#deleting this later i just want to talk about the chosen

[sturniqlo]

Gender Reveal- C.S

summary: y/n and chris decide to have a intimate gender reveal just the two of them, later in the day they tell nick and matt

cw: mild cursing, fluff, happy tears :)

an: i made a poll earlier this week and YOU guys chose the gender! (it's deleted so u all wouldn't see what was chosen) very short :/

masterlist | positive masterlist

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eighteen weeks pregnant

"Y/n Y/l/n." Both Y/n and Chris look up and see their usual OB waiting by the door. Chris grabs Y/n bag and they both walk towards her. "Hey, you two!" She says cheerfully. "Hello, how are you?!" Y/n says. "I'm well, how are you and the baby?" She asks. "We've been good." She smiles, as she follows her. "Dad? How about you, how've you been?" She opens the door to the room they'll be in. "Pretty good!"

"Alright, so today will be like any other check up. But, I'll be able to see the gender of the baby. And, from what I remember from our last conversation you guys want me to write it in an envelope, correct." She asks the couple. "That's right!" They both nod. "Okay, Y/n go ahead and roll your shirt up for me." The OB gets the gel ready. "Ready? It's gonna be a bit cold just like those other times." She squeezes some gel onto Y/n's belly and she flinches at the cold gel. "Let's see here," She turns up the volume and the room fills up with the sound of a heartbeat. "There's the heartbeat, a very strong one." She giggles. Y/n gasps and looks at Chris who is looking at the screen then looks back down at her and hold her hand.

"That's crazy, my god." He mumbles. "Okay, here we have ten toes, they're all there, eyes, nose, mouth, ears." She points every one out. "At this stage, the baby can finally start to pick up on some sounds so it's great to start talking to them if you haven't already. The baby can also stretch, yawn, and make facial expressions. But looks like they're relaxing right now." They all laugh. Chris had already known all of this, thanks to the many apps he has downloaded. "Alright, I'm going to flip the screen to me to see the gender, any preference you guys have or think the baby is?" She moves the hand piece around Y/n's belly.

"Nope, we're fine with either." Chris says, "Yep, but I just have a feeling it's a girl. Not sure why but, if it's a boy I'll be the same amount of excited!" Y/n says. "Oh, okay, I know what they are. Let me go print the report out. You two want pictures?" They nod. "Here's a paper towel, hon. You can wipe it off and put your shirt back in place, I'll be right back." She hands her a handful of paper towels before she leaves the room.

"I'm excited! We're going to the bakery after this, right?" Y/n says, as Chris takes the dirty paper towels from her and throws them in the small trash bin. "Yeah, and we'll get to find out what the baby is! I'm equally excited as you are." He plants a few kisses onto her lips as he rubs her belly. A knock at the door brings them apart and the OB walks back inside the room. "Here are those pictures, and the gender of your baby is in here. Congratulations you two. I'll see you again in a couple of weeks. Enjoy your day!"

"Thank you!" They both walk out of the room and back to their car. At the bakery, ran by an elderly couple, they walk in and the sweet smell of baked goods makes them hum. "Smells so good in here." Y/n practically drools. "Chris! Y/n! Is it time?" The elderly lady, Jamie, squeals as she sees who has walked into her bakery. "Hi, Jamie! Yes, it's time." Chris laughs. "Here you go." Y/n hands her the envelope with the gender inside. "I'll be back in a few!" She says before disappearing into the back.

Chris and Y/n absolutely loved this bakery. They stumbled upon it a couple of months ago and never went back to any other bakery. A few weeks ago at their last appointment when they found out they were going to be able to know the gender the following appointment, they came to the bakery and places and order for a small cake for two people max and two of their big cupcakes. Jamie and Hank were excited at the thought of making their gender reveal cake for the young couple. The two had baked the cake and cupcakes earlier in the day and waited for the young ones to come in with the gender. All they needed to do was frost the right cake.

With one pink and one blue cake and two pink and two blue cupcakes sitting right in front of them they opens the envelope to see. "Don't be too loud, Hank. They're right outside." The old lady warned her husband. "Just open it!" She carefully teared the envelope open and saw the words of the gender in its corresponding color. "Oh well isn't that exciting, I knew it!" Hank said. "We both did, dear. Now come on let's frost them, don't want to keep them waiting too long."

