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twst-bs · 3 years

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TWST Vice Dorm Leaders and a Stressed-out MC

I couldn't leave out the Vice Dorm Leaders! I'm just used to working in chunks of seven because of my Obey Me! writing. I'll do a piece for all of the other characters as well!

Note: I wrote most of these to be ambiguous, but Ortho's in meant to be read as platonic. I just wanted to give the little dude some love.

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Trey: "Do you not like it?"

They only just barely managed to catch their fork before it clattered against the plate. With everything going through their head at a mile a minute, they had completely forgotten what they were supposed to be doing.

“No! I mean, yes, I like it!” they stumbled over their words, pasting a hopefully-convincing grin on their face.

“Really?” Trey fixed them with a knowing look and they felt themselves wither beneath it. “Because you only took one bite before staring off into middle distance.”

“Oh,” their grin turned sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“Something on your mind?” he asked, taking a seat on the stool across from them. “You’re awfully quiet.”

Damn it, they had really hoped Trey wouldn’t figure them out. Or at least take more than ten minutes.

The pressure had been mounting lately. Trying to stay on top of impossible classes, watching over Grimm, the ever-looming problem of them not being able to go back to their own world and the moral dilemma of if they even wanted to go back...they had a lot of things on their mind, and they didn’t even know where to start.

This was supposed to be a light-hearted little night in. Trey had found a new recipe he wanted to try out, and they were always willing to be the taste-tester. But, of course, good old anxiety had decided to drop in and ruin the fun, and the cute date night had turned south before it had even really begun.

“Hey, easy,” Trey’s voice cut through the fog that was slowly descending over their brain. “I know that face. Will talking about it help or hurt?”

“...I don’t know,” they mumbled, setting their fork down. “I’m sorry, Trey, I -”

“Nope.” he reached across the kitchen island and gently slipped his hand beneath theirs. They squeezed it back, letting him run his thumb over their knuckles as they tried to fight down the panic that threatened to burst from within. “No apologies are necessary. Take your time.”

“But I ruined our date,” they sighed, shoulders slumping. “Just because I couldn’t get out of my own head for a few hours.”

“Riddle couldn’t get out of his own head for almost two decades, and I’m still friends with him.” Trey chuckled. “Your mental well-being is more important than a silly date night. You can talk to me about anything, any time, anywhere, and I won’t be angry with you, promise.”

“...Can I still have the cake?”

“Yes, you can still have the cake.”

Ruggie: It had been another long night.

Sleepless nights were a pretty common occurrence for the Ramshackle Prefect, unfortunately. Even if they were dead tired at the end of the day, they often tossed and turned the whole night, managing maybe a few hours of sleep at best. Which often led to days like this.

They could barely keep their eyes open, even as they walked to their next class. They were on autopilot, going through their daily motions. The books in their bag felt like they might as well be boulders, and the thought of climbing the stairs made them want to cry. Their legs felt like lead.

“Gotcha!”

They definitely didn’t scream when a pair of lithe arms wrapped around their middle. No way, you have no proof.

“Sheesh, herbivore, you’re loud.” Ruggie snickered, hooking his chin over their shoulder. “You could wake the dead like that. Is that how you wake up the ghosts in your dorm?”

“Ruggie, you scared the hell out of me!”

“Your fault for not payin’ attention!” He gave them a fond squeeze around the middle before letting them go. “I’ve been walkin’ behind you since you left your class. You wouldn’t survive a day in the Savannah, walkin’ around with your head in the clouds like that.”

“Why didn’t you say anything, instead of stalking me like a creep?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Ruggie cackled. However, his snarky grin dropped from his face when he got a good look at them. “Hey, you aren’t lookin’ so good.”

“Didn’t sleep very well,” they shrugged, readjusting the strap on their bag so it wasn’t digging into their shoulder. Ruggie scowled, eyes narrowing.

“Again?”

They stuck their tongue out at him. “It’s not like I do it on purpose.”

The hyena stared at them for a little bit longer before sighing. “I guess it can’t be helped. Come on.” he grabbed their wrist, tugging them in the opposite direction of their next class.

“Hey, where are we going?”

“Back to Ramshackle,” Ruggie said lightly.

“Oh, but you scold Leona when he skips?” they poked him in the side with their free hand, and he squirmed away.

“Leona doesn’t need three afternoon naps,” the hyena sniggered. “You look like you could use a coma.”

Jade: “Thank you again for helping out.”

Their arms felt like jelly. Their legs were about ready to fall off. Their face hurt from having to put on a fake smile for the past few hours.

“No problem!” they said brightly. The fake smile could last a few more minutes. “I guess Floyd can’t give you guys more notice when he decides to skip his shift, huh?”

“No, Floyd does what he wants, when he wants.” Jade chuckled lightly, wiping his hands on the towel draped over his arm. Friday nights at the lounge were always busy, so of course that was when Floyd decided he didn’t want to work. Mostro Lounge didn’t have that many options, so Jade had called and asked them if they would mind helping out.

Honestly, they should have said no. They were tired, they had a lot of homework to do, and they honestly just needed a night to themselves for once. But, the thought of letting someone down triggered a deep and primal fear in them, and before they even really knew what they were doing, they had agreed. And here they were.

“...would you like?”

They had to stop themselves from physically shaking themselves out of their trance. “What? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

Jade raised an eyebrow, but politely decided not to comment. “One of the rules at the Lounge is that those who work that day get a free meal after their shift. I asked what you would like.”

“Oh! Um, I’m fine, really, I wouldn’t want to -” their stomach chose that moment to disagree, grumbling loudly in protest of not being fed. How long had it been since lunch? Had they even eaten lunch?

“Both I and your stomach insist, it seems.” Jade pulled out his waiter’s pad. “You’ve earned a meal for your hard work.”

“But -”

“You aren’t troubling anyone.” Jade cut in, seemingly more in tune with their thoughts than they were. “And I wouldn’t have been angry with you if you had turned down my request for help.”

“How did you -”

“Now, what would you like to eat?”

The two of them stood at an impasse for a moment.

“...the tomato basil bisque and grilled cheese sounded good.”

Jamil: “You’re going to chop your fingers off.”

They almost hit the ceiling when Jamil’s hand covered their own. They hadn’t even realized their hands had been shaking until his warm palm steadied theirs.Gently, carefully, he brought the knife down onto the vegetables they were chopping in a nice, clean cut.

“You don’t have to help if you aren’t feeling well.” Jamil took the knife from their hands, setting it down on the cutting board. Kalim had spontaneously announced another one of Scarabia’s famous parties, and of course that left most of the prep work to Jamil. Although Kalim was at least handling the decorations this time. Baby steps.

When they heard the news a few days prior, they had offered to help, and Jamil had practically deflated with relief. Every time Kalim held a party at the dorm, Jamil felt like a zombie for at least the next day and a half. They had personally seen him take a basketball to the face because he had been so tired. Although that might have been Floyd messing with him.

But, of course, when they woke up the day of the party, something had felt off. Nothing in particular had caused them to feel strange, but it could have been a bunch of little things. Regardless of the cause, it was a day best spent alone, dealing with the random anxiety. But, they had made a promise, and even though they wanted to back out, said anxiety also wouldn’t let them for fear of inconveniencing someone even a little bit.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” they grinned, shaking their wrist out. “Just spent a bit too long working on Trein’s homework. I’m pretty sure you get better grades if you write long paragraphs.”

“The trick is to make them long and unnecessarily fancy,” Jamil’s lips quirked upwards as he hip-checked them out of the way. “And don’t think you can distract me.”

“Damn it.”

Jamil shook his head. “Don’t push yourself so hard.”

“Pot meet kettle, Jamil.”

“I’m serious.” he leveled them with a steely look that had them feeling like a child getting scolded. “Honestly, with all of the stuff you do for everyone, I’m surprised you haven’t cracked yet.”

“...Me too, honestly.”

“See? Give yourself a break every once in a while.”

“Only if you do, too, Mr. I-Don’t-Need-Any-Help.”

His stern look softened until he was smiling fondly at them, warmth in his eyes. “Deal.”

Rook: “Non, non, this is unacceptable.”

They had heard Rook’s footsteps as he approached, which meant he wanted them to notice him. Otherwise he would have been completely silent.

Hand still on the spine of the book they were attempting to ease out of the tightly-packed library shelves, they turned to look at him. “What’s unacceptable?”

“The hunch to your shoulders, mon bijou.” the hunter swept dramatically into the light. “The sallowness of your skin. The shadows beneath your eyes!”

“Rook…”

“You look very tired, my dear.” Rook dropped his usual flamboyant act, approaching them with concern shining in his eyes. “Are you alright?”

“Just…” after a moment, they turned to him and rapped their knuckles lightly against their head. “A lot going on up here, you know?”

“I do,” Rook nodded. “You have many things to be worrying about, don’t you?.”

He stepped forward, grasping both of their hands in his. They were trembling lightly, since when had that started?

“You know I pride myself in being a protector of all things beautiful,” Rook gave their hands a squeeze. “And seeing your beautiful heart burdened so...it is my duty to ease it’s weight. So please, if there is anything I can do to help, tell me.”

Ortho: “Sorry for bothering you like this, Ortho.”

The little robot-boy smiled. “It’s no problem! I’m glad to help! Something as simple as a body scan is no trouble.”

The two of them were sat in the Ignihyde lounge. It was late enough that most of the dorm members had holed themselves up in their rooms - Ignihyde wasn’t known for its social butterflies, after all. But Ortho had still been up and about when the Ramshackle Prefect came knocking.

The infirmary closed around 5pm, although there was a nurse on-call for emergencies. So when something was wrong with a student, but not necessarily life threatening, they went to NRC’s resident robot. Ortho could scan for most problems in seconds, and more than once the nurses had asked to borrow him.

The little scanner on his chest opened up. The blue light swept over the Prefect’s body for a few seconds before Ortho beeped and the light disappeared.

“Heart rate: 102. No physical cause detected.” he reported. “It looks like you’re a little bit stressed.”

“...Yeah, that tracks.” they sighed. “I guess there’s nothing you can do for general anxiety, huh?”

“I don’t think so.” Ortho shrugged, looking sad. “I’m sorry, I wish I could help more.”

“It’s okay!” the Prefect smiled. “You did help! I was worried I was sick or something.”

Ortho still didn’t look satisfied. “But...ah!” he hit his fist against his palm. They could practically see the lightbulb go off in his head. Actually, they were a little surprised Idia had not installed that feature yet. “There is one thing I can do.”

“What’s that?”

The Prefect made a soft “oof” sound as Ortho darted forward and wrapped his arms around them. He was a little cold, being made of metal, but the thought was there.

“Internet research says that sometimes a hug can make people feel better. Does it work? I hope it works.”

They felt like they were going to cry. Or explode. Or both. “Yeah, I think it works.”

Lilia: “You don’t need to look so stressed, you know.”

Lilia laughed when the Ramshackle Prefect jumped, fangs poking out. “You’ve wound yourself so tightly, I wonder if you’ll break.”

To be fair, the Diasomnia lounge could be quite intimidating. It often took first years a few solid months to be comfortable in it. So Lilia wasn’t surprised that the human was ill at ease sitting there as Lilia served the two of them tea.

“That old story about being trapped in the Fae world if you eat their food isn’t true, you know.” Lilia sat down on the couch opposite of them, taking a sip of his tea. “At least, not that I’m aware of.”

The human squirmed slightly, and Lilia sighed. “Go on, drink. This is the type of tea I used to give to Malleus when he couldn’t sleep.”

The image of a baby Malleus being soothed by Lilia was so ridiculously cute that it brought a smile to their face. Lilia hummed happily in response.

“There’s the smile I was looking for.” he set his cup down. “Now, what brings you here so late? Nightmares again?”

“...Yeah…” they sighed, the tension in their body falling away like someone had cut the strings of a marionette. “I just wish they would stop so I could sleep.”

“Do you want to talk about them?” Lilia asked.

“It’s the same one, it’s always the same one.” they groaned, reaching for the tea cup. It smelled of chamomile and lavender, a perfect sleeping concoction. “I’m being chased, but I can’t tell by what, and every time I turn a corner the thing gets closer, and - and -”

“Hush, don’t work yourself up.” he moved from his spot on the couch to sit next to them. “Take a drink, there’s a good child.”

They took a sip of tea, focusing on the feeling of warmth down their throat as a way to ground themselves to the present. “I’m sorry.”

“You needn’t apologize,” Lilia murmured, reaching up to pet their hair. “Drink your tea, now, and I’ll make sure you get some sleep.”

#twisted wonderland #disney's twisted wonderland #twst trey #twst ruggie #twst jade #twst jamil #twst rook #twst ortho #twst lilia

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zutaraplatter · 4 years

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Avatar: The Last Airbender Critique

There are already a million of posts like this one, and I might be saying things that’ve already been said a million times but I’ve recently become reheated about the ATLA ending and wanted to let it out -_- No one asked, this is true, and this may or may not be a way to stall from this final project I still have to complete, but here’s 10 things I didn't like and/or would change about the show that likely shouldn’t need changing because they should have been done in the first place.

1. Katara should have apologized to Sokka after TSR

It should have happened and it didn't. In my canon-avoiding mind, Katara and Sokka have a heartfelt conversation where she apologizes for the awful things she said, Sokka says he forgives her and he's sorry if he wasn't as there for her as much as he should have been, which he follows up with "but I'm happy you listened to Aang and took his advice," leading into my next point

2. Katara should have said that not killing Yon Rha was her choice

And thats why it was the right one. Not because Aang already said it was wrong. No no. It was the right choice because that's what she chose. I love my mom to death and can't imagine losing her in any way, let alone the way Katara did. And I can't say for sure that if I was in her shoes that I know what I would have done f that yes I do I would have killed that motherfucker. But I also know that if Katara decided not to kill him, then that was one of two correct choices because they were Katara's choices to make. Not Aang's or anyone else's and this should have been clarified. I know it's a kids show but I said what I said. Next point.

3. Katara should have said more after telling Aang she was unsure at the Ember Island Players

Katara hasn't had any trouble saying how she feels, especially when it comes to helping others and making them feel better, whether she was right or wrong. But she holds back or overly softens blows and seems to even shrivel up at times when it comes to Aang. And me no likey. I had a boyfriend who I adored and admired and just genuinely looked up to. I'm also a shy and anxious person who hates confrontation, but because I loved him, I never refrained from telling him when he was wrong. I might have been a little shaky about it but I did it tho because when you want to be with someone you walk through the grass and stomp through the mud. And I personally feel like either in that moment or later on in an added scene that Katara should have voiced to Aang how unheard and disrespected she felt about his words before TSR and his actions on the balcony. I hate being uncomfortable and my secondhand embarrassment is toxic but I would love to see a scene of this. I always imagined Katara saying stuff like "But I'm not you Aang, and I'm not an Air Nomad," or "Zuko could understand why I needed to go, and I'd hoped you would too," or...I'm out of ideas but you get the idea. And you know what, I know I'm a hard Zutara shipper, but them having this conversation would honestly make me respect their relationship a whole lot more should it be believably written to end on a good note (I don't see how it could be but hey I'm an open minded person and I did think they were cute together once upon a time). Basically, all I'm saying is that Katara is no small voice and she should have been written that way when with Aang. Boyfriends can make you shy but should never make you weak. Period. Next point.

4. No rock! ONLY GROWTH!!!!!!!!!!!

I still squint my eyes whenever I remember that rock that unblocked Aang's chakra. What even was that? The laziest writing possible in my opinion. That's what. And Aang deserved better. What should have happened should have been that Aang started to lose to Ozai. And then as Ozai's about to deliver the finishing blow, Aang has flashbacks of everyone he's trying to save and honor, ending with a very prominent flashback of Katara with the guru's disembodied voice reminding Aang to let go of his attachments to become all he needs to be...then BOOM! Baby boy is back on his feet, chakra unblocked, he kicks Ozai's ass, I'm crying hysterically on the floor, as are the rest of us, and he wins. Then at the end of the series, instead of a kiss, he gives Katara an apology. She accepts, everyone else comes to join them on the balcony, cinematic group hug, camera pan into the sun. I don't know lol. Basically what I'm saying is that Aang did not deserve some deus ex machina. He deserved to grow and become his best self like everyone else got to.

5. Aang should have heard differently in The Storm

Katara is a very fate-minded person and this is when I saw potential for her to become a toxic character in regards to Aang. When he admits that he ran away from home 100 years ago, Katara tells him that that was basically a good thing because he was meant to be here and now. Like...no? What Aang did, though understandable for someone so young, was still wrong. Yes he would have maybe been killed but I'm like 10000000% sure they had a plan to protect and evacuate the literal avatar. And what was technically "meant to be" was a new avatar. But hey, what's done is done and kicking Aang while he's down is a no-no in this household. But that doesn't change the fact that Aang needed and deserved honesty. Maybe the fisherman could have said this, I don't know, but I feel like Aang should have been told by someone that although running away was wrong, it's a blessing he and Appa were able to survive and be able to help save the world now with his amazing friends found-family. Maybe this is too harsh, and maybe even outright wrong, but I felt like Aang deserved a truer answer here to support and comfort him.

6. MAILEE!!!!

Do I even need to go into detail?

7. Spiritual sigh*

Don't make me go into detail -_- I will say though that although Aang and Katara are both amazing individuals capable of earth shattering things, they were not a healthy fit for one another. This is evident in the original series and especially in their children from LOK. They both deserved the best but better than one another.

8. ZUTARAAAAAAA

This is a Zutara blog you KNEW this was coming, as it should. There's just too much. There's too damn much. I would give a real paragraph to this too, but, I mean, there's already so much proving that this was the pair. Fics, metas, rants, this site. Scroll through my blog or any of the ATLA related blogs I follow and...dude. These two were meant to be together and I'll mourn the narrative brilliance WASTED for no good reason every day for the rest of my life. No reason these two shouldn't be married with three kids. sob. I will take this part to say thank you to the amazing fic writers that gave Katara, Zuko, Mai, and Aang what they deserved that the writers didn't have the guts to give them themselves. Next point tho.

9. AANG AND ONJI

Good God almighty. Why not this? WHY NOT THIS? I'm putting on my bullet proof vest and I'm going to say this; Aanji is cuter than Zutara. Now before you scorn me or whatever, let me explain. Zutara for me is like steak. No. Chicken parmesan. I like chicken parmesan better. The point though is that Zutara is savory. You know? I don't see them as cute, I see them as Obviously. Aanji on the other hand is like a bag of my favorite candy. They are like a brownie. A cookie. Girl Scout Samoas!...I don't know what words are anymore. This post got way out of hand. I guess what I'm saying is that for Zutara, I scream, but for Aanji, I squeal. I hope that makes sense. But here's the main point I want to make. Onji never knew who Aang really was. And Aang was always, at his core, himself. She very obviously had a crush on Aang for his personality and that was crazy cute and frankly preferable to Katara's "I...guess he is." (you know exactly what I'm talking about) Anyway, I kept wanting more of them together. I wish all the time that we'd gotten to see her again, with a more fleshed out character and all. And in the way that I imagine the show should have gone, she could have been the perfect love interest for Aang, during this episode or way later, even in the comics! Another WASTED opportunity for greatness and I will, again, never recover T-T

10. Iroh get your ass back here

Maybe this is a misguided critique but I hated that Iroh just left Zuko alone in the fire nation at the end of the series. Baby was in trouble in every sense of the word and Iroh was just like "See ya! You got this nephew." I'm expected to believe that? I'm expected to accept that? No no no. He should have at least stayed for a few years to help Zuko stay upright and, you know, alive. And by "upright" I don't mean "good." I just mean been there to support him because Lord knows he needed it, at least in the beginning of his reign. It was cute that Iroh was able to settle down with his own teashop after all those years of violence and mourning and running and this and that. I was more than happy for him for being able to have that peace finally. But I still think it could have waited a little while longer so he could support Zuko.

