#me 2 seconds later: oh wow… *screenshots*

[yuhhryko]

can’t remember if i got shocked or stunned but the way the sun hit his face here was just perfect i had to take a screenshot i mean look at this pure beauty

[lightsoutletsgo]

love letters; with love from... — cl.16 (part 2/2)

pairing: charles leclerc x singer!reader

word count: >1000

warnings: some brief mentions of angst but nothing to heavy, they're so in love your honor, bad screenshots??

tysm for all the love for part 1! i never expected it to do as well as it did. hopefully you all love part 2 just as much! happy reading! love mimi 🤍

love letters; dear (part 1)

taglist: @arieslost @d3kstar @minkyungseokie @evie-119 @sltwins @maplesyrupsainz @charlesgirl16 @jaydaaasworld @rhythmstars @ravisinghs-wife @itsjustkhaos

You exhaled shakily as your eyes scanned the caption you'd drafted in your notes app. You didn't even tear your eyes away from the screen as Charles slumped down onto the couch next to you. "Everything okay mon amour?" You swallowed and nodded, offering your phone to him so he could read the caption. He was silent for a minute before he turned to look at you, tears in his eyes, "I am so so proud of you." You smiled, feeling yourself getting emotional, sniffling a little as he pulled you into him. You led there with him just enjoying the quiet comfort he provided before he spoke once more, "When are you going to post it?" You giggled and sat up, Charles following suit, "Are you gonna just drop it on instagram with no warning again?" You winked at him before unlocking your phone and typing out the post. Once you'd proofread it you hit 'post', immediately locking your phone and turning your notifications off as they already started pouring in. Charles gaped at you for a moment before scrabbling to find his phone, not struggling to locate it as it buzzed and vibrated constantly with new notifications, "You could have given me time to prepare!"

♪₊ ⊹♬˚₊‧♪��� ⊹♬˚₊‧♪₊ ⊹♬˚₊‧♪₊ ⊹♬˚₊‧♪₊ ⊹♬˚₊‧

y/nsworld

Liked by charles_leclerc, landonorris and 25,942,833 y/nsworld here we are, a year later and another surprise for you beautiful people! 'all the things I love to tell you' is out now on streaming platforms everywhere! oh wow, how exciting it is to finally be able to tell you guys about this 🥹 this album is the second half to my healing journey and it's full of love and light and hope for the future. a huge thank you to my company and management for giving me the freedom to release my music in the way I felt I needed to. thank you to my friends for listening to these songs in the car at 3am and crying with me when we realise just how far we've come, for putting up with me stealing their napkins at dinner to write lyrics and for once again holding my hand until I felt ready to take a step on my own. as always, thank you to my incredible fans who inspire me to keep writing and whom without NONE of this would be possible. and finally to my love, charles, thank you for being my muse, my biggest encourager, my musical partner and my rock through the past year. this album is about you, for you and was made with you. thank you for letting me call you the love of my life every day. you're all I need until forever falls apart can't wait to see you all on tour soon! love y/n 🤍

View all 45,730 comments y.nmusic I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN WAIT WHAT? ⤷ ynloverrr ISTG SHE CAN'T KEEP DROPPING ALBUMS ON US LIKE THIS

y/nupdates I'm gonna need someone to dissect everything about this post in a twitter thread 😭

taylorswift I'm so proud of you for this album 💜 can't wait to come and watch you on tour! Comment liked by y/nsworld

sabrinacarpenter I will let you steal my napkins anytime if it means I get songs like pancakes for dinner 😭🫶🏼 Comment liked by y/nsworld

francisca.cgomes I need to breakup with pierre just to experience falling in love with him again with this album Comment liked by y/nsworld ⤷ y/nsworld babe i love you sm 😭 ⤷ francisca.cgomes baby? i love you more ⤷ pierregasly you're literally MY girlfriend? ⤷ y/nsworld but she's MY wife Comment liked by francisca.cgomes

yncharles oh to be a fly on the wall when lando, lily and alex heard these songs for the first time 😭🥹 ⤷ y/nsworld coming to tikotok and insta reels soon my love 🫶🏼 ⤷ yncharles OMG OMG SHE REPLIED SKSKDKDFKJ ⤷ alex_albon pls don't use the clip of me sobbing over 'that part' Comment liked by y/nsworld ⤷ y/nsworld too late bestie 😄 ⤷ lilymhe I am still not over and will never get over "you might not like her" Comment liked by y/nsworld ⤷ y/nsworld I will never be over the hug you gave me when I finished playing it to you for the first time

charles_leclerc mon amour, it was an honor to be involved in your music journey and I am so thankful for every day I get to share with you. darling I'd wait for you til forever falls apart 🤍 Comment liked by y/nsworld ⤷ chachacharles THEY'RE MY ROMAN EMPIRE 😭 ⤷ charlesfann pls tell me someone else noticed charles credited as songwriter on 'til forever falls apart' 😭

ynmylove LETS 👏 TALK 👏 ABOUT 👏 HOW CHARLES AND Y/N USED SONG TITLES IN THEIR COMMENTS TO EACH OTHER 😭 ⤷ charlesandcarlos try not to cry challenge FAILED

on twt:

y/n's q+a on ig:

charles_leclerc

Liked by y/nsworld, maxverstappen1 and 12,942,833 charles_leclerc my incredibly talented girlfriend's album is out now! I am beyond proud to be able to say that she trusted me to help her not only record some of the songs but write them too. I didn't know I was much of a songwriter but looking into your eyes suddenly turned me into a poet ma belle.

everyday you inspire me with your creativity, your passion, your energy and your love for those around you. I could write you a million love songs and there would still be things left to say. you're all I need now until forever falls apart. j'taime mon amour ❤️ (if you haven't heard the album yet make sure you go and listen now!)

View all 45,730 comments y/nsworld I love you more than any love song could ever express. my muse, my love, my life 🤍 Comment liked by charles_leclerc ⤷ ynloverrr OH MY GOD?! I'M SO VIOLENTLY UNWELL OH GOD ⤷ ferrar1 'looking into your eyes suddenly turned me into a poet'

y/nandcharles THEY ARE MY ROMAN EMPIRE

sabrinacarpenter This album is literally on repeat! I cried the first time I heard 'you might not like her' and every time since

charlesforwdc can we all please just appreciate the STUNNING piano in 'so this is love' Comment liked by y/nsworld ⤷ y/nsworld we were literally just messing about in the studio and decided we liked it enough for the album! ⤷ y/nvocals the fact they were both "messing about" and sound THIS GOOD IS INSANE

maxverstappen1 congrats mate! you nailed this project!

landonorris from sliding into the dm's to collaborating on an album is CRAZY ⤷ y/nsworld LANDO 😭😭 ⤷ f1fannn exCUSE ME? sliding what?! ⤷ charleswifey charles sliding in her dm's is crazy but understandable 😭 ⤷ charles_leclerc try the other way around... 👨‍🦯 ⤷ y/nsworld BABY! 😭

♪₊ ⊹♬˚₊‧♪₊ ⊹♬˚₊‧♪₊ ⊹♬˚₊‧♪₊ ⊹♬˚₊‧♪₊ ⊹♬˚₊‧

[ahollowgrave]

Hey! I love your screenshots so much! Do you have a guide on how you take them? Which mods, if any, do you use? How do you get the camera parallel to the ground at different heights etc? Any help would be amazing. Thank you!

Hey! Thank you! I love them, as well, and it’s always lovely to hear when others do!

Unfortunately, I am not much of a technical writer so I don’t have any guides.The reality is I spend hours and hours taking screenshots and I often feel like I luck into things looking nice.

But I can give you the same tips I give to my friends who have said it’s helpful advice:

Vanilla gpose is very good! You can do a lot in it without the need for 3rd party tools and I’ve found having a good, solid understanding of how gpose works is what really rockets shots into ‘oh wow’ territory. You really just have to touch all the buttons and see what they do and how they interact with each other.

The main thing is, for re/g-shade users: If it doesn’t look good in vanilla lighting, the preset isn’t going to make it suddenly stunning.

The second thing, for everyone, is: Play. Play is very important. If you’re not having fun you’re probably not gonna love the final result. If it feels like a chore, come back to it later! Play a different game!

The third thing, for everyone, is: These are not rules, these are not laws. Just because I do something a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the ‘right’ way to do it. Your eye is what makes your art beautiful.

I'm putting the rest under a cut because this wound up being three pages without the pictures because I ramble.

The parts of vanilla gpose I touch with every shot:

Camera Position: The first slider is your field of view. For portraits I set it to 200, but I tend to fiddle with it in all other shots until I get something I like. The second slider is rotation, very helpful to get to exactly 45 degrees or 90 degrees for shots. But you should also be able to use Q and E to rotate and this is fun to get neat angles on shots! Play with it!!

Depth of Field: I’ll be honest, I turn this sucker off because Reshade has ADOF which I think is better! But, I still suggest playing with this a little bit.

Lighting settings: You have three lights, each with three levels and each able to be a unique color. USE THEM. Find lighting objects in your setting that you can use to base the colors and directions off of. Is the moon full and above? Use a pale blue light as a rim light. 3a. Also, highly recommend looking at RL photography lighting set ups. This has been the most helpful. You can do a lot with three lights!!!!! 3b. Typically, I am mostly using two lights at type 1 or type 2. Sometimes I’ll use a third light, or that type 3 lighting, but it depends heavily upon the vibes. 3c. On this page there is ‘Character Lighting’ this makes your character brighter. I don’t use this at all because it tends to wash out shadows and shadows are an important part of lighting. I DO suggest that YOU use this to see how it works! A little is a lot, you know? 3d. THE MAIN THING IS TO PLAY WITH IT. Get weird with the lighting. Do really intense close up lights! Do funky colors! Cover them in bi lighting!!!!

Lighting Round Two: The one thing that my friends have said is the most helpful is telling them to use the Manual Birghtness Adjustment. This is on the general tab, not with your other lighting settings (circled in red). This controls the light of the WHOLE setting, including the brightness of your three lights. This is what really makes me go OH WOW. Turn it on, wiggle it around, be amazed. (Say it with me: Play with it!)

ADJUST YOUR LIGHTING.

Vanilla Gpose has a Motion Settings tab. This is what I use for my expressions but also a lot of ‘poses’ are just well captured emotes. A lot of this tab should be self explanatory.

The Eyes: The first eye has your subject turn to face the camera. You can have them look in a direction, turn it off, and freely move your camera around. The second eye is eye tracking. This is your friend! The head will stay stationary and the eyes will follow the camera.

Movement: Walk, run, sprint. Forward, left, right, back. Pause, play, reset.

Lip Movements: This, in junction with expression emotes, is very handy! Type 1 is minimal, type 3 is a lot more head movement. Pause, play, reset buttons.

Emotes: You already know what I’m gonna say. PLAY WITH THIS. Almost every emote can have an expression emote overlaid it and have lip movement added.

A personal favorite is /aback, /beam, lip movement 2, eye tracking.

Now. When you enter Gpose your subject is gonna be doing the animation they were last doing. To stop this, ground sit and stand before you enter gpose to start with a clean slate. However, this is also how you can get cool action shots. Using a dummy you can use an attack, reset the dummy, and enter gpose and your subject will be flailing wildly.

Some of the emotes and actions can move very quickly! To move things frame by frame we’re going to use the Disable/Enable Motion buttons. You have two of these at the top of the gpose settings.

Disable/Enable All Motion - This will pause or start all the motion of all the targets in your gpose! My Keybinding for this is 1 and I think this is the default for PC users. Disable/Enable Target Motion - This will pause or start the motion of your current target. (Tab cycles through the characters caught in your gpose.) My Keybinding for this is 2 and I think this is the default for PC users.

To go frame by frame by frame through an emote or action you’re going to freeze the character (1) and then, rapidly, you’re going to hit 1 then 2. (1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2) this unfreezes your subject and then refreezes them. Be mindful of your eye tracking and camera! One last thing: Take a LOT of shots. From all sorts of angles, with all sorts of lighting, with different expression. For every 1 screenshot I post there are about a 100 others that I didn't like as much.

Whew, okay, I think that covers the stuff I tell my friends. Sorry this got kinda long and it might be confusing because, again, I am no technical writer!

Now, I do use 3rd party tools but I’m only comfortable talking about those off anon! Other than Reshade. I understand social anxiety might keep folks from asking directly but I am a nervous person myself and just do not feel comfy talking about that stuff so publicly. But I try to be helpful where and when I can!

Apologies, anon, if this isn’t what you were hoping for in a reply but if anyone else reads this maybe they’ll learn a new trick or idea of idk something!!!

If you read the all thing that's fucking WILD and the only reward I have for you is my love !!

[kanmom51]

This is big

A good day we are having.

I was going to start with a bright good day, but it’s kind of yucky for me here (overcast, raining, a little cold, not what you would expect towards the end of Spring here), but I do guess it’s a bright day somewhere in the world, so I will go with that.

A good bright day we are having today guys.

I know I’m a little late to the party, but what can you do?  We gotta make a living.  So, as much as I was dying to post this morning (cause I did see it ALL pretty much as I started my day), I just couldn’t, not the way I like to, with receipts.

JK

JK is the man.

There, I said it.

He kind of surprises us every time.

And I don’t know why we are surprised, because he has been kind of screaming blue murder since 8 November 2017 that JM is HIS (in his own way, in the way he can under the circumstances, and I’ll get into that a little later on), but still, he surprises us every single time.

And K-army, they are going WILD.

And when K-army go wild you know it’s a big one.

So, what did he do this time?  Our JK.