"Here are the two cupcakes, and the cake!" Hank says as he comes out from the back. "Thank you so much, you two!" Y/n takes the bags from him. "Y/n, here the envelope. I sealed it back up." Y/n retrieves the sealed envelope from her. "Thank you!" Chris takes the bags from her. "Congratulations you guys! Hope to see you soon!" They both wave. "Oh we'll definitely be back!"

"It smells so good, we should've gotten some of the chocolate croissants. I ate the last one yesterday night." Y/n frowns as she places the bag with the cakes on top of the island counter. "I can run by later if you want me to go." Chris says wrapping his arms around her. "Thank you, you're the best." She kisses him. "Come on, let's cut the cake!"

Chris props up his phone on a tripod as Y/n takes a seat on one of the stools. "Okay, it's recording." Chris says, as he sits down on the stool next to her. He carefully takes the cake out of the box and sets it on the counter. "Oh, it's so pretty." She gasps, seeing the cake for the first time. "Alright, future child of ours. It's Mom and Dad and today we're finding out what you are! Boy or girl?" Chris says into the camera. "Mommy thinks you're a girl and I have no clue but I'll be over the moon for either. You can do the honor." He hands Y/n the knife. "Okay, let's close our eyes!" She tells Chris. "Careful, babe." He closes his eyes. "I'm cutting it, okay, next side!" She slices the cake. "Ready?"

"One, two, three!" Chris counts and Y/n picks up the slice once they open their eyes.

It's pink!

"It's a girl, oh my god. You were right!" Chris automatically gets up, holding onto his hat as it almost falls off. "Chris, holy shit!" She drops the slice back into place and Chris engulfs her in a hug. "We're having a girl!" He mumbles in her neck "I can't believe it!" The recording of the camera long forgotten. "This is crazy, can't believe you were right." Chris looks back at the cake, the pink crumbs seeping through. "A mini you, baby. Oh my god!" He covers his face with his hands tears welling up in his eyes. "Stop, you're making me cry." Y/n starts bawling. "I'm so happy!" Chris wipes his eyes and hugs Y/n who is sniffing.

Minutes later, they sit back down and try the cake. "Mm, delicious." They pick at the cake with a fork. "Oh! We're still recording!" Y/n points at his phone with her fork, dropping some crumbs in the process. "Oh, well! Looks like you're a girl! We're so happy and we can't wait to meet you, our little girl!" They cheer.

After eating half of the cake together, Chris facetimes Matt and Nick. "Hi, where's Y/n?" Nick says as he answers the call, still waiting for Matt to join. "Hello to you too." Chris scoffs and Y/n giggles besides him. "Hi, Nick. I miss you!" Y/n says as Chris presses the ring button on Matt's square. Seconds later Matt's face comes into view. "I didn't answer the first time because I'm on the fucking toilet." Matt's voice echos. "Are you guys doing anything later today?" Chris ignores Matt's words. "Nope, jus' staying home." Nick fixes his nose ring looking at himself through his square. "What he said." Matt says.

"Great, come over whenever you guys can." Chris says, Y/n leaning her head on his shoulder. "Why?" Nick says. "Do you not want to see me?" Y/n scoffs. "Of course I do!" He says. "Just come over!" Chris rolls his eyes at his brothers' stubbornness. "I'll make the pasta I always make for you guys." Y/n bribes them. "Oh! Nick start getting ready!" The call ends a few minutes later. "Can't believe I bribed them with pasta."

Both Chris and Y/n wanted to catch Matt and Nick off guard with the gender. Whenever they asked when they would be able to know the two always shrugged, already knowing the answer. "Let me go put the pasta to boil." She gets up and Chris jokingly swats her ass. "Chris!"

Just as the pasta is ready, Chris' phone starts to ring. "Hello, okay I'll buzz you guys in." He hangs up. "They're here." He jogs to the buzzer by the front door before unlocking the door and going back to Y/n to go over the plan. "Hi, Y/n!" Nick walks through it door and walks towards the kitchen. "Hi, Nick!" She hugs him. "I smell the pasta." He sniffs the air. "Do you want some already? Hey, Matt." Y/n says as Matt comes to give her a side hug. "Please, I'm starving."

Thirty minutes after they've all finished eating, they offer them the cupcake. "You guys want a cupcake?" Y/n asks. "Sure." Both Nick and Matt say at the same time. Chris walks to the fridge, and takes out the two individual boxes. "Here, but take a bite at the same time." Nick looks confused. "The hell? Why?" Chris groans. "Just do it." They open up the box of the cupcake and peel back the cupcake sheet. "You guys aren't having one?" Matt says. "No, we had one earlier." Chris goes to stand next to Nick.