That's it I guess. I know not everything I've said makes the most sense in one way or another, but I enjoyed putting it together all the same. Thank you for reading and have a great day. I'll go finish my final now.

(Edited for a typo)

#zutara #katara #aang #aanji #avatar the last airbender #uncle iroh #onji #on ji #Im wasting more time with these tags #avatar the last airbender critique #avatar critique #mai #avatar mai #ty lee #avatar ty lee #tylee #avatar tylee #the southern raiders

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meimae · 4 years

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Language Learning Through Immersion: One Year Japanese Update

11/03/2021

I did it, you guys! I’ve successfully reached my very first year of Japanese language immersion! I honestly thought that I would have given up by now, but this really has been a fun and ultimately rewarding endeavor.

Studying the language has been at the back of my mind for years since elementary school, I just never really knew how to go about it before, and I always thought that I could learn it in a classroom setting someday. That someday for me was in two elective courses in university, and while those were fun as well, it did not give me the same gains that I have achieved in this past year.

It’s probably easier to quantify learning a language in a classroom setting, especially when going through a program to earn a language degree. Learning through immersion, however, I had to really consider what my goals should be on my own. Eventually, I stumbled upon an article saying that for an English speaker, Japanese was exceptionally difficult to learn and that at least 2,200 hours must be spent with the language to reach a certain level of proficiency. So I said to myself, “well okay internet, if you say so!”, and set that as my long term goal going forward.

Spoiler Alert: I did not hit that goal in my first year. I am not crazy and will never listen to Japanese in my sleep regardless of what Khatzumoto (the creator of All Japanese All the Time) says.

I did, however, hit a total 1,226.65 active immersion hours in my first year, so I guess I’m still a bit nuts. That is 874.96 hours of active listening and 351.69 reading hours. I also did 270.59 hours of passive listening, also known as the time in the very beginning of my immersion where I was using Japanese subtitles (therefore not really concentrating on listening alone). That’s a cumulative 1,497.24 hours spent with Japanese. That’s more than halfway towards my goal!

To further break that down for curious animanga fans out there, that’s 973 episodes from 109 anime, 765 episodes from 33 dramas, 7 movies, and 967 chapters from 107 volumes of manga (21 series). Here’s my anilist and mydramalist to see what I’ve read/watched.

During all this, I was also doing my daily Anki reps and now I have a 530 day SRS streak (includes the time prior starting immersion and only doing RTK and some vocabulary cards) and a total 8,857 sentence cards. I’ve been averaging 406 cards daily (because I’m trying to cure my leeches) and I spend about an hour per day doing reps and learning new cards. I don’t really track my time on Anki, but I do have a set timer that goes off after 1-1:30 hours.

What I haven’t touched upon at all is output. I have not gone out of my way to find a tutor or a language partner. There’s still plenty of input out there to immerse in before I even consider outputting.

Graphs, stats, and more thoughts:

Here's my current card count in my main deck (minus the cards in my new/learning queue and leeches I've been relearning which are in separate decks):

That one day in 2019 where I did not do my cards because I was seriously doubting whether I can actually stick with language learning this time around will forever haunt and inspire me to keep going everyday.

Workflow and Tips

You might be wondering, how do I have a lot of time? I started this whole endeavor in the middle of a pandemic, which eliminated the option of me going to a language school, and a slew of other things I were considering doing last year became impossible (and if anything, very scary to do in a pandemic). All I can say is that, things work out eventually if it is His will, and if I can learn a skill before everything properly settles back down again, then why not?

I wake up at 5 in the morning everyday to either do my Anki reps or read until the time when I need to get up and I listen to compressed audio throughout the day. The biggest tip is to switch the time you spend watching/reading in your native language to your target language instead. Listen to a podcast during your commute, watch an episode during lunch break, read before going to bed, do your Anki reps in the bathroom if you have to.

But, if you’re feeling burnt out, there is no reason for you to not take a break! I have been watching a lot of Among Us streams before bed, and I chat with my friends from time to time. Language learning is not a race.

More Stats

Here are a couple of grids of the kanji characters that I have encountered at least once in my immersion and how well I have answered them in my vocabulary/sentence cards.

It's interesting that after almost 9000 words, I have yet to encounter every single character from the Remembering the Kanji 1 (RTK 1) book by James Heisig, which teaches you the most common use characters that are part of the 常用漢字. Which brings me to the question, was writing down every single character being taught in RTK worth it every time it came up in my reviews for the first 3-ish months I was reviewing them? Maybe, maybe not. It certainly removed my anxiety whenever looking at blocks of text in Japanese, but the longer I think about it, the more I feel I should have switched to Recognition RTK earlier. Still, being able to write in proper stroke order is cool I guess, and it also helps me when looking things up in the dictionary.

Here’s the same grid but in JLPT order:

I clearly need to grind those N2 and N1 level cards! Speaking of which, I have apparently almost covered every single character that could possibly appear in the JLPT (except for the N1 which I have only covered half of) in just a year's time. If the JLPT word frequency lists I’m using are accurate, I have about 2,000 words more to go to to cover most vocabulary that could appear in the test. This makes the "10,000 sentences/words to fluency" argument a reasonable milestone to aim for for Japanese learners if said aim is only to pass the test. That said, 10,000 words is just that, a milestone. It's more akin to a comfortable level of comprehension, but not my own concept of fluency which is being able to read with ease, speak articulately, and write comfortably.

READING IMMERSION GRAPHS

My biggest motivation for tracking my stats is for the purpose of seeing whether my reading speed is improving over time. Reading speed is also easier to measure than listening comprehension which is kind of subjective, so I had a lot of fun making these. What I found is that for the first volume or chapter of whatever it is I’m reading, I always take the time to get used to the writing style of the author. My speed really improves whenever I keep reading the same topic over and over again. On the other hand and quite obviously, looking up many new words in a row and trying to parse sentences slows me down.

Manga: Reading Speed Progression per Volume

I clearly love ちはやふる and I am not ashamed to admit it.

I need to start reading longer manga. When I do, I’ll probably split this graph into less than and greater than 20 volumes. Imagine if I start reading something ridiculously long as 名探偵コナン or ワンピース, these graphs will start breaching the bounds of time and space.

Novels: Time Spent Reading per Chapter

#neverforget the time I read chapter six of Norwegian Wood for 9 hours when it took me less than half that time in English RIP. Also, my interest in Kitchen plummeted LOL. Still planning to finish it don’t worry.

I also need to start branching away from manga and start reading more novels and light novels, too just so I can make more pretty graphs.

Visual Novels: Time Spent Reading and Daily Word Count

Also known as images that clearly show that I’ve already spent several days only reading the prologue of Island. I’m not sweating. 切那 needs to stop using words I don’t know in succession. More thoughts on this VN far into the future.

Thoughts on Immersion

I can’t really say anything else other that that it works for me, and needless to say if you’re considering this method, remember that the SRS is your friend but immersion should be your one true love.

Prior to all this, I couldn’t even read a sample paragraph from Genki without being confused to my very soul. Yes, I know, it’s embarrassing, but that’s the truth. I was way more scared of failing my Japanese classes than my actual thesis for my bachelors degree, I kid you not. I would quite literally spend all my free time in university trying to understand grammar, memorize vocabulary, and answer my workbook exercises with little to no success.

I tried so hard to get all the grammar “formulas” into my head for 1.5 years and it only brought me more confusion. I’m never going back to traditional classroom study for language learning, but I will still refer to grammar books when I need to, and not because I feel like I need to answer 4783342 different workbook exercises like my life depended on it.

I still can’t believe it, but with immersion this statement is actually true to a point, don’t try shadowing anime/or calling your boss anime language slurs, use your common sense:

study anime to understand Japanese > study Japanese to understand anime

Future Goals/Plans

2,200 immersion hours was my initial goal, but honestly I feel like that number could be much higher. There’s still a lot of stuff I don’t understand (news, politics, sciences, etc.), so I’ll make attempts to cover more of those things in my immersion.

I’ll continue reading more, because that’s a natural SRS in itself. Try to read longer manga, more novels, visual novels, and light novels, and maybe news articles.

I’ll try to mine as much “JLPT vocab” as I can before making any attempts at taking the JLPT. I noticed that a lot of the words I know don’t appear in the JLPT word lists as much, even though they appear a lot in media/daily conversation.

Continue mining all words I don’t know because all words are useful anyway. There is no such thing as useless words. I never really understood mining only “interesting words” or words that “pop up” in your immersion. As I said in my previous blog post, 美人局 is an interesting word and I certainly caught it being said in my immersion, but in the three languages I know, I wouldn’t know when I would be able to use such a word, as compared to something like ジャガイモ which is a significantly less interesting word, but is certainly useful to know.

I have managed to talk up a storm, but if you have any questions regarding my process or recommendations for new immersion material, please feel free to send an ask/reply to this post. I love hearing about other people’s language learning/immersion journeys.

See you on my next post!

#language learning #japanese language #language acquisition #study blog #langblr #studyblr #graphs #language immersion #japanese #visual novels #manga #novels #anime #dramas #movies #youtube #podcasts

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peaceoutofthepieces · 3 years

Text

Tracing Time

Again a tiny mention of the hate crime in the first few paragraphs here, just as Sander is thinking of the last clip.

Thursday, 12:03

Song: Agnes Obel - Island of Doom

“Oh my god, Gilles, can you please just stop for five minutes?”

Sander’s not sure where the outburst comes from; he regrets it instantly. He feels better today, after the shit-show that was last night. He’s stopped thinking about punches and bruises and pain and lies and Robbe curled up on the ground. Or at least, he’s stopped thinking about it enough that he can breathe easier again. He had never even really noticed the weight, until he’d spoken to Jens the other night. Until then, it had been about Robbe. Robbe being okay, Robbe feeling safe and not missing out, Robbe not hating himself for loving Sander. Robbe moving on. Recovering, healing. Forgetting.

They’ll never forget it entirely, he knows that. But he sees it in Robbe, and he can see it in himself now, those times when it leaves them for a moment. When the universe shrinks back down, and centers them in its orbit, and blocks out the rest of the world. They can forget, for more and more moments.

Once they admit that they haven’t, it becomes easier to try. Ignoring it hasn’t given it less power; it only makes the memory scarier when it pops up unexpectedly.

He’s allowed to curse it. To hate faces he doesn’t even remember. It’s all that anger, that spark of spite, that lights a fire in him and allows him to grow bigger than it. He should have known, with how long Agathe has been ingraining the thought process in him. Giving voice to it, letting his words be carried away on the air, shifts the concrete away to prod at the core, which is only as heavy as damp, rotting leaves. If he speaks at the right moment, the wind will be strong enough to sweep them out.

Maybe the right moment should have happened before last night. Maybe it should have come a year ago. But he’d woken up this morning with such an unexpected sense of light and relief, and he thinks that should count for something, no matter the time.

Then he’d gone to class, and the usual restless-and-bored feeling kicked in, and then he’d settled himself down at one of the picnic benches outside. Now, he’s still there, with the addition of his friends, and the good mood he’d woken up in is dissipating quickly the longer he tries to work on this assignment.

And the longer Gilles keeps distracting him from it.

They’re looking at Sander now from right next to him like he’d just slapped them across the face, and the regret deepens, twists itself into something gnarled and jagged that hooks and tugs at his ribs. Thomas and Emilie have gone silent and, effectively, so has Gilles. They open their mouth only once and quickly snap it shut again.

“I’m sorry,” Sander says quickly. “I honestly didn’t mean it. It’s just—“ he gestures to his laptop “—this fucking assignment.”

Gilles wipes the surprise away and forces a smile, giving a tiny nod. “Yeah, I know. I get it. I can keep it down. Actually, I think I’m gonna go get something to eat, anyway.”

They begin to rise from the bench as they speak, and Sander quickly latches onto their arm and gives a pleading tug. “No. Gilles, I’m sorry. Please, don’t be upset.”

“I’m not,” Gilles waves him off. At Sander’s unconvinced look, they insist, “I’m not.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Sander tries. “Don’t leave.”

Gilles just shakes their head. “I’ll come back. Compromise, yeah? You asked for five minutes.”

Sander slowly lets his hand fall, feeling lost. He can’t just keep apologising, but he doesn’t know what to actually say to make it better. He’s hopeless in such situations. He glances at Thomas and Emilie for help, but they both seem disappointed, too.

“Sander.” Gilles sets a hand on the back of his neck as they finally stand and gives a gentle squeeze. “I get it. It’s fine. I’ll...try to actually help you, or just be quiet whenever I get back, okay? Whichever you want.” They duck down and press a firm kiss to his cheek, and he barely has time to lean towards them before they hoist up their bag and walk off.

Sander wants to call out, but he still can’t find the words, and Gilles won’t be dragged back if they want to go. Instead his mouth opens and closes as helplessly as a fish’s, and Thomas slowly packs up his things and stands instead.

“I’m gonna go…” He juts his thumb over his shoulder, hovering by the table hesitantly. “I’m sure it’s fine, but, you know. But it’ll be fine, Sander.”

Sander’s shoulders slump, but he nods, and Thomas smiles at him before running to catch up to Gilles. Sander pushes his laptop back far enough that he can plant his elbows on the table and drop his head into his hands with a sigh.

“Hey,” Emilie breaks through his thoughts, voice soft. “Gilles is a big boy. They’ll get over it quickly. They really know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

“It was still shitty,” Sander sighs.

Emilie gives him a sympathetic smile and slides across the seat to sit directly across from him, where Thomas had been a moment ago. “What’s going on?”

Sander huffs. “You mean why am I being a dick?”

She ignores him. “The assignment can’t be that bad. Maybe give yourself a break from it, get something to eat as well. Come back to it with a clearer head.”

“It’s not that easy,” Sander says, frustrated. “Just because you can pass all this stuff without even trying, doesn’t mean it’s the same for all of us.”

“Okay, wow, you really do have a stick up your ass today.”

Sander shrinks back, effectively admonished. He, again, didn’t mean to be so harsh. He probably should just stop speaking altogether. Which means he probably should stop writing this essay, too, at least for a moment, until he gets his head under control again. Chances are it will be more strongly worded than he intends if he continues at this rate. “Sorry,” he mumbles.

Emilie stares him down for a moment, then sighs. She reaches out and carefully pushes his laptop aside, and Sander doesn’t even attempt to muster the energy for a protest. Emilie lays her hands over his and doesn’t hold them, but massages the pressure points between each thumb and forefinger as she speaks.

“You know, it would take me a full month to do the kind of art you can pull off in like, a day. And I’m no smarter than Tom. It’s not just easy for me, Sander. I work my ass off to be here as much as anyone else.”

Sander curls in on himself a little more, nodding. He could mumble another apology, but he doesn’t quite see the point. He knows it’s not what she’s looking for. “I know,” he says instead. “I didn’t mean to discredit you.”

“I know.” She gives his hands a squeeze and sighs, leaning in closer to catch his eye. “And I would never discredit you, either, because I know none of us would be here if we didn’t deserve it. It’s not supposed to be easy. But we can do it. That’s the whole point.”

Is that true? It’s something Sander would like to believe, certainly, but at times like this...he doubts his abilities and his choices. What if he’s just not meant for study? In that case, what is he supposed to do?

“And you know it’s okay,” Emilie continues softly, “to ask for help when you feel like you can’t do it.”

Of course she sees right through him. He smiles weakly and works one of his hands free to draw his laptop backs towards him, angling it towards Emilie. “Will you help me?”

She huffs now, but smiles. “If only you’d had to ask one of us that last week. But when it comes to practicals you’re a pro. Otherwise we would’ve realised you’d gotten mixed up.”

“Are you saying,” Sander asks slowly, “that I messed up because I’m too good?”

She grins at him. “Exactly.”

“Cute. Just say you want help with your piece too and be done with it.”

“I want help with my piece, too.”

“At your service,” Sander smirks.

He feels only mildly anxious as she quickly skims through what he has already done, and relieved when her first response is a question that unexpectedly prompts him onwards. He’s typing away again within moments, ignoring the girl’s smug smile as he flicks between tabs and documents and his own thoughts.

When he’s completed another, rather lengthy paragraph, Gilles and Thomas return.

Sander is surprised enough to stop immediately; he hadn’t actually expected the two to come back. But Gilles perches next to him again with only the slightest hesitance and passes him a small, white paper bag with two croques tucked inside.

Sander instantly wraps an arm around their waist and leans into them in a hug, mumbling another apology. It’s all it takes to have Gilles beaming and pressing a kiss to his temple.

“You’re both so easy,” Thomas muses. “Remember this, Em. Just give Sander food and Gilles affection and they’re fine.”

“Or the other way around,” Gilles offers, to which Sander immediately nods.

“Both,” he agrees. “Both is good.”

They’re all halfway through their food when Sander remembers the other thing he wanted to talk to them about, and a smile is stretching his lips before he actually speaks. “So, what did you guys think of Luca? She’s pretty fun, right?”

Gilles and Emilie choke on the same bite, with Gilles falling into a dramatic coughing fit and Emilie just politely clearing her throat with the back of her hand pressed to her lips. Thomas’s sandwich is held halfway up to his mouth as he freezes and examines the scene, the top rim of his glasses cutting his eyes in half as he widens them at Sander. Sander simply laughs, shaking his head at the two culprits and remarking on all their old comments about him being the one lacking subtlety.

As if.

~^~

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#wtfock #sander driesen #sander season #tracing time #gilles visser #emilie de vries #thomas aarden #one clip left now

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welllpthisishappening · 3 years

Text

Catching the Highlights

It wasn’t like she was nervous, not really. Or jealous, even. Honestly, the entire story was more than a little hysterical and very nearly distracted Belle from the obviously frustrated way Will kept moving his hands at the end of the second period. Still, there was something about sitting in the stands that felt different and maybe hearing about how her maybe-boyfriend made out with Anna Vankald one time was just the push she needed. To make things a bit more real.

———

Word Count: Nearly 4.5K AN: This is a thing I do now, apparently. Write Blue Line! Will and Belle. And poorly photoshop eights into sixes on jerseys. Although I draw the line at making the girl that same photo wear a skirt. Anyway, this continues to be real fun, I hope the five people enjoying it continue to enjoy it and I think I’ve got at least one more idea for these dweebs. So, that’ll probably happen sooner rather than later. Possibly with more badly executed photoshops.

———

It had something to do with his eyes.

With the way they narrowed ever so slightly, able to thin without causing any sort of furrow between his brow or lines of frustration on his forehead. They’d pinch. His eyes, that was. Make it so it was difficult for Belle to see the brown there or the bits of gold that she was at least ninety-six percent positive she wasn’t imagining and only slightly less confident had something to do with her.

She’d never really been one for details, like that.

Strange as it might have been.

Details were the lifeblood of research. Tiny bits of information that could sway a doctoral defense or prove an argument, but Belle had always been far more interested in the sweeping potential of a very good story, and research had that too, she supposed. To some degree, at least. Although, that was getting existential. Her work was good. She was good. Fine, even. Definitely fine. Nothing to see here. Nothing to worry about. No reason to compare the strange and not entirely unfamiliar sensation of fluttering in the pit of her stomach whenever Will glanced her way to the decidedly still nature of all her internal organs while she spent eight to ten hours uptown five days a week.

