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countessofravenclaw · 5 months

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Puede la ondulación cambiar una marea? part eight

Have you ever imagined what would happen if instead of of making Ambar Sol, Sharon would have aproached her problem with more level-headedness? What if, instead of throwing her daughter's life into a curve she just fires the Valentes, in hopes that they go back to Mexico and never find out the truth? Well, it was never going to be that easy, "everything you want you can achieve" being the family motto and all the for the Valentes after all. Monica and Miguel, could easily find another job, and so they do, with another family. A family that ends up being a bit of a surprise for Luna and all her friends.

“Lass uns später noch einmal darüber reden. Danke dir übrigens!” Gastón heard his mother speak on the phone as he entered the dining room. It had been a while since he had heard her speak German.

Both of his parents spoke few languages outside of English—because who didn’t know how to speak that? They both spoke Portuguese, German, at least moderate French and Gastón wasn’t sure which Scandinavian language it was, but his Dad knew some of that as well.

“Darling,” Isla took off her handsfree earpiece as she saw him and looked at her watch, “you’re up already?”

“Yeah,” Gastón nodded, “Did I interrupt your business call?”

“No, it was ending anyway.” Isla shook her head and walked closer to him around the table, “How are you feeling? Should you be up?”

“I’ve spent the last 36 hours staring at four walls, and I’m getting sick of it,” Gastón sighed, “I’m good.”

“You sure?” Isla looked at him, “You’re not having any chest pain?”

“No,” Gastón shook his head again.

“Blurry vision or any memory problems?”

“I can recite for you the full fire department ranking system if you want,” He sat down on a chair, “Mom, you’re just going through a checklist.”

“You bet I am,” Gastón had never seen so much worry in either of his parents' eyes than during the past few days. “Two days ago, you were in the hospital. I’m sorry if we're being a bit cautious, but that is our right.”

“Okay,” He sighed again, “Where’s Dad?”

“Calvin gave us a contact in the OFI, so he’s talking to them. We are not going to wait for any official report from the school to know what actually happened. You’re not going back in there before we do.”

“Morning!!” Luna jumped into the dining room.

“Morning,” Isla looked at her, “How are you feeling?”

“100 percent!” Luna jumped up briefly. “I texted Juliana last night, and the training starts back up tomorrow and since the school is still canceled so we can train for longer, which is amazing. I thought I’d go to the rink today to get a feel for it back. I’ve been away from the rink for a few days, and I honestly feel like I can’t breathe.”

“That is maybe not the best idea.” Isla responded to her.

“What?” Luna stared.

“That you go to the rink,” Isla crossed her arm.

“Why?”

“You were in the hospital too, let's not forget that,” Isla looked at Luna, “Smoke inhalation is serious, no matter what level. My father taught me that a long time ago, the biggest reason for fire fatalities is the smoke and carbon monoxide, not the actual fire. That is why they wear those masks. The doctors said that you should take it easy for a few days, and since you don’t even have practice, you shouldn’t go.”

“But I feel fine,” Luna tried, “I’ve been resting for two days. I need to train. It’s important!”

“Your health is much more important. I’m sorry Luna, but this isn’t your decision to make. It’s ours, and the answer is no. You can go tomorrow, when you’ve rested today and let the antibiotics do their job. There is no reason for you to try to exert yourself as soon as you can.”

“But…” Luna sat down.

“No buts. We’re responsible for you, and you have to allow us to do that.”

“It is very pointless to try to argue with her,” Gastón said to Luna, “I’ve tried for almost 18 years.”

“And you haven’t succeeded many times, have you?” Isla looked at him slightly more amused.

“And this is just one of them, it is worse when there are two.”

“What was that?” Marco walked into the dining room.

“Nothing.” Gastón said quickly as his dad looked at him. “And if you’re about to ask me the same checklist, don’t bother, Mom already did that. I’m good.”

“Good.” Marco nodded as he placed his hand on Isla’s back.

“What did they say?” She asked him.

“The investigation has been completed, and the report that they will give to the school classifies the fire as an accident caused by flammable printer inks being stored improperly. The storage unit had a distribution board that short circuited and the sparks caught on the fluids. They never should have been stored there.”

“So, Blake has a logistic issue?” Isla shook her head, “Someone could have died.”

“It is unbelievable,” She and Marco looked at Gastón, “It is a big hit for the school administration that can’t just be damage controlled. They’ll be forced to take a hard look at things now.”

“So, am I allowed to go to school anymore or not?” Gastón asked, “Because it's kind of hard to graduate if I’m not allowed to step into the building.”

“We’ll talk to the school board tomorrow,” Isla responded, “but as of now if all the necessary security measures have been taken, which they have promised they’d do, Luna can go on Tuesday. Gastón, the doctor signed you off for at least 12 days, so you’re not going anywhere before that. Don’t you even dare to think about the rink.”

“Wasn’t planning on.” He sighed while looking at his phone. He could admit that much that he was in no shape to actually skate right now.

“Oh, and Luna,” Marco changed the subject, “I also had the chance to talk with Lukie.”

“Who?” Luna looked confused.

“She’s the associate that Alexei has in the case of your visitations,” Marco explained, “Unfortunately, the in-person visits are being pushed to one time every three weeks.”

“That’s like once a month!!” Luna exclaimed, “I can’t see Mom and Dad more than that?”

“It is extremely unfair, but they’re arguing the severity of the case. Lukie said that this should be temporary, and she’ll set it straight, because it is infringing on your rights. Important thing is that you have rights and one of them actually is phone times.”

“What are those?” Luna asked again. All the legal terms had gone right over her head.

“You’re entitled to one hour phone calls, twice a week.”

“I’ll get to talk with Mom and Dad?!?!” Luna jumped up from the table.

“Yes,” Marco handed Luna a phone. “I scheduled one for you for today, at 12. The call will come from the detention facility, there is someone surveying it on your parents’ end and it will be recorded, so you can’t plan a jailbreak, but that’s better than nothing. We can go over later how you can schedule the calls yourself. It will come to this.”

“Why can’t they just call my phone?” Luna asked, even if she was almost too excited to care.

“We are not giving the detention facility your phone number,” Isla shook her head, “We don’t trust the place, and the more it is out there, the more it can leak. That is an old phone that we got a temporary operator on, works for phone calls just fine.”

“You said 12?” Luna asked and suddenly checked her own phone, “OMG! That’s like in an hour. I need to call Simon about this!!” She jumped up from the table and turned to leave before turning back and looking at Isla and Marco, “Thank You.”

Then she ran off.

“This should have been disclosed as an opportunity from the beginning,” Isla said Marco. “Did Lukie say why it hadn't?”

“She promised to get to the bottom of this.” Marco nodded. “But honestly, I don’t know. The police and the facilities aren’t clearly thinking what sort of effects this situation can have on a child.”

“Hey! Luna just zoomed past me. Has something happened?” Suddenly Gastón heard a voice behind him.

“Nina?” He got up from the chair and turned around to see her walk into the dining room. “How did you get in here?”

“We gave her the key and clearances when you were in the hospital,” Isla explained, “Did we not tell you?”

“No,” Gastón shook his head as he walked to his girlfriend, “You didn’t tell me either.”

“I thought you knew.” She responded before he closed her in a tight hug—not as tight as he would have wanted though, given the burn on his arms was sensitive to pressure.

“We thought it would be best for you if she gets in here as easily as possible.”

“You thought right,” Gastón smiled—

He momentarily closed his eyes and had to place his hand on the table to steady himself for a moment, before he almost lost his balance.

“Sit down.” His dad had rushed to his side as soon as he had started feeling dizzy. He placed his hand on his forehead, “You’re looking really pale. Do you feel feverish at all?”

“No,” Gastón shook his head as he sat down, “Why would I have a fever?”

“It would be a sign that you’re developing an infection.” He felt three pairs of concerned eyes land on him as he sat back down on the chair. Marco’s hand moved to his shoulder. “At that point if there is a sliver of a sign, we won’t be having a conversation about why, but we’ll already be going. You wanna argue with me about alarm symptoms?”

Who wanted to argue about taking illness symptoms seriously with a person who had to look over his own parents his whole adolescent and young adult life while they slowly lost their battle with cancer?

“No,” Gastón sighed, “but I’m…”

“If you say that you’re fine one more time… We’re not taking any chances here, not with you.”

“Okay,” Gastón relented, “My head’s killing me, I feel dizzy and fatigued and my throat kind of hurts. Is that what you want to hear?”

“Yes.” The word came unanimously from his parents' mouths.

“Your condition was serious enough to warrant over 24 hours in the hospital. It is not gonna go back to normal in a few days, just because you got discharged.” Marco continued, “That’s not gonna be something we're gonna take lightly and nor should you, no matter how stubborn you want to be about it. Your grandmother was like that though, so I guess the genes make sense. You really should go lie down and try to at least drink something every hour to keep the blood sugar up.”

“I’ll take him,” Nina said and pulled Gastón by the arm. “Come on.”

“Well, it is good to know that when he doesn’t want to listen to us, he listens to her.” Isla remarked.

