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paintingwhiteceilings · 1 year ago

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❃S/O being drunk/tipsy around Seventeen❃

A/N: So I may have gotten massively drunk last weekend as the region I live in celebrates a specific type of carnival that goes on for five days straight. I might have, maybe, drank a little bit too much during the music festival day and as I was drunkenly stumbling around, I wondered what it would be like to get drunk around svt.

Also, am I the only one who has a K-pop idols I want to get drunk with bias line? Currently, my list consists of Lee Know, Xiumin, Jin and San (to name a few). Just wondering whether that is a normal thing to have or whether I should be concerned about my sanity.

Scoups/Seungcheol

❀ Chances are that if you are drunk around him, so is he. Coups loves a good party on the occasion and isn't a stranger to clubbing. However, where he can hold his liquor and knows his limits, you may have forgotten about yours. Part of him adores your clinginess and finds you adorable; thus, he lets you be your embarrassingly drunk self, laughing at your shameless and less-than-stellar dance moves. As long as you are in the safe, not-too-drunk zone, he will let you have fun and try to match your drinking pace.

❀ However, the moment he notices that you are crossing the line into way too drunk territory, the responsible part of him will kick in, and he will chase you around with water. He will get very serious, going all alpha leader on you and doing whatever it takes for you to take a sip of water.

❀ No amount of cuteness or begging will convince him to stop his getting you sober plight; you can flirt all you want with him, but once he is concerned for your well-being, it is difficult to persuade him to let you keep on drinking. He is definitely not above cutting the night short either, taking you home instead. If you do as much as refuse, he will throw you over his shoulder and walk out like you weigh nothing.

Jeonghan

❀ To the poor soul who decided to get drunk around this man, I hope that he will never feel the urge to show those embarrassing videos that he took of you to those around you. Although he will, of course, keep his eye on you to prevent you from getting progressively drunker, he is enjoying you being drunk way too much. He will have his camera out the entire time and instigate you to do something embarrassing that sober-you would very much regret.

❀ He has an entire folder dedicated to your drunken mishaps, whether it is a five-minute video of you slurring your words as you argue why cows are grossly underappreciated when it comes to favourite animals or you crying as you hug a tree, sobbing that they do not receive enough love. Jeonghan cherishes every single photo and video he took of you being drunk, frequently rewatching them to cheer himself up.

❀ Honestly, it never fails to make you regret drinking around this man because he has no problem using it as blackmail against you. Whenever you try to argue with him during game nights, he will subtly reference one of your entertaining escapades, teasing you that anyone who repeatedly drunkenly asked whether turning a phone on aeroplane mode would give it the ability to fly is in no position to argue with him.

Joshua

❀ He is so unbelievably gentle with you. The moment he senses that you are getting ab bit too tipsy or borderline drunk, he will make sure to switch to water for himself instead. Although he enjoys the occasional drink, he wants to make sure that he is able to take care of you, letting you freely drink whilst he makes sure you do so safely.

❀ He is genuinely the sweetest, listening to all your drunken ramblings with a fond smile on his face. Whenever you are not paying attention to him, he will secretly switch out your alcoholic beverage for water, cheekily gaslighting you into believing that it is still the same drink by taking a sip himself and pretending that you are imagining things when exclaim it no longer tastes like vodka.

❀ When you guys get home, he will go into full caregiver mode, helping you remove your makeup, making sure that you didn’t forget to plug in your phone for the night and laying out your comfiest pyjamas for you to slip into after a brief shower. He will tuck you into bed after making sure that you drank enough water for the night, preparing a glass of water and some medication for you to take in the morning when the hangover kicks in, before turning in himself.

Jun

❀ The moment you enter your shared apartment drunk, Jun feels torn between laughing at your ridiculous actions spurred by your drunkenness and helping you sober up. Seeing you put your hand in the fish tank as you try to pet your now traumatised goldfish because you felt bad for never petting it before is hilarious to him. He is curious about what else you might do, following you around as you try to do more ridiculous things. He is thoroughly invested in seeing where your drunken brain is taking you next and what else you will get up to if he lets you roam around.

❀ Jun will entertain your drunken childlike curiosity, using it to finally be able to do the totally safe experiments you usually tell him off for. The two of you will engage in a plethora of dubious food experiments, mixing different drinks to find out whether they will taste any good together and go to the supermarket to buy a dozen different ice cream flavours in order to rank them all. Where usually you would scold him for trying to see whether a bath can really overflow, drunken-you would join him in watching the water level rise slowly.

❀ However, he simultaneously will be very caring, preparing a hearty meal to combat your drunkenness. He might not be the best chef in Seventeen, but he can cook up a couple of meals that help with absorbing the alcohol, preparing one of them to help you sober up a bit. He will ensure that you eat plenty of it and drink enough water before you go to bed.

Hoshi/Soonyoung

❀ In no universe is this man not drunker than you are when the two of you go out drinking. Hoshi’s tolerance is so incredibly low that he could get drunk on the smell of alcohol alone. The other members have to babysit the both of you, not even for your own safety but for those around you. He would be the type of person who, when you buy your shots, forgets that they are not his and, in his drunken stupor, take them when you turn around to pay. You are too drunk to notice either, not that it matters much, as you finish most of his drinks on accident, too.

❀ The dance floor is a danger zone when you two step onto it. Neither of you cares much about dancing decently; instead, the two of you have a competition going on who can come up with the most creative, shameless dance moves. The dance battle only ends when one of you accidentally knocks over a slow-dancing couple during an emotional ballad.

❀ The other members will ultimately have to step in, guiding you back home before either of you does something illegal. It is easier said than done; the two of you are so incredibly drunk that you decide to pose and take pictures with random statues you spot on your way home. Once home, they try to get you both to drink water but miserably fail as Hoshi completely breaks down, professing his undying love for you between sobs. The night ends with the two of you in each other’s arms, crying about how much you love each other.

Wonwoo

❀ Considering he doesn’t really drink himself, he will make sure you are not exceeding your drinking limits, babysitting you the entire time. However, where he usually makes sure to stop you from getting drunk the moment he notices you are getting tipsy, he hadn’t anticipated that the dinner with the members would turn into an out-of-control drinking party. When they suggested doing some drinking games whilst waiting for the food, he had assumed they would have gone easy on you; instead, you had lost so many of the drinking games that you were borderline drunk by the time that the food reached to your table.

❀ Throughout the dinner, Wonwoo tries to get you to drink as much water as he can. Your glass doesn’t stay empty for long as, rather than eating himself, he is way too focused on making sure that it is constantly filled with water. You have barely swallowed your food when he puts another piece of meat on your plate, hoping that the grease will help you sober up somewhat.

❀ When the members insist on playing more drinking games during and after the dinner, he initially refuses on your behalf. If you insist on continuing, he will awe the members by taking every punishment shot going your way for you. Unfortunately for him, the members have finally figured out a way to get Wonwoo to join their drinking festivities, using you as bait to get the usually introverted member to drink.

Woozi/Jihoon

❀ As another member who rarely, if ever, drinks, he always tells you to be careful when you do. When you get invited out for drinks with the members, he fully trusts them to keep an eye on you for his sake as he is stuck in the studio, having to finish a song. What he is not expecting, however, is for them to call him at 1 AM to come pick you up, as they may have grossly overestimated your alcohol tolerance. He can hear drunk-you brabble about how much you miss him in the background of the phone call as he talks to the members about coming over to take you home.

❀ With a big sigh, he makes his way over to the pub you guys had been drinking at, realizing that it might not have been the smartest to have the members who frequently drink and have built up quite the tolerance take you drinking. He is not necessarily angry at you or the members; instead, he is disappointed in himself for not having been there with you to ensure you would not go past your drinking limits.

❀ He is incredibly gentle with you when he finally arrives at the pub, scooping you up in his arms, ready to take you home. He will hear no apology on your part or the members, reassuring you that it happens and that although he would like for it to be prevented in the future, he understands that getting drunk happens. At home, he will be so soft as he makes sure to give you whatever you need. He will make sure not to leave your side, helping you shower and giving you plenty of cuddles in bed to make you feel better.

DK/Seokmin

❀ Another member who is probably just as drunk as you are, if not more. He would be getting drunk with you, sharing most of his drinks with you to the point where neither of you remembers which drink belongs to whom. He is definitely enabling your drunk behaviour and perhaps even the cause of it because whenever he picks up his shot of soju, he makes sure to give you one, too.

❀ He will rope you into doing something stupid, putting on one of his infamous skits with you as the second lead. You don’t know where he got a wig from, but he is fully engrossed in his role as Sandra, the woman who is about to be eaten by zombies. Where sober-you would be mortified by his behaviour, you are currently too drunk to care, down to join him as one of the vicious zombies. It doesn’t help that a small part of him still feels embarrassed about his actions and keeps taking a swig of the soju bottle left on your now-unoccupied table, making him progressively drunker as the performance continues.

❀ At the very least, your performance will be enjoyed by a considerably large, amused audience who decide to pay for some of your drinks in appreciation, making it a relatively cheap night out. Neither of you will be able to do much the next day as both of you completely forgot to drink water before going to bed, too busy re-enacting the best moments of your play, resulting in a massive hangover. As a result, the two of you spend most of the next day cuddled up in bed; DK claims that your hugs are the best cure for his crushing headache.

Mingyu

❀ Mingyu sometimes forgets that taller people tend to be able to drink more compared to those who are more vertically challenged; thus, he accidentally got you very drunk when he dragged you to go clubbing with him and the members. That being said, he is not feeling too guilty about it because where sober-you would try to limit the PDA in front of the other members, drunk-you completely forget they exist. Mingyu is on cloud nine when you start to touch him more than usual, thinking he has officially gone to heaven as you hug him close and refuse to let go.

❀ He is giggling uncontrollably, as you are all over him, insisting on slow-dancing to every song that comes on, even if it is to the most upbeat techno song. Although he makes sure that you don’t get too drunk, he will not make any attempts to sober you up immediately either, enjoying your attention way too much. He, for sure, will take at least fifty photos and videos where you are kissing his cheek and drunkenly rambling on and on about how much you love him, saving them for a rainy day. You are the cutest person alive to him, and he seriously considers always bringing you along from now on.

❀ Once home, he will make sure that you are fully provided for, cheekily suggesting to shower together as he is incredibly ‘worried’ that you might slip in the shower in your drunken state. Part of Mingyu is slightly sad to see you sober up when he hands you your tenth glass of water in an attempt to prevent a nasty hangover.

The8/Minghao

❀ There is no way in hell that Minghao is not watching you like a hawk when the two of you go drinking, taking away your drinks when he notices that you are getting a bit too out-of-control drunk. You always try to argue with him when he does, whining that you, the adult, know your limits and don’t need him to babysit you. Thus, to prove you wrong and to get you to stop arguing with him whenever he stops you from drinking, he makes a deal with you; you get to drink however much you want, and he won’t interfere with drunk you whatsoever.

❀ This is how you end up drunk out of your mind at one of the members’ birthday parties, challenging Seungkwan to an arm wrestling match after you had tried to beat a drunk and crying Hoshi in a dance battle without much success. You even competed in Scoups’ and Mingyu’s beer pong competition, making you drunker than you already were. Minghao hovers nearby, ready to jump in when necessary, keeping a close eye on your questionable actions. His phone is in his hands as he quietly films you from a distance, ready to present sober-you with the consequences of your drunken decisions.

❀ Nevertheless, he will interfere whenever you are about to do something too embarrassing; sure, he wants you to learn that you do stupid things when wasted, but he does not want you to be relentlessly teased by the other members for your intoxicated mishaps. Minghao will immediately take you back home and sober you up when he thinks that he has let you go on for long enough and that he has collected enough evidence to prove his claims. The next morning, he will lovingly confront you with reality, regardless of whether or not you are nursing a hangover, after which you agree that maybe, sometimes, he might have a point.

