unknowns | n. mühl
summary; you turn her entire world upside down.
🎵 dunno - mac miller
uconn was known for the student-athlete parties they threw and there was no doubt about that, so as your friend aubrey invited you to celebrate the women's basketball team winning the big east tournament you'd immediately agreed. you hadn't been to many parties before due to being too busy studying or simply being too tired, but you'd dropped aubrey off to multiple and they always looked insane.
your best friend had barged into your dorm earlier that afternoon and slammed your revision books shut, silencing your protests with a statement confirming the huskies had booked their ticket to the ncaa championship and were going to be celebrating that night at a local frat house.
"oh fuck yeah! i love those girls."
"that's what i'm talking about girl! now lets get dressed, it starts in five hours and you know how i like my makeup done."
you stood up and led her to your bedroom, opening the section of your wardrobe that had some clothes from her previous party outfits when she had slept over.
"i'll never understand why you spend so much time doing your makeup if you're just gonna ruin it within a couple minutes."
aubrey scoffed as she dug through her clothes, finding a few candidates and finally deciding on a slim black dress that you gave her a thumbs up to when she sent you a questioning look.
"don't wear your heels, you can never walk in them."
"thanks babe! and i do my makeup so i can attract hot boys to ruin it within a couple minutes."
"oh, gross."
you rolled your eyes at her antics as she playfully blew you a kiss and you flipped her off, lying back comfortably on your bed whilst contemplating outfit choices. aubrey had left a couple minutes later after realising she needed to get makeup from her dorm, practically sprinting down the hallway as you watched her almost run into someone out of excitement, heading back into your room to decide on what to wear.
four and a half hours later, aubrey was finally ready. you'd waited until the last hour and a half to start getting ready, knowing it wouldn't take you as long as her, before putting on a simple pair of straight-legged jeans and expensive top alongside your favourite pair of shoes. you wanted to wear a jacket over it but remembered there'd be nowhere to put it and aubrey was never a good person to look after your belongings when she was drunk too.
"aubs come on we're gonna be late!"
"shut the fuck up i'm coming!"
the shorter woman pushed past you and flicked your forehead as you looked down with a raised eyebrow, your height intimidating her whilst you locked up your room and headed towards the parking lot.
"what the fuck did you get fed to be so damn tall?"
"nothing you ate that's for sure."
aubrey let out a sarcastic laugh and got in the passenger seat of your car, informing you of the usual party place it was supposed to be at and gladly realising she was right when you arrived ten minutes later. it was still early but there were definitely people present, music could be heard from multiple blocks away and cars were parked stupidly all over as students ran across the roads in front of your car.
"damn, all this just for qualifying? imagine what it'll be like when they win."
you commented whilst locking your car, making sure aubrey had shut the door properly as you both headed towards the open front door. people were drunkenly dancing and talking on the front lawn with red solo party cups and beer bottles strewn all over, the music growing louder as you walked closer and finally made your way inside to be met with a sea of students.
"i think they'll need two houses when they win!"
aubrey shouted over the music as you guided her through the crowd by holding her hand, heading towards the kitchen and wearing matching grins at the sight of what there was on offer. not many people were around the alcohol as they'd already had their pick, so you were blessed with the time to choose what you liked and witness aubrey mixing all the alcohol she could find.
"you're gonna give yourself alcohol poisoning if you add any more."
"hm, good way to go."
you shoved her shoulder lightly with a chuckle whilst choosing your favourite drink that the frat house had finally decided to put on offer, turning to the shorter woman as she nudged you with her elbow and pointed in front of you, your eyes following what she was referring to. a small group of tall women stood talking with drinks in their hands, people passing them and sharing a couple words before setting off again, the women continuing their conversation.
"those are from the team- that one on the left is kk, the one to her right is paige, the one with her back faced towards us is nika i think and the one on the right is ashlynn."
"damn, you weren't lying when you said i should try out for the team based on my height. some of them are taller than me!"