“We better keep her on our side.” Marco wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

“It does do good to see him be so love struck. I stand by my statement. He has your eyes, the light is shining from them exactly the same way.”

“We both have a good reason for it.” He kissed her one her temple before sighing, “I have about ten thousand emails I need to respond to.”

“I’ll join you in a minute,” Isla responded, “We haven’t picked up the post in at least a week. We really need to transfer all the bills into online ones.”

***

“Yeah, I get to talk with them!!” Luna sat on her bed while talking to Simon. “I miss Mom and Dad so much.”

“That is great,” Simon responded. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Luna rolled her eyes, “I mean I felt like coughing yesterday still, but now it feels like I am bursting with energy. I miss the rink.”

“Why not come today?” Simon suggested, “Since you’re not sick anymore. Juliana has us working late even if we’re not training.”

“I wanted to, but I’m not allowed,” Luna sighed, “I can come tomorrow for the training, but today I need to rest.”

“You’re being kept as a prisoner?” Simon’s tone changed.

“Not like that,” Luna laughed slightly, “but it’s not like I can sneak out. The gate keeps a record of who opens it, I think, or something like that. I guess, I’ll have to admit that they’re right, kind of, and Mom and Dad wouldn’t want me to overdo it either.”

***

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Simon hung up the phone and sat on the stage of Jam and Roller with his guitar.

“Was that Luna?” Jim and Yam walked to him.

“Yeah,” Simon nodded.

“How’s she doing?” Yam asked. “I still can’t believe the whole fire thing. School is starting back up on Tuesday.”

“We thought we’d ask Nina, but she’s not here is she?” Jim looked around, “I guess we could call Luna herself too. We’d go visit her, but we don’t know where she lives.”

“You wouldn't be able to get in even if you did,” Simon sighed, “There is a heavy-duty gate there.”

“Was that what you meant when you mentioned someone being kept a prisoner?” Yam asked, “...or was that about her parents. That is still an absolutely horrible situation for Luna. How can the world be so unjust?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I could survive that.” Jim leaned her head on Yam’s shoulder.

“Luna is strong,” Simon nodded, “She’s alright, that's what she said. But they aren’t letting her come to the rink. Apparently Gastón’s parents are quite protective.”

“Gastón’s parents? Protective?” Jim and Yam stared at him. “He has never seemed like he has strict parents. From what we have seen, he has gotten to do what he wants most part.”

“Yeah, and it’s not like making sure she’ll rest after getting stuck in a fire is super controlling.” Yam continued, “My mom wouldn’t let me come to rink if it had been me, and she’s a doctor.”

“Mine too,” Jim nodded, “I mean, that she would make me rest and that she’s a doctor. Twinsies.”

“Wait, do you know them too?” Simon asked, confused.

“No not personally like Matteo does or how Nina does now too,” Jim shook her head, “But we do know that they’re kind of a big deal, I guess everyone does. Apparently Isla and Marco Perida are considered quite a power couple in some circles.”

“I’ve maybe looked them up a few times,” Yam admitted, “Not for Gastón’s sake or anything—he’d probably hate for any special consideration—but because Isla has such a beautiful style.”

“I think we can all agree that none of us could have ever predicted that out of every crazy scenario that’s out there, Luna and Gastón would become siblings.” Jim laughed.

“They aren’t siblings.” Simon noted.

“Good as, though. Nina must be happy. She’s getting to have her best friend and boyfriend at the same house and basically as brother and sister.”

***

“Thanks for saving me.” Gastón said as Nina pulled the door to his room shut. “Mom and Dad, they just—”

“I didn’t save you from anything,” Nina crossed her arms and looked at him disapprovingly. “I agree with them.” She walked closer and took his face into her hands, “You look terrible. You need to lie down.”

“Okay,” Gastón nodded and sat on his bed. Truth be told, he was feeling quite a bit of drowsiness and fatigue. “Only if you come here.”

“You should actually try to rest.” Nina looked at him skeptically.

“I feel worse if you’re not next to me.”

Nina laughed slightly before lying next to him on the bed. She ran her hand on his right forearm, on top of the bandage. “Does this hurt?”

“A little bit.” He nodded slightly.

“Sorry, I’ll stop.”

“If I make it to the competition, I’ll need to wear long sleeves.” Gastón remarked. “We don’t want to scare the judges. I mean my face alone will be a sight, because there is no hope that the scar will disappear in two months' time.”

“You can always ask Jazmin to cover it up.” Nina suggested while tracing the stitches on his forehead. Gastón was right that it wasn't the prettiest sight, but it was not like she cared. He was good looking either way.

“I’ll probably have to do that, but I do hope that it fades,” Gastón sighed, “For Mom and Dad’s sake if no one else. I don’t want there to be a visual reminder of all of this that they need to see every day. I mean they’re already so freaked out.”

“Anyone would be, especially in their situation.” Nina ran her hand through his hair, “They can’t stand the thought of losing you.”

“I know,” Gastón nodded, “I mean the feeling is mutual, especially now, as we get along so well at the moment.”

“When have you not gotten along with your parents?” Nina asked.

“Never, honestly, at least like that,” He nodded, “We don’t have any drama. But like, I guess what I mean is that, now as they’ve been forced to work more from here and not been able to travel as much, they’re so much less stressed and not overcompensating all the time…and I like that they’re home.”

“Of course you do.”

“I might even believe that they could soon be recovering workaholics,” Gastón continued, “And…Luna’s situation is not ideal in the slightest, but Mom and Dad were never meant to be one and done parents. They absolutely didn’t want to be but were forced to. Now that they have someone else dividing and redirecting that energy, it is helping them immensely. It is not all directed at me, which is actually really nice, because it could get a little overwhelming.”

“Not just anyone would be able to look after a child not their own so naturally.” Nina noted, “Luna’s also easy to love, but it is admirable. My parents weren’t able to take care of one kid, their own, me, together. I guess the fact that they barely could stand each other factors into it heavily, but that’s like the opposite of your parents. They can’t keep their eyes off each other.”

“Like I can’t keep my eyes off you,” Gastón brushed some hair out of her face. “I guess it is a family trait.”

They lied in comfortable silence for a while.

“Are you cold?” Nina ran her hand on his forearm. “I can grab a blanket…”

“I’m okay. Don’t worry.” Gastón laughed slightly as Nina started getting up from the bed.

“I’m gonna soon respond the same way your dad did,” She shook her head. “I’m gonna worry, especially when you tell me not to.”

“Okay, okay,” Gastón relented, “I’m not okay, but the only one who can tell how I am feeling is me too. So, you need to believe me as well. I’m not cold and that would be a fever symptom.”

“I’m sorry,” Nina sat back down on the bed next to his head and ran her fingers through his hair, “I just… I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you. I love you and I’m gonna worry about you. I never thought this could even be possible.”

“You need to give yourself some credit. I’m the one who had to chase you down.” Gastón looked up at her. This wasn’t the first time the thought of how beautiful a ring would look on her finger had crossed his mind. He was turning 18 next week, so obviously it was an absolutely loco of a thought, but God, he loved her. There were no limits or rules on love, but he would need to tough it out for at least a few years, before making that dream a reality.

“Gastón?” Suddenly there was a knock on the door and his mother’s voice, “Can we come in?”

“Sure.” Gastón pushed himself up more in a sitting position as his parents came through the door.

“Don’t. You don’t need to get up.”

“I’m not on bed rest,” He shook his head, “I read the doctor's note too. Anyways, what is it?”

“This was in the post.” Isla handed Gastón an brown envelope that had the crest of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina printed on it. He had applied to a few universities in Buenos Aires during the fall after deciding that he didn’t want to go to Oxford. He had completely forgotten about that during all the mayhem and that responses would actually start coming at some point.

“These come in post?” He turned it in his hands.

“Apparently from UCA they do.” Marco responded. “It’s still pretty early for acceptance letters for most universities.”

“It could be a rejection,” Gastón shook his head, “Those are probably easy to pump out.”

“Stop that. You don’t know before you open it.” Nina placed her hands on his shoulders.

“Okay.” Gastón shook his head again and ripped the envelope open. The letter was a few pages long. On the top of the first page there was the crest of the university again. The actual text started below it…

We are pleased to extend you an official offer of admission to the Class of 2022 at Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in the faculty of Exact Sciences and Engineering…

“I got in.”

“That’s amazing!” Nina hugged him tightly and kissed him on the cheek. Gastón clearly wasn’t satisfied with that as he turned his head and lifted her chin so he could softly kiss her on the lips. Nina forgot at that moment that they were literally in front of his parents, but she didn’t really care.

“We are so proud of you.” But they still were there. “Not exactly surprised, you are so smart. We always had that faith in you. UCA is a good school.”

“But it’s not Oxford.” Gastón rolled his eyes.

“I thought we already had this conversation?” Marco looked at him.

“I guess we did,” Gastón sighed. “Tell me something. Would you even let me go?”

“Honest answer?” Isla tightened her grip on Marco’s hand as they glanced at each other. “It is always going to be your choice, but with everything that has happened, it would be extremely hard for us if you were across the ocean.”

“Well, it is a good thing that I don’t want to go.”

