#very fun perspective here op

[ot3]

Just curious, what’s your opinions on Kristoph and Phoenix? I see you reblog ship posts about them sometimes and I’m really curious about your opinions on their dynamic both inside and outside of ship stuff, because I didn’t really know how to interpret Kristoph in particular. I think he’s one of the worse villains in AA tbh, it’s been a while so I may be misremembering, but I just didn’t… get that much substance from him?

kristoph is certainly a really hard character for me to fully develop an opinion on in isolation. i think the only area where i'm capable of saying anything about him i can back up with significant references to the text is in regard to his relationship with phoenix, because that's where the meat of his character interactions are. and more broadly because as a #phoenixhead my primary means of looking at the entire franchise is how things relate to phoenix. if you'd like to read about my interpretation of phoenix and kristoph's relationship more specifically i've got a post on that subject here. i think it's a character dynamic that has a TON going for it relative to the screentime if you're able to disregard fanon and look directly at what's in the text.

but more on kristoph individually

kristoph suffers from the same thing that all of aa4's major characters and plotlines do: not getting another game. there was clearly more to the gavin brothers' story we didn't get and will never get, and knowing that there's Something there we have absolutely no means of predicting or unraveling makes it hard to theorize. he kind of exists in a quantum state for me where i can see a ton of alternate perspectives on his character's complexities and just buy whichever one i'm feeling at a given moment. i personally wouldn't say he lacks substance because every interaction he has with any other character is, imo, very compelling and gives me a lot to chew on. but he's a character that's all questions and no real conclusions for sure.

i don't think he's a cackling machiavellian serial abuser. i think hes easily the kind of person who has the capacity to be emotionally abusive and manipulative to the people closest to him without being Pure Evil. because we have so little on him it's very easy to portray kristoph as the kind of sinister that provides whatever OP's favorite flavor of angst is. and i'm certainly no exception to that; i just happen to be a person who is into maybe some subtler flavors.

he's both one of ace attorney's most calculated villains, with poisoning vera's nailpolish being an incredibly cold maneuver that suggests a lot of foresight, and one of ace attorney's most brutal murderers, capable of getting aggressive enough in a moment to bludgeon a man to death with a bottle. i think kristoph can be understood as a character whose primary motivation is control, both over himself and others. there's that critical line in turnabout succession where he tells klavier he's out of control, and klavier says "whos control? mine, or yours?" his reputation is built on his ability to stay calm under pressure, and his ability to stay calm under pressure is built on his tendencies to preemptively engineer situations in his favor. the stuff with phoenix and the gramarye case represents what we can presume to be the biggest failure of his career.

i think this puts him very much in line with AA1's main villains. people like to compare him to dahlia a lot for obvious reasons and there's some fun to be had there but i think it lets people overlook how well he ties into AA1. redd white controlled the press and controlled the judges to get away with his blackmail ring. von karma controlled the witnesses to engineer his perfect cases. damon gant controlled the police and the evidence, and then controlled lana to control the prosecution. although those were all one-case villains i think kristoph justifies his larger scope in aa4 by the significant and longstanding personal connections he has to the rest of the main cast. kristoph represents the mirror image of those AA1 villains; aa1 shows the way the deck is stacked against the defense. kristoph shows what it looks like when someone tries to stack it in the other direction

i think kristoph plays an important part in the larger franchise by showing what corruption looks like from the defense's bench, and how this corruption takes a different cadence when it lacks the systemic power that the villains like gant had. i think his cold, calculated approach to defense works well as a foil to the type of defending we saw from phoenix who is all heart and charges in head first. i think apollo works well representing a sort of compromise between the two, being a little bit shrewder than phoenix but no less earnest. i think klavier, then, as a prosecutor who is much less aggressive than the previous 3 both personally and professional serves to further invert the expectations set by the trilogy in a way that's really satisfying.

is kristoph missing some pretty critical backstory that i would love to see? yeah. absolutely. but i think when you look at him as a story device rather than an underdeveloped character he adds a tonnnnn to the series. that said, i will die wondering.

[ultfreakme]

Honestly Geto and Gojo having the same death anniversary which happens to be the most romantic day in Japan, with a character in-story stating how romantic it is should be enough evidence to convince anybody that SatoSugu are supposed to be a romance.

On top of that, we hear that JJK0 is about Yuuta and Rika's love but it's also about Geto and Gojo's relationship.

Then Gege Akutami specifically assigning break-up songs to Geto and Gojo.

AND THEN; they each get canon songs made in each other's POV speaking about their feelings specifically for one another. Where Gojo's song contains lyrics like "Even though I’ve come to know the scent of you being different from mine" and "Any prayer, any word Could bring us closer, but they couldn’t reach you Just like a silent love, In the summery colors along my cheeks". And Geto's song has lyrics like "Even trivial conversations are fine. Show me your blushing face once more" and "It exists only here. I want to touch you" and "Though I understand a wounded heart. Why do I end up hurting and leaving the same scars?"

The animation team going out of their way to give these two more soft moments hanging, creating visual parallels through the Betta Fishes, the flowers, the entire OP for Hideen Inventory but especially the part where we are seeing Gojo's vision being filled with Geto looking amazing while he rides Geto's rainbow dragon.

I saw someone say we're just projecting western views of romance onto satosugu but like, LOOK AT ALL THIS. I cannot stress enough the insanity of their death dates. It's like two people dying one after the other on Valentine's Day. This is some Romeo & Juliet bullshit. JJK in general has next to no romance, no one's pining after each other, the few times there are implications, it's very short. The most obvious one is Mechamaru and Miwa. Now imagine if Mechamaru and Miwa were the ones who got Ao No Sumika and Akari. Imagine they got 5 episodes dedicated to their story and Mechamaru dies on December 24th and Miwa's the one forced to put him out of his misery for betraying them to Mahito and Kenjaku.

Okay do you fucking see how ridiculous denying SatoSugu is? If Mechamaru and Miwa got all that even WITHOUT saying an 'I love you' no one would question their romance.

I know people keep making fun of shonen animes for having a stronger 'romance' between the two guy leads than with any other love interest but I've seen that stuff and even there it isn't nearly as deliberately romantic as SatoSugu. I can tell that Kuroko & Kagami, Gon & Killua or Levi & Erwin are supposed to be friends, the shipping thing is based on the established friendship stuff but SatoSugu are so blatant it's hard to think of another explanation.

I saw a point about how people are projecting western perspectives of romance on platonic friendship expression in a different culture, which I do get, I think it's a valid point. Idk much about how people express friendship in Japan but I have heard there's a lot more skinship and openness as compared to western cultures.

But w/ SatoSugu there isn't anything that can be read as purely platonic, there's always an ambiguity or it's directly romantic.

[raining-anonymously]

for a kids’ cartoon, this show has got a LOT of different endings. for ANY show, it’s got a lot of different endings! i’m really very curious about which ones other people liked best.

Notes: 

The holiday episodes are listed as their own future because they clearly take place after a lot of summer already happened (Canderemy being an established couple, Heinz & Perry on very good terms, Irving being there). But it’s fall/winter, so summer is over. But it’s not compliant with “Last Day of Summer,” since Heinz is still very much scheming. Hence — alternate future.

With those rules in mind, Candace Against the Universe is still not considered to cause an alternate future here on the grounds that OP believes the joke with Perry’s watch at the end led to another round of Amnesia-inator.

Fun Fact: “Act Your Age” & “OWCA Files” are the only futures here that are reconcilable with “Last Day Of Summer.” I’m not including “Doof 101” in this for two reasons — it would take place directly after LDOS, but Vanessa’s attitude to her father appears different (at least to me), plus there wouldn’t have been time for a whole arrest/hard-time-or-community-service thing to go down. I’m also not including “Quantum Boogaloo” on the grounds that Heinz & Perry in the good timeline give the impression that Heinz never quit evil. Plus, from a Doylist perspective, I don’t believe they would have had Doof-1 create that horrific of an empire if QB had been an episode in later seasons. MML is not LDOS compliant because Heinz is still “evil” when Milo&co meet him (I think - I’ve not watched it).

edit: i’ve now watched MML. heinz is, in fact, no longer evil. he still sets traps for the pizza guy, though. and it is LDOS compliant. idk he’s just like that.

[heavyweightheart]

i have an awkward relationship with my own blog since it’s gotten moderately popular lolol, and whereas i used to easily use it as a place for self-disclosure, i now not only have my personal energy to protect but i’m a :( professional :( who has to do ethical boundaries on social media. as a peer organizer and activist there was a lot more i could say here based on my work. and, i’m getting sicker and sicker with illnesses unrelated to an ED (unless they’re long-term effects; a fun mystery many of us live with). the cancer-related surgery i just had was not effective, so i’m dealing with grief about that in addition what seems like continually declining quality of life. they could not have cared less about my safety at the hospital--one nurse that i asked to help me put on my mask post-op just set it on my face, coughed on me, and then mocked people who “get sick easily.” i’m utterly dependent on a system that would prefer me dead. survival takes everything i have, and the strangely abundant energy i used to have for this work isn’t there anymore. 

i’m sharing this just to say we’ll see where the blog goes, as i’m seeing where my work goes, as i’m seeing where my body and my life go. when i started in the world of ED tx and body lib almost a decade ago the field was pretty bereft of the perspectives that have become common(??) now--HAES and IE and similar perspectives were very marginal and rare. i feel in some ways like i’ve worked myself out of a job as an ED activist! or at least that a sea change has come, thanks to years of effort mainly on the part of fat activists.

there’s also still so much work to be done. as a sick & disabled person and as a jew, i’m feeling the need to shift my focus, deep as i’ve been in the ED field. it’s all connected ofc and i’ll never move too far away, but i need to be where i am. anyway this has been my gregorian calendar year 2022-23 meta-update, tysm

[gloriousmonsters]

like. last reblog got me on a mental tangent about OoT specifically and the Triforce breaking. and the fact that Ganondorf has been trying to gain some of Hyrule's OP magic for a while (keep thinking abt how he tried to get the time travel ocarina stuff...) and I wouldn't be surprised if he's known of/been planning to steal the Triforce for a fairly long time. I mean it's the THING. it's the fucking power of the gods. You get your hands on that and there's absolutely no question you can steamroll Hyrule and then you'll have Won and this will fix you and justify your existence in the role you have and your moms will be proud etc etc.

