#there are games on there that are just like exploiting the innocence of kids to get them to play into the creator’s weird fetishes

[on-my-vigilante-sht]

Capitol Punishment Prologue

Haymitch x Reader

Summary: The Capitol continues to torture it’s victors no matter how long ago they won through punishment, exploitation, and worst of all; their relationships.

A story in which Haymitch’s lover is a plaything for the Capitol.

Warnings: Canon level violence, alcohol, murder, systemic poverty, exploitation, rebellion (?), more reliance on movie than book, suicidal thoughts

Word Count: 5.2K (sorry)

Masterlist | Prologue (II)

“Y/N L/N!” Your heart dropped and your blood ran with ice. No, no. You were 18 fucking years old for god’s sake. You were so close to being out. Six years of reapings and even more slips with your name, because you had to take out tesserae, had finally caught up with you.

You realized the girls around you were backing up, leaving you to stand in the middle with nowhere to hide. You had always felt bad for the kids being singled out like this but now you realized just how isolating it already was. You looked up to the stage, your face already projected onto the screen. Just below that, your district escort, Salvia Vala, was beckoning for you to come up on the stage. You were already so close you could see the flaws in her caked on makeup and artificial… everything.

Realizing that just standing there would neither give you a better chance nor keep you from going into the games, you made your way to the stairs. As you were pulled towards the center of the stage, you tried desperately not to look at the people of your district. You were a bit of a loner in 12 so you weren’t avoiding the gazes of those who cared about you, you were avoiding the pity in the eyes of the people who never bothered to help you.

Next was the boys’ reaping. “Alder Oakly,” Salvia called out. You didn’t look at the boy until he was facing you on the stage, trying to give him the slightest bit of dignity. You shook his hand when prompted, observing him. He was clean, unlike the people you knew in the Seam. He probably came from the wealthier part of 12 but he was still pale like a lot of 12. His dark hair had the slightest bit of coal dust, also very common in 12 despite his wealthier status. His clothing was pristine in contrast to your best dress which was covered in coal dust and faded with age.

You were quickly ushered into the district capital building, into a nicely decorated room. One of the few buildings the Capitol had actually built in the districts so when they had to grace the poorest district with their presence, they wouldn’t immediately go running for the hills.

You sat quietly. This was supposed to be the room people said their goodbyes to you in. But there was no one to wish you luck or mourn you when you died. So you sat with your thoughts. Your head was simultaneously empty and racing with thoughts. Across the hall, you could hear sobs of presumably Alder’s mother. Maybe his girlfriend. You had no idea. You were kind of relieved no one came to see you. At least you knew you wouldn’t cause any pain to anyone when you were gone.

You were then jolted from your thoughts by the door opening. You recognized Haymitch Abernathy, the victor of the 50th Hunger Games. Apparently, he was supposed to attend the reapings but, after being so drunk one time, he fell off the stage and they had stopped requiring him to be there. You had seen him a few times at the Hobb buying alcohol but other than that, the only things you knew about him were rumors. That he had won the “wrong” way and the Capitol had killed his family for it.

He made his way into the room, only stumbling slightly until he slumped on the chair. As he sat he took a moment to observe her. Rather than a tear-stained face or eyes wide with fear, she just stared at him quizzically. Clearly taken off guard by his presence. Her eyes were filled with curiosity, giving her a look of innocence he knew the Capitol would love.

You were unsure what to say as he took a deep swig from his flask. “Okay,” he slurred out, his tone as if he were correcting you, “I don’t normally do this but I’ve seen you around the Hobb, and that Al kid has more than enough support.” You still didn’t know what was going on, given that he was the only living Victor in 12 you thought he was supposed to prepare you together. “My advice? Start drinking now. You wanna start?” he asked, holding out the flask to you.

You took it hesitantly, still unsure how to react to the situation. You took a whiff first, your nose burning. But seeing as you had nothing better to do, you pressed it to your lips, tipping it back tentatively. There was a surprising amount in there based on how inebriated he already was so you got a full swig. You immediately began coughing, hating the burn that seemed to course through your body as you swallowed.

Haymitch chuckled a little. “What? You never have whisky?” You only shook your head. “Seriously?” he stopped laughing. “I thought they said you were 18. I’d understand if you were 12 or even 14 but 18 years and you never got drunk?” He looked shocked. Despite alcohol being technically illegal it was probably the most popular thing sold on the black market.

“It was either buy food or liquor,” you explained. “And when it came to stealing, it was either risk getting caught stealing food or liquor.” Haymitch hummed before pulling a roll wrapped in a napkin out of his jacket pocket, holding it out to you. You shook your head no, “Can’t even think about eating.” For the first time in god knows how long you didn’t feel the lingering hunger.

“My real advice? Eat. You’ll need it to keep you going in the games.”

At that you laughed. “You think I can win? The starving girl, from 12, with no prospects, winning the fucking hunger games? I don’t know, maybe someone like that hunter girl could win but I have no skills.”

“Can you hold a knife? Can you point it at someone? You’ve got skills,” Haymitch shrugged.

You rolled your eyes. “You and I both know it’s more than that. It’s about survival, sponsors, fighting skills, the ability to actually take a life.”

“Don’t assume what I know. I actually went to the games. I know what it’s like. You don’t.”

“Yet,” you added. “Maybe I‘ll never know. They have bombs in the arena, right? If you step off the platform early? Instant death has to be better than getting hacked apart by a career,” you mused.

Haymitch was horrified by the calm she exuded while talking about how she was planning to kill herself.

Haymitch shook his head. “If you jump off that platform you just give them what they want. Submission. Fight to survive. Be the first female victor from 12 in 57 years.”

“Why do you even care?” you asked, sick of being told what to do. “I know you’ve never exactly been mentor of the year. Why are you going out of your way to talk to me? Convincing me to try?”

Haymitch opened and closed his mouth a few times at a loss for words. He then just sighed, downing another swig of whiskey before standing up. “I’ll see you on the train.”

~

You sat on the train, staring down at your empty plate. The train car was full of food you never dreamed you’d get the opportunity to eat. But you still couldn’t bear the idea of actually eating. Then, the door opened and Alder came in. He sat down and immediately began serving himself, digging in. “You can eat?” you asked. “I haven’t been able to stomach the idea of eating since…”

“I wasn’t able to either, at first, until dinner last night. I forced myself to take a bite and ever since then I’ve had an appetite,” he explained. You turned your attention back to the food, contemplating his words. Reaching for a muffin, you pulled a little off, popping it in your mouth. “Have you met our mentor yet? He came to dinner and asked about you. When he realized we weren’t both here he just grabbed some food and left.”

“Uh, no,” you lied, taking another bite of the muffin. It was nothing like you had ever had before. It was sweet and filling but also light and airy. “He’s a drunk. Only here because he had to be.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” a voice cut in from the door. You didn’t even turn around, just waited for him to walk into your eyeline. “I’m here for the desserts,” he picked up a pastry as he sat down, “and refreshments,” he held up a glass of brown liquor.

“So what do we do? How do we survive?” Alder asked.

Haymitch rolled his eyes. “All you wealthier kids are all the same. ‘How do I survive? How do I win?’ You know who wins? The kids who have struggled. Who’ve provided for themselves and their families,” he ranted, looking at you over the rim of his glass.

You watched Alder visibly deflate. Clearly he wasn’t ready to die. “You’ve had kids from all over 12, right? Where are they now?” you asked. You knew it was wrong but you were already sick of this drunk’s disparity in attitudes.

Haymitch just pursed his lips, getting up and taking his drink and plate with him.

“Why’d you say that?” Alder asked angrily. “He’s our best shot at getting out of that arena.”

“I said it because he was being a dick. Besides, he’s lost every tribute in the past 17 years. That’s 34 kids he’s had the opportunity to save but he was probably too busy drinking.”

“I mean… it’s not entirely his fault. There are factors out of his control.”

You just rolled your eyes. “Get off his dick, he’s not gonna give you anything more just because you’re kissing his ass.” Standing up, you left Alder alone, heading towards your room on the train. Maybe you could get at least some more sleep. But as you made your way there, Haymitch appeared in the hall, looking stern.

“You have something you wanna say?” he asked, expecting an apology.

“Not really,” you dismissed, trying to walk past him. But he reached out, grabbing your bicep in a surprisingly strong grip for someone so drunk all the time.

“What is your problem?”

“You’re the one with the fucking problem!” you practically yelled. “Why’d you have to scare someone who actually wants to fight? Why are you so insistent on wasting your time with me?”

Haymitch once again opened and closed his mouth a few times, unsure of what to say. He finally clenched his jaw before shaking his head, changing the topic. “You need sponsors if ‘the starving girl from 12’ is gonna win.”

You rolled your eyes, exasperated. “I’m not playing their fucking game. I’m not going to win.”

Now Haymitch rolled his eyes exasperatedly. “Don’t you get it? By winning you defy them. They are trying their hardest to kill you. Win,” he was now practically pleading. “If you’re so eager to kill yourself now, why didn’t you just give up a long time ago? I’ve seen you around 12, I know you’re resilient and if you really wanted to die, you would’ve frozen or starved to death by now.”

You were so taken aback by his words all you could do was tug yourself away from his grasp but he held firm. “Let go of me,” you demanded.

“Promise me you’ll try to get sponsors and actually try to win.”

You stared at him, finding sincerity in his eyes. “Fine,” you agreed.

He nodded, satisfied, before letting you go.

~

The first thing the Capitol did to you was wax and scrub your entire body. This was probably the cleanest you had ever been but the lingering sting all over your body was not worth it. You had overheard a few stylists whispering about being short on time. Apparently your train had arrived late. So you only got a few brief minutes to revel in being clean because soon you were dressed in a black, tarp skirt that barely covered you, and a sheer bandeau top before being powdered with black dust, clearly meant to be coal dust.

You coughed repeatedly as they dumped a bucket of it over your head. They had told you repeatedly to stop moving but you couldn’t help it.

“Ah, isn’t this the most beautiful outfit you’ve ever worn in your life?” a cheery voice came from the doorway. “It’s a fashionable take on the drab coveralls you people in 12 wear.” You opened your eyes, hoping more dust wouldn’t fall into them. You finally caught a glimpse of who you presumed your stylist was. She had a big mess of green curls and everything else about her was as outrageous as her hair. “I’m Vodka, I’ll be your personal stylist while you’re here,” she smiled brightly.

You tried to force a smile but another powder of dust over your face stopped you. “Hold still,” the woman reprimanded you.

When they finally deemed you “covered” enough you were sent out to the chariots. You walked in hesitantly, not finding Alder there yet. Heading over to the very last chariot you could feel the gazes on you but you just kept walking, trying to cover yourself as much as possible. You weren’t the only one subject to the leering gaze of teenage boys, the girl from 4 was only wearing a net.

Soon enough Alder joined you and you were off, being pulled down the chariot line. Alder and all the other tributes were smiling and waving but you just stared ahead, refusing to acknowledge anyone even when Alder tried to make you smile and wave.

Once you were finally back inside, out of public view, you spotted Haymitch. He clapped for you and Alder as he approached. You noticed the way he kept his gaze firmly locked on your face. When he did look away from your face it was firmly above your chest line. “Al, good job. See that Y/N? He’s gonna get sponsors while you starve out in the arena because he’s likeable.”