***

Luna groaned as she stared at the exercise sheet. Her head was completely swimming, and all the numbers were just looking like blobs. She was never going to get this.

Blake was not going to let it slide, she was sure of it. Luna couldn’t even blame her concentration struggles on the effects of the fire, because it had happened over a month ago.

SHE JUST DIDN’T GET MATH. These stupid numbers were standing in between her and the Roda Fest, which was the only thing she wanted to focus on. Skating was the one thing that had stayed constant in her life, and she needed it more than ever right now.

Luna blew air out of her mouth and threw her pencil across the living room. Instead of landing on the floor it landed in a vase next to the TV.

“Ups.” Luna got up from the couch and started fishing the pencil out, careful not to disturb the giant and gorgeous bouquet of sunflowers.

Marco had brought them to Isla last Sunday. Apparently, it was some sort of tradition they had going on for over 20 years and had something to do with the first rays of the summer sun.

Well, Luna thought it was extremely romantic. Sunflowers had some sort of a special meaning for them, when it came to love. Luna didn’t know what, but she maybe should ask Nina.

Luna quickly realized that she didn’t even know how long Isla and Marco had been married. Gastón was 18 years old, so longer than that…but technically that wasn’t guaranteed.

Anyways. Luna got her pencil out of the water and sat back down on the couch.

Nope, the numbers had not started to make any sense in the meantime.

“¡Esto es imposible!” She wanted to pull her hair out.

“What is?”

“Oh sorry.” Luna spun her head around and saw Marco standing next to the piano. “I didn’t mean to yell. Did I interrupt something?”

“That’s not important.” He walked closer. “What’s going on?”

“I’m just trying to do my homework,” Luna shook her head. “And I don’t get it, which is gonna put me in danger of failing the year… Again.”

“Well, you clearly didn’t fail last year.” Marco had walked around the couch and was standing next to Luna now.

“I almost did.” Luna huffed, “I lost my final project on top of a van.”

“What?”

“Seriously,” Luna nodded, “I was in a hurry and placed my laptop on top of a van and when I turned around it was gone. I never got it back and had to write the whole thing again. I did pass, in the end.”

“Okay,” Marco looked a little confused as he sat next to her. “You might wanna keep your computer in your bag, so you avoid that.”

“I learned my lesson.”

“So, are these differential derivatives that you are having trouble with?” Marco looked at Luna’s math sheets.

“Yeah,” Luna leaned back on the couch.

“You are taught to use the formula?”

“I think so…” Luna leafed through her math book. “It’s the thing with the lime or was it limena…? I don’t know.”

“Limit. They are called limits.” Marco responded.

“Yeah, but I still don’t get it,” Luna shook her head, “Nina has tried to teach me in like a thousand different ways.”

“You know that I work in finance and economics?” Marco asked her.

“Yeah.”

“Well, derivatives, bounds, terraces in flow diagrams are all the baseline of my job. We use calculators nowadays, but we didn’t have those in the start of the 21st century.”

“I’d love a calculator.” Luna remarked, “So you probably know how to do these really well.”

“Yes, given I’ve made my whole career on them,” Marco nodded, “but I can tell you a secret. I don’t actually understand that formula either.”

“Then how do you do it then?” Luna asked, extremely confused now. If a professional didn’t know how to use the freaking formula that she was supposed to learn, then how was she supposed to do it?

“There is another way to do it in practice.” Marco explained, “The schools teach the formula, which is the academic and “proper” way to do it with proofs and literature and all, it really works for people who think very academically. You seem to think on your feet a lot, so a more practical approach might work. See, if you just look at this one: The x is to the fourth power, so if you derive it, you just take the power, so four and it becomes the coefficient, and the power gets reduced by one. So, this would become four times x to the power of three. Do you understand?”

“Maybe,” Luna looked at her paper again and took her pencil in her hand, “So, you just take the smaller number that is in the corner and put it in the front, and then just the upper one becomes smaller?”

Luna drew the new equation on the paper and looked at Marco who nodded.

“That is exactly how you can think that. That is correct what you just did there. The answer is exactly the same as it would be with the formula, just with fewer steps.”

“Can’t believe it,” Luna did another problem. “How can you just understand it like that? It’s so much more easier.”

“Isla actually likes to say that I make numbers look like art,” Marco smiled slightly, “I don’t personally understand that, but she’s usually right and I am not good at arguing with her. Has she done your hair again?”

“Oh yeah,” Luna nodded while running her hand on what Isla had called something along the lines of three-way four-strand dragon braid. “It’s really pretty.”

“She has a magical eye for beauty. Has that effect in everything she touches, at least for as long as I have known her.”

“How did you meet?” Luna asked. She was actually genuinely quite curious.

“University, 1996 to be exact.” Marco answered. “I majored in Economics and Business Administration, she did marketing. Both of our classes for the masters took place at the same campus, and part of her studies she had to complete a few photography courses that I was taking for fun. She needed some help with those and that's how our paths crossed. Two years later, we didn’t really celebrate our graduations, we got married. The saying that you meet the love of your life when you least expect it is actually very true. That is the bare bones of it, ask later when there is more time and the two of us. I don’t even know all of it. You should finish your homework.”

“Okay,” Luna turned back to her math problems and again to her surprise, actually managed to complete all of them, within 15 minutes.

She had to tell Nina, so she grabbed her phone and was about to text her when her phone screen froze.

“Ugh, not again.” Luna groaned and tapped the screen again, to somehow revive it.

“What?” Marco had been writing some email on his phone.

“This has nothing to do with math,” Luna shook her head, “My phone’s lagging. I don’t know why.”

“Can I see it?” Luna handed her phone to him. “How old is this?”

“Two years, I think.” Luna responded.

“Then it definitely shouldn't just randomly freeze.” Marco looked at the phone.

“I mean, I don’t know, but it has started doing that a lot recently. Almost like it has gotten worse.” Luna continued. “Out of nowhere.”

“My wild guess would be smoke damage.”

“Smoke damage?” Luna asked, confused. “How does that work?”

“Smoke particles can clog internal components of electronics.” Marco went to grab a tablet from a shelf in the living room. “It very well could be it, given the fire and that the issue has just gotten progressively worse. What model is that?”

“I don’t know.” Luna shook her head.

“Okay,” The phone had stopped freezing, so Marco opened some sort of tab on it, “Galaxy J2. It’s an Android so you probably don’t want to change that. They probably don’t make that size anymore.” He took his own phone out and handed it to Luna, “Hold this. Is this sort of a size too big for you.”

“Yeah,” Luna held the phone, a little bit confused about what was going on. “My fingers can’t even reach the buttons. What are you doing?”

“Well, you can't have a malfunctioning phone. It is only gonna get worse.” Marco took his phone back from Luna, while typing something on the tablet. “Okay, this is the Note 8, which is a tad bit bigger than what you have now.”

“I’m going to Matteo’s. Don’t wait on me for dinner.” Gastón walked down the stairs at that moment.

“Wait, Gastón,” Marco stopped him. “Does your phone work?”

“Not a random question at all, Dad,” Gastón looked at them, “but now that you mention it, it has been kind of lagging. I should probably boot the hard drive or something—”

“You should have said. If both of yours are doing the same thing, then it definitely is smoke damage.” Marco noted.

“Smoke damage?” Gastón scrunched his eyebrows. “Okay, that would actually make sense.”

“Order a new one. Today.” Marco told him. “Get an X at least, but get in a delivery today, so it comes tomorrow at the latest.”

“Okay.” Gastón nodded and walked out of the door.

“Wait, is that what you're doing?” Luna asked as Marco had turned back to his tablet, “Getting me a new phone?”

“I can repeat myself. You can’t have one that doesn’t work. That is dangerous. So would this be okay?” He showed Luna a model on the tablet.

“Uh, sure.” Luna responded. She knew nothing about phone models and things were happening fast. Luna never realized that buying phones was this easy of a process…or it was with people with money.

The more comfortable Luna got with the whole situation, the more she kept forgetting that Isla and Marco in fact were millionaires and on top of their game with their careers. Luna had been expecting at the start that they’d hire replacements for Mom and Dad, but that had not happened. No one seemed to be bothered one bit that they didn’t have staff anymore.

“Good.” Marco nodded, “So it is the Note 8. You can look for some cases for it yourself, because you probably know better what you want on that front. You’ll get it tomorrow. Your old one will hopefully work for another 12 hours.”

“Okay,” Luna nodded. “Thank you—”

Isla walked out of the hallway to the living room, looking really annoyed.

“What’s wrong?” Marco turned his attention to her at once.

“The call I had with CICSA was supposed to last maybe an hour. A very simple job, but they are apparently determined to make it as difficult as possible.”

“Surely nothing you can’t handle.” He responded to her with a very affectionate tone.

“No, but they’re really pushing it.” Isla shook her head. She wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck and buried her face on his shoulder for a moment. “The contract has to now go through some other administrator branch, which is completely unnecessary. They are just messing things up and making it a hundred times more complicated. Who knows how long this will take now. Threw all of my plans out of order for today, because I very well couldn’t tell them that the call needed to be finished because I was late for my hair appointment. There would have gone all of my professional reputation down the train, but it was very tempting.”

