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bangtanfancamp · 4 years

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Into the Garden (JJK)

∴ masterlist

∴ series masterlist (part one of 2 )

∴ pairing: Jeon Jungkook x reader

∴ word count: 5k

∴ rating: pg-13

∴ genre: fluff, romance, strangers to lovers, dinner theater au? Lol

∴ warnings: none to speak of, eventual affection? sexual tension? Probable future make out sesh

∴ summary: It’s a Friday night out with your friends— a perfect opportunity to try out that mysterious new restaurant everybody’s talking about. Always game for new things and a good time, even you never expected to stumble upon the smart, incredibly handsome waiter you meet there who knows his flowers. Who knows where the night will take you now?

∴ vibey playlist that kept me company during writing

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“God, this place is gorgeous.” You gasped.

You felt yourself go still once you’d finally managed to push the heavy wooden doors open. Was it unreasonable to wish you lived in a restaurant if it looked like this? Because it was beautiful in here. Every corner was immaculately decorated- rich, emerald velvet in the waiting area, cognac wood floors, industrial light fixtures… each element carefully designed, but aged and warm, like maybe this place had been here forever, and you’d only just noticed it.

And the plants- there were plants everywhere, on every available surface. Shades of green wrapping and weaving around iron railing. Ivy crawling up the side of the exposed brick like nature was trying to take this luxurious place back for itself. You’d never seen anything quite like it.

This place was all anyone could talk about lately, but you’d never seen it first hand until tonight. It had been your coworker’s bright idea to get a bunch of the staff together and blow off some steam here this Friday night. She’d even wiggled her way into getting the company to pay for it by calling it a “team building experience,” a.k.a “let’s all get drunk together and moan about our problems on the boss’s dime.” You’d be skipping the alcohol tonight, but this place was a million years beyond your “guac at chipotle is a treat” personal budget and there was no way you were going to miss out on a free dinner here.

So far, no regrets as you wandered across the hardwood. You hadn’t even eaten any of the food yet, but it was already your new favorite place in the city on decor alone. And on top of that, you had something else to look forward to. Apparently, the hook here — not that it really needed one— was an upscale version of dinner and a mystery. You wondered how that was supposed to fit with this whole industrial utopia theme.

You hadn’t been to a restaurant that did a show with dinner since you saw Cinderella at a children’s dinner theater in eighth grade, but the shabby, primary colored castles of your memory clashed distinctly with the elegance of this place. The gaping imbalance made you chuckle. Sherlock dinner theater and artisanal hand glazed pottery seemed like an odd mix to you, but you were intrigued nonetheless, knowing you’d have fun whether the plot was brilliant or not.

After gawking an appropriate amount of time in the foyer, you realized you should probably check in for your group since you’d arrived first. Gliding through the Garden in search of the hostess booth, you found it hidden away beneath the shade of an almost prehistorically large fiddle leaf fig tree. You smiled up at the gargantuan plant, fingers tracing the edge of a leaf. If the millennial garden of Eden interior of the place hadn’t already been an indication, this alone reinforced what a miracle worker their main gardener must be.

Every fiddle leaf fig you’d ever owned had died many a gruesome death long before it ever even reached two feet, but this one almost brushed the exposed ceiling beams. You wished you could ask whoever was in charge here for some pointers, but they’d probably smell your plant mom failures on you from a mile away and decide not to waste their time. Plants just never seemed to like you back the way you loved them… oh well. That’s what plastic is for, you supposed.

Getting back to the task at hand, you leaned up on your toes to look for assistance, quickly noticing that the station was empty. Maybe they’re busy watering the crops, you chuckled to yourself wondering if this place really was pretentious enough to grow their own inventory-they certainly could- when you were suddenly greeted by the most stunningly handsome boy you’d ever seen.

“Hello, welcome to the Garden.” The living, breathing Adonis statue could speak apparently. You tried not to stare as he smiled back at you politely, his silky curls shagging about his face as he slid behind the hostess booth. Holy crap. Did they grow him in the back too?

He was beautiful- some undiscovered demigod with broad shoulders and a jawline so strong it could cut glass. He lifted his eyebrows pleasantly, waiting to assist. “I apologize for the wait—how may I be of service this evening?”

You couldn’t help the silly grin that spilled across your face when his wide chocolate eyes smiled your way.

“Um, Hi. I need a table for, lets see… 1,2,3,4...10 people I think?” You counted unashamedly on your fingers as the host’s lips quirked into a smile. “Oh! Actually, you know what? What am I doing—do you guys take reservations? My friend Beth might have called about us earlier?”

“Let me see…” The boy’s amused doe eyes drifted over a computer screen. You fiddled with the edges of a particularly plump succulent on the counter as you waited. “Here it is. Beth party of 10. Now usually when we have a group that big, we do offer the option of one of our private rooms. You guys would have your own separate narrative from whatever the main restaurant is doing….Would you be interested in that this evening?”

“Sure! Why not—that sounds amazing!” You answered, a bit too enthusiastically admittedly, but when his face lit up at your bubbliness, you found you couldn’t be bothered to feel embarrassed. Not when a boy who looked like that was looking at you that way, all soft around the edges. Will you be there? you wondered.

“Okay, then you’ll come right this way. Oh! And you’ll need this.” Dipping into a crystal bowl behind the counter, he fished out a crisp white piece of paper and slipped it into your hand, fingers brushing over yours as he did.

Something in your belly reacted sharply to the contact. Apparently, the electric crackle affected him too. His already round eyes widened, a nervous chuckle tumbling from his lips as your cheeks blossomed a warm, soft pink.

Suddenly, a ruckus erupted behind you, crashing into the tranquil silence. You turned over your shoulder to see your friends piling in the tall front door, laughing and smiling widely at you.

Tearing his eyes away from you with a self conscious gulp, the host cleared his throat before leading you all back past fountains, lush greenery and elaborate floral installations into yet another beautiful space. This room was just as intricate as the rest of the restaurant, with its warm terra cotta-colored walls dripping with ivy and orchids, lit with the dappled light of melting pillared candles piled atop the elaborate raw wood table spanning the length of the room.

As everyone happily clamored to find a seat along the banquet table, you noticed your friend, Erik, crashing along its opposite edge. Erik had been a football player in college, some defensive position you didn’t know the title of. He was a mammoth of a man, his blonde Nordic hair making him look like an off brand, out of shapeThor.

He paid little to no attention to where he threw his weight around like a puppy who didn’t yet know his size. So when he dropped himself onto the neatly slatted bench (gosh, every detail here was dripping in aesthetics) and promptly leaned against the wall, crushing the intricate orchid display, you couldn’t help but laugh. You heard the host’s strangled gasp and giggled at the beautiful boy's wide eyes as his horror-stricken face went pale across the room. Before he seemed to realize he was even doing it, his feet began to march across the floor to say something to your friend, until his politeness overtook him and he froze a few feet away. He grumbled to himself as your friend carelessly peeled himself off of the bench, annoyed complaining about something scratchy digging into his back. The host was positively fuming as irritation ticked in his jaw, but His big brown eyes betrayed his disappointment and downright bewilderment as the bedraggled orchids limped back into place.

“No.... They’re ruined. Now what am I supposed to display?” You heard him attempt to mutter under his breath, but his anger seemed to make his volume louder than intended. He was so flustered—it was oddly...kind of adorable. You couldn’t help but laugh. You knew your friend had meant no harm. He was a sweet guy, but generally oblivious, so things like this seemed to happen a lot. Chuckling under your breath, you couldn’t help but notice the strain in the host’s angular jawline, not to mention how good he looked with his eyebrows furrowed like that. Intense. It made you want to kiss the creases to relax him. Man, this guy was really getting to you...

Maybe it’s time to have some fun, you thought.

Leaning over the edge of the bench, you whispered surreptitiously, “Hey, maybe you should consider wheatgrass instead.” You sent a quick wink in the host’s direction, a thick cloud of giggles falling from your lips. Lashes fluttering , the poor guy seemed startled by your comment. He had been so wrapped up in blinders over his restaurant being ruined that he hadn’t realized anyone had been watching the entire interaction. For a quick second, embarrassment flashed over his features. The sudden chagrin on his face as he nervously ruffled his hair softened him. The Greek god of a man suddenly a soft, flustered boy. He looked so... sweet.

The whole scene gave you the oddest urge to pinch his cheeks and tell him how cute he was. But just as fast as it had appeared, the innocence in his wide eyes was gone, his composure swiftly resettling itself as his shoulders rolled down, his posture lifting him back up to full height. His confidence was back, and so was a lopsided smile that you decided you quite liked. “Might not be the worst idea.... certainly less overhead,” he sighed resignedly, hands hanging low on his hips as the tick in his jaw loosened, replaced instead by the beginning of a smirk.

“Much less upkeep. Less horizontal space. Equal level of pretension. I see no downsides,” you shrugged nonchalantly. You felt your own smile bloom wider the longer your gazes stayed fixed on each other. His eyes were dazzling- coffee brown and deep- as they glittered back at you. “I’ll look into it...might be a solid option. Have,” he hesitated. “Have you been here before? I don’t think I’ve seen you... I get the feeling I would have remembered you.” His face was so soft and unguarded, his pretty mouth just a bit too open as he searched his memory for a glimpse of you. You pulled your lip between your teeth as your smile threatened to grow.

“No,” you shook your head, hair bouncing around you. “It’s my first time here. First time for all of us actually. Hence, my friends lack of good graces with your horticultural displays.” you offered an apologetic shrug.

“May my orchids rest in peace,” he sighed with a shake of his head. “Not your fault though. You guys, uh, celebrating something?” He was suddenly too close for a stranger, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to care.

“Oh, no. We just work in that massive upstart down the block. Kept hearing about the place, and Instagram kept hacking our feeds with ads for it so we finally caved. Figured we’d try it out. ” You waved across the table gesturing to everyone. There were all so deep in their own side conversations that no one seemed to pay any mind to you lingering oddly with the wait staff. “Glad to see the marketing is working out,” he chuckled. “Well...if it’s your first time, then you’ll need a proper guide through the story.” A glint of mischief sparkled deep in his chocolate eyes, and you felt something effervescent glitter up your spine in excitement. “I suppose we will.” With a bow from his hip and a nod, he turned on his heel with no explanation, leaving you to smile down at your menu like an idiot in his absence. Trying to read was pointless honestly. The letters might as well have been in Arabic as they swam across the page- you weren’t processing anything. Far too lost in a dreamy eyed splendor over the boy you’d just met until a bony elbow nudged its way between your ribs. “What was THAT all about?” Eileen’s eyebrows bounced with curiosity. “ I don’t know.” You answered honestly as your head shook. At this point, you were smiling so much your cheeks were beginning to hurt. “But my God, isn’t he CUTE?” You hid behind your hands. “Cute??” Eileen shoved you in the shoulder. “He’s not a corgi, y/n. He’s a grown man.” She bit her lip. “A GORGEOUS, full grown man....did you see him when he walked away? God, what a view.” You pressed your forehead into her shoulder and whimpered, “I knowww. His smile, those thighs, my god...and his butt. Did you see it? It’s better than mine.” You both fell into a fit of giggles.

“All I know is that if you don’t give him your number then he’s definitely getting mine tonight. Or anything else he’d like for that matter.” Your jaw fell open at her brazenness. “Hey! slow your roll. You can’t call dibs before I’ve even gotten his name!” you laughed.

“Then you better work fast, babe. Cuz butts like that don’t stay single for long.” She tipped her head to the side matter of factly.

“Oh my gosh, shut up! You don’t know when he’ll come back. He might hear you.” You breathed.

“Let him. It’ll make my job easier.” She bit down seductively on her red straw. Swatting at her, you both giggled before back into the table’s office gossip.

Apparently, Elliot had shown up to the office wasted again today- either from getting trashed the night before or from getting sloshed the morning of, no one was quite sure at this point. Either way, everyone was annoyed as hell that he’d never get more than a slap on the wrist for it since his dad managed their branch. Nepotism still alive and well. Clearly.

Popping an entire potsticker in your mouth, your belly ached with laughter as Sean told you all how his assistant had accidentally walked in on two higher ups making out in the supply closet this morning and how traumatized the poor intern had been. He described in detail how the poor slob had still tried to get around them to get the extra printer paper, and what a mess the whole ordeal had been. He owed you a clean fifty bucks now.

With your keen eyes, you’d been the first person to be suspicious of them- you’d called it a solid month ago- and had put your money where your mouth was. You’d started the office pool that they were in fact a secret couple- a bet you’d clearly just won if Sean bleak expression was anything to go by. Lunch on him all week. Potstickers til i burst? Don’t mind if I do.

It had been a great evening, full of unwinding and bonding. So great, that you’d completely forgotten about the mystery element of the dinner. That is, until a crystalline voice spoke above you, snapping you to attention.

“Pardon me, everybody. But it’s time for the mystery of the evening to begin.”

Surprised, your eyes darted up to see the cute guy from earlier. He was standing right behind you. Your pulse spiked as he sent a smirk your way. What were you supposed to do with that? He was so close now that you could hear the fabric of his dress shirt rustle every time he shifted or gestured above you. With every movement, a burst of his scent surrounded you. It was something citrus, something fresh. A dizzy smile tugged at your lips as it enveloped you like a cloud. God, you wanted to bury your nose in it. You were such a sucker for a good smelling boy...

And this one was so in your personal space. Which should have been off putting, honestly. Especially since you’d barely known him for half an evening. It was a bold choice on his part, to get so close to you. It should have been a turn off. Should have. But it wasn’t. Instead, you found yourself almost vibrating with excitement at the proximity of him. Whatever this gravitational pull was around him, you were perfectly content to get pulled straight into it.

If you’d had the nerve to, he truly was close enough that if you tipped your body back just a few degrees you could’ve rested your head against his lean stomach if you’d wanted to… which, of course you did want to do… but you’d only just met him. So instead, you bit down to stifle your smile, eyes flicking over to Eileen who was just as giddy on your behalf.

God he’s so cute, you thought. Wait- is he still talking? Crap-focus, you scolded yourself, tuning back into his monologue.

“As everyone knows, we all have the same five senses. But what happens when we lose one? How does it affect our instincts? Our gut? How does it change the way we listen to each other?” he paced around the edges of the table, hands clasped behind his tailbone. It made his dress shirt bunch deliciously in all the right places, and you bit back a smile. It was getting harder and harder to hide your little infatuation.

“When each of you arrived,” he continued, “you were each given a character and a backstory- No one should know it but you- but only one of you received the card that said killer. Someone at this table has committed a murder, but who? Often, our eyes can deceive us, so as part of tonight’s story, your sight will be taken from you as you try to decipher the truth. Can you rely on your other senses, your hearing, your intuition to solve this case?” A few other waiters approached the table with baskets in hand before the room went dark- completely.

Not the “the lights are off but we can all still see” kind of dark. It was the “it's so black in here that you can feel it” kind of dark. The kind of complete nothingness you never get with the ambient glow of street lights and screens everywhere. It was heavy and consuming, the absoluteness of the suddenly inky black room.

Swirling your own fingers in front of your face, you saw absolutely nothing. Not even the glint of your own jewelry, and something fantastic bubbled up in you. This is going to be so fun. Your heart began to race in anticipation- you didn’t even know what for yet. You felt your knuckles wrap around the bench beneath you, bracing, waiting, holding your breath, wondering when the night would finally be-

Only to have your thoughts stop. Completely.

Each individual one of them halted in their tracks by the sudden contact of warm fingertips against your skin. The gentle press of a large set of hands melted into the tops of your shoulders, thumbs bracing on the back of your neck. It was him again, wasn’t it?

He squeezed once, tense and hesitant despite his obvious strength, like he wasn't sure touching you was the best idea, but he couldn’t back out now that he’d started. The delicacy of it left you buzzing. In the silence, the pads of his fingers sunk deeply into your skin, and your breath caught. You’d never been this grateful for off the shoulder clothing in your life.

“May I?” he asked, tone honeyed and sweet.

You realized he meant the blindfold you’d heard so much about before you came and nodded your head just once, tension sticking in your throat as you tried to swallow it down. It was only then that you realized he probably couldn’t see you in the darkness. You’d have to gather your wits enough to verbally respond. You hoped he wouldn’t catch the way the “yes” that left your lips was embarrassingly breathless.

You heard him hum in response, holding whatever was left of your breath as his fingertips slowly fell from the tops of your shoulders, dragging across the edges your sleeves like he was in no rush to let you go. It was a strange intimacy from a stranger, but to be honest, you didn’t want him to let go either.

Until, quick as a whisper, his warmth was gone, leaving you alone in the dark. The shift so abrupt that part of you wondered if you’d imagined the last thirty seconds. His lingering hands had fallen away so abruptly at the end. Where had he gone?

It all felt like a fever dream you’d cooked up, like your own subconscious was mocking you for wanting him so bad. For a second, you wondered if you should be concerned by how obviously attracted you were to him. Should you be ashamed by how quickly you welcomed his touch? By the way your traitorous body showed no intention of pushing him away? Maybe you should, but he didn’t give you the time to overthink it before he was beside you again.

“Jungkook.” He whispered, only loud enough for you to hear.

“What?” You breathed, face turning toward his sound in the blackness.

“That’s my name. Jungkook.” He repeated, his voice airy and soft. You hadn’t realized how beautiful his voice was until it was the only thing you had to focus on. You could feel that he was bent low, his chest just brushing the tops of your shoulders. You felt dizzy at the sensation of his warm breath ghosting over the shell of your ear as a cool satin ribbon was draped over your eyes.

“In case you were wondering.” He whispered, pulling the edges of the fabric into a soft bow as he dipped to the other side of your shoulders. “But I’ll also answer to ‘guy with the butt that’s better than yours’ if you prefer.” His breathy laugh filled your ears, and you could practically hear him smiling. “Oh god, you heard that?” the back of your hand smothered your mouth, a smile emerging even as you cringed.

“Oh absolutely. Acoustics are insane in this place. It was kind of nice though... I mean, how often do I get to hear such a pretty girl compliment me ?” You could feel the rush of blood practically crashing into your cheeks. You knew the whole world would see you blushing if the lights were on. “I’m out of witty comments for that one.” “Don’t smile. You’ll mess up the blindfold,” he warned, the endearing softness in his voice undermining his words. “I’ll try. Don’t think I can help it though.” A satisfied hum left Jungkook’s lips as he pulled away and went back to the task at hand.

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And just like that, the mystery began with Jungkook as the narrator and weaver of your tale.

Your group had been given a story set in feudal Japan. Clashing samurai, feuding houses, forbidden love- Your friends all got surprisingly into it, losing their normal voices into the adopted lilts and pitches of their newfound characters.

It really was incredible the nuances you caught when you focused on your hearing. Jin’s voice, for example, was far more nasal than you realized. He had a tendency to react dramatically any time someone pressed him for details- clearly signaling how close they were to the truth the more he tried to hide it. Lina’s expressionless monotone was nearly impossible to read on voice alone, but it made her all the more fun to try to figure out. Despite focusing on the story, you couldn’t help but notice that while Jungkook had the entire table to canvas as he narrated, he still stayed suspiciously close to your side the entire time- like he couldn’t help himself. His fingertips would brush the fabric of your blouse when he’d pass. His taut arms would graze the swing of your ponytail as he walked by. He had no mercy on the fragile hummingbird flitting with wild abandon in your chest at each of his actions. In fact, you could hear the distinct note of something that sounded an awful lot like laughter in his voice anytime he gave instructions to your character specifically. Smug son of a gun. Soon, the story unraveled as it was revealed that Jin had, in fact, been the murderer. He was jealous of Lina’s love for samurai Hoseok and had killed him in a drunken rage but tried to frame Bobby for the dishonorable act.

With the crime solved, the lights were turned back on, a fuzzy halo emerging around the edges of your vision as a staff member came behind each guest to remove their blindfold. You were unsurprised when you were met with a gentle waft of clean citrus as Jungkook appeared once again to help you with yours. The warm pads of his fingers grazed your cheeks when he removed the satin ribbon. It was so quick- it was so hard to tell if it had been on purpose- before his touch was gone again far too quickly for your liking. “I must say, you were particularly clever.” He offered softly as he stood behind you. You dropped your neck back to look up at him, eyes wide. “Anyone paying attention would have known that wasn’t Bobby’s blade work.” “Still, most people don’t catch it on their first time through the story.” He tipped his head matter of factly. “Maybe I just had a good guide,” You winked, tucking your chin back to normal when you saw a faint pink color his cheekbones. He cleared his throat before addressing the table. “You’ll find your individual checks have been placed in front of you, along with a complimentary dessert. Thank you for dining with us this evening. It has been our pleasure.”