“I’m not a huge fan of smiling at the people ogling at me but I’ll keep that in mind,” you answered sarcastically. You headed for the elevator, arms covering yourself, avoiding the gazes of the smirking boys as you passed. Upon reaching the elevator, the District 10 tributes and mentors joined you along with Haymitch and Alder finally catching up. Once the metal doors opened, you stepped inside, trying to ignore all of their presences. You held yourself tighter noticing the gazes of the District 10 people. Haymitch must have noticed it too because he stepped away from the wall of the elevator, placing a gentle hand on your hip to push you back so he could step in front of you. You just stared at Haymitch quizzically, touched by his simple reaction, even though you knew he couldn’t see you.

Eventually, District 10 got off the elevator and you were able to leave the tense elevator too. Alder immediately headed to his room, you following behind. But while he continued on, you stopped before disappearing into the hallway. Turning, you found Haymitch already at the bar cart. “Uh thanks,” you said weakly. “For um…”

He just waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it.” He then turned his attention to his glass, “Didn’t like the way they were looking at you anyways,” he mumbled mostly to himself.

“Sorry, what?” you asked, unable to make out his words from across the room.

“Nothing,” Haymitch brushed off again. “It was nothing. Get some sleep. You start training tomorrow.” Unconvinced but knowing you wouldn’t get what you were asking for you just nodded, turning to head to bed.

~

The next morning you stood lined up with all the other tributes. You noticed everyone was sending each other glares and eager smiles. Well… the careers were. That was sort of the nice thing about being a career. They have built in friends for the days they spend in existential dread and isolation in the Capitol. Until they all turn their backs on one another and go on a murder spree, slaughtering their fellow children.

You noticed they spared the occasional glance at Alder along with some of the other tributes. Whether they were determining their fellow allies or their first victims, you weren’t sure but you were just glad they weren’t looking at you now that you had all your clothes on.

“In two weeks, 23 of you will be dead,” the head instructor announced, catching everyone’s attention. “One of you will be alive. Who that is will depend on how well you pay attention for the next four days. Particularly to what I’m about to say. First, no fighting with the other tributes. You’ll have plenty of time for that in the arena. My advice is, don’t ignore the survival skills. Everyone wants to grab a sword but most of you will die from natural causes. About three of you will die from infection, and about five from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife. You’ll begin with combat training, then survival. After today, you’ll be free to practice whatever skills for the remaining three days before your individual evaluations.”

Being the girl from 12, you were the last to practice everything. You learned quickly that while the careers may laugh at those who failed whatever the exercise was, they dismissed them. You could faintly hear their mumbles as a non-career tribute excelled in any particular skill. Deciding to take a little public humiliation over a target on your back, you purposely failed at every skill. You barely struggled your way up a net, let your arms shake as you picked up the axes, failed miserably at starting a fire, and repeatedly chose poisonous plants to eat.

You weren’t alone in your struggles. The question was, is everyone else faking too?

~

After your first day of training, you went back up to the District 12 floor, straight to your room. You were exhausted as you stepped into the shower, reveling in the luxury of warm water.

After probably far too long you finally got out, wrapping a towel around yourself. Heading out to the main room you didn’t spot your mentor until you were fully out of the bathroom. “Holy shit,” you exclaimed in surprise, seeing him seated on your bed. You immediately pulled the towel tighter around yourself, not missing the way his gaze lingered on your legs for a second.

“Uh, sorry,” he quickly tried to disguise where his attention was. “I- uh… just…” he looked to be seriously trying to figure out what he had initially been here to say before breaking out into a chuckle. “Sorry, I completely forgot what I was gonna say.” He then snapped his fingers, pointing at you. “I know what I was gonna say. You fucking suck. I was watching you. You somehow managed to fail every possible skill. You’ve survived god knows how long without your parents. I find it hard to believe you don’t have any survival skills. Your score is impacted by this training time too. Sponsors don’t send money to tributes who don’t score well.”

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? For whatever reason I can survive in the Seam but it’s not exactly the same as the fucking wilderness where I’m actively being hunted. Besides, before I came here I don’t think I had ever had a full meal so I can’t exactly help that everyone else is stronger than me.”

Haymitch sighed, standing up. “Look, I get it, a lifetime of malnourishment can’t be fixed by a few days in the Capitol so that’s why you learn how to survive. I’m begging you, figure out your survival skills so the cold or dehydration or even hunger don’t kill you.”

“Why do you care so much?” you asked again. “You don’t treat Alder like this. As far as I know, you haven’t given a damn about any of your tributes.”

Haymitch just sighed, shaking his head. “Get some sleep,” he dismissed, stepping towards the door.

Sick of not knowing what was going on and being treated like a doll, you blocked his path. “No, you’re gonna tell me what’s going on. You’ve been weird like this ever since we met.”

“You don’t know me, you don’t know what’s weird for me. Maybe I'm just looking out for the kid who was raised in the Seam just like me,” Haymitch bullshitted a response. He was desperately hoping she’d accept that because he wasn’t about to tell her he’d been keeping an eye on her the past few months.

He could see it in your eyes, you didn’t fully believe his lies but you let him go anyway. Stepping aside, still in only a towel, water dripping from your hair down your neck and chest, you let him pass, feeling his arm brush against your shoulder.

~

“What do I say to him?” you asked Haymitch frantically as the stylist did your hair.

“It’s nothing to worry about,” he tried to assure you. “He'll just ask you a couple questions so the audience gets to know you.”

Over the past few days, you and Haymitch became closer. He wasn’t nearly as perpetually drunk as he was when you first met him. He was actually helping you rather than just yelling at you to be better. And because of that, you were more open to talking to him instead of just giving him sarcastic remarks.

“Up,” the stylist told you. You complied, not questioning it until he began undoing your robe.

“Woah,” Haymitch reacted to it even before you did, gaze averted up to the ceiling.

“Hey-” you protested, holding the robe to your body.

“Vodka wants you dressed,” he explained.

“I know but you’re just doing it in front of him?”

The man gave you a look that said ‘seriously?’ “Your tits were just broadcast on national television a few days ago,” he dismissed, taking off your robe. “Besides, this outfit isn’t much more conservative,” he smiled. Completely unsure what to say you just allowed him to help you into it.

Upon getting the outfit on you knew it was absurdly impractical. It was a black dress, the skirt was long but any modesty was thwarted by a part on your left leg, exposed by the fact that the skirt was only actually on one side, the rest of the fabric was cut short at the hip. This left the bodysuit connected to the corset top exposed. As for the top, the only thing not sheer about it was the boning which did actually provide you a little modesty.

“Isn’t she gorgeous?” the stylist asked Haymitch with a smile. He finally looked away from the mirror, jaw genuinely slacked upon seeing the dress. You were gorgeous, anyone would say the same. But he cringed as you were clearly uncomfortable being on display so much.

“You look great,” Haymitch smiled awkwardly. He noticed a slight blush coat your cheeks despite the caked on makeup covering your skin.

Then the door opened and the human equivalent of a tropical bird entered. Vodka literally squealed upon seeing you. “Ah, isn’t the dress just stunning? All the men in the audience are just gonna eat you up,” she gushed. “Come, come,” she ushered, “you have to start lining up for your interview.” You looked back at Haymitch, silently pleading for help as you were practically dragged away.

~

Taking his spot with the other mentors, Haymitch turned his attention to the screen as his tribute walked up on stage. He admired the grace you walked with despite the impossibly tall shoes. Caesar also noticed your outfit as he stood, reaching out a polite hand to you. “My, my, my, Y/N, don’t you look like Capitol royalty,” he complimented. “Doesn’t she look fabulous?” he turned to the audience. They erupted into cheers, a shocking amount of engagement for a District 12 tribute.

The pair sat down and the interview truly began. “It’s hard to believe such a pretty face comes from the coal mining district. Tell me, have you ever been inside or worked in the mines?” Caesar asked.

You nodded, looking down at your lap, fiddling with your hands. “I did work there. I was younger than most but I needed a way to provide for myself.”

“How come?”

You looked like this was the last thing you wanted to talk about but answered anyway. “My mom died giving birth. Mine explosion killed my dad a few years later.”

The crowd made noises of sympathy. At least that was something. But Haymitch already knew your story.

He had been buying booze at the Hobb when he noticed you.

“Come on, I come here every damn week and the first time I’m a few cents short you won’t give me a break?” you had asked the Hobb baker. “You gotta help me out,” you pleaded, “I’ve got nothing else this week. With the northeastern mine collapse no one’s getting paid until they figure it out.”

‘This girl is already working in the mines?’ he has thought to himself. Looking at Lou, who had just sold him alcohol. “Who is she?” he asked, nodding over towards where the girl stood, arguing with the vendor.

Lou took one look at you. “Y/N L/N, she’s been coming since she was about ten after her dad died. Never talked to or sold to her but the others say she’s sweet. Too bad such a young thing is already working. Has been since she was 16.”

Haymitch fished a few coins out of his pocket. “Make up the difference for me, will ya? And don’t mention me.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that,” Caesar sympathized. “Well, in contrast to the dreary District 12, how are you finding the Capitol so far?”

“The, uh, food is really good,” you offered with a weak smile.

“That seems to be a popular answer among tributes,” the interviewer smiled. “Any boys back home?” Haymitch didn’t know why he held his breath at that.

“No,” you answered with a gentle shake of your head. “Too busy trying to survive to think about boys.”

“Well I think everyone in the Capitol is in love with you right now,” Caesar laughed, gesturing to the dress again. “And if you win, you’ll have any pick of Capitol men.” You smiled as Caesar took your hand. “Ladies and gentlemen, Y/N L/N,” he reintroduced you before you walked off stage.

~

Out of public view, you stumbled off the stage, headed back where all the other tributes and mentors were watching the remaining interviews on the screen. You made your way over to Haymitch, standing next to him as you turned your attention to the screen where Alder was being introduced.

“Nice job not puking,” Haymitch ‘complimented.’

“Thanks,” you smiled briefly. “He got really personal,” you tried to laugh off the dredging up of all your personal trauma.

Haymitch hummed, trying not to let on that he knew your story already. He sensed that you were somewhat private with your life given your lack of interaction with anyone in 12. “He made you look sympathetic. Sometimes that’s all you can ask for.”

You hummed in agreement. “Or pointless. I don’t have anyone to go home to. No one to fight for.”

“Hey,” he immediately reprimanded, “remember what I said, win out of spite. They want to kill you.”

“‘S that why you won?” you murmured.

“Sort of,” Haymitch relented. “I had a family to go home to but I was so angry I wanted to win just because everyone says District 12 can’t win. I was also the second name drawn and…”

“And if it weren’t for the quarter quell you wouldn’t have gone in,” you finished for him.

Haymitch nodded. “My family would still be here and I wouldn’t be such a…”

“I’m sorry,” you sympathized, placing a comforting hand on his arm. As you remembered where you were, you drew back your hand, returning your attention to Alder who was being dismissed from the stage.

“Go on ahead to the elevator, Alder and I will be right up,” Haymitch suggested. You nodded, walking over towards the elevator.

You got on it with a few other tributes and mentors, groaning internally as you stopped on nearly every floor. But upon reaching the penthouse you went straight to bed. Not because you were tired but because you were drained by your anxiety about tomorrow.

Requesting sleeping pills you took double the dose before laying down in the first comfortable clothes you could find. But after a few hours of tossing and turning, you gave up. You headed to the kitchen that you were sure had never been used as Avoxes brought your meals up to the penthouse. Probably from a bigger kitchen somewhere in the building.