“They don’t know what’s coming for them if they don’t start to be cooperate.”

“They definitely don’t,” Isla laughed, “I got a message out to Larol that I need to delay that appointment. It was possible, because I’m not getting dye or anything, just a cut. I do need to be careful, because anything close to shoulder length makes me look—”

“You don’t look old.”

“And you’re biased. Anyway, what were you talking about here?”

“It looks like their phones have suffered some smoke damage, effects of which are only coming apparent now.” Marco explained.

“Really?” Isla raised her head, concerned look in her face. “Good thing you caught that, before they leave for Cancun and everything.”

“It is,” They turned to look at Luna, who had been gathering her math papers. “Remember, if you need something, you can say it.”

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.” She nodded.

“Speaking off, before your trip and everything, do you want any clothes?” Isla asked.

“Uh, I am not sure.” Luna shook her head. That was not something she had ever thought of.

“Think about it. It’s better to handle those things now than in two weeks' time when you're literally leaving and busy with that.”

“I guess,” Luna shrugged, “but I am terrible at shopping.”

“You want help?” Isla looked at the clock on the wall, “I’m just leaving for my hair appointment which won’t take long, so how about you come with me, and we’ll get some clothes for you afterwards.”

“Uhm, sure.” Luna responded. “Why not?”

“If you’re all ready to go, we can leave now.”

“Okay.” Luna got up from the couch.

“I honestly don’t really believe that anyone can be “good” or “bad” at shopping.” Isla said as Luna followed her to the garage. “It is not like it’s an art or a competition. Everyone has a different eye, but in the end they’re just clothes.”

“Maybe, but I’ve gotten a bunch of weird looks on how I dress.” Luna remarked.

“I think the way you dress is adorable,” Isla said as she pressed the car key and lights flickered on the car at the far left, the light blue car.

Luna had never ridden on that before, Gastón drove that black one when they went to school. When Luna had been driven to the prison and stuff it had usually been the dark blue car, which Marco was often driving even if Isla was with them. Obviously, she knew how to drive too. She was an adult after all.

“It is always nice to see color in kids your age. Some try to dress way too grown up. I used to be a talented drifter when I was younger and we had no money to go around, but some of those choices were a bit questionable. That was also the 80s and 90s, so everything was a tad bit questionable. The only thing I can truly not question that came from the 90s was my choice of husband.”

***

“Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho.” Juliana counted out steps while standing on the side of the rink, “Around, together, lift and stop.”

The team of Jam and Roller took the final pose on their choreography.

“Okay, well done everyone!” Julina nodded her head in approval, “I have to say, I wasn’t 100 % sure we would be able to pull this off. Some of the reasons obviously haven’t been your fault, so I won’t say another word about those. I am glad that everyone is okay. but right now I an say that, I think we are truly ready for the Roda Fest.”

Gastón was standing next to Matteo, who lightly patted his back as Juliana spoke. He had managed to get back into practice after a few weeks, and his arm had healed so no lifts had needed to be cut, although it had required a few extra training sessions into some late hours. Delfi, surprisingly, had been extremely patient with it, which was surprising in itself. Miracles could truly happen, and Pedro clearly was having a good influence on that. Anyways, they were in great shape now and ready to take Cancun by storm.

“Okay, I’ll see you all here tomorrow at 8:00 am sharp. So, everyone will be here on time, with all of your personal documents, luggage and NO ONE WILL BE LATE. If you are, you’ll be left behind.” Juliana eyed everyone in the team. “And please have your passports in order. Once we get to the airport, we are going to be in a time crunch. At Cancun we have a strict schedule.”

“Oh, you’d think we are joining the army.” Ramiro joked, “We are gonna kick some Slider butt, but can’t we also have fun?”

“There is time for that, but we need to take this seriously,” Juliana gave him a death glare. “Now, all of you need to go home and pack. Make sure that your skates are in your carry on. You cannot lose them, because there is no magical Skate Machine that will make you new skates.”

“Yes sir!” Simon made a mock salute.

“I will ignore that for now,” Juliana smiled slightly. “Go to sleep early. See you tomorrow.”

“Wait, guys, before you go. Come here.” Luna stopped everyone, “Do you guys understand? We are seriously gonna be going to the finale at Roda Fest!!! We’ve been through a lot as a team, and we have made it. It’s finally here!!”

“Bring it in here!” Ramiro threw his hand into the center of the circle, “We are gonna go, and we’re gonna show everyone, and we are gonna win.”

“FOR JAM AND ROLLER!!!” The team joined hands and threw them to the sky.

***

“Luna, how many different neon tops are you planning on taking?” Nina sat on Luna's bed while she was throwing clothes on the floor.

“I don’t know,” Luna shook her head. “All of them.”

“We’ll be there for two weeks, not moving permanently.” Nina noted. “Hey look, I’ll teach you a technique that Mom taught me. Count the days we’ll be away and pick an outfit for each one. Then divide the days by three and take that number of extra outfits. So, you need about 18 different outfits.”

“That is a lot,” Luna blobbed to sit down on the floor, “Hey, you sure you have time to help me with this? Won’t Gastón miss you?”

“I think he’ll survive if I help you for an hour,” Nina laughed, “It is all so much easier now that I can let myself in, almost like I am part of the family.”

“I mean you are,” Luna remarked, “I think everyone agrees here on that.”

“Hopefully someday officially.” Nina smiled as she looked down at a pile of Luna’s clothes. “What’s this one?” She held up a white skirt with a bunch of colorful flowers.

“Oh, Isla bought that for me,” Luna responded, “It’s really pretty.”

“It is.” Nina nodded, “If it was her, then I am not surprised. She has amazing taste.”

“Hey girls,” Isla walked into the room, “Everything okay here?”

“Yeah, we’re just packing,” Luna turned around from her closet, “Or trying…”

“I can see that.” Isla looked at all of the clothes on the floor. “You have everything else clear for the trip?”

“We’re taking the bus from Roller in the morning to the airport and flying to Cancun from there on a flight that departs at 10:25 am.” Nina read off her tablet.

“It is good that we can always trust you to be on top of things, Nina.” Isla smiled at her. “Are you staying for dinner, or do you need to go pack your own things?”

“I packed yesterday actually,” Nina explained, “Mom would nag at me all the time, if I hadn’t.”

“That sounds like Ana.” Isla nodded, “Okay, the reason why I actually came here was this.”

She handed Luna a plastic folder.

“What is it?” Luna asked, confused, “I already made sure 1000 times that I have my passport.” She pointed to her nightstand, where she had marked an area with her beads to hold that passport.

“More of a precaution,” Isla explained. “One of our friends is a social worker, so he gave us a few pointers on what we should be aware of as we are looking after you. It’s just a letter of consent that Marco and I signed that you are allowed to travel outside of the country without a guardian as a minor. It shouldn't be necessary as you aren’t in foster care and the custody agreement Alexei drew up is ironclad. It is just in case you run into some sort of issue.”

“Thanks.” Luna nodded.

“Are you excited to go?”

“Yeah of course I am!” Luna jumped up in the air. “I miss Mexico so much!”

“It is a good thing you have things to look forward to.” Isla smiled, “Well, I’ll leave you girls to it.”

“I haven’t really mentioned this, but it is really great how well you really get along,” Nina pointed out after Isla had gone.

“I mean yeah,” Luna smiled, “They’re really nice, you were right about that when you first told me and I was all freaked out.”

“They are.” Nina nodded.

“You know, it’s kind of weird that they don’t have more kids,” Luna pondered out loud while folding a shirt into the suitcase. “Because they’re really good at this.”

“You don’t know?” Nina dropped the socks she was rolling and looked at Luna.

“Know what?” Luna questioned.

“Isla and Marco can’t have children.” Nina said, looking at Luna.

“Wait what?” Luna looked even more confused now, “How does that even make sense? Gastón’s not adopted, is he? He’s—”

“He looks exactly like his father, and the golden streak in his eyes is from his mother. He also has the best qualities from both of them. Of course he is not.” Nina shook her head, “That’s not what I meant. I said it badly.”

“Then what did you mean?” Luna looked still extremely confused. “So, they had a kid and then couldn’t anymore?”

“When Gastón was one or so, Isla had some sort of serious medical complication. That was when they still lived in Cordoba. She had to have a hysterectomy, or she could have died.”

“Wow, that’s awful.” Luna sat on the bed. “How do you know this?”

“They told me.” Nina said simply, “I don’t think it’s a secret and they seem to have made peace with it, but it must have been devastating at the time. They were 24. One of the reasons that fueled their ambition to get where they are today and give Gastón a much better life. It’s not exactly a topic to be had over dinner or something so it probably just hasn’t come up.”

“I can’t even imagine going through something like that,” Luna sat back on the floor while sorting her suitcase, “I mean, it kind of sounds like Mom and Dad. They weren’t able to have kids, but then they adopted me. They left everything behind too, to give me a better education, even if it was after Senora Sharon.”

“That’s probably why you get along so well.” Nina noted.

