#that he could just watch her development just like a spectator of a movie

[kurohaai]

I love like a smoking gun

Ripped a shot, then I hid and run from the scene

You sick of your life, I don't lie

The ones we need.

[rewritesuccess]

Anatomy of a scene

“Lost in Translation”

I decided to check out the Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson film Lost in Translation. The film's running time, which is barely 1 hour and 41 minutes, can be considered short. I believe that connection and loneliness were the driving forces behind the movie. Bob Harris and Charlotte, the two main characters, are introduced in the opening nine minutes of the movie. Charlotte is a woman who just got married, and Bob is an actor. They develop such a strong bond with one other during the film that they are able to confide in and comfort each other while also seeing each other for who they truly are.In my opinion, the majority of the movie begins out more quickly, but it was probably due to the length of the film. I thought there were a lot of gorgeous scenes and, of course, humorous scenes in the movie. One lovely image was when Bob was riding in a taxi through Japan at the beginning. This scene was noteworthy since it gave us a glimpse of nightlife in Japan. The camera angles of the views provided the spectator with an appreciation of how beautiful Japan is. We even get to see the same emotion through Bob's visuals when the camera provides him a close-up so we could see him examining the sight. Let's talk about a humorous scene where the Japanese director was telling Bob that he needed to look and face the camera. From the viewer's perspective, the director's words seemed to cover a lot more ground than what the translator was communicating to Bob, which is why Bob responded, "that's all he said." I was confused as I watched this event unfold, just like Bob.Another funny scene that made me laugh out loud was when the director sent Bob a "guest" to his room. In this scene, communication was again a problem because the lady was trying to say "rip" my stockings but most people, including Bob, heard "lip." As he was about to do so, she fell to the floor hollering and yelling. That sequence surprised me because I wasn't expecting it, but there are countless other humorous movie moments. Each scene effectively conveyed what being "lost in translation" meant, and I thought it was wonderful how they cleverly incorporated the term into the film.

Intro clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSsNbFwePAE

Suntory time clip:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQnH450hPM

Lip my stocking clip:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPQ6VQzuyxU

“Arrival”

From beginning to end, Arrival is an engaging film with numerous moments that are expertly shot. In the movie Arrival, a linguistics expert is tasked with attempting to converse with extraterrestrial life forms. Louise Banks, the primary character, is excellently portrayed by Amy Adams. Her acting is effective because you can feel the character's struggles throughout the entire film.I believe that arrival was intended to demonstrate how language is a crucial component of communication. As you can see, the two movies I choose both deal with communication in some way, albeit they do so in quite different ways. Being 1 hour and 56 minutes long, this movie is a little bit lengthier. The movie's pace was slow, but in the end it was able to convey the actual goals of its goal.Since it's a thriller movie, I believe it did a great job with the drama, which always involves a lot of emotion. This movie definitely took me on an emotional roller coaster at times when I've seen it before. I enjoy the opening since it gives you some idea of what will happen in terms of the main characters emotional progression.The beginning which is the scene I like was mostly violin and another low tone instrument in the rear, the music at the beginning, which resembled a solemn symphony sound arrangement, was enough to capture the mood. Another part was a wide shot of the interior of a house with the camera facing, I believe, the ocean and with it also showing low lighting to express the characters sad feeling all alone while the symphony was playing, and as this was going on we heard Louise express how memories are in her words a strange thing and how certain memories do not work as we thought. Just this, even though it is the beginning, already gives you a vibe that it will be an emotional movie.

Opening scene:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNpdyGsrL1k

LIST A(DRAMA)

“Moonlight”

-In Moonlight, a young black man discovers himself and makes relationships that help him come to terms with his sexuality and identity.

“The Piano”

-This movie is about sensuality and love. It depicts a mute woman's life in New Zealand when she travels there. It talks about the journey of herself,her husband,and their little child.

“Freaks”

-This movie is a horror film. It's about a trapeze artist who marries a performer for their money but as she goes through the process of deceiving the performer. Her actions were discovered and now the other performers who discovered her secret are planning revenge.

“Casablanca”

-In order to flee the nazis, an American café owner must make a fated decision between the women he loves and her husband.

LIST B(Comedy)

“Being John Malkeovich”

-Is a comedy film about Craig Schwartz, a puppeteer who receives a job as a filing clerk. Although there is a love triangle in this film, the subject matter is love.

“Black Klansman”

-Is about Ron Stallworth, the first black police officer to ever serve in his city. In the film, we see how he deals with being harassed and having the ability to pose as an undercover police officer to spy on the Klu Klux Klan.

“Some like it hot”

-In this 1959 movie, two musicians who witnessed a murder are fleeing from mobsters who are trying to kill them. To do this, they disguise themselves as ladies.

“Dr. Strangelove”

-In the movie Dr. Strangelove, an American general seeks to launch a nuclear assault on the Soviet Union without the president's consent. The purpose of this film is to ridicule the Cold War.

[isitbussinjanelle]

This Needs to be addressed...

Okay, as much as I completely adore Raya and the last dragon (and believe me I do), I truly believe that this fandom could have benefited more off of a series rather than a movie, or at least more movie time.

I love everything about ratld. From the gorgeous animation, to the story line, to the hidden enemies to lovers plot sewed into the movie. But I feel that this movie didn’t work AS a movie. Don’t get me wrong, it was fabulous, but it was so rushed. Everything seemed to go by at a fast pace. Now, I myself was able to keep up with the pace of the movie, and catch the little witty remarks and heart warming parts of it, but I feel that might not have been the case for others. I feel that if this movie was a little bit longer, than that would leave more room for character development. Believe it or not, This movie was actually an hour and about thirty-five minutes long, with about twenty minutes of credit scenes afterwards. I find it hard to believe that they couldn’t cram in at least another thirty minutes of screen time for these amazing characters. I mean, come one. There were totally hints of a relationship between Raya and Namaari throughout the movie. I wanted to see more of that! I wanted to see how they interacted during the aftermath of the druun-pocolyopys. Which is exactly why I think this movie will probably get a sequel, because there was a rushed ending.

Another thing, I didn’t feel a huge sense of relatability towards the other side characters. Now, with Raya and Sisu, absolutely! Especially Sisu with that joke about group projects at the beginning of the movie. I felt connected to Sisu. But I Didn’t really feel the same way with Tong, Noi, or Boun. Now of course, this isn’t necessarily something needed, but it’s just something that I wish was added into the movie. But I can’t judge and criticize the movie just because spectator-to-character relationships that I wanted weren’t displayed. The movie was still great regardless.

Not to mention that all of this was made during Covid, and everyone had to make home made recording equipment and do this all at home. That’s hard. And the animators had to do all of this at home too. We have to give them props. Especially because the animation was breathtakingly detailed FROM HOME.

But back to the character topic, I feel like these characters were slightly fleshed out. Not a lot though. I just would have wanted more screen time for the characters because they are so unique. But most of the time, these characters did unexpected things, which I enjoyed. Like baby Noi, when she threw that powder in Raya’s face, I gasped, because you don’t usually baby’s do that. It was cool. I also liked the scene in spine where Tong kidnapped Raya and Sisu, but had no idea what he was actually gonna do to them. And he was a spine warrior, so you would have expected to be highly skilled in human torture. And when he wasn’t, that was shocking. It was a cool addition to his character.

Going back to the spine scene, I felt that that scene was a little to quick. It was an easy win. I didn’t like that Tuk Tuk and the others automatically knew exactly where Raya and Sisu we’re. It felt to easy, not earned. I probably would’ve wanted a scene where after tong is like, “why don’t you two just hang around? Good one eh?” Raya and Sisu have a moment where they share each others stories and backgrounds a little more. Maybe Raya would even share some background on her mother, while Sisu could elaborate more on how she wasn’t the best dragon, because she kinda mentioned that fact in tail when her and Raya first met, and never really talked about it or showed examples of that. But again, I can’t scold the movie for not adding in my personal preferences.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie, and I have been watching it nonstop. At least 7 times ever since it came out, because it’s a good film. But I do feel that this movie deserves a series, like big hero 6 the series and Tangled: before ever after. I cannot wait for Disney to create a sequel for this if they do.

[bokutoslittlebird]

Hey Can I request a headcanon or one shot with Haikyuu characters (any of your choices) having an accidental kiss with their crush, you know, the cliché romance scene in drama's where the girl fell and male catches her and end ups kissing, or something when the girl turn around not noticing the close distance between the male, and their lips touches. Anything that is accidental

Usually if someone says “your choice” I’m gonna choose Bokuto and Akaashi. So, they’re here. But so is Aran, because I love him. I tried to make there be second hand embarrassment but uh I don’t think I did a good job lmao

Accidental Kisses w/ their Crush [Bokuto, Akaashi, Aran]

Bokuto

> This boy just fell hard. Literally and figuratively. He fell for you once you offered your hand to him after he tripped over his untied shoe. In front of you. The captain of the girls’ volleyball team. Unlike him, you were very popular in school. Smart, athletic, and very pretty. He swooned.

> Ever since that day, you’ve been in his head nonstop. It’s a shame, really, that he sees you like twice a day for a minute max. He’s head over heels and his team has to deal with it. The boy is legit tripping over his words when you’re mentioned, almost falling when he walks again. Like you turn him to jelly.

> When he learns that you guys have to share the gym, he knows he needs to impress. He needs to impress you with his awesome spikes, yet there you are, not looking at him. He’s absolutely smitten and everyone can see it. Akaashi gives him a small push to get his head on straight. The push?

> Spike a ball into your court so he can go and introduce himself, start a conversation. It’s a simple and cute plan, you know. Akaashi did not calculate the force of which Bokuto would spike, sending the ball ricocheting off the floor and right into your face. You had turned your head to see what the loud sound was, the ball colliding with your face seconds later.

> It was panic for everyone. The girls had no idea what to do, Bokuto was frozen, Akaashi was also frozen, but for a different reason, and the other boys are cackling. Akaashi runs to your form, collapsed on the ground as he checks for a pulse. Bokuto is next to him in a heartbeat, apologizing profusely. He did not expect you to suddenly move up and have your lips smash against his.

> When it did happen, both of you held your noses and foreheads, the rush of getting up and the force of the collision painful. It didn’t even process that he kissed you until Konoha yelled across the gym if he was gonna buy you dinner. Akaashi mentally noted to talk to Konoha.

> It went by in a flash that just had you and Bokuto with your heads in your hands, unable to look each other in the eye. Although he got your number, he has a feeling he will not live that moment down. Ever.

Akaashi

> Ah yes, the classic crushes studying in the library for their final examinations cliché. With a side order of accidental kissing, there could be a movie on this.

> Akaashi needed to tutor Bokuto, but he ditched because it was in “the plan” which was just getting you and Akaashi together. Your cousin Konoha would lead you into the library and introduce you to Akaashi. Then he would leave to go find Bokuto. Simple, right?

> It was a stupid plan Bokuto came up with once he found out that his setter and vice-captain had a crush on a girl in his class. With more information, Konoha found out Akaashi was crushing on you, his cousin. Thus, a beautiful plan was born. Akaashi did not know about the plan, of course.

> When Konoha introduces you to him, Akaashi honestly feels like he’s about to pass out. You sit next to him, right next to him, while Konoha goes “looking” for Bokuto. It’s a very silent and kind of awkward study time, but soon it wears off as you and Akaashi start studying together.

> Konoha and Bokuto look on from the sidelines, silently cheering at the development. It’s a brief movement, but it’s enough to have both of them hollering as your lips collide with Akaashi’s. Well, collide is a strong word. It’s more like they brush against each other.

> You we’re leaning over his shoulder to look at his notes but he didn’t know you were there. When he turned to talk to you, he didn’t expect you to be so close. It was a small movement, but ended in a not so small problem. After a few moments of you two just sitting there, minds turning as the events process, you hear two loud voices cheering.

> It’s Bokuto who really piles on the embarrassment. He has no filter. “Give her a big smooch, ‘Kaashi!” He yells, before getting shushed at. Instead of doing just that, Akaashi apologizes, but you get a coffee date out of it. So in the end, you luck out.

Aran

> It was a normal day. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, especially when Atsumu picked a fight with Osamu.

> Aran stayed out of it, not wanting to bother with the twins. While Ginjima and you attempted to calm them down, Suna recording their fight. In order to get them under control, you threw a volleyball at them.

> One hit Osamu, his fist stopping in the air. Atsumu cackled at him, but was quickly silenced by a volleyball to his face. They couldn’t get upset at you though, especially when Kita came and yelled at the boys.

> You needed to go let Aran know practice was back on schedule, as he was on the steps in the fresh air. Walking there, you were oblivious to Atsumu’s mischievous smirk.

> He knew it was wrong and he’d get yelled at, but he liked teasing you. It’s his thing. So when he threw the volleyball at you, he expected it to bounce off and maybe make your head drop. Then you’d run at him and the routine would continue.

> Hd did not expect you to practically fall face first down the steps. It was practically in slow motion for everyone, watching the volleyball richochet off your head as your body moves forward. Aran was the only one who could really prevent your face colliding with concrete steps.

> His arms reached out to grab you, but he didn’t expect your head to look up at that time, his lips accidentally meeting yours. It was a brief kiss, barely even registering as a kiss, but the onlookers who were there for the twins’ fight now witnessed you and Aran kissing.

