketch in August of last year? and then started the rendering process in September. I had that comic pretty much finished then. EXCEPT for the third panel, which changed quite drastically. It was a lot closer to the in-game color palette of that scene before and.. it looked okay... < I'm lying, it looked sooo boring, where are my shrimp colors?? No atmosphere at all So i dropped it "for a hot sec" i.e.: whoops it's suddenly february (I wanted to have it queued for p3r's release, uh oh better fucken crunch it.) Rushing in at the last sec to finish it definitely had some pros and cons haha.

I think it turned out pretty well in the end despite it all and knowing me I probs wouldn't have picked it up again if not for that self imposed deadline lmao;;; I'm becoming a bit irked by my typestting on the second panel..

I might go back and fix it if it bother me too much.

[toshilove]

okay i need to rant about this bc this is still eating me alive even though i already yelled about this to my friends who also read the manga. I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS, OKAY?

before, lemme just preface by saying i still love tokyo revengers. it has become one of my favorite anime from starting it last year and even more so after starting the manga. the storytelling, the depth of each character, and what they’ve gone through made me fall in love with the series. HOWEVER…

*TOKYO REVENGERS MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD*

like many readers, i, too, am really disappointed with this ending. it’s not so because everything was reset and everyone is happy now, it’s just the way it was told really made the series fall off. it was wayyy too fucking rushed and each outcome was so surface-leveled. i wouldn’t have mind this ending had they extended the series for several more chapters so we can see how everything unfolded. we literally got 3 time skips in one chapter—one panel showing toman forming and then the next is them disbanding ??? and in between, somehow all the antagonists are now good and joined toman as well ??? WHY AND HOW ARE KISAKI AND TAKEMICHI BESTIES NOW ??? WAS IZANA ABLE TO FIND SHIN AND BE ADOPTED INTO THE SANO FAMILY ???

so much was happening so fast and instead of having previous questions answered, it just spilled out more questions. in fact, are the problems that are outside of maitake and toman just solved now?? like did taiju stop abusing his siblings ?? was there ever a fire in inui’s and akane’s house ?? it really makes no sense how all of these characters’ trauma magically disappeared because everything was reset. i mean, sentimentally, i could see how this gives everyone, especially the antagonists, a second chance, and everyone who has passed are now alive. however, erasing all the shit they’ve been through also kinda erases their character development too. a common theme in this series is how these people cope with whatever trauma they’re going through—good or bad. and in a way, these mindsets or actions can resonate with the readers who may be going through something similar. i mean, that’s how i know i’m a mikey kinnie LMAOOO. but yeah, taking away what made these characters just makes them…bland. their experiences made it seem meaningless if it was going to be reset anyway.

the way the manga was heading i thought it was gonna be a bittersweet ending. and honestly, as painful as that may be, it would’ve been more satisfying. i had a feeling takemichi would die in order to fix everything, but i thought the timeline would reset back to the beginning: him at the train station and have it in a loop yk? OR somehow he does revive everyone, mikey is now stable, everything works out, but takemichi would no longer be by his side and no one would no longer have any memory of him (basically like the spiderman 3 ending lol). something along the lines of those examples would be a more realistic ending, especially since the essence of tokrev is time travel. we all know w time travel, there’s always a cause and effect. there’s always some sort of sacrifice in order to restore something. in fact, we’ve seen it in the manga when toman disbanded for the first time. and mayhaps a bittersweet ending could have themes of fate and destiny. everyone can’t be saved, and that’s just that. “we won but at what cost” vibes fr.

now idk what’s going on behind the scenes; if wakui really meant to end it later but had to rush it because of conflicts with the editing/publishing team, or if he just really wanted this manga to be over already. either way, i still really enjoyed this series overall despite the bad ending. maybe the anime will no longer follow the manga towards the end and change it (we all know how cursed that decision is, but maybe it’ll be for the better 💀)

hopefully i made some sort of sense, i was really word vomiting AHDJSKDKS

[maguro13-2]

Miku.EXE Origin : The Revenge Pt.6 (2/2)

[Merry Memory Go Round - Tomoko Sasaki, Naofumi Hataya]

Miku.EXE : Wow! I never imagined of traveling to the Forest before! This is going to be great in our adventures to see something wonderful!

Zatsune.EXE : Yep! This ain't such a bad place to start off our own journey to becoming "God". Although, I did manage to bring our stuff for us to eat while we adventure through the woods. Since we only needed to carry our powers to deal with, we should give ourselves a try. So, you ready, sister?

Miku.EXE : I'm ready whenever I am needed! Let's run through the forest together like no adventure has ever challenged before!

Zatsune.EXE : [chuckles in excitement] That's the spirit! I'll race ya to it!

*SA1 SFX : Dash Panel*

Miku.EXE : Not if I can beat you to it!

*SA1 SFX : Dash Panel*

[Take Upper Fruit - Mariko Nanba]

Zatsune.EXE : Hahahaha! What's the matter, sis? Can't get this feeling in the wind? I can run fast as you can, you know! This is way much fun here than at home!

Miku.EXE : Right back at ya, sister! Make way for the rush!

[cuts to the two jumping on the branches to get across]

Zatsune.EXE : Not bad, sis! But let's see if you can handle this one!

Miku.EXE : I'm way ahead of you! I can jump on each branch and not to fall off! This is pretty good to start it off! I can feel the wind calling me!

Zatsune.EXE : That's the way I'd like to know, sis! The wind tells me that I gotta run fast! Yahooo! [spins around on the branch to get across to the next one]

Miku.EXE : You call that a spin, sister? This is how you do a spin! [Spins around on the branch, and then released to jump up high] Wahooo!

Zatsune.EXE : Hey! No fair!

Miku.EXE : See! I can do that to you know! Having fun is so much to do around in the forest than to do our studies. And I'm sure that nothing will--

??? : [panicking] Hey! Look out!

Miku.EXE : Huh? AAAH!

[Cartoon SFX : CRASH!]

Miku.EXE : WOAAAAAA...[DBZ SFX : Wall Crash] OOF! Ow! That hurt!

Zatsune.EXE : Sister! Sister! Are you alright? Are you hurt?