As you were getting a glass of water you noticed someone’s presence. Looking over, you found Alder glaring at you, giving you a start. “Alder!” you said in surprise. “Fuck, you scared me.”

“What’d he tell you?” he asked.

Completely and utterly confused you just stared at him. “What? Who?”

He rolled his eyes. “I know Haymitch has been training you without me. I know that technically we should have two mentors but just because I'm not fucking him doesn’t mean I don’t deserve help.”

“Woah!” you cut him off. “I’m not- Haymitch and I aren’t-”

“Don’t play stupid. I see the way he looks at you. God, you don’t even have a family. You have no one worth living for so why is he helping you?” He paused as if waiting for an explanation but you couldn’t exactly give him one. “If you’re going into the arena with more knowledge then I think it’s only fair we level the playing field,” he said menacingly. Seeing as you were backed against the wall and you knew you wouldn’t be able to fight back without sustaining any injuries yourself, you screamed.

“Shut up!” he screamed, knocking you into the wall.

Hardly a second later, Haymitch’s voice pierced the air. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he yelled, ripping Alder away from you. The boy tried to stammer out an explanation but Haymitch was too angry to listen. “I don’t wanna hear it. You have plenty of time to fight in the morning. Go to bed.” Alder looked angry but walked off anyway. Haymitch then turned to you, his expression softening with genuine concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” you replied, pushing yourself off the ground. “I’ll be taking a lot more than just a shove tomorrow.”

Haymitch looked like he wanted to say more but he just bid you goodnight before heading back to bed, leaving you alone in the kitchen.

Masterlist | Prologue (II)

[iwaasfairy]

( question about atsukooo.~ ) when did our little one develop such a lust for his mommy? when did it start? how did it start? did he reject it at first? ⛩️ sorry for the constant asks btw, my schedule freed up big time

YESS of course bby I love talking about hIMMM and I love your asks shush come here I kiss you

tw incest, sexual exploration

Honestly, I think Atsuko always had a preoccupied attachment style. He grew up with you protecting him from the world and cherishing him and doting on him, but you also weren’t exactly ready to be a mom yet? You try your best, but sometimes when Tooru bothers you and pokes and prods you just can’t stand to be around anyone, and those dips in affection make Atsuko very clingy.

Ko isn’t stupid, even as a kid he catches glimpses of how Tooru grabs your chin and pulls you close and how he stares at you sooo hungrily sometimes. But it’s normal, right? Uncle Tooru’s always been in his life and you don’t stop him, so it must be. And Ko’s best friend also doesn’t have a relationship with his mom, and it’s pretty obvious Taishi’d do just about anything to get your approval and somehow that makes pride stir in Atsuko’s chest.

You’re just so great and pretty and warm, everyone is attracted to you. You must be the most lovely mom in the world. Maybe even the most lovely and wanted person ever. So he feels good when he’s close to you, when he has your full attention, and when you praise him it makes him feel over the moon (｡+･`ω･´) he just can’t help but be a little bit of a show off around you? because you always reacted so sweetly whenever he did

And so he’s definitely aware of how much he wants to be your… something, sure he likes Tooru and Iwa, but not like he likes you. By the time he’s in high school he understands that there’s no man in your life -he’s the man in your life, uncle Tooru doesn’t count right?- and that gives him a responsibility to protect you back and stay close to you and cherish you, right? It is perfectly normal that he wants to be the main person in his mom’s life, he loves you. He has no choice but to love you.

He gets a streak of giddy pride when you cheer in the stands for him at his games, and though he wants to do good for himself, it’s the sweaty hug he can give you afterwards that makes it fun. You’re soft and you smell good and you like him too much for his poor young man brain to handle. If anyone asked, he’d proudly say that ‘his mom raised him’, and did a damn good job.

But it isn’t exactly like he thinks anything is weird!! He just likes your smell and your waist and watching your legs, and he likes catching glimpses of your tits and when he kisses you sometimes he wants to slip his tongue in your pretty mouth. That’s normal. He’s perfectly normal about you. But when his friends talk about girls their first thought isn’t to their moms. That when they close their eyes and beat one out, it isn’t thinking about your face and your lips and your tits that are pressed to him in every hug, and how good you’d feel skin to skin. How you’d sound whimpering his name.

They don’t talk about having thought of your face when he first slid his cock inside his girlfriend at the time and turning her around so he can imagine you. When they say something about thongs and pocketing underwear, he laugh, because how can he explain your lingerie that’s littered in his room because it feels better to fuck his hand when he can smell you. Is there something wrong with him? Why— it isn’t like he isn’t interested in other girls. He is, he likes the attention, and they’re hot.

But you’re on his mind day in and day out. He wants to rub his waist against you when you get close to him and —god, what the hell is wrong with him. Why does he want to have your body in his lap and squirming on his fingers more than he wants anyone else? You’re just so warm and sweet and kind of- innocent, in a way that is way too easy to exploit. You just let him walk all over you sometimes, and he’s gotten so much bigger than you, and somehow that turns him on too.

But he’d never act on it. You’re a single mom and you love him and he should never ever let anyone know how hard his cock gets when he’s paying a bit too close attention to you. He’ll just continue to walk into your shower time and snuggle up when you’re sleeping and that’ll be enough. He can live with that, right? Maybe he should get a new girlfriend to take the edge off things. He’s fine to just pretend- as long as you’re his and he’s yours.

…..so you can imagine the feeling he gets when he walks into the house early and hears your moans ring down the hall and sound so fucking hot, and you’re whimpering and begging and through the crack of the door he sees Uncle Tooru blow your back out and call you ‘his, only his, his girl, pretty baby’ and— really, that guy? You’re fucking your stepdad and begging him for more, and Tooru grunts about putting another baby in you.

Motherfucker.

[overleftdown]

deranged post-canon farleigh speculation

so. archie madekwe said something that makes me question a lot of the other post-canon speculation (often quickstart dynamic post-canon fics, speculation, etc.). Basically, he was talking about how tired Farleigh was getting, in the point in time that the movie is set. This is depicted through his confrontation with Felix, which Archie confirmed was the first conversation Farleigh has had with the cattons about the issue of bias.

a review by hilton als briefly touched on farleigh's possible future, as well. it was a very negative and... honestly understandable idea of what farleigh would grow up to become. aka, someone who exploited and tokenized their race for "brownie points," pun not intended. i see a lot of people crafting stories of farleigh finding different ways to rejoin the ultra-rich class. and i kinda wanna say that i... don't like that. here's an anecdote: my cousin and i had a conversation about his experience moving from a white-dominated, suburban environment. he argues that although racism is still prevalent where he now lives, the racism he experienced in his hometown was so painfully, covertly delivered. it's this sort of "could you just call me a slur or something" mentality.

although farleigh is terrified of change, although farleigh is terrified of losing what he believes is an accommodation for his marginalization (it isn't; you can't buy your way out of racism), although farleigh learned to be materialistic through the ways in which he was raised, although farleigh is constantly running away from something--i think he was reaching a point of genuine hatred for the ways in which racism is delivered to him in this environment. i would also go insane. so freakishly insane. i think his conversation with felix made him understand that maybe the cattons will never even try to change. that the cattons couldn't even acknowledge the problem in the first place. that you can't really win, with people like the cattons. it's always a game of when, and never if. when will they finally, politely discard me?

this leaves a couple options. the first, farleigh learns to be financially independent and very much successful. he would never rely on other people again, especially not white people. this leaves room for hilton als' interpretation, but the fact that farleigh was cognizant of and willing to mention racial bias to felix is evidence for me to assume that farleigh is beyond belittling himself like that. farleigh already experienced so much shame from catering towards the cattons and their whiteness... i don't think he'd keep going with that. not with the way it ended. not after he had the horrible wake-up call that was both his cousins dying. so, maybe farleigh does find his way back to wealth. maybe through fashion, through modeling like his mother, through another form of art, through business, whatever.

the other option is that farleigh just... doesn't acquire that level or even close to that level of wealth again. i kinda like this idea. i kinda like imagining farleigh in a city flat or smaller suburban house, finding a significant other and probably never ever having kids. that, of course, still leaves room for farleigh to go and brutalize oliver out of saltburn. but i'd like to think he wouldn't take saltburn back. as i've said before, farleigh was never greedy. he never wanted to replace or succeed the cattons, nor did he want any form of dominance over them. to be their equal, yes. to be seen and heard and given attention, yes. but never did he play his games to knock felix or venetia down. i feel like farleigh would be the "eat the rich" that saltburn didn't have. not in the corny way, because farleigh is no robin hood, nor is he an innocent and selfless person.

my ideal "sequel" type situation would be farleigh returning to saltburn after living comfortably and humbly for the last 20 years. he's not here out of moral obligation. he's not here to steal back the catton wealth. he's here selfishly, and out of burning hatred. he's here because oliver stole any sense of closure farleigh could've ever had. he's here because oliver never gave farleigh the opportunity to forgive his family, nor to mourn them, nor to visit those memories, nor to make new ones. farleigh is here to wreck oliver's shit. it's not healthy, it's not pretty, it's not clean. i'd imagine 40-year-old farleigh, having matured, returning to saltburn and regressing to the same games he always used to play. lying, people pleasing, pretending, sex, drugs, sass, etc. ahhh. my ideal sequel. a man who found peace without closure and finds closure through a significant lack of peace. and, also, oliver dead as hell.

[littlemissaddict]

Just a little psa I know nothing about dnd other that what I've seen in the show and what Google can tell me, if I'm wrong about something either politely correct me or just ignore the mistake please 🙏

Anyway, I'm just thinking about reader who despite being with Eddie and listening to him talk about dnd for years doesn’t have a clue about any of it so when she asks him if she can make a character and for him to teach her how to play he would be over the moon but also in despair about how little she knows (even Steve knows more about the game from just listening to the kids harp on about it)

"Oh can I be a Bandit?" She cries excitedly as Eddie sits down next to her with a blank character sheet.

"Bandit?" He asks, confused, running through the different classes in his head before realisation sets in, "Rogue? Do you mean rogue?" He asks with a hint of amusement in his tone that she misses as she nods quickly with a wide smile on her face.

"I don't know princess, rogues are known for being stealthy and have an uncanny ability to avoid danger whereas you, on the other hand, are possibly the clumsiest person I have ever met," he teases as her brow furrows and her bottom lip juts out in a pout as if she thinks the answer is going to be a no, as if Eddie would ever deny her. "Though you are good at finding out people's weaknesses and exploiting them so I guess you may make a good rogue after all" he jokes, knowing that she know that his only weakness is her and that he'll cave to her every time.

"Oh and can I have an eye patch too?" She asks hopefully.

"I mean if you want too but why would you need" he starts to ask before she cuts him off.

"So that I'm always ready to see in the dark if I need to" she states as if it obvious as to why she'd want one. "Did you know that's why pirates used to wear them so that when they'd come out of the bright sun they could just switch the patch over and the eye would already be accustomed to the dark meaning they wouldn't be fumbling about in the dark" she tells him proudly.

"I mean it makes sense, but how do you even know that?" He asks surprised but also not surprised at her knowledge of random information.

She shrugs, "I like to read, in fact my brain is full of useless information"

"Yeah, okay hit me with some" Eddie smiles, dropping his pen and turning so that she has his full attention.