> A cheer erupted from the students as Atsumu screamed, the entire team being pissed at him hitting you. Aran cleared his throat, attempting to lessen the embarrassment, but you were focused on shooing the spectators away.

> Once gone, you turned back to Aran who wouldn’t look at you. Tapping on his shoulder and asking what’s wrong just had him shaking his head. “I guess now’s the best time to say I kinda like you.” With a smile on your face, you give him a proper kiss.

[ownworldresident]

We Are Our Own Heroes. Chapter 1: Saturday Game

Finally I bring you Liam and Cassie! I’ve been waiting for this moment. Enjoy! And stay safe xx

Book: The Royal Romance, seven years post-TRR

Premise:Six years after a tragic loss, Liam and his adopted daughter meet Cassandra, an artist with her own troubled past, and the three find in each other the friend they never knew they needed.

Disclaimer: Setting and some characters belong to Pixelberry studios. I am just borrowing them and will return them when they are feeling better.

Themes: found family, (power of) friendship, healing

The Master Masterlist (link) Our Own Heroes Masterlist (link)

Liam

Cheers echoed around him but drowned out with Liam’s focus on the game. Once strange, the din of the hall and the shouts and whistles from the court were now familiar and welcoming. The smallest shape on the court held his attention. A smile spread ear to ear as he watched her weave, duck and spin, darting under the taller girls’ arms. Near the edge of the court she caught the ball, and immediately came face to face with the tallest defender, who spread her arms wide.

“Come on, Emily!” Liam called. The nine-year-old winked at him, mischievous smirk across her red face, and Liam snorted. Her opponent reached to intercept, Emily bounced it past to her teammate, who turned and tucked it into the goal. Renewed cheers rose around him. Liam stretched out two thumbs-up to Emily as she caught the ball and returned to the centre of the court.

Emily’s coach, an energetic young woman, came to exchange a few words with her before the game resumed. Liam wondered what she was saying, but Emily’s smile grew, so he trusted it to be positive. Backing off the court, the coach -Cassandra- caught Liam’s eye and smiled, and he quickly turned back to Emily.

“Dad!” Emily squeaked, puffing as she came over immediately after the game. Those around them cast those familiar curious glances as he knelt to squeeze her hands. No one said anything anymore, but seeing their monarch at a netball game still seemed an odd sight.

“You were brilliant out there, Panda. Congratulations.” He tucked a pale blonde curl behind her ear. Emily grinned, still breathing heavily, and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

“Cassie said we can get ice cream after. Can we? Please?” Emily watched his for an answer and he pretended to consider. 

“Should we trust Cassie?” he asked, one eyebrow raised high. Emily frowned, then nodded.

“We can.” She glanced back to see her teammates gathering around Cassandra, pulling velcroed positions from their uniforms. Liam squeezed Emily’s hands to bring her back. 

“After that game, you can get whichever ice cream you like.” Liam released her hands, standing as she immediately raced off to her team.

Despite how red her pale face was, Emily sprinted across the court, pulling the ‘C’ from the front and back of her uniform. Liam watched her, smiling, but looked away when Cassandra caught his eye again. Lucky for him, a text alert came through to give him a reason. Two messages – Drake and Olivia. 

His best friend was commenting on hearing Liam had the weekend free. Liam knew how that conversation would go. Drake would ask him to come to that bar near the docks he raved about, and drink there for a while. Like old times, but avoiding the wedge still between them.

Olivia’s message was more direct. Don’t spend the whole weekend alone again, do something, like a human being. Olivia didn’t have a firm grasp on what constituted ‘alone’, which was adequate for her, but not for him. He didn’t answer either message.

As he put his phone away, Emily and Cassandra approached, chatting animatedly. Emily was still bright red, but it hardly impeded her limitless energy. They broke their conversation when she rushed forward.

“Cassie says you should come with us.” Emily hit him with her pleading eyes. He shook his head, grinning, then forced himself to look up. Liam would liken Cassandra to a resting summer sun, with bright dyed red hair and a smile that reached her eyes. 

“I’m sure your father has lots of important things to do,” Cassandra said, her voice deeper than he expected. When Emily looked at him like that, there was nothing he would say no to; a fact she knew very, very well.

“I have some time away,” he said. “I would be happy to to join you.”

The spectators filtered from the hall as the court was reset for the next game. Liam followed Emily and the rest of her team out as well. Several parents also came, and he was happy to be swept more by the crowd than Cassandra’s company.

The first several months of caring for Emily had drawn a lot of attention. He had second guessed his decision several times. It took a while, but the media eventually accepted the new normal, and moved on to the next interesting thing. Every big development had been the same: initial attention, then eventual acceptance.

Liam dropped her off at school most days, brought her to swimming lessons and netball games, and to dinner or a movie on special occasions. It would have been so easy to let his staff care for her, like his father had done for him. But he had made a promise, and would not reduce that to a roof over her head.

Besides, from the day he brought her to the palace Emily had been the most important person in his life. He wanted to be there for every important moment of hers.

They reached the ice cream van outside the courts and Liam hung back as the group of girls got their treats and Emily chatted with her friends. He wondered if her mother had been as social when she was younger. If she had smiled like that.

For the first time in months, the thought dredged up their last moments together; her last smile... the musty room... the heavy, metallic smell of blood... Liam grimaced, closing his eyes and acutely aware of being in public. The knowledge didn't help, and he sucked in laboured breaths as he tried to return to the present.

“Dad?” A tentative voice sounded beside him, small hand tugging on his jumper, and he blinked back to focus on her. She had a half finished ice cream cone in one hand, and a smear of it on her cheek. He smiled.

“Yes, Panda?”

“Are you okay?” Emily’s eyes were full of concern, and it pained Liam to see so much understanding in someone so young. He squeezed her shoulder, and nodded.

“I am, thank you,” he answered, then looked up at her teammates. “Go on, finish your ice cream with your friends. I’m okay. I promise.”

Emily watched him for a moment longer, then smiled wider, and returned to her team. Liam sighed, straightened his clothes, and hoped no one had noticed the brief exchange.

“King Liam?” Cassandra’s voice approached and he looked up, smiling. 

“Cassandra.” He held out a hand. “Good to meet you.”

She tried to hide a smile as she looked at his hand, then shook it.

“Call me Cassie,” she said, standing beside him and folding her arms.

“Liam,” he replied in kind. Cassie smiled and nodded, then a silence extended between them.

“You daughter is quite a rocket.” Cassie continued after a few moments,  raising an eyebrow as she glanced at him, then back to the group. Liam chuckled, seeing Emily almost lose her ice cream as she talked.

“She is,” he said, swallowing and ensuring he made at least periodic eye contact. Cassie’s eyes were a clear hazel, a distinguishing feature.

“I haven’t coached her before,” she continued as if there were no pauses, “I’m looking forward to seeing what she can do.”

Liam nodded, reminding himself to maintain a tall, open posture. He opened his mouth to reply, but faltered. What was he supposed to say to her? Encouraging a closer acquaintance wasn’t a goal of his except on Emily’s behalf.

“Have you worked as a coach for a few years then?” he managed. Cassie smiled. They fell into light conversation. Liam discovered Cassie was an artist and a blogger, and revealed only the most inconsequential details about his own life. Cassie was easy to talk to, and that concerned him. They were reaching the end of his surface topics when Emily ran over, wiping ice cream across her face with the back of her hand.

“Messy,” he said to her, frowning and shaking his head in feigned disapproval. “Tut-tut.”

Emily grinned. “That’s what ice creams are for!”

“Touché,” Liam agreed. Cassie glanced between them.

“See you next week, Em.” She saluted to her, receiving the same, and moved off.

“Can we watch a movie?” Emily asked. Her face was still a little red, accentuated by how pale her features were, even in the Cordonian sun.

“Maybe later.” Liam lifted a hand away from the crowd and toward their car. The girl didn’t move.

“You said we could.”

“Later.”

Emily frowned, tried not to think of how much she looked like her mother when she made that face. Rooted to the spot with folded arms, she lifted her chin and attempted a look of authority. And came very close.

“Later,” he repeated , challenging her pose from twice her height. They were silent, then the smiles grew, and Liam laughed first. Emily cracked up a moment later, then bounced ahead to the car.

“I pick the movie!” she called over her shoulder, as if there was even the slightest chance he wouldn’t allow that. Liam shook his head, still grinning, and followed.

—

Later that night, when Emily was sleeping, Liam reclined in the living room of his apartments and reflected on the day. He heaved a sigh and leaned back in his armchair, exhausted and alone after a whole day with his daughter. Sometimes he fell asleep here, but those nights were always restless.

A knock on the door roused him from a light doze.

Liam blinked several times and looked around, wondering why his bedroom looked so strange before realising he wasn’t in it. Perhaps he imagined the knock, but in confirmation of it’s being real, the person knocked again.

He greeted his friend with a wide yawn and stepped back to let him in.

“You thought sleeping in here was a better use of your time than catching up with a friend?” Drake said as he reached his favourite chair and collapsed in it. Liam closed the door, leant against it, and watched him, amusement playing on his own face.

“I only just got…” He looked at his watch. 10pm. Emily had gone to bed at 8.30, and there had been plenty of time to spend with a friend. “Oh.”

“Oh?”

“Long day.” Liam returned to his own chair.

“Of course.” Drake pulled a flask from inside his jacket and twisted off the cap. “You realise I’m friends with Bastien.”

Liam frowned. “I am aware of this.” He was also aware that his bodyguard saw everything and everyone, and that Drake leveraged that to keep tabs on him. Maybe he should find more time for his friends. Or ask his bodyguard for more discretion. Again.

“So I figured you’d be spending some time with that red-haired woman from the courts. She looked nice, apparently.” Drake almost smiled – a rare expression. Liam knew he meant well, but his intentions were sometimes skewed by his own reactions to what happened six years ago. Guilt, shame, regret. He felt it, too.

“You figured wrong,” Liam stated, a little harsher than intended. Drake sighed.

“I know.”

Quiet settled and stretched. Unlike earlier, there wasn’t the excited chatter of a dozen nine-year-old girls to fill it. One of the benefits of his relationship with Drake was they could do this –spend hours together and barely exchange a word. The dynamic suited Drake’s introversion, and Liam’s tiredness.

“Li…” Drake said after an indeterminate time, “you know we’re here for you, right?”

Liam looked up. “Thanks, but you also know that I’m well, really. It was just a long day.” With minimal intrusive thoughts. “Em won her game.”

“That’s great!” Drake replied immediately. Another response to his role with Emily’s mother was consistent enthusiasm with her daughter’s achievements.

Much to his delight, Drake sat attentively while Liam recounted the game. The conversation turned to more peer related topics after that as Drake talked about the others. By the time he left it was past midnight and Liam felt like himself again. He promised to try make time for his friends – Drake waved off the comment – and went to bed feeling fulfilled.

What happened when he closed his eyes was rarely so comforting.

------

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[writeyouin]

Swerve X Reader – Changes - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – The Arena

A/N – I finally came back to this, my poor abandoned baby.  As usual, a special thanks to @rocksinmuffin​​ without whom, this story wouldn’t exist.

Warnings – Minor suicide mention.

Rating – T

“That is the cruellest thing I have ever seen you do,” Swerve glowered at you.

“It had to be done. There was nothing else for it,” You replied nonchalantly.

“RODNEY DID NOTHING WRONG.”

“He existed.”

“SO YOU JUST KICKED HIM OUT FOR EXISTING?”

“Look, you get to choose your Animal Crossing villagers, and I get to choose mine.”

“Abuse them, more like,” Swerve pouted.

“Fine, do you want to play on the switch and adopt an ugly-ass hamster who does nothing but bitch all day?” You asked, holding the console out to Swerve.

He took it from you, placing it on the tallest shelf in the hab-suite, “You can have this back when you learn kindness, you monster.”

“… That’s just mean,” You said, looking despondently at the shelf which was labelled No Man’s land. Beside the switch was a copy of Harry Potter which had been removed from you until you could read it without yelling at Snape every time you saw his name, and several pictures of Getaway which you had scrawled insults on; Swerve wasn’t punishing you for those, he just liked admiring them every now and then while you worked on new insults to scribble.

“Okay, fine, you can have it back right now, if you say that hamsters are cute,” Swerve grinned.

“Clearly, you’ve never seen one in real life. They work for the devil and steal people’s souls. I’m ninety percent sure that they also have armies ready to-”

Pain wracked your body and you woke up screaming to find your captors prodding you with weapons akin to cattle prods but much larger and stronger. It was the same creatures that had captured you.

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?” You yelled through the pain.

The humanoids didn’t reply, staying eerily silent; you wondered whether they were even capable of communication in a way that you might understand.

“All right, that’s enough… For now,” A human called, stepping forward, looking completely out of place among the others.

Your captors backed away, leaving you alone with the human on the opposite side of the cell. You glared at the woman, who couldn’t have been older than thirty. She wore acidic green armour that bore a symbol of a decapitated robotic head with wires and cables sticking out from the neck; the ensemble made you nervous.

“So… You’re our newest contestant. How dull,” She commented boredly, examining you.

“Contestant? What do you mean?” You asked fearfully.