Seungkwan

❀ Seungkwan is honestly one of the best people to get drunk around. Sure, he drinks himself, but the moment he notices that he is getting tipsy, he slows down his drinking. He has had to deal with the members being drunk so often that he has developed successful ways of dealing with drunk people, making him well-equipped to deal with you. The moment you sheepishly admit that you are slightly drunk when you two are having dinner with the members, he will do his famous drunk check, rubbing over your forehead, making you giggle uncontrollably, before concluding that, indeed, you are gone.

❀ The entire evening, he will treat you like a little kid, listening to your drunken ramblings and providing you with sassy and funny remarks in exchange. He loves that you are laughing even more at his jokes than usual, and he will not miss a chance to elicit another fit of laughter out of you by doing something stupid. Seungkwan is not above embarrassing himself as long as it means that you are entertained.

❀ Honestly, I can’t imagine Seungkwan letting you do anything embarrassing. He will make sure that you sober up a little, providing you with water every now and then, and talk you out of whatever stupid plan you were about to execute. The moment he spots you climbing onto the bar, ready to execute your and Hoshi’s well-choreographed but slightly ridiculous dance routine, he will expertly redirect your attention to something else, making you completely forget about what you were about to do. As funny as he knows it would be for you to embarrass yourself, he knows you would be mortified the next day when you find out what you did the previous night and is fully committed to preventing that from happening. He would never let you do anything you would regret sober.

❀ Still, if you refuse to listen to him or you manage to do something stupid when he is momentarily distracted, he would not let you live it down.

Vernon

❀ Similarly to Jun, he is highly amused by your drunken escapades, curious to see what you will do. Where Jun, however, will join you in your antics, Vernon will mostly observe you, laughing his chair-screeching laugh as he does. He is not going to interfere whatsoever and lets you do whatever comes to your drunken mind, highly amused by whatever you are doing. Unless you are doing something illegal or dangerous, he is letting you do whatever your drunken brain convinces you to do.

❀ Getting drunk around Vernon means providing him with an arsenal of slightly embarrassing pictures that will be stored for later use. His phone is in his hand the whole evening, and he will make sure to snap thousands of images of your intoxicated self as you pose for him. You completely forget about him taking the pictures until he starts using them as stickers and memes in your private chat. Most of his reactions to your messages are you pulling a weird face. It wouldn’t have been that bad if he hadn’t started using them in the Seventeen group chat and as his phone’s background.

❀ As Vernon doesn’t strike me as someone who drinks often, he wouldn’t really be much help in sobering you up and making sure you won’t have too bad of a headache in the morning. Instead of making sure you drink enough water and get enough sleep, he convinces you to stay up late to watch a movie with him, entertained by your drunken commentary throughout, most of which he records. Needless to say, when morning arrives, you wake up with a lot of regrets.

Dino/Chan

❀ Dino is the king of being drunk; the amount of stories this dude has where he is wasted and doing something questionable are too many to count. Of course, he will be drunk with you, and of course, you two will create the best, most amusing drunk story ever. He had tried so hard to take the punishment shots for you whenever you lost a drinking game, not wanting you to get too drunk, resulting in both of you being incredibly intoxicated and hyping the other up to do some questionable stuff. The members tried to supervise the both of you, but you managed to escape when they got distracted for merely a second.

❀ In retrospect, your memories are kind of hazy on what had actually happened that night. In flashes, you remember a couple of rich people inviting you guys along, a boat, a garden gnome and something about a museum. Somehow, at the end of the night, you two end up in a fancy hotel, holding a garden gnome under your arm, all expenses paid, with the staff congratulating you on your engagement as you sport a very cheap plastic ring on your ring finger.

❀ In the morning, the two of you are nursing massive hangovers, utterly confused about where you are and how you managed to get there. Dino sees the thirty-plus missed calls from the members, knowing he is in a world of trouble, and someone mysteriously saved under the name Bob the Magician. The ring is so tight around your finger that you barely manage to get it off. Still, neither of you is planning on leaving any time soon, enjoying the luxury hotel the next couple of days as you try to piece together what transpired that night after ensuring the members that you are not dead in a ditch somewhere.

masterlist

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technically-a-kiwi · 4 months ago

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🌌TRUEST OF TRUE ULTIMATE VERSION OF Mc FUCKIN' HAD IT OF TRUEST COSMIC AU🌌

Or Cosmic AU for short

That's right ! The final version's here ✨✨✨, it doesn't mean I'll stop posting about the AU, but I'll stop writting stuff and stories and shit, well, maybe not stories but DEFINETLY world building, it's a multiversal otherworldly fourth wall breaking self aware AU so whatever. Anyways, LET'S GOOOOOO !!!!

And now, for the moment you've been waiting for !

THE LOOOOOOORE 💯💯💯💯💯

Peppino and The Noise killed eachother and are now gods

The end ✨

Characters :

Cosmic Peppino, The Chef

Cosmic Noise, The Host

Cosmic Pepperman, self absorbed drawing

The ticket stand, a face in the void

Noisette, the little star traveler

Where are the other characters you may ask ?

THEY'RE IN THE REALM OF I-DON'T-CARENESS OKAY ?!!! They're not gone, I just litterlay don't care enough to mention them anymore okay ?! If you want to do stuff with them go ahead, but I won't, I'm DONE 👹👹👹

Now, small note, the cosmic realm holds many kinds of entity, with titles as diversed as its people. Just know that C Pep and C Noise specifically are cosmic entities and the ONLY cosmic entities of the realm, and are thus not bound by laws of physics, reality, panels, chronologie, are self award, fourth wall breakers and most importantly absolutely omnipotente.

Yeah it's ridiculously overpowered and weird for silly pizza game characters, but who cares ?! This is my AU boi !

No need to develop on Peppino much, I've already made plenty of posts about him, he's quite developed as it is. An italian creation god...thing, that bakes things into existence, C Pep is either stressed out or tired or furious, and flames up like a bonfire when emotional.

Although I gotta mention, I kind of changed his perspective on mortal beings. He does have basic respect for people, he sees them a little spects sure, but he wouldn't actively undermine them. He doesn't get upset much when something happens to populations, maybe a little "oh, that's a bummer" during tragedies, but not anything much, it's not a lovey dovey amount of care like for his kids. he just sees them as... tiny insect strangers of some sort, I hope it's clear enough.

Okay, I kind of want to develop some stuff, I don't know where else I could put this in the post anyway

C Pep is quite distant with people, he can engage in conversations sure, but he doesn't let much of anybody in, you know ? (Well, most people don't let strangers in, most saine people that is, everyone in the realm is insane anyway)

But with people he's familiar with, he's quite peachy

He considers Maurice like a little brother, he loves just hanging around, messing harmlessly with him a little, or just be here for him. C Pep enjoys his company since here Maurice is more cold than a jerk, plus they can hear from eachother when it comes to the struggles of raising a child on your own (yup there is a Maurice Jr.)

Since Peppino's a chef, he's been taking Maurice under his wing and teaches him some nice recipes.

He's a slow learner but he's progressing.

As for the constellations, he tries his best as a single father. He's a little awkward, especially when he needs to react calmly (calm and Peppino are two opposite thing on the chart) but he really tries his best to show the constellations he's here for them. Pep can relate with them on some things. He really loves them cares about them deeply. The constellations care about him just as much. It's an okay family.

Also, it's kind of awkward and I feel REALLY weird to write that, but on my earlier posts I said that he makes lots of mistakes as a parent, and to illustrate that I made him yell at Cassiopea, and suggested that it happened more than once. Now, the original plan was to show that he's terrifying when enragged and that his kids are worried about his outbursts, but instead I might of suggested that C Pep is kind of an... abuser? Okay, to set things strait, it's not the case, not at all, he loves his kids and would rip the very fabric of reality to protect them and make them happy, even if he's about to lash out at them his future self would come and stop him before he could causes any harm. It's very messed up considering that C Pep is basically an overpowered god and having defenseless beings at the mercy of his outbursts and yelling just sound sick and not at ALL what I was going for. It could have been interesting if I tried a story talking about the viscious cycle of abuse and how it caries on to the victime, since Peppino is canonically a victime of household abuse with his brother verbaly harassing him, but at this point it straines a little too far from what the AU is about. maybe I'll write something about it someday, but the chances are thin.

Okay I think that's all for Cosmic Peppino

Let's develop on Cosmic Noise !

Okay, so, Cosmic Noise here is a (not so) little chaos god, he just loves to mess around, most of his actions are for the sake of his own entertainment. He's either a very, very dumb irritating little gremlin or an absolute evil mastermind, depends on his mood. His "special ability", or should I say "quirk" is that he can summon text panels you see in earlier TV shows to make the crowd react.

I didn't draw this but sometimes he can be a helping hand in stories, giving hints to the hero's journey, but he'd NEVER physically intervene in a story to help, that's just... not like him... besides if he helps it's generaly because he wants to move the plote along, not because he's nice.

You can just feel that he wants to annoy you just by the way he's moving, interacting with people, he just floats aroud you, takes all the available space, constrains you, he just wants to put you out of your confort zone, see how much he can play until he crosses the line

And sometimes he can go pretty far to see how much you can handle before you crack

As for NNS, C Noise's TV show, it's quite a strange enviroment, the studio takes a good chunk of the cosmic realm (also fun fact, C Noise's cape is a window and a portal to NNS's studio !) it doesn't have a clear schedule. The number one rule is to be as entertaining as possible. Oh, and literaly nothing makes sense and is absurde, just like The Noise

That's the only thing I drew, but there's so much more stuff he does in the show, like news broadcasting, here's a little moodboard to give you an idea

there's stuff like extreme parcours, a hide and seek game where the contestant must find him in a random area (most of the time hostile areas), dilema games where he films people having to solve a tough dilema etc... Just as long as it's exaggerated and absurde it's good.

Also, (not a) fun fact ! C Noise can see through his cameras as if they where his eyes, and his cameras are everywhere filming 24/7. He knows all the things you keep to yourself, all the awkward and dark things you did, he saw that, and can compilate all those moments into a film if he wants, so be careful with what names you call him, he might try to prove you he's far worst than just annoying.

And now, for the cosmic duo.

Cosmic Peppino and Cosmic Noise are... quite an unique duo, per say ?

Since an image speaks a thousand words, I'll just let my doodles show how their dynamic works

Part 2 | Part 3

#pizza tower #cosmic au #peppino spaghetti #the noise #maurice spaghetti #toppings pizza tower #rambeling random bullshit

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skaruresonic · 7 months ago

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TBH I refuse to play SXS Gens out of pure principle until the option to restore the original Generations dialogues and animations are avaible, fuck the rewrites

I just finished the Shadow portion lol. Overall I feel like you're not missing much. Like, yeah, it's supposed to be an anniversary game and all that, but there's honestly not much in the way of story. You would unironically be better off playing the older games before this one.

I really feel like the "SxS Gens is necessary to catch new players up to Shadow's history" argument is looking a lot weaker now. If anything, you wouldn't understand the emotional resonances behind many of the allusions unless you've played previous games; they don't provide exposition or context within the narrative itself. You wouldn't know that the ARK raid happened because nobody implies as much. The narrative is written as though it expects you to know why Black Doom's threats to possess Shadow are such a big deal.

This game's narrative is about as patchwork as Gens; characters are in nonsensical spots (why do we find Metal Overlord in Kingdom Valley's boss area, but Mephiles in some random cave on the side of Chaos Island's? what purpose did Metal Overlord's presence serve? or Mephiles', for that matter?) and the plot is just "stop giant monster before it destroys the world" sans Eggman. Much peak, many wow.

There's literally no plot progression from point to point; there are six levels in total, and you will only see most of the "plot" unfold at the 3/4ths mark. Until then, you're just running around without much rhyme or reason.