He went and posted on IG.

Wow, awe, nah, not that, lol.

This kind of has a couple of layers to it.

I’ll start at the beginning, which is JK posting a photo of himself from Qatar in his usual new IG layout.

He does this on 26.10.22, at 11:02 KST (all there pics posted were withing the 11:02, a few seconds within each other).

Let’s look at the numbers for that.

Date first:

26 October 2022.

Which happens to be…drum roll…

Exactly mid-way between JM’s birthday (13 October) and the famous 8 November.

13 days following JM’s birthday and 13 days to the 8 November 2022.

I was thinking of doing the whole day counter screenshot and stuff, but honestly, I counted the days with my fingers.  Use your fingers to count them.  Believe me, you’ll get the same results.

Coincidence?

Nope.  Enough with the usage of this word.  It’s just too much.  Especially when we move on to see what else we had here.

26.10.22 11:02pm –

2+6+1+2+2=

13

11+2=

13

Another coincidence?

Give me a break.

 

But you see, it doesn’t end there.

Cause JK, he’s like “I don’t think they will understand where I’m going with this.  I need to do something bigger, louder…ahm..Let me think about it…Oh, I know…”

BAM

Lol, not that bam, but maybe this one:

He posts to his story.

A cute winkie kissy pouty selfie.

At 11:08 pm KST or 5:08 pm Qatar time.

11:08

And

5+8=13

So, just in case, you know, the fans lost the plot with his first post.  Just in case they didn’t catch on to the reference not only to the 13 but also to 8 November, he decided he needed to be MUCH clearer.

And how much clearer can you be than actually posting on the hour?

Once again with the 11:08.  You know, like he’s done in the past.

Still think it’s all a coincidence?

I can tell you loud and clear that I don’t.

Neither do K-JKKs.

Now, I know that JM and JK communicate on the private, you know, through some kind of app like Kakao talk or WhatsApp where they can’t be monitored (I’ll leave it at that), and they definitely don’t need to send each other messages through their public IG accounts.

Saying that, I do think this is also a message to JM.

One that says “I love you and I want to scream it from the rooftop.  And knowing that I can’t do that, I’m doing the next best thing.”

People will argue: why would they need that?  If they are a closeted couple why would they want people to know?

And I’d start by saying:  Really?  That’s what you’re arguing?

Let’s talk about straight couples, why don’t we?  Those that don’t have to hide who they are dating, who they love, who they are with.

In EVERY culture – couples like that HAVE to show others they are together.  It’s a “I’m happy I’m in a relationship” thing.  It’s a “keep you hands to yourselves, this one is taken – by me”.  It’s an “I adore this person and he’s all mine”.

And they do it in many ways:

It’s the matchy matchy clothing and accessorizing (in Korean culture).

It’s with jewelry like couple rings, couple necklaces or bracelets, engagement and wedding rings.

It’s with couple selfies and pics and posts.

It’s with PDA, where it’s socially and culturally acceptable.

It’s with just saying it out loud proudly – “we are together, we are a couple, we love each other…”

 

Why would a closeted couple, one that the society they live in does not look positively on their relationship, be any different in the sense of wanting to show, flaunt their love?

But they can’t say it, scream it in words.

And JM and JK are a closeted couple.  They can’t be obvious, well not too obvious, not in a way that a straight couple can (and don’t get me started on their industry either, cause that’s also another issue they have to deal with, one that doesn’t allow a straight couple to show they are together either, re: you know who).

So they find other ways to do it.

They find that going matchy matchy with their clothes and accessories might raise an eyebrow here and there, but they can get away with it.  Bangtan wear each other’s clothes, they all do it, nothing special about those two.  So maybe it’s not enough.  Not a strong enough statement.

JK sucked on JM’s ear for god’s sake, in front of thousands of fans.  It has been paraded by the company in official content ever since.

In that moment, when JK was sucking on JM’s ear, you see just how emotional JM gets.  Cause he knows.  He knows this is JK’s way of screaming to the world that JM is his, that they are more than ‘brothers’ or just friends.

But apparently, it did not make much on an impact, because supposedly, according to the fandom, either there was no actual ear sucking (I guess those fans need glasses or eyes, take your pick), or that’s just something you do with your bro (don’t get me started on that word and JK using it in his birthday message to JM).

JK paraded his hickey from JM.  Clearly ‘brother’ or platonic friends don’t mark each other, right?

 Apparently they do.  This too was not enough. 

Because once again, either it’s a bite (interesting one at that, with no teeth marks but definite hickey bruising), or it’s just a playful bro thing that evidently these fans do with their siblings or platonic friends (ok then, that’s kind of disturbing), or, and I just ‘love’ this one, JM ‘the man’ lending a hand to his bro JK by covering up his girlfriend’s hickey (cause these guys have never heard of makeup and concealer, and NEVER covered up a hickey or two in the past – laughable).

 

 

And you may ask:  Where are you going with this? Get to the fucking point…

So here it is:

I know there are many that are all about:

“This whole numbers thing it’s ridiculous” or “it doesn’t mean anything” or “eh, just a coincidence you delusional people keep riding on”. 

Well, thing is once, twice, even three or four times is a coincidence.  But when it’s more it’s a pattern.  And this is a pattern.  One that means something.  One that is trying to tell us something they can’t say out loud.

Because just like you and I, who love to say we are in a relationship, that we are happily married, or engaged or love our partners, or want to tell the world “that person is off the market, so hands off, they are MINE” – believe me both JM and JK want the exact same thing.  To be able to say that.  Show that. 

Do you remember that interview where RM and V pipe up to the question “who’s the best with the ladies” to say it was JK?  JM’s face?

Or even just now, the after Busan concert live and the “marry me JK” conversation.

Or I heart radio when the fans was screaming “I love you” to JM – JK’s reaction?

They want other to know that their significant other is theirs and definitely off the market. 

But unlike us, they can’t do that.  They can’t say that, scream that.  That would be not stretching that rubber band they keep stretching time and time again.  That would be to outright tear it, and they can’t do that.  Not yet.  Not now.  Not with their solo albums coming up, not with enlistment coming up and not under this current administration.

So they do this.

They do the little things like the matching clothes or accessories.

They do the bigger things like the ear suck and hickey showing off (which once again, they saw just was not enough). 

And they do this.  The numbers.  The playing with the dates.

That is their way.

 

This started out as a post about JK’s wow IG activity and turned into a Ted talk about the meaning of the numbers and why they are indeed a message, a code per say, to those that are willing to listen.

My apologies.

Well, maybe not really.

[theromaboo]

Opinion on Domina season 2?

Wow thank you SO much for the ask.

I watched Domina season 2 during August so forgive me if my memory isn't perfect. Spoilers!

I feel like this season is much more funny but also much more heartbreaking than the first season. However, I feel like the first season was much more tense than this season. So basically when I was watching the first season I was constantly gritting my teeth and pulling at my hair and when I was watching the second season I was constantly alternating between laughing and crying. Which isn't a bad thing, but I think the majority of the tension in this season was me wondering how they would break my heart again, not from the plot.

Well I guess I should just jump right in.

Some Random Thoughts I Had:

In this season, two of the three characters I was watching this show for died. Luckily the third character isn't due to die for another fifty years or so! I don't have to worry about him dying. I only have to worry about him as a person.

Wouldn't it be crazy rad if Domina just kept continuing, past Livia's life, into the later Julio-Claudian dynasty? And we get to see Agrippina and Nero and Britannicus and Claudius? Ah, that would just be amazing! But it would kind of go against Domina, which is supposed to be a show about Livia's life. At least Livia still has a lot of life to live! I don't know if there's a third season coming. I hope so.

Tiberius got a new actor! But Drusus didn't. Livia actually mentioned this and it was so funny but so weird. She was like "Oh, Tiberius, you changed a lot! But Drusus hardly changed at all!" which feels so uncomfortable to me because Tiberius got a new actor but Drusus didn't and all the viewers know that but we're supposed to pretend like we don't to suspend our disbelief but when the characters themselves mention it ahhh!

On that note, Drusus, his age, and how that's all depicted in Domina is a super weird topic that I just don't have the time to talk about here.

I love Tiberius' new actor so so so much and he feels like Tiberius, but I also miss the old actor! Ah, that's what rewatching the first season is for!

Antigone is gone. It's implied she died in between the first season and the second but we don't get much information about that so it feels like she just vanished into thin air. I miss her ;(

There is so much Tiberius Pillow symbology in this season. They are rubbing it in your face.

Okay now that I'm done with that brain dump, let's review it with more structured topics!

Acting:

Amazing as always. I actually think the acting here was better than in the last season. Honestly the way these people play with their facial expressions like that... oh my gosh it's so good. Domina has phenomenal acting.

However, there are two little moments when I cringed, but they are 100% not the actors' faults. One of them I already mentioned, when Livia mentioned that Tiberius changed a lot and Drusus didn't. That was really funny but just so weird.

And then when a character mentioned that wearing trousers was weird and not fashionable. It's just that all the actors are so British, a line like that is impossible to pull off and sound right. They're all just too British!

But honestly the acting was so so good in this season!

Overall Beauty:

Domina is continuing to be absolutely beautiful. Every screenshot is a work of art. Domina is easily one of the prettiest shows out there.

Plot:

I think it was good. There were some parts that just felt very very random but overall I think the plot was very entertaining and heartbreaking and not historically inaccurate in the way that I'd dislike it, but historically inaccurate in the way good historical fiction is.

Humor:

Amazing as always. This show is so funny. Quickly alternating between two different things is quite a common theme in this season, so they use a lot of heartbreak but also a lot of humor.

Characters:

My favourite character always is and always was Tiberius, even though I don't really think he was created as a character for people to like. Tiberius... he's very very complicated in this show and I don't think I have the brain power to talk about it. But I've liked him ever since we first met him as a teenager in the first season because he's autistic-coded and I was like "Omg he's just like me fr." And then of course I had to like him for the rest of the show. But just because I like him as a character does not mean I like him as a person or condone anything he does.

Dang I wanted to say something more solid in this section but I just can't think of anything.

Anyway, when it comes to the characters as a whole, I think that generally they were all done very well. Vipsania was kind of done dirty, but other than that, I'd say everyone has a strong personality and I never found an issue with the characterization.

Things I Liked:

Honestly, everything I mentioned up there. Acting, humor, prettiness, sadness. I like 99% of this show.

That part when Augustus was getting kinky with Gemina while Agrippa was telling the senate about being more loyal and moral and that sort of stuff. Ohhh that was so clever.

When Tiberius was remembering the dream he had about his father and repeating all the words his father said and it was like Tiberius was becoming him. Ahhhhhh.

This hilarious part after Tiberius and Julia's wedding:

Antonina: Drusus. Did you give Vistilius permission to fornicate in our bedroom?

Drusus: Yes!

Antonina: 🤨

Drusus: No?

Antonina: 😬

Drusus: Possibly. Who can remember?

Antonina: 😟

Oh my god the way Drusus was just cycling through every response!

Antonina and Drusus stole the show they were amazing.

Things I Did Not Like:

They're trying to show Tiberius' mental health issues but I am not 100% agreeing with how they do it. But I don't really know how it could be better. And I'm just not very knowledgeable in this subject so maybe their depiction is actually really good. I don't know. It's just that I think it could be better in some way.

I wanted more Vipsania. And they were so mean in their portrayal of her.

When Agrippa died 😭😭😭😭😭 and Octavian was all sad about it 😭😭😭😭😭 but then Octavian and Livia were suddenly having sex and Livia was saying "Oh, it's okay, you don't need him anymore." 😟😟😟😟😟😟😟 Oh my god, what? I was literally crying but then that scene made my tears go back up to where they came from.

During Tiberius and Julia's wedding, what was simultaneously happening to Livia just felt so random and disconnected to everything else that was happening. Which is a shame because Tiberius and Julia's wedding was honestly my favourite part of the whole show. I remember that it kept jumping back and forth between the wedding and Livia. Watching it kind of felt like "Omg omg I feel so bad for Tiberius and Julia—who are those people in the masks chasing Livia?? Oh dang Drusus you're going to gamble everything away—why is Livia jumping off a cliff??" I know that part with Livia probably had a purpose in the show, but I actually forgot what it was.

In Conclusion:

The second season of Domina was funny, heartbreaking, pretty, and I loved it. It made some decisions I did not like, but it also made a whole lot of decisions I loved. Overall, I absolutely love this show. This is actually my favourite TV show of all time.

But the big question is, which season is better?

I don't know! They both have their strengths and weaknesses.

The first season has Antigone and Marcellus and just a lot of the "children" of the imperial family when they were teenagers, you know, Julia, Tiberius, Drusus, Marcellus, Iullus. And I like that a lot. In the second season, they're older, which is perfectly fine but I like teenager drama, you know?

The first season had two awkward episodes in the beginning where they had to pretty much explain all the context and characters, but they honestly weren't bad episodes. They were just really different compared to most of the show. However, because a lot of actors got changed in between the second episode and the third, it was quite confusing for a while. The very second I'm finally able to recognize most of the characters, bam, they all look different. Which is bad because I'm quite face blind!

Anyway, the first season really had me on the edge of my seat, especially for the last four episodes. But I think I felt even more suspense watching the second season wondering how they were going to break my heart again.

I think the second season was funnier but humor does not necessarily make or break a show, unless it's a comedy. And just because the second season was funnier doesn't mean the first season doesn't have its own fair share of hilarious moments, and it does!

Both seasons are very very beautiful and have great acting. The choice of actors is honestly phenomenal for both seasons.

