#coincidentally i also wanted to see interactions between the tied ones

[licollisa]

I Had No Idea I Can Also But Who's Your Favorite Character Out Of All In Undertale? :)

I cant just pick one :[ so here's my top 5 absolutely biased rank

1. Chara & Sans (tied)

2. Frisk & Papyrus (tied)

3. MUFFET

4. Flowey & Temmie (lol)

5. Lesser & Greater dog (tied)

Honorable mention: Bird That Carries You Over A Disproportionately Small Gap

[rametarin]

I just remembered, ‘The Wishbone.’

I’ve mentioned ad nauseum about how when I was a kid, those child soldier type cultural guerillas were running around, “twying to stawt convuhsayshuns,” prompted by their parents to do so. Because it was a way to use their kids to disguise important social issues and topics while making it seem like the kids themselves just did that. Then they’d be there as social support to reinforce what the kid says, when they inevitably go to adults to intervene and arbitrate arguments they didn’t know and couldn’t prove one way or another. Because, kids.

But as I sit here remembering the misc. times this happened over the course of my childhood (yeah, my memories go back that far,) I remembered a commonality that happened curiously often.

The Wishbone Maneuver. And I call it a maneuver because when something just coincidentally happens handfuls of times, it’s not coincidence. Always right on a schedule, always conveniently during a discussion.

So it works like this. Lets say it starts with a random field trip. And a conversation occurs between students/peers. Inevitably, someone will segue the conversation a little. Maybe with a jokey joke. You know, to set the tone for the new ‘convuhsayshun.’

They may make a crass joke about Washington killing Native Americans, or Columbus doing it. “Teehee! Yeah! [Fictional Hero] really squashed them! Deader than all those natives Washington killed!”

Any learned child of the 80s to early 90s at the time would get PTSD, because now you’re at... The Juncture. It could begin and end with that little “jokey joke” that tries to reinforce, “the founding fathers were bad (white) people, WEEREN’T THEEEEY?” in the culture.

You know. Kind of the way German/Nazi sympathizers would go around the US making casually antisemitic jokes? Because these are psychological methods used to strong arm people into going along with and playing off the bigotry of other people. Not even necessarily racial, sexual or ethnic bigotry; it’s also how they try to strongarm and steer people into Odd Man Outing individuals and communicating indirectly that they’re untouchable pariahs, and defending them is so indefensible that you’ll be brought down with them unless you chuckle and nod in agreement.

Only they directed it as ideological opponents. Constantly. And as a child of the 80s/90s, you knew the ball was in their court for what was said next. Because it was either just going to be a “simple joke” (pivoting away if there was too big a blowback/problem) or a segue into a conversation about what a shithead George Washington and by extension the founding fathers were.

But, what if you countered by also bringing up how Che Guevera was a shithead out of the blue. They don’t like that. Because now YOU’VE introduced a “jokey-joke” non-sequitor about a figure THEY might like. It does kind of expose that you know what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and that it wasn’t just a “jokey joke.” They take note of people that understand what they are and what they’re doing, because these methods are used to try and argue you in bad faith towards their ideological mindset with as little interpersonal argument as possible.

So if you just kick over the duckblind and let them know you see EXACTLY what ideological bias they’re coming to the table from, that you will not allow them to just be, “generally critical of bad historical figures,” but in fact force them out of an offensive, entrenched, sniping position and into one of running defense, then they get upset.

You’re not supposed to have this sort of experience or knowledge dealing with tankies or pinkos. If they pull off the benign interactions well enough, they try to get you thinking like they do with a minimum of struggle between you. Disguised as, “just general conversations about history and facts.” Which are shaved, doctored, manipulated and hair-did specifically and coincidentally to portray a certain view of only specific events and people in history robbed of enough context and smoothed out with benefit of the doubt in their direction to beg you to adopt it as fact.

Anyway. The Wishbone.

So for every negative fact they give about George Washington, you give them one about someone like Pol Pot, or Che Guevera, or Tito, or Mao. Because you’re just making JOKEYJOKES! Right, ole buddy ole pal? No unstated ideological bias here at all, no sir! Hahaha, I’m just like you! I sure hate those conformist sheep and study history! Hahahaha! You just so happen to shit all over the historical figures tied to ideologies they like and are supporting by tearing down their ideological enemies.

They can then do their pre-rehearsed spiel about what a shithead any given Founding Father did. Which, if you’re educated young enough, you already know, and match them point for point with, “how shitheaded historical figures are” by pointing out how figures like Marx let their kids starve to death. Just exchangin playful character assassination implied to invalidate everything they believed in, fought for, preached and stood for, you know! Just having fun! Making jokeyjokes! ^.^

Well the wishbone maneuver comes when a second person that you didn’t know was part of this conversation flanks you. They were always part of what this conversation would become, because they’re literally the airforce and wingman of the first shit stirrer. They swoop in and segue the conversation just enough so now you’re conversing with two people, not one.

And they both want to talk to you. But the purpose of this now is to try and polarize you, leaping off from your statements and attacking your defenses from another angle. The Third Party might bring up what a shithead Jefferson was, and try to make you defend slavery in order to defend Jefferson. They’re going to demand, through the rules of social convention, that you somehow address two conflicting points about two conflicting figures with the same point, and both reserve the right to interject and mock you if what you say doesn’t apply to their figure.

“Well this other founding father also killed natives and raped their slaves. YOUR argument is that raping slaves and killing people are bad things. Guess you think Jefferson sucked, too.”

Do you see what they’re doing? They dress up this wing-man approach. From the very start this third party was on the outskirts, waiting for a signal. Because the entire point of this engagement was to either spread propaganda or culturally negatively reinforce a view of historical figures through “candid conversation.” They showed up with an axe to grind and disguised it as genial conversation, and even had someone waiting during this pre-meditated farce of a conversation to either support them or bail them out of it if it went sour.

I saw this happen too many times, too similar in the ways it happened, always from the sort of people when caught on and called out in a group for their shit, resorting to the same excuse. “I was just twying to stawt a convuhsayshun. uwu.”

This is one of the many reasons I believe there’s a playbook for this kind of shit, and I only wish I knew what book of techniques and methods they were drawing from to teach their kids to do this. I distinctly remember this shit happening too many god damned times. It used to take me by surprise, but I was left dumbfunded, frustrated and blindsided so often I just started noticing the pattern.

[procrastinatorproject]

Fic writer review, thank you to @thelaithlyworm  for the tag <3

how many works do you have on AO3?

Ten? Oh no, it’s actualy 12 now!

what’s your total AO3 word count?

86,468

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Grand total of 1: Star Trek: Picard - although my latest offering might branch a bit into other Trek as well.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

“Passengers”

“And a Barrel of Gagh”

“CMO’s Log”

“Preparations”

“Game Night”

Which is actually kinda interesting. I wrote Passengers, Preparations, and Game Night while the fandom was still a lot more active (especially in the Aramis in Space corner), so that makes sense. The CMO’s log has had chapters added every few months, giving it probably the most exposure of any of my fics. Barrel of Gagh, though? I think I’m gonna attribute that to Thimblerig turning it into a truly, TRULY brilliant piece of podfic. Also the fact that it’s whump involving a character played by Santiago Cabrera. ‘tis A Thing..... :D

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I really try to! I love talking with people in the comments and just... thanking the people who found the time and energy to leave comments. But especially in the last few months I have gotten very bad at keeping up with the comments and now there’s about two dozen that I have neglected to reply to for a painfully long time 🙈

But I will get there! Because I love that kind of interaction!

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

So far, none of them have had angsty endings. Angsty middles, yes, but not endings. I’m just a sucker for everyone being happy in the end. Or at least on the way to being better, and supported and cared for on that way.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven’t yet, but I’m definitely not opposed. One of the threads of my 200k unpublishable whump scenes takes place in a continuity that has existed in my daydreams for... I wanna say six years at the very least, probably longer. It’s mostly straight-up Star Trek, but with the twist that it involves the Wraith, the telepathic, hive-minded alien race from Stargate: Atlantis that suck the life force out of you with their hands? Or, well, at least a variation thereof.

I once typed up the world building for that particular setting and it took me three hours to try and make it all make sense. So it’s... involved. But not necessarily “crazy”. And I’m not sure I’m ever actually going to publish any of the stories I have set in it (not least because that would envolve finishing any of them and bringing them into a form that is interesting to read for anyone but me...)

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Hm, not yet. I do enjoy reading smut, but only under very specific circumstances. I think I may eventually try my hand at smut, but the inner prude is still very strong. Writing about Rios and Xyr making out (which, honestly, was really tame, all things considered) made me melt in a puddle of blushing embarrassment, so full-on smut is probably beyond me at the moment. One day!

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Though litigating that in a fandom like ours would be... tricky. ST:Pic is way too small to steal stories outright. But similar or the same ideas pop up all the time. And it’s a complete coincidence. Reading the book that recently came out and that has a kinda similar setting to a lot of my stories (pre-season 1, early in Rios’s history as captain of Sirena, dealing with original characters, holo shenanigans, friendship with Raffi, etc.), I was struck by just how many elements, both scenes or story beats and little details, were similar to things that have cropped up in my writing. And it is entirely coincidental, because I am beyond certain that the author doesn’t read fanfic. Just... for legal reasons. Not to mention I wrote a bunch of the things I saw parallels to while the book was already in production, and some of them are only in my drafts.

So there is a ton of convergent evolution going on in this particular section of the fandom, and trying to litigate who came up with certain plot ideas or character beats when would be a sysiphean disaster. Some things are clear and whenever I use any of them I give credit where I can, but people will have very similar ideas. It just happens. So no, I haven’t had either a full-on story or “an idea” stolen, and I might change my tune if it ever does happen, but so far, I’m trying to practice equanimity, so I’ll be better at it should I ever need it.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Sadly no. My dad keeps complaining that all my fic is in English so he can’t read any of it, but honestly? I’m kinda glad for this very convenient excuse. Maybe if I ever feel like I want to practice my interpreting skills, I will give translating the stories into German a shot. We’ll see. Otherwise, if anyone feels inspired: Have at it! Just let me know, okay?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not quite. I have a draft of off-the-cuff worldbuilding that I wrote on Discord with @curator-on-ao3 and that I would love to turn into an actual short fic (letters from a conference on holo-ethics), but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

I don’t really do shipping.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I WILL NEVER ACCEPT DEFEAT!!!! One day, I will write the next installment of Star Trek: La Sirena! I have so many ideas for that continuity and those characters. I’m not going to abandon them!

what are your writing strengths?

Hmmmmm. Probably detailed worldbuilding? Ask me something about, say, a technological or cultural aspect of Star Trek and chances are, I have thought about it in the past or will come up with three different sets of intricate lore within half an hour. (Things like... the architecture of San Francisco, or Will there still be taxi drivers? or the treaty between IKEA Intergalactic and the Borg Collective, or the Universal Translator, or Emergency Services or Why There Are Very Few Ambulances On Earth Anymore etceterah etceterah...)

I’m also good at slapping together off-the-cuff plot ideas (if, say, you need an explanation for how Seven and Agnes ended up stranded on a desert island, I could probably give you three different scenarios pretty quickly. Just don’t ask me to make them poignant or actually write them.

I’m also very, very good at beginnings.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Everything that isn’t a beginning. Especially endings, or rather: finishing something, but also just... keeping momentum.

I think my dialogue is somewhat samey and not distinct enough between characters. (Also my witty banter is... let’s just say it doesn’t come to me naturally...)

And I also struggle with keeping things brief and to the point. I can write you 30k of whump covering a span of three hours, but fitting a whole story in the same space? Much more difficult!

I have also avoided writing full-on action so far, but where it has crept in it has always been a struggle and been workshopped a lot with the indefatigable beta.

Otherwise, I don’t know. My self-perception is always a little warped, so I’m not sure what other people would say my weaknesses are.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Oof. Well. I have used Spanish sentences in my fic and done the thing where they’re translated in the end note, but I’ve mostly done it sparingly. I’ve also done the ‘“What do you want?” he said in Spanish.’ It’s tricky. But I will likely keep doing it in some instances, even if it’s a bit annoying.

(It also really helps to have a native speaker of Spanish as a beta, even if it’s Spanish from a different region than you’re character.)

Speaking of regional: I’m also torn about the whole “phonetically writing out accents” issue. Some people love it, some people hate it, I’m really unsure because I’m not a native speaker of English, so I’m not even sure I’m consistent in my narrative voice’s regional quirks. So far, I’ve mostly gone with describing that an accent is happening, and only writing out when phrasing actually differs from standard English. Like Ian (Scottish) saying “dinnae” but not writing “I” as “ah” as you’d see on, say, Scottish twitter.

Though it can be a very useful tool if, for instance, you want to indicate a characters accent getting stronger as they get tired or upset. 🧐

Anyway, I don’t think there is one right or wrong answer here and everyones milage will vary.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Published? ST:PIC

Actually first? Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Pretty much simultaneously, though I did write more for LotR. On graph paper, mind, with my fountain pen turned upside down so I could write smaller. I still have folders worth of those stories that I urgently need to digitize before they fade and I lose them forever...

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I’m going to quote @thelaithlyworm here: I Love All My Children Equally! I honestly couldn’t say. They are different and I love them for different reasons but I love them all.

Thank you for the tag! ❤ I’ve kinda lost track of who all has done this already or has already been tagged, so feel free to ignore me! But I tink I’m tagging @curator-on-ao3, @aini-nufire, @29-pieces, @flowers-creativity, @highfunctioningflailgirl, @cristobalrios and @the-goofball. And anyone else whom I forgot or who feels inspired to do this!

[yanderecandystore]

Can I request a soulmate thingy with the bullies and delinquents?

Hi! Well, I got a little confused about your request but I think I got it, although I normally do one pair of ocs per post (or all ocs at once-) I guess I could do about both delinquents and bullies-

Especially since soulmate conundrums can be such a complex thing that it would take a long time to write one single post with every single OC lol-

Thank you for requesting!

TW/Tags: angst here and there // long as fuck // Soulmate shenanigans // not so great relationships (bullying) // cursing // delusional expectations/ideas // gender neutral reader

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

Soulmate issues lol [Yandere!Bully OC/Yandere! Delinquent OC x Soulmate!Reader - Scenario]:

🎇 Let me set the stage for a quick sec!🎇

In this timeline, let us just say that something very specific happens to make it possible for two or more people to realize that they may be soulmates (cause I don't know how else I could create this universe boo XD). I think that two people that are soulmates would not be aware of it until they would be able to see each other's birthmarks, kinda like a magical symbol that is stuck on your skin ever since you were born.

In a reality where you are aware that you have a destined loved one possibly waiting for you and that it would be treason of you to not search for them, you could imagine how high your expectations were.

Well, not only your expectations but also the expectations of the entire society surrounding you, expecting you to simply accept whoever carries the same exact birth symbol as you.

Even if having a birthmark that dictates your future love interest is a common thing in your society, it doesn't mean that people just go around showing each other's birthmarks. It's believed that there is no need to rush things and that if you did find the love of your life, it's not because of the birthmark itself, but rather the spiritual connection between you two that brought you together unconsciously.

As I said before, your expectations were just as high as your hopes, as you wished to be able to meet the person who would "complete" you, the person carrying the soul of someone that had loved you through life and death, carrying the soul of the person YOU loved through life and death!

Now, how badly can this beautiful idealized narrative go?- I mean, consider your soulmates that is.

🍒Bullies🍭:

→ Alexandra Coldwell:

Alexandra is not exactly a patient person, you can imagine that the idea of having someone that would instantly fall in love with her was a really interesting idea, almost too good to be true.

Don't get me wrong, she believed this whole shenanigan to be unnecessary and dictating. She thought it was stupid to just start loving someone she doesn't know, and it's not like she is going to kiss some stranger's ass just because they have the same birthmark as her.

Ugh, that thing almost felt like some sort of bad tattoo she should have thought twice about having. It was a beautiful symbol, an elegant C' on emblem surrounded by thorns. Doctors believed that Alexandra could possibly be the reincarnation of one of her ancestors, since her birthmark is coincidentally similar to the old Coldwell family symbol used in the middle ages.

Although there isn't any evidence left of who was the "original owner" of the birthmark, neither of the people who they were destined to be with, which doesn't really matter to her at all, since she still thinks this "tattoo" was only a reminder of something stupid that she did that she doesn't want to be a part of it anymore.

Even after knowing that the possibility of seeing her "sOuLmATe" walking around town was possible, Alexandra never really cared about finding them. She preferred to have fun with as many people as she could instead of following her heart or whatever, she doesn't need anyone after all.

That's what she thought before noticing your birthmark. That symbol, that same exact symbol was placed on your skin, on YOU of all people. She has been bullying you ever since you entered the university but she had never EVER considered the possibility of you being her soulmate.

Even so, it does make a lot of sense! Ever since you entered the institution, you two had a weird connection that kept bringing each other closer although unconsciously. It felt like somehow she couldn't stop picking on you, and to you, it felt like there was no escape from her.

And it seems that your interpretation of your situation was correct, considering that now you are apparently bound to her with the same stupid destiny tattoo or whatever-

The fact that you are the one person she is bound to eternity is extremely humorous to her at first. It's both insulting and ironic that a nerd like you got the chance in a lifetime to be her soulmate, don't you feel lucky?

She will continue her bullying because obviously this is a great opportunity to show you your place, which is by her side no matter what you say or do. Alexandra believed that this was either a well crafted joke by the universe or just a cruel punishment to her, having someone like you be tied to her by love sounds so absurd…

And pretty fitting, in a way.

As time passed Alexandra started to grow closer to you, her bullying and general mean attitude had seemed to tone down as long as it was towards you. She seemed to have found a soft spot for you in her heart, but sadly, things don't always work like we plan them to.

You were disgusted by the fact ever since you realized it, how can you be stuck with her, of all people in the entire world? The soft feeling you get when you stand next to her doesn't help your case at all!-

Why of all people here, your bully has to be your soulmate? Maybe it was foolish of you to believe that when you finally found the one and only you would feel happy, maybe it was foolish for you to believe that the person you had fallen for once would be a actually gentle and caring person.

While Alexandra tried to get closer to you, you made your best efforts to get away from her as fast as you could. You didn't want to be near your bully specially when you just discovered that the reason you have continued to endure it for so long was because of the entire soulmate thing! Curse the stupid feelings that she gives you every time she is playful or soft towards you.

If you two had known each other in different conditions, this could all be a lot easier to deal with.

→ Adrien Coldwell:

Adrien may look pretty unbothered on the outside, yet that is nothing but a facade to keep his reputation from instantly falling as he squeals in excitement. This is perfect for him.

Differently from his sister, who has a symbol that is almost reminiscent of the old Coldwell brand mark and that has granted her the "special sibling of the dual" statues, Adrien has a somewhat weird birthmark. Is quite simply a shield with cherry on top. Is simple, pretty basic even.

There were no data associating his birthmark to anyone in his family, so presumably he isn't a possible reincarnation as his sister is, which lead the family to favor her over him since his birthmark has no resemblance of anything related to the family's history or is it intriguing or fun to look at.

It's a simple mark. What's so good about it?

And that's exactly what they got wrong, it was the exact opposite of a simple mark. It had a great meaning to Adrien, it meant something so important to him that he has sworn to search for his soulmate because of it. Because no one seemed to take his birthmark seriously he felt compelled to actually understand what it could mean, and how could he use it to get closer to his special someone.

His sister seemed to be the only one who noticed how the neglect affected Adrien to the point he decided to put up a mask and hide his need for even a little bit of attention.

I wouldn't bat an eye if he was the one to actually find out about you two sharing the same birthmark first. He has been stalking you and harassing you for so long, it would make sense as to why he feels so good when he is in your presence or interacting with you.

Granted that your earlier encounters were just him being an ass and being pretty rude to you in class, but now it's different you know??

He is so glad to have found you, finally- He got too excited to even show you that you two had the same symbol glued in your skins, he just started acting differently one day.

One day, while you were at the university he literally just gave you a small gift and called you out on a date. It was pretty frightening seeing someone who doesn't smile a lot trying to express fondness through their menacing looking grin, you had instantly thought it was some sort of elaborate prank yet you couldn't stop yourself from simply following with his plan.

You just felt compelled to go with him, despite the fact he has been nothing but a childish bully towards you. You can imagine the surprise on your face when he actually came to pick you up and have a great time chatting over a simple meal at a expensive ass restaurant you could never afford-

While you were being paranoid and trying to see where the "punchline", the "climax" of his prank was, he was enjoying his time with you not even noticing the fact you looked at him with suspicion written in your face.

You ended up spelling out your confusion and distrust of his person, claiming that you didn't know what he had in-store for you, but if this was some sort of prank he should just get it done with because you needed to be back home soon.