{}

Well, look at that. We are back, because I write what I want whever I want. Not a lot of actually happened in this part (I had to split it because it was getting so long), but sometimes I nice to just breathe for a moment. Last part literally had a fire, so we dealt with the last of that aftermath and did some character interraction develobment. More often that not in the media, the Dad is often left as the least develobed charcter with least amouth of charcter building and interractions...We'll not in my house. Dads are important, even if the child is a girl. Also Luna learned some math in the process, and that was actually how I was tuagh to do deritaves, intead of the weird formula. Also, golden retriever husband energy, because Gastón absolutely has that in his gene pool. The way I determine is that he got his sentiviness, calming precese and artistic traits from his dad, while the headstrongness, sociability and chamingess from his mom. Something I live by while writing is that: normalize married couples being in love and acting accordingly, no matter how old (40 also isn't old in the slightest). Small public service anoucements here: I ahve actually written some original material about Isla and Marco specifically. Littel bit a stuff when they were 20, those afformentioned uni years. I am not gonna release that at that moment, because it is in my native language and because I've submited it into couple writing competitions. I'll uptate you on if some judge board declares that I am actually a good writer. Okay, next... Simon...We will talk about him little later, shall we. On the next part. We are going somewhere with this, I promise. Finally, again I am trying portray here that Luna is progressively getting more comfortable with the situation, that she's not the staff's daughter anymore, but basically family member. She's casually hanging in the living room while doing her homework and she doesn't call Isla and Marco "Gastón's parents" anymore.

#Soy Luna #soy luna fanfiction #Gastina #Lutteo #Soy Luna Season 2 #Gastteo #Au #Twist #This was just a stupid idea #But I am rolling with it #And having fun #and it's getting unhinged #because it has a plot now

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sahaias · 5 months

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Soy Luna Season 2 Episodes 1-30 Thoughts

Okay, so I've been going through season 2 much slower than season 1 because my free time is limited and things move super fast on my days off from work.

But beginning with my thoughts on this season and its plot points so far:

It's so fucked up that Sharon is faking Ambar's past just to preserve a fortune that isn't rightfully hers. Lili and Bernie didn't die so they could leave everything to their sister/sister-in-law, it belongs to their daughter

It feels like Simon's really been on the backburner this season so far, and I miss seeing more of him.

This also applies to most of the side characters, but I don't care about them as much lol.

I noticed Luna has more one-on-one scenes with her mom than dad this season, and I feel like it's the writers trying to make up for her confiding in her dad rather than her mom like 4/5 times more in season 1.

Adrenaline is pretentious with their "we don't show up to competitions or put limits on our art like this", and I don't get why Ramiro likes Fernanda so much. I do find it funny that Ramiro starts shitting on Matteo once he joins though, it's cathartic

I know they want us to feel bad about Matteo's whole "I can't let Luna get close to me because I am leaving soon" shtick, but it's not romantic or cute. It is just stupid. Luna would be understanding if Matteo gave the whole truth. Plus, it would be much easier on her than all the lies that he creates.

Nina and Gaston are very cute, but I am worried for them with this Oxford storyline. I wish we got more scenes of them though. It feels like their only big moment was singing together.

Ambar has been clearly messed up by Sharon, because despite knowing her alleged past that fills in all of the gaps, she still feels the need to compete with Luna and make her miserable. I just feel bad for her and am dreading how she'll respond once the truth about Luna comes out.

This twins storyline is already a headache, and I am dreading seeing what it'll progress into.

Pedro looks younger with longer hair, but I think he looked better with the shorter hair in season 1

Juliana is so extra and the way she just insults people for not meeting her standards is annoying as fuck. She has very exaggerated physical gestures that make it very bothersome to look at the screen when she is on it.

I feel like this season has more drama and less excitement in it overall, which makes me less motivated to watch. I attribute this to less Simon tbh

I like the main plot/secrets of Soy Luna more than Violetta, and the show feels more grounded than Violetta. However, the side characters and romantic pairings in Violetta are way more captivating. I am hoping upcoming plotlines are more engaging tbh.

Sebastian is such a weird recurring character, and him being an actual youtuber makes him feel more weird to me for some reason

Ending this post with the fact that when I first saw Matteo in a wig imitating Luna, I was drinking water and ended up choking on it from laughing hysterically

youtube

#disney soy luna #soy luna #luna valente #matteo balsano #simon alvarez #nina simonetti #gaston batton #ambar smith #sol benson #Youtube

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hanas-hues · 1 year

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We’ve been in a steampunk city (where magic both doesn’t work AND it makes you explode if you try to cast a spell) for the past few sessions. Marigold and Ambar(the bard), have had some good roleplay moments with each other.

Please enjoy Marigold asking Ambar on a platonic date from three perspectives:

And on that “date” where they try to explain to each other what motivates them:

#dungeons and dragons #dnd #warlock #bard #5e #art #my art #mine #it’s been hard on them both not being able to use magic #but it’s been hardest on me most of all 👊😔#next time I’m making a Barbarian

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keystonewarrior · 3 months

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Walk, will update later

The walking plan this evening will go to a recently renamed local tappy I've never walked all the way to before.

It's a little over a mile and doesn't involve any major roads, although I do have to cut across the vacant lot behind the local strip club (which seems to be permanently temporarily closed, can't tell, never been inside).

I'm just checking the distance and time to walk. After that I'll cross US 27, go past the WamLart towards (but not all the way to) the Publix, then return along a similar trail and around the library one time.

Total planned distance, 4.5 miles, ought to be less than eighty minutes. After that I might grab the book I'm reading and walk up to Sr Tequila. They don't have Kilkenny or Yuengling, but they do have Dos Equis Ambar.

#walk

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goddamnwebcomics · 3 months

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Mary Sue or Not?

There is nothing in the modern Twattersphere that angers me more than words losing their meaning and semantics. I will never EVER use a word I feel has lost all meaning unless I use it in its proper context and with a proper MEANING. But there is one word I admit I used a lot back in the early days and even post-hiatus days of my blog, "Mary Sue".

Here is the most objective definition of the term.

A Mary Sue is a character archetype in fiction, typically a young female, characterized by an implausible level of competence, unique talents or powers, and attractiveness. These characters are often universally liked or respected within their narrative, possess minimal realistic flaws, and exhibit innate virtues. Originating from fanfiction, a Mary Sue often serves as an idealized version of the author, fulfilling a wish-fulfillment role. While the term is gendered, it can apply to both female and male characters, with the male equivalents sometimes referred to as Gary Stu or Marty Stu.

Let's look at past characters I've labeled as Mary Sues or Gary Stus and see if they match the description.

Mora Linda (Las Lindas)

Even back then I hated to use this word, but apparently I used it to describe everyone's favorite cow asshole because...she got kissed by Minos.

Mora is NOT universally liked, even when you disqualify someone like Alejandra. Rachel and Miles both dislike her, which is why they bonded in the first place (ew). She has also received constructive criticism from Buttdog, Alejandra post-redemption and even Minos. Even then Mora is by no means shown to be a perfect bunny. It's just that Soulkat is a horrible writer, and can't portray Mora in sympathetic light. If she were flawless, perfect being, she would actually be way more likable. She is supposed to be a strong independent no-bullshit matriarch of the house with alleged street smart tendencies, but instead comes across like a fucking drunkard asshole who verbally and emotionally abuses her employees and cries constantly to manipulate people to do her bidding. We should've seen her develop into a better character by now, but anytime a character shows up who should improve Mora (like Alej or Randall), they instead become more like her. I can see how someone might think she is a Mary Sue though because of how she marries a Crest, is the daughter of a weird powerful God being and she is desired by multiple men, but that's just meant to give a reason for why Lady Ambar is constantly watching over her.

Mora is a terrible protagonist but she is not a Mary Sue, even if the comic treats her like she is right most of the time. She's supposed to have an arc, but that arc doesn't work because she barely changes. Being badly written doesn't automatically make someone a Mary Sue. Have some nuance for fucks sake.

Llewlyn Connor (Warmage)

Llew is a Mary Sue because he can fly and he was mentored by a group of witches. I...what?

Now to be fair, I was only starting the comic, but Llew is...complicated. Outside of the spanking scene, Llewlyn is completely boring protagonist. It's just that he gets into a lot of...bizarre situations. Yes, every woman in his life wants to fuck him but it's clear it's not necessarily because he is attractive but it's rather his bizarre hindu-pagan beliefs. I think it was an attempt from Dumok to make an audience surrogate, but then he also gets raped??? However, the comic doesn't treat him like he is always right, he isn't actually that important, and there are other superheroes besides him? A lot of stuff in the comic happens without him being actively involved. It's not really until Miguel Sanchez disguises himself as him that he becomes important.

Again, Llew is less of a Mary Sue than Mora is, but he is still averagely badly written protagonist. He is trying really hard to be the Hindu-Pagan Batman. And let's not even talk about his "Chaotic Neutrality".

Speaking of Warmage...

Tsuki (Warmage)

I am not going to link the post where I said it due to uncensored nudity, but I just called Tsuki "Dumok's favorite Mary Sue" at one point.

Tsuki is a ridiculously written character, and she was the worst character ever in the blog before Riley came along. She is not perfect though, she is shown to be flawed, hell that's why the infamous spanking scene happened in the first place! She also isn't universally beloved as she has beef with Lewis other ladies like Kriti and Laranya.