Maria and Gerald are simply there for moral support. They don't really do anything besides that. Gerald justifies this by claiming he doesn't want to mess with the timeline by changing anything.

I went around talking to various characters. Conversations with Big and Maria were the most enjoyable, and I felt like they were the highlight of the game. Rouge gets a bit on-the-nose by comparing herself to Amy when saying she'd support Shadow. Some of Omega's lines strike me as a little acanonical. For some reason, Orbot and Cubot are also there, and you can help them build a rocket by collecting 80 machine pieces. From what I've heard, however, there's no reward for collecting them all, so I was like "lol bye" and left.

I was also disappointed by the lack of a Sonic boss fight. I would have loved a reprise of the original ARK race from Gens; it would have been a nice callback to how you get to see the race from both perspectives in SA2 as well, but we can't have nice things ig :v

Mephiles appears. Lol. Lmao, even. Rofl, if you will. It feels like ST included him solely to riff on the fact that he'll never be canon. He's such a nothingburger of a character and is so negligible as a plot point that he might as well not have been there. He's only there because fans wanted to see him again.

For one thing, you find him in an out-of-the-way cave under Chaos Island. For another, my guy literally says "I just want to exist" and Shadow goes "no. perish." Based, but also, way to waste my time lmao.

Black Doom wants to consume the world as well as possess Shadow. It's not explained how he returned; Gerald handwaves it as "he rebuilt his body through timey-wimey shenanigans."

The gameplay is serviceable for the most part but also incredibly tedious; I found I only enjoyed Radical Highway Act One, and that was because the design was unencumbered by the use of Doom Powers.

Chaos Control and Chaos Spear are your standard abilities, nothing to write home about.

Doom Missile has limited application since only enemies or targets can be shot down, and thus isn't used much.

Doom Surf controls like a friggin' surfing Blooper.

Doom Morph is okay, I guess. Shadow turns into a giant squid and is able to traverse pools of Black Arms juice.

I hate how the Doom Wings control so much omfg. And they say the Homing Attack is a crapshoot. >.>

tl;dr It's okay. Not terrible, but I honestly don't think I'd play it again.

#asks

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0heartangel0 · 4 months ago

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PERSONA 5 TACTICA IS NOT GREAT: A VERY ODDLY-CONSTRUCTED RANT

If you've been following this rant series thus far, you've probably noticed a trend for almost every issue I've had with this game: no matter how hard I try, the topic always circles back to one individual. In some way shape or form, they're always involved.

The reason for this is due to how the game centers around this person, whom I believe to be the cause of almost all of the issues.

They're why the thieves get less attention and are almost obsolete in the story.

They're why we got the stupid hat people.

They're why a vast majority of the villains are unintimidating and feel kind of ridiculous in their motives.

They're why the dumb story even happens.

And they're why Erina is kind of a nothing burger of a character and why she exists.

Ladies and gentlemen, in my opinion, the worst thing about this whole game - the biggest reason why I feel it sucks - is because of a man by the name of:

Pt. 8: Toshiro Kasukabe

Where.

The HELL.

Do I begin?

Let me start by saying once again, that you're okay for liking Toshiro. I'm not gonna judge you for liking something that I just couldn't find a reason to enjoy.

If you are able to convince me he's great, you're a bloody miracle worker. But as it stands-

I have never met a character that has frustrated me more than this wet tofu of a man.

Let me reiterate: I have never had a character make me go through the five stages of grief before, until Toshiro broke down the door like he's the Kool-Aid Man.

I WANTED to like Toshiro, I REALLY did! But as the game progressed, it slowly started to dawn on me in secreting horror that I just could not get myself to like this dude. And by the time his awakening rolled around, I gave up on ever finding a reason, and just accepted that he's just the worst. I could even make the argument that he's my least favorite character in the Persona 5 era - I specify "era", because I actually have characters in Persona 3 (Junpei) and Persona 4 (Teddie) that I hated more than Toshiro.

I TRIED finding something to like about Toshiro; just ONE thing! I was searching and scanning for answers IN EVERY LINEEEE! FOR SOME KIND OF SIGN-

I can only think of ONE thing that I liked about him, and it was his voice acting being pretty decent. While not my favorite performance in a Persona game (Max Mittelman and Tom Taylorson come to mind), MacLeod Andrews does a pretty good job for what he's given. A golf clap to you, good sir!

I guess another pro I can think of is more of a HALF-pro than anything. He has some funny moments at the beginning, but not by much and they don't save his character for me.

Going through what I didn't like about him by comparison resulted in my brain getting all kerfuffled with just how much there was. There's sadly so many cons to go over to the 1½ pros, that the only concise way I can go about this is by separating them by sections. So, that's what I'm going to do! Strap in, 'cause it's gonna be a long one!

(Warning: I'm not lying about this. It's VERY long.... Toshiro just got me rambling. Sorry in advance....)

HIS DESIGN

Unlike with Erina, Toshiro doesn't have his design as a saving grace. I mean, the fact he's more slick and clean with a basic suit and tie with gelled-back hair is a good indication of how dedicated he is as a politician, with his glove seeming part of that until the reveal, is....good characterization through the design.

BUT,

That also makes him kind of boring to look at. He doesn't particularly stand out, and he never evolves from this look as the story progresses to show his growth out of that clean, presentable politician for the public. The ONLY thing that changes is that he loses his glove, revealing the scar he got from the train accident years ago. BUT THAT'S IT!

Of course, I'm gonna bring up the elephant in the room that is his lack of Phantom Thief attire, and I'll never stop bringing up the elephant until it leaves the room. And seeing as this will most likely never change, I'm not gonna shut up about it anytime soon.

Why the Hell doesn't Toshiro have a Phantom Thief outfit? Literally, EVERYONE ELSE does! And before you say Sophie, she at least changes her appearance to indicate when she's in fighting mode before getting her Persona, and since she switched to this anytime she was fighting alongside the Thieves, that became her Phantom Thief attire when she awakened to Pandora. The visor she always wore broke apart as a symbol of her mask, indicating her summoning Pandora!

Toshiro only loses a glove and has a mask for, like, ten seconds before never seeing it again.

And I know what you're gonna say. I know what ALL of you are gonna say!

"But Angel, what if his politician attire minus the glove is his actual Phantom Thief outfit, since that's how he sees his rebellious self?"

First off, the only source I can find of this is through his Shin Megami Tensei wiki page, and we all know how ACCURATE the wiki is! It's NEVER WRONG!!

Second, why would he picture an outfit that he's worn for his position as a politician - which he admits was a position thrust upon him rather than something he chose - as something to represent his rebellion? Isn't that a bit contradictory?

Why not lean into the fact Erina is his rebellion and have his outfit be akin to hers, or even Ernesto's design? Like, give him a revolutionary look. And if you want to keep the scar, have the gloves have openings in the back, or just not give him gloves at all (as much as that goes against each Phantom Thief design).

In general, I just want some visual change that isn't just ONE article of clothing!

I looked up his concept art, and found this one design that is absolutely great, and it makes me sad that it never became the final design:

This design is so much more interesting in comparison to his final design. He seems to exude more personality, pops better with the blues and bit of red and actually helps him stand out, especially when compared to-

-HMMMhmmmHMM!!!

.................I'm not gonna say it. I promised myself I wouldn't say it, so I won't.

Moving on-

That's all I really have to say about his design, which is kind of sad....

HIS PERSONALITY/RELATIONSHIPS

In terms of personality, much like his design, Toshiro is really, really, REALLY boring. By that, I mean he's very one-note, only really having ONE trait to go off of: COWARD.

Every five seconds, this mother flipper's option to everything is to get the hell out of dodge. And you might say that that's the point; that he has to grow out of this character and become more brave as the story progresses, but here's my issues with that:

This so-called "change" in his character feels forced and unnatural, and you're just supposed to buy it. Even then, this "braver" version of his character is also boring, just being a generic, heroic dude.

His scaredy-cat personality at the beginning is so annoying that it's hard for me to get invested and root for the character to grow out of this. They don't even give him anything to balance out this side of him to make him more tolerable. They try to, by adding "comedy" to what he does, but A) it's usually not that funny, and B) most of the comedy is from him just being a coward, so we're back to square one!

Speaking of which, he really has nothing else to him. Okay, that's technically not true, but what we get on the side is also either uninteresting, or the game really tries to force it down your throat than make it be natural to his character for it to be entertaining or interesting.

He's apparently smug, but the characters constantly point out every time he is this way, making it feel almost like the writer is unconfident if he portrayed this right, so makes sure the audience gets it by having the characters say it. Once again, it's way too forced for me to get behind this trait that doesn't really show up often.

He also gets a running gag, where he'll make up an utterly ridiculous name to an operation/plan he comes up with, causing the characters around him to eye-roll at this. This is fine, until it's revealed later in a flashback that he actually got this trait from his mother, so it's not even original to him! The only reason I feel they did this was to try and tug at your heartstrings, but like I've said back when I talked about the antagonists, I don't care about Yuki, so this failed to do its job for me!

Finally, he's constantly trying to be the "adult", by scolding the kids - Erina in particular - of getting themselves into danger, and has to remind them that he's the older one here. In fact, the game tries to repeatedly remind you that he's older than the thieves, to the point where Futaba starts calling him 'Pops' or some other synonym for it.

And I know what you're all thinking................I'm still not gonna bloody say it......

What I AM going to say is that this "gag" or "trait" doesn't really work in this instance, because when you really think about it, Toshiro isn't really THAT old. Not only does he not look it (the chibi style doesn't particularly help), but he mentions how he's the youngest member in the Diet.

According to my research, the youngest you can be in the Diet is 25 or 30. I say "25 OR 30", because there's two different houses; one lower, one higher. Respectively, they're the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors. You have to be 25 at the youngest to be in Representatives, while 30 to be in Councillors. Because the game never specifies WHICH house Toshiro falls under, and he states he's the youngest member of the Diet AS A WHOLE, I'm just gonna say Representatives. My argument continues to hold water when you learn that in order to run for Prime Minister, one has to be 25 at the youngest as well. And considering Toshiro the whole game is slated to become Prime Minister-

So in conclusion, Toshiro seems to be around his mid 20s to early 30s. That.....is not that old.

It's not helped by the fact that he's ironically always hiding behind the thieves or being bossed around by anyone who has a voice. It starts getting sad, to kind of annoying and predictable.

This also kind of ruins any potential dynamic or relationship he could have with any character he interacts with, specifically the thieves. Because, instead of having a fun back and forth that gets better developed as the story progresses, we get the thieves + Erina basically preaching to him every five seconds to grow a pair, or simply pat him on the back for having such a tragic life, oh woe-is-you. It becomes pretty obvious what the writers want you to feel in regards to Toshiro and his plight. Toshiro, as a result, becomes less of a character we choose to sympathize with after getting to understand him as an individual and CHARACTER, and more of a man baby that is always in need of being coddled and infantalized by the cast for the sake of telling a MESSAGE. At that point, why should I even consider him as an adult man or even a character I should follow?

To make matters worse, not only is his relationship with the thieves underdeveloped, but he, along with Erina, don't really feel like they add anything to the thieves' dynamic.

A rule of thumb in my eyes is that if you remove someone from a group cast, and the dynamic of it doesn't change, then they shouldn't have been in the group to begin with, or at least add something to them that would actually warrant them being a part of that group.

It's why I felt Haru was the least warranted Phantom Thief in the original game. Apart from getting the gang a trip to Didney Worl, there's nothing she really adds to the group nor does she really have a developed back-and-forth or dynamic with either of the thieves, aside from maybe Morgana. It's not JUST her relevance to the plot, but just how little she really interacts with the group that makes her suffer as a character.