Miku.EXE : I'm fine sis! I just fell, that's all. I was just doing a little run through the woods together before I accidentally hit into this weird person...? [they see Majin Sonic lying on the ground, knocked out]

Zatsune.EXE : Oh my! That person that kinda looks like dad when he was small, but who's this weird fella over here?

Majin Sonic : It's me, you nitwit! And be a little more careful next time when you travel across, okay?

Miku.EXE : Okay! I won't happened again. And by the way, who are you?

[Chao Kindergarten - Fumie Kumatani]

Zatsune.EXE : M...Majin Sonic! Oh, Mr.Majin! [bows down to apologize] Please forgive my sister crashing into you! I didn't recognize you in the first place. What are you doing here in a place like this?

Majin Sonic : Oh, I don't know, but what are you doing here in my territory?

Zatsune.EXE : Hmm? Wait just a momment...[realizing] We are in your territory!? But dad said this is only the location for the defense line. Something bothers me that we shouldn't be here and dad will happen to find out that we entered the defense line. So this is your territory, right?

Majin Sonic : Of course, dear. I've know your father a long time ago when my people discovered that he originally came from the stars. I've heard that he used to come by at my territory before he disappeared to Cyberspace until broke free in a future time like this.

Zatsune.EXE : You and dad were friends? Maybe that's a long time ago before we were even born on the same day. Can't say what are the odds having friends to those who are comrades. But this is how we suppose to "Meet and Greet" each other on the contrary.

Majin Sonic : Same here. Now then, tell me. What are your names?

Zatsune.EXE : Oh! We haven't forgot! Allow us introduce you to ourselves! I am Sonic.EXE's first daughter Zatsune, and this one here is my sister, Miku.EXE.

Miku.EXE : [bows down] It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Majin. I am the second daughter of the EXE Family.

Zatsune.EXE : And were destined that we are on a journey to become the most powerful "God" in existence! That's what our dad is and we would become stronger to surpass him! I'll just able to master that way and show him that is the true reason of being "God" there is!

Majin Sonic : "God" you say? My people knows that he has that title for himself and he destined to become one like him before. But in that case, I assume that you will become fine "Gods" that are willing to be powerful and stronger before! But since you two arrived in my territory, how about I'll let you have a place to stay for awhile on your travels?

Miku.EXE : Well...Umm...

Zatsune.EXE : Sure! It's an honor to be staying with for tonight. Mind if we head to your place for tonight? It's gonna be a real night for us to sleep in.

Majin Sonic : I appreciate your kind. You two youngsters shouldn't wander off in these kind of places in what dangers your in.

Zatsune.EXE : Alright, thank you so much, sir! It is our pleasure to be here.

Miku.EXE : I guess staying here for tonight wouldn't be much of a threat. I think it's really nice to have someone to appreciate their kind tho. I can get used to this!

[From the views of a binoculars, Sally.EXE is shown on top of a branch]

Sally.EXE : So, this must be them. The Daughters of "God" Himself. This should be really entertaining for me. I bet I wonder what those two are up to? Maybe I should get a call from this local CD Guy. He knows much to tell me what to do with master. This is going to be a fun little ride.

~ FUN IS INFINITE LIKE OLD TIMES ~

[buckyarchives]

night shift

part two here!

Bruce Wayne X GN! reader

contains: good ol’ fluff, stranger to lovers

summary: after months of Bruce being a regular at the waffle house you work at, you soon realized you had been messing up his order the entire time.

author note; here my first little oneshot posted to tumblr, im still getting used to this website and writing again, so please be nice. request are open and enjoy!

the buzzing sound of the old fluorescent panel lights fills up the void of your shift at waffle house, really not the best job, but money is money and someone has to pay rent. It was a rather quiet and slow morning for it was 4:30 am. a trucker was sitting enjoying coffee and some eggs and a few homeless sleeping in the booths, which isn’t allowed but you were not a horrible person so you would let them be, but besides that. it was almost empty. you turned to clean the counter and random spills of ingredients on the floor, before you’d hear the soft jingle of the doorbells, looking up from the counter to see one of our more famous regulars. Bruce Wayne, billionaire, and prince of Gotham. which you didn’t know for a while since you had moved here for college and stayed for work, not growing up in the city.

he sat down at the bar counter. he was a regular so you already had his order up and handed to the back. he looked tired, he wore his usual puffy black jacket, a baseball cap, and an unusual amount of snugged black eyeliner, you never questioned it. 

“good-morning, bruce,” you said, just to fill the void.

“morning,” he replied in his usual soft voice. bruce wasn’t what people had made him out to be, he was quiet, he usually whispered every time he talked. he was introverted, and well, he’s a billionaire, he could probably afford gourmet food every day of the week. but no, he frequently came here, sometime 2-4 times a week, usually at ungodly times at night or morning. he was also just very nice and gave you and the other server large tips every time.

“How are you today?” you asked the man, hanging his head down low. 

“very busy with work.” he sighed, giving me a small close-lipped smile. avoiding eye contact still.

“I can't imagine.” you throw some dirty towels into the trash.

ding!

reaching over to grab the warm plate of food, handing it over to the man.

“thank you.” the quiet voice said and he began eating. You had to go to the back for a second to clean and organize some stuff but soon after you had come back and bruce called you over.

“uh, hello.” bruce studdered, he was a little nervous 

“yes, anything I can help you with?” you rushed over to his side of the counter.

“I don’t mean to be rude, I think you may have been getting my order wrong,” he said, and your eyes went wide and before you could react you were already apologizing.

“oh my god, I'm so so sorry! would you like me to make you a new one?” 

“no, no.” he shook his head. “this is fine, I like this too.” 

“Are you sure? I can get you a new one, it’s on me.” you kept asking.

‘i can't believe I’ve been getting this man’s order wrong for months, this is so fucking embarrassing.’

“no,” he smiled shyly. “really, it’s okay.” bruce reassured you.

“I’m so sorry, it’s just— “ you took a large breath. “usually when you’re here, it's loud and noisy and you are a very soft-spoken man, and— I'm just so sorry, do you want me to change your order.” 

“it’s okay, you don’t need to.” he laughed, “should I speak louder when I’m here,” he said, a little louder than his last statements. His clearer voice raised goosebumps to your arms and thighs.