Sitting at her desk, she regularly tried to fit into the mold, everything everyone expected her to be with the title she had, and that required her to think less about the bigger picture. That sounded negative. It wasn’t. Probably. Hopefully. Just required further research. More details and specific examples.

All of them regarding the nature of Will’s eyes.

Even so, she—

Part of her missed it. The sweep. The really good stories. Ones that were less clinical and more fantastical. And the deep breath that always came just seconds before being overwhelmed. By the current and the wave and those were rather similar, as far as analogies went, but all the best stories always left her a little overwhelmed, and Belle’s cheeks were starting to ache as something bubbled out of her. Laughter, in its purest form. Bouncing and bounding and echoing off otherwise abandoned walls, the pair of them tucked into a corner of the Garden concourse because they hadn’t actually decided this was a secret, but Anna Vankald was apparently living her life under some sort of blood oath, all sworn secrecy, and poorly executed winks in the second period.

Like this was hidden. A tiny detail tucked away. Never debated. Never highlighted in the opening paragraphs of a twenty-six-page dissertation. With Chicago-style formatting.

No one ever knew how to property do Chicago-style formatting.

Belle might have hated Chicago-style formatting.

She’d never been to Chicago.

Had never been—

Will’s eyes were barely slits on his face.

Twisted lips loomed above her, not quite frustration, but inching closer the longer she kept laughing, and she refused to linger on what that meant. The laughing. The happiness. Joy, maybe. She looked up, instead. Let her head bump the wall her shoulders already had, appreciating the soft scrape of what might have been concrete against her hair, like that would ground her or slow her overactive imagination, and his hair was still wet.

“She wasn’t supposed to tell you that.” Belle bit the side of her tongue. Didn’t help, really. With her laughter problem. “Keeping state secrets?” “It happened once.” “Yes, she mentioned that, too.” He might have growled. Some strange part of her wanted him to, relished whatever the technical term was for the sound that eked out between his bared teeth, rolling his whole head in the process. Their noses nearly collided.

Belle pushed up on her toes.

To kiss the tip of Will’s nose.

“That’s distracting,” he grumbled, but his hand had inched under the hem of her shirt, and that meant he’d managed to get the hem of her shirt out of the skirt she was wearing.

“Should I have worn your jersey or something?”

His eyes snapped. Open. Brown and gold, and that wasn’t a particularly swoon-like combination in any of the stories Belle had memorized while she was growing up. Heroes with royal titles and broadswords quite literally made to challenge dragons and hordes of villains always came with blonde hair and a slight curl, flashing blue eyes that twinkled in sunlight and starlight, and Belle’s hand didn’t shake. When she brushed the few drops of water clinging to Will’s temple away.

Her calves were starting to ache, too. Made sense. She was still pushed up on her toes.

And the Rangers had lost. Not—well, not badly. By two goals, and one of those was an empty-net goal, which was a term Belle figured out all on her own. Well before Anna mumbled explanations under her breath, glaring daggers any time the Islanders fan two rows in front of them dared to open his mouth.

Honestly, that was part of the problem. He kept yelling, and Anna looked dangerously close to staging some sort of public execution in section 204 and Belle had asked. For details. Wanted a good story, or possibly a distraction because she’d noticed the way Will’s hands moved at the end of the second period, staging a rather enthusiastic conversation with a man she’d never met, but his jersey said LOCKSLEY, and she didn’t think the jersey would lie to her.

She was going to blame the Islanders fan.

“If you did that,” Will mumbled, in response to a question she’d legitimately almost forgotten about, “I’m not sure I would have been able to get out on the ice.” “Oh, compliment or—” “Definite compliment. Was that not obvious?” “Well, you’re making out with so many other girls.”

Her laugh clung to the letters, pulling her lips behind her teeth to keep from smiling like a total idiot. Something was happening. With the flutters and the overall ability of her nasal passages to get oxygen back to her lungs, and it must have been a trick of the light. The way Will’s eyes flashed, gaze flicking up beneath eyelashes and just above the half curve of his mouth, and Belle’s knees felt a little unsteady beneath her. Fighting against the force of a wholly imaginary, even more staggering wave.

“One time,” he said, straining on every letter, “it happened one time, and—seriously, why was she talking about this with you?” “Asked for a fun and interesting story about her.” Will’s eyes bugged, another shift in his voice that was much more like a crack as he nearly shouted, “And that’s what she came up with?”

“Said anything she had to tell me about her childhood was boring. Mostly because a lot of it would focus on KJ, because—”

“That’s Cap.” Belle clicked her tongue. “Wow, thank you for that. What would I do without you?” “If you wore my jersey, I think my head would explode.” “Not the compliment you think it is, either. That’d be a lot of blood. Who would even clean that up? Couldn’t make someone here do it; that’d be mean. Cruel and unusual, probably.” “I like your skirt.” “Better,” Belle laughed, in spite of her best efforts. Which were really lackluster, quite frankly. “Anyway, the childhood was apparently super boring, and there were shenanigans of rookie season to discuss.”

“She grew up in a mansion!” “Yeah, we got to that part eventually, although technically, I think it was just a brownstone.” “Rich kid description.” “You can tell her that if you want, I’m sure,” Belle reasoned, but his lips were back to twisted, and she was already on her toes. Made sense to use that to her advantage. Pressing kisses against the edges of his mouth, alternating back and forth until it felt a little like a rhythm she could time the rest of her vaguely unsteady breathing to, and she certainly did try. Didn’t work, but something about effort and attempts and those were—

Details, really.

“I like her,” Belle added lightly, mouth moving across a stubble-covered cheek. Part of her felt ridiculous. Always did with things like this. She wasn’t the story. Will wasn’t the hero. He and his teammate had gotten into a fight at the end of the second period, for God’s sake. And this wasn’t—well, it wasn’t a fairy tale. No matter how much sweeping there might have been. With its butterfly wings and salt-filled waves, all of which existed solely in Belle’s subconscious.

But there was this other part.

Part of her that didn’t always linger behind her desk. Flitted through imaginary scenarios and stories stored in the back corner of her brain, the same one that could still smell salt air with startling clarity, and remembered the precise taste of freshly-made taffy from that one restaurant on the beach. Details. She remembered those details. Held them fast, afraid they’d disappear otherwise, and made sure they played prominent roles in every daydream.

For fear of what would happen if she didn’t.

How they’d fade. Grow grey and thin, and it was a contradiction. Right in the middle of her. And that scared her just a little bit, because whatever was happening now, right at that moment, with a hand flat on the curve of her hip and her heart doing its abject best to beat its way out of her chest, she felt the same exact way. Sweeping and detailed and not the least bit jealous.

There was no need to be, really. Not when she was fairly certain she could drown in the golden flecks of Will’s eyes. Constantly staring at her as they were apt to do.

“Do you want to hear the gist of the story?”

Will’s lips pursed. Stayed that way even as Belle’s lips continued their path across his face, spending at least two seconds at the side of his left eye and the still slightly damp area surrounding his right temple. She started picking up speed. Quick kisses that she could only hope felt as strongly as the prickle of her lips suggested. But then Will’s fingers tightened. Not much. Just enough to be obvious, and Belle grinned against his cheek.

“I lived it,” Will argued, but there wasn’t much fight in it. He’d done that already, anyway. They’d get to that part, eventually.

“As the story goes, though, there was some less than savory libations involved, and—” “I’m still not convinced that vodka was legal in the continental United States.” “Suggests it’d be fair game in Hawaii and Alaska, though. Possibly Puerto Rico. I’m not sure what the rules on that are. Maybe the US Virgin Islands. What about Guam? You think your alcohol would be fair game in Guam?” “I’d have to check the label.” “You still have it?” Belle balked, almost fully and entirely prepared for the flash of amusement and the precise angle of eyebrow jump. Almost being the key word, there. Another burst of laughter tumbled out of her, lips on her cheeks that time, all blazing and prickling, and that one wasn’t inherently positive, but she was slightly worried her hair was going to get caught in the concrete of the wall and she could not possibly be expected to think when Will’s hand kept doing whatever it was it was doing.

“No, no, we did a very good job of drinking that entire thing, but I’d know that bottle anywhere.” “Where were you buying illegal alcohol? Also, how did you not die drinking hundred-proof vodka?” “Pure force of will.”

“And bad hockey games.” “Those too,” Will admitted grudgingly. An edge crept into his voice. Likely born in the second period of this game. She kissed the bridge of his nose. The tip. Between his eyebrows. Waiting for some of the tension to leave his shoulder blades, and that was all she got. Some. It was enough, for now.

“You want to talk about that?” “Losing a playoff game my rookie season? That happened a bunch of times, babe, this was just—” “Don’t be an idiot,” Belle interrupted.

He grinned. Tension kept pulling taut between his shoulders and the slope of his cheekbones, the second of which was really starting to offend Belle on an almost fundamental level, but his smile looked legitimate, and that was enough.

“Should I go defend your honor in the locker room, darling?” The grin widened. “Trying to get a rise out of me, but gender is a social construct, so I don’t think it affects nicknames, and I’m a real big fan of that one, actually.” “No rise,” Belle promised, fingers hovering above his shoulders, and they both flinched when he winced. “Going to be honest, the hitting sort of freaked me out.” “Locksley wasn’t going to hit me.” “Well, yeah, then I’d have to punch him in the locker room.” “Keep your thumb inside your fist,” Will suggested, “that way you won’t break it.” “Right, right, naturally,” Belle mumbled, and she didn’t know how they managed it. Stayed upright while his hand shifted further up the back of her shirt and her teeth grazed the curve of his jaw. She was on something of a mission, now. To cover every inch of his face. With her lips. “Anyway, as Anna told this wholly fascinating story, there was a lot of vodka involved, a very bad loss, some card game—” “—Kings.” “That’s a drinking game.” “Well, now you’re getting into unnecessary specifics.” Her body shook. Against Will’s. Who almost immediately groaned. Presumably at the location and exact angle of her hips. “Ok, so there were cards involved in your drinking game. Pizza was eaten, alcohol was downed in alarmingly large gulps.” “Editorializing a bit, mon bonheur.”

“What’s that one?” “Happiness.” “Oh, that one’s nice.” Will huffed. “They’re all super nice; I have a very large crush on you; I don’t want to talk about making out with Anna Vanklad anymore.”

He said it quickly, rushing over the words. Some might even say sweepingly. Where Belle was the some. In that instance, specifically. Someone, more like. She didn’t care. Was not spending even a second on proper sentence structure or appropriate internal grammar, was far too preoccupied with the circumference of Will’s eyes. And that one muscle in his jaw. Jumping with startling regularity, really. Totally different from her heart and her pulse and it was difficult to catch her breath.

Felt a bit like she’d played a hockey game.

A walking contradiction.

Where she also wasn’t walking anywhere. At all. Had absolutely no intention of walking away. From this.

“Was it not a good make-out?” “I honestly don’t remember a lot of it,” Will sighed, another roll of his neck. Something cracked. “That’s not game-related,” he added, and she could only imagine it had to do with the look on her face, “anyway, it was just...there was that vodka involved, and Vankald spent a ton of time at our apartment. She wasn’t Cap’s sister-in-law yet, but they’d grown up together, was my friend, and he’d fallen asleep, so…” “Figured you just make out?” “Not a lot of thought involved in it. She was a fixture, y’know? Shit, that sounds shitty. Does that sound super shitty?

“Drifting toward shitty, yeah.”

“Anna came to visit a lot because no matter what she may claim, she worries about Cap as much as anyone. Even El and Leader, and that’s—” “Wait, you have an Alien Leader you all report to?” “You’re ruining this story.” Her laugh got caught. Directly between them, all mouths and that goddamn hand, Belle’s neck tilting back on what might have been instinct and need, and she’d gasped more in the last four hours than she had in her entire life. “Tell me more about your Alien Leader, please.” “He only acts like an alien.” “Huh, that cleared up absolutely nothing.” “You should keep kissing me.” “Compare and contrast, huh?” Will groaned. Again. Part two. Let his mouth drag down the side of her throat, and Belle couldn’t stop laughing. Happiness poured out of her, new and a little strange in its quantity. As if she was made of the stuff, even worried as she was through all three periods. She’d kept wringing her fingers together. At one point, Anna had to hold her hand.

“Ruining,” another kiss, “this,” teeth on her collar bone, “baby girl.”

Suggesting that she lit up in a way that reminded her of a Christmas tree was—

Farcical, maybe.

Nothing inhuman happened. There were no bells. No whistles. No flashing neon lights suggesting this was the moment and a conversation regarding the man with his hand currently inching towards her right boob drunkenly making out with someone who wasn’t Belle should not have been so—

Fun.

God, it was fun. She was having fun. With him and because of him. Hockey nonsense aside.

Because, since coming to New York with her invisible tail tucked between her legs and the near-desperate desire to get away from that seaside town with its ghosts and its demands and its plan for a future that simply did not fit her anymore, Belle had tried. Really. To shed that persona. To be someone new. Hard as she tried, though, there were ties. Those lingering memories. Ones that dug in their heels, while she gripped others with both hands. She was, and she wasn’t. Small town and big town, a librarian who couldn’t care less about details while focusing on specifics with everything in her.

And none of it ever really made much sense.

Hurt her head to think about, everything she tried to contain and the worry that ate away at her sometimes. That she’d messed up, ruined all of it and—

She didn’t kiss Will’s mouth.

Peppered his face, instead. With her lips and the feelings behind them, mapping the space until she was certain she knew it as well as her own, and she wanted to. Wanted to learn everything about this guy who felt as jagged as she did, made up of right and wrong and mistakes and possibility and she knew it was only a matter of time before he got impatient.

She liked that about him.

That he didn’t always wait for her to catch up. Just knew that she would.

Plus, his tongue in her mouth was really something Belle was starting to appreciate. In an obsessive sort of way.

She might have groaned that time.

Fingers scrambled against the front of his shirt — team-branded, again, and that shouldn’t have been charming, but it was and likely would continue to be, and there were goosebumps on her skin. They were really very good at kissing. Each other, specifically.

“I like you, too,” Belle said, and it was a strange thing not to be embarrassed by the breathless nature of her voice.

Will’s chest was practically heaving, though. So that put them on even ground. Common ground, at least.

“You’re not mad?” “Give me some credit, sweetheart.” He chuckled, warm air against the top of her shoulder. “Was a very long time ago, for whatever that might be worth.” “Twelve galleons.” “I don’t know the conversion rate of that.” “No one does, so I think we’re all in the same boat.” “You don’t think Jo knows the conversion rate of her own fictional monetary system?” Belle shook her head. “I absolutely do not, because she was a shit world-builder and also a fairly terrible person now, so—” She shrugged. Will beamed. Some joke about a Christmas tree.

“So,” he echoed, “the thought of making out with Little Vankald has never once again crossed my mind.”

Someone scoffed. With entirely false indignation.

Using Will’s shoulder as leverage — the non-bruised one, naturally — Belle got enough height beneath her toes to see Anna cross her arms. And scowl at the pair of them. Badly. The scowl lasted all of five seconds before it evolved into its own rather uproarious laughter, another echo that filled the empty space of a concourse Belle could not imagine they were supposed to be standing on. Only a matter of time until someone else found them.

She wasn’t sure that was a bad thing, actually.

“That’s super rude, Scarlet,” Anna hissed, muffled footsteps that only lost their volume because of the overall status of Belle’s heart. Still trying to fly out of her. “But I want it noted, for the record and all that, that I don’t want to make out with you ever again, either.”

“Do you remember it being way wetter than it should have been?” “You problem, absolutely.” “I haven’t had that issue,” Belle argued, mostly to guarantee the quirk of Will’s lips. Worked like a charm. Or something less lame sounding. In her head. Most of this commentary was in her head.

“Lucky you,” Anna drawled.

“C’mon,” Will whined, “no one told you to start with this story.” “Start with, huh?” His eyes. Were becoming a serious problem and a growing majority in the basis for most of Belle’s heart-related issues, but she forced herself to meet his gaze and tilt her chin up and she didn’t think she imagined the way his tongue pushed against the inside of his cheek. In an appraising sort of way.

“I really would have told you. Eventually” “I know.” “I’m serious.” “I know,” Belle repeated, “and I’m really not threatened by someone who you still regularly refer to as Little Vankald.” Anna flipped him off. Or them, maybe. As a collective unit. Belle wanted them to be a collective unit. “I could order a jersey online, right?” “Nah, I know people, don’t waste your money.” “Could probably get Kris to help,” Anna added, “as the physical form of my apology.” Belle waved her off. “It was a good story. Highs, lows, drama, does your—do we call him your brother-in-law? He’s not the Alien Leader, right?” “You mean Liam?” Will’s laugh was more like a barely-contained snort of humor and shoulders that were tight for a reason that did not involve pessimistic emotions. Belle’s lips twitched. “Just knew that off the top of your head, did you?” she asked.

“If you knew Liam, you’d understand. Was Scarlet suggesting we’re all aliens?” “Nah, just him.” “I did no such thing,” Will objected, another glance in Anna’s direction, “Cap looking for us?” She nodded. “Locksley too. Should I be worried Mom and Dad are getting a divorce?” “You’re the most dramatic person alive.” “Lots of hand moving between the two of you, your girlfriend was worried.”

It was Belle’s turn to tense. With what, she wasn’t entirely sure. Some sort of emotion, she assumed. Adrenaline, maybe. Hope, possibly. And it wasn’t like she was waiting for labels, but she’d come to pretty good terms with her ability to counter herself in the midst of her own silent monologue, and Will was staring again. Straight through her, it seemed.

Or maybe directly into her.

That was sentimental, though.

“Does Killian know that you two made out once?” Anna hissed. “If you tell KJ about this, I will actually have to strangle you, no matter how much I like you and how much Scarlet wants to date you.” “Aren’t we dating already?” Anna opened her mouth, what Belle knew would be more sarcasm and the teasing nature of her and Will’s relationship, but she had more pressing issues, and he answered, anyway. “Yeah, we totally are, plus I like you way more than I hate Ariel’s inevitable victory lap, so I mean, that’s—” Cutting him off was rude. Not nice. Inevitable.

Based solely on the size of his eyes and their gold-like nature.

“I, uh—” Belle started, “I know we’re not supposed to accept the set-up, and Ariel’s going to be so annoying, but maybe we could…” She shrugged. Tried to stay focused. And upright. Continued standing seemed important in a moment like this. “We’re both kinda messed up, don’t you think?” “Little,” Will murmured.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, and I know that we’re...I mean, this is good, and I’m mostly good with it, but also, I was super nervous during the game, and what were you guys fighting about?” “Fighting is a strong word. More like discussing how Locksley should learn to keep his stick on the ice so he can get that tip from my slap.” “Weird turn of phrase.” “Slap shot.” “No time for full terminology, huh?” “How goes the understanding icing battle?” She was going to sprain her cheeks. Maybe Ariel could help with that. After gloating. Ariel was absolutely going to gloat. “Getting there,” Belle promised, and it was not about hockey, “don’t you think?” “Mmhm.” “So, uh—I don’t know what you do after games, but…” “Little Vankald is totally here to drag us uptown because Cap regularly challenges her in the dramatics, and I bet he’s hungry.” “You eat after games?” “Ariel’s husband owns that restaurant.” “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s how I met her actually. Good onion rings. Weird we didn’t ever see each other there at the same time, though.” Will hummed. Stuck out his lower lip. Challenged her without saying anything, and Anna was still standing there, and security had to be aware of them, but Belle was in the middle of something, and it was good and great and made absolutely no sense because she was not a pro sports girlfriend, but the labels really weren’t important, and it was all—

She gasped. For, like, the four-thousandth time that night.