As they go to take a bite, Y/n takes out her phone and starts recording. Matt pulls back from taking a bite and looks at the inside of the cupcake furrowing his eyebrows. "Why is it pink inside?" He chews. "Mine too- wait! No way!" Nick yells and gasps. "What?" Matt gets scared widening his eyes. "They're having a girl!" Nick throws his cupcake in the box and hugs Chris and then goes to Y/n to hug her. "Wait- Really?!" Matt smiles looking back at the bitten cupcake. "Yeah! We found out today!" Y/n giggles, and stops recording to hug Nick back comfortably. "Congrats, holy shit!" He daps Chris up and gives him a hug.

"I knew it! Matt owes me a hundred dollars." Nick goes back to his seat and takes a quick picture of the cupcake for memories before finishing it. Matt goes up to Y/n and hugs her telling her congratulations. "You thought it was a boy, Matt?" Y/n says, pulling away from him. "Mhm, I just had a feeling, not sure why." He goes back to bit seat and does the same as Nick.

"You're gonna have a little queen, oh my god." Nick laughs at his own joke.

[h3arts4harry]

- its not your fault -

-

warnings: angst with happy ending, fluff, social media being a meanie☹️, idk

summary: billie and y/n reveal their 5 year relationship to fans and it doesn't go as they hoped it would

-

Billie and i had been friends since we were 7. we were inseperable to the point when we weren't together people would ask where the other was, and we always knew. on my 17th birthday billie took us to a lake in the forest, we had a picnic, swam, and laid under the stars. that night she asked me to be her girlfriend and of course i said yes. now 5 years later billie wants to tell the world about how she has 'the most perfect girl ever' in her words, in all honesty shes wanted to post about us since the start. the only thing stopping her is me, ive been too scared. fans can be crazy and i dont think i could handle if people hated me, sure they know and like me now but that's as 'billies best friend' and i still get a little hate from that.

"cmon baby pleaseeee, i hate that i cant post about you" billie pleads from next to me, "i dont know bils.. what if they hate me?" i question placing the clean dishes away in the correct cupboards, "why would they hate someone who makes me soooo happy" she smiles wrapping her arms around my waist placing small kisses around the base of my neck and shoulder. i swiftly turn and face her, wrapping my arms around her neck, i lean in and place a kiss on the tip of her nose "okay", her smile widens "yea? really?" i nod not being able to hold my smile from the joy on her face, "yeah lets do it" "i love you i love you i love you" she repeats covering my scrunched face in kisses.

liked by itsssy/n, drewstarkey, others

billieeilish letting you in on a little secret.. who would've thought🤷‍♀️

comments..

itsssy/n: i love you <3 billieeilish: i love you more <3

quenblackwell: finallyy, yall these 2 r the cutest istg liked by author

zoedonahoe: my favourite gays liked by author

madelyncline: so cute!! liked by author

madisonbeer: im so happy for you guys <33 liked by author

user1: OMFG???

user2: AHHH WHATTT

user3: ugly ass clout chaser, kys finneas: ur disgusting

user 4: ew wtf that should be me

user5: OUR GIRLS ARE IN LOVEEEEE liked by author

user6: billie you could've chosen anyone, literally anyone is better than whatever that is eugh itsssy/n: real

user7: shes so fat wtf

liked by billieeilish, quenblackwell, others

itsssy/n SURPRISE SHAWTYYY

comments..

billieeilish: mine mine mine itsssy/n: yours yours yours

tarayummy: so happy for you girls!! liked by author

christophersturniolo: bestie is in love itsssy/n: deeply😔

madelineargy: QUEENS OMG itsssy/n: says u (ily)

matthewsturniolo: happy 4u dude itsssy/n: thanks dude

maggiembaird: so happy that you two are finally telling people, you girls mean to world to us<33 itsssy/n: love you maggie <33

larray: bitch hit the jackpot (ily) itsssy/n: yes yes i did💁‍♀️ (ilyt)