And he's obviously pissed when the Triforce breaks and goes out to Link and Zelda, and the way he approaches it is very--no I deserve the whole thing, I'm the one who can use it properly, and it's easy to just see it from the General Villainous Entitlement angle, but getting into his perspective, and looking at it from the angle of him being someone with a certain role who's multiclassed beyond it, who could have been knowledgeable about some of the Triforce's aspects and structure for some time...

the Triforce of Power is obvious; power is something he has, has always possessed, something he believes in, that he undeniably embodies. he's the King (even when he loses his people, even when they reject him, even when he's the king of nothing or the world beyond or darkness itself, he's always a king). but the Triforce is more than power. That's fine. He's not just the king; he fights his own battles, he executes insane strategies, he puts himself into danger unhesitatingly. Who could say he's not courageous? He's a magician, a scholar, familiar with the intricacies of two cultures, comes up with his own plans and gambits--he's wise!

(and yes that's definitely what courage and wisdom consist of he doesn't have skewed ideas of them shut up!)

and it's both a symptom and foundation of his need to be exceptional, to be strong enough he never has to rely on anyone (because he shouldn't and he can't and it would be weak and--), that he reacts to the Triforce shattering with furious denial and a dedication to piecing it back together--it's not only practical (need ALL the godlike power can't have it running around elsewhere) every moment Link and Zelda exist, with other parts of the Triforce in their possession, it's like the powers that be are telling him that he isn't the success at Being Everything All The Time Yourself that he tried to shape himself into; he's incomplete, he's not good enough at these qualities that he was so sure--sorry, that he's STILL so sure! of course!--that he had successfully embodied just as much as he embodies Power.

he spent his life forging himself into a hypercompetent triple threat and The magic artifact of all time is like hm... ok here's. a third. the other two thirds are going to a couple 12-year-old Hylians. that you were just feeling smug about outsmarting. have fun with that blow to your entire conception of yourself byeeee

[parad-ice-lostandfound]

Things that come in my head as I play through Diasomnia's chapter (chp 38-55):

[Potential spoilers below darlings, proceed with caution!]

Am I ready for this? Hell no. Do I know I will regret everything? Yes. Am I still gonna try to finish everything in one day? Yep. Let's go!

Ortho??? Calling from RSA??? Is this Idia's dream? Malleus?! Cute to see him taking care of Drago but like the tiny details showing that its actually a dream? And Idia's catching on! Slowly but hey, progress is still progress! It's also nice to see how things could be different if og Ortho was still around.

Where are we? Why are there terrifying ghost like things on the windows? Is this Ramshackle dorm before it became, well, Ramshackle as we know it now? I am so confused now lol– Wait we're in Mickey's room?! How'd we get on the other side of the mirror? We're all having an out of body experience... I dunno how to feel about that tbh.

Silver! My baby's here! And we get to see his UM!

Have I ever told you guys how much I like Malleus' humming? Cause I like it very much. But anyways... we're in cyberspace now...? Oh Ortho! Ortho's awake! Poor baby's trying so hard to wake up his brother.

It's kinda scary seeing how powerful Malleus is. Like, to the point where he can force even Styx issued gear into shut down mode, he's seriously overpowered. Can't wait to see Idia continue the trend and become the hero in this tale, but there's a lot of heart ache we need to go through before we reach that point so, best of luck to all our poor hearts.

I wonder if there's any particular significance to the fact that the time is stopped at 9:18.

So we finally meet Idia's dad, huh? His helmet reminds me of Hades' Helm of Darkness. And we meet his mom as well. A lot of technical stuff and lore drop that went a bit over my head, but it's fine! We'll be fine!

Seems like eccentricity is the middle name of the Shroud family. Then again all geniuses are a bit eccentric. Poor idia, his mom definitely snooped through password protected folders. I would riot if my parents ever snooped through my laptop, so I can't wait for him to wake up and proceed to lose his shit over it lmao

Ortho's Cerberos gear and the two support droids are so cool! The little family moment is cute, but I hope this isn't a death flag for poor Ortho because I've seen too much of that trope– Now we're back with the Prefect! Ngl, Silver's kinda hot when he orders us around.

Dreams are a very tricky subject, so I don't blame Silver for not knowing much about how his UM works. That being said, I'm ready to learn a little more about Sebek, now that we're in his dream. I'm not his biggest fan atm, but... let's see. I'm hoping my perspective on him changes because he seems like a fun character to explore.

.... Something about the way he calls us human just pisses me off lmao. But we will be keeping an open mind. I will come to love you Sebek (yes it is a threat)

I feel terrible for Silver. Imagine looking at people you've known your entire life, two of them people you look up to and one you've trained alongside, and seeing strangers. Strangers who live in a fairy tale, who want you to join them and live happily ever after, sacrificing your freedom and responsibilities of the real world for an ideal ending. Who wouldn't want to take that chance? Making the choice to go against them, for their own good, is the most difficult thing to do in this situation. Raising your weapon against the one you trained your whole life to protect, fighting against someone who was once your comrade-in-arms.... it's terribly heartbreaking. But, hey, at least we got Sebek to wake up.

EHY IS MALLEUS SO FUCKING OP DIFVDHDGDJSVDVDJD B DHFDUSJDHS?!?!?!?!?

We... we're in Lilia's dream now.... brb, gotta get some tissues and get ready for emotional damage–

It's nice to see Silver taking the lead and being the dependable one. Also, General Lilia!! Been waiting for him since I got spoilers back when I was stuck in Ignihyde's book. I love how his hair transitions from being long and having red streaks to short and cute with pink streaks. Long hair is often associated, at least in my culture, with maturity and a sense of responsibility, while short hair is more fun and child-like. Similarly, red is an intense colour, while pink could technically be seen as a softer, gentler cousin to it. It shows Lilia's change from a warrior to caregiver and I think it's really neat. I just wish he could have seen him in a more adult-like form in the past.

[otakusheep15]

The Obey Me fandom is back at it again lol

This is probably the longest post I've ever made, and I honestly don't know why it got so long to begin with. As a brief summary, someone on Reddit insulted Levi, talking about how he's a creep and no one would like him if he existed irl, and they said we need to raise out standards. However, they didn't ever mention how none of the brothers would be good people irl. Also, this is a fictional game with fictional characters who aren't real to begin with, so all of their argument is kind of invalid. And this is my response. The Reddit post is under the cut in paragraph two.

For those of you who want to know, the full post (excluding these two) is a total of about 15 paragraphs. Some are longer than others, but most of them are pretty decent lengths. I know not many people will read the whole thing through, and I get that. If you go to the Reddit post, most people in the comments do a better job of making these arguments in fewer words, so I'd recommend that if you'd prefer.

Update: they deleted the post, but you can still see the comments, so you can have a basic idea of what was said.

So, basically, I saw a Reddit post about Leviathan. Now, for those of you who don't know, Levi is my favorite Obey Me character, so I was naturally interested in this thread. The original post was about how no one would like Leviathan if he wasn't a hot anime boy. Like, if he weren't conventionally attractive, most people would see him as a pervert, a creep, and a weirdo. Then, the post ended with saying that we should raise our standards if we like Leviathan.

Full link here if you wanna take a look for yourself. Most of the comments on that post kind of said what I'm about to say now, so if you don't wanna read all of this post, I highly recommend reading some of the comments, as they do a good job of explaining most of my points.

Anyways, this whole post just completely misses the point of not only Levi's character, but the entire Obey Me game as a whole. The OP specifically goes and attacks Levi for his personality, but, in reality, if any of the brothers were real people or not conventionally attractive, they would be some of the worst, most hated people I can think of. All of them have their own red flags and bad personality traits, but that's part of the fun. The game is a form of escapism that shows us idealized versions of these people that would usually give most people major icks. I'm gonna go over just a few of my own personal icks with each character just to give y'all some examples, but just know that I'm not attacking anyone's fave, I'm just trying to make a point.

Lucifer has a very dominating personality. He acts like he's the most important one in the room, and he does his best to control you, the player. In a few interactions with him, you're not given the option to say no to his advances, and it makes me (and some others) uncomfortable. Plus, he has this whole thing about how he fully believes we can't love anyone more than we love him, which is a weird mentality. If Lucifer were real, he would be seen as one of those creepy guys who try and manipulate you into a relationship and then fully expects you to listen to whatever he says at all times. That's not attractive, that's creepy and a major red flag, at least from my perspective.

Mammon is way too overprotective of the player. Whenever we try and interact with one of his brothers and/or another character, he constantly cockblocks us and forces out of a romantic interaction. In real life, this behavior would be a red flag on so many levels, and it would just be seen as downright possessiveness. That level of possessiveness is not attractive. Not to mention, Mammon has a major money problem. He's constantly in debt and gambling all of his money away. He has a straight up addiction to gambling and spending money, and that is not healthy. Plus, he always seems to have beef with someone over money, and it's usually us or one of his brothers who has to bail him out of it. That's not attractive, and no one in real life would want to date someone with this much trouble with money.

Since Levi was the main focus of the Reddit thread, I'm going to skip him for now and come back later because I have some points I'd like to make.

Satan has severe anger issues, and I think we all know how well that translates into a relationship in real life. He very easily has the chance to become an abuser of some kind, especially a violent one. Not to mention, Satan has horrendous amounts of daddy issues, and that's all he can talk about half the time. These two things are a terrible combination, and it would not work out well in real life. If Satan ever got angry at a partner, who knows what he could do to them. He also has a bad habit of bringing in stray cats without any warning. These cats could have diseases, they could be violent, or they could be someone else's cat entirely. But he'll refuse to part with the cat, and it'll be pretty hard to get him to let it go. This last part is more speculation than anything, but he also seems like the manipulative type. Like, he's very intelligent, and he seems like he has the ability to easily manipulate someone if he wanted.