"girl, i'm never wrong."
you rolled your eyes at her cocky statement before being dragged away by her, recognising the new environment as the dancefloor you'd previously walked through and beginning to let loose. it wasn't long before you'd lost aubrey to a random guy she'd found, sending her a playful wink as she danced and eventually dragged him away to talk by the drinks in the kitchen, obviously intending on leaving with him or going upstairs at some point.
after a couple moments of enjoying yourself on the dancefloor it had became too crowded for your liking, driving you to push through the sea of bodies towards the kitchen and breathe out a heavy sigh with your chest heaving for a breath. you leaned against the counter for a moment and stood upright again, feeling eyes on you as you turned to the left and saw the group of women aubrey claimed were the whole reason of this party staring at you. the one who had her back turned to you previously kept her eyes on you for a moment longer than the others, excusing herself and making her way over as you internally panicked whilst standing upright.
you normally found confidence in your height that provided you a mask to hide your stress, but with nika being the same height as you it was no use.
"hey, you okay? you looked really stressed just then, we thought you were about to pass out."
she asked with a laugh, making you smile in response whilst shaking your head.
"no, i'm good. just a bit too crowded in there."
"yeah, that's why we stay in here. i'm nika by the way."
she stuck her hand out to greet you formally, a soft smile playing on her lips to match your own as you took note of her accent.
"i'm y/n, i'm not hearing an american accent there. you international?"
"croatia, came here for basketball- obviously."
she rolled her eyes at herself as you laughed lightly together, waving off her self judgement to comfort her.
"would it be rude to ask you to say something in croatian for me?"
"not at all, what you wanting me to say?"
you leaned against the counter and thought for a moment whilst smoothing out your shirt, trying to think of anything.
"how about; this party is shit?"
nika laughed loudly and quickly covered her mouth with her hand, closing her eyes in embarassment as you laughed at the snort she'd attempted to cover up. both of you calmed down quickly as she apologised and you waved her off once more, taking a deep breath to calm herself down from the laughing fit she'd just had.
"how about this instead, želiš li otići odavde?"
"i would love to be able to speak croatian right now."
you replied with your heart hammering, the woman was absolutely stunning and speaking in her home language was turning you on to no end. the words rolled off her tongue effortlessly and her accent returned to give her another attractive factor, hazel eyes boring into yours making your chest feel like it was about to explode as she maintained eye contact with ease. you noticed the way she'd move her head and keep her eyes on yours whenever you shifted slightly, noting it down as a thing athletes must be taught by their coaches- but god was it hot.
"i asked if you wanna get outta here."
she repested with a smile, soft tone matching her inviting features whilst she placed her hand to rest on the kitchen counter next to yours, fingers brushing.
"isn't this party supposed to be about you?"
"they won't notice i'm gone. and i'm not the only player on the team y'know?"
nika took a step closer and moved her hand to be resting on top of yours, fingers tracing patterns down your wrist and along your digits in a teasing manner.
"where you thinkin' of goin' then?"
it wasn't long before nika was pushing you against the front door and connecting your lips hungrily, both of you battling for dominance as you guided her further into your dorm whilst tearing each others clothes off. aubrey crossed your mind for a moment and you made a mental note to text her in the morning asking if she got home safe, but right now your only concern was the woman tangling her fingers into your hair to pull you closer.
you'd woken up the next morning to find no trace of nika whatsoever, it was as if she hadn't even came home with you and the whole night was just a dream. she hadn't left a note explaining why she left, offering you her number, if she enjoyed her time with you- nothing.
you thanked god you didn't drink much the night before as you got dressed and freshened yourself up, looking in the mirror to spot a couple hickeys trailed down your neck and scratch marks along your biceps or shoulderblades, nika had definitely came home with you and there was no doubt about it. your thoughts were interrupted by the sound of banging on your door, immediately heading to open it as you knew it would be aubrey.