Once again, you were left without a reply as the woman pulled out a dictation machine and began talking into it as if you weren’t there. “Subject is of questionable build. A Minibot. No definable insignia – probably a NAIL. Presumably no fighting skill of which to speak. No weapon attachments that can be seen. One noticeable draw to the crowds is that it’s a female – a rarity in itself.”

“Oh my God, are you- Fuck, are you putting me in the hunger games?” You demanded incredulously.

“The bot uses organic terms in communication. It’s possible that it has spent much of its time around organic communities rather than with its own kind.”

Although you knew you could argue that you weren’t originally a Cybertronian, you decided that it probably wouldn’t get you very far with your captor; she was clearly only interested in her job, whatever that was. You doubted that you would get anywhere talking to her.

“So that’s it? You’re going to put me into an arena to fight? Did I get it right? Hey! HEY, I’M TALKING TO YOU. YEAH, BITCH WITH THE BAD HAIR, YOU!”

The childish attempt at an insult earned you a bemused glance, and the woman paused the dictation machine.

“You ought to mind your manners, or you’ll be in a much worse condition before the fight, and that will only bore the spectators,” She warned you.

“I’ll behave, if you at least tell me your name. I’d like to know who I’m insulting.”

Your roguish attitude earned a sadistic smile; it wasn’t every-day that your captor met a Cybertronian with any spirit left, “Lady Ouida.”

“Stupid name,” You murmured, mostly to hide your fear. “So I’m right about this being a colosseum of sorts?”

“Yes. You are to fight in the arena.”

“And if I win, I go free?”

“No. If you win, we kill you anyway. The people are out for Cybertronian blood after all.”

“Wow… That’s so fucking stupid. Like for real, did you take this out of a book? It’s not very creative is it? How many movies have you seen where the hero is thrown into a death ring to battle? Plus, there’s not going to be much of a fight. I mean, look at me. My arms are all fucked up from your bodyguards, I’m clearly not a fighter, and I’m like only three feet taller than you. Factor in multiple opponents and you get a five-minute fight, tops which will mostly be me running for my life.”

“You don’t seem too concerned with your fate.”

“Bitch, I am terrified, but I’ve seen death and been dragged back from it. I have defined the meaning of an out of body experience. Right now, I am competing with forces that you cannot even imagine in a brain that was not meant for me. In other words, there is nothing you can do that is worse than what I’ve been dealing with for the last forty-eight hours so GET FUCKED.”

The words PERSONALITY MALFUNCTION appeared on your visor, and you knew they were true. In your human form, you tended to avoid confrontation where you could. However, faced with the prospect of unavoidable death, it didn’t seem to matter anymore. There were only two options left for you anyway. Die in an arena, or wait for the Lost Light to come to your rescue. As you stared into the grinning face of Lady Ouida who had developed a sudden interest in you, you hoped it was the latter.

Chromedome sat miserably in the brig, having been put there for attempting to forcibly alter Swerve’s memory banks with mnemosurgery. He had lost count of how many times he had been in that exact scenario, where mnemosurgery was the only way forward, but nobody else would see it that way. How many times had Rewind refused to talk to him because of it? How often had he been forced to alter Rewind’s memory afterwards so he wouldn’t leave him? Chromedome held his head in his servos, thinking of Rewind. He wouldn’t believe it if Chromedome said it was all for Swerve. So what if mnemosurgery felt good, as long as it helped people it wasn’t that bad. Sure there were risks, but there were risks to all sorts of things that people did anyway.

With nothing else to do but think of his failure, Chromedome waited despondently in his cell, with the faintest of hopes that Rewind might deign to visit him, even if it was just to yell.

Ultra Magnus watched the security footage stoically from the computer panel in his office. As well as Chromedome, he was also watching Swerve, who had been restrained for his own safety and was sobbing loudly, screaming your name, and Whirl who was in the med-bay, awaiting yet another energon transfusion. Of the three, Whirl worried Ultra Magnus the most; he was not taking well to Ratchet’s surgery. He had damaged one of his internal components beyond repair and it was now up to Perceptor to create a suitable replacement. The replacement would undoubtedly need constant maintenance for the rest of Whirl’s life if he survived, but it was the only way forward.

Ultra Magnus looked up as the door flew open, and Rodimus came barging in.

“THIS IS A DISASTER!” Rodimus roared.

For once, Ultra Magnus didn’t have the spark to placate Rodimus; he was right, everything was going disastrously.

“WHIRL IS DYING. CHROMEDOME IS ALL KINDS OF MESSED UP. REWIND BLAMES ME FOR WHATEVER REASON. SWERVE IS SUICIDAL AND (Y/N) IS MISSING. Please tell me you have something that might help fix this mess?”

“I do not,” Ultra Magnus replied quietly. He had never felt like such a failure. Under his watch, everything had gone wrong. The Magnus armour was getting heavier every day; he didn’t deserve to wear it.

“FRAG! WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO? SHE COULD BE IN DANGER. THE ROD POD’S TRACKING SYSTEM IS FRAGGED. THE CREW ARE FURIOUS. THEY HAVEN’T BEEN THIS MAD SINCE-”

“OUT OF THE WAY, COMING THROUGH,” Nightbeat’s voice called in the corridor as he weaved through the few bots out there and made his way into the office with Megatron close behind him.

“Rodimus. Ultra Magnus,” Megatron greeted professionally, before gesturing for Nightbeat to take over.

“I FOUND (Y/N),” Nightbeat began ecstatically, completely missing the sombre atmosphere.

“What? How?” Rodimus asked, dumbfounded.

“I watched the Rod-Pod’s ejection from the bay and followed it through the security cameras. After that, it was simply a matter of predicting several plausible trajectory’s considering that (Y/N) isn’t a pilot-”

Rodimus waved his arms, “Forget I asked. Just tell me where she is.”

Nightbeat ignored his disappointment that the big reveal had been ruined; it had taken a lot of work for him to covertly listen to all the radio stations where you might have landed and then locate you from that. “She’s on a privately owned planet called The Arena.”

“The… The Arena?”

Megatron nodded solemnly, “Yes. My research tells me that they capture stray Cybertronians and-”

“Don’t tell me. They put them in the arena ‘cos they think that’s creative… Primus, that’s annoying. All right, plan time. We change course, go to The Arena, break in, rescue (Y/N) and make everything go back to normal. Any questions?”

Megatron took a moment to consider the plan, “How-”

“No? Great. Then let’s go. We’ve got work to do.” Rodimus transformed and drove out of the office to head to Brainstorm’s lab. He had brushed it off with his usual casual demeanour but just like everyone else, he was furious that anyone would want to hurt you. If he was going to rescue you, he would need weapons; the morally-grey kind that Brainstorm made.

Swerve sniffled, feeling pathetic as coolant that he couldn’t wipe away under his constraints dripped down his front. Yet another failed suicide attempt to go on his record; he couldn’t even do that right. He remembered the last time he had done something so drastic, when you had come to save him from himself; you had probably only married him out of pity. Despite the depressing thought, Swerve found himself unable to believe it. You had married him because for some reason that he didn’t understand, you loved him. The two of you had spent one year married and it had been the best year of Swerve’s life. When you brought up the idea of sparklings on your anniversary, Swerve couldn’t believe that life could be any better, and now after all of that you were gone.

Although Swerve longed to wallow in self-pity, he couldn’t help thinking of Chromedome. It seemed that his last conversation was finally sinking into Swerve’s processor. What was it he had said exactly? Swerve vented air through his systems, calming himself so he could isolate the memory file.

“YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT (Y/N)!”

While it was true that Chromedome could have just said that to stop Swerve from ending his life, there was also a slim possibility that Chromedome really did have new information about you.

Swerve kept replaying the memory’s audio, listening for the truth. As a bartender, he liked to believe he was good at separating lies from the truth, but when the other bots were sober, he wasn’t very good at it.

“(Y/N)…” Swerve whispered your name, wondering what he might not know about you as of that moment.

What if you had come back and he was wallowing in his cell, too wrapped up in himself to know about it? It wasn’t possible. If you were back, it didn’t matter what state Swerve was in; he would have been taken to you. Unless…

Swerve struggled to sit up, his processor racing with endless possibilities pertaining to your fate. What if he hadn’t been taken to you because your new body was failing? What if you were dying and Swerve wasn’t there? What if he was the only one that could help you?

Unbalanced as he was, Swerve managed to stand up. He started kicking at the door, yelling as loud as he could.

“HEY! GET ME OUT OF HERE! TAKE ME TO MY WIFE! TELL ME WHERE (Y/N) IS!”

Swerve didn’t pay much heed to what he was saying. All he cared about was getting to you, no matter what it took.

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[darkheartstarlight]

Chapter 5 - Wise Advice

The young woman blinked a few times, looking from the hand that she was holding to the face of the person she had just bumped into, until her brain processed what was happening. In front of her, looking back at her, with an absolutely indecipherable expression, was the one who had been responsible for all the pain she had been feeling since her awakening.

- Are you blessing me with your sacred energy that don't want to let go of my hand? - The man finally spoke.

That was when the girl's eye went back to her hand and recorded the information that she was holding hands with her biggest enemy for a few minutes now, which made her withdraw the hand abruptly as if it had been burned.

- I know I'm hot, but I don't burns - The man replied in a teasing tone.

Lance… The same Lance the greatest enemy of the guard, the one who had brought so much suffering to that land, who had killed so many people, broken the crystal, murdered his own brother Valkyon, made her and Leiftan have to sacrifice themselves, which impacted the life of so many people. The man who had made her lose Ezarel was in front of her, looking at her as if they were just old acquaintances and not as if he had destroyed the lives of so many people.

- Well, this conversation is great - said the dragon with a voice full of sarcasm - But I need to deliver a mission report. See you around, little aengel.

What happened looked like a movie in the girl's mind, as if she was watching the scene of her attacking Lance through the eyes of a spectator, not as she was the person who had screamed and jumped at the man, who caught by surprise fell in to the ground. But when Erika came to her senses, she was on top of Lance, sitting on his waist with one leg on either side of his body, with her sword firmly placed over his neck, with him looking at her with an air of defiance. Before either of them could make any move, she heard Huang's voice beside her.

- Erika, please let me explain ...

- YOU THIS MURDEROUS SNAKE, THIS TRAITOR LIVE HERE - replied the young woman looking at the fenghuang with hatred in her eyes.

- Dragon - Lance said - I am a dragon and not a snake.

- Lance ... - Huang Hua said looking from Erika to Lance with a look that said be quiet.  

- I think it's important to clarify these things, boss ...

- SHUT UP YOUR GENOCIDE!

- Genocidal as your human race?

- Erika - the young woman heard Leiftan's voice – Don’t do anything rush, he is not worth it…

- If I had done something that day, when he fell, Valkyon would be alive ...

- Killing Lance won't bring Valkyon back -  Nevra said softly - Erika, please.

- YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! IT'S ALL HIS FAULT!!!! - She replies with tears streaming from her eyes while looking at Huang.

The girl's mind could not understand how Lance was there, among them, being protected by people she considered her friends, what could have happened in those seven years that could justify such behavior? Inundated with doubts, her breathing began to accelerate as her mind swayed, in what seemed to her like a panic attack. That was when she felt a soft touch on the rist of the hand that held her sword and turned her gaze to the owner of the hand.

- Little Aengel, you do not want to kill me, you are not like me. So let's put that sword in here - Lance said calmly as he moved Erika's arm to the side, freeing his neck - you can let go, no one is gonna hurt you.

Hearing the sound of the object falling on floor, Erika felt the dragon quickly lift its body, sitting upright with its face just inches from hers. But before either of them could say anything, the girl felt her body being lifted by Nevra, who led her to her room.

- Erika - the vampire started while closing the door after putting the girl in the bed - I wish I had told you something earlier, he wasn't supposed to be back today. We wanted to tell you when you were more adapted

- He said he was on a Nevra mission! How do you allow him to join a guard!?

- Well ... There is no use hiding anything anymore - said the man sighing as he went to sit next to the girl - Lance is the new chief of the Obsidian Guard.

- GET OUT OF HERE – that was too much for her to handle.

- Erika be rational, I want to explain…

- GET OUT OF HERE NEVRA! He killed his brother, one of your best friends! And now he is a guard chief?! That is too low even for the persons that ruin my family.

When the door closed, the young woman collapsed on the bed consumed by various feelings, still unable to believe that the people of Eldarya had forgiven Lance and, on top of that, had given him the guard that belonged to his brother, the brother he killed, she had to do something about that. She didn’t how many time had passed, but when she decided to get up to take a breath, she realized that she hadn’t slept all night because the sun was beginning to rise.

In order to clear her thoughts, she found herself unconsciously going to Valkyon’s grave, where she sat down to watch the sunrise. With her back against the headstone, looking at the horizon, she realized too late the approach of the last person he would like to meet.

- It seems that fate is trying to unite us - Lance said, sitting beside her uninvited.

- I really don't have the energy to talk to you right now Lance ...

- The problem is yours then, because you are in the place I want to be, or did you happen to think I was looking for you? I'm not Leiftan who would die for you, we just had the misfortune to choose the same place to be.

- You often come here to alleviate your guilt? - The girl asked acidly looking at the man.

- Erika, if you're expecting a formal apology, forget it. If you think I'm going to ask for your forgiveness and say that I'm a changed man, don't waste your time. I just told you, I'm not Leiftan - He replied, with the same acidity and with an empty look.