Saved the best for last, though.

Will’s mouth found hers in a crashing sort of way that altered the cosmos, or at least Belle’s perception of the world around her. Particularly when her hands were suddenly more like barnacles, gripping his shirt as if she was afraid he’d disappear otherwise. Knuckles cracked and breath caught, everything spinning and staying frustratingly still, and one of her heels popped out of her shoe. Pressing back up on her toes didn’t do her calves any favors, but she wasn’t bruised and they were both a disaster, and the tongue thing really was pretty fantastic.

Tracing the inside of her mouth and the seam of her lips, Will’s rumble of pleasure echoed between her ribs, enough to spur Belle’s arm up as she slung it around his neck. Her fingers found skin and short hair, nails scratching so she could hear that sound again.

She closed her eyes.

Let the details seep in, and settle into her soul.

Until Anna coughed, and there was a security guard standing next to her, and Will’s head dropped to Belle’s collar bone again. He kissed there, too. Before spinning on his sandals, all confidence, and bravado, a reasonable excuse that someone, somewhere, would probably believe. Not this security guard, but that probably wasn’t important, and Belle had helped Will make an Instagram account.

So, something about a cat and a bag and—

His fingers laced through hers.

“Wanna challenge Locksley to a fight for my honor?” She scrunched her nose. Pretended to grimace when his lips pressed against her cheek. Anna gagged. “Yeah,” Belle said, “that’s exactly what I want to do.”

#scarlet beauty #scarlet beauty ff #scarlet beauty fic #blue line one shots #defensive!blue line #i don't know guys—these have just taken on a life of their own #will i put them on ao3? maybe who can say #i mean i can #but...they're still kind of short i think #for ao3 #if any of the five you reading this want specific scenes let me know #i've got time between waiting on people to make their deadlines

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blackjack-15 · 4 years

Text

Hunting For Some Buried Story — Thoughts on: Ransom of the Seven Ships (RAN)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE, ICE, CRY, VEN, HAU

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it. Like with all of the Odd Games, there will be a section between The Intro and The Title called The Weird Stuff, where I go into what makes this game stand out as a little strange.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: RAN; STFD; mention of FIN; GTH; mention of SPY.

The Intro:

We’re two-thirds of the way through the meta series officially (yay for meta #20!), and what a way to cap off that marker: with the last of the Odd Games.

And my land, how Odd it is. And that’s ignoring that in August of 2020, this game was very quietly discontinued — speculated to be because of the…well, pseudo-brownface in the game.

Oh yeah, we’re starting with that little bomb.

Before we truly begin, however, let me state one fact: the controversies over this game do not make it any more interesting, unfortunately. I don’t know how a game can be both this objectively bad and this objectively boring as a mystery, but RAN is an example of many, many impossible feats in the video game industry (boring yet bad, controversial yet uninteresting, finicky yet sluggish in controls, so it might as well begin as it means to go on.

I’m also stating here for the record that I’m not really going to focus on the social aspect of this game; it’s always been out of the scope of these metas to focus on current events or social issues, and race is such a hot button issue that no matter what anyone says, someone gets mad. Besides that, it’s really not an interesting tack to take with this meta, not when there’s so many things to talk about regarding RAN as a game and/or as a mystery. If you came into this meta expecting a breakdown as it relates to any social issues, this might not be the meta for you.

If you came for a beat-down on RAN, however, you’re in the right place. Get comfy.

Ransom of the Seven Ships had all the pieces in place to make it a great game; we’ve got Bess and George in the (weird, plasticky) flesh, a fascinating and beautiful location, a historical background based in Spanish exploration, the Age of Piracy, and treasure hunting…all of these are great, honestly, and it’s part of what makes RAN so offensively bad — it could have been really great.

Instead of a wonderful game based around pirate treasure, however, Nancy plays games with monkeys, drives on the world’s slowest golf cart, and trusts the only other person on the entire freaking island when he says he didn’t kidnap her friend. Even though he is the ONLY OTHER PERSON ON THE FREAKING ISLAND.

This game is based off of a Nancy Drew mystery entitled “The Broken Anchor”, which actually is fairly close to the plot of the game — the girls win a contest (though in this case it’s one they didn’t even enter) to go to the Bahamas, Nancy arrives (with Carson) and can’t contact Bess or George, there’s a mysterious treasure, etc. etc. In part, I think, RAN’s problems come from following the book too closely, as there’s really very little to the plot of the book. Game plots necessarily have to have a little more meat to them, as you can’t spend the whole time with Nancy pontificating on the scenery or food (as she is wont to do), and RAN is missing a lot of meat.

Specifically, the meat that it’s missing is any suspects at all. Like I said, there’s only one other person (other than Nancy, Bess, and George) on the island, and it’s ‘Johnny Rolle’ — a self-professed fisherman and loner who’s boat has been wrecked by the monkeys.

There are way too many effing monkeys in this game, side note. How I wish the monkeys were a side note.

Nancy, despite her normal M.O when a kidnapping of a friend has taken place, just kinda rolls with his story and accepts it, digging pointless holes in the sand while he definitely has Bess trapped. And then there’s the weirdness with the monkeys trying to kill her as she scales a sheer cliff wall.

Honestly, if I go any more into it, I’m just going to end up tearing it apart piece by piece, and that’s for the Fix section. So let’s move on to the specific things that make this game truly the capstone of the Odd Games.

The Weird Stuff:

This game is, first and foremost, a story about personal revenge — or, at least, that’s the big takeaway, no matter what HER actually intended for it to be about. After being busted by Nancy (and Lillian, and Ralph, but he apparently doesn’t care about them), Dwayne sat in prison stewing over his ignominious defeat at the hands of a teenaged sleuth until he heard about the supposed treasure on Dread Isle. His greed for the treasure combined with his hatred of Nancy began to fester together, culminating in a slightly complex but ultimately stupid plan to get both money and revenge.

This is a motivation unlike any we’ve encountered. Sure, a handful of Nancy Drew villains have sworn their revenge on Nancy (most notably at this point in the series Helena from VEN), but no one has actually done it — until Dwayne.

This should have made the whole game feel intensely personal — and indeed, bringing back tokens and things from Nancy’s past cases and locations should have built to that. However, the game never really comes to a fever pitch of a feeling of someone is watching Nancy and actively hates her, even though it makes a few attempts. More than any other game, Nancy should have been scared here — and it’s odd that she isn’t.

The second odd thing here is the returning villain. I don’t think this is a bad thing at all — I love the idea of a returning villain — but I do think it was a mistake to pick Dwayne Powers. At this point in the series, STFD was hardly a well-known game, and was generally unplayable due to technological advances.

Yes, later STFD would get a bit of a sprucing up and become playable again (and this game, funnily enough, would be relegated to the ‘unplayable’ pile — Dwayne never can win, I guess), but that didn’t matter at the time that RAN was coming out.

There were several better choices — VEN’s Helena, SHA’s Shorty, DOG’s Emily (who had already received a mention recently in DAN) — so why go with Dwayne? Did they pick him on purpose because no one would suspect (or rather, remember) him? Was he the most obscure villain they could think of? Mitch Dillon (who never appeared really) from SCK would have been an equally obscure but somehow more frightening choice. I’m really at a loss to figure out why they chose Dwayne, of all people.

The third thing that makes this game odd is the lack of suspects. Sure, they give a hat-tip to the Gibsons perhaps being hidden on the island (which, let’s just say, they shouldn’t have — never use as a red herring something that would have made the game so much better), but Dwayne/Johnny really is the only suspect.

I have no idea if they were rushed, if they thought that his different identities counted as extra suspects, or if they just wanted to try something different with this game, but it in no way worked. It’s so mind-bogglingly simple to figure out who kidnapped Bess that it makes Nancy look like she’s quite a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

The last Odd thing that I’ll hang on is how incredibly out-of-character Nancy is in this game. We’ve only seen Nancy work kidnapping (or supposed kidnapping) cases a few times in the series as a whole — FIN’s Maya, RAN’s Bess, and GTH’s Jessalyn — but in both FIN and GTH Nancy takes them very seriously, being harsher and more impatient with less time for people’s lies and stories than she usually is, and really feeling the pressure of the clock.

It makes sense; even discounting the Missing Mom trauma that sits deep within Nancy, the first 48 hours of a kidnapping are basically the only window that she has, statistically speaking, to find the victim still alive and okay. She nearly flies off the handle at the suspects in FIN, and digs uncomfortably deep even at very touchy subjects in GTH.

It then stands to reason that, with FIN in the past and GTH in the future, that Nancy would react similarly in this case. Bess is one of Nancy’s best friends, and the friend that we’re shown most often (think of the flashback in SPY; Bess is the one who comes over after Kate and Carson’s fight) around Nancy, like in CRY.

You’d think that, in the face of Bess’ unambiguous kidnapping, that Nancy would be raising hell — contacting anyone she could, taking no prisoners, ripping Dwayne’s tarp down, turning the island upside down, etc. — but instead, she’s calm, almost relaxed, spending time playing games with monkeys and driving aimlessly around the island.

It honestly makes no sense that she’s like this. This is one of a small handful of games where Nancy is deeply, personally invested, where she has a quick running clock, and where the stakes are deadly yet somewhat unknown.

Nancy comes into this with no background, no contacts, no ability to really look things up, and no help — George’s meager efforts do not count — and yet she acts like there are really no stakes. It doesn’t make me dislike her, it doesn’t make me fold that into her characterization — it just makes me say “wow, the writing is really bad here, huh”.

The Title:

Ransom of the Seven Ships is an amazing title; there’s really no getting around this fact. And for the bare bones of the game, it’s more than a suitable title. You’ve got the word ‘ransom’ doing double duty — meaning both treasure and the price to return someone who’s been kidnapped — you’ve got the ships indicating pirate treasure, and that also tells us we’re probably on an island.

Honestly, this is a far better title than this game really deserved (which is half the reason for this meta: turning the game into something that deserves its title). It’s certainly far better than “The Broken Anchor”, its source material, while keeping a pirate-y nature about it. While it’s a little different than most Nancy Drew games’ titles have been up to this point — as they’re usually “The (Adjective) Noun of Location” or “The Adjective Noun”, that’s not a bad thing at all.

This title really does make me sad with how wonderful it is. It deserved so much better. Same with Ship of Shadows, which is also boss.

The Mystery:

Having won an all-expense paid vacation to Dread Isle in the Bahamas (which should have been their first clue that something hinky was afoot), Bess invites Nancy and George along with her. Nancy arrives the day after the cousins, having stayed for a later flight because of a prior engagement with Carson, and is greeted by a frantic George who tells her that Bess has been kidnapped, that the owners of the resort – the Gibsons — aren’t there, and that she’s been worried sick.

Nancy, naturally, senses something Amiss, and sets off to explore the islands, beginning from the pink sand beach where Bess’ water powered golf cart (yes, I know) is still sitting. She discovers Bess’ shoe next to the only other person on the island — a fisherman named Johnny Rolle from Jamaica — and sets off to explore the rest of the island.

Along the way she finds notes from Bess’ kidnappers, instructions on digging for treasure, twisting island paths, and monkeys. So many friggin monkeys. All of whom Nancy must appease in order to progress in her hunt for one of her oldest friends.

Yeah.

As a mystery…well, what is there really to say about the mystery? It should have been over the second Nancy found Bess’ shoe right outside Dwayne’s camp where a Suspicious Tarp Just Big Enough To Hide the Body of a Young Adult was hanging. An intelligent way to draw it out would be to have Nancy discover Bess there, but for Dwayne to pull a fast one on her and trap her below…but this isn’t the fix section, so let’s just move on past that.

If you weren’t going to add in any new characters or suspects, it might be best to have this game flip from a whodunnit to a howdunnit/howcatchem after the first third; as it is (aka since I’m going to add far more characters in The Fix section), we’ll move right along to the suspect in question himself.

The Suspects:

Yes, I know that this part should just be “The Suspect”.

Believe me, I know.

Wearing a whole cornucopia of masks, Johnny Rolle — aka John E. Poole — is an Australian accountant, hiding from ‘bad clients’ by painting himself brown and adopting a horrible (and horribly stereotypical) Jamaican accent. Nancy discovers his ‘true’ identity by finding an ID with his name on it while he’s still in the ‘Johnny’ disguise. Of course, this ‘true identity’ isn’t his true identity as all…

Dwayne Powers —aka Owen W. Spayder — is sitting underneath the bad wig, bandana, brownface, and horrible accents, and is voiced in this go-around by HER’s chameleon of many voices, good ol’ JVS. After hearing about Dread Isle’s rumors of treasure and their monkey research lab shutting down from a volunteer at his prison (yes, we’re already way too complicated for this game), Dwayne started planning to get the treasure and get revenge on Nancy at the same time.

As the culprit…man is Dwayne horrible. He’s so stupid that it really kills me that Nancy actually falls for his act, because it makes her even stupider. It’s not a good plan, it’s not well thought out, it’s not even a complete plan — it relies on too many unknowables. What if Nancy and George had just stormed his camp and found Bess? What if Nancy figured out it was him? Like, I know Dwayne is an egotist, but this is just dumb.

Before I eviscerate any more, let’s just move on to the few good things in this game.

The Favorite:

The best thing about RAN (other than its music, which as always is super good) is honestly its location. Dread Isle is beautifully and uniquely rendered, and doesn’t look like any other game with the pink-sand beaches, beautiful horizon line, and foliage all befitting a Bahamian resort.

I also like the idea of a returning culprit; while it wasn’t handled well here, I do think it’s a great idea as quite a few culprits have promised revenge on Nancy at the end of their games. Do I think it would have been better if it was Helena, who promised revenge only 2 games ago, rather than going back 18 games to a game that most hadn’t played due to lack of availability? Of course; but the idea behind it was sound.

I don’t have a favorite puzzle or favorite moment; even Dwayne’s dramatic reveal is ruined by the fact that Nancy is at all surprised that he was wearing a disguise and, once again, that the only other person on the island was responsible for kidnapping her friend.

The Un-Favorite:

As far as this section goes…there’s a lot that I don’t like, but there are a few things that stand out more than the rest as truly un-favorite.

My least favorite thing about this game, as you might be able to guess, is that it makes Nancy seem so stupid. We’ve had 19 games of Nancy (mostly; this meta series does go over the exceptions) figuring out clues, chasing bad guys, and solving puzzles without breaking a sweat, and then for this game she’s fooled by some makeup, a wig, and a bad accent? At least in STFD Dwayne put some effort into his work; this is just sad, and it’s even sadder that Nancy falls for it.

My least favorite moment in the game is probably the first conversation with ‘Johnny’. Nancy finds Bess’ shoe, gets strung up in a trap, and then believes that the guy sitting a few feet away is innocent and telling the truth? It’s a moment that truly sets up what a crap shoot this game is about to become, and that alone is enough to make it my least favorite.

My least favorite puzzle is anything to do with the monkeys; playing games with them, scaling the cliff, talking to them, talking about them — literally anything. I don’t like monkeys on a good day, but to have so many puzzles in the game revolve around playing their stupid little games with them? Not a good thing at all. Especially since getting around the island (and, of course, the monkeys live quite far away from anything else on the island) is so aggravatingly slow and clunky — it makes everything feel like a total slog.

The Fix:

So how would I fix Ransom of the Seven Ships?

My gosh, just remake the game.

More seriously, there are quite a few things that I would do in order to make playing through RAN a little more enjoyable and a lot more story-driven (and in line with Nancy and George’s characters). As always, I’m trying to keep this as close to the actual game as possible with few or no huge changes, so Dwayne will still be our culprit, Bess will still have won his giveaway, and Dread Isle will still be the spot of El Toro’s treasure.

The first thing I would do is get rid of Dwayne’s brownface/first disguise, and have him be the Australian accountant named John E. Poole, running from Bad News clients who he didn’t allow to cheat come tax day. That sets him up as a good guy to begin with (if a little foolish to cross such powerful clients), and gives a reason why he’s not staying at the resort (he’s trying to hide and not leave a paper/money trail at the same time). He should be staying in a little homemade hut, not with a Suspicious Tarp Obviously Hiding Bess, as he would have had to been on the island for a while to perfect his disguise (and seem trustworthy to the people at the resort).

I would also have the game take place on Nancy’s 19th birthday; if we assume she was barely 18 at the time of STFD, that makes it about a year that he would have been plotting and escaping and setting up this contest and such. It also makes sense as to why Nancy would have a banquet-thing with Carson and why Bess invited her and George — it’s a fabulous birthday party trip, even for the well-off Nancy Drew. That would also add to her anger — this was a great present that Bess (and George) gave her, and Dwayne has just straight-up ruined it.

Another change that would help the atmosphere is to have at least half the game take place at night. I would have the game take place over roughly two days — it ends the night of the second day — so that you can see the island at night. A lot of the demands made by ‘the kidnappers’ should be done at night — treasure digging, in particular — so as to not be more disruptive to the island than a missing persons case would already be.

Of course, one of the biggest things to do would be to add more suspects.

The Gibsons — both of them — should definitely be there at the resort. I’d have one half of the couple be in the resort during the day, and the other at night, so Nancy can interact with them both differently and have different tasks/discussions with them. Perhaps Mrs. Gibson is an expert on the island’s ‘lore’ — El Toro’s treasure and stuff — while Mr. Gibson is more up on island life and is the law enforcement liaison for the island (who can effectively deputize Nancy to help with the search for Bess).

I would also add one other guest who was supposed to check out right before the first note from the kidnappers came in, and is now stuck on the island until the case is solved. What I’d probably do is make them a Secret Australian (to contrast with Dwayne’s fake Australian accent) — sporting an English accent due to a posh upbringing and studying in England for most of their school life, living in England somewhere (maybe near Blackmoor Manor for a cool Easter egg) — who is Very Grumpy about this and thinks Bess ran off to explore and just got lost. I’d probably make them unhelpful to the last — even when Bess is found and had definitely been kidnapped, to just shrug it off and to board the plane to get home as quickly as possible.

The last person I’d add in is someone working the desk — specifically, an older teenager who is very cagey about themselves and how they know what they know, but who seems to know a lot more than they let on. This person would, of course, end up being a member of ATAC, and once Nancy figures it out, would be able to connect you with help from the Hardy Boys. This ATAC member would be scoping out the Gibsons for evidence of getting guests under false pretenses, but would ultimately change their suspicions to Dwayne and help Nancy and George catch him. Through this ATAC teen, the Hardy Boys could use outside information to give Nancy information about monkeys, the island, treasure, El Toro, and anything else that she encounters, as well as spread their feelers out about the Gibsons, the other guest, and John E. Poole.

I would of course want to improve the tone, which would be helped by having more people on the island — Nancy should feel scared that Bess disappeared with this many people around, and it should feel personal. As the game goes on, even with the added help, the walls should feel like they’re closing in. I would include way more second chances, traps, threatening notes, maybe even recordings of Bess screaming or scared or in pain — something that might push the rating to E+ because, quite frankly, the situation calls for it.