"did you get any sleep last night? where did you stay?"
the blonde groaned in relief as she resided comfortably on your couch, amusement overtaking your features once you realised she was still in the dress she wore to the party.
"i stayed at that dude's dorm- can't remember his name. you get lucky last night?"
aubrey sat up with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows, eyes trailing to your neck as she shot up to stand on the opposite side of the kitchen counter before taking a seat on one of the highchairs.
"that's a hickey! you can't deny it- who was it?!"
"aubrey i don't ask about your-"
"i know but i also know for a fact that the only gay girls at that party were the basketballers! which one?"
you sighed and shut your eyes, thinking about last night for a moment before giving in once you realised your best friend wouldn't give up.
"uh, nika."
you expected a round of applause or yelling about how proud she was as usual but were instead met with silence, opening an eye to see aubrey sat there in shock with her jaw dropped slightly. she looked like she'd just seen a ghost as she stared at you in disbelief.
"what?"
"y/n..."
you stood up straight as an indicator for her to continue, watching her try to gather her thoughts before she shut her eyes tightly and opened them again. it looked like she was trying to keep a secret and you'd just blackmailed her into giving it up as she finally began to tell you what was wrong.
"nika has a boyfriend, i'm pretty sure he plays for the men's basketball team. name's nahiem or something."
"oh, well that explains why she was gone this morning."
everything made a lot more sense thanks to aubreys confession, but why would nika sleep with you if she was dating a man?
"and as much as i hate to be awkward i went on my phone today and found this."
aubrey tapped on her screen for a few moments and turned her phone towards you, revealing a text chain with someone called azzi talking about a game against duke in four days time in the sweet sixteen of the ncaa tournament, and aubrey promising azzi she'd be coming with a plus one.
"you're gonna have to watch her play in four days."
"aubrey!'
"i'm sorry! you know what i get like when i'm drunk."
you groaned in annoyance as she smiled sheepishly at you, taking her phone back whilst you stood there thinking about all the possibilities of what could happen when you see nika again.
--------
"you want me to go over there with you and say hi to them?"
"yeah! it will give you and nika a lil' ice breaker, plus they're really nice. if she makes it awkward they'll fill in for you or something."
aubrey practically dragged you out of your seat towards azzi as she waved you over, sending you a smile that you returned. some of her teammates walked over and a few stayed to keep making shots in their warmup drills, nika turning around to see where everyone was going and practically lighting up at the sight of you, jogging over to the small group you were making your way towards.
"looks like she won't be making it awkward."
aubrey commented with her elbow nudging yours, greeting azzi with a hug as you stood and watched rather awkwardly.
"this is y/n, the one i was telling you about!"
the blonde introduced you cheerfully as you waved, noticing the way nikas eyes were glued to you whilst she watched the girls introduce themselves.
"i'm sorry, how on earth did you get talking to drunk aubrey and manage to convince her to come to your basketball game? this woman hates sports."
the girls laughed at your joke as aubrey sarcastically joined in, azzi being quick to explain how she met your best friend at the party and managed to get her number before she left with the random guy she was dancing with last time you saw her. you couldn't get into conversation for too long as the game was about to start, so the girls bid goodbye and made their way onto the other side of the court. with aubrey making comments here and there about how she didn't understand a single thing about basketball, you filled her in with your limited knowledge on how the game worked, informing the smaller woman on when nika made an assist or rebound and ignoring the way she'd stare at you with a knowing look.
the game was soon over and uconn were once again headed to the elite eight, aubrey being quick to head down to the bench and hug azzi even thought she wasn't played. you wondered what on earth they'd spoken about in the past couple of days to get so close as you made your way down, congratulating the girls on their win and promising to be at all their games. you spotted nika on the other side of the court hugging a man not too much taller than her, smiling up at him as he kissed her on the forehead and turned her around to go celebrate with her team, her eyes connecting with yours before she jogged over with her arms wide open and a massive grin on her face.