He bowed at the waist as he gave his farewell, making his last words spoken dangerously close to your ear. Adrenaline spiked in your veins at his proximity for the thousandth time tonight. As he returned to full height, another man approached the table, this one taller, leaner than jungkook, with a smile so innocent and wide it could have belonged to a child.

“Good evening everyone! How was your experience with us tonight?” His voice. It boomed like a clap of thunder. It was oddly deep for someone who looked so young. Everyone at the table chattered with random superlatives about how amazing the night had been as the man's smile glowed brighter.

“I’m so glad to hear it!! You had a real treat tonight- guided by our finest story teller.” Pride swelling in his eyes, the man clapped an embarrassed Jungkook on the shoulder. “Such a shame it might be the last story he tells here.” The baritone lamented. “What am I supposed to do without my partner?” The man used his other hand to clutch at his chest dramatically, face scrunched in distress, as you felt your heart free fall into your shoes.

Last story? “Calm down, Taehyung. You make it sound like I’m dying.” Jungkook rolled his eyes and swatted at the man. “You might as well be!” Taehyung huffed. “He’s leaving us tomorrow to start his new life! Off galavanting in the mountains somewhere with flowers and goats. Leaving all his old, true friends behind.” He wrapped an arm around jungkook’s shoulder, dragging him against his will into a side hug jungkook vehemently tried to escape. “Quiet down, bro. You’re making a scene.” Jungkook balked, face pale at the unwanted attention.

He’s…. leaving? Your stomach took a swan dive. No. But I just met him. How... where was he going? Your eyes fell back to the table as you steadied yourself.

You’d been so excited about where this all might go. It was hard enough to accept that you’d already gotten this attached to him. Let alone invested enough to be this disappointed…..but, you’d felt something so strong around him. The kind of glittering spark you hadn’t felt with another person in a long time, if ever.

Every time his eyes had lingered on you or his body had brushed against yours, a supernova had ignited in your chest. You’d spent the whole night going mad with the electric possibility of him- just to what? Feel like a fool for being infatuated with a stranger? Look like the naive girl you were, pining over a daydream?

This was ridiculous. You shook your head at yourself. This boy didn’t owe you anything. He was a stranger two hours ago, he’d stay a stranger when you left twenty minutes from now. But no matter how you tried to convince yourself, your poor heart still felt sick about it all. He’d just seemed so— you don’t know, special. So magnetic. And You’d thought he’d felt the same pull bringing him to you too.

Because why else would he have flirted with you half the night? He didn’t seem like the kind of guy to lead you on if he knew it was going nowhere. An assumption you realized was a heck of a leap. You didn’t actually know anything about him, but somehow, something about that narrative just didn’t sit right with you. The look he’d had in his eyes each time he smiled at you tonight had seemed too sincere to be a lie. But from the way his loud friend was still talking, he made it sound like Jungkook was moving to the Alps.

So even if his sweet eyes had genuinely meant every smile tonight, was it really all for nothing? You knew the night was ending, and it was a long shot, but you’d really been holding out hope it might go somewhere beyond this. Apparently not. In an instant, he reappeared by your side, having broken free from the grip of his affectionate friend’s grasp. Jungkook dipped beside you once again as you stumbled to rearrange your now troubled features into something resembling disinterest.

“Hey, Sorry about that. But, I um, really do hope you have a great night. So your uh, your check is on the table.” His poise seemed a bit more rattled than before, but you were too glum to give it much notice.

You sent an out of focus glance in the ticket’s direction and nodded. He’d already told everyone that. Most of the table already had their debit cards out for their tickets. You didn’t know why he was bothering to mention it again when all you wanted to know was where he was going and if it was far.

“I um...didn’t get to catch your name earlier,” the smile he offered you was gentle, hopeful, as his wide brown eyes looked down at you. You felt yourself sigh withought meaning to. You’d have found the sheepish look in his eyes hopelessly adorable just a few minutes earlier, but now all it did was make your chest hurt. “Not a detail you need if you’re moving away though right?” You asked, a sadness creeping in your attempted smile. God, you weren’t fooling anyone. This was pathetic. His brows dipped at your response, confused by the shift in your demeanor. “I’m... I mean, i told you mine.” His gentle eyes tried to salvage the situation. The confidence he’d exuded all night was slipping away, a boyish vulnerability taking its place. There was no harm, you supposed. “Fair enough. It’s y/n.” you conceded. “Y/n.” He repeated, like he was trying to make the shape a new habit for his mouth. “Pretty name for a pretty girl.”

The smile you gave him back was a limp, pitiful thing, but it was the best you could give. Half an hour ago, you definitely didn’t think him calling you pretty would have made you so sad. Compliments didn’t usually send you into a craving for solitude and halo top ice cream, but this one certainly did.

“Well, y/n, I may not be as far away as you think. Have a good night.” And with that he was gone.

Bummed, you looked over your shoulder as he disappeared into the kitchen. “Shoot. Well, that was a fast track to nowhere,” you sighed to Eileen, slouching in your seat. “I know. Bummer. Seemed like he liked you too.” Eileen commiserated. “Right? So it wasn’t just me? You could tell too?” “Oh, he was totally obvious about it! He also gave you more ice cream than me. Shameless. Boy has no subtly.” You chuckled at her accusation, but sure enough, you did in fact have one scoop more ice cream in your jadeite bowl than the rest of your friends. This boy already knew the way to your heart.

“Still. Why act interested if you’re disappearing the next day?” You pouted. “Why show interest when he’s just a server you’ve never met before?” She asked pointedly, eyebrow arched as your eyes fell away. “People react when they feel something- and clearly you two were feeling something the entire night. His eyes didn’t leave you for a second....We don’t get to pick the timing of when we’re attracted to people, y/n. Nobody’s working with that kind of control.” Flopping onto her shoulder, you heaved a heavy sigh. “Again... you’re right. I just, I don’t know. There was just—something about him. He felt... special.” “He looked special in that outfit. Those buttons were crying.” She mockingly bit her lip as you swatted your napkin at her. “Eileen! Unhelpful! I’m aware.... I guess you just don’t always get to know where things could have gone.” You shrugged, wilting into her warmth. “I know, babe. Sorry.” She patted your head comfortingly. You turned to your ice cream to heal the wound, accepting that beautiful Jungkook would just be a passing meeting and a quick deadend to nowhere. After polishing off your dessert, you pulled out your cash to at least leave him the memory of a good tip when your eyes caught on scribbled handwriting in the top corner of your receipt. Hey, I don’t normally do something like this, but there’s a place around the corner that stays open super late. Meet me for crappy coffee + good conversation at 11? -jungkook xxx-xxx-xxxx You choked on nothing as you processed what was going on.

“Eileen! Eileen!!” You grabbed at her sleeve. “What?? What is it?! Calm down.” She pried your clutching hands off her cropped leather jacket, brushing off any damage you’d done.

“He gave me his number!” You nearly shouted.

“What?” She almost spat out her cocktail.

“He gave me his number!!” You waved the receipt wildly in her face. “He invited me to coffee and gave me his number!!!” You squealed, shrieking at an octave usually reserved for wild piglets. “Shut up! No way!!!” “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” You rambled ecstatically. “But wait!” your face fell,“ we’re supposed to go out for drinks with everybody after.” “And? Is that a joke??? You see us every day! What are you doing talking to me?? Text him! Go meet your man, honey. I’ll cover for you.” She winked as she swung her purse over her shoulder. “Really?? I love you! I owe you!” You yelled as she made her way to the door. “Um, You really don’t, but I’ll never turn down a favor. Let me know how it goes. See you on Monday.” She waved back at you, flipping the platinum ends of her ebony hair over her shoulder. “Hey! Where’s y/n? Isn’t she coming with us,” Jin seemed to be the only one alarmed by your absence. “Nothing to worry your pretty little head about, dear. I’ll fill you in later.” She grabbed him by his shoulders and nudged him out the door frame. “Ooo, bulking up are we, Kim? Feeling solid these days.”

“Yes actually!” His face glowed. “I have been! But you know, muscle tone is 80% genetics anyway. You cant just make yourself handsome, you know.You have to be born this good looking to start with and work from there.”

She knew there was no quicker, sure fire way to get Jin off topic than to ask him about himself. Once that train had left the station, there was little hope if any of ever turning back.

Eileen really took one for the team there. “Call me” she mouthed back at you as they slipped off into the night. You chuckled to yourself at the scene, finally realizing the turn your own evening was about to take. You plugged his number into your phone and shot him a quick message. [10:35pm] Hey, how did you know I was always down for quality conversation? Moments later, your phone began to buzz. Jungkook [10:36pm] Just went with my gut ;)

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itsclydebitches · 4 years

Text

Welcome back, everyone!

A quick note before we begin: after the previous recap a couple of lovely friends and anons explained to me some discrepancies in my work, mainly about how Fox's semblance functions and how much info we’ve gotten on that previously. They're worth a read if (like me) you haven't read After the Fall and would like a more accurate picture of this whole project. However, I have to admit that sadly past!me didn’t think through the usefulness of those posts and tag them appropriately... so they’re just somewhere in the mess that is the “rwby” and “mymetas” tags. Still, I wanted to acknowledge their existence, both for your potential use and as another disclaimer along the lines of, “I’m reading what amounts to a sequel and recapping as I go. Prepare for a bumpy ride.”

We're on chapter five now (of twenty-two! Holy god I’m slow!!) and truth be told I actually enjoyed this opening. We're in Yatsuhashi's head this time around and he's likewise enjoying Vacuo's Meeting Spot, an "artificial oasis" that reminds him of his mother's healing gardens. I wonder what "healing" means in this particular context. A generalized benefit to your body, mind, and spirit in the form of meditation? Or a more literal, magic-based healing with its roots in aura use? In a world with RWBY's possibilities, a healing garden that someone like Ozpin might run—let's take time to settle ourselves and reflect—vs. one that someone like Jaune would create—let me use my semblance to literally heal your wounds—are rather different things. I'd be interested to know which category (or another) Yatsuhashi's mother falls under.

Regardless, it's a satisfyingly quiet scene. Yatsuhashi comments on both the beauty of the oasis as well as how that beauty, in turn, raises the desert in his eyes. Nothing like not having to deal with a hard landscape to make that landscape seem more bearable, alluring even, and this moment managed to capture that feeling rather well. The only downside is that, in a recurring theme, I once again got whiplash upon realizing that Yatsuhashi is not standing alone in the peace of the early morning, like the description had led me to believe. Apparently Velvet is there. As well as the whole freaking student body! Myers* has this strange habit of writing one kind of scene only to suddenly reveal that the scene is actually radically different from what his writing had encouraged you to imagine. Yatsuhashi is going on about healing, natural beauty, and the peace of an early morning. What's peaceful about dozens of students speculating beside him? Have you ever met a school of sleep deprived young adults dealing with a surprise announcement before breakfast? That’s as far from peaceful as humanly possible.

Mood, kid.

(*Also yes, we're working to write Myers' name correctly this chapter. If I'm going to drag his work so much the least I can do is not add an additional 'e' to his name lol.)

Along with the entirety of Shade Academy to break the peace, Yatsuhashi tells us about dromedons and mole crabs. The former, according to the wiki, is a "camel-like Grimm that can spit acidic venom" and also sports an armored hump. Fun! The latter, according to Yatsuhashi, is a "horrifying" creature that "slept just below the sand and could cut a person in two with their massive claws." And they're the normal, non-grimm animals! Screw Salem. Humanity needs huntsmen just to keep people safe from the everyday wildlife. Crabs cut people in two, Zwei is capable of being set on fire and launched at a mech... it's a miracle that anyone ever steps outside their home.

I do write this with full knowledge that Australia exists, but still.

As Yatsuhashi moves away from thoughts of killer crabs, we begin what is easily the strangest bit of repetition this chapter. Yatsuhashi's shoulder is sore from having tried to break down the hideout door and I'm going, "Wait no, you used your sword” and frantically flipping back through my PDF. To Myers' credit, there is a detail that suggests Yatsuhashi uh... rammed the door? I think? Last chapter he "Stepped forward and Fox heard him grunt with exertion." That's the only thing I can think of that would explain his shoulder unexpectedly being sore hours later: if he'd charged it instead of doing something insane like, oh, I don't know, trying the doorknob first. Odd choice of continuity, but okay. What's super weird though is that Myers repeats the detail again:

Yatsuhashi crossed his arms, then grimaced as a fresh pain shot through his shoulder. Come on, Aura, he thought. Do your thing.

I'm sorry, how badly did you hurt your shoulder? Why does a supposedly intelligent student immediately resort to what is apparently somewhat serious self-harm when faced with a closed door? Why is Myers choosing this of all things to tell us about? Is this incredibly random shoulder injury going to hinder Yatsuhashi during the test? Spoilers: I don't think it does considering that I searched for "shoulder" in my PDF and there's just a lot of hands on shoulders coming up, but nothing that, at first glance, seems to make this kind of set up necessary. So I say again: weird.

Meanwhile, weirdness doesn’t even acknowledge the continued inconsistencies with aura. Jaune heals a cut on his cheek instantaneously, but hours later Yatsuhashi needs to gripe at his aura to hop-to already? So either Jaune’s aura is far more powerful than the average person’s (never established outside of Pyrrha’s “You have a lot of it” comment), or Yatsuhashi really hurt his shoulder that badly. Hard enough that with the rest of the night and early morning to heal him, his aura is still working overtime.

Alrighty then.

So the whole student body is just kind of hanging out, striking up casual conversations. Velvet asks how Yatsuhashi is doing and he says he's fine, "Thanks to you." Wait... what did Velvet do? I mean yeah, she was there last night and she's here now, but so is the rest of the team. I don't really recall her helping Yatsuhashi in any specific way. As is the norm now, I remain mildly, endlessly confused by this novel.

But we don’t have time to delve into the gratitude attached to events I’m not actually sure happened. There’s more chit chat going on as everyone tries to figure out why they've been summoned so early in the morning. "It's not always about us," Velvet says and I nod along in agreement even though I know, as a reader, that it's absolutely about them. "As I'm often reminding Coco."

Coco fires back with how it "could be about us," noting that it would be pretty coincidental if something else was going on right now, plus Rumpole may have realized they were out last night. (Remember, Yatsuhashi wasn't subtle about trying to break down that door). This is one of those moments where I agree wholeheartedly with Coco's logic, but kind of hate to encourage the 'It's all about us' attitude. Velvet might be smiling, but as previously established this is an ongoing theme within RWBY's characterization that it could really stand to do without.

Yatsuhashi then offers some "unsolicited advice" about how Rumpole could afford to slow down some and "let things come at their own pace," to which I respond, "Huh?" Where in the world did this come from? Previously the whole group—including Yatsuhashi, considering he didn't speak out against it—was concerned that Rumpole wasn't doing enough to track down the Crown. That is, do more, move faster, get it done already. You haven’t gotten it done? Okay, we’ll do it instead. Now he's providing this subtle criticism in response to a meeting, as if that's an inherently odd or bad thing for a headmistress to do. You want the woman to do extra work faster but slow down when it comes to her actual job?

It reads to me like Myers is trying to put a lot of wise-sounding dialogue into Yatsuhashi's mouth—you know, the Asian character who keeps bringing up things like meditation and mindfulness—but hasn't bothered to think about whether that dialogue makes any sense. Of course, we then immediately backtrack to reveal that his comment was really about Coco not pushing the team too hard, but... that's not what he said? And Coco clearly didn't get the message. And the hidden meaning of the words didn't come across too well if your reader is squinting at what was said until the author has to straight up go, 'This is what Yatsuhashi actually meant.' Maybe just... have him say that? Give us some significant looks towards Coco, at the very least. Something to clue us in here that Yatsuhashi is (weirdly) blaming Rumpole for Coco's flaw.

Then he just ruins the whole scene further by mentally commenting that if all this extra work was hard on them, "what would it do to SSSN?" Ugh, look. I don't even like SSSN very much. I didn't shed a tear when they left the main series and would shrug if they ever came back, so you know the story is ragging on them too much when I'm standing up for the group at the bottom of my Character Adoration list. The duality of 'SSSN is so incompetent I don't even know how they're alive' and 'That, in comparison, makes us the best team ever' got old forty pages ago, yet I have the distinct feeling it won't be letting up any time soon.

Headmaster Theodore finally arrives to break up this thrilling conversation and the students erupt into thunderous applause. "It was what [he] expected. It was what he inspired whenever he appeared." That... is absolutely hilarious. This guy is so much of a showman, so insanely over the top, that he expects people to treat his everyday appearance as a spectacle worthy of praise and they agree. You know who he reminds me of?

The king himself, Alex Louis Armstrong. I'm digging this already. It's absurd and I will forever question RWBY's ability to balance comedy with its darker tones... but I'm counting this one as a win so far. There's got to be something to praise about this book.

Just as important, we get a description of Theodore's positively insane outfit. I immediately googled to see if someone had drawn him and the fandom did not disappoint. I'm not going to include the image here in case the artist, Edisu, doesn't want their work reposted like that, but I highly recommend you check out the link and get a visual.

The only thing left to say about this fashion monstrosity is that he has a "flowing gray-blue cape, the color of a stormy sky." I'll let our favorite textile engineer make my point for me:

Honestly, between Ruby's cape and Weiss' hair someone is going to end up in trouble one of these days.

In this world free of horrific cape tragedies, we've segued into a flashback which is, frankly, kind of boring compared to the others we’ve gotten. It's just the group meeting Theodore, information and characterization that could have easily been distributed to the audience in the present. It's starting to feel like the structure of including a flashback each chapter is hindering Myers somewhat, just because every chapter doesn’t necessarily need one, but that’s far from the biggest issue to tackle.

We learn that Theodore (really Rumpole) did a bunch of research on all the students involved in the Vytal Festival and they're very pleased that Team CFVY has joined them now, despite the horrific circumstances. We again hear about how judgmental Coco can be, that her judgements are rarely wrong... but if they are wrong she's the last to admit it. So really that's less of a 'This character has good instincts about other people' and more 'This character is just, as said, judgmental and then stubborn about it when she’s wrong.' Theodore, however, seems like a cool dude:

“Ah, she speaks!” Theodore strode toward Velvet. His voice softened. “You didn’t fail, my dear. You fought. You stayed, far longer than anyone would have asked or expected of a student. And now you’re here. Do you want to be here? Will you fight for Shade the way you did for Beacon, Velvet Scarlatina?”

This is great. This is the kind of reassurance I would expect from a headmaster who, thus far, has received a fair amount of praise. Unlike his students, Theodore understands the risks Beacon students took and when it was time for them to make a life-saving retreat. He's inspiring while also being empathetic and honestly? That's the most I've had that 'You're a good person' sense from RWBY in a very long time.

Now watch Theodore turn out to be evil lol.

He cuts the tension of the serious conversation by proclaiming that if any of them doubt whether they should be here, they should take it up with him via a fight. Theodore announces this while striking a pose. I say again:

We then get some more reflection on how Theodore compares to Ozpin:

Ozpin had believed in you before you did, almost like he knew your true potential, despite what your transcripts or fighting abilities looked like. Theodore believed you had potential, but you had to earn it and prove yourself to him first.

I agree with that and I'm pleased to see that this time the comparison didn't involve criticizing Ozpin in an effort to build Theodore up. It’s likewise a useful description and I think it provides us with at least one interpretation of why the RWBYJNR group has discarded Ozpin so thoroughly. The addition "despite what your transcripts or fighting abilities looked like" implies that Ozpin sees potential in everyone. It doesn't matter how presumably flawed you might be—in physical strength, like Jaune; in morals, like Lionheart— Ozpin will see the good in you and give that good a fighting chance. That's why he's the one tasked with doing something as crazy as uniting the whole world because he's the one person capable of seeing that potential in literally everyone. That much is true. But the flipside of this is that, unlike when in interacting with someone like Theodore, no one expects to have to work for Ozpin's faith, his praise... his trust. With Theodore you have to "earn" the respect he gives you right from the start. With Ozpin it's free! So surely that means such faith extends to every possible situation, right?

Which is when you run into trouble. When the situation is no longer "I'll give you a chance in my school" but something much more serious like "I'm risking the whole world on your character." Ozpin is an optimist, but he's also cautious as hell (with good reason), so though he sees the potential in everyone he knows he can't let his own hope for humanity blind him to reality. That person might betray you. They might turn on you. They might give up and hurt you in the process... even if you want to believe that people are simply better than that. Wanting doesn’t make it so.