"Did you know a cat ear contains 32 muscles? Or that alligators can stick their tongue out but crocodiles can't" she tells him and he shakes his head in response, truth be told its not something he's ever cared to look up. "And, a little controversially, if you added up all the time people spent kissing then it would roughly work out at about two weeks of their lifetime" she adds knowing that that maybe more to Eddie's interest.

"Oh is that so?" He smirks, elbow coming to rest on the table and his chin resting on his hand as he leans towards her, "I think we can beat that don't you?" He teases, eyes not leaving her almost as if he's challenging her, though they both know it's a challenge they'd both take willingly.

"Hmm I bet we could" she agrees, "and we can make a start on it after we complete my character sheet" she smiles innocently pushing him back slightly from where he'd seemingly leaned in even closer.

"Okay, okay but it is going to put us behind" he jokes reaching for the pen again as they prepare to begin brainstorming.

[digenerate-trash]

More head cannons that I have but for non-love interests. mostly teachers and Bailey and Harper. 

Bailey used to be a normal person who cared if the orphans got hurt but over time in order to keep the younger kids safe from the town he needed to start charging the older ones rent to keep this rinky-dink shack above water eventually it became too much for him to care about every victim he sent out onto the street to make rent so he stopped. Either by dissociation or worse. now he's just a heartless asshole who protects only the kids in the youth ward and even that is hard for him to do. The road to hell is paved with good intentions after all. 

Harper is afraid of blood. Straight up. He’ll faint if he catches sight of it that's why he prefers needles and brainwashing no blood is involved if you do it right. He's giving some real “I never got my doctorate” energy and I don't think this town cares because he's the best they have. He's definitely jacked off over an unaware patient. Has a kink for making patients cum hands-free (it's a power thing). Almost agreed to work for Remmy for free because he got too excited about brainwashing people into mindless cow hybrids. moral compass? Whos she? 

Leighton is such a fucking freak of nature. Would not be surprised if he went from teacher’s aid to head teacher solely through blackmail and other underhanded means this dud has always been a straight-up freak. Like Kylar but instead of being obsessed with one person, his passion is corrupting innocent people and once he's done and he's gotten off it's off to the next unsuspecting victim. This dude probably doesn’t know how to use a modern cellphone though so thank god for that. 

Sirris. Mommy? sorry. Mommy? sorry. I mean Mommy? Sorry. For real though giving milf energy. Probably really loved her dead husband to the point where she's not getting married again. (which is the real crime) but deeply cares for her kid, and even though she has no idea the extent of  Leighton’s abuse she has threatened to kill him and go to church the next day if he even breathes near her kid. Owns a sex shop purely to exploit this town's obvious sex addiction issue and is probably saving for Sydney's future as well. The only good parent I’ve seen in this game.  

River is a virgin for life. my man has never seen a pussy and is physically afraid of it. (same goes for cock but a little bit less so) has an avid believer of the church's teachings and he has a kind of friendship with Sydney but refuses to give them any special treatment because it wouldn't be fair (although Sydney is his favorite). Prob wear’s a chastity belt since he was 18 and has absolutely refused to take it off its like a security blanket now. No one is getting their filthy hands on this dick.

Doren is one of those freaks who has crushes on his students and sees nothing wrong with it, he cares about them and wants the best for his students but the power dynamic is hard to ignore for his students and even though he wants to be kind and a friend to all of them most students will avoid getting too friendly with him. He does his best to protect the students he likes best giving them snacks at lunch being extra patient with them during lessons helping them out or bumping up their grades just because they asked but if you’re a nuisance he lets you fall by the wayside because his love and care are conditional. 

Winter is heavy into costumes and BDSM but that's not a surprise super into weird sexual history and also has a huge denial/edging kink. Surprisingly the teacher she gets along best with is River. They hang out in the teacher's lounge and bitch about students. Leighton has absolutely harassed her for information on her students like which ones squirm during her unorthodox lessons but she refuses to play into his antics. When she's working at the museum she is the most content. It's her real passion but it doesn't pay the bills. Probably got hired because Leighton thought she would be an easy mark but it turns out she's a total dom and now he's afraid to fire her. 

Mason is the guy Dorent wishes he was. Students are always trying to feel him up during lesions and asking if he's single. But he really just wants to be left alone. At one point he was good enough to be on a national swim team but for one reason or another, his life fell apart and now he's burnt out and living in the worst town in Britain at the ripe age of 25. The dude probably wouldn't hurt a fly unless he had to and even then he would be crying for a week afterward. Bottom energy.

[beardedmrbean]

Okay am I the only Gen z who got the messages of hunger games and Percy Jackson?

The pjo books pointed out how the Titan Kronos exploited the shitty system the main 12 Olympians created and the much needed reformation the Greco-Roman pantheon needed in their treatments of lesser gods and demigods

The hunger games pointed out how BOTH sides exploit people like Katniss and was as bloodthirsty the capitol leaders.

Y’all remember how district 13 hides bombs in packages which lead to the death of innocent CHILDREN including Katniss sister prim right

Oh and the revolutionaries were planning on doing another hunger games with capitol kids as revenge.

Almost like revolutionaries are as shitty as the oppressors?

*cough* Killmonger *cough*

I mean PJO and Hunger Games gave as much nuance as they could while being published under Disney Hyperion and Scholastic .

But y’all didn’t get the memos

Oh right right my family issues so that why I got it.

Also another thing, the majority of enemies Percy Jackson and other demigods are monsters and gods going like “Your godly parent did something terrible to me so I’m going to take it out on you!”

Just like how for some goddamn reason, a poor white trailer boy is responsible for the evil shit the pilgrims did

But the Benin and Muslim people are A okay despite being the direct descendants of the Dahomey and

*check wiki*

Hmm, the Kashmir genocide, 9/11, the on going rampant killing of Nigerian Christian children by Muslim extremists

Obviously not all of them, but a lot of Gen z doing understand they have the mentality of VILLAINS rather than good people

Oh and my generation saying Osama Bin Laden was right. As a military brat and if I was heard someone say that in public

I will make the hunchback of Norte dome look like Prince Charming after the face rearranging I would do to those wokies

I never read any of those and only saw the first movies of the series's so I can't comment much on that.

Just like how for some goddamn reason, a poor white trailer boy is responsible for the evil shit the pilgrims did But the Benin and Muslim people are A okay despite being the direct descendants of the Dahomey and *check wiki* Hmm, the Kashmir genocide, 9/11, the on going rampant killing of Nigerian Christian children by Muslim extremists Obviously not all of them, but a lot of Gen z doing understand they have the mentality of VILLAINS rather than good people

With the not all of them, yes you're 100% right it's a oddity we get people online making 30 tweet threads about how black Americans are not a monolith but individuals each one being the sum of their own lived experiences which are different from each others.

And then Simone Biles smashes through the record books again (girl is unreal, just wow) and all of a sudden it's melanin power and all that jazz firing right back up. Or god forbid Tim Scott says something

the root: we don't do the HN shame

Also the root: but......

Not so bad as Atlanta Black Star can be but still. ______________

the people cheering on the various Islamic groups confuse the shit out of me, if they think white Europeans were harsh with them they should look up slavery in the middle east.

there were some bright spots yes, but mostly it was slave labor till you could labor no more and then you get left to die

Last place to make slavery illegal was Mauritania in 1982, it was lip service though since having slaves wasn't actually criminalized till 2007.

Still "bonded" servants there too, fancy name for slave/indentured servant for those that may not know that one.

[candy-fae]

A lot of those wikis will describe him as psychotic and violent and uncaring of who he hurts but like. He's a really nice guy. Evacuate a building of innocent factory workers before he explodes it nice.

He gets hit with fear toxin in Shadow of the Bat, and his nightmare is the world falling apart because of pollution and judicial corruption and stuff and he's devastated for the sake of everyone else. He's very self sacrificial

He was introduced to comics not long after Tim Drake was. Also with the intention of "we could make this kid Robin" You literally have a thought bubble of Batman thinking about it when Gordon asks

Anarky is a man for the people. He starts out by reading and responding to residential complaints in the paper. He threatens the mayor to cut down on emmissions pollution(by only having public transport) and housing all of the homeless within a day(?), or else he'll blow up the bridge

He will quite literally give someone the shirt off his back

Batman doesn't really like Other Vigilantes in Gotham that he can't directly monitor himself, but he gives Anarky his blessing(lol) in Through the Keyhole, I believe

Lonnie doesn't even start as Anarky. He starts as Moneyspider. Siphoning money from the rich, creating Swiss bank accounts, and "donating" the money over seas to poor farmers in... Cambodia? I don't remember. But he sent a buncha people 1,000-10,000(? it's been a while)

Hell, Anarky and Ollie's Green Arrow get along. They've worked together a few times. That exploding factory? GA helped with that

If I remember correctly, Lonnie killed Very Few people and for good reason. I.E. When Ulysses Armstrong usurps the name. Which... Is probably where shows and other media take inspiration from... But Ulysses just uses the name Anarky for meaningless chaos and destruction. He ends up trhing to kill all of Gotham's gangs during the gang war. It's a Whole Thing. And then, I believe Lonnie kills him(?) because Ulysses literally murdered 25ish people while using Anarky as a face. Again. It's a Whole Thing, lol

But uhhh

Yeah. Lonnie Machin is great, I love him and so do several others. If you scroll through his tag, you'll see us going ballistic and have some character analysis. He even has a couple solo runs as Anarky! Tumblr user azbats has a phenomenal reading guide for him! :3

(I just have personal vendetta(ba-dum, tss) against CW Arrow for their characterization)

I LOVE how you explained this, firstly. That was such an interesting read. Second, I’ve not actually seen green arrow!! Just clips! I was mainly going off what I remember from the Arkham games, and tbh I don’t even know if I finished the anarky mission haha. It nevertheless, I kinda wanna learn more!! He sounds super cool! I have like, a whole comic about stopping exploitation so color me intrigued!! He sounds like a super cool guy?? And yeah I didn’t get that at ALL from what I saw from the CW, but I’ve heard they’re notorious for taking a character and butchering them so I believe it.

I might remake my silly little candy-verse (eh? Eh?) anarky!

[rosehipfield]

There're quite some parallels between dynamics of Sara-Keiji and Kanna-Shin.

With the siblings everything is more or less clear: Shin used Kanna for two chapters, eventually growing attached to her as she reminded him of his old self (Midori called them both kind, weak and cowardly, not that last two words are exactly true). Maybe he cared about her from the beginning, maybe only after first main game. Relationship between them was similar to Shin's relationship with Midori as he tried to immitate him, scaring Kanna with his constant manipulation (the laptop case and so on) but still helping to overcome her guilt to some degree. In the end, Shin was ready to die if it meant Kanna's survival, at first offering to vote for her thinking she must be sacrifice (guessing she wouldn't pick him if she wins), and after Gashu incident. Kanna understood that he lied to her (a lot), but still saw the best and was kind of right.

Meanwhile Keiji, in my opinion, could copy some of Megumi's behavior with him when he was a subordinate. I am sure that Keiji sees himself in Sara, reliable, smart, a bit formal and easy to exploit (in terms of giving tasks and responsibility). And as far as I remember, Megumi was flirty with him (though he doesn't exactly flirt, he evades answering difficult questions). So he replicates same type of relationship with Sara, becoming her mentor and showing some clues but leaving majority of the work for her.