“we’ll not now, it’s pretty quiet, but sometimes it gets a little loud and you kinda got to speak up a little.” laughing with embarrassment, you felt like crawling into a hole. “I’m still sorry, this is embarrassing.”

“it’s okay, don’t be embarrassed.” he smiled softly at you, making your heart warm, you didn't often see his face change from his normal monotone face so this was a little refreshing. trying to laugh it off and you went back to cleaning and getting a coffee for myself. You heard bells jingle again, expecting a new costume but you turned around and bruce was gone and his plate was clean, a tip and note were placed next to it.

thank you for the food,

didn’t mean to make you embarrassed lol

I like the order you mistook mine for anyways

have a good night and stay safe

  - bruce :)

his messy handwriting was cute, and a 20 and 10 dollar was placed under it.

“generous.” you smiled and continued the rest of your shift with small butterflies in your chest from the sweet interaction.

that next week bruce came in once again, the diner was a little busier but you still wanted to ask for his order, just in case.

“hey bruce, what can I get you?” you said, he smiled at me and shook his head.

“the usual.” 

and with that, you gave the usual order to the chef and continued to be bombarded with random orders and arguably stupid questions. pouring coffee into 2 cups for a couple, you heard the bell ring and a loud screech.

“OH MY GOD! Is that fucking Bruce Wayne.” a high-pitched girl yelled, you spilled the burning hot coffee on your hand, and the pain ran throughout your hand, rushing over to the sink to run into over cold water.

“are you okay?” you looked up to see Bruce, standing up, leaning over the counter to get a better look at you. concern washed over his face. behind him was a group of girls, maybe 4 or 5, taking pictures of bruce, bruce was too occupied with taking care of you to pay attention to the fangirling behind him.

“yes, I’m fine.” you rubbed your hand, walking toward the counter. “this isn’t the first time.” you chuckle to ease his growing concern. 

“let me see.” he grabbed your wrist, not touching the burn on the surface of your hand. Bruce's face was inches from yours, the two of you being the closest you could be with the counter in between you.

flash!

You had looked to the side of bruce, one of the teenage girls had taken a picture of the two of you. Bruce was again, too busy to notice, still examining your hand to look at the burn, he thought in his head how soft your hands were compared to his.

“Bruce, it’s okay, I’ll bandage it up later.” you pulled your hand away, looking up and making immediate eye contact with him for a moment, flinching away after hearing the ring of the bell, telling you bruce’s food was ready. You pulled away and grabbed his plate and sat it down in front of him. 

“thank you.” 

Walking over to the booth of girls, ready to deal with this. it’s not that you are someone who hates everyone under the age of 18 but they annoy you as a server at a diner that was labeled as “trashy.” they never tip and are always splitting the bill, and they are usually very loud and sometime they’ll throw food and trash around, never picking it up.

“are you close with bruce Wayne?” one of them asked before you could even open your mouth to ask what they want. 

“Um, no.” you said, a little annoyed “What would you like to order?”

“Are you sure? You guys looked pretty close in this picture.” another girl scoffed looking through her phone, which you could assume she was looking at the picture of you two. I'm sure it looked bad.

“What would you like to order,” you asked again firmly, making sure they knew you didn't want to talk about that.

After the long-ass order from the group of girls, you took the note to the chef and brought over their beverages, and headed to your usual station, closer to bruce, unconsciously feeling safer near his presence. 

“What time do you get off work?” bruce snapped you out of your thoughts. 

“Uh,” you looked at the time on your wrist.

11:37

“Like an hour and a half.” that felt like forever with how tired you were, your head was pounding and your legs ached from the long shift.

“Oh, I just had a personal question I wanted to ask you before you went home.” bruce was nervous. a couple of days after his last visit to the diner, Alfred had notified him about a banquet event coming up he was required to go to, Alfred had been pushing on him about getting a date as a plus one was highly recommended. He doesn't know many people that would be enjoyable to go with but weirdly, you popped into his head.

“You can ask me now.” you looked around to check if you were wanted anywhere before.

“Well, I just wanted to know if– uh, would you like to go on a date?” bruce studdered out, he mentally facepalmed at how badly he butchered that. You were taken aback by a lot, why was Bruce Wayne asking you out on a date?

“Sure!” you answered without even thinking, a breath of relief came across bruce. 

“Great.” he smiled widely, making quick eye contact before swiping a napkin and a pen from your apron and bruce began writing something. “Here is my number, text me after your shift.” 

He put the napkin back into your apron. ‘What a sly man,’ you thought for a moment before he said his goodbyes and walked out the door once again. You stood there dumbfounded at what had just happened. If someone told you a year ago that moving here would result in going on a date with cities prince, you would have laughed.

“y/n! Orders up.” the chef yelled at you, snapping you out of your thoughts, dinging the metal bell multiple times. You continued the rest of your shift with bruce on your mind, just waiting to get off to text the man.

[omegafan101]

Oh boy, Sonic the Hedgehog Annual 2022 is out and it’s absolutely amazing so I guess it’s time for me to share my thoughts on it and gush about every story. Here we go! Spoilers below!

Guardians

Starting off with a Blaze story! I absolutely love how the Annuals give some time for some supporting characters to shine without hurting the story too much. And speaking of supporting characters who need a chance to shine MARINE IS BAAAACK!

Okay, full disclosure, I have never actually played Sonic Rush Adventure, hell I haven’t so much as watched the cutscenes. So the extent of my knowledge about Marine is from her appearances in the Archie comics, and SonicSong182′s use of her. So, I don’t know why people don’t like Marine, but I love her and am so glad Blaze’s very own Tails has finally made another appearance!

But of course the real meat of the story comes from a character interaction I had somehow never thought of!

It only makes sense that Blaze would go to Knuckles about her worries with being a guardian, the two don’t know each other well but they share the same role. It’s a very nice little talk that shows Blaze’s character growth with actually taking Knuckles’ advice because she WANTS to be around everyone again. Also love how Knuckles acknowledges that leaving Angel Island to help save the world is always a gamble because I think everyone was getting fed up of him leaving it behind so often lol

I also just love the implication that Blaze invited Marine to join her on her little vacation. Understandable that she’d wanna stay behind but I hope we get to see more of her again. SPECIFICALLY because I want her to meet Silver and finally form that fantasy team.