He was so shocked at your statement that he almost felt his heart breaking at your words, the sudden realization that he hasn't shown you why he was acting so kindly towards you in the first place.

And that's when the whole night went from confusing to horrible. You felt genuinely bad that the truth about his kindness wasn't because of a genuine change of heart, but rather because of your soul connection.

But that revelation wasn't as bad as when you actually notice you catching feelings for him throughout this time he has been a douche with you. You realized the exact reason why you came here, HE had realized the exact reason you came here.

You felt yourself panicking, leaving the restaurant immediately, how can you be his soulmate even if he is such a jerk with you??

How can you tell if these feelings are due to a genuine interest or just the connection through souls?

Why does it hurt to think he is only being kind because of the effects the birthmark has on him?

Even if the birthmark represents a strong bond that can't even be broken by death itself, you felt genuinely concerned for this being a disingenuous love. Yet that brings the question: Why do you care so much? Isn't he just an asshole you met in your class?

While you left crying confused of the sudden wave of questions clouding your mind, Adrien was feeling that our void consumed him.

Apparently he was wrong about his expectations, he shouldn't have thrown a bomb at you so suddenly. Or maybe, you don't really love him at all, and don't want anything to do with him.

There is nothing left but a poor foolish man crying while making no sound in his fancy table.

🍋Delinquents🐛:

→ Jackson Macnee:

Not exactly the most obvious romantic lover in the world, Jack can be pretty "whatever" when it comes to these things. He didn't really believed in the idea of love at first sight, although he is the type to get instant crushes really fast-

Jack's birthmark it's surprisingly cool looking, a snake coiling itself on a branch. It's so funny how it looks like a natural tattoo, he even decided to not hide it at all since he liked the look of it. It's not uncommon for people to leave their birthmarks visible, but in the case of Jack he used to wear it in public as a real tattoo rather than a soulmate birthmark.

Whenever someone asked about it, he would lie saying it wasn't the real deal, and when it came to people asking "which one is it then?" he would tell them to fuck off. It's none of their fucking business, it's supposed to be a intimate thing, isn't it?

Jack believed that the symbol was something way too important to be shared out as a talking subject, so much so that he has considered many times covering his birthmark in public due to the prying eyes looking at it. Yet he wore it as a tattoo so he could find someone who would recognize it as their own symbol, and whoever didn't recognize it, didn't deserve to hear the truth.

Yeah, maybe he did take this a little too seriously. I mean how couldn't he? It's something that dictates whoever the fuck he is supposed to be with, yeah people can go around and sleep with or date whoever they want, yet he felt compelled to wait and see what would happen.

To see if someone in the crowd would recognize it and talk with him, so he could see how this whole shenanigan works. And of course, his plan did work out eventually, as he caught you staring at him for way too long.

He thought you were confusing him with someone else, but having someone like you stare at him for so long was starting to annoy him- So of course, he rudely asked you what the hell did you want.

You were surprised by the harsh tone, yet not completely taken back by it. You seemed confident that his "tattoo" was clearly the same birthmark that you had.

You… Surprised him. You were so confident and comfortable with telling a total strangeville that you two were destined to be together or whatever. It's not everyday that you see someone so straightforward, so he decided to see how far this would go- He asked:

"- And…?"

"- I don't know- I haven't thought about it to be honest-" You said looking at him deadpanned. You were telling the truth though, you didn't really expect to find not only a person with a similar birthmark to you but to legit be right about them being your soulmate. You had met so many people with the "snake coiled in a branch" tattoo that you almost thought it was some sort of joke from the universe (it shouldn't even be possible for so many people to have the same coincidental tattoo!).

You started to introduce yourself and ask for his name and where he was going- It felt weird to be receiving so much attention out of nowhere by someone he doesn't know- Well, more accurately someone he had just met but still feels like he knows for years.

If you're so interested to know him and… I don't know, do whatever soulmates are supposed to do- He can totally do that right about now-

I mean, he doesn't have anything to do right now, and although he may not show it he is kinda interested to see how this will work out. It's clear that there is something that connects you two yet he would prefer to get to know what type of person you are. Even if he is low-key already digging this nonchalant attitude from you, he is a little worried that you may be a little gremlin in disguise.

Jack acts so careful around you that sometimes it's hard to tell if he is enjoying himself or if he just genuinely doesn't trust you for some reason. Even if he is loving every second of getting to know you, the lack of affection being expressed from his part makes you question if this is really what destiny has instore for you.

Hopefully he'll be able to open himself up before you think this won't work out at all.

→ Janette Sartorius:

Janette is a hopeless romantic woman. It doesn't help that her whole entire life she grew up dreaming about this moment.

Her birthmark is simplistic yet it meant the entire world to her-. A sword stuck on a rock as the laces that decorate the sword fly in the wind. It really did look like a tattoo, some people had even questioned her if that was her real birthmark or just a tattoo she made to look cool.

To some it may seem like a cool little symbol to have on her skin, yet to her it feels like there is something more to it. A meaning, a dream, a memory perhaps?

Ever since she was young she loved the stories of knights and princesses, she started to associate that image of the sword with that dream of being someone else's knight. It was charming to her and it seemed like she hasn't grown out of that phase ever since.

The first impression is the one that lasts, right? So the only way to meet her darling is to have a big entrance. It's not like she isn't ready at any time, it's just that she hoped that for all the good luck in world to not make her look stupid infront of whoever had the same birthmark as her.

Fortunately for her, her wishes were granted as in a brilliant moment of pure fucking convinient plot coincidence as she not only managed to impress you, but to also feel like the knight she so badly wanted to be.

She got her glorious moment after defending you from another classmate that was harassing you, to which she only got to enjoy after she looked over at you and not only instantly thought you looked pretty hot in her eyes and also saw that familiar image on the back of your hand.

It was pretty much love at first sight, which was literally bound by the universe to happen. I mean, can't you see this?? This perfect scene, the fact that she didn't need to look at your birthmark to see how gorgeous you were and to even be able to help you get up-

It was perfect! It felt perfect, it was even better than what she had dreamed of. The only thing to spoil this sweet moment between soon to be lovers was the bell ringing and you turning your back and running to class after whispering a shy "thank you bye". She couldn't even say her name, or ask your name, or even show you her own birthmark!

The only thing you left was a tiny notepad you forgot to pick up. There were scribbles here and there talking about some class assignments and source material for your studies.

It felt like you were Cinderella running away and leaving the crystal heel so she could pick it up and find you later on. It made her heart flustered at the comparison, it was all coming along so well.

She recognized which was the subject that your notepad was referring to, and soon went to find your class where she could hopefully find you and give it back.

But when she reached your class at lunchtime she didn't find you anywhere inside, only a couple of your classmates were there. She asked everyone she could to see where you were, like she was interrogating them over a crime scene because of how desperate she looked.

It felt like an endless chase to find you, people had given her vague or useless information over and over again. Some were playing a prank on Janette and others genuinely didn't know enough about you to know where you could be.

From the information she gathered around, you were a silent study all day type of person. She heard that you didn't enjoy it at all but you felt the need to try your hardest to be able to pass in your exams. Janette heard that you were shy and tended to keep yourself away from genuinely getting involved with people, which led to people considering you a weirdo and to bullying you over this.

It was a terrible reason to treat someone so loveable so badly yet it didn't surprise her since the institution was an absolute mess, if delinquents like her can go around and burn shit down, then clearly that was something wrong with the educational system.

Yet she didn't give up even for a second, she needed to find you, she needed to talk with you and tell you about your destiny together (and trying not to sound so desperate as she was-). Her efforts were compensated by finally finding you and being able to give you the notepad back.

It was so heartwarming to hear you say thank you again and being able to introduce herself properly, yet there was something different about this conversation. You seemed… worried of her presence, disturbed by it, concerned of her being so close and breathless next to you.

She thought you were startled by the sudden approach, after all you were a shy ball, right? That's why- That's why you got so shocked when she said you two were meant for each other, right? That's why you seemed so surprised after she showed you her birthmark.

O-Of course you weren't distancing yourself out of fear, right? Even if your eyes look so freaked out, it was probably because of how sudden the situation was right?

You didn't actually fear her, right? She knows she can be a bit intimidating, but-

But there is no way you're afraid of your own soulmate, right? There is no way she is scaring her own darling away, that was impossible…

You didn't mean it when you said you were "too busy with studying to think about getting a relationship", did you? She- She must had heard it wrong-

What type of fuckin excuse is that?? What moron says that to a person who they're literally bonded with forever?!

Janette was visibly shaking, her expression was of pure anger which didn't really surprise you as you expected her to get mad at such a terrible excuse. You didn't lie about being busy studying, you lied about not wanting to date her because of it. You were afraid of her because of her reputation, you didn't want anything to do with a delinquent, or a leader of a biker gang, or anyone so hot headed for that matter! It was ironic how your soulmate was literally the one person you wanted to be away from, even if you did feel a little more protected in her presence.

Actually, you would be lying if that encounter wasn't so… Romantic, in a way.

Yet it doesn't help that just the idea of getting rejected is making her look so violent, she hasn't even spoken anything or even raised her hand, yet there is a clear "nope" flag hanging over her head- You didn't say no! You just- You just don't know how you feel about this, is too sudden-

You fail to find the right words to tell her and hopefully calm her down, instead you just cowardly distance yourself and slowly slipping your back against the wall so you can make yourself seem smaller, unconsciously trying to showcase how terrified you were and how you you literally regretted every word that had ever come on out of your mouth.

Of course she was mad, but more because of the situation than of you actually- I mean, she has been waiting for this moment her whole life! How… How can anyone say something like that to their own soulmate for fucks sake?! How can you not feel the same spark that she feels by just talking with you? Is she in the wrong for wanting to jump straight to the "Happy ever after" of your story together? Maybe she is coming off way too strong about this, is this why you're being so stubborn?

When she manages to calm herself before saying something she would regret it, the look that you give her tells her that she really, really messed up this introduction part.

It hurts her to think you're scared of her, yet what hurts more is the fact she almost screwed this whole up for you two, you just need… some time to know her, right? To understand her, and so she can understand you.

She'll try to comfort you, yet is clear that she isn't the best at comforting people, but- But please! Please let her try!!

Let her try to be your knight in shining armour, dearest.

Even if you don't like the idea of spending time with her, I think you don't have a say in the matter. You'll stay by her side and you will see how you two were made for each other, you'll see.

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

[perfectharmonyloveschaos]

Sora Is the Master of Masters All Evidence

Part 1:

Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Backcover is the first instance that we meet the Master of Masters ourselves without anyone else’s perspective of events and see him as an individual character. From the get-go, the Master of Masters (or MoM as I will be addressing him throughout this theory for simplicity sake) is immediately addressed with heavy respect from his title alone. But, Chirithy also makes sure to mention his “mischievous” nature that we see a lot of throughout all of his appearances from here on. Due to the Master of Masters only being included and planned from Backcover onwards, it definitely seems more than coincidental that all of his similarities to Sora take place in the games technically made after Backcover which I will discuss; Backcover itself, KHX and KHUX, 0.2, KH3 and ReMind.

Both Sora and MoM are introduced as joker, light-hearted characters who use humour to lighten dark situations and comfort people. They hold themselves lightly and make fun of themselves to make others laugh or to lighten the dark of a situation. Sora did this when he comforted Riku by pulling a funny face (“how am I going to face everyone?!”/“like this?”) in KH2 while MoM pretended to question if Invi cared about him when she was overthinking things and getting worried about the events to come (“do you… want me to go?!”)

Both characters share several of the same gestures and body movements, with Sora copying a lot of MoM’s gestures especially in KH3 and ReMind. Both hold their arms behind their heads, tilt their heads or even bodies sideways playfully and poke things to name a few shows off their playful, animated gestures. Both use their right hands when using the Keyblade with Sora holding his in his right hand and MoM summons No Name with his right hand to give it to Luxu.

Along with these personality and movement similarities, we also have the infamous Gazing Eye' glitch found in KH ReMind that 'definitely calls this theory into question. Why does a glitch like this only happen with Young Xehanort, whom we know MoM interacted and met with? Why does it only happen when Young Xehanort uses his time alteration powers if this was simply a glitch in the texture of Sora and the Gazing Eye's eye? Would that not mean that this could be triggered at any other time? And why is it so cleanly done if not to be intentional? This 'glitch' appears perfectly on Sora's eye and doesn't affect any other texture on Sora. If Sora was in fact MoM, would it not make sense for his possibly clairvoyant/prediction abilities to be affected by Young Xehanort affecting time? This would be too difficult go be a simple visual glitch or error of the engine given how the texture of the Gazing Eye appears in both of Sora's eyes perfectly, as well as appearing bloodshot since there would be no reason for Sora's eyes to use the bloodshot texture AND the Gazing eye texture together.

Speaking of Sora’s eyes, this also brings me back to the pre-KH3 release conspiracy theory about Sora’s eye colour changing to green throughout the trailers which people passed off as being the reflections of the environment. This happened several times throughout the game and seemingly meant nothing, but when you consider who Sora was interacting his eye colour changed, him possibly being the MoM explains this. The first time we see this is in Mount Olympus, when Sora meets with Xigbar for the first time since DDD and we see Sora’s eyes have strong green tint compared to Hercules, who also has bright blue eyes that don’t seem to be affected by the lighting. Maybe only the KH original models are affected for some reason? Xigbar’s eyes are also not affected, while yellow, which would definitely show given how intense Sora’s are. Xigbar, is Luxu, so one could assume that anyone connected to MoM would make Sora’s eyes react, yes? Again, we see Sora’s eye go green with others as well. In Kingdom Of Corona, Sora’s eyes are once again green and while it it way greener here than Olympus, Marluxia’s—or Lauriam, who MoM choose as a Dandelion leader and survivor of the war—eyes once again are not affected, nor are any other characters’ like Rapunzel, Flynn, or Mother Gothel. Only Sora. We see this again with Ven when Vanitas is going to kill Aqua in the land of Departure and Sora wakes Ventus up from inside him, Sora’s eyes go green while no one else’s, including Ven and Aqua both of whom have blue eyes, have their eyes affected. And the final past character that is directly tied to the MoM through the dandelions and Sora whose presence affects Sora’s eyes is Ephemer in the Keyblade Graveyard. Ephemer has no reason to come to Sora here, compared to Ventus who he knew in canon and had every reason to help but let die in the previous ending, given that they do not know one another beyond Ventus. And as the camera zooms into Sora, Sora’s eyes gain a slight green tint to his eyes before the centre of his eyes change to a light, greenish blue that is very similar to another Name’s Gazing eye and focuses on his eye not only here, but once Sora snaps back to reality and focuses on the reflection of all the dead keyblades helping them. Here, Sora’s eyes are green again the exact same way that his eyes were green interacting with Xigbar/Luxu and Marluxia/Lauriam, both of whom were tied to the MoM. The green tint and highlight of the colour around his iris is identical to that of the Gazing Eye in No Name, with the environments and how others reacting to them in each of these worlds showing that these events and only these affect solely Sora’s eyes, proving that this is not just a simple light reflection but something done intentionally to Sora’s eyes.

Beyond physical and personality similarities, both Sora and MoM share another quality with only one other individual in the entirety of the KH cast; they are the only ones aside from Xehanort to have held and been the apparent wielder of the X-Blade. While we never see him with it, Nomura confirmed that MoM had had the X-Blade at one point and studied it to create the Keyblade that everyone in KHX used. He used the X-Blade as an example and managed to figure out, through studying it, how to extract the light/power from people’s hearts and shaped their Keyblades which he then trained the Foretellers with. As well as the X-Blade, MoM also had a sort of authority over Kingdom Hearts as well as Ira mentioned that he had given them Keyblades to protect Kingdom Hearts and Ava tried to warn Gula away from summoning Kingdom Hearts since MoM had said it was “forbidden”. Gula decided to try and summon Kingdom Hearts in order to force the MoM to return to set them straight, showing that he held a sense of cautious as well towards it and decided to not use it and lock it away instead. Given that the MoM’s word was seen as gospel, this was more than likely a serious warning and order. And what do we see by the end of Kingdom Hearts 3? Sora, earning the X-Blade and telling Xehanort that using it is wrong and that no one should use its power to change destiny, before closing it to keep the worlds safe. Both characters—with only Xehanort as the other wielder of the X-Blade and exception of this mindset—had this power and chose to not use it but instead locked it away from using it for their own gains.

Both of these characters also shared the same philosophy of destiny despite the power they hold; Sora, who has challenged and even changed his friends’ doomed fates claims that a true leader knows that destiny “beyond his control” and “accepts that”, something that makes no sense with how much he has changed his own destiny and the events written in the Book Of Prophecy. However, the Master of Masters shares these ideals and believes not in changing what is meant to happen, but rather in preparing for what happens after that in order to secure the best aftermath. Why would Sora believe in this given his past, if not to draw similarities between himself and MoM?

The Book Of Prophecies, as depicted in Backcover, also shares connections to what we assume to be the timeline of events surrounding not the the events of Backcover and the Keyblade war, but rather the events of the entire game series timeline. We see MoM looking at the Book of Prophecies through the Cases of the different Foretellers and Luxu, as well as Ira later on in the movie which we can use to create a basic ‘timeline’ of events based on imagery depicted.

We see the MoM look through throughout Backcover, with the ‘Case of Gula’ showing what seems to be the earliest part of the book we see with an illustration of a darkside heartless and a keyblade which would either be the Kingdom Key or Kingdom Key D, placing the beginning of the book at the first Kingdom Hearts game. The reason I think this takes place during KH1 rather than 0.2 is the Sora’s crown emblem being on the page previous to a Darkside heartless, seeming to signify Sora and then his first battle against the darkness either on his Station of Awakening or Destiny Islands, as well as these pages appearing to be nearing the middle of the book which would make sense given that Sora only entered the canon timeline after the whole Fairytale Saga, BBS and 0.2 took place. Then, we see the next page with an image of a shadow heartless, both which Sora fights on Destiny Islands after getting the keyblade and then in Traverse Town where he learns about the darkness or could simply represent all heartless as the most recognisable heartless. The page after this shows another Keyblade which looks like the Kingdom Key again, while the next page is the infamous ‘traitor’ that the MoM rips out and gives to Gula and the page after holding another illustration of Sora’s crown emblem. Given the pacing of events based on the concept of this book depicting the events of Sora’s experiences in KH1, the page detailing the ‘traitor’ may in fact be talking about Riku and his betrayal of Sora by accepting Maleficent's help. The MoM’s wording seems to support this, by telling Gula to “find the traitor hidden among you and stop them before it’s too late”, through Sora eventually learning of Riku’s fall to darkness and possession by Ansem before stopping Riku-Ansem and saving the worlds.

This causes us to question exactly how would the MoM know of Sora's first adventure given that his eye, at this point, hasn't even seen Sora yet? The only logical answer? Because he lived it.

During the ‘Case of Aced’; when Aced, who acts a lot like Sora in KH1, is angry at Ira being chosen to be the new leader and was constantly in Ira's shadow, much like how Sora was undermined by Riku who was seen as the better of the two and originally chosen first by the keyblade. These corresponding at the same time suggests a connection to KH1, Sora, and Aced. Even their whole discussion over why Aced shouldn't be leader seems to, much like his discussion with Invi over keeping up "otherwise you'll be left behind, all alone" seems to cause an unconscious reaction from the MoM. "I know you want it, but that just isn't enough. Any chump can say, 'You! Here's a huge promotion. Good job!' and make you head honcho, but enthusiasm alone doesn't make a great leader." The way this is worded, especially with "great" and not just "good" suggests he has a basis for it, similar to how Sora saw Riku as being better than him. His following line "Ira needs someone like you to give him a push in the right direction" is spoken with anger or bitterness, as if the MoM understood Aced's annoyance at being considered second and feeling similarly in the past, as if he had to act supportive and push someone who was considered better than him in the 'right direction' before. But, his "you need to support Ira'' line is spoken sternly, acting as though he knows from experience that someone like Ira would need the more emotional support of someone like Aced, who uses his heart to decide things rather than "always just thinking and thinking and thinking behind that Unicorn mask of his" as Ira does. Everything said in this scene definitely parallels Sora and his emotions in the first KH game up until Sora decided that his friends were his power and that he didn’t need the keyblade to be strong, something that the MoM understands and acts sympathetic towards Aced about while trying to push him towards the same idea; "you might not be entirely happy with your role, but just know that it's the most important one." There is also a sense of symbolism in this scene with the MoM using his hand to cover the Kingdom Key when telling Aced that he will be Ira’s right hand man, possibly paralleling back to Sora’s own sense of being overshadowed by Riku.