There was a silence in the air until the first rays of sunlight began to illuminate the lawn where they were sitting.

- Speaking of Leiftan - the dragon started - Huang told me that he is not very inclined to train you but that it would be very good for you to develop your powers. And I think this is important too, you have potential little aengel ... So what I can do for you, is offer to be your master.

After Erika looked at Lance with an expression of utter shock, a new silence fell between then.

- You don't have to answer me now - said the man, rising - I imagine you need to think.

- No, I don't need to think – Erika said getting up too - I need training and maybe an unscrupulous mass murderer will teach things that no one else would teach me.

Smiling, the girl shook the man's hand, as if to seal the deal, while something she had learned from her father resonated in her mind: keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

[lizzibennet]

Honestly, I *DO* like episodes 7, 8, and 9. BUT I would have LOVED if they did everything they did AS PLANNED, and then added the alternatives film (the versions we got) as a bonus. Honestly I hate ROS because Rey is related to HIM. Lbh, NOBODY would have sex with p*alpatine

the problem with episodes 7-9 is that each is a standalone film. that is not a problem in itself since every other star wars trilogy movies could technically be watched as a standalone and with a little context you’d be fine, since they tell an overarching story with three more or less independent characters. episodes 7-9 do not tell an overarching story, they are each chapters to a different telling of rey’s story. ep 7 tells the story of rey nobody, who is both the narrative foil and the in-world counterpart of one of the strongest force users alive, and that’s honestly already a really good premise, buuuuut if we’re going to have a trilogy then that main conflict should be resolved either in the second movie or at the very least in the first half or so of the third because things! need! to! happen! for! a reason! except that they don’t because at the climax of the second film kylo tells rey she’s a nobody, and apparently that changes nothing within her resolve which..... fine, let’s push it and say she’s going to deal with that in the third movie, whatever, but we get to it and actually she’s palpatine’s granddaughter so actually she’s all the jedi which. UGH. the point I’m trying to make is that she is a completely linear character being thrown in three different takes of her story, and I hate to say this because I LOVE her, but after the second movie I totally got it when people said she was a mary sue because her faith in the force and the jedi and her kindness and blahblah NEVER really waivers (except when she gets angry at luke which. saves everyone! how fuckin convenient!) and you could come out and say “lori, if we think like that luke skywalker is also a mary sue”, which, again, don’t get me wrong because he is literally my son but he IS. and in the 80’s that is FINE cause it’s the story we needed - a story about this starry (heh) eyed guy whose unwaivering faith in people and The Magic Around Him™️ may seem a little misguided at first but ends up saving everyone, but that was 40 years ago. and maybe it was silly of me to expect a nuanced take on The Human Specificity Of Empathy from a star wars movie but you know what, I don’t think it was since gareth edwards paved the way with rogue one that is the epitome of analysis of what it really means to be good or bad and I’m not going to rant about how rogue one is the best star wars movie today BUT it set the tone for a less us-vs-them view of the world which was VERY exciting and in line with what I think the 2010-20’s really wants from its heroes in general. so if we want to follow the narrative beats of the first trilogy or at least the first movie (no way of knowing where jj abrams would’ve gone in ep 8) I think that’s fine so as long as you make it your own, and imo jj abrams was, and then rian johnson was like nope lol, and jj abrams tried to fix the narrative 180 rian johnson tried to do, and like. episode 8 is a very fun movie to watch as a star wars fan but narratively it does not make any fuckin sense. I thought so then and now with ep 9 out I think so even more. rian johnson is a very creative guy, he had some REALLY interesting ideas, but WHY give him the creative liberty to do so in the MIDDLEEEEE of the trilogy??? WHY!?!?!? give him a star wars story film! he would KILL it! or you know wait a couple years so the director of the first movie who actually knows what the fuck he’s doing can direct the second, but noooooo the damned fucking mouse wants to wipe his ass with $100 bills so we cannot possibly wait. cohesive storytelling? we don’t give a shit about that in the house of le mouse.

that all to say, there is nothing Fundamentally wrong narratively with either of the three movies. they’re fun to watch. even ep 8, possibly my least fav of the bunch, was a fun experience in cinemas. it’s star wars and disney - they know how to make a blockbuster. the thing is that as a trilogy they simply do not make any sense. if you analyze each movie individually all three seem to have different core themes: ep 7’s is “nobodies are people too actually”, 8 is “maybe space fascists aren’t so bad, actually (also luke is here hey luke)”, and 9 is “I take that back, nobodies aren’t a people actually”. it’s satisfying to watch as a casual spectator who goes to the movies, seems some space gays with one braincell between the three of them and is like coolio and then goes home, but it’s not satisfying to watch as someone even the littlest bit invested in the story because there is no cohesive roundup of everything. the original trilogy was like is luke an idiot for being nice? is vader actually redeemable? is han deserving of trust despite being a space nerf herder? and sometimes u were like what’s happenin!!!! but in the end all your questions are answered quite satisfactorily. luke was right, han is sexy, vader was redeemable. in the prequels: how does anakin skywalker become darth vader? how do he and obi juan become the enemies we see in the death star? what happens to padme? and while the sequels are a beautiful mess that I love they do answer the questions they put out when episode 1 begins, so you know, imagine liking the sequels and hating the prequels when the PREQUELS make more sense, the PREQUELSSSS. anywhomst, point is: the sequels are like here is finn. finn is the first stormtrooper we see the face of! he defects! also the first stormtrooper we se defect. the other defector we know is bodhi from r1, who is very sympathetic despite being imperial, and clearly we’re supposed to feel empathy for finn. finn survives! finn finds rey! go finn I love u! and then. WHAT happens to finn? what furthers his character development into a full fledged person when he starts out with not even a name? where’s his anger? where’s his OBVIOUS narrative direction that should be “ex stormtrooper who shows imperials that fascism is bad actually”? nope, goes almost unmentioned from then on. and again, I love finn, he is literally baby, but he also froze after ep 7 because rian johnson decided to fuck shit up and also because disney is racist. poe? the do-good soldier who is supposed to be the Believer™️? actually he is the only one who was any semblance of a coherent role in ep 8... which is promptly retconned when jj abrams makes him a fucking spice runner in ep 9 lol. who is rey? and they’re like she’s a nobody and that’s why she’s spesh, wait no she is a nobody but she’s spesh because space fascist has the hots for her, oh, no, wait, she’s spesh because PALPATINE. what was the theme of this trilogy? what was the thesis? what questions did they set out to answer and did they answer them at all, never mind well? and it’s unclear, obviously, because three movies with three clearly different views behind them won’t magically make narrative sense just because you are trying to piece them together. they’re not pieces at all, they are three independent takes on the stars and the wars. enjoyable as little snacky treats, not as a three meal course. (also I’m not even going to TOUCH on how what was already a narrative mess was made worse by disney’s NONSTOP fanservice. sw sequels and game of thrones last season are the cautionary tales of why fanservice sucks and while a good, intelligent if cliche or predictable story is always better than a Shocking™️ one that doesn’t make any sense. but if I start on that I will LITERALLY not shut up SO AHEM CONTINUE @LIZZIBENNET)

ALL that to say: I agree w/ u and I LOVE your idea of each movie being an alternative version of the story. honestly, that would make more sense than what we have right now off the bat lol. can you imagine ep 7 being the rose colored version of the story via the heroes’ lenses, and then ep 8 being the “actually space fascism is good if ur kylo ren” version of the story, and then, ep 9 is what actually happened... told by rey nobody, who dances the line between the good and bad until there’s not a line anymore. CHEF’S FUCKIN KISS obviously much more risqué than disney would ever go for, but genius! much better than trying to make us care about these conflicts that they make up in the first 15 mins of each movie. ur mad because episode 7 follows the beats of 4? here’s three movies on why you were wrong when you judged it all true and therefore Bad. HUHU I love that

also the galaxy is a vast place... I am sure there are emperor fuckers out there

[shidoukanae]

YGO! Questionnaire

Tagged by @cipher-wise​

Favorite series:

My favorite series based on what I watched and enjoyed would have to be Arc-V!!! It's honestly the series that got me to adore YGO when previously I'd seen YGO as, and I chilidishly quote, "uncool". Everything about Arc-V is pretty much wonderful: Yuya's presence as a "everyone MUST be happy" kind of character in a plot that discusses themes of war, revenge, and despair is absolutely refreshing (especially when Yuya's ideals of happiness are stripped from him and made a mockery of by, *coughs* one of my favorite characters in the franchise *coughs*). 

I love how the four Yuu boys are a wonderful combination of "protagonists" (/anatagonists) and how they each play off of each other's weaknesses and strengths, often acting as mirrors to each other in their individual dimensions while having amazing interactions (Yugo and Yuri, anyone? Yuri and Yuya?).

I admire how the endgame plot is a perversion of Yuya's ideals: he gets what he wants, showering happiness upon all, but that "happiness" is corrupted into the notion of entertainment. While Yuya seeks to provide people with smiles and laughter, to give them hope to work together through tough times and to stay strong in the face of adversity, his "counterparts" in the endgame are really good at acting as Yuya's mirror: showing that his style of performing can also be used to appease the bloodthirst of one's own self and that happiness can be corrupted into self-deserving power.

...Hard to put that into exact words without spoiling a lot of things but, gosh, let's just say that Yuri and ____ are the perfect mirrors to Yuya in terms of what his entertainment dueling style is meant to be.

The plot over all is pretty good! I won't lie and say it stands strong all the way throughout the story but the first half is amazing and there are some pretty strong episodes in the second half (Yugo and Rin, the parasite episodes in general, Yuri Yuri YURI). I can definitely say that the humor is there, the characters are amazing (if nothing else, watch for the Yuu Boys, the Bracelet Gals, and Shun versus Sora!!) and having come into the show around episode 104, I was pleasantly surprised by the trip Arc-V brought me and how it played with its protagonist, giving him hope, kicking him down, and toying with his mind - just like the way a warzone might to any idealistic individual.

In terms of other series, I like VRAINS but only up to like episode 19 (or the end of the Data Bank arc). It had potential and I kept hoping it would get better but the plot was constantly floundering, there are plot holes abundant (sewer monsters, ugh), character development is inconsistent not to mention very shallow, VRAINS has some of the best side characters but they're kicked to the curb by a bland protagonist and a villain that could've been so much cooler but they made him a sympathetic mess.

...I have a lot of gripes with VRAINS but, if it were to ever be rewritten with clear goalposts and plot twists in mind (not to mention development on ideas like Charisma Duelists because at the end of the show I still have not a fucking clue what a Charisma Duelists is or was) I would say it has potential to become my favorite series but Arc-V clearly beats it for me in every category lmao.

Zexal’s also really good too!!! I don’t get all the hate behind it because it’s actually really interesting and engaging (also IV’s definition of fanservice is literally the only type of fanservice I will ever accept) and I think I’ve even cried a couple of times during the course of the plot which is like,,, shocking considering it’s not a show I thought I’d cry over (I cried in Arc-V too but goddamn does tiny Yuya just want to make you tear up lmao). This show is really good emotionally and it’s literally so stupid how Kaito carries a lot of the early and middle game of the show yet most of the meat of the plot doesn’t begin to unravel until the second season.

Also, if you ever want to watch a show of 100+ episodes that is so masterfully written that there is foreshadowing for stuff in like episode 130+ on EPISODE ONE, please watch this. Literally there are so many hints of what is going to happen in the future in the early episodes and you won’t really be able to tell what those hints are until you’ve finished the show but goddamn when you go back and rewatch things it does indeed feel amazing how much foreshadowing they threaded into the show without you ever knowing...(please don’t search for spoilers if you intend to watch this. I went into the show knowing some spoilers tho not all and, while I was still pleased by what I watched, I honestly can agree the show is A Lot Better without knowing ANYTHING)

Favorite Protagonist: Yuya. For sure, out of all the series, Yuya. 

He’s a refreshing protagonist, especially considering he shines in a world of war and despair. He’s also someone who you empathize with right at the start and want to hope in, especially since he is the “happiness” in a word of “madness” and “sorrow”. He’s not someone out to save the world (not really, anyways), but his actions touch on the lives of others anyways, giving people in a hope in a world that is otherwise cruel and heartless. Also, it really helps that he’s able to pull you into his world of “egaos”, making you believe in him and root for him despite how cheesy his ideals may or may not sound.

Also love how, despite being the centerpiece of “happiness”, Yuya isn’t allowed to always be happy :> Not spoiling plot related things but if you like protagonists going off the rails insane at times, Yuya’s definitely a fun protagonist for that!!!

Favorite Rival:

Kaito Tenjou!!! Literally the best rival in the series that I’ve seen. Everything about him is literally perfect ngl. From the way he’s chillingly introduced, with the spine-tingling whistles and cruel, almost merciless nature, to the way he slowly becomes sympathetic while also remaining a terrifying presence whenever he appears...I love him????

Favorite BFF:

Does Shoichi count? Because like...he’s Yusaku’s closest friend and ally in the series and I generally don’t pay attention to the other BFF’s in the other series (or at least, the ones I can recall bc I know in Zexal that Yuma has a whole group of friends lmao).