user8: FHDSIFI WHATTTT

user9:its giving clout chaser nicolassturniolo: girl stfu💀 liked by author

user11:i bet shes just using our bils, she deserves sm better

user 12: ill pray for you, sinners. user5: brother eughh

user14: couple goals omfg liked by author

user13: no no no no noooooo

-a week later-

"y/n baby?" billie peaks through our bedroom door "hm?" i pear over the thick covers billie walks over sitting next to me leaning against the headboard, i lay my head on her chest and her hand instantly wraps in my hair. "whats going on with you?" she asks lowering her head slightly to look at me, "nothing" i mumble hiding myself in the covers a little more, "uhuh" she pushing the cover out of my face, "talk to me, whats bothering you" i stay silent for a moment before speaking up "i urm- have you seen the comments?" i ask sitting up next to the worried girl, brining my knees to my chest "theres so many posts about us, an-and its exactly what i was scared of billie, if not worse"

billie had seen a few comments on both our posts. she tried to delete as many as she could but there was no way she could get through them all. her heart physically hurt knowing that her fans, the people that were supposed to support and love her, would treat someone she cares for and loves so deeply with such hate. it made her sick to think about everything posted to the public to see about her girl.

billie stands in the kitchen, racking her brain for ways she could help y/n. she ends up calling her brother, finneas; "hey bil whats up?" "i-i dont know what to do, y/n hasn't left our room in a fucking week and i dont- ive tried everything she wont leave" "woah billie slow down whats going on?" "y/n, she hasn't come out our room in a week, she said before that she was scared this would happen and i- i told her, i fucking promised her it would all be okay, that they would all love her but- i dont know what to do fin" "everyone that's hating is so obviously jealous" "i know that but i dont think she does, ive told her again and again but its like she doesn't believe me" "i wish i could help billie but im slumped, i never see hate on Claudia so i wouldn't know" billie groans before saying bye and ending the call.

the anger in her rises as she paces around the living room before posting on her Instagram story

-the next day-

im scrolling through tiktoks, basically all of them being edits and videos of billie, the odd one being a hate vid on me before i scroll upon a sad edit of me and billie. its cute but sad, containing old clips of me and billie when we were younger, a few being from the last couple of years. the caption being 'billies insta story was so sad to read, i have never hated on y/n and for billie to have seen so many people hating to post that is honestly heartbreaking.' i open the comments to see everyone agreeing with the caption.

myb0ybillie: our girl was so happy but seeing how much hate y/n got was crazy

y/n4ndb1lliee: they've been the cutest ppl ever i couldn't believe ppl were hating

wherearetheavacad0sss: loved y/n since billie first posted with her, sickening to see how ppl are treating her

it warmed my heart a little to see that some people actually did like me, and by some i mean tat post had around 21k comments on it, basically all saying the same thing.

the door creaks open slowly, billies head poking through before stepping fully in seeing me awake, "morning baby, how are you" she sits next to me on her side of the bed, "im okay, look at this edit" i nod passing her my phone, she faintly smiles watching it, the same as i did. "this is so cute" she mumbles scrolling through the comments, "mhm" i hum as she passes back my phone, i turn it off and sit up slightly leaning against the headboard with my hands in my lap. "i was wondering i you wanted to come out for a drive with me? just to get out of the house for a bit, get some fresh air?" she suggest looking down at me, rubbing her hand up and down my upper arm. "i dont know bil.." "come onnn, ill drive and we'll play your favourite playlist-" "my favourite playlist is literally all of your songs" "meaning you get a free live performance" she chuckles jokingly nudging my shoulder. "mkay fine, but let me shower first" "yesss okay baby, go shower, i love youuu" she drags out as she leaves the room.

i shower, get dressed into some sweats and her hoodie, slip on my uggs and walk out to see billie in the car, leant over the back seat. i open the passenger door and sit down, immediately pulling the seatbelt over me. "what are you doing?" i ask looking over to her now sitting down properly, "i have a surprise" she giggles, shes loves always surprising me with things. billie takes my phone and connects it to the Bluetooth, passing it back to me. i open spotify, pressing on my playlist hitting shuffle. a small smile spreads on my face as my favourite song starts to play 'bitches broken hearts'.

we sing along to billies songs, driving for a couple hours before billie pulls into a random field. "why are we here?" i furrow my eyebrows turning to her, she smiles brightly "close your eyes" i shrug and do as she says, i hear her get out and run around the car opening my door helping me out. she guides me walking down to the end of the car before i hear her open the boot, she ruffles about for a minute before standing next to me, placing her hands lightly on my waist. "open" she whispers in my ear, i look to see the back seats laying down and the whole trunk converted into a comfy bed, snacks and drinks placed in a cute basket on the side. my eyes widen and my jaw drops with a gasp, my hands quickly covering my face "omg billie this is so cute" turning around to face billie who still has a bright smile, i wrap my arms around her neck, peppering her face with kisses "i love you i love you i love you" i say inbetween, she laughs grabbing my chin, pulling me into a kiss "i love you too".