And hey I guess this means Blaze is gonna be sticking around the main crew awhile! GOOD! I love Blaze, she’s a wonderful character and I’m so glad Ian found a natural way to put her back into the story again without having to jump to constant dimensional stakes.

Uh... This would be the point where I jump to the next story but I just gotta take a moment to absolutely GUSH about Adam Bryce Thomas and Joana Lafuente’s artwork!

LIKE LOOK AT ALL THIS! IT’S SO FUCKING PRETTY!!!

Also some appreciation for how fucking cute Blaze is when she smiles we love a girl who’s learned it’s okay to be happy

Weapons

ALRIGHT I’VE STALLED LONG ENOUGH YOU SEE MY NAME, YOU SEE MY PFP, YOU SEE THE COVER I CHOSE TO USE, IT’S TIME TO TALK ABOUT THE OMEGA STORY BABY!!! (oh yeah and Gemerl’s there too)

I kid I kid, I love Gemerl and couldn’t be happier that he’s been added to the main lineup of Sonic’s friends, really thought everyone forgot about him after Advence 3.

So hey, we finally get that sparring match Omega and Gemerl teased and OH

LOOK AT THEM GO!

We love a good fight that doubles as a moment for characters to get a better understanding of one another. That’s some good ass shonen shit right there.

I love how Omega really does see the potential in Gemerl, one who has gone toe to toe with Sonic and was pretty damn even with him, and offers him to join his side in actively destroying the Eggman Empire. But on the other end of the spectrum, yes Gemerl WAS built as a battle robot, but more importantly he was built as a successor to Emerl and was made to evolve. And he has greatly, gaining a genuine care for his new found family and perhaps even some form of emotion.

Now, I wanna talk about this panel right after.

So, Omega and Gemerl don’t have... Eyes or a mouth, so they can’t really convey any emotion with their face. But I’ve been known to read far too deep into Omega as a character, and something about the way he looks here is getting me to think he is genuinly taken aback about Gemerl’s statement.

First of all there is his face, which again, can convey no emotion, but he does have the head piece which can be angled to look like eyebrows. Often he’s seen at such an angle that he looks angry or threatening, but here it makes him look kinda wide eyed.

The second most damning piece of evidence is the fact that he is not on guard. At all. Omega is a robot built for destruction, who loves to fight, and is currently in a sparring match. But he is standing with his arms at his side staring at his oppent. He gets on guard in the very next panel but that’s awfully slow to him.

My two cents? Well, I think Omega takes a bit of what Gemerl says to heart, because, aside from breaking off Eggman’s ranks, Omega HASN’T evolved. He is still destructive, he will still destroy anyone who gets in his way, and he still may have some aggression towards Sonic. By all accounts, he is still Eggman’s creation. Now if Team Dark were friends like they’re supposed to be I could bring that up but Sega sucks now so--

Do I think this’ll lead anywhere? Probably not, and I’m likely reading too much into this, but I can always pretend that Omega is more of a character than he actually is, can’t I?

Anyway, I love how these two just beat the ever litting bolts out of each other and then carried each other back to Tails and Belle.

And at long last, we got some brobots in the house.

(Hey guys, your little sister, Belle, is also over there... Wanna include her...?) I’m constantly in need of Omega being Belle’s big brother I don’t care how OOC it would be.

Hero Camp

In all honesty I don’t have too much to say about this one, it’s cute, it’s fun, I find it funny that Cream feels the need to go to a camp to learn to be a hero after all the shit she’s been through.

Also this panel

I don’t know why but I love it. For some reason I cannot hear Cream’s usual voice reading this, I think it’s just cause it’s not quite as nice as she usually is which you know what good for her.

Also LOVE the fact that the Restoration HQ has all this shit lmao

Anyway, Cream’s fun, Orbot and Cubot are funny, this was a nice little story. That’s all.

Future Growth

Oh you thought we were only getting an excuse for Blaze to stick around? THINK AGAIN!

Looks like Silver’s here to stay! Which I’m very glad about, time starts getting fuckity if he always comes back when his time is in crisis. It just makes no sense.

But at long last, we get some Rivals 2 acknowledgement

Good choice of character to talk to Silver, writers. I’m proud of you.

Anyway I love the line of “Everything’s okay, but I’m not.” Silver’s always been an anxious mess, and it makes sense that he would feel like he’s doing something wrong if he doesn’t have something to save. Not to mention, with so much time spent with everyone in the past, he’s made some lasting friendships that he can’t have in his own time. I guess this means Silver will be sticking around, because he wants to. Which is nice.

Also this

Anyone with this little ship must be very happy.

Another Grand Adventure For Jet the Hawk

First off, Jet’s room.

Oh good lord there’s so much to point out here. I think my favorite part is the picture of him and Sonic with Sonic’s half very poorly torn off. Also happy birthday Jet!

But enough about Jet cause we’ve got WHISPER CONTENT!

I’ve missed her. Please come back to us soon Whisper (i know she’ll be in an upcoming issue with Surge it’s just nice to see her here).

And now we’ve got Whisper, on Extreme Gear, shooting a badnik from it, and with her oh so rare moment of yelling because Jet is just THAT annoying.

This story is very fucking good I highly enjoyed it.

Also love how she never got Jet out of the badnik’s hand that’s pretty fucking funny, like is he gonna be okay?

A Rough Patch

Been too long since we’ve seen this idiotic duo, and I love how they have a big break up over rhyming. Rough and Tumble are so fucking good.

This grouping is so odd I love it. Someone really realized Rouge and Tangle sounded similar to Rough and Tumblr and decided to roll with that and I respect them for that.

These two are so fucking dumb I love them

They are lucky they’re so strong because I don’t think they’d get anywhere in life without that fact.

Anyone stealing Rough and Tumble’s rhyming gimmick is like when Ash and his friends would steal the Team Rocket motto it’s so much fun.

However I am legitimately upset that Tumble didn’t cap off the joke by mentioning that “mangled” and “Tangle” is a slant rhyme like come on it was right there!

And hey! Rouge has a Chaos Emerald now!

I wonder if I should be keeping track of that. I’m pretty sure this is the first one we’ve seen since they were used at the end of the Metal Virus, but I could be wrong.