Speaking of Riley, if I were riffing Alien Dice in 2017 I would've called Riley a Mary Sue probably. Almost like being a "Mary Sue" is not the worst character trait, even if it is pretty bad.

Dominic Deegan (Dominic Deegan)

You could dig up countless examples from early days of the comic where I call Deegan a Mary Sue or Gary Stu.

I admit, Deegan is definitely Mookie's bitchboy and the fact he's saved the world several times and he's stated to be Right About EVERYTHING does have some Gary Stu qualities buuuuuut, I've actually done some thinking and Deegan isn't actually that hateable as a person. Yes he is arrogant snobfuck, but unlike someone like Mora, he doesn't treat his friends like shit. He is a misanthropist but not a cynical asshole. He likes to crack jokes sometimes and characters sometimes cringe at those jokes, that's why Punchline Face exists.

On top of that, Deegan losing control of his emotions is something Mookie is actually aware of. Like he did apologize at the end of Battle of Barthis for getting so mad over Serk Brakkis's misdeeds. It's just that Deegan's outbursts outside of that arc are never called out. That, and I have actually felt bad for him or even had to defend him sometimes. Also he isn't in charge of forgiving Stoneraper for his rape at any point either.

Where my biggest problem lies with Deegan is his powers. He is so goddamn overpowered, you'd think he could beat anyone. It's also that Deegan has never actually lost in a fight, even if he has been betrayed. His powers are not defined and he has stopped existential threats by himself. He just becomes a generic shonen protagonist when he isn't in a grounded environment, and that's the problem. If those elements didn't exist, and his searing ability was just an ability to see to the future, I would be speaking a different tone about him. Deegan should have been corrupted by the amount of power he possesses a long time ago. I think the lack of infallibility on his part does make him close to Mary Sue but even then that's like...hundred miles away.

Luna Travoria (Dominic Deegan)

I say she is a Mary Sue because she creates a formula for potion that turns sand into water, among other things.

Thus far, Luna is probably the closest to an actual Mary Sue. She is actually far worse when it comes to character shilling than Deegan is, especially in the most recent arc as of the writing of this comic. There is also the fact she used to be a nobody, but after being thrust into Maltak arc, we learn she is the CHOSEN ONE and the reason she has tusks is because of a curse created by Shintula Chief that turned gave a bunch of babies tusks. There's also the fact she's somehow the only good person in her family of assholes. She also cries even more than Mora does. We know Luna used to hate herself and she was very suicidal, but she eventually gets shoveled in endless praise and Dominic's support. Unlike Deegan, she is very rarely shown to be wrong about something. Even when she loses her pregnancy it's constantly stated to be a good thing.

Her constant crying and occasional tusk discourse is the only thing that reminds us of her old depressed self. I get that Mooks wanted to make an inspiring story, but instead it creates a picture of a person who is using their abuse and depression to dodge criticism and constantly demand for praise. But even if you asked me if Luna was a Mary Sue, I would still say "Kinda". The reason for that is the tusk discourse, and as a result she frequently gets insulted and distrusted and even other orcs don't like her due to her tusks. And it's not like there is a crowd of men wanting to fuck her.

Heather Brown/Spinnerette (Spinnerette)

I called her a Mary Sue because she has fool's luck, basically she is able to dodge any attack and misfortune by being a dumbass.

Heather is a dumbass who has things ALWAYS work out for her no matter what when realistically she should have destroyed herself. I agree with that. On top of that, she is a Trend Lesbian who doesn't understand what being attracted to women means, and she treats her girlfriend who is slowly dying like an object of attraction rather than someone she cares about.

Honestly Spinnerette at this point has much bigger problems than Heather. She has better chemistry with Sarah Nicole than her own GF, so she is not completely hateable but also she lacks humanity. Even when she does something stupid, she is easily forgiven.

Spinny is not Mary Sue, she is just gimmicky, much like every other character Kraw writes.

Now it's time to get into the webcomic with the most compelling arguments for Mary Sues, Gene Catlow.

Cotton Taylor (Gene Catlow)

The problem with Cotton is that, in a comic called Gene Catlow, he takes the center stage for the first arc. The problem is, the world of Gene Catlow isn't established before Cotton gets his powers. We are shown all his flaws and personal issues after he drinks Coffee^2. We're only shown his tendency to yell at people and be hyperactive, when after he drinks his coffee we also learn he has a tendency for violence, doesn't hesitate killing, and hell, we only learn way way way later in the comic that he grew up an orphan. With how long Gene Catlow ended up being, a slow start would have really paid off with Cotton, but don't have him hog the spotlight for being so early. The start would also make him eventually gaining his powers more interesting, since we now know Cotton has issues, and are looking forward to if he can handle that power responsibly.

I think the Mary Sue accusations come from the fact Cotton isn't called out enough when he does stupid shit. Gene and Catwhis only get mad at him when Cotton really wants to know about the Stagglers, which the audience also wants to know about because they never explain those fucking things until it's really late.

Other than that and Cotton never really struggling with the extent of his powers, I don't think he is a Mary Sue. In fact, I do feel bad for him because the rest of the comic pretty much cucks him. His position as the savior of the bunnies is taken over by not only Clayton, a rando who worked for Matt most of his life, but also Michelle, and speaking of...

Michelle (Gene Catlow)

In my original riff I treat Michelle like the second coming of Satan but in retrospect, I actually think she is a cute and funny character who actually helps people rather than try to convert them to join some stupid Friendship Islandian cause. However, I still think that she is completely unfitting to the comic in terms of her tone. She feels like a kid appeal character in a comic that regularly references sex and gore. She is also really really powerful even when she isn't born.

Michelle is not a Mary Sue mainly because there are times when even Albert knows to pull back on Michelle. Like she completely stops appearing towards the end due to her going through the process of being born and just being absolutely miserable. If we had ever seen her alive and in the flesh, I might be speaking a different tone entirely, but don't worry, she is somehow not as omnipresent as our next characters.

Gene and Catwhis (Gene Catlow)

Gene and Catwhis are really fucking powerful, any person forced to debate them in power scale context will lose their sanity. I have not forgotten about this infamous scene.

But even then, Gene and Catwhis are both shown to have enough flaws to dodge the Mary Sue allegations. Well okay, Gene is the flawed one because of how he is affected by his ancestor who's constantly trying to bring out Gene's primal rage, which causes Catwhis to go "remember to not kill anyone dear" whenever a single wrinkle appears in Gene's face.

Catwhis on the other hand, she is like a fusion of Mora and Luna. She is openly abusive towards Gene, and she often gets into squabbles with him over the pettiest shit. Sometimes you don't know if she loves Gene. She never gets called out at any point like Gene sometimes gets called out. And most of the time she goes on hypocritical ra ra speeches and never considers other people's opinions. If "never considers other people's opinions" makes someone a Mary Sue, does that mean every Twitter user is a Mary Sue?

That unrelated tangent aside, I don't really have too many arguments against Catwhis being a Mary Sue. The only reason I really don't call her that is that out of all the spy cams in this comic, she detects Matt's bullshit the least, the only time she detected anything Matt did was when he abused Borzoi, which reminded her of the "abuse" she received at Matt's hands. As far as Spycam Moments are concerned, that is actually kind of justified, as she is a repositor and all. And her repository skills are more well defined than Deegan's seer powers.

But, if there is one thing I would call a Mary Sue in this blog without a doubt, it wouldn't be one character, it wouldn't even be a character, but rather a concept of a group.

Family of Intelligent Life (Gene Catlow)

Where do I begin? Family of Intelligent Life is early on established to be the STRONGEST GROUP OF ALL TIME. and that is not even getting into all the things those fucking suits do. Or what Simmy does. Or how many allies the Family has. Or how they employ child soldiers and it's somehow a good thing. Or how they resurrected the dead. Or how easy everyone somehow gets along. Or how the Family is able to detect ANYTHING. Family of Intelligent Life is a testament to Albert Temple's anti-individualism. It's a group fallacy that states if there are a lot of people doing stuff together, nothing can go wrong and they never disagree on anything. They don't even have any roles, and they can give each other their abilities on a whim. The ONLY flaw the group is ever shown to have is the possibility of Gene's Primal Rage spreading to other members, but Simmy is shown to work on that.

The fact they're able to get into each other's heads so easily without any conflict is ridiculous. Can you imagine if one of them found out about a controversial political opinion Crendall had? Or that Cat Sneed likes to use the Bear Equivalent of N-word in casual conversation which offends Eubie and his GF? Or that they all can't agree on what their favorite incarnation of Sonic the Hedgehog is? I don't want to know every opinion my friends have on everything, what makes you think I would want to share a headspace with a bunch of strangers?

There's also the fact, any sort of critique of The Family is treated as a byproduct of Ignorance. Even when Matt's family critiques it, they can't actually make constructive arguments against it and just say "IT'S DUMB." No offense to Taria.

Everything I laid out to you is what makes Family of Intelligent Life Mary Sue. It has implausible levels of competence and is capable of amazing unique powers, they are universally liked and respected by everyone our narrative considers good, and possess virtually no flaws. It is Albert Temple's collectivist wish fulfillment.