we lay there talking about everything and nothing for hours, watching the sunrise.

a moment of silence goes passed before billie breaks it "im sorry y/n" she looks down, "no" i bring my hand to her jawline, making her look at me "its not your fault bil" "i know not technical-" "no not technically, not at all" "but i-" "billie." "hm?" "none of it, and i mean not one bit, is your fault, please understand that" she just nods, pulling me in closer. we continued to watch the sunrise until i fell asleep cuddled into billies side.

-

first time adding insta posts/stories so lets hope they work 🙏

as always feedback is appreciated <333

THANK YOU FOR READING

LOVE YOU HOES

taglist:

@m0r94n @sturnzsblog @junnniiieee07 @chrisgetsmewetterxo @raysmayhem-72 @sturniolo-slvt @mattspolitank @cerismo @chrispotatos @ncm9696

[lovifie]

Simon was in complete awe of your captivating persona from the very beginning. He always imagined you as a serene, well-read, and graceful princess. Your persona was so angelic that he believed you descended from the heavens. He assumed you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, surrounded by opulence and luxury. But all of his preconceptions changed when he met your parents at a family dinner. To his surprise, your dad was a retired veteran colonel, and your mom was a retired military pilot. They were acting cruelly…hell even the children at the dinner…The realization hit him like a bolt of lightning, that you and your siblings were raised to be soldiers, and your training began from childhood….

This is the second time I write it because the only time I chose to write directly on Tumblr.com it bugged and deleted it (I wanna rip my eyes off) Hope that you like it 🩷

Extra bit - Extra bit x2

It was a dinner arranged by your parents, the whole team was invited. You thought about not saying anything, keep to yourself and tell your parents the team said no. But they would read right through you, and the moment you mentioned the team was sold.

Now, Simon used to think that you came for an extremely wealthy family. That you joined the military in an act of rebellion, that you could have easily chosen an easier job because you wouldn't have to worry about money in your life. You always move so gracefully while fighting, always so serene when talking, he had yet to see you cry or get mad. Almost like a porcelain door.

What he didn't know was that it was simply a mask that had been forced upon you by your parents. And it was during the dinner that he started to see the little cracks.

He finally saw you be tense, every thread of your person pulled to their limit ready to snap. He understood why you always seemed so relaxed under Price's orders. In comparison to your parents, the man was a loving mother. At some point they even expressed their doubts even of the captain's abilities. He didn't even want to think about how much self doubt they have helped you form.

It slowly started to make sense, how he would never see you in the mess hall. Always working, always training, always practicing, always studying, always getting better.

He looked at your siblings, younger, worse at hiding their emotions. He could see their tiredness, their fear of your parents. You have seated yourself between your father and your siblings. Trusting more to seat them next to Ghost than your own parents.

Your youngest sibling was sitting next to him, and when he noticed them looking up to them he looked back. The kid didn't even look away, and Ghost winked at them making the slightest smile appear on his tiny face.

“We are eating.” Your mother chastised, your sibling face terrified as he went back to eating. It didn't escape him the way you jump, not the slight disgusted expression it put onto your father when you did.

He standed up, motioning you to follow him outside. You panic for a second, forgetting that you no longer lived in your parents house and didn't need to be afraid. You slipped through your father's hand, walking behind the lieutenant when he went outside to have a smoke. You sat on the floor, sighing and with tears pricking your eyes from the frustration.

Ghost asked you about it, and you finally let go of it all. You told him about how your parents believe that dying at war is the most noble way out, how the only job valid for them was in the military, how you have never seen them cry, how you were sure that they would never cry if you died, everything.

By the end of it, you were hugging his leg, your head resting on his thigh as he rubbed your head with his hand consoling you.

“Wait here.” He threw the cigarette to the floor, stepping on it and went back inside.

A moment later the four men were out again.

“C’mon, kid.” Price said with a smile on his face. “There's an emergency, let's go.”

Just when you were standing up, drying your tears the door opened.

Your siblings walked out, giggling each with a backpack. “We heard the world needs saving, shall we go?”

