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mgsapphire · 3 years

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My K-drama recommendation master list Part 2

You can find part 1 here

Look, you gave us relatively new recommendations, what about ones older than 10 years? I'll give you my top 5

Princess Hours (2006) Is a modern Cinderella story. It's 24 episodes long. Available on Viki.

Personal Taste (2010) Honestly, problematic plot if you put your mind into it, but entertaining nonetheless. It's 16 episodes long, each one lasting a little over an hour, available on Viki.

Cinderella's Sister (2010) You hate every character, but there's still something that makes you watch it. Available on Viki.

Thank You (2007) was ahead of its time, it's about a single mother with a daughter who has an HIV+ diagnosis. 16 episodes long, each one lasting a little over an hour. Available on Viki.

Stairway to Heaven (2003) for a good melodrama.

What about romantic fantasies involving fantastic beings?

Guardian: The lonely and Great God(2016) A classic of the genre. It tells the story of a God who was once a man, and is being punished by immortality, unless he meets his bride, who just so happens to be a high schooler centuries later. Available on viki. 16 episodes long with 3 specials, all lasting about 75 minutes.

Hotel Del Luna (2019) it would be unfair to talk about Goblin, without talking about this other masterpiece about a being cursed into immortality and granted special availabilities along with it, but a curse is still a curse, and she must run a hotel meant for ghosts, where after centuries of being, meets a young man who is alive. Availability on Viki, 16 episodes long and each one lastz about 75 minutes.

Tale of the Nine Tailed (2020) You get to see Lee Dong Wook as another mystical being, and Kim Bum is his half brother. 16 episodes long and one special, each one lasting about 65 minutes. Available on Viki.

My roommate is a Gumiho (2021) what's up with gumihos? It's still airing. The title is self explanatory. Available on Viki and Qiyi.

Angel's last mission: Love (2019) is a cute and sad story about an angel who is about to ascend and a ballerina who has a cynical view of the world. Available on Viki. Each episode averages 30 minutes, with 32 episodes.

Doom at your service (2021) About to finish airing. It tells the story of a dying woman who wishes doom upon the world, and the doom who answers her plea. Available on viki, 16 episodes long, each one lasting about an hour.

The Scholar Who walks the night (2015) another Lee Joon Gi entry, but I swear all of his works are great, it's a period drama that tells the story of a scholar who is a vampire and the young bookseller he meets. It's 20 episodes long, each one lasting about an hour. Available on viki. Also, if you've liked Lee Soo Hyuk in Doom at Your Service, I advise you check this one out.

Tale of Arang (2012) two Lee Joon Gi entries in a row? Girl, you have to stop. Anyways, this one is another period piece of a magistrate who can see ghosts and the ghost of a young woman who doesn't remember her life, nor the cause of her death. Available on viki, it's 20 episodes long, each one lasting a little over an hour.

Look, those are fine or whatever, but I started as a K-pop fan, where can I see some idol dramas? Don't worry, I came prepared

Full House (2004) with Rain as the main character is the og idol drama in my opinion. Available on Viki. 16 episodes long, each one lasting about 73 minutes.

Imitation (2021) is currently airing, and it's literally an idol drama about idols. You can find a looot of idols too: Jeong Yun Ho and Park Seong Hwa from Ateez, Chani and Hwi Young from SF9, Park Ji Yeon from T-ara, Lim Na Young from I.O.I and Pristin, and although Jeong Ji So is not an idol, she is the main lead, and I absolutely love her, she's also in Doom at your service. Available on Viki.

Miss Panda and Mr. Hedgehog (2012) features Donghae from Super Junior, and if I'm going to recommend a Super Junior drama, I would rather recommend one featuring him over Siwon.

At a Distance the Spring is Green (2021) is currently airing too, and only has four released episodes, but I've liked it so far. Featuring Park Ji Hoon, and Kwon Dun Bin. Also, I have a lot of opinions about this show. Available on Viki.

I was going to put an IU drama but, all her dramas are good, so go and watch them all, the woman has range.

Dream High (2011) is the king of idol dramas, in my opinion. It talksa about a high school for people who want to be idols. Another one with a long line up of idols, so let me start: Suzy, IU, Taecyeon, Nichkhun and Wooyoung from 2PM, Ham Eun Jung from T-ara. Leeteuk (SuJu and Chansung (2PM) make cameos. Similarly to Imitation, Kim Soo Hyun is not an idol, but he's the main lead. It's 16 episodes long, each one lasting about 65 minutes. Available on Viki.

Wow, quite a few, but they all seem rather popular, do you have some underrated gems? I'm going to have to go down memory lane, but I do

The Queen's Classroom (2013) This one feels like a fever dream, because I'm aware it exists, I watched it back when it first aired, but I can't find it anywhere now. It's based on a Japanese drama of the same name. It's about a strict but warm hearted teacher and her students' lives and struggles. 16 episodes long. DM me if you find anywhere to watch it.

1% of Something (2016) is a really cute drama, the chemistry is off the charts, and if you're looking for skinship, this one is the one for you, underrated arranged marriage kdrama, I'm telling you. It's 16 episodes long, averaging 45 minutes, and it's on Viki.

I'm not a Robot (2017) has a really cute plot, not underrated per se, but not hyped enough. It's 32 episodes long, each one averaging 30 minutes. Available on Viki.

Do you like Brahms? (2020) is a music themed kdrama, really cute and wholesome. If you like 2setviolin and watched their critique on their YouTube channel, let me tell you, the cast actually knows how to play violin and stuff, and there's an actual child prodigy in there. It got so much hate bc of that one yt video. It's 16 episode long, each one lasting about an hour. Available on Viki.

Solomon's Perjury (2016) a good reflection on youth and the pressure society has. 12 episodes long, lasting about 63 minutes each. Available on Viki.

The Greatest Love (2011) is a super entertaining TV show, and just supper funny and cute. 16 episodes long, each one lasting around 65 minutes. Available on Viki.

Two Cops (2017) if you like Kim Seon Ho, I think this was his TV acting debut. It's a hilarious action comedy TV show. 32 episodes long, lasting around 30 minutes. Available on viki.

Do you have any recommendations where time traveling or time is central to the story?

Alice (2020) look, I can't give you a full explanation because it's too mind bending. Let's leave it at detective meets his mother. Available on Viki.

Signal (2016) The premise is similar to that of the movie Frequency (2000) in which there's communication between the past and the present via technology. The plot is based on the real Hwaseong serial murders. Really interesting. Available on Netflix. If you like the premise of communicating with the past via technology Call (2020) is a Korean thriller movie available on Netflix.

Chicago Typewriter (2017) this one is about reincarnation but we get to see both timelines. Available on Netflix.

Tomorrow with you (2017) Time-traveling but make it ✨depressing ✨. The story of a man who time travels, and how that ability messes with his marriage. Available on Netflix.

What about historical dramas? I don't really watch those, but here are some I liked

The Moon Embracing the Sun (2012) is one of the few I've finished. It's really good, it follows the love story of a king. Available on viki. 20 episodes long, each one lasting about an hour.

Gunman in Joseon (2014) Am I recommending you this one because of Lee Joon Gi? Maybe. It has 22 episodes, each one lasting about an hour. Available on Viki.

The Crowned Clown (2019) a story of the Prince and the Pauper if I must give you a description that is relatable, but if you know the book titled Skogland, it's closer to that. It's 16 episodes long, each one lasting about 80 minutes. Available on Viki.

I'm a little ashamed to say this, but do you have any BL? I do, I do

To My Star (2021) is a story about an actor and a chef, and how they learn to cohabit after the actor is forced into hiding. You can watch either the movie version or the drama version, both available on viki.

Color Rush (2020) is a modern romance fantasy about people called Monos who can't see any color unless they meet their Probes, however this may turn dangerous as the Monos may experience obsessive behavior, so what happens when a young high schooler meets his probe?. You can either watch it on its drama or movie version. Both available on viki. By the way, if you're a long time deobi and was wandering what happened to Hwall, he's one of the main leads.

You Make Me Dance (2021) follows the story of a university dancer who is in debt and his debt collector. Available on viki in both versions. The movie is 107 minutes long.

Just Friends (2009) is a short film, but ahead of its time, if you can't tell by the year it was released on. It's a cute story about a man who visits his boyfriend in the military. I found it in dramacool.

That's all from me, if you have any specific genre or them you felt I didn't add in, do feel free to tell me.

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notapaladin · 3 years

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betray the moon as acolyte

What’s this? Something that *gasp, shock, horror* ISN’T Obsidian and Blood fic? It can’t be!

It can, and it is. Victoria Goddard’s The Hands of the Emperor is 800+ pages of slowburn friendship, found family, and middle-aged men planning to retire together after making their world a better place. Naturally, I looked at the main character (Imperial Secretary Cliopher “Kip” Mdang) and his lord (His Radiance the Emperor Artorin Damara, Fi[REDACTED]) and went “they love each other but like what if they were in LOVE love and also horny”

so I wrote this, also on AO3.

(and if you’ve read it and want to scream, we have a discord)

“I can give you everything,” the Moon said in his ear.

Fitzroy said nothing, grinding his teeth. It was that or moan out loud, to his shame; he was here in the Moon’s country, in the Moon’s very bed, with a woman-shaped being of light and stardust in his lap, and though there was no one who would hear if he gave in, he would. He wasn’t sure he could live with that, not when his heart was already cracked like the shards of a diamond. The Moon’s hands—cold, so cold, nothing like a living woman’s hands at all—slid slowly down his chest, and his cock jumped.

“Do you want peace? Rest? Love? I can give you that.” Her hands were on his stomach now, running too lightly over flat and trembling muscles.

I want—he thought, but he couldn’t finish articulating what he wanted even to himself, because the Moon’s long fingers were wrapping around him and all the breath left his lungs in a strangled hiss. It had been so long since anyone had touched him at all, never mind like this, and as his head fell back and his hips rocked—once, twice—he almost couldn’t remember why he’d objected. Surely it didn’t matter.

Surely—

Her hands were cold enough to burn, and he remembered real fire. Fire—grass skirts—shells and obsidian finer than gold—bare feet, bare shoulders—fuck, the flash of a thigh as he’d turned—the way a single drop of sweat had beaded on his chest and he’d wanted nothing more than to put his mouth there—

His own voice proclaiming, “He will dance it in Our throne room. At the feet of the Sun.”

They’d never touched. He’d sat, every inch of his skin craving for contact, and watched Cliopher Mdang dance the Aoteketetana in his throne room over live coals, and nearly bitten his own damn tongue in half. He’d chipped all the lacquer on his nails where they’d dug into the arms of his throne. But he was the Sun-on-Earth and he couldn’t—he wanted—he couldn’t—

They’d never touched. His hands clenched into fists at his sides.

The Moon’s mouth slid over the pulse in his throat, but he could still hear her voice. “Beautiful. Such a...lovely, lovely mortal. Fitzroy, Artorin...tell me what you want, and it will be yours for eternity.” It wasn’t a request. She was still stroking him, and the touch of her hand was cold and smooth as polished marble. “Don’t you like this?”

He sucked in a breath. The air tasted like jasmine and ice. Her fingers rippled, but it was suddenly so much easier to ignore. He had seen the fire, after all, and felt its waves of heat on his skin. Next to that, no moonlight could compare.

And so he locked away all awareness of his own body and he said, “No.” And then he added, just to make it clear, “The man I want calls me Tor.”

There was a sound like a thousand glass panes shattering all at once, and as the Moon sank her teeth into his throat and the world dissolved around him he thought, Worth it.

When he awoke at dawn, achingly hard in a way he hadn’t been since he was a young man but with a crick in his neck that he was definitely chalking up to his age, he shook away the cobwebs of that dream and thought that it was, perhaps, good that Kip didn’t attend on him first thing in the morning. He’d need a while to be presentable.

#the hands of the emperor #cliopher mdang #kip mdang #fitzroy angursell #artorin damara #paladin writes stuff #not work safe

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bronyinabottle · 3 years

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Post-Trailer Generation 5 Thoughts

So, a trailer for the beginning of G5 has now been released. And as promised, I am having a supplementary post to my preliminary thoughts and concerns heading into G5. Though I do first want to answer something I’m sure some might be curious about and that’s if G5 will have any bearing on I Dream of Twilight Sparkle. Given the thing about it being supposedly being the same Equestria at least according to mentions of the Mane 6 as the ancient times and by execs.

G5’S EFFECT ON I DREAM OF TWILIGHT SPARKLE

I will go ahead and say that no, other then if there’s maybe a part of the movie and/or upcoming series I want to make some sort of reference to for any reason that G5 will not happen in the IDOTS universe. The thing about the premise of G5 contradicts a huge thing that’s part of Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear in that Life itself is Magic. With presumably years and years of no magic, G5’s world wouldn’t exist. It’d be the lifeless wasteland that was seen in the Season 5 finale. I will stay firmly on G4 characters as I still have plenty I want to do with them. I’ve once thought about ending I Dream of Twilight Sparkle on the 10th anniversary of the blog next year. But that might not be enough time to fully explore everything I want to do post-Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear. So rest assured I have lots of plans still without having to dive into G5 material.

Another huge difference in IDOTS case that I will point out is that thousands of years by now as I imagine is implied by G4 being Ancient Equestria in G5. Is that Twilight (and Spike too, who will probably be full size at that point) will still be around. And even the others of the Mane 6 and other characters of the G4 generation will likely be able to guide the living as summonable spirits. I doubt under that context that the world of Equestria deteriorates to G5’s situation with this all in mind.

(More after the break)

REITERATING THE CONCERNS ABOUT THE G4-G5 CONNECTION

But now to actually get the trailer itself, it generally shows what we know already but this is the first time we see a little bit in how they’re executing it in motion and acting. They are going to continue mentioning that G4 is the ancient times of this world with the only reason Pony relations that seems to have deteriorated is the long passage of time. Which seems like a terrible interpretation of time. Division still happens in our world especially in the politics side of things but thousands of years ago (or even just a few hundred years ago) it was far worse then it is now with authoritarian empires, monarchies, and enslavement of people everywhere. There’s not a period of history from thousands of years ago that most of us look to have again like Sunny will for Twilight’s reign.

If we are to take it at face value that G5 happened after G4, the peaceful world we saw in The Last Problem where not just all 3 pony types but even non-pony species popullate many areas of Equestria and live in harmony. Even if perhaps you’re not a fan of one or both of the final two seasons of the show, The Last Problem showed that Twilight’s friendship school accomplished it’s goal in helping Equestria reach out to other places in the world. It’s hard to see from that point how things can deteriorate where things seem to be far worse then Celestia’s sole rule of 1,000 years. Or to go even further, it seems to have gotten just as bad if not worse then the Hearth’s Warming story of the founding of Equestria. It’s arguably worse then even the Hearth’s Warming story since even if it was obvious the three types of ponies hated each other, they tolerated each other enough to bargain the necessities at that point. The earth ponies would make the food if the Unicorns move the sun and moon and the Pegasi help with the weather. But as seen in the trailer even one sighting of a unicorn in an Earth pony town puts the whole place in a panic.

Speaking of the Hearth’s Warming story they’re going to have explain why the Windigoes aren’t currently ravaging the planet in Ice and Snow like in the story if we’re to truly believe this is the G4 world we know. Somehow I feel they’re not going to for that deep cut in terms of the lore of G4. I think any connection to G4 is going to be treated more as an afterthought. References to Twilight and her friends, the toys in Sunny’s house, and murals to the past the only huge indications that G4 was the ancient past and never explaining how things got where they are now. I believe this is an attempt of Hasbro to bake it’s cake and eat it too. They want to try to retain G4’s popularity heading into G5 so they try to say G5 is the same exact world even when so much of the evidence we’ve seen so far is too different to be world we knew. (I know there’s a map that shows the Pegasi have what might have once been Canterlot. But there still needs to be more) I feel like most fans going into this should go into this thinking this is a totally new world despite the references to G4. Or even perhaps the ancient G4 isn’t the same G4 we saw in the show. Maybe the Friendship school never happened in this timeline for example. An alternate universe G4 where they never developed the school might make this at least somewhat more palatable. Though even then there’d still be questions.

Another note in the story is as a sort of flipped from G4. Where Canterlot had Unicorns seem to make up most of the rich upper-class ponies. The pegasi seem to be the upper-class and/or royals this time while the Unicorns are actually the poorest of the three and Earth Ponies are middle-class. I slightly joked after hearing that maybe this is a universe where Cozy Glow actually got what she wanted given she was a Pegasus heh. Not that makes any sense either, as there’s probably no honoring of the Mane 6 if they got defeated by a Pegasus filly.