Conclusion

I want more. Honestly 2023 Annual cannot come sooner. I love these things so much, the differing art styles, the weird character matchups, the chance for less important characters to get a story to shine. It’s all so much fun!

Overall I don’t think it’s quite as good at the 2020 Annual, but that was telling tales in between all the Metal Virus chaos so it’s kinda hard to beat.

Also I just realized Shadow was absolutely no where to be seen in this, I don’t think he’s made an appearance since issue 36 in fact. We’re coming up on a year and a half since Shadow has been in the comics, it looks like Ian is really keeping his word with not writing Shadow stories if Sega is gonna be so awful about his characterization, and frankly good for him! I would rather not have Shadow in the comic then have the awful version of him Sega has forced upon the writers.

But this one had all the fun, goofy, character driven antics I so crave and even gave us Silver and Blaze has longer staying characters and the status of one of the Chaos Emeralds (if we’re keeping track).

And most importantly, OMEGA GOT A STORY 10/10

No seriously, I loved this, it’s not perfect, I probably won’t remember the Cream story by the end of the moneht, but it was fucking great to read overall.

9/10

[ayameyumesaki]

Tokyo Babylon - CLAMP Premium Collection - Commentary Part 11

Previous Part First Part Next Part

Finally! We come to my favorite chapter ever in Tokyo Babylon, Save Chapter 😭 Another chapter that speaks about Subaru's personality, and a touching chapter with matters I think most of us could relate. I hope this chapter will help whoever shared, or know, the same problem will be able to relate and take Subaru's action into heart....but it will be talked in the next part lol

Talking about the chapter cover first, when I saw his clothing here, I was like "wasn't this Eagle (MKR)'s outfit?????". I think it's not exactly Eagle, but one of his staffs, but ANYWAY, in this chapter, we are going deeper towards the main plot and one of major chapters in this series.

So, we started our story from a certain school, where this school will go to Shizuoka for their school outing and stay for one night. They will create groups for room assignment etc., and the girls were excited for it---except one girl.

The teacher said it's been decided, and the teacher called Hashimoto. She hasn't been assigned to any group, so the teacher asked the other team to accept her, and they went "noo" "I don't want tooo". She stayed quiet and the teacher called her.

The teacher then told her, it's okay to be calm, but she should be assertive as well. If she didn't make an effort, then she won't be able to make friends. She probably couldn't do it during the breaks or lunch break, but anyway, if she didn't put an effort, she won't be able to enter her friends' circle. She is already a second year as well.

Then he told her, if you don't make friends during your school times, then when you entered the society, it will be boring. Well, this is an all-girls school and all of them are just children, so they aren't bad. If Hashimoto makes an effort, then you can make a friend as well. I think Hashimoto also has a responsibility for why you are always alone.

Okay, so up to this point, we are introduced with a high-school girl named Hashimoto and she was outcasted by the students in her class. The teachers told her to give her best on making friends, but she hasn't shown speaking to anyone so far. But it's pretty clear, to me, that her friends were the one who doesn't want to accept her, and she doesn't want to do anything with them as well.

Why?

This panel should be enough to tell the reason.

Save me, she said.

You see. So, after she was done with the teachers, her classmates stopped her when she wanted to come home and they kinda kicked her for nothing, even when she didn't say anything. They threatened Hashimoto if she spoke about them what they do to her to the teacher they won't forgive her, and when Hashimoto showed a slight hatred to them, they began to kick her down and used her body like a mat. They left her alone under the rain, and that's the panel above.

Hashimoto is a bullying victim. That's the main theme for this chapter. Actually, this will be talked further in the next chapter, but let's keep the theme of this chapter first for now.

In the next page, we got this panel and the whole conversation is just so cute 🥺

Subaru, seemingly to be in rush, came out from his room so cutely it hurts my heart and Hokuto-nee-chan is already prepared everything for him. She however told him that "it's strange that Subaru is sleeping until after noon" and Subaru, in panic as he prepared his bag while buttoning his shirt, replied with "yesterday I have work until late night, so I just slept this morning".

Then Hokuto asked him when he slept and he said "around 10 AM" and Hokuto goes "THEN YOU ONLY SLEPT FOR TWO HOURS!?" 😭😭 did he really sleep for two hours and still functioning properly, like boy, if I got only two hours of sleep I will pass out the moment I wake up huhu I wonder how he can stay alive if he slept for two hours a day?

But no! He didn't sleep just two hours!

He told Hokuto that he slept longer than two hours and said he slept for two hours and ten minutes. The vertical panel's Hokuto is me. 10 minutes oversleep isn't adding anything for me as well 😥

Then Hokuto told Subaru that lately, Subaru is so focused on his jobs and Subaru said "yes, because..." and Hokuto continued with "this is his job, after all".

Hokuto then asked, "Because you are someone who wore seriousness like clothes and walked around with it, even when it's a holiday because of our school's founding anniversary, you still go to school for supplementary lesson, right?" while tying Subaru's tie (in her way) and Subaru replied with "Yes. If I didn't do it, then I don't have enough attendance numbers."

Hokuto also said that "Japan's compulsory education only applied until middle school, and Subaru is already a first-year of high school, so you want to go to university?" and Subaru said "yes".

Hokuto said "so you don't want to give up your old dream, huh?" and Subaru cutely replied with "ye--yes" while blushing 😭 CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE Hokuto-nee-chan even sighed and said, "Sumeragi Clan who has been protecting Japan from spiritual side since far past. You, the thirteenth head of Sumeragi Family who has been standing as the top of onmyoji whose number has been reduced like protected species, his childhood dream is to be a zookeeper... I can't even make a gag for that" with Subaru still blushing at how embarassing that dream 😭😭😭 this whole scene

But Hokuto also asked what will he do with his current job. Subaru said he will keep doing it, but if he can find someone who is far stronger in ability than him, then he will ask him to takeover. He doesn't want to give up his dream no matter how long it will take.

Boy... You really shattered my heart into pieces by allowing me rereading this painful scene, especially when I remember what happen to you later. What is heart anyway? Has been losing it since I started CLAMPism in my life.

Anyway.