But I like Shoichi!! He cares about Yusaku a lot, is pretty damn cool as a sidekick hacker, his sideplot with his brother was actually honestly endearing and I loved the mystery about him. His early-game jokes w/ Ai to tease Yusaku were also a good laugh.

Favorite GFF: 

Not a girl friend forever for the main protagonist (although she like...lowkey confessed to him...though that plot really never went anywhere so I still don’t know what the fuck THAT was about) but,,, Ema Bessho,,

If y’all knew me back in my peak YGO days when VRAINS was airing,,, this gal was and STILL is my favorite girl of the YGO series. Even though she was pretty much done dirty imo I still love her (even despite considering she’s been made a damsel-in-distress at least three times, she’s only ever won one duel on-screen despite being supposedly good at dueling, ngl they could’ve done so much more with her but tbh she’s mostly just an asset to solve problems at whim and barely gets character development/does nothing but watch and spectate stuff late-game).

Even though she’s like...the unfortunate side character who’s probably meant to be more fanservice than interesting, in the first 19 episodes (and even the Revolver vs. her fight as well as the one time she meets Aoi IRL early-game) made her out to be a lot cooler and complex than she ended up being. I mean,,, a hacker gal who’s self-serving, cynical, and cold-hearted taking on the tasks of her (potentially ex) boyfriend while being really nice to his sister to the point she baffles even herself,,, we could’ve had a really unique and cool character to play around with here but instead we got...cool-ass character with potential to be something more reduced to a spectator with nothing better to do than idolize the main protagonist and have a plot with her brother that honestly detracted from her character more than it added to it imo.

Also Ema could’ve been a female Yuri but,,, nope,,, they decided she was better as a background piece instead TwT

Favorite Villain: Yuri.

Literally Yuri.

I could choose the leather jacket w/ fluff boi in a certain series because hot damn was that guy convincing AF that he wasn’t an evil psychopath (and even while knowing that he was, I still got fooled into thinking he was a good guy somehow omg) however,,, I’ve always held a love for Yuri and the way he’s been portrayed.

Despite ALWAYS being the bad guy, the show has always made this purple fucker into the most entertaining character on-screen. He even beats Yuya sometimes in terms of how entertaining he is - that’s literally how good he is,,

Also his facial expressions are amazing, he’s a VERY VALID threat to the main cast (and his creeper levels are not only off the charts but literally called out by the main female protagonist herself lmao), and he acts as the perfect foil to Yuya, battling not to entertain others but to entertain himself.

Also, he likes killing people.

No this is not a joke.

He literally likes killing people. And is pretty sadistic about it, too.

(^^^^ for those who don’t get the joke, “Fusion” is pronounced “Yuugo” which sounds similar to “Yugo” which is what,,, Yuri is making fun of,,, more context is needed of course but this is a Great Running Gag)

Favorite card:

I don’t know if it actually exists as an actual card but...that crystal dragon from the YGO movie with the glass pyramid. Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon...it’s really pretty...I love it...

Favorite Episode:

I’m...too lazy to search for names of these episodes but I can give brief summaries of them,,, because I can’t choose,,,

Arc-V: Shun vs. Sora (ALL episodes). Hot damn if you have never watched YGO but want to try and see for yourself why people like it: WATCH THESE EPISODES. I can’t explain how amazing these episodes are and, while I admit jumping straight into them might have you missing out on some important context (such as who Shun is or why Sora’s battle tactics lead to revelation) it’s honestly an amazing fight regardless. The battle starts off plain enough - there’s obvious tension, it seems like a typical fight of a battle royale, etc. - my god does the battle ramp up in emotional tension and promptly kick you in the gut with not only how blindsided you’ve been, but it also showcases just how cruel these “entertainment duels” can really get.

Any episode with Yuri. Literally any episode he’s in. 

I think this is like...episode 8 of VRAINS...but whenever it is that Akira hires Ema to find the reason why Aoi just...straight up got knocked into a coma. Literally this is my favorite episode when it comes to Ema. The way she makes fun of Akira even while aware of his situation,,, her cruel selfishness and desire for money bubbling to the surface, the way she confesses how she can’t be trusted willingly and still asks Akira why he’s hiring her,,, god I love this episode in terms of what Ema could’ve always been.

Episode 13 (/14?) of Zexal!!! This is the episode Kaito appears and when the show REALLY picks up. Kaito is a fun bastard of a rival and tbh I don’t think I’ll ever stop getting chills of him walking in, debris frozen in time all around him, as he approaches his victim, whistling an eerie children’s tune as he gets ready to close in for the kill,,,,

Favorite Deck to Use:

I don’t...really play the game itself but...I have used a couple of decks and I guess you can say I really love Raid Raptors??? First of all, those warbirds make really fun sounds I love ‘em in the anime but they’re also just fun to use in general (even tho I used a,,, very basic deck for them,,, I love them still).

Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, XYZ, Pendulum or Link:

XYZ bc it’s really the only summoning method I’m used to lol :P. Also XYZ loyalist I guess???? 

Years in fandom: roughly five to six years iirc? I mean, I was a fan of the early day YGO and watched it as a kid but not active enough to be in the fandom for it lmao. Also not in the fandom atm because Sevens lost my attention (it’s a good show!!! I’m just unfortunately more a fan of things with serious plots and darker themes and it’s hard for me to stomach slice-of-life shows that don’t focus on a mature and engaging plot). However, Arc-V and Zexal holds a special place in my heart (as does VRAINS, begrudgingly) and so I occasionally find myself wandering back to these shows like right now,,, 

[pxhi]

Strangers from hell / Hell is other people

Rate. 100/10  ~~~  (There’s a spoiler alert after the actors review)

I must say I LOVED all the actors work; they were so good, I think they did an amazing job portraying their characters (especially Park Jong-Hwan). This is the first time for me watching the work of Im Si-Wan and to be honest I was very pleased. At first, I thought that compared to the characters of Eden studio it was very poor, like a “normal” acting, we saw him getting scared and pissed at times but there wasn’t anything where you could say like “AH SHIT, that’s a good actor”, BUT as the drama went on I realized how a great actor he is, especially the last episode I was like *wtf wahh* so, yeah, GREAT.

Lee Dong-Wook, ah, my Wookie baby uwu, I haven’t seen many kdramas (just 14, to be precise; I started about a month ago) but I *loved* the ones with LDW on them (Life, Goblin and Touch your heart). He gave me this inner impression that is an amazing actor just with his eyes and facial expressions, I felt like he didn’t change his corporal movements on this 3 dramas, but he could perform feelings and emotions very well with just his face so I was amazed. AND HERE, wah, he was A W E S O M E, the smile he created for Moon-Jo was SO fuckin creepy while his whole body felt at peace. It felt like Dong-Wook can portray really scary characters as an easy job, wah. 

Park Jong-Hwan was really good with his acting too, since the first time I saw the giggly twin it didn’t feel like acting to me, I remember that at a moment I thought “I feel like he is a real person”. I remember that I actually appreciated the work of Jong-Hwan on this scene where Moon-Jo is threatening the people in the 4th floor after killing one of them and I thought “this whole time I’ve been feeling that these two were real and different people, who tf is this actor”. Really nice job. -I’ll stop here with the actors because it went too long, sorry :(

As for the plot, it was p e r f e c t. I think it didn’t have any holes in the story like many thrillers with serial killers have. Although it bothers me this scene when the newcomer borrows the charger from Jong-Woo¿¿ and I also thought that he had something weird when he ate the meat and said he liked it… but anyway, it’s very well written AND wrapped up at the end, wahh.

                         (SPOILER ALERT)

The characters’ development was perfect too, as for the timing AND the emotions they were experiencing. I liked how Byeon Deuk-Jong (giggly twin) seemed fearless at the beginning but it changes drastically when MoonJo kills his brother, he was notoriously scared in this scene when MoonJo threatens him asking if he wants to leave too and he replies with “that’s ridiculous. I love what I do, I love this job… so much” DUDE WAS ABOUT TO CRY. And what to say about Jong-woo, I actually believed at some point that he might be able to overcome the whole story nicely, escape from hell and everything but BAAM, there you see him in his clinical bed with all his memories of killing and “finishing” his book, ugh, MoonJo definitely created a fine piece of his art and I think he won’t let it go.

YES I think MoonJo might be alive! At first I had no doubts he “lost” the war (“-” because he knew he was going to win even if he had to die, “honey, now you and I will be together forever”; he knew that the human mind is complicated and Joon-woo will carry him in his thoughts for a loooong time) but then when the police officer (sorry I don’t remember her name) saw him in the elevator I was so confused, I mean, at some point I believed that MoonJo wasn’t human, he was everywhere and always disappeared¿ and let’s not forget that he appeared as shadows too so.. but I decided to believe him human, so I went on and then I saw again the part where JongWoo kills the gang and guess what? When we saw him killing MoonJo, it was all in the officer’s mind. Then when she goes away and we’re back in JongWoo’s mind/memories we see a JongWoo out of his mind and still scared of his creator, yes, we see a dying MoonJo there too, but in the same scene he’s alone hallucinating with MoonJo strangling him¿. Besides, I really can’t think of a reason why the officer could be hallucinating whit MoonJo, every time she saw him, he was actually there. Let’s not forget either that MoonJo has connections in the police and a lot of experience and knowledge about murder and the human body, he knew about sleeping toxins too and actually had them (remember every time the landlady made JongWoo dizzy? And how MoonJo said that JW girlfriend was just sleeping too) so yeah, I really think it’s a possibility, plus, if he survives in the original comic, why can’t he survive here too?

The bromance. I actually don’t agree with this one, a lot of people’re saying this about JongWoo and MoonJo, and I even read that someone said MoonJo wouldn’t dare to kill JongWoo because he said that JW was really special to him. I mean, of course JongWoo was special HE WAS AN EXPERIMENT, and MoonJo had a lot of faith in it. To begin with, I’m sure that Ki-Hyeok (Lee Hyun-Wook) was going to be the successor of Moon-Jo. Ki-Hyeok behaved exactly like MoonJo; he was calm, he stopped the fights for the gang to behave accord the rules and not precipitate, he also had this serene creepy smile that distinguishes the temple of MoonJo from the rest of the studio buddies, even the black long sleeve shirt

I don’t know if this exactly is important but I noticed it and the fact that both of them found scared JongWoo at the same spot which wasn’t tied to the studio, we even heard a lot of characters asking Moon-Jo if Jong-Woo was really going to be the replacement of unit 302 (anyways, I think we had it clear when we had the scene of Ki-Hyeok as a newcomer of the studio).

And I noticed that Moon-Jo had a kind of affection for Ki-Hyeok since his eyes were wet while killing him, maybe he actually had to low his head as we saw because he reached the tear point. So, if Moon-Jo did not hesitate in killing his Ki-Hyeok creation, certainly he could easily do the same if Jong-Woo didn’t turn as he wanted. In conclusion, when Moon-Jo says “Jong-Woo is very special to me” he’s thinking of JW as his prey and potential and better Ki-Hyeok.

Other things I liked very much were the direction details. I especially loved the scenes from above where we could see all the involved characters at the same time, in most of the movies/shows when someone is behind the door they show the person inside, and then the camera goes by the door and show the other one behind, but this had the complete view and that was even more terrifying. And I have to point the fact that every time a character felt trapped he was just surrounded by other people, and it reinforced the meaning of “hell is other people”; they didn’t have chains nor were they in cages or cells, but around smiley creepy people. I also appreciate that there weren’t strange things like pop-up terrifying faces and stuff, horror levels went gradually up on their own as the drama progressed, it was awesome. I have nothing bad to say about the OST either, it’s a really nice one and suited perfectly to the drama, it gave this suspense feeling even when the spectator can imagine what’s going to happen.

The P L O T W I S T S; shit these were nicely done. I wasn’t surprised at all about Dong-Wook character, I actually felt good when he killed Ki-Hyeong because I had this impression that he was like, the head of what happens in the studio (whatever it was it had to be him, I was sure) so after that I thought “yeah, now I’ll get to see you more bby”, wasn’t wrong at all… but:

The twins! I was like *WTF WHY WHERE WHEN WAH*, it was really unexpected for me.

When Jong-Woo had to decide whether to kill his friend or let his girlfriend die, and he went after Moon-Jo, shit, I really thought he was going to kill the poor guy.

The ending – I was kinda impressed with the ending because of the last point, when Jong-Woo decided to fight Moon-Jo it was cleared that Jong-Woo strongly believed that he wasn’t like the studio people, ~my friend is a good person, I can’t kill him- but Moon-Jo? This mtf son of a bitch~ vibes, and then at the very very end he was all messed up because (as MJ said, he enjoyed killing the studio people) he really hated them and that rotted his mind, ugh, nice end wrapping anyway, I was very pleased with it.

[nyc-uws]

The First Movie Kiss

The public fascination was so intense that fans soon started demanding live reenactments.

The kiss between May Irwin and John Rice only lasted about two seconds, but it created an international sensation. It was the first time anyone had filmed a kiss, let alone shown it to the public, and moviegoers couldn’t get enough. Audiences crowded vaudeville theaters and music halls to see the two actors embrace on film “in a way that [brought] down the house every time,” according to a Thomas Edison, Inc. catalog.