At first, Keiji likely knew something because he began pushing for "leader Sara" as soon as met her. But after Joe died and Sara was suffering he grew more and more attached. It was just like him and Mr. Policeman! (plus, Joe could be kid of aforementioned policeman). So he makes attempts to help her. Although still not taking spotlight, even suggesting poor girl to litterally decide fate of all of their lifes. Sara didn't fully trust him, she knew how suspicious Keiji was, but his support was vital for her so she also began caring for him (just in case I don't mean it romantically).

What seems the most like manipulation is him getting trust from Sara while not giving information himself. I understand not giving 50 tokens, he knows about his sins. But transfering keymaster to Sara, pretending he sacrificed his own safety while in reality taking it from somebody else is... cold and calculative (who did he take card from? I understand if it's Shin as he was suspicious and dangerous in Keiji's eyes, but it could be Kanna or someone else innocent).

What bugs me the most is that he didn't do anything to help when Sara got sacrifice card. Ex-policeman had tokens to make exchange, and he actually did make aforementioned exchange... with Q-taro. I read somewhere that he planned to get information from Shin, Keiji wanted to deceive him and so definitely couldn't transfer ill-fated card to him (why would Shin tell the truth if he's going to die anyway?). But nevertheless, Sara still was in danger. A girl with burden on her fragile shoulders who tried to help everyone and who was in position of leader partly because of Keiji.

I think that in third chapter he finally realised how wrong he was about everything and hopefully was ready to truly be mentor figure. I don't remember specifics so I may be mistaken, but Keiji did come to the classroom when Ranmaru deal was happening despite risking showing himself. And we all know how strongly Sara wanted to save Keiji, signing consent form. Their bond reached its culmination, both trusting and wanting to protect each other. Of course, maybe it's a bit early to say so as game is unfinished, but this is something I hope for.

All in all, Keiji kind of used Sara a bit similarly to Shin exploiting Kanna, potentially mimicing some traits of once important person, then saw something familiar in traumatised girl, supported her and formed more genuine bond while still using Sara's leadership to have influence or knowledge until that painful moment of trauma coffin

[thistoowillpasss]

armored core 6 spoiler talk

Rating the ending/ending fights

Fires of Raven:

Ayre is ANNOYING in the C weapon, every single thing she does can fuck off, call it skill issue I literally don't care. But, fairly low health and no "lol just kidding" extra phase make the fight pretty ok. Don't like fighting girlfriend or the general vibe of "fuck it all" that smashing a 10 kilometer-long ship into a lifestream death vacuum has, this is on the same wavelength as elden ring's frenzy flame, burn and salt the earth, innocents included.

5/10, very mean don't like doing it

Liberator of Rubicon:

Walter is not a crazy C weapon, and honestly does not have the same ferocity as Ayre or Allmind, which makes the fight less difficult and more thematic. He seems really upset to even be there. The LoR ending is probably the closest AC6 has to a "good" ending, but the amount of ties 621 severs is high, and it's hard to not have some semblance of sorrow towards the amount of people you have to gun down in order to get things done. We're all just doing our jobs, trying to make it through another day, and the cost hurts, even if you shrug it all off because Ayre is relieved you are treating her and the Coral like they aren't just a resource to be exploited.

8/10 wish I didn't have to kill all my coworkers at Anazon to overthrow it but it is what it is, pensive_face_emoji

Alea lacta Est (Throw the Dice):

Allmind/Iguazu is a fucker of a boss, but with both the progression required to get the dice ending, and Iguazu being That Guy, it's fine. Ayre shows up, which was fun! Wow, a fight partner that isn't just some jobber who only conditionally cooperates with 621, and instead explicitly joins the fight out of love? How unexpected in a game that reduces the player to a blunt tool, in most scenarios. I don't know if I'd call the ending result good or bad, that feels reductionist when it seemed more open to interpretation. Most of the points for this ending go to the last part of the cutscene being like ????????

7/10 I don't like having to play along with Allmind they are mean

[diaryofellen]

the black cat is the villain? could you please elaborate? I'm asking out of genuine curiosity, I haven't heard this before.

autism card: activated

okso. i mean all of this is layed out very clear in the novel/manga, but if youre less familiar with it then i get why it might sound a little odd. key things to remember though is that the black cat made a deal with ellen when she was only seven years old. not only that, ellen was literally on the verge of death at that point and was not told anything about becoming a witch or such at the point when she made the deal - literally all she was told was that she would be given like, shelter. to not die. 'magic' is mentioned offhandedly to just say "uhhhhhhhhhhh magic magic gives you House" without explaining anything about it

mind you, this does happen after ellen kills her parents - but, i mean, not to excuse killing your parents (dont do that), but ellen is a very traumatized and neglected child and she does express genuine remorse and guilt after killing them. and maybe im just an ellen apologist but i find it really hard to think that makes her flatout evil/irredeemable at this point.

the "XXXX" thing in the game/manga where the word 'kill' is blacked out with X's might obviously just be a stylistic thing. but based on the first way its used in the manga, i choose to interpret it as a sign of ellens own denial. shes a guilty child who doesnt really want to accept guilt. she becomes much more comfortable using the word 'kill' later and accepting the grim reality of what she does, but at the start, ellen doesnt want to consider herself a killer.

anyway. back to the black cat. the whole first part of the manga/novel shows ellens genuine childlike innocence and wonder. within the first chapters shes really just a sweet girl excited to learn things and play.

and a major thing that makes the black cat an ASSHOLE is that he purposefully leaves out many details of the situation until ellen is in a position of desparation and despair. the black cat doesnt directly break ellens spirit at any point himself, but he sure as hell leads her to despair and then manipulates and emotionally abuses her. and his manipulation works. if the black cat said to ellen "hey kill ur friend for the house to eat cuz youre unlovable scum" when ellen was having fun with her new friend, ellen would probably be alot more reluctant. her new friend loves her, after all. its the love shes been seeking.

at no point does ellen say this friendship is the love shes been seeking, but...its quite obvious, isnt it? the genuine friendship she had with this little boy wasnt an act or anything. ellen genuinely felt loved and her friendship with this boy alleviated her loneliness.

but the black cat didnt explain to ellen, a SEVEN YEAR OLD CHILD who only JUST LEARNED HOW TO READ, the reason why she cant leave the house. and he didnt explain this to her because he wanted to set her up to fall into the trap where she would confront despair and be much more willing to kill out of desparation. you can say "oh ellen was told she cant leave the house, she did it of her own choice so even if she didnt know what would happen its her fault" but shes a dumb kid who made a mistake. a mistake that she was set up to make, reopened her emotional wounds and was used to manipulate her

the black cat doesnt ever like, literally lie to her. but its deception and lies by omission and it is very, very intentional. its with the goal of breaking this damaged child down more and more to push her to the brink again by intentionally triggering her insecurities and fears and exploiting the fact she killed once before as a way to desensitize her to it

its only after all this "evil cat emotionally torments a child and tells her shes unlovable scum who nobody will ever care about because her body makes her worthless and subhuman" thing, that the black cat actually offers her this:

note that its phrased as a cure and not 'a body switching spell'. she doesnt actually learn that its a body switching spell until just before meeting viola. the first person ellen kills for the house is the little boy she befriended. the manga doesnt do a good job at conveying ellens feelings here so these are is excerpts from the novel. it genuinely hurts her. it hurts her to kill her first friend. but the fear of never being loved, living forever in a body doomed to rot away without any care or compassion, hurts her more. and at this point, after everything shes gone through and the emotional manipulation of the black cat, shes convinced that she is just fundamentally unlovable and this will never, ever change. she even percieves the boys apology at first as being 'fake'- that is, she knows he would feel no sympathy or friendship for her knowing how sick she really is.

..all this is to say. while ellen and viola were born in different eras, as ellen lived for hundreds of years as a witch, i genuinely think that if somehow they could have met earlier, ellen would have been able to see that violas friendship was the love she was after. that viola wasnt trying to decieve or use her, and that she didnt need to hurt viola to be loved. if they had somehow met before all this, ellen wouldve accepted viola as like her big sister. someone who didnt run from her and accepted her despite her illness. but after all the emotional manipulation and abuse shes put through by the black cat for his own goals, ellen sees pretty much nobody as being on her side and she becomes devoted only to the goal of having a healthy body. she cannot concieve of violas love for her being real, because she believes it is simply impossible for anyone to love her as she is.

and the black cats monologue at the end of the kindle edition also shows the black cats bizzare behaviour towards ellen and how he knew he was manipulating her and making her dependent on him. (side note, WHY is the black cat also supposedly a young boy???? where the hell are the adults in this setting??????)

id say that the witchs house is fundamentally a story about the cycles of abuse. ellen certainly isnt a good person, but the character who causes most of the events and tragedies to occurr is really the black cat, with ellen moreso acting as a sort of puppet. ellen best girl ellen best witch ellen did nothing wrong (<- THATS A LIE)

[thepersona]

Extraordinary Attorney Woo: Thoughts on episodes 15-16 (spoilers!)

All good things must come to an end. Now that the dust has settled in my brain after my third watch (lol), let's unpack this week's two-part season finale (spoiler alert!)

First of all, writer Moon Ji-won and her team sure know how to weave metaphors and imagery like it's nothing I've ever seen in a K-drama. Definitely her strong suit. Some are blatant while others are so subtle most people miss it without a rewatch. Seriously, I could name several off the top of my head and I've probably missed twice as much. But let's focus on those present in eps 15-16.

I want to start with the introduction and characterization of Young-woo's half-brother Choi Sang-hyeon. Love her or hate her, I can't wait to see how brilliant Tae Su-mi actually is considering she's 2 for 2 in giving birth to geniuses. In his first scene in ep 15 alone, we are told that Sang-hyeon and Young-woo are alike yet different.

Throughout the show, circles have been associated with Young-woo. The title credits, the little details Young-woo's room, her headphones, the revolving door, Young-woo's name in hangul (우영우), even Dong Geurami (whose name means 'circle')! But what about Sang-hyeon?

It's all squares with this kid, who mirrors the opening credits in ep 16. And they both love gimbap! Perhaps even for the same reason that they like to see every detail of the thing they're dealing with (Young-woo with the law and whales, Sang-hyeon with computers). Better yet, they share a tendency to lean towards what's morally right, socially just and transparent, despite being in fields that are known to exploit people who aren't well-versed in their complexities.

I definitely like how he didn't take his frustrations out on Young-woo, instead assumed that she would understand him better than their mother, and he was right. I wonder what he sees during his Eureka moments, but we'll have to wait for season 2 to hopefully find out.

====

Now let's talk about this case. I can't tell you how much I LOVE that ep 15 started with spear phishing. It brought me back to this moment from ep 6 so fast I could almost feel the wind coming and hear the whales jumping. (Sorry for the noob gif quality)

Once we learn who the baby whale in question is, we're compelled to ask if Tae Su-mi is willing to make the same decision twice. And while she was ready to bury it to save her candidacy, she ultimately lets Sang-hyeon out himself as the hacker and participate in the trial, putting her political ambitions at an end - or more likely on hold.

The hunter/ress throwing the harpoon in this case, you guessed it, is Han Seon-yeong. Throughout the show, CEO Han seemed to be playing a game with CEO Tae, though the latter didn't seem to acknowledge the game at all. Where CEO Han spends most of her jealousy-driven time thinking of how to take her rival down, CEO Tae doesn't pay her as much attention, instead preferring to use her energy on her next professional conquest. Sound familiar?