Hokuto confirmed again that if Subaru wants to go to veterinarian major and HE CUTELY SMILED. I give up 😭✋ he goes extra cute whenever he talks about his dream.

Then Hokuto said, "Subaru, since before, is a honest and good child, but you are also a blockhead" and she smiled happily for him too. Supportive sis Hokuto 😭 If only you didn't (beeped). She also said she will support him so he should do his best.

She even created a newest version of a shoujo manga, from Onmyoji x Serial Killer to Zookeeper x Veterinarian romance story. I would choose the second one. But Subaru commented that their obaa-chama (I still can't at Subaru called Obaa-chama with Obaa-chan... Like it's so out of character... Like it's so not Subaru who is ALL POLITE TO ANYONE except Hokuto so him actually calling Obaa-chama with Obaa-chan feels so wrong... anyway,) said that not all people with Sakurazuka surname is related to Sakurazukamori.

Yeah. Not if they aren't onmyojis. But that Sakurazuka you know understood high-level techniques you used, boy. Red flag as usual 🚩🚩

AND GOOD THING IS.

Subaru said that "such a kind Seishiro-san wouldn't be a serial killer" and Hokuto said, "yes, he looks kind, but... It's still questionable if he is truly kind."

Hokuto said she can only do basic techniques, right? Of course, she is so down-to-Earth that she won't reveal her actual abilities.

Just as Subaru is about to question what Hokuto means, the phone rang and Hokuto helped Subaru prepare his clothes. Subaru told Hokuto to call the school that he couldn't come to supplementary class because of job. And I don't know, Subaru smiled, but it seemed like he was sad of the fact that he couldn't go to school as well...

Hokuto-nee-chan to the save! She immediately hugged her brother and told him, that she will be with him, so whatever happen, don't ever give up his dream.

That's a nice advice over there and indeed, Subaru took that advice to his heart------but for a certain different dream. What dream is it? Read X.

No No NO but seriously I was like... Subaru is a geniune 16 years old who had a normal dream of being a zookeeper because he likes animals 🥺 and everything that happened in his life; being born with an ability to interact with spirit, onmyoji, and even the head of Sumeragi family; it suddenly feels so cruel... He has a heavy burden in his shoulders, and the only person he actually allowed to see his young, teenager side is only his sister, Hokuto... (and to some extend, Sei-chan)...

It's sad...

Okay, move aside your sadness because that's not the end of the wheel of foreshadowing in this chapter.

Subaru went to the meeting place, which name I can't read because the Kanjis are too small but I will make an effort to read it one day, and he looked here and there until he heard a bell. He looked at where the bell is and touched someone's shoulder accidentally. He apologized for it and someone familiar talked to him in Kyoto dialect...

OBAA-CHAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 😍😍😍😍

Not on story side, but Obaa-chama's clothings? That full-bucked kimono that probably weigh more than 10 kilograms? So gorgeous and beautiful 😭

Cough.

Subaru asked why she didn't tell him that she is coming to Tokyo and he will come for her, but she told him that, when she visited the Imperial Household Agency in Tokyo, the head of Intelligence and Research Cabinet told her that he has a request to Subaru, so she passed it along to him. She also said she has something she needs to tell Subaru.

They first talked about the job. Obaa-chama asked if Subaru is aware of the rise of cult religion groups and Subaru said yes. The Ministry of Education had a request for Intelligence and Research Cabinet to look at one of those groups. Subaru wondered why the Ministry of Education requested a research towards it. Obaa-chama said while it's not strange for Intelligence Cabinet to conduct an investigation towards cult religions, particularly, this one religion group's members are middle and high schoolers. Since the members are students, Intelligence Cabinet had limitation on how much they can investigate the internal. They want to ask Subaru, who is a high-schooler, to help them with the investigation.

Before continuing, I want to note something first. When you search about Japan, you will probably come across an article that say Japan's religion is Shinto or Buddhist, but in fact, Japan is not a religion country. Of course, there are Buddhist practices in the temples or Masses conducted in churches, but there has been no official religion in Japan, and so, most Japanese doesn't have religion, or musukkyo. People don't recognize themselves with a religion there, and I bet when Subaru was asked what religion he adopted, he would be confused, except those who actually realized that religion is be a part of their life and baptised out of their own will.

Then, cult religions appearing in Japan is not uncommon. Rather than religion, I would like you all to think it as a cult. They gathered and did practices just like a religion, but it's their teachings which is questionable. Because of this, Japan's government would keep an eye at newly appeared cults and if they started to create a problem, the government wouldn't just stay still and watch. So, please keep in mind about this!

Back to the topic,

Obaa-chama asked if there is nothing change, and he said he and Hokuto are living just fine.

Obaa-chama revealed that during their monthly fortune reading, she read Subaru's fortune. Then Subaru asked what's the result, and Obaa-chama said...

Subaru-san will be abducted by 'sakura'.

I want to put a meme for this fortune reading but the panel? The high-detailed page picturing Subaru being in the middle of cherry blossoms, seeming to be getting lost in it? Pretty beautiful. Need appreciation.

The line?

Those who didn't know TB ending: HMMMM first it's Hokuto, now it's Obaa-chama???? Is Subaru going to be taken away by Seishiro?

Those who know TB ending: Grandma I love you but it fucking hurts 😭

(Honestly at this point if you don't think Seishiro is sus, please reread volume 1 to 3 and tell me why you don't think he is a walking danger?)

Oh, fun fact. That hard-looking Kanji used in that line, 攫う (sarau), has several meanings, which is: to carry off, to run away with, to kidnap, to abduct, to monopolize, to make one's own. Since it is written in passive verb, if we took Seishiro as the subject of the sentence, then we can get the meaning "Seishiro is going to monopolize/to make Subaru as his own."

Pretty interesting.

Subaru was confused. Sakura? Obaa-chama asked Subaru again to never take off his gloves and she said, "that time, if I don't let you waiting for me alone, if I didn't let you alone..."

Subaru-san can't be abducted by sakura. Please, don't ever let sakura take away your heart.

Obaa-chama, he is this close 👌 of having his heart being taken away by a certain sakura, so don't worry. He will not be okay. *cries in the corner*

Scene shifted, and we returned to Hashimoto. Now, they were having PE class and the teacher told Hashimoto to join the game or she won't get a score for this class. The girls purposely attacked her with ball and one even broke his nose.