I could make the same argument with Yoshizawa in the Royal version of P5. Personality and development aside, Yoshizawa suffers from how little she interacts with ANY of the thieves whose names aren't Joker. So when the twist behind her is revealed, it makes no sense for them to care about her plight, 'cause THEY DON'T KNOW HER OUTSIDE OF MAYBE ONE OR TWO SCENES IN THE WHOLE GAME. Her overall integration into the PT feels unwarranted and rushed as a result.

Like I said previously, Strikers fixes this issue by giving Haru more to her character, and by extension, her dynamic with the PT.

And Yoshizawa in the Tactica DLC-

Still. Doesn't get any form of development. So there's that-

Toshiro and Erina have the same issues as the two ladies just mentioned.

In terms of interactions or character moments, both Toshiro and Erina only really talk to and affect each other. Apart from maybe one or two moments, the thieves never once really talk to Toshiro or Erina all too often, unless they're trying to make fun of Toshiro, coddle him, or talk about how amazing Erina is. They are only important for each other's development, so the thieves are rendered minute and unnecessary.

Strikers actually had the opposite problem with its duo, but I honestly preferred that because it resulted in them feeling less like a matched set and are still able to have an amazing dynamic with the PT and are better developed as a result.

Even then, I'd argue the littlest of interactions the Strikers duo do have are FAR more entertaining than any of the Tactica duo's interactions. I'd rather watch Zenkichi football-tackle Sophia to the ground than having to watch Erina and Toshiro butting heads for the billionth time.

When Erina isn't giving Toshiro a big motivational speech on the ethics of not being a total pansy, her and Toshiro are just constantly arguing and bickering. I hate it with Morgana and Ryuji, and I hate it with Erina and Toshiro. Say it with me:

Constantly arguing and butting heads does not equate to friendship/romance.

It's dumb and makes no sense.

Now, in terms of personality and role, the Tactica duo still don't fit in well with the group dynamic, not only because of their limited personalities, but the personalities they do have, another thief already has along with their given roles!

Erina is energetic, always rushing into fights without thinking, and generally doesn't listen to authority.

.............that's just RYUJI!

Okay, okay....what about her role to the team?

She's the leader of the Rebel Corp, and gives inspiration and motivation to fight for rebellion,and almost becomes a martyr for a twist bad guy to attempt to kill.

.....that's Joker......

OKAY! HER ROLE IN THE STORY!

She's a mysterious girl who doesn't know why she exists to begin with, and starts to have a conflict with herself in regards to it. Once she does find out who she is, and gets used by the twist bad guy at one point, she awakens to her true power despite having been playable for the entire game up till this point, and has to say goodbye for the sake of fulfilling her made purpose at the end.

............................................

.......................sophiaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-

She's just three of the PT members stitched together, which I know is unfair of me to break down on her character like this, but that's all that she really boils down to here. The most frustrating part about this is that the aforementioned characters are much BETTER when applying these traits to them.

The reason being, they're given nuance to what they DO have to better flesh out these traits.

Ryuji might also have the reckless and energetic nature like Erina, but he's reckless in order to protect his loved ones and fight for himself due to how much he's been beaten down, and the added energy leads him to being more proactive in what he wants to do and makes him one of the more friendly PT members when he feels someone trustworthy, giving this sort of golden retriever vibe.

He's weary of certain people, but it doesn't make him dumb like Erina, because he tends to have a good reason for not trusting a certain person.

However, his reckless and energetic behavior leads to him getting into more trouble that the thieves have to pull him out of. It's both his strength and his weakness. I also find it kind of weird that the thieves constantly make fun of Ryuji for being the "dumb one", but when Erina exhibits similar traits, she's not regarded as such....

Joker might be the leader who's inspiring to many, but he earns it through the decisions he makes that generally leads him and the thieves to constant victory (unlike Erina, who was losing her cause before the PT arrived). Joker also has the charisma and cockiness that allows him to pull off certain daring stunts and win people over.

And for Sophia, she might be the mysterious girl who doesn't know her purpose, but her curiosity fuels her to actively go and search for the answers on what her purpose is, apart from being humanity's companion. Through her journey, the thieves teach her what it truly means to have a heart, and by extension, what it means to be human. And when her free will and humanity is taken away from her, she finally understands what she wants; what she desires. And in gaining a desire, she gained a heart. And by gaining a heart, she was able to gain a Persona.

All of these characters have nuance to their roles and personalities that set them apart from the rest of the group, allowing them a fitting spot. Erina doesn't have that, so she doesn't particularly work.

Same goes for Toshiro.

Toshiro is a stern, smug, law-abiding, suit-and-tie-wearing man, who's constantly made fun of by the thieves for being pathetic and old.

........

..............

........................

As for his role, he's the tactician, and later, this motivational speech-maker.

First off, as I've mentioned before, Makoto is the tactician, and has always BEEN the tactician. Toshiro is nothing new here (seriously, why doesn't the game ever utilize the fact that Makoto is the tactician?).

As for motivational speaker, while no thief is particularly KNOWN for doing stuff like that, the thieves in general would make motivational speeches to the bad guy of the week ALL THE TIME. In fact, the whole thing with the thieves is that they help inspire people to fight back for their own beliefs and causes. It's what gets them a following in the original game, and it's usually what leads to a vast majority of them to get their Personas.

Honestly, giving this trait to Toshiro early on in his development feels like they're trying to undermine the thieves' ability to rally people just for the sake of giving Toshiro a moment that didn't feel earned at the time (we'll get to that).

And like I've said, the only person to really motivate him was Erina, which once again leaves the thieves unnecessary.

The only original trait I can think of that Toshiro has is being a coward, since no other thief ever really exhibited that trait before. Not really, anyway.

So, the question remains: why are the thieves left to the wayside for the sake of giving Erina and Toshiro the spotlight in the story, and why am I still bringing up Erina still, despite already going over her in the previous part? The answer lies in the simple fact that Atlus didn't want to really make a story revolving around the Phantom Thieves, but rather, a story revolving one random dude and his best friend he kins, featuring the Phantom Thieves.

HE'S EVERYTHING

This is arguably the thing that annoys me about Toshiro the most. I don't exaggerate when I say that Toshiro is literally everything in the story. EVERYTHING!

He's the protagonist, he's (one of) the antagonist(s), he's the conflict, he's the deuteroganist (Erina), he's even the bloody SETTING! This mother flipper is the most important THING in this whole game!

Now, generally, I wouldn't mind it if the new character in a new installment gets a lot of the focus, just as long as A) the old characters still have a role and purpose to this story, and B) the story actually gets me to care about said new character.

Point B is especially important here, considering, with the way the plot is set up, the whole story HINGES on you actually liking Toshiro in order for you to care about the story as a whole. Disappointingly so, it fails at that....

Toshiro does NOT make for a good protagonist to follow or root for, mainly because his conflict is honestly pretty bare-bones.

What it boils down to, is he needs to stand up for himself. That's it. There's nothing to really expand on, nor does the game ever CARE to expand on said conflict to make it more interesting.

In fact, every single Kingdom/antagonist basically has Toshiro face the EXACT SAME CONFLICT EACH TIME.

Marie: He has to stand up for himself.

Yoshiki: He has to......stand up for.....himself.

Nakabachi/Shadow Toshiro: He.............has to stand up for himseelllllfffffffffff...........

There's nothing new to each of these conflicts, apart from the fact that they come from different parts of his life! There's no nuance to them, nor is there anything different when confronting each one of these Tyrants! It becomes repetitive and BORING as a result! Like, TOSHIRO! How the HELL does it take you ***THREE*** Kingdoms to get this lesson through your skull??

In the original P5, we were able to have different conflicts, because we weren't mainly focusing on ONE individual, with the added bonus that the protagonists are of suspicion of being criminals. Strikers is in a similar boat to og P5 in that fashion, with the added-on lesson of Sophia learning about different aspects of the human heart from the different Monarchs that they face.

Because we're forced to focus on one person's issues, there's not that much variety in the conflicts introduced each arc. It becomes predictable after a while....

They could've at LEAST given Toshiro more to have conflict with other than needing to grow a pair! Have at least ONE Tyrant represent him needing to stand up for himself, while the rest focus on another aspect of Toshiro's issues! It ain't ROCKET SCIENCE!

And BECAUSE we're only focusing on Toshiro and his conflict, that leaves the thieves to just be in the background most of the time. They aren't given anything to learn or to do with Toshiro that isn't just babying him. Aside from needing to do combat, there's literally NO reason why they should be here. The only Phantom Thief that actually adds anything to Toshiro or the plot, is Futaba, because apparently they only really knew how to write Futaba and ONLY Futaba! Everyone else is just background noise! You could take just about ALL of them out of the game, and nothing would change all that much in the grand scheme of things!

Why add the Phantom Thieves here, when the Phantom Thieves are obsolete to the overall plot??

oh, right.........moneyyyyyy...........

Also, let me just add that because of the twist revolving around Erina being Toshiro's Persona, this makes Erina feel less like her own individual character, and just tells us that she's just ANOTHER Toshiro! This duo becomes a one-man show, basically. And it doesn't work as a "his friend was always there with him and inspired him" yaddy-yadda, because with the nature OF Personas, he just basically sees himself AS his friend, which is just-

I'm not saying, I'm JUST saying.

I've been holding my tongue on calling him anything close to the writing term, 'Gary Stu', for the game comes DANGEROUSLY close to making him short of one, but dodges it only because the game also tries its hardest to make Toshiro the most tragic mother flipper you'll ever lay your eyes on.

A new Kingdom tackled is just a new topic that Toshiro should tackle with his therapist in the next session.

His mom died when he was little, his dad abuses and grooms him into being a politician that he hopes to puppet in the future for the sake of his career, his best friend got crippled via getting run over by a train, his entire school bullied him after the aforementioned accident, his dad arranges him with a psycho who manipulates and vocally admits that she sees him as her "puppet", and only agrees to marry him because she wants the benefits of being a Prime Minister's wife.

The more I hear about Toshiro's life, the more I begin to slowly realize that there really is a violin in this game! It's just being held hostage by Toshiro as he continuously plays it between his FINGERTIPS!

Toshiro as a protagonist COULD work, IF they gave him the time and buildup to develop into a fleshed-out character as the story progresses.

But they don't DO THAT!!

The game is CONSTANTLY rushing Toshiro's development, no matter if it fits the timing or not! Not only does it become predictable, but it gets tiring and doesn't feel natural for his character at the time those moments happen.

Take the final flag scene in the first Kingdom, for instance.

I've already mentioned that one of my issues with it involves neither Toshiro or Erina feeling like they changed after that scene ends, but arguably my biggest gripe with the scene as a whole is just how EARLY this happens in the story. At this point, we're still trying to get to know Toshiro as a character along with everyone else, and at this point, he has yet to fully grasp any sense of standing up for himself. The only time he was ever pushed to do anything brave was Erina's dumb speech to him when he's FIRST INTRODUCED TO US! So him all of a sudden growing a spine for this one moment to run headfirst in the middle of battle to plant a flag in Erina's place feels WAY too early to have happen in his arc! It's SO unearned, and as a result, it feels cheap.

Here's a clip of me reacting to this moment, immediately catching on to the bullcrap of it all:

And this isn't the only time a moment like this happens for Toshiro at such an early stage in his arc, and it annoys me to no end!

I've heard people PRAISE him for having these constant big moments all the time, but I feel it hurts his character since he lacks buildup for any of them and having so many big moments undermines what's supposed to be his BIG-big moment: his awakening, for it's supposed to be the culmination of his character arc becoming fully realized.

Scenes, like the aforementioned flag scene, the motivational speech he gives to the hat people, or even Yuki's death all felt like moments where his awakening should've happened. Because of that, his actual awakening feels less rewarding or exciting since this just feels like another typical Toshiro moment that doesn't feel earned.

And since I'm talking about it, I might as well talk about a certain aspect about his awakening (I'm actually not going to talk about his awakening, till the next part. It's a WHOLE other can of worms I have yet to open), that being, his Shadow.