Other connections these two share include the emphasis of their bond with Dream eaters and the Wreck-It Ralph summon from KH3. Both of these two characters show a stronger connection to Dream Eaters than any other characters, with MoM being the ‘creator’ of the Chirithy dream eaters which hold a deep connection to their owners’ hearts and are affected by their owners’ state given that these dreams eaters, like when Sora fell into darkness, fall into darkness with their masters and become nightmares. And what is Sora’s nightmare in DDD? A figure in a dark coat with purple and pink colours and a dark dream eater symbol on their back, much like the MoM and his black coat and the Chirithy nightmare we see in Backcover and KHUX.

[saylors-universe]

All Hands on Deck, four

Rowaelin Cruise Vacation AU

Masterlist here

word count: 3275

[This is an interactive story! I will include Authorʻs Notes throughout the chapters to inform you when to start a particular song that you can find here in the All Hands on Deck playlist (Also can be found on the masterlist). For the best experience, listen with headphones, AND FOLLOW ALONG WITH THE STORY. Please try to use your imagination when listening and reading - live through the words. Have fun :) - Saylor]

-

Day 3 - ANIELLE PORT - “Welcome to Anielle! The Ellywe Voyager will depart tomorrow at noon, so make sure you are back onboard!”

   “Wake up you lazy bum,” Aelin straddles atop Manon on her bed, pillow in hand, ready to hit and smother her. She strikes with the soft cotton once, reviving her comatose roommate. Aelin makes a move to strike once more when the aggravated, waken beast catches the pillow mid-swing, much to Aelinʻs surprise.

“Hit me again and Iʻll gut you,” Manon threatens with a deadly tone.

“Good morning to you too, sunshine,” Aelin smirks, gets off of Manon and heads towards their bathroom, “donʻt worry, I wonʻt take it personally. You do get grouchy when you donʻt get enough sleep,” she pokes her head out of the bathroom to look at Manon, “So who, pray tell, kept you out so late last night, a handsome activities director perhaps?”

“I have no idea what youʻre talking about,” Manon refutes drowsily, now sitting up against her bed frame. 

“Oh come on,” Aelin pushes back, now sitting at the foot of Manonʻs bed, “you think I havenʻt noticed the little ʻflirty thingʻ going on between you two?”

“Thereʻs nothing ʻgoing onʻ,” Manon shares with air quotes.

“Oh yeah? Well then whereʻd you go last night?”

“Nowhere, I just stayed back to help Dorian clean up from the show,” Manon gets cut off by Aelinʻs burst of laughter.

Aelin, breathless and on the brink of losing it again, “You? You helped him clean up from the show? Manon you have never once offered to be helpful or selflessly volunteered to do something for someone,” she giggles even more, “Oh my god, you are SO into him.”

“Oh shut up,” Manon throws the pillow at Aelin and she falls back in laughter, but because she was at the foot of her bed she ended up tumbling over and falls on the ground. Manon cackles at the sight of Aelin on the ground, getting up and flipping her off.

   Eventually they both calm down from their humorous morning and relocate to their patio balcony, looking over the docks and people watch. 

“Where are we?” Manon inquires.

“Anielle, Lys and Aedionʻs door says they went out on a hike and I have no clue where Elide and Lorcan went,” Chaol was from Anielle and from what she last heard, he was home visiting family, most likely introducing his new girlfriend to his parents. “You feel like getting off the ship and hitting up the supermarket?”

“Nah,” Manon shares, and Aelin feels a sense of relief, sheʻs not exactly sure why. Although it was highly unlikely she would run into him, she decided not to leave the ship at this particular port, just in case, after all the Gods did hate her and she wouldn't put it past them to somehow place her ex in her path. “Wanna look around the ship more? Iʻm sure thereʻs more to this big floating raft than just the pool and Sky deck.”

“Sounds like fun, letʻs do it,” Aelin was happy to have this time with Manon. It had always been Manon and Elide, the two roommates turned inseparable best friends. She could tell that ever since Lorcan entered the picture, Manon had been getting left out. Now, with them being the two singles in their friend group, they have time to get closer and become great friends.

   The two women get ready for the day, leaving their room after organizing their doorʻs magnets into the message “out exploring” and then they stroll off to the food bar before their day plans to grab a quick cup of coffee and say good morning to Emrys and Luca. To begin their adventure, they continue on the Lido deck, already familiar with the pool, they investigate the extensive food buffet bar. They find that Emrys and Lucaʻs station specialize in breakfast foods in the morning and then offer fresh burgers and fries for the rest of the day. A little further down they find the all-you-can-eat salad bar, the ice cream machines, and the dessert bakery. Aelin sets her sights on the most glorious stack of chocolate cakes she has ever seen. Her mouth waters and she begs Manon to stop for her to grab a slice and demolish it. 

   They move on to the opposite side of the pool, they happen upon the hot tub jacuzzi and the sauna rooms nearby. Traveling a little further down, they find four ping pong tables, three occupied with intense, heated games. They halt for a quick game on the remaining, open table. A game that Manon absolutely destroys Aelin at. Who knew Manon was so speedy and had the most precise hand-eye coordination? Also near the ping pong tables they notice giant chess and checker boards with giant, life-sized pieces. 

   They make their way to the stairs and travel up to the next deck, the Sports deck. They walk around, taking note of the basketball courts and the mini-golf putt courses. Taking the elevators to the Verandah deck, they find the fancy, dress up, sit down restaurant, The Antica. The two women agree to drag the rest of their friend group there later that night to finally have a family style meal.

   Moving to the Promenade level, where they knew the music room was located, they found a library and recreational center on the opposite side of the ship. Aelinʻs passions had always been music and reading so she found her comfort, happy place in the shipʻs library. She dragged Manon through the libraryʻs alcoves and bookcases, finding a brilliant, diverse collection of stories and works. 

Coincidentally enough, the two run into Dorian Havilliard, his nose stuck in a book in the deepest shelf in the library.

“My, my,” Aelin spooks Dorian who jerks up from his reading, “heʻs devastatingly handsome, and he reads, how very ostentatious of you Mr. Havilliard.”

He blushes and grins at the realization of being caught, “My preferred method of escape,” he closes his book and returns it to the shelf, “how may I be of assistance today,” his dazzling smile returning.

“Well being an avid reader myself, Iʻd love to share some recommendations with you later but for now could you point us in the direction of some attractions on this massive ship.”

“Absolutely, have you guys seen the dance club or the arcade/casino lounge bar yet?” The two shake their head, “Why donʻt I escort you guys?” They happily accept the tour and Aelin takes the role as wing-woman, nudging Manon closer to Dorian every so often. Aelin doesnʻt miss the murderous glare Manon gives her in warning, she just sticks her tongue out, scrunching her nose, and continues on. Dorian gives them the full tour of the dark, vacant dance club. She made a mental note to visit later and experience the chaotic night life first-hand. Then Dorian shows them through the casino lounge, Aelin sticking close to Manon in fear that sheʻd be tempted and fall victim to the trap of gambling, again. 

The three of them return to the main deck when Aelin gets distracted by the sound of soft piano playing. 

[A.N.] Play “Pantomime” by Ben Hammersley now, follow along, and let your imagination work. Find playlist here.

Aelin canʻt determine where the music is coming from, which intrigues and sparks her curiosity. 

   BREAK TIES

   BUT STRUGGLE WITH THE CHAINS IN LIFE

   YOUʻLL ALWAYS BE THE PUPPET WIRE

   STAPLED TO MY HEART

   IʻM WASHED OUT

   IN SORROW AND IN GLORY

   ITʻS ALL THE SAME OLD STORY

   BUT THIS WILL BE THE TIME

   AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

   WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

   OH, I DONʻT KNOW

   IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT

  AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

  WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

  OH, I DONʻT KNOW

  IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT

-  Aelin addresses Manon and Dorian, “Do you guys hear that?” 

   They both nod, looking just as confused and curious. They collectively take on the challenge of the mystery and peruse around the ship trying to find the source of the music.  -

   FORGIVE ME

   FOR ALL THAT I HAVE DONE

   AND ALL THAT I WILL DO

   ITʻS NOT BECAUSE OF YOU

   IʻM DARKER NOW

   AND DARKER WITH EACH DAY

   AS BOTH OF YOUR FACES

   START TO LOOK THE SAME

   AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

   WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

   OH, I DONʻT KNOW

   IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT 

  AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

  WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

  OH, I DONʻT KNOW

  IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT

   IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU REALLY WANT

   TO HEAR

  TO HEAR

  TO HEAR

  TO HEAR

-   They follow the sound, leading them to the elegant ballroom. Aelin spots a small crowd, formed around where she last recalled the grand piano. The three respectively move around people to take part in whatever has captured everyoneʻs attention.   -

   AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

  WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

  OH, I DONʻT KNOW

  IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT

 AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

 WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

 OH, I DONʻT KNOW

 IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT

  IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU REALLY WANT

   TO HEAR

-  Aelin slips in through a crack in the wall of bodies just as the maestro ends and the crowd applauses. She catches Rowanʻs attention, sitting at the piano, a soft smile plastered over his tanned, slightly pink from sunburn, face. He clears his throat, now fully aware of her presence, and then addresses his small audience.

“This one, I wrote recently, itʻs called Rome.”

[A.N.] Start “Rome” by Dermot Kennedy now, follow along, and let your imagination run wild. Find playlist here.

Rowan:   SO WHATʻS THE PAST FOR?

   IʻLL NEED IT IF LOVE DONʻT LAST LONG

   YOU CAN RUN AROUND INFINITE IN MY HEAD

   OH YOU CANʻT SEE, OH, IʻD STAY IF YOU ASKED ME

   NOW YOU KNOW I CARE, 

   BUT ITʻS HARD TO TELL WHEN YOUʻRE SCARED

   BUT LAST NIGHT

   IT HURT ME TO HEAR YOU SAY IT FELT BROKEN

   AND EVEN THOUGH I TRIED

   ALL THESE MEMORIES RUN MY MIND IN SLOW MOTION

   DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

   MIDNIGHT DRIVES WHEN YOUʻD SING

   IʻD PLAY YOU SONGS YOU WERE IN?

   I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

   DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

   WITH ROME BELOW US THAT DAY

   YOU SAID, “I WISH WE COULD STAY”

   I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

   REMEMBER THAT FIRST LAUGH?

   ALL IT CHANGED ONCE I HAD THAT

   LIKE A HURRICANE, BUT I DONʻT CARE WHERE I LAND

   SO, DANCE CAREFREE, I HOPE ITʻS EASIER KNOWING ME

   NOW, YOUR SOUL IS YOURS, BUT IʻLL HELP IT MOVE IF I CAN

  BUT LAST NIGHT

  IT HURT ME TO HEAR YOU SAY IT FELT BROKEN

  AND EVEN THOUGH I TRIED

  ALL THESE MEMORIES RUN MY MIND IN SLOW MOTION

  DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

  MIDNIGHT DRIVES WHEN YOUʻD SING

  IʻD PLAY YOU SONGS YOU WERE IN?

  I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

  DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

  WITH ROME BELOW US THAT DAY

  YOU SAID, “I WISH WE COULD STAY”

  I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

   DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN, OH

   DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

   I DONʻT EVER WANNA LEAVE WHEN YOU CRY

   I KNOW I GIVE YOU REASONS TO HIDE

   I NEED YOU TO STAY BY MY SIDE

   FIRST SHOOTINʻ STAR THAT YOU EVER SAW

   WE WERE RIGHT ON OUR FEET THOUGH, RIGHT?

   OPENING THE CAR DOOR FOR LIGHT

   I REALLY THOUGHT IʻD LOSE YOU THAT TIME

-   Their eyes lock onto each other  -

 DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

 MIDNIGHT DRIVES WHEN YOUʻD SING

 IʻD PLAY YOU SONGS YOU WERE IN?

 I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

 DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

 WITH ROME BELOW US THAT DAY

 YOU SAID, “I WISH WE COULD STAY”

 I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

  DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN, OH

  DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

  DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN, OH

  DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

   OOH, AH

   OOH, OOH

-  The crowd cheers and applauses, Aelin shortly following them once her heart slowed to a healthy pace. She offers Rowan a shy, sincere smile and then proceeds to grab Manon by the wrist and drag her back to the library where she letʻs out her panicked, disoriented rambling. Manon manages to calm her down by opening up a nearby book and getting Aelin to start reading. She spent the next few hours reading the book, totally oblivious to the real world and her surroundings. Once completed, she returns, finding Manon no where to be found. She probably went off to see Dorian no doubt. Aelin makes it to her empty cabin room and takes a nap, waiting for her friends to return.

-

Night 3 - ANIELLE PORT - “Movie Night: ʻBeauty and the Beastʻ Tonight on the Lido deck at 8:30pm, Come join us!”

   Aelin wakes from her nap right at the peak of the sunset. She enjoys the beautiful display of colors from the comfort of her cabinʻs patio balcony, basking in the silence and alone time.

   She leaves her room and notices across the hall on Lys and Aedionʻs door, the magnets reading ʻHomeʻ, so she knocks and to her surprise, Lorcan opens the door. He lets her in and finds all her friends; Lys, Aedion, Manon, and Elide in a heated game of cards.

“Hey sleepyhead,” her cousin greets, looking up from his unfortunately delt hand.

“How was your hike?”

“Oh it was awesome, right Lys?” 

“Oh yeah, it was so much fun, you guys should have come, we left really early though, we tried knocking on your door but you two must have still been sleeping,” Lysandra answers.

“Next time. And you guys?,” Aelin gestures to Elide,” what did you and Lorcan do today?”

“The cruise offered us some honeymoon spa sessions, so we got some couple massages today,” Elide grabs for Lorcanʻs hand, their engagement bands clinking. 

“Sounds fun”

“We were actually waiting for you, weʻre all going to get ready, dress up all nice and fancy and go to dinner. And then maybe weʻll stop by for the movie tonight?” Manon pitches.

They finish their game and everyone ushers off to prepare for dinner. Manon puts on a one shoulder, black to red ombre dress that falls all the way to the floor. She styles it with thin, black strapped, open-toed high heels and red, ruby earrings. Aelin decides to wear a deep blue, backless, form fitting dress with a deep v-neck, presenting her flattering cleavage, and a front slit reaching to her high-mid thigh. She styles her ensemble with creme colored close-toed heels, and a warm, creme-toned bracelet and pendant necklace.

The two meet back up with the group, everyone styled very fancy and professional. “Wow, you boys clean up nicely, and ladies you look as beautiful as ever,” Aelin exclaims enthusiastically. Aelin and Manon lead the way to The Antica on the Verandah deck. A server meets them at the entrance and informs them that there is assigned seating. He asks for their keycards and they provide them, he looks over their cards indicating their place on the seating chart and then leads the way.

   They are shown to a large, round table, able to seat nine maybe ten. They each take a seat, Aelin and Lorcan being the bookends with the other empty seats in between them. The waiter returns, taking the tables order for drinks, they order a bottle of red wine for the table. After about ten minutes, three very attractive men, in formal wear, are guided to the table by another server and they each take their seats. Connal takes the empty seat next to Lorcan, opposite Elide, Fenrys beside his twin, and Rowan next to Aelin.

“Evening everyone,” Rowan greets. His deep, sensuous voice sends a warm tingle down Aelinʻs spine. “Aelin” he says more quietly, and only to her, in greeting. Her eyes graze over his finely-tailored suit and his styled hair. Wow, she thinks to herself. How is it possible for him to look even more fine. Her train of thought gets cut off when the waiter returns with the bottle of wine they ordered, he then goes around taking drink orders for the new patrons.

“Iʻm fine with just a water, thank you,” Rowan informs the waiter. Aelin tries really hard to focus on the menu in front of her, but her eyes continually wander elsewhere. Before she knew it, the waiter confronted the table, jotting down everyoneʻs order for their entree. The waiter gets to Rowan and Aelin monitors his face, not exactly hearing any words. The waiter gets to her and still being undecided she blurts out, “Iʻll have what heʻs having.”

“Escargot?” Rowan questions in disbelief.

“Um, yeah, Iʻll have whatever he said,” she notifies the waiter, having absolutely no clue what escargot is. 

For the duration of the wait for their meals, the entire table take part in friendly discussion. They share jokes and laughs and Aelin recognizes feeling comfortable, happy even, with this group of individuals. 

Their food arrives and Aelin stares at her plate for a few minutes. Snails. Rowan had ordered cooked snails. In their shells and everything. And like an idiot who couldn't pay attention for five seconds, she ordered them too. Not ready to own up to her idiocy, Aelin takes a few bites of her questionable meal. Not terrible, she thinks to herself, but this is definitely a one time thing, god Iʻm going to have to stuff my face with so much cake after this.

The group finishes their meals and wine, continuing their exciting conversations which everyone contributes in. Manon brings up her idea to catch the showing of ʻBeauty and the Beastʻ on the Lido deck and so the group finishes up their thoughts, cleans up a little and travel together to the Lido deck. Before finding their seats, they all stop by the ice cream machine and help themselves to a creamy, soft-serve cone. Aelin takes the chance to sneak away and head further in the bar and gets to the dessert bakery. She snags a slice of chocolate cake and begins devouring it.

“Still a fan of chocolate, I see,” 

Aelin turns, mouth full of cake, “you caught me”

She says it so innocently that Rowan canʻt help but laugh.

“Did you want some?” she offers him a bite. He holds up his hand.

“No, thank you though, I just wanted to check on you, make sure youʻre okay.”

She laughs, “Hm let me see, besides eating snails, Iʻve found the library, read a really fascinating book, taken a nap, and tried the best cake Iʻve ever tasted, Iʻd say Iʻm doing pretty great.”

They share an intimate moment of pure laughter and joy.

“Well we better get back to everybody, Iʻm sure the movieʻs about to start.”

   She follows his lead and they find their friends. They lay on deck chairs facing the projector screen, right next to each other. The rest of the night is a dream. Throughout the movie, she shares laughs with her friends, old and new, and she shares a few lingering glances with the man in the chair next to her. Aelin and her friends sing along with the songs of the movie, a little too loudly at times, earning annoying glares from nearby children. When the movie ends, the two groups share hugs and promises to hangout and do something the next day. A tired Manon and Aelin safely make it back to their cabin and Aelin quickly drifts off into a deep slumber, dreaming of being Beauty with a certain, familiar Beast.

-

All Hands on Deck taglist:

@smalltddygothgf​ @booksbqueen​ @underworldboxers​ @live-the-fangirl-life​ @booknerdproblems​ @rowaelinismyotp​ 

-

[sepublic]

Amity’s ‘role’ in Luz’s fantasy

          So recently I had an epiphany thanks to @lost-gatesofhell, about Luz and her initial interest in Amity. I have to wonder if at first, Luz was partially interested in befriending Amity because it’d be like Azura befriending HER rival... In the sense that she’s trying to live out her fantasies, without considering that Amity is her own person and not a ‘prize’ to be won. I hate to compare Luz like this... but it could’ve been like how Warden Wrath was drawn to the ‘allure’, the IDEA of Eda as someone who was ‘hard to get’, a prize to be won... Of course in Luz’s case, she’s a lot less patronizing and objectifying of Amity, as seen when she respects the girl’s boundaries as soon as they’re set.

         Still, there’s this idea that while Luz is working on it, she hasn’t totally overcome her penchant for applying fantasy to real life and projecting her little adventures over what’s actually happening, for the sake of living them out... Obviously she learned her lesson in Episode 2, but like anyone else she’s not perfect and still liable to making the same mistakes from time to time, even if they’re a lot less frequent. Particularly, Luz learned not to expect the Boiling Isles to specifically cater to her fantasies, and to recognize situations for what they actually were. If Luz wanted a ‘magical destiny’ or adventure or anything like that, she’d have to work for it to happen, as Eda suggested.

         Of course, while Luz learned not to be entitled nor to expect life to just hand over her fantasies to her, there’s still this expectation and willingness to use Amity to fulfill that enemies to lovers friends trope, under the idea that at least Luz is ‘working’ for it. Luz knew then that things wouldn’t automatically be how she wanted them to be, and that she had to recognize this; But she’s still willing to make them fit her idealized fantasy regardless... Again tying back to what Eda said about having to ‘make your own destiny’, but there’s also the issue of boundaries and limits to be set, especially when actual people are involved.

        Sometimes, you just can’t live out your fantasy, period… Nor can you expect reality to change into it, even if you DO put in the work to alter it accordingly. Even if it is possible, is it ethical and worth the effort to steamroll over the autonomy of others, and see them only as tropes and roles to fulfill in your story? Not as people with their own stories? Maybe it’s pointless to try to make up for this by occasionally ‘fulfilling your part’ in another person’s story, because nobody should have to deal with that sort of expectation at all, period! Even if it’s consensual on behalf of both parties, it’s still pretty sus... And it ties into the ideas of the Coven System, of Witches having to fulfill a certain role, be it as the Bard, or the Oracle, or the Illusionist... That you have to stick to a particular trope, that there’s no mixing parts or being creative with this!