But if I was forced to name a Mary Sue that was actually a character, nobody fits that better than Derukui the Kittycat from Crash Bandicoot Retold. I'll talk more about her one day.

#article thingy

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dragonballnewstar · 1 month

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These past few weeks have been weird. Musu had a new ghost-fire sword with a cute girl sealed inside, but he gave it to the hot pirate captain we've been traveling with.

Ambare has been chatting up a Vespian named Cistus, who helped us take down a bunch of Neo Freiza / Red Ribbon army people and ended up saving some Time Breakers.

Jurai is actually related to Mira, and she is gushing over Valla's little brother because he's a precious bby boy (he's a year younger than them).

TJ is now in a weird 3-way relationship with Renga and Meili.

Seth and Meili are also sort of romantically involved? Even though Meili is racist to "spark-less" and Seth is literally incapable of magic since he's man-made.

And.. Elixe is now my boyfriend and I'm pretty sure he threatened Presto after Presto said I looked nice.

Weird few weeks.

#;ic: Leche #// Our DB rp is going weird but here's a bunch of names you don't know

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hide-in-imagination · 4 months

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I read the "discussion" about what would happen if Daniela came back. I'd like to bring up the conversation about what would happen if she came back and hadn't changed at all over time. I mean, she could "sink" Ambar enough, after all, if I remember correctly, she and Ambar took the Roller Band's flash drive and then uploaded their song under a different band name, plus other things they did wrong. What if Daniela decided to pull this all out again and tell everyone, especially Simon? Because again, if I remember correctly, they knew that Daniela did it, but they didn't know that Ambar also had a hand in it

Okay, I did not remember that skjdfn😂

But you know what? I think it would be fine. I mean, Ámbar and Simón have gotten to a point in which I don't think it'd matter much what she did in the past. Simón knows that she's not that person anymore. Sure, he could be upset, and I'm sure Ámbar would feel terrible and apologize-- But that's assuming that she wouldn't have told him already. I mean, by the time Daniela came back, Simbar would've been dating for a while, and I imagine in that time they would've had a lot of chances to discuss past deeds. The only reason Ámbar wouldn't tell him would be if they forgot about it, in which case, Daniela bringing it up now wouldn't make them break up.

In a nutshell, Simón would be like, Disappointed but not surprised 😂 And like I said, I'm pretty sure he'd be fine with it. I mean, by that point, he would already know that Ámbar knew she was Sol Benson and kept the secret, so compared to that, I don't think helping Daniela would sink her much lower. Basically, they would talk about it, Ámbar would apologize profusely, Simón would be like 'It's in the past, don't worry' and that would be that.

#fuck Daniela honestly I genuinely don't care #I still like her better than Luna though 😂😂😂#anon #answered

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shadowqueenjude · 4 months

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Orpheus , hermes , persephone , and hephaestus

Orpheus: There are very few songs I like from this era of music; pop just isn’t really my thing. I really like rock music and old Indian music, anything with a strong music instrumental. Neele Neele Ambar Par, Kaash Kahin Aisa Hota, Purple Haze, Everybody (Backstreet Boys) are a few examples.

Hermes: I’ve already stated I’ve always wanted to see the Great Barrier Reef. I’d also love to see the old Aztec-Inca-Maya civilizations in middle and south America, though I’m afraid of the heat, as well as the old Egyptian civilizations. I want to see Dwaraka in India, maybe go to Iceland and see an Aurora Borealis. I have a lot of travel destinations in mind don’t I?

Persephone: Autumn, and no I’m not just saying this because of the Vanserras; it genuinely has the best weather. Although Spring can give Autumn a run for its money, usually it’s too hot. I have a Spring birthday though so there’s that.

Hephaestus: I already did this one and I’m too lazy to think of another response, so Ima copy paste it:

I LOVE MAKING THINGS. I used to paint a lot as a kid (i was never much good at it but hey) and I loved those different clay pots and stuff we made in art class. I had my rainbow loom era too (come on, we all did), still have the set somewhere in my house I’m sure. I also play piano and I tried to compose music, wasn’t my thing, but I’ve been writing for AGESSS though I never shared anything I wrote until recently and I didn’t start fanfic until recently. I also LOVEEEE making poetry; my favorite poem style is Limericks as you might have figured out by the countless limericks I wrote for Tamlin week.

#asks #mutuals tag

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donttouchthestache · 5 months

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Shuffle your favorite playlist and post the first five songs that come up. Then copy/paste this ask to your favorite mutuals. 💌💜

1.💙 The SteelDrivers - Blue side of the Mountain

2.🐻 Grizzly Bear - Neighbors

3.🧥 Don Toliver - Cardigan

4.💫 Ambar Lucid - Ms.Moon

5. 🔮 Louie Zong - Wizard Disco

😭✨️💕 i hope you enjoy this assortment of moods💕✨️🤣

#ask #mine #IM SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG THIS WAS SO FUN 🤣✨️😭😭#lovely moots😭✨️

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komawo · 5 months

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shuffle your favorite playlist and post the first five songs that come up. then copy/paste this ask to your favorite mutuals <3

yayy! I love getting to share music so ty for sending me this <3

sweet marie - the walters

timeless - ambar lucid

dancing off my sins - capital soiree

cloud sails - judah earl

older - lizzy mcalpine

#ask #asks #thank you!#personal #music

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countessofravenclaw · 4 months

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El Lugar más Feliz de la Tierra: Chapter seven

To all that come to this happy place, welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. - Walt Disney

Luna had never heard these words before, nor had she heard of the man who had said them... well until she and Mateo end up having a movie night and Luna comes up with an idea. If there is really a place that can be called "the happiest place on the earth" she wants to see it for herself. So she and all her friends leave on an adventure ... an adventure over to a place where you can leave today and enter the world of the past, future, adventure, and fantasy.

The song of the chapter v ¤

Nothing can stop us now

“Uuuuu, uuu, what do you think he’s gonna be like?” Luna was skipping ahead in the queue, “I mean I read like that he’s like the boss.”

“I don’t know if I could ever work for a mouse,” Matteo joked as he walked behind her with Gastón and Nina.

“Well, good thing you don’t have an employer,” Gastón patted him on the shoulder. “You could never survive with my boss.”

“I thought you liked your boss,” Matteo rolled his eyes at Gastón, “Or. Don’t you have like multiples? I will never understand how that works.”

“I mean, there’s my direct supervisor who answers to the division manager Mr. Gomez. We all contribute to things the executive works on, and they are under the CEO’s direct management.”

“Stop talking about work!” Luna turned around frustrated and linked her arms with Nina and then went to grab Ambar as well. She started dragging them further along the queue.

“I think it’s safe to say that this Disney obsession of hers won’t end anytime soon,” Gastón noted as he and Matteo kept on walking as well.

“As long as she is having fun,” Matteo shrugged and look ahead at Luna.

“Okay, next group!” The character attendant yelled and opened the gate. Luna could almost burst from excitement. The rides were awesome, of course they were, but she absolutely had loved meeting all the characters. It was so cool seeing them basically come to life, with the costumes and everything.

Obviously, she knew that they weren’t real, she wasn’t stupid, but it was fun to pretend. The characters with the big head—Nina had called them something fur—were especially adorable. They were fuzzy with big eyes and mouth… In short, extremely huggable.

“Hello my friends!” A high-pitched voice was heard as Luna entered the area where Mickey Mouse was standing.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Luna was suddenly taken aback. “You talk?? He talks? This is so awesome!”

None of the other characters that had these big heads talked.

“It is so nice to see you!”

“It is so nice to see you too Mickey!!” Luna started jumping up and down before hugging a ginormous character.

“Have you had fun at my home!”

“Absolute best!” Luna continued, “We’ve been here for a long time now. We’re going home tomorrow, but I don’t want to leave.”

“Where are you from?” Mickey kept asking Luna questions.

“Buenos Aires!” She responded enthusiastically.

“Thank you for coming so far to see me.”

“You’re welcome! But like, it’s not that far,” Luna started, “Or is it? The flight was very long, let me tell you…”

“Have you visited that one house on New Orleans Square?” Mickey started asking.

“What house?” Luna looked at him confused.

“I once went there, and I think it was haunted.”

“Oh!” the realization hit Luna, “YES!! We went there on our first day here! It was spooky.”

“I think a ghost tried to follow me home from there,” Mickey continued.

“Oh me too!” Luna looked over her shoulder, “Hopefully it didn’t happen… Matteo! Has there been a ghost chasing me this whole time?”

“Not that I have seen,” Matteo laughed and walked up to where Luna and Mickey were standing and offered his hand. “Hello, Mr. Mouse.”

“Mr. Mouse?” Luna looked at Matteo.

“Well, he was the boss, wasn’t he?”

***

“So, my Jaz-fans, today we start our day with some culinary delights—”

“Jazmin were going to be buying churros,” Delfi noted as Jazmin kept hyping up the snacks to her camera. “I don’t think you can really call them the most exquisite culinary delights.”

“How do you know?” Jazmin turned to her after shutting the camera off. “Have you ever eaten churros?”