Mechanically, I would put way less focus on the monkeys; they really shouldn’t control everything on the island. Keeping them for a minigame and location is cool, but they definitely shouldn’t have their place of prominence in the game.

I would also remove the fact that you can control George. Out of all the games where I think controlling people other than Nancy would be great, this is not one of them. As worried as Nancy should be, this is George’s cousin — practically her sister, from how close their families are and how much time they spend together — and George would probably be in a State. Sure, she can help with some of the tech stuff, but the player definitely shouldn’t be playing as her in this game. It just feels forced, and it’s not necessary.

Would these changes make RAN a fantastic, award-winning game? No, honestly, they wouldn’t. In order to do that, you’d probably have to scrap the game entirely and start over with even barer bones. But I do think it would help to make it at least better and more playable, and I think that’s a win. Let RAN be remembered for its returning villain and its kidnapping plot, not for being the game that everyone skips during a replay of the series.

#nancy drew #clue crew #nancy drew games #ransom of the seven ships #nancy drew meta #RAN #video games #long post #my meta

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widdlefangs · 4 years

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Platonic

Pairing: Bobby x ChildhoodFriend!MC Words: 1.7k Notes: Ok full disclosure I’ve used this for other fandoms but I just felt like it was so relevant to Bobby. I guess I’m doing fics now so maybe send me prompts or smth and I’ll jot some fics down. Headcanons too.

Bobby clicked his pen for what seemed like the umpteenth time during this whole study session. He stared as his study buddy bit her lip at an equation she’s been writing yet again. She scribbled furiously before scratching it out with a frustrated groan. She leaned back on her chair and slumped with a whimper escaping her lips. Bobby nudged her foot with his own under the table.

“Hey,” he comforted his friend, “Come on, you need to take a break.”

He bounced off his chair and walked towards her small kitchen. Bobby found pride in the fact that he knows his way around like it’s his own. He got her stash of peppermint tea at the top left corner cabinet right beside the Christmas mugs. He hooked a foot on the lower cabinet where her small spoons were. He plugged the water heater at the bottom socket because the top sparked since he plugged a hair blower there once in one of their all nighters. With pronounced ease, he prepared the exact blend of tea he knew she loved with the precision of a friend who knew her inside out. He leaned back and watched her wallow in the pages of her book whilst the water boiled.

He was her friend. No, he was her best friend (he hoped, if no other human would agree to buying her tampons if she can’t leave the house). She was most definitely his best friend, none can deny that. Bottomline is, for the majority of their lives, it has always been platonic. Painfully platonic.

It doesn’t matter if she cuddles between his legs on her couch whenever they watch Ghibli. It doesn’t matter if he strips butt naked in front of her as they change for a night out. It doesn’t matter if his parents already set up her clothes in Bobby’s closet and her toothbrush beside his. She and he shall be perpetually…just platonic. Sighing, he pushed the off button before it lit red knowing that she hated scalding her tongue.

He wondered how they’ve gotten here. There was a project once back in grade school where they were asked to write where they see themselves in twenty years. She was there in every paragraph, in every line, in every sentence in his write up. She was what came up to his mind when one would ask him who he envisions to be his wife someday. And that image hasn’t changed since. Perhaps it took root from the innocence of childhood—how hugging and cuddling and touching in general was deemed platonic in children, that’s why she’s gotten to used to it— but as respectable adults, it just seemed like he was doing all the responsibilities of a boyfriend without getting the benefits of one.

He shook his head at the thought of how hopeless he was. Someday, she’ll find a man that can’t love her half as much as he did. And she’ll think he’s the one. And someday he’ll find her cuddled up with him on her couch as he sits by at the other end just because he’s the best friend.

He felt a pair of slim arms wrap around his waist and a button nose nuzzle the back of his shoulder. Exactly the type of behaviour he’d been elaborating in his head earlier.

“I smelled the tea.”

“I know you did, you can’t resist me.” he chuckled sadly. After knowing Bobby since childhood, she knew there was a matter of glumness in his tone. She tugged on his waist, urging him to face her.

“Don’t even bother telling me you’re all right. Spill it.” she looked up at him.

“Spill what?” he cocked an eyebrow, taking a sip at her teacup.

“Don’t spill what me, McKenzie. I know something is up with you,” she said, taking her tea from his hand and gingerly nursing it between her fingers.

“Nothing is up with me,” his mouth quirked, taking his own cup and smiling at her with tired eyes.

She frowned at that. Pursing her lips as she leaned on the kitchen island across him. He knitted their toes together while sipping his tea. He reached for the side of the refrigerator and took out the rest of the chocolate cake he baked from yesterday. Grabbing a fork, he pushed off the counter to lean into her, one arm supporting his weight on the counter his other balanced the two slices of cake on a plate. She placed her head on the crook of his shoulder out of habit. There she goes again.

“Tell you what, if you finish your slice first, I’ll spill.”

She gave him a bewildered look and he used that to his advantage by shoving the slice in his mouth. She quickly caught on and started stuffing her face with cake as well. In an effort to win, he shoved his entire piece in his mouth and grabbed the rest of hers and made a run for it.

“Can’t finish your slice now, can you?” he sputtered, mouth full of cake. Bobby jumped on her couch, nesting on it like a hawk. She protested below him, cheeks all puffed up in cake.

“Bobby I swear, I’m not afraid to push you off!” she stomped, barely able to speak.

“Oh yeah? Prove it!”

And that was all it took for him to be tackled to the floor with her straddling him. She had a wild look as she reached for the crumbled cake and ate it off his hand. He revelled in the feeling of her mouth around his fingers, he’d like to feel that more often. It was down to a battle of chewing. The first one to swallow wins. She planted her hands on his chest and narrowed her eyes at him as she chewed the food in her mouth furiously, even if it did make her look like a deranged animal. It’s not like they weren’t twenty-two year olds rolling around on the floor on a lopsided food eating contest.

She swallowed first. He let her. “Aha! I win. Now spill.”

He was still chewing, albeit leisurely now. He placed a hand on her hip as a sign to wait. She didn’t seem to mind the intimate gesture. He finally swallowed.

Taking a deep breath— for the confession and his hurting throat— he spilled.

“I was thinking how much I love how we’re so platonic. Even if I’m practically your boyfriend—no, your husband, with all that we’ve been doing.”

She gave him an incredulous look. Bobby can’t believe that this moment was where all his years of platonic relationship lead up to.

“That’s it? I wrestled you for that?”

He bit his lip—hurt that she reacted the way she did. The way she always would. She degraded his feelings—feelings that have in fact been pent-up for years. He was sick of it. Absolutely sick of it.

“Do you think what we have is platonic?” he spoke up. She noted the tone of a challenge in his voice. There was hurt there too. Unable to look straight into his eyes, she turned away.

“If someone walked into this room right now and see us, would they think we’re platonic? You’re straddling me in your pyjamas while I’m in my boxers and you think this is platonic?”

She gulped.

“I’m so tired. Tired of pretending that there’s nothing here,” he pushed.

“Bobby— I

In truth she didn’t know what to tell him, or how. There was just too much history between them.

“Could you tell me right now, to my face, that you don’t love me. If you can say that right now, I swear, I’ll let it go. I won’t ever bring up the topic ever again,” he declared. There was an almost violent beating in his chest. An anxiety that couldn’t be quelled with anything but her words.

His heart clenched when she couldn’t reply to him. It spurned his anger even further.

With everything on the line, he kissed her. He kissed with all the fervour he’d been wanting since he met her. Bobby knew that this wasn’t how he wanted to reveal his feelings. He knew that this could very well end as a nightmare for the both of them.

Until he suddenly felt it. Her hands weaving into his hair like how he’d always imagined. Her lips pressing back with as much ardour. Her body curling into his as she kissed him. She kissed him. Back.

They stayed there for who knows how long, just lingering in the shade of the night, enjoying each other’s company in a whole other light. Finally, he broke away—he still had a point to make.

“Now did you think that was platonic?” he murmured, a little breathless.

His spine was tingling, his hands a bit shaky, the world was spinning and the point of intersection was her. Innately her. Hers all along. It was her.

She muttered something incoherent, a little smile tugging on the sides of her lips and his heart leapt with joy. He tucked a loose lock of her hair behind her shoulder and kissed the skin that was revealed to him. He’d always wanted to kiss her there. It’s not like it hasn’t been accessible, on the contrary, it was a tease for him. To know that he could get so close and yet he couldn’t touch.

He released his meanderings and breathed on her skin, feeling her shiver reverberate to his hands. It made him deliriously happy. “How about that? Was that platonic?”

She shook her head a little. Bobby allowed his hands to travel down her back like he has done so for the past thirteen years, but none so as leisurely as he did now.

“Can I ask if this is platonic?” she whispered and kissed the length from his ear to his jawline and latched on to the hollow of his neck. Bobby hadn’t meant to, but he groaned.

“Yeah that’s very platonic. Friends do that all the time.” he struggled to create coherent sentences with all the emotions swirling inside him. She leaned on her elbows and smiled at him.

“You know, Bobby, I love how we’re so platonic.”

“I love how we’re so platonic too.”

#love island the game #litg fics #litg bobby #bobby mckenzie #bobby x mc #litg season 2 #love island season 2 #litg s2 #litg fanfic #love island #love island fic

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ohstardust · 4 years

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Stubborn Love

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader Summary: “You’re my roommate who’s super cute and it’s the middle of the night and you’re cramming for your exams in your flannel pajamas and disheveled hair and it’s becoming increasingly hard for me not to kiss you” AU. Inspired by this post. Words: 1.1k A/N: I’ve barely been able to write in months but suddenly I was stuck with the inspiration to write this after leaving my Beck fic unfinished again for the evening. Apologies for any mistakes, I’m barely awake.

Please let me know what you think, and as always, reblogs are acts of kindess. Title: Stubborn Love by The Lumineers

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Bucky hadn’t expected the kitchen light to be glowing at 1am as he trudged through the hallway to grab a glass of water. He’d been finishing up his essay notes ahead of taking the plunge and making a start on it in the morning, and all he wanted was a drink, a snack and an episode of The Office to unwind with. He knew full well he’d be wide awake if he contemplated trying to sleep when he was still so wired on swirling thoughts, and ideas, for what he wanted to say and highlight in his assignment.

He stretched as he let out a small yawn and scratched his tummy. That was odd, the light was still on, books and paper and an assortment of pens and highlighters were scattered across the breakfast island but there was no one in sight. With a sigh and the shake of his head, he pulled a glass out of the cupboard and ran the cold water until is was cool enough to drink.

Soft footsteps padded through the apartment and into the kitchen, a small squeak escaped his roommate and he glanced up, eyes apologetic.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you, just wanted this,” he raised his glass and smiled sheepishly.

“Don’t worry, sorry Buck, I didn’t realise you were still up, I guess I got a bit carried away in here.” She took her seat back at her makeshift desk and tried to make some sense of the documents laid out before her. Bucky wasn’t sure how long she’d been there, he remembered seeing her there sometime after dinner but that had been hours ago, he didn’t know how she was still functioning, especially because she hadn’t eaten with him and their other two flatmates.

“Have you um- have you eaten anything? Do you want a drink?” He offered, feeling concerned for his friend, the dark circles under her eyes looking more prominent than ever, and her soft and usually fresh looking face, looked exhausted.

“I think I ate - actually no, I completely forgot to eat. I’ve been so busy trying to cram for my final exam on Tuesday. I lost track of all time.”

“Will loaded nachos do the trick for you? And a juice? I know soda’ll upset your tummy this late at night, and I flat out refuse to give you coffee at this hour,” her eyes widened and she pouted at the idea of her coffee being withheld, “sweetheart it’s for your own good, you need to sleep sometime tonight.”

She sighed, he was right, he was always right, he knew just what she needed and he knew her tells like the back of his hand, maybe that’s what living together and being friends for four years taught you, “Sure, nachos and juice sound amazing, thanks Bucky.”

His chest tightened and his stomach fluttered at the sleepy smile she gave him, her head propped up on her palm and her hair all disheveled, no doubt from her stress and concentration, fingers raking through it as he’d seen so often before.

Bucky couldn’t refrain from sneaking glances at her every so often as he busied himself with making food, her tongue peeking out as she highlighted passage after passage, different coloured sticky notes pinpointing different aspects and topics to make the revision easier for her. Every other minute she’d yawn wide and slink further into her oversized hooded sweatshirt.

“C’mon, at least eat some of this before you fall asleep on the counter top.” Bucky placed a plate in front of her, piled high with tortilla chips and cheese and toppings and returned a moment later with a tall glass of orange juice. He grabbed a stool from beside her and set it directly opposite her on the other side of the counter.

He watched as she plucked a few chips from the plate, the cheese stringy and splitting off, but quickly diverted his gaze when she put the food in her mouth. He was always toeing on the edge of fear when it came to her, always worried that he was watching too much, too eager, too interested. She grinned and groaned a little, “Bucky Barnes, you’re my hero.”

Bucky could have died right there and then but he shook it off, content with her being content, and snatched a few chips for himself before he said something stupid or overstepped.

She pulled one knee up and rested her foot on the stool, constantly trying to find a new position to be comfortable in for a few minutes as she read another paragraph or two. Her bobbled and faded flannel pyjama pants were a comfort to her and she absentmindedly ran her fingers over the material.

“I don’t know why I’m so nervous for this exam, I know all of this, I’ve worked hard, I’ve studied hard for four years, I should be calm about this.”

“It’s your final, it makes sense to be nervous, it’d be weird if you weren’t. But you’ll do amazing, you know you’ll ace it, you’re you.”

“I guess. You’ve always had so much faith in me. Don’t know what I did to deserve it.”

“Like I said, you’re you.”

She lifted her head and once again rested her head on her hand to look over at him, eyes scanning his messy, fluffy hair, soft yet piercing eyes, his favourite shirt that had so many holes in it it couldn’t even be classed as vintage anymore. Her breath caught as she caught his unwavering gaze, the intensity and kindness, like a magnetic pull that drew her to him and vice versa. The late night-early morning, sleep deprived haze heightened every look, sound, intake of breath, brush of fingers, like nothing around them existed, just the two of them inhabiting this bubble.

“And you, you’re you too Bucky, my favourite you.”

He huffed out a laugh and rubbed his palm over his face to shake him from the moment, “I think you need some sleep.”

“You too,” she let out a massive yawn, the motion taking over he whole face and she chuckled softly, “think we can cuddle tonight?”

“Am I supposed to pretend it didn’t happen tomorrow?”

“No, I want it to happen again tomorrow. And the day after that.”

“Can’t argue with that, c’mon, let’s get you to bed darlin’.” He gathered up all of her mess into a neat pile and pushed it to the side out of the way, depositing their left over plate into the sink and wrapped his arm around her exhausted body, leading it towards his room and flipping the light off as they went.

Under the cosy blankets and wrapped around each other - Bucky feeling light and giddy yet unsure if this meant what he thought, or hoped, it meant - in a tiny exhausted voice, he barely heard her say, ”wanna cuddle with you forever Bucky Barnes.”

Bucky let out a long exhale and grinned into her hair, “Me too, sweetheart, me too.”

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #james bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes reader fic #bucky barnes au #marvel au

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makeste · 5 years

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so, Heroes Rising.

I saw it. it was exactly as good as I expected it to be. which is to say, very, very good.

this post is going to be chock full of spoilers guys. all the spoilers. and I’m not just talking those “ho hum All Might and Deku work together to beat the villain who could have seen that coming” first movie-type spoilers either. if you don’t yet know what happens in this movie, let me assure you that it is big. like we’re talking some momentous fucking shit. so if you don’t want to know then don’t click on this! but do go see the movie if it’s playing in your area because holy shit! it’s so good! (and so worth seeing on a big screen, too -- it was awesome.)

also there are some manga spoilers here too, because this movie does take place during the later manga arcs, and I did discuss some of those little manga-only easter eggs below. so I’ve tagged this with “bnha spoilers” accordingly, but just wanted to mention that here as well.

so I’m gonna break this down into sections, I guess. first I’ll do a quick-ish summary of the movie just because that’s important for context (and if you’re looking for a real in-depth summary, I recommend aitaikimochi’s very detailed summary here).

a quick-ish summary of the movie

so the kids all get sent to some tropical island in the middle of nowhere because the hero who used to be assigned to that island retired. and so the HPSC thought it would be a good idea to send a bunch of kids to serve as interim heroes until they find another professional who can take over. that’s right, this whole thing is the HPSC’s fault. because they just love their child soldiers. before you can ask, not a single grown-up actually accompanied them there either. it’s just the kids. and just 1-A for that matter, so I guess 1-B all got assigned to their own tropical island and had their own adventures which will never be turned into a movie much to Monoma’s dismay. alas.

anyway this island has a population of like 1k and nothing ever happens there, so at least the decision seems kind of reasonable in that light! like they basically figure that the kids will spend a few weeks helping the island’s population track down all their missing pets (which, this island has like a dozen pets go missing every hour, I’m not even joking. like 90% of the calls the kids get are “HELP ME I LOST MY FUCKING PET AGAIN.” maybe if you all closed your fucking front doors every now and then!! one person lost their parrot. honestly Kouda should just immediately move here once he graduates and they’ll keep him busy 24/7 and he’ll get rich enough to live like a king). it never occurs to anyone to wonder if maybe these particular kids, who are certified villain magnets and literally aren’t allowed to go anywhere without a professional armed guard these days because villains always try to kidnap them, might not need at least one adult to go with them. everyone is just like “no they’ll be fine.” spoiler alert: they were not fine.

the two little kids in the movie are Katsuma and Mahoro. I was worried Mahoro might be annoying, but my fears were unfounded and they are both adorable. but Katsuma is like five and Mahoro can’t possibly be older than seven. and they basically live on the island all alone, because their mom is a Dead Anime Mom and their dad works on the mainland. so these two preschoolers are alone and unsupervised all the fucking time, and so I for one was not at all surprised that they get up to shit like prank-calling the 1-A Hero Squad about fake villain attacks, because that’s exactly the sort of shit you would expect unsupervised five and seven-year-olds to get up to!! geez!! their neighbors supposedly check in on them, but how much attention can they really be giving them if they haven’t even noticed that Katsuma’s been wearing the exact same clothes for a fucking week now.

anyway so the villain is named Nine and he’s the same old standard villain guy who wants to create a new world order with his pals and all their strong quirks. but his base quirk (which I think is the weather-related one, but it’s hard to tell since spoiler alert dude is rocking multiple quirks) makes him get all fainty and weak after a short amount of time, so he goes to the League of Villains to get stronger and Ujiko is all “sure thing bud I’ll make it so you can hold multiple quirks.” and so he’s called Nine because he can hold up to nine quirks. and he can do the AFO thing where he steals quirks from people! which is like a BIG FUCKING DEAL!? guys but whatever it’s a movie!

anyway so long story short he wants a quirk that can fix his whole here-I-go-fainting-again deal, and through a series of events I won’t bother to elaborate on, he figures out that one of the cute kids (spoiler alert it’s Katsuma) has a quirk that can do that, so he goes to the island to steal Katsuma’s quirk. and he and his buddies arrive and they fight class 1-A, and Deku and Bakugou protect the cute kids from Nine, and everyone else fights the other bad guys, and there’s a ton of sweet studio bones action and the kids are all fucking bosses and it’s fucking sick and I fucking love it.

and then in the end, Deku and Bakugou fight Nine but he’s too strong, so Deku has to give Bakugou OFA so that they can double team him with a OFA combo (with Deku using the embers) to beat him. and afterwards they pass out, and OFA is all “back I go into Deku because guess what I can do that!” and it does, and then Bakugou doesn’t remember anything when he wakes up. and then they all leave the island and move on with their lives and none of these events are ever spoken of again. and basically everything in this last paragraph is why some people were a bit “WHAT THE FUCK, MOVIE” about this movie (though that seems to have died down now that people are actually seeing it and not just judging it by the summary). but let me tell you guys I have THOUGHTS about all of this, but I will get to those in a bit.

so that’s the summary. now this next section is going to be some general thoughts and observations which aren’t particularly organized, but which I would like to now share. and then afterwards I will share my thoughts on each of the 1-A characters in this movie since they all got their chance to shine and it was great. but anyway.

general thoughts and observations

first of all this movie reminded me that BnHA appeals to a very wide demographic. there were a ton of kids at the theater (and I know they were there to see BnHA because they were all talking about it), but strangely enough the auditorium I was in was mostly older kids and adults! but what I figure is that since both the dub and sub versions were playing, the majority of younger kids (and/or their parents) opted for the dub. at any rate it was fun to see so many fans there and be reminded that my nerdy hyperfixation anime is actually super popular lol.

for anyone who’s been disappointed with the overall lackluster animation quality of the latter half of season 4, it’s because all of the good animators were working on this. “well whoop de do for them but was it really worth it?” you ask. and honestly... yes. yes it was. holy fucking shit. from the very first fucking scene, that answer is an emphatic, wholehearted “yes.” incidentally if you, like me, failed to do the requisite soul-searching to realize that you needed even more League of Villains car chases in your life, let me assure you that you do, and this movie has got your fucking back.