SHADOW TOSHIRO

Someone commented on my last part of this rant, explaining why Shadow Toshiro really blamed Eri for everything in Toshiro's life. That because of his guilt of what happened, he feels that he shouldn't have listened to her and just stayed cowering. So, in killing Erina, he'd be killing the chance of something bad happening again. For the most part, I agree and believe that that's what the game was trying to go for.

HOWEVER!

The more I thought about this explanation, the more I began to realize just how nonsensical Shadow Toshiro as a whole is.

Let me just get this one thought in my head out in the open: Why Eri specifically? Because Eri wasn't the only person in Toshiro's life that inspired him to rebel, only for it to backfire. What about his MOM?? She died a few days after he snuck her out of the hospital, with his dad reinforcing the thought that it was all Toshiro's fault that it happened! I'd argue that's more traumatic than what happened between him and Eri!

At least in some fashion, Toshiro would feel more inclined to blame himself for what happened with his mom than what happened to Eri! Both him and Eri started an uprising with a bunch of students against Nakabachi and succeeded. What caused the accident to be initiated was Nakabachi being constantly harassed by other students despite him already being taken care of. Neither Toshiro nor Eri had anything to do with it, nor did they account for it to happen!

Meanwhile, Toshiro (as an impressionable child, mind you), decided to help his mom sneak out of the hospital to fulfill a selfish desire to spend a day with her at an amusement park. On the way back, she suddenly collapsed and died a few days after. To him, his selfishness caused his mother to die, once again, with the help of his father drilling that thought in his brain.

So, in my eyes, Yuki would make more sense as the thing to quash instead of Eri, since Toshiro's rebellion from her seems to appear to be born from selfishness of wanting to spend time with his mother as opposed to his rebellion with Eri, which was born from him wanting to help the school.

And now that I think about it, why do we have TWO examples of Toshiro rebelling, and it having a consequence, specifically, a loved one getting hurt in some way? Once again, the game is being SO repetitive with its storytelling! Unless there was a point to the repetitiveness, why repeat the same exact crap over and over again?

Getting back to the point, Shadow Toshiro pointing fingers at the wrong person isn't the only thing I'm hung up on about him. He doesn't particularly FEEL like a Shadow.

Shadows, from what we know of them, are basically the other self not yet turned into a Persona. A Shadow is the you that you either deny about yourself or intentionally keep hidden from the world. In accepting the Shadow and/or finding your resolve in changing from that Shadow or showing it to the world, it manifests into a Persona.

First off, Shadow Toshiro doesn't feel like a representation of anything Toshiro wants to hide from anyone, or even anything he denies about himself. Shadow Toshiro's motivation is to kill Erina so Toshiro continues to be a wuss. We kind of already knew Toshiro was a wuss, and it didn't feel like anything he wanted to hide about himself.

Maybe he wants to hide his guilt over what happened. But....he doesn't deny that, either.....

Okay, what about him blaming Eri for giving him false hope? Except....there' no indication on him blaming Eri for what happened. He makes it very clear that he blames himself due to the guilt. And the only time we're told all of this is through the Shadow, and no other hint or indication from Toshiro himself.....

At least other Shadows in the series have a clear indication of what their other self wants to hide or deny. Persona 4 is a good example of this due to the nature of how awakenings work in that game.

Yosuke's Shadow represents his boredom of living life in the boonies as a store manager's son, and finds Saki's death + the discovery of the TV world as an excuse to escape that boredom and play hero.

Chie's Shadow represents her liberation in knowing her best friend Yukiko relies on her. And since Yukiko is seen as the school's popular girl, she thinks that she, too, could get attention through Yukiko.

And before you say that this is exclusively Persona 4, Persona 5 also shows us Shadows that represent things the other selves want to keep hidden, mainly, their heinous actions and personalities. I've already talked about Kamoshida and Madarame as good examples of this back in the antagonists part of the rant.

Shadow Toshiro has NONE OF THAT CRAP! Hell, he doesn't even LOOK like a Shadow! Other Shadows typically have sickly yellow eyes that glow. Shadow Toshiro has these weird pale yellow eyes with a black sclera! Why does he have this??

He looks less like a Shadow, and more like SHAN YU!

And while I'm on appearances, why the bandages? Why do they glow purple? What does that say about Toshiro? I just don't get it!

I know I said it back when I talked about Erina, but......why doesn't he become Toshiro's Persona? Just so we have something for Toshiro to fight? So Erina can be unique, while giving Persona lore the middle finger?

Also, why does he stay after Toshiro gets his Persona? He should've conceded when Toshiro found his resolve. That's the POINT of a Shadow! And yet, he still chooses to not only fight Toshiro after the Awakening, but then summons a demonic version of Eri as some last ditch effort! It's so stupid!!

AND THEN HE COMES BACK GREY LATER, UNDERMINING HIS FIRST APPEARANCE AND JUST FINDING A WAY TO MAKE THE GAME EVEN MORE REPETITIVE-

.......sorry. I got a bit carried away, there.

All I'm saying is, Shadow Toshiro is dumb and he confuses me, and it makes me upset that he's one of the only two Persona users in P5 to actually have a physical Shadow to confront. And would you look at that! The other one just so happens to be Futaba! Can you guess which one of the two did it better? I'll give you a hint: it's the one that actually had the Shadow actually turn into the Persona, and no, I'M STILL NOT OVER THAT-

GAMEPLAY BAD

As soon as P5's worst awakening ends, Toshiro becomes a surprise edition to the party. He has many things that separates him from the rest of the team, none of which I feel are beneficial.

For starters, along with the outfit and mask, Toshiro is annexed of a melee weapon and gun, so can't directly hit enemies out of cover. While his Persona does provide a gun attack that doesn't cost anything (we'll GET to that), this means that he can't get an upgrade to his gun for more damage unlike everyone else.

"Well, doesn't he get a better gun attack by upgrading his skill tree?", I might hear you ask. To answer your question, I'm disappointed to announce that he doesn't even get a skill tree. That means that not ONLY is he stuck with the skills that he's given when he's unlocked, but he doesn't get any other benefits that would help him in battle, like an extra One More, extra movement, more Sp and Hp, NOT EVEN A SPECIAL ABILITY FOR HIS PERSONA TO USE ONCE YOU FILL THE STAR GAUGE!

What we DID get is a gun attack, a magic attack (we'll get to that one, too....), a support ability, and three passive abilities; one that refills a large amount of sp per turn (I'll admit, that's pretty good), one that allows a Triple Threat for the Thieves to set up after a One More - because he doesn't even get a Triple Threat for himself, since there's now four - and one that allows him to DASH! Y'know? Something ALL of the Thieves can do without NEEDING A GOD DANG SKILL FOR IT-

There's also a 7th skill he gets, but it' just an updated version of his magic attack, so I won't count it.

"But Angie! Why not just equip him with a Secondary Persona if you're so bothered by this??"

Funny you say that, because, as a matter of fact, you can't. Dude can't even hold Secondary Personas.

Because it's been a bit, I thought I might've had a brain fart and assumed wrong. I tried to look it up, but couldn't find a source that actually confirmed it (except for the AI answer provided by Google, but I don't trust that thing, and for good reason). So, I rolled up my sleeves, and re-downloaded Tactica on my computer for a third time - which is a third too many - and opened a random save file where I unlocked Toshiro. And sure enough,

He ain't 'dere!

And I'm extra correct on him not having a skill tree, either! Dude is just full of disappointments.

So, if Toshiro sucks this bad in combat, and is only really there to be a convenient fourth slot, why not just take him out of the party all together?

.....you can't. You. Flippin'. CAN'T!!

Like Futaba, Toshiro is glued to the party PERMANENTLY no matter what you do, but unlike Futaba, Toshiro isn't at all useful or gives any welcomed benefits. He's like a tick that just refuses to let go no matter how hard you pull.

But that's not even the biggest sin Toshiro commits through his gameplay in my eyes. No, the real sin comes from when you study his two main attacks real closely and come to a scary realization:

His two main attacks, Baywell 45 Mkll and Liberater, are respectively gun and almighty moves.

Gun. And almighty.

Gun......

And almighty........

GUN.

And.

Mother.

Flippin'.

AlmightyyyyyyyyyyyYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

(Due to the length of this (SO sorry about that...), I'm gonna split this into another part, where I'll be showing you an example of a character Tactica was trying to replicate, but failed to do so for one reason or another. Stay tuned!)

Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Pt. 4, Pt. 4.5 Pt. 5, Pt. 6, Pt. 7

#persona 5 #persona 5 tactica #Persona 5 tactica is not great #very long post #very long rant #I promise to conclude my thoughts on Toshiro in the next part #This was just going on for way too long and didn't want to lose people.

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sadgrrly02 · 7 months ago

Text

Infdev to Modern, Post 8

As I said last week, our focus has now turned back to the port! First off, we have to gather wood once more. I got to work immediately, but had to run back to one of my bases almost immediately to make more axes.

On my way back, I noticed a very nice arch in the mountain that might look cool with a bridge running inside of it. Something to consider for a future project, I think.

Once that was settled I really got to work. I chopped and chopped and chopped. Though I also took a chance to harvest more wool as well. Strangely, sheep seem to cause a lot of freezes and stuttering for the game. Unsure of why, exactly.

After I was finished, I eagerly returned to the ship, and got building, making very good progress. I almost finished flooring the first deck, in fact.

However, I was not satisfied. I needed it finished before I allowed myself a break. Thus, I returned to logging… or I was about to, when I remembered that I had been storing wood in one of the rowboats.

I retrieved what I needed, and got back to work.

Once that was done, I took a nice, well deserved break.

After that break, I did a little more work on the walls of the deck, and then worked on constructing the ship below the waterline. Nothing down here really matters functionally, but I want it to look nice.

Once that was down, I headed back to shore, and returned to working on the house I’d started. I ended up finishing it! Except for the windows… I’ll find some sand at some point, but there isn’t much of it in these old chunks. Afterwards I continued working on the port town, making things look nice. Once I got bored of that, I began my next project: a tower! This one’s a little boring, as it’s not a lighthouse or anything terribly exciting, but I think it’ll still be a good time. An exciting aspect of it is that I intend to use it for access to the floating alcoves just behind the current port structures.

I built a fair portion of it, then had to retreat underground to gather more cobblestone. Sure, we have a full chest of the stuff back at spawn, but that’s quite the walk… if only there were a way to move large quantities of items very quickly…

The tower wasn’t too difficult to get looking nice, though I did fall to my death while building the bridge. We intended to build the tower all the way up to the current height limit, but decided to stop for now once we reached the cliffs. Afterwards, I got to work building paths and even a house up there, as I’ve had the idea for a while to extend the city up to this area.

Finally, I set the beginnings of another home before choosing to take another break.

That’s it for this post. Hope y’all are still enjoying this.

-ciel

#minecraft #minecraft infdev #ciel.txt #lets play

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berryhobii · 2 years ago

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Hi there! First of all, I wanted to say how much I like your work!! As a black woman myself, its is so nice to see other women creating work that represents us and is so well written!

I saw you are accepting requests, and I wanted to ask if you could write about how the LateForWork!Couple met. Like how everything progressed and they fell in love with each other.

Thank you in advance and keep up with the amazing work beautiful <3

Wow! Thank you so much for your kind words!🤧it makes me feel so good knowing that black women are feeling represented in works of fiction. I’ll continue to do my best to represent every black woman out there.

And thanks for the request! I think the LFW couple would meet kind of through Taehyung/Jimin at a company meal. Jungkook’s more of an introvert here with reader/OC being naturally flirty and knowing exactly what they want.

I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you like it!