"i'm so glad you're here! you're coming to our next game right?"
her hands stayed on your shoulders as she stared at you hopefully, watching you take a moment to process her question before nodding your head.
"uh, yeah! i'm sure aubrey was gonna drag me to it anyways."
"gives me an excuse to see you again, it's on monday!"
you couldn't help but not be mad at nika. her aura was so inviting and she didn't pretend to not know you, it's like the second she wrapped her arms around your waist you'd forgotten about her boyfriend completely and were at her mercy again. just like the night of the party, you found yourself willing to be anything she wanted as long as it meant you'd get a second longer with her, so as she pulled you over to speak to her teammates by the wrist you made no move to pull it away.
the same thing had happened on monday, you'd spoken to the girls before the game thanks to aubrey and witnessed her blossoming friendship with azzi form into one with paige too, meaning the girls were inviting you to their apartment for some opportunities to know them better after the game regardless of if they won or not. obviously, they beat southern carolina by seven points and were now headed to the final four, meaning they were fired up and had been blasting music on the way back to their home with you and aubrey squashed into the car where space was available.
you'd walked into their shared home and found not nearly as many of the girls as you thought would be present had even came, majority either spending time with family or wanting to go home due to how tired they were. it was obvious paige was on the bluetooth for their speakers in the living room as her and kk argued over what songs to put on, all the girls gathering around in their designated seats and leaving you to find your own. aubrey immediately gravitated towards aaliyah on the double couch in the corner, striking up conversation as you made your way towards the only seat left next to nika.
the croatian smiled brightly when she saw you coming over to sit down with her, welcoming your company and going to say something before paige interrupted.
"alright, truth or dare girls let's go!"
the women cheered in agreement to her idea and began deciding on who was first, landing on kk as paige dictated herself as the one asking the first question since it was her idea. the first couple of dares and truths were fairly tame, ranging from azzi singing a solo for you all to aaliyah telling her parents a picture of a stupid tattoo she knew they'd hate and claiming it was hers.
it was now nikas turn to be asking whoever she pleased the golden question, yourself preparing as she let her eyes linger on you before eventually asking.
"y/n, truth or dare?"
"oooh goin' after the newbie i see!"
paige commented as none of the girls had gone for you and aubrey yet, wanting to make you as comfortable as possible without forcing you into the game.
"truth."
some of them teasingly groaned in annoyance, claiming you were boring as you flipped them off and waited for nika to ask her question.
"who's your favourite player on the team?"
your eyes widened for a moment as the basketballers looked at you intently, even aubrey was trying to hold her laugh back slightly as she saw the panic flash across your face when she realised you barely knew any of them well enough to have a favourite - apart from nika, so you went with that.
"erm, i don't really know any of you more than i know nika, so i'mma have to go with her. sorry guys!"
the athletes gave each other knowing looks as nika wore a proud expression, sticking her tongue out at paige and wrapping an arm around your shoulder to pull you closer.
"this my twin!"
"how dare you?!"
paige mocked offense as she put a hand to her chest, gasping dramatically before laughing with you all and sending nika a heart with her hands as she returned it. you turned to nika and smiled at her, glad to see she was already looking at you with a soft grin with her eyes flickering between your lips and eyes, making you turn away before you lost your self control. it didn't take long before the girls were up dancing and blasting music, yourself and nika the only ones on the couch as she'd put in a shift during the game and you just weren't in the mood to dance, so she'd put her legs up over yours and rested her head on your shoulder whilst your arms rested across her thighs.
"did you tell the girls about us?"
you asked quietly, nika pulling her head out of your neck with confrontation written across her expression.
"i saw the looks they gave each other earlier on. why didn't you tell me you have a boyfriend?"
"i think this is a conversation we need to have somewhere else, y/n."
the point guard stood up and made her way over to aaliyah, speaking for a minute before taking a key she'd handed her and walking over to you, putting her hand out for you to take and lacing your fingers together when you did as she asked. you walked towards the apartment complex elevator and went up a few floors, nika leading the way to aaliyah's apartment and letting you in first, shutting the door behind her.