Asmodeus is very flirtatious, and he flirts with a lot of people. Look, I love Asmo so very much, and I will defend him with my life, but I'm making this point because it's necessary to my argument. Asmo would be a cheater in real life. He'd be a huge cheat, or, at the very least, he's want some kind of open relationship. Now, I'm not bashing on open relationships. However, I don't think Asmo would effectively communicate properly enough to have a healthy open relationship. He'd go out without telling you, hook up with people without telling you, and I could even see him try setting you up with other people without your permission. Not to mention, he's famous, and he has a lot of fans. Sometimes, he puts those fans first instead of you, and that can make anyone jealous. Not to mention, he has a habit of being very vain and attention seeking. he also prioritizes himself above all else, including you. He always compliments you, but then ends it with something along the lines of "but you're still not as cute as me," and ruining the whole compliment. This type of guy in real life would been as a playboy and a self-centered asshole, and no one wants someone like that.

Beelzebub eats way to much, and he's constantly running down his family's food supply. He also has a habit of spending way too much money, but it's usually food-centered. Again, this is just mere speculation, but Beel also seems like the type to be rude to waiters if they mess up his order or don't have a certain food he wants. It's already canon that he has pretty bad anger issues, and sometimes they can even rival Satan's, so it isn't much of a stretch to believe he would get angry at wait staff for something like this. Honestly, I can't think of many other icks I have with him, and he seems like one of the least problematic brothers to me, but feel free to talk about your own Beel icks if you have any.

Lastly, Belphegor literally killed us. Like, yeah, most of the brothers have threatened to kill us or have come close at some point, but Belphie actually succeeds. And, in real life, if you die, you don't come back, so Belphie is already the worst one in real life. But, let's move past that. He is so lazy to the point where he refuses to get out of bed half the time. He's constantly falling asleep in the most random of places, and it is downright impossible to wake him up sometimes. Plus, he also tries to drag us down with him, thereby keeping us from being productive and missing important events. Belphie is also the youngest child, so he's been spoiled his whole life and just automatically assumes everything he wants should be given to him without him working for it. For the record, I'm not saying every youngest child is like this, but Belphie certainly is. He can also be quite the manipulative guy, using his youngest privilege to pretend like he's all innocent and whatnot.

So, yeah, overall, all of the brothers easily have their own icks that would make them terrible in real life. However, I do want to circle back to Leviathan. I will admit, just like his brothers, Levi does have his own icks I would dislike in real life, but the one's OP brings up aren't even icks. They're traits that most introverted people have, not to mention Levi is heavily autistic coded and has many traits that line up with how people with autism act.

Their first point is that the way Levi talks about idol groups is creepy or weird. They then cite a quote from him complaining about how an idol group he likes that's known for being cute suddenly dropped a new music video that looks much sexier. Then OP says that Levi has not right to get mad over what an idol group chooses to do. However, Levi has every right to get mad. In fact, most people get mad whenever a group they like decides to change directions in some way. I mean, we all saw what happened when One Direction broke up. And, if you actually look at how Levi reacts, it's really not that extreme of a reaction. With how OP treats his words, you'd think he did something horrible like go online and spread hateful and misogynistic words about the group like so many creepy otaku men tend to do. But, Levi doesn't do that. He's simply just expressing his dislike of this new route to a friend. That's a very healthy way to express negative feelings, and he's doing it well. He even says that he's still gonna support the group and just see where it goes from there. He does nothing creepy or weird at all in this interaction.

And right after that, they bring up the fact that this is a fictional game. Their exact words are "I know this is all fictional and whatever..." and the ngo on to say something else. With that one phrase, they completely contradict their own argument. The whole point is that this is a fictional game with fictional characters. Levi isn't real, and none of the others are real, so there's really no point in getting hung up in their personalities like this. The only reason I did was to show that none of them are perfect and we shouldn't target just one without taking the others into account as well.

Then they say that no one would be gushing over him if he were real and that he's cringy, creepy, and weird. However, most of his traits are just those of an introverted, autistic person with bad social skills. He likes anime and video games, and he likes talking about those interests and interacting with his fandoms. Yes, he lacks a filter, but that's not creepy, that's just bad social skills. Hell, I tend to lack a filter because I have trouble reading the room sometimes. I am both introverted and mentally ill, but no one would call my behavior creepy or cringy. I just have trouble socializing, just like Levi. If he were real, he would just be an awkward guy who needs help figuring out social cues. He's not as creepy or perverted as people make him out to be, especially compared to characters like Lucifer, Asmo, and even Mammon at some points.

Finally, they end their argument with saying that if he weren't pretty or an LI, he would be the most hated character in the game. Except, he already kind of is, because this is how most people tend to think already. Many people fail to understand that lots of Levi's traits are just him being social awkward and autistic. If fact, he rarely even pervs on the player because he's too shy, meaning we have to initiate most of the more heated scenes because he won't do it himself. He's not a perv, he just lacks a filter sometimes.

And, honestly, this whole paragraph they stuck at the end: "Also: I’m well aware that ppl already think he’s creepy, but this is addressing those who excuse it all because he’s pretty, or loves you. Like please raise your standards. Also your free to have your own taste in men, this is not to make fun of people who like Levi. This is about levi himself, and if he looked totally different, things would not be how they are now." was just straight garbage. If we raise our standards for one, shouldn't we raise them for all? Meaning we wouldn't like any of them because they're all terrible.

Sorry this was so long, and thank you to anyone who stuck around and read it all (probably no one). I just get really mad whenever someone comes after Levi like this.

[theflyindutchwoman]

I honestly hate the Lucy UC storyline now. 1) she’s been in THREE Documentaries, one specifically about her going UC so it makes no sense (also not to mention Isabel outting her as a cop to that guy’s daughter, so maybe that’s were the storyline will go, he’ll try to get revenge on her for being a cop) and 2) she was upset about them not seeing each other much if she moved to a different station yet they wanted us to believe that she would have no problem going on a UC for 6 mths to a year and not seeing Tim (or Tamara)?!?! Like come on 🙄

For what's it worth, you're definitely not the only one feeling this way. I personally don't hate it, but I get it. This has been a bone of contention since s3, even more so lately. My biggest gripe at the moment is that, this storyline has been stagnant for so long, it's time to either commit, or give Lucy other opportunities. I wasn't sure if you were merely venting your frustrations or if you wanted me to answer : in case it's the latter, I'm gonna address your points but by no means am I trying to invalidate your feelings here. I'm just sharing my perspective on the matter.

Let's start with the documentaries. Honestly, at this point, I think we should simply take them for what they are : an opportunity for the writers to develop ridiculous plots and have fun, even though they don't make much sense… The last one was so over the top that I loved it - but I can understand that it's a bit hard to suspend your disbelief here… especially regarding the UC arc. I didn't mind Lucy being in them at first - or Nyla for that matter. Not to stereotype here, but I'm not sure the criminals she goes after watch these type of documentaries. And even if they were, they would still have to remember her specifically and there wasn't any particular reason to do so back then. I mean, so far, only one person in-universe has ever referenced these documentaries… and that lady was a director herself (5.06). That last one, on the other hand… Let's just say that outing Lucy as an undercover cop was definitely a choice… I almost feel bad for the criminals who went out of their way to be creative so they could get their hands on those UC lists, when really, all they needed to do was sit and watch true crime episodes. No respect for the craft! But more seriously : when the promo aired, I thought for sure that this issue was going to be addressed. I even wondered if I had missed a conversation or something after watching the episode. I guess, we're just supposed to pretend that it doesn't matter since not one single person raised the issue of Lucy being in the spotlight when she should be in the shadows. Then again, the LAPD doesn't see a problem with advertising a whole conference about covert operations… We clearly have a very different definition of secrecy. That said, maybe this will come back later and someone will recognise her. That's always a possibility - though it would seriously make the whole department look incompetent for not considering that ahead of time…

Another option would be to reopen the Teska plotline, as you suggested. The writers did leave the door wide open with all the loose threads, starting with how abruptly Lucy ended the op. Or how Isabel outed them as cop to the daughter, that's true. I have to say, I'm not completely convinced he would want to get revenge on Lucy. Sure, she lied to him about who she was. At the same time, she saved his kid's life, pushed him to make amends and get another chance with her and let him go free. She technically could have had him arrested : between the possession of a firearm and the conspiracy to commit murder, she had more than enough. I'm not saying the guy would become bestie with Lucy but out of all the people she's met while undercover, he's not the one with the biggest motive. Actually, I feel like Isabel would be a bigger target : after all, she's the one who infiltrated his gang and sent him to jail in the first place. Not to mention that his daughter knows how to contact her. But yes, he could always come back to wreak havoc. And as I mentioned earlier, he's not the only one. There's the female gang that might hold a grudge against Lucy. There are a couple of cartels that were crippled thanks to her. Any of her missions could come back to haunt her. But, and this is only my opinion, after spending three seasons filled with various vendettas from La Fiera, Elijah, Rosalind and whatnot, another plot like this would get old real fast. I don't think we need any more of these. Especially since Elijah is not fully over yet and we still have the ramifications from the finale to deal with. I'd rather Lucy just gives up on UC because she realises this is not for her. At least, it would be something different, you know what I mean?

And that leads me to your last point… Here's the thing : as upset as Lucy was at the idea of spending less time with Tim, she was still ready to move to another station, she still helped him get a new position that is notorious for their killer hours and she was still studying for the detective's exam. This didn't deter her at all. Obviously, this is different than being away for months on end, but she has been consistent in that regard. I understand the confusion and how illogical it sounds… But just because she was distressed about seeing Tim less, doesn't automatically mean she won't be able to handle being away. And just because she could handle it, doesn't mean she will want to do it. Speaking from personal experience here, it's a bit more nuanced - and complicated - than that I'm afraid. I only wish we would hear her perspective on all of this.