The result for CEO Han is lukewarm. Tae Su-mi isn't outed (yet) for having a child out of wedlock and manages a relatively graceful exit from her nomination, Young-woo gets to keep her peace, Sang-hyeon is publicly disgraced but keeps his dignity and honor. So far, Han's bark has been louder than her bite. She's never made any significant contribution to the cases she injected herself into. Whereas CEO Tae would have won the Seodok-dong case if it weren't for Young-woo's genius. Maybe she held back because of her humanity towards the innocent parties. On the other hand, she could also be waiting for a bigger scandal to take her rival down for good. In that case, we have reason to expect her to be the antagonist in Season 2, though I would have liked to see more hints scattered prior to ep 16 apart from the deleted scene in ep 8.

With Sang-hyeon now in her orbit, I'm looking forward to more brother-sister interactions in Season 2. Choi Hyun-jin did a great job with his portrayal (am I the only one who likes his eyes?). There was some tightrope walking between sinister and brilliant going on there, his introduction felt like a scene from "Juvenile Justice". Bravo.

====

Last week, I told you (!) that Young-woo and Jun-ho would be endgame. All because it was hinted by the case, the monk, and the dialogue during the breakup, among others, that they were both capable of looking beyond the surface of their problems.

I also said that Young-woo shouldn't be so criticized for letting go of him without a proper explanation at the time because she was trying to be selfless (for a change, or so she thought). So this week, we got another metaphor from Jun-ho this time about unrequited love for a cat, but that it's okay because the owner is happy with the cat just being there no matter how selfish the cat can be sometimes. Message received, and our whale couple is back together.

While I'm very happy that we were not given the 2521 treatment, the execution of this storyline leaves a bit to be desired. It's the same issue I've had with it since ep 11, in that they've been cutting the scenes so abruptly, especially those filmed near Young-woo's house. The scene where Young-woo finally tells Jun-ho her reason for the breakup and then it just holds the pause after she bows then that's it. I know they probably didn't want to cram more progress into ep 15 and focus more on the trial scenes but it resulted in some uneven storytelling.

Btw, I adore that scene where he gets all defensive when the Taesan messenger startles Young-woo but he doesn't pry. Kang Tae-oh was just majestic. Though this was something that Young-woo's dad could have seen so he'd give her a nudge to say Jun-ho may be right for her after all. Another could be the hospital fiasco, where instead of driving off with douchebag Attorney Jang, Jun-ho could have been caught on camera shielding Young-woo from the press, leading her dad to the same conclusion. Although driving off was one way to show that he can also make poor snap judgments and that's ok. I know I'm getting nitpicky but I just wish there was something so their makeup on the way to the trial could have a little more meat. But all is well since we got the result we wanted.

====

Should I even write about (still trash, now compostable) Kwon Min-woo and my girl Choi Su-yeon at this point? They really went the route of "let's introduce a worse character so the guy you hate doesn't look half bad". I mean Attorney Jang is where Min-woo would be if left unchecked after about 15+ years. I'm okay with redemption arcs, I really am. I just hate when they happen overnight or when they're being given out like candy.

And while I don't underestimate nor belittle the things love can make you do, I can't get on the "I can change him" trope. It's so beneath the Su-yeon that we know. And it taints the sincerity of Min-woo's 'change' in that every good deed he does from here on is based on pleasing her and not because it's the right thing to do. He's lucky she has a great moral compass. The attempt at fistbumping Young-woo was just cringe. Would he have done that if Su-yeon hadn't been there? Exactly.

If the writer's intention was to keep his suspiciousness, then mission accomplished. I won't be surprised if they break up and he regresses to his old ways, or he regresses then they break up. If the goal was to transform him into a loveable character, then I just hope he's given a chance in season 2 to make morally sound decisions (at his expense) while he and Su-yeon are apart. It's the only way to get him back on track. I've been very critical, but seeing how things turned out, I'm optimistic we the audience will get the storyline we deserve next season.

====

Lastly, I like how Jung Myeong-seok's reconciliation with his ex-wife was left open-ended and dependent on how ready he would be to leave Hanbada for good. But even if he left the firm, old habits die hard. He may choose to represent less affluent clients like the temple, but his devotion to his work could make him relapse (in more ways than one). It would be interesting to see him slowly shift into someone a little more like Attorney Ryu from ep 12 and even work with her for a change. Better yet, start a firm with his babies and take on social justice cases going head to head with Taesan and Hanbada like David v. Goliath. It's another way to see what both CEOs are really made of once Young-woo takes off with her real family.

And that's where the season ends. Where the first episode only had one floating whale during Young-woo's commute, the conclusion showed several as she no longer feels alone.

Overall, I still think the two-part season finale was more than satisfactory with enough room to elaborate in season 2. I'm excited to see what's in store for Young-woo and co. now that the writer and producers have at least 2 years to figure out the best way to continue this extraordinary saga. Until the next Whoa Whoa Wednesday!

Check out my midseason (episodes 1-8) review, thoughts on episodes 11-12 and 13-14.

[cyanoscarlet]

Actors/Behind the Scenes AU, in which FF16 is a duo/trilogy of movies, and the characters are actors in said movie -

Headcanons that inspired Peppermint and Chocolate Chip (aka, that one Actress!Benedikta fic).

Outside of FF16, Clive is a dork. A quiet but nice guy who likes games. He’s a fan of the FF franchise, and his fave is FF8. (Inspired by Ben Starr talking about his FF experiences. Also I'm projecting.)

Joshua’s two actors are totally attached at the hip. They’re not related but everyone is astounded at the resemblance, no wigs were needed even! And Adult!Joshua adores Kid!Joshua and protects his mini-me with his life. (I'm actually thinking of them both having Joshua as a middle name! Something like Andre Joshua and Allen Joshua. Btw, Adult!Joshua is Clive's actual brother.)

Jill is an indie pop singer. Sometimes busks. She loves everybody! She baked sugar cookies for the cast and crew once. She still burns the oven sometimes, though. Also she takes up kendo to improve her stage action scenes but tells no one of her rank because it’ll scare them (and they’ll make her teach everyone else on set, and that’s a pain). Her favorite FF is 10...... 2.

Benedikta is actually an awkward bean. She IS the hottest thing right now, an it-girl if you will. But she IS an awkward bean off-set, and reality shows exploit this for all they can. Oh, and she’s a big eater. -> This is what became the actual Benna fic

Hugo’s a comedian, actually. He’s also an amazing cook. He and Benedikta get along well. They’re cool besties. He often invites her to his YouTube channel to cook for her.

Barnabas Tharmr: A-list actor. Everyone’s beloved leading man. Very versatile, hot, in-demand. He’s perfect, oh, and he sings too. Confusing af love life. -> Referenced in the Benna fic

Dion’s probably following in Barnabas’ footsteps career-wise. That recent boy-next-door role he played had all the teenage girls want him as a boyfriend. They don’t know that he takes cues from real-life experience, and a real-life boy-next-door that captured his heart. 👀

Oh, Cidolfus Telamon: where to begin? Also another A-list actor, like Barnabas. Action films are his specialty, although you also see him in heavy dramas. All his works are guaranteed hits, no questions asked. His relationship with Barnabas, although professional, currently leaves much to be desired. Rumors abound that he used to have a thing with Benedikta, although both sides deny it. Also The Original Troll on set. He's fun to have on talk shows, but that's only when he feels like showing up.

Terence is Dion's best friend from theater. The original boy-next-door, and Dion's real-life partner. Knows just enough pop culture to get by, so he doesn't understand how he got this role, but if anything good comes out of this it's getting to work alongside Dion again. Greagor knows how long ago their last production together was ever since his love shot to fame on TV/Film. (Oh, if only he knew who suggested him to the director, because "he's good at his craft." 👀)

Sleipnir's that one cocky archetype co-actor you usually see in these kinds of cast ensembles. He's actually nice, though! Just innocently insensitive at times. Terence hates him with a passion, but Sleipnir likes to believe they're Vitriolic Best Buds. (And they actually are. Dion agrees but doesn't dare say it to his bf's face.) He's a horrible troll, just like Cid.

Jote's an adorable Tonberry rookie actress! She briefly had ensemble/swing stints in another theater troupe (Adult!Joshua's, actually), before landing this role. She loves posting pictures of sunflowers. Laments her dark clothes. Looks up to Benedikta despite their only scene together being a violent one. -> Referenced in the Benna fic.

There MAY be a part 2 of these headcanons. If I feel inspired, maybe even an actual fic featuring another character in the same vein as the Benedikta one. Will probably make it an AO3 series when that happens!

[audreyhalessaviour]

The simple fact of life is that everybody is born an innocent baby and that you are built off of life experience which is given to you by the people around you. Most mass murderers are subject of abuse and the rest are the abusers. You can have freedom fighters and terrorists which are politically motivated, edgy kids who want to kill because it looks cool in GTA or in online videos. These kids are often abused or really radicalized online which is of course a form of abuse. Often times they just think another rampager is cool and what to emulate them. The most common being Tarrant clones and Columbine copycats because of the massive amounts of glorification they get online. If they survive the murders they will realize what they have done and come to completely regret it like Kip Kinkel, Micheal Ryan, Dimitrios Pagourtzis and Ethan Crumbly. Often they will make up or follow some form of ideology that in part makes them do it like that Tarrant clones. I also believe they do this so they can convince themselves they are the good guy. But the most rare type is an abusive murderer who is a complete piece of psycho shit who have no problems like Thomas Hamiltion and Martin Bryant. They just want to kill for the same reason they fuck kids, to get power. These ones almost always have a long history of ignored abuse they never get punished for as most people don't care about the abuse of someone who isn't them. This is the number one problem with the world and what creates the other murderers. Nobody cares about pedophiles and abusers because it's been so ingrained in our cultures for a long time. The countries where mass murder is the most common are they countries where you are most likely to be abused as a child. Most people don't care about giving their own children something harmful like the mountains of harming content on YouTube. So is it any wonder everyone isn't up in arms over the fact that the feds coverup pedophile stories like Epsteins island and Covenant when they don't even give a fuck about their own kids? We can blame guns or video games or whatever the scapegoat will be in the coming years but the simple, undeniable fact is that abuse creates and abuser. Out of all my time researching mass attacks I can safely say that I believe that 99% of them are sufferers of child abuse. It really makes me wonder why nobody would choose to fix this problem when it would be in everyone's best interests worldwide to do so until I realized why so many shows like South Park exist. They exist to capitalize on and normalize this abuse. Homer Simpson abusing his own son is just a funny gag right? It never leads to Bart killing kids in a school in the show unlike real life where there will be long lasting mental problems so people will be desensitized to this abuse and even begin to find it funny. On top of all this they are completely paranoid and therefore won't leave the house to seek friends all that often. Who can blame them with how crazy many people have gotten? Sure you could go to a therapist who will just exploit you for money and hop you up on pills that don't help. I do believe things have been getting better in society in this regard but we still have much to work on such as empathy for the criminals while also giving them much harsher punishments. We really need to stop scapegoating and focus on these issues. We need to be able to learn from these peoples stories as well and many governments are very unwilling to release the information we need to do our own independent for "some reason". We need to put them in their places for the betterment of mankind.

[louisshomesharry]

I agree with you…he is playing dangerous game here unless he plans to being fake father for the rest of his life.then why not say you had a test and give us closure once and for all?I dont want to be fan of someone who exploits innocent kid because he is affraid of losing money/career.I understand holivia,its a deal between two adults but this kid had no say in this.also this fandom is so dead and we were supposed to be most active now with all the content from both of them

yeah :/ at this point I'd rather they used eleanor who's a consenting adult and not a seven year old child.