Hawks is here and of course, duh, he’s amazing. he’s just as sassy and smart as you could hope, and at one point he actually makes an out-of-nowhere deduction that was honestly a HUGE LEAP, but of course it was exactly on the fucking money because it’s fucking Hawks you guys, AND HE’S JUST LIKE THAT.

Endeavor has the scar, but he’s only shown with his Flame Face activated, so it’s hard to see unless you’re actually looking for it. I honestly think a lot of anime-onlies might not even catch it. well-played. same thing with the glove covering the fingers on Tomura’s left hand.

honestly, probably the biggest spoiler in the movie is this one scene where Nine realizes that Deku “is capable of holding multiple quirks.” like, the movie doesn’t actually confirm SIXQUIRKS!!, but it’s pretty damn close IMO. gettin’ cute with it. oh, movie.

also there’s one scene that briefly shows all of the vestiges/predecessors, who IIRC haven’t yet been revealed in the anime other than in that one Shinsou fight where they were all shapeless blobs. so that’s another spoiler I guess. but this is another scene which was only very briefly shown. still when you’re showing it on a 30-foot-tall movie screen you kind of can’t be subtle no matter how hard you try so. hm.

at one point Bakugou is lying unconscious on a futon getting medical treatment, and he’s still wearing his hero costume but his shoes are off, and he is wearing socks. this confirms the answer to the question that probably no one else other than me had, of whether or not he actually does wear socks with his hero costume. because sometimes he has this tendency to not wear socks. anyway so that’s an important fact that I took note of and stored away in my brain so I could write it down and inform you all of it. socks.

the 1-A kids are actually really fucking professional and they have this little call center-type setup with phones and computers where they can take citizens’ calls and coordinate their response teams. it’s legit. unfortunately for them all the islanders ever call in about are lost pets, as previously mentioned. they don’t deserve these kids tbh.

at one point Kaminari calls Bakugou “Kacchan” AGAIN and THEY CAN’T KEEP LETTING HIM GET AWAY WITH IT. except they absolutely can and indeed, should.

Katsuma is an Edgeshot fan and wears this little pin of him on one of the straps of his overalls lol. it’s fucking adorable. unfortunately Edgeshot is not in the movie so we don’t get to hear his sexy hero ASMR voice. I think this is my biggest regret about the movie.

speaking of Katsuma, he has the bravest moment in the entire film when he charges right toward Nine to stop him from hurting his sister. willing to sacrifice his quirk and his dream to save her and everyone else. and it’s actually the second time he volunteers to do this. he is so brave. I would die for him you guys.

so many people get bodyslammed into cliff walls in this movie but they’re all fine. the fuck are these kids even made of.

at one point a villager asks Shouto to make some ice for him so Shouto is all “okay” and goes and makes a GIANT MOUNTAIN OF ICE THE SIZE OF A FULL DOUBLE FRIDGE. because CLEARLY that’s what this man meant when he asked for “more ice.” this has left a lasting impression on me.

for the most part the movie actually makes a surprising amount of sense! there are actually very few plot holes, and I say this as someone who is very much alert for plot holes! that being said, every so often a scene still comes along that makes you go “really??” while holding both of your hands outstretched all “are you serious” (and I was very gratified to see that I was not the only person doing this at times! MY PEOPLE). but it was mostly just your typical stuff that you would tend to find in the manga as well. for instance, “holy fucking shit Shouto did you really just fucking murder that guy.” (spoiler alert, I don’t actually recall them clarifying whether he did or didn’t, so I’m just going to assume that he DID. Shouto is very sweet but every now and then he just stops giving a fuck and that’s when you have to back off.)

anyway that’s all the random stuff I can think of so now I’m gonna summarize my thoughts on each of the 1-A kids and their roles in the film!

class 1-A

Satou doesn’t really do much, but his face scares a small child at one point and everyone in the theater laughed. I feel bad about it now. poor Satou. and even though I said he doesn’t do much, I should note before I get any further that every last 1-A kid does get at least a little screentime and some villain-fighting action, and he is no exception. but it’s mostly limited to punches, and of course, being bodyslammed into a cliff wall.

Hagakure doesn’t really do anything except help lead the citizen evacuation. and actually I lied in the previous paragraph because come to think of it, I don’t think Hagakure got any action scenes, so so much for that assertion. she didn’t even get to do her flashy lightbulb move. ah well one day she’ll be revealed as the traitor and then it’ll be her moment to shine.

Tsuyu has some good rescue moments, and this one cool bit where she grabs a villain with her tongue and yanks him into a river and Todoroki proceeds to freeze the entire fucking river (along with like half a dozen waterfalls), villain and all. it was a cool combo and I was all about that. also the kids use her disgusting poison frog snot to paralyze a dude so that was also dope.

Mineta doesn’t do anything egregious and actually has some really cool moments. his best is a combo attack with Sero and Ochako, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Kouda is helping to save all of those lost pets!! all these cats and dogs and fucking parrots and shit. there’s also this one scene where a lot of birds come flying over suddenly and obstruct the vision of one of the bad guys, but I can’t remember if that was Kouda or not. but if it was then that was pretty damn sick, Kouda.

Kirishima does not get a lot of non-combat screentime, but he is there for those fights!! his big moment is also a combo (this movie could have seriously been called Combos Rising) with Todoroki where the two of them slide on a rail of ice similar to what they did in Kamino, and Kiri’s in front and activates Unbreakable to act as a shield for Todo. it’s super cool. also he does a lot of smiling at Bakugou like “oh, Bakugou!” in this way that’s just like. oh that wacky Bakugou, what are we going to do with him. chuckle chuckle. it’s cute and it’s nice to see someone else who is also way too tolerant of Bakugou’s shenanigans and just lets him get away with fucking everything because he adores him. I relate to Kiri a fucking lot is what I’m saying.

Ojiro’s tail is not made out of any substance known to man as far as I can tell. it just bends any fucking way it wants and can do whatever the fuck it wants and withstand all kinds of crazy shit. Ojiro actually has some really cool action scenes in this movie (we’ll get to the big one shortly) so props to him! but the fuck is up with that tail bro.

Shouji doesn’t do much, but he plays a key role in the final battle protecting the kiddos and he deserves your respect! also at one point one of the villains starts taunting him and is all “what’s up with your face I bet people were scared of you as a child”, which was fucking savage and completely uncalled for, and made the guy sitting next to me burst out laughing so hard I swear to god he started crying. smh.

Aoyama has not one but two fights in which he plays a key role! somehow he always seems to be at the vanguard. like his thing is firing off all his lasers until he’s exhausted and seemingly at death’s door, at which point the rest of the kids will show up to take over. he is very brave, and sparkly, and at one point he collapses holding his stomach and moaning “I think a little bit actually came out” which made me say “jesus christ” out loud while the entire theater lost their collective fucking shit.

Jirou does not do much, action-wise, until the very end when she and Ojiro (this is the big Ojiro scene I mentioned earlier) briefly take on Nine while the beaten-up Bakugou and Deku catch their breath and get their shit back together. let me tell you it was a RUSH watching Jirou take on a super powerful villain and I was HERE FOR IT. she blew up a bridge and then was almost immediately bodyslammed into a cliff but boy it was a ride while it lasted. also there is a scene where Momo is lying on a couch exhausted from overuse of her quirk, and Jirou is the one sitting there beside her watching over her, because they are gay, just a friendly reminder.

Iida is the glue holding all of this shit together. when the villains first arrive on the island and all the shit hits the fan, Iida is the one who stays calm and collected and dispatches 1-A to the various besieged parts of the island in teams as though he was Horifuckingkoshi himself. like how the fuck did he just know who to group together?? there isn’t any system to it, the teams are of varying numbers and degrees of skill and getting-along-with-each-other. but somehow it all worked out perfectly and I didn’t even question it. anyway so he also sees plenty of action and zooms around in his hyped-up new and improved recripro mode, and it’s great. I can’t remember if he gets bodyslammed into a cliff but let’s just assume yes.

Momo is right there with Iida calling the shots, and she also teams up with Aoyama in the final battle and makes not one, but two bigass cannons and shoots the fucking bad guys with them and it is everything. she also overuses her quirk in between the two big attacks by making a bunch of emergency supplies for the citizens, because she is too good and pure for this earth and we don’t deserve her.

Kaminari is mostly just used as a walking talking battery who tells jokes. there’s this guy on the island whose fucking tractor keeps dying and he keeps calling the 1-A hero agency to get a jump from them, so they send poor Kami over yet again and he puts up with it with a smile because he’s an angel. he does have one epic moment where Nine uses his lightning attack (he has a lightning attack, in case I forgot to mention that earlier) on Bakugou & Deku and then absconds, only for the two of them to catch up to him a couple minutes later all “JOKE’S ON YOU ASSHOLE WE’RE FINE!!” and he’s all “HOW!!” and it’s revealed that they anticipated the attack and made Kaminari serve as their personal lightning rod. and we cut to poor Kami sitting there in a field all crispy and doing his “whey” thing which got the most riotous fucking laugh in the entire movie because my theater was fucking shameless. Kaminari you poor brave boy I am sorry. god it was fucking funny though.

Mina had a ton of cute Mina moments which I can’t specifically think of now because it’s getting late (ETA: I wrote this up in two parts on Friday and Saturday night which might explain why it is so freaking long omg), but she was so great and I love her. but the moment that made me (and the rest of the audience) gasp out loud was when she was fighting one of the villains in a cave, and running around shooting her acid at stalactites to make them fall off and hit the villain, and being generally badass and such, but then all of a sudden the villain landed a good shot that hit her right in the leg and she gave this little cry of pain. and I swear to god it took everything in me not to leap to my feet and shout “NO, MINA!!!” because no!!!, but in the end it was all good because this moment led to...

Tokoyami losing his fucking shit, as Tokoyamis in dark caves whose friends are injured by villains are wont to do. so then he basically goes ape on the villain and it’s so great. Tokoyami is like genuinely tied with Todoroki as the third strongest guy in this movie, it’s insane. dude is so fucking strong?! also he does the flying thing from the manga too. so that’s another spoiler there for ya. these poor anime kids.

Todoroki exists in this awkward tier where he’s like at the very top of the very next character/plot tier underneath Bakugou and Deku, but he very clearly wants to be in the Bakugou and Deku tier, so he does things like inserting himself in between where they’re standing importantly, and saying both of their names while he is passing out. but in spite of his efforts the movie is all “no silly you’re in this tier” and puts him with Iida and Kiri and Tsuyu, and he accepts it with good grace in the end, but I’m pretty sure this is the real reason why he invited Deku and Bakugou to come intern with him immediately after this. just try and continue keeping him out of the main plot now, you two. anyway while I do understand why some Shouto fans were disappointed with him not having a big starring role in this movie, I think it’s akin to being disappointed that he didn’t have a starring role in Deku VS Kacchan Part 2. this was Bakugou and Deku’s movie from start to finish and that’s just how it is. but Shouto will most assuredly have his moment to shine sooner rather than later. also I seriously am pretty sure he just straight up kills a man in this film. fucking jams his entire arm down the dude’s throat and freezes him from the inside out?! this kid is still zero to sixty in the span of an eyeblink I swear to god.

Sero is ridiculously fucking cool in this movie you guys. like straight up balling out the entire time. holy shit. this kid is going to be a top ten hero and it’s time we were all done sleeping on him. also Bakugou calls him by his name for the first time ever because he straight up saves Bakugou’s life at one point and gets hurt doing so, so that made my fucking weekend, just putting that out there. and he and Ochako honest to god put up a real fight for the title of “sickest combo in the entire fucking movie” and I’m not even kidding, and I’m including Bakugou and Deku in that. but speaking of Ochako,

Ochako in this movie was almost too much for me to handle after reading the Miruko chapter earlier that afternoon lol. so you know that meteor shower move that she did back during the sports festival? she, along with Sero and YES, MINETA, pull off an upgraded version of that same attack in this film, and it is MISSION STATUS: FUCKING SICK. and in between that she’s just constantly floating people so Sero can then grab them with his tape and whip them around so they can do attack stuff mid-air, and it’s all just hype as fuck. and there were some good character moments with her too, but I’ve forgotten them all because it’s getting late now and my stupid brain is starting to prioritize sleep over writing this post. ah well.

so that’s 18 out of 20 kids! I left two out! you know which two! because they get their own fucking section because that’s just how it is.

Bakugou and Deku

well I actually wrote out all of my feelings about the whole OFA transfer, but they turned out to be essay-length, so I’m going to go ahead and put those into their own post. but here are all of my other random thoughts about Bakugou and Deku and their dynamic in this movie, which was fucking amazing.

I really need to get my hands on the fucking script for this thing, because I want to get a list of all of Bakugou’s lines, because I have a very strong suspicion that the percentage of Bakugou’s lines that are addressed to Deku and only Deku like they’re the only two people in the room (even though I assure you they are not) is significantly high.

and the looks. oh my god. he is constantly just watching him and making intense eye contact and listening in on conversations that have nothing to do with him WHATSOEVER because HE JUST LIKES LISTENING TO DEKU TALK ABOUT BEING A HERO AND STUFF, I GUESS.

there’s a scene where he’s holding a popsicle (rip to any headcanons that Bakugou won’t eat anything sweet btw) and sucking on it but then spaces out because he’s too busy listening to Deku talk to Katsuma, and at first his body language is all “la la la pretending I’m not interested” but gradually he straight up abandons the whole pretense and is basically turned fully around watching them for so long that the popsicle melts right off the stick and onto the ground and he turns around and just stares at it like it betrayed him. like, I’m not gonna go so far as to say that this popsicle is the proof of their friendship but it’s LIKE THAT.

Deku meanwhile has not one but two moments where they’re in the middle of a fight and he’s down after taking a particularly hard hit, and then something happens to Bakugou and he’s all “KACCHAN” and gets this fire in his eyes just like that because as usual you do not fuck with Kacchan when you’re around him. you just do not. YOU DON’T. meanwhile Kacchan is perfectly capable of taking care of himself but that’s never going to fucking stop Deku because Deku is ridiculous! ahhh Deku.

they are both good parents to their adopted island children and Bakugou protects them multiple times, and there’s even one scene where he saves them while letting Deku attack the villain, which is both teamwork with Deku AND saving someone, which is basically THE PINNACLE OF BAKUGOU’S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. thank you movie.

Deku has a scene with Katsuma where Katsuma reveals that he wants to be a hero but doesn’t have a very good quirk for hero-ing, and Deku tells him he can definitely be a hero. this is the scene that Bakugou listens in on while his popsicle melts away incidentally. anyway, to see Deku telling a small child the one thing that no one ever told him when he was growing up and that he wanted to hear so desperately almost made me tear up, quite frankly, and it was one of my favorite moments in the entire film.

the guy next to me kept laughing every time Bakugou brought up the whole “I’M GONNA BE NUMBER ONE JUST WAIT AND SEE I’M THE GUY WHO’S GONNA SURPASS NUMBER ONE THAT’S ME THAT’S THE GUY” thing, and I honest to god couldn’t tell if this person was a fan of Bakugou or hated Bakugou or what. but he just laughed. every single time. and I can’t stop thinking about it you guys.

Deku totally uses 100% OFA on his bad arm and that’s probably the biggest plot hole in this movie. BOY YOU DUMB. somehow he’s fine in the end though.

Bakugou breaks both of his arms too because OFA gonna OFA. I was actually really impressed/wincing because he kept fighting anyway, and we KNOW how hard his quirk is on his arms even normally. but he kept using it, and long story short I’m not sure how he didn’t manage to Deku his arms even worse than Deku. between this and chapter 262 it has not been a good weekend for arms.

at one point Bakugou decides he’s had enough of being bodyslammed into cliff walls and holds his arms up to the side of the crater(?) he’s in, and just... melts all the earth away until the crater is no longer a crater. or something. it’s hard to describe but it was the most insane thing I’ve ever seen.

Bakugou takes to OFA as naturally as he takes to everything. there was no processing time at all. just instantaneous. this isn’t even a plot hole to me, this is just Bakugou being Bakugou.

even before the OFA combo, there’s another sick BKDK combo where Bakugou grabs Deku’s hand and rotates him in the air using his quirk (it’s similar to what he did at the end of their second fight in Ground Beta) and launches him like a projectile. this fucking movie.

last but not least, the final fight scene with them all powered up is so vivid and colorful and movement everywhere and light and blurs and just ahhhhh. also, Might U at one point is just playing with no background noise. I don’t think a lot of other posts have mentioned that part; that not only is this music playing, but it’s the only thing you hear, no grunts or explosions or any other sound effects. just the music. while you watch these two work together like it’s the only thing they were ever born to do. it is everything.

conclusion

so that’s everything I can think of as far as my thoughts on the movie go, aside from the gigantic essay about Deku giving Bakugou OFA, which I will post immediately following this. so yeah. in conclusion I thought it was amazing, which is only to be expected I guess since it was relevant to virtually all of my interests. 10/10 would recommend, and please consider donating to find a solution to the ever-growing problem of children being bodyslammed into cliff walls.

#heroes rising #heroes rising spoilers #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #bakudeku #class 1-a #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #makeste watches bnha #bnha meta

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campcampfanfan · 3 years

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Let me start off with saying, these two fanfics are my favorite of all time. They are incredibly well written, exciting, and overall amazing. I am writing this review because 1) I’m bored and 2) This fic deserves a proper review. And I admire Forestwater. That too. I will be reviewing both parts, The Adventures of Tigger and Eyeore and Tigger and Eyeore: Camp Campbell and beyond. I am also splitting this into two posts, so yeah. Also, Trigger warnings for Swearing, Smut Review, and All Caps. The other post will have trigger warnings on it as well. So, enjoy!