BOOK LEAK

On the same day of the trailer we also got something of a leak of book that comes out next week that recaps the movie in a children’s book style (Don’t worry I won’t spoil anything from it, but yes I did see the scans). Now naturally not all details of an entire movie is probably going to get in a picture book with small excerpts of text on a 32 page book. But it does generally give an outline of how the movie goes. The scans give enough of an outline of how the movie will go. I just have too much concern about G5 to resist knowing how the movie will go to wait until the movie releases. I still intend to see the movie itself but it’ll sort of give me an idea of what we’re in for. For a spoiler-free review of what I know, I think under it’s own merits if we ignore the G4 elephant in the room it’ll probably be a decent way to start things.

FANDOM REACTION

I think if the context was G5 was it’s own separate universe with no connection to G4 it could potentially have some standing on it’s own and will probably have young kids enjoy the movie that see G5 before they see Friendship is Magic. For older fans of G4 though, heading into this generation there’s going to be a lot of things preoccupying the mind before we even start watching the movie. Having G4 as the ancient past has something of a pro of at least getting some fans who liked FiM to at least give this a chance, but at the cost of leaving certain expectations and putting some of the creative freedom in a bind because to tell us this is the same world means you will have fans pointing out contradictions where as there would be no concern if this world was allowed to be it’s own thing The writers and staff of G5 are going to have fans that criticize them for any choice they make that doesn’t fit with G4 in some way. I’m not going to be one of them of course, as that’s annoying behavior even if I agree with the fan who’s criticizing them. And fans have plenty to already raise an eyebrow at, such as normal animals oddly having wings and/or horns when normal animals tended to be just normal animals in G4 (Albeit alot more sentient then real life animals).

LACK OF NON-PONIES?

There also doesn’t seem to be any sign of the other species that became more prominent in late G4. There’s not even a Spike from what we can see thus far. Unless maybe there’s a 6th main character that gets introduced in the beginning of the series that has a little dragon companion this would be the first time since maybe My Little Pony Tales that there was no Spike. I imagine we will get the return of some non-pony species.but it’s still going to be an elephant in the room because the end of G4 showed that basically all other species became allies to the ponies. Did relations to the non-ponies also deteriorate terribly? And there’s also the possibility that many of the Dragons have long enough lives that they remember Twilight’s reign. Maybe even a possibility of full-grown Spike making an appearance in the series. But then there’s still griffins, hippogriffs/seaponies, yaks, kirins, changelings, and more. You keep the world of G4 you have to keep in mind all the species that played a role at some point. If you ignore them for too long it’s another point to those who might feel that this isn’t truly G4’s world.

ALICORNS

I won’t say much on subject of Alicorns since I already mentioned that in the preliminary thoughts, though I will reiterate things like even if say we overestimated the immortality of Alicorns they may still need to point out that Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and probably Flurry Heart too are all gone. There doesn’t seem to be any signs of Alicorns at all. To be honest it might be that the only real Alicorn reference is the possibility during the scene where Izzy disguises everyone as unicorns. Someone manages to see either Zipp’s or Pipp’s wings and thus they get a lot of unwanted attention. (And in contrast probably one of the non-Izzy main characters horn disguise falling off)

CONFLICT AND HAPPY ENDING OVERRIDES

I get that the main response to concerns of G4 fans is there has to be some sort of conflict for this series to be interesting as otherwise you go back to the too saccharine days of G3 where the conflicts leave almost no danger to the world at large. But we can still point out that if this was presented as it’s own world separate from G4 this would be ok. But not the same world where Sunny’s goal had been more then already achieved. It doesn’t lay the blame at the Mane 6 for failing at the very least but it certainly looks down at all their descendants generations later of being unable to withhold the Mane 6’s lessons and keep the peace. They had the solutions for divisions mostly solved, yet it’s somehow squandered. It won’t be easy to swallow for anyone who loved the conclusive happy ending FiM got. And even for fans who weren’t as into the ending as others they’re only being vindictive if they say it makes their criticism of the ending valid.

The point is the series ended as happily as it could of gotten, and you will bug fans no matter what you do if you attempt a happy ending override. Just look at how for example the Last Jedi bothered some Star Wars fans with Luke’s characterization after the joyful end to the original trilogy.

HARD ACT TO FOLLOW & DIVISIVE FANDOM MOMENTS

Now, even if G5 had none of the pre-conditioned concerns it would have a lot to live up to. G4 is the absolute highest peak MLP has ever gotten to. Hasbro’s going to try to repeat the same success but it’s a lot more likely G4 remains a lightning in a bottle that can’t be repeated. And any attempt to recapture that lightning such as applying G4 as the ancient past is looking to backfire. It’s very likely that even if G5 is generally a success, Hasbro will not reap the same benefits that it got from G4. The cost of a big success is the pursuit of attempting to repeat that success but ultimately not working out quite the same way. I don’t wish any ill will of Generation 5, I want it to have an audience and the staff to enjoy themselves working on the show. I don’t think it will quite capture the same attention I gave to G4 but that’s ok. This is how Hasbro’s operated for decades, as I’m sure Transformers fans have gone through the same feeling.

There are shows that have maintained fandoms for years despite the show having ended more then 10 years ago. I don’t think Friendship is Magic is going to be forgotten anytime soon. There are sure to be clashes about G5 in the coming years as it’s impossible to control an entire fandom that will have it’s vocal parts at eachother’s throats. But I don’t plan on looking down on anyone who ends up enjoying G5, I hope in some way there are those who may enjoy G5 as much as we did G4. And also for said G5 fans to respect those who continue to do mainly G4 content. I plan to give G5 a chance to grow on me, I just know the G4 is the past concept is going to somewhat bother me in a similar way to how for a long while Starlight’s lack of a full-fledged backstory prevented me from looking at her character with nothing but lukewarm feelings (Until I expanded on her myself in a story after the show’s ending). But just like with Starlight I don’t plan to rain on the parade of those who did end up liking Starlight. Especially considering I’m probably among the fans that were on the other side of those arguments as someone who liked the idea of Alicorn Twilight despite how divisive it was. I’ve been somewhat on both sides of different controversies in G4’s time itself. As G4 itself had it’s own divisive parts in it’s own history. Arguably, G5 being the distant future makes it just another part of those fandom controversies.

Though even with everything that happened a positive side of all of those is there were many fans invested one way or another to get heated about the show. Not saying it’s a good thing to have fans at each other’s throats but it’s part of G4’s legacy that people cared when something disappointed them. I think while there were certainly a good number of fans that left the fandom over certain stuff especially in regards to Season 3 and the first Equestria Girls. Those who stayed generally still had good things to look forward to. I myself kind of feel like Starlight’s reformation was the closest to a jump the shark moment where Season 6 failed to capitalize on nearly all it’s opportunity of what Season 5 laid up for the show’s future. But there were still good episodes in Season 6, Season 7 had some pretty great episodes, Season 8 is a bit of a mixed bag but even that had it’s fun parts, and I’m on the side that I’m happy with how the final episodes of Season 9 finished off the show. I don’t think Starlight’s reformation was a point where the show never reached another high point and I’m happy it was successful enough to get a conclusive ending rather then either getting canceled after a finale that didn’t leave things off with a proper goodbye or ending too early. As if the show had not been as popular as it did, Magical Mystery Cure would of been the series finale. I’m actually one of those who loved MMC, but for the show not to get things like the CMC’s cutie marks and just leave things that Twilight is a princess and that’s it certainly would of been way too soon of an ending.

CONCLUSION

Obviously, the staff seemed to plan for more then 9 seasons as no doubt they probably had more plans for the Student 6 and/or Cozy Glow had they gotten the green light for Season 10 or more. But for what it’s worth, it still got an conclusion that not all cartoons like this get. For all it’s ups and downs, MLP retained my interest for the entire run that I started watching and I still intend to do fan content about it’s characters a few years after it ended, so G4 MLP continues to be retained in a special place in my heart. Perhaps that’s a big reason I have the concerns about G5 that I do that I’m attached to that universe and for it to say things go downhill even if it’s not really the fault of the Mane 6 or anything makes it hard to accept very easily. I do think my concerns about the G4-G5 connection have merit either way, but I will repeat that I don’t wish any ill will on G5. Whether fair or not, G5 has a lot to live up to after the success of G4 and the consequences will be there for fan expectations. I hope it finds a decent enough audience regardless, and I hope that if I try to ignore the baggage of the implications of an Ancient G4 Equestria being part of this that maybe there’s something there for me too. I never thought I’d be invested so much in a cartoon about magical talking horses to this point a long time ago, but gosh darn it G4 managed to do so. And the staff behind G5 will have a lot on their shoulders to try to maintain that interest. Even if that task is impossible, I hope they try their hardest. Even if I’m not as invested into this generation, I want to be able to respect a good try.

#mlp #my little pony #my little pony the next generation #g4 #g5 #mlp g5 #mlp g4 #netflix #my little pony movie #generation 5 #generation 4

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writingonesdreams · 4 years

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Novel prep tag game

WIP Stormkeeper new version

I always end up doing this thingy when the concept is changing XD this like my, what, 6th novel prep tag? Always helps.

FIRST LOOK

1. Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch)

Cultural scientist Acacia can finally realize her dream of doing field notes in different mage regions, but has to team up with a cold and judgemental bodyguard and his careless dragon-shifting brother in the process.

The story is basically about three exceptional people that don't fit in in various ways - Wes by nature, Kyler by force and Acacia because of her interests - and how they deal with it.

2. How long do you plan for your novel to be? (Is it a novella, single book, book series, etc.)

One novel, maybe a series later on.

3. What is your novel’s aesthetic?

Trains, mountains, cities, lakes and fog, spirts, sandstorms and hurricanes, rain.

4. What other stories inspire your novel?

Naruto, Frozen 2, Mash, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Star Wars, Atla, Avatar, The greatest Showman.

5. Share 3+ images that give a feel for your novel

MAIN CHARACTER

6. Who is your protagonist?

The protagonist Acacia drives the story with her goal of acquiring field notes for her research. But both Kyler and Wes are main and pov characters.

Acacia is analytical scientist and a imaginative dreamer, passionate but insecure inside. Her quick mind and abstract philosophic thought process is hard to keep up with.

7. Who is their closest ally?

Her reluctant bodyguard Kyler is son of one of the most significant Pulsor families and the most powerful and dedicated Pulsor mage (controls lighting) of his generation - but rather cold and closed off.

Kyler's younger brother Wes is the reincaratnion of a dragon - the rarest and most ancient spirits - basically a god. Mischievous, reckless but cunning, he has never been allowed to leave home before.

8. Who is their enemy?

There are no enemies per se. There are obstacles, energy thieves and Phatoms on the way, people that mean harm when they see someone different, but there is no antagonist.

9. What do they want more than anything?

Acacia wants to make ethnographic research on the similarities between magic types and the ways of expression and attitude that add up to be the same thing - people living their lives and looking at the world through the taught lenses of their respective magical culture.

10. Why can’t they have it?

Doing research in different regions is hard, because travelling between regions is limited and dangerous. There are Phatoms, energy thieves and people that hate differences and loathe people interested in magic not their own.

In the end the biggest obstacle is probably the way hybrid magicians are loathed - it’s considered a betrayal and weakness not to follow one’s born in type and learn other ones as well. Something Acacia loves, and other people like Wes could use.

11. What do they wrongly believe about themselves?

Kyler believes he has failed. Wes that he is not enough. Acacia that magic is the most magical thing.

12. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

Commissioned art:

Kyler / Acacia / Wes

PLOT POINTS

13. What is the internal conflict?

Acacia’s internal conflict is mostly about staying true to her belief that different magics can coexist and learn from each other. She is the impact and main driving character of the story - she changes the others and struggles to stay true to herself and her love for different magics and learning from them.

Kyler’s conflict is about his perfectionalism that was recenltly ruined by his kindapping by the Shadow Cult that forced a magic upon him he hates and he can’t forgive himself for being weak enough to succumb to it. It's something that was forced upon him but became part of him nonetheless.

Wes deals with his original spirit memories not returning as they should.

14. What is the external conflict?

Acacia’s external conflict is about her love for Sight, ability to see nature spirits on another plane of existence and the danger she might lose connection to reality and her body if she spends too much time in it.

Kyler’s conflict is dealing with the very real consequences of Shadow Craft magic being now part of him. It’s always there when he is torn or angry or hurt, crawling under his skin and he hates he can’t control it completely.

Wes’s conflict is about finding a balance between his love for his family and the human world and the foreign yearning for his wilder dragon side.

15. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist?

For Acacia to lose her connection to her body by not being able to stay in the moment.

For Kyler it would losing control of Shadow Craft and having it rule him.

For Wes it would be being abondoned by his family and brother and losing the life he has when his memories come back and he finds out about his spirit life.

16. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?

No magic is really bad. Or good. The key is balance and intent.

17. Do you know how it ends?

I can envision several ending scenes that would fit, they all mostly fit together.

BITS AND BOBS

18. What is the theme?

The main theme is self-worth, from self-understanding, acceptance of who you are with all the sides and flaws and yearnings and self-love and confidence in who you are and going after what resonates with you. Keeping the storm inside you alive so to say.

19. What is a recurring symbol?

Storms? XD The symbols representing each of the four main magics are moon sicle, sun, lightning bolt and a spiral.

20. Where is the story set? (Share a description!)

It’s set in modern age in a made up country divided into four regions accoriding to its dominating magic practice. These are also very different in landscapes - from mountain village of Pulsors, skyscapers of Aurals, lake bungallows of Sensors to deserts of Resonants.

21. Do you have any images or scenes in your mind already?

The big tentpole scenes are pretty sure, the rest I will figure as I go.

22. What excited you about this story?

The way I can use magic types as metaphors for fictional cultures and explore their related views and approaches. The different value systems are much clearer in such a excessive example.

Also all my favourite tropes fit into the story! From rivals to lovers, brothers, trio dynamics, gradual friendships, bodyguards, spirits, Shifters, reincarnations, dragons, healing, deeling with the fixed and growth mindset, perfectionalism and vulnerbility, how to stay in the present moment, how to find balance, different ways to express emotions, how to deal with differences, understanding vs tolerance vs acceptance, how to find - cope - stay true as well as have faith and confidence in who you are...all questions I'm personally very curious about.

23. Tell us about your usual writing method!

Building and living with characters in countless AUs, finding their arcs and a story to best realize them, magic system, themes and thematic questions I want to explore, finding a story to frame those, brainstorming, outlining and hopefully writing before the idea loses its spark.