I also don't think that the narrative, or Lucy herself, was implying she would have no problem whatsoever with not seeing Tim (or Tamara) for a long period of time. I'm assuming you're referring to that last scene in 5.20, when she was worried about Tim not handling long term UC. As I see it, it was more about her trying to finally have an honest conversation with him about undercover, so they could hash everything out. This was introduced in 5.16, with Noah opening the can of worms, but they didn't get to the bottom of it since they had another conflict to take care of. Undercover is a bit of a sore point for Tim - for good reasons - and she knows it. She was there for the end of his marriage, she remembers his knee-jerk reaction when he found out she wanted to pursue undercover… He may fully be supportive now but she wants to gauge how he is truly faring with all of this. And after the events of the day (Isabel's return, their mini UC op…), it gave her the perfect opportunity to try to address this. She can guess he has been soldiering on for her and she doesn't want that. A place of honesty, remember. That's why she starts their conversation with : "Can I share something vulnerable with you?". She's putting herself in a vulnerable position by confessing how much she loves doing this job. She's trying to bring up the underlying issue in a way that wouldn't make him defensive. But a part of her has to also be afraid of his reaction. This isn't an easy situation. When she answers him "No. Um… I'm worried that you won't", it's because in that moment, her concerns are about him. Let's be honest, out of the two, he's the one more likely to have issues with this due to his past. She doesn't have the same baggage as him. And she's right to ask the question : how many of us have asked it? Apart from when she was his rookie or when he pushed her to go to the Academy, they've never talked about it. Only it's an important conversation to have if they want to spend their lives together. And they finally had it after her last mission. Another reason is that, in her case, she has something to counterbalance the hardship of not seeing Tim : doing something she loves. He, on the other hand, doesn't really have anything to outweigh this downside when she's away. However, he knew all of this from the start and still decided to start a relationship with her : simply being with her eclipses this drawback. This is what matters to him. But I can see why she would want to check with him if long-term undercover is something he can handle beforehand. It doesn't mean she doesn't have her own fair share of doubts. Now whether she can truly handle it… For the moment she thinks she can - and so far, she has. Maybe she's underestimating how hard it would be… and to be fair, it's not like she really has a frame of reference here. Listening to other people's experiences can only go so far…

If it helps though, I doubt Lucy will do too many long-terms undercover mission - if any - so all of this might end up being moot anyway. But I still believe the whole point of that conversation was to try to address the elephant in the room… They started opening up to each other, after several attempts, so maybe next season they will take a step further in that direction and explore Lucy's side of this, share some light on whether she has any doubts or worries. And hopefully, this storyline won't be in limbo for much longer. But again, this is just my perspective :)

[the-falconer]

Some of our conclusions after watching Link Click S2

So me and my friend set up a call and watched Link Click together, after which we spent an hour or so discussing some theories. Here are some fun facts:

Based on the OP my friend thought the Evil Kid was Cheng Xiaoshi, but that was discarded after ep 2

Neither of us could remember the Evil Captain's name so we dubbed him Hot Evil Guy when discussing our theories

There was some confusion about whether Hot Evil Guy was THE bad guy, but we got it eventually, ok. It's the kid. The kid is evil.

So here are some theories we came up with:

Lu Guang gave Cheng Xiaoshi his powers

Okay, so you know how Lu Guang's eyes go blue whenever he uses his power? And the Evil Kid's eyes are red? Yeah, they're opposites. So whereas Evil Kid takes away powers, it would make sense that Lu Guang has the ability to give powers to someone else.

Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang met by pure coincidence - wouldn't it be a bit too coincidental for two strangers who became friends to somehow have complimentary supernatural powers? That's because it is no coincident; Lu Guang gave Cheng Xiaoshi his powers. Right from the first scene of the first season, Lu Guang is always the one laying out the rules and explaining things to Cheng Xiaoshi. It's not because Cheng Xiaoshi is careless about the rules or exposition like we might think, but because Cheng Xiaoshi LITERALLY IS NOT familiar with the rules, and is still getting used to the powers!

Now, the reason Lu Guang chose Cheng Xiaoshi is simple: he trusts him. When they first met, Cheng Xiaoshi went on about how the basketball represents his trust in him and so on. So yknow.

2. Lu Guang is probably old as feck (maybe like an immortal or smth)

Okay, so this one is based on one theory I read online and what we got from S2 + the lack of exposition in season 1. We know nothing about Lu Guang. Not his parents, family, backstory, nothing. But Lu Guang seems to know everything. He's always talking about the rules and the consequences of what happens if you don't follow them, so he's suuuuper familiar with it. My friend talked about how he wore the ugly-looking hat in the university flashbacks, and that maybe it was because he was trying to hide his face because he's not actually part of the school but wants to insert himself among his age group (to which I think that he probably just wears the hat because he has bad fashion sense and it's uni days, and yknow, we all had weird fashion sense at some point in our lives) but what do you know, it might be true. All in all, he's just a very mysterious character in the context of the story.

There's also a scene in S2 that we got this week, that ties into our third theory:

3. Lu Guang and Evil Kid are familiar with each other, or at least know about the other's existence, but have not directly met before

So the scene in question is when everyone is in the hospital room and talking about the killer and his possible motivations, and they conclude that he has the ability to take away powers. THIS is Lu Guang's reaction:

Suspicious, ay? But he denies knowing anything the next moment. This is probably cap. He definitely knows SOMETHING, but it's for sure that the two have never met each other face-to-face before. Because when Evil Kid stabs Lu Guang while possessing Qiao Ling, they ask him: "are you his friend?" They also noted that his name is Lu Guang when Cheng Xiaoshi came back, so Evil Kid definitely didn't know his face or name before. But this doesn't mean his existence itself wasn't something unfamiliar.

There's also scenes that allude to the bad guy being the Evil Kid back in S1 - the killer constantly talks to Cheng Xiaoshi if he'll be their "new friend" and using similar child-like expressions. We still don't know what the Evil Kid wants, but so far the best thing we have to go off of is the OP, which seems to be FROM the killer's perspective. But that's gonna be for another post altogether. Thanks for reading!

[gyusimp]

"Killing Stalking AU" (1/¿?) [Killing me softly with his song...] Warnings: Minors DNI/Canon Gyutaro/Modern AU/Violence/Inapropiate language/Small smut scene/Murder/Kidnapping/Harassment. Please, if you haven't read Killing Stalking DO NOT READ THIS! Or you'll think I'm sick. Toxic/abusive relationships are not okay and should not be normalized, much less romanticized, this is all FICTION. ▪︎Song Inspo: "Tell me if it hurts" - Flowerface.

"There's a boy I like..."

"I try to discover every part of him to get to know him better and find out what he likes."

"But I don't want him to find out. I'm sure I'll be branded as a stalker…and a weird girl."

University life wasn't a problem for you. A physically attractive, friendly and smiling girl was usually surrounded by many people wanting to be infected with your good vibes. You were always willing to help those who needed it and your companitionship was something that could easily put a smile on people's faces. Everyone wanted to be with you, the opposite of him. A very tall boy despite walking a little stooped, his brows were furrowed 90% of the time forming an expression of displeasure but at the same time wanting to send everyone and everything to hell. His deep blue eyes could make you feel like this man stole your soul with one look. He was very thin, you once heard a rumor that he wore such baggy clothes to hide his sickly thinness that made the bones of his skin stand out as if his muscles didn't exist. The black splatters all over his face kept all eyes on him at all times causing the person who saw him to mutter any nasty insult to whoever was next to him.

A lonely, rude and aggressive guy like him seems to have no heart until one night you checked that there was something that was beating inside his chest. You found out when that cold night you were cornered by a guy leading you to a dark alley. He assured you that no matter how loud you yelled no one was going to hear you, but that changed when a punch landed on the attacker's face making him fall straight to the ground and helping you escape from that horrible situation.

Since that day something changed inside of you. The perspective in which you saw the weird boy in the class changed completely and a simple sudden clash of glances in class made you feel in heaven, when you heard his trembling voice your heart jumped and that's when you understood that something was wrong with you. Where you felt you had created a connection with him.

You had feelings for Gyutaro Shabana.

But it was something you couldn't tell anyone, if you, the pretty and popular girl, told someone how you felt about the ugly and rejected boy on campus, all your cardboard friends would immediately make fun of you and you would make a fool of yourself.  That's why it was a secret that you would take with you to the grave. Something blossomed inside of you and you knew it. A small seed was planted inside you that night and it germinated more each day, becoming a small green stem that later took more roots until it gave some flowers, but that small plant continued to grow without control until it formed branches and vines that completely took over your body without you noticing.

Because loving him so strongly had become a habit for you to the point of leading you to do things that you didn't think you were capable of and that's why you were here today, holding in your trembling hand a stupid piece of paper with more than 20 different combinations trying to figure out which one was the right one to get into his house.

The sweat that dampened your hands began to create a kind of paste on the tips of your fingers dusted with plaster before pressing all the buttons of the device on the door, you tried to work as soon as possible so as not to raise suspicions but the engine of a car pulling up behind you made you feel more nervous. You knew Gyutaro didn't have a car so it wasn't him, it was probably someone from across the street and you would have convinced yourself of that until a male voice caught your attention.

"Excuse me miss..." His tone was calm, like a crystal clear pool. "We are patrolling the area due to the increase in intruders, so please be careful."

You turned your face slightly to see behind you a police car with two officers inside. Both were young men, the black-haired man with blue eyes was the owner of the deep voice from a second ago and the other behind the wheel was the opposite of him, his hair was blond with orange tips as if they were flaming waves of fire and his gaze was more awake.

"Isn't this Gyutaro's house...?" the blond asked, his voice firm and loud.

That question stopped your heart and you felt like you would die seeing the officer in the passenger seat get out of the patrol car and head towards you.

"Excuse me, is that your house?" he asked.

Just his voice made you want to run but if you did, you were finished.

"I'm a relative of his, I just came to pick up some things."

He looked at you a little suspiciously, his deep gaze didn't take away from you.

"Have a nice day then." he said, putting on a cap.

The knot in your stomach loosened a little but tightened again as you felt his presence linger behind you.

"Why doesn't he go!?" you thought desperately. You dialed as many combinations as you could, making the door beep every time you failed and causing more suspicion in the officer. He wasn't convinced and with one hand he opened the wooden gate at the entrance to question you until in the last attempt you could hear the door unlock when you entered the correct code.

"Have a nice day!" you said, immediately entering the house closing the door behind you.

Your heart could almost vibrate from how fast you felt it was beating, your legs shaked and only a few minutes later you managed to breathe normally, admiring the place where you were.

You were inside Gyutaro's house.