So, the first chapter. What happens? Gwen arrives, reading, and David scares her on accident. She thinks he’s a camper, which I started bursting out laughing. He does act and looks like a camper, which makes sense. Anyways, our amazing lead, Gwen, realizes he’s another counselor, and is shocked. She reflects on not being able to Campbell, and they begin to get to know each other. Honestly, this is such a nice scene. Don’t ask me why, it’s so nice. Like, just the way they interact is so soothing and nice. It’s a good first chapter!

Second chapter! This was super cool to see what could have been. I really love this scene with Gwen and David, as it has them interacting about what they would do, what they are free and just… talk. It’s nice. Also, expanding on Gwen’s love of trash T.V is amazing. Thanks for that, Forest. Amazing Gwen introducing the amazing Bob Ross, and it’s perfect. Whatever, amazing chapter.

Third chapter. The 4 S’s? Amazing. If y’all don’t know what that stand for here's the paragraph. It’s amazing, read it:

“Oh, no. She really should've checked with David to make sure whatever he had planned didn't include the 4 S's: Stab, Smash, Shatter, or Seriously Fuck Shit Up. Glass bottles fell under at least 3 of those categories.”

Also, David said the tucked away line was gold. I think I physically squealed at that. Honestly, not too much happens other than the fire thing, but you know, good chapter!

Fourth chapter. Wow, I’m getting through this faster than I thought I would. They are in forest?!?! At night?!?!? Alone?!??! … Nice. Capture the flag! Good idea!... Do I not have any more criticism for this chapter? It’s just amazing and well written? Also Gwen read Twilight? Oh who am I kidding, of course she did. WHEEZE…

Chapter five. Amazing. Perfect. Fucking perfect. David being terrified of scary stories, the bastard trio being the bastard trio, and a behind the scenes look at what would have happened during the credits. The Gwen and David leaving for Spooky Island after dusk and being scarred for life is amazing.

Chapter 6 fuckers. Really good chapter! We gotta love David falling in love with Gwen. Love it. Also, jokes hit home. Good job! Also, um, I love Gwen’s self doubt issues? Not like, love it, I’m not glorifying it in any way, but I…. to do that. Let’s be frank, I think I suck ass, so I relate to Gwen. Me too, girl, me too. Also, the magazine thing was so well done? I don’t know how to explain it, it was just a good scene of David looking over Gwen’s magazine’s and wondering if she thinks she needs it. And Gwen’s nicknames for the kids? Very nice. I know I’m not paying attention to the big plot points and shit, but the details and small things make me very happy! I like the small things, and I enjoy it. This is my review, ok? I get to pick what it’s about.

Already on Chapter 7! And OH MY GOD, BON BON MY BELOVED. Amazing! Lovely! I’m crying and I'm so happy! This might actually be my favorite chapter? Like, I love this one. And David plays Wheel of Fortune? Hello, that’s amazing. This is just fantastic? I don’t know specifically why, but Gwen and Bon Bon have the best damn dynamic. Gwen’s taste in men is trash, ok? Except David. That’s it. But anyways, Gwen discussing her exes with Bon Bon was a perfect scene. I kinda love Bon Bon acting as a more advice figure? Forest, if you are listening, please, if she ever comes back, more of that. Gwen patching David up is nice and sweet, and I just overall love Bon Bon??????

Chapter 8 is sad David. I just love David talks about how Gwen sees herself and tries to help?? Like, I don’t know if you guys read “Taking Charge” By Azeran on Ao3, but that’s a very good example of David recognizing Gwen’s unhealthy behavior and trying to help. Once again, Friend Forest (Can I call you my friend? Are we just mutuals? Idk?), I kinda love the idea of this fic, and would love to see a chapter about that, or maybe even…. A smut chapter????? Haha, just kidding, Unless? Wow, that was super long just ranting. Sorry, Sorry. Time to talk about the actual story. We love Gwen’s want to kiss David’s forehead. Amazing. They are practically dating. Alright, hurrying this up, I’m just going to make the next paragraph about the next few chapters.

More Gwenvid stuff, and it’s amazing. Gwen has more self doubt, which I relate too, and David comforts her! Perfection. We also love Gwen slowly loving her job, it just feels so nice. Also, David being kind of unintentionally racist is really funny from Gwen’s point of view. Like, it wasn’t funny in the episode, but it’s so good in this fic???? Ok, two chapters down,sorta. Gwen being a mom to Harrison and Nerris, which is amazing, and David walking in at the worst time made me laugh. Good job once again! Rest of the chapter is them chatting, and I am a sucker for it. Then, the special scene. Order of the Sparrow, Max and David fighting, but in this point, it’s in GWEN’S point of view. I love this. Too much. I just-

Aanonfoofinfliwehfuehfifuheifuhriuheriufhew

Sorry, getting off topic (sorta). This chapter shows Max’s softer side and how Gwen cares for David. It’s just… incredible. And then…Chapter 12. OH MY GODS. What the hell. I was so excited, and I was right. When I read this the first time, I was not disappointed. Can I just… say how much I love this? It’s such a good fic, and the finale was as promised. Gwen expresses her self doubt, they chat, and then…

GWENVID.

Ok, I’ll make a whole separate post about why I like this version of Gwen so much, but Gwen’s so… real. I sympathize for her, feel for her, I just know what she’s going through. I just feel sorry for all she’s gone through. Then, they... ehm…. Do the horizontal tango. The dirty. The morning delight. Smut. Boom. Not going to lie, well written. You did good, Forest, you did good. Thanks you for.. That. It was good quality.

So Tl:DR, This fic is fucking amazing and possibly the best one in the fandom. Good job, @forestwater87 Yay!

#camp camp #cc gwen #cc david #forestwater #I'm so tired of writing this whole thing out

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justoneday-namjoonii · 5 years

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Too Sweet. Part- 13 BTSvampire!au

Genre: Angst | Fluff | Mature themes / Descriptions of blood and…other things/ Supernatural

Biased: You X Yoongi X Jungkook X Vampire!au BTS

Type: Vampire!au

summary: y/n is on a botany retreat to a dreamy island that leads to a surprising encounter and startling discovery!

A/n:Thank you for reading and enjoy!!❤

| INTRO I Pt. 1 I Pt. 2 I Pt. 3 I Pt. 4 I Pt. 5 I Pt. 6 I Pt. 7 I Pt. 8 | Pt. 9 | Pt. 10 | Pt. 11 | Pt. 12 |

In the corner of the library at 7 o’clock in the morning, you sit curled up on a study-chair with your reading glasses stuck to your face. Finals week. Every other paragraph you write down a few notes and your handwriting is beginning to look more and more like hieroglyphics. Despite the stress from a bunch of classes, your glad that your classmate just informed you of the donor requested break policy—a policy that no one had bothered to mention to you.

Basically, you can request a period where you don’t feed and they respect it. You requested two weeks, and despite the cries from Tae and Jimin to make an exception, you declined—you need a break. After everything that’s been happening, Rain coming here, Jungkook acting out, and even Yoongi, it’s been really stressful and Jin actually thought a break was just what you needed to regroup.

“Y/n, I was wondering where you were,” Namjoon peeks around the corner, “still studying I see.”

“Yeah, I have a test at 9 so just thought I’d just get some extra studying in.”

“Hm,” He nods, “so how are you liking your break?”

You furrow your brow and look up at him briefly. “It’s nice.”

“That’s nice.” He nods, leaning against the bookshelf for no reason.

“Um, did you need something or?—”

“I was wondering, what is your field of study?”

“I’ve been in general studies up until now, why do you ask?”

“Jin wanted me to ask you if you were interested in the botany program. An internship just opened and he thought you’d be great for it.” He finally gets to what he came here to say.

Your eyes brighten. “Really? Well, I’ve always thought about botany but I never knew much about it. Would I have to change any of my classes if I started the program?”

“No, we might switch one of your classes around with one of the required courses for the program but it won’t be difficult. Besides, your grades are good so I don’t think an extra class would put you in a rough spot. I’ve skimmed through your test scores and I’m proud, especially of your biology test. Honestly, you were struggling so much in our study sessions, I didn’t think you were gonna make it, but you did.” He grins like a proud teacher and you giggle because that's not the first time Namjoon has shared his concern regarding your lack of promise during lessons. “What? I’m proud.”

“Namjoon, you sound like my advisor or something,” You laugh, putting your book down to stretch your legs and pull your hoddie hood off your head.

“I kind of am in a way,” He takes his hand out of his pocket to comb it through his hair, “your academic life is important to me.”

“Quick question, why didn’t Jin just tell me about this himself? He normally would tell me something like that over tea or something, is he really busy this morning?”

“You know the whole Jungkook situation is stressing him out so he’s relying on me to relay the message, but he sends his love. He’ll be out for a majority of the day and if you accept the offer, you’ll be packing for the botanical sciences retreat so you’ll see him tonight.”

“A retreat?” You have the widest smile, “You mean like a vacation?”

“No, not a vacation- Although, the botanical gardens on the Island are exceptionally beautiful this time of year the spas there are amazing-”

“Islands!? I get to go to the Island and its for school? I’m definitely accepting now.” You glance up at the clock on the wall and sigh, “I’ll see you later, I gotta go sign in for testing.” You pack up your books and Namjoon watches you run off and out of the library.

Namjoon has been thinking a lot about your time here at the college and over the past year, he’s realized some things. Firstly, he’s recognized that there aren’t many donors that get the opportunity to spend as much time as you do with people like him. He’s got scholarly titles that he’s not even sure you know about and some of the top-paying families have paid him to mentor their children. But here you are, not rich by any means, in fact, you’re here on a well-deserved scholarship awarded by Jin. And he’s felt like he’s taken you under his wing and all he’s wants is for you is the best.

It’s almost a maternal feeling he has towards you and your education. That’s a lot coming from him, he’s not the type to just dish out his help like a tutoring center. Normally he wants compensation of some sort. He has an extraordinary mind and one lesson with him can cost a pretty penny if they’re willing.

Namjoon left the library and went back to Jungkook’s lovely little abode across the campus. But rather than Jungkook being inside looking for something to get into, he was out on the track, running to his heart's content.

Namjoon approaches the track and Jungkook’s personal trainer is standing at the finish line with his hands on his hips.

“He’s doing well. Working out has lightened him up a little bit,” The trainer says, watching Jungkook run up to them when he caught Namjoon’s eye.

“Hyung,” He slows down, panting lightly with his damp hair sticking to the side of his face, “hey,”

“Hey, Jungkook. You look refreshed,” Namjoon grins, “I came to let you know that we’re leaving tonight and your uncle will be stopping by tomorrow morning to check on you.” The trainer says Jungkook can go shower because they’re done for the day so they make they’re way to the house.

“Where are you going?”

“Botany retreat, it’s a three-day trip. Jin is going and for the first day and since Y/n has entered the program, she’s going too.”

“Oh...” Jungkook looked down for a moment, a bit shy suddenly, “H- How is she by the way?”

“She’s good. Right now she’s taking a donor break so she’s living like a normal human girl.” Namjoon was slightly taken aback but he answered nonetheless. “Why do you ask?”

Jungkook runs the back of his neck and sighs. “Uh, I don’t know, I was wondering if she was still mad at me or something.”

“You’d have to ask her. She’s been busy with her studies lately, so I’m sure the last thing she’s worried about is being mad at you.”

Jungkook had to laugh, knowing you two were always at odds made him like you even more. “Beleive it or not, I do feel bad for what I did to her. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t take back what I said but I can see why I went about it in the wrong way.”

“That’s a start I guess.” Namjoon scoffed, not surprised by Jungkook’s partial apology. “Well, while we’re gone just call if you need anything.” He gives the younger a hug before saying his final goodbyes as he walked back to the main university building.

“Last time I checked, you aren’t in the botany program, Taehyung. So you won’t be joining us.”

Jin is sitting in the office part of his bedroom as a maid packs his suitcase with the appropriate attire for the island. Taehyung came in here not too long ago and he refuses to leave because he’s trying to get Jin to let him tag along.

“But I can transfer over, can’t I?”

“Taehyung, that’s so short notice, what program are you in now? Psychology, right?”

“The only reason I’m in that program is because of my abilities. My parents want me to know how to use my gift with a well-rounded understanding of how the mind works. It’s so boring sometimes.” Tae leans on the desk with a pout.

“Look, you have to finish your program. Your parents are right, your gift can really help people if you know how to use it. But,” Jin sighs, “I think we have room for one more guest.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Taehyung bolts out of the room to pack his bag and Jin just shakes his head. If there’s one person who could talk him into something, it was Taehyung—that’s the only time he’s annoyed by his powers.

“Sir, your bag is packed, is there anything else you need?”

“No, thank you, Bella, you can go.” Jin dismisses her and his eyes go back to his computer. This trip has always been something he’s looked forward to. Even though he normally can’t stay for the entirety of the trip, the first two nights are always beautiful. The gardens are very well-maintained and every time he goes he learns about new medicinal herbs that he purchases to bring back to the schools.

Namjoon slips through the door after mentally sending Jin a little warning.

“Do you come bearing gifts?” Jin grins to himself when he sees the plate in Namjoon’s hands.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” He sits a plate of assorted pastries in front of him. “The pastry chef just put these out, she let me have first pick.” He smiles, taking the chocolate croissant for himself with swiftness.

“Thank you, I was getting a little hungry,” JIn takes on and sits it on a napkin so he can finish typing, “did you talk to her by the way?” Jin peeks up at Namjoon whos sitting idly in the chair in front of the desk.

“I did, she accepted and she’s pretty excited about it.”

“Oh, I’m glad,” He sighs in relief, “this program will be good for her.”

“Yeah, I think so too...But, just curious, what’s the sudden interest in her entering this program?”

“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve been doing my job very well. Ever since she’s started attending this school, I’ve realized forgotten that she’s not just here to give blood. I know that’s the exchange for her degree but that’s not all she is. I’ve let her unusual situation influence what I allow and don’t allow. I mean, she’s close to me, I have a relationship with her that I don’t and never have had with any other donor. I feel like during this trip, once I leave she’ll have time to just be a student, no blood-related pressure or anything like that.”

“I get that, but you do have to remember her situation as well, she’s not just any donor, she’s the only one with blood like that in this country, let alone this school. That comes with a different set of rules and you shouldn’t feel guilty because you’re trying to figure that out.”

“Yeah, that’s true. But I do need her to spend some time outside of the university for a little bit, just so she can take time to focus on other things other than everyone wanting her for blood.”

It was finally over, your last test of the day and midterms were no longer holding you mentally captive. You’re strolling through the campus to meet up with Jimin at the campus bakery before you leave this evening. He said he had a few art pieces he wanted to show you and you thought you’d make it a date.

When you open the bakery door, he’s sitting at one of the windows and his eyes land on yours. “Y/n,” His smile brightens as he stands up to pull out your seat, “how are you, love?”

“I’m good, done with finals.” You give him a hug and he pecks your cheek. You take a seat and so does he.

“Well, to be honest,” He opens up his folder, “your donor break is killing me a little bit. But I’m glad to see you, spend a little time with you before you go.”

“Yeah, I’ll be back before you know it. So, what are the pieces you wanted to show me?”

“This one,” He pulls out a sheet of paper and puts it in front of you, “it’s inspired by the pond near my family's retreat.”

“It’s beautiful, Jimin.” The pond on the painting is filled with lilies, the reflection of the trees nearby. The colors remind you of Monet, the impressionism is something you wish you could do as effortlessly as him. “What are these for?”

“The universities are having a joint exhibition and they want artists from royal families to participate in the collection. They chose me from my family, I was surprised they didn’t choose my mother. She’s got more talent than my whole family combined.”

“Is this something you want to do professionally?”

“I thought about teaching classes on the side, but I don’t know.”

You smile. “That’s a great idea! I know a lot of people who’d love a lesson with you-”

“But I don’t think I can...My parents, they want something else for me. They’re fine with me continuing art but they can be really particular when it comes to my interests. They’d want to practice the art a prestigious art academy and feature in global exhibitions, that’s all a little too much for me right now.’

Your excitement dies down as his statement reminded you that he isn’t entirely free, he’s under his family’s jurisdiction in more areas of his life then you realize.

“It wouldn’t hurt to just try, you might end up loving teaching,” You have such a hopeful expression, “and your parents might just be okay with that,”

“Maybe,” He smiles, “Hey, I wanted to say that I’m so sorry for setting you up with Jungkook, I never formally apologized to you.”

“Jimin, it’s still hard for me to grasp anything that happens in this place,” You scoff, “You put me in a position where I was vulnerable, he could have done anything to me.” His eyes lower and you know he’s just beating himself up right now.

“But he didn’t do anything to me, so we got lucky. I know it was your feeding cycle and you probably didn’t take your medicine, right?” He shakes his head. “You need to get back on that medicine, it keeps you and others safe. But Jimin, it’s okay, I know you didn’t mean it.” You place your hand on his and give him a genuine smile

“Y/n,” Namjoon walked into the cafe, “we’re leaving in 20 minutes, you should make sure you’re all packed before we put the luggage on the bus.”

“Oh, ok,” You stand up and walk around the little table to Jimin, “bye Jimin, I’ll see you when I get back.” He stands up and you hug him for a few seconds.

He pecked your cheek and bid you farewell, already eager for your return as you follow Namjoon out of his sight. You rush to the common area where the students were advised to take their luggage. You look around for your suitcase and carry-on, you find it right where you had put it and let out a sigh of relief.

“I have everything.” You state confidently.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course.” You nod, “well, I might have left-”

“Your toothbrush, you can run and get it, be quick.”

Of course, he knew. You run to your bedroom and to your bathroom where you skim over everything just in case you might have forgotten anything else. Quickly, you grab an extra perfume, your toothbrush and walk down the hall—that’s when you realize you haven’t said goodbye to Yoongi. Even though he’s been a little standoffish lately, you thought it would be nice to at least say goodbye to him.

It takes you a little while, but you walked all the way from your dorm to their living space upstairs. At times like this, you wish you could initiate the whole mental bond where you can talk to one another. But now that you think about it, the bond might have weakened because of the lack of contact you two have had. That makes sense. You look around, the living room and his room and he’s nowhere to be found.

“Yoongi?” You call for him, assuming he might be napping or something.

“Y/n, come on! We’re leaving. What are you doing up here?”

“I was trying to say bye to Yoongi-” Namjoon places his hand on your back to lead you to the stairs.

“You’ll see him when we get back, we gotta go.”

All you wanted to do was say goodbye and you can’t help but you feel like he’s trying to hide from you.

When you finally get downstairs, the botany professor tells everyone to get on the bus. You stay close to Namjoon and follow him onto the bus, he’s kind of like a comforting presence in a bus of students you don’t know. Namjoon gestures for you to take a seat and you grudgingly oblige. Students are already chattering and giggling, excited about the trip. But you on the other hand, just want to go wherever Jin is because you feel socially awkward.

“Ok, do we have a headcount?” He looks at the professor in the front seat.

“Yes, we’re all here.”

“Great, I’ll be riding with Dr. Kim but we’ll meet you at the airport.” Namjoon turns to you with a tender grin. Y/n, you need to socialize with your peers.

Talk to someone, make some friends.

And that’s all he says to you before leaving you on the bus with no one you know except for Taehyung, and he’s chatting with his friends. You hug your sweater to your chest and sigh—this isn’t what you thought it’d be.

“Hi,” You hear a voice coming from above you and you peek up, “I’ve never seen you in a botany class before, what’s your name? I’m Xiaojun.”