"no one else is gonna be here tonight, it's aaliyah's place."
"nika."
you turned to her with a stern voice whilst taking a seat at aaliyah's kitchen island, watching as she stood across from you and took a deep breath. you expected her to have a lengthy explanation on how what happened was a mistake or how she was broken up with him at the time- anything along those lines, but only silence came your way. you made the next move, sighing heavily and sitting up to stretch your back out.
"you literally spoke to him seconds before coming to me at the duke game, i know it didn't just slip your mind. why didn't you tell me?"
"because i wanted to break up with him! but when it came to it i met you and i just couldn't bring myself to-"
"oh so you're a coward then? how would you feel if you found out he'd cheated on you and then told you he'd been wanting to break up with you for ages beforehand but let it go on anyways!"
the croatian looked down in shame at her feet, refusing to meet your eyes as you calmed down from your tangent of rage. you'd been put into an impossible situation and were most likely going to be blamed for it when it got out, but you couldn't not feel bad for nika as she spoke up with a wavering voice.
"i think i might be gay- and i don't know what to do. when i saw you i knew that i wasn't just confused and then one thing led to another..."
"nika,"
you sighed deeply and rubbed your forehead to calm down the furrow in your brow, noticing the hopeful glint behind her eyes as you looked up to her.
"as much as i like you and wanna see where this goes, i'm not involving myself any further until you break up with him."
the croatian nodded her head in understanding as she looked down at her feet again, not moving when she heard your chair scrape against the floor in assumption that you'd be moving to leave, shocked to find your arms around her waist as you hugged her from behind instead. you rested your head on her shoulder and discreetly breathed in her scent, smiling when her hands fell on top of yours and body relaxed into your embrace.
"i'll see you later niks, yeah?"
"hopefully sooner rather than later y/n/n."
she mumbled in response and looked at you with a soft smile, eyes trailing down to your lips but knowing not to do anything that would make her predicament more difficult. you regretfully let go of her and made your way out of aaliyah's apartment, texting aubrey that you were going to get an uber back to your dorm and assuring her to get home safe or stay over with the girls, the only other thing on your mind being nika.
--------
as far as uconn wanted to go, iowa stood in their way. your university was one game away from being potential ncaa champions and it just seemed the pressure had gotten to them in the last seconds against iowa, connecticut fans devastated at the sight of their opposers walking away victoriously. you and aubrey watched in despair as your girls walked up to their opponents and shook their hands, congratulating them before some waved you down and smiled at how you shot out of your seats to comfort them.
you made your way around the group with soft hugs and praising words, not realising nika was missing until you caught paiges eyes wandering in the group huddle you'd made. your eyes followed hers and you saw her speaking to nahiem, obviously it wasn't a pleasant conversation judging by their body language and the way he wasn't hugging her out of comfort, the croatian held her hand up to his face to stop him from talking after a moment and walked away.
paige looked to find your eyes on hers and smiled comfortingly, happy when you returned it as nika joined the group and rested her head on the blondes shoulder.
"hey, we're gonna leave you guys be for some time yeah?"
"maybe we can come visit later if you want us to?"
you and aubrey compromised as the girls all nodded their heads in agreement, hugging you one by one and heading to the locker rooms. when you got to nika you let aubrey hug her first - thinking she wouldn't want to hug you after your conversation from the other day - but were shocked to feel her collapse into your arms with a tight hold. you immediately hugged her back and rested your chin on her head as she buried hers into your neck, pulling away after a moment with tears in her eyes to smile softly and watch you return it before heading off to the locker rooms with paige.