Your stare was on every corner as if you were inside the most beautiful palace, with each step, you took the time to admire each object and detail inside the house as if it were a museum knowing that all this belonged to him, it was touched by him and imagining that only a few hours before he was here. This place was so sacred to you that you even took it upon yourself to take off your shoes at the entrance before going inside.

The cold touch of the wood under your feet gave you a fresh feeling after getting out of such a risky situation with the officers. You searched every place in the house until there was only one door left to open and when you entered you saw a futon in the center with 1 single pillow and covered with a messy gray sheet.

This must be Gyutaro's bed.

Seeing his room, being inside his room, many things went through your head. Just looking at his bed, you could think of many situations or even positions that you would like to be in with Gyutaro. Your mind made you wonder how it would be like to have sex with him or what kind of things he would do in bed. The idea of a rejected and slightly weird guy like him used you at will and dirtyed such a pretty and correct girl like you, was able to turn you on a lot, making your cheeks burn just thinking about it.

You were already here so you would not waste this unique and special opportunity. Without thinking, you dropped onto Gyutaro's bed to bury your face in his pillow where you got the purest sample of his scent. That perfect smell that you only had the good fortune to feel in the air after he fleetingly walked close to you. Now, you could get drunk without getting bored of his scent, it was like a drug to you and once you had it you just needed more and more.  . . .

.

The sound of a horn caught the attention of a certain boy walking down the street causing him to curse under his breath before turning to look.

"Shabana, my boy! How have you been!" greeted the more animated officer.

"Officer Rengoku, how are you?" Gyutaro answered, with a fake smile and a kind and hypocritical tone of voice, approaching the patrol car.

The two talked for a few minutes until the younger man felt the gaze of the other policeman on him.

"Who's he? Wasn't that braided girl your partner?" he asked feigning interest, when in reality he wanted to obtain information for his benefit.

"You mean Kanroji? She was transferred to another area a couple of months ago. He's my new partner!" Rengoku replied, too enthusiastically.

"Police officer, Giyuu Tomioka." he introduced himself and Gyutaro did the same.

There was something in Gyutaro's gaze that stirred and rearranged Officer Tomioka's intestines. Those dull eyes, with dark circles and without any sparkle in them gave him a bad hunch. Something wasn't right with this guy. Kyojuro talked for a while with the boy but he didn't leave without leaving him some valuable information.

"Now that I remember, your cousin was at your house. Shouldn't you go there?"

"What?"

"She's a lovely girl! But she's nothing like you!" Kyojuro said, still with too much enthusiasm in his voice.

"Ah yes...that's what everyone says, besides, that girl loves to change her look every time she gets the chance. Tell me, how did she look like this time? Straight or wavy hair?"

Kyojuro gave Gyutaro a complete physical description of you from head to toe and having those characteristics he couldn't think of anyone else but you. He politely said goodbye to the officers and quickly left, walking straight to his house. A sick smile formed on his face at the thought of whether it was actually you who had snuck into his house while he was gone. This sounded like a bad joke, a joke that anyone would pull on him and then make fun of him and ridicule him but no one knew his little secret so no one could play on it with him.

Nobody, absolutely nobody knew that he had strange but strong feelings for you. He just couldn't believe it, was this really happening? The girl he secretly loved, the girl who owns his deepest dreams but also his darkest desires, who he knew he was in love with at the moment he wanted to save her from that bastard that night because he didn't want anyone who didn't it was himself to put his filthy hands on her. That same girl, was she inside his house at this precise moment?

. .

"Mmhh-ahh..." a soft moan broke into the silence of the house. "Ah, wait...Gyutaro, not here! I can't today!"

It was too late. Now one of your hands was clutching the sheets beneath you while the other held Gyutaro's pillow between your legs, helping you hold it up as you rubbed your wet dressed pussy over it, moving your hips in a needy way.

"Ah-ah...Mmm, Gy-Gyutaro!" you said closing your eyes, increasing your speed and biting your lip.

You were simply concentrated on enjoying this visit to the fullest. The thought that after you left, Gyutaro would sleep on this pillow, that he would be able to rest his face right on the same pillow where you rubbed your cunt over and over again turned you on too much, you even thought about getting rid of your clothes until a loud noise managed to scare you enough to make you jump and realize what a weird position you were in right now. The noise came from inside his closet, you got up and decided to inspect when you kept hearing knocks from inside.

When you opened it, there were nothing but boxes, some coats and sweatshirts hanging, and a pair of black converse shoes until a small padlock caught your eye. It wasn't the padlock, but the key that remained inside it. Your curiosity was stronger than your ability to reason so you turned the key and hearing a "click" when it was opened, you removed the padlock and opened the small hatch. Everything was very dark, you assumed that it was the basement since there were some wooden stairs that led you down.

Everything was too dark down there to see, you barely noticed many stacked boxes and some tools scattered on a table but there was something you couldn't ignore. You heard some whimpers and when you turned to where they came from, you fell terrified on the ground.

"What the hell!?" you almost screamed.

A young woman almost the same age as you was lying on the ground. Her hair was black and long, she was blindfolded and with a gag in her mouth, tied at the extremities and with a blow to one of her legs that painted that part of her skin purple and greenish tones. The fact that she was almost completely naked shocked you quite a bit, the only item of clothing she was wearing was her panties. Her bust was large and her bare breasts stood out more than anything else from the rope that imprisoned her. You didn't understand at all what this woman was doing here. Why was she trapped in Gyutaro's basement like that? What the hell was going on? Your first reaction after the fear was to ask her if she was okay. You removed both bandages from her face, revealing big blue eyes full of tears and a mouth that wouldn't stop begging for help.

"SAVE ME! PLEASE SAVE ME HELP ME!!"

"Okay miss! I-I just have to untie you..."

"AAAHH!! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

As soon as you tried to untie her, the girl looked more terrified than before. She went from begging for help to yelling at you to get away from her and don't you dare touch her.

"Calm down, you have nothing to fear. I'm not going to hurt you!"

She didn't stop crying and screaming, her tears wet all over her face causing her bangs and strands of her hair to stick to her wet cheeks. That's when your brain was able to react making you think that maybe it wasn't you who was terrifying the girl like that.

You turned your head slowly but before you could fully do so, a sharp blow landed on your arm making you fall, leaving you motionless. The pain was excruciating and indescribable. It was the strongest pain that a blow had made you feel in your entire life.

"You're pathetic. Everyone knows that I have no family and you decide to say that you're a relative of mine?" he sneered, with an outrageous laugh. "What a stupid excuse!"

Gyutaro took your shirt with one hand by the back of your neck while in the other hand he carried the baseball bat with which he had hit you. You were very close to his legs as he dragged you across the ground so you hit the back of his knees hard using your elbow causing him to stumble so you were able to break free of his grip. You ran as fast as you could towards the stairs but as soon as you passed him he grabbed you the first thing he could and a strong pull on your hair made you fall to the ground with a strong pain in your scalp.

You were on the ground, feeling that your heart was going to come out of your mouth. Your hands were shaking and all you could do was whimper in fear and pain as you watched Gyutaro walking straight towards you with a killer grin gripping the bat better, ready to hit you.

"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die here, I'm gonna die now." It was the only thing you could think of. Gyutaro raised his arms with the weapon in his hands, ready to attack.

"WAIT!!" you screamed.

Rarely, one of his victims dare to react like this to an inevitable death, even if the adrenaline of the moment made him want to hit you, you had an advantage and that was that Gyutaro had a strange and unusual crush on you. So just because of that, he decided to stop his attack and listen to what you had to say.

"I-I like you...that night, when you saved me from that guy on the street, I was so relieved to see you come with me." Your tears ran down your cheeks into your mouth making you taste salty as you spoke. "I never told you because I couldn't do it, I would never have told you my feelings for the terror of imagining that you would reject me! But since that day I haven't stopped thinking of you in a special way...I fell in love with you."

Gyutaro's eyes were wide and he barely blinked as his arms remained overhead, gripping the bat tightly, painting his knuckles white. The girl of his dreams was in front of him a mess of tears while she declared her love for him, was this a dream? or just a fucking joke? If it was true, this was the best day of his life and this was just the beginning but if it was a lie just to trick him into letting her go safely and then file a fucking police report against him, he would make her take charge of living through something much worse than hell on earth itself and would deny her as much as he could the grace of being saved by death. Gyutaro's self-confidence for things like this was almost nil and his self-esteem didn't exist so all his insecurities took over for a second making him immediately suspicious of the second option. He crouched down to be at your height without taking his eyes off you.

A girl as cute, kind and popular as her could never fix her attention on a bastard like him. Gyutaro couldn't stop looking at you, your cheeks and almost your whole face was completely blushed. You were very scared, but the fear didn't block your nerves to finally tell the guy that you like how you feel about him.

"Why should I believe you?...what makes me sure that after letting you go you won't go to the police to want to fuck me up?" he asked. His voice was shaky but intimidating, you were dying of fear. "If you're lying there will be many consequences, I'll have to teach you a lesson but that doesn't mean that I'm gonna kill you. And you know that, darling."

The worst thing on your mind that Gyutaro would be capable of doing, was very small and fleeting. This man is very vengeful and malicious so he would do things that you didn't even know existed. But you were telling the truth, your gaze wouldn't stray from him, he wouldn't be able to notice anything strange in your body language because you weren't really lying.

"I would never go to the police, I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't even think about it because..." you were a little embarrassed to say it, you didn't want to sound corny at this moment but your life depended on it and that was what you really felt. "...how could I harm the person I love?"

A smile formed on Gyutaro's face, but not just any smile. It was mean and full of ego as if he was trying to ridicule you while his laughter rang out throughout the basement.

"But how pathetic! You're fucking pathetic!!" he said, without stopping laughing.

He brought one of his hands closer to your face, you closed your eyes in fear waiting for a blow that never came. Instead, his big and manly hand caressed your head and in the sweetest way dried all your tears with his rough tips giving you a tender and comforting smile.

"This basement is too small for the two of you. Shall we go upstairs?" he asked you, as he stood up.

Your eyes sparkled as he reached out to take your hand like a gentleman and help you to stand. You smiled involuntarily and followed him to the stairs to go up to his room.

"A-Are you actually going to spare my life?"