Honestly, I don't know which season is better! In my opinion, Domina managed to do the rare thing in which the second season manages to live up to the first. But not everyone might agree with me. If you have anything to add, please do!

[crappy-coffee]

Literally any of the romances. Take your pick, they’re all terrible to some degree. You can even come back to this ask if you wanna do more than one.

They’re all terrible to some degree

I would have to disagree with you on that one to be honest. Like I’ve said before, I believe Pixane is the best one.

Personally I think Jaya is fine. It’s not amazing but it’s good. I’d just change that one moment in the pilot episodes, and rewrite Rebooted and Skybound. After those points I’d even say they’re a good couple.

But the one’s I want to change are Kai and Skylor, Lloyd and Harumi, and Lloyd and Akita.

Kailor

For Kai and Skylor, god just make them get together or don’t. Enough with the wishy washy bullshit and pick something. Make definitive character decisions. I already made a post about how I view Kailor so I’ll just screenshot it here.

Also yeah I’m having open LGBT+ characters because who the fuck is gonna stop me?

Lloykita

There’s so many problems with this ship starting with the fact that I saw Akita as a little child for so long (I looked it up, she isn’t so. Good job Ninjago) bc to me her model looks small. Other actual problems include; It’s boring & predictable, we never see Akita again, and it’s a last second kiss on the cheek.

It kinda sucks because I actually like Akita but if you’ve seen my season 11 rewrite then you know that I’ve gotten rid of her and the never realm completely. So the way I’m fixing it is just throwing it away. Maybe she can appear in my season 10 rewrite but we’ll see. Absolutely no romance with Lloyd though.

Llorumi

So what if I told you that this ship killed my hope in Ninjago’s writing team, because I would tell you that I’m exaggerating for comedy. In reality it just made me sit back and go “Wow. They really did that huh.”

Here’s my hot take, I love Lorumi! I love the idea that Lloyd falls in love with someone who takes advantage of him. I love the idea that Harumi is against the Ninja, and is super manipulative. I love the idea that Lloyd still has feelings for Harumi after the reveal for a little while!

Here’s what I don’t love. Ninjago’s failed attempt to use trauma as a way to make a villain sympathetic. The way Harumi’s plan is so fucking stupid AND that it bring Garmadon back. The fact that Lloyd drags his feet about his feelings for over 5 SEASONS and is STILL in love with her during the most recent one. Even worse that Harumi apparently RETURNS these feelings?? Are you kidding me??

Oh and don’t get me started on the fact that they tried to do a last second redemption arc before fucking KILLING her. You ever notice that the guy villains get more sympathy in character while the 2 main girl villains get the worst treatment. Because I do and it’s SO frustrating. 

How do I fix this? Well first of all I do as I mentioned with Kailor earlier, PICK A SIDE. God please no more back and forth just pick one. Here’s what happens in my rewrite.

Harumi is the quite one, sure, but she’s not in charge. She’s just the lead of communications and is doing an inside job on the ninja. We get the same scene of the harbor and blah blah blah but here’s the thing. The other Sons of Garmadon want to commit mass destruction with the Oni masks, something they keep secret from Harumi. So we do a double twist.

Harumi reveals she’s the quite one and her motives; that nobody is taking accountability for the destruction that the Ninja leave behind. Someone has to pay for all the lives they couldn’t save, and the police force in Ninjago has been slacking off HARD because of the Ninja. 

Later, during a ceremony to give the wearer’s of the masks the full powers of the Oni (Garmadon is NOT being brought back fuck you) when Harumi realizes they aren’t planning on using these powers to help Ninjago like they promised. She tries to fight the other leaders but she gets her mask taken and she’s ditched.

Harumi then goes back to the Ninja to work with them to stop the Sons of Garmadon. When Lloyd asks why they should trust her, she responds “My values are more important then my pride. If you are the same then you will accept my help as I will accept yours. For Ninjago, nothing else.”

I want Harumi to drop the act at this point. She resents the Ninja but knows it’s better to work with them at times. Harumi remains as a minor antagonist throughout the series from this point on. She doesn’t hurt others but still stands against the Ninja. I think it would be refreshing to have another force of good that doesn’t stand with the main characters. Really make them question their morals y’know? Lloyd gets over himself after like 2 seasons and they don’t have feelings or get together anymore ever :]

Tldr; Kailor is free food, Lloykita is dumb, and Llourmi happens but not really.

[dont-post-after-midnight]

My thoughts on the season 1 finale for Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai

Warning!!! There will be spoilers so be sure and watch the show up until the end if you haven't already!

I'm super happy with how season 1 wrapped up but it...definitely wasn't what I was expecting, lets just say that... and I have lots of questions, thoughts, and just random tidbits I really liked so I thought I'd pile them all into one big post (I may make a second one if it gets too long I'll see where my brain goes).

First of all:

I love that Henchman #2 (or whatever his number was haha I can't remember) showed up at the end with Gaptooth and thought "oh their going to play a really big part in the finale!" and the he just proceeded to go "f*ck this sh*t I'm out" like that one vine of the guy jumping into the water and I can't even with him 🤣

Claw is a queen, need I say more? I am sad she ended up dying she was my fave (even though I figured she and the others would since that is typical for Gremlins in the movies to all perish by the end). But I can't help but wonder in this scene when she's looking up at Riley and telling her fellow brethren to kill him, if she'll somehow come back in season 2 for revenge? I think it was confirmed by Joe Dante or someone working on the original Gremlins movies that Stripe was essentially "reincarnated" as Mohawk (someone correct me if I'm wrong on this!) so it's definitely possible, Claw might even get reincarnated into Stripe somehow. They gave her such a fun personality I really hope she does return! (same for that one Gremlin that can sing really good I'm curious as to why the creators made her stand out so much).

Also, I'm glad Snout survived! He doesn't seem too pleased to be a mogwai again but I'm glad he's ok, he's so cute! I do think it's interesting he (and another gremlin I'll mention later) made it, I wonder if the creators have plans for him in season 2...

(Wow having a knife in your mouth makes you look really cool even if you don't have any hands)

So Riley died??? I put the question marks because yes, he did get turned into a cockroach and cut in half (REALLY rough way to go) but if you go back and watch this scene, do you notice anything strange?

This mogwai he ate back in episode 8 wasn't with the people he consumed with pearl magic. All the gremlins got turned back into mogwai, but I didn't see this little guy anywhere with them. I was WAY too lazy to grab screenshots of all the mogwai at the end, but if you go back and look I swear I didn't see him anywhere. I bring this up for a couple of reasons. The "fourth rule" is that if you eat a mogwai you live forever right? Well, he never spit this guy back out, so shouldn't he still technically be able to live forever, regardless of what happens to him? And this mogwai looks so different than the others, and has a little tuft of fur with a white stripe on his head. Interesting that this is the mogwai he ended up eating... Wishful thinking I suppose, I'd just really love for him to come back. He was such a good villain!

I'm glad Grandpa and Nuwa came back! Sam's Grandpa was such a fun character and Gizmo missing Nuwa was making me sad ;-;

Also I love that the Wing family essentially adopted Elle at the end it was really sweet. And it was nice Gizmo got to stay though after all that happened, I'm genuinely shocked Nuwa would let him?? Like yeah I know the show is a prequel and Sam is the old shopkeeper in the first movie, so naturally they'd have to end up together. But still!

And finally: Yaaaaaay one Gremlin survived! I'm so happy this is essentially the Brain Gremlin from the second movie, he was my favorite character in that one and I'm glad they left him as a cliffhanger for season 2. He's still got a slightly evil side to him but as he explained to Elle, he isn't quite as chaotic as his brothers and sisters are. I wonder what his plans will be for season 2?

That's all folks, may make a follow up post to this one if anything else comes to mind!

[blu-wingz]

[TOTK]

I just finished TOTK...

I'm sobbing. This IS the legend of zelda

Its hers. Oh my god. I. I am floored.

Spoilers from here on out ofc

Also fuck any spelling errors or wrong terms I'm sleepy

Fuck man. Unable to summon the spirit sages down there spooked me. An oh shit moment. Glad they decided that. And the sages coming in to help out during the final fights. Love that!

I decided to beat the game today at 9pm. It's now nearing 2 am. Mostly bc I procrastinated. I prepped food and equipment. I didnt think the descent into the depths would take that long but it was neat and showed how fucking deep we were going.

Then when I got to the war bit i realized i didnt pack any food that could heal corrupted hearts. So I went back to an earlier save slot and made a bunch

Anyway. I got to Ganon and he. Wow. Rehydrated ganon oh my. The first phase was easy and lacked fun music but goodness the second phase made up for it.

The second phase was challenging and it felt. Dangerous. In BOTW the ganon fight was...lacking. this was supposed to be the thing that killed the best champions in the world and it was kinda lame. But this phase was so neat. I was going at it for a while bc I sucked at timings. And OH IT WAS SO COOL that when you fired arrows at him he would just CATH AND THROW IT ASIDE. I fully paused and went to the home screen. It was so cool!!

The fight again I cant stop reiterating it was hard. I like the difficulty. I was afraid it would do what it did in BOTW, cut the HP in half, basically handicapped the boss so it would easy for the player.

And oh my fuck. The final phase. He ate that stone and I was like :OOOO the forbidden snack! And I was so happy that it turned into a diving flying dragon fight. Where Zelda could help out AAAH. My heart. Dragons!! The demon dragons design is so fucking cool Icant wait to see fanart I CAN FINALLY SEE THE FANART IM FREEEEEEE

the phase was breathtaking. The whole shit happened in the sky. I was a bit disappointed at how simple it was to beat it (final phase) but oh well. For the final blow I changed into the Twilight Princess tunic and OH AOWBWUBDK it was so fitting I have so many screenshots. The final final stabby was even more fitting. In Twlight Princess, Ganon is defeated by Link stabbing his forehead and AAAAH it was so epic. So cool of me to think of changing outfits for the final sequence

And oh my the cutscene of the king and queen chanting zelda back to a hylian via Links new arm. It was good. But I already accepted that the transformation was permanent. But...I guess that heppend. Idk man the exhaustion is hitting now.

When Link had to dive to cathlch zelda midair I fumbled it a bit and didnt catch her properly the fist time. We didnt splat the game let me try again but it got a chuckle outta me.

The final cutscene where zelda wakes up and sees link and she sso so happy that he had the sword she worked so hard to replenish. And that the demon king was dead ofc. And oh god when she said link I'm home I started crying bc THIS PORR GIRL DID SO MUCH WENT THRU SO MUCH AAAAAAAAAH THIS GAME IS HERS AAAAAAAH

And I'm so ecstatic ah I loved it. I'll prob think of more to say later but what a wonderful sequel. Lovely :')

[chytilovian-daisy]

so for some unholy reason i was with? a ex-friend from childhood? like i dont know if we were the last age we saw each other or what but anyway its like worst nightmare of emotional abuse these so idk WHY. anyway ig we ran at cat cafe together or were starting one. the guys from DEG come in. im trying not to freak out bc wow its deg!!! someone else waits on them and something about lanterns because we were doing halloween themed stuff.

ANYWAY. me and ex friend get into a fight. I apologize to the ppl in deg for fighting in front of them, tell them im a fan, leave. im in my old city at night but there are people around so im feeling better. Somehow it turns into day as im walking and im seeing ANOTHER childhood friend and im like “: D“ but i feel awkward going up to them bc ik they realized they were trans and I dont wanna deadname them but idr their current name. Anyway, their dog keeps coming up to me but ig they dont recognize me. I do recognize more people from childhood with this friend including this girl who kept wanting me to scream my lungs out on the playground as a kid.

Anyway, I keep going I realize. shit. im lost. I see someone else I knew but atm i cant remember who, but also from childhood. He says “Wrong turn too?“ I laugh and I nod. We head back to another street and down that street-- which I recognize actually, theres some weird gang wars going on but everyone has pink hair. I don’t know what to do, so I try and avoid it by going up another street. I remember some weird audio above me as im walking but idr WHAT. Someone talking something weird.

Because I get close to the gang stuff again somehow, I duck into some small alleyway but its like. only 2 sheds and barely any space. I emerge from a shed seconds later but also so do suit actors and I narrowly escape some weird gang shootout thing. I’m heading home and idk HOW, this part is fuzzy, but I end up getting completely lost and somehow accidentally stealing a mans life.

The guy whos life i stole was some star rich athelete. idk WHY they thought I was him or some shit, but anyway his girlfriend and whole family were assuming I was him and I was like “ok ig i live here now“. except I still just wanted to go home to my family. So long story short I do some weird sneaky shit around this giant college campus but its also a house, listen in, think about what movies im gonna watch when i get home. I keep being told by some gps thing my house is only 5 streets away.

I find out somehow I am in what SHOULD be Greenland, but its a tropical rainforest with crocs and shit. I steal one of the familys jetskis and try and go back to the states on it, or at least in my hopes, reach Canada and walk back??? But instead I crash into some party ship. My family is there! Somehow the college campus-mansion-boat collide and now its 1 big thing.

So im telling them I switched lives with this guy and theyre like “oh, we know. We have him here btw. we have ransom lets go.“ And I find out the ransom isnt the guy, he’s free to go, but his pokemon card screenshot collection??? So my mom goes to talk to the mom and shes like, “they said 1k but i want at least 10k.“ And it becomes this whole meeting between the families and the guy who I switched lives with comes in, in swim gear and a sign around his neck and im being a real dick and asking him how cafeteria food tastes and hes sobbing. And then I wake up.

[tedturneriscrazy]

Here's Eclipse Lake, an episode that has been highly anticipated! Will it top Knock, Knock, Knockin' On Hooty's Door?