If someone who had as little interaction with Ozpin as Team CFVY did nevertheless developed such a strong sense of, "Yeah, he believes in everyone!" then it seems likely that Team RWBY, already sporting a special connection with him, thought they were shoe-ins for every possible secret and task they might ask of him. Their time at Beacon was defined largely by both intentional favoritism and coincidences that could arguably be read as such. Ruby gets to go to Beacon two years early. She gets to be team leader. The sisters stay together despite teams supposedly being random. Team RWBY goes on missions not meant for first years. Team RWBY is given a nudge-nudge-wink-wink about The White Fang so that they can do what they’re able to help. Team RWBY was friends with Pyrrha, next in line for the Maiden powers. They got used to Ozpin simultaneously solving all the real problems that showed up and letting them play at being important, all while the rest of the school had to follow normal rules. They’re special. But then Beacon falls, the game is over, and they're blindsided by having to earn trust and privileges in the real world. Playing at huntresses in the safety of your headmaster’s school is over and Ruby in particular never got that there was a massive difference between that and a real war where the fate of the world hangs on your trustworthiness and ability to keep it together. It’s why she announces to the Argus guards that she is a huntress while attacking the people she’s meant to protect.

Which would be a fantastic arc to give them if the show ever had someone sit the group down and tell them how childish and selfish they're being. Instead, they're still being handed that trust and privilege—you can go into Atlas despite stealing from the military, you get your licenses years early, you get to carry an incalculably valuable relic around—while likewise still getting mad that the adults around them don't give them more. This comparison here, though realistically just a throwaway passage in a novel rather iffily connected to its original series, starts to highlight the excellent situation RT set up... and then didn't do anything with.

But I've gone on about this long enough. There are just two other things I'd like to point out about this flashback. The first is that it may help us get a handle on Ozpin's age (if we're willing to accept these books as canon, despite their other inconsistencies). Earlier we're told that "Headmaster Theodore’s whole style should have been ridiculous for a man likely in his forties, maybe older" and here, in describing their different approaches, we get "Headmaster Ozpin, who had been younger but seemed much older." So that could potentially put Ozpin his his late 30s if he's noticeably younger than Theodore in his 40s. Or, in his 40s if the "maybe older" part is right and Theodore is in his 50s. I can’t imagine that Theodore is in his 60s. Not much to go on, admittedly, but I'll take whatever I can get. The interesting thing is that if Ozpin really is that young and Qrow is now (presumably) in his early 40s, wouldn't that have made them basically the same age during his Beacon days? Perhaps even giving us an Ozpin who was younger than his oldest students? I don't know. It's really less of a definitive piece of information and more messy speculation to add to the pile—which is par the course for RWBY nowadays.

The second detail I wanted to point out was that despite all their supposed differences, Headmaster Theodore and Professor Rumpole have a very Ozpin-Glynda relationship going on. For all the cosmetic changes it boils down to the same dynamic. Both headmasters are powerful, quirky men who at first glance appear to be rather useless at their jobs, requiring the confident headmistress to swoop in and manage the daily running of a school. Those two do the heavy lifting while their bosses work wonders from behind the scenes (a la The Wizard). When I read Rumpole chastising Theodore for claiming he investigated the students, or when she reminds him that there isn't time to have an impromptu duel with his students, I couldn't help but think about Glynda reluctantly letting Ozpin invite Ruby to Beacon early, or cleaning up the cafeteria while he shrugs off the mess. To be clear, I don't necessarily mean this as a criticism, just an observation. In truth I'm not sure how I feel about it, but it adds to the overall sense that Shade is just Beacon with a slightly different coat of paint. As I've mentioned previously, for all the text's insistence that Shade isn't like the other schools, the story hasn't done a good job of demonstrating that cultural difference in any meaningful way and similarities like this only add to the feeling that this isn't really a unique Kingdom—or at least not one with a firm enough identity to be persuasively unique. Same rule breaking team sneaking out on their own mission. Same secondary team who’s talented, but not as special as the protagonists. Same strange man with his responsible woman running the school. The details differ, obviously, but the structure feels largely the same.

As mentioned above, once the flashback ends Theodore tries to spar with one of the students but is quickly shut down by Rumpole because, you know, they have a meeting to hold. Apparently there have been complaints lately from the local security about Shade students interfering with official huntsmen business.

“I told you it was about us,” Coco muttered.

Coco, when you hear that people are pissed that you, an unlicensed student, are disrupting the careers of professionals every night the takeaway should not be, 'Aha! I knew it was all about me.'

Yatsuhashi at least provides a more nuanced perspective. "This wasn’t right, though. If they hadn’t interfered, those Huntsmen would have kidnapped an innocent person." He's right. They did help someone, but what they've failed to learn is that an individual good deed does not excuse the unlawful steps they took in getting there. If Team CFVY had just been out on the town and happened to spot some shady characters pulling shit, then put a stop to their kidnapping, that's fine. That's heroic. What is not heroic is them going out with the express purpose of fixing a situation that trained professionals told them they should not be trying to fix—key word being “trying,” given that they all understand Rumpole’s worry that they’ll make things worse. It was enough to send them back home last night... after Yatsuhashi failed to break into the hideout. The problem is not the "I helped someone who needed it" part but rather the "I'm arrogant enough to think that my presence is necessary" bit.

If having students conducting investigations was wanted or necessary, it would be a part of the curriculum: acknowledged or otherwise. AKA yes, Ruby. It would be very helpful if you'd head on off to Mountain Glenn, under the observation of a seasoned huntsmen, and report back if there's any dubious activity going on over there. Ozpin said, 'Yes please' to the extra (highly controlled) help while these professionals are saying, 'No thanks.' The fact that Team CFVY acts is if they're justified in continuing this investigation—and worse, that the story keeps validating those feelings—undermines their otherwise heroic actions. RWBY really is a series that struggles with giving its protagonists compelling reasons for getting involved in the fight. ‘Because I want to help’ might be a noble motivation, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. The Mountain Glenn mission was like a chef allowing a talented, aspiring teen to help them with a dish, all of it done under their tutelage. Team CFVY’s investigation is like the teen sneaking into the kitchen after dark to doctor all the prep for the next day’s cooking under the assumption that they’ll make it even better. Hell, maybe they will! But that’s not the point. Your help was not invited — explicitly denied, actually —and there’s a very good chance you’ll mess something up.

So because this group of eight continually insists that they know best, the whole school is required to stay on campus after nightfall. Huzzah!

It’s just too bad these consequences hurt others just as much as Team CFVY. The other students are pissed about this. I would be too! Team CFVY remains adamant though that they did the right thing, no guilt here, relying on the reader inaccurately comparing ‘saving lives’ with ‘losing free time off campus’ in order to come out on Team CFVY's side. They still fail to understand that helping people is not the reason they’re being punished.

Theodore and Rumpole reiterate that they are working on a solution and that no one else should be getting involved. Team CVFY is no more persuaded by this speech than they were the previous ones. The announcement then segues into discussion of the former Haven students which produces... boos from the audience?? My god, what is wrong with this school? I mean I get it, school is brutal—both in real life and fiction—especially when the social dynamics of your school are written much more like a high school than a college, but usually if characters are going to drag new students it's in the semi-privacy of a bathroom or an empty hall. Groaning over the existence of war survivors in front of your headmaster is a level of confident cruelty I didn't expect.

Then again, RWBY is the show that gave us Cardin pulling on Velvet's ears in the middle of the cafeteria, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised.

Theodore quickly bypasses the whole 'A decent number of my students hate these other students' issue and instead acknowledges that it is "difficult to adjust to a new school, an entirely new group of classmates, and most of all to life in Vacuo. Yet some of you have been separated from your original training teams.” Which is a nice way of saying that a good number of these teammates are dead. So what's the solution here?

Reinitiation Ceremony!

I'm sarcastic, but in all honesty I don't hate this idea. Far from it. Partly because I have a strong love of competitions in shonen-esque stories. Tests, trials, the obligatory tournament arc... they've always been some of my favorite parts of a series, largely because they allow the author to develop whacky and creative challenges that show off important characterization. See: Killua using a skateboard during the tunnel run before deciding that if Gon can manage running it, he can too; or Izuku using the mines and a piece of scrap to blast himself ahead of Bakugo and Todoroki. The structure of such tests forces characters to demonstrate creativity and critical thinking skills alongside strength, and that in turn reminds us of why they're our heroes. RWBY managed this a little bit with the Vytal Festival, but overall I don’t think the teams did anything particularly impressive to win. Team RWBY worked together, Nora hit people really hard with her hammer, Weiss' injury pissed off Yang enough to tap into more power... it was all stuff we had seen before and very little of it required planning or creativity. The Vytal Festival functioned more to set up the plot developments of Volume 3, which is fine, though for a while I had hoped that we would get a huntsmen license exam to do this sort of work... which obviously didn’t happen. Disappointing, but we’re at least getting something like that here.

So I love the concept. I even love the general reasoning behind holding the ceremony at all. Anyone who had spent five minutes on this blog knows that I think the groups need to learn to play well with others. Yet I also can't deny that the team dynamics provide stability for these characters, even if they've come to rely on that stability to an unhealthy degree. We've got students whose teams were presented to them not just as a professional tool, but their primary support system. You live with these people, attend all the same classes, spend your free time together, and survive life-threatening situations on a fairly regular basis. It's work, family, and friendship all rolled into one, so if the headmaster suddenly says that you get a new team, that's a whole lot more devastating than just learning that you've got a new project group to deal with. It shouldn't have come to that—a school looking to teach a profession that requires working with a wide variety of individuals should never have told four students to rely one each other and each other alone—but now that we're here you can't just break them apart with no notice. Especially with a traumatic war going on. It's hard to come to a new school, meet new people, learn a new culture... so let me rip away the one piece of familiarity you have left.

Of course, I don't really think that the teams will be broken up irrevocably, if at all. Rather, I simply want to acknowledge that despite my appreciation for these kinds of stories and despite my desire that the teams get some distance... it shouldn't be done like this. Even more-so when it’s abundantly clear—to us if not the instructors—that this little stunt is causing their students to re-live a whole bucket load of trauma. Yatsuhashi thinks about how this feels like an “out of body experience” and “It reminded [him] uncomfortably of the evacuation of Beacon Academy… He felt his breath catch in his throat.” Coco’s order to stick together “[brought] him back to the moment,” re-emphasizing that he was lost in the past for a while there. He’s clearly struggling.

Now, to be fair, this could all fall under the category of flawed characters. Meaning, anytime something awful happens in fiction we can interpret that as a skill on the part of the author: they wanted to write a scenario where the teachers are screwing up and unintentionally hurting their students. Or they know they’re hurting their students and consider that to be an acceptable sacrifice under the justification of ‘They have to get over Beacon at some point!’ There are lots of ways to paint this as Myers/RT writing complex, human characters who make ambiguous choices—a testament to their ability to write “realistically.” But to be frank I don’t really buy it. Simply because I’ve had a lot of experience now with how RWBY handles subjects like trauma and it’s only rarely been written respectfully and engagingly. I could be proven wrong as the novel continues, but it seems more likely that Myers wrote the instructors coming up with this test, wrote Yatsuhashi panicking over it, and intends to continually imply that these two things are separate plot points. Bringing both together in a narratively useful way would require acknowledging the instructors’ motivations—Why this test? Why now? Do they realize the harm they’re causing? If so, do they think it’s worth it?—and then coming to some sort of resolution, either via some recovery on CFVY’s part due to the instructors’ choices (this test did help us move past Beacon), or the instructors learning something about empathy and trauma via CFVY’s reaction (we never should have done this). I highly doubt we’ll get either.

Thus, everyone is (justifiably) horrified. The teams are gone and either the shock of that made Team CFVY prioritize feelings of safety over strategy, or they're just not going to demonstrate any of the intelligence I look for in this kind of arc, because they immediately start obsessing over staying together.

He needed to keep his team close to him. Especially Velvet. If they weren’t separated, they couldn’t be assigned to different teams.

Yatsuhashi, that is not at all what Rumpole told you:

“It’s already begun,” Rumpole said. “Everything you do from this moment forward will factor into your evaluations for new teams.”

Where in the world did you get the idea that you wouldn't be assigned a new team so long as you stuck with your old one? If I were one of the instructors here that choice would make me more likely to separate them. "Everything you do from this moment," Rumpole says, meaning that how they respond to this information is a part of the test. The team that panics and refuses to separate is the team that either can't function without one another, or at the very least believes that they can't. They're not willing to work with others and thus they're precisely the type that needs to learn this skillset. You're the ones they'll want to give new teammates to.

Of course, fate has different ideas about how things should go down. And by "fate" I mean "A completely ridiculous plot device." Team CFVY is separated because... the crowd is large I guess? It’s ridiculous. Four fighters already standing beside one another and who are now hyper-focused on staying together are not going to get swept away by a Shade size crowd who probably also want to stick with their own teammates. There are far better, far more convincing ways to keep them apart. Ozpin shot students one-by-one into the forest! Literally anything other than what we got, really.

Still, that’s what we wound up with. Yatsuhashi and Coco both try to keep the team together only for the immense power of other people existing putting a stop to their plan. Alrighty then. Before they’re dramatically swept away on different ships, however, we do get two other noteworthy bits of information that I'd like to end on. The first is Rumpole’s announcement that “When you reach your destination, your goal will be to locate a gold figurine and bring it back to the school” to which Fox replies, “Great. Glad this is fair for everyone. Who can see.” And you know what? He's right. Maybe Fox and I will both be proven wrong (I feel like I'm writing that a lot this chapter...) but unless there's some miscommunication here or a surprise in store, a goal of "locat[ing] a gold figurine" is indeed a sight based challenge and, when placed in a test that is deliberately separating Fox from his team, puts him at a severe disadvantage.

The second is simply that the year levels of the students will not be a factor in the creation of new teams. “What year we are? Yatsu thought. This can’t be right. How could a first-year keep up with fourth-years?” to which I respond, "Um... that's the entire show?" The webseries RWBY is about how Team RWBY, starting out as first years, has surpassed everyone around them, to the point where they're now beating the best team in Atlas. Time-wise they're still second years—far as I can figure out, anyway—so if second years can beat elite military operations, a first year can stand toe-to-toe with second, third, and fourth years. More crucial to Yatsuhashi's thought process—because as an in-world character he doesn't necessarily know what Team RWBY has been up to post-Volume 3—he's still seen how well first years did at Beacon. Ruby was let in two years early. Pyrrha is such a phenomenally talented fighter her face is on their cereal boxes. A first year, Yang, went on to compete in the Vytal Tournament final (even if it was rigged. Yatsuhashi doesn't know that), and Team CFVY fought beside a number of first years at the Battle of Beacon. Now, you all know that I think education and experience are damn important. I'm not saying Yatsuhashi is flat-out wrong to question whether there would be any issues attached to slamming, say, a first year, two second years, and a fourth year into one team (especially when you consider practical questions like going to classes), but the general takeaway of "How could they keep up?" seems a tad strange. You know first years can keep up. You watched it happen, both in your former school's curriculum—first years get to go on an upper-level mission—and in real life battle. This knee-jerk response reads as even worse after five chapters of looking down on Team SSSN. Team CFVY really thinks highly of themselves, huh.

Honestly, it feels like our authors didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the implications of the dialogue/thoughts they’re giving to the characters which is, again, par for the course at this point. Like the questions attached to the test, this feels less like giving Yatsuhashi a flaw (he, as an in-world character, hasn't bothered to think through whether his knee-jerk assumption about first years is supported by his experiences) and more like a flaw of the creators. That sounds like a legitimate concern—in the same way that Yatsuhashi's advice to Rumpole sounds generically wise—but poke at it a bit and you start finding a number of cracks. An author who is well aware of the world they've built and strives to adhere to it might have had Yatsuhashi acknowledge some of the amazing things he's seen first years do and still conclude that there are problems with this decision. That's legit. As it stands, Yatsuhashi just sounds ignorant and (again) overly confident, which I don't trust to be a moment of character insight as opposed to an authorial blip.

Which is about where we end. The team is split on different airships, no one is happy about it, and we're left with this somewhat unsettling image:

Headmaster Theodore was waving and whooping, like it was all some terrific game, while Professor Rumpole watched silently, her hair whipping around in the wind and an unsettling grin on her face.

This gives me some hope that the story will treat the problems attached to this test respectfully. The description of Theodore acting "like it was all some terrific game" is a mark against his character and Rumpole straight up has an "unsettling grin on her face." Is she one of the baddies? Potentially. Will I ever again get adult characters who aren't depicted as inept, traitorous, or just so flawed that they unwittingly cause great damage to their students? Probably not. These two desires remain constantly at war with one another. RWBY introduces issues that the story should tackle, but the only issues it acknowledges are those attached to the adults. So we have everyone doing a range of iffy things, but only the elders are likely to be punished or (better yet) learn something over the course of the tale. The double standard remains so strong across the franchise that at this point I just want to raise a THE ADULTS DID NOTHING WRONG banner and call it a day. Not because they're actually free of mistakes or even, at times, downright cruelty, but because if our protagonists constantly get that free pass I'm not sure why everyone else can't too.

Anyone for a spot of denial?

But I've now written nearly twice as much as the actual chapter in question. It's time to stop! At this rate I’ll have written the equivalent of five Before the Dawns in my attempt to recap just one. #yikes

Until Chapter Six 💜

#rwby #BTD Recaps #Before the Dawn #mymetas

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evans-heaven · 4 years

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My review...ish (tbh it's just some notes I made lmao) on Defending Jacob

I'm strictly focusing on the Barbers here, and their relationships. I'm saving all the comments I might have about any other characters, and the performances of all the actors for a final review of the series-if I decide to do one lmao. Also, this isn't completely spoiler free, I couldn't resist y'all I'm sorry 😅

It's also straight from my notes, long asf and unedited asf and I won't take offence if you don't read. I did however enjoy writing it 😁

(This is all in good fun and yes and I'm biased and no you're not getting my time of day if you attack me)

Okay I'm done let's get into it lol

The Barbers are picture perfect. That house belongs on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens and that kitchen belongs on a Food Network show. They eat sleep and breathe privilege, but they probably won't admit it, or are even aware of it. To them, it might seem normal, maybe they believe every family is like that, or at least, should be. Their lives mirror that of basically any white family on TV these days. They're the cookie cutter American household, a damn poster family. Which makes their situation all the more interesting.

I adore Andy and Laurie's marriage. Lowkey they make me feel like I'm third wheeling, with the way they handle each other 🤣🥺 but eventually something began to hang over their heads, and the atmosphere surrounding them only, completely changed. The differences became more clear and God knows where thats gonna take them. Andy hid the truth about his Dad being in jail for 17 years really makes us wonder what else he could be hiding, and tbh she may be wondering the same. If theres anything else below the surface it could ruin them even more, and that's scary.

Andy's relationship with Jacob is the perfect representation of a healthy father-son dynamic. Andy's not rough around the edges and tough with him. It's an unashamedly loving relationship, and something we need to see more of. Let's put aside everything that happened after Jacob was accused. Closed off as he might seem, it's so clear he admires his dad. And Andy is a man who would risk it all for his kid. It's as simple as seeing the way he looks at him. He can't imagine anything ever changing the way he feels about him. And he probably thinks Jacob will never give him a reason for that to happen. He says "I love you" to him without sounding like there's a knife to his throat, jokes around with him, calls him 'buddy' more than he does his actual name, overall it would seem like we're watching best buds with a big ass age gap rather than a father and son 🤣

But back to reality, even after his son is being accused of murder, and him and his wife don't seem to agree on where they stand, Andy believes Jacob. He just sees a scared kid. On the surface, at least, that seems like what Andy thinks about the situation. However, given how good a certain someone portraying Andy (which is very easy to forget, as said certain someone fucking transforms and i see very little traces of him in this peformance) is at conveying emotion without saying a word, Andy won't have to open his mouth for his true feelings to come about. But let's not forget, he went off the handle in a very hot way upon finding a knife in his kid's room. His kid who is a very heavy sleeper might i add lmfao. He also, felt it appropriate to bring up his imprisoned father, which I honestly feel like had to be on account of some of his true feelings, whether he'd admit it or not.

The moment shit hit the fan for the Barbers is moment, I'm sure, we all felt a shift. I said last night that my anxiety was high even before Jacob's accusation, but after, I felt like I was experiencing the Barbers panic and helplessness with them, almost as though I was the accused.

Which brings me to my next point. We need to talk about that scene. You know the one. Where Lynn informed Andy for a situation I'm sure he never, in a million years anticipated. The level of talent radiating out of a certain someone is unmatched. Y'all (who have seen the show) saw the way the emotions raced across his eyes-his entire damn face? The disbelief in his voice, the tense, defensive stance he fell into? The heavy breathing, the anxiety that fell over him, the way he raced home desperately? If there's anything this show did for me and I'm sure so many others, is making us feel like we were experiencing the severity in person. And that's so special to me.

I won't get too much into this, but the way Jacob was handled by the police...well let's just say we know that wont be the behavior with everyone. And it has very little to do with his age, btw 😅

The way he pleaded for his dad almost had me tearing up. Being a lawyer, he feels as though his dad will protect him and make this situation go away. And if I was a 14 year old boy who was arrested for such a brutal murder, a lawyer who just so happens to be the man that raised me would be my first request.