***

Tagging if you want to play: @catharticallysarcastic @akindofmagictoo @estrella-writings @zielenbloesem @waysofink

#writeblr #writeblr community #amwriting #creative writing #writers on tumblr #wip intro #novel prep tag game #tag game #wip: stormkeeper #my wip #my writing

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namluve · 4 years

Text

DramaVers presents to you its latest k-dramas coming to you this fall

Hotel Blue Moon produced by @namluve seokjin x reader | crack, angst, smut | based on hotel del luna

arogant, selfish and vain were a few of the words seokjin’s staff would describe him as. a hotel owner that only cared about himself and money. when he goes on a quest to find a new hotel maneger, he becomes capitvated by one particular girl who can’t seem to stand him. could she be the key to save his soul?

trailer | watch here

Chasing Clouds produced by @chillingtae Namjoon x Reader | Romance, Smut, Angst, Fluff, Action, Humor | Based on the Kdrama Descendants of the Sun

When a cocky soldier and a stubborn doctor are thrown together in the middle of a disaster, all hell is sure to break loose. Especially since you are each other’s polar opposites. As a doctor, you spend endless hours in the operating room fighting death. You took an oath to save lives, even lives you don’t think should be given a second chance; while he took an oath to protect his country and it’s people by following the commands given to him. He fights to save lives, but you argue that is only accomplished through the death of others. Is the freedom he’s fighting for worth it, even if it means killing people? Is it possible to fall in love with someone who disagrees with your core values? And will he be able to stay away to keep you safe, even though he’s convinced you’re the one?

trailer | watch here

Beautiful Confession produced by @btsracket Jungkook x Reader | Smut and Fluff, Fake Dating, Childhood Friends To Lovers | In appreciation of the Kdrama Wednesday 3:30pm

You’re on top with a perfect job and the company’s heir as your boyfriend until everything crashes down, leaving you locked out of your apartment with only your childhood friend, Jungkook, to turn to. Jungkook’s plan to help get you back on track follows the formula from a TV show he remembers you liking, but he never watched the end where they admit they've fallen in love.

trailer | watch here

Resurrection produced by @nightowls388 Seokjin x OC | Horror, Thriller, Drama, Action, maybe Romance | Based on Kingdom

Everyone thought it a myth...legend even, buried away as time moved on. Centuries of secrets and lies for the better of the country. No one knew what to expect. Two brothers. One's quest for power may lead to destruction. The other, a scientist teaming with a head strong detective and her partner to right the wrongs made. Will they be successful or fail?

trailer | watch here

A Treatise On Trysts produced by @xotoosweet Taehyung x Reader | Fluff, Smut, Romance, Humor, Strangers to Lovers | based on My Secret Romance

First, to clarify: you don't do one night stands. Not that you judge anyone who participates in casual adult fun, but it's not for you - not when you're so awkward it's nearly guaranteed that any date like situation you partake in results in physical harm to the other. Besides, the one time you did hook-up with someone....well, you try not to remember. That was nearly three years ago, and you have more important things to focus on. Like your new job as the personal chef to some corporate jerk who doesn't know how to take care himself, and hasn't forgotten who stole his heart (along with his clothes!)

trailer | watch here

Moonlight Remains the Same produced by @kimlinebiased Jungkook x Yoongi | Enemies to Lovers, Smut, Angst, Fluff | Based on 2012 Kdrama To the Beautiful You

Jungkook spent his entire life forced to be someone he wasn’t. Enrolling in an all male college where nobody knows his old pronouns, he finally has a chance to be the guy he’s always been inside. Jungkook only has two goals his first year: excelling academically and keeping his past private. But his plans get a little tougher when he ends up rooming with Yoongi, a basketball star with a rotten attitude and a superiority complex. Can Jungkook keep the turmoil in his world (and his heart) to a minimum as he learns there might be more to Yoongi than meets the eye? Or will it all come crashing down around him?

trailer | watch here

Across the Universe produced by @mintseesaw Jungkook x reader | fluff, angst, and smut | based on W: Two Worlds

With a great career, an ideal boyfriend and a seemingly perfect life, no one would think you’re actually struggling with your hospital residency all the while trying to save your relationship with Namjoon. Taehyung, your best friend, has been out of reached for weeks now and the last thing you want is to be pulled accidentally into a fictional universe of a webtoon where you come face-to-face with its main character, Jeon Jungkook, who happens to recognize you as his childhood sweetheart. While you try to find a way to get back to the real world, Jungkook intends to keep you by his side.

trailer | watch here

XX produced by @randomkoalablog JB x Reader x Yoongi | Ex-Friends to Friends; Friends to Lovers, Co-workers to Lovers; Angst; Fluff; Smut??? | based on the kdrama XX

When you work your whole life to reach your dreams of owning a bar you hope that having that dream ripped from under you without notice isn't a part of life's plan. And you definitely don't imagine that it comes with suddenly being business partners with your ex-best friend. But life doesn't work in the way we want it. At the end of the day you try to focus on the things that make life better, until the two men in your life who hold your heart (something you didn't think possible) meet and hit if off so well that you're sure your life is moments from collapsing completely.

trailer | watch here

To Have a Home produced by @kitsutaes Yoongi x Reader | romance, fluff, angst, strangers to lovers, fake marriage | Based on Because This Is My First Life

Finding a home isn’t easy, you know that well. So when an opportunity comes your way, you take it with no hesitation. But, what you didn’t know was that your new roommate would soon be asking for your hand in marriage.

trailer | watch here

Goblin: First Snow produced by @wynniewright Namjoon x Reader | angst, fluff, smut, goblin au | Based off the K-Drama Goblin

There was something slightly off about Y/N's past that she couldn't quite pin down. Past memories resurface though she has no recollection of them, each new moment causing a rift in the reality that she knew. Her life was a puzzle and she was forced to pick up the pieces and figure out how they fit. After all, who was Kim Shin and how could she forget about her own husband?

trailer | watch here

9 First Kisses produced by @namluve reader x nct | fluff | based on 7 First Kisses

Daydreaming about prince charming saving you from your boring work was nothing new. A mysterious old lady leaving behind 9 cards as she get's her coffe was however and that was the start of it all. The start of how you meet 9 handsome men, each one fullfilling a dream of yours. But only for a day.

trailer | watch here

#dramavers #bangtanhq #k-pop fanfiction #bts fanfiction #nct fanfiction

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hayleyb100 · 4 years

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Light My Way, Part 2

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 the end

⚠️ WARNING! ⚠️

-It is a twisted story of Pokemon Sun and Moon, and a crossover of Pokemon SM and SWSH. -It features Hau and Kabu as the main characters. -Extremely angsty. -Everything is headcanon. -It isn’t spoiler-free.

It suddenly felt warm as if the long grim winter passed and the spring came. Hau slowly opened his eyes. His last memory was that horrid, fearful scene of a blonde lady's smirk, but somehow, he woke up on a hospital bed.

"Oh my gosh! He's awake! Doctor! Nanu! He's up!"

Olivia, who was nursing Hau, quickly summoned the doctor and Nanu who were talking outside.

"Are you okay boy? You sure got us worried." Nanu asked scratching his back head.

Hau, still looking confused, nodded slowly. He only then realized that the respirator was attached to his nose along with other medical monitors.

"You were out cold for 8 months, kid." Nanu shook his head, as he told what was going on to puzzled Hau.

"Th... That's as far as he has to know, Nanu." Olivia stopped him.

Hau finally realized what was going on. The glass case, sheer cold, blackout, evil smirk, frost. He was in a cold sleep like the other pokemons for half a year. Everything felt like a dream. It didn't feel real that Hau slept for that long.

Hau tried to move his fingers and limbs, but they didn't cooperate well. Instead, the pain struck Hau that made him frown and twitch.

"Don't try to move so much yet... Your muscles are not healed completely from the cold sleep. And since it wasn't used for a long while, you need time for rehabilitation." Olivia explained.

Despite Olivia's explanation, Hau desperately moved his head around to search for people who he needed the most right now. Someone who can comfort him. He tried to call them but even his voice wasn't working.

"Are you looking for your mother and grandfather?" Nanu sighed.

"Nanu! Not now!" Olivia interrupted Nanu, flustered as heck.

"Hey. He has to know. The more we hide, the more he'll hurt." Nanu snapped.

"Listen. Your mother and grandfather... Passed away. 5 months ago."

That was as far as Hau could hear. Hau kept telling Nanu that it isn't real with his eyes. He wanted to deny it so badly, but Nanu's serious face was telling it was a rigid truth.

"After you have gone missing, your mother was looking for you everywhere. But she had a tragic accident near the coastline. She didn't rest enough for many days so she missed her step at the beach cliff in extreme fatigue. And..."

Nanu inhaled deeply before he continued.

"And your grandfather... His heart gave out when he heard the news about his daughter-in-law. He was already feeling way too guilty that his son left Alola and you have gone missing because of him, but that was the last straw."

Devastation came crashing down like a meteor.

Hau's world started caving in. The despicable fear of being left alone in the world engulfed an 11 years old boy in an instant. Olivia held Hau's hand saying Nanu and she would stay beside him and take care of him, but those words just scattered into the air.

Only one thought obsessed Hau.

It's my fault.

I lead my mom and Tutu to death.

Because I was stupid to follow that woman, I lead my whole family to death.

Hau's eyes lost the liveliness in a snap of a finger and his body froze yet again in despair.

"Don't worry! We are reaching out to your father in another region, so I'm sure he'll come to get you soon." Olivia told something to lay the hope on, but Hau kept trembling in fear.

Few days passed, but there was no sign of Hau's dad anywhere. Hau's dad lied low and refused to come back to Alola because he didn't want to take responsibility. Since Kahuna Hala was respected by many Alolans, it was obvious that when he goes back, everyone will flak him intensely. So he decided to abandon Hau YET again, and dump all his responsibilities on his son. He was sorry, but he had no choice. He had to live.

But to Hau who doesn't know his so-called father's dirty intentions, only thought that his dad isn't coming because he hates him. It was no surprise to him since he leads his whole family to grim death and his body isn't functioning as well as it used to. Hau thought he was well worth abandoning. And it was double the pain to think he is as worthless and forgettable as a scab. It wrecked his self-esteem to the rock bottom.

Few weeks passed as Hau went through the remedial exercise programs to get his mobility back, but it didn't make a lot of progress. Hau's will to get back on his feet was zero since he saw no point in it. He frequently refused to eat and take medication. The doctors were struggling too, as the patient wasn't cooperating. Nanu and Olivia took turns to take care of Hau, but Hau severely refused to see Kahunas since it is what pushed him to extreme pressure and ended up running away from home... Ultimately, to his family's downfall.

Nanu and Olivia discussed the matter on how to turn the table around. Olivia suggested that they should hurry and find a loving new home for Hau. If adopting is difficult, they should find at least a foster family to take care of him.

"Wouldn't he refuse to get into a new family?" Nanu questioned.

"Yes, but Hau needs a new home anyway... When he is discharged from the hospital, he doesn't have anywhere to go. So we need to arrange a home for Hau as soon as possible. It would have been the best if he followed you or me, but he is refusing it. Plus, Hapu and the other Captains are way too young to take care of a child. And there's no way we can leave that poor little boy all alone in an empty home at Melemele Island. So, he needs someone."

Nanu nodded since what Olivia said was true. Although they didn't know why Hau was pushing them away, he adamantly refused to stay with either one of the two Kahunas. Hau's trauma of losing his grandfather forced him to push them away. He was afraid that the same fate lies if he stayed with them. He insisted that he would rather stay home alone in Melemele Island than owning them.

After a few weeks, doctors seriously thought Hau settled with a new family first, since the treatment wasn't making any progress. They realized that he needs support and love to treat wounds at heart before anything else. So they discussed with the two Kahunas about Hau's foster family. Many foster parents volunteered to take Hau in. But one couple caught the Kahunas' eyes since their home is located in Akala Island. They thought it would be better for Hau to stay away from Melemele Island for now to avoid triggers. They arranged and bridged the foster couple with Hau. Hau was unwilling to go, but they didn't want to burden Nanu and Olivia anymore, so he followed the foster parents.

But that didn't end well. Not at all.

The foster parents were expecting a sweet and innocent child, but Hau was none of that according to them. He was gloomy and quiet and was even unwell. They got tired of Hau very quickly, who isn't the child they were hoping to get. Within only a few weeks, they gave up the fostering as if they are refunding the item they purchased.

Nanu and Olivia were extremely upset, so they were determined to get a proper home for Hau this time. The next foster parents seemed very kind and gentle, but Nanu and Olivia didn't let their guard down. But for a while they dedicated a lot to Hau, giving Kahunas the trust. But they gave up on fostering yet again. In reality, they were coveting over Hala's bequest. Since there was no love for Hau, to begin with, they easily got fed up of taking care of sick child. Hau was sent back to the hospital and they vanished to somewhere, away from Kahunas' rage.

Hau was now careless. He knew he wasn't worth loving, but the two times of rejection weighed heavily on him. At this point, Hau was feeling helpless and giving up on himself. He thought even if he was kicked out from the hospital and left alone on the street, it was fine. After all, everyone would be frustrated if they have to take care of a child that isn't worth their time and effort. It would be frustrating for them to care for a child that everyone hates. Hau understood. He took away Kahuna everyone loved when he wasn't even cut to replace Hala's place.

I am worth being hated, Hau thought.

It's a cruel tragedy how children are so innocent, that they cannot imagine how some adults can be so malicious. And since they can't imagine that fact, they always blame themselves when it is the adults who are irresponsible and selfish. It was the same with Hau. Everything felt like it was his fault. If I wasn't such a coward, if I wasn't stupid enough to follow that woman, if I have just listened to Tutu... All the regrets choked him and justified all the childish and selfish behaviors of adults around him. He just gave up. He didn't even want to know what would happen next. He even felt that it would have been better off if he remained in cold sleep, forgotten by everyone. Hau grew gaunt day by day.

Several weeks passed, and the season changed. Hau remained indifferent and emotionless. He blankly watched how sprouts grow and flowers bloomed day by day outside the hospital window. Everything changed except him. That made him even more miserable. Little did he know, the turn of his life was approaching him.

"Hey, kid."

It was Nanu. And he was with someone.

"...I know you're fed up with me for saying this, but someone who wants to foster you is here."

Hau didn't pay attention. He just looked back at Nanu as if he was saying whatever. He thought he would just stay for a few weeks and come back to the hospital again.

The person who was standing next to Nanu smiled gently and stroked Hau's hand.

"Hello, Hau. My name is Kabu, the one who will foster you."

#pokemon hau #rival hau #trainer hau #gym leader kabu #kabu #kahuna nanu #kahuna olivia #pokemon sun and moon #pokemon sm #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon gen 7 #pokemon generation 7 #pokemon gen 8 #pokemon generation 8

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lefossile · 4 years

Text

Why is the Fullbringer Arc a meaningful plot milestone 3

This time I bothered to be picky and check some grammar;

links to part 1 / part 2

part 3/?

This time we gonna try and scratch the topic of SALVATION.

Now we’ve saved Rukia, Hime, Karakura, the world, but the topic continues to be a key theme here in the arc too. Salvation is as a fact constantly mentioned by the heroes themselves, and they are namely divided into two camps. Those who were saved by Kurosaki (99.9%) and those who were saved by Ginjo.

And if in the first case everyone is so happy and grateful how Karakura got prettier under Kurosaki-kun, then the latter cannot boast of such a thing. It intertwines many other topics that I indicated before, and evolves in a kind of tragedy of salvation from Ginjo. Which is because he is designed to mirror Ichigo to a certain level, the same with salvation. If Kurosaki is presented as pro-creative salvation, then Ginjo is destructive. Which is not precisely true of course, but only one perspective of their conflict as substitutes.

Together however, Ginjo and Ichigo form a Shinto dyad until the moment Kurosaki rescues / purifies Ginjo himself (on that later). Which is further indicated by their sun and moon themes respectfully. If you haven’t read a beautiful thread by @blue-dream-rhapsody, you should go and do it rn, because it’s really godly and eloquent composed and adds good perspective on the main events of the arc and symbolism.

Among the fullbringers, basically most words about salvation are heard from Riruka’s lips in the chapters Pray for the Predators, but we will try to analyze an example of a not very successful “salvation” using the example of Tsukishima.

What could go wrong? It would seem that by his act Ginjo should have saved Tsukishima as a child, like the others, from loneliness, but since salvation is presented as destructive (not at that point, but further into the narration to mirror Ichigo), instead of growth, as Ichigo’s friends show, we got hyper fixation up to codependency, which resulted in this

These are not the words of an adult, but the reaction of an abandoned child. And by his actions (most of which are behind the scenes), Ginjo really builds a similar hierarchy between Tsukishima and himself, thereby not allowing even him to approach and understand himself to 100% extent, which is tragic. That is of course due to the trauma Ginjo has to live through (and probably because he still fathomed sort of responsibility over Tsukishima, who was the only one left after the OG fullbringer skirmish), and it does certainly not discard the bond they have. Which is, namely, the closest bond probably between fullbringers, but still goes along “reach out, but not hold” lines.

That imbalance of their initial relationship left such a strong mark on Tsukishima psyche that it took Ginjo to die, so Tsukishima, who was experiencing a break with his mentor and father figure in real time, could finally understand the message. That’s, well, drastic.

If we look straight through every panel, you can see that Tsukishima does not approve of everything that Ginjo does (again read the amazing analysis mentioned above), but agrees, as he is afraid of losing the latter’s favor. And although he teases Ginjo and their verbal exchanges are the closest in dynamics of all fullbringers, they are still not equal (at least at that point, thank you CFYOW for the improvement)

Although I applaud how, by one (1) phrase, Tsukishima was able to understand what in and how Ginjo’s memory should be changed so that the complex flex of one actor’s theater should develop as intended. They are, if fact, that close, that Ginjo allows him into his past willingly, permits him to take action there on his own accord. And Tsukishima knows Ginjo to an extent, where he understands what should be changed, where the critical point of breaking lies and what role he himself has to undertake to be “the villain”. He, fully realizing that it’ll take him against the person he respects most, and wishing to “save” that person willingly is what makes him agree with it.