       Everybody has to be quickly and readily defined by a specific role they can neatly fit into, as ordained by Belos; There’s no room for growing beyond that, save for special people like those who fit into the Emperor’s Coven, the kind who are worthy of being ‘main characters’ in a sense, and thus allowed to be fleshed-out and ‘unique’! Everybody else, though- They’re a side-character, an NPC. It’s like those jokes of friend groups consisting of ‘the smart one’, the ‘funny one’, ‘the jock’, etc., but taken to a dark and far too literal extreme. There’s no room for someone to be the funny one AND a jock, that guy’s already a jock, don’t encroach on other people’s roles, you’ll get distracted from the specific function you have to fulfill!

        (There isn’t anything wrong with doing this in writing of course, especially since one is handling fictional characters and not real people; But from an in-universe perspective, these characters ARE actual people to one another. After all, in real life one wouldn’t define someone as JUST a chef, they also have other aspects and interests to their life that aren’t solely related to food! It’s like the revelation that teachers have lives outside of school, or how that person you know on the internet probably has a job unrelated to whatever interest they’re talking about. People aren’t JUST the jobs they do, and it’s unreasonable to expect them to dedicate their entire existence to fulfilling that role. People should have breaks and be allowed to pursue different interests, maybe even leave their ‘job’ if it’s no longer for them. So YES Karen, this person’s job IS to help customers, but that doesn’t mean their entire worth and meaning as a person solely revolves around this, nor should this person be expected to help customers 24/7 when their shift has already ended anyway.)

          But back to the subject... Luckily, Luz’s issue with molding reality into her fantasy is confronted and further resolved by Wing it like Witches. And even if Luz was projecting her stories onto Amity a bit in order to live out a ‘rivals to friends’ fantasy... It’s worth noting that Luz was also legit interested in Amity as a friend, too! Not to mention Luz is VERY concerned about earning Amity’s approval in Adventures in the Elements... Maybe part of Luz’s motive is not wanting to mess up with an ‘elusive’ friendship, or that’s what Luz tells herself... But more than likely, it’s indicative of a crush that Luz isn’t aware of. Sadly, this girl hasn’t had enough social interaction to differentiate between plantonic friendship desires and being romantically attracted to an actual peer VS a fictional character!

         Which is yet another reason why I love Lost in Language, it’s that Luz was interested in the idea of befriending Amity, of a rival turned friend, rather than just Amity herself... And maybe Amity overheard this when Luz mentioned “First I befriend the siblings, then Amity!” and that contributed to her tomato face of anger- Having the painful barriers she’d erected as a trauma response and the loneliness that came from that being trivialized isn’t great. Amity didn’t appreciate being objectified like that, solely for the emotional barriers she’d set up for a reason. It’s one thing to want to be Amity’s friend the way Boscha and others did- But is Luz really interested in Amity, or just in the idea of her? Is this love conditional on Amity’s social status, which Amity is told is both inherent to her as a Blight, and yet something she has to constantly earn and maintain? Especially the idea of ‘winning’ Amity, that’d be particularly patronizing… But very quickly, Luz remembers that Amity is her own separate individual, who doesn’t exist to fulfill her fantasies.

        Luz appreciates Amity as she really is (perhaps not coincidentally after getting insight into the girl’s true personality through her diary entries), which leads to Luz working to protect Amity’s boundaries by keeping her diary from Emira and Edric! There’s the idea of getting to know and appreciate Amity for who she really is, and Luz working to let the girl embrace that part of herself both internally and externally as well... Which again ties back into the idea of projecting the idea/image of fantasies onto someone/something, VS accepting what/who they actually are, and thus appreciating them even more as a result!

         Amity, of course, realizes that Luz is genuine and actually wants to know about the person she really is... And she’s baffled. While she was no doubt offended by Luz possibly seeing her more as a trope to fulfill than an actual person, it probably wouldn’t have been anything new to Amity; The idea of others seeing her as a means to an end, given how her own parents and Lilith did the same! Disappointing, but not surprising...

        But now it IS surprising, because Luz wants to know about Amity- And she’s not used to good things in life, alas? And how to respond? She’s well familiar with the process of rejecting people, but when it comes to accepting someone- What does she do then? And this plays into Amity’s insecurities and confusion about Luz and how she feels, not wanting to lose a friend, not wanting to hurt them, not wanting to ruin things if Luz wants her only as a friend... Not sure if Luz really means it or not because she’s still insecure, and OF COURSE the idea of a crush, and wondering what Luz could see in someone like her?!

        Amity at least better understood Luz’s motives back when she assumed it was just to fulfill her Azura fantasies, because Amity was familiar with those and her own desire for them. But now that Luz has given up on that... Why does she continue to be so interested in Amity, of all people? And even if Luz was still living out her fantasies, what more could Amity accomplish anyway, now that she’s a friend to Luz; Why does Luz continue to express interest in Amity, and be willing to do so much for the girl? Luz already got her Rivals-to-Friends trope in Amity, but she continues to hang out with the girl of her own volition and unconditionally help her; And Amity is possibly freaking out on what Luz’s motives are, even though she at least knows the girl isn’t a bully and means well!

        Mostly, I think Amity KNOWS that Luz is interested in being a genuine friend... But she’s still overwhelmed by the idea of someone being romantically interested in her, or at least more interested in Amity as a friend compared to others; Because the girl underestimates her own worth too much, she doesn’t see herself as worth getting to know if she doesn’t specifically accomplish a purpose! Odalia and Alador conditioned Amity to evaluate others based on their usefulness, or else be useful to others... So Amity is wondering what about her is so specifically appealing to Luz, especially when Luz has disregarded all of Amity’s other traits that make her ‘worthwhile’, such as her intelligence, social status, knowledge on magic, etc. The only thing left about Amity, to appreciate... Are the things that define her as individual, not as a Blight or a Top Student! And it’s unimaginable, or at least surreal to the girl, for Luz to be interested in that...

       Amity only knows friendship in terms of being ‘useful’ to someone else... Emira and Edric were genuinely interested in Amity as a person, but she’s probably dismissed this as a given since they’re family members, not to mention Ed and Em have admittedly done their part in making Amity doubt how much she means to them. So what does Amity do, when Luz expects nothing of her? No doubt Amity feels like she’s a ‘parasite’, that she’s leeching off of Luz’s good nature and not giving back enough... Maybe she’ll feel like she has compensate for their friendship and justify it, only for Luz to make it clear to Amity that just being with the girl, and seeing her be happy, is all she’ll ever need! And it’ll amaze Amity, and mean so much to her, to realize that she’s inherently worthwhile, and that she doesn’t need to ‘prove’ herself to others in order to be lovable...

         TL;DR Luz was initially trying to live out a ‘rivals to friends’ story, but learned not to objectify Amity like this... And when confronted with a growing crush on the Blight girl, Luz possibly assumed she was just relapsing into old habits. But inevitably, Luz is becoming more and more aware of how much she just genuinely likes Amity as a person, no strings attached, that the girl is irreplaceable to her. And when Amity recognizes that there’s no big secret to why she means so much to Luz, other than just being herself, that Luz’s love isn’t dependent on superficial traits that could easily be replicated by someone else, that Amity is irreplaceable to Luz... It’ll do wonders for her crippled self-esteem, as she learns that she doesn’t need to impress people in order to be loved. Amity, as she already is, without having to make any efforts to improve herself, is already worth loving both in the platonic and romantic sense!

      As for Luz, well- She didn’t get the fantasy she expected... But she still got to live out a different one. Amity really IS this girl’s fantasy, and this time, I mean it in the best way possible!

[themonotonysyndrome]

The Holy Quintet in Twisted Wonderland! (all 7 dorms - Part 4)

We now have reach Mami’s reaction to the other dorms! I’m still trying to juggle with work and all of my TW’s writings so apologies that updates for this crossover series are a bit slow. But after we’re done with Madoka’s part, future instalments are going to be a bit easier to manage (I hope. The Witches & Kyuubey scenes as well as the girls’ personal stories definitely require properly outline. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there!)  Also, I have a Discord for all my TW’s stuff! Come and brainstorm with me for more ideas for this series or just chill and talk shit about stuff. https://discord.gg/JeYwU2

That’s it frome me, let’s get to it! 

-

Tomoe Mami & the other dorms (except Pomefiore) 

HEARTSLABYUL!

True to her word, when Riddle told Sayaka that she could invite one of the girls to their Unbirthday Party, she immediately rush to find Mami. Telling about the party that Heartslabyul often throw.

Sayaka promises that there would be plenty of sweets, teas, cute animals and fun games. So would she like to attend? 

Never one to turn down the opportunity to hang out with her friends and enjoy some teas at the same time, Mami didn’t hesitate to accept the offer. Sincerely thanking of Sayaka for thinking of her. 

The day before the party, Mami made sure she would look nothing but her absolute best. She had a couple of dresses sketched out that she could easily use her ribbons to transform into for the party and now she’s sitting in front of the vanity table with her hair down. Carefully planning how she would do her hair and make up for tomorrow. 

As you can probably tell, she’s both nervous and excited to attend a formal tea party since this is her first time ever. She even falls asleep, smiling to herself, dreaming of all the fun things she and Sayaka would have. 

The day of the Unbirthday Party arrives. Coincidentally, Vil was there at the dorm lounge, tutoring a group of second-year students, when Mami descend the stairs. When the Dorm Leader turn to the stairs, his frown transform into a brilliant smirk. He wasted no time to appraise Mami of her dress, hair-do and simple yet elegant makeup. His eyes never stop to critically scan her from the hair pin artfully on her twin tails to her cute little high-heels. Even the second-year students who were wilting under Vil’s strict tutelage brighten when they see their Golden Princess. They smile and offer their compliments as well.  

Mami’s cheeks redden slightly but she made sure to curtsey and thanked Vil and her second-year seniors for their kind and thorough compliments. When the Beauty Queen asked where Mami is heading looking so dolled up, she replies that Sayaka had invited her to Riddle’s Unbirthday Party. Vil took a moment to silently pondered before warning her of the many rules that reigned over Heartslabyul. But after Riddle’s Overblot episode, Vil assured Mami that all she needs to do is behave herself, mind her manners and the rules shouldn’t be a problem. Mami thanked her Dorm Leader once more and head off.  

The moment she steps out of Pomefiore, all eyes are on her and every heads turn to Mami’s direction. This powerful Magical Girl feel a little self-conscious at the attention she’s receiving since she’s still a very much young girl at heart but kept her head high. Vil’s words instantly echoed in her mind; as a Pomefiore student, she must always hold herself proud. Their beauties are hard-earned and rightfully deserved.   

The few Heartslabyul students that were tasked to greet guests gape when Mami arrives. It took a moment for the boys to pick their jaws up from the ground to usher Mami to the garden, as gentlemanly as possible. They blunder as they escort her, but their sincere efforts is very much appreciated by Mami. So she sweetly thanked them when they brought her to Riddle.  

Riddle, who already took his seat at the head of the table, is pleased when Mami introduces herself to him, with all the grace of a noble lady. Internally, he believes that Vil and his dorm deserved to claim this Magical Girl as their Golden Princess. Because behind her beauty and gentle smile, her words are steady and calm. That shows the strength behind it.  

Mami’s smile turn fond and a lot more open when Sayaka happily jogged towards them, eagerly chatted their ears off of all the fun things they can do and oh, oh, won’t Mami sit next to her? There’s just so many things that she wants to talk to her about! Like that time when Sebek and Kyouko caused an accident during Alchemy lesson and switched their classmates’ voices. Needless to say that Mami basked in Sayaka’s company, even giggle when Riddle’s interject with a sigh and a shake of his head at the whole fiasco. 

So caught up in the conversation, Mami didn’t notice the Vice Dorm Leader of Heartslabyul smoothly saddled up beside Riddle to announce that the party is ready to begin. Riddle clap his hands once and the Heartslabyul students kicked into gear. Mami however, stood frozen. Her heart began to race. She stares hard at Trey Clover. 

Decked in his dorm uniform, Trey actually didn’t realise how unbelievably handsome he presented himself to our Magical Girl. As Riddle instruct everyone to take their seat and somewhere in the background Sayaka is waving her arm madly, trying to catch Mami’s attention, Trey introduces himself as the Vice Dorm Leader of Heartslabyul. His friendly smile and deep voice captivated Mami. And when Trey pull out the vacant chair beside Sayaka for her, her heart skips a beat. 

“Mami-san? Are you alright? Heellloo??”

“Ah! Y-Yes, I’m alright!” Cue Mami hurrying to raise her teacup to hide her blush. 

The Unbirthday Party was truly amazing. Mami immensely enjoyed the tea, sweets and company of not just Sayaka but the Heartslabyul students as well. 

However, despite how lively her surrounding is, Mami’s eyes couldn’t help but subtly trailed after Trey who’s making rounds, ensuring that everyone has plenty to eat, Riddle’s teacup is always full and Ace and Deuce aren’t getting too rowdy. When Trey noticed that Mami is staring at him, he smiles and give her a wink before focusing on the party. 

Mami blushes harder and tried not to squirm in her seat. She has never felt anything like this before! There was no boy back at home that she ever gave a second thought. Her life as a Magical Girl is busy as it is dangerous. Back then, romance and her love life was the farthest thing in her mind. 

But here’s Mami experiencing her first crush ever and on none other than Trey Clover.

And for first time ever, her tongue is tied when Trey finally sat down across from her. When Trey asks questions, wanting to know her better (after all, Sayaka sing nothing but praises about the girl who teaches her how to be strong, how could Trey not be interested?), Mami low-key struggle not to stammer her words and not shyly gaze away. Fortunately, Sayaka didn’t notice anything off about her nor how hard Mami’s hands fisted on her dress underneath the table.

Cater appear, being her unintentional saviour. He’s been meaning to take a pic of Pomefiore’s Princess and Mami jumps on the opportunity to just breathe without having to look at Trey. However, when Cater ushered them for a group picture, Mami thought she would faint when she felt her back was pressed against Trey’s chest. 

(Someone save this poor girl.) 

Riddle approved of Mami. She’s a good student, a good teacher to Sayaka and despite not knowing all the rules of his dorm, she’s very mindful of them. Though her reluctance to actually look at his Vice Dorm Leader when they talk is a little rude. Did... did Trey do something to offend Vil’s prized student? 

Cater adores Mami! She looks so photogenic in all the pics he took! He adores her little laugh, sweet smiles and thoughtfulness. He internally laments on why couldn’t his sisters be like her!? 

Even before meeting her, Mami already earned Trey’s respect. With the way how Sayaka and even Kyouko talk about Mami, it seems that she’s the girls’ leader and would often try her best to look after them. So he wants to know more about her! How is she adjusting to their world? Are the foods and drinks to her liking? Please don’t hold back, eat as much as she wants.

Though he’s confused as to why Mami is acting differently with him. She shrinks in on herself when they talk and refuse to meet his eyes. Whereas with Cater, Ace, Deuce and even Riddle, she’s comfortable interacting with them. Perhaps he’s coming off too strongly? Oh well. Trey is certain that she just needed time to warmed up to him. 

Ace and Deuce at first don’t really know how to talk or interact with Mami. Bless their hearts, they tried to be a gentleman for her only to hilariously failed at pouring tea for her. Mami rushed to help them clean up the spilled drink and patted their arms, thanking them for trying their best to accommodate her. Please don’t treat her differently. She’s more than happy if Ace and Deuce treats her like how they treat Sayaka and Kyouko. She can take a little roughing, don’t worry.  

As for Mami, she hopes that Ace and Deuce won’t hold themselves back with her. She wants to join them and have fun too! It’d be nice to let loose once in a while. 

Cater is a whirlwind of camera’s flashing, teasing and good humour. Mami is very charmed by him (thought his smiles are not as captivating as Trey’s) throughout the party. She likes his easy-going attitude, how well he eases the tension between Ace, Deuce and Sayaka during the game of croquet. She definitely looks up to him as her senior from another dorm. 

Riddle is also another senior that Mami looks up to. She takes in how compose and how well he manages the other students, his magic quick to prevent any accidents to happened and his hard-working nature is admirable. There’s a lot she can learn from Riddle and Mami hopes the two of them would be able to study together in the near future. 

Trey... well, even when the party’s over and Mami well on her way back to her dorm, Trey is still running in her mind. Among the boys, Trey is the most prince-like to her. You can bet this girl already falls hard for him when Sayaka informed her that Trey’s the one who baked all the sweets for the Unbirthday Party. 

By the time she reaches Pomefiore, Rook who was nearby noted the slight dazed expression on Mami’s face when he asked if she had fun at the party. His interest is definitely piqued when Mami then blushed and run to her room. 

Rook is familiar with the expression of infatuation. Though he never expect that Mami would be among the girls to wear such an expression! Perhaps one of the students here finally tug on their Princess’ heartstrings. Now, which boys from the Heartslabyil dorm is Mami enamoured with?  

Vil needs to know about this.   

SAVANACLAW!

Lately, Mami notice that she hasn’t seen Kyouko in classes. And when she asked Madoka and Sayaka whether Kyouko is busy, the two girls sheepishly explain that she’s just skipping. 

Seeing Mami’s disappointed frown, Sayaka gave in and explain that Kyouko likes nap at the green house. And so Mami left for the green house after requesting Sayaka not to warned Kyouko that she’s coming. They had 30 minutes before their next class and Mami is confident that she can drag the redhead girl with her to their History class. 

Arriving at the green house, it wasn’t hard for her Soul Gem to pick up Kyouko’s brash and flame-like magic hidden somewhere behind thick shubberies and greeneries. However, Mami was not expecting Leona to be there with Kyouko; napping on the soft grass beside his junior dorm mate. His tail lightly entertwine around Kyouko’s arm. 

Mami almost didn’t want to disturb the two but as students, they have responsibilities to attend classes so she crouch down beside Kyouko to light shake her awake. 

Kyouko groan and stir. She cracks one eye open and groan louder when Mami is smilling down at her. Kyouko try to shoo the veteran Magical Girl away but Mami is having none of it. 

At first, Mami tries to gently persuade and even bribe Kyouko to follow her to their class but when Kyouko rolls away, Mami decide to use her ribbons. 

Before Kyouko could summon her spear, Mami already create a tall armoured knight and scoop the redhead girl up in its arms and hug her before Kyouko could escape. 

“What the - seriously, Mami? Lemme go!”

“We have History class soon, Kyouko. Shall we go now?” 

 “Are you even listening to me!?” 

Mami’s giggle and Kyouko’s whining rouse Leona up.  

Leona would think he’s dreaming at first. There’s his junior in the arms of a really tall knight that just came out of nowhere, squirming and trying to break free. That itself is a cause for alarm because if something can pinned Kyouko down, then that means it can’t be good and they must be crazy strong. But when he saw Mami smiling gently, his brain would froze. Ah shit, it’s that prissy Pomefiore’s Dorm Leader’s junior. And the girl that Kyouko once told him is the strongest out of all of them. 

So Kyouko is on her own. No matter how much Kyouko shriek for him to help her. He grumble and told the girls to quiet down because someone is trying to nap here, hello!

However, just as Leona close his eyes, Mami sweetly said, “Senpai, don’t you have class too?”

Leona’s eyes flew open again and he immediately found himself in the arm of another armoured knight. Like a surprised, indignant cat, Leona narrowed his eyes at the blonde hair girl who is totally unfazed at his ire. 

“Shall we go to class together?” Without waiting for a reply, Mami begin walking out of the green house with Kyouko and Leona behind her; both trying to escape. 

“Herbivore! If you don’t let me go right now - ”

“I think Bucchi-senpai should be around. Don’t worry, Kingscholar-senpai. I’ll get you to your class.”

Leona groan when Kyouko told him to just give up. He would need to actually make an effort to fight Mami if he wants to get away. It’s a sight to behold for the passing students to see the Dorm Leader of Savanaclaw and the Savanaclaw Brawler being carried off by huge knights. 

That was Mami’s first proper interaction with Leona. After that day, the lion is a bit wary whenever Mami drop by Savanaclaw to visit Kyouko. He had tried to use his spells and even break apart Mami’s knight that was carrying him with his claws but it seems that her magic was a lot stronger than he anticipated. It was a slight bruise to his ego. But as long as Mami doesn’t develop a habit of stalking him and the rest of his dorm mates like Rook, Leona doesn’t have a problem with her as long as Mami doesn’t step out of line with him. 

When Mami came to Ruggie and Jack to drop off Leona as if he was a package, Ruggie couldn’t help but cackle seeing the distraught expression on Leona’s face. And the fact that no matter how much Leona struggle, he couldn’t break free from Mami’s magic (she explains how she uses her ribbons to carried him and Kyouko) and that impress the hyena. The women back home are known for their strength and power and Ruggie was right that Mami has them in spades beneath her Pomefiore’s grace. 