Idk how I feel about the whole murder gene thing. I did however love the way the scenes kept switching, from Jacob finding out about Andy's dad to Laurie finding out. Their reactions were so similar and relatable. However, if that gets brought up in court as "evidence", that person is going to, and deserves to, get called tf out 🤣

Andy was entirely too polite to that waitress who was, very rudely, staring at Jacob. Maybe it's my inner drama lover, but if she stood there like an idiot looking at my kid, another thank you isn't all she was getting. Avert your eyes or lose them sis 🤬

Seeing everything progressively fall apart for the Barbers, while Jacob remains quietly oblivious broke my heart. Laurie being sent home (and highkey being fired lbr), losing her best friend, and seeing her son be treated like a criminal. Andy being increasingly protective of Jacob's every move, is understandable. I'm super excited to see the lengths he'll go to when it comes to protecting his kid, which, if the trailer is any indication, may not have boundaries.

A few more short notes:

Neal needa get hit by a bus and I volunteer

Leonard is a creepy mf which isn't really surprising but STILL

Pam shooting Andy down was lowkey harsh but she still pulled through so 🤷🏾‍♀️🤣

Andy not giving Neal the satisfaction of being closed off and succumbing to whatever drilling Neal thinks he doing is satisfying asf

Andy Barber is a dilf™️ in every scene

Am I the only one who heard Michelle's accent coming through in some things she says?

Laurie throwing the food Toby brought her in the trash without batting an eyelash, I got how she felt but that shit hurt to see 🤣

The actor playing Ben looks like the love child of Harry Styles and Grant Gustin

Wtf do Sarah and Derek know 😭 its killing me

Cherry Jones is killing it 🙌🏽

So is Jaeden, kid is blowing me away.

So is Michelle, her emotions are fucking mine up

The score is intense and adds to the anxiety we feel watching the show and I don't appreciate my emotions being played with in such a way

Chris Evans deserves an Emmy and if he doesn't get it we riot.

That's all for now, if I post anymore notes on the other episodes, obviously it won't be this long as from this point we're only getting one episode a week. Hope y'all enjoyed (if anyone bothers w this 🤣)💕

#chris evans #michelle dockery #jaeden martell #andy barber #jacob barber #laurie barber #defending jacob #defending jacob spoilers #djspoilers #apple tv

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semi-imaginary-place · 4 years

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rewatching decadence

ep1: so... indoctrinating kids that they life their life in service to an upper class. also like, the way deca dence takes care of giant gadoll is to punch it like no giant sword or laser canon or anything just the power of a giant mountain sized fist. this show actually has some good foreshadowing from seeing Natsume from the perspective of Kaburagi’s hud, to Natsume’s dad (Muno) finding the Solid Quake logo at the beginning of the episode and the logo again being shown in the last shot at the announcement signs off with have a profitable day which is a weird public safety announcement but makes sense as a company slogan. I’m still not sure what the “TIME 1:00 POINT SE,07,G” means. I didn’t write it down last time because I was unsure of myself, but my first thought when the cyborgs showed up was VR chatroom for the upper class.

ep2: yeahs that’s totally an advertisement that plays right after natsume realizes the human costs of war as the tankers pay respects to the fallen. I realized what it was with the cartoony designs, the bright colors and patterns, the funky shapes of all the structures aboard the space ship, it looks like a tv show for toddlers. inoffensive and deliberately cheerful to distract from the horrors of a corporation owning your person. the eng subtitles are confusing here it should be “real death(simulation) awaits” in that the company is advertising being able to experience death but not have any of its permanent consequences as a feature of the game. The cyborgs are corporate wage slaves being compensated for their labor in company credits and the only other things we seen them do outside of work is play the company’s mmo, or recreational drugs. “I should be proud of my function and to be scrapped” as property of the company. aaaa that’s terrible. aaa. what are cyborg cores??? and why are they valuable. Solid Quake has no control over the core, only the cyborg’s housing. Is it that they cannot produce more? Considering the others on the team got executed for sentenced to an eternal forced labor camp with appalling conditions, Minato really did pull some strings for Kaburagi. ooh so “time until scrapping” and “operational limit near are two different warnings. the first is a general reminder of lifespan and the second is because oxyone levels are low. now its “TIME 20:00 POINT SE,05,I”. all those new gadoll events probably wreck havoc on the tanker economy. its 400c now and i think it was 500 for 2 earlier. First time through I wasn’t paying attention and totally thought kaburagi was an assassin, but no he’s just clean up crew. ahh yes, come spend you wages at the company run stores. micro transactions... wait so where were people getting the number 13 from?

ep3: ah yes Solid Quake charges to use the media center, truly a micro transaction hell. Natsume’s character arc is about whether to push herself or not. Here Fei acts as part of a continuing dialectic saying that Tankers have no place outside of Deca-Dence, that sooner of later Natsume will die from it, and once again highlighting Natsume’s right arm. In the other level of this though, tankers shouldn’t go outside because that’s not their role in the solid quake mmo, and those who would disrupt the mmo are killed. I like how you can see Kaburagi switch from videogame logic (oh she’s low level so let’s just stick her in the tutorial zone) to real life (what skills and experiences would help in fighting). So several corporations took advantage of desperate people to sell them a service that would augment them with mechanical parts. I get that pipe in a little outfit is funny, but does no one really realize its a gadoll, i meant natsume recognizes it instantly. like the scene where Natsume talks about her right arm, the anime does a good job of showing how her feeling about it are complicated. She’s lived with that arm for years, but it also hinders her sometimes, and people will comment about it. there’s this specific type of humor that pops up in this show and given how its the same joke, my guess is that its the same person behind it. The “joke” being that Natsume is put in a position that references sexual assault. The first is with fennel where she makes up an excuse of having to go see kaburagi to get away from him. And then there’s this episode. There’s also a few stray lines here and there that alarm me in that they imply Natsume has dealt with the threat of assault before. Since they didn’t do anything meaningful with this, I’d rather it just not be there. Minato is in on the secret of Pipe’s existence and by the way the two talk, they’ve called each other before in the last 7 years. Its good to know that Kaburagi wasn’t JUST brooding for 7 years and that the two of them stayed in contact.

ep4: Natsume after having gained confidence in herself takes down several gadoll and earns her place in The Power. Its a fulfilling payoff after seeing her train for several episodes. Natsume is where she always wanted to be, fighting gadoll in the Power. gahh It really is a patch release trailer. Ohh so I assumed that the other structures on the cartoon earth were other corporations, but in this episode we see one of them (the white and red striped cone thing opposite the deca-dence dome) and the cyborgs there are talking about the game (MMO LARPing lol), so either Solid Quake owns multiple of those structures, or these cyborgs are customers not owned by Solid Quake and playing of their own volition. that would makes the cone cyborgs where solid quake is deriving its profit from since its not like it pays its workers. reading comments online, a lot of people missed that because a ranker was found to be cheating (mikey), the rankings were abolished. In the present time, gears/players are not ranked. Ah so Kaburagi was transferred to the maintenance department from the warrior department. Wow reassignment is so much better than the poop jail. I remember it being said, armor repair, doctor, and weapon shop could be employee(cyborg) run so I wonder if the medics and that one armor shop guy are tankers or not. So this anime already snuck in a sex joke with the when the poop gang swapped kaburagi’s avatar with a sex toy, so i wonder if the safetyprivatemode was made so that the mods wouldn’t have to listen to robot sex. I really wish this show could have had 24 episodes. The trend for the past 20 years has been shorter and shorter shows so I know it would have been likely impossible to get the clearance and funding for 24 eps but oooh in som alternate universe maybe... i brought up fleshing out minor characters and character relationships before but there also stuff like Natsume’s right hand almost clamping on ... Mindy? Which usually would be a narrative flag but is completely dropped because of the episode limit. And the confidence Natsume gained last episode come to work against Kaburagi trying to keep her from the suicide mission. Its only from this point on that Kaburagi starts to really change, as of this point he is still a loyal cog to a machine that does not care about him. Kaburagi and Natsume in the 2nd half of the episode continue the same dialectic that runs through the whole of the show, about giving up and learning to try again, about pushing your limit, about why someone bothers trying. On the collectivist versus individualist spectrum, Deca-Dence is on the individualist side with assertions of the importance for deciding for yourself what you will do with your life. Its an interesting counterpoint to The Twilight Mirage (Friends at the Table) which I am currently listening to in that The Twilight Mirage is a western production and strongly collectivist with one of the antagonist being sort of kind of an embodiment of independence/individualism while japanese works as a whole tend to be more about the whole over the individual than western ones. Kurenai talking about why she fights is very good and very important for 2 reasons, first it help flesh out not only her but offer a very needed other opinion on what its like to live as a Tanker, second it segues nicely into Natsume’s memories of her dad telling her about the outside world and him being the only one to believe she can do it (fight in The Power) as contrasted with flashbacks of all the other characters telling her she can’t. This culminates in Natsume gathering her resolve to fight not because of something grand like changing the world or the fate of humanity, but something very personal scale: changing herself and proving to herself that she can do it. The is also the climax of her character arc, the point of no return.

ep5: If last episode was natsume’s point of no return, then either this episode or episode 7 is Kaburagi’s. Rationally speaking, the optimal scenario would have been for Kaburagi to stall long enough for the Tankers to escape before pulling back himself, but emotionally and narratively, there’s no way he couldn’t. After all the build up of deciding for yourself how to live and pushing your limits. Its appropriate that here in defense of the girl that inspired him to live and choose for himself rather than just continue existing in the default of what Solid Quake demands of him, that Kaburagi chooses to release his operational limiter (literally pushing him limit) and derail the company’s plans. How did no one realize purple dude was breaking imprisonment to play on a hacked avatar. Like he’s still as purple and bloodthirsty as ever. He acts and speaks the same. Someone would have totally seen him and gone “eyyyyy [i forgot this guy’s name] is back” and talked to people about it and someone should have heard. So I remember reading comments from various idiots who were mad because they mistakenly thought the anime took place in a virtual space and that Natsume was made of lines of code. And first off even if that was true there’s a difference between objective reality and the lived experiences of a person and what’s to say her experiences and emotions would be any less real than yours. And second, did everyone forget The Hunger Games? Like its just another game that plays with real lives and doesn’t care who gets killed. Solid Quake is just using humans as a stage prop. Man this episode is jam packed. Its like getting punched in the face 4 times. The pacing of the last 4 minutes was really good. The quiet scene as dawn breaks acts in direct contrast to the high energy of the Stargate takedown that preceded it. After time and against not listening to him, Minato still calls Kabu to check in with him. There’s also his certainly that it was Kaburagi that saved the Deca-Dence mech (i need to be clearer when I’m talking about the physical fortress city mech, the mmorpg game, or the deca-dence system itself). And then when the world state gets reset is just so good because it make it clear that the gadoll were never the true enemy. The tankers could kill as many gadoll as they want and nothing would change. Kaburagi’s at an interesting point here, in that he’s no longer in a state of having given up like he was in episode 1 just waiting to die and following along with Solid Quake’s orders, as of this episode he has deliberately gone against the company’s rules, and yet he’s still believes that nothing will actually change. He’s broken a rule and resigned himself to punishment instead of say for example getting rid of the punishment all together. He’s still a good little employee that hasn’t rebelled against the system. And then the “Take care of Pipe” and Natsume turns around and he’s already gone, is sooo good. The final shot too of his avatar face down in the snow! The “This world needs bugs” is in direct contrast to Hugin/Fugin(?) repeating that this world must be rid of bugs, and the same phrase Kaburagi repeated 7 years ago when he was transferred to the Maintenance Department instead of being killed. I wonder how much the cyborgs feel in their original bodies vs. how much they feel in their Gear avatars. Kaburagi doesn’t seem to care about food and no food stalls were shown in the Gear area so maybe they doesn’t have much sense of taste? The avatars also have a lessened sense of pain. And then the limit release sequence shows connections increasing between the two bodies so does it make the cyborgs more attuned with the avatar’s senses?

ep6: eh so this is another example of what I mean when I say some of the humor in this show is in bad taste. They probably put the oxyone port where the ass would be just to make this joke. But this is better then doing to it Natsume. The animators even had a gleam censor for the over where the capsule was inserted as if it wasn’t obvious enough what it was suppose to look like. Spurned on by the the promise that one day if they work hard and behave (”rehabilitated”), the cyborgs will get let out when in actuality its a forced labor camp so that Solid Quake can squeeze just a little more labor our of the cyborgs for even less compensation. The cartoony style here helps offset just how horrific there working conditions are. And Kaburagi still the good little employee (iiko) tries his hardest to play by the rules and win. Except in this game, there is no “win’ written into the rules. So finally he is forced to move outside of the system Solid Quake has made. I still can’t believe they let Donatello keep the gun... Maybe cyborg cores are brains. In 5.5 Kaburagi’s core is in the top half of his metal case, and Donatello’s is also in his head. I’m still not sure what that sequence where Kaburagi takes the head fin and an image of a cyborg core is overlayed, means.

#deca-dence #deca dence #anime #i think too much #reviews #writing

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kacchand · 4 years

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Request: bookshop!au with doyoung pLS (uhhHHHhhh 2:32 p.m. pls? or 3:59 a.m. lol)

may have gotten carried away

[ 2:32PM ] [ Doyoung + bookshop!au ]

“Funny,” you scoff. You might be in no place to judge due to your own resting b*tch face but, that guy in the blue sweater doesn’t look like he needs guidance from any book titled, ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.’

With his knitted brows and slight scowl, he looks like he’s got that mastered to a T – unless of course he’s working on making his ‘not giving a f*ck’ subtle, then if so, may he carry on.

You’ve personally thought over whether to buy that book or not, because you yourself could use some letting loose. You’re not one to self-diagnose, but this anxiety feeling is piling up like a penguin’s mating stone pile. It’d be nice to buy a book to read for leisure but, here you are, buying a study guide instead.

Taking the guide in your hands, you queue up to the cashier. And as you get there, you spot the guy in blue again. You scuttle behind him, peaking over his shoulder as he hands his credit card over. Looks like he’s decided to buy it.

“There are more of these on aisle nine if you want one,” he mutters, his voice low and almost demanding. Eyeing your surroundings, your heart quickens its pace when you realize that you’re the one he’s muttering at. “Yes, I’m talking to you.”

You purse your lips and nod, trying to contain your giggle at how stupid you look. “Sorry, I’m just nosy by nature,” you apologize, scrunching your nose.

The cashier takes his card and scans the cover of the book, giving you enough time to sneak a peek at his face. Now that you’ve gotten a better glance at him, it’s only now that you realize that this boy is quite the eye-candy. You want to continuing staring in a way that won’t bother him but seeing as he had felt your gaze on his book before, you decide on otherwise.

But as fate must have it, the cashier itself malfunctions and leaves you waiting by his side, giving you a few more seconds of admiring to spare. The manager opens another register and those behind you scramble that way. It’s almost like you’re given time alone with the handsome stranger…alone…in a mall, with at least twenty other people in your vicinity…alone.

“Actually, I’ve been wanting to buy that for a while now,” you admit.

He looks to you with a little amused grin, “Well, why don’t you?”

You smirk, raise your wallet. “Money.”

Like a sign for mutual understanding, he chuckles, mouth gaping to go ‘ah’.  “You go to ___ too, right?”

Nodding, you point to your uni’s symbol on your worn hoodie. “Good guesser?” You ask playfully.

He tilts his pretty head and all the jet-black hair strands fall downward. Leaning over you, he sends you a gentle smirk. “Might’ve seen you around a couple times.”

You try not to let that comment make its mark on you, but your heart can’t help but flutter. It’s not every day a handsome man acknowledges your presence—or remembers you, for that.

The cashier lady still struggles to try and mend the machine, looking to the guy with apologizing eyes. “I’m so sorry for the delay. This machine has been acting up all week.”

Contrary to how you thought he would’ve reacted, he politely nods, mutters an ‘it’s fine’ and turns back to you. “Trying to learn not to give a fuck?”

You shrug and raise your book this time, placing it onto the marble counter. “Trying to learn maths more like it. But not giving a fuck would be nice to pick up along the way too,” you joke.

“I could teach you more than this book ever can.”

Your lips curl into a smile and so does his, revealing his pretty bunny whites. And just like a magic switch, the cashier makes a ding sound and the things get working again.

Right before she’s able to put the book in the bag, however, the boy takes it and scribbles something on the front page before putting it in the paper bag himself. Once finished, the lady hands it over with the receipt and turns her attention to you. Your mind, on the other hand, has still not left the brainstorm chart it has made about the man to your right.

Blue Sweater is about to walk off, and you want to do something about it. And it turns out, so does he, a fact that catches you by surprise as you feel a hesitant tap on your shoulder. You stare, starry-eyed and raise a brow at the extended paper bag at your chest.

“Huh?”

The confidence that was imminent in him before begins to falter as he scratches the nape of his neck, his lips pursed in a nervous attempt to seem cool. “This was actually for a friend of mine, but it looks like you need more ‘not giving a fuck’ than he does. He won’t read this anyways,” he explains, shaking the bag for you to grab it before he changes his mind.

You take it with the biggest smile plastered on your face, your stomach churning slowly into a hot mess as you try to find words to match your feelings. But, again, he beats you to it.

“Besides, I think I like you better than him already.” You gape.  He waves you goodbye and sends you a cheeky smile before walking off with his wide shoulders turned to you, hands in his pocket to complete the look of bravado.

You’re left in awe as the cashier lady chuckles. “Well, what’s inside? He scribbled something in there, didn’t he?” Her nosy words make you giggle more than scoff, especially when your eyes scan over the careful penmanship on the front page.

‘I don’t normally do this type of thing, but today, I’ve decided maybe giving a fuck or two wouldn’t hurt. So, call me? xxxx-xxx-xxx – Kim Doyoung’

With not much to lose, you take out your phone. With a stupid smile on your face, you dial it out, not thinking twice when you press your thumb onto the green button. It rings twice.

“Hello?”

“Hey, how’d you like to read this book with me? I mean…it’s the only way for me to really learn the true ways of the art.”

You hear a chuckle. “I think it’s only appropriate that we scrutinize each line together. For proper analysis of course.”

You read his name inked in pen. Kim Doyoung. Doyoung. You’re going to make sure you hear of that name more often.

“But of course.”

#nct scenarios #nct fluff #nct oneshot #nct #nct blurbs #nct drabbles #nct angst #kim doyoung #doyoung x reader #nct x reader #doyoung #nct doyoung #nct au #nct 127 #nct fanfic

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shawnmendesprefs · 5 years

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Game on, Mendes (s.m)

Author’s Note: Hiya, this is my first time writing for Shawn and not 5SOS lol so hopefully its not trash and this turns into the first part of many for this little concept. We are happy to take requests on this account or over on 5sauceprefs so don’t be shy ;) Hope you love it! xxx

Summary: you wake up naked in an unfamiliar hotel room, only to realise that you and Shawn have just started a game that you were both set on winning.

Word Count: 1.7k

You opened your eyes to the sun beaming in through your hotel window, your head was pounding and the little alarm clock on the bedside table was telling me that it was only 7am. Why were you even awake?

Sighing in frustration, you yanked the big comfy blanket further up your naked body and shut your eyes to try and go back to sleep.

Wait. Why were you naked?

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

There are only two possibilities here. One, you got so drunk that you couldn’t be bothered to get changed in to your pyjamas. Which may or may not have happened before. Or two, there is someone else next to you in the bed and you did the naughty. Which, again, may or may not have happened before. Although, if it is one of the two, hopefully its possibility one.

You felt your heart beat start to get faster as you slowly rolled over in the bed, your eyes still closed because you were way too scared to actually look. What if you open your eyes and there is actually someone there? Not to mention how literally screwed you would be if paparazzi caught you and mystery dude together, leaving the after party or even entering the hotel lobby. Everyone knows that if any girl and guy is seen together, they’re automatically a thing so, you know. Your manager would 100% hang you by the ears off a clothes line if you were ever spotted deviating away from your perfect image to the public.

After your internal mental breakdown, you must have stayed as still as you possibly could for what felt like at least 10 minutes before you finally got the courage to quickly open your eyes and reveal the truth of your naked body.

Oh. my. god.

You had done it again. You must have gotten so drunk that you don’t even remember any of the events from the previous night. Well, not much after presenting an award at the EMAS to Shawn Mendes, the absolute dream boat, and then leaving to attend Post Malone’s after party anyway.

I mean, it’s not really your fault that all your favourite people were there and that the cocktails were literally on tap. Strawberry Mojitos, tequila shots, you name it really. Turns out though, that you probably should have toned it down a bit.

There was someone else in the bed.