I'll skip the pretense: No. It won't.

You'll see under the cut.

Hmm, that list of ingredients for the Grimwalker...I'll let other people theorize about this (like @sepublic ), but it sure looks like a thing

Guess the mysterious green goo won't cut it, huh?

Belos face reveal already?! Huh, didn't expect it so soon.

Oh, no, he's hot! (And I'm mad about it)

Still an ass, though

Now we know why Hunter was wearing a different outfit (because people fixated on that for some reason)

Amity with the clipboard gives me strong Dipper vibes

GHOST! My beloved!

I need a moment because CAT!

(Also, someone pointed out earlier that Ghost was based on Dana's cat, and that's super obvious in hindsight)

Raine?! Oh, wait, you mean rain. Sigh.

Eda gets training tips from DBZ confirmed

(Also Amity's face when reacting to Eda's explanation is priceless)

Oh God Eda's a weeb I need another moment

Damn, Amity just straight up calling Eda old

Oh, loopy Luz

(The abomination holding the tissue box is adorable for many reasons)

Yeah, don't want Luz to eat the McGuffin

I have several questions about those Tamagotchis that I'll refrain from listing here

Amity your Odalia is showing

Girlfriend counter: 1

(Yes I am introducing a counting gag, deal with it)

Was wondering if they were ever gonna reference the dissection incident. We've come a long way, baby!

Oh, so that's what everyone was looking at

Luz honey your enthusiasm is admirable but no

Luz burrito is quite cute, though

Girlfriend counter: 2

(Damn, still wild to think that that's the case)

Just occurred to me that "Boots" is probably shortened from "Bossyboots" from earlier

Guess the Luz hiss compilation needs to be updated again

Those tunnels ain't the only thing around here that's unstable, amirite?

Oops, guess Kiki was justified, after all

Maybe don't talk so loudly about your plans, dude

That is her son, get it right!

Serves you right for having that stupid strand of hair sticking out like that

Is this just the episode where everyone dunks on White Boy? Because I can totally get behind that.

Already mentioned this, but I am loving the parallels between Katara and Amity with that bottle of abomination goo. Insert obligatory "Two Nickels" meme here about Mae Whitman.

We really are just dunking on the white boy and I am living for it

Hooty had to get it from somewhere, I suppose

Nothing says mother-son bonding like shooting things at each other (see also: Separate Tides)

I'm sure the magic bouncing off the veins won't come into play later at all

Oh well, at least the echolocation looked cool

At this point Amity would kill Hunter for a Klondike bar

Wait why does Hooty need a chair

Willow with the galaxy brain ideas

"A bad but sad boy" Luz is a genius at succinctly summing people up

Kikimora continues to be unhinged. Ironically she's not wrong about Hunter.

Motherfucker stop acting like you know what that says

(Also, projecting much?)

Girlfriend counter: 3

Friendly reminder that Hunter is still an antagonist

Uh oh

UH OH

I know someone mentioned Willow having the brain cell, but honestly it seemed like Luz had it this whole time. And that's not good.

WHY IS FOOL'S BLOOD EVEN A THING

Aaaaand cue the getting screwed over

Further reminder that he's still an antagonist (Apparently there's a vocal segment who's Really Mad at him that seem to forget this fact)

You unhand Ghost right now!! And Amity too, I guess.

(I kid, she's literally my second favorite character)

For what she did to Raine it warms my heart to know Kiki has had zero peace of mind

Wait, the Abomatons are Transformers?! Okay, that's kind of awesome, actually. Alador might be a shit dad but he is a brilliant inventor.

Chucking kids off cliffs is a surpisingly common pastime in the Boiling Isles

Owlbert no!

Eda did spend literal decades fighting the Owl Beast within, so I guess she can't be blamed for not thinking to talk to it

Also hurry up guys I'm very concerned about Owlbert

Fuck yeah Harpy Milf!

Yay Ghost returns!

She's glad they're okay (I didn't need to take this, I just thought it was cute. Also this is surprisingly high quality considering I just took a photo of my TV screen)

Oh, so they do have video games in the Demon Realm. That or Luz introduced them.

Trailer shot!

Oh dear, we about to have a fight over the key

Wow, being so high ranking under Belos is really bad for mental health

Jesus Christ Belos what have you been putting in this poor kid's head?

Leave it to King to give radical recontextualizations

Amity, I'm glad you remembered/realized this about Luz, please don't let the sad white boy play you like that again

Also, I appreciate the gesture you're making, and it's a wonderful summary of your character development, but goddamnit he's gonna go for that key because he's STILL AN ANTAGONIST

"Being nice usually works for Luz!" A) Not always, and B) Amity I love you but Luz you are not. A valiant attempt nonetheless.

Ooh, cool fight scene!

Always lovely to see such superb animation

I was privately griping about not seeing Amity use magic for so long, and now I am fed

Don't think I didn't hear the glass breaking

Appreciate your ass from a hole in the ground, Golden Boy!

(jk I don't actually feel that strongly about him still. That kind of threat still isn't cool, though)

Oh so that's why it's the Common Mold!

It's kinda cute, actually. Or maybe it's just because it's Luz.

TIL Hooty is heat resistant

Apparently Owl Beast just wanted a snack

Girlfriend counter: 4

Also love how calling Amity her awesome girlfriend is literally the first thing Luz says to her upon returning.

Yesssss return the hug! You deserve it!

(I know there are higher quality versions of this screenshot, I just didn't feel like looking around)

King demands huggies, too! (And gets 'em)

Reminder that Amity is smart as hell. I knew that glass breaking indicated something!

So once again I've been had. I let the fandom trick me into thinking this episode would be way more intense. Guess that one screenshot was from the next episode.

Overall this was...fine. Some nice Lumity moments, Harpy Eda strutting her stuff, that gorgeously animated fight sequence; those were all lovely.

I do wish Willow and Gus had a bit more to do. And I'm still rather unenthusiastic about Hunter, to be honest. I've seen his type several times before, and the path they have for him is rather obvious. I may never share the fandom's love for him, and I guess I'll have to deal with that.

Anybody who says this was better than KKKOHD is a damn fool.

Mid season finale next week! I think Yesterday's Lie will finally bring the pain!

[sept-dix]

first snow (heeseung)

summary: you make a promise to confess to heeseung on the day of the first snowfall warnings: slight slight angst at certain parts (๑ ˊ͈ ᐞ ˋ͈ )ƅ̋ wc: 2.2k a/n: for holiday hearts; this turned out to be a little longer than i intended but i’m not mad about it ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ (belated) merry christmas and an (early) happy new year to everyone! <3

❄️❄️❄️

“on the day of the first snowfall, we confess. okay?”

jake’s eyes are wide open as he looks at you, his hand gripping your arm tightly from where he is sitting beside you on your bedroom floor. he’s serious about this, you can tell, but you can’t help but sigh at his proposition.

“jake, are you sure about this? it could literally snow tomorrow. would you be able to confess tomorrow?”

“yes! i would! and you should too! what’s stopping you?”

well. what’s stopping you is the thought of your best friend hearing your confession and then looking at you like you’re crazy. that’s how it always goes down in your imagination—you confess, heeseung freezes, and then he looks at you like you’re insane before turning you down gently.

you always picture him to have a slight look of pity in his eyes when he hears your confession—a look that says i wish i liked you too, but i don’t. that look from your imagination is what’s stopping you.

one day you’re going to turn around and dropkick the infuriating little voice in your head that always comes up with the worst possible scenarios for you in any given situation.

“it’s okay, y/n. it’ll turn out just fine, trust me.” jake says, as if reading your mind.

and as much as you fear the possibility of rejection, it’s even harder to live everyday wondering what could be if only you were that much braver.

“fine. but only if you confess to her first. text me that you’ve confessed, and then i’ll do it.”

“deal!” jake’s entire face lights up as you give in. “besides, they say if you confess on the day of the first snow, the two of you will stay together for a long, long time.”

❄️❄️❄️

you spend majority of the next week making sure that you’re always in view of a window, eyes anxiously looking out at even the slightest hints of movement outside in case it’s a snowflake falling. you spend the rest of the time with your eyes trained on your phone, afraid that somehow snow had fallen and you hadn’t noticed and jake had texted you that he had confessed to his crush and you would be up next.

luckily for you, neither of those things happen.

in fact, the only notification you get on your phone is a text from heeseung himself.

just stole my brother’s netflix account. wanna come watch smth?

hanging out with heeseung on his couch, his feet on your lap as you give him the stinky eye for having his stinky feet so close to your nose, both of you laughing at the low-budget horror film that’s playing on the tv—none of this feels new to you.

actually, it’s the farthest thing from new. the both of you have been best friends for years now, and you like to think you know almost everything there is to know about him by now. spending time with heeseung feels like the easiest thing to do.

“is there something on my face?” heeseung asks, launching a popcorn at your head. “why are you staring at me like that?”

but of course, nothing is actually easy when your best friend is oblivious and you like him and you don’t know when it’s going to start snowing or what you’re going to say once it does.

“i’m not,” you reply, although you quite obviously are.

you push his feet off of your lap as he aims another popcorn at you. “get your stinky feet off my lap, for god’s sake.”

“hey, hey, don’t bring god into this.” he sits upright and scoots next to you on the couch. the both of you turn your attention back to the film before he speaks again, his eyes not leaving the screen.

“anyway, what are you doing on christmas eve?”

“nothing much. dinner with my family, i think. what about you?”

heeseung takes a moment to answer, his eyes trained on the television so closely that for a second, you think he hasn’t heard your reply and is actually back to watching the film.

in that same second you also wonder if maybe he’ll ask you to spend the evening with him instead, but you stuff that thought back where it came from before you start forming any real hope.

“yeah, i think i’m spending it with my family, too.” he finally answers, and as if on cue, the girl from the horror movie lets out a horrifying scream.

❄️❄️❄️

jake sends you a screenshot of the weather report the next week. it reads: first snow of the season expected to fall today. total snow accumulation predicted to be 2 to 5 inches.

“prepare your confession speech,” he texts you. “we have to do it today.”

somewhere in the back of your mind you wonder why jake is being so dramatic about all of this. if he was so ready to confess, he could just do it now instead of waiting for snowfall. or maybe he just really believed in that “if you confess on the day of the first snow you’ll last longer” theory.

either way, The Confession was fast approaching and you have yet to come up with a concrete plan about how you’re going to confess. you have been actively trying to avoid thinking about it for the sole reason that every time you do, that nasty voice in the back of your head begins pushing you down a spiral of anxiety. but not thinking about it is just making you nervous in its own way.

so naturally, to take your mind off heeseung, you text heeseung.

twenty minutes later he’s on your chair, aimlessly rolling around your room as you lie on your bed.

“what do you wanna do?”

“i don’t know, anything. i’m so bored.”

“me too. my brother changed his netflix password so i can’t use his account anymore.”

you chuckle, turning your head to face him. he looks absolutely breathtaking in his hoodie, the soft pink hue of the fabric a charming contrast against the rich colour of his skin.

“let’s come up with new year’s resolutions for the new year.” you reply. it’s a conversation the two of you have together almost every year-end, and you want to know what is on heeseung’s mind this time.

“hm… okay, the first one for me is to exercise regularly. i’m gonna be swole this time next year.”

you snort. “isn’t that what you said last year?”

heeseung can’t help but laugh at that, but his tone is indignant as he replies. “this time it’s for real!!!”

“fine, fine, what’s your next one?”

“next one… would be to learn how to play the guitar?”

you nod at this-unfortunately you can’t bring yourself to tease a music prodigy about his love for music.

“that’s nice. you’ll have to play for me once you learn.”

you stare up at the ceiling, wondering what your new year’s resolution should be. you wonder vaguely if heeseung will still be by your side to have this same conversation with you next year.

“actually, i have one last one,” heeseung says, rolling over languidly to your table to fiddle with the stationery you have strewn all over the tabletop. “i’m going to confess to my crush next year.”

you freeze. his crush?

“you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” heeseung says, giggling softly at the expression on your face. “what’s so shocking about that?”

“your crush? you never told me you had someone you liked,” you say, unable to keep the tone of surprise and slight betrayal out of your voice.

this changes everything, doesn’t it? if heeseung has someone he likes, you can’t just confess knowing that he definitely does not return your feelings. your mind is going a mile per minute, and all you can do is sit and stare at heeseung, who looks as gorgeous as always as he doodles absentmindedly on your notebook.

“i do,” he replies quietly, a small smile on his face as he looks up at you. wow, he must really like whoever it is if just the mention of them makes him smile like this. “you know this person, too!”

great.

“who…—” but before you can finish your question, heeseung suddenly gasps as his eyes widen almost comically, peering out of the window that is directly above your desk.

“y/n! look!” heeseung says, parting the curtains fully and gesturing you to come over. “it’s snowing!!!”

oh my god. it’s like the snow gods are laughing at you.

you make your way over and watch with your mouth open as the snowflakes twirl and fall, softly piling up upon one another on the concrete pavement. it isn’t heavy, and the snow on the ground is quickly melting, but there’s no denying that it is, in fact, snowing. the one damn time the weather forecast is right and it’s for this.

“it really is snowing,” you mumble, leaning closer out the window to get a better look.

“this is so pretty! do you think we’ll get a white christmas this year?” heeseung presses up against the window right beside you, turning to look at you with an expectant look in his eyes. lee heeseung, whose eyes sparkle at the mere thought of it snowing on the most festive day of the year. your heart squeezes painfully in your chest.

honestly, you think to yourself. just because he likes someone else doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to tell him what you feel, right? you don’t expect anything back from him, you could just follow through on your promise with jake and get it off your chest and continue with life as per normal. heeseung wouldn’t be weird about it-he’s heeseung.