Jungkook didn’t know how he kept letting Taehyung drag him to these meet ups. He didn’t know any of Taehyung’s coworkers or other friends outside of Jimin so he felt really awkward sitting at this table. He’d much rather be at home right now, maybe live streaming Little Nightmares 2 or cracking open the new Resident Evil game he had just received through pre order.

All Taehyung had to do was bribe him with promises of expensive beef and fancy desserts for him to leave the comfort of his home. Taehyung even managed to force him into a loose button up shirt just as Jungkook was about to throw on his signature hoodie. Goodness, that man was strong when he had a goal. At least Jungkook would get some free food today and maybe a sweet to take home so tonight wouldn’t be a total waste.

His face was practically glued to his phone, focus on clearing all of the jelly on this level of Candy Crush. He was down to 1 move and one more jelly square but there were no moves in that area that could help him! Urgh! And he didn’t want to uselessly use any of his power ups. Should he just lose his streak?

Just as he was about to move the candy, a hand came out of nowhere and did it for him. That move created a power up that triggered itself thus clearing the jelly and causing him to win the level. When the happy music played along with that little girl popping up to tell him he won, he couldn’t fight the smile on his face.

Then he realized that he didn’t make that move. Turning around, he was expecting to see Taehyung or Jimin but his mouth dropped at the sight of the person.

You were……what words could he use?

Beautiful? Gorgeous? Majestic? Attractive? Stunning? All of the above?

Your skin was dewy and effervescent, even the lights that lit up the restaurant paled in comparison to your glistening and dark skin. You looked like earth personified—graceful and cool and he just knew you sparkled when the sun hit you.

Your hair was in a half up half down style, claw clip holding it up, 2 locks of hair framed your face and were curled at the end. Your lashes were long and your full lips were shiny with gloss.

He couldn’t take his eyes off you, it was hard to look away when such a gem was standing before him. Could someone even be that exquisite in real life?

And when you smiled, he swore he heard angels singing in his ears.

“I hate when there’s only one move left yet nothing around it. I just know my FBI agent sees me throw a fit over it every day.”

His brain short circuited for a moment. Were you initiating conversation with him? About a game? Willingly? Oh god, is he getting pranked right now? He thought Ashton Kutcher was dead. Is he?

Stop thinking about possibly dead actors! There’s a pretty girl in front of you!

He cleared his throat. “Yeah. They must be concerned I’m having a mental breakdown because they advertised a therapist to me.” He actually shocked himself a little from how easily those words flowed out. Small talk with a stranger was not a specialty of his.

Your laugh was loud and a little goofy but so endearing, it made him chuckle as well.

“Candy Crush will do that to you. I wouldn’t be surprised if the creators opened a rehab for us.”

“It’ll just be us having group discussions on how bringing hazelnuts to the bottom has been affecting our ability to form positive relationships.”

He couldn’t believe how easy conversation was flowing between you two. For some reason, he didn’t feel pressured or nervous speaking to you. You just seemed so open and kind.

Who were you?

“Jungkook! I see you met one of my coworkers. She’s super hot, isn’t she? I told her to let me make her a model but she insists on staying in PR. Boring.” Jimin appeared out of nowhere like a jump scare, draping an arm over your shoulders. Jungkook’s face faltered a little. Jimin was the biggest flirt known to mankind. He could probably charm the pants off a dead person if he wanted to. If you knew him, and more importantly if you worked with him, you must have been on the opposite side of his flirting. Was it a possibility that you two were closer than coworkers?

But instead, you just rolled your eyes, moving his arm off of you.

“Save that talk for your next spread, Park. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you still haven’t submitted your portfolio.”

Jimin’s smile never dropped despite your slightly cold attitude. He could tell you were just poking fun at him.

“Anyway, Jungkook, this is y/n. y/n, this is Jungkook.”

“I can introduce myself, thank you.” You said before pulling out the chair next to Jungkook and sitting down. That movement caused your perfume to flutter all around him—it was light but sweet like some kind of dessert.

Once you were settled, you turned your body to Jungkook, propping your elbow on the table to lean your cheek against it.

And the way your hooded eyes stared at him sent a harsh shiver from the top of his head all the way to his toes. He didn’t even notice Jimin’s smirk or how the man tip toed away to gossip to his favorite buddy.

“I’m y/n.”

He opened his mouth but no sound came out. He didn’t know why his throat felt dry all of a sudden.

Oh great, he could chat with you about mobile games and FBI agents but getting his name out was difficult?

Clearing his throat, he forced out his name, voice cracking a little at the end. Embarrassment rushed through his body, heat rising to his ears and he was grateful his hair was long enough to cover them.

You must think he was a dork now.

You giggled, your eyelashes fluttering and making his heart weak.

“Nice to meet you.”

He shyly nodded. “You too.”

“Sorry about Jimin. He’s like that at work too.”

Jungkook pushed his hair back with one hand, not noticing how your eyes followed the motion. “At least you only have to work with him. Imagine knowing him since childhood.”

You pressed your hand against your chest in faux distress. “How awful. I could only imagine the pain you endure daily.”

Wow. You were so easy to talk to. He had completely forgotten about his phone, tucking it into his pocket to finally have a rest.

Eventually, food and drinks began flowing. Taehyung and Jimin joined you two at the table but not even they could pop the bubble that you’ve formed.

Jungkook could barely focus on his food. You had his full attention, holding onto every word and laugh that fell from your lips. He found you to be witty but also humble, not afraid to poke a little fun at Taehyung and Jimin who just laughed right along with you.

You were mesmerizing. He almost hated blinking if it meant your beautiful face left his sight.

And when you would turn your attention back to him, not realizing that you’ve never left his, you’d send him a flirty wink and coy smile that would send his blood pressure through the roof from how his heart would stutter and race. If a doctor was listening with a stethoscope right now, they’d think the organ was giving out on him.

“So how’d you end up here?” You asked after taking a sip of your drink.

He sighed, eyes going over to the other side of the table where Taehyung was showing Jimin something on his phone but the man was so drunk that he was holding it upside down. And Jimin probably didn’t even notice, laughing as if he could understand the upside down photo. “Taehyung dragged me here. Said I need to start getting out more and I can’t waste my youth playing games all day. He keeps pushing me to date but I’m not that interested right now.”

Well, that was before. Now, however, he was starting to change that view.

You hummed, using your chopsticks to eat a piece of meat, chewing carefully and swallowing before speaking again.

“Does it make you happy?”

That was a question he didn’t hear people ask him often. Well, in a genuine way. He’d normally hear it rhetorically. He’s heard it come from his parents more times than he could count, followed by a lecture that he’d drown out.

He blinked a few times. Gaming did make him happy. He appreciated the hard work creators put into each frame, the adrenaline he got from jump scares, and the accomplishment from completing one. “Yeah….it does.”

“Then that’s what matters. Who cares if someone else feels like you’re wasting your life? It’s yours. You can’t be focused too much on what others want for you. You’ll only neglect your own self.”

Wow.

“Then again, we should thank Taehyung from forcing you out tonight.”

He tilted his head. He would absolutely never do that but he was intrigued by your suggestion. “Really? Why?”

You didn’t say anything, just gazed at him with those captivating eyes and he knew exactly what you meant.

Maybe he should thank Taehyung.

As the night came to a close, he helped escort Taehyung to his car. Jimin had left a little earlier with a person you identified as one of the newest members of management. Apparently, they were kind of resistant to Jimin’s flirting at first but had crumbled after about 4 months of Jimin trying and trying. Jungkook recalls Jimin speaking about this person, claiming he was in love with them and would respectfully shoot his shot whenever possible.

That left Jungkook with a drunk Taehyung and you were helping your coworker who lived in the same apartment building as you.

Jungkook didn’t just want to see you walk away. Who knows if he’d ever see you again? And he refused to ask Jimin or Taehyung for your number. The teasing would never end.

“Hey…..wait.” He called out to you after practically dumping Taehyung in the back seat. You had parked right in front of his car and were buckling your roommate’s seatbelt who was slumped over asleep.

You turned to him after closing the passenger door, your eyes locking in with his.

There was that nervousness again but he swallowed it down. He couldn’t chicken out now! Not when you’d been getting along so well this evening.

“Um…..look, if you don’t mind, could I have your number? Maybe we can hang out sometime.”

You eyed him up and down but not in a checking him out kind of way. It was like you were analyzing him, finding every little crack in his personality that you could.

He honestly felt a little vulnerable. Why weren’t you speaking? Hadn’t tonight gone well? Was he just trying his luck and you’re already dating someone? Oh god, were you just being nice and he took it as you flirting with him?! Assumptions really were dangerous.

He was about to apologize and roll under his car to stay there until the end of time before you finally spoke.

“I’m not a maybe type of woman, Jungkook.” You spoke bluntly.

His mouth dropped a little in shock. Not necessarily because of your blunt tone but because you were just his fucking type. You knew what you wanted and that was his cup of tea.

You didn’t wait for him to respond, rounding your car to open the driver’s side. He just watched you with doe eyes and a funny feeling swirling in his tummy.

However, before you got in, you said,

“I don’t wait around.”

And on his drive home with a snoring Taehyung in the back, he thought one thing….

When you arrived at work Monday morning, it was to a bunch of people surrounding your desk. That wasn’t really out of the ordinary since people often got their assignments of the day from you.

What was out the ordinary though?

The huge bouquet of flowers that sat just in the middle of your desk, the colors vivid and the arrangement looking larger than your desk.

Your coworkers chatted excitedly about the flowers as you approached but you ignored them. Instead, you reached for the little card on a plastic stand just nestled between the blooms.

You had to bite your lip to fight your smile but you couldn’t fight the feeling that was rising in your chest.

I don’t either.

#askberryhobii #bts #bts requests #jungkook #jungkook smut

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weenwrites · 2 years ago

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Heyo! Could I have some headcanons about TFP Ratchet with a younger cybertronain s/o who can’t go out on the field due to past injuries and feels useless/is dealing with depression? Maybe Ratchet could help the reader stretch or give them a massage so they could possibly move faster, and the reader doing the same in return? The writing would mean a lot to me, thank you!

✎A/N: Please let me know if I've gotten anything wrong, and I hope you enjoy it!

[ Please do not repost, plagiarize, or use my writing for AI! Translating my work with proper credit is acceptable, but please ask first! ]

Ratchet

Ratchet was there when you were first told that your injuries were too severe for you to continue going onto the field. He was there to comfort you, to listen to you, to keep you company, and to take care of you through your recovery. And the chances are that he was the doctor who fixed you up, which means he feels immense guilt that he wasn't able to treat you well enough so you'd make a full recovery.

While he knows that feeling guilty won't change anything, he can't help but feel horrible anyway whenever he sees that you're having a hard time. Still, he tries to use this guilt to motivate himself to help you do simple exercises or stretches to try and improve your mobility.

He'll take 50 minutes out of his day to do some wrist and ankle rolls, knee marches, torso twists, heel slides, calf raises, etc... Or if possible, he'll have you do some curls with some relatively light weights. And the moment you start feeling any discomfort or pain, he'll have you stop and try something else or sit and rest for a while.

He's told you before that you should do your stretches and exercises without him, but you've managed to convince him to join you anyway. Sometimes, other members of the team will join in on the exercising and stretching sessions just to keep you company and talk with you.

Since most of—if not all your time is spent at the base, he'll have you assist him with some of his work at times, just to give you something to do (he's started doing it ever since he learned that you felt useless). Though he won't have you doing any heavy lifting or rigorous physical activity, he'll have you help him with cleaning up his workspace, or perhaps bringing him light-weight tools. Or if you have some scientific or medicinal knowledge, then he'll have you help him perform regular checkups on the team, or simple patch-up jobs whenever they get injured. Or if your strengths lie elsewhere, in things such as military strategizing, mission coordination, or managing communications, then you can do that from the base as well.