You couldn’t see much of him except for his dark brown curls and his toned back as he was facing away from you. Your cheeks started to get hot as you realised that you probably had sloppy drunk sex with whoever this mystery guy is. Screaming.

Moving as slow as you could, again, in hopes that you didn’t disturb this guy’s sleep, you sat up so that you could peak over and hopefully recognise his face. His hair was kind of longer on top, his jawline was so sharp it could probably cut you and he was super-hot even when he was fast asleep.

As you moved your face a little closer to his, for whatever reason you deemed appropriate in the moment, you accidentally screamed when his eyes shot open and stared back into yours. Yes, screamed. High-pitched, may have just seen a ghost, screamed.

It was Shawn fucking Mendes. You couldn’t help but mentally high five yourself, you go girl.

Without even thinking, you rolled out of bed and started to pull back on your dress from last night. In the process, you had realised that this was not your hotel room but probably Shawn’s as there was a big black suit case with clothes sprawled everywhere in the corner of the room. Your suitcase was white and your room was SO much messier than this. You’re both totally staying in the same hotel though, thank god because now doing the walk of shame wouldn't be so shameful after all – as long as no one spotted you.

Next to your phone on my nightstand was your clutch and your room key, so you quickly swept them up and made a bee line straight for the door, but of course, the stupid thing had a lock on it.

Fiddling with the turn-style look, you went to yank the door open only to have it slammed shut from behind you.

You turned to see Shawn who was trapping you between him and the door, his hand pressed against the door behind you.

He had a very amused look in his eyes and a stupidly attractive smirk on his face.

You had to remember to close my mouth to stop myself from drooling over his naked torso, his bottom half only covered by a pair of white Calvin Klein’s. You still can’t believe you had sex with this guy, you, the Victoria’s secret model, who actually had a secret now because you had seen the Shawn Mendes naked amongst other things.

Despite being quite proud of yourself, you never do this kind of thing. Sure, it has happened maybe once or twice but usually your schedule is so busy that you don’t even have time to sleep. You’re always travelling for work, and when you’re not on set for a shoot or walking a runway, you’re usually tucked away in a hotel room studying or writing assignments for your university degree. You’ve have been modelling with Victoria’s Secret for two years now, and most recently you’ve scored gigs with Tommy Hilfiger, Chanel, and even Coach. You’re pretty much an angel in the streets, and usually an angel in the sheets. But, as you said before, last night was just too good to pass up.

“Going somewhere, Babe?” Shawn teased, making you roll your eyes.

“Yeah, obviously. Could you maybe step away from the door so I can go back to my room?” you replied which for whatever reason made him laugh a little.

“C’mon babe, at least let me get your number” Shawn winked.

Okay but seriously this guy is so sexy.

“If I give you my number, will you let me leave after that?” you questioned, making him grin as he nodded his head and handed you his phone. You opened up the contacts, typed in your number and saved it in his phone before quickly handing it back to him. Without another word, you opened the door and headed down the hall towards the elevator so you could go die of embarrassment in the comfort of your own hotel room.

“I’ll see you for round two tonight, princess!” you heard Shawn call, just as the elevator door shut.

What the hell have you gotten myself into?

------------------------------------

It has been two days since your little encounter with Shawn and you hadn’t heard anything from him since. He had followed you on Instagram and Twitter but that thankfully went unnoticed by both of your fan bases. There also hasn’t seemed to be any paparazzi shots surface so you’re very grateful for that because as a result, your ears are still intact and your wonderful manager Krystal has no idea.

Admittedly, you did stalk his socials and both of you are still in Spain for the time being. He’s performing here tonight, and you have a shoot with Vogue Spain in the next couple of days before some much needed time off.

You were currently sprawled out on your towel at the beach. The sun was shining down and this dose of vitamin D was exactly what you had been craving. You had your air pods in your ears blasting some Khalid and a fat tub of cut up fruit next to you to snack on because you were literally hungry 100% of the time.

It’s a hard life having what seems like multiple stomachs to fill.

Trying to stop yourself from falling asleep, you rolled over on to your stomach and picked up your phone to reply to some comments on Instagram. Before you clicked on your most recent post, you quickly took a photo of your legs with the beach in the background and uploaded it to your story. It was a beautiful day and your beautiful followers deserved to see your debatably beautiful legs at this beautiful beach.

Clicking on to your activities page, your comments on your most recent post were blowing up. Why is that? The first was just a photo of you on the EMA red carpet, nothing too special. The second photo in the same post was you handing Shawn his award. Both of you with shit eating smiles on your faces. You had also thrown in the cheeky love heart eye emoji with “what a night” as the caption. So maybe you did know what all the commotion was about, but it was just a little flirt. Sue me.

Clicking on the comment section, you couldn’t help but spit out the grape you had just popped in to your mouth after seeing the top comment.

shawnmendes: it wasn’t just the award I scored that night ;)

Okay. It’s official, you were so screwed. And not just literally. Maybe your ears weren’t as safe as you thought they were, Krystal was going to go crazy and you were going to end up on a clothesline in Spain somewhere.

Shawn just pretty much told the whole world about the night you’d spent together and for some reason, after putting the grape you were about to scoff down back in to my mouth, you could not wipe the smile off your face.

You really were trying to keep it cool, act as if him not reaching out wasn’t phasing you but who were you kidding. After you got over your lovely hangover, the night that you and Shawn spent together came flooding back and you’re almost certain that you hadn’t stopped thinking about it since.

After you liked Shawn’s comment on your post, you debated with yourself over whether to actually reply or not. You could already hear the stupid rumours circulating, and you could already quote some of the hate tweets that you’d start to receive.

Fuck it.

Y/Nstagram: @shawnmendes what happened to round two?

Game on, Mendes.

#shawnmendes #shawn #shawnmendesprefs #shawn mendes preferences #shawn mendes fic #shawn mendes x reader #shawn fic #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn mendes blurb #sm #shawn mendes one shot #5sauceprefs #shawn mendes prefs

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feverishbangtan · 5 years

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I actually got this idea during Bon Voyage last year but changed it to the Summer Package due to reasons (really just became I had this idea of them going on a hike but... there's no mountains like that in Malta lol so I did some research and there's one in Saipan).

I hope you enjoy this and I apologize that it's always Jungkook-centric :(( Seriously, I'm sorry :(

Sickie: Jungkook

Caretaker: all the member (and manager Sejin)

Word Count: 5893

TW: emeto, hospital

It's the sixth day of their summer vacation in Saipan and there's still two more days left. The boys have been filming for the summer package for the past few days but nothing official was scheduled for the remaining ones yet.

So far, it has been exciting for them. None of the boys have been to any of the Northern Mariana Islands before. The landscape is breathtaking and the sea the most beautiful shades of blue.

Most of the members were enjoying their off day in the pool of the resort they are staying at, while some were just lounging on the sun beds or the air mattresses floating in the water. Others decided to stay in their air conditioned rooms, claiming that it is too hot to go outside.

The past week has, indeed, been very hot with temperatures exceeding the 40° mark. However, it was the humidity that made the heat almost unbearable at times.

The members are gathered up in Seokjin's suite that evening, a small camera team with them but no one told them what for, not even after the boys tried to bribe them.

They talk loudly among themselves until the director and manager Sejin walk in. The two men talk quietly to each other before they settle on chairs, outside of the cameras view point.

"The past few days you've been doing activities as team Bang" the director points at his left where Jimin, Namjoon and Seokjin sit on a couch, "and Tan" this time he points to his other side, at the remaining members, "so for the last planned activity you'll be doing something as team Bangtan."

Before anyone can comment on it, the man speaks up again. "Tomorrow, for your second to last day, you will go on a hike." He informs them, "You will hike up to Mount Tapochau, the highest point of Saipan."

The room fills with loud chatter. Namjoon claps his hands happily, a huge smile on his face as he voices his delight.

"I've been thinking about going there anyway! I heard you can see the whole island from the summit!"

Namjoon loves nature and walking so a hike is the perfect activity for him.

Taehyung looks just as excited, laughing happily as he gets up to high-five the leader.

"It's like when we hiked up Achasan Mountain, hyung! But this time everyone else is coming, too!"

Sejin's loud voice cuts through the conversations, "It's supposed to stay very warm, so make sure to wear appropriate clothing and apply sunscreen." Their manager reminds them.

Everybody turns to look at Jungkook at the mention of sunscreen. A few years ago, when they were in Hawaii for Bon Voyage, he had gotten a pretty bad sunburn and the members were still jokingly mocking him for how he looked back then.

Jungkook promised himself to not let that happen again but alas, when he fell asleep during a photo shoot the day before he woke up with another mean sunburn that left his skin irritated and dry.

"And don’t forget your drinks!" Jimin diverts the attention away from the maknae.

After the director informs them that they will leave around 10am the next morning, he leaves the room together with Sejin. The filming crew packs up their equipment as fast as possible and exits the room as well.

The members stay in the suite for a while longer, ordering room service and talking about the past week, as well as sharing their excitement, or dissatisfaction, over the upcoming hike.

"The weather is so warm and humid and we have to walk all the way to the top. I don't think that's a good idea." Yoongi grumbles around a chicken drumstick. He's not a big fan of the heat but he's been handling it well enough the past week. The upcoming hike is pushing it, though.

Hoseok sighs, "Ahh, Yoongi hyung is right. I nearly died during the photo shooting yesterday!"

"Yeah, the heat's really draining. You're tired and sweating even if you do nothing at all." Seokjin agrees.

"That's just because you're old hyung." Jungkook tells him with a huge grin on his face, glad he's sitting far away from his oldest hyung.

"Yah! You brat, respect your elders!" Jin is ready to jump up should the maknae continue teasing him.

"Oh, I respect you alright, ahjussi."

Taehyung speaks up before the two can continue bickering, "I think it's going to be fun. Just dress lightly and drink water, hyung!"

It's nearing midnight when they decide to go to bed so they will be fit for the hike the next day.

—

A driver picks up the boys, along with their manager Sejin, at 10am sharp. He's taking them to a village, Garapan, at the foot of the mountain and he'll also pick them up again in the afternoon once the hike is over.

"It says the mountain offers a 360 degree view of the island." Namjoon repeats what he's reading on his phone, "Wow, those pictures are magnificent!"

Namjoon continues giving them information about Mount Tapochau for the whole 20 minute drive, telling them how it is the highest mountain on the island and of its importance in World War II.

Once they arrive at their destination, they all pile out of the van.

"It's not even noon and the sun's already so strong." Yoongi comments, hand shielding his face as he looks at his surroundings.

"Well, it's summer hyung, of course it's hot!" Jungkook answers him amusedly.

While they wait for the rest of the crew to arrive they make sure to apply an extra layer of sunscreen to protect themselves. They laugh when Taehyung's entire face is coated in white cream, Hoseok trying to help him spread it.

Soon, two more minibusses filled with crew members stop on the side of the road. They'll have a camera team following them all day long. The makeup artists already got them ready at the resort before they left, some of them still following along for some retouching that might be needed during the journey.

The boys, the director and Sejin gather up at the road sign while the crew prepares everything for filming. Sejin hands them a map with a red path marked on it.

"This is the path you'll be taking up to the mountain." The manager points at a spot on the map, "We're here right now, on Navy Hill Road."

All seven members study the map, then their surroundings. They basically just have to follow the road, it can't be too hard.

Once the camera team is all set up, they're ready to go. They start their way up Navy Hill road that leads out of Garapan.

"Hyungs! Let's race up, the last one has to buy ice cream for everyone!" Jungkook challenges, full of energy and motivation.

The challenge awakens Taehyung and Seokjin's competitive spirit and the three sprint off. Jungkook soon outruns the two, determined to win the race.

The others can't be bothered to spend their energy like that, not with the temperature and humidity steadily rising and tiring them out quickly, even without running. Instead, they focus on their surroundings, taking in the houses that gradually change into jungle.

The road makes a steady ascent and at some point they meet up with the three other members.

Seokjin stands with his hands braced on his knees, panting as he's trying to catch his breath. Jungkook and Taehyung have their cameras out, taking pictures of the pretty landscape. Garapan can now be seen below them in the distance with the turquoise Philippine Sea in the background.

"Haaa, JK! Don't make hyung run like that, it's too hot!" The eldest complains, throwing himself onto Jungkook as if he needs him to hold himself up.

Jungkook stops taking pictures, "Yeah, you should be careful hyung. Heat is dangerous for old people." The youngest has his eyebrows furrowed in mock concern. He laughs out loud when Seokjin shoves him away with an exclamation of what a brat he is.

"Taehyung-ah, can you take a picture of me?" Jimin requests, already posing at the side of the road.

Taehyung turns to his best friend and snaps a few pictures, then continues to take some more of the landscape around him and the other members before they continue their journey.

There isn’t much traffic but the sparse cars driving along the road tend to go very fast so everyone has to be careful. Once the sidewalk ends they have to walk along the shoulder of the road, quickly moving as far to the side as possible when they hear a car approaching.

The two youngest are constantly taking pictures, trying to capture everything they see.

There are a few homes spread out along the road that have debris and fallen trees in front of them. Namjoon tells them that they are probably still there from a typhoon that had struck the island three years ago. Jungkook is stunned at the leaders knowledge, staring at him in open admiration whenever he gives them any kind of information.

Almost an hour into their hike, they reach a dirt road with a wooden sign that points out the way to Mount Tapochau. There isn’t any traffic anymore so everyone is spreading out, the cameramen filming the members as they walk along the road, occasionally stopping to take pictures or pose for some.

"Aish, it just keeps getting warmer." Hoseok complains, fanning himself with his hand.

"So hot. So hot." Yoongi agrees. He wipes sweat from his forehead and stops walking as he takes his bucket hat off to shake out his hair that's damp at the ends. "It's so hot, my hair is wet!"

It steadily gets warmer as time passes and the sun continues to ascend. Everyone is sweating, their shirts clinging uncomfortably to their sticky skin. They're all used to heavy workouts but everyone is breathing heavily.

At the intersection of the official Mount Tapochau road they decide to take a break. Everyone sits down at the side of the road, underneath the shade the trees are providing. They take out bottles of water and some of the members even thought about bringing their little hand fans with them. The breeze washing over them is warm and brings no relief at all.

They're all wearing hats to shield themselves from the sun but it's hot and they make them sweat so they take them off while they're sitting in the shade.

"It's so hot here." Jungkook moans, grabbing his oversized shirt at the front and flapping it in an attempt to cool down. He takes his water bottle and spills the contents over the back of his neck and his arms, the cool liquid providing a little bit of relief for a few moments as it runs down his sunburned skin. Jungkook takes out a second one and drinks a few mouthfuls, hoping the dull throbbing in his temples will go away if he does. The headache has been there since morning and has slowly gotten worse in the heat; he blames the sunburn for it.

"Yoongi hyung and Jungkookie are both wearing all black; I would die." Jimin laughs and takes another sip of his water.

Both members are wearing black basketball shorts and black T-shirts, basically the only clothes their wardrobe consists of. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea to wear all black but the clothes are comfortable and the shorts are meant for workouts and sports activities so they believe they'll be fine.

They enjoy the clear view of the Philippine Sea and the jungle around them and after a half an hour break, they continue their hike to the summit.

As the road gets wider there are occasionally hummers and other vehicles driving past them and Yoongi bemoans how they should've rented one of those and driven up the mountain as well instead of walking.

"Woah, look at that! There's houses up here?" Hoseok is surprised, staring up ahead at a big house.

"They must have the best view of the island from up here." Yoongi points out, "But it seems kind of pointless. There’s nothing here, except for a dirt road and tourists."

"It must be nice and peaceful when there aren’t tourists coming up here to go to the mountain, though." Namjoon hums. He likes how peaceful the nature is and he appreciates every moment he can spend like that, being so used to the turmoil of his life and the city he's living in.

As they continue walking, they can see the summit of Mount Tapochau in front of them. There aren’t any big trees providing shade anymore, the sun glaring down at them mercilessly. They have been walking for a while now and it is past noon, the sun up high and powerful.

Jungkook feels like he is going to melt underneath the black shirt he is wearing. He takes out his water bottle and pours most of it over his head and neck again until it's almost completely empty.

"Huh? JK, where did your hat go?" Jimin asks from behind him. He probably wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn't for the maknae's bright red hair. Jungkook dyed it for their comeback and refreshed the color on their first day on the island so it'll look fresh and nice while they are filming and taking pictures.

"I forgot it back when we took our break." He explains.

The fresh air around his head made him feel better back then but the pounding progressively got worse over the past few hours of the journey. At first, he ignored it, continued to race around and climb up rocks to take the best pictures but it got harder as the headache got worse and he started to feel tired.

"When will we take another break?" Jimin whines as he clasps his hands around Jungkook’s waist, trying to let the younger pull him up but Jungkook wiggles out of the hold instead.

"There was a sign a while ago, we should actually reach the top soon." Namjoon answers from behind them, his breathing heavy and his whole body sweating, much like the rest of them.

The director suddenly speaks up, telling them that the first one there will get a surprise. That promise motivates the tired boys and Jungkook's slow pace turns into a spurt, quickly followed by Taehyung.

It turns out that the summit was still a bit farther away than expected so Taehyung and Jungkook ended up last as they had spent all of their energy at once.

Three and a half hours after they started the hike, they all finally reach the top of the mountain.

The crew found a nice shaded grill area for their lunch break and the seven boys are happy to sit down and rest. Seokjin is helping with the meat and vegetables on the grill; Namjoon decides to explore the immediate area around them, not going very far but far enough to have some peace to himself. Taehyung and Jimin are taking pictures together while Yoongi and Jungkook sit down at the table.

Jungkook isn’t hungry at all. Actually, just the thought of eating something is making him feel queasy, the smell of the meat on the grill not helping at all. Or maybe he's so hungry that it's making him feel sick already. He can't tell for sure.

They all eat together, sharing the food with the whole crew. Seokjin, who ended up being the first one at the top, got ice cream from the crew. The others eye him enviously but the oldest ignores them and tells them to be faster next time.

"Director-nim~ please give us some ice cream, too." Jimin begs with sad puppy eyes. The crew can’t resist Jimin's charms so they relent and hand out ice cream to the other members as well.

After lunch they're given leisure time to roam around the summit of Mount Tapochau and do whatever they want to. The boys quickly run up to the huge Jesus statue which is already surrounded by tourists. It's fascinating how many people there are despite the muggy weather.

While everyone is admiring the view and taking pictures of themselves or the island, Jungkook sits down on one of the benches, close enough to be able to see over the railing as well. He's so tired and he started feeling sick after lunch. His head is still pounding as well so Jungkook reaches a hand up to massage his temples. His skin doesn’t feel dry from the sunburn anymore, quite the opposite as his whole body is drenched in sweat.

Jungkook's feeling a little better after sitting down for a while so he takes out his camera and starts capturing the view from where he's sitting.

"Jungkookie! Can you take some pictures of me please?" Namjoon walks up to him with a bright smile that's showing off his dimples.

"Sure, hyung." He agrees easily.

They take picture after picture, trying different angles and walking around the plateau to find the prettiest background. Sometimes Jungkook stops to take pictures of the landscape instead. Namjoon didn’t lie when he told them that it's possible to see the whole island and its neighboring ones from the top of the mountain.

After a while Jungkook's stomach starts cramping, making him nauseous again. He swallows hard and pulls the camera away from his face. Namjoon takes that as a hint that there are enough pictures and thanks the maknae. He walks up to him but notices how pale Jungkook looks.

"Jungkook-ah, are you alright?" Namjoon gently grabs the youngers wrist. His skin is moist and cool and he's sweating heavily. The leader can also see goose bumps on Jungkook's skin. His eyebrows furrow in concern.

Jungkook shakes him off, saying that he's fine and, even though it is hard to believe, Namjoon doesn't want to argue with the maknae and insead let's him go. He hopes that he'll tell someone if something is wrong.

—

Jungkook doesn't tell anyone, even when he's starting to feel worse. They spent a good two hours on the summit and he had spent most of the time sitting down in the shade, trying to breathe through the waves of nausea and massaging his temples to will the headache away. Occasionally, his legs are cramping up painfully and when he's standing for too long, he's starting to feel dizzy. Something is wrong but Jungkook doesn’t know what. He hopes it was just bad meat.

They are descending the mountain and Jungkook is walking at the end of the group, slowly trudging behind everyone else. He stumbles and his vision goes completely black for a few moments. When he opens his eyes again, he's sitting on the gravel path, vision slowly coming back; then his hearing and then the numbness turns into tingling as feeling gradually seeps back into his body.

Most of his members are standing around him, talking to him but his mind is too hazy to make out any words.

Nausea rises in the back of his throat, burning its way up and he swallows hard. It doesn't help and he gags into his mouth unproductively, then again, before be lurches forward and a mouthful of sick spills out. Jungkook barely registers the hand rubbing his sweaty back as he throws up again until the lunch he had earlier is a disgusting puddle in front of him.