“y/n?” heeseung asks, waving an unsure hand in front of you. “is everything okay?”

there’s a confused smile on his face, and his warm brown eyes look concerned as they search yours.

“heeseung, i think i have something to tell you.”

“suddenly?” his brows furrow in confusion. “you can tell me anything, you know. what is it?”

“i know you just said there’s someone else you like, and i know this seems like it’s out of the blue, but i have someone i really like too.”

heeseung’s eyes widen just a fraction, but he maintains his expression. “what? who is it?”

you take an unsteady breath. there’s no turning back now.

“it’s you, heeseung.”

“…it’s me?”

“you don’t have to say anything. i know you already like someone else, i’m just confessing because i made a pact with jake. we can just forget what i said and move o—”

“a pact with jake???” heeseung looks confused, his mind racing to keep up with your words.

“yeah, we had a promise. it’s nothing big, actually, it was something about the snow and. never mind, i shouldn’t ha—”

you cut yourself off when you suddenly feel heeseung’s hands on either side of your face. his hands are warm, slightly rough because it’s the winter and he never uses hand cream even when you tell him too.

“you don’t get to confess and then just move on like that,” he says, his face a mere few inches away from yours as he turns to face you.

“aren’t you going to ask me who the person i like is?” he asks, and your mind goes blank. what does it matter who he likes now? when you’ve just confessed to him?

he sighs slightly at your silence. “i thought i was being fairly obvious. it’s you, y/n. i was going to confess to you in the new year.” he smiles unsteadily as he says this, eyes sparkling the same way it did at the mention of a white christmas earlier. “now stop looking so upset, i just told you i like you, too.”

he pats your cheek playfully as his smile widens, watching in amusement at the shock on your face.

you had come up with a hundred different ways in which this could have ended, but none of your scenarios ever looked like this. suddenly the heat from his hands on the sides of your face feels a bit too warm.

“really? are you sure?”

“of course i’m sure, y/n! why wouldn’t i be sure?” he asks with a soft chuckle. “i’ve felt this way for the longest time now.”

for the longest time now. your stomach does a funny flip at the words, your heart stuttering as the reality of the situation dawns upon you.

you confessed and lee heeseung confessed right back. lee heeseung likes you and he says he’s sure about it.

everything’s falling into place, just like the soft, white flakes finding a home on the broad, sturdy branches of the oak tree outside.

maybe jake is right-something about the first snow really does feel magical.

(the moment is broken by the violent buzzing of your phone from where it is on your bed.

jake: y/n look out it’s snowing!!!

jake: it’s time!!!

jake: wait actually i’m not sure about this

jake: i don’t even know where she is right now

jake: i’m scared. this is scarier than i thought

jake:

jake: y/n are u there???)

[katara0524]

Impromptu Ramblings about the NEO:TWEWY Demo

In case y'all weren't aware, I've been a pretty big fan of TWEWY for a couple years now, and with the sequel coming out next month, the excitement I feel for this game is greater than ever :) I played the Demo for the first time yesterday, and following a couple views of some livestreams of others playing it, I felt like sharing my (very ramble-y) thoughts prior to the release of the full game. This post WILL contain spoilers for both TWEWY and NEO:TWEWY, so if you want to avoid those from now on, please block the tags: #twewy spoilers, #ntwewy spoilers, #neo twewy spoilers, #ntwewy, and #neo twewy ^_^ Oh, and if you wanna keep up with any other posts I make about my experience with this game, please refer to the tag "kat plays neo twewy" :)

-First things first: I have not watched the Final Trailer and I don't plan on doing so to avoid spoilers, especially after the pre-release era of KH3 where a lot of the later trailers spoiled a lot of the endgame content. That being said, I've seen some minor screenshots from the final trailer including what many believe to be characters from the original TWEWY, namely Shiki and Joshua. That is all I know about the Final Trailer and I would very much like to remain as blind as possible going into NEO :)

-The very first cutscene was quite ominous in the sense that this game is likely going to be about "changing fate" (a recently common theme in Squeenix games, which I do appreciate), perhaps leading off from the end of A New Day in the OG and trying to stop an Inversion of Shibuya. Also worth noting that A New Day had similar aspects in which the main character experienced "future visions" of tragic events, although in A New Day these events were not able to be changed, while in NEO it seems like one of the main "powers" our protagonist has is specifically to rewrite these events and avoid a "bad ending." Very interesting indeed!

-I really like the revamped comic book style dialogue scenes, it's much more fluid and modern, which is an excellent direction for the series to take!

-I would love to have an actual PokemonGO knockoff of Final Fantasy creatures, please Squeenix that would be incredibleeeeee

-Also the LINE stickers??? Are so cute???

-I would just like to point out that Fret is an absolute treasure throughout this entire demo, he's hilarious and I will protect him with my life

-UHHHH don't like that Fret picked up some Reaper Pins just out of nowhere.....or the fact that they're apparently popular all over Shibuya.............did y'all not learn anything from the OG game or what lmao

-Okay so when I first got the "curry or ramen" scene and heard NPCs talking about the new curry place replacing the old ramen place I became IMMENSELY distressed that Ramen Don was totally cut from the game because....well, Ramen Don is a King okay?? But I'm glad to learn that no, he didn't fall off the face of the earth, he's still in business and he's the one opening the curry restaurant lolol. PHEW, crisis averted!

-.....I don't like the sudden appearance of a Wall Reaper and being able to read NPC thoughts. Wtf happened when they left the ramen place??? Are they playing the Game alive somehow?

-Okay so I have my own theories about this "Swallow" character and what they're up to but considering this is only the Demo and I still Have No Idea What's Happening, I'm just gonna say that I think Swallow intentionally led Rindo and Fret to the Crossing so they could join the Game. I mean, add in the fact that Swallow still communicates with Rindo during the Game and you've got yourself a suspicious character right there lol

-"Hey they're shooting off fireworks!" Fret honey that's not fireworks oof (see also: "*laughs* I'm in danger")

-WOOOOOO way to traumatize Rindo right off the bat like that LMAOO

-The visuals for the intro are VERY GOOD, the song is pretty decent until it gets all "screamo" (which I absolutely cannot stand sorry lol)

-Shoka is every Customer Service employee ever and I respect that

-Susukichi went from being "meh" to "WOW THIS GUY IS FUN" in the span of 10 seconds and I also respect that (he is also built like an Absolute Unit which is hilarious)

-The Wall Reapers (and just Reapers in general) seem.....way nicer and more helpful this time around?? Like in the OG the Wall Reapers were SO RUDE gfhjgjdfkhn and yeah I'm sure we'll get some like that but the juxtaposition of the first Wall Reaper in the OG compared to the first one in NEO is insane.

-The puzzles are quite a bit more entertaining this time around even if it's generally the same "fetch quest" formula lol

-"Rindo's Group" way to go Fret HFKJDGHSDFKJ mans really left the default name in there lmao

-OKAYOKAYOKAY so to those who aren't aware I am a MASSIVE SIMP for Sho Minamimoto, he's my absolute favorite and I think about him daily. HIS INTRODUCTION IS. INCREDIBLE. I LOVE IT SM.

-GOD hearing him actually SPEAK FULL SENTENCES is just SO SURREAL I love this sm

-Also the remix of his theme???? NEO TRANSFORMATION????? IT'S SO GOOD????????? It's like gone from a Boss Theme to a more triumphant sounding theme and I am HERE for it (every version of Transformation is just INCREDIBLE and getting a new one is even better)

-I Love Him, Your Honor

-Also idk how exactly but it's kinda weird seeing Sho in the OG vs NEO, cuz while he's mostly the same Insane Math-Obsessed Catboy, he's.....calmed down quite a bit?? Like OG made a whole point of how poorly he cooperates with others (not to mention just being completely unhinged and trying to kill everyone), whereas here in NEO he's......actually kinda working with others??? HELLO???? Sir what happened to you and Neku during those 3 years I would love to know all about it

-I guarantee you Sho is still probably scheming shite and will likely pull some total insane BS later down the road, and I am very much looking forward to that. Also, is he looking for a certain Pin or something??? Cuz he keeps talking about different Pins and even mentions "this is just another Psych Pin" like he's actively looking for a Pin to do something with. Maybe it also has to do with the "latent powers of Players" thing he mentioned as well??? What is this dude UP TO oml (also is he in contact with Neku at all?? they're both technically fugitives at this point right?? WHAT HAPPENED AFTER A NEW DAY I AM BEGGING YOU)

-I seems like Sho ALSO has an idea of what's going on in this specific game (even if he won't admit it straightforward). Per his quote "The game's 142,857. Factor it out," he's essentially saying, "This game is a neverending cyle, figure out how to get out of it" (or at least that's what I got from his "cyclic number" nonsense lolol)

-I do like how Sho mostly stays out of sight until he's needed for a battle or assisting with a mission, that's kind of on par with his whole "uncooperative" quirk from the OG, plus he might literally have to stay out of sight of other Reapers and Players considering he's likely breaking the rules of the Game (not surprising considering him and Neku broke practically every rule in the book during OG)

-The nicknames for Sho- I can't- They're so FUNNYYYY GFHJSDFKJ

-He goes from being called "Pi-Face" and "Tabooty" in OG to "Mr. Minami" and "M-Teezy" in NEO LMAOO

-(Wowee I just realized I've been mostly talking about Sho oopsies sorry y'all, this is what I meant by thinking about him almost daily he is THAT much of a fav of mine ghfkjsd)

-Okay RIP Fret and Rindo for not getting literally ANY explanation as to how the Game works OOF, that is kinda cringe that whoever gets the Pin earns points, not whoever erases the Noise (which like I understand but also URRRGGHHH I WANNA SEE THE SQUAD SUCCEED)

-"I should be going home now it's getting late" Oh you sweet summer child-

-Also love the mention of parents in this game???? KH you could learn a thing or two from TWEWY (poor Rindo's mom fhgjkdh)

-KUBO IS HILARIOUS I SUPPORT HIM AND HIS GROSS FACE (also thank you Final Trailer thumbnail for spoiling my suspicions about him very cool smh)

-Kaie is a LAD I also support him, go King type those funky texts I believe in you

-FRET PLS STOP SCANNING FHGJKSDHKJFGHFKJ he's like me when I scan in OG during Weeks 2 and 3 and see Taboo Noise coming after me ghfjdshfj

-Also Rindo can you stay off your phone for TWO SECONDS ik you're trying to figure things out but Fret is a jelly boi and I don't want him to be upset with you my guy

-Sho being an actual sorta mentor to the kiddos?? Who are you sir this is so unlike you ghfgskj what happened to the guy who tried shooting children in the face 8 times over LMAO (granted he's probably just using them but it's still nice to see him actually cooperating and sharing knowledge with the kiddos aaaaa)

-EYO EIJI OJI THE TIKTOK INFLUENCER IS BACK LMAO

-hgjkfshgkjf "we aren't glorifying capitalism on my watch" THATS SO FUNNY TO ME GFHJFSDGHJKS (also an all-orange ensemble is disgusting you deserve jail for one thousand years fkn Cheddar Goldfish Cheezit ass woman)

-WICKED TWISTERS NAME DROP EYOOO we love to see it

-gfhsgjf Poor Rindo embarassing himself for the sake of the Game that's incredible

-R e t u r n t o M O N K E. That is all.

-Dialogue during boss battles is HELLA cool i love that

-HHHHH THE KANON SCENE MADE ME A N G E R Y FRET STOP SIMPING MY GUY says the girl with a Literal Simp Encyclopedia and simps for pixels on a screen daily

-Can't wait to see the other Reapers :eyes emoji:

-CAN'T WAIT TO SEE NAGI MY BELOVED YEAHHHH WOOOOOO AAAAND that's about it for the demo lolol, I absolutely CANNOT wait for next month, this game is gonna be INCREDIBLE holy hell Prepare for more simping, more screaming, and more vibing from Yours Truly :) I fully intend on sharing more general thoughts like this on both Tumblr and Twitter so it's not just reblog-retweet-reblog-retweet with the occasional comment fhgskjd

If you wanna witness my insanity up close and personal I have a Square Enix Discord server called Sea Side Dreamers! You can look it up on Disboard, or you can add me on Discord @Katara0524#9244 for a direct link :) We have topics about Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, NieR, and ofc TWEWY (as well as other topics!), so if you want some good ol' chaos and chitchat, you're more than welcome to join!

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

Sonic X Theory: the other Ultimate Lifeforms

In Sonic X’s adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, they make an interesting claim about the Ultimate Lifeform prototypes on the ARK. When Rouge hacks into the base, she informs Shadow of one thing- he wasn’t the only prototype from Project Shadow that escaped the ARK massacre. 

[ID: screenshots from Sonic X: one of Rouge looking up Project Shadow, surprised and reading “Shadow? Secure and dispose?” Another shot of two escape pods falling towards a planet, with the caption from a GUN soldier: “Our mission ended when we sealed away the prototype of the ultimate lifeform.” End ID.] 

Rouge makes the claim that neither of these escape pods was Shadow... so in X Canon, is Shadow even who he thinks he is? And just as importantly... who are the other prototypes? 

Full theory under the cut. 

So first off. Let’s look at Rouge’s claim that Shadow isn’t who he thinks he is.

Part One: Is Shadow from the ARK?

[ID: screenshots from Sonic X of Rouge and Shadow talking, with the following dialogue:

Rouge: This is the progress report for Project Shadow, a plan to create the ultimate life form. The body they created is still held there.