And then, with your team and your siblings, you went into the most rundown, almost destroyed pub. Ate the most greasy food that you were certain would give everyone food poisoning and went on to have the best family dinner of your whole life.

[xjackjackx]

Alan Becker Theory: How Victim Returned

Ok so this is my first real Tumblr post, but basically I want to talk about the Animator vs. Animation series and its first and now most recent villain: Victim. More specifically, how he "returned" after seemingly being killed by the Animator at the end of his first appearance.

When we first saw Victim in AVA 1, he was deleted by the Animator. He closed the program without saving changes, without saving Victim onto anything, thus removing him from existence. Something like that seems pretty hard to come back from...

...but, 17 years later, he has come back without any scratch (besides turning gray).

Now, it's not the first time a character survived being deleted, but none of the previous examples are similar to Victim.

Orange survived being deleted by Task Manager and then stabbed by the Dark Lord's Vira-Blades, but he's clearly special in a way: from knowing a lot since creation to having superpowers that not even he knows of (until he saw a video of him killing a guy with them). He's far from a normal stick figure.

The Chosen One survived being hit by several code-erasing blades, but he's a superpowered being compared to the completely normal Victim.

Herobrine survived being deleted with the rest of Minecraft, somehow resurrecting several years later, but he's not even a stick figure, and another superpowered being that's arguably even weirder then Chosen.

So, how does the completely normal, powerless Victim survive being deleted with no superpowers or anything special about him?

It's simple. He didn't.

I'm not saying that Grey Dude is actually a burnt Dark or something, that was debunked and never made sense anyway. What I'm suggesting is that the AVA 6 Victim is not the Victim. Rather, he's a copy.

... well, a better word to use is recording.

Animation VS YouTube was always a weird entry, in my opinion. It somehow makes every entry in the series an actual video in-universe, it somewhat breaks continuity by having the Minecraft icon on the task bar, and it just gets weirder every time it returns (such as that one scene in Showdown). But, I think AVA 6 made it really important in hindsight.

While fighting YouTube, Green and Orange encounter a recording of the first AVA 1 and witness Victim's birth. In the climax, Green defeats YouTube by putting himself inside a video and destroying it from the inside, thus destroying the website's sentient avatar.

I think Victim came back in a similar way. Thanks to the Animator posting AVA 1 on numerous websites and it being reposted countless times, there are countless videos of Victim: thus, countless opportunities for a Victim recording to escape a similar way Green did. The AVA 6 Victim - let's call him Vic - is one of those: a recording that came to life and broke out. He's not the true Victim, just evidence that he once existed, but he has his memories and will continue his fight with the Animator.

But, there's an issue: Green entered a brand new video, he didn't record himself. A clear difference. Which is why I think Vic didn't escape his video by himself. Someone freed him. But, who?

Well, think about it. Who is Vic close to? Who is special and gets attention from IRL Alan, compared to the others? Who has the most important role in AVA 6, aside from the hollow-heads and RYGB?

Who does Vic trust so much, he puts his own life in their hands when entering the Box?

I think the Glasses Guy - let's call him Agent cause that's the best nickname I've seen - is the one who freed Vic. It would explain why Vic would trust him so much or why he'd get so much attention besides just "the villain's right hand who is badass".

I also think that Vic's trust in Agent is what will fuck him over in the end. That he will not be the final villain of AVA 6.

If you watch The Box closely, you'll see Vic is saved on the Box's files. Nothing special or surprising, right? I mean, he's in the Box, of course he'd be saved as part of it. But... Chosen is not.

In fact, none of the items on the list are inside the Box, aside from Vic. Not the sword, not the chains, not anything. But, they can still be summoned. Which means that the Box doesn't work like "You go inside it, you are part of its files": You need to be saved onto it, and once that happens, you can be summoned whenever one wants, even when you're not inside the Box. What does that mean?

That, at any point in time, Agent can clone Vic hundreds of times, as many as he needs. That Vic is replaceable.

I think that's the big twist of AVA 6: Vic will be killed by Agent sooner than anyone would think, allowing Agent to become the true villain and create a Vic Army. What is Agent's motive? Why did he bring back Vic, only to plan to kill him when he's no longer needed? Frankly, I have no idea. We don't know enough about him to speculate his motives. But, I know one thing:

Vic cannot escape who he is. That, behind the different color and the fancy company and the fact he's but a copy of the real deal, he is still Victim. And who is Victim?

A stick figure who was mistreated, killed and forgotten by a man with animation tools.