Jimin is still rubbing Jungkook's back, worry clear on his face. "Jungkookie? Jungkookie, what's wrong?"

"What's going on?" Hoseok asks from a save distance away. He looks a little pale as well after seeing the youngest throw up.

"I don't know! I was walking and then I heard something behind me and then I saw Jungkookie on the ground and now he puked. I don't know what's happening, hyung!" Jimin rambles, scared and confused.

The others must have noticed that something is wrong because they all gather around them. There's still people filming but they're standing a few feet behind, Jungkook protected from the cameras view by his hyungs and manager.

"What happened? Is he sick?" Manager Sejin asks, kneeling down on Jungkook’s side.

He turns to the pale boy, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing to get his attention. "Jungkook-ah? What's wrong?"

Jungkook shakes his head. He doesn't know what's going on; he's not feeling good and just barely registering the words. He's confused and tired.

There's more talking but the words aren't directed at him. Then there's a hand on the side of his neck and he wearily looks up, looking into Namjoon's warm eyes. They're filled with worry now though, his eyebrows knitted but he's trying not to show it.

"Hey, are you with me, Jungkookie?" The leader waits until Jungkook gives him a slow nod.

"Good. We're going to take you to the shade over there, okay?" Namjoon points at an area a little further down the road where trees are standing on the side. "We're going to help you. Do you think you can do that?"

Jungkook isn't sure he can manage but he doesn't really have a choice. There's strong arms wrapping around both of his, supporting him underneath his armpits.

"I'll count to three and then we'll get up together, alright?" Sejin instructs on his other side and, like he said, after the count of three Jungkook is standing with the help of both Namjoon and Sejin.

Jungkook feels weak and dizzy, his muscles cramping and his head throbbing. In that moment he's glad he has someone to lean on, literally, because he doubts he'd be able to stand on his own.

He stumbles more than he walks but they get to the shaded area soon enough. Sejin and Namjoon lay him down on the grass. Namjoon kneels down in front of Jungkook and elevates his legs; he's sure he read that you're supposed to do that to someone who fainted.

Jimin is immediately by Jungkook's side, stroking his sweat-soaked hair out of his face.

"What's wrong, Jungkook-ah?" He whispers quietly. His thick lips are formed into a pout and his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Instead of answering, Jungkook grimaces and whimpers at the pain. Jimin is patting his head, trying to comfort him.

"Do you want me to stay?" The older asks, glancing up to see the others watching them from a few feet away.

Jungkook isn't sure what he wants or needs but he knows he doesn't want to be alone, wants someone to stay with him and comfort him, even though he's embarrassed about the whole situation. It's scary and it's hard to figure things out so he nods his head a little, barely noticeable but Jimin feels the movement under his hands and makes sure to stay close to the younger.

"Hyung? What’s going on?" Taehyung asks wide-eyed. He was walking ahead of everyone earlier and didn’t see what happened.

"Jungkook-ah's not feeling so well right now. It's probably because of the heat." Yoongi explains.

He's not sure how bad it is, he doesn't really know anything about heat related things but Yoongi knows that the maknae must be feeling very unwell and that they should probably try to cool him down and keep him hydrated.

The boys want to be closer, want to be right next to their maknae but they know not to overwhelm him so they watch from a little distance as Jimin, Namjoon and their manager tend to the ailing youngest.

Seokjin rummages through his backpack until he finds his last water bottle. It's not exactly cold anymore but he guesses it's better than nothing. He walks up to Jungkook and crouches down on his side.

"Jungkook-ah, you should try and drink something." Seokjin holds up the uncapped bottle, "Here."

Jimin and Sejin help the maknae sit up and Jimin kneels down behind Jungkook so he can support his back. They watch him take a few careful sips, then some more as he dares to take bigger gulps.

Before Jungkook can lay back down Seokjin stops him, "Wait, JK. Let's take off your shirt, it'll make you feel better."

Seokjin isn't sure how to handle the situation but he's sure the black shirt the youngest is wearing isn't helping his predicament at all, aware that the dark color stores heat.

Jungkook's still pale so the abashed blush covering his cheeks is all the more visible as he starts to protest, "No, hyung- the cameras..."

"Aish, they've seen you shirtless often enough!" Seokjin fake huffs without any malicious intent at all at the same time as Sejin tells them that they've been turned off and nothing of this was being filmed.

It makes him feel a little better but Jungkook is still embarrassed that this is happening to him, that he's so vulnerable and helpless and still doesn’t completely understand what exactly is wrong.

Seokjin ends up helping him take his shirt and shoes off, leaving him in his pants only. He makes the younger drink some more, hoping it will make him feel better soon.

The director walks up to Sejin. "There's a guesthouse just a little down the road. We should go there and ask for help."

"Jungkook-ah, how are you doing? Do you think you can walk for a little bit?" Jimin asks him, hearing the directors words.

Jungkook shakes his head no; just sitting up earlier made him dizzy and he simply doesn't feel well enough to get up at all. He needs more time, more rest. He just wants to lay down for a while longer and not move.

Namjoon chimes in before anyone else can talk, "We can just go there and ask for help. They probably have a car. Sejin-hyungnim and Jimin-ah can wait here with Kookie."

They agree and everyone leaves, except for Jungkook, Jimin and Sejin. They stay with him and make sure he drinks a few sips every now and then. Jimin has his little Chimmy hand fan with him and he uses it to help and cool Jungkook down.

It's just five minutes later when a jeep pulls up in front of them and Namjoon hops out of the front-seat passanger side. A middle-aged Korean woman follows him, a fresh and cool water bottle in her hand.

"Hello, I'm Bong-Cha. I own the guesthouse down the road. Your friends came to ask for help." The woman greets them in Korean.

She's very calm and she has a small smile on her wrinkling face. She stops next to Jimin and hands him the cold water bottle, gesturing at Jungkook.

"Give this to your friend." She tells him and turns to smile down at Jungkook, "The heat is terrible during the summer, isn't it? It's important to drink a lot and dress lightly."

Her tone isn't patronizing or lecturing at all. It's light, like she's merely having a conversation about the weather and Jungkook nods his head, a little embarrassed smile on his face.

He drinks a bit of the cold water before Namjoon and Sejin help him up and to the car. The water Jungkook had churns in his stomach and makes him feel queasy. Walking only makes it worse and he swallows hard to keep the fluids down.

They sit him down on the backseat, legs still out of the car when he gags, his mouth filling up with vomit. Jungkook leans forward, letting it spill out of his mouth and onto the ground before he heaves again and again until there's nothing left to throw up.

"I'm sorry..." Jungkook murmurs apologetically, spitting out the saliva in his mouth.

Jimin's heart breaks a little. There's nothing he could've done so he makes sure to let the younger know, gently ruffling Jungkook's hair.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. It's okay." He promises and passes him the water.

Jungkook rinses out his mouth to get rid of the taste and holds the bottle out so Jimin can take it back.

"Take a few sips, Jungkook-ah. You're probably already dehydrated and you don’t want it to get worse." Namjoon prompts him.

Jungkook takes small, hesitant sips and hopes it won't upset his stomach again.

Jimin and Namjoon settle into the backseat with Jungkook while Sejin sits down in the passenger-seat. The woman, Bong-Cha, turns on the AC and even though the drive to the guesthouse is a short one, they appreciate the gesture.

It takes less than five minutes for them to arrive and it wouldn't have been a long walk either but Jungkook looks very tired and they all think that this was the best solution.

Hoseok and Taehyung greet them at the entrance, holding the door open so Namjoon can help Jungkook inside. Sejin and Jimin are close behind them, ready to help should it be needed.

"Here, they set up a little area for him. This way." Hoseok leads them to a secluded corner of the entrance hall.

Namjoon careful sits Jungkook down on the free couch, then also helps him lay down. Jimin props Jungkook's legs up on a few pillows, hoping to stimulate his circulation.

"How's he doing?" Hoseok asks from behind them, glancing at the maknae who's still looking pale and clammy.

He comes forward to kneel in front of the couch, hands gently stroking Jungkook's hair from his forehead. The other members join him, all settling around their maknae.

"How are you doing, Jungkookie?" Hoseok repeats the question to Jungkook directly.

Jungkook's feeling so tired and he can literally feel the cold sweat running down the side of his face and coating his whole body. He's still feeling a little sick too, and the headache is very persistent.

Before he can answer, the woman who picked them up comes over to them, followed by a few of the guesthouses staff. They have fans with them and ice packs wrapped in towels.

"Place these on his neck and armpits to help him cool down. It usually gets better within 30 minutes so you can all just rest here for a while. I can also drive you to the hospital if you prefer that." She offers politely.

The members glance around, their eyes moving to their manager before they land on Jungkook.

He's starting to feel better and his mind is getting clearer as he's cooling down. He also regained some color in his face, not looking as pale anymore.

They still decided to take him to the hospital. They'd rather be safe than sorry and Jungkook did faint earlier and he got sick several times.

—

Namjoon and manager Sejin accompany Jungkook to the hospital.

Maybe it's because the island is so small and nothing much happens there but the emergency room is basically empty and a doctor sees them immediately.

They are lucky that the doctor is Korean herself so there isn't any danger of miscommunication or misunderstanding. She knows them but they aren't really surprised; a lot of people know them nowadays.

The doctor performs a quick check-up after asking about what happened. She tells them that what Jungkook experienced is heat exhaustion and he's dehydrated as well, probably encouraged by the sunburn.

Now, Jungkook is resting in one of the hospital beds, fluids and electrolytes slowly seeping back into his body through an IV.

"When can we leave?" Jungkook pouts. He's bored and he's feeling pretty fine now that he's out of the sun and heat and cooling down.

Sejin looks up from his phone, an amused look on his face now that he knows the boy is alright. He looks back down at his phone as he answers nonchalantly, "Once the bag is finished and the doctor deems you well enough to leave."

The pout on Jungkook's face intensifies and he has the guts to look annoyed and sulk at his predicament.

Namjoon would laugh about it, the maknae looked quite hilarious, but the images of him looking so pale and sweaty and weak are fresh in his mind.

"You also need to be able to use the bathroom before we can leave." He teases the younger anyway, trying to lighten up and get rid of some of the stress that seems to have a tight grip on him.

"Oh."

Namjoon holds up a cup of water with a big grin on his face, "Drink up, Jungkook-ah."

However, Jungkook hesitates as he frowns at the cup and the teasing smirk on the leaders face drops immediately.

"Are you still nauseous?" He asks carefully, ready to put the cup back on the bedside table and comfort his maknae instead.

Jungkook shakes his head and takes the cup, drinking slowly until it's empty.

Namjoon pulls out his phone as well and makes sure to update the others, also telling them to stop blowing up his phone and demand updates every 30 seconds.

Another hour or so passes and they can finally leave and go back to the resort.

Jungkook was told to drink a lot and stay inside if at all possible. He should stay in the shade if he needs to be outside but he'll be more sensitive to high temperatures during the next week or so. The doctor also told him to avoid heavy exercises for at least a week.

—

Their driver picked them up and brought them back to the resort.

Namjoon and Jungkook ended up in Seokjin's suite. The other members gathered up there after they came back and showered, waiting anxiously for Namjoon to tell them what’s going on and then for the two members to come back from the hospital.

Namjoon went to his room to take a shower while Jungkook just used Seokjin's bathroom. Jungkook's skin was sticky and his hair stringy with sweat; he felt dirty and a cool shower was just what he needed now.

"So much for old people have to be careful in the heat." Yoongi tuts gently as they wait for Jungkook and Namjoon to join them again. The others laugh, although a it's a little bitter.

After the shower, all seven of them are sitting on the queen-size bed, eating together. Jungkook only ordered a light meal. He doesn't want to upset his stomach again and even though he doesn't feel nauseous anymore, he's being careful.

The day ends with all of the members cuddling in bed, watching movies on Seokjin's laptop. It's a tight fit for all of them but they manage, Jungkook protectively squeezed in the middle of them.

They're only halfway through the first Iron Man movie when Jungkook falls asleep. He's exhausted from everything that happened today and the heat exhaustion and his head is still hurting a little bit as well.

The members make sure to give his hair a little ruffle and peck his forehead before they leave for their own rooms for the rest of the night.

"Don't scare hyung like that, he's getting old." Seokjin whispers once the lights are out and he's settled behind Jungkook's body, "Goodnight, Jungkook-ah."

—

A few days later, when the members are back in Seoul and settled into their apartment, they make sure to send the guesthouse owner that helped them so much a signed CD and a thank you letter that, they later find out, she hung up in the entrance hall.

#bts #sickfic #bts sickfic #it's actually heat exhaustion #seriously i'm sorry that it's always kookie-centric #just in time before i have to go to work #oh no i forgot tags i'm so sorry #there's vomiting in this one #so emeto warning #also they're in the hospital for a bit #i think that's it #pls tell me if i need to tag anything else

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commentaryvorg · 5 years

Text

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 6.12

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time as we approached the end of trial 6, everyone got to be the hero of their own story, just like Kaito once said! Shuichi used Kaede and Kaito’s words to encourage his friends to use their lives to end this, which then turned into Himiko and Maki making that decision for themselves, including Maki finally wonderfully reaching the end of her character arc and choosing to believe that her feelings are her own and they matter, just like Kaito’s efforts to help her still matter so much. Meanwhile, the audience were still being one-dimensional assholes, when it would be so much better if they’d been a reasonably relatable audience of fiction that could have been realising they’re the villains here and slowly becoming more and more on Shuichi’s side.

Tsumugi: “Does the outside world really want that!? Do they want Danganronpa to end!? Hey! What are they saying!? What’s your inner voice saying!?”

Heh, Tsumugi is starting to sound nervous. She’s worried that they really might want Danganronpa to end after all.

…Which would have a lot more of an impact if there was any kind of impression at all that a significant amount of them have started to want that. There’ve been a tiny handful here and there who have maybe started to realise Shuichi is right, which I at least appreciate, but it would be so much better if those people had become a really noticeable voice among the rest of them by now. Shuichi should be getting through to a lot of people at this point after everything he’s been saying, and it would be lovely if that was actually happening and we could see it happening through these comments and be able to root for that part of the audience who’ve turned to Shuichi’s side!

Keebo: “My inner voice doesn’t matter anymore! I’m going to end this game with my frie— …Hngh!?!?”

But instead. The audience. Literally. Just. Murders. Keebo. Just like that.

Tsumugi: “See? They don’t want that kind of ending! They want the killing games to continue!”

Tsumugi says it’s about them wanting more killing games, but it’s not even that. Now that things have become a narrative mess that isn’t anything like their precious hope-versus-despair storylines, the outcome of this vote isn’t going to magically fix their ending and therefore should have very little bearing on whether or not more games happen after this one. That should be entirely down to the outside world demanding more from Team Danganronpa anyway despite how much of a mess this ending became. They shouldn’t need to murder Keebo for that!

“CTRL+ALT+KEEBO”

“cya later, hope robot…”

“Life ends in a flash LOL”

They don’t even care that they just murdered their protagonist! Not one of these comments right now is even remotely sad about this! An actual real audience that had been going through this whole story through Keebo’s eyes and loved him like an audience of fiction is supposed to love a main character would never be okay with this and wouldn’t have even considered doing this to him, especially not for such a pointless reason!

“Maybe we’re wrong…?”

You! Someone sensible, again! People like you need to be working harder to persuade everyone else of this!

The problem is, even these people who seem to be starting to realise what they’re doing are only vague and tentative about it. There’s nobody who’s confidently saying, “No, guys, Shuichi’s right, this is fucked up, we need to stop this right now.” Even with these tiny hints of it, there’s just not enough support for Shuichi’s cause in the audience here, and that’s not realistic at all.

“Shuichi isn’t a character <3”

Nope, not you, you are not on Shuichi’s side here. You do not get to be someone who seems like they’re actually acknowledging anyone here as a real person, nope nope nope.

Keebo’s body: “Yes… My inner voice will not accept an ending without hope or despair.”

This is the only reason they killed him! Just so they can control his vote and get an ending which has arbitrarily has the word “hope” slapped onto it, even though it’s not! What’s actually happening right now is a far more compelling story than any of that bullshit would have been! It’s even a better representation of the word “hope”, because Shuichi and his friends are hoping that their sacrifice can end the killing games for good!

Tsumugi: “Like I said, you can’t defy the audience when you’re their surrogate.”

It’s kind of cheating when he’s only not allowed to defy the audience because you programmed in a kill-switch for if he ever decided to do so. This is still not how audience surrogates actually work.

Tsumugi: “Since Keebo kept defying the audience, they took a vote and decided… that troublesome personality of his should be erased!”

THEY JUST MURDERED HIM. This is the most infuriatingly gratuitous and pointless death in this whole game. If I cared more about Keebo’s character I would be even more annoyed, but I am still pretty damn annoyed at how unnecessary it is, when every other character’s death was given at least some kind of emotional weight and narrative reason to be happening. But this just happens because the in-universe audience is a bunch of one-dimensional non-people who’d apparently happily watch everyone die gratuitously without any meaningful story to it just to get their “hope” fix.

And since this happened as the result of an audience vote, that means that more than half of the audience right now wanted this and are still on the meaningless-hope bandwagon rather than actually being remotely persuaded by Shuichi. I wish I could say I was surprised, but with the way they’ve been babbling on in the comments, this is not surprising at all.

Shuichi: “His personality was erased!?”

Keebo’s body: “…”

Himiko: “H-How cruel can you guys be? How long are you gonna play with our lives!?”

At least Shuichi and Himiko are having appropriately horrified reactions of you just killed him for no reason what the actual fuck??? Maki’s jaded enough to not have a similar outburst, but I’m sure she isn’t happy either.

Tsumugi: “But that’s the decision of the outside world. ‘Don’t just end Danganronpa!’ ‘We supported you!’ ‘You owe us!’”

I get the feeling that the out-universe writers might have been venting a little bit here. And I do agree that this entitled mindset is rather sketchy – people paid to consume the media they’ve already consumed, but that doesn’t mean the creators owe them any more than that. Creators can make whatever content they want, and if they don’t want to make a thing any more because it’s lost its spark for them or they want to move on to something else, then that’s sad for the fans but it’s the creators’ right to do that.

Although, in-universe, we had that hint a few posts back that actually Danganronpa might already be on its last legs if this season took three years to come out. So at this point it’s probably only a handful of die-hard fans who are being this entitled, and maybe a lot of people whose comments we aren’t seeing because they don’t care enough wouldn’t be that bothered if it ended.

(Those people should still be realising if they’re watching this that Shuichi has a point and this is fucked up and be actively trying to get it to end, though.)

Keebo: “I’m… sorry… I could not fight with you… until the end… But… your choice is not wrong… The real… enemy… is… The outside world who is enjoying this… killing game.”

I’m glad that at least Keebo’s consciousness manages to fight back for long enough to get a proper final speech to his friends. But even so. His death is the most unfair and pointless death in this whole story, and that’s saying something when Kiyo was one of the murderers.

Keebo: “So please… use me… t-to change… To change… the… world…”

I appreciate Keebo’s willingness to still be helpful even in death, but… they shouldn’t need to use him for this.

Tsumugi: “He’s completely erased. That makes me sad too, y’know? He was a character I created.”

This could be true. Writers are the ones responsible for killing off their characters, but they can still feel bad about doing so in the same in-story sense that made them care about the character in the first place – the same in-story way that their audience would care and be sad, too. That said, Tsumugi really doesn’t sound very sad about this here, and clearly her audience isn’t either.

Tsumugi: “The outside world rejects your decision. So no matter how you use your lives, it won’t change anything.”

Shuichi: “Then… I’ll change it…”

Shuichi is finally realising that the audience isn’t going to suddenly stop wanting more killing games just because this one got a disappointing ending and therefore that he needs to change their minds entirely. It’s apparently the callous cruelty of Keebo’s murder that spurred him to realise this. This is one way in which the out-universe writers are trying to get us to think that Keebo’s death was narratively necessary – but man, it really was not. If anything, rather than letting him realise he needs to change their minds, Keebo’s murder should have told Shuichi that he shouldn’t be able to change their minds. But we’ll get to that issue in a bit.

Instead of Shuichi only realising it upon Keebo’s death, the fact that one single boring ending isn’t going to change things should, and could, have been made apparent to him much sooner, from the moment Shuichi declared he was going to abstain from voting. Tsumugi could have simply responded to that by gloating that one disappointing ending wouldn’t be enough to end the whole thing and it’d still keep going. That should be enough to make Shuichi realise that, damn, she’s right, or at least she’s likely enough to be that it’s not worth the risk of sacrificing their lives to achieve nothing at all.