The filmmakers behind The Kiss hadn’t put much thought into their cinematic display of affection. It was little more than a publicity stunt, which borrowed from a preexisting scene in Irwin and Rice’s successful musical comedy on Broadway. But this short film marked a thrilling shift in what movies could do, and what audiences could expect from the fledgling new medium.

The Kiss arrived in 1896, when movies were still a captivating new concept. Auguste and Louis Lumiere had just begun showing off their cinematograph—a hand-crank camera that included a projector—in demonstrations around Paris, three years after Thomas Edison had invited spectators to peer into the peephole of his kinetoscope and watch the flickering film inside. The technology was developing every day, and so were the stories. As creative pioneers like Georges Melies entered the scene, moviegoers could expect to see a lot more than simple figures in motion. New shorts debuted promising scenes of shaving, sneezing, and speeding trains. One thing that was conspicuously lacking, however, was romance.

Edison fixed that problem soon enough. The inventor had been making films out of the “Black Maria”—his production studio in West Orange, New Jersey, so named after the slang term for a police wagon—since 1893, but in 1896, he shot something a little different. That spring, he brought the two stars of The Widow Jones out to his studio to film the kiss from act one of their hit show. In the play and subsequent short film, May Irwin and John Rice begin their love scene with their cheeks pressed closely together, as they whisper out of the sides of their mouths. The comedy continues until the couple finally breaks the silly pose, smiles, and then shares a chaste peck on the lips. Edison’s short ran roughly 20 seconds, and would premiere later that year.

As UC Berkeley film professor Linda Williams writes, The Kiss immediately became “the most popular of the many shorts being shown” when it debuted. Audiences found it fresh and funny, and the media breathlessly fed into the hype. In a New York World article titled “Anatomy of a Kiss,” the newspaper reported, “For the first time in the history of the world it is possible to see what a kiss looks like… In the forty-two feet of kiss recorded by the kinetoscope every phase is shown with startling distinctness… The real kiss is a revelation. The idea of the kinetoscopic kiss has unlimited possibilities.”

Some accounts were a little cheekier. In the Los Angeles Herald, a writer mused, “I believe that a forty-two foot kiss is the record for sweetness long drawn out. I once knew a man who kissed a girl in three yards on the same day—but that’s only nine feet.” The public fascination was so intense that fans soon started demanding live reenactments. When Rice took the stage with his actress wife Sally Cohen that summer, fans yelled from the gallery, “Where’s the ‘Widow Jones’ kiss?” Cohen declined to participate in an imitation, but a young lady ran down the aisle offering to take her place.

The craze even spread to other countries. In 1897, The Kiss ended up in the hands of Araki Kazuichi, a “dealer in Western electrical sundries,” by film scholar Peter B. High’s account. With the use of his Vitascope, he screened the print for Japanese audiences in Osaka, where it was a blockbuster, not least of all because the kiss played in a loop. The show was nearly cut short, however, when the police showed up to catch the latest showing. The police held the power to halt any performance deemed “offensive to public morals,” but luckily for Kazuichi, his narrator Ueda Hoteikan was quick on his feet. As High writes, Hoteikan rose to introduce the film and informed the audience that “just as it was customary for old friends to greet each other with a pat on the back, Westerners typically saluted each other with a kiss.” The movie they were about to watch was thus “documentary footage” of a strange foreign culture, not a slightly titillating piece of fiction. The police remained in their seats, and the show went on.

Sweet, sensational, and slightly scandalous, The Kiss was a cinematic milestone that left audiences clamoring for more. Early filmmakers met the demand with a wave of similarly-themed shorts like The Kiss in the Tunnel and Something Good—Negro Kiss, which both premiered before the turn of the century. As the medium grew into itself, movie kisses would grow more sophisticated with crisper picture and sound, but perhaps none would remain quite as revolutionary as the playful little moment between May Irwin and John Rice.

Resources

JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. JSTOR Daily readers can access the original research behind our articles for free on JSTOR.

Of Kisses and Ellipses: The Long Adolescence of American Movies

By: Linda Williams Critical Inquiry, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Winter 2006), pp. 288-340 The University of Chicago Press

The Dawn of Cinema in Japan

By: Peter B. High Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 19, No. 1, Historians and Movies: The State of the Art: Part 2 (Jan., 1984), pp. 23-57 Sage Publications, Ltd.

https://daily.jstor.org/the-first-movie-kiss/

The Kiss (1896)

“An osculatory performance by May Irwin and John Rice”….

Scene from the New York stage comedy, The Widow Jones, in which Irwin and Rice starred. According to Edison film historian C. Musser, the actors staged their kiss for the camera at the request of the New York world newspaper, and the resulting film was the most popular Edison Vitascope film in 1896. The first ever kiss to be caught on film.

<iframe width="900" height="506" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7Y04RsUALyA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[raphaelshusband]

born to make history | saphael one shot

Mention of eating disorder.

"Quadruple loutz!" The commentator's voice rang out, the screams of spectators and the flapping of Mexico's flags. The skates left scratches in the ice with a thud.

The little boy clapped his hands and joined the screams. The skater made another spin, then smoothly slowed down and stopped, hands up.

The screams grew louder, but the man heard them as if from a distance, the view began to blur, his breathing became heavier and sweat trickled down his temple. Then the body fell onto the cold ice.

 ***

Alberto ran up the stairs enthusiastically. He turned towards the opening and looked down.

"Emily, come faster!" he called the little girl.

"I'm going I'm going!" she shouted back in a thin voice. She followed her friend into the attic, looking around. Alberto ran between the cartons and boxes and started rummaged. "Hey, don't start without me!" he took the gold medal in his hand.

"Look, this is one of them!" He marveled and put the award around his neck.

"Won't your dad be angry that we're rummaging around here?" She asked, picking up the statuette.

"He shouldn't" the boy took a lot of other gold medals from the box, including three silver and two bronze ones.

"We'd better be quieter so that we don't wake them up," said the girl, while looking at the photo. There were three skaters in it. One of them - of medium height, with jet-black hair and dark eyes with a gold medal around his neck, stood on a platform with flowers in his hands.

"That's daddy! Why is he keeping it all here?" He asked indignantly. Such trophies shouldn't be piled up in cardboard boxes in the attic!

"I don't know," Emily answered. 

"Look, it's his skates!" They were made of white leather, with high heels.

"They look girly," Emily said.

"They're not girly!" He took off his shoe and put his foot in it. "I'll be skating like daddy too!"

"You want to be a skater too?"

"I don't know, but I will definitely skate!" There was a patter of feet. The children turned towards the stairs on which the black-haired woman stood.

"Alberto? Emily? What are you doing here? Get off, now! Luckily you didn't fall down the stairs," She muttered to herself. "I should have told Raphael and Simon to close this hatch."

"I'm coming, mom," the brunette muttered, the boy trailing after her. Isabelle Lightwood helped them came down and the two ran to the boy's room.

"I took one of the medals!" He shouted triumphantly.

***

"Simon, stop snoring.."

"I'm not snoring.." Simon stammered, still half asleep, his hands tightened on the Mexican's stomach.

"If you weren't snoring, I wouldn't tell you to stop," he turned to face him with difficulty. Simon opened his eyes and shifted his hands. Now they were resting on the older man's chest. Brunet moved closer, hiding his head in the hollow of Simon's neck. The brown-eyed placed a kiss on the head of the shorter, running his hand over his husband's back. "It's today," he whispered with a smile on his lips. The brown-eyed man reciprocated the smile.

"Mhm.." he nodded.

"I can't believe it's been seven years since that event," Raphael said. He stroked Simon's leg with his fingertips. "The time flies way too fast," he said.

"I agree with you," he chuckled, then got up from the bed.

"Hey, where are you going?" Raphael groaned.

"Get dressed and make breakfast. The girls definitely woke up and now they are taking the bathroom. Al probably isn't sleeping either," he opened the light gray curtains.

"I don't want to get up," he said. Raphael began to feel the effects of yesterday's drinking. Simon said nothing, just rolled his eyes and entered the wardrobe.

White furniture piled up from the floor to the ceiling. He walked over to one of the closets. He put on a black turtleneck that he tucked into his dark pants and grabbed Santiago's T-shirt as he left the room, throwing it at the man.

"Get up, ballerina," he put his hands to the sides.

"Si.." brunet muttered with a muffled voice.

"Don't hum around here, pick up your four letters," he opened the door to the corridor. "I'm waiting for you downstairs," he left the room.

He went downstairs to the kitchen, and then Clary joined him.

"Hi, Simon."

"Hey, Clary," he started the coffeemaker.

"Raphael is still asleep?"

"No. He is slowly waking up" the redhead leaned one hand on the table.

"We'll be leaving soon. We don't want to disturb you on this important day."

"Sure, sure," he replied and started making breakfast. Raphael came down half an hour later when the meal was ready.

"Where did you get it from?" He asked his son, taking the medal in his hand. Terror crossed his face.

"Found it in the attic! You shouldn't keep it there!" Alberto replied. The dark-eyed man just sighed heavily and sat down next to his husband. He hardly spoke during the conversation, and he also struggled to eat.

Simon saw the worry on his face. He put his hand on the back of Raphael's partner's hand. Gold wedding rings glittered on theirs fingers.

"Are you all right?" He asked softly. Brunet nodded.

"Sure."

"Papa, will you play that movie? Please turn it on! Aunt Izzy and aunt Clary and Emily must see it!" Alberto jumped from the table and quickly reached his father.

"Sure," he said hollowly, then stood up.

 ***

"Triple Axel!" Shouted the commentator. Raphael leaned against the couch. All six were just watching his performance at the world competition.

Raphael Santiago was a figure skater for nine years. He felt his passion for skates at the age of seven, and began his career at the age of twenty-three.

Are you wondering why he gave it up?

This is not giving up.

It's a break.

Raphael's trainer was firm and strict, which caused the man huge problems. Among other things, problems with sleeping, fatigue and starvation, which caused loss of consciousness at one of the competitions.

Seven years ago, he - Simon Lewis (now Santiago) came to the show. A kind of innocent meeting at the rink, but Lewis knew perfectly well what was up. This could be inferred from the skater's pale face, emaciated body, and how the coach treated Raphael during breaks.

It seemed that the six-time world champion was clearly interested in an ordinary young man. This is how their relationship developed.

After Raphael lost consciousness during the competition, he decided to take a break and recover. Currently, he is a husband and father who have a quiet life.

[fearsmagazine]

Interview with Director/Screenwriter MAURO IVÁN OJEDA  on his film THE FUNERAL HOME.

Argentinian director and screenwriter Mauro Iván Ojeda offers viewers a supernatural thriller with his film THE FUNERAL HOME.

Bernardo, played by Luis Machín, is an undertaker/funeral director, who runs his mortuary business on the same location as his family’s home. While part of his job is aiding the families to coupe with their loss, it seems that some of the “dearly” departed have not moved on and taken up residence in the family’s quarters. Bernardo, his wife, and daughter, manage to coupe with their “guests,” their presence adding more chaos to an already stressful home life. Things begin to spiral out of control when a darker, sinister spirit makes itself known. Bernardo turns to a local psychic, who has guided him in the past, to help his family in hopes of protecting them and removing the ghost that is terrorizing them.

Mauro Iván Ojeda is a talented filmmaker who serves up a compelling supernatural tale that is steeped in the cinematic tradition of such films as The Legend of Hell House, The Haunting, and Poltergeist. THE FUNERAL HOME is a smoldering tale that is flavored with some of traditions of Argentina that give it a fresh perspective.

We had the pleasure to ask Mauro Iván Ojeda about his film via email, as well as what he might have in the works for his next project.

FEARS: From what I could find on the internet, it appears that this is you first feature film. Is that correct? If so, why did you decide to make your debut with a horror film?

Mauro Iván Ojeda: Yes, The Funeral Home is my debut film. I like all genres, but since I was a child, and then in one of my jobs in a video club watching all the movies there, I’ve felt really attracted to the horror genre and the whole fantastic universe.

FEARS: What is or are the most important elements of a story you decide to make as a director; plot, characters, genre, budget, etc. Could you see yourself making a musical?

Mauro Iván Ojeda:  The script is a very important pillar for me; the story must be original, powerful and must really have something to tell. The characters are the heart of each story, and if the heart does not beat, there is no life: the characters are fundamental. A musical?  Yes, I would like something like The Wall by Alan Parker.

FEARS: How difficult was it to get a genre film made in Argentina?

Mauro Iván Ojeda:  In Argentina you always find yourself dealing with the difficulty of the budget, especially for genre films. There are many factors that influence, and one of them is our national currency instability, which forces you to do your best ticks with all the teams to achieve a great film that has good production standards. Genre cinema in Argentina is increasingly solid, with very interesting filmmakers, good teams in all areas, bold actors and actresses, and great films are emerging. In this case, with Del Toro Films we teamed great, they have experience with horror films that have been part of many international film festivals, and have been distributed worldwide, that added a lot to this production.

FEARS: As a storyteller, who or what films would you say are your biggest influences on THE FUNERAL HOME?

Mauro Iván Ojeda:  The films I’ve watched, some from my childhood, and that have inspired me in the universe of The Funeral Home are: Poltergeist, The Entity and some elements of The Conjuring.

FEARS: THE FUNERAL HOME has a lot of supernatural elements going right from the start. I was wondering what was the core idea that first inspired you to write the screenplay?