Hot take: Ginjo, knowing or not, could’ve to a certain extent altered Tsukishima’s fulbring, which is actually the result of the latter’s loneliness. If we look carefully - the ability itself was not originally a combat one or a method of violence. This is a way to get rid of loneliness, to establish bonds, which are a recurring theme in the arc too. Like all fullbring abilities, Book of The End is a reflection of the owner’s character, which we observe here. And in general, Tsukishima, who unlikely had any initial penchant for sadism suddenly turns into this, I wonder why.

Other Fullbringers, such as Jackie or Riruka, also realize how different their “salvation” is from the others, how it differs in it’s core and how the whole way they manage to live through it is different from people saved by Ichigo. Jackie says it directly, Riruka mostly mutters to herself, but both show this alienation from others, which correlates with themes of fullbringers and loneliness. (which is further explained in CFYOW)

In other words, the innate abilities belonging to Fullbringers, is the very source which causes them to grow alienated from the world, and at the same time, it is also the chain that keeps these isolated individuals tethered to it.

Even so all Fullbringers feel a great share of respect towards their leader, essentially and wholeheartedly want to repay him forv the salvation he gave them. The other thing is that they just cannot succeed and bring Ginjo the much needed closure, althought they try, because he separates himself. And it’s very distincly hinted in the raws after the chapters, where everyone is represented by their fullbrings, and we know how Cross of Scaffold looks and what we see instead of it? The Substitute badge. [here I blabbered what it also could mean] Yet I am sure everyone gets what this means.

And that’s also the intervening thought, that is subtly hinted: one saves others through connections, through being able to emphasize with others, being able to warm and open up to other people, through forging bonds. This way it becomes clear, why Ginjo is shown as destructive, because after the incident with his original group and SS betrayal he lost that quality (which is in itself absolutely credible and a very humane reaction which I love and can relate to). Although not completely, but up until he, himself, is saved by Ichigo and can be set to a metaphorical rebirth as a soul and get some closure, those “salvations” are incomplete.

I mentioned before the word purified, and I think it really passes here, because the moment Ginjo dies, where his “earthly” stuggle ends and he gets his closure with Ichigo (at least) and we see the “right” choice theme reaping the consequences, he then, as moon symbol, watches over the rest of fullbringers until they are, actually, saved and able to move on. The destructive turns procreative. We see, that there wasn’t as big distance and as much antagonism inside the group, as we could possibly suggest earlier.

This also goes nicely with the fact, that fullbringers are akin of Hollows, and as we know, Hollows often have these “attachments” they are unable to get over after death, and that’s what’s happening when I said Ichigo, in a form, releases Ginjo of this “chain, that tethered him to the world of the Living”, in the same way he purifies Hollows.

P.S It actually goes kinda nicely with the whole Amaterasu|Tsukiyomi legends but that would make another longpost.

Fullbringers still have these strong bonds (as antonym to the loneliness and another recurring theme through the arc), no matter what. They still care about Ginjo even when he’s in the afterlife.

SUMMARIZING:

The salvation theme is circular because everyone wants to save everyone: the gang wants to save Ichigo, the fullbringers want to save Ginjo, Ginjo wants to save himself from guilt and get revenge on SS, Ichigo wants to save himself from helplesness, but also saves everyone around, and those whom he saved before help him in doing so. He saves Ginjo, which the others failed to do, but not only once but twice.

The second time namely be when he does not give Ginjo’s corpse to the Tsunayashiro family for the removal of a piece of the Rey-o and asks for permission to bury Ginjo’s body properly. So that Ginjo can come to SS and finally make peace with himself and the whole situation.

[and i got emotional all of the suddent so i gonna dab out, pls stay tuned when i’ll stop wailing and will move on to cry abt ginjo some more]

#bleach #ginjo kugo #ichigo kurosaki #fullbringers #megamindbabble #i cannot stress enough how much thoughts i have about #*vague hand gestures*#all this #sorry this was not very eloquent of me #but i try #shoutout to two people who give me sm brain juice i gonna explode #ty #bless u <3 #now i go cry ahaha

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mysaldate · 5 years

Text

But can y’all imagine...

How very different KnY would be if told from another character’s perspective? Take literally any demon and suddenly the Demon Slayer Corps are painted in whole different light! In other words, I’m really bitter about the fandom and its hatred against the demons in general or just a few specific characters.

(long post, manga spoilers ahead)

With Muzan, it’s a story of a weak boy who just wanted to have a stronger body and then this shady doctor made him incapable of walking in the sun and forced him to eat human flesh? Like?? That fucks you up man. And then he learns how much of a curse immortality is and starts yearning for companions so he starts making them. His own family had forsaken him for something that initially wasn’t even his fault and now they started hunting down his fellow immortals. And what’s more, they act like they’re in the right!

Let’s take the hand demon from the final selection now, shall we? A little scaredy boy who got turned into a demon and ended up killing his brother without even fully realizing what he had done. Soon after, he was captured by this weird man in a mask and thrown in what is essentially a gladiator arena with dozens of people swarming in to kill him every once in a while. He fights his way through, eventually getting stronger and stronger. Eventually, he falls victim to one of the pupils of the man who captured him.

We’re just making a quick stop at Kyougai here before moving on to the moons. And boy did he deserve better! Kyougai has lived his whole life constantly being told what he was bad at. His writings is called trash, his passion for drumming is looked down upon, he has nobody to love him... There’s a lot more to him than just a frustrated bad guy. He cries when, for the first time in his life, someone gives mild appreciation to something he does. Sadly enough, that only happens on his deathbed.

Rui’s backstory was partially shown but imagine if he were the main focus! A boy so weak he could barely walk, suddenly offered the chance to become stronger. And much like in Muzan’s case, it backfired. This was even more enforced by the fact that his own parents tried to kill him! Then he met with the guy who turned him into this thing in the first place and slowly, he forgot all about his family. Loneliness grasping his childish heart, he eventually starts gathering other demons to create a family to feel those bonds again. He has no idea how families should work so he does it in the only way he can think of. But nobody else likes this. Imagine the betrayal he feels when one of his sisters tries to run away from him! And then he almost dies by the hands of someone who has what he had always craved without doing anything for it (at least from his pov). And by the very end, when he is finally reunited with his parents, when he finally felt the genuine love again, he got sent straight to hell for doing what he had to to survive, without being shown a speck of mercy by his killer.

We don’t know anything about Enmu’s backstory (movie, I’m counting on you!) but even with the little we know, a lot can be worked out. Enmu is loyal to a fault, overall pretty smart, he likes giving people happy dreams. He really just wants to please his master and yet, he’s not even given the small victory of killing a kid.

Or what about Daki and Gyuutarou? Again, we got their backstory but if that was the main focus? We’d get to see so so much more of the abuse they went through, of the hard work Gyuutarou put in for the sake of his sister, how he tried to protect her and make her stand up for herself, how he made sure she knew her worth and didn’t become a prostitute at a young age, how he cherished her and how much she relied on him. When she was getting burnt, did she call out his name hoping he would come and save her? Did she apologize for dying on him? Or Gyuutarou, how did he feel when he found her there? For how long afterwards had he blamed himself? He never let go of those feelings. And then around came a charming stranger and offered them both to live on, even as a single being so they could be even closer! Daki got a position so she didn’t have to do any degradative work ever again, Gyuutarou could protect her way better! They were attacked times and times again by the demon slayers and there were probably many tense moments and yet, they made it out, growing ever stronger together as a team... only to be eventually bested by a half-baked demon, a bunch of children and a very self-centered guy who took himself three wives.

Then we have Gyokko, an unfortunate artist who was most likely never appreciated, no matter how hard he tried. His art was dismissed as broken, imperfect, lacking in talent. And what’s worse, he may have had those feelings too. He knew he didn’t have very good focus, he probably couldn’t give his work as much work as he would’ve liked. After he obtained the capability of increasing his speed enough to nulify this deficit, he also came face to face with many people, many slayers, many pillars even, some of them who mastered the full-focus breathing technique and used it like it was nothing. How did that make him feel? And eventually he died facing someone who had all the focus he ever wanted, with his art and his own form insulted by a mere child.

Hantengu is not talked about nearly enough but can you imagine how he would tell the story? An almost blind beggar, constantly being pushed around because of his poor looks (something he could hardly change), thrown out of everywhere (kind of his fault since he was a thief but if it was his story, we’d get full reasoning), people refused to even talk with him in the end. Finally, he meets someone who gives him power and lets him be stronger so he doesn’t have to beg for everything. He’s still so very scared of everything though and he ends up doing his scary master’s bidding and gets killed by a bunch of violent screaming kids who insult him in every possible way without ever trying to look at things from his side.

Now we come to Akaza. Now here we got a lot of backstory so I’ll just skim over it real quick. In order to help his sick father, this good son stole money for the medicine and constantly got beaten up by the officials, simply because he wanted to help. His father died because he thought he was being a burden. Or, from Akaza’s point of view, his father died because he was too weak not to get caught. Can you imagine the shame? The pain? He eventually got taken in by a kind master, fell in love with a sweet girl and was supposed to marry her. And then his whole world suddenly crumbled down again. Everyone he cared about died and he couldn’t help them. Can you imagine how much he beat himself up over it? He became a demon but even after that, he would never eat girls. He just wouldn’t, it was too much for him. And yet, he managed to grow stronger. His end actually wasn’t all that tragic as he met up again with his wife, though both of them ended up burning in hell yet again.

Now we’re getting to Douma, and this one I’ll have lots of fun with. So this story is again about a little boy. This time, he’s not weak. This time, he’s not petty. He’s beautiful and everyone loves him. A lot. Too much even. He has no relationship with his parents because they don’t treat him like a human, they treat him like a medium. Everyone does. He can’t go outside to play with his peers, he’s stuck inside the temple, listening to people complaining about their miserable lives. That’s literally his entire life. Just frustration upon frustration upon frustration. Slowly, he starts going numb towards all of this. When something repeats for too long, a person will stop reacting naturally. That leads him to believe he’s emotionless. His father cheats on his mother constantly with other women from the cult, the bitterness grows with every day. Until one day, she snaps and kills him and then herself. But because Douma has no relationship with them and because of how much pain was already pushed onto him from others, he doesn’t have a reaction. He knows he can’t really help anyone. He doesn’t have that kind of power. So when the opportunity offers itself, he jumps after it. Since he’s numb to pain, he thinks, he is always happy. And he’s immortal now. So everyone he consumes can be just the same for sure! Later on, he meets Gyuutarou, a pitiful man clinging to his dying sister. And what does he do? He helps them out. And he takes responsibility for them later on as well. He strives to become strong, he strives to get along with everyone. Just the sheer amount of times he tries to spend time with someone only to be shut down shows a lot about how lonely he actually feels, even if he doesn’t call it that way. When Kotoha comes to the temple, he accepts her even with a child and if there’s one thing you can clearly see in his expression whenever he looks at her, it’s the warm, soft feeling of genuine affection, if not down-right love. Her refusing to let him explain why he does what he does and running off after insulting him? That had to hurt terribly. And she even threw her own baby off a cliff rather than to let him take care of the boy. The demon hunters coming to kill him? They want to ruin everything he tried so hard to keep together. He kills them and grants them the happiness he brings to his followers whenever he has enough time to do it. He dies at the hands of a spiteful woman who doesn’t know anything about him and is blinded by hatred and rage, a little girl who insults his feelings towards his friends while not really having any right to speak (her own emotions are way more broken than his and, arguably, for pettier reasons) and the child who’s mother he sheltered and who threw him aside.

That was long but we finally got to Kokushibou! Now, here it gets shorter again because, come on, chapter 177 gave us such a good POV on him! Though if the whole story was from his perspective, we’d deffinitelly get so much more! The utter sense of betrayal when his father after years of his hard work decided to abandon him as an heir, the overwhelming desire to at least match his brother, to at least be on equal grounds with him and then the crushing defeat when he realized he could never be like him, his lifespawn was running thin and his brother would probably surpass him even in that. He became a demon for the sole purpose of besting his brother and yet, he was never able to. As an unfulfilled revenge, his brother died before Kokushibou could strike him down. And now fast-forward some time and he’s stuck babysitting supposedly some of the strongest demons except they constantly bicker about petty things, can’t respect authority or in some cases get scared so easily he has to wonder how did they get there in the first place. His own descendant tries to kill him and refuses his offer to join Muzan’s side. And he dies because of a moment of weakness, bested once again, never to live to see the day when he would truly be the most powerful swordsman like was his life-long dream.

Or let’s take a look at Kaigaku. Working his ass off his whole life only to be constantly compared to a weak coward like Zenitsu who couldn’t even show their elder any proper respect. He couldn’t manage to master the first breath of thunder technique no matter how hard he tried and that alone was the reason why his teacher didn’t see him as any better than Zenitsu – someone who never learnt more than one technique! He was finally somewhat appreciated by Kokushibou. That was literally the first person ever to see him as a strong opponent. A demon who originally came to kill him. And he died by the hands of that very same weakling who was the cause of his troubles his whole life.

I could go on and talk about Tamayo, Yushiro, Susamaru, Yahaba, the swamp demon trio, Nakime... I’ll save these for when Nakime’s backstory is revealed and possibly when we get more details on Tamayo and Yushiro. There should also be the replacement upper moon five so let’s wait for that guy.

Side note: I’m purposedly emitting Nezuko since 1) she’s not a standard demon in the series and 2) she’s one of the main protagonists so we already see the story from her perspective about as much as we see it from Tanjiro’s.

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lolmyeyebags · 4 years

Text

Tempting. But nah, I’m good. Unless? ;)

Summary: You find yourself attempting to swindle a witch. Naturally, it doesn’t work out and she casts a curse on you. How were you supposed to solve this curse before seven days?

Warnings: No smut but it’s basically an intro to a smut series; a prompt?

Word Count: 5,538

A/N: Oneshot? Series? We’ll find out in the next episode of-

Ao3 Link

This is her place, right? You’re sure this is the place you agreed to meet up on. You’ve double checked, no, triple checked your messages with the witch you met on bledit, Tituba. You’ve been to her house before but never in the dark. With your paranoia, you could only imagine how mortifying it would be if you were to arrive in a random demon or witch’s home, knocking on their door, and possibly being eaten or roasted alive. According to her message, you were at the correct destination... which was in the outskirts of the devildom, in the middle of the night.

At least, it felt like nighttime. Since the devildom had no sun - excluding Lord Diavolo’s private beach - your body had to adapt to the climate change and learned to tell time in a different way, and by that it meant you relied on your gut feeling and occasionally, checked the time on your DDD.

The gravel crunched and shuffled with each step you took, and with each step, your gnawing anxiety grew stronger. Please, there’s no way this is the wrong house. Although, maybe it was since it was pitch black and you were a powerless human in the night - ok - get a grip.

You know, maybe this wasn’t your brightest idea. I mean, what if you died in the most embarrassing way? What if a creature of Devildom decided to make you their food, feed you to their offspring, and leave your naked and mutilated body to be found. That’s just… no, you’d rather not think about that. You'd simply pass away if you let yourself die looking crusty as fuck.

Though, you wouldn't have found yourself in your little nighttime adventures if you'd just get a grip and master lucid dreaming the normal way. If you just had enough patience and practiced in a neat and timely routine, you would’ve mastered lucid dreaming and the ability to shift into your ‘desired reality’ as those clickclock creators instructed.

But who were you kidding? You know your dumb ass could never have the patience and consistency to do that. That’s like, some normie type of shit. And you? A whole ‘nother breed. Those foolish little clickclock creators have no idea that you were basically y/n and have a main character complex. What? Don’t look at me like that, me. We’re built? Different.

“Lucid dreaming isn’t that hard, it requires patience and understanding, yeah right,” you mocked the various clickclock creators and sent a pebble flying to a pile of rocks. “Stupid clickclock, stupid lucid dreaming, stupid hard and unobtainable 2d waifus and husbandos.”

All you wanted was to lucid dream once! Just once is enough. You wanted to open you eyes to an animated world and see your beloved 2D characters materialize right before you. Of course, you know it wasn’t all that possible to do in real life. I mean, if even the hardcore otaku himself hasn’t managed such a feat, how could you - the lowly human - accomplish what Mr. The Lord of Shadows couldn’t do for centuries?

And yeah, he’s the Lord of Shadows alright. If you learned anything from your writepod addiction in middle school, it’s the ability to spot a poorly disguised fan fiction based off of celebrities in real life from a mile away. Although, it did surprise you to find that the great author of the legendary TSL series was THE Simeon himself.

I mean, Simeon? Hello? The holiest of angels? That was a shocker.