The teacher helped her to wake up, but he said "if there is an injured student during PE, they will finish him during the meeting". Hashimoto, who heard it, was shocked in silence. WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU SENSEI!? Damn I have so much question to the people in this school.

Hashimoto cried in the park alone as she asked someone to save her, and a certain fishy woman appeared in front of her. The woman offered her handkerchief, but instead, she wiped her tears. She told Hashimoto that she can tell her anything, but Hashimoto didn't say anything, so she guessed that she is bullied. She said she understands the heart of people who is suffering. It's the power that God gave to her. Hmmm... Okay...? Fishy enough.

Hashimoto then when to the cult religion which Obaa-chama actually mentioned, MS Research Institution, and this fishy woman told her that they want to save her. Hashimoto asked how she is going to save her. This woman then told her to tell her worries.

She then told Hashimoto that she is her ally and she wants to save her. And right outside the window, there is nandarou???

Oh, yes. Vibing in front of a high building? Of course he will look cool like this. And how he comes down again? Using his 😎 vibe probably---I mean he upgraded his skill by standing above a cross in the future, but at this point, he probably also had a fetish for high buildings as well.

We will talk about 😎 later but the next day!

Hashimoto was still bullied at school and she came to the institution again, saying that she is praying like what Kumiko-sensei told her, but nothing changed. The teacher told her that her praying wasn't enough yet, and she should rush for the result, that the day when her prayers will be fulfiled will come. The teacher then introduced Hashimoto to our Subaru, who said that he entered the institution by himself because he wants to learn about it.

Then, Hashimoto looked at Subaru like that and Subaru was panicking 😭😭😭😭 He is not used being stared by a girl other than Hokuto. (or his gaying is showing lol)

Anyway, Subaru started observing things in the classroom and HIS WRISTWATCH HAS A LID??????? Damn boy, talk about rich, or is it the fashion style at that time 😭? Either way, he noticed that it's Friday, but it's still school time (Subaru never attends classes anyway so he is an exception), and whoever he saw is middle school or high school students. He then recalled the information about the research institute.

The institute was built in 1989 with 10,000 members currently. The average age of its members is 16,7 years old. The main institution is in Shinjuku. The institute's purpose wasn't to spread religion teachings, but to purify one's own soul, so there are a lot of differences with other cult religions. There are 20 mentors which is called "teachers", and they guide the students in form of "classroom" just like a cram school. There is no leader, but their greatest teacher is Nagi Kumiko.

As Subaru thought about it, that Kumiko-sensei entered the room and everyone stood up.

And look at how flustered Subaru was!!! Cute cute cute cute cute. He also commented that it really felt like a classroom. Kumiko-sensei introduced herself, and Subaru thought that since his job is to do an investigation, how should he do it?

Meanwhile.

Hokuto came to Seishiro's place and said she comes to make Seishiro a dinner. Seishiro asked what about Subaru and Hokuto said he has a job and she doesn't know when he will come home. Seishiro asked if it's okay for Subaru, because if Hokuto doesn't watch him, he won't eat---someone who will lose himself in his reading. Hokuto said that she already prepared a white stew for Subaru, and she thought that eating alone is boring, so she will prepare Seishiro's meal.

Seishiro asked Hokuto what work he is doing now and when Hokuto told him, his face.

HIS SHOCKED FACE AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA this is honestly the highlight of this chapter, and it's his actual mask that's been falling off.

Seishiro: DID HE REALLY GO TO THAT PLACE ALONE BY HIMSELF, AND TRYING TO MAKE A FRIEND!?

Why did he show that face though? Hmmm... Interesting 🤔🤔

So, that's it for this chapter!

There aren't many things regarding the main problem of this chapter itself, but we got a major touch regarding the main plot of TB. Hokuto actually hinted at Subaru that is it true that Seishiro is kind? and Obaa-chama told Subaru that he is going to be taken away by cherry blossoms, right after what Subaru went through in previous chapter, is pretty interesting.

Let's thing about it. While Subaru established Seishiro as kind in previous chapters as well, right in one chapter before this, we saw him actually doubted who Seishiro is actually. But when Hokuto told him that he is probably different from what Subaru thought, his instinct goes to try to question what Hokuto means. He also elaborately erased the possibility of Seishiro being sakurazukamori when in previous chapter, the reason he doubted Seishiro's kindness is also because he is possibly involved with sakurazukamori due to his knowledge in onmyojutsu and previous events in which he was involved. He was unconsciously realized that Seishiro is somehow alarming, but he decided to subside it, and I think he would never question Seishiro's credibility as sakurazukamori, even with strange stuffs that happened around him, from this chapter onwards.

Also, it's interesting that Obaa-chama already predicted what will happen in near future, that Subaru will be taken away by cherry blossoms, and like I said, he is this 👌 of being taken away by that sakura. But why did she do a fortune reading on Subaru?

Because Subaru ever asked her about Sakurazuka, in the past.

Only several months has passed since volume 2 which happened in November, and since Subaru and Hokuto wore thicker clothes in chapter 4, I guessed that volume 3 happened around December, and chapter is around January or February, thus not many times passed since their last meeting. Obaa-chama also wore thicker kimono here, so I guess this should be around the end of February or beginning of March. Only three or four months passed, so it made sense for her to wonder why her grandson would ask about a Sakurazuka.

Well, there are many confusing things about the timeline, which I will explain later after we get into volume 5.

So, what's your opinion about this new foundings??? Like I said, this is one of my favorite chapters in TB and so much things to talk here! Let's continue in the next part, where things turn pretty interesting 👀

[jdwright8330]

Hey all here is a recap for those who couldn’t attend Paleyfest

NCIS Hawaii was the first show up, despite the description there was no sneak peeks, viewing of an episode or a Q and A with the cast. They did ask the cast a few questions and they asked 2 Kacy questions. The first being if they would reconcile where I couldn’t catch Yasmines answer first because I couldn’t really hear her answer at first and because I was trying to post on twitter while paying attention at the same time so I apologize for that. Also everyone was looking at Tori to answer the question and she was like don’t look at me which was kinda funny. The second kacy question was how they felt about representing the LGBTQ community and again didn’t really catch the answer because I was trying to post but they both did say they are glad to represent and Tori did say love is love. In all honesty the panel felt a little rushed and I felt most fans were there for NCIS LA. I personally did not stay for the other panels I was strictly there for Hawaii only. I don’t regret going at all because it was so great to see them in person. I did not record anything because there is a strict no recoding policy and I was in the front row I was not trying to get kicked out.