Mauro Iván Ojeda:  The core idea of the script starts from the premise that the funeral home business that shares the same space with the family's home, slowly engulfs everything until the funeral business and the house become the same. Human relationships and family bounds are dying, inert, withering, coffins piled up as household furniture, scattered wreaths, the presence of corpses roaming the house and the naturalized interaction of the family with them, all that opened a door for me to the world of the “uncanny,” defined by Freud as: incidents where a familiar thing or event is encountered in an unsettling or eerie context, in which the familiar turns strange, or strange turns familiar, or both realities in the same context

FEARS: With all these subplots in the story did you decide to not to explore them more as a result of budget or running time?

Mauro Iván Ojeda:  You choose the points of view and where to focus, those are decisions, obviously, putting in action the plot in a shooting schedule affects those decisions, sometimes, you have very little time to deliberate. In the case of THE FUNERAL HOME, there are many subplots that reinforce and strengthen the story, just as there are subtle elements that you can detect or not as a spectator.

FEARS: Is this story over for you or if you have the resources would you make another film set in this universe, with these characters? Because it seems like you have so much material here what are your thoughts in terms of long format like a series?

Mauro Iván Ojeda:  It happens a lot to me, that people who watched the film, tell me that they would like to know about the beginnings of that house, how did all began. They tell me that they would like to see that world from its genesis, or, that I should place the second part a few years in the future and know what happens with this and that character. For now I don’t have in my projects to write something about LA FUNERARIA, but I don’t rule out that I can explore other formats such as series, or a second part.

FEARS: You have a great location; it’s like another character in the film. Did you find exactly what you were looking for, and other then the portable toilet, did you have to add/build anything to it?

Mauro Iván Ojeda:  It took a huge search to find the ideal house, several months, almost a year, until one day I visited this house that would be the definitive one. I examined the house several times and it had everything I needed to tell the story. But it was not easy. There were several elements that were difficult to put on the set: the portable toilet (which seems to be the more obvious), but also there were a lot of coffins, there were about ten, and some were turned into flowerpots, then, painting the entire house and the location with the red lines that divide the area for the family, and creating the area for the presences with all its elements. All that had its degree of difficulty and cost.    

FEARS: There are some great scary moments. There are a lot of what I assume are particle effects. I’m a fan of particle effects. Was that choice budget related, you didn’t have a CGI artist available to you, or, maybe, it was something else like schedule?

Mauro Iván Ojeda:  There are many effects throughout the film, it was a nice challenge. There is a mix with VFX, and on set actions to make them look more real. It was my decision; I am one of those who believe that the special effect must be realistic, because if it looks fake it takes you out of history.

FEARS: I loved the daughter character, Irina, and the actress who played her. How hard was it to cast the part?

Mauro Iván Ojeda:  Camila Vaccarini, the actress who plays Irina, was a great find. A casting was held, and then hours and hours spent analyzing footage and rehearsing scenes. Every time I saw Camila, it convinced me more. She had the talent and that high level of rigorousness and performance that her character required, from screaming and chasing, to enormous dramatic challenges.

FEARS: Irina adds a bit of comic relief to the film. Was that something that was in the script or something that developed once that part was cast?

Mauro Iván Ojeda:  The script had small hints of humor, very dosed, and Camila added certain characteristics to the character of Irina, that added a lot to the film.

FEARS: With THE FUNERAL HOME completed and being released, do you have other projects you are working on, anything you might already be in production on?

Mauro Iván Ojeda:  While reaching our world release date in US and Canada, and waiting for the release of THE FUNERAL HOME in Argentina and other territories, I continue creating. I’m already engaged in two new projects. They are a crossover of horror and fantastic genres, written by me, and we are in developing stage with producers. This is a particular and difficult year due to the pandemic, but little by little we are advancing as much as possible. I hope soon I can get back to you with some news.

THE FUNERAL HOME Review: https://bit.ly/3oKF7bq

THE FUNERAL HOME Trailer: https://youtu.be/nnWvVwKJG3s

Interview by Joseph Mauceri

[notforconsumption]

Secret Santa 2019

Hallo @puptart​! I hope you’re having a delightful festive season, I’m you’re secret santa this year and I couldn’t decide between writing you some Five/Janine or Five/Sam so here we’ve a little of both. It’s a wee illustrated fic! I hope you like it, and you have a fab December. ✨

Would Janine ever actually let anyone put an exposed flame this close to an important piece of accelerant-run machinery? Probably not, but this is Christmas and dang it these shenanigans will be candle-lit.

---

The darkest nights and the best friends a runner could hope to have. A more-or-less uneventful evening set in Season 5.

You were in the mess hall when the lights began to dip and flicker, mediating an argument between Sam and Maxine over the logistics of raising Sara as a subterranean child. You glanced upwards from your soup, the fluorescents humming as they struggled to stay on. They whirred, then returned to full brightness. There was a quiet sigh of relief from some of the people around you, though it hadn’t slowed the debate any.

“I’m not letting our child develop rickets, Sam.”

“Yeah but, we have supplements! And we can probably grow fruit in one of the labs down here, they have all sorts of equipment just laying about.”

To say you were actively mediating may not have been accurate. It would have been more true to say that you were spectating, and occasionally interceding when Sam’s enthusiastic spoon-waving strayed a little too close to someone’s nose.

“You’re thinking of scurvy. Also, no.”

“I’m just saying that it’s possible. Like, yeah we don’t want to raise Sara in the post-apocalyptic ruin of a secret government facility without her ever seeing the light of day. But we could. Logistically.”

“And I’m saying that you couldn’t logistically make me.”

Sam paused in saying whatever next had come to mind, stalled by the realisation that whatever he said next would be implying that he somehow could make Maxine do anything and that was a dangerous path to tread. You watched, intrigued as to whether he would risk it. To your right, Peter snickered into a spoonful of soup.

“Well.”

“Well?” Maxine asked, victory teasing the edges of her tone.

Sam was saved by the lights suddenly dimming again, and one of strips in the corner blinked out with a pop. The remaining bulbs surged bright before they shut off completely, the hall plunged into a deep, inky darkness. The sort of deep, tangible darkness found only in deep underwater caves and catacombs that wound deep below where people could safely navigate. Caves, catacombs, and Noah’s kitchen. There were a few sharp gasps and more than a few curses and you found yourself on your feet before the change had registered consciously.

Further down the long table you heard a clatter of cutlery being knocked and a chair scraping over the concrete in an aborted struggle against the sudden darkness.

“Tom,” Jody called, soft and calm. “Tom, it’s okay, you’re fine.”

You knocked hard on the table thrice and the anxious conversation that had sprung up petered off.

“It’s probably just an issue with the generator,” you hedged, squaring your shoulders and setting your face into a mask of cool competence. No one could see you, but it wouldn’t help any if you sounded uncertain. “The alarm hasn’t tripped so we shouldn’t be in any danger. I’ll go find Janine and we’ll get this sorted.”

“I’ll come with,” Sam declared from the dark in front of you, jumping to his feet and smacking his knee loudly against the underside of the table. “Shit!”

With a fond sigh, Maxine also stood with a soft rustle from her long skirt. You could hear her tut, and pictured her patting Sam on the arm to console him of his bruises.

“You do that, I’m sure Five would appreciate the help. Paula and I will make sure everyone gets back to their rooms okay.”

You fancied that, were it a little lighter, you would be able to see Sam pout at the amusement in Maxine’s voice. As it was, you concerned yourself with navigating the distance between your seat and the doorway that led out into the twisting halls of Noah Base.

In your memory the open arch was only maybe twenty feet to your right, with nothing between you and it. It should have taken only a few seconds to cross the distance but the dark was so oppressively present that you could have been anywhere in the world and you wouldn’t have known. Haltingly you stretched out your arms to your sides, tracing your fingers across the backs of empty chairs.

An empty one to your direct right. Then a warm presence, your fingers skimmed over the wide plane of their back and you heard Peter breathe in sharply. Another empty chair, another, and the mess in Abel was never this empty, and then another and the end of the table. From here on out it was open space. Not much open space, but it was open and completely dark in a way few things were. Night runs didn’t have anything on this, not when you had the moon and the stars to guide you. Even hidden by heavy cloud those nights were brighter than this.

But there were people relying on you, so you tamped down on the instinctive discomfort and stepped forward into the nothingness.

It took maybe a couple of seconds to reach the other side of the gulf. You actually found the doorway before the wall, stretching your hand out into a space suddenly much colder. Flinching back, you knocked your hand against the doorway and gripped the wall. Goosebumps rose on your bare arms and you regretted not running back to your room for a jumper before dinner.

“Five?” Sam called from a little ways behind you, voice echoing oddly.

“Here.”

“I’m coming! Don’t go without me, it really is very dark in here.”

Sam’s faltering footsteps grew closer and just as you were about to call to him again, lest he trip over you, you felt his hand bump against your shoulder.

Sam ran his hand down your arm and threaded his fingers with yours, clasping your hands tight together.

“I’ve seen enough horror movies, Five,” Sam explained, voice a little breathy with anxiety. “We’re not getting separated, and we’re not splitting up to look for clues. I for one don’t want to get axe-murdered. If an axe murderer could even get past Janine’s defences. But then, that’s the thing about axe murderers, isn’t it. They tend to be a bit on the spooky side and you’d have to be spooky to sneak past Janine.”

“Sam, you’re rambling.”

“Am I? I guess I am. The threat of potential eugenicist megalomaniac attack makes me nervous.”

“Ah, I’m used to it,” you confessed, tugging Sam by his hand out into the corridor.

It was indeed colder out here, the air undisturbed by warm bodies sharing warm food, but your hand where it was clasped with Sam’s was safe from the chill.

Over the months you had now been living in Noah Base you had become rather familiar with its passageways and the odd logic that dictated which way to turn for the labs, for the canteen, for the control centre. But months were still only months, and every day had been lit by the quietly humming florescent bulbs. Without them, Noah was an unknown creature, its vessels and arteries stretching too long and too short in ways you didn’t remember them ever going in the first place.

The sudden unfamiliarity was jarring, though not as you might have expected. Not knowing Noah by instinct wasn’t particularly surprising. What did strike you was how bereft this left you feeling for the places you could, and had, navigated with your eyes closed.

Abel, in December, was a pitch place but even as you expanded upwards and outwards, accommodating ever more people, it was never a stranger to you. When you were restless, you would take to running laps around the inner perimeter of the wall. Weaving in and out of the moon’s shadows, learning every dip and jut of the ground.

There had been other places, too, before the end of all things. But you had stopped yourself from thinking about those a while ago. So long ago that forgetting was as easy as breathing.

Even as this strange melancholy came rushing in, you kept a tight grip on Sam’s hand and half an ear on his nervous chatter.

With one of your hands in his, you felt for the wall with the other and set off with your best guess as a guide. Sam kept close to you all the while, talking himself down from panicking. He had gotten better, you all had, at handling stress and near-death experiences. But this wasn’t just you. Behind you somewhere, snoozing in her cot, was baby Sara. Sam has every right to be afraid, and now and then you squeezed his hand to remind him that he wasn’t alone.

Eventually, it was not you who found Janine but Janine who found you. As you turned one corner the next intersection began to lighten around its edges, walls melting out of the ambiguous darkness into solid form. As you drew closer the light grew brighter, flickering and licking up the walls. Just as you were considering ducking behind a corner (just in case) Janine emerged into the open space cradling a lit candle in front of her.

“Janine! We were just coming to find you.” Sam sighed, tension leaving his body with a woosh of air. You felt his tight grip on your hand relax a little. It was a lot harder to be anxious with Janine present. Sometimes you wondered if she knew quite how deeply she affected her people.

“Sam, Five. Good timing, I could do with your help.” In the flickering light of the candle it was hard to make out the expression on her face. The way the shadows played in loose strands of her hair made it hard to concentrate on working it out.

“What’s wrong?” You asked, refusing to acknowledge the real question you had been contemplating. Is it Sigrid? Are we under attack?

“A problem with the main generator’s output, I shut it down to prevent any further damage from occurring. We still have emergency power propping up the security systems and the air flow but without our main source of electricity we’ll be vulnerable.” Now that was an expression you recognised regardless of how dark it was. The frustrated twist in Janine’s lips she got when something happened outside of her control. “We’ll need to fix it sharpish.”

“Well, that’s what we’re here for,” Sam declared. “To help fix the generator, that is. I’m not sure what help I can actually be, but I could pass you tools. Maybe keep you entertained with a good old-fashioned campfire horror story.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Janine deferred, but motioned for you to follower her regardless. “The generator room is down this corridor.”

You and Sam fell into step behind her, no longer feeling a need to fill the silence as she led you down a long passage and through a locked door. You had been here before, in passing, but never for long and never in the dark.

It was a large room, the ceiling reaching higher than you thought any of Noah went, with pipes and bunches of wires strung in haphazard webs that made your head spin to look at. At various points they disappeared into the walls, snaking off through the earth to feed other rooms. In the centre of the great mess crouched the main generator.

The warm light of Janine’s candle painted the dark metal a reddish colour, the oil that kept its moving parts slick made the whole thing look unsettlingly organic. Like there was a great creature curled up down here, hibernating deep beneath the earth, skinless and squat.