Jack is silently appraising Mami’s magic when she releases Leona to their care. After explaining that she possess magical ribbons, he tries to understand how she could make those huge knights from them. He wonders if Mami has mastered her magic. After that day, if Mami drops by to visit Kyouko at their dorm, Jack would shyly ask Mami for tips on how to improve on his magic. A fresh, new perspective would make a good progress for him. After all, Vil always give excellent criticism to his work out regiment from time to time. 

For Mami, despite the difference between their dorms, she’s actually quite accepting of Leona’s irritableness, Ruggie’s mischeviousness and Jack’s gruff yet thoughtful demeanour. She’s a little hurt whenever Leona would glance at her suspiciously but whenever she tries to approach him, Leona would hightail his way out of there.

(Keep that up Leona and Rook would hunt you down, tied you up and bring you to Pomefiore so you and Mami could properly talk things out). 

Mami admire Ruggie immensely. He’s hard-working, already planning ahead for his future and despite coming from a poor background, he kept his spirits up and strive to improve his and his grandmother’s life. You best believe that Ruggie would blush and shyly scratch his ears when Mami told him this. Especially if Mami informed him that she wants to be as strong him too. These two would then talk about their perception of strength and power. 

Since Mami already gotten along quite well with Epel, she soon will get to know Jack when Epel brought her along to their workout session. Whenever Mami is with them, their workout sessions focused on magic instead of physical trainings. The 3 of them would sit down and talk about the nuances of their magic and toss ideas around on how improve them and Mami would coach them to think outside of the box when it comes to their Unique Magic. After all, her magic come in the form ribbons and she could construct nearly anything using them. 

From that day onwards, Mami and Jack can usually be found either in the library or training field, studying and training together. Both of them are good friends because of their view on justice and being the sole voice of reason for their respective group of friends. As for Jack, he regards Mami highly as he do for Vil. Whenever she fights with her ribbons and guns out, it never fail to steal his breath away.        

OCTAVINELLE!

Mami’s first encounter with the Octavinelle dorm is through Jade Leech. During Summonning class, the teacher gave the students an assignment and he paired Mami up with the Vice Dorm Leader of Octavinelle. 

On the surface level and to the other students, these two are nothing but polite, professional and kind to one another. Upon being partners for the assignment, Jade offer Monstro Lounge as their study location and even promises that drinks would be on him while Mami suggest to leave the reference books and information gathering to her. They appear to be a perfect academic team, right?  

However, Mami is well aware of Floyd and Kyouko’s scuffle and the gossips floating around Pomefiore regarding those that rule over Octavinelle. A pair of twins and their boss. Since Kyouko could handle herself against the twin named Floyd Leech, Mami actually did a little investigation regarding him, his twin brother and their Dorm Leader prior before properly introducing herself to Jade Leech. 

So the moment the teacher had paired her up with him, she made sure to firmly keep her mask up, her smile never falters in front of this devious and charming student. While Mami might not be as confrontational as Kyouko, that doesn’t mean she’s meek against threats that disguise themselves underneath a sweet facade. After all, that’s how Witches lures innocent bystanders into their Labyrinth. 

So yes, Mami is very much aware about the Leech Twins, Azul and their shady dealings. That’s why she remain on her very best behaviour around Jade and held herself back from showing any weaknesses. 

But Mami being Mami, she believes that Jade deserve the benefit of a doubt. So despite how guarded she is, her offer is sincere and as long as Jade doesn’t do anything nefarious blatantly in front of her, Mami would not confront him. 

Throughout the time of their partnership, Jade is nothing but a perfect gentleman to her. It’s know by everyone by now in NRC that among all the girls, Mami is the strongest of them all so he’s very, very mindful on how he interacts with her. Azul still wanted to learn more about the girls’ magic so if he slips up, it’s game over for them. 

When Mami finally came to Mostro Lounge, Azul made sure to give her the best table available and personally attend to her and Jade while they studied. Floyd is well and occupied with kitchen duties. When Jade informed him that Mami is his partner, Azul strictly forbid him from using his Unique Magic on her. They still don’t know enough about her and the risks are still not within his comfortable range. 

Mami accept Azul’s hospitality and treatment with grace. Since Azul is working hard to be the perfect host, Mami recipocrate by humouring a few innocent questions; just enough to satiate his curiosity. But not enough to hand him leverage over her or her friends. Yes, her magic is simply ribbons but she kept her mastery over them to herself. Oh, Madoka? She’s a sweetheart isn’t she? But I’d stay away from her shooting range if I were you. 

It comes as a surprise to both Mami and Azul at how well they could read one another; almost transparent really. The longer she stayed at Mostro Lounge and talk to Azul, the more she sees herself in him. A lost, insecure girl that she worked hard to hide from everyone. Including herself. 

As for Azul, Mami’s polite veneer and gentle smile are eerily similar to his. Unlike with the rest of the girls, Mami understands him more than he’d like and a small part of him wonders if the two of them are more alike than anyone think. Both indivisual has a strong wall/front to protect themselves against the world. 

Jade, being the observer that he is, notice the walls that Mami has around her from their daily interactions. How could he not when Azul has the same walls around him as well? He wonders just what could shatter these two until their vulnerable selves are bare for the world to judge. He had been waiting for some time with Azul, but now he’s keeping an eye on Mami as well. It would be quite a show for sure. 

Even after submitting their assignment, Mami still couldn’t get a read on what Jade really think most of the time. He sounds amused at every little thing and his endless patience when it comes to his erratic twin brother is admirable. Mami has an inkling that Jade enjoys toying with people but without evidence, she can’t call him out on it. 

Floyd finds Mami pretty but so boring. No matter how much he tried to tease or antagonised her, she didn’t react like Kyouko at all. She wants to squeeze her like how he’s trying to do to Kyouko but her ribbons are always fast to seperate them or bind him so she could make a quick get away. Floyd wants to fight her too! Floyd wants to see just how strong Mami really is. 

As for Mami, Floyd is a headache to deal with. He’s like a sadistic child who enjoys tearing the wings of insects. The moment he burst out of the kitchen, trying to squeeze the breath out of Mami just as she was about to leave Mostro Lounge, Mami already plan to stay away from him. Kyouko might humoured him, but she’s not. 

SCARABIA! 

Despite how strict Vil is on his dorm mates, he’s known to reward their hard work from time to time. And recently? For scoring well in her Alchemy test, Vil gifted Mami a flower hairpin in a reminiscent of the one that she wears with her Soul Gem in her Magicl Girl outfit. It’s pretty, light and Rook praise how it enhance her beauty even more. 

So Mami has been wearing the flower hairpin every day. She loves it because it also symbolises as a token of her achievement. Even Kyouko think that it looks good on her.

One day while she’s walking through the hallways of the college’s main building, Mami didn’t realised that the hairpin fell off. She only realised when she return to Pomefiore to retire for the day. Needless to say that Mami was upset when she found her hairpin missing. She texted her friends if they had seen it but they all reply back that they haven’t but they promised to keep an eye out for it. So Mami went to bed distraught that day. 

The next day arrive and Mami is a little distracted. She’s looking for her hairpin in between her classes and she would absentmindedly play with her hair where the hairpin should be. 

It’s during the afternoon when lunchtime is nearly over that someone suddenly ambush her with a loud and happy shout. 

“Tomeo-san! Tomeo-san! Over here!” 

Swooshing through the air on his magic carpet, Mami watch with wide eyes as Kalim jump off, rolled onto the ground and presented her flower hairpin to her with a wide grin. “I think this is yours, Tomoe-san!” 

Mami broke into a delightful laugh and then shyly smile. This senior made quite an entrance and an unforgettable first impression on her! She thanked him for finding her hairpin after she clips it back on her hair. That’s when Mami and Kalim introduces themselves to one another. 

Unlike with Jade, Mami immediately hit it off with Kalim. She doesn’t have to watch her words and genuinely enjoy his company whenever she visit Scarabia for hers and Homura’s research time. Although he tends to go over the top (trying to ply the girls with sweets, snacks, drinks, comfy pillows and etc), Mami is aware that he genuinely wants her to feel welcome at his dorm.

In the rare occasion that Homura has to leave Mami and Kalim for a brief moment, Mami would curiously ask the Dorm Leader how Homura is faring in Scarabia. To which Kalim would not hesitant divulging about Homura’s well-being. 

Kalim’s answers astound Mami. Mami honestly didn’t expect anyone could become close enough with Homura to melt her icy exterior! Kalim must be special to her, Mami guessed. Throughout her brief stay at Scarabia, she studied how the two of them interact. It amaze her that Kalim could eeked out a small smile from the aloof girl. So when Kalim saw her off and Homura went to help her Vice Dorm Leader in the storeroom, Mami quietly apologise for asking Kalim to take on her request, but won’t he please keep an eye on Homura and continue to be her friend? She explains that the girls struggle to connect with Homura; no matter how hard they tried. Kalim happily accept Mami’s request and tells her not to worry. Homura is a dear friend to everyone here in Scarabia. 

As for Kalim, the only thing he initally know about Mami is that she’s super strong (courtsey from Homura), super pretty and that the Pomefiore dorm claimed her as their princess in all but blood. So already he thinks her as an awesome girl. After getting to know her a little more, Kalim feels that Mami has the same vibe as Jamil. She’s very hard working, resposible and look out for her friends - so he couldn’t help but make the comparison.

Jamil and Mami merely regard each other as acquaintances. Among the girls that visited Homura, Mami is the easiest to attend to. She’s happy enough with a simple cup of tea and a slice of cake as she studied with Homura. Her manners are also impaccable so Jamil usually leave the girls to themselves without any worries while he runs the dorm. As an individual, Jamil can respect Mami as the leader of the girls. She seem as someone who has her life together despite being transported to TW. 

Mami sees so many similarities Jamil has with Homura that it’s uncanny. Both have trouble smiling, both are dedicated to someone who is the exact opposite of them and both are... secretive. They kept their emotions hidden from the world that it’s hard to understand what they’re thinking. Mami wonder between him and Jade, which of them is the most dangerous and decide that she hopes she would never have to find out. 

IGNIHYDE!         

Mami has heard that Kyouko would babysit her Dorm Leader’s nephew from time to time and she just so happend to caught her following a small lion cub and an also a small... robot boy? 

“Oh, Mami. What’s up?”

“Waaaa~ What a pretty lady. Here! a pretty flower for a pretty lady!”

Mami beams, deeply touched, when the small lion cub thrust a crudely picked flower to Mami. Dirt clung on his hand and flower, but Mami happily accept it. 

“Thank you, little one. I’ll keep it safe with me.” She thanked the boy and pressed the flower inside one of the textbook Mami is carrying. 

That was when the lion cub introduces himself as Cheka and that Leona is his beloved uncle! 

The robot boy then introdues himself as Ortho Shroud. He asked if Mami would like to play with them to which she unhesitatingly accept. She was supposed to join a study session, but the two boys are just so adorable that she couldn’t possible reject! So Mami brought them to the gardens of Pomefiore when Cheka mentioned that he wants to pick a bunch of flowers for his uncle, papa and mama. The boys immediately dash off for the many flowers Pomefiore offers while Mami and Kyouko sat near the well. As they talked, Mami notice that Kyouko is actually attentive to the kids whereabous; her eyes would glance over at the patch of flowers and Mami could sense her magic wraps protectively around Cheka and Ortho. Mami didn’t need to ask to know that they remind Kyouko of her lost little sister. She will spare her from the pain. 

Ortho then ran up to them, asking for some blue flowers that he wanted to give to his older brothers. He flash a couple of holograms of the types of flowers he’s looking for. Since the flowers that he wanted are at the gardens on the otherside of the dorm, Mami offer to bring him there while Kyouko entertained Cheka with making some flower crowns for Jack and Ruggie. 

Mami help Ortho gather a bunch of cornflowers, irises, periwinkles, gentians until the two have a huge bouquet. She uses her yellow ribbon to tied the flowers beautifully. The two of them cheer at their hard work. 

Mami adores Ortho and Cheka. She loves listening to Ortho talk and praise endllessly about his cool, awesome older brother and how friendly the Ignihyde students to him. 

(Now that Ortho mentioned it, Mami couldn’t recall when the last time she spot a student wearing a blue coloured school uniform.)

Ortho’s magic also react strangly with hers. Nothing malicious; it just feel like a film of oil above a clear pool of water. 

Later that day, when Ortho burst into Idia’s bedroom to present the bouquet of flowers to him, he would regale his day to the Dorm Leader. The flowers look a bit out place amongst his gadgets, mini workshop, gaming consoles and many monitors, but the brothers managed to quickly create a mechanical vase and Idia put the flowers beside his bed. When he was untangling Mami’s ribbon, Ortho suddenly recalled her words. He told Idia that it’s a magic ribbon - one that can shrink and lengthen its size according to Idia’s wishes - and that he can use it to bind things and that almost nothing can cut it. 

You can bet that Idia would have a lot of fun testing it out, trying to unravel the principals behind Mami’s magic. 

Among all the girls, he and Idia would only meet face to face when the situation calls for it. While the other girls would stumble upon him or Ortho push them to visit Ignihyde, these two would need an event (Ghost Marriage and etc) to meet up. It’s nothing insidous, just one of those things that happen. 

Although she had never met Ignihyde’s Dorm Leader face to face, judging how much Ortho talks to her about him, Mami readily believes that he’s kind to his little brother and a brilliant introvert. It’s alright; Mami trust that one day she would meet him. 

As for Idia, he knows he’s going to faint once he meets Mami. It was bad enough having to deal with the fact that Homura and Kyouko would sometimes drop by his dorm for a visit, to have the most beautiful girl in NRC physically in front of him? Idia’s certain that Vil would try to murder him if he so as much breath incorrectly around Mami. No, he doesn’t need the stress, thanks!

DIASOMNIA!     

How Mami was introduced to the Diasomnia gang is actually through Malleus, of all people. 

Mami was requested by Vil to find Rook when the Vice Dorm Leader refused to answered his phone or reply his texts. This displeased him (and Mami saw the worry behind his cold eyes) since Rook is not known to ignore Vil’s calls. Since Mami had no plans for the day, she accepts and went out to search for the hunter. 

She had gifted the hunter her ribbon during their recent shooting practise and Rook made a grand show of tying it around his bow. So she only need to follow the trail from her magic ribbon. Sensing that Rook is somewhere deep in the forest, she waste no time fetching him. The longer they keep Vil waiting, the angrier he gets. 

The forest is quiet, safe for the chirpings birds and rustling leaves when the breeze pass through. 

However, when she sense that Rook is close by, she also sense a really powerful magic. The sheer power of it reminds Mami of Madoka’s. Yet unlike Madoka’s, it’s dark and a beneath it��s calm surface there’s a maelstrom ready to be unleash should the user so wishes. This had Mami immediately summoning her muskets out of caution when she finally come across the owner of such magic. 

Her eyes widen and her muskets are lowered slightly. She knows this senior. She often seen him around Madoka after all. 

“Oh? What interesting weapons. It’s been so long since someone dare to point their weapons at me.” 

It’s Madoka’s Dorm Leader! Mami hastily puts away her muskets and apologise. She didn’t mean to attack him; she sensed something unfamiliar and dangerous and her Magical Girl training kicks in. 

Malleus hums and ponders to himself. Usually people flinch away when they sense him, but it’s truly rare that someone would be brave enough to challenge him. And so he introduces himself because this human girl deserve it and it delight him that her heartbeat is calm and her words sincere when Mami introduces herself and said that it’s a pleasure to meet Madoka’s senior. 

Strength comes in many form, Lilia once told him. And after observing Vil and those that under him, Malleus understood the strength behind all that are beautiful and glittered. And while Mami does share the same strength, she also possess something else. Something dark and terrible should she falters. Malleus wonders if her friends realised this. But apart from her magic, Mami is a good conversationalist and company during every tea time. Both of them prefer quiet and simple activities and Malleus appreciate that despite his dark magic, Mami continue to be a good friend. They don’t actively seek each other’s company, but whenever they crossed path, they would take the opportunity to catch up. 

Mami look up to Malleus the same way she looks up to her seniors; polite, respectful and friendly. Mami had never really met someone who fits the ‘tall, dark and handsome’ trope but really, it fits Malleus so well. Although he’s not Trey, Mami finds his little musing and odd jokes to be charming. It’s clear that this senior is not that good at socialising so whenever they talk, Mami would do her best to make him feel comfortable. 

Because of their friendship and Madoka as their connection, Malleus announce that he would like to invite Mami to their next midnight picnic. This intrigue Lilia, Silver and Sebek since Malleus had never invite someone before to their gathering! (That and Malleus smugly keep his friendship with Mami a secret up until now because a tiny part of him wanted to show off to his family that he can make friends all on his own).

(Someone please give Malleus a cookie for doing a good job at socialising). 

Madoka is very excited to have Mami join them for their picnic. Everyone is very welcoming to Mami. Well, in their odd ways. Mami quickly pull the plate of scones away before Silver could face-planted on his food and promptly conked out and she readily cover her ears with her palms and smile widely when Sebek gets loud whenever he’s excited. Mami is always ready to roll with it and she’s enjoy every seconds she spend with her new friends. 

Silver likes Mami well enough. He’d seen Kyouko and Sayaka fight before (spar with them even) and all the girls had mentioned more than once before how strong she is. It’s not every day that there’s a Pomefiore student with strong magical ability. And since she’s docile and Malleus treasure their talks, Silver doesn’t mind her quiet company. 

For a human, Mami reminds Sebek of one of the noble’s ladies back at the Valley of Thorns, beautiful but you know she’s just as magically strong. He’s slightly envious at how compose and pragmatic at everything Mami does; be it in classes or fighting. He’s looking forward to see just why the other girls readily admits that Mami is the strongest out of them all. 

Like Malleus, Mami finds Silver and Sebek to be delightful companies. Honestly, nowadays she’s very happy to have lots of wonderful friends. Really, what more could a lonely girl ask for? 

To know that these two are knights and that Malleus is their prince and future king, it feels like Mami had stepped into a fairytale. When she admits it, Lilia suddenly thought of an idea. To help Malleus, Silver and Sebeke ease into their future roles, they should role play as his court during tea time! Always down to play dressed up, Mami let herself be swept away by him. 

Now, Mami sees Lilia as a wise senior (he always have some word of advice or just know what to say to cheer Madoka up) but strangely, his mischeviousness and playful smiles makes it so easy for Mami to talk about anything with him. From the most mundane things like the new hairstyle that Rook taught her to her quietly admitting that sometimes it’s difficult for her to make decisions that could potentially harm her friends. She finds immense comfort at Lilia’s assurance and patience. So she treasures every advices that Lilia give her; yes, even if it ended up pranking her in the end. 

As for Lilia, he couldn’t help but take Mami under his wings. This reserved girl who is force to carry the burden of leadership for someone so young. Her mastery over her own magic and impressive fighting prowess both impressed and saddened this ancient Fae. So Mami better get ready to not only being look after by him, but watch out for his pranks because Lilia whole heartedly believe that kids should be kids. Mami should not have to worry about being a good leader to her friends or worry over their well being all the time; she should just be a student and have fun!    

 - 

I was rushing to edit this part, tbh. Wanted to post it on Monday originally, but I had plans with the family on Sunday for the whole day and since today (Wednesday) is a public holiday. I thought to try and make it this week.             

[alisarb]

Thoughts on Frenchie and Kimiko (deleted scene + 2x04)

Okay so tHINGS have happened since we last saw each other, folks, so let’s get cracking immediately. 

Spoilers for The Boys season 2 until 2x04, stop reading if you haven’t seen it yet!

Before I delve into last episode’s events, I’d like to talk a bit about two deleted scenes that I think still play a vital part into context for the kiss scene in 2x04. Get for a LONG meta post.

The events that lead up to that kiss are influenced by everything we saw last season and that I talked about in a previous post: Kimiko opening and sharing her trauma with The Boys because she trusts Frenchie, Frenchie telling her and only her about his dad and his traumatic childhood, how their relationship is defined by freedom and absolute liberty to choose without judgement, etc. 

Then, on season 2, we see that Kimiko has begun to interact with the other members of the gang a lot more (Hughie approaches her from behind to praise her on her writing practice and she smiles), and that everything has been going a bit roughly since Butcher left, holing up in the back of a store with some sketchy guys that Frenchie knows. 

It’s obvious from the beginning of the season that Frenchie has been stressed and frustrated since everyone is highly wound up, but the moment Kimiko goes to him to show him the origami piece he stops to pay her attention and smiles. 

One of the main points of this season is that Kimiko is finding a voice, a way to communicate. Unfortunately, another main point of this is that Frenchie is struggling to understand her. 

He doesn’t get what the paper means, or why she keeps talking about “a boy and a girl.” 

This boy, as it turns out, is her brother, who was also taken from the terrorist group into America and injected with Compund v, turning him into a Supe like her sister. 