Shadow: I know. That’s a prototype. I’m the Ultimate Lifeform they created afterwards- 

Rouge: Two capsules were ejected when the ARK was shut down. But neither was found. They couldn’t lock up in prison what they couldn’t find. Do you understand? I wonder who you really are.

Shadow looks troubled. End ID.] 

So two capsules were ejected and neither was found in the fifty years it’s been since the accident-- except I think Rouge is wrong about one thing. Shadow is who he thinks he is- because his capsule was sent out alone. It must have somehow not been logged. 

How do we know this? Shadow’s flashback of being sent away and the man who worked for GUN are completely different- first of all, the GUN soldier doesn’t remember her saying anything to Shadow, or Shadow even being there- it seems that she died to send away something or someone else. Second- Maria is in a different position around the lever in both flashbacks. See the GUN soldier’s first-- 

Though we don’t see the full room, we get the sense that it’s small from the other shots that I don’t have the time to screenshot. She’s around an elevated platform not attached to a wall, and either facing the pod she’s sending away or in a completely different room. 

But, both of Shadow’s alternate memories of Maria sending him away-- the first one more stylized, the second one we can assume more real-- neither looks like this. 

In both, she’s in a differing position. In the sepia flashback, she’s not facing him, and pulling a lever attached to a wall. In the second flashback, she’s already on the floor, and the lever pad we see would cause her to be facing away from Shadow. In neither of these do we see any evidence that anyone other than Shadow and Maria are in the room or even nearby. 

Shadow also has enough evidence he’s who he thinks he is- he has the right powerset, the GUN soldier says that they did, indeed, seal away an Ultimate Prototype, Gerald mentions Shadow enough in his monologues, and... honestly there’s really no evidence that he isn’t Shadow, other than the two pods. And two pods? Shadow was sent out alone, we saw no evidence of a second pod in either flashback. So he wasn’t with anyone else. 

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is that these are two different events- one where Maria releases Shadow, and one where she releases another- or, possibly, the others, the two pods that were logged as escaping. 

Maria either freed Shadow first and then the other two, or she freed the first two, got shot, and then managed to survive long enough to send Shadow away. Either way-- these events are separate.  

So what was in the other two pods? Two other prototypes of the Ultimate Lifeform, clearly, but nothing like the Biolizard, they’re too small. 

Now let me ask you something... wouldn’t it make sense for the Ultimate Prototypes to look similar, if they were similar lifeforms? 

And who do we know who looks similar to Shadow? 

Part Two: Sonic is an Ultimate Lifeform

[ID: Shadow looking down at Sonic, and saying, “I see. We actually do look alike. It’s like looking in a mirror.” End ID.] 

Okay so like. Unless you’re very colorblind I think you’ve noticed that Shadow and Sonic are completely different colors. But let’s ignore that for now-- they do have a very similar silhouette... in fact, Shadow’s silhouette is incredibly close to SuperSonic, which is Sonic at full power. And in-universe, they look similar enough that in low lighting pretty much nobody can tell them apart. 

And not just that- Sonic has a lot of power for a seemingly “normal” mobian. [Yes, I know they don’t use the term “Mobius” in Sonic X but let me simplify this somehow.] His superspeed, ability to survive so much shit... he’s powerful enough that he presents a rival for Shadow without chaos emeralds (though Shadow is nerfed a little by the Inhibitor Rings- more on that later). 

[ID: Sonic and Shadow racing; they are keeping up with each other. Shadow says, “It seems your appearance isn’t the only thing that’s similar to me. Who are you?” Sonic responds, “I’m me.” End ID.] 

Shadow’s right- their appearance isn’t where the resemblance stops. And of course there’s probably the most damning similarity-- they are the only two characters we see go Super and have the ability to control the Chaos Emeralds.

[ID: First image is SuperSonic and SuperShadow, having absorbed the power of the chaos emeralds. Second image is from the Third Season, where a MetaRex shouts, “There are two individuals [referring to Sonic and Shadow] who can draw out the power of the Chaos Emeralds?” End ID.] 

Oh and SPEAKING OF Sonic/Shadow similarities-- there’s a scene in Season Three where Sonic is being lectured by the villain about how all life ends eventually so why bother etc. and Sonic says that life is worth the good bits, all that jazz. Here’s the scene:

And exactly 1:25 in.... guess what starts playing

This song is scarily similar to “Recollection of the Ark”... Shadow’s sad song about his memories of the ARK... while Sonic is being lectured about still having faith in humanity. You know. Like MARIA WANTED.

Interesting how we know absolutely nothing about Sonic’s past, huh-- pretty much all we have before he meets Tails is that he says he’s fifteen years old, but honestly... are we even sure about that? First of all, if Sonic was revived alone, there wouldn’t be a way to tell his age, he’d probably just accept the first age someone assigned him. 

Alternatively, we know from the end of Season Two and the beginning of Season Three that time works in a very wonky way from Earth to Mobius- in the ~2-3 days Sonic’s alone with Chris, a week passes on Mobius, despite the fact we know he can chaos control at any time. In the third season? Six years pass on Earth while six months pass on Mobius. So time doesn’t really work in a reasonable way, meaning it’s possible that Sonic is fifteen... and he lived fifteen years on Mobius after awakening, while fifty years passed on Earth. 

And we know for a fact that travel between Mobius and Earth was possible even before the events of Season One... because Eggman was born on Earth.

[ID: Eggman looking shocked and turning around in a chair, announcing, “I was born in this world!” End ID.]

Eggman was born on Earth and somehow ended up on Mobius-- but he was young enough he didn’t realize until he saw that Gerald lived on Earth. So was he in the second escape pod? It’s possible, but I don’t think so-- he’d have to have information on Gerald, and it seems he had a picture of Gerald and Maria, so it’s likely he traveled with a parent or guardian, or at least some kind of family history, which I doubt Maria would think to store in an escape pod while everyone was running for their lives. This plot element was probably just to set up that travel between the dimensions happens more than we think. 

Neither escape pod from the ARK was recovered, probably because they ended up on Mobius. 

It’s most likely that they Chaos Controlled into the other dimension-- I know I said Maria probably wouldn’t think to store anything other than the lifeform themselves in the pod, but if the lifeform needed Chaos Emeralds to practice/control their powers, or the Chaos Emeralds were already stored in an escape pod for safekeeping-- or if, possibly, GUN was attempting to capture the Chaos Emeralds as well, and the Robotniks knew that they would use them in a destructive way-- all that combined could mean that the emeralds would also be important enough to send away in a pod. 

If even one of the pods had Chaos Emeralds, it’s possible that the lifeform inside could have sensed danger and unconsciously teleported them to the most safe place from GUN-- another world where GUN didn’t exist and couldn’t reach them. And even better-- a world where mobians like them lived. 

From Sonic X lore that I don’t have the time to find and screencap, we know that the two worlds used to be the same but split at some point in history. If this was after, say, the events of Chaos destroying the Echidnas-- which, sidenote, interesting how they disappear and nobody knows where they went, so it’s possible that Chaos straight-up split the dimensions just to get rid of the Echidnas-- then enough of their lore could remain. Old cave paintings, wall carvings, etc., could show enough mobians that scientists could probably think “oh, wow, that looks like a god figure. might as well design our ultimate lifeform after that, esp since they had this god that could control chaos and the chaos emeralds came from here.” 

Wanna know what’s interesting about those ancient echidna temples? Guess who’s there-- if we go by Sonic 3 & Knuckles, a game that ofc had been released by the time X was being written...

SuperSonic. 

Both the ultimate form of Sonic, and the silhouette of Shadow. 

So let’s say they find this on the ARK studies, and they’re like “okay so our ultimate lifeform goal is a hedgehog. Got it.” There’s two options after this:

They make Sonic, but deem him a failure for reasons and cryo-freeze him until they need him or can release him. They then proceed to make Shadow, who they believe actually is their ultimate lifeform. 

They made Shadow first, but after a while kept experimenting and making more prototypes, just in case, or possibly because they decided Shadow wasn’t powerful enough. However, the prototypes weren’t ready to awaken before the ARK massacre, Shadow never met them. 

So as I’ve made clear, I’m pretty sure that one of those prototypes was Sonic-- who, of course, has no idea. Either he only entered consciousness after arriving in Mobius, or his memories of the ARK were so vague, traumatic, early, or a combo, that his mind blocked them out. Either way, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that he and Shadow are both prototypes, which is what gives Sonic his power. 

And Sonic’s power, btw, isn’t limited like Shadow’s. Because he doesn’t have inhibitor rings. 

If prototype!Sonic was sent away with inhibitor rings, he ditched them. Which would make sense, especially if he woke up with no memory of the ARK and didn’t know why these weird bracelets were on his arm. He would notice that the rings slowed him down and ditch them fast. And that’s assuming they even stuck rings on the prototype. 

But if we do assume they stuck rings on the prototypes... maybe we can find the other lifeform that was sent away along with Sonic. 

Part Three: Who is the Third Ultimate Lifeform?

Okay. Let’s do a headcount. 

Who, in Sonic X, 

Existed on Mobius at the same time as Sonic, 

Doesn’t appear to have a lot of power but has a lot of incredible strength if you pay attention, 

Sometimes shows strange abilities, such as far leaps into the air, a speed great enough that they can sometimes catch up to Sonic (though not as great, possibly because of the inhibition), even potentially the ability to summon weapons out of thin air, 

Looks similar to the Mobian Hedgehog-- or, perhaps, with influences from a Mobian Echidna, who were the ones who had the SuperSonic glyphs in the first place, and thus could potentially serve as a design point, 

Wears rings around their wrists at all times?

[ID: Amy Rose being absurdly powerful in several screencaps, often glowing; though this is normal anime expressionwork, it is something that exclusively happens to Amy in Sonic X. End iD.]

And, of course, this beauteous moment: 

[ID: A scene from the season two finale of Sonic X. Eggman’s ship, on which Amy’s hammer is stuck, is high above her, and Eggman taunts “It doesn’t matter if you’re angry because your hammer is stuck up here!” In the following image, a moving gif, Amy summons a hammer out of thin air, a puff of smoke coming from it, as she is still glowing with a fire-like energy. Eggman’s robots shout “She has another one! How many does she have?” End ID.]

That’s right! This was all an excuse to spout out my “Amy Rose could kill God” propaganda! But it’s not propaganda if I’m right!

Part Four: The Lifeforms

So. It’s been a couple months since I made this post, but I was rewatching Sonic X with my sister, and we did notice that you do see prototype lifeforms for a flash in the GUN soldier’s story.

[ID: Screenshots from Sonic X; The GUN soldier narrates his story, as we see GUN soldiers arresting scientists, while standing in front of empty tubes of bubbling green liquid. The caption reads, “There were many rumors about ARK. Such as doing research for eternal life or creating the Ultimate Life Form.” The GUN soldier steps to a tube that has something in it. End ID.]

We see a brief flash of an experimental lifeform in this memory, as seen above; we also see two more, the ones that were explicitly stated to be the ones Maria was freeing.

[ID: Screenshots from later in the same episode of Sonic X, the first showing two tubes with dark figures inside, surrounded by dark blue bubbling water. The next screenshot shows Maria preparing to free them, with the captions reading “An experimental life form? She’s planning to free it!” End ID.]

So, these silhouettes. Let’s uh. Let’s take a look at those huh

Now, the bodies are too thick to be standard mobian bodies- but we can also see wires attached to the prototypes, as well as, you know, whatever that liquid is. It’s entirely possible there’s something wrapped around their bodies, to keep them safe/asleep/etc.

But..... ok so I might be reaching here but analyzing the face silhouettes, using red lines to mark quills and green to mark potential laid-back ears, it really could be long-quilled sonic and short-quilled Amy.

As well as this, in the shot of the GUN soldier looking at a prototype, I swear I can see a mobian ear.

tl;dr this is all fascinating me and I think we should let the Sonic X crew return to making this show as if they never left so that we can get answers to this

[pleasereadmeok]

Matthew Scene by Scene - A Discovery of Witches Season 2 - Episode 7  # 1/2  Green-eyed Monster.  

Spoilers if you haven’t seen ADOW season 2 episode 7. 

Matthew and Diana arrive in Bohemia to find the Book of Life.  They are challenged at the gate of the Emperor Rudolph’s bijou little hunting lodge by a bouncer.

Matthew introduces himself as Elizabeth’s ambassador but the guards aren’t impressed.  

Matthew pulls rank and insists that he is no mere ambassador.  Well ain’t that the truth?  Unbelievably this works - eh?  Something about that gravelly, ‘sex god’ voice has convinced the guards to let them through.  Well - you would, wouldn’t you?  

Ooo this is exciting.  I’ve been to where some of these scenes were shot - the Borgo Medievale which is set in the Parco del Valentino in Turin/Torino.  If only I’d left it a few years later I could have done some major Goode location fangirling. [You really don’t want to know what that is.  Searching the ‘Goode locations’ tag in the archive will give you some idea of the lengths I will go to visit them.  😬]     

After a little wait they are granted a brief audience with Rudy.  

The look Matthew gives Rudy is one of sheer distain.  Like he has scraped the Emperor off the bottom of his boot.

Oh look - it’s that bloke who was in Cemetery Junction with Matthew Goode!   Wow he’s come up in the world - insurance salesperson to Holy Roman Emperor.  Great career progression.  

Matthew bows and introduces himself as Matthew Roydon.  Mate, he knows you already - and not just from Cemetery Junction. 