You leaned in close beside where Janine was examining the complex metal organ that kept your whole operation bright, warm, and most importantly, breathing. There were perks to hiding out underground, you reflected, and then there were drawbacks. One of which was the lack of readily available oxygen.

“Soooo,” you drawled, unsure of where to even begin. “Any ideas?”

Janine exhaled sharply in a not-quite-sigh and unzipped the bag she had slung over her shoulder.

“Most likely an issue with the fuel supply. We did run the last load Mr Lynn retrieved from the lorry depot through a filter, but it’s very possible that it had been contaminated with something we didn’t catch.”

“That sounds… bad.” You said, trying to gauge the seriousness of the situation by scanning the generator. It continued to look as twistingly inscrutable as it had a moment before.

“Quite, but with any luck I will have managed to stop the generator before the contaminant did any real damage to anything important.”

“What if the dirty fuel did get into something important?” Sam asked, voicing the question you had been immediately inspired to ask, but hadn’t. You got the distinct impression that you already knew the answer.

“Then, Mr Yao, it’ll be up to you and your runners to find replacement parts before we all suffocate or are else driven out of our burrow into the tender mercies of the Minister.” Saying so, Janine began to root through her bag and extracted from it a good few long candles and a box of matches, then pushed them at Sam, who had to drop your hand to catch the whole bundle.

It was only then you realised that you had never let go of each other after finding Janine. If Sam’s quick, flushed glance at you was any indication, he had also forgotten that you’d been holding on to each other for an actual reason. A reason that had evaporated once Janine had appeared with a light source.

You flexed your hand against your leg, shaking out the pleasant tingles that had settled into your bones.

“If you would be so kind, Sam, we’ll need more light and I didn’t want to use up our limited batteries in a non-urgent situation. Even if bringing fire into a room saturated with accelerants is hardly a safe way of doing things. Do be careful where you put those.”

“Oh, right,” Sam nodded, somehow managing to achieve a look you would have described as both flushed and pale, then set about lighting the candles and placing them where they hopefully wouldn’t set fire to anything.

“Now Five,” Janine called to you, holding out her lit candle for you to take, her attention turning to the beast before you. “I’ll be needing light while I take a look at this.”

“Of course.” You said, taking the light from her carefully. It felt a little silly, holding onto a candle, outdated as can be, in a place that once held great minds and greater crimes against science. Quaint in the face of overwhelming human hubris. You almost wanted to share this with Janine, but she had knelt by the generator and bent her full focus towards it. She probably wouldn’t have appreciated the interruption.

You crouched beside her, tilting the candle to give her the best light while not dripping wax anywhere vital.

Janine set her bag of tools on the floor and went straight for what you guessed was the fuel tank. It was a bulbous thing, set deep into the body of the machine, held in place by a ribcage of metal. You watched as she unscrewed a plastic cap and sniffed critically at the fumes that escaped. Her nose wrinkled, almost delicately. Only Janine, you thought, could be so hyper-competent as to be able to smell anything informative in petrol fumes. To you it smelt an awful lot like sticking your nose in the filler neck of a car.

“As I thought.”

“Oh?” Asked Sam.

“The fuel must have separated and the bacterial growth in the condensation is reacting with the elevated temperature of the generator’s fuel tank.”

“Mmhm.” You hummed.

“With luck, whatever residue its produced hasn’t done anything worse than clog the filters, we’ll have to drain the contaminated fuel and with luck have the lights on within the hour.”

“Good work, team,” Sam said, watching as Janine unwound a couple meters of plastic pipe she had somehow stuffed into her bag and directed you to fetch an empty jerry can from the other side of the room. “Great teamwork. I, for one, am glad to be a productive and useful member of this team. This fixing-things team.”

Janine paused in what she was doing, fixing Sam with a look over her shoulder.

“Don’t you think you ought to go check on the others? While I have every faith that Doctors Myers and Cohen are cool-headed individuals, they may thankful that we’re not all about to be killed.”

Sam blinked at her, eyes wide. “Oh? Oh. Oh! Yes, yes of course. Let me just grab a candle and I’ll be on my way, you’re right, the others will be worried.”

“Quite.”

“Right, yes,” Sam had stooped to pick up one of the brightly burning candles and half turned to leave. He paused, giving you a little wave which you returned, before reluctantly turning his back and vanishing into the deep dark.

Messenger dispatched, Janine turned back to what she was doing and brought the pipe to her lips, hollowing her cheeks around it and sucking sharply. For a moment she held it there, then swiftly she shoved the end into the jerry can. Barely a second after, petrol began to gush into the empty can, a noise near deafening in the quiet, echoing room.

“There,” Janine declared, job evidently done.

“You just didn’t want Sam to see you get a mouthful of petrol if you messed that up,” you said, and though you were half-joking the baleful look Janine sent you spoke volumes. You grinned back at her, unable to not, and her face twitched in what was a herculean effort not to pout.

After a beat, you decided to be merciful and move on. “What now?”

“We wait.”

“Oh.”

“Quite,” Janine said, standing only to sit against the wall, her eyes trained on the petrol coughing and spluttering into the can. “Hand me that rag, would you, Five?”

You tugged what might have once been a shirt sleeve from an overhead pipe and handed it down to Janine who used it to wipe as much of the excess oil of her hands as she could. These days it was rare that any of you ever got properly clean. Noah was better than being in the camper van, and infinitely better than that week where you had all hidden out in a landfill site, but still. Water was a precious resource and it startled you to find you had gotten used to having it. Abel was far from perfect, but it had been getting better every day, reclaiming old amenities one at a time.

Despite everything, you had continued to build, all of you. A legacy, one that had been taken from you. It was hard to think about.

Instead of thinking about it, you came to slide down the wall and sit by Janine, your knee brushing against her ankle.

“It’s sort of appropriate,” you said, your own train of thought prompting you to break the silence. “For all the lights to go out today.”

“How so?” Janine asked, her brows pursed just-so in a way difficult not to find endearing. It wasn’t a frown, not quite, but a curious sort of confusion she got when she didn’t quite follow.

“It’s the winter equinox. Darkest day of the year.”

“Oh,” Janine said. Then, “you’ve been tracking the days.”

“It helps.” You said simply, and simply enough it did. When your mind wasn’t always just yours and you couldn’t always be sure who was making your decisions, it sometimes helped to keep track of something empirical. Something that wasn’t just a matter of your perception. Sometimes it was just December the 22nd, the shortest day of the year, and that was that.

“I can see how it would.” Janine said, slow and careful in the way the told you she recognised that this was a coping thing, but she wasn’t sure how to address it. “Help, that is.”

“It’s good to have something solid.” You told her, suddenly filled with the desire to share. There were few other people who could understand like Janine could. Maybe Tom, but he had Jody, and maybe Peter, but he was a contrary prick on purpose. Janine, though, the two of you shared something unique. Something you wanted to continue to grow.

“Something no one can take from you.”

“Exactly! We’ve lost so much, so many of our friends. People keep taking things from me, from us, but so long as I have something I’m okay. I’ll be okay.” The words and your breath left you in a rush and you slumped as soon as you’d pushed them out, as if they’d been holding all the tension inside, wrapped around your ribs. Your head lolled to the side, coming to rest on Janine’s shoulder. She let you rest there, and that meant more than words could.

For a short while there was only Janine’s soft breathing by your ear and the metallic gurgling of the contaminated fuel draining into the can. It was a strange sort of peace, an odd time and place to find it, but you realised that you didn’t mind. Your sense of normalcy was a little tilted these days after all. This evening was an island, one of the steady banks that rose out of the sea of uncertainties for you to cling to when things became stormy.

It would keep you safe, you thought, even as Janine spoke up again.

“I’m glad. I’m glad, Five, that you can talk to me about these things. And that I can talk to you about them, too.” Janine wasn’t really a person who waivered, but this was clearly a struggle to say. It was one thing to have an unspoken, wordless connection with someone. It was something different, something miles more difficult, to face that person and make sentences out of feelings.

It was something that the Janine of a few years ago probably couldn’t have done, or certainly wouldn’t have. And this, more than anything she had achieved, made you so, so proud of her that the bright feeling she lit in your chest threatened to burn you to cinders.

“Of course,” you said, and had to pause to cough the tightness in your throat away. “I trust you, Janine. With everything.”

“That means a lot, Five. Especially after some of the failures that have brought us here.”

You snorted. “What failures, Janine? The government being evil isn’t exactly your fault.”

“I know, I do. It’s just that I have made mistakes, and now we’ve been driven from our home by the very people we were supposed to stop. I just want to be someone you can rely on. All of you, I mean.”

“Well, I’m sure I speak for all of Abel when I say I am almost too comfortable relying on you.”

“All of Abel?”

“But of course,” you grinned, a touch of mischief creeping into your words. “In fact, I’m so comfortable around you that I’m pretty sure I could fall asleep right here.” Which wasn’t exactly a lie. Leaning against Janine’s warm shoulder in the flickering candle light was making you a little sleepy.

“Really now?” Janine asked, tone dry.

“Yep. I’m just gonna take a nap right here.”

“Five, we do still have to get the generator running again.”

“Nah. Comfortable.”

“Runner Five.”

“Can’t hear you, Janine, I’m asleep.”

Janine huffed a sound that may have been a sigh, may have been a laugh.

“You are terrible.”

“True, but I am also your favourite.” You said, unable to not.

“Mmhm,” Janine hummed, neither saying yes or no, but you could hear the smile in her voice and that was more than enough.

[thecorruptedquietone]

what do you think actually happened v3?

Okay, I’m gonna preface this with I did actually like the ending of v3. So I don’t see much of a ‘fix-it’ need as I see a space to theorise what really transpired. Considering the theme also revolved around ‘truth vs lies’ rather than the typical ‘hope vs despair’ it’s no shock the developers made things a little foggy.

But what do I think actually happened?

Parts of the flashback to the prologue shown during the class trial where everyone was enthusiastic I could not remember clearly. Based on the events of the prologue, it was obvious that something was up. So I do firmly think that all the kids involved were just kids trying to lead normal lives up until that point. I’d need to go back and check, but I feel like they were not actually happy about being selected, although a few of them were aware of what was happening.

That said, Danganronpa was something that existed in people’s popular culture to some degree. It being underground makes sense, however the idea of the live-show being a part of condoned public programming is more appealing to me imaginatively because, let’s be honest, that tongue-in-cheek statement was entirely based on Danganronpa’s popularity despite its brutal premise of gifted high school kids killing each other also known as just going to a gifted high school. 

The way I see it, the kids mostly knew that was their fate, so I think there was some truth to the relinquishment of Ultimate Talents and going into hiding. There was probably some larger overarching body that still sought out Ultimates, however rather than being a ticket to success, the label became an entry into a death lottery. I imagine it was something like a pool of names, sixteen are drawn, and those are the contestants. But because of the potential death sentence, some kids started eluding authorities, leading to an Ultimate Hunt. Then, any kid who was trying to avoid the killing game would automatically be part of it. 

So I do think the personalities we see throughout the game are the kids’ actual characters, to a degree. Some stuff about their past is probably fabricated, but most of it is based on true information and then twisted to make more believable for the situation or to exclude them shrinking away from their status as Ultimates. The “Gofer Project” storyline is specifically included as a guilt tactic to make the kids feel bad about not wanting to participate in the traditional killing game.

A lot of this theory basically rests on interpreting Tsumugi and her involvement. I think she was possibly the only willing contestant, as there were probably some who volunteered to be part of the game. Because of this, she was allowed to be the mastermind and be part of the manipulations, though she exaggerated how far herself and her team actually reached. Another part relies on her ‘cospox’, which I take as something legitimate that she did not fake; it’s more likely she played fictional characters who looked exactly like her peers for those videos in order to cement the story presented and trigger Shuichi’s (very Imaginationland) existential crisis. 

Keebo is another one to tackle, since his inner voice is interpreted as audience input. I think he probably was actually the Ultimate Robot before the killing game, but was altered at the start to accommodate the audience both in the aesthetic sense and ‘through network connection’. But Tsumugi is basically just trying to gaslight everyone else at the end so of course she’s gonna say that Keebo was created entirely for the purpose of the killing game.

The audience is a weird entity. I think there was an audience watching the killing game, but I think those spectators were different from the audience shown in chapter 6. It’s almost like that audience was just the backstage crew of Team Danganronpa playing an angle to try and keep things going. They were also the only ones communicating with Keebo (at least at the end), and not the larger general audience. 

So that new world Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko look to in the end is probably the real world where all the viewers of the killing game are. My path for them is that they go in, try to find out about their real pasts, as well as finding survivor support groups and lobbying for change. There might actually be other killing games that are organised through different teams (Team Danganronpa just being the oldest) but have bids to sponsored by governments, almost like a weird form of the Purge movies. They lobby to get that to stop essentially use their traumatic experiences to bring forth change. 

TL;DR the killing game is a public broadcast lottery with ultimates competing. over the years, people tried getting out of it, leading to ultimate hunts where the kids in hiding are thrown in automatically. the ultimate personalities were their true personalities and tsumugi was just spouting bullshit for ratings. there are probably other killing games and it’s up to maki, shuichi, and himiko to stop them in the real world through larger social change. 

i also care a lot more about shuichi’s statements about the power of fiction than debating whether his character was fictional or real within this fictional universe, since no matter what the impact he and everyone else made on other people’s lives is real.