The conversation between the two of them is very telling. At one point, she asks if it hurt when they injected him, and he says: “I wanted to die.” She replies: “Me too”, and goes on to say that Vought had turned her into a monster. 

A few scenes earlier, Kimiko goes into the store with Frenchie and brutally murders one of the employees. Frenchie looks completely horrified at the excessive force and shocked at Kimiko for “returning to her old habits”, in a way, but then realizes that he belongs to the Shining Light Liberation Army.

These two things help us understand her personality: when we first meet her, she’s locked in a cage and is completely feral and savage (understandably so). She’s only able to form a bond with Frenchie, and uses violence towards people without much remorse. 

However, this season she doesn’t seem so prone to it, and I think the change in her character is what surprises Frenchie at the store. 

Now, before we go into 2x04, let’s talk about the deleted scenes.

The first deleted scene: Cherie

I’ve tried to record the scene but to no avail, so I’ll describe it for those who don’t have Prime Video since I can’t find it uploaded anywhere else.

The scene is presumably set at the beginning of 2x02. We see M.M working on his dollhouse when suddenly some voices can be heard arguing in the background: Frenchie and Cherie. Frenchie sounds angry and tense and Cherie talks in a playful, passive-aggresive manner. 

Frenchie: You’re getting on my nerves. You need to shut up.

Cherie (laughing, playful): You shut up. Just fucking say the truth then.

Frenchie (tense): Bye-bye...

Cherie (now visibly angry too): That’s all I’m asking. Say the fucking truth.

Frenchie (shouting): Okay, you can stop right there, okay?

Cherie: You wanna fuck her? Fuck her! Just (I didn’t get that part lmao)

Frenchie: We are not-! I would never sleep with her!

Cherie: Why!? Then what does she do, then? I mean, I see the way you look at her!

Frenchie: It’s difficult, it’s difficult to explain, okay? She’s special!

Okay, I won’t transcribe the whoooole conversation because IT’S LONG but I’ll describe the rest and quote the final part:

Cherie gets offended because, oh, Frenchie can fuck her hard and rough just fine but she’s too “magic and special.” Then Frenchie tries to explain (through C.I Joe characters wtf Frenchie) that him and Kimiko are like soulmates: they can “read each other thoughts”, and they think and feel the same, they are the same. 

This mirrors what Karen Fukuhara, who plays Kimiko, said in a recent interview (posted a week before 2x04) when asked about the nature of their relationship:

“It could be love, romantic love. It could be like paternal love, because in the comics, she is portrayed as a younger girl, I think, when you first see her. Or it could be something deeper than friendship, something that we call “twin flame,” something that ties two people together kind of like a magnet, soulmates, if you will.”

Cherie grabs him and asks him how does he know what the fuck she’s thinking if she doesn’t say a word. Maybe he’s just projecting what he wants to believe into her for this very reason (VERY TELLING OF THE KISS SCENE).

Then, she turns around to leave and runs right into Kimiko. Cherie touches a strand of her hair and tells her: “I don’t think you’re too magic to fuck” before she leaves.

Kimiko looks at Frenchie confused as fuck, ofc.

The lovely @daddy-winter​ asked me what I thought because they’ve been announcing for a while now that their characters will drift apart this season, and I think this scene is key in understanding that.

Their relationship has been interpreted in many ways throughout the show, and this scene marks it clearly as romantic, as it shows Cherie being jealous or at least annoyed with how much attention he’s giving Kimiko. This also resembles a scene in S1 when she demands to know when he’ll be with her again. Then it takes a turn when Frenchie tells her he’d never sleep with her (which seemes to be disproved when he later tries to kiss her).

The way I see it, this scene was too open-ended, and at the same time, gave away too much of what’ll happen with them. I also don’t think it’s truly fitting with Cherie’s character since she later learns Frenchie tried to kiss Kimiko and is not excessively annoyed nor surprised (CHERIE KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING AND I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL).

We don’t see all the glimpses into their relationship and everyday life. In fact, when S2 begins we’re taken already into present day with no clarifications as to how much time passed (it doesn’t seem like more than a few weeks) or what has happened in that time (except for Butcher disappearing and them hiding with the gun smugglers). But we get this scene, which, as another user commented, is incredibly romantic in the way Frenchie straight-up affirms he would never sleep with Kimiko.

And now we get to the dreaded 2x04 and the terribly terribly timed kiss.

2x04 and dumbass Frenchie’s fucked up timing

The third episode ended with the death of Kimiko’s brother by Stormfront (played brilliantly by Aya Cash, btw) and her staring at the TV with boiling anger and grief. 

The fourth episode begins pretty much the same way, and it reminds us of an earlier version of Kimiko: disheveled, huddled up under a table and staring at the TV in a dark room. 

Frenchie, who was first introduced as a character way too comfortable with taking pills, stops getting high in S1 (coincidentally when he meets Kimiko). Then, all of a sudden, we start 2x04 with him snorting coke and getting high as a kite (Butcher’s words, not mine). The stress of the situation could be triggering enough on its own, but as we talked about at the beginning of this post, he’s seen relaxing instantly when Kimiko is around. However, the minute they start drifting away even the slightlest (them not being able to communicate, her isolating herself to grieve her brother) he feels the need to consume again. 

That’s how he finds her: high, tense, and emotionally destroyed. An explosive mix, to say the least. He goes up to her to comfort her, but does the stupidest thing he could do: he goes in for a kiss. Of course, she pushes him away swiftly, and is shocked and angry. 

The timing is terrible: she’s grieving her brother and the last thing she needs is to deal with this right now, especially when the show has already established that she’s emotionally fragile and not ready for more than slight contact (and just with Frenchie). 

Once again referring to Karen’s interview, when asked about her brother’s death and whether or not it will be a setback in her character’s development:

“But then because of this loss, it’s going to create rifts within her relationships, especially with Frenchie. In a way, it’s not necessarily Frenchie’s fault or anything he does. Actually, scratch that. He does do something. But Frenchie’s not the source of the pain, you know? The source of the pain is the death, and she doesn’t deal with it. I mean, nobody deals with death the right way. The rest of the season is her grappling with how to deal with loss and grief”.

Later in the episode, Frenchie goes to Cherie (for the first time in presumably a long time) and they sleep together. Afterwards, she asks him to tell her what’s wrong and he admits to trying to kiss Kimiko. He affirms he was just “trying to make her feel better.” I’ve seen some discussions about how this means the relationship could still be platonic and he didn’t know any other way to do it, but I want to offer a different approach.

We already know Kimiko is inexperienced. I mean, it’s not explicitly said but we can all assume she probably doesn’t know a lot about normal, functional relationships apart from the one with her brother. Everything she’s known outside of that is violence, abuse and cruelty. 

But we forget Frenchie is just as inexperienced.

They both come from abuse, and even though he prides himself in being succesful with women, Frenchie has never been in love. He doesn’t know how to properly love someone or communicate with them. Yes, he has had sex, but he doesn’t know anything about intimacy (sexual or otherwise). Kimiko was the one to show him, and the only way he can think of to comfort her is sexually, as it seems to be the thing that works for him (that, and drugs). This is confirmed when he later goes to sleep with Cherie to drown his sorrows, probably still high or drunk or both. 

His face in Cherie’s bed as he tries to convey his feelings is heartbreaking. He just doesn’t know how to function in such a situation, and he’s terrified that he destroyed their bond by going too fast. 

There’s another deleted scene set in 2x04 where Kimiko is in her room watching Stormfront’s speech and she finds a mouse wandering about. She feeds him, as it probably reminds her of her brother (her nickname for him was Mouse because he used to feed mouses in the camp that didn’t have a mom). Then later, she tries to feed it again and finds it dead under her bed, caught in a mousetrap. She breaks down and goes to Stormfront’s rally as Frenchie keeps pounding her door, pleading her to let him in. He hears the noise and forcibly opens the door, only to realize she’s gone.

The next we see of them is already at Stormfront’s rally, where he saves her from literally killing herself. As Frenchie says, she will not survive. Stormfront is more powerful and dangerous and she’s probably too weak anyway to fight her again. She looks at him and it’s clear there’s no resentment from before in her eyes. Kimiko feels safe with Frenchie, and she feels love for him:

Look at this and tell me they don’t love each other, I DARE YOU

But her grief and her vengeance are too much of an obstacle right now. She needs to leave and sort it out. It’s a clever, intelligent move for her character and for once I’m so glad the writers are aware that female characters are more than their romantic interest. She gets annoyed at him when he tells her “let’s go home”, for the simple reason that he’s not understanding her. He does it out of pure concern for her, but also comprehensible selfishness: he loves her and doesn’t want her to die. But by doing that, he’s belittling her need to get revenge for her brother. In this matter, Kimiko feels alone for the first time, and it mirrors the S1 scene where he offers her a choice to leave and find her brother. Now, he just can’t bear to see her go (of course now she’s in a lot more danger, but still).

This episode is so perfectly described in a post by @pineapplesperhaps​: it is about love. From the title (Nothing Like It in the World) to the whole plot: the women talking about it and relationships in a ‘When Harry met Sally’ style (about communication, which is sorely lacking between them this season); every character’s story this episode is marked by love in this, in all of its forms: Hughie and Starlight, Butcher and Becca, Homelighter and milk. And then himself. Thinking about it, let’s not bring that up ‘cause it was too disturbing. Also please stop writing scenes about Homelander and milk I can’t bear it anymore wRITERS-

Karen mentions in the interview that there’s an episode this season about Frenchie’s background story that will also cause another shift (not rift, mind you) in their relationship. I’m so excited about it. 

I think their drifting apart was inevitable and necessary to a degree for them to be able to come together in a healthy way. Kimiko is learning who is she as a free person, as a Supe, as a member of The Boys, and it’s hard to do so while figuring out the complex relationship with Frenchie. I don’t think she didn’t want him to approach her romantically, but the timing, as everyone has pointed out, was terrible to say the least. They are both new to this kind of bond and need to find the common ground necessary to get closer. 

I am hopeful that this rift will only make their bond stronger and help them move forward with their relationship. The show has already established that Frenchie feels attraction towards Kimiko (as much as you want to comfort someone you don’t kiss them if you see them as a little sister or a daughter; besides, in the deleted scene with Cherie, she asks him if he sees her as those things and he denies it), and I think it’s pretty clear those feelings are returned, just expressed differently. The way all their physical interactions in the show have been initiated by Kimiko prove this. 

To conclude this essay about the pairing that will probably kill me, I want to recommend a fanvid of them with a song that perfectly describes them: x&y by Coldplay. The lyrics talk about a lover the singer tries to comfort after a terrible loss but being ultimately unable to do so.

Trying hard to speak And fighting with my weak hand Driven to distraction It's all part of the plan When something is broken And you try to fix it Trying to repair it Anyway you can

I dive in at the deep end You become my best friend I wanna love you But I don't know if I can I know something is broken And I'm trying to fix it Trying to repair it Anyway I can

This is the video, it’s perfect and beautiful. 

Thank you for coming to my TED talk and please keep up the fanfiction, you’re the ones that keep me going till Friday arrives.

[horde-princess]

A Meta on Catra’s Relationships with DT, Scorpia, and Adora

I’m so excited to write this finally ljsdflkj okay so. I’ve been thinking about why the creators would choose to center a whole season around this new character Double Trouble. They drove the plot and played a major role in a really important part of the story, Catra’s redemption. So I wanna think more about the purpose of this character and go deeper into a couple of their scenes with Catra.

tbh Catra and DT’s very first interaction says it all: DT literally takes the form of Scorpia and tells Catra “I’m about to become your new best friend.” As the season goes on, Double Trouble replaces Scorpia as a sort of artificial confidant for Catra. But it blows up in her face and the purpose of the whole thing is to shed light on Catra’s main internal conflict: her desire for love vs. her fear of heartbreak/vulnerability.

In other words, I believe Double Trouble was introduced as a foil to Scorpia. But if we think about how Scorpia is also a foil to Adora, then that means DT is like... a foil to a foil. So they’re not directly associated with Adora but a lot of what they do relates back to her. Yeah there are a lot of layers here lmao but basically what I’m gonna analyze is how Catra’s relationships with these three characters intertwine and build off each other in season 4 to set the stage for Catra’s redemption (and catradora endgame hollaaa)

So in the beginning, Catra and DT both understand their relationship to be a business arrangement. When does that start to change for Catra, and why?

Catra’s History With Betrayal

Just think about Catra’s relationships at the start of s4.. After the portal, Adora had basically severed whatever was left of their relationship, and that was shown to be weighing on Catra all season. Scorpia and Entrapta were the only other people she cared about, but Entrapta betrayed her (first by monopolizing Hordak’s attention then by refusing to open the portal), then Scorpia dared to question her decision to send their friend to die and her presence became a constant reminder of Catra’s guilt. In fact, the mere mention of Entrapta’s name in 4x03 causes Catra to snap and yell at Scorpia “we are not friends!” ... which of course isn’t true. Catra may think Scorpia’s annoying but she confided in her, her loyalty made Catra feel like she could trust her.. and that’s exactly why Catra always tried so hard to push her away. All the betrayals in her life scarred her so deeply that she wanted to avoid emotional intimacy at all costs. I’m about to get Jungian up in this shit bc we see a deep disconnect between Catra’s outward actions (her conscious) and her inner desires (subconscious) this season and it’s this i believe that leads to her breakdown in 4x10. It’s an unsustainable way to live.

Why Catra Trusted Double Trouble

So by 4x04, Catra had sabotaged her only two relationships. She was utterly alone, and vulnerable, and Double Trouble was in the right place at the right time offering their loyalty to her.. so Catra did what any emotionally stable person would do and subconsciously used a hired mercenary to try and fill the growing void in her heart. I don’t think Catra actually cared about DT much at all, like sure they got along and that matters on some level, but I think it’s more that Catra was in a vulnerable place and DT was the only one around.

So why does Catra trust Double Trouble when she won’t let herself trust anyone else? I’ve seen some posts saying it’s because Catra is self-destructive--i.e. she only seeks love from people who won’t give it to her because she doesn’t believe she deserves love--which is super true.. but I think her motivations can be better explained by saying that Catra knew from the start that Double Trouble didn’t really care about her, and that’s why the partnership was attractive to her (at first). She thought it would be safe--no vulnerability, no risk of heartbreak. But the truth is Catra’s just not as disaffected as she wishes she was.

The moment Catra really let her guard down was when Double Trouble saved her from the collapsing building in 4x04. 

can we just!! talk about this scene!!!! the way her voice shakes when she says “saving me” just, oh my god... like what a touchy subject for her, right? Shes spent her whole life resenting how Adora was always trying to “save” her from everything. I’m not sure but I think White Out (2x05) was the only other time Catra thanked someone for saving her life, and she just says “thanks for getting us out of there.” So her use of the word “save” here is special and it illustrates how deeply vulnerable Catra feels this season, and more importantly it’s a sign of character development! It’s no coincidence that the theme of saving is connected between DT, Scorpia, and Adora. It’s leading up to Catra learning to replace her resentment towards Adora with something closer to gratitude. 

But while the scene connects these relationships, it also highlights their differences. After Catra displays an astounding amount of vulnerability with DT, they coolly reply “well, I live to serve... for a price, of course.”

This right here is the first step of Catra’s breakdown. Suppressed desires making themselves known, one half of her heart rebelling against the other. She was pushing away her real friends and finding hollow companionship with someone she thought she wouldn’t get attached to, but it happened anyway.

The difference between Double Trouble and Scorpia must have become glaringly obvious to Catra in that moment. Whereas Scorpia was loyal to Catra out of love, DT was mostly interested in getting paid. And she was surprised by how much that hurt. She fucking hated how much it hurt, you can see it written all over her face. It’s why she fails Scorpia’s little test in 4x06. Because of Double Trouble, Catra’s true desires were threatening to break free, so outwardly she fights against it and acts more resistant than ever to being friends with Scorpia. She castigates her, calls her annoying and incompetent, harsher than we’ve ever seen... but she didn’t expect Scorpia to hit back (we did, tho. Scorpia’s an icon).

In four words Scorpia teaches Catra a hard lesson about what it means to earn someone’s loyalty. She knew she must’ve really fucked up if she somehow managed to push away the most loyal person in all of Etheria. And again the fake nature of Catra’s relationship with Double Trouble provides a reference for her to see why Scorpia’s loyalty, based in love, was so valuable, and why she shouldn’t have taken it for granted. It also relates to Adora because, similar to Scorpia, Adora had been trying so hard these past 3 seasons to connect with Catra, but she refused to forgive her and her behavior eventually forced Adora to cut ties. So Scorpia calling her out pushes Catra towards accepting some personal responsibility for everything that happened with Adora, too. Man there are just.. a ton of implications here.

Then Catra gives Hordak a fun pep talk but really it’s just her self-projecting all over him:

At this point her hateful actions and her goal to conquer Etheria are extremely out of line with her true desires and we can see it’s really affecting her mental state. It wasn’t just one thing or person that caused her breakdown, it was a combination of Adora severing their relationship, and Scorpia’s disappointment in her, and Double Trouble’s indifference towards her. All three of these situations were playing off each other and chipping away at Catra’s carefully crafted armor, revealing a desire to be loved hidden underneath... which she continued to fight against for as long as she could. Adora and Scorpia were playing their roles in helping Catra learn to take responsibility for her life, but those relationships wouldn’t have been so effective had it not been for how they were contrasted with Double Trouble’s indifference. Anyway have I mentioned how amazing and complex this show is????

Catra Loses DT and Scorpia Around the Same Time

4x07 is the last time Catra talks to Double Trouble before they get captured by the rebels. Coincidentally, Catra realizes that Scorpia left her just one episode later, which once again points to a connection between these two characters. From 4x08 to 4x11 Catra is completely alone, feeling like she has lost everyone in her life. It sets the stage for her meltdown in 4x10. But my fave part about Scorpia leaving is how it changes the way Catra thinks about betrayal. 

Even if Scorpia didn’t tell Catra where she was going in the note she left, Catra had to have assumed she was leaving to join the Rebellion because where else would she have gone right? So the two people Catra loves most have now BOTH abandoned her to join the rebellion. I don’t even wanna think about how triggering that betrayal must have been for Catra.. I don’t wanna think about how the next time Catra sees Scorpia she’s going to be a full blown princess with powers and everything, just like what happened with Adora. 

But there’s a key difference between Adora and Scorpia. Catra knows at this point that Adora didn’t want to leave her behind, but she did anyway to pursue some destiny that Catra wasn’t a part of, which left her feeling betrayed. Scorpia, on the other hand--the very definition of ‘loyalty’--left her specifically because Catra pushed her away. Her fear of vulnerability manifested as anger towards someone she refused to admit that she cared about, and it pushed her away.

Once again I think Scorpia is teaching Catra a lesson about taking responsibility for some of the shit in her life. It’s a privilege that Adora lost after being careless with Catra’s trust, and thus Scorpia was the only one in a position to reach Catra and help her. But I think that the things Catra learned from Scorpia are going to play back into her relationship with Adora and allow them to reconcile (when Adora deals with her own issues too).

We can also say a little about how Double Trouble’s betrayal contrasts with Scorpia’s and Adora’s. I think their complete emotional detachment is the perfect frame of reference for Catra to be able to acknowledge that even though Scorpia and Adora left her, they DID love her, and they never stopped trying to reach out to her--at least, not until Catra crossed a line with both of them. At some point, Catra went from being justified in her feelings of betrayal to overdoing it, placing too much blame where it didn’t belong and closing the door to forgiveness. So I think that’s the role that Double Trouble played there, helping Catra see that difference. Like even if someone leaves you, hurts you, it doesn’t always mean they don’t love you. Relationships take work and understanding and forgiveness and you have to learn how to handle that or you’ll always be alone. Scorpia’s the pure embodiment of that lesson, and she’s lighting the way for Catra to navigate the much more nebulous waters of her grudge against Adora.

Double Trouble’s Betrayal

So now Catra is feeling abandoned by Scorpia and Double Trouble (her only friends) and we see the disconnect between what’s in her heart and the front she’s been putting on come to a head in 4x10 when she has that meltdown. She’s kind of losing it because her fear and heartbreak are driving her down a path that she doesn’t actually want. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion. In 4x12 she continues to hold on desperately to the idea that beating Adora will make her happy, because at this point she doesn’t see any way to turn the car around.

There’s an absolutely fantastic scene early in 4x12 that sets up Double Trouble’s betrayal beautifully, like really it’s a masterpiece. Catra’s childhood friends walk in on her in the locker room and they’re laughing and joking around and for a second it’s like... Catra longs to be a part of that again.. To have friends, to be happy. But then Kyle accidentally kicks one of Scorpia’s old doodles (a painful reminder that she’s gone) and Catra freaks out and attacks them. Kyle’s like “we used to be friends, why are you treating us like this?” So she lets them leave, feeling alone and miserable, and THAT’S when Double Trouble waltzes in... having had just made a deal with Glimmer to double cross Catra.