OOF! You face planted into something soft, almost like a jello cup you’d eat in the summer. You were snapped out of your thoughts as you fell on the prickly leaves, ass first.

“Oh, what the fuck?” You balled your hands into fists and attempted to rub the disorientation away, and standing at a good 6’10” was quite possibly the tallest being you’ve ever laid your eyes on - and the most amusing to make fun of.

The witch fixed her gaze onto you, “you’re late.”

You felt a swirl of emotions wash over you. I wonder how you were going to torment her into casting a lucid dreaming spell on you. Or better yet, have her teach you how to shift realities with her witchy powers. Oh! Or even better, blackmail her into sending you off into a parallel universe in which your favorite anime are real and you were the all mighty ruler of that world, giving you the powers to switch dimensions and warp your realities with a snap of your fingers.

A grin tugged at your lips, “what’re yOu looking at Cocksucker69?”

The witch, Tituba, pressed her lips into a tight lipped smile and hissed, “I thought I told you to not refer to me as that, xXdiavoloismybitchXx.”

“I—“

“Did you forget what followed after you endeavored to bring me humiliation in public? Forget the way those demons turned around, their jaws slack with shock as I uttered your bledit username, exposing you as bledit’s most notorious troller, and all of your-“

“YES! I mean no! No, I haven’t forgotten. You right, my bad,” you shivered at the memory and shook your head.

It was as if it happened yesterday, because it did. It wasn’t the wide array of emotions the demons bore that bothered you. It was the fact Tituba emphasized your username, while you were in the entrance of RAD, no less!

You were one of the two only human exchange students and that made you quite a celebrity in the school. The demons knew that! They weren’t fools. Your username probably struck a cord that inspired a string of gossip and rumors to spread, that would no doubt reach Diavolo. You couldn’t bear the thought of reliving the wave - no, tsunami - of embarrassment that washed over you. No, it felt more like it drowned you. Like damn, that witch really had it out for you!

“Right so,” with a cheshire grin, you prod her arm with your elbow, “where were we?”

She groaned in exasperation.

“Child, you are accelerating my expiration,” the witch brought two fingers and pinched the space between her eyebrows, smoothing out her wrinkles, no doubt caused by you.

“I’ll behave this time, I swear! Scout’s honor!”

“Despite my knowing of my inevitable regret, I’m obligated to continue,” the witch pushed her door open and ushered you in. You stepped inside and a fresh crisp breeze licked at your cheeks. You sighed in content, welcoming the verdant ambiance of Tituba’s cottage.

The lace of your shoes became undone in a second, and in the next, you soared in the air and flopped unceremoniously on Tituba’s sex pit. It wasn’t an actual sex pit though. It was simply an indentation on the wooden floor that Tituba renovated into a conversation pit, which turned into her designated sleeping area, thanks to your persistence.

Pillows, throw pillows, plushies, fluffy blankets - if you had to choose a place to sleep for eternity, it would be Tituba’s sex pit. Your eyes widened in delight as it settled on the long shape of the body pillow you gifted Tituba as an apology gift… After you fell against her cauldron she was using to ferment blood moon water. It spilled all over the floor and became ‘unclean’ as she called it.

“Oh!!! The Barbatos body pillow I gifted you! I knew you still love me! You tsundere simp, you~!”

Tituba met your waggling eyebrows with an unamused stare. “Get to the point, MC.”

Just the slightest, you dipped your head, narrowed your eyes, and put on the biggest smirk you could manage - your signature Robbie Rotten face you always wore as you plan to blackmail her.

———♦︎———♦︎———♦︎———

Yeah, the transactions weren’t as smooth as you thought it would be. Sure, maybe you tried to manipulate Tituba via sabotaging her date who she was talking to through the cinder app. Well, you didn’t try, you succeeded. And as a result, you were put under a supposedly ‘excruciating’ curse that even Solomon himself couldn’t break. ’Supposedly.’

“Heed my words, MC. If you are unable to find salvation by the seventh day, you will meet your demise, devoured by a great and powerful hellfire, subject to—“

“Yuh, I’ma dip, I have to binge my new anime I’ve been obsessed with - bungee street cats - peach out!”

———♦︎———♦︎———♦︎———

What type of curse, spell, whatever it was, was it though? You couldn’t help but ruminate over Tituba’s warning.

...

Nah, she’s just playing with me. She’d never! Right? Even if it was a curse, a prank if you will, what would it be? Were you cursed to break out? An irrational fear of yours you shared with her? Is is that you fear you’d be subject to an embarrassing sequence of events that’d take you out? Fuck, if it was something embarrassing, you’d simply pass away. You had enough with the second hand embarrassment you got from awkward anime characters. You weren’t about to live through your own embarrassment. That was just... too cruel.

Nothing strange or unusual has been happening so far. It was just the normal you, the pure, selfless maiden going on about her life with the seven demon brothers. Sure, it should’ve made you feel better but it only unnerved you even more. Fuck! What exactly was the curse? Maybe you shouldn’t have cut her off and dipped. You felt a thin layer of sweat slowly creep up and you brought a hand up to fan your face. Damn, was it hot in here or was it just your wet ass pussy?

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you fucking with some wet ass pussy. Bring a bucket and a mop for this wet ass pussy. Give me- ♪

You were snapped out of your thoughts when a firm grip made contact with your shoulders.

A strangled cry left your lips as you doubled over. Fiery ropes of erotism enveloped your body. It was as if every nerve, every vein in your body was coursing with raw pleasure. You felt a blush come over not just your cheeks but your entire body as you locked eyes with the classroom that you disrupted with your lewd… sound.

The professor coughed and proceeded to point to the diagram of a demon, angel, and human anatomy, explaining what the three species have in common and what they don’t.

Your bottom lip sought comfort in being chewed by your teeth. With your head hung and your hair slightly covering your face, you followed the hand on your shoulder to its owner.

My, just how mortifying could it get? It was fucking Simeon. His cheeks were dusted pink and his lips were caught in an ‘o’ and his eyes were filled with surprise, then worry.

“Simeon, I,” your eyes were downcast, refusing to meet his gaze, “I-I’m so sorry, I don’t know what’s come over me.”

What the fawk. This is the worst day ever. Now the image of a little lamb you assumed Simeon had for you would be replaced by a horny, hormone monster.

Stupefied, Simeon sat still, staring at you.

Fuck! This is so awkward! I should probably explain that I didn’t mean to release a porn star moan just because he touched my shoulder! I mean, he’s an angel and this is just the worst fucking thing oh my gosh...

And with that, your dumb ass found yourself rambling to Simeon in great, excessive detail of your meeting with Tituba. Even going as far to expose your usernames and directly quoting yourself and that wretched witch.

“Oh my,” he lifted your chin with his fingers and you stiffened, resisting the urge to sing a song of the pleasure that coursed through you. He frowned and studied the way you reacted to his touch. He probably didn’t intend to almost send you into your first orgasm buuuut hot damn. Please, Simeon, stop being so breathtaking with your exposed shoulders.

Hold up. Shoulders? What the hell, just how far did you fall? You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain and you became the villain. You were literally a prime example of why dress code conduct in the human realm prohibited shoulders from being shown in school. Who would’ve thought?

“Not to worry, MC, counseling little lambs in their times of need is our job, after all.”

Fuck, why is he such a gentleman. You felt like putty from his touch alone and your thighs found itself squeezing together as a response to his touch.

“S-Simeon, please,” you grit your teeth and muster all of your willpower to not moan. Continuing with your impromptu explanation, you say, “it’s just, whenever I find myself bumping into anyone, it feels almost uncomfortably good. Like, pleasurable? I don’t know how to explain it but,” your chewed on your lip. “I don’t know how it came to that considering I’m literally as pure as anyone could get but I feel extremely overcome with lust for some reason.”

A husky timbre sang in your ear. “Oh? Is that so?”

Fuck. No no no! You hit back the urge to moan and doubled over in your seat, balling your hands into fists in an attempt to regain yourself.

Who-? Who fuck is this evil? You come back to your seated position and find yourself face to face with Solomon. His eyes were twinkling with pure mischief.

How in the world did you forget that Solomon sat right next to you? Directly to your left, no less. How much did he hear? Knowing him, he probably noticed your state of distress and took full advantage of it, listening in on everything you ranted to Simeon.

“Ah,” he stifled back his laughter, “so you weren’t kidding?”

You pressed your lips together in a tight line, bringing your hand up and preparing to smack a bitch until you realized you’d probably double over again from the skin to skin contact. “Ugh, you’re lucky I can’t strangle you.”

Well, you’re fucked.

“Aww, you shouldn’t be like that, MC!” Solomon brought a hand up to his chest and frowned. “After all, since a powerful witch like Tituba put you under a curse, you’d benefit from having The Greatest Sorcerer on your side.”

You groaned and slid down your chair, covering your face in equal parts shame and annoyance - only for Solomon, of course. Simeon, however, deserves the whole world.

“Little lamb, I think you should head over to the House of Lamentation early,” Simeon advised. You met his sympathetic gaze and felt a wave of relief wash over you. Truly, he was an angel.

“Can I really do that?”

“I’ll walk you over to the nurse’s office if you’re scared,” Solomon cooed. His lips brushed against the shell of your left ear and his fingers strummed along the small of your back.

“F-Fuck,” you whisper screamed and clutched your body, as if you were holding yourself down from the oncoming shockwaves his mere actions brought upon you.

———♦︎———♦︎———♦︎———

You found yourself in the common room, back at the House of Lamentation. You sat down on the rightmost part of a loveseat, welcoming the warmth of the fireplace and the sound of wood snapping and cracking against the fire. Fucking Solomon. That sneaky rat bastard. Who gave him the audacity to act like Hugh Hefner, when at best, motherfucker was Voldemort.

It was a wonder how you got here safely, really. Considering that you weren’t the best at keeping yourself composed when you were under pressure. Maybe you were born with it? Maybe it’s Maybelline.

Ding! Your DDD vibrated against your back pocket. Shame coursed through you as heat pooled in between your legs. Even from that? Really? To think you were acting more like a crusty, musty, virgin than Levi.

Who was it that texted you this time? Your face fell as you read the banner on your DDD.

Solomon.

Great, you wonder what he has planned for you this time. Taking a deep breath, you click on the notification.

———♦︎———♦︎———♦︎———

Solomon: This is so funny. Guess what kind of curse you’re under.

MC: ...MF. Get on with it!!!

Solomon: It’s a fucking curse of temptation, charged with eros.

MC: ...

Solomon: ...

MC: Say sike rn. Please. I’m begging you.

Solomon: Then beg.

MC: ...

Solomon: LMAO

MC: You can break it right?! It’s just a fucking horny curse. It doesn’t seem that complicated

Solomon: Stupid hoe. Did you not pay attention to Unit 1 of Incantations?

MC: TF?? Who do you take me for? That was like the first week I was abducted. Ofc I was tryna convince myself I was just high or something or like I was in a weird ass dream

Solomon: ...Well, the simpler and more direct a curse is, the harder it is to break. Obviously, complicated curses are more susceptible to flaws and mistakes. And it’s just your luck because the curse Tituba placed you under is lined with malicious intent.

Solomon: Didn’t you say she only spoke a single sentence when she cast her spell on you?

MC: Oh fuck.

Solomon: LOL! Literally. I could break it in a day or two if it was any other witch. But this is Tituba we’re talking about.

MC: Her breed? Different >:)

Solomon: ...

MC: Ok! I’m sorry. Please, go on oh great and powerful one.

Solomon: Hold on, I’ve only just figured out what type of curse you’re under. Give me a few hours and I’ll head over there and explain it to you once I’ve solved it.

MC: MAKE IT QUICK. IF THE BROTHERS FIND OUT, I’M GOING TO PASS AWAY FROM EMBARRASSMENT

Solomon: dO YOU WANT ME TO SOLVE IT OR NOT?

MC: I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Please, take your time oh, Solomon the Wise. But come quick! Please

———♦︎———♦︎———♦︎———

“LOL! You’ll never guess what happens in chapter 22 of Being An Old Man, I Thought It Was Too Late For Me To Have Kids With My Wife Sarah But God Blessed Me A Son!”

“You wouldn’t dare! I haven’t reached that part yet! You wouldn’t use such dirty tactics to distract me.”

“Abraham has to sacrifice his-“

“NOOO!”

“Levi, MC, please,” Satan sighed and lowered his book, meeting your sheepish grin and Levi's scoff with an unamused stare.

The common room was full of life. Satan sat right across from you, engrossed in another one of his nerdy books and Asmo sat beside him, humming a tune as he painted his nails - for like, the third time this week. Mammon sat right next to him, fixed on his DDD. You could barely make out the layout of the akuzon app. Stupid mammon, he’s already on another online shopping spree despite having more frozen bank accounts that even Lucifer himself could count.

Speaking of Lucifer, you turn your gaze to him as he sat on the armchair, smack down in the middle of the two loveseats right across from each other. He just came back from another meeting with Diavolo and was sorting through his papers.

What in the name of Christopher Gray... how could one man look that stunning after being holed up in a meeting for five hours. Your dumb ass would step out of the meeting looking like you haven’t washed your hair in years.

Beel sat to the left of Levi. He chewed on a stick of bat jerky and was watching some video on his DDD - probably about working out or food - and Belphie laid by himself, curled up right in front of the fireplace with his head resting on his cow pillow, knocked out cold. Or well, knocked out warm.

It was almost strange how calm the ambiance was. You felt a spike of anxiety churn at your stomach. Why do you feel like something bad is going to happen?

“Hey, pay attention normie! I’m about to beat your high score in subway swimmers!” Levi stick his tongue out in concentration, deft fingers swiping away at obstacles and collecting grimm as he ran away from the kraken security guardian.

“Oh no! NOOO!” You clutch your DDD, just in time to watch your character collide with a bed of coral. Your face fell at the words displayed on the screen. ‘Save me!’

“No, I ran out of keys,” you groan and threw your DDD at Levi, crossing your arms.

“The only reason you’ve been able to keep up with me all this time is because of all the money you’ve spent on keys, MC!”

“Hey!” You scoff, “you’re making me feel like Mammon!”

“Oi! I don’t spend that much money!”

Without missing a beat, Satan quips back, “Only because Lucifer confiscated Goldie from you - again.”

Beel nodded his head. He took the last bite of his bat jerky and hummed in agreement.

Ding! Dong!

Lucifer raises an eyebrow, “Who’s at the door?”

Shit. You forgot how the brothers don’t exactly hold Solomon in the highest regards.

Nervously laughing, you answered him, “Ah, that would be Solomon.”

Feeling his scrutinizing gaze, you look up and lock eye contact with Lucifer. His eyes narrowed and you feel yourself growing hot under his gaze. Not that he was turning you on, no. You never liked this kind of attention on you. I mean, who’d openly like to get gawked at?

As if answering your question, Asmodeus gives you a playful smile. “Oh? Solomon? I didn’t know you two were close.”

“Uhh, well, it’s-“

“Oh! Solomon! I’ll get the door!” Levi snapped out of his trance and pressed pause on his game. Thank goodness Levi and Solomon bonded over TSL. You couldn’t imagine any other brothers welcoming him inside if it weren’t for his connection to Levi.

Belphie began to stir from the commotion. He brought himself up to a sitting position, rubbing his eyes. “What’s going on?” He yawned.

“MC.”

You turned your attention to Lucifer who looks more daddy than ever. His arms were crossed and his eyebrows were pressed together in disapproval. His frown was only the cherry on the top. “Would you care to explain why you invited Solomon over?”

Fuck. Please stop being such an alpha male for once. Images of his physique towering over yours flooded your mind. His hands would pin yours right above your head, rendering your arms useless, and his strong legs would encase you in a cage like hold. Then, him being Lucifer, would say something clever and sensual at the same time, and you'd melt under his gaze.

Wait. UGH! Snap out of it!

You opened your mouth to respond to him when Solomon beats you to it.

“I’ve figured out the exact curse MC has been afflicted with,” and with a smirk, “and how to relieve her of it.”

Shit. Oh shit. He really wants to watch the world burn, huh? You grimaced, bracing yourself for the onslaught of questions from the demon brothers.

Satan’s glare directed at Solomon disappears and is replaced with concern, “a curse?”

“No! It’s not fair! You’re supposed to be my Henry for all of eternity! You can't be cursed!”

“Hey MC! Just what kinda things have ya been up to? I’m s’posed to be protecting you, ya hear?”

“Poor MC! She looks so stressed! That's sooo not good for your skin!”

“Can’t she just sleep it off?”