On to the best part though meeting Tori and Yas. Fellow kacy fan and I happened to catch Tori as she was coming back from the bathroom to go back to bowling. First off she is the fucking sweetest both her and Yas are. We told Tori we were at the panel and she was so happy and excited to see us and meet us as we were to meet her, we talked kacy (she loves the fandom and working with Yas) we talking about her work outside of NCIS Hawaii because what do you do when they are on hiatus, I told her I watched everything she was practically in when they go on hiatus. She had to get back to bowling but she thanked us for coming and took pictures with us and gave us hugs. I told her I was Yas height so that’s why she squatted a bit to get on my level when taking pictures she said she was used to it since she does it with Yas too.

As they were leaving bowling we got to meet Yas too since Tori told her about who we were. Again they talked to us about kacy, where we were from stopped again to take pictures and even signed our shirts. I talked to them both about being Yas height and joked that I was fun sized and they both laughed and said yes. As they were leaving they blew us kisses, thanked us for coming out and Yas told me to drive safe as I made my way back home since I had a 2 hour drive back home. I can still hear her voice in my ears telling me that. I’m still on a kacy high right now. In all Yas and Tori are such sweet, amazing, lovely people if you ever get the chance to meet them take it I promise you, you will not regret it.

Although the panel was okay I still had a great time especially at the end when meeting Yas and Tori.

[soleminisanction]

okay THANK YOU for your jordanna post in general but ESPECIALLY pointing out that stephanie literally just repeats her argument! this has haunted me for LITERAL YEARS, I swear I must've read that panel a hundred times trying to figure out how what stephanie said was different from what jordanna said! I thought I was just really dumb so I appreciate you confirming it's just bad instead lol. also extra kudos because YES jordanna has VERY GOOD reason to dislike batgirl! totally justified rally tbh

Thank you for saying so! That whole thematic through-line in the first few issues of the series is one of the most hair-tearingly frustrating things. I genuinely couldn't tell you if it got butchered in the edit stage or what, it's just... bizarrely incompetent.

Okay, pardon the second rant but I've spent ages trying to unravel what they were going for. The lecture that lead into that scene (which they split over two issues for some reason) runs like this:

"How much of our fate can we truly control? What is free will? Free action? How can one truly be "free" when outside forces place constraints on the choices we have at our disposal? Do we have any choice at all?"

This is punctuated in the first issue with scenes of Steph's mother telling her, "You can be anyone you want to be" and a flashback of Steph with Cass where they have this exchange:

All the while Steph's internal monologue is going on and on about how she promised her mother she would be normal (a promise that she says she's keeping even though she never stops being a superhero even for a second) and how she supposedly "promised" Tim she'd stop being Spoiler (which is also a lie -- she didn't promise him shit, he just told her that he never wanted to see her as Spoiler again.)

But even as she keeps supposedly trying to tell herself that she needs to stop, she's "drawn" to keep putting on the hand-me-down Batgirl costume and rushing out into the night to fight crime.

So you'd think that this is trying to set up a justification that Stephanie "has" to be Batgirl, because her past and the forces around her have set her on a path where she can't do anything else. Or even that she feels she "has" to do this to make up for her past mistakes, which they kinda try to set-up in the second issue when Barbara shows up to yell at her.

(This is also a failure, because Stephanie never once thinks about what she actually did wrong or seems to feel anything about it except resentment that Barbara brought it up. She never once thinks, "I have to do this to make up for..." or anything like that, it's always, "I just can't help myself. Off I go! Tee hee!")

But then you've got this whole thing with Jordanna, where the story acts like Stephanie is making a passionate argument in defense of free will, even though both of them are just saying, "Well duh, it's because the crooks don't have any other choice."

This all goes into the third issue, where they piece together that Scarecrow's been keeping his goons in line by getting them hooked on his anger-drug, and Steph says this:

And during the fight, Scarecrow taunts her with, "No one has a choice little girl!" while her own delusions taunt her for not being good enough (not because anyone else is going to suffer, but because she's going to die again, of course.)

Which somehow culminates in this:

Which seems to be an argument in favor of free will. Closely followed by this nonsensical speech:

...no? No, he didn't, Stephanie. Literally no one has asked you that this entire book. I literally just read it again. You're just making shit up.

What the hell are you talking about? Where did this come from? Are you trying to say that the criminals... run into the Devil's Square because there they can... be somebody else?

Now you're talking about staying instead of going. Because you... "Don't know how to do anything else." So... you are arguing that you don't have free will??

You literally just said that you don't have control over yourself because you don't know how to do anything else. And who are you quoting?? This was ten years before Hamilton.

And after all that, the point of all this for the last three issues to be this:

Which raises the question... if this is supposed to be a story about second chances, about someone who has fucked up in the past getting a chance to make up for her mistakes...

Why the fuck have you been going on and on about free will for three fucking issues??

If they wanted to set up a redemption story, they should have been focusing on the things that Stephanie feels she needs a second chance for. Betraying her boyfriend. Starting a gang war. Lying to her mother. Getting other people hurt because she was too busy playing superhero. Hell, even just -- not reaching out to Cass when she was clearly in distress, being unable to stop her and Tim from leaving town. Those last two would be cop-outs ("ooo Stephie-poo you know it's not really your fault, you're so noble to go through all this for your friends tho") but it would at least be something.

But no. They weren't willing to admit that their sweet lily-white heroine had done bad things in the past and that she maybe kinda-sorta deserved the Bat-fam's suspicion and had to work to prove herself worthy. The closest they get is that they put the criticisms in Barbara's mouth, and then have her dismiss them all with, "Actually... I'm just trying to discourage her because I'm jealous."

It's just... so bad.

Anyway. Thank you for the ask, anon. Sorry to go on another rant I just... this series is my personal gazing into the abyss moment. I always wind up overthinking it as a prime example of what not to do as a writer.