God it hurts so much. The contrast between her pushing away Scorpia and her real friends, and then her childlike relief upon seeing the person who just sold her out.

This scene gives me fucking chills with the nightmare-ish music and everything.. It’s like, at this point DT is just fucking with her, they’ve already got Catra figured out. This face touch is so cruel and fits with the show’s motif of manipulative affection, too. For me it felt very disconcerting to see Catra like this... unaware that she’s been defeated yet she’s so emotionally vulnerable here, she’s like putty in Double Trouble’s hands. Scorpia leaving cracked her open and, as they’re the last person left standing with Catra’s trust, Double Trouble’s in the perfect position to come in and break her.

So the next episode 4x13 has that crazy scene where Double Trouble totally obliterates Catra and I’m not even gonna talk about it lmao because yall have already done a great job analyzing it. But I do wanna draw attention to the fact that this is the only thing she says in this whole scene:

Can you believe that’s what mattered the most to her in that moment? Not that literally everything she had been working for for the past 4 seasons had just turned to dust before her eyes, but the fact that this random mercenary she hired betrayed her. And there was no anger at all, just... heartbreak.

And then look at what she says to Glimmer afterwards (setting aside the fact that Catra is basically giving up on life...) she says nothing about the war, nothing about winning or revenge. The only thing she’s thinking about is how lonely she feels.

So by the end of Season 4, I think Catra did finally figure out what she truly wanted in life. She didn’t want to be on top just for power’s sake, she wanted people to respect her, to love her, so that no one could hurt her anymore. But she was so obsessed with winning that she ended up losing everyone’s respect. Wow haha if only she could get a second chance to earn it back the right way.... like say if, idk, she was trapped in space jail and forced to team up with her sworn enemy to survive and they came out best friends or something <:)

To sum up, Double Trouble’s role in Season 4 was to break Catra’s mask and force her to consider what she truly wants. I think their betrayal taught Catra to really appreciate what a terrible mistake she made in pushing Scorpia and Adora away. It taught her the difference between someone leaving her because they don’t care about her, and someone cutting ties with her even though they do care for her very deeply, they just couldn’t take Catra treating them like crap anymore. It showed her that what Adora did was nothing like what DT did. That’s what a betrayal feels like when the person doesn’t care about you. Someone who doesn’t care about you isn’t going to beg for your forgiveness for 3 seasons and risk being obliterated from existence just to get you back.

But the real beauty of season 4 was how Catra hitting rock bottom had almost nothing to do with Adora. With the help of other friends Catra has begun to find her own reasons to change, she’s acknowledging her guilt and heartbreak and discovering the person she wants to become. She’s learning to take responsibility instead of just blaming other people. And this character development had nothing to do with romance, just like how Adora breaking free of her destiny and learning to let go of control had little to do with Catra. I love the different perspectives on love that they give us with Catra, Adora, and Scorpia. I love how this show takes the “love conquers all” trope and subverts it, saying that sometimes.. love breaks you. Sometimes it’s not enough. Sometimes it’s used as a weapon. Sometimes you have to let go of people you love, but it opens up space for you to figure out who you are and what you want and to conquer your own demons. You’ll come out the other side with a better understanding of what real, healthy love is supposed to look like. And maybe in the end, the love you always sought will find you again, in its own time, in its own way. 💘

[jostenneil]

I recently read Balancing Toy and Cross Game because of you and I loved both! They were so good at depicting mundane life and packing emotion in subtle ways. Could you recommend some slice of life manga?

this makes me so happy, omg! 😭 i’m really glad you enjoyed them, i love the slice of life genre so much for how it’s used as a medium. i’m going to recommend some other titles here, but i think yamakawa aiji and mitsuru adachi’s other works are definitely worth checking out as well! 

sangatsu no lion (manga/anime) - this may be one of the more obvious recent choices within the genre, but i think it’s with very good reason! chica umino has the slice of life genre down to a science. the story primarily follows rei, a shogi prodigy who has recently started to live alone due to tensions he felt he was creating within his adoptive family. he’s very lonely and depressed due to what he felt was an invasive experience on his own part, so a lot of the narrative follows him being reached out to by other people and him learning to ask for help rather than keeping all of his struggles to himself. there’s a lot of complex emotions and trauma tied into the narrative, but they’re often depicted against very simple situational backdrops, so it feels like you’re walking through ordinary people’s lives but in a way that’s deeply relatable. i believe the anime is on netflix so that’s very convenient as well, and i think it does a beautiful job of conveying a lot of the imagery that’s so crucial to depicting the ideas contained within the story. i would definitely recommend chica umino’s other primary work, honey and clover, for similar reasons as well, but i recommended that in my shoujo recs post already so i won’t rehash that here

azumanga daioh (anime/manga) - i’m not sure how to describe this series. it follows a group of teenage girls (and a few of their teachers) as they navigate three years of high school. and that would sound like an at least semi-serious endeavor, except it isn’t really on the surface. the series operates as a progression of chronological one shots centered on different gags and nonsensical situations, and it makes for comedy that i think has remained pretty timeless despite the series being nearly two decades old. the anime is great, both the sub and dub are phenomenal, and the manga is written in the form of those comic strips you used to read as a kid on sundays. it’s just super simple, lightheartedly funny, and surprisingly heartfelt when it wants to be due to the relationships you see illustrated between the girls. i would recommend kiyohiko azuma’s other primary work, yostuba&!, for similarly lighthearted and funny material. also, these are some of my favorite scenes from the anime

ojamajo doremi (anime) - this falls more into the shoujo category, esp since the mcs are witches who navigate a witching world, but i think it operates by slice of life parameters because of the way the story is told. ojamajo has received a lot of praise for its timelessness due to the relatability of its multiple scenarios to people of all ages and backgrounds. most simply put, it starts as a show about a girl who accidentally becomes contracted to a witch and so becomes a witch-in-training herself. doremi gets into all sorts of ridiculous messes and has to solve them not just through use of her powers but also just per normal problem solving skills. there’s narratives about friendships, relationships with our family and our teachers, growing up, learning to accept different kinds of people, etc. and similarly to azumanga, tho it initially feels like a purely one shot set-up, the plot and development of the characters builds in a way that’s subtle but also pleasingly noticeable. it’s just super down to earth and kind and funny, and there’s even a movie that came out last year (i believe?) to celebrate the twentieth anniversary, which made its main characters be girls who had grown up watching ojamajo and were now seeking out their own adventures as they grew up. i think that’s really sweet

horimiya (manga/anime) - this is perfect to get into right now bc the anime just started airing! it follows a pair of students, hori and miyamura, who come to find out about each other living “double lives”. hori hides the fact that she goes home everyday to take care of her house and her brother bc her parents are always at work, and miyamura looks like an otaku bc of the way he dresses but is actually just a normal guy with some tattoos and piercings. they coincidentally cross paths one day and are made privy to each other’s “secret” lifestyles, so a friendship and eventually a romantic relationship strikes up between them. the nice thing about the manga is that not a lot of time is spent on getting them into the relationship. you actually see them as a couple for most of it, doing couple-y things, engaging in couple-y conversation, having couple-y squabbles. there’s also a cast of characters outside of these two who deal with their own day-to-day issues and such, so overall it’s a nice casual read about people and how they interact. i wouldn’t say it ever gets angsty (at least not that i’ve read so far) but it’s nonetheless very enjoyable for its straightforwardness and simplicity

bokura ga ita (manga/anime) - i haven’t watched this in a long time so my memories are somewhat hazy, but i think this features one of my favorite explorations of grief in a shoujo manga. it starts with nanami, a high school freshman who hopes to make new friends but is also put-off by the most popular boy in school, yano, bc of his superficial attitude. yano is actually still emotionally recovering from the death of his girlfriend the year prior. she died in a car accident and was with her ex-boyfriend at the time, so yano assumed she was cheating on him, and instead of properly processing the event, he pretends to act like he doesn’t care. he and nanami grow close over the course of the narrative, but there are a lot of levels to yano’s trauma and grief that keep them apart in various ways. it’s very much true to that era of romance manga in the sense of all of the ridiculous drama and love lines, but i think it’s really weighted because so much of that drama stems from real trauma and characters’ issues with depression, etc. if you loved nana or paradise kiss, i think you would enjoy it. also, if memory serves, i believe the anime covers only half of the story, prior to a major time skip 

i didn’t want to feature any repeats, so i’m going to direct you to my shounen recs post for some more stuff i love from the slice of life genre as well. in particular, i think silver spoon and sket dance are great for that (as is oofuri, but it’s also a sports series very detailed with its sports lore, so idk if you’d be interested in that). and while i haven’t read the following personally, these are some trusted recs that i’ve either been meaning to read or got from friends: mushishi, oyasumi punpun, barakamon, nichijou, beck. i hope this all helps! 

[bellemorte180]

Klaroline Fic Rec Event 2020- Day 7: Free for All @klaroline-events​

Title: Psychedelic Kicks (click on title to read)

Author: @klarolineagainnaturally​

Summary: 1969. The Summer of Love. Klaus Mikaelson has flown across the pond to attend the prestigious Harvard Law School. "Coincidentally", his brother Elijah could not find him an apartment in time, leaving him to stay with a group of Americans. Among those Americans is the perky, yet demanding, Caroline Forbes. A hippie dippie love story with life-changing events.

Warnings: Sensitive themes such as sexual assault and drug addiction are discussed.        

Status: On going (16 chapters currently)

Why you should read: I want to start out this review with a dance and a chant of “fuck Stefan, fuck Stefan.” I will not elaborate on that more because you really NEED to read this story understand my feelings on the matter. Once you do, my desire to punch Stefan in the face will be revealed. Although he does get better but again, you just have to read this fic and find out why.

Okay, so this fic first drew me in because it was set in a time period that we don’t get fics in a lot. The idea of Caroline in Go-Go boots, going to Woodstock with Klaus and the whole general feeling of the 1960s wrapped up with Klaroline is a masterful idea. Not only that but Lottie ties the themes and struggles of the times so well into the story. You almost feel as though you’re living the life in 1969. While there is a ton of lighthearted moments, the plot and story is heavily influenced but historical events that are just so raw.

Then there are the characters themselves. They are so flawed and make mistakes, which is something I love to see. I want the characters I read about to feel REAL and Lottie does a fab job with that. We see inner struggles from each of the characters and how the choices they make steam from that. We also see how the actions of other people affect certain characters, and I ADORE how she pulls that off, especially with certain interactions between Kat, Bonnie and Caroline. It is just done masterfully.

Of course, there are some themes that are sensitive for some readers. There is discussion of sexual assault, how victims of said horrid act deal with it, how people around them deal with the knowledge and respond to it. Lottie does a WONDERFUL job at depicting two different ways someone who has been sexually assaulted deals with their trauma. It is real and authentic and just over all a real tribute to those who have gone through trauma. She does not gloss over it and that in and of itself is just…. perfect. Bravo Lottie. Bravo.

This fic also does something that is crazy, it makes me like Tyler. There are parts where I am like, screw Tyler but I actually understand his character here. I get where he is coming from and some of the choices that he has made. It is just so well done, and I cannot begin to explain at how incredible that is because Tyler is one of my least favorite TVD characters.

Then, of course, there is Klaus and Caroline. It is a SLOW BURN that I know is just going to pay off in the end. The relationship that builds there is so good and slow, and in character. While this story is not finished and there are many things I am still waiting to happen, I know that in the end Lottie will deliver and I will be immensely pleased with the pay off.

So, yes. This is a fic that you NEED to read. It is different than anything else you’ve read all the while familiar with the characters she presents. There is literally something for everyone. There is lighthearted moments, heavy moments, historical moments and Klaroline moments. This is a fic that does it all…or at least will soon (RIGHT LOTTIE!) and one that I know you will enjoy.

SO GO READ IT.

[beeftony]

There’s a moment early on in campaign 2 of Critical Role, after the Mighty Nein first make the acquaintance of The Gentleman. To prove their merit, Fjord bets every piece of gold he has in the Gambit of Ord, and wins. Once that interaction is over, Caleb pulls Fjord aside, asking if he had wagered the party funds or if it was just his own money.

Fjord, perhaps misunderstanding the intent behind the question, reassures Caleb that he only risked his own gold. Caleb then surprises him by asking, “Did you know I would have been okay if you had?” He then goes on to explain that, while he doesn’t put much stock in luck, he does believe in calculated risks.

This interaction is the key to understanding Caleb as a character and why things played out the way they did in the Bright Queen’s court. And, not coincidentally, it all ties into the dodecahedron.

The dodecahedron, by its very existence, seems to contradict Caleb’s worldview. Once per day, it allows one person to alter fate in their favor. This becomes especially interesting knowing that Liam’s previous character, Vax, had this as an inherent ability that, while based on a feat, tied in narratively to his relationship with the literal Goddess of Fate. But in truth, the Luxon actually serves as the perfect illustration of Caleb’s philosophy, and his ultimate goal: with the ability to bend time and fate, any sort of risk becomes much easier to calculate.

A running joke in the fandom has been that the Mighty Nein have used this incredibly powerful, unknowable, culturally significant artifact for ridiculously petty things, such as winning a drinking contest. After all, what’s the point of having power if you’re not going to use it?

At the same time, Caleb can seem like a cipher of a character sometimes because he plays his long term goals close to his chest. While one could reasonably assume he may want revenge for what the Empire did to him, he instead focuses his efforts on becoming powerful enough to ensure that the defining mistake in his life, the moment that broke him, need never have happened to begin with. And he’s not going to get that from the Empire.

Moreso than campaign one, a major focus of campaign two has been about questioning audience assumptions regarding various fantasy tropes. Vox Machina traveled along a much more traditional arc, starting out as a group of misfits who grew to become heroes of the land. With the Mighty Nein, however, the players have specifically built their characters to go against that kind of standard fantasy mold. Similarly, Wildemount as a setting has more of a focus on grey morality, entirely by design.

We first learn of the Krynn through rumors, through books in a library, and even smutty historical fiction. They encounter one and fight him in the sewers, but only because he attacks them first. They have no skin in this game, no interest in getting involved in this conflict. They don’t even want the dodecahedron at first, but end up taking it anyway.

They also start to question what they’ve been told about their supposed enemy. Jester is quick to correct people not to use the term “Crick,” as the phrase is a derogatory slur and she doesn’t approve of being disrespectful to anybody in that way. She’s fine with pranking people, but not demeaning or dehumanizing them (technically they’re drow, but you get what I mean). Once they get a taste of Xhorhas, and see that the monstrous races have managed to build what amounts to a functional society, Beau questions her mentor, Dairon, when they suggest that not even one of the Krynn deserves to live.

Fundamentally speaking, there isn’t that much difference between the Dwendalian Empire and the Krynn Dynasty. Both believe that they are doing their best to keep their people safe and prosperous. Both can be extremely harsh and draconian in the way their societies are structured, but within those societies there exist a multitude of beings who simply want to find their way in the world and live out their lives. The Krynn kidnap children, massacre garrisons and darken the skies, but the Empire imprisons people for worshipping unapproved gods, recruits children with magical potential and proceeds to torture, brainwash, and convince them to kill their own families, all in service of some supposed greater good. This means that allying with one or the other isn’t a question of morality, but political advantage. Which is where this all comes full circle.

When Caleb reaches into that bag, he makes a bold declaration: “I am of the Empire... but I am no friend to the Empire.” When he produces the dodecahedron, all the blades in the room clatter to the ground, and the Bright Queen is rendered momentarily speechless. He takes a calculated risk. And I’m very excited to see how it pays off.

[rinasthoughts]

Kdramas I’ve watched (part 1)

Hello! This is my first post ever! I wanted to create a list of kdramas that I’ve watched, and what I would rate them. I hope you enjoy this list and maybe find some shows to watch!

The Producers (2015)

13 episodes

Synopsis: “A tireless group of young TV producers and a pop star work around the clock in the entertainment department of a major network” (Wikipedia). The show revolves around Seung-Chan (Kim Soo Hyun), a young man who begins his career for the KBS televisions network. He struggles to get along with his boss, Joon-mo (cha Tae-Hyun), who also happens to be a long time friend of Seung-Chan’s work crush, the music program producer Ye-Jin (Kang Hyo-Jin). Cindy (IU) a k-pop idol who has become rude, selfish, and narcissistic to protect herself from her adoptive mother/CEO and the constant stream of hate she receives meets Seung-Chan during a music show and begins to fall for him. Will Seung-Chan end up with Ye-Jin or Cindy?

Rating: 7/10

This was the first Kdrama I watched, and it was only because of my love for IU. Watching the show for IU quickly turned into watching the show for the plot and character development in general, especially Cindy’s and Ye-Jin’s. This show had plenty of funny, badass, heartfelt, and frustrating moments that always kept me interested. I especially liked watching the interactions between Cindy and her manager! I wasn’t a huge fan of the sort of love triangle between the three producers, but it wasn’t over-the top or annoying.

Oh My Ghostess (2016)

16 episodes

Synopsis: “Timid Na Bong Sun gets possessed by the ghost of a confident young woman who seeks to solve her unfinished business by hooking up with Bong Sun's boss, famous chef Kang Sun Woo.” (Wikipedia)

Rating: 10/10

This is definitely a must see if you enjoy kdramas, especially ones that have lots of romance along with supernatural elements (and a bit of mystery)! I loved the character development of Bong Sun, going from an incredibly introverted girl who was terrified of the ghost she could see to being a talkative woman who refused to run away from her problems. The chemistry between the two leads was amazing, Kim Seulgi did a great job of playing a feisty and headstrong ghost, the chefs were hilarious to watch, and the plot of a murderer who had been possessed for years was interesting. I have zero bad things to say about this show, it’s too good.

You’re the Best! Lee Soon Shin (2013)

50 episodes

Synopsis: “Lee Soon Shin (IU) goes through hardships after the death of her father. Soon Shin and her mother struggle to find happiness. Her love story continues in the mist of ups and downs of her life. Lee Soon Shin is the youngest member of a successful family. Despite her family′s successes, however, she seems to have failed to inherit any talent, and is marked as an oddball though she remains a bright, lively and courageous girl. She then meets the head of an agency named Shin Joon Ho (Jo Jung-Suk), and he turns her life around. Shin Joon Ho is a confident, cold and competitive man who changes later after he begins to understand the real meaning of success through Lee Soon Shin” (my drama list).

Rating: 5/10

This is another show I watched because of IU. It was incredibly hard to pay attention to a show that had 50 1-hour long episodes, so honestly I skipped through most of the parts that didn’t involve Soon-Shin. Yoo In-na plays one of Soon-Shin’s sisters in the show, but I didn’t particularly like her role. This show revolves around Soon-Shin being conned right around the time her father dies, and then actually becoming an actress with the help of CEO Shin Joon-Ho. She gains attention and eventually discovers that she was adopted and that her real mother is a popular actress who works under the same company. This whole show is very dramatic but has good intentions. I’m not a fan of the length of the show and I wasn’t really interested in most of the characters, but there were lots of lighthearted moments and I really liked seeing the relationship develop between Soon-Shin and the CEO.

Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (2016-2017)

16 episodes

Synopsis: “In ancient times, Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) is an unbeatable general in wars, but the young King (Kim Min-Jae) is jealous of Kim Shin and kills him. Kim Shin becomes Dokkaebi (Goblin), possessing an immortal life. At first he thinks that he is blessed, but he realizes that he is cursed. Closer to the present day, Kim Shin has waited 900 years for a human bride to end his immortal life. One night, he saves a dying pregnant woman (Park Hee-Von) who is destined to die. Meanwhile, the Grim Reaper (Lee Dong-Wook) is unable to find the dead pregnant woman. The woman gives birth to a baby girl named Ji Eun-Tak (later played by Kim Go-Eun). In the present day, Eun-Tak is a high school student. She still sees ghosts and hears their whisper of “Dokkaebi’s bride.” On her birthday, Eun-Tak sits by the sea with a lighted birthday cake. At that time, Kim Shin suddenly appears in front of her. Kim Shin does not know why, but he can hear her voice and appears in front of her against his will. Coincidentally, Kim Shin lives with the Grim Reaper at the same house. Eun-Tak and Kim Shin slowly get to know each other, and Eun-Tak soon figures out that he is the Goblin and she is his bride”(Asianwiki).

Rating: 10/10

This is another show that you NEED to watch if you’re getting into Kdramas. The concept of the show was very unique, and the entire cast consists of talented actors who pulled off their characters incredibly well. The romance between the two leads is great, the romance between the second leads is great, literally everything about this show is wonderful- there’s even some straight up bromance between the Grim reaper and the Goblin. I loved how they tied everything back to past lives and the consequences of each person’s actions. The ending is incredibly sad and I most definitely cried several times throughout the show.