“MC,” Beel frowned and you returned his concerned expression with a small smile.

Lucifer slammed his hands on the coffee table, it was like thunder just went off inside of the house. “Enough!” His brows were bunched together in a glare and his arms were crossed. “Solomon, would you care to explain the kind of curse MC is under and who the identity of the caster is?”

Your jaw fell slack and you gave Solomon your best ‘please no’ stare you could muster. Your hands were collected in front of you like a prayer.

Solomon only smiled and a chill ran up your spine. That’s not how a smile is supposed to look. No, a real smile would be if your eyes shrank, forming half crescent moons, with wrinkles in the corners. No way. Was he really…?

“If you don’t mind, Lucifer, I’d like to get MC’s approval before continuing.”

Confusion. Yeah, that’s the best way to describe how the brothers reacted. Complete and utter confusion.

———♦︎———♦︎———♦︎———

She signed defeatedly, “fine. Do your worst.”

Is that idiot really going to tempt me into unleashing as much chaos as I could possibly muster? Which is… a lot. I mean, I am known as The Great Sorcerer.

Though, she looks so tempting when she’s so defeated - so small and weak, pathetic, even - it only brings me more amusement. Now, I wonder what route I’m going to choose this time. Should I play as the devious sorcerer? The kindhearted and forgiving human friend of MC? Who am I kidding? Both! Yeah, that wasn’t even a question. I almost laughed out loud. Man, I really am a genius.

I cleared my throat, unwavering as I felt the collective gaze of the demon brothers fall upon my being. And a lustier one from emanating from Asmodeus. No surprise there.

Choose your words carefully, Solomon. You gotta be on her side.

“MC has been afflicted with a curse of temptation, charged with eros, by Tituba the witch. It’ll continue to affect her over the course of seven days, subjugating her to extreme heat that will boil her from the inside out lest she finds relief. She has until the clock strikes midnight on the seventh day.”

Perfect.

A furious blush cascaded over Mammon’s features. He was the first to break the silence. “O-Oi! You’re kidding right?”

“Wah!” Asmo crooned. He gave MC a half-lidded smile. “My my! Now isn’t this a wonderful turn of events~!”

Satan elbowed Asmo on his side. “That’s enough with the teasing, Asmo,” he lectured.

“Oh, don’t give me that, Satan, those bright red cheeks of yours aren't fooling anyone.”

“A-Asmo!”

“Whoa! This is just like the anime I’ve been watching! I Attempted To Manipulate A Great And Powerful Witch And Now I’ve Been Cursed And The Only Way I Can Break Out Of It Is For Me To Kiss The One I love!”

Beel gave Levi a frown, shaking his head at his antics despite the pink that dusted his features.

A glee of joy overcame me as I watched everything unfold. Lucifer looked as if his eyes were about to pop out of its sockets. He was torn between maintaining his stunned gaze onto me or onto MC, whose probably attempting to curl up into a ball at this point.

———♦︎———♦︎———♦︎———

Y’know what, I really am going to smack a bitch. And by that, I mean Solomon and how that sneaky bastard carefully chose his words to bring forth a reaction like… well, like this.

You were so engrossed by the chorus of reactions harmonizing with each other, and focused on morphing into a ball of shame, you almost forgot about Belphie. That was, until he placed his hand on your calf, coaxing you out of your ball. He gave you a kind and sympathetic gaze. His lips were set in a small frown, his eyebrows downcast.

It happened in only a few seconds. You were filled with equal parts horror and pleasure because he didn’t know that simple touches like this could affect you to such a degree. Couldn’t blame him though, he was the only brother that didn’t react in such an inappropriate way to your predicament. And he didn’t even seem amused by it at all.

You, however, well... His warm touch, placed on your calf only sent you into overdrive. “N-No! Don’t touch me!” The absolute lewdest, cry - followed by a moan - escaped your lips. Your body shivered and as if on cue, an overwhelmingly hot fire washed over you. A deep, unyielding fire. It fucking sent you, and the brothers.

“Ah,” Solomon laughed, “I may have forgot to mention that during this period, MC’s senses will be hightened tenfold. If not, possibly more. I figured that’s what the extreme heat stood for and this just proved me right.”

“F-Fuck,” you breathed. Shit, fucking get a grip, MC! You’re in the middle of the brothers and stinky Solomon who’s thriving off of your suffering. Scowling, you sent him a middle finger.

You caught yourself staring at Belphie. His eyes, which were filled with sympathy was now clouded over by something else. It darkened, and you saw his pupils blown wide, threatening to devour the bluish violet color that surrounded it.

“I’m sorry, Belphie, I should’ve told you before,” you murmur.

This was it though. This is the day you die. Cause of death? Embarrassment. Yeah, that’s right. Like a fucking sim dying because it peed in front of the other sims in the club, probably because you kept on cancelling their whim to use the restroom.

“I can help you find relief.”

Pause.

Your moth fell agape at Belphie’s suggestion. Did he really just suggest that? To you? Do you pretend to be Helen Keller? Do you become Jared, 19? There’s no way you could say yes, despite the temptations you’ve felt, longing for sexual touch. After all, your first kiss happened such a long time ago. And even then, you broke it off after a brief moment because you found yourself unwilling to make a fool of yourself. Ha! You, accepting Belphie’s proposal. What a long shot. You were definitely prepared to pass away before you could make an even bigger fool of yourself in front of the brothers and Solomon.

“B-Belphie! Hey! Get your hands off my human!”

Satan and Beel were at a loss for words. To your surprise, so was Lucifer. And Levi, you could only assume, is passed out next to you on the couch after hearing your cry of pleasure.

“Guys, uhh,” you scratched the back of your neck, “it’s okay. I’ll just accept my fate and boil over by the seventh day.”

Right! I saved them from the discomfort of being obliged to help me relieve myself. Plus, that was sorta awkward. I mean, if it happened to someone I didn’t harbor any feelings for, why should I have to help them get laid or something? This was only fair.

At your words, Lucifer was roused to take control of this discord. “Absolutely not. As the eldest and trusted advisor to Diavolo, it is my duty to-“

“Oh, come on Lucifer! Don’t give us that! Just admit you’d be more than willing to help our little MC out in her predicament,” teased Asmo.

You fidgeted in your seat. How were you going to explain to the brothers in a logical manner that you’d rather die than admit you’re an inexperienced virgin that could rival Levi himself?

Oh no. You were too late. Solomon caught on to your trepidation and released a dramatic gasp, “MC, don’t tell me,” he paused, for dramatic effect, “were you not kidding when you claimed to be pure? Are you actually a virgin?”

You smiled like the calm before the storm, the waves pulling back before the tsunami crashed. It was the way the earth stilled before the meteorite connected. “I’ll take that as my cue to pass away.”

You closed your eyes and pretended you were in a place, free from embarrassment. Ignoring the gasps and murmurs from Mammon and Satan (and Levi who woke up after passing out), the hums of approval from Asmo and Belphie, the way Solomon stifled back his laughter, and you couldn’t hear it but you were guessing Beel and Lucifer were completely speechless.

“MC, you can’t just close your eyes and pretend we aren’t here,” Satan coaxed, "we're not going to let you perish because of this curse."

You cock one eye open and nodded, ruminating over the different ways you could respond to his infuriatingly rational comment. “I can try,” you maintained your smile and sat cross legged on the couch, meditating into the astral realm. That's where your soul was, of course, after you died from the embarrassment.

“Oh honey,” cooed Asmo, “we only want what's best for you. Plus, I could practically taste the desire oozing out of you.”

“Asmo!”

———♦︎———♦︎———♦︎———

This was going to be a long night. Solomon bid farewell to the brothers after chatting with Lucifer, discussing the curse as in depth as he could without revealing the little snippet of information he decided to keep for himself. The rest of the brothers went back and forth with MC, trying to convince her to think over her choice and the severity of the curse but with a pride that could rival Lucifer’s, she rejected it with a shake of her head and kept her arms crossed. It took her a while before it dawned on her - the brothers would not yield until she gave them a satisfactory answer. Defeated, she told them that she would consider it.

It was getting late.

The brothers returned to their rooms and MC followed not long afterwards. The House of Lamentation was filled with a different tension tonight, one unlike any other.

#obey me #obey me shall we date #swd obey me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me solomon #obey me simeon #obey me fanfic #obey me fanfic x reader

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skonkania · 4 years

Text

— bye bye baby

story: keeper of the sun and moon

pairing: cressida monroe x mc ( drew han)

word count: 1.3k

notes: keep thinking about how drew would slowly fall out of love with cressida bc she feels like she knows nothing about her and isn’t enough for her

summary: all i wanted was to look into your eyes and now i'm seeing all the half truths and the lies.

Drew always feels like she’s playing a game of hide and seek with Cressy—not Cressida, the name feels too formal on her tongue. It’s always her having to leave a date earlier than expected, always her hiding behind a smile, always her the last to reciprocate feelings. She’s constantly on offense, trying to find a weakness in her girlfriend’s facade to only exploit it for a second of vulnerability.

She once asked her mom what love feels like and was only left with a cryptic response and more questions. Ariana Han told her fourteen-year-old child would know love when she felt it and that sentence was a complete cop-out. She doesn’t blame her, the father of her child had left long before she was born.

Love isn’t something she was supposed to know, and then there was Cressida—no, Cressy Monroe.

She was stupidly perfect. Never a hair out of line or a misplaced smile, finding the right words to say. Leon was right, she was diplomatic to a fault. A flaw she finds herself unable to look past.

Drew’s plagued with thoughts of her, things she didn’t even consider at the beginning of her relationship. Lovestricken ideas all tumbling down into some somber ideas of what love is supposed to be like. Why is she is always away? Does she ever think about me? What am I to her?

She has ruined her.

It used to be Drew against everyone else. And now it seems like it’s Drew against the validation she seeks from a girl she barely knows. A girl who provided everything she ever wanted but lacks the technicality to understand everything she really needs. Are they both nothing more than shallow figures they dream about?

Does Cressy even have dreams about me?

All those thoughts come rushing back as she sits opposite of the girl she loves—or maybe the girl she thinks she loves. It’s too time-consuming to try and pick on social cues that her girlfriend has completely neutralized. She’s impenetrable, and it was something to admire at first.

“I can’t do this anymore, Cressida.” she hates the way the name sounds against her tongue like they’re meeting for the very first time. “This thing we have going on.”

This is the end. The part of the movie where she finally discovers what she is beyond and egotistical asshole and grabs another girl along the way. (Sometimes she likes to imagine she’s simply a character living out a life that isn’t entirely hers.) But Drew knows it will never end when it comes to her.

Her girlfriend smirks, always fucking smirking no matter the context. Drew doesn’t find herself to be a joke, she’s someone who deserves more than pleasantries and wavering affection. “What, no more Cressy?”

Isn’t love supposed to be suffocating? A feeling wrapped so tight around your chest that you can’t help but swallow it all down and hope it dissolves only for it to swarm back into butterflies? Something she’d rather die without and would kill just for the chance to receive it? If it is, she doesn’t feel that way around her, love feels like an illness when it comes to Cressida.

Her touch is ice, searing through Drew’s skin if she’s even lucky enough to have her finger graze her cheek. Eyes that stare directly into hers, questioning every decision she’s ever made and wondering if the jeans she wore are too gaudy for her girlfriend’s liking. Always making her so fucking insecure about things she can’t control, things that are what make her Drew Han.

If acting this way is out of her control, she never seems to acknowledge it.

She spits out her next words, “No, I’m not playing your dumbass mind games.”

“Don’t be like that.”

“Do you even love me?” it’s left as a mumble in the air, echoing any insecurity that Drew has ever felt. The words constrict her chest as soon as they leave her mouth and now she is forced to face the answer of a question she should’ve never asked.

Cressida’s face seems to pale at the question, brief shock hitting her features before curving down back into a practiced smile. Does she not even deserve a genuine response? During all this time, all she earned was lackluster emotions and speeches you could probably give at a dinner party? Drew is something more than that, she knows that much in her heart.

She is waiting for some sort of rejection, a final end to this insufferable cycle that never seems to end. But an answer never comes and the silence seems to sting twice as much.

Thoughts of her plague her mind, happy memories all seeming to shatter as she realize that possibly none it it really mattered to her. Drew was never enough.

Cressida Monroe doesn’t have a heart. Cressida Monroe doesn’t deserve you. Cressida Monroe . . . was all you had left.

There are tears hitting her cheeks before she can even flee the restaurant, humiliation was not her main goal. This was the ultimatum, this is what would make her triumph above all else and certainly set herself a step higher than her girlfriend—no, her ex-girlfriend now. Back to being Cressida Monroe, a complete stranger.

But was she anything different before?

Cyrus once warned her, “Cressida will do what’s best for herself.” And she thought he was just unnecessarily cruel, that she’d be an exception to the rule. That she was stupid enough to believe that she could save the world from a demon, get the girl, and slowly repair any relationship by being more honest with herself. Some bullshit, movies aren’t real life.

Going back to her dorm is a blur of fast-moving people moving by through overwhelming tears. She might’ve seen Yakov and Seraphina speaking about something right outside and Kol forcing Thalia to not destroy everything in the kitchen, but none of that really matters. She assumes that she is simply an afterthought in their minds.

And she’s probably right.

She slams the door shut as soon as she enters the room, ignoring the lingering concern on Astrid’s face as she climbs up to her bunk. Whimpers are bubbling in her throat, she refuses a chance to be seen as weak. She refuses for any of her suitemates to reduce her image into a blubbering mess over some girl who never even loved her.

The idea is mortifying and she tenses as she feels her bed dip around her feet, a hand resting on her calf. It soon shifts and Astrid is resting right beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She’s always so overbearing, butting in on issues that never concerned her in the first place; she’s why Drew was even here in the first place.

But her heart’s in the right place and it’s why she flips around in order to shove her face into her roommate's shoulder. Wrapping her arms around her torso as she takes in her warmth. She smells like mint and laundry detergent—so different from what she’s used to. “Hey, hey, hey,” the blonde rubs circles in her back, letting the sobs soak into her cardigan. “I’m here for you. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“She’s gone, Astrid,” the statement is vague, but she knows what it means. It’s enough to know how to comfort her.

She whispers things she probably won’t remember the next day and things that probably won’t calm the constant ache in her chest. She considers compulsion, wanting to ask Seraphina to erase every single thought of her that still remains. All the memories gone until she would only remember cold winter days in her dorms and someone always coming in to make sure she eats. Yet, she’s seen Astrid.

I wouldn’t make her any happier and Drew still wouldn’t know what love feels like.

Her eyes flutter shut as her heaving has turned into calming breaths. I was never enough.

#cressida monroe #cressida monroe x mc #cressida x mc #STOP NOT ME WANTING TO PUT ASTRID AND DREW TOGETHER WHEN I ALREADY HAVE WILLOW #in my head astrid and drew are besties and cressy came along and astrid just became jealous that SHE got drew over her #and then maybe they get together around book 3 but idk bc i fucking love drew and cressida together #PLEASE SOMEONE STOP ME FROM TANGLING EVERYONE TOGETHER TO THE POINT WHERE THEY BREAK UP AND THEN GET WITH SOMEONE ELSE THAT FUCKS MY PLOTLIN #i have made an environment so toxic between 2 people who i desperately want together and yet made them like this #i think this was all based on the nymph ball dialogue where the mc asks themselves whether or not the relationship is worth it #and that one ask where it's how the ros respond to i love you and cressida just says you don't even know me #ch: drew han #ch: cressida monroe

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cryxmercy · 4 years

Text

Death Becomes Her {POTW}

Serendipity comes in the strangest forms.

When: Current time, very late evening Who: Mercy and @mor-beck-more-problems (Morgan) Where: Morgan’s dream of the day she died

TW: blood, gore, implied character death, body mutilation, injury, body horror

The black sockets where Coraline Adams’ eyes once were stared at Morgan from the pavement. She opened her mouth, slowly, stiff and weighted by the iron melded into her flesh. Blood fell over her scorched lips and rushed down her chin. “Are we the same?” She asked.

Morgan could not speak. There was no compulsion to eat, nothing dragging her forward into the dark red muscle exposed around Coraline’s cheeks or the glisten of her nix scales on her arms. Nor was there any fear to run away. Morgan’s body had forgotten movement altogether. She could only stare as Coraline’s ruined body asked her again, “Are you like me?” The burns spread on her face, ripping apart from her mouth and outward. Red exploded from the body, showering Morgan in blood. The world spun and without warning, the ground was suddenly beneath her. She was on Main Street again. The pole was in her stomach, so sharp it made tears start fresh. She wriggled in place, harder than she had been able to in life. Maybe this time…

“How is this balanced?” Coraline Adams was next to her, hairless brow wrinkled with curiosity. “Don’t we deserve more than this?” There seemed to be more she wanted to say, but Morgan felt a strange prickle on the back of her neck, like someone was watching her. “Hello--?”