"they were so close."
aubrey mumbled as you hummed in agreement, slinging an arm over her shoulder to keep her close whilst setting off towards your own dorm. after an hour or so of sulking for the girls and being concerned about nika in specific, aubrey got a text from paige saying they wanted to see you both, happy to be greeted with your arrival half an hour later.
you made your way around the room greeting them with soft smiles, sitting next to ashlynn and wrapping an arm around her as she rested her head on your shoulder, smiling at the way she pushed herself deeper into you out of comfort. a soft conversation ran throughout the room with aubrey and paige taking the lead, successfully distracting the girls from the loss they'd just suffered and gaining a laugh every so often when a joke was made or playful insult was thrown about. it didn't take you long to notice that nika was the only one who wasn't there, otherwise she would've either been lying on your other shoulder or replacing ashlynn.
"hey, y/n,"
aaliyah spoke quietly from next to you, placing a hand on your thigh gently to gain your attention and not interrupt the others.
"nika's in my room. i think she'd really love to see you."
"oh, i don't wanna-"
"she'd really love to see you."
aaliyah repeated firmly as you went to deny her offer, not wanting to intrude and leave the others when you had a freshman falling asleep on you.
"it's okay, i'll use lili as my pillow."
she spoke from your shoulder, placing her hand on yours gently with a reassuring smile and practically pushing you out of your seat, the rest of the girls smiling and waving you goodbye as they immediately knew where you were headed. you took the elevator to the floor you'd remembered nika pressing on, standing nervously as it just came to mind that you'd be alone with her for the first time since denying her advances.
your mind ran wild with awkward scenarios that could occur when nika saw you at the door, thinking she'd simply slam it in your face or give you a tight-lipped smile that wouldn't cover up her tear-stained face. then you remembered the way she collapsed into you after the game, how she didn't want to let go and said she was so happy to see you watching her play after what happened. your thoughts were clouded with nika as you walked towards the apartment you guessed was aaliyah's, knocking on the door hopefully and smiling once the point guard answered it.
a massive grin grew on her face as soon as she saw you and she pulled you into another tight hug, clutching onto your shirt. nika pulled you closer before you forcefully pushed her away, holding her hand to make up for it as you walked her backwards and shut the door behind you with your foot whilst holding eye contact. you guided her towards the couch and sat next to her, placing an arm around her shoulders as she sank into you the same way ashlynn was earlier on, wrapping her arms around your waist.
"how you doin' niks, hm?"
you asked softly with your hand rubbing over her arm, feeling her smile into your neck at the nickname.
"m'good, you?"
"m'okay, thanks for asking."
the croatian pulled away to smile softly up at you, a comforting environment present as you held each other gently. she licked her lips and looked down at yours, smile slowly fading as her eyes visibly darkened and your heart rate picked up with her gaze locked on yours, her arms moving to wrap around your neck as she carefully straddled you. the croatian guided your hands to rest on her waist, biting her lip to keep in the grin when your hands mindlessly wandered across her thighs - then she started leaning in to kiss you; ever so slowly. giving you a chance to pull away, and you did.
you saw hurt flash across her expression to replace the smile she wore previously, prompting you to quickly explain.
"nahiem."
you stated bluntly and quietly, nika sighing softly as one of her hands came up to trace your jawline.
"i broke up with him."
your eyes met hers to check if she was being sincere, and she was.
she had no reason to lie after she'd already done so beforehand, she knew she'd lose you if she lied again.
"when?"
you asked breathily, watching her lean in slowly again and not moving to pull away. her lips were centimetres from brushing yours now and you could feel her fingers moving to hold the side of your neck.
"after the game, did you not see us arguing?"
"yeah but i thought..."
"but you thought what?"
the croatian asked quietly, smiling widely at how nervous she was making you just by speaking.
"maybe it was just the stress of losing the game or something."
"no. he said i was breaking up with him because i was upset about the game, so i just stopped him from saying anything else."
"yeah i saw that, the sassy hand and everything."
you joked as nika laughed with you, shaking her head and leaning in to brush her lips over yours.