[comics-and-fanworks]

Idea for you class salt after the class is out of school and in the real world.

Marinette's phone gets broken so badly she needs a new number. She only tells a few her new number no one from her old class has it.

Some of her old class goes to bakery to ask why she hasn't called them back when they called her. They get told her phone got broken and all that.

The class member goes okay tell her to call me when it gets fixed or replaced it is important.

Only her parents forget and when said class member comes back later is told that but is also told Marinette has a new phone now. But not a new number.

Classmate rushes out to call her so she can fix their problems like always only it goes to voicemail as the person whom has her old number is like I don't know this person calling me. It goes on and on till it gets bad and the person with the new number goes to the police with worry over the threats they are getting.

Should I be worried for myself or the person they are trying to reach

It comes to a head when alya talks max into hacking the location of the phone and they go to have a talk with Marinette only it's not her

Thank you so much for the request! It's my first one so I went a bit overboard and wrote a lot! So sorry it took me so long to get to this! I'm taking organic chemistry over the winter so that has been kicking my ass. The first draft was deleted, so hopefully, this is a better version! Thank you for your patience with me!

TW: swearing, minor threats of violence

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"Well shit," Marinette's day was already bad, but this was just throwing salt into the wound. She had started her day with her phone blowing up with requests from her (former) classmates and friends. Ever since she returned from College they had gotten right back to their usual B.S. "Mari I need a new dress for a meeting with Prince Ali," "Marinette! I told my team you'd design some sick jackets for us and you'd have them done by our next swim meet!" "Girl! I need three new outfits! Adrien and Lila are taking me with them to a fashion show and this is my chance to interview some top designers! Oh sorry, you're not invited." She was up to her neck in demands and requests, to the point she was seriously considering closing her commissions, not like her former friends paid her anyways. THEN Hawkmoth decided that she hadn't suffered enough, she had to deal with Volpina, Frozer, AND Prime Queen and it was not even lunchtime. Volpina was easy enough to take down, why Lila was akumatized is anyone's guess. Frozer was a bit trickier, and since Chat had no plans of showing up she had to bring in Ryuko and Viperion. The trio ended up fighting Prime Queen, who was convinced that LadyNoir would still happen and the Cat Hero's absence was due to a lover's quarrel. Marinette was finally able to return to the alleyway she had transformed in... only to find her shattered phone. It must've fallen out of her suit's pocket (she had redesigned her costume since returning to Paris, she wanted a more mature, fashionable look) when she was rushing to get to the battle.

"Great! Just Perfect! This is just what I need now!" She sighed picking up the shattered phone. There was no way this was salvageable, the impact of hitting the ground had practically broken the thing in half. Tikki knew her chosen was stressed, between being Ladybug, being the Guardian of the Miraculous, building a blossoming fashion empire from scratch, and having to deal with her former friends' constant demands it was only a matter of time before she lost Marinette to Hawkmoth's akumatization. The goddess recognized that this was just the opportunity she needed to help her chosen, and she would start by helping Marinette cut off the people hurting her most. "Marinette! I have an idea! Why don't you get two phones? One can be your work phone, and the other can be your personal one. That way you won't have to worry about your work stuff getting lost in your personal stuff. You can get new numbers for both too!" Marinette looked at the Kwamii with some confusion, "Why would I need to change my number?" Tikki sighed, "Marinette, they haven't been very good friends to you, they haven't even been your friends for a while now. Think about it, your former classmates don't talk to you unless they want something, they expect you to use your connections to benefit them but won't return the favor, and they promise you and your time to other people without your consent.  That isn't right babybug, friends don't treat friends like that. They don't even pay you for your time, effort, and the cost of materials!" Marinette knew that Tikki was right, but she was still hesitant, "But..." "Would Kagami text you expecting you to make her something and refuse to pay? Would Luka text you telling you that he promised another musician you'd make their wardrobe by their next concert? Would Kagami and Luka use your work to get ahead, and then refuse to extend the favor? No, they wouldn't! Those are healthy friends babybug, you can give them your new number, I know they'll understand!" Marinette thought about it for a moment and decided that Tikki was right. With a renewed conviction she made her way to the nearest tech store to begin to take control of her life again.