(The fact that they’re willing to give their lives to end this is part of what Shuichi is using to make the appeal that this really is all real to them and they’re not just fictional characters. But that gets dampened a little when you consider that them giving their lives, on its own and without it then being used as part of these appeals for their own realness, probably wouldn’t actually end this and would be a meaningless sacrifice. This might be part of why the narrative kept trying to insist until now that them sacrificing their lives totally would end the killing game on its own: so that everyone’s willingness to do so could seem meaningful enough to be something that might persuade the audience now.)

Shuichi: “If Keebo is doing what the outside world is telling him, we just have to convince him… I know we can change the world! We owe it to Keebo to try!”

That doesn’t make any sense! This is blatantly the out-universe writers trying to make Keebo’s death seem actually necessary for the plot when it isn’t. The audience can hear what Shuichi is saying whether Keebo is dead or not! Shuichi persuading them to change should be hypothetically possible either way; Keebo did not need to die for this.

Tsumugi: “I said it’s impossible! For fiction to change the real world—”

Shuichi: “The impossible is possible! All you gotta do is make it so!”

But in other, better news, KAITOOOOO!!!!!

Even though Kaito’s gone, Shuichi would never have had the confidence to do this without him. He’d never have had the confidence to do any of this without Kaito. Team Danganronpa shot themselves in the foot by including a “weak” Ultimate Detective who grows strong, because they gave him way too much potential to end up this incredibly strong in the end. But they also shot themselves in the foot by including the Luminary of the Stars to help him reach that point, because no amount of nerfing could possibly have stopped Kaito from being able to bring out this potential in Shuichi. All he does is give his sidekicks a nudge, but that nudge is absolutely vital, and nobody but Kaito could have done it as well as he did.

Tsumugi: “…Kh!?”

Oh dear, Tsumugi, is your own writing backfiring on you? Wishing you’d nerfed Kaito even more than you already did? It wouldn’t have changed anything!

Shuichi: “You can even… change the world. No, we *will* change the world. For ourselves, and for everyone who died.”

I love that he’s able to genuinely believe this by holding onto Kaito’s words. If Kaito were still here then he’d absolutely be believing in Shuichi’s potential to do this, after all.

(And I am desperately trying to hold onto this uplifting inspiring feeling myself before I start thinking too hard about the fact that it doesn’t actually make any sense at all that Shuichi can do this, even with all the Kaito power in the world.)

Tsumugi: “You fought to survive this killing game! If you die now, it’s all over!”

Shuichi: “Even if we die, it’s not the end! Our friends who died gave us their love. And we changed because of that.”

This is so lovely! Everyone who’s died so far was fighting to survive, but their deaths don’t make their efforts meaningless, precisely because of the change they’ve inspired in the people left behind. Kaito was so so terrified of dying a meaningless death, but he didn’t, even without needing his role in trial 5. Shuichi and Maki are so much stronger thanks to him than they ever would have been without him, and they’re going to keep holding onto that and making Kaito’s life matter. The same goes for Kaede and Tenko and everyone else who cared about their friends and tried to help in even the smallest way.

Having Shuichi, Maki and Himiko be the three survivors here works so well for this, because they’re the three who’ve grown the most thanks to the efforts of some of the people who died. (Perhaps this is part of why Keebo was gratuitously killed – because he hasn’t had any kind of meaningful character arc inspired by a fallen friend like that. But geez, out-universe writers, the way to fix Keebo not being written well isn’t to kill him off now that he’s extraneous to the point of your ending, it’s to write him better in the first place!)

I also adore how Shuichi talks about the love that their friends gave them. Again, he’s not talking about romance! Platonic love is equally important and more than enough to change someone, and I love that Shuichi realises this!

Shuichi: “If we can inspire change in others, then that love will live on. That love will tear down the wall between fiction and reality, and it will live on… forever.”

This bit gets me emotional every single time I see it. Remember how I mentioned back during some of the training sessions that Kaito inspired me to start exercising every day? It’s been over a year and a half now (and again will be even more than that when this gets posted) and I’m still showing no signs of stopping. And not only that – since this happened to get mentioned on my main blog, I might as well mention it here, too – without Kaito, I’m not sure I’d have been able to finish my PhD. The process of writing up my thesis seemed terrifingly huge and impossible, but thanks to being able to imagine what Kaito would say, I refused to give up. I told myself that that impossible thing was possible and I made it so. All because of a work of fiction.

So Shuichi is so, so right, and I am living proof of that. On some level, I really wish I could tell him what Kaito’s done for me – I’m sure he’d love to know that (and Kaito would have done, too). But of course, if that was ever actually possible, then it’d mean that they weren’t truly fictional at all and would instantly make me a terrible person for having enjoyed this, so it’s better that I can’t.

And I know I’m not the only example of the world having been changed by fiction, either! Participating in fandom lets one see over and over again, at least at the best of times, that having characters you love that inspire you really can help make a positive change in your life! (High-five, training anon!) This is such an absolutely lovely sentiment and I adore that it’s the ultimate message of this trial and this game!

(I just wish so badly that this idea was actually represented in the in-universe audience’s behaviour, like, at all. That Makoto kid at the beginning of the chapter was more or less an example of someone whose life was positively influenced by Danganronpa, but nobody in this audience right now is acting even remotely like that. Man, if only we could see more examples in the audience’s comments by this point, agreeing with Shuichi about this, telling their stories of how they’ve changed because of Danganronpa – maybe even someone mentioning they’ve started to exercise because of Kaito! – it would be beautiful. Why would you ruin the opportunity for this by making this audience mindless assholes, writers. Why.)

Shuichi: “Even if this whole story is a lie… I will use that lie to change the world!”

This is also an absolutely lovely final use of the theme of using lies! It’s like Shuichi’s going to fire a huge Lie Bullet at everyone and use that to change them for the better! The whole concept of using lies in trials was always building up to this final message of how fiction can change the world!

There’s still somewhat of a distinction between lies and fiction that they’re not quite addressing here, though. Both are untrue, but fiction is something people know is untrue and aren’t being deceived by but rather choose to pretend is true and invest in anyway. It’s through that power that fiction can change people. If someone is changed by an outright deceptive lie that they genuinely think is true, then that’s just manipulation – and perhaps it can sometimes be the case that they were changed for the better by it anyway, but it’s not quite the same thing as this.

…Plus, there’s also the fact that Shuichi and his friends and everything they’ve been through in this killing game aren’t actually lies at all on any meaningful level, but, you know. I still appreciate the reprise of that theme here.

Himiko: “Th-That’s right! We’re not gonna just be fiction!”

You already aren’t! Your lives and your thoughts are already real; screw those assholes out there who don’t seem to be able to realise that! Shuichi’s whole speech just now is lovely because it’s so true in an out-universe sense, but it doesn’t even need to become true in an in-universe sense to justify their lives being real and having meaning.

The only level on which it does matter in-universe is with the fact that they’re going to die. By changing people and continuing to have an influence on the world, it’ll mean their deaths won’t have been for nothing, just like those of their friends weren’t.

Maki: “Shuichi, you can change this world. Because… you’re Kaito’s sidekick.”

It’s still adorable to see Maki putting so much weight on Kaito’s belief in people. She knows now that those weren’t just empty words of his and that he really did believe in people because they genuinely did have that potential to be amazing. It’s just, dammit, Maki Roll, you’re his sidekick too! Kaito believed in you just as much as he believed in Shuichi!

Also I love that she’s using present tense. Once Kaito’s sidekick, always Kaito’s sidekick, even after he’s gone! And even though Kaito himself would say that the people who don’t need him any more only used to be his sidekicks, evidently his sidekicks themselves don’t see it that way.

(They still need the memory of Kaito, though. They’re always going to need that. His legacy is never going to be forgotten.)

…

And now for a huge emotional whiplash from all this passionate positivity as we move into the worst minigame segment of any trial ever. Oh boy do I have a fucking rant for you about this Argument Armament and how absolutely terrible it is.

First off, let’s talk gameplay mechanics. I usually really enjoy rhythm games. I like to think I’m decently good at them. But this one? I equipped the skill which doubles my health at the beginning of this trial solely for this minigame, and I needed it to survive, even with all the other things I had on that also made this minigame easier. Is it because this is a really difficult rhythm game that challenged even someone like me who’s pretty good at them? No, it’s because it’s barely a fucking rhythm game at all.

Problem one: every regular Argument Armament has music that has a very clear, distinct beat to it, making the rhythm easy to keep up with and the notes easy to hit so long as you’re paying attention. But for some stupid reason, this one has completely different music in which the beat is very subtle and difficult to keep track of, especially when it gets faster and especially when those morons in the audience are yelling so loudly that it drowns out most of the music. So that’s thing one which makes it difficult in an unfair way that’s antithetical to the point of rhythm games.

Problem two: every regular Argument Armament also does a rather neat thing of making which buttons you need to press feel intuitive by having it so that the positioning of the words on the screen is always in relation to the position of the button you need to press on the controller. This makes things a lot easier to keep up with for people unfamiliar with their controller’s button layout (like me, as I hardly ever play any PlayStation games). The first couple of sections of this trial’s Argument Armament do that too, but around the point where those idiots all start mindlessly yelling “Hope! Despair! Hope! Despair!”, it deliberately throws that out the window, and the buttons you’re supposed to press on the controller suddenly have no positional correlation with where the words are on the screen. So if you’re not instinctively familiar with your version’s controller button layout, god help you.

Which means that at that point, I’m desperately trying to remember where each button is within a split second in order to press it in time with a beat I can barely even fucking hear. Suddenly, instead of being a rhythm game, this section has instead become a non-stop series of incredibly fast quick-time events. That is never a good thing at the best of times and especially not what I want in a Danganronpa minigame, which have all up until now required at least some level of actual skill that isn’t just reflexes and controller familiarity.

This is a completely unreasonable spike in difficulty that required me to both use the temporary easy-mode of Fever Time, which I never needed before, and have a health extension, which I never needed before, just to not get a game over here, having never even come close to getting one for the entire rest of the game. Who thought this was a good idea. Who playtested this section and decided this was totally challenging in a fair way and definitely not bullshit fake difficulty that’d have people tearing their hair out in frustration, suddenly hating the game whose story they were in theory supposed to be loving more than ever in these final moments.

…Which brings me onto the narrative side of things, because even putting the gameplay aside, even if this really was a fun and legitimately challenging rhythm game that I could get behind, this does not work narratively at all.

As I’ve gleefully talked about before for the actually-good Argument Armaments, the point of them is supposed to be that the subject already knows they’re wrong, either because they’re the culprit or because they already know that the person they want to believe in is the culprit and just can’t face it. The words that Shuichi has to shoot down in the rhythm minigame represent their desperate attempts to distract Shuichi and stop him from getting any words in edgeways to be able to conclusively prove what they already know is true. That’s why, at the end, once he’s pushed through all of that, all Shuichi needs is a single sentence of proof to break them down.

And that could have worked here, if this audience had been comprised of vaguely reasonable people! Like I’ve been trying to build up in the past few posts, a far better way to write this part of the story would be to show the in-universe audience behaving essentially like a relatable audience of fiction, albeit one that engages in some very fervent cognitive dissonance in order to wilfully ignore the fact that they’ve always been watching real people die. Which would mean that they already know what they’re doing is wrong, and those viewers that haven’t been persuaded by Shuichi yet simply still don’t want to admit it, even now that they’ve become the explicit villain of this story. After all, admitting that you’ve been an awful person, that all of those deaths are partly on you, and that to make up for it you first need to give up your favourite show for good but even then that would barely begin to be enough, would be difficult to accept for a lot of people.

I wish that was what this was. But oh my god, is it really, really not.

“I’m not here for a damn lecture!”

“Preachy characters are so annoying!”

Lines such as these could, potentially, if done right, sound like desperate deflections from people who know they’re wrong and don’t want to accept it. But in the context of everything else that’s being said, and with the way they’re delivered, these are clearly people who genuinely believe they are correct to say that Shuichi has no right to be trying to change their minds, because Shuichi’s not a real person anyway.

“Is Danganronpa really gonna end???”

“You can’t just end it out of the blue like this!”

“We want more of the killing game!”

“There’s no way they’d let it end like this, right?”

These comments from near the end are some that could vaguely sound like some kind of deflection – people trying to distract themselves from the knowledge that they’re being awful by clinging to the “no but I don’t want my show to end!” even though they know full well by now that it should. But this doesn’t seem to be how these are meant to be read in this context, either. Their tone just sounds rather too entitled, like they still genuinely believe they deserve to get more killing games after all this.

“Well, hopefully there’s another season…”

Especially with this. That should be the least of everyone’s worries right now! Try thinking more about the fact that you’ve been awful fucking people!

Which is really what this would need to be about in order for this to work. The majority of comments should be directly addressing the bigger issue: that they all know and just don’t want to accept that they’re in the wrong. A lot of people should be saying things like, “We’re not the bad guys, are we?”, or something like “But it’s just fiction so it’s okay, right?”, in a tone that makes it very clear they’re in denial and know that it’s not fiction and it’s not okay and they are the bad guys here.

“Who cares if they die, they’re not real!”

Instead, this is the only statement we get along the lines of “it’s just fiction so it’s okay”, and this is clearly not said out of any kind of desperate denial. Whoever said this genuinely thinks their lives don’t matter even now.

The rest of the audience here seems to think along the same lines, because the majority of the comments we get for most of this poor excuse for an Argument Armament is just stuff to the effect of “ugh I hate where this story is going, give me a better ending!”. That should not be the point any more! They should be perfectly aware by now, if still on a level they’re unwilling to properly accept, that this isn’t about their own superficial whims for their entertainment; it’s about people’s goddamn lives, and so who cares whether they get entertained or not!

(And have I mentioned that they still should be enjoying the story that’s actually happening more than any of their hope nonsense.)

So, since this audience that we’re being presented with here clearly does not know on any level that they’re in the wrong, we have a fundamental problem with our Argument Armament. Instead of simply shooting down desperate deflections in order to tell them something they really already know, Shuichi is trying to actively persuade them of something they don’t currently believe. That is not something that was ever going to be appropriate for an Argument Armament, because all Shuichi actually does in these is yell a single sentence – sure, this time it’s multiple sentences, but that’s hardly any better. And every one of the sentences you have Shuichi yell is something that he’s already said earlier in the trial. Again, they should already know this, yet because they evidently somehow don’t, this approach should not be able to change a thing.

Shuichi should have needed to do a lot more than simply yell a handful of sentences at everyone to be able to persuade them, at least as the audience is being presented here. If he is supposed to have canonically done something more than that, then really we should have seen that in order to be able to buy that he succeeded, rather than have it be swallowed up by game mechanics. (After all, it’s not like he literally played a so-called “rhythm” game.)

And another thing is, Shuichi in particular really isn’t someone you’d think would be more notably capable of persuading the audience than anyone else. He’s amazing when it comes to detective work, sure, but he was never established to be someone especially good at persuading people to change their minds on an emotional level when logical proof isn’t going to work. That’s a job that’d be more suited to someone like Kaito, or Kaede!

But… even Kaito knew when to back down from trying to get through to someone because it wasn’t going to work. He eventually gave up on getting through to Kokichi after having tried for the entirety of chapter 4, upon realising with the way that trial ended that Kokichi was never going to accept help and be willing to change. Kaito also never even tried in the first place to get through to Monokuma, or the mastermind, and talk them out of this killing game, because that was very evidently pointless from the start.

So, I think if Kaito was here, and if he was reacting realistically to this awful mess of an audience (which, let’s face it, no-one has quite been doing, because the out-universe writers apparently don’t realise how terrible their depiction of the audience is), he’d be able to tell immediately that this is a lost cause. Kaito could only ever use his luminary powers to influence people who wanted to change, and these assholes clearly do not want to do that.

The problem, going back to just Shuichi, is this: if the audience still doesn’t even see Shuichi and his friends as being real people with lives and worth, if they can’t even acknowledge that Shuichi is a human being with the potential to have a valid point, they are never going to even listen to his argument and consider that he might have a valid point in the first place, no matter how much of one he has.

“This guy shoulda died instead of Kaede!”

This asshole, for example, literally thinks Shuichi should be dead. Therefore Shuichi is not a person of any worth at all, therefore there’s no need to listen to anything he’s saying.

“Hey, what about little miss assassin’s punishment!?”

“Just kill each other already!”

“Death is the point of Danganronpa!”

And these idiots just mindlessly want everyone to die. (I am especially in-universely infuriated and revolted by the one that seems to combine this with the “hurr durr schoolgirl assassin hot” and would apparently enjoy watching her die for that reason, ugh no fuck off you disgusting monster you don’t deserve to even see Maki ever in your life.) Because the only fun part of this story to these assholes is everyone being horribly killed, apparently? Inhuman monsters like this are never going to listen to reason! They literally just murdered Keebo for their own pathetic one-dimensional whims of how this story should end! If they can’t even understand that death is bad, even fictional deaths, we have a fundamental roadblock to our persuasion here!

Keebo’s body: “… …”

Himiko: “What… just happened?”

What just happened is that Shuichi did something that should have been literally, actually impossible.

And, see, the thing about Kaito’s catchphrase is that he’s not really talking about things that are literally impossible. He’s talking about things that seem impossible to you, because maybe you don’t have enough confidence in yourself, or you don’t have the skills and strength you’d need just yet. But they’re not inherently impossible if you’re willing to put in enough effort to get there. And the first step of that is letting yourself believe that it could actually be possible after all, so that you can bring yourself to put in that effort and make it so.

I’d love it if that was what this was – it’s what it ought to be, to truly honour Kaito after Shuichi invoked his words for this – but it isn’t. This should not have been possible, at all. Not with this audience that we’ve seen here, and definitely not in the way that Shuichi apparently managed to do it.

---

[Next post]

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #chapter 6 #class trial #commentary

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land-of-brains-and-chocolate · 6 years

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god it WILL NOT stop bothering me until i talk about it. the way we got here. it’s not just about the book anymore, not at all, and it’s certainly never been about “shipping”, at this point it’s how helpless the tactics of the guy make me feel.

step one: refer to people who have read previous venom books and noticed the trend throughout the nineties to portray eddie and the symbiote as a man and an agender alien in an ambiguously or not-so-ambiguously romantic relationship, which was picked up on and completely unambiguously canonised in the very last run, consistently refer to these people as “shippers”, lovingly condescend to them, do not ever treat “the ship” as existing beyond their imagination

[I LOVE THAT YOU GUYS EXIST]

result: make people forget that this is a complete misrepresentation and he has received no criticism whatsoever for “not making a ship canon” because that is not what he did, he decanonised it and then denied doing so and painted everyone it ever meant something to as essentially deluded - and, considering that that’s all they are, he’s being awfully kind and accommodating, isn’t he?

evaluation: a reason to harass him? no! really kind of manipulative? yes!

step two: actively seek out these no-good shippers on tumblr! tell them that you’re watching them! read their detailed posts in which they express their grievances about your comic book to their friends and misrepresent their points on your twitter so your bajillion followers can affirm that Those People are categorically wrong about everything!

[EDDIE IS CODEPENDENT]

people are mad at him because he said eddie was codependent! not because he’s reframing the extremely rare story of a troubled queer relationship that was ultimately still a redemptive force in these characters’ lives as an unhealthy compulsion that corrupts, hm, what a fresh and unfamiliar take, no reason why this would strike a nerve - and, recently, of course, as something inherently abusive, every bit of hope and change for the better vile and fake.

literally just start vaguing about people’s personal tumblr blogs on your professional twitter account with the little, little blue checkmark and everything, use that to make passive-aggressive references to people’s posts! why not!

[LOVE EACH OTHER]

people talk about how they like a symbiote and its host getting along (and they did, that very night, talk quite a lot about ngozi)? that is so dumb and lame.

[EVERYTHING IS AWESOME]

people get sick of edgy shock factor writing that throws one dark theme after another at them without treating any of them with the consideration they deserve? people expect some moments of levity in a venom book?

they’re asking for stories with no conflict where nothing bad ever happens! but it’s okay, he knows better, he knows you just don’t know what you want! it’s not like endless sadness is just as likely to be dreadfully boring or unintentionally hilarious as endless happiness!

result: o w n e d god he sure is shutting down every point no one has ever made

evaluation: a reason to harass him? no! really kind of manipulative? yes!

step three: literally get so mad at people on tumblr talking about your comic that you not only boil their opinions down to THE SHIIIIP but literally say that their opinions don’t matter because they literally would never say it “to your face” literally because it’s “easy to be brave on tumblr”

literally

say these words

[IT’S EASY TO BE BRAVE ON TUMBLR]

call people chicken shits for NOT talking to you directly! and then! BLOCK everybody who talks to you directly! or quote retweet them so your followers can descend like vultures! actually acknowledge that it takes bravery to interact with you if you’re in the Tumblr Demographic, you know, one of Those People, and frame yourself as in the right for it???

am i losing my mind???