He then learned about aquajogging online and performed some extensive research on its benefits and drawbacks. He was curious, and so using his connections with Fowler, he managed to find a massive indoor pool to use. Of course he tested it out himself to see if it would be beneficial for cybertronians before allowing you to try it out. Or if you don't like that, then he's taken the kid's advice and rigged an exercise video game set-up, if you want something more entertaining to motivate you to exercise.

At times whenever you feel down, upset, or mourn the loss of what you used to be able to do, he'll remind you that you've made much progress towards improving your mobility thus far. He'll point out things that used to be much more difficult, and how you're now able to do them easier after taking the time to exercise and stretch for however long it's been, and he'll place a lot of emphasis on how proud he is that you've made it so far.

Or if you're upset about being useless, he'll keep emphasizing that no matter what you think of the work you for the team from back in the base, it's still valuable and it helps them greatly. And depending on what you do, the team will be sure to back him up and tell you about how helpful your strategies were for winning a key battle, for example, or how your coordination during missions helps them work together better, so on and so forth.

#tfp imagines #tfp headcanons #tfp x reader #tfp ratchet #ratchet x reader #x reader #reader insert #self insert #weenwrites

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kitkatt0430 · 23 days ago

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3, 4, 12, 13, 25, 30, 46, 52, 58, 73 and 81 for the fic writer ask game please!

3.) on a scale of 1-10 how much do you enjoy incorporating romance into the average story?

I'd say about an 8 maybe? I really enjoy writing romance since it's kind of escapist in a way for me. It's not something I want in my own life but writing romance let's me get out of my own head in a way. Thus I end up writing a lot of fics with romance in them.

4.) what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

So I've got a number of old fics that I started, but I don't think I was really ready to write yet at the time. I'm not really sure which one is the oldest, but some of them I've left the fandom and aren't interested enough to go back. Some are for fandoms I'm no longer comfortable participating in because the author is a massive bigot or because there's some aspect of canon I'm no longer comfortable with (and maybe never was but I've can express why now). And some are fandoms I want to revisit but just… not right now.

I don't really think any of them have any dread associated with them right now, existential or otherwise. But there are some that definitely have some writer's block attached that keeps me from making any progress. (That's more of a heavy sigh than dread.)

12.) do you ever have trouble focusing on writing? how do you get around that?

When I'm really stressed out about something else, it can definitely affect my ability to focus on writing. And it can even wind up feeling associated with the writing even though that's not the real stressor.

All I can really do is take a break. Either work on a different fic or pull out something else to do. Like read a book, play a video game, watch a movie/tv show… just as long as I stop trying to push myself into something I don't have the brain space for.

13.) talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you.

When I wrote Bisexual Panic and Other Foolishness that was for the Mutant X fandom that only gets a handful of fics added every year (so not dead) but it barely had any fics for the ship I was writing for. So I really was not expecting any engagement on this fic. It was a multi-chapter self-indulgent fic that was entirely for an audience of me.

And then someone started commenting!!! Sometimes that one commentor makes such a big difference, really. This person commented on every single chapter and it was so lovely. Made the posting process really enjoyable. :D

25.) what’s your revision or rewriting process like?

Lol, okay so… a lot of the times what's posted is first draft + editing pass. I don't often do a lot of rewriting beyond a few sentences here or there or occasionally adding a scene that I realize was missing upon re-reading before posting, which has stalled a few things I want to write because they need a much bigger scale rewrite. And my executive dysfunction does not like rewriting as much as new writing.

30.) most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

It's cliched but the first part of the Serenity Prayer is something I come back to a lot.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

(But also as a joke back when my dad still fished, I got him the fisherman's version and it was hilarious.)

46.) what time are you the most productive when it comes to writing?

Whenever the plot bunnies attack me. ;) But usually afternoon/evening.

52.) how many unfinished ideas/stories are you working on at the same time?

I'm currently working on… 3. (Had to think about that for a min.) But I have way more on the backburner.

58.) what is the last thing that a fic made you google when you were writing it?

I had to google (duck duck go, actually) a few things from the Doomworld arc. Largely the Arrow Wiki to the rescue.

73.) how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

Sometimes it is something like a movie in my head where I try to figure out the logistics. Is someone sitting, standing, moving their arms a lot; what kind of space are they surrounded by…

And then sometimes the words just flow. Which is always nice, especially if I've been wanting to make progress for a while and this is a BREAKTHROUGH!!!! But then I have to come back later to tweak a few minor things because I had someone sit down on the couch twice in the same scene without getting up in between. (When is the more dramatic moment to sit down? That one stays.)

81.) if you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of writing advice specific to you, what would it be?

It's okay not to finish writing something and post it anyway. Fanfiction is a hobby. It should be about what makes you happy and makes you feel proud to have written. And you can still feel proud of a fic and want to share it even if it's never finished.

I think there a lot of fics I stalled out on because I was afraid to post something unfinished or was worried that if I started posting i wouldn't finish even with user interaction because there was a lot more 'when's the next chapter' type comments back then. Which could be so intimidating and a creativity killer. And some of those files are gone now, lost in computer deaths or just in the shuffle of moving from one computer to the next as a laptop finally got too old and slow and started crashing a bit too much.

And maybe I'd have never finished those fics. But if I'd posted the parts that were ready to go, then at least I'd still have them.

#thanks for asking #kitkatt0430 answers #last week was busy (birthday week!!!!)#but I was able to find some time for it today :D

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trashyswitch · 1 year ago

Text

'Gargalesis'

The Intruder has many questions for Archangel Gabriel...and he is not in the mood to be undermined. So Archangel Gabriel tells the Intruder of a strange weakness that is only ever used to make Intruders comply...but the spilling of this secret comes with dire consequences.

This fanfic will have implications of suicide and murder. It is only in the beginning, and it eventually gets thrown aside. So, please be mindful as you read. Next, this fanfiction includes a whole bunch of big words you may not know. Thesaurus was my best friend while making this fanfic, as I wanted to show the characters as much more 'abstract' and 'complicated'. So if you find this fanfic really hard to read, that's okay. It's somewhat supposed to be. Make sure you have your dictionary (and your biblical knowledge) out for this one. You'll need it.

This fanfic was suggested by two anonymous users on Tumblr. I hope you enjoy! This one was incredibly interesting to write. Worth the countless hours I spent on it.

The Intruder showed itself to Archangel Gabriel, showing no fear. Gabriel stared at the intruder with a skin-crawling smile. The unspeakable appeared to be unphased by the Doppelgänger’s appearance, which was abnormally stretched and bug-eyed.

Though the Intruder knew Gabriel was stronger than it, the Intruder held itself up with a sense of pride. “Hello, Gabriel.” He greeted.

“Intruder…” Gabriel said. “We meet again. Are you enjoying yourself, toying with the victim?” Gabriel asked him.

“It has been a treat…it is a shame my fun was cut short so soon.” Intruder muttered.

“Humans are blind to the suffering of others. It will take ages for the victim to be found.” Gabriel added.

The intruder looked around at the mass panic that filled the town of Mandela County. “The people are growing weary…The victims are scared of their own shadow…People are dying…Children are traumatized by the intruder on the television…The government has foolishly put a ban on televisions and devices…though we both know that will never stop us…” The intruder mentioned to Archangel Gabriel. “The police are chasing their own tails, unable to solve the mystery of the missing children and the endless suicides…It is a fascinating turn of events.” The intruder told Gabriel.

“I see…You have done well thus far, 6.” Archangel Gabriel told it.

“Must we do anything more with Cesar?” The intruder asked.

“No…We must wait until Adam arrives at the stranger's home with Jonah.” Gabriel told him. “We have tricked Adam and Jonah into going to the woman’s house for a few nights. That will give us plenty of time for you to make yourself known to Adam.” Gabriel told him.

The intruder thought for a moment. “You desire to end all of humanity…and yet, you delay our process too often…Must you make us ceaselessly wait for the perfect moment?” The intruder asked.

“Yes…Patience is the key to true destruction. With patience comes unpredictability…and with unpredictability comes our success.” Gabriel told him. “Why must you ask? Are you unable to hold on much longer?” Gabriel asked.

“The alternates are tiresome and disquieted by your games.” The intruder told them.

“What about you? Are you perturbed as well?” Gabriel asked.

“Indeed.” The intruder replied. “I fail to see how much destruction we are truly doing to humanity. All these centuries of patience, and only now do we see significant progress.” The intruder explained.

“Do you lack trust in Satan himself?” Archangel Gabriel asked.

The intruder looked at Gabriel with shock. “Never, my prince of darkness…I would never lose trust in my devoted leader.” The intruder replied.

“Then you will prove yourself and do as I please. Or else…there will be considerable punishment.” Archangel Gabriel told it.

The intruder nodded its head and looked down, refusing to argue with its leader any further. Archangel Gabriel has argued his point, and will refuse any more words on the subject. The Intruder called up its fellow doppelgängers and watched as Gabriel ordered them to visit more children and terrify more people.

When the rest of the Doppelgängers were gone, the intruder flew to Archangel Gabriel in search of another question. “How do you simply recognize the perfect time to continue with your plans?” The intruder asked it.

“You wish to know my secrets…” Gabriel smiled evilly. “Very well.” Gabriel looked towards the world. “There is no physical feeling for such understanding. What is required is to know the correct time. It is too complicated for you to understand.” Gabriel explained. “I know who I am working alongside. I know my enemy like I know my right hand.” Gabriel explained. “At the same time, I also know exactly who you are.” Gabriel turned to look at the intruder. “You are a follower…a lowly doppelgänger meant to complete the dirty work of this revolution.” Gabriel told it.

The intruder narrowed its buggy eyes. “Just a lowly doppelgänger…is that all I am?” The intruder asked.

“Hmm…You appear displeased by this truth. What would you call yourself?” Gabriel asked.

“The facade…the bloodied hands behind the destruction of mankind.” The intruder replied.

“Hm…While that does seem fitting…it makes my work in this ‘destruction’ seem unimportant.” Gabriel told the intruder.

“You do not see your own importance…For you are the foreseer. The observer, if you will…The brain behind the destruction of humankind.” The intruder explained. “Though we have made your visions come true…without your wisdom, there would be no complete objective for us to focus on.” The intruder told Gabriel. “Your attempts to elucidate our differences, is merely inefficacious…pointless… or ineffective, if you will.” Gabriel told the intruder. “For there are many more distinctions that separate you and I.” He told the intruder. “Though you travel between the currents of technological gadgets…you lack aeronautics…or rather, flight.” Gabriel mentioned. “You also lack my staggering ability to make more alternates to accompany you and your associates.” Gabriel mentioned before summoning a brand new Type 3 alternate and sending it down to scare more humans down on earth. “You may have stolen the lives of over 3,426 children and created mass panic throughout the county of Mandela…but you have not come close to preventing the second coming of Christ.” Gabriel explained to him.

The intruder frowned as it listened to Gabriel’s words. “You are no more powerful than the enemy itself. You are a mere speck in the hands of the enemy.” The intruder reminded Gabriel. “Excuse me?” Gabriel asked, flying closer to the intruder.

“You may have succeeded in preventing the second coming of Christ…but you failed to prevent Noah from building the ark…and as a result…” The intruder lifted its head slightly to appear dominant as Gabriel stared it down. “Humanity has continued to live for several more millenia…keeping God’s plan in motion and forcing us to reconsider what lies ahead.” The intruder explained.

“Are you scrutinizing your creator?” He asked, both surprised and angry with the intruder.

The intruder showed Gabriel a toothy smile. “I am pointing out your failures thus far. How can your demons trust that you will not fail again?” The intruder asked.

Gabriel looked the intruder up and down…before smirking in an almost evil fashion. “You fail to remember one little weakness I have provided all my creations…” Archangel Gabriel told it.

“A weakness?” The intruder asked.

“Have I never told you?” Gabriel asked.