"Of course!" he replied, turning to you with a smile. "But not with your legs looking like that..."

You didn't even notice his movements until you felt an emptiness in your stomach and terror running through your entire body as you were falling backwards towards the stairs after Gyutaro pushed your shoulders hard.

. . . . .

"That boy, where do you know him from?" Giyu asked, intrigue in his voice.

"Her mom and sister were murdered a few years ago. I handled their case."

"You mean the double homicide case that was a scandal?"

"That very one!" Kyojuro replied, as his hands fixed on the steering wheel.

Officer Tomioka was someone very suspicious and thanks to that mistrust many criminals were taken to prison after having thought them innocent. Rengoku pointed out that even though Gyutaro showed a happy face he was still hurt deep down; Gyutaro loved his family too much and the day he came home from work and found them both dead, a deep wound formed on his chest that could never fully heal. But regardless of Kyojuro's words, Giyuu gave his opinion.

"Do you think he was the one who killed them?"

"I'm just saying it's possible." Tomioka clarified, but couldn't convince his partner anyway.

Rengoku had a fondness for Gyutaro ever since that day. His deceased sister would be the same age as his own brother and the thought of losing him made the blond feel a heavy and terrible feel throughout his body and because of that, he felt great compassion for the young Shabana. Unfortunately, he had had to experience that loss in the flesh.

It wasn't entirely fair to him that Tomioka was simply carried away by an idea and besides, the case had already been closed. They had more active cases to solve and to focus their full attention on.

. . . . .

Your head hurt a lot after your face had hit the ground. The tears on your face had dried almost completely and you struggled to open your eyes. You were still in the basement but now, a dim yellow light illuminated the place, and then you remembered everything...but if you were in the basement, why did you feel a bit cold? You looked down and noticed that your clothes were gone, your body was covered only by your matching bra and panties. You tried to move to get up but that's when you noticed that your hands were chained, you looked up to see where the chains came from but when you did, you got the worst scare of your life.

The black-haired girl from a while ago was lying next to you. Her blue eyes were dull and staring off into space, his hair had been torn more by jagged cuts than cut, and his skin was sickly pale.

She was dead.

You were terrified and at the same time, you heard footsteps coming down the stairs. It was Gyutaro, he was carrying with him a black plastic bag in his hand and then he looked towards your direction.

"Oh, you already woke up. Don't worry, I didn't leave you alone." he laughed. "You have no idea how loud this slut was. Her unbearable screams wouldn't stop asking for your help while you were unconscious. As if you were going to hear her, what a stupid bitch, I knew she was stupid but not that stupid."

Gyutaro slowly walked with his free hand into his pocket and stood between the two of you.

"They thought I would end up hurt, but look who paid the price in the end!" Gyutaro's screeching laughter was heard again. "1 down! 2 to go!!" he announced victorious.

You didn't know what the hell he was talking about, but you wouldn't ask or comment on it either. "Now look at her, exposing her naked body like the whore she used to be." he said, kicking the girl's ribs hard after sighing. "Wow, she's stiffer than she was yesterday."

You didn't dare to do or say anything, you were too afraid. Gyutaro crouched down to look at you, he observed every detail about you and then he spoke.

Your clothes weren't shoddy, you were wearing makeup and that made you look pretty even though now you have big mascara dark circles." He mocked you. "You're a girl that everyone loves, you have friends and surely someone has already declared their love for you more than ever." Gyutaro took out some things from the bag, it was nothing shady. Actually, it was a bottle of water and a packaged onigiri that were usually sold in stores. "You're someone who has everything...so, why the hell would you even notice an ugly, disgusting, weird bastard like me...are you stupid?"

You continued in silence, lying on the ground without seeing his face. "To enter a stranger's house like that, you're not only stupid...you're kind of crazy." he chuckled slightly. "But this's your lucky day, cutie. Do you know why?" he asked, while he opened the onigiri package and pulled your chains for you to sit.

"Open the mouth." he ordered you, although you weren't quite sure. "Don't worry, it's just an onigiri from the store." Gyutaro took a bite to make you see that the food wasn't poisoned or anything.

He took your face with one of his hands and squeezed your cheeks to make you open your mouth, when you did, he put almost the entire onigiri into your mouth for you to bite but due to his abruptness you almost ended up choking and a piece of rice fell to the ground. "Don't waste it, it's salmon, idiot! This shit's expensive!" that had made him angry. "It tastes good, doesn't it? You should be grateful, I let you live and that luck doesn't come to everyone." Gyutaro kept forcing you to eat, he opened the bottle of water and gave you a little to drink. "A dead person couldn't prove anything of this, you beat that girl yesterday. How does that feel!?"

You managed to swallow what you had in your mouth, the water helped to loosen the rice from your throat and at least you were grateful that Gyutaro cared to feed you.

"F-Feels good..." you replied.

He looked at you with a confused expression, as if you had answered some other inconsistency. You had been very afraid but after all you still hadn't lost your composure. Gyutaro was used to people being scared shitless at his house and they kept begging him to let them out and spare their lives. But you, you just cried and then you declared your love to him! Really!? If you liked him, then being here must be like you were in a fucking fantasy come true or something and it baffled him but he wasn't going to deny that it felt good and even a little flattering.

"Why the fuck would you like that? Are you a fucking retard?"

He finished drinking all the water that was left in the bottle, then he put the onigiri package inside and threw the plastic somewhere in the basement. Gyutaro cupped your face with both hands, his long, bony fingers gripping you tightly forcing you to look him straight in the eye.

"As I said before...do you know why this's your lucky day?" he pulled you closer to him to the point where your breaths collided with each other. Your heart was beating at a thousand per hour, you never imagined being so close to Gyutaro in real life, you could feel his scent and his strong grip on you made you feel so weak and dominated under his touch. "I like everything that's pathetic, disgraceful and filthy...and you're more than that." Gyutaro shortened the closeness between the two of you even more. "And you know what?...I also fell in love with you."

Your eyes widened and your heart stopped the instant Gyutaro placed his lips on yours to kiss you. This was the first kiss that you two gave and received from someone. A tear threatened to come out of your eye, you had fantasized a thousand times about this moment and the fact that it was now a reality made you so happy. You gently closed your eyes and let yourself be carried away by Gyutaro's lips. It was such a unique and warm feeling, feeling his mouth, his tongue touching yours...it was much better than you had imagined.

What would someone think seeing you like this? Did you even think that you would achieve this one day? And look at you now, kissing the guy of your dreams wearing nothing but underwear. It made you feel a bit like a whore, but that wasn't important.

For his part, Gyutaro half-opened his eyes during the kiss to see your reaction. He thought that you would be totally disgusted but you were enjoying it, he looked at your closed eyes and could feel the way in which you corresponded and continued the kiss. A kiss...isn't this what people who love each other do? So you... did you really love him? He felt like someone so dirty and disgusting, unworthy of your charms but now you kissed him in such a pure and genuine way. You were so kind, Gyutaro loved how kind you could be.

After a few seconds, Gyutaro slowly moved away from you, the two of you being joined only by a thread of saliva that broke causing a cold sensation in both of your mouths. You got comfortable in your place, one of your legs was bruised and you couldn't move it due to your fall down the stairs so you only used your other leg for support. Gyutaro noticed this and saw that your left leg was still fine.

"Gyutaro?" you spoke.

His expression changed too much from one moment to the next and that made you nervous.

"Is your leg okay? Why didn't you tell me before?" he stood up and walked towards one of the walls where a mallet was lying next to some boxes. "If you don't tell me how you feel, how will I know? In the end, you will be the one who ends up hurt."

Gyutaro held your ankle against the ground with his foot to straighten your leg and prevent you from moving.

"W-Wait, Gyutaro no! Wait! Please!! GYUTARO, NO!!!" unspeakable terror gripped you as you saw Gyutaro raise the mallet over your leg.

A heartbreaking cry of pain came out of your mouth from the depths of your throat as you felt the weight of the metal on you. You swore you even heard a "crack" at the moment of the blow and just like that, Gyutaro broke your knee.

Could you guess who the girl was? Do you think Gyutaro actually killed his mom and sister? 👀 I plan to write more scenes based on the manhwa so if you have a specific scene in mind that you would like to read, you can request it! I hope you liked it.

[quetzalpapalotl]

I wish to love and appreciate idw optimus more too. But I also don’t want to read through the entirety of IDW 1.0. Can you please recommend me any specific issues/parts?

Hi!! I see that you have already reblogged my IDW1 Optimus-focused reading guide, so I assume that you read that and still felt like it was too much. I'd do anything to spread the OP love, so I will try! But before that, please forgive me for rambling a bit.

That guide is not the entirety of IDW1, I tried to cut as much as possible, and I want to reiterate that I consider Barber's Optimus the definitive take on IDW1 Optimus. To the point that I like all other stuff with him only in because I read them through Barber's characterization which serves to give them depth in retrospective. And it does this because Barber's writes Optimus with the intention of consolidating all the other writer's takes on him (which were uh... a mess). It's a very contextual reading, a conversation, there's more to get from it if you know the background. So I would ask you to reconsider giving it a try, skip the crossovers if you want. I'll redo the reading guide with links to download/read online if you want.

That being said, I understand that sounds like "read these bad comics in the hopes you will like this one other comic" and the point is to have fun, not to do homework. So in that case I'll say to just read exrid/Optimus Prime and the JRo stuff (but we'll come back to teh later)

See, the exrid/OP is a whole story, so recommeding individual issues doesn't make much sense to me, it would be like recommending one episode of an anime or one chapter of a book, it would entirely lack context and lost much of it's meaning, especially because Optimus is a main character whose actions cannot be taken out from the rest of the plot. My favorite moments require build up, like when Optimus annexes the Earth to the council of worlds, that doesn't hit the same if you didn't read all the previous issues where Optimus was trying to remove all Cybertronian influence from Earth and the series of events that led to him changing his mind and think such a fucking move was a good idea.

And I've talked about this before, but while Mtmt/LL has its biggest strenght in character dynamics and out-of-screen build up, exRID/OP has it in thematic consistensy and narrative cohesion. All parts of it and there to make a point that feeds the whole, character's perspectives feed each other and the biggest pay-off comes at the very end. Also, Optimus Prime is a story about him as a character as much as it is about him as a symbol, so seeing the effects he has on other people is important.