But seems like eleanor herself decided to get out of this situation so they had to change plans. It's all ugly and it's not helping his career in any way.

this fandom is dead because louis is giving us nothing exciting to talk about: he has the same talking point as for walls, bigger than me is a good song but seem to be one of the weakest of the album (who by the way sounds like I will love so I have a hard time understanding the choice of single), the mv was? just there. I will say once again that we were right by saying he needed to revamp his image and change things up so his fandom and the gp could get interested again. He needed a wow factor something that would have made us excited, something fresh and it just didn't happen :/

And I'll say it again before I get attacked or indirected: he was able not to see that child for 4 years so there's no reason to think he's being forced by someone to do this. there might be a reason for it but I still don't think it's right and yes, some of this falls on louis' shoulders.

[detectiveichijouji]

Case 16 - Autumn’s Kuramon Friendship

[AO3 version]

The kids now have 4 pieces versus Arsenemon’s 4 pieces, and only 12 pieces were about to be found. Or it was what they thought.

“ARGH, I CAN’T STAND THAT THIEF-DIGIMON ANYMOOOOOOORE!!”

Daisuke was having a hard time.

“What happened?” Miyako looked at him pulling his hair and growling. The group was not at the karaoke bar this time, but at a local coffee shop in tokyo.

“Daisuke and V-mon just let Arsenemon get another lost piece before it got in contact with someone’s desires” Tailmon shrugged.

“We didn’t let him catch it!!” Daisuke and V-mon cried.

“... I may know something that will cheer you up” Hikari smiled, “So, since we’re in October, our school will be doing a Halloween themed festival.”

“Um… Guys I” Ken tried to interrupt them, but everyone was interested in said festival.

“Our class will be doing a spooky cafe shop,” she continued.

“Oh that’s cool!!” Miyako grinned, “Ah I wonder how many cute creepy sweets it will have~”

“Miyako-san…” - Hawkmon and Iori sighed.

“Guys… My--” Ken tried again, but with no success.

“I heard another class is going to make a murder mystery game” Takeru commented, “And Lune’s class is just doing a fortune telling house.”

“...” Daisuke looked away, as if he was hiding something from the other three.

“Besides, Daisuke-kun will be our che--” Daisuke immediately jumped on Takeru to cover his mouth. 

“D-DON’T!!”

“Huh??” the others blinked.

“He said Daisuke-san will cook for their cafe shop” Iori was too fast and caught the phrase anyway…

“You?” Miyako raised an eyebrow “Why are you ashamed of that?”

“I-It’s no shame!! It’s…”

“Then, was it?” Hawkmon asked innocently.

“... They know I’m part of the cooking club… And… I don’t think I’m good enough for this.”

“Huh… That’s new” Tailmon frowned.

“I mean, I agreed to do it, but… I’m a little afraid of messing this up, y’know?”

“This is why Takeru and I offered to cook with him,” Hikari smiled.

“W-wait what?!” Daisuke blinked.

“We ride together or die” Takeru chuckled, “So we get you covered.”

“It’s a bit weird Daisuke-san being part of a cooking club and having concerns about messing this up,” Iori shook his head.

※ Ken was not able to remind them that his birthday is on the same day as Halloween. He had said it before, but… It always get mixed up with Halloween talk 💦

“Hehe…” Lune’s eyes were shining. Her smug face seemed like she was having a terrible idea in mind. Soleil and Coronamon didn’t like it at all.

A third person, Noel, approached them. Seems like he got his own fancy French space nickname by those two -- Étoile (Star). Which is funny when you realize his name also means “Christmas” in French.

“Why is Lune-san laughing…?” The boy asked the other two, his hair covering his eyes.

“Seems like she found a way to get rid of the famous Chosen Children.” Coronamon replied with a sigh.

“... Why would you… Get rid of them?”

“BECAUSE! They’re messing with our own operations!!” She snapped, “I won’t resort to violence, don’t worry.”

“Yeah! She plans to mess with their minds in order to stop messing around!” Lunamon chirped happily, “Messing with someone’s mind is not violence~”

“I don’t think I agree with that statement though…” Étoile whispered to himself.

“But…” the blond boy turned to her, “Why should we… Why should we ‘get rid’ of the Chosen Children…? Aren’t we… On the same side?”

“Well, I can answer that” Soleil said, nonchalantly, “Because not all of the Chosen Children want to work together. There’s corrupt Chosen and heroic Chosen, and our goal here is to keep it balanced, punishing whoever tries to use the digimon for evil deeds.”

“And… And what do you mean by ‘evil deeds’, Soleil-san?”

“Greedy, selfish needs. The digimon are not toys, they’re living beings too. Any human who dares to exploit their bonds with a digimon, or any human who dares to use a digimon for selfish means…”

“Ah, I see…” Étoile smiled.

… I don’t understand those children -- Noel was walking around the city and thinking when he heard a noise and a scream. He rushed to the noise and saw… Daisuke??

“DAMMIT C-COME BACK HERE DON’T GO FLYING AWAY AND SHOOTING THOSE BUBBLES ON MY FACE, YOU EVIL THING!!”

“DAISUKE!!” V-mon was also there, trying to help them catch a Kuramon, “GAAH, MY EYE! IT PUNCHED ME IN THE EYE!!”

“HOW CAN IT PUNCH IF IT HAS NO HANDS!? OUCH, HE PUNCHED ME TOO!! UGH!!”

Noel blinked, Motomiya Daisuke is really an interesting specimen…

“COME BACK HERE!!”

“I’LL GIVE YOU ALL MY CHOCOLATE STASH!!”

“YOUR CHOCOLATE STASH IS OUR FRIDGE, AND IT’S NOT YOURS!!”

They then noticed someone passing by them pretty quick, grab a bar of chocolate from V-mon’s hand and then lure the baby Kuramon to it. Gently offering it food. Kuramon went back to the boy’s hands, and started eating the candy.

Ah, this baby isn’t that bad… I wonder why they were having so much trouble with it… -- Noel thought.

“Noel??” Daisuke and V-mon blinked, impressed.

“Oh um… I thought you… were trying to catch it…”

“Y-yeah we were!” Daisuke chuckled nervously, “A kid just let one of those escape… I think it doesn’t like me…”

“You have to be gentle with a baby digimon… They don’t like noisy places…” he smiled back, then looked at the baby, “There, there… It’s okay, Motomiya-san is not a bad human…”

“ ‘Human’…?” V-mon tilted his head.

“Yeah I’m a good human!” Daisuke babbled, “I’m sorry, I had bad experiences with Kuramon babies before…”

“Hm?” Noel looked back at Daisuke, “Have you… met a Kuramon before?”

“Yes, long story short… They were evil Kuramon babies trying to take revenge on Taichi-san and Yamato-san,” he sighed, “I didn’t sleep an entire night back then…”

“I see… But this one is not… a bad guy, I presume…”

“Not at all! It’s partnered to a girl named Rika. She reached our website saying Kuramon vanished…”

“She’s the same girl we met back in time, when we went Kuramon hunting!” V-mon explained, “At first we didn’t believe one of those babies would end up partnered with a human!”

Once they brought the baby back to the girl, Daisuke just apologized to the small Kuramon for being rude. This time the baby seemed less wary and it nudged Daisuke’s face.

“I.. I guess you forgave me right?” Daisuke gave it a warm smile and a pat in its slimy head.

Rika and Kuramon thanked them and left waving at them in the horizon. Noel was also smiling for some reason. I think I understand Motomiya Daisuke better than I understand those other two…   -- He thought.

“So… You were looking for me, right?” Daisuke said, out of the blue.

“Um… Y-yes,” Noel nodded shyly, “I… I would like to ask you something…”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Hmm… Do you think all of the Chosen Children are… on the same side?”

Daisuke looked at the other boy for a moment. Oh, that’s one of those trickish questions… Not that Daisuke himself wouldn’t be able to answer it, but more likely he’s… well aware of that reality. So, he took a moment to answer it…

“Y’know… Each Chosen Children may have their own goals and ways to fight… But I think deep down we’re on the same boat. I mean… We fight for the same thing, right?”

“Oh…”

“Ken used to think being a Chosen Child was a merit only given to the smartest and toughest people… He used to think we were just mere insects… But deep down he knew we were on the same level. And then he opened his eyes and joined us.”

“I see… Isn’t he the former Digimon Kaiser I heard of?”

“Wait, you heard about the Kaiser back in France?”

“Sort of… The Japanese Chosen Children are famous worldwide…”

“But yeah, Ken… He had been on the wrong side once, but he’s the proof that I believe every Chosen Children can be good inside.”

Noel looked at him and gasped in silence.

“No matter what, we will always gather to fight the evil guys and protect both humanity and the digimon.”

Noel stood in silence for a while… Is it wrong to…

“Daisuke!” Ken’s voice was heard, and then Daisuke looked up to Ken at the other side of the street.

“Oh speakin’ of the nerd…”

“I have to talk to you.”

“Wow, today is a busy one… I’m getting invited to lots of talks huh?” Daisuke chuckled lightly, “Catch ya later, Noel.”

He and V-mon waved at the boy and then went to meet with Ken and Wormmon. Noel watched them leaving and disappearing in the horizon…

“All the Chosen Children are on the same side, hmm?” Noel spoke differently from the usual, “Well, I guess he will understand better than the other five…”

“YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ARE KIDDIN’ ME!!!”

The group gathered at the karaoke booth again. Miyako had her laptop opened and it was actually a request from Koushiro this time. Some big work for his junior team.

“You didn’t tell him before, did you?” Iori squinted his eyes at Ken.

“He started babbling about forgiving the Kuramon and didn’t let me talk…” Ken sighed.

“WHY!? I WAS ABOUT TO GIVE Y’ALL MY SINCEREST SECOND CHANCE AND YOU--!!”

“This is why you should interrupt him and tell the big news,” Miyako shrugged.

The news was that the swarm of Kuramon sealed at Koushiro’s server managed to break in and spread through Tokyo… Again. Daisuke hated the day he had to catch a TON OF THEM because he not only had his soccer club training canceled, he was also sleep deprived for a whole night and running around Tokyo like an idiot. Also he was screaming louder once again.

They have a seal making them unable to evolve, don’t worry.But… I’d like it if you could catch them back before it gets out of control. - Koushiro

“I guess he can’t forgive Diablomon as a whole…” Tailmon commented.

“IT DOESN’T MATTER, I WILL PROVE TO THOSE LITTLE ANNOYING ONE EYED JELLYFISH-LIKE BABIES THAT I’M A GOOD HUMAN!”

“Huh? Why do you--” They all asked.

“Noel said to a Kuramon partnered with a girl that Daisuke isn’t a bad human,” V-mon explained.

“That’s an odd way to phrase it,” Takeru blinked.

“Noel huh…” Ken mused quietly…

The group divided themselves in three pairs, with their respective Jogress partner and went outside catching the Kuramon swarm running around Tokyo. They would catch a few and then send it back to the storage server. Ken was still thinking about the details he caught until now, as he caught some Kuramon with Daisuke:

Somehow, Two students from Daisuke’s school are involved in some of the prior cases…And we know Arsenemon can disguise himself as anyone, because he used my face to obtain information from Daisuke once…There’s also this overseas student, Noel Leblanc… He’s quite suspicious, especially when he is getting along with Daisuke and somehow ‘helping’ each other in return…This means… One of them might be Arsenemon or connected to Arsenemon himself…

“Ken… Can ya open the storage gate, we caught more!”