The black water stretched out endlessly on all sides. Still as glass, yet Mercy could feel it lapping at her ankles. There was no sun, no moon, no stars. And yet there was light. It came from everywhere and nowhere all at once. There was no land. No mountains or shorelines in sight. Yet Mercy could feel sand and rocks beneath her feet. There was only a distant fog that drifted slowly. She wanted to move. To walk, to run… to flee.

Never run from anything immortal, a familiar voice whispered in her ear. It only attracts their attention.

Mercy smelled burning flesh. ‘Are you like me?’

Mercy turned towards the new voice, but there was no one there. “Like who?” Then the world shifted in a rush of sound, and the lake was gone. Concrete was beneath her feet now. Feet that were still soaking wet, and left dark, inky footprints when she finally started to walk. The streets were empty. Foggy, like the lake. Mercy walked for awhile, but stopped when figures appeared up ahead. They were talking with each other. One was impaled. The other was burned. None of this frightened Mercy, and she approached calmly. Too calmly perhaps.

“The gods don’t care what we deserve.” She looked at the woman with the pole through her middle. “You should pull that out.”

Morgan turned as much as her body would allow, straining through the smoke on the empty street for a sign. This was wrong. She wasn’t supposed to be here, she was supposed to be home, she was supposed to be fine, not trapped here again, and this--what was it?--didn’t belong in this nightmare plane with her. Then a voice spoke and a tall woman emerged from the smoke. She towered over the shadowy wreckage like a statue. This was stupid, Morgan didn’t even have any gods. And if there were any, she was growing confident that they didn’t care at all when it came to the undead. She looked down at the rebar in her stomach, then back at the woman, so strange and hard along her face, even otherworldly. She reminded Morgan of old paintings she’d studied in school, icons of Roman goddesses and pre-raphaelite witches. She wasn’t familiar enough to have come from her subconscious, but where was she from, then? “I can’t,” she replied, as if it were obvious. “I’m kind of stuck to the ground. And bleeding everywhere.” But that was beside the point, right? “Who are you? I don’t even know you.”

Mercy wasn’t supposed to be here either. Foggy streets in modern times were hardly ever the background for her dreams. She wondered if she was alright, back in her bed at Arthur’s house. Or if she tossed and turned in her sleep. She wondered idly if she would wake him with her restlessness. But the dream pulled her back in. She looked down on the unfamiliar woman with the same neutrality she always wore for the dead and dying in her dreams. But this wasn’t her dream. Was it? Maybe it was, and she didn’t know it. She’d seen more traffic accidents than she could remember. Maybe this was one she’d forgotten? But why? She didn’t know this woman. Nothing about the accident stood out as extraordinary. Other than the woman - pretty, with soft brown hair and kind eyes - who wasn’t dead. When she should be. “It happens.” Mercy moved to squat beside the impaled woman, snagging a finger in the fabric of her bloody shirt and pulling it to one side to peer at the wound. “Mercy,” she answered. “Do you want help?”

Morgan hissed and wriggled as the woman examined her wound. “Don’t!” She turned again, looking for Remmy or Deirdre, but there was only Coraline Adams, her bloody mouth gone slack, the raw scorches on her forehead wrinkled with distress. “You don’t even know who I was,” she said to Morgan. And at last it occurred to her that she didn’t even know what Coraline sounded like. So whose voice was she speaking with? Morgan flopped back onto the pavement. There was something painfully ironic about being confronted by someone named Mercy. “You wanna help? Are you gonna un-kill me, Mercy?” She asked, laughing dryly. “Or un-kill her?” She sniffled and gestured her head towards Coraline. “Are you gonna care about any of us for the gods? Are you my subconscious’ supernatural avenger?”

Mercy glanced at the woman’s face, wanting to tell her it could hardly hurt much worse, but did as she asked and let the wound be. She followed her gaze to the other figure standing nearby, burned and bloodied and hovering far too close to be anything other than a figure of horrible importance. Mercy had had too many dreams to think otherwise. The question was, why was she dreaming of this? Of an impaled stranger and her scorched watcher? She turned back to the woman stuck on the pole as she sagged to the pavement. It was ironic indeed, the thought that ran through the woman’s head about Mercy’s name. She was likely the first person in a very long time to understand without being told, and she didn’t even speak it out loud. Most did. In the end. When they cried for mercy. So an eyebrow raised slightly at her other comment, Mercy’s first reaction other than neutrality. “I’m not a necromancer. But did I kill you?” She frowned, looking at the burned woman. “Did I kill her? I’ve killed so many....” Mercy shook her head and frowned. “That’s not how gods work.” She looked at the impaled woman again. “Your subconscious? This is my dream.” But she sounded very, very unsure.

All at once, Morgan was so confused her mind forgot to conjure any pain. She propped herself up on her elbows, trying to place the woman. She was good with faces and she’d passed through a lot of places, but she couldn’t pin down anything about her or why she would invent someone like her who wouldn’t just give a straight answer. “Raising from the dead isn’t the same as un-killing, we know that.” She said. “What do you--? I died, Mercy! I died stupid and helpless on the street and my friends had to watch! There’s no fixing that, anymore than there’s any chance of fixing Coraline!” She looked at the burned nix again, tears welling up. “I don’t know what I’m doing, what I think finding out who killed her is going to change. She’s still going to be dead, and she’s still going to wind up nowhere and forgotten, and everyone else this alchemist asshole hurt is still going to be hurt. There’s no magic undo button for any of this. So what counts for mercy or balance there, Mercy? What do we do for her?” Morgan was so worked up in trying to force answers out of herself she only then realized Mercy’s question. “What do you mean your dream? Are you--real? How are you--?” Shit. “Fuck, I’m not even supposed to be asleep! Zombies don’t sleep! What is this?” She began to thrash around the pole in her, grimacing with effort. She couldn’t stay here, wherever here was. “Am I dead again?”

Mercy let herself be observed, not minding the other woman’s perusal. She was just as confused at the stranger’s presence in her dream as the stranger seemed to be. “I guess that depends on your definition of death,” Mercy said a bit too casually. “I’ve died many times. And I’m still here.” Too many times, she thought. She wrung her hands, which didn’t shake as they had started to do in the waking world, and looked from the impaled woman to the burned one and back. “I’m just wondering why you’re in my dream if you’re dead. Usually, it’s someone I’ve killed. Or someone I know that’s died. Never a stranger.”

Mercy wasn’t unsympathetic to the woman’s plight. There was a reason she was here after all. But as she spoke, Mercy frowned. It still didn’t make much sense, but death was something she knew well. As was revenge. “People are only forgotten when we stop telling their stories.” She looked at the woman as she spoke. “And if this person - this alchemist - who hurt her is still out there, in the real world, then you find them, and you make them pay. Pain for pain. Suffering for suffering. Life for life. Death for death.” The Fury shook her head, blonde hair obscuring part of her face. “It won’t bring them back, but it will avenge them. That is what you do for her. So that no one else suffers her fate.” Mercy frowned again as more questions followed. “I’m dreaming. This is… my dream. I’m… aren’t I?” She looked around. “Yes, I’m real. I’m… I live in White Crest… I’m… at my- at Arthur’s house… in the guest…” The impaled woman started to thrash, and Mercy turned to watch as something registered. “If you’re a zombie, then just pull yourself free. It’ll grow back.” She shook her head. “The truly dead don’t dream. Are you in town too? Is this… are we… dreaming together?” Mercy didn’t like that idea. Not one bit.

Well, at least Mercy’s way of measuring justice and balance matched up with Morgan’s. Equivalent exchange didn’t have to be pretty to be fair. But a life for a life didn’t answer what to do about someone who had taken more than their share. What did you do for someone who had taken two, maybe even four or eight lives? For parts, for the fun of it. Morgan didn’t see how Mercy’s presence wasn’t connected to this place her mind had built for guilting.

“This is my death, my personal crime scene, my recently acquired baggage,” Morgan said, gesturing to each in turn. “Maybe you brought the gothic fog with you, or maybe it’s my brain saying thanks but no thanks, I was too busy dying to remember how many cars were piled up in the traffic accident. Either way, I think the majority says you’re creeping on my turf. And, you know, maybe I would just ‘pull myself free’ if I wasn’t stuck.” She tried again, grimacing as blood began to burble out of her back and stomach. “White Crest. That’s...yeah. That’s here. You’re here, in White Crest in my hea...oh. Right. Um, yeah, I’m...there too, on the east end of town. At home. Or at least, I better be. If I am somehow fucking cursed after dying, I swear to the fucking stars--” She gave up on freeing herself once again and fell back to the ground. “This is some big, fucked up magic.” She mumbled. “I don’t know what’s happening, but I already have to worry about whether or not my girlfriend and I are going to make it home each night, and there are two bodies killed by a fucking alchemist psycho that are somehow my responsibility! If you’re okay can you just, help me or leave? Shit, you are okay, right? My brain’s not...hurting you? Making you sick? I don’t know how this works.”

Mercy knew many ways to make people suffer. She knew how to keep someone alive for days on end. She knew how to draw out a death, until they were begging for it. She knew more ways to kill than most people even knew existed. So she would’ve told Morgan to make this person suffer by taking them apart piece by piece and selling them off to the highest bidder. But that was just what Mercy would do.

“Keep your death. I’ve got plenty of my own.” It wasn’t said unkindly. Mercy was simply... confused. “Our memories keep things we don’t always remember. But no… I think you’re right. This is you. But why am I here?” Mercy had little time to contemplate the thought as the woman - Mercy still didn’t know her name - tried to wiggle off the pole again. To no avail. “Fucked up is right,” Mercy agreed. The woman’s list of problems was… hell, it sounded like she’d had a shitty few weeks. Mercy could empathize.

“That sounds shitty. And… I really hope it gets better. Look me up in the real world if you want revenge on that bitch. Though if it makes you feel any better, I was drowned by a demon-squid, died… went to some fucked up limbo… before coming back a few hours later just before Dr. Oblivious wanted to autopsy me. She did put me in the fucking freezer. Like a turkey. Can you believe it? And then my- ex-fiance-… my… friend. Arthur. Whatever the fuck you call someone you almost married 200 years ago… we went on a fucked up magic carpet ride through my memories to undo a spell to save a baby werewolf from certain death, and got all sorts of mind-fucked on that one. Oh... and I was blind for almost a month before that.”

Mercy gave the pole a tap with her hand. It wasn’t budging. “You want me to cut you loose?” She pulled a rather large, curved knife from her boot. “‘S’just a dream, right? And I’m… fine? I honestly don’t know at this point.” Mercy waved the knife again, offering her help to get Morgan off the pole.

Mercy’s story was so unbelievable, even with all of Morgan’s knowledge, she wondered again if this wasn’t some interdimensional limbo, or some mind spell gone horribly wrong. But the energy of the universe did not look at her the same way it had before. It would hold her just enough to keep her here, striving against everything else in the world, but no more. Something much bigger than her existence was bending the world to its will, catching them up in its grasp. Which meant Mercy, in all her strange, improbable glory, was real. Morgan gaped for words, mouthing absently like a fish until she managed to sputter, “I...don’t know how to unpack that. Except, my subconscious definitely doesn’t have the imagination to invent...all that. I...wait, so this means you’re someone who can...find people? Or kill them, or--?” It was too strange, too unlike everything in her miserable mortal life, for something like this to just fall into her lap. She looked at her with open faced bewilderment and hesitantly reached for her hand instead of her knife. She moved some inches off the rebar before something snagged on her insides. The pain was so sharp and sudden she was beyond screaming, beyond help. “W-what--what’s--” Then her wrist erupted with pain and she fell back, no longer to the hot pavement of the street but an endless freefall, the world turning darker and darker around her. “Mercy!” She cried. But the only face she saw through the dim was Coraline Adams, still burnt and smiling her sad, toothless grin.

Mercy felt the tug of reality pulling at the edges of her consciousness. She’d had too many dreams not to recognize the signs that this - whatever it was - was all coming to an end. For now at least. But perhaps not it was also a beginning. Of something unexpected. Serendipitous, even. In a strange, twisted way. “Then don’t. Not yet. Later… when you’re not stuck in your own head, think about it then.” Mercy tucked the knife away when it was clear it wasn’t needed. She still squatted next to Morgan, watching her with a curious but intent expression. “Yes,” she nodded. “I can find them. And kill them. And whatever else they might deserve.” And from what Mercy had gathered from this very odd conversation, the person that woman on the pole was looking for deserved all that Mercy had to offer. And then some.

She idly wondered if people knew what a Blood Eagle was anymore. Perhaps she should find out.

But the dream was ending. Mercy stood, the bloody glass on the pavement crunching beneath her feet, glinting like rubies in blinking of the traffic light. Mercy could only smile softly - and a bit sadly - as it all faded away. The burned woman and the impaled… the dead and the dead again… all gone as Mercy too, was swallowed once more by the dark.

#wickedswriting #chatzy #potw #p: morgan #p: death becomes her #//let me know if I missed any tags up top!

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therainroguefanfiction · 4 years

Text

❉ 139 Dreams (Hoshi/Soonyoung Kwon) Ethereal

📑 Table of Contents

Genre: Fluff, Supernatural AU, Romance ☁

Word Count: 1,969 ☁

Pairing: Reader x Soonyoung ☁

World: Kpop, Seventeen ☁

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁

The world of magic was a strange one, to be sure. It wasn’t believed to be real, but magic existed everywhere, you just had to open your eyes. As a child, you grew up reading books about witches and wizards, stories shrouded in magic and fantasy. You loved it, but like most people, you grew out of it as you aged, believing such things to be nothing more than a product of one’s imagination. Still, a small part of you longed to be taken away from the mundane life you led.

You looked out the window with a sigh, sitting back in your chair. The sky was dark gray, as it had been for the past week, yet no rain has fallen since they appeared. It was strange and the meteorologists had no idea what was causing it. Before you looked away, your eyes caught something in the sky. Squinting, you rolled your chair closer to the glass.

At first glance, it looked like a bird, it’s feathers dark against the gray sky, but it was far too large to be any bird you had ever seen before. You watched as it glided through the air, missing balls of light being shot at it. From where you couldn’t see.

“Y/N? What’s wrong?” Gemma, your coworker, looked at you curiously.

You turned to her, grabbing her arm. “There’s something strange in the sky!”

“Yeah, they’re called clouds.” She giggled.

“I’m serious!” You pouted, tugging on her arm once more. She relented, allowing you to bring her over. Your eyes scanned the sky, looking for the dark mass of feathers but it was nowhere in sight. “It’s gone…”

“I think it’s time you cash in on those vacation days, girl.” Gemma patted your shoulder, rushing back to her desk when the phone rang. “Thanks for calling Howl Industries! My name is Gemma, how may I assist you today?”

You frowned, eyes jumping around frantically. Had you imagined it? The phone rang and you sighed, returning to your desk. Maybe Gemma was right.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁

As you stepped out of the elevator, you stretched your arms above your head, groaning as your bones popped. Sitting in a chair for near twelve hours a day was hell on your back and shoulders, but the pay made it worth it. Howl Industries is one of the world’s largest companies, dealing in children’s books, healing crystals, and various other business ventures. You’ve been working for the company for almost three years now, going from struggling to pay your bills to now having extra to do what you wanted with.

It was around ten-thirty and the sun had long since set. The moon was smothered by the thick clouds, making the night seem darker. Not even the street lights could lift the darkness. The cool Autumn air whipped around you, sending a shiver down your spine as you pulled your coat tighter around your body. You couldn’t wait to get home and relax with a nice hot cup of cocoa.

A faint white glow caught the corner of your eye and you paused. It was coming from inside the park, completely devoid of human life. You chewed on your bottom lip as alarm bells went off in your mind. By all accounts, walking into a deserted park alone, late at night on a cold windy night, was a horrible idea, but there was something stopping you from walking away. You couldn’t explain it, but you felt as if you had to enter the park and investigate that glow. Cursing your curiosity, you slowly approached it, looking around for any signs that this was a trap.

Swallowing down your nerves, you slowly parted the bushes, finding an unconscious man lying on the ground. His hair was a faded brown, his skin like porcelain. His body was thin and glowed a pale white. He was the most gorgeous man you had ever laid eyes on.