I suppose you could read exRID starting from post Dark Cybertron as it basically becomes a different story and the first part doesn't feature Optimus (except in issues 6, 10, 19) I would not recommend this as there are still a lot of links between the two and you would miss a chunk of Arcee's story (who is the one other character on which the whole thing falls upon). But you could. Don't skip Combiner Wars tho.

Other than that here are some hightlights:

The Death of Optimus Prime: This is the one that works best as a single issue, as it is a one-shot. It sets up phase 2 so definitively read it.

JRo's stuff: That is Chaos Theory, Mtmte #9-11, Mtmte #36 and Spotlight: Orion Pax. Now, JRo's OP is certainly the one that is more likeable, but I don't necessarily think that it's good. JRo kinda wants to have Optimus be more morally grey but always reels back and portrays him as the ultimate good seemingly without considering the implications of a lot of the stuff he does. But still, Chaos Theory is the backbone of phase 2, they are fun reads and it introduces a lot of backstory and aspects of his personality that will be important.

Punishment: As this is a mini series, it's good to read on its own. It's still set in the broader context of exRID, but at least it's a complete story and a compelling one! Lots of Optimus brooding, but not in an annoying way.

Optimus Prime #1-6: Okay, so if you don't want to read all of exrid/OP or are testing the waters before commiting to it. This arc deals with Optimus trying to get people to accept Earth as part of the Council of Worlds and risking war for it, contrasted with events of his past. This may be the easiest arc to read on its own, but I also think it does a great job of building Optimus character. It's also a great example of the narrative not shying away from Optimus doing bad things, stupid things and having anger issues (and also the cop thing), while also retaining the core of his character as someone who genuinely wants to do good and getting into his head to make sense of his actions (not justify them). This is something that I feel only Barber gets right. Also Zeta Prime is there and he's the most important character that barely shows up.

Autocracy: Ok, ok, listen... this may or may not be the most disliked series in IDW1 and while I think it has a worse reputation than it deserves, I still wouldn't call it good. While its more honest abotu what being a cop entails than Chaos Theory and is willing to have OP be unsavory, that aspect doesn't really go anywhere and it fails to make OP an enganging character whose actions make sense. But it still has the backstory of how Orion became Optimus and a friend likes it, so hey, maybe you will too. Also the aforementioned flashbacks of OP 1-6 feel to me that they are written in direct response to Autocracy and try to explain how that is the same character than the one in Chaos Theory. I'm actually working on meta about that (anon, if you're reading this, I haven't forgotten). So for all that Barber is trying to recontextualize and reconciliate all the other takes on Optimus, this is the most obvious one and Autocracy is not that long. So it may be worth checking out.

Sorry for rambling again, I hope you find this useful!! Feel free to ask for links or any other questions!

[latveriansnailmail]

The Appeal of Doctor Doom

My new friend asked an innocent enough question about the particulars of one Victor von Doom and about my appreciation for the character. This is what I had to say in the chat:

I have a fascination with benign dictators, in the vein of Vlad Dracula. It would be nice if such an arrangement worked and would be even better if the next dictator wasn't terrible but the facts are against.

Call this a personality thing. I am so very ISTJ.

Doctor Doom is among the smartest people on Marvel's Earth. His country (he rules a Balkan state, you know) is free from want and everyone has dignified work and the place is even a safe haven for GRT caravans, Doom himself being a gypsy. But there is also no free determinism. That's the trade off. Doom rules with a literal iron fist.

He's conquered the world on more than one occasion and solved fundamental problems overnight. Mind, he gets bored without challenge and lets control slip from his fingers but he's nonetheless great at world rulership.

But let's stop pretending about his good qualities and look at his flaws.

First, psychologically and philosophically, he is more sorcerer than scientist. He's about the lore, not the process of getting answers. Heaven forbid Doom change his perspective on anything.

His motivations are (and here I equate him in DC with no one more so than Lex Luthor) ultimately deeply selfish and self-agrandizing.

Like in the original Secret Wars, when he got ultimate power, before he did thing one for the rest of the universe he fixed his own face.

He spirals out. There's a great recent series where he's going to solo patch a black hole developing on the moon (comics, right?) That accursed Richards calls him up during the countdown to thank him and wish him success. Doom can't comprehend such a gesture and convinces himself that Richards knows something he doesn't, so he makes impulsive adjustments to his outputs and blows himself into an alternate universe. That's Doom all over.

He's so close to something grand and good but is too lacking of character to be that.

I also just love how OP he is. He's in the top five of everything (brains, magic, tech, ass-beating, a-fine-country-you-have-there-ness) but it's EVERYTHING so when you put it into one package you get a guy who can trounce the Fantastic Four on a monthly basis and laugh at them from behind diplomatic immunity.

Doom gains and loses godhead like it was fast fashion.

So bottom line, a rich and multifaceted antagonist defeated again and again by his own flaws and inability to shed those flaws. That's good fiction.

End chat. I would add to this first that I love his fraught friendship with Namor the Submariner. Those two deserve each other.

I also am still floored by Doom's willpower. He can disregard the Purple Man at a distance of two feet.

Now, bear with me while I try to pin the ISTJ personality on Peter Parker (I would accept arguments that Peter's more of a ENFJ or that the Spider-man persona is more of a ESTJ and then we'd have to straighten out which persona is the base personality. And then there's ambis who are going to loudly try and debate me over the entire legitimacy of the Myers-Briggs when I'm just trying to have a fun discussion about fictional characters from the funny books. I digress.) I think Spidey and Doom share a lot of territory, only Spider-man is humble, selfless, long-suffering, forgiving of the smallness of his charges and detractors, and deeply responsible. Spider-man is who Doom would be if Doom could grow as a person.

[jenoutof10]

Thanks for answering my ask before. If you don't mind me asking (again), can I ask, who are your top 10 favorite characters (can be from books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......

HAHHA don't worry these asks are fun and i enjoy them so don't apologize for giving me a good time. i do apologise for taking such a long time w these asks, im actually horrible at articulating my thoughts (which is why i am not a writer HA) i think i might be forgetting some characters, or maybe i just dont have alot of faves

1. itoshi rin (blue lock)

i feel like he sticks out like a sore thumb here but he's very much no. 1... something about him being an antisocial introverted hater with abandonment issues, but also has skills to back up his arrogance and (besides all the hate he lets fester within him) actually has a pretty healthy lifestyle.

2. itadori yuuji (jujutsu kaisen)

everything about yuuji is so inherently GOOD and it both interests + pains me to see him being put through all these trials and tribulations of a dark shonen mc 😭

3. gojo satoru (jujutsu kaisen)

i think, like rin, what makes him so interesting is that he has this arrogant and disrespectful personality but then again he's literally the strongest so you cant do jack shit about it. but on the other hand he's this playful goofy (incapable) teacher who spoils his students. i also love OP (to the point it dont make sense) characters.

4. dazai osamu (bungo stray dogs)

i find his inability to be truly happy in any universe fascinating.

5. tachihara michizo (bungo stray dogs)

if i explained it would be major spoilers for s4 and s5 of bsd so i'll just say that his contribution to the plot in the recent seasons really did it for me. the jump from s1 to s4 was a KICK.

6. mikage reo (blue lock)

he's a sopping wet sock. i think this is what people call a gap moe... this perfect, highly capable and charming individual turns into the most pathetic instance of man when his best friend leaves him.

7. giorno giovanna (jojo's bizarre adventure: golden wind)

his birth origins are alr wild. his stand is wild. his battle strategies are wild. his ending is wild. he (alongside jotaro) is probably the least expressive but his personality is so unique lol. a lil rascal.

8. kita shinsuke (haikyuu!!)

its been a while since anyone has mentioned haikyuu for me but kita remains as one of my fav characters LOL i think he's just very refreshing since the cast is full of hungry teenage monsters eager to win and he's almost like a breeze of calm HAHA. the inarizaki team is also very dear to me bcs theyre packed w such cool and strong characters that interact dynamically lol

9. tsukumo yuki (jujutsu kaisen)

honestly, she was the most interesting female character in jujutsu kaisen (for me) until gege decided to trash her. her appearances from todo's flashbacks to her in shibuya were all so badass, plus shes a good example of a character type i really like that radiates strong-confident-fighter aura but isnt really the brooding/dark type... but fun! ykyk. (oot but i REALLY wanted yuki at #9 bcs of her name LOL, realistically she wouldve been at #7)

10. raiden ei (genshin impact) + raiden shogun

again, another insanely OP character that it doesn't even make sense. her lore is crazy. the second raiden quest was what got me hooked (best story quest ever lol), i honestly can't pinpoint what it is from that quest since its been a while but it changed my whole perspective on her and i've been a raiden fan since. a combination of design, personality, lore, and strength (and additionally the raiden ensemble)

honorable mentions:

kaedehara kazuha, zhongli (genshin)

higashikata josuke (jojo's bizarre adventure: diamond is unbreakable)

lelouch lamperouge (code geass)

oda sakunosuke (bungou stray dogs)

[ihugzminseo]

INTRODUCTION ⋆·˚ ༘ *

hihi, I'm bbyong! im 20, and im a sophomore at pvamu majoring in juvenile justice (working towards getting my master of science!!)

NOTES.

• i write mxgn, fxgn, mxm and fxf so long as all idols requested are of legal age (my idea of "legal age" is a little different from society's.. just because they're 18, does not mean i will write about them. i.e. i'd feel way more comfortable writing about hyewon or sakura than i would yujin or wonyoung, so please request idols over 21 or i will ignore you!)

• all my work is written in a second person perspective (you, your, yours, etc..) and i will by no means write in first person (feels weird..) or third person (just not my writing style) so if that doesn't appeal to what you want please dni!

• i do cheer, step, volleyball and i babysit so i cannot write/respond to requests in the snap of a finger so please don't be upset if i post anything a little bit late!

• any (very) specific requests might take a while cause my writing is not too advanced (i.e. pervert!idol, dom!idol, etc..)