[SIX PEOPLE ON TUMBLR]

get so mad at people on tumblr talking about your comic that you not only claim they’re the only people ever to talk badly of it but imply that you’re one step away from namedropping the specific perpetrators. that’s not ominous at all!

it’s an age-old question: how many times does one of marvel’s top writers with legions of fans have to imply his antagonistic awareness of your specific existence before you’re on a first name basis? and also paranoid?

result: stir shit. be a shit stirrer. faint when your shit stirring does in fact stir shit. you can’t go “you would never” and be surprised when people do, you... can’t...

evaluation: a reason to harass him? no! really kind of manipulative? yes!

step four: whip out your ally card... to whip the people you’re supposed to be allied to with it. try to use your knowledge of queer issues to shut down actual queer people.

[I DON’T THINK IT’S APPROPRIATE TO ASSUME GENDER]

either that, or straight-up make a “did you just assume my gender” joke. i can’t find the original tweet anymore, so it’s possible it was that and he deleted it because it was too blatant, lol.

result: MAYBE YOU GUYS WERE THE PROBLEMATIC ONES ALL ALONG

evaluation: a reason to harass him? no! really kind of manipulative? yes!

step five: remember that interview where he outright stated that he just wants to, just to be the definite venom run? just to put the biggest dent in canon he can? just to break everybody’s toys and emerge victorious as the one person with the valid take on venom?

yeah, those things become more noticeable in the actual book, over time, and acceptance of that is, uh, not universal? not everybody’s up for him spending several issues in a row on e s t a b l i s h i n g d o m i n a n c e by having eddie sit around as other characters tell him that a ton of stuff other writers from michelinie to thompson to costa to kaminski to slott to jenkins have done actually sucked and was wrong and fake and never happened? through retcons that make no sense, like, factually don’t fit?

people don’t like you walking back character and relationship development to further your end goal of recasting the symbiote as the personification of addiction and abuse instead of itself a survivor of extreme abuse who has been constantly denied personhood in a way that is frighteningly resonant and who has been going through a genuine redemption arc for years now?

people don’t like you acting like eddie never had a reason for being who he is before and you had to make one up? one that doesn’t fit the character at all, which you didn’t realise because you apparently thought the character had no characterisation before you came along?

you can imagine how these things might spark nerd rage?

and you can probably imagine who this nerd rage was blamed on, yeah?

these criticisms inherently require knowledge of venom canon, because they’re largely about disrespect for it, these criticisms are not related to shipping of any kind - but of course the only thing people could possibly be mad about is the "ship", the only ones making a fuss are those “shippers”, those casuals, Those People who only care about One Thing and don’t understand the real gritty reality of the, god you get it i’m making fun

[I KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT]

you’re the only one, don. it’s true.

and i know, i know for a fact, that he’s been aware of criticism from other groups all along, that he was, for example, witness to this livestream that spends like a solid hour a month mercilessly dragging him through the dirt, and you know what the extent of his response was?

thanks for checking the book out.

that’s it. that’s all. this guy hasn’t gotten any less loud about criticising him, either. wishing for his book’s cancellation and retconning. but nothing more. he gets to keep to himself. he is #valid.

people have been taking the piss out of him on youtube, on reddit. only tumblr ever earned his ire. only tumblr gets namedropped at convention panels.

and now, now more than ever? you better believe your regular run-of-the-mill nerds, straight, male, utterly uninterested in the icky stuff, everything, are mad. almost everyone who’s truly tits deep in venom lore is mad.

and so he’s said he’s received threats. and i’m sure he has. i’ve received threats. you’ve received threats. it’s never okay. it sure as shit never helps to send them.

he’s gotten a lot of fucking inappropriate personal vitriol! lots of it actually “ship”-related! i’m categorically against contacting the guy for any reason!

but who is to blame? who do people accept as being to blame? who do news outlets report on as being to blame? when, i presume, not every single one of them actually went “i’m doing this specifically because i’m a (thunder clap) shipper”? when large-scale retcons are literally always met with nerd rage? when a shipper-less fandom probably still would’ve had threats?

[THIS IS INSANE]

[IT’S THE SHIPPERS]

result: if all criticism = “shippers”, and “shippers” = harassment, then everyone who has no actual idea of what’s going on but who doesn’t like “shippers” is automatically on his side and nobody who isn’t a “shipper” wants to risk the association by criticising him.

get this stuff out to his followers, to news outlets, to people completely uninvolved and contextless, and watch the bile run over everywhere because lots of people are ready to accept this narrative in comic book spaces.

have people in the replies and comments eagerly discussing how this is more proof that c+o+m+i+c+s+gate was right and they’re the only reasonable ones. how disgusting and crazy "shippers” are. how donny should keep doing his best to trigger the gays. there’s no pushback against these ideas.

and i’m so fucking stuck between wanting to defend the man, wring my hands and apologise on behalf of the other These People, because i don’t see anything justifiable in their actions, and in being... just... just so frustrated... with everything... with throwing everyone out to the dogs... and claiming that he doesn’t mean to... when he has this whole history of belittling "shippers” specifically... of making sure their public image is that of people who just don’t know what they’re talking about and are in no way worth empathising with... of only drawing attention to the aggressive ones and blocking the reasonable ones

when he literally only stands to benefit from doing all this.

this is massive amounts of free positive pr.

this makes him essentially immune to criticism of any kind.

evaluation: a reason to harass him? no! really kind of manipulative? yes!

i forgot! somewhere along the line, he did do something very good and disavowed association with co/mics/ga/te!

[C0M1C5G8]

why the fuck am i censoring? tumblr search stopped working decades ago.

anyway, it should come as no particular surprise why these people assumed he would side with them. not that any high profile writer who values his standing would, really. are there any? maybe there are, i’m not up to date on this drama.

i just think it’s funny - genuinely not his fault, but hilarious - that this was apparently enough to inspire a “boycott”? and it was a fart in the wind?

which is the least surprising thing ever because there is actually nothing whatsoever to hold these people’s ire to be found in venom? excluding aliens, there has been one real and present character who isn’t a white guy in 11 issues? it is actively less queer than it was before? donny has never caved to the essjaywoo pressure in any way, shape or form? what were they... thinking? it’s almost like these people are dumb?

all they've done is ensure that, without it actually doing anything, venom gets the commendation for being A Comic The Gators Don't Like?

anyway.

what do we do moving forward? i don’t know. nothing. not harassing anyone. keep being salty on tumblr. do not engage him. i think i’m more about stalling the chain reaction he’s caused than the man himself. if you’re not a “shipper”, of course, keep posting your criticism, maybe stand up for “shippers” who are being dogpiled over genuine criticism, don’t let people say This Is All Proof Of How You Can’t Have Queer Content Because Queers Are Crazy.

and be nice to mike costa.

#i feel a lot better actually #it sure took a lot of words to achieve that

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snkpolls · 5 years

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SnK S3E20 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 287 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!

RATE THE EPISODE 279 Responses

This episode was another hit with most viewers, with 74.6% of participants ranking it 5 out of 5.

Just brilliant. Best series.

This was the first episode I’d been excited for in weeks. With the serum bowl I was dreading the last three episodes but the Marley Arc is my fave and I’m super super excited for what comes next in the anime.

The music was incredible and Grisha's VA stole the show.

The best of this season yet!

This season has now given us 2 (two) episodes WITHOUT openings and both times the episodes blew me away. I’m so stoked for the fourth season

I'd say it was a pretty solid episode. I can't believe we've finally made it to Marley, I am so not ready for the nonstop angst that is to come…

Anime quality was ass again, but the plot and voice acting make this a fantastic episode overall

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING SCENES WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE? 282 Responses

There were several informative and memorable scenes. 45.7% of participants thought Kruger’s big reveal was the highlight, while 12.1% can’t decide what stuck out the most. 9.9% of participants felt Dina becoming the Smiling Titan made the biggest impression.

DO YOU THINK GRISHA’S FATHER WAS RIGHT IN EASILY DEMEANING HIMSELF AND GRISHA TO GROSS? 270 Responses

Though Grisha’s father yielded to the Marleyan police regarding Faye’s death, 77.4% of participants believed he was right to prevent the rest of his family meeting a similar fate. 15.6% thought he should have shown a bit of resistance towards Gross’s accusations. Many in the comments agree the situation is simply not that black and white.

It's not whether it's 'right' or 'wrong' in these situations - if your options are the death of your family or satisfying your own feelings of dignity, then I think it's up to the individual what their priority is. But I think it is not a sign of weakness to put your family first.

He probably hated himself for doing it (at least I'd do), but losing another loved one would be horrible for anyone in his situation, so I can understand why he did that.

I can't really answer with clear 'yes' or 'no'. On one side, He was right to protect the rest of his family, on the other... He could try to comfort Grisha in a better way (you know, not yelling at him to be silent)

No, but I think he could’ve dealt with Grisha more privately. He didn’t have to continue with his indoctrination of Grisha.

I think it's complicated

no one is right or wrong here.

SERGEANT MAJOR GROSS STATED THAT “PEOPLE LOSE TOUCH WITH LIFE AND DEATH AND START TAKING THEIR LIVES FOR GRANTED." DO YOU THINK THERE IS TRUTH TO WHAT HE SAYS? 283 Responses

Gross told Grisha that people took their lives for granted when losing touch with life and death. 60.4% of participants think there is truth to his words even if his actions are morbid. 27.2% believe he just said this to excuse his cruelty.

Idk but him staring into my soul made me unconfortable

That is true, but it doesn't actually justify or support his position. We're SUPPOSED to all have the luxury and privilege of 'taking life for granted', as he puts it - that's why humanity has worked so fucking long to improve society to this point! We shouldn't have to think in life-or-death terms to consider ourselves worthy of living.

There is truth, but it's obvious that it's more words for him justifying his horrible actions more than a maxime which guides his life. If it were so, he wouldn't have been scared and screaming when the titan eat him.

Yes, but he's just making excuses for his sadistic mind.

DO YOU THINK HUMANS IN GENERAL BECOME INTERESTED IN VIOLENCE? 284 Responses

The episode observes humans and their reaction to violence, Gross saying he finds it interesting. 49.6% of participants believe that most people are interested in violence, while 40.1% specify that it depends on how violent the event is.

The most interesting part of the episode is Gross addressing the viewer over making his victim dance. Part of SnK is watching some victim being devored by the lions. Be it Faye to the dogs, Mike to the titans, Eren's squad to the titans in Trost, Carla to Dina, Marco to Araki Titan, Bert to Armin... the reactions however differ. Some of us came to see characters fighting and get eaten by giant monsters, but as the story progressed, our point of view differed and it became disgust for the most part.

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT GROSS'S DEATH? 281 Responses

Gross’s death was a gruesome one, but 53.4% participants were satisfied he got what they feel he deserved. 17.1% were less comfortable by the irony of the situation, and 13.2% found his struggle enjoyable.

Watching reaction videos where people cheer on Gross getting his face chopped on kinda unsettled me, I'm not gonna lie.

IS FAYE’S DEATH THE CRUELEST MOMENT IN THE SERIES? 282 Responses

Being torn apart by dogs is a disturbing way to go and 46.8% of participants felt it was the cruelest moment of the series thus far. 45.4%, however, believed there were crueler moments worthy of mention.

I didn't think Faye's death was the cruelest because let's face it, Mike's was the absolute worst. :(

GIVEN HOW HE TREATED ZEKE, DO YOU THINK GRISHA IMPROVED AS A FATHER WHEN IT CAME TO EREN? 280 Responses

Though Grisha didn’t show a lot of compassion for Zeke as a son, 55.4% of participants believed he learned to be a better father for Eren as a result. 24.3% would rather have more information before saying for sure, and 20.4% of participants felt Grisha didn’t quite change his ways.

GRISHA STATED THAT YMIR “BROUGHT BOUNDLESS PROSPERITY” TO THE WORLD. WHEN GRICE QUESTIONED THAT, GRISHA RETORTED WITH THE FACT THAT HE “BELIEVED IN YMIR”. WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED? 282 Responses

There was a mix of histories regarding Ymir Fritz. 50% of participants believed Ymir may have brought prosperity but that Grisha was also jumping to conclusions without context. 40.4% of participants thought Grisha was just seeing what he wanted to see.

Grisha’s va knocked it out of the park this week. The episode made me re-think whether grisha actually could read any of the sacred texts. Was he just BSing the whole way through? Will we ever know what they say in that case?

BEST ROGUE TITAN DESIGN? 282 Responses

Out of the three Rogue titan designs, a majority 62.8% of participants thought Eren’s was the most physically appealing.

Best Rogue Titan design? That's not even a question. ITS ALWAYS ERENS. LOL

HOW FAITHFUL WAS THE ADAPTATION TO THE ORIGINAL MANGA? 276 Responses

A majority of manga readers believed the episode was mostly faithful to the original chapters, with 54.3% believing it was nearly perfect. Others felt the episode could have been more accurate.

Great, pacing was a little quick but I think the anime adaptation explained everything a bit better than the anime. I had to go back and read those chapters like 3 times to fully understand everything lol. I do wish they didn't cut lines from the warrior selection announcement though. Overall great though!

Great adaptation. They should've cut the ending too, so they wouldn't need to cut some parts, but it was as close to perfection either way.

I'm sad that they omitted so much when Marley announces the Marley warrior program. Besides that I think it was an amazing episode.

Was thoroughly impressed with how they managed to adapt two of the most dense chapters into a single ep without any significant cuts. The artwork for the Eldia/Marley lore was gorgeous, and the performances were as expected, phenomenal. Kruger's transformation was breathtaking, as was the OST. Definitely one of the best episodes of the season. Also, Marina Inoue saying "Shingeki no Kyojin" in the preview gave me chills.

KRUGER'S HAIR: BLOND OR BLACK? 282 Responses

Kruger’s hair was colored dirty blond in the anime compared to the darker shade in the manga. 47.5% of participants felt that either color choice worked well for him, while 39.4% preferred his black hair.

kruger is a dirty blonde colour imo ;p

I’m just over the moon to finally see The Owl aka Kruger animated with a voice.

The color scheme in this series has always been weird. Not that Isayama himself is limited palette-wise, but the colors have been much sober than WIT's multicolor fest. Kruger's hair are meant to be black or dark brown. Isayama draws blonde/hazelnut hair with full lines. Same goes with the uniform: Isayama uses frames for dark colors (the SC's green coat ie), ink for black and dark blue. Anime already made odd choices with Mikasa's scarf (black in the manga) or Armin's eyes (brown).

Always thought Kruger was brunette

After last week's preview I thought Kruger with blond hair was weird but having watched this week's episode I think it fits better with the blue uniform and the show's colour palette. Besides, he still looks hot so all is fine lol

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT THE APPEARANCE OF MARLEY? 282 Responses

A majority 60.3% of participants believe Marley’s appearance was just as modern as they expected it. 29.4% of participants thought it appeared more lavished.

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE CENSORSHIP FOR SOME OF THE GRAPHIC SCENES? 283 Responses

Some of the more graphic scenes were censored in the anime, but 53% of participants aren’t bothered by it. 35.7% of participants were disappointed that some parts weren’t shown as a result and 11.3% felt it was appropriate to censor the more graphic scenes.

I don't mind Grisha's penis as well as the gory parts being censored (it's NHK after all), but the censorship comes across as convenient for the series. They omitted some marleyans officers saying Gross was going too far, or masked the details of the warrior program: no full confirmation of RBA being trained into infancy to be promoted at the status of Honorary Marleyans. Conbine that with the RBZ+Pieck scenes from this season being watered down and you have the anime making it even more black and white than the manga.

ISAYAMA ASKED THE ANIME TO HIGHLIGHT GROSS’ SPEECH TO BREAK THE 4TH WALL AS A “CALL OUT” TO THE VIEWER. WAS THIS DIRECTION SUCCESSFUL? 277 Responses

Gross’s 4th wall break was a request made by Isayama to address the viewer as he spoke. 65.3% of participants felt the direction made them feel more called out than when they originally read it. 24.9% can’t relate to what Gross is saying in the first place.

His eyes that never left the spectator's gaze froze my blood, it was really very successfully made.

I get what Isayama was trying to do but there's a huge difference between being sadistic knowing that it's fictional and being sadistic in real life

Honestly I didn't even know that he broke the 4th wall until I took this poll.

I didn't feel like what he was saying pertained to me because I've always been repulsed by his mentality and justifications.I think it says more about Isayama that he felt this was something that needed to be broadcast to society.

The speech wasn't as well done in the anime. I think he broke the 4th wall in the manga pretty well.

The Gross 4th wall break didn't really deliver in the end. Wish it was more obvious (eye contact, zoom in, voice acting)

It would have been a lot more successful if he'd written the call out to come from someone less sadistic and despicable. It's hard to reflect like that on words that came from a character that had a nine year old child eaten alive by dogs.

considering i had no idea it was meant to be a callout, i'd say it failed

WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN WITH YMIR’S BACKSTORY FLASHBACK NEXT EPISODE? 280 Responses

Since Ymir’s backstory was moved to Season 2, 39.3% believe that Historia reading the letter will show Ymir’s death instead of the entire flashback. 35.7% of participants think the scene will just show a cut down version of the backstory with Ymir’s narration in the background. 21.1% believe that the backstory will be shown again with some tweak to the narration.

Fuck man I dunno, maybe they'll play some interval music and Ymir will tapdance

I feel like the one disappointing thing about this part in the manga is that Ymir died offscreen. This would be a good change and I wouldn’t mind a teaser of Galliard also.

The backstory shown in season 2 wasnt the letter 1/1 right? Then just have the letter read out and have slightly altered images of her story

I got no idea which way they'll go, but WIT will do her story justice, no doubt about that

They will recycle s2's animation and that's it. If they show Ymir's fate, kudos to them, considering they've been pretty lazy with additional content so far.

THE ANIME ADAPTED EREN'S LINE AFTER WAKING UP AS "WHO AM I?" WAS THIS A MORE APPROPRIATE PHRASE THAN THE TRANSLATIONS ABOUT EREN USING DIFFERENT JAPANESE PRONOUNS OR HAVING A DIFFERENT VOICE? 280 Responses

In the manga, Armin comments on Eren’s change of pronouns when he first wakes up, but the anime changed this line to “Who am I?” 38.6% of participants thought this change made more sense in context. 30.7% of participants didn’t realize there was a change, and 21.4% thought the manga made enough sense for it not to warrant a change.

I feel like this episode is where we lost Eren as he once was. The change wasn't immediate, but this is the impetus. All that information, all those memories. The boy has started to become a man.

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 284 Responses

Of the scenes that were shown, a majority of 52.1% of participants are most looking forward to more conversation between Kruger and Grisha.

Historia is lookin fine in the preview

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

Just a nitpick but I wish Kruger’s attack titan was animated more in destroying the boat since it felt more like a colored panel; I’m still happy how it turned it though! Maybe there might be additional animation next episode but I can only hope :’D

This episode was beautifully done. The voice acting really knocked it out of the park, especially Grisha's. His screams, holy shit. I got chills. Kruger's voice was also brilliant, just that perfect blend of nonchalant and forbidding. What I found interesting was the VA for young Grisha sounded so much like Kaji Yuuki! I saw in the credits that it wasn't actually him, but what an excellent casting choice!

Needs more Floch

KRUGER!!!!

This S3P2 has to have the weirdest pacing I've ever seen: the 2ch1ep formula doesn't work at all for backstories like Grisha's, considering the whole worldbuilding is unleashed. That being said, the preview from last episode's accustomed the anime-onlys to the outside world, but combining chapter 86 and 87 leaves no time to breathe properly.

Thinking back on it, wasn’t this Grisha’s first time seeing Titans in the flesh, and eating a person right in front of him?

I had hoped Kruger's hat toss would be more dramatic, but alas, t'wasn't. Other than that, went pretty good

They pronounce 'Zeke' completely different from how I imagined it would sound.

Perfect, especially the final scene. I knew what was coming, but seeing the restorationists become the Trost Titans, the Dina reveal, and Owl transformation was something else. That sequence is on par with Reiner/Bertholdt reveal and Erwin’s charge as best scenes in the series. At least for the anime so far.

I thought this episode was kind of disappointing. Maybe it's just because I really dislike the tone shift that came with the Marley stuff, but I thought the manga handled all this exposition kind of awkwardly and was hoping for better from the anime. Nope, the only thing improving it is that it won't be drawn out for months between chapters this time.

Bby Zook my boi, must protecc at all costs, so innocent, so pure

In one episode all this information WAS WAY TOO MUCH! poor anime-only fans lmao

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 265 Responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again in a few days!

#snk spoilers #snk s3 #snk poll #snk polls #poll results

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