“Literally the last time we went to Costa Park, but you didn’t want one because, and I quote “they would destroy your outfit.” So, yes, I have had them,” Delfi rolled her eyes. “You surely have too, they’re super common, you probably had them at ours. Those were Aaron’s favorite dessert.”

“I mean maybe I have, but these are Disney churros,” Jazmin shrugged, “So must be better and make better content.”

“Delfi just shrugged and laughed as they received their long treats.

“Uuf, all this cinnamon is ruining my outfit!” Jazmin started complaining.

“I tried to warn you.”

“Anyways,” Jazmin grabbed a few selfies with her churros and then pulled her camera out, “So, who guessed right? The answer is Churros! So, all my Jaz-fans, you get to see me take my first bite of a Disney churro.”

“Can we get these for the wedding?” Pedro asked as he was munching on his own churro.

“So, a finger food buffet isn’t enough for you?” Delfi raised and affectionate eyebrow at Pedro. He had been surprisingly involved with the wedding planning, especially when it had come to the food.

“Isn’t this finger food?” He countered, “I don’t see forks.”

“We’ll see what we can do once we’re back in Argentina.”

***

“Where are they?” Luna was tippin on her toes as they were waiting on for the others in the middle of Toon Town.

“Delfi texted me that they are on their way now,” Ambar looked at her phone, “Now that they’re done with their churros.”

“I wanna churro,” Luna stopped on her tracks, “Matteo! Why haven’t you gotten me a churro?”

“Because you literally had three macarons and an ice-cream sundae,” Matteo responded, “No one wants to deal with you while you’re hangry. But wait like an hour, because you’re really hopped on sugar right now. You’ll get your churro.”

“I’d better…” Luna rolled her eyes.

“We’re here!” Suddenly they saw Jim, Yam and Ramiro jog toward them, “We almost got kidnapped by pirates!”

“Only because Ramiro neglected to tell us about the drops,” Yam scowled at Ramiro.

“I thought it was obvious.”

“We’re very close to banning you from third wheeling us ever again,” Jim continued.

“And now we have entered the world of cartoons…” Everyone turned around as they started hearing Jazmin’s voice. Low and behold, she was walking toward them—camera in hand—with Delfi and Pedro. She directed the camera toward Luna, “So, tell us. What are we doing here?”

“So, we were just meeting Mickey and heard that he has his own ride here.” Luna started, “I can’t believe that I almost completely missed that while doing research. It was called a run-away way or something like that, so basically a train ride! Now we just need to find it.”

Luna started scrolling through the map. She had never been good with maps—that had been very proven when she and Matteo had once taken part in a city orienteering event at Buenos Aires, because it had sounded cool. They had gotten pretty lost. She finally found the attraction she had been looking for after swiping around for at least 5 minutes.

“So, we need to be heading toward a theatre of some sort,” She looked up and started looking around, “I have no idea where that could be though…”

“Right there,” Nina pointed behind them. Luna turned around and saw a cartoonish looking movie theatre. It had a billboard that read: “The grand World Prem-Ear”. “Huh, what does that mean?” Luna stared at the sign.

“A mouse pun?” Gastón shrugged. “Are we gonna stand here the whole day?”

“Lets go in.”

As they entered, they walked over a carpet that said: “El Capitoon Theatre”. Then there was a display that read: “Mickey Mouse and the Perfect Picnic”. It looked like one of those shorts that Luna had watched on the plane.

“High School Goofical?” Luna read off one of the posters. “What does that mean?”

“I guess it's a parody of High School Musical,” Matteo had appeared on her side.

“High School what now?” Luna looked at him. “Why would someone make a musical of a high school? Imagine if someone made one of Blake, it would be ridiculous.”

“They made three movies,” Ambar remarked as she came behind them, “And a streaming series. I used to love those movies, but they were a bit silly.”

“Those movies had the best songs,” Ramiro suddenly started doing some random choreography, “I’m not gonna stop, that’s who I am…”

“Has everyone heard of the High School musicals except me?” Luna looked around. “That’s it! Matteo, we’re watching those movies on the plane back.”

“Sure,” Matteo made a few faces that very clearly tried to convey a message called “help me”. It would be a very interesting flight back.

They walked forward in the queue and Luna tried to look at all of the posters. They all seemed to be some sort of parodies of movies… not that Luna had ever heard of any of them. Maybe she really should ask Nina to hold some sort of an old movie marathon, so she could get more up to date. But at the same time… She had terrible track record with falling asleep during movies if she was even tad bit bored—one of the reasons why the Star Wars thingies would never work out with her.

Next, they walked under a banner that read “It was all started by a Mouse”. Since Ambar had apparently read multiple books on the Walt Disney guy who was the founder of all of Disney, she and Nina—who just had known about the history, because of course she did—had given her a crash course on some of the history. The whole company really had been started by a mouse, Mickey to be exact.

The queue continued onto the next room which looked like a museum display. There was a helm of a ship and a plane hanging off a ceiling. It looked very cool.

Luna stopped in front of a mannequin that looked like Mickey. It was wearing a red rope and a pointy blue hat. Why she had stopped was because the hat just spoke to her. It had a white moon and stars on it.

“Oh!” Luna staggered back. “It flew! Everyone else saw that right?”

“What are you talking about?” Matteo looked at her confused.

“The hat just flew off the head of the doll,” Luna pointed toward the mannequin.

“It’s a hat. You sure you weren’t just dreaming like you usually are?” Matteo looked like she was trying not to laugh, “Those don’t float—Ah, what was that?!”

The hat had started levitating again. Matteo jumped back scared like a bunny.

“See, I wasn’t just inventing things,” Luna laughed at him. She looked at the hat again. It was floating and she could see sparkles around with some magical sound effects. “This is actually really cool.”

“Whatever you say,” Matteo nodded, “Let’s move along.”

“Hey, this mirror is haunted!” Jim seemed to be yelling from further up the queue. “I swear I saw a ghost!”

“Nope, not even gonna comment on that,” Matteo shook his head and turned to grab Luna by her shoulders. “Come on…”

“Wow! A beanstalk!!!” Luna had already dashed away, “Mom always used to read me that story.”

“Here we go again.”

Soon, they were standing in front of the double doors which had three circle windows, making a Mickey shape on the door. The doors opened up and they walked into a space that looked like some sort of a movie theatre.

“What are we doing here?” Luna was bouncing on her toes excitedly. From what she had learned of the ride, it was supposed to be some sort of a train, so she didn’t fully understand why they were in a movie theatre.

As they all had entered the room, the screen lit up and started playing a cartoon.

The cartoon depicted Mickey and Minney apparently going to take a picnic. They came across Goofy who was driving a train. Then something weird happened…

The train that Goofy was driving suddenly rode into a barn and then exploded.

The weird thing was that the screen they had been watching the cartoon on exploded too. There was a concrete hole in there and now they were directed to go through it.

“What is going on?” Luna looked around intrigued.

“We’ll just have to see,” Matteo took her hand, and they started walking.

***

“No.”

“Well, what about this?”

“NO.”

“Why not?”

“I am not buying that.” Matteo sighed as Luna showed him at least a hundred silly looking hats.

“You can’t be that grumpy all the time,” She rolled her eyes at him. “You promised me that you’ll buy me ears.”

“Yes, for YOU,” Matteo countered. “I’ll buy you ten pairs of ears, but I will not be wearing any sorts of hats.”

Luna was holding a giant green hat in front of him. As far as Matteo was able to deduce, it was Mad Hatter’s hat.

“You’ll need some sort of a souvenir,” Luna gave him her best puppy eyes and Matteo almost gave in… He really needed to stay strong, otherwise that hat would end up in their next Christmas card. That would be a field day for his fans.

“I have a souvenir,” Matteo continued, “The lightsaber. That’s enough… Okay, you can pick something else, but not a hat. Okay?”

“Yayyyy!” Luna jumped on her feet and dashed toward the next display.

“Don’t get lost in here,” Matteo yelled after her. “Our flight leaves in five hours!”

“I am trying not to think about it!” Luna yelled back at him. “Oh, I listened to some of that High School music yesterday while you were asleep. I want to walk down the aisle to one of the songs.”

“Fun.” Matteo didn’t know if he wanted to cringe or smile.

The past days had been so much fun but also exhausting… he was looking forward to just crashing on the plane.

And if Luna had already picked the processional music, maybe they should now actually get some wedding planning done.

All that said, this had really been an adventure.

{}

So, our journey come to an end, but yours continues on... Anyways, the story is done now. I gotten be honestly, writing this time to time has kind of been mentally taxing on me. It's probably because this idea is years old, and part of those cookie cutter ideas I for project post MOT. This story is very reactionary and nothing really happens so it's not that exciting to write. That being said, I'm not unhappy about how this turns out and I'm hppy this exist. We can move onto some more wacky projects and I hope everyone enjoyed the adveture.

#Soy Luna #soy luna fanfiction #Going to Disneyland #Disney #disney chaos #lutteo #gastina #simbar #Pelfi #Jam #Chaos will reign in the happiest place on earth #Roller crew goes to Disneyland #Lugar más Feliz

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