I know exactly who you are Matthaios de Clermont  - and you is Liz’s spy!

Matthew is so damn arrogant in reply.   It’s like these two have danced this little dance before.  

I come representing my Queen but not as a spy.  Pah!  No one’s buying that Matthew.  I would speak with her subject Edward Kelley.

Not happening coz he’s not here according to Rudy.  Matthew doesn’t believe that - where Rudy goes, Eddie goes.  

Oops.  Rudy is miffed now and he’s calling out Matthew as a vamp.  Matthew has questioned the all powerful insurance salesperson Holy Roman Emperor and that has not gone down well.  

Matthew styles it out beautifully with a little tilt of the head and an arrogant smirk on his face. 

Diana realises that this is basically a testosterone fuelled stand off and she intervenes.

Oh help - Diana is on a roll and spilling her life story again.  Matthew is probably dying inside.    Rudy is interested in more ways than one and wants to know Diana’s name.  OMG he’s even given her a pet name - La Diosa.  Guessing that Matthew might throw a hissy fit about this pretty soon.  He watches as Rudy kisses Diana’s hand and looks like he might rip off the Emperor’s head any second now!

Back off, Rudy that’s my wife!    Matthew marks his ‘territory’.

May I introduce my wife, your majesty.  

Rudy dismisses Matthew’s attempt to warn him off.  My spies would have informed me had Elizabeth’s Shadow taken a wife.  Particularly one so ... intriguing.  

CRINGE.  Matthew is not having that blatant flirt-fest.  

Perhaps you should consider hiring more thorough spies... your majesty.   

Woah!  Handbags at dawn!  Matthew does not like Rudy flirting with his wife one little bit.  Rudy understands the insult and suggests Matthew learns some manners.   Oh yeah - these two are like cocks in a fight.  

Matthew barely tilts his head in a bow as they leave.  The malevolent look that Matthew gives Rudy is like some sort of evil death stare.  This won’t end well.  But my money is on Matthew to win.  

[Pics - adow s2:07 edits + unedited screenshots]

[ggukkiedae]

[VLive 201024] MY 💗2💜

2am kst

highlights from her vlive! italics = english

she waited for about two minutes before she started talking

“sorry it’s at a weird time, i couldn’t sleep”

talking about the quarantine fashion concept photo then standing to show of her actual pajamas

“throw it back? you want me to throw it back?” *proceeds to throw the phone over her shoulder to her bed, laughing, then picking it up* “i threw it back*

“the other oppas? they’re asleep, i think”

jungkook, walking into her room a few seconds later and handing her a mug of hot chocolate “not necessarily”

jungkook kissing her forehead and making her promise to go to sleep soon before leaving the room

talking about their online concert

“i cried during my stage, i hope i didn’t ruin the performance though”

“a fan had a sign with a filipino pick up line, and i couldn’t stop laughing for a while”

“hannah unnie messaged me that day saying she was watching with the dreamies… unnie, if you see this, thank you again!”

“wow it’s been a while since i’ve done a solo vlive… last time i did was december last year? sorry about leaving you guys for so long”

she started talking about how she missed being able to look army into the eye while performing for them, and she actually started tearing up

“the pandemic is taking a toll on everyone in different ways… i hope you all remember to stay safe and healthy until we find a way to end the pandemic. what have you guys been up to lately?”

she spends the next fifteen minutes looking through different comments and talking about them like how interesting everything seemed to be

“oh, you learned how to crochet? i wanted to, but i’m bad at it, so i think i’ll stick to making music. fighting!”

“your dog gave birth? awwwww send some pictures on weverse!”

“australia? it’s been a while. last time i went was without channie oppa, and i’d like to be able to visit mom and dad and my siblings with channhie oppa. thank god chris and kuya live just nearby” (kuya is the filipino term for older brother)

she shows off a picture of her biological brother’s daughter who was already five years old “she’s pretty, isn’t she? yoonseollie has grown so much! remind me to visit her before we get busy again”

*bursting into laughter* “one army says they want me to talk about my boyfriend. he’s sweet, and he works hard. he’s getting a little bit more rest now that he isn’t promoting for their title song, so that’s something i’m grateful for.”

“you want me to rest? this is rest! i like talking to you guys”

yoonmi walking out for a second then coming back in with a plate of cookies

“i got hungry,” she shrugged

“someone says to look at onew’s instagram? jinki oppa?”

“oh he posted a screenshot! hi, oppa! thanks for watching me! let’s meet up for a meal soon~”

her personal phone rings and she jumps a little. she shows the live the contact name and said it was mark

“why is he calling me at this time? hello?”

“jungkook hyung called me. he says to tell you to go to sleep” “but i’m live” “you can go live again at a reasonable time, okay?” “okay”

she pouted a little bit at that

“don’t pout at me” “you’re watching?” “... maybe”

yoonmi laughed “alright then. nanite oppa” “goodnight, i’ll see you soon”

right as she hung up, someone knocked on her door and that was yoongi

“time to sleep, princess”

“well, that’s three people telling me to go to sleep, and i guess the food and hot choco made me sleepy. until next time, everyone~”

the last thing everyone saw before she ended the live was her waving and yoongi wrapping her in a hug

[mythicalcanary-literature]

FanFiction - Crossing the Stars

Hetalia (c) Hidekaz Himaruya

FTL: Faster Than Light (c) Subset Games

[CHAPTER LIST]

Author’s Note: This FanFiction is a crossover between the sci-fi strategy game ‘FTL: Faster Than Light’ by Subset Games and the manga/anime called ‘Hetalia’ by Hidekaz Himaruya. The story will follow closely to the events of the rougue-like gameplay in FTL and the human characters will be replaced with the human versions of the national personifications in ‘Hetalia’. This is a fun personal project and it requires no knowledge of either fandom to enjoy this story. I’d encourage checking the original sources out though! Use of screenshots in this FanFiction are to supplement the storytelling to help plot the course of our heroes’ journey in the universe. Whatever the outcome of the gameplay I base this story on (as each playthrough is very unique) will be translated into the plot of this story. i.e. If the spaceship gets damaged, it gets damaged in the story. If a character dies in the game, they’re dead in this fiction. (Please note that I find this kind of storytelling entertaining to play/write and I plan to do more in the future if time allows!)

Chapter 2

The crew of the S.S. APH pondered their options. At the Exit Beacon of their first Civilian Sector they had a choice on where to jump. Both branching sectors were civilian areas, one was under Engi Control and the other under Zoltan Control.

Captain Alfred F. Jones brought up the file on the Engi species. “It says here that Engi dudes are made of nanomachines. That’s pretty damn sweet! Maybe we could get them to be our mechanics?”

Arthur Kirkland, the weapons master, pulled up the file on their second option, the Zoltans. “Apparently both the Engi and Zoltans are allies. We could encounter either species in either sector so we have a coin toss here. Zoltans are energy beings, meaning that they can act as a kind of battery to save us some engine power. That’s rather handy.”

Their engines expert Francis Bonnefoy hummed in approval. “Now that you mention it, I wouldn’t mind having either of those creatures on board. An expert mechanic? A spare battery, pardon ze term… and if we can encounter them in any of these two sectors I don’t think we could lose.” 

“It says that the Engi are secret allies of the Federation. That bodes very well for us. Provided the Rebels haven’t corrupted them, of course,” Arthur added thoughtfully.

Their American Captain beamed. “Hell yeah! I guess that means the Zoltan dudes are allies as well. Can’t go wrong here.”

Arthur coughed. “Actually, if we enter Zoltan territory and we’re attacked by hostiles whom have a Zoltan Energy Shield we could face problems. Those energy shields are a bitch to destroy. We need to avoid as many problematic scenarios as possible.”

“Agreed,” the Frenchman said quickly. “I am still shaken from ze last battles.”

“Engi Controlled then?” Alfred suggested. “Back to your stations! Let’s get this important cargo on the move!”

A cautionary message popped up on Alfred’s monitor. It warned them that Mantis had been preying on the Engi core worlds and those insectoids were a rather violent race. He hoped for a peaceful voyage this go-round. He programmed in the next jump, reluctantly avoiding the temptation of visiting the store located at a nearby beacon. If they could harvest more scrap maybe they could invest in some more kickass weaponry or upgrades!

A rather disgruntled British voice chimed over the announcement system. “OH FUCKING HELL!” As tempted as the Captain was to discourage swearing, he allowed it in this case. Out of the frying pan and into the literal fire!

Francis gasped, staring out of his nearby airlock window at the super-giant Class M star! They were too close, they were going to cook like that rather delicious duck l’orange he made for his crew before they left the Federation space port back home. “Oh non non non!”

DANGER! SOLAR FLARES! DANGER! SOLAR FLARES! DANGER!

“Incoming dumbass Pirate Scout ship! Kirkland lock weapons on their shields and weapons rooms before we grill like a BBQ!” Captain Jones commanded as he anxiously kept an eye on their FTL Drive charge. He really did think those pirates were dumbasses, who dares lurk around a giant star to attack passersby at the risk of setting their own ship alight? Idiots.

The S.S. APH successfully damaged the pirate ship but the enemy return shot rocked the weapons room. FIRE!

Arthur hardly knew what hit him, but the searing heat was enough of a tip-off to tell him that if he didn’t move right now he was going to die. Scrambling to his feet, he reached for the fire extinguisher and tried to combat the flames. This was very bad.

His best friend’s voice hailed him over the comms. “Artie, get out of there! I’m gonna open the airlocks to snuff out the fire. Go literally anywhere where you have oxygen.”

“Aye, sir!” he acknowledged, coughing from the smoke as he fled to the shields room. The portside and starboard side airlocks shot open along with a couple of doors into the weapons room draining the air rapidly to deny the fire any fuel.

As soon as the fire was out, Alfred closed all of the doors. That was all kinds of horrible. The pirate ship was repairing and had shields online. If they could get their weapons…

The super-giant Class M star wanted in on the action. It stretched a solar flare right out to the warring ships!

WARNING! SHIELDS CRITICAL!

Good thing Kirkland kept that fire extinguisher. Fire seemed to be following him today. Alfred sighed from the Bridge and called his crew. “Artie, get out of shields, I’ll open the starboard airlocks. Bonnefoy! Assist Kirkland in weapons, we need to get those back online.”

“Aye-aye, Captain!”

In the weapons room, Arthur and Francis united to repair the systems. The Frenchman quickly pulled his on-and-off frienemy into a hug and checked him for injuries. “Mon Dieu! I am happy you aren’t too badly hurt. Ze shields are down, we have to work quickly. Are you well?”

Arthur huffed and pushed him away. “Yes, I’m fine. Let’s get to work before more fire follows me.” He was feeling a little paranoid that he had pissed off a sun god or some crap like that.  They had to get away.

The pirates were fighting well! They destroyed their surveillance system, not that it was a vital system at this point in time but it was extra hull damage that our heroes could not afford to take. “Bonnefoy! Shields are broken, meet me there. Artie, I see weapons are online, stay there and give them hell!”

Give them hell indeed! The Englishman dealt the deathblow to the pirates and was glad to dust his hands of the bastards. Unfortunately the star was not done with them and heavily damaged their oxygen systems and the weapons room again. The battle was won but the war wasn’t over!

“I’m off to repair O2!” Arthur announced as he fled from his post at weapons to stop them from suffocating. Alfred acknowledged. “Francis, join him! Get the oxygen back online, we can repair other things later but our ship can’t handle more of this. I’m gonna jump us away!”

“Oui! Please get us out of here, I am sweaty and it’s gross.” The pair split directions and Alfred slammed in the co-ordinates of their next destination at the Bridge. If this was what was in the stars for them in this sector they might not live to see the end and that thought was terrifying.

The next leap took them to an existing battle between a Mantis ship harassing a small Engi research vessel. Alfred was almost ready to command an intervention but the insectoids fled as they entered their space. The Engi Captain hailed them, offering thanks for showing up, and gave the S.S. APH a new drone schematic.

Captain Jones gasped in awe. “OH SHIT YEAH! A BOARDING DRONE?! YEEEEEAH!”

His friends joined him on the Bridge. Arthur blinked in surprise. “A Boarding Drone? Wow, that’s powerful tech! Too bad we don’t have a drone room.”

“Dudes, we get one! Or we can sell it if we can’t, whatever, but damn, those Engi guys were nice.”

Francis stretched. “Let’s keep moving, mes amis. Ze Rebels are always on our tails.”

Arthur beamed. A Boarding Drone? That would be fun to use against the Rebel Fleet.

“Alright, dudes, you’re gonna hate me for this, but I’m gonna backtrack to the store. Our hull is fucked and if we can get a drone room to use this fancy-ass tech we’re sure as hell getting it!” Arthur chided him for his horrible use of the English language but agreed that the risk might be worth it. Their hull was already fifty percent damaged, it could spell death if they carried on without fixing it.

Luck turned in their favour! Alfred authorised the purchase of the new drone room to house the Boarding Drone, and it also came with a free Defence Drone Mark I! Bargain. They spent the rest of their scrap on hull repairs and moved on to the next beacon.

They backtracked to an earlier beacon and leapt right on towards the distress signal. Captain Jones listened to the plea and cringed. Oh boy, this was not a pretty distress call but he didn’t feel that they could risk a rescue mission. He called his crew to the Bridge to make an informed decision.

Francis peered through the window in surprise. “It’s an evacuation.”

Alfred hailed the fleeing vessels. “Yo, this is Captain Jones of the Federation Star Ship APH, what’s the sitch?”

Arthur glared at him for once again disregarding etiquette. He ignored his friend.