"shut up."
she spoke softly, connecting your lips in the sweetest kiss you'd ever experienced. your hands gently pulled her hips closer to you as she pushed her chest against yours, sighing into your mouth whilst your lips moved in sync and her hands held onto your shoulders to stabilise herself- almost as if she would lose control if she didn't have a death grip on you. you'd been waiting so long to have nika as your own again and here she was, in your lap, kissing you like you were made of glass and somehow pouring all her emotion into it at the same time; it was heavenly.
the pair of you pulled away after a couple moments to catch your breath, resting your foreheads together as you panted into each others mouths with laughs and softly placed hands pawing at clothes, trying to get a feel for the others body after going so long without.
"god i've missed you."
nika breathed out before she pulled you into a passionate kiss, your hands trailing up her back and pushing in the curve of her spine to have her closer. you felt her smile into the kiss as she tilted her head to deepen it further, making you smile in response to her desperation for something as simple as a kiss before pulling away, pecking her lips a couple more times to apologise for the pout she wore.
"i take it you're not questioning your sexuality anymore then?"
nika threw her head back with a hearty laugh as you watched with a grin, chuckling with her as she looked back down at you and shook her head fondly, confirming there would be no more lies and she was finally yours.
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can i be honest? im a fan of azul but his dream felt like it lacked impact. there were some very interesting moments and its better than the prediction that he would already be rich and own the world
like really? azul becomes a famous athlete and bullies others, then he takes over night raven? i feel like his struggles with his own identity and food could have been further explored and he is based off of ursula, which should extend to vanessa, right? it was the perfect reason to give him a total makeover and show that he has to be comfortable in his own skin before anything else, even if his other ness was what made him a target of bullying in the first place
your thoughts and worries on book 7 post has affected my perspective and i cant help but feel like something is missing 🥲 maybe all the budget went into Jade and Floyd?
[Referencing this post!]
As I’ve previously expressed, I have a lot of my own complicated feelings about the direction book 7 is taking, specifically with how the OB boys’ dream segments are presented and resolved. Azul’s dream is no different; it felt very contrived due to the formula TWST insists on running with in every new installment. It’s becoming even more apparent with each update, and it is really grating on me.
But!! Before I get to what I believe are shortcomings with Azul’s dream, let’s review what Anon has to say.
I feel like, no matter what, there will always be people claiming that the OB boys’ dreams are “missed opportunities”. This is simply because these characters have much more deep and complex issues than the rest of the cast, so we will naturally scrutinize them more. TWST is basically only able to go with one angle when they tackle the dream, leaving the other threads unexplored. This will surely annoy or disappoint people who wish that TWST would have addressed a different issue instead, or perhaps something closer to their personal interpretation of the events. In Azul’s case, I feel like some people (particularly in the west, not so much in the east) see Azul’s weight concerns or relationship with food as a prominent part of his character, so they wish that book 7 part 10 had looked into that more. However, that was never a big focus in canon, so it follows that TWST would want to dedicate its time and resources to the most pressing thing (which would be more centered on Azul’s general self-confidence, greed, and how those tie into his sense of identity). At the same time, they probably wanted to avoid a lens that is too broad. Having the focus be on Azul’s “otherness” or being an octopus might veer too heavily into something way beyond the scope of the ~10 parts of the story he has to himself.
We also need to consider that these dreams are meant to be shallow interpretations of what the dreamer desires (according to Idia). Only the OB boys get to go more in depth due to bring dragged down into deeper layers of their dreams. Azul wants to be accepted by his peers and is insecure about his lack of athleticism (as one reason why he was bullied was due to not being able to swim as fast as other merchildren). So of course the surface level of his dream makes him a star athlete beloved by all. The whole “his plan succeeds, he steals everyone’s magic, he takes over NRC” thing happens in the second layer of his dream, which, like all previous OB boys, is a dark display of what would have happened had they not been stopped. And finally, Azul being a bully is nothing new—we saw this behavior back in book 3 as well. He became the very thing he despised back when he was a victim, and now he continues to perpetuate that cycle of bullying in an effort to affirm confidence in his “cool” new identity. I think the dream was very intentional in trying to entice him with the promises of power and acceptance. That, in turn, shows us that the desire to be a successful businessman (the thing many of us thought would be his dream) actually hinges on Azul’s longing to be accepted. His struggle with his identity and how it depends on how others perceive him was portrayed. I’m just not sure if the idea was executed in the best way, since it sounds like the message may have gotten muddled along the way and it definitely requires some reading between the lines.