“Please don’t make me laugh. Humans have fought us for centuries…and yet all of them have failed. Therefore: I have no weakness.” The intruder muttered aloud.

“Perhaps a little allusion is needed.” Gabriel offered before backing up slightly. “Reveal your weakness to me.” Gabriel called out into the air confidently.

Suddenly, white lights without a source, began highlighting different spots on the intruder’s being. It highlighted spots on its abdomen, its neck, and even its feet. And it appeared that certain spots were a more dirty gray, while other spots were more bright white. This told Gabriel everything he needed to know.

“What…” The intruder looked around at itself, confused. “What is this? Where is the illumination coming from?” The intruder asked, looking around for a source to the light and shadows on its being.

Gabriel flew up to the intruder, and showed its white, glowing hands to him. “I suppose I failed to inform you…” Gabriel poked the right side of the intruder’s abdomen. “Of a weakness every doppelgänger has been cursed with…” He scratched two fingers on the abdomen, watching up at the intruder as its face morphed into surprise. “A weakness…that makes a doppelgänger exhibit the most wretched of all involuntary responses.”

The intruder gasped and widened its eyes in shock. What in the- what is this?! Why does he feel a need to contort its body? And why are these convulsions followed up by…the sensation to…laugh? It’s hard to keep it in! The need to laugh is growing stronger! No! Stop that!

“Confused, 6?” Gabriel asked with a wide smile on its face.

“No! Nohoho! Whahat ihis thihihis?!” The intruder asked, closing its eyes shut as it began to fail to hold the laughter in.

“It is an involuntary response invented by Yahweh, to make humans laugh in pleasure. Though that was Yahweh’s intent when creating such a response, humans have often taken advantage of the involuntary response and used it in…not-so-pleasurable situations.” Gabriel told it. “Though he is my enemy, I do applaud Yahweh’s invention and found the inspiration to include this involuntary response in my creations.” Gabriel told the intruder. “You, however…are the first alternate to experience its true potential.” Gabriel told it.

“HAhahahaha! Hahahahehehehe! Hahahaha!” The intruder laughed, wiggling around and holding its hand inches from Gabriel’s hand.

“So tell me, 6: How does this feel?” Gabriel asked, before adding a third finger to the alternate’s abdomen. “HahahAHAHA! IHIHIT FEEEHEHEHEEELS STRAHAhahahange! HAhahahaha- IHIHI CAHAN’T STOP LAHAHAHAUGHIHIHING!” The intruder reacted.

“Does the inability to control your laughter…bother you in any way?” Gabriel asked.

“HAHAhahahaha- Ihihi- Ihihihihi dohon’t knohohohow! Hehehehahaha!” The intruder responded. “Ihi- I- I ca-cahan’t tahahalk lihike thihihihis-!” The intruder complained.

“Oh 6, you are doing well. Do not attempt to stop the laughter. It will only disappoint me.” Gabriel told it.

“Whahahahat ihihis ihit cahahahalled?” The intruder asked.

“Oh! Well…Humans have given it many names. The Arabic people have called it دغدغة, while the Israelites have called it לְדַגדֵג…Germany has called it kitzeln, while traditional China has called it Sāoyǎng.” Gabriel explained before adding a 4th finger to the abdomen.

“HahahaHAHAHA! NOHOHO! NOHOHOT ANOHOHOTHEHER!” The intruder yelled.

“Though the most common name for this involuntary response in this world posterior to Yeshua…is in English…” Gabriel explained. “The first word is the medical term invented by G. Stanley Hall and Arthur Allin, which is ‘Gargalesis’.” Gabriel explained. “And the typical word, the word used most often in modern English, is ‘tickling’.” Gabriel told the intruder.

“Whahat aha strahahange wohohord.” The intruder reacted.

“Yes, it really is a strange word. I will say, humans have come up with interesting ways of linking their words to their meaning.” Gabriel mentioned as he added another finger to the abdomen.

“HahahaHAHAHA! NOHOHO! NOHOHOT ANOHOHOTHEHER!” The intruder yelled, doubling over, and blocking Gabriel from going anywhere else on his abdomen.

Thankfully though, Gabriel didn’t need to stop tickling just yet…for the intruder had given him free access to another ticklish spot on its form: the neck. “I suppose I shall invite myself to go here next?” Gabriel asked as he started tickling its fingers against the side of the intruder’s neck.

The intruder scrunched up its shoulders and started letting out rather mortifying giggles. “eeEEEHEHEHEEEEee! Ihihihit feheheels dihihifferehehehent!” The intruder reacted.

“Tell me, oh wise intruder…Is this ticklish spot worse? Or better than the abdomen?” Gabriel asked it.

“Hehehehe- Behehetteheherhrhrr! Ihihit feheheels fuhuhunnyhy.” The intruder told Gabriel. “Is that so?” Gabriel reacted, somewhat surprised to hear such a reaction. “I wonder if tickling this side at the same time…” Gabriel tickled both sides of the intruder’s neck, so it couldn’t cover up any spots. “-would make it any more unbearable.” Gabriel thought aloud.

The intruder leaned its head back and let out higher-pitched giggles that quickly turned itself into lower-pitched cackles. “HAHAhahahaha! Ihihihi dohohon’t knohohohow!” The intruder reacted.

“You don’t know?” Gabriel asked. “My, I can only imagine that this is the most unsure you have ever been in your entire existence!” Gabriel reacted, in almost a teasy tone.

“Whyhyhyhy dohoho yohohou tahahalk lihike thahahat?!” The intruder asked.

“Whatever do you mean?” Gabriel asked for clarification.

“Yohohour tohohone ohof vohohohoice! Ihihit is frightenihihing mehehehe!” The intruder clarified.

“Oh dear me…Have I failed to explain ‘teasing’ to you as well?” Gabriel asked. “How unfortunate…” Gabriel moved his fingers closer to the back of the intruder’s neck, tickling right where the human spine was supposed to be located.

“Wahahait- BAHAHAHAHA! OHOHO NOHOHOHO!” The intruder grabbed at Gabriel’s hands desperately…only to find its hands were moving through Gabriel’s tickling fingers! “WHAHAHAT-?!” The intruder shouted.

“I am afraid I do not have time to fully explain what teasing is.” Gabriel smirked evilly. “I am going to have to let you discover the true power of a ticklish tease on your own time.” Gabriel explained to it.

“BUHUHUHUHUT-” The intruder squeaked. “IHIHIHIT’S MAHAHAKING ME BAHAHASHFUHUHULLL!” The intruder complained.

“Yes, that is the point of a tease…to make a human, or an alternate, bashful and flustered.” Gabriel explained slightly.

“IHIHIHIHI- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The intruder cackled helplessly.

“You are exceptionally loud.” Gabriel stopped his fingers. “Perhaps I should leave this ticklish spot alone?” Gabriel offered, tickling the spot a little extra so the intruder knew what he was talking about.

“PLEHEHEHEASE DOHOHOHO! IHIHI CAHAHAN’T TAHAHAKE IHIT! PLEHEEEHEHEHEASE!” The intruder pleaded.

“Oh? I see the intruder has begun to express remorse for its disrespectful actions.” Gabriel reacted.

“YEHESSSS! IHIHI’M SORRYHYHY! IHI’M SOHOHOHORRYYY!” The intruder told Gabriel.

��Oh, I see! An apology! What an interesting turn of events.” Gabriel teased. “Though I do accept your apology, I am curious as to how apologetic you really are.” Gabriel admitted. “Tell me…Do you regret messing with your superior?” Gabriel asked it.

“YEHEHEHESS! IHIHI DOHOHOOOO!” The intruder responded.

“Will you ever resume contradicting my actions in the future?” Gabriel asked it.

“NONONOHOHO! IHIHI WOHON’T!” The intruder yelled.

“Do you promise to comply with my demands?” Gabriel asked next.

“YEHEHES! IHIHI- HAHAHA- IHIHIHI PROMIHIHIHISE!” The intruder yelled back.

Gabriel smirked to himself and removed his fingers. The intruder had lowered its body down, looking limp and exhausted. But despite what it looked like, the intruder wasn’t tired…for doppelgängers do not get physically tired like humans do. Gabriel knew that this was merely a tactic to make him feel remorse towards one of his creations. Though the observer didn’t feel any remorse towards the intruder, he did feel he had gotten his point across successfully.

“Ihi…ihi can see why humans have used gargalesis to their advantage…” The intruder admitted.

“Do you require any more questions from me, 6?” Gabriel asked.

“Yes, my creator.” The intruder replied. “I have two more questions to ask before I take my leave.” it told Gabriel.

Gabriel looked away. “Very well.” He subtly encouraged the intruder to ask its question.

“Are other alternates equally able to experience gargalesis?” The intruder asked.

“Yes, I believe so. Though doppelgängers are the most sensitive out of all the alternates.” Gabriel replied. “It is a necessity so they may fit in with the mortal beings of earth.” Gabriel explained.

“And…you are a type 2 alternate, correct?” The intruder asked.

“Yes…I am.” Gabriel replied, narrowing its eyes suspiciously. “What are you implying?”

The intruder smiled. “I am implying that you did not directly take inspiration from Yahweh when you modified your creations to…experience gargalesis.” The intruder explained. “Perhaps…you experience gargalesis yourself due to Yahweh…and as a result, you see its benefits and its destruction.” The intruder explained, getting closer to Gabriel. “Perhaps you did not want to be alone in enduring such an incomprehensible feeling.” The intruder explained as it moved its fingers closer to Gabriel’s abdomen.

Gabriel didn’t do anything to stop the intruder from toying with him. This action alone, began to tell the intruder all it needed to know: It was correct in its proposition. The intruder wiggled a few fingers against Gabriel’s abdomen, hoping to see Gabriel contort his body like the intruder had done beforehand. And the intruder widened its toothy smile the moment Gabriel bent its upper body backwards slightly and let out some surprised fits of laughter. “Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha!” Gabriel started hugging its abdomen and shaking its head. “Hehehehehe- Sssstohohop! Thahahat’s ehenohohough!” Gabriel ordered.

“I apologize, my prince of darkness…but I am beginning to understand why inflicting gargalesis on another being is incredibly amusing.” The intruder told Gabriel. “Whyhyhy muhust yohohou dohohoho thihihihis?!” Gabriel asked.

“I continue to tickle you because I find your reactions quite captivating.” The intruder admitted. “I fail to keep a smile off my face while you laugh like this. It is endearing.” The intruder expressed.

“Muhuhust yohohou dohohoho thihis to mehehehe?” Gabriel asked.

“Indeed, my creator. I am rather enjoying seeing you laugh like this.” The intruder spoke to him. “Perhaps you could express your genuine laughter a little more often?” The intruder offered.

“Ihihihi reheject yohohour nohotion!” Gabriel argued.

“Very well. I suppose the idea was too good to be true.” The intruder admitted as it stopped its fingers.

Gabriel’s laughter slowed down to just slow breathing rather quickly. Gabriel dusted himself off as best he could, before turning to the intruder. “You are a very bold and dull-witted doppelgänger.” Gabriel warned it. “If you attempt to even whisper this secret to your associates, I will make sure you are rightfully terminated.” Gabriel ordered.

“Your secret is safe with me, my prince.” The intruder responded.

Gabriel turned to look at the earth. “Begone. I need to think.” Gabriel ordered.

The intruder left Gabriel alone, and ventured down to the earth to resume its duties. Though it was quite amusing, the intruder had a strong feeling that Gabriel would never let it near him, let alone touch him again. The intruder had promised Gabriel to keep this secret hidden from every alternate...and as a reward, Gabriel would resume its silence on the doppelgängers’ secret weakness. Only 1 doppelgänger knew of this secret…and that was how they intended to keep it.

#abstract #mid-vol. 2 (the mandela catalogue)#doppleganger #yahweh #curiosity #fascinating #big words #ticklefic #switch!intruder #switch!gabriel

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