One of the fleeing ships responded; “Help! We’re being overrun by some sort of giant alien spiders!”

The Frenchman squealed. “WHAT? That’s disgusting! Call pest control!”

Arthur whacked him across the head. “I think literally anyone coming to their aid IS pest control.”

Alfred winced. “Giant alien spiders? Seriously?”

The fleeing ship yelled, “Help us or flee yourselves! Those things are evil!”

Arthur bit his lip. “Sending an away team isn’t advisable, Alfred. I don’t think we can afford to waste more time with the Rebels on our heels and we don’t know what we’re up against.”

Francis nodded. “Oui, I say we go. They’re already evacuating, we should stay ze course.”

The young Captain sighed and agreed resolutely. “Yeah, you’re totally right. Back to your stations, we have a mission to complete!”

“Heads-up, all! We’re navigating an asteroid field.” Alfred paused and checked the radar. “Incoming pirates! Kirkland, power down the Artemis missile and channel it into the drones. I’m gonna power down the medbay to support the Defence Drone, it’s gonna take out the asteroids for us.” Arthur switched the power routes and confirmed that the drone was ready.

“Ah shoot, it looks like we’ve got another coward on our hands. Enemy vessel is powering up its FTL Drive!”

“I’ve destroyed their weapons, sir!” Arthur replied, prepared to change tactics. “Thank God for this drone, it’s stopping the asteroids from striking us. Their hull is weak, the pirates won’t last long.”

True to his word, the pirates perished soon after and they could reap the rewards. There was no time to spare, they had to continue the journey!

“Hey, dudes! We have a Rebel Auto douche here with a sweet cache. Let’s attack it and steal its shit.”

Arthur audibly sighed over the comms system. “Is that an order, Captain or are you daydreaming aloud?”

“HAHAHAHA! Shut it and fire up the weapons, bro.”

“How the hell did you earn your Captain’s badge again?” he asked rhetorically.

“By bein’ a HERO, of course! Fire up!”

“I’ve taken out their weapons, Captain!” Sadly, that wasn’t enough to stop an enemy missile from screwing with their shields.

“Shields are down! That goddamn drone is setting everything on fire! Francis, run to weapons, I need to open the airlocks!”

“Oui, I’ll keep Arthur company and hope he doesn’t attract fire again,” Francis responded, running down the halls.

Arthur scoffed. “Quiet, idiot, or I’ll make sure you’re in the way of the fire beam.”

“So cruel!” the Frenchman whined as he entered the weapons room. The Englishman stuck out his tongue and switched the Burst Laser to lock on the drones as Alfred opened the airlocks to control the drain of oxygen.

Once the fires were extinguished, Alfred shut the airlocks and commanded Francis to repair the shields and medbay.  The Auto-Assault ship exploded and left them with a decent reward. Arthur examined the weapon from the cache. A Healing Burst? That could be useful but he was hoping for something a little better.

The next beacon was a store! The Engi hive operating it seemed friendly enough and Alfred treated Arthur to a special weapons augmentation. As the Engi repaired their hull, Arthur installed the ‘Automated Re-Loader’. An extra ten percent recharge rate on their weapons could really give them an advantage!

Feeling refreshed, the crew embarked to the next beacon, painfully aware of how close the Rebel Fleet was getting to them.

“Yo, crewdudes! I found a dormant Rebel Automated Scout here. I’m gonna try and download its data stores. You guys chill or whatever.”

A FEW MOMENTS LATER…

“Uh… Yeah, Artie, can ya do me a favour and like… blast the ever living hell outta this thing? I miiiight have activated it into fight mode.”

Francis could have sworn he heard the audible facepalm from his friend, but then again he could have done that deliberately over the announcement system.

Fortunately these ships were quick to deal with and Arthur destroyed it without putting up much of a fight. They collected the loot and moved on with their lives.

The next beacon was located around a pulsar. A small research station orbited it, but it seemed to be abandoned. Alfred scanned the area and flipped on the Red Alert sirens. “BATTLE STATIONS, PEEPS. WE HAVE MORE PIRATES!”

“I thought this was Engi space? All we’ve seen are Rebels and Pirates!” Francis complained over the comms system.

“They could be Engi pirates? We don’t have the scanners to see into their ships,” Arthur reasoned as he powered up the weapons. “Brace yourselves for ion waves, everyone. Our electronics are going to go haywire.”

DANGER! ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES! DANGER!

The enemy weapons room was targeted and blasted to pieces. An ion wave disrupted their engines and shields, whereas the enemy had a mild disruption to their weapons and oxygen rooms.

“We have another runner! Take these losers down, Kirkland!”

“I’m doing my best! The bloody pulsar knocked out my weapons charge.”

“Shit, they’re getting away!”

There was a tense moment as the pirates used their FTL Drive to flee. The crew of the S.S. APH were worried that they would alert the Rebel Fleet about their location. This did not happen and they could breathe again.

“Fuck, that was intense!” Alfred called over the announcement system. “Look, things are gonna get ugly. We’ll pitstop at the next store but we’re gonna encounter the Rebels at the Exit Beacon. Artie, be on high alert when we get there.”

“I’m already on high alert, but I will do my best to fend them off so we can get to the next sector.”

“Good man. Franny, come with me, we’ll get the supplies this time.”

The Engi trader was a nice entity. He showed the crewmembers his wares and allowed them to discuss budget. In the end, they settled for a Flak Gun Mark I to potentially give them an advantage over multiple shields on enemy vessels along with an extra bit of fuel to tide them over. That was it, that was ALL of their scrap, which included the extra currency they made by selling their Healing Burst. They hoped it was enough to keep them alive.

Captain Jones gathered his friends in the Bridge with a grave expression. “Okay, so the Rebels are definitely at the Exit Beacon, no escapin’ that. Just do your best and try not to die. Our priority is to buy time to escape, alright? We’re not aiming for a win, we’re aiming for an escape.”

Francis looked nervous. “I don’t want to die!”

Arthur sat on the pilot’s chair and rested his head in his hands. “We all know the risks. Let’s not be pessimistic. We’ll either succeed in getting through the beacon or they will blow us to kingdom come. We’ve better head there right now. I just hope they haven’t had time to set-up anti-ship batteries…”

“Good luck, guys! I believe in you!” They all hugged for a brief moment before marching off to their stations. Here goes nothing!

As Alfred suspected, the enemy ship had two layers of shields to deal with. The investment in the Flak Gun was worth it. Arthur warmed up the weapons and aimed the Flak Gun at the enemy engines with additional fire power aimed at their shields in the form of the Artemis missile. He also noticed that they had a teleportation pad. Well, this was about to get bloody!

WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED!

“Bonnefoy! Get out of engines and man the doors! I’m opening the back airlocks, don’t get caught in it, I’ll try and suffocate the bastard!” Alfred called over a private comm link as he monitored the single human intruder.

“Aye, Captain!” Francis responded, racing to his new post as the engine and oxygen rooms were starved of air. The intruder was going to regret beaming aboard alright!

In weapons, Arthur cringed as his Flak debris missed the FTL Drive. He was counting on the Artemis missile to destroy the shields to help things along. The shields were hit on both ships and they tried their best to remain stable.

WARNING! SHIELDS CRITICAL!

The oxygen room was under attack by the one intruder that was slowly suffocating because he didn’t bring a space suit. The S.S. APH’s shields were vulnerable, which meant that the Rebel Elite Fighter could definitely land more hits. This wasn’t looking great and the FTL was taking its sweet time to charge up!

Francis did his best to hold the doors firmly secured shut. This was difficult when they never invested any scrap to upgrade their reactor and subsequently their subsystems further. He could not leave his post whilst the intruder remained on board, which left the engines unmanned so that he couldn’t assist Alfred with dodging attacks, and if he left the doors to repair the broken shields Arthur would be attacked by the intruder, no doubt. This was a horrible situation and it was going to get worse.

WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED! WARNING! SHIELDS CRITICAL!

Arthur managed to damage the Rebel’s engines, shields and weapons but chaos had already reigned on the S.S. APH. Enemy retaliation had damaged their piloting systems, shields and engines. On top of that, there was a fire in the drone control room and the entire oxygen system had been destroyed. They were in major trouble!

WARNING! SHIELDS CRITICAL!

WARNING! HULL AT 75%!

It was a never-ending sound of alarms on the ship. Alfred was stuck repairing the piloting system so that they could continue charging the FTL Drive, Francis had left the door system room to try to fix the shields to give them SOME protection as Arthur madly aimed their weapons at the enemy ship.

Arthur panicked and knew he had to do something or they’d be stuck as a waiting target for the Rebels to destroy any minute now. He ran to the engines to repair the FTL Drive. “Alfred! I’m repairing the engines. We can’t leave if they’re broken!”

“The weapons are auto-firing, right?!” he called back.

“Yes! I…” Wow, the air was constricting in this room. He continued working as hard as he could to get the engines back online but he couldn’t focus for some reason… “We need to get vital systems online!”

The Rebels were close to destruction but that felt like a hollow promise of victory. The teleportation room activated again and now they had THAT to deal with too.

Alfred was sweating. The drone room was directly behind the Bridge and that was completely on fire now. He couldn’t run to help his friends and they were losing! He checked the ship surveillance to see how everyone was and his eyes widened in horror. “FRANCIS, GET TO THE OXYGEN ROOM NOW. FIX IT QUICKLY, ARTHUR’S DYING!”

“What?!” came the Frenchman’s startled response. “I’ll head there now!”

“ARTIE, BUDDY! Your vitals are critical. Are you conscious?! Get out of there and head to the medbay right now. ARTHUR! Move it! Please…”

Arthur was hanging on by a thread. He could barely move but he had to get out of there. Somehow he got to his feet and felt his way out of the engine room. His health was waning and he almost fainted en route to the medbay. He had to get there. To heal. To breathe. There was so much NOISE. Where was medbay again?

WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED!

Arthur collapsed on a bed in the medical wing. Luckily the system was able to start helping him to convalesce but he was extremely close to death! Thankfully he made it there in time.

Francis was struggling. It took a lot of effort but the oxygen was back online! He coughed and hurried over to the medbay as his health depleted further. He was the second member close to death that day. He saw Arthur and relaxed, letting the system heal his body.

BOOM! The enemy vessel exploded leaving them with a nice bit of fuel to move on when they weren’t burning to death. That was one less worry for Alfred but he had plenty more to deal with post-battle. Namely the one intruder destroying their weapons room!

Alfred sighed with relief and spent a moment recovering. He checked on his friends’ vital signs... they seemed to be improving in the medbay. Good. That was too close for comfort. He exhaled and began opening most of the airlocks, not only to deal with the raging fire in the room behind him but also to make the intruder suffer.

He watched as the oxygen fled the ship and waited for his best friend to regain consciousness. They had to get this ship running again pronto or they’d face another vessel, which they can’t afford to do!

WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED!

Alfred made a beeline to the medbay once most of the fire was extinguished. He hugged Arthur once he woke up and dragged him to the door systems room. “Good job there, Artie. Sorry you almost died, but we’re alive now. I need you to focus and help me repair these doors or we’ll never be able to close them. Francis repaired the oxygen room, he’s healing at the moment, and we have an intruder on board and the Rebels are kicking our asses but we’ll be fine! Just help me fix shit so we can leave, okay?”

The shorter blond blinked his emerald eyes tiredly at him and nodded, helping to restore the systems. He put out the fire in the door room with Alfred and was feeling well enough to take back responsibilities on the ship.

Once all of the fires were extinguished on the ship, Alfred remotely sealed the doors and responded to an alert from the medbay. The intruder had decided to launch an attack on Francis whom was still recovering!

“Gotcha, Rebel scum!” Alfred yelled as he barrelled into the intruder and started hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Arthur woke up his bearded friend and together the three of them eliminated the rebel for good. Panting, the crewmates gathered their wits as the medbay healed them.

Francis looked pale. “I think we almost died. For real that time.”

Arthur bit his lip. “I should have known that something was off when I tried repairing the FTL Drive. I didn’t realise the oxygen was knocked out, I should have gone there, but my thought was to fix the engines so we could flee.”

Alfred sat down on a bed and ran a hand through his hair. “Ugh, that was horrible. I almost lost you both. I don’t want to pilot this ship on my own, we’re already a tiny crew.”

“Well we made it!” Francis chimed in optimistically.

Alfred hugged them all tightly before standing up with purpose. “Now we’re all healed, let’s get this ship functioning again and then get the fuck outta dodge!”

Arthur stretched and saluted half-heartedly. “I’ll fix drones, Jones should take engines and Bonnfoy fix my bloody weapons. When we get to the next sector we REALLY need to focus on upgrades if we can. Our reactor power is weak and we can’t use all of our systems to full capacity.”

“I know that, dude,” the Captain scoffed. “Let’s just get out of here and then worry about the technicalities.”

With repairs completed, Alfred went back to the Bridge alone. The sector map branched out into two locations. They could either go to another Engi Controlled sector, not that this sector bore much fruit for the S.S. APH, or they could risk everything and attempt to survive in Rebel Controlled territory. He groaned. Being a space Captain wasn’t as cool as he thought it would be. He wished he had convinced his friends to stay home instead.

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT SECTOR...

Chapter 2 - END

[CHAPTER LIST]

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[Cover Art] This image was drawn in HB pencil and painted in watercolour paints on the 8th August 2021. It was digitally enhanced in GIMP Image Editor on the 9th August 2021. Paper type = 130 gsm  

This chapter was written on the 30th-31st August 2021.

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Please do not repost, modify, resell or claim this work as your own.

(Reblogging is fine, though!)

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