But… What if the answer is either both options or… none? Can Noel Leblanc be a normal exchange student from France? Surely he has a strange name… Would he be one of the descendents of Maurice Leblanc, the author of the ‘Arsene Lupin’ book series?

“Yo, Ken? Ken, dude… Open the gat-- ACK, IT BIT MY HAND!! OUCH OUCH OUCH!!”

Wait a minute… Arsene Lupin… Arsenemon… Leblanc…

“KEN, HOLY FRICK, OPEN THE GATE BECAUSE THEY’RE RUNNING AWAY AGAIN!!”

Ken snapped out of his thoughts and babbled, “R-right!” And he opened the gate on his laptop.

Daisuke, XV-mon and Stingmon tucked the Kuramon inside the gate, and then Ken closed the laptop.

“Phew… Ouch I should go see a doc…” He looked at his hand, then he turned to XV-mon, “Would I turn into a digimon if I get bitten by one?”

“W-what are you talking about?!” Their digimon exclaimed together.

“Turning into a digimon…” Ken mused, again.

“Seems Like Ken’s not listening to us…” Daisuke shrugged, then pressed the button on his earpiece, “Hey everyone, did ya catch those slimy jellyfish babies already?”

“Um… We have a bigger problem here…” Hikari spoke.

“A problem?” Daisuke repeated, raising an eyebrow.

“Rika-chan has a fragment and… She used it to fuse Patamon with her and a Kuramon…!!” Miyako spoke this time, “The Kuramon… are gathering around them…!!”

“F-fused Patamon with one of those jellyfish-mon!?”

Someone was nearby and heard the convo (how? Who knows…) and with a snap of fingers…

… A black card popped from nowhere and flew on Daisuke’s hands:

Mon ami, I will take the fragment from Akitomo Rika. Your friend’s digimon might be okay. However, I will need your assistance once again, should we put the chase on hold, s'il vous plaît?

“... Ken,” he showed the calling card to the other, “We have to help… For Patamon.”

“Daisuke, are you sure…?” Ken raised an eyebrow, “He will get another piece--”

“To hell with the pieces! We can get them back later! Patamon’s life is more important than some stupid broken Digimental. Also… Rika-chan’s life too. We can’t fight Arsenemon this time.”

“You’re right…” the other nodded in agreement, “Let’s gather the others.”

What happened, you may ask? During the Kuramon hunting, some stranger had tracked Rika and had given her a Digimental piece, and it had triggered something wicked through… her and her Kuramon’s hearts -- turning the girl into one hivemind with the other Kuramon spread through the area. Rika was in the center of a network of Kuramon swarms, protecting her and the piece.

But the moment Takeru, Patamon Iori and Armadimon had been trying to catch Kuramon, Rika had used the fragment against them. Patamon sadly never had been good at flying so… It had gotten caught by her Kuramon and had been fused with her and her Kuramon into a similar-yet-ironic digimon Takeru wished to never meet again -- a subspecies of Devimon, IceDevimon . Takeru had felt his entire world had shattered into million shards, and it was thanks to Nefertimon and Horusmon that they had managed to escape.

Now Takeru was having the biggest meltdown in his life, again.

Daisuke and Ken plus their digimon arrived, and they gathered with the group. Takeru was mute by the shock. Hikari and Iori were trying to make him snap out of that, but… It was too strong. Miyako was trying to identify a way to remove the fragment from IceDevimon’s chest.

“Takeru…” Daisuke frowned, afraid of the worst. He then witnessed Arsenemon magically popping out from thin air like a legit magician.

“...” Arsenemon was gritting his teeth, “I hate whoever has done this to you, digisauveuse …” he was looking at the beast Rika, her Kuramon and Patamon had forcibly evolved.

“So… What should we do?” Ken asked Arsenemon with a serious gaze at the magician thief.

“You need to open a path to the core of the hivemind” he said, charging something in his hand. Was it that same attack from the past two cases before? “I will do the magic trick.”

“Huh?” Miyako exclaimed, “You want us to do what you said?! How da--”

“Miyako,” Daisuke stared at her, “Just do it…”

“Alright… You heard him, Horusmon?”

“Yes, Miyako-san,” Horusmon nodded and then started piercing the Kuramon barrier by spinning his body at high speed, generating a tornado and throwing the Kuramon out of the way, “TEMPEST WING!!”

Stingmon and XV-mon followed, Horusmon, removing the Kuramon trying to regroup through the path. Arsenemon went in front of them and behind Horusmon. Outside, Nefertimon and Ankylomon were helping the 02 group to catch and send the Kuramon thrown by Horusmon’s tornado back to the storage via Miyako’s laptop.

Takeru was still petrified and mute. But it didn’t stop Daisuke from going where and put a hand on his shoulder.

“We’re going to save Patamon and Rika-chan. I promise you.”

Somehow, Daisuke’s words reached him inside… Because he looked Daisuke straight into the other boy’s eyes. The Sunset’s light illuminated Daisuke’s face in a very poetic way.

“ We’re almost there…!!” Horusmon announced; XV-mon and Stingmon kept serving as shields  from the Kuramon swarm’s attack.

Once they reached the center of the hivemind, the Chosen Digimon trio started fighting against the kuramon and trying to keep Arsenemon closer to IceDevimon. Then, once super duper closer…

“Malchanceux!!” Arsenemon used the technique on IceDevimon’s chest, stealing Patamon from inside the enemy’s data at least. He and the other digimon had to retreat immediately, as the Kuramon kept attacking and turning the rescue harder by any second. With a snap of fingers, Arsenemon teleported himself, XV-mon, Stingmon and Horusmon to the outside of the hivemind.

Patamon was gently left in Takeru’s arms, who held the digimon tightly and embraced Patamon in a hug. Daisuke smiled at that scene, but he then turned to Arsenemon, seriously:

“Why didn’t you take the piece like you said!?”

“Didn’t I?” Then he showed the fragment in his other hand.

“Then… Why is their fusion not breaking up?” Hikari asked, concerned.

“It’s not the fusion…” Daisuke muttered, “It’s Rika-chan’s Kuramon itself…”

The he approached from the remaining Kuramon shield, and screamed:

“KURAMON! I KNOW YOU’RE NOT A BAD GUY! I KNOW YOU WANT TO TAKE REVENGE ON US… BUT… YOU’RE HAPPY WITH RIKA-CHAN NOW, RIGHT???”

“What is he doin--” Ken went to interrupt him, but Arsenemon stretched his arm in front of Ken and the others.

“Y’know… I thought you were a bad guy for ages,” Daisuke continued, “You only want to have a partner right…? Then you got one now! Why should we still fight each other? Please, I don’t want to hurt you or your thousand little siblings…”

The Kuramon swarm suddenly stopped running amok and left Rika and her Kuramon partner on the floor. The 13 year old child was a little dizzy, and almost fell on the floor if it weren’t for Daisuke rushing thru the Kuramon cloud and catching her before she hit the ground.

The Kuramon swarm glanced at Daisuke with what seemed to be a smile, and they just started spinning through him, happily. Rika’s Kuramon nudged Daisuke on the head instead.

“H-Hey, I’m not the kind to be all soft with y’all--!!” he blushed.

“They want to go home…” Rika said as she opened her eyes, “To the Digital World, to be free and enjoy their lives as digimon…”

“... I see, They just want to be free from the storage…” Iori mused, “Maybe this is why the swarm went after this Kuramon in particular, because it’s partnered with someone and is free to go anywhere.”

“I will contact Izumi-senpai and explain to him the situation. I think we all made amends with Diablomon.”

“Where did you get that shard?” Ken asked Rika politely…

“A stranger gave it to me…” She explained, “They said it could help Kuramon to help its friends…”

“... Who’s this stranger?” Takeru said, extremely irritated, “We need to stop them as soon as possible and recover those pieces before more people get hurt by them.”

“Takeru-kun…” Hikari frowned. His reaction was indeed scary in her opinion.

“We will get whoever is doing those,” Daisuke gave Takeru a serious glare, “But you have to calm down or else something worse might happen…”

A Digimon was watching them in the shadows… And then they muttered: 

“I can use that kid next hehe~”

[justanechoflower]

(Alright I actually misread some of the story lol)

(No way Monika would miss it so uh… here’s the new version of Monika’s review)

As the president of a literature club, I can say with quite certainty that the story about the reindeer and the kid does not fall under the fairy-tale genre.

In fact, I don’t know if it’s even a book at all. But presuming that it is, it appears to be a deconstruction of the RPG genre.

”Getting stronger” by killing looks like a parallel to RPG game mechanics, where you can experience points and level up by killing enemies within the game. “The chains” seem to refer to the method the player uses to control the main character. The story itself appears to be a demonstration of what the realistic consequences of playing an RPG game normally would look like from inside the world the game represents!

The corruption that the kid is forced to give the reindeer could be representative of the role of part members in games, who tend to stick by the player’s side, even when the player character does very questionable actions, like, say, looting the homes of innocent NPC characters.

There’s room to make a great story out of this concept!

But when it comes to the finale of the story, that’s where things just start to fall apart for me. It turns what would be a wonderful exploration of the nature of morality in a world where killing makes you stronger, into what readers will likely only see as a blatant deus ex machina.

Unless you can work out some kind of mechanism where this idea makes sense, this isn’t going to match the expectations that you set. And introducing a new character out of the blue after everyone is supposedly dead simply strikes to the audience as a kind of cop-out.

So, the story should probably be revised to make the ending more natural. Whether it be revising certain aspects of the story to make breaking from the player’s control a feasible thing a character could do, putting the resistance in some of the NPCs before they are killed, like possibly anyone with the shopkeeper role, due to not being able to be killed in most RPG games, or some other idea!

But pulling something out of the blue with no logical basis, and then not revising anything at all so that it all makes sense, is one way to make an otherwise good story fall flat. That’s Monika’s Writing Tip of the Day!

Now, sometimes, you might have an idea for a good twist to add to a story that exists. What then? Well, that’s what revision is for! Do what you can to revise the earlier parts so that they make sense both for someone who hasn’t seen the twist yet, and someone who has! It’s a common misconception that writing is about making one draft of the story and then being done. It’s a process of starting by just writing something down, and then iteration after iteration of revising those ideas until you eventually end up with a cohesive whole.So, you thought of this Core!Frisk person. How does that affect the rest of the story? Would they have played a role before the bird was killed? In your next revision, you should try to make this character a more cohesive part of the narrative, so that their appearance actually makes some kind of narrative sense. If, on the other hand, you were just trying to get a happy ending and just three this character out of nowhere, try instead exploring what options the other characters have at their disposal. Perhaps continuing the theme of deconstructing the mechanics of RPG systems. Sans did this quite well. Also, since this is a deconstruction story, this is one of the instances where it might make sense for the ending to… not end well for the good guys. In a deconstruction story, it’s best to simply work out the logical consequences of each step, and see how far you can push the concepts that are being deconstructed. Is it the case that certain NPC jobs such as shopkeepers make one unable to be killed? What if this was exploited?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flowey: Yeah, tell it to them! This reindeer story is terrible. Maybe you should rewrite it, and then we can rub it in whoever-made-it's face!