“Hi, I’m Y/n.” You reach your hand out and he shakes it before moving to go sit with you. “Oh, you didn’t have to leave your friends-”

“No, it’s okay, I’ll spend all my time with them on the trip. You look a little,” he hesitates when you furrow your brow a bit, “shy?” He smiles, and his little fangs peek out. He’s a vampire.

“I’m not shy I just, I’m a little reserved when I don’t know a lot of people.”

“Well, let’s get to know each other, then you’ll know someone. I’m actually from the island. I don’t know if you know but my island is famous for our medicinal herbs, plants, and organic and humane animal blood sourcing. We’re Pure Bloods and we do a lot of agricultural work. My family sent me to this school to get exposure to other places and people, broaden my horizons I guess.”

“Do you like it at Jin—” You catch yourself, you can’t just call him by his first name with everybody, “I’m sorry, Dr. Kim’s school?”

“I love it. There’s a reason my family sent me here and not to some other university, the education is top-notch, they know I’ll be healthy with whatever blood I’m given here. Plus, the university has prided itself on the human-vampire integration efforts.”

“Yeah, it is a great school. Not gonna lie, I do miss my family and friends back at home sometimes. But I have to remember that the education I’m getting now is for my future. When I go see my family, they’ll be so proud to see that I’m making something of myself.”

“I feel the same way.” He slouches back in to chair. “Um, forgive me for asking but how come I can’t smell your blood at all?”

“Oh, I was on a donor break so the nurse gave me scent-suppressants.” You push back a piece of hair, your face heating up when he leans in just slightly to confirm for himself.

“Wow, they must have given you a lot.” He pauses to laugh, “You have no scent whatsoever.”

“Yeah, they had to give me a little extra,” You glance out the window to remember your excuse, “I have somewhat of an immunity to them.”

3 times the regular dosage to be precise.

“Oh, that makes sense.”

The rest of the ride, you realized how kind and easy-going a majority of the students were. Xiaojun introduced you to Melanie and Caterina, and eventually, you all began talking.

This isn’t so bad.

There you went, overthinking things and making yourself crazy over nothing. These people are sweet and you’re lucky that Jin let you switch to this program so last-minute. He treats you so well. Sometimes it feels like you’re undeserving of the special attention. Then you remember, you’re in all of this in exchange for your blood. Your blood is your free pass and it seems precarious—but a lot of things feel that way since you’ve been here. Other students seem to not notice but you’re pretty positive there are some students who suspect you. Nonetheless, you’re confident that you can hold your own and stand firm in the fact that you’re like any other student.

Soon enough, the bus pulls up at the airport and all of the students hurried out of the bus. You debated following Xiaojun, but when you saw Taehyung coming toward you, you figured you’d be sitting with him.

“Everyone, follow me so we can get on the plane, it’s in gate G. The luggage is already taken care of so don’t worry about grabbing anything.” The professor signals to all of the students and you find yourself zoning out a little bit because you’re looking for Namjoon or Jin.

“Y/n,” Taehyung walks up to you and looks at you funny, you notice he dropped the pet name, “looking for Jin hyung and Namjoon hyung?” You nod. “They’re over there,” He points to the two of them and their small entourage, “but you can’t go with them, you have to stay here with the other students.”

Confusion flashes in your eyes, “But why-”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be here.” He smiles, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder.

“I’m not worried, I just- I was just wondering where they were.” You shrug, thoroughly disappointed that you were being kicked to the curb by those two. You guess that’s a little entitled that you think you’re supposed to be with them 24/7, but it’s what you’re used to. Taehyung stays by your side as the class is led to board the plane after FSA and a few bathroom trips. When you walk onto the plane, you’re greeted with a pretty flight attendant.

“Good evening, miss.” She bows and you return it with a kind smile.

You’re led to a comfortable chair with a table in between the chair directly in front of you. To your delight, Namjoon comes to sit directly in front of you with a thick book in his hands.

“So, how did it go?” He inquires.

“It was good, I met Xiaojun and his friends, Melanie and Caterina, they were nice.” You cross your arms and sigh. “I socialized, happy?”

“Very.” He smirks.

“Where’s Jin?” You look around, noticing that he had disappeared.

“He’s in the personal suite, he’s got a lot of business calls to take care of.” Namjoon sticks in his earphones in his ears and continues to read his book. You lean against the window and gaze out of the window, soon enough, your eyes slip shut and you drift to sleep.

When you wake up, everyone is unbuckling their seatbelts and taking their carry-ons and such. You blink, rubbing your eyes and sleepily unbuckling your seatbelt. You follow every one of off the plane and you inhale deeply when you walk out into the fresh air. A few vans pull up and you’re directed to get in the one with Xiaojun and a few other people. Everyone buckles up and the driver pulls out. Some of the students were talking about how beautiful the resort was, and how it's covered in thriving wildlife and surrounded by beaches.

Even though it’s dark out, you can still appreciate the beauty of the island. Judging by the tiny airport, it's not a highly populated place.

You're pretty quiet on the ride to the resort but your mind wanders. Yoongi. He comes to your mind. And you know you shouldn't feel this way, but you're a little upset at him. He tends to be a little distant when he wants to be. Sometimes it makes you feel a little weird. Due to the bond, it's hard for you not to feel like he should at least validate you in some way.

“Y/n,” Xiaojun calls your name from the seat next to you, “tonight they’re serving dinner out on the beach where they always serve it on the first night for the retreat. Some of my friends and family members will be there, I’ll introduce you to some of them.”

“That sounds nice,” You grin, finding it endearing that he’s taken such a liking to you. Then again, some of these people tend to like you so much because of your blood. What Jin regards as a gift, you see as a burden sometimes. You’ve come to terms with the fact that you’re just seen as a fulfilling meal to some of them. But you know Jin and the others see as more than that—Yoongi definitely has to see you as something more than that.

Eventually, you all made it to the resort and there was a group of women who lead you to your individual rooms. As they called everyone's names to take them to there rooms, you were the only one left in the foyer, awkwardly holding your hands.

“Hi, honey, this unit is actually taken,” A woman with beautiful long brown hair and bright eyes comes up to you, “what’s your name?”

“Y/n.”

“Oh! You’re the one Dr. Kim wanted in the other unit, that’s where your belongings are,” She smiles, putting her hand on your back to lead you out of the door, “you must be special.”

“No, I wouldn’t say that,” You let out a nervous laugh. She walks across the tropical plant-adorned walkway connecting the beach-houses and leads you to the one not too far from the other. She guides you up the stairs and into the house, when she opens the door, you immediately notice that it looks a bit personalized. Like personal touches were put on it, probably by Jin.

“Okay, your room is upstairs, I’ll show you,” She walks up the stairs and points to the room with the sunset-colored flour on the door. When she opens it for you, you instantly fall in love. The room is so charming and tropical, there’s a balcony and you see your belongings in there. “What do you think?”

You walk further into the room. “It’s beautiful, I love it. Thank you,” You sit your purse on the chair near the balcony and take a moment to take in your view of the beach. It’s so tranquil.

“I’m glad you find it to your liking. My name is Layla, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask, okay? Also, dinner will be served outside in about fifteen minutes. Your muumuu is in the restroom, you can slip that on for dinner, it’s very comfortable.”

“Alright, thank you,” She grins before closing the door to leave you to wind down for a minute.

You walk into the large bathroom to see a multi-colored floral two-piece wrap hanging on the closet. You get undressed and put the dress on, it’s soft and sits right above your knees. You’re hoping you could buy more of these because you actually really like it.

When you wash your face and freshen up a bit, you walk out of the room and you hear Namjoon.

“Layla, could you have brought here after the dinner? Preferably some of your freshly picked floral teas, surprise me.” He’s standing in the foyer on his phone and he changed as well. He’s wearing the same print but with white paints and a floral shirt, and a little necklace. When you walk downstairs, he immediately notices you and the biggest smile comes to his face.

“Aw, don’t you look precious.” He giggles, watching you walk down with the same slides that were provided for everyone in the house.

You can’t help but roll your eyes and laugh. “Thanks, you look nice too.”

“I love the clothes they give us here, they’re so comfortable.”

“Yeah, um, how come Jin has me in here with you guys? I thought I’d be with that other students.”

“I thought so too, I’m not sure why he changed it. Anyway, let’s head over to the eat, I’m sure they’re about to start bringing dishes out.”

The two of you walk out together and Namjoon leads the way of course because he knows where it is. When you start walking into the sand you can see the light lit by fire and a huge mat of some sort where a long table is. You can see other students coming from their rooms and taking seats wherever. And you get excited as soon as you see Jin, sitting next to Taehyung and someone you’d never met.

“There’s no need to be nervous, it’s just dinner.” Namjoon teases, taking his rightful seat next to Taehyung and you sit next to him.

“I know that it’s the new people, not the meal,” You mumble.

“Y/n,” You hear a small call of your name and look to where it’s coming from, it’s Xiaojun, “this is my cousin, Kun.” The guy next to him waves.

“Hi,

“Hi, nice to meet you.” He smiles and you feel a warmness from him. “Xiaojun says you’re new to the program?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Well, I hope you enjoy your first experience here. Our people have been supplying medicinal herbs, plants, basically anything you can grow right here on this island. Vampires all over the world buy from us and humans as well.”

“Really?”

“Yep, and we discover new plants and herbs on our sister islands every year or so.”

He goes on and on but you actually get really drawn into what he has to say about the contributions the island makes. It draws the attention Jin and you don’t even notice. He’s talking to some other people and Namjoon so he’s not going to talk to you now, but he wants to know how you’re doing. By the time the conversation comes to an end, dinner is over. The food was delicious and you’re already ready for breakfast.

“It was nice talking to you Kun,” You stand and give him a small bow, “have a good night.”

“You too, Y/n.”

You walk back to the house, slides in your hand so you can feel the sand under your feet. When you get up the stairs, you enter the house and go straight to the shower. Overall, this day has been pretty successful. You met people, learned some things, and even ventured out of your comfort zone.

Before you head to the shower, you pull your toiletries and pajamas out of your suitcase. The shower is tiled with smoothe gray pabbles that feel heavenly under your feet and the showerhead is like a gentle rain. You get out of the shower after a good fifteen minutes and do your routine. The pajamas that Jin gave you are the ones you decided to bring and they’re your favorite. They’re super soft, long-sleeved, and surprisingly breathable.

After you jump into the king-size bed and relish in the comfy bed sheets, you decide to go talk to Jin. You leave your room and go search for him, and it doesn’t take you long to find him and Namjoon with tea in the living room upstairs.

You walk into the room and he beams when he sees you. “Y/n, I was just about to come to see you. Please, come sit,” He gestures to the couch next to Namjoon whos looking very relaxed.

“So, how are you liking everything? I’m sorry I haven’t been able to be with you, I’ve had a lot of business to take care of.”

“It’s okay, it’s been nice actually. I met a few people and I learned some things about the island.” You sit cross-legged, expression bright since you get to talk to him finally.

“I’m glad, I was telling Namjoon that I thought this program would be great for you.” He takes a sip of tea. “Also, I wanted to let you know that if I’ve ever made it seem like your blood is more important to me than your job as a student, I apologize. I don’t ever want you to feel like I’m neglecting your studies for your blood. I know sometimes I let your circumstances dictate a lot but I don’t ever mean to isolate you from your peers, you just have to understand that I’ve never had a student like you.”

“I mean, I’m a student at the university in exchange for my blood. But I will admit that sometimes it’s hard because some students notice when I’m getting special treatment and things like that...I don’t want anyone to think that I’m not meeting my academic requirements if that makes sense.”

“I assure you, ” Namjoon looks at you, a slight smile that shows his dimples, “I will make sure you meet your academic requirements, that’s not a problem, kitten.” Jin nods in agreement.

“I also want to mention Director Rain, what did you think? Do you feel okay with him being around?”

Rain.

His name gives you chills.

“He- He seems kind of intimidating, I felt a little nervous around him...Remember when bit me? He had me do things that I’d never had to do before, it was weird.” You admit. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, he wants to spend some more time with you, just to get to know you and learn about your blood. He’s genuine. He’s not one of those higher-ups that want to steal donors and treat them like nothing but a means of nutrients. He’s very knowledgeable and he’s going to be monitoring Jungkook for a while until his awakening is under control, so he’ll be around more often.”

You furrow your brows. “Jungkook’s awakening? What is that?”

“He’s awakening. In his bloodline, its called The Eyes of Eclipsia.”

This is all new to you. “Who’s Eclipsia?”

“She was their great-great-grandmother and she was very powerful. She was born with no vampire traits but her deep violet eyes that glow saffron red were the mark of her strength. Rain has it, Jungkook’s father has it, and now, so does Jungkook. I really don’t know how to help Jungkook through this so he’s going to assist me with him.”

“Do I have to spend time with him?...” You say that hesitantly.

“You don’t have to, of course, I’m not forcing you, but it would be nice if you just gave him a little of your time. Just think about it, okay? No pressure. I’m gonna head to bed, and I think you should do the same, we’ve had a long day.”

“Wait,” You catch him before walking out, “I was wondering, why am I not with the other students?”

“The suppressants in your systems could where off and I don’t want any of the vampire students to get any ideas. I think it’s safest that you stay where we are, I hope you don’t mind.”

You shake your head, “No, I was just wondering.”

He gets up and walks over to you. He rubs your head lovingly, leaning down to look you in the eye. “I’m gonna balance out your energy, okay?” You nod. He touches your forehead for a few seconds and you can feel your body relax slowly. Namjoon suddenly places his hand on your shoulder and your eyes open to looking over at him.

“Her energy has been off all day,” Namjoon reveals, “I think it’s because she was nervous and all the suppressants we gave her don’t go without side effects.”

“Well,” Jin pulls away, “that should help. Good night.” Jin leaves you two and you were about to get up to go to bed as well but Namjoon grabs your wrist lightly.

“Beleive it or not, I’m at the end my feeding cycle but I’m having bad cravings...Do you feel up to giving blood? If not I can get blood from someone else but your blood is much preferred.”

“No, that’s fine, just please don’t make a mess, I just showered.” You grant him his request and he stands up, hands eagerly grasping your shoulders.

”When have you ever known me to be messy?” He giggles, leaning down to your neck and biting down you with a sharp inhale. You stiffen. It’s been a week or so since you’ve last been fed on and it hurt. “It hurts...”

I’m sorry, just give me a minute, it’ll feel better in a second, he speaks into your thoughts. He doesn’t move but you can feel him gulping down considerable amounts of blood. It starts to burn, your heart is drumming and you feel your head getting loopy.

Slowly, his hands leave your shoulders and slide down to hold your hands. He simultaneously opens his mouth and latches on a little tighter, sealing your skin to his mouth completely. You squirm in discomfort, trying to get away from the sting on impulse.

After a few seconds of him not letting you move, a fuzzy feeling starts to set in. He’s releasing his venom into your bloodstream and you sigh in relief. It doesn’t take long for your head to be in the clouds.

“That’s better...” You breathe, letting yourself go pliant.

Your legs suddenly feel like jelly and your legs give way. It didn’t bother him though. He made sure to slide down with you, kneeling right in front of you. Finally having your blood in his system makes him feel a thousand times better. Recently, he’s been trying to get through the feeding cycles with as much self-control as possible. But sometimes, it’s hard for him to keep himself from craving the blood.

“Namjoon,” You know he has the ability to basically numb his pray out, but you were already sleepy and you’re about to pass out, “I know you-...I know you’re doing that thing to take away the pain, but I feel like I’m gonna pass out.”

He acknowledges you with a hum, but instead of stopping, he just drinks slower. Instead of complaining, you take the bratty liberty to push all of your weight back. He loses his bearings for a second, but he doesn’t let your tactic stop him. He just gets on top of you and continues, holding your hands to the ground and finishing the last few gulps of blood.

“Ah,” He pulls away with a pop, “you’re so dramatic.” He sits back on his heels, smiling down at your flat expression. “Can you walk?”

“No, my legs are numb. You should know, you made them numb.” You sulk, trying to move your head up but even that felt numb.

“I was trying to make it comfortable for you, its not my fault that you succumb to it so willingly.”

“Whatever...” You sigh, eyes slipping shut.

He scoops you up in his arms and walks you to your bedroom. He pushes the door open with his foot and easily lays you in bed, covering you with a blanket. Namjoon pats your head with a fond smile and leaves.

Jungkook was drinking his second portion of blood and all of a sudden, he heard the most disturbing statement—goodnight, kitten.

He nearly choked.

“The hell?”

Yoongi and Hoseok glance at him from their spots on the couch, brows furrowed when the young vampire sits up.

“Uhm, what’s the matter?” Hoseok looks up from his phone, judgment engraved in his features.

Jungkook looks puzzled. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“You mean you didn’t just hear that?” He looks at both of them. “Neither of you heard that?”

“Jungkook, heard what? What are you talking about?”

“I heard, ‘goodnight, kitten,” like, very clearly.”

Yoongi looks at him. “Goodnight, kitten? That’s what you heard?” Jungkook nods surprised that Yoongi even acknowledges him. “The only person who I’ve ever heard say something even close to that, is Namjoon. That’s what he calls Y/n. Why would you be hearing that?”

“Yeah, are you sure you aren’t imagining things?”

Jungkook scowls, disgusted that they would even consider that he would think that. “Why would I even want to imagine someone saying that to me??

“I don’t know, we all have intrusive thoughts that might sound weird to others.” Hoseok snickers, going back to his phone.

“I don’t know why I would be hearing that,” Jungkook mutters, giving up on trying to find an explanation. He goes back to watching his movie but Yoongi looks away from his book in thought.

There are times where he’d connect with your consciousness and it was rare, but sometimes, he could hear when others spoke to you. Is Jungkook connecting with you? But how could that be? You and Jungkook haven’t bonded and you’re hundreds of miles away. Assuming Namjoon is on the trip with you, then it would make perfect sense for Namjoon to be the voice he heard.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island.

“Director, I prepared your flower-petal-soak in the sauna,” Yona, one of his personal maids peeks into his quarters, she’s a short little girl with short brown hair, “do you need assistance?”

He’s adorned in a luxurious robe, it’s opened in the front and she tries not to look at his bare chest. His fingernails are long and pointy, he let them grow out recently. Traditionally, power-bearing Jeons are known for their luscious locks and long manicured nails. His long black hair drapes down his back, some strands fall on his face and it makes her swallow—he’s stunning.

“I can manage, thank you, Yona.” She bows, leaving the director to do what he needed to do. He left his room and went down the stone pathway to the natural sauna.

He undresses and sits his robe on a marble stool near the water. The water is filled with freshly picked flowers and he steps into the steamy oasis. “Ugh...” He sighs, sinking down into the water and leaning back on the ledge, inhaling the floral fragrance.

“Master Rain, may I come in?”

“You may, Lilian.” He looks up at her.

“I have a few updates for you, do you want me to read it to you here? or in your bedroom?”

“Here is fine.” He gestures for her to have a seat.

“Okay, I’ll read the updates of the board, then the extra things.”

Lilian reads off of the papers, reciting the same old updates as always, but she says something that catches his attention.

“Wait, what was that?”

“Dr. Kim is on the other side of the island on a botany trip. You also have an appointment with him late this week for your nephew.”

“He’s here? Hm,” He sighs, tapping his nails thoughtfully, “can you squeeze a meeting in with him tomorrow, at any time.”

“Sure sir,” She writes some things down and nods, “may I ask why?”

“I need to talk to him about my nephew and a few other things.” She nods, satisfied with his answer.

And you would be other things.

taglist: @hodginss @forevermoremagcon

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