You kneeled down to get a better look at him but startled when a cold liquid seeped through your pants. Curiously, you placed your hand down to inspect it; it was blood.

Your stomach twisted at the sight of the red liquid staining your skin. ‘Oh, god. What if he’s dead?!’ You swallowed down your nerves, lifting a shaking hand towards his neck. Before you could make contact, his eyes shot open and his hand gripped your wrist tightly.

You squeaked in surprise, gaining his attention. His warm brown eyes bore into your own and it felt as if he was looking straight to your soul. It felt intrusive like he could tell everything about you with one look. You tried to remain calm, knowing that if you panicked it would only make things worse. “Y-You’re hurt… I’ll call you an ambulance, j-just let go, okay?”

His fingers tightened around your wrist, his eyes never leaving yours. His breathing was shallow, you noticed. “No ambulance. Please…”

“Oi… Oi!” You called out to him as his eyes slid closed but to no avail. He had lost consciousness once more, hand slowly falling from your wrist. You didn’t know what to do. He was obviously hurt pretty bad judging from the amount of blood on the ground, but he sounded so desperate that you didn’t call an ambulance. That left you with two options.

Though you had mostly grown out of the fantasy genre as an adult, your love for books and reading never dwindled. You had read so many stories where the main character found a mysterious man or woman that was unconscious, hurt, or running away from trouble. You remember laughing at them for being dumb enough to bring a stranger into their home, claiming that you would never be stupid enough to make that decision.

So why were you hesitating now?

You didn’t believe yourself to be a saint by no means, but you weren’t cruel, either, and leaving this man here to bleed out was not something you could forgive yourself for. With a frustrated groan, you made your decision, thanking the heavens that your parents had forced you to be active as a child. Those skills that you had never thought would come in handy were now helping you to lift the man onto your back. He was heavy, being a full-grown man, but either you were stronger than you thought or he was lighter than the average man. Even so, you hunched a bit as you walked and you knew that if you didn’t get home soon, you would probably collapse under the weight.

You struggled to get your keys out of your bag without dropping him, but with the help of the brick wall, you finally succeeded after ten minutes of fumbling around like a fool. You kicked the door shut with a huff, your body screaming as you took large steps to the couch, nearly dropping the man. Once he was safe, you collapse to the ground with a groan, your back feeling like it wanted to break in half.

“Meow~”

You tilted your head back, locking eyes with your cat. You could only imagine what she was thinking as she watched you. Rolling onto your stomach, you reached up to scratch her head only to pause when you remembered the blood.

“Shit, his wound!” You jumped to your feet, searching the kitchen cabinets for the first aid kit before rushing back to the couch. His white shirt was covered in blood in various spots, but the majority of it was focused on his right side. Silently apologizing for the invasion of privacy, you lifted his shirt to check the wound.

You blinked dumbly when you found nothing marring his beautiful skin. It took a minute to sink in and you felt your blood turn cold. ‘Is that someone else’s blood? Did I just bring a murderer home?! That would explain why he didn’t want an ambulance!’

A soft groan passed his pink lips, eyes fluttering open.

You knew it was stupid, but your body froze up. If you didn’t move, maybe he wouldn’t see you…

He turned his head, brown eyes boring into your own. His hand reached up, resting on your cheek. “You saved me…”

“I, umm…” Technically you did nothing but nearly break your back.

“Thank you,” he smiled and you felt your heart skip a beat.

“Gorgeous,” you muttered under your breath, but he heard it, letting out a melodic laugh. Your cheeks burned when you realized you had thought out loud.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, smiling at you. “My name is Soonyoung. And yours?”

We’re you really going to give your name to a strange man that may or may not be a murderer? Yes, yes you were. “Y/N… my name is Y/N.”

“What a beautiful name.” He commented, his lips curled into a gentle smile. “Thank you again for saving me. You have my eternal gratitude.”

“I… really didn’t do anything.” You rubbed the back of your head, glancing at his bloodstained shirt. He followed your gaze, his hand raising the cloth as he smiled.

“Don’t worry, I’ve finished healing.”

“Say what now?”

“I’ve finished healing,” he repeated, tilting his head to the side. “It took a bit longer than normal, nearly thirty minutes!”

“Normal people don’t heal from that kind of wound in thirty minutes…”

He looked at you in surprise. “Really? Humans are quite strange.”

“Huma – Are you not human?!”

“Of course not, I’m a wizard!” He grinned, proudly.

Your mouth fell open. “This isn’t Harry Potter, man!”

“Harry… Potter? What is that?”

You stated at him blankly for a moment before turning around, rubbing circles into your temple. “This isn’t real, it’s just a dream brought on by your overactive imagination.”

Soonyoung frowned, tilting his head again. “Do you not believe me?”

“Magic isn’t real.”

“How dare you!” He jumped to his feet, hurt swirling in his brown eyes. “It is very real and I can prove it.”

“Yeah? And how are you gonna do tha- OH MY GOD.” When you turned around, you found the boy now covered dark feathers, a deep silky blue. His fingers were now claws, and the only part of his body that wasn’t made of fur and feathers was his face. He stood tall, his head nearly reaching the ceiling. Wings were tucked into his body, shaking lightly. Feathers were now strewn across your living room.

“I don’t… I can’t… WHAT.”

He giggled at your reaction, sticking his tongue out. “I told you, didn’t I? Magic is real. Now, come with me!” He held his hand out and you only stared at it blankly. Your mind was running a mile a minute, but at the same time it was somehow working at only a fourth of its normal capacity. Impatient, he reached forward, picking you off the ground and into his arms. Before you could say a word, he rushed outside and took flight. You cried out, your arms nearly choking him as your fingers clutched at his feathers.

His laugh reached your ears over the whipping of the cool night air. “It’s okay, I won’t drop you. Promise!”

Swallowing your nerves, you slowly peeled your eyes open. They quickly grew wide when you realized how high up you were. The city below was a blur of lights as he flew over, the clouds swirling around his body. When you spotted Howl Industries, you realized that Soonyoung had been the strange creature you witnessed. You remembered the lights chasing him.

Your eyes examined his face, thoughtfully. ‘One of those lights must have injured him…’

Sensing your stare, he glanced down at you with a beautiful smile, which you slowly returned. You had the feeling that Soonyoung would quickly become a very important part of your life.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁

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bluerosesburnblue · 4 years

Text

Nothing upsets me more than a legitimately good story being ruined by “extra” content. I’ve already complained at length about Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon’s story changes over the original games so now it’s The World Ends With You: Final Remix’s “A New Day’s” turn because CHRIST

I’m writing this as I come across points while watching a playthrough, so:

God, Coco is the single most insufferable being. “totez hilar” just dated this content so baaaad, and I’d even say it was dated language when Final Remix came out. No other character abuses modern slang as their entire character. Like, slang is used but not as a substitute for personality. Beat speaks in a very casual, urban style but it never ends up being detrimental to his character as a bit of a punk with a “perfect little sister” that he wasn’t as naturally smart as, so he just gave up on trying and ended up being a bit of an aggressive slacker. Heck, he tones it down a bit for emotional moments, too. Coco, though, comes across like her ultra-modern “cutesy” text message slang is supposed to be her personality, and even when it’s revealed that she’s the villain of the episode you just can’t take her seriously through the “like, ohmigosh, I can’t believe you’re ruining my plaaaaaans” bullshit. What does she have going for her if you rewrite all of her lines without that speaking style? She’s just a generic manipulative brat

Frankly I also just disagree with the entire premise of A New Day and the plot threads it sets up for a potential sequel, i.e. “having Neku and Beat run through a game again as a trap to get Neku into yet another game in a possible sequel.” TWEWY is a complete experience and had been for at least a decade. Literally every character had a complete arc. The worldbuilding was rich enough that they had more than enough to come up with a sequel set in the same world, but in an entirely different town with an entirely new cast and, heck, even entirely new rules for the Game that would’ve expanded upon the world of the games without taking away from the characters whose time in the Underground was already done

But, noooooooo, we’ve gotta bring Neku back. Can’t have a game without Neku they literally SAY THAT (”The Game, like, literally can’t go on without Neku.”). And let’s bring Minamimoto back, too, as a good guy! The fans loved him! This doesn’t come across as pandering at all!

Just... you have the girl with the red headphones designed! Make the sequel set in Shinjuku with her as the main character! (Hell, I don’t think I would have even minded Minamimoto coming back for that because there was enough leeway in the base TWEWY for him to have survived his encounter with Josh, just leave Neku out of it). This is the most infuriating part because it actually takes away from Neku’s story. The entire GAME was a test of character to see if even the worst, most closed off person could learn empathy and respect and Neku DID. And in return, that sparked a change in Josh. His story is done. Coco using Neku, though, has nothing to do with him as a character and everything to do with him being the face of the game and it shows

And why the hell is Neku so trusting of Coco anyway? I get that he opened up over the course of TWEWY, that was kind of the point. But you come back to life, everything’s fine, and then suddenly you’re in a death game again and so is one of your best friends, like, he should be WAY more concerned and suspicious. But one little Reaper gives him the sad eyes and he just caves instantly like “fine, come along.” Even when Neku grew to like some of the Reapers, like Uzuki and Kariya, it was still far more of a rival-like respect. He knew damn well that it was their job to see him gone and while he accepted their help when they gave it and helped them when their lives were in danger (possibly, up to player choice), they weren’t buddy-buddy with each other, knowing that as soon as the immediate danger to them had passed they’d be on opposite sides again. And these are the Reapers he’s closest to, even at the end of the game. And then all of a sudden Coco goes “but I’m a wittle wost baby weaper” and Neku’s response is, “well, shit, welcome to the team.” WHAT

I hate using the term “Mary Sue” but Coco is absolutely a Mary Sue in its original meaning. The plot bends over backwards to accommodate her at the expense of the main characters’ personalities or reason, all while giving her a clothing style incongruous with everyone else’s meant to stand out and make her look special and not having her face any repercussions for her actions (so far which is, again, another issue with the very premise of A New Day since that’s exactly how things will end off if TWEWY doesn’t get a sequel, the possibility of which is not a guarantee AT ALL)

Shiki and Rhyme start saying blatantly false things about themselves and handwaving it away with “ohhh, that must have been our new Entry Fee! Just the exact same ones as the first time again!” and only BEAT is suspicious and NEITHER OF THEM are suspicious of Coco, the only non-generic Reaper they’ve met so far. Christ, I appreciate Beat being attentive with matters of his sister because that’s in-character but NEKU was always the more paranoid AND observant one yet all he thinks about is “gee, I’m sure having weird visions today, huh?”

And then Coco starts BLATANTLY gaslighting them about Kariya and Uzuki’s personalities and they’re STILL not suspicious of her like ughhhhhhhhhhh. Nekuuuuuuu you LIVED THROUGH JOSH WEEK 2, you have BEEN IN A SITUATION where the mastermind partnered up with you to divert your suspicion and keep an eye on you how are you less suspicious of this brat than Beat is???

And why are none of the characters bringing up the fact that you have to be DEAD to be in the Game??? You all spent three weeks of hell to claw your way back to life, how are you not more upset about what seems like you all dying again, basically immediately after you just got brought back? And I know the Shiki and Rhyme in A New Day are illusions, but Neku and Beat AREN’T. Nobody even comments on the implication that they’re dead again and what that means!

I can’t believe they made new expressions for the fake Josh’s changed personality but still refuse to make anything for Shiki’s true appearance

Hell, there’s enough lore with Josh that you could make an entire prequel about him becoming the Composer instead of this mess and, you know, EXPAND on someone’s character and what led to him being so disillusioned with Shibuya as the Composer instead of employing the Happy Ending Rewrite on Neku and then gutting his personality to make Coco the focus. I’d LOVE a Josh prequel with competent writing. Kingdom Hearts made the Xehanort prequel and hooked me in a single chapter with expanded worldbuilding and interesting ties with Xehanort’s character to friends that humanize him, do the same for Yoshiya “Joshua” Kiryu!

Pfffffff hire me and let me make the dream TWEWY trilogy: Joshua prequel > TWEWY sans A New Day > sequel set in Shinjuku starring Red Headphones Girl with Occasional Josh and Hanekoma Interaction

It is so unnecessarily cruel to make Beat relive Rhyme’s erasure and subject Neku to believing that Shiki was erased as well, and yet they do NOTHING with it except have it be cheap tension for five minutes. The characters basically say “wow, I’m so sad!” and then IMMEDIATELY move on to “OMG is Neku seeing the fuuuuuture?” Your LITTLE SISTER and FIRST REAL FRIEND IN YEARS just seemingly died permanently! When Rhyme was erased the first time it took Neku one and a half in-game days to even talk about it because he was so upset, and from then on he was focused on avenging her/bringing her back. Shiki was his entry fee in Week 2 and that made him hyper paranoid the whole time! WHY ARE WE JUST GLOSSING OVER THIS especially since they made SUCH a big deal about how they just finally started believing that the fakes were real (after a whole TWO conversations)

And then at the end they say that they’re inside Coco’s Noise that is SO BIG that it has an ALTERNATE DIMENSION INSIDE IT and Hanekoma’s like “I’ve never met a Reaper POWERFUL enough to make a Noise like this. Wow, Coco, you’re so POWERFUL that even I, an Angel, am impressed!” This. Coming from the guy who specifically chose Minamimoto as his failsafe to kill the Composer should the Game go wrong because a Taboo Minamimoto, heavily refined using forbidden methods, would be strong enough to defeat THE COMPOSER. And he’s now going on about how Coco’s the strongest Reaper ever, basically admitting that she’s probably stronger than the Composer of Shibuya. SURE. BECAUSE COCO WASN’T BAD ENOUGH ALREADY SHE HAS TO BE THE STRONGEST REAPER EVER, TOO

And then it just ends with Josh and Hanekoma exposition dumping about how Shinjuku got erased as Noise entered the RG (WHAT?), Neku’s visions were probably caused by the red headphones girl who’s super special (who???), and Coco’s just so special powerful (why...), but it’s not their problem so fuck it. Oh, and also Josh doesn’t care about Neku anymore, despite that being the whole point of TWEWY. Yeah, the guy who flew off all upset when Hanekoma asked him if he wanted to hang out with his friends at the end of the game. Uh huh. Even if he’s lying, why even put that THERE instead of saving it for the sequel?

And then Coco just... revives Minamimoto. Even though, oh, right, the Taboo Refinery stuff was so precise that the only reason Minamimoto came back the first time was because Hanekoma, THE PRODUCER AND AN ANGEL, set it up for him. But I guess Coco’s just soooooo super powerful and knows FORBIDDEN HIGHER PLANE KNOWLEDGE and can just do whateeeeeever she wants. Not like Hanekoma was so paranoid about someone finding out what he did for Minamimoto that he went into hiding, certain that he’d be reported to the higher Angels and destroyed

A New Day is so painfully shallow from a writing experience. It’s a poor continuation off of the solid, complete TWEWY story experience that just doesn’t have a handle on Neku’s character, turning him into this bland vision machine with no emotional connection to anyone. The way that it expands the worldbuilding with “Inversion” does one thing that I HATE, which is taking an emotion-and-character driven story and turning it into a generic “end of the world” scenario, “raising the stakes” in a way that divorces it from what made it memorable in the first place. If Kitaniji directly effecting the RG during the main Game’s plot was the point where he crossed the line in-universe, then that loses its special nature and impact if you then go “oh, btw, Noise can destroy the RG city if you let them”

And then there’s the absolute black hole of a character that is Coco Atarashi. She wasn’t designed to fit into the world of the game, she was designed to stand out. On its own that’s not a bad thing, especially given the themes of the game that revolve around owning your true self and baring it to the world, but then you combine it with no personality beyond being a manipulative brat obsessed with the events of TWEWY, extremely lazy text message slang dressing up her dialogue to make it stand out, the way that Neku and Beat’s personalities change to accommodate her presence just to shoehorn her in and then have a cheap “omg she was bad” twist, and then dumping powers on par with Josh and Hanekoma on her and there is NO saving her character

The only good part of A New Day is “Wake Up.” And even then, there’s better TWEWY songs, I just like the vaguely Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance vibes it has in parts

#the world ends with you #the world ends with you spoilers #liz's shenanigans #the playthrough i was watching to refresh myself on twewy's story hit a new day and my blood pressure spiked instantly #i have never lost interest in a sequel quite as fast as i did this #i just... how do you fuck up this bad???

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