I noticed that you cited my original post where I detailed my concerns about book 7 and how that has influenced your own thoughts 💦 I hope that it just… informed or supplemented your opinions rather than suddenly altered them to be more “in line” with my own. I never want to be the kind of person who claims their interpretations are the “most correct” I’m not Riddle’s mom, okay?? 😭
About Jade and Floyd’s dreams, I feel like those are less heavily critiqued because they, by virtue of not being an OB boy, have fewer stakes and are predominantly there to be silly. It’s like contrasting Epel wanting to be big and buff to Vil literally murdering Neige; there is just no comparison. Even then, I wouldn’t necessarily say Floyd’s and Jade’s parts received “all the budget”… They seemed like pretty basic storylines to me, perhaps dressed up slightly better thanks to the new undersea assets and bioluminescence reveal.
My issues with Azul’s dream segment is how… ham-fisted several elements were. All of it, for the sake of sticking to the pattern already established earlier. It feels so unnatural and stilted because you just KNOW it’s written this way to fit the template 😔 For example:
Why did Jade become SO dumb when they were trying to figure out where Azul had moved the contracts? He’s supposed to be much smarter than how he is presented here. Wouldn’t his immediate thought be to check Azul’s room? But NO, Jade can’t come to that conclusion on his own because we need a contrived reason for each student to use their UM before the ending :/ so Jade has to waste time using his UM to get the truth out of his dream!self.
Jade and Floyd sitting around and going “………….” while they watch Azul make an ass of himself was such a time waster. Clearly you have enough brains to know what would trigger him, so why are you not acting on it???? Oh yeah, because we need to show more cool stuff in this dream like La Grotta!
Azul literally turns to the camera and tells his OB self, “Unlike you, I’ve changed.” It’s way too on the nose with what it’s trying to communicate. It breaks immersion and makes it so obvious the characters are outright stating their character development to make sure we all “get it”.
What was the purpose of Azul using his UM to get the mermobs to sign a contract to give all their power to him???💀 Bro can just say “excuse me, I forgot something back at the Coral Rush field” and they’d probably let him pass. But again, Azul isn’t allowed to do that because he MUST use his UM before the ending. Because Azul’s UM requires that another person willingly agree and sign a contract, his mandatory UM use before the grand finale feels particularly forced.
How many times do I need to listen to Idia/Ortho or other characters warn us about how we can’t have too many people dream hopping or else bugs might happen or Malleus might notice… It’s almost like the devs realize how long this is being dragged out for so they have to remind us every so often.
Not only that, but we get such poorly constructed explanations to keep characters behind while a new character goes with the main group. Why don’t you just leave them all behind once they’re awake then?? Oh yeah, because we NEED to drag along the current student into the next dream so everyone gets a cameo. It’s so inorganic how the characters are chosen to stay behind, Jamil just conveniently volunteers himself while we also listen to another spiel from Silver and Sebek about how their training makes them more stable than the twins to keep dream hopping.
I would actually consider Azul’s dream… serviceable? Like it isn’t fantastic or anything but for what it is, it works. It’s cohesive enough. But god, did I dislike how rigid it was… Nothing happens because it’s natural, it happens because the script demands it happens. To quote another post:
If anyone has played the first Ace Attorney game, this feels a LOT like that part in case 2 where Phoenix is too dumb to check the back of a receipt until Mia literally tells him to. The [characters have] to actively be made stupider because the scenario calls for it, and that really rubs me the wrong way.
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