• i have gps (grammatical pedantry syndrome) so i am VERY particular about my writing but english isn't my first language so please be kind and respectfully let me know if you see any errors (yes i proofread but i read a little fast, any hateful comments pointing out errors will be deleted and the OP will be blocked.)

• im very new to writing on tumblr (i used to write on wattpad, but all my old fics are deleted/in my notes app because oh my DAYS they were bottom of the barrel doodoo dog water writing..) so please be easy with me!

RULES.

• as i stated before, i do NOT write about idols under 21; so if you request anything about idols under 21, even fluff, you will be blocked.

• majority of my works will be smut in one form or another, so minors PLEASE do not interact.

• do NOT follow if you have an ageless account, i will assume you're a minor and block you.

• please don't spam me with your thoughts; i get mentally overstimulated very easily, and if someone spams me i take that as pressure to write and i do NOT work well under pressure.

EXTRA.

• as aforementioned, im new to writing on tumblr so obviously my works aren't gonna be perfect while i learn the swing of things but take it easy cause im not a terrible writer im just not used to writing on here! ^^

• i know someone will say something about my name (it's inevitable), so yes i do know bbyong is an onomatopoeic goodbye in korean!! but you can't lie it is so much fun to say 😭😭

• im getting into so many new groups so if you request a nugu idol and i don't describe them to a tea like you imagined im so sorry, but atp my memory is deteriorating so bad that i barely even remember my ult biases birthdays </3 (august 11th and may 28th. I WILL NEVER FORGET THESE DAYS I JUST NEEDED AN ANALOGY)

BYE-BYE!

• im currently working on a 3-part changbin and jisung x reader fanfic and im still on part one so please wait for that!!! it will be uploaded piece by piece, and part 3 should be uploaded before april 30th if my writers block doesn't kick in too bad..!

– signing off, this has been bbyong! bye-bye! 💋

[wonderlandleighleigh]

How does the ‘real date’ go?! You can’t leave us hanging like that!😤

It's been raining for days, and it patters down on Lenny's well-used umbrella as he waits for Midge out side of their agreed-upon restaurant.

A quiet spot with good comfort food and a homey atmosphere. It's been around for probably a good sixty years serving the same stuff it always has, and Lenny sneaks in here sometimes before shows to grab a bite.

Midge is late, because it's raining and also, she's Midge. Perpetually tardy, but worth the wait, honestly.

"Sorry!" she calls, dashing up. She's wearing a an almost-blue, almost-lilac dress, and she looks...

Well she always looks beautiful. Worth the wait, indeed.

"S'okay," he shrugs with a grin. "It's just a little rain."

Midge smiles at him as they deflate their umbrellas and head into the restaurant, setting them next to each other in a little basket by the door. His black, hers a silvery-gray.

They're seated relatively quickly and Midge looks around, smiling.

"It's nice here. Cozy."

"I like it," Lenny admits. "I come here before shows sometimes. Get something to eat. Have a moment."

She beams at him; at his seemingly new ability to share bits and pieces of his life with her.

He always could, he swears, he just-

Fucks it up sometimes. A lot.

They look at their menus and Midge asks the million dollar question.

"So? California for six months?" she queries.

"Yes," he nods, glancing up at her. "For a number of reasons. First and foremost, my kid was having a hard time. She's got issues with nightmares and anxiety and it was time to step in and help my mother handle things."

Midge looks up, surprised. "That sounds rough. Is she okay?"

Lenny nods. "She is. Now. A lot had to change very quickly for her to be okay, so things are a little...in flux at the moment for me."

She tilts her head, looking concerned.

"I had to get my shit together in some very real, very jarring ways," he tells her. "The bag you found was unceremoniously tossed into the garbage, and I've been mostly taking a break from performing. As I told you, I got a place here in the city, and she's living with me now."

"Wow," Midge breathes out. "That is a lot of change. So if you're not performing...?"

"Writing," Lenny says. "Op eds. A memoir for Playboy." He looks back down at his menu. "When your six-year-old is on the verge a breakdown, it tends to put things into perspective."

She nods understandingly. "I mean...if there's anything I can do to help..."

"I appreciate that," he grins. "We're still kind of settling in, but I will let you know." He takes a breath. "So? What about you? Gordon Ford's show. Gigs around town. What else?"

"Child rearing of my own," Midge tells him. "And fending off advances from my newly-single ex-husband. That's been stressful."

Lenny wrinkles his forehead, looking confused. "He left you."

"Yes he did."

"Now he's..."

"Yes he is."

Lenny rolls his eyes and it makes her laugh.

"It's ridiculous," Midge says. "Things felt...less stressful when he was with Mei - his now ex-girlfriend who is seven months pregnant with Joel's baby and took a medical residency in Ohio."

He snorts out a laugh. "Oof. Left for Ohio, of all places." He takes a breath and regards her thoughtfully. "Well, you and I could always start seriously dating. That might scare him off."

She laughs a little. "Yeah? I should go on Gordon Ford Thursday night and talk about my new boyfriend, Lenny Bruce?"

"Boyfriend," Lenny ponders. "It's been a long time since I've been someone's boyfriend, I wonder how that works nowadays. Do I pin you?"

"You already did," Midge reminds him with a quirked eyebrow and a smirk.

He chuckles and puts a hand in front of his mouth, gazing at her. "I suppose that's true."

"Three times, if I recall," she adds.

"I'm a very focused individual," Lenny admits. "Also, it was a lot of fun."

Midge laughs softly. "It was a lot of fun." She keeps smiling, but the look in her eyes a little vulnerable. "Maybe a little more than fun?"

He nods in agreement and swallows, going serious. "Yes. More than fun."

They sit in the silence of that for a moment, before they both look back down at their menus.

It goes well, the rest of the date. They make each other laugh, and share kid stories. Midge tells him about the set at Gordon Ford and how insane it can get.

They split a bottle of wine with dinner and they don't leave until the restaurant closes up.

It's still raining when they leave, and Lenny drapes his trench coat over her shoulders to aid her umbrella in keeping her dry.

"I like this," she tells him. "You and me and quiet dinners. Not that...busy nights of television appearances, and bizarre clubs who may or may not sacrifice their patrons or police raids in the snow aren't exciting, but..."

He nods in agreement. "This is good, too. Really good."

Midge smiles at him and leans up, kissing him softly, a hand cupping his jaw so gently he feels like he might burst into fucking flames as he kisses her back.

She pulls away reluctantly and takes a breath before hailing herself a cab. When one pulls up, Midge slips his coat off and holds it out to him.

Lenny regards her for a moment before kissing her again as he takes the coat back. "Goodnight, Midge."

She smiles against his lips. "Goodnight, Lenny."

She closes her umbrella and hops into the cab, waving to him a little as it pulls away from the curb and Lenny tugs his coat back on.

Her perfume lingers on he collar where she tugged it close and Lenny shakes his head before calling himself a cab.

[miloscat]

[Review] Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova (PS5)

I love to see budget licenced games still being made.

Prodigy is one of my favourites of the (many) new Star Trek shows. It’s got some Star Wars vibes, not just from the The Clone Wars-esque art style, but also the story of a band of misfits coming together to survive in a crapsack galaxy. Now that I’ve caught up with part 2 of season 1 (which was split in half for some reason) I thought I’d check out this companion game.

Like the show, the game could be classified as “for kids”. It’s not dissimilar to the Lego games which I always enjoy: a semi-isometric perspective, puzzles and simple combat, objects to bash and collectibles to find. The two main gameplay modes of puzzle-solving (via block-pushing and logic gates) and robot-battling (via bashing and pew-pewing variations on the show’s Watcher drone) are fairly well-developed if lacking in variety, while the rest of the experience is rough around the edges. These two modes are also very discrete, with rooms basically alternating between the two.

The game is wired for co-op but is technically playable solo by swapping between the two characters. Dal has more ranged options with different kinds of phasers, and for puzzles can lift heavy boxes and “camouflage” past security cameras. Gwyn is more melee with her “fretwork” heirloom morphing between sword, fists, and spear, and can also use it as a bridge or shield against certain lasers. Rescuing the rest of the crew is the main initial objective and once found, they can open certain themed doors and periodically activate a combat effect.

While the game is set in the mid-season gap, there’s a few plot details that are more impactful coming from the show’s second part as opposed to their insertion here. For example, the antagonist is a third Drednok from the Vau N’Akat Order who has enslaved the three-world system that is Supernova’s setting. It works well as an interquel adventure, and the show’s actors all reprise their roles nicely (although the two leads only having two oft-repeated attack and dash grunts gets grating).

The lead game designer and co-creative director Pere Suau Massanet of the upstart Spanish dev studio Tessera is credited with the original story, while actual writing fell to freelance Brit Martin Korda, many of whose most recent credits centre around the Fifa games’ story modes. Some questionable tendencies seem to have snuck their way into the game script, such as Janeway at one point cloaking the ship (something the Protostar is not supposed to be able to do!) using “Bajoran magic” (???), or out of nowhere giving Dal the character trait “constantly making shallow and nonsensical references to Star Trek stuff”, along the lines of “it’s hotter than a Cardassian fire pit” or “it’s colder than a Betazoid freezer”. On the other hand, there is some fun to be had such as with the collectibles, one being a toy version of Voyager’s Salamander Janeway, and I enjoyed the running gag of the crew picking up the expression “check it” from Dal as a part of their official communications.

After rolling credits, I considered replaying levels to find more relics for the captain’s quarters or to unlock more concept art, but having to redo the busywork of puzzles I’d solved before and undertake yet more repetitive combat was a prospect that lacked appeal. But I had a decent time playing through it once. I just wish there were more than two of those attractive, stylised motion comic-style cutscenes that bookend the game. Not that the in-game graphics don’t look good and match the show (except for Dal who looks a bit weird).

Two final notes. I called this a “budget” game because it has a budget feel on the development side, but on the consumer side it’s actually quite expensive at the A$70 mark. Try to get it on sale. And I loved seeing some casual nonbinary rep in this game from Lorn’ess, one of the two oppressed natives you meet. This is in addition to the main cast’s Zero of course, who joined the ranks in new Trek alongside Discovery’s Adira and Strange New Worlds’ Captain Angel. Pride!