Abyss (2019)

16 episodes

“Go Se-yeon is a beautiful prosecution lawyer at the top of her game, and Cha Min is her friend, an unattractive but rich heir to a cosmetics empire. They are both revived into different bodies by supernatural beings using an "Abyss" after their deaths in separate incidents. The "Abyss" is a celestial object which has the power to revive anything that has died; the reincarnated bodies take on the appearance of that person's soul. Go Se-yeon takes on a plainer appearance, whilst Cha Min becomes very attractive and young; virtually the opposite of before. They start working together to find out the reason for their revival and who caused Go Se-yeon's death” (Wikipedia).

Rating: 6/10

This show took me a really long time to finish watching. Like several months long. The plot seemed to fast paced at times and too slow at others, and it was overall fairly predictable. The concept was great but the portrayal was meh. Both leads were wonderful and did a great job of playing their characters, but the show was lacking in characters development and the development of romance between them. Honestly I don’t even remember how the show ended. I also didn’t really like Cha Mum’s girlfriend that much, her story didn’t intrigue me and she never really seemed to have any development, but maybe that’s just me.

I hope you enjoyed this! I really love kdramas but I didn’t really have anyone to talk to about them, so this is the next best thing. Most of these shows are frequently recommended, but I thought I’d just put out my own thoughts for the world to see. Peace out homies!

[jacksgreysays]

Reverse!Gardens, DOS!Shikamaru & DOS!Kino and Care!Kako and Care!Kamaru: After losing his original universe to Jashin, fourteen-year-old Shikamaru doesn't take Kako's injuries from the Kumo kidnapping attempt all that well. (Bonus points baby!Kino and toddler!Kamaru bonding, or Shikamaru stubbornly holding onto the original Shadow Arm seal with Shikako's calligraphy).

A/N: Hello again, dona! Thank you for this prompt! So… I’m gonna be honest… I don’t know what you mean by the Kumo kidnapping attempt. I mean, I assume there was a Kumo kidnapping attempt during the thenabouts timing of the Hinata attempted kidnapping, except instead of the highly protected Hyuuga heiress the Kumo nin went for the less protected would-have-been Nara heir, aka Kamaru? But, again, I have no idea and I’m not sure which installment/ficlet in particular you’re referring to so instead I’m gonna focus more on the DoS!Shika & Kino go to Care!Kako &Kamaru’s verse.

So… also… I did want to do a variation of your prompt wherein it’s still the adult!Konoha Thirteen go after younger versions of Shikako in various universes, but I also like your version where the ages match up, so I guess what I’m saying is… I’m going to try to do both?

~

one hope then another (bring me home)

Kako (& Kamaru) & Shikamaru (& Kinokawa)

The boy with a shadow arm and a toddler on his hip is suspicious, of course. His claim is literally incredible, but what is more so impossible is how everything else he says checks out. Weeks of interviews and tests and everything still checks out.

He has mastered all of the clan’s shadow jutsu as well as newer, powerful techniques. He is the oldest son of an alternate universe Shikaku. He is every bit as intelligent, tactical, and skillful as his father was. He was raised since birth as clan heir.

A miracle, Kofuku thinks, a convenient one. Now, someone else can be in charge of the clan, and she can go back to her research.

Speaking of, “The shadow sight and your arm,” Kofuku asks the boy–Shikamaru, one of the blander clan head names, but another convenience that they don’t have to come up with one for him–“Did you create them?”

“No,” Shikamaru shakes his head, eyes never lifting from the pile of backlog paperwork that is the clan’s administration. His month of effort has put a dent in it, but the task ever grows.

The toddler by his side–Kino, not a common Nara name, but harmless enough–quietly mimics his brother, bright crayon scribbles on scratch paper. When a streak of bright red draws a bit too close to official papers, Shikamaru gently guides his brother’s hand away before resuming his own work easily.

Kofuku waits for clarification.

“My father designed shadow sight,” he says, “but my arm…” At this, Shikamaru pauses in his work. Raises his flesh hand to touch the seam between skin and shadow. His mouth tightens, and little Kino silently puts his crayons down to reach out to his brother in comfort. It works a little.

“Our sister made it for me.”

“Your sister,” Kofuku repeats, an inkling of dread making its way through her purely academic curiosity.

Shikamaru said he was the oldest son.

That doesn’t mean oldest child.

—

They weren’t lying, technically. And it’s not as if they were actively hiding the truth either.

It’s just that it’s old news, old scandal, old grudges, and why would they tell their new clan head about matters that have nothing to do with the clan?

Shikamaru clearly doesn’t agree.

He asks where the Kinokawa siblings live–the toddler called Kino on his hip, as if Shikamaru doesn’t trust the clan not to tear the child from his arms. And how could she ever consider the toddler harmless, his name!–and no one answers. Not out of a desire to hide the truth further, but because they honestly don’t know.

Why would they need to know?

Frustrated, Shikamaru walks out, brother at his side, and all Kofuku can think is: not again.

—

The boy with a shadow arm and a toddler on his hip is suspicious, of course. They both wear the Nara mon, clad in the grays and greens of the clan, and the last time Kako had to interact with her relatives in any meaningful manner they were berating her for almost endangering the bloodline and nearly causing a political scandal while she lay in a hospital bed and ignored them.

So it’s not exactly a joy to see these two, never mind their slightly off reflections of each other–her with Kamaru on her hip–would otherwise be an amusing sight.

“Shikako?” the boy with the shadow arm asks. He’s hesitant, perhaps aware of her displeasure, taken aback by her obvious frown or maybe the scars cutting across her face. In contrast, the toddler on his hip smiles brightly at her, silently reaching out.

“It’s Kako. Kako Kinokawa. You should know this, Nara.”

The boy with the shadow arm flinches, while the toddler on his hip seems to smile brighter.

How weird.

“I’m Shikamaru.”

~

~

~

Kako & Kamaru & Shikamaru & Kinokawa (Kinokawa)

Kako Kinokawa is grudgingly released from the hospital a week after the Cloud incident poorer in patience, richer in scars, and, somehow, head of a clan. Thankfully, it’s a newly created minor clan and not the clan that would be the absolute worst (the clan that should be hers by birthright) but frankly being head of any clan is troublesome.

She goes to pick up Kamaru from the Akimichi compound–a little guilty to have imposed on Chouza-san and Setsuko-san for so long, but relieved that her little brother would certainly be well protected and well fed–only to be met with an uncomfortable amount of bowing, overly respectful suffixes, two slyly grinning pseudo-uncles, and a staring man who, for one heart-stopping second, she mistakes for Dad.

Arranged as he is between Chouza-san and Inoichi-san, it’s hard to shake the likeness, but she blinks it and the incoming tears away with teeth-gritting desperation: this man is too young to be Shikaku Kinokawa. Not enough scars, and more delicate facial features besides, one arm somehow a dark shadow from elbow down. But its close, so close. Close enough that he can only be a–

“Nara,” Kako greets coolly, hands deliberately loose at her side. Technically, given the alliance of the Ino-Shika-Cho, she’s the trespasser here, so she’s not going to be the one to start shit.

Chouza-san and Inoichi-san exchange amused glances and she would feel a lance of betrayal except for how the man between them immediately drops to a knee and so all she can feel instead is shock.

“Not quite,” the man says, and that, too, is different enough from Dad’s voice (or what she can remember of it, it’s been so long) that it keeps her grounded in the presence. “I’m not a Nara,” he says, and his stare hasn’t wavered at all since the beginning, “I’ve renounced them. I’ve chosen to be part of the Kinokawa clan.”

Reflexively, Kako denies, “There is no Kinokawa clan.”

“There wasn’t a Kinokawa clan,” Chouza-san corrects, voice ringing with mirth for all that he means to be gentle.

“Establishing a clan requires three active-duty shinobi who share a bloodline and sponsorship from two other clan heads,” Inoichi-san clarifies, practically preening.

She looks at the three of them doubtfully, “Kamaru’s a toddler. Even if I wanted this, where would we get our third?”

Coincidentally (or, perhaps more likely, with deliberately planned timing) a boy her age carrying a slothfully limp Kamaru in one arm and an affably squirming Chouji in the other approaches them, smile brighter than the shiny Konoha headband plate tied around his neck.

He, too, has a very obvious Nara look to him, though it’s tempered with something else, something she vaguely recognizes, but can’t place immediately (something she sees every time she looks in the mirror.)

“Kako-nee!” the boy exclaims with a disconcerting level of familiarity given she’s never met him in her life, he practically skips closer before, after considering the situation, taking a step back, “Oh, uh, are we doing the thing first?” He asks. 

The self proclaimed non-Nara man, still on his knees, finally breaks his gaze with her by rolling his eyes. Exasperated but fond, “Yeah, we’re doing ‘the thing’ first.”

Kako is bewildered.

The boy shrugs, the toddlers in his arms giggling at the movement, before lowering to a matching kneeling position. Kamaru and Chouji, close enough to the ground now, get their feet beneath them and waddle towards their respective guardians.

Chouza swings his son up into his arms easily, and Kako, confused but never too distracted to properly care or show affection for her brother, does the same to Kamaru.

Baffled, she can only hold her brother close and witness as her clan officially forms itself in front of her.

“I do swear,” says both of her would-be clan mates, not quite in sync, but practiced enough, “to protect my family, my team mates, the clan, those allied with us, and Konoha, I will become the bark of the tree.”

Kako has never heard the oath that new genin of the Nara clan make (why would she? She’s not a Nara) but this rings of something similar, something familiar. Something Dad used to say with furrowed brows when he couldn’t understand why the Nara were being so antagonistic:

Family is like a tree and life is like a shadow.

The shadow is what we make of it, the tree is the real thing.

Kamaru’s hands clumsily but gently bat at her face. She thinks at first it’s curiosity over her new scars, but no. It’s because she’s crying.

Because family is the real thing. The most important thing. And even if its been years and she should have gotten used to it, it still hurts that her Nara relatives don’t realize it.

But these two do. They want to be her clan. They want to be her family.

Kako closes her eyes and presses her face to Kamaru’s head, hiding her expression and holding him near and dear.

“Okay,” she says, pulling herself together. “Okay,” she repeats, “Yeah, let’s be a clan. Let’s be family.”

Her new clan mates–her new family members–get to their feet and while the boy bounces over to her immediately, the man doesn’t hesitate to draw close either.

Behind them, Chouza-san and Inoichi-san grin, relieved.

For a moment everything is, if not perfect, then as close to it as reality will allow them to get. Until–

“… what are your names?” Kako asks, far too belatedly considering she has just accepted these two into her family and newly created clan.

The boy’s smile grows, somehow, impossibly wide and full of mischief while the man sends him another heavy lidded look of fond exasperation.

In the background, Chouza-san and Inoichi-san can barely stifle their laughter.

—

(“I take it back,” Kako says, once her brain has restarted, “No more clan, I can’t allow this.”

“No take backs,” Shikamaru admonishes childishly, for all that he is the oldest of their family.

“Kinokawa Kinokawa is a great name!” Kinokawa insists, his blinding cheeriness enough to attract Kamaru’s attention. In easy toddler logic, Kamaru smiles and babbles cheerfully in response. “See,” Kinokawa says, “Even the clan heir agrees with me.”

“Kamaru, you traitor,” Kako says without any heat, “How dare you endorse this travesty.”

Kamaru pats her cheek again, “Ki-no-kawa,” he pronounces, syllables parsed out like presents.

Kako sighs, looks at her brothers, looks at the clouds in the sky, then back at her brothers. “Alright, fine. No take backs.”)

~

A/N: Thanks for being patient with me, dona! Hopefully it’s obvious that these two versions are separate worlds–I’ll probably make these separate chapters when I cross post onto ao3, but I wanted to put them in the same post since they’re both a fill to the same prompt.

So, uh, I can (and would love to) explain my reasoning for why the two ficlets are so different despite having basically the same premise if anyone’s interested.

Also, I went with the more thematically appropriate interpretation of the name Kinokawa = tree bark instead of 紀 + river especially since I still absolutely love Mercy of Baal’s “shamelessly twisted” version of the Abraham Lincoln quote used in Dreaming of Sunshine Switch. Also, also, obviously the oath is just a tweaked version from the DoS Nara oath Shikako swears in chapter 6

[50shadesofmittens]

Special 6 Second Part- Custodisi and Captain General as romantic foils

Okay so this one is 110% focused on my OTP and NoTP and theories and head cannons I now have and have to adjust. Warning that I discuss Custodisi as a creepy character. Also this gets way way way too detail focused and there’s probably a lot of things I forgot while writing this, details I unconsciously cherry-picked to make my argument.

I kinda noticed that in some ways, Custodisi could be a foil for CG? Personality and story-wise they’re opposites:

Custodisi is almost never freaked out, no matter how bad things get (even when facing Cegoratch). Whereas CG- well...

There’s also their attitudes towards the horror of the world. Custodisi sees horrible things and although he calls people out on them, he doesn’t reject evil itself. He commits atrocities knowingly and willfully because he just doesn’t care. Contrast CG, whose attempts to improve the world kick-start the entire show, and whose belief in Emps has more to do with his faith that Emps is good than anything else. 

Both CG and Custodisi have the foresight and wisdom to understand evil in their own actions and in others. Unlike many characters they don’t delude themselves into thinking they’re acting for the benefit of the world (or the greater good some would say) or are justifiable. But their attitudes and resulting conclusions are polar opposites.

Both are fairly laid-back and willing to be led by others. However, where they recognize their leaders faults and how they draw the line is different

CG draws the line when he feels the consequences would be harmful for others or the rest of the world. He lets himself be thrown around and almost killed, but try to kill one’s own son and he’ll stand up and say no.

Custodisi draws the line when it suits him- when he has something to gain (such as being allowed to continue being naked). Even when calling out Emps about Uriah, he never showed any sign of actual disobedience beyond simply wanting to say what he had in mind

Also, when CG is defiant he only shows his defiance itself- he said ‘no’ and that’s that. At most he’ll discuss the details and facts of the issue at hand without cutting to the core of it. Custodisi, in our biggest examples of direct defiance that goes beyond petty exhibitionism and lust, goes on to explain why he’s saying what he is in full detail

Speaking of, CG can defy one order and still think the exact same of the person he’s arguing with- he does this with both Magnus and Emps, keeping his disagreement separate from his perception of them. Whereas Custodisi seems to actually respect the Emperor less and less each time he stands up to him, attributing his actions in The Last Church to flawed personality immediately. Perhaps this contrast is purely situational, but it’s still interesting that this is what the audience has gotten to see.

CG’s loyalty to Emps includes delusion and willing disbelief in his problems- albeit this aspect is slowly fading, as it does so his willingness to go behind Emps back increases. Custodisi sees and fully accepts Emps flaws, and his loyalty and willingness to obey isn’t changed in the slightest by this (though this might be because he doesn’t care about doing horrible things) (also note that not changing doesn’t mean he was always obeying- he still went around naked after all)

Their character development is both best shown through their willingness to defy Emps. However...

CG starts out unwilling to defy Emps at all but can clearly recognize the actions he disagrees with (even as he's in denial about them later) and slowly grows the will to disobey

Custodisi starts out fully willing to disobey Emps if and when it suits him, and slowly grows a more nuanced understanding of Emps faults and the actions he disagrees with

TL;DR: CG starts with comprehension and gains will, where Custodisi starts with will and gains comprehension

Both consider the emotional states of people around them when stressful situations arise even though their own emotions are running high, but in different ways

CG gets Boreale and Diomedes out of the room when he’s fighting with Magnus, but makes no attempt to comfort them

Custodisi comforts Whammudes when both are terrified by Cegoratch, but beyond emotional support he makes no attempt to make the situation any better or to do anything beyond emotional comfort

TL;DR: CG focuses on action correcting the situation when considering others feelings, while Custodisi focuses on emotional comfort

As Magnus’ “love interest” they’re pretty different:

Custodisi chases Magnus while Magnus pursues CG

Magnus and CG both help push the other towards the character development that they have in place and in many of my interpretations can’t grow close together until/unless they do said character development, while I think a genuine Custodisi/Magnus pairing would work pretty well even if all character development just stopped for both of them

The ways in which their respective character development as encouraged/assisted/pushed on by Magnus exists is parallel in it’s execution- both gain something that can or does help them stand up to Emps

CG gains more of a spine through calling out Magnus’ bullshittery- which we haven't seen come to Emps-related fruition yet but it does seem likely it will

Meanwhile Custodisi accepts and learns to recognize the sins of the Emperor. Most of this is through reading The Last Church but he mentions Magnus and the trial of Nikea specifically in his accusations

Speaking of, the character development that Magnus’ presence helps push CG and Custodisi towards parallels in how Magnus is present and plays an influence

In CG’s case it’s through Magnus’ mistakes, and his direct interactions traveling with CG

For Custodisi it’s the ways in which Magnus was wronged, and through observing his life as an outsider

In my more headcannon based world of TTtD, both CG and Custodisi start with purely lustful interest towards Magnus for his body. Custodisi falls in ‘love’ through observing Magnus’ past, and doesn’t develop any interpersonal relationship with Magnus prior to falling in love. CG meanwhile keeps the two separate for a long, long time, finding friendship and companionship in Magnus first, and from a narrative standpoint he’s kind of more attracted to ‘future’ Magnus in the sense that ‘future’ Magnus has to become reality before CG will be able to trust him with his heart (ie Magnus needs character development before CG can fall in love- again something I like in a fictional pairing that I can’t like in real life because fiction lets you orchestrate it so that character development can coincidentally work like that without any of the creepy aspects of one character changing solely for love or one character changing another into the kind of person they want to be with)

CG’s eventual attraction to Magnus builds in real-time from experiences and events they share, and is a result of their platonic relationship growing closer

Custodisi’s attraction to Magnus builds from his mental image of Magnus, and in his mind he slowly imagines a bond between them increasing in strength over time

Likewise in my headcannon interpretations of the characters, CG undergoes character development started by outside forces that Magnus contributes to by coincidence of personality types. Custodisi undergoes character development largely in reaction to his desire for Magnus

And on a 100% headcannon basis, I like to imagine both characters are Switches, both in terms of pitching and catching AND in terms of dom/sub. Both are, I imagine, are also fully willing to use sex for purely carnal pleasure and have done so

Custodisi has no sexual limits, isn’t bothered by immorality, and carnal pleasure is the end-game of his sexual goals.

ONE interpretation has him use sex without any acknowledgement of interpersonal bond-strengthening tied into it

SECOND interpretation has him use sex with bonds included, but sex is a required trait of all bonds. If he doesn’t want to screw you, you are a non-entity to him. Whether those bonds are brotherhood (other Custodes), servitude (Emps), superiority (implied to be CG), or ‘romance’ (Magnus) there’s no relationship at all unless there’s sex involved in some capacity

CG meanwhile has a firm basis of consent that’s important to him on both receiving and giving end, and he also uses sex also as thereputic activity- though that’s entirely separate from purely carnal sex.

CG’s behavior is the same, though the comparisons with Custodisi differ depending on my interpretation of Custodisi, so I’ll put both

ONE interpretation has CG also see sex as a bonding experience and a potential conduit for deeply personal relationships, as it was with Shadowsun

SECOND interpretation has CG hold sex as a potential aspect of interpersonal relationships, not a defining factor. Some relationships don’t need sex at all, of his some powerful bonds are asexual, and he can feel completely different about a person’s sexual appeal to him than he does to their personality (as with Magnus, and probably many of the people he’s slept with- perhaps even Shadowsun if they never did BDSM [as that would mean he trusted her with his heart and with his emotions and who he is, but they didn’t have and didn’t need a reflection of that trust to occur in the bedroom])

Of course there’s also just the fact that sex dominates Custodisi’s life in every or almost every aspect, whereas I imagine CG is actually freakier that Custodisi, but he keeps his sex life private

Also just to get this out of the way the entire next paragraph is a spoiler for my fanfic Three Times they Don’t so it’s behind the cut.

I’d had a plan for TTtD where Magnus and CG play a tabletop game and Magnus is the GM and is a terrible railroader- but CG is able to deal with that. Their campaign would be largely off-screen but the audience would see enough to know that it’s the plot of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It wouldn’t be until their second campaign, where CG broke the rail-roading by abusing pre-established time-travel mechanics that things got interesting for the game. When I saw this episode I was surprised Magnus wasn’t as terrible of a railroader as I thought he’d be, mostly trying to gently push the party onto the track he wants until the piss him off. As I wrote this ramble up I realize I can retain this without breaking fully off cannon yet, with Magnus having to loosen up a bit through the second campaign- although CG still lets him get away with too much railroading, which sets the stage for the cannon special 6. Yay, character development in-progress and fitting into cannon, I don’t have to drop the ideas I already had.