Adrien was frustrated, he had been texting and calling Marinette all afternoon but she wasn't answering! That wasn't like his princess, so something had to be going on, but there wasn't an Akuma on the news, Ladybug, Viperion, and Ryuko defeated the three earlier today. He did feel a little guilty that he didn't go to help, but he was busy! He had modeling shoots all morning and then joined Lila and Alya for lunch discussing their upcoming trip. The topic eventually turned to the Wayne Gala that was approaching as well, with both models confirming they had been invited. Well, Lila had only been invited because she was an official Gabriel representative, but she didn't need to know that. The brunette was currently making a big show of bringing Alya as her plus one, which brings Adrien back to his current predicament. When he arrived home, his father told him that he had to invite Marinette Dupain-cheng as his plus one no matter what. Both Agrestes had been shocked when she had rejected Gabriel's offer to join his company, but her answer had been reassuring, "I greatly appreciate your offer but cannot accept it in good conscious. Adrien has been my friend for years and I would hate to potentially harm his, the company's, and my reputation by accepting. I am worried it could be misconstrued as me gaining the position, not by my own talent, skill, or merit but because I had a connection to someone with considerable sway." His father didn't seem to pick up that the last bit was about Lila, but seemed content. In fact, Gabriel had complimented Marinette's business savvy and remarked how good it would be if she followed in his footsteps by building a fashion house from scratch. He had mused that it would be even better to have the two great fashion houses merging together instead of just taking Marinette in as a designer. Now that Miracle Design Clothing (MDC) has risen to compete with the likes of Gabriel and Style Queen, his father had decided now was the time to begin winning Marinette over.

Adrien would never admit it to his father, but he had his own motivations for being so on board with the plan to invite Marinette to the Wayne Gala. They were now in their mid-20s, and everyone in Paris wanted to know everything about the Agreste Heir's love life. Lila had hinted multiple times that Adrien was dating her, so much so that the media was beginning to spin her narrative. However, Adrien wasn't entirely out of the running yet. He knew that the Wayne Galas were always a media frenzy so if he, a fashion empire heir, showed up to the Gala with Marinette, a rising star in the fashion world, on his arm the media would quickly assume they were dating. It was a brilliant plan, Marinette was charming, beautiful, intelligent, and incredibly talented. His father held her in high regard, and he knew that if Gabriel approved of him dating anyone, it would be Marinette. Besides Adrien had a trick up his sleeve, he knew Marinette was in love with him, or at least that was what Alya had told him. She told him about Marinette's crush right before the ravenette left for college, hoping to embarrass her former best friend. Their old class still believed what Lila had said about Marinette being a bully. In their get-togethers they would often mock the designer's success, reassuring Lila that the only reason they talked to her was to get stuff from Marinette. While it upset him a little to know Marinette was being taken advantage of, a larger part of him felt like she deserved it since she didn't listen to his advice about Lila. Oh well, it was her own fault. Adrien was brought out of his thoughts by Alya's shriek.

"OH MY GOSH! The Waynes just announced the Designer they got their Gala outfits from, and it's Marinette!" Adrien choked down a laugh at the sour expression Lila wore, as Alya continued to read, "The article says that Marinette and Timothy Drake Wayne met while they were in college, and he thought her designs were so incredible that he referred her to Bruce Wayne himself! She's considered a family friend and received their order along with an invitation to the Gala! Why didn't she tell me any of this??" 'Maybe because you only talk to her when you want something' Adrien thought as their former classmates began to text. Alya was trying to call Marinette, most likely to scream at her for not letting Alya in on such a big story, but she couldn't get through. "Ugh! Marinette is ignoring me! Who does that stupid bitch think she is?" Lila's eyes sparkled as she saw a chance to jump in and control the narrative, "I know right? You'd think she'd be more grateful after I introduced her to Timmy- oh I've said too much," She batted her eyelashes and made a show of covering her mouth. "YOU introduced Marinette to the Waynes? Girl you've gotta give me the details!" "Well, Marinette was going to college in Milan, and I happened to be there for a modeling shoot," That part was actually true, Adrien was sick and couldn't make that shoot, "We happened to bump into each other at a cafè, and Marinette apologized to me for how awful she was to me in our youth. She told me that the only reason she did what she did was that she was jealous and felt threatened by me, you were right Alya." That was how Lila worked, she mixed a little bit of the truth with what someone wanted to hear, which caused the lies she told to pass by noticed. "Anyways we had lunch and caught up, she was showing me some of her amazing designs," as much as it pained Lila to admit it, Marinette was truly talented. In fact one thing she regretted was not working harder to deceive Marinette back when they were still in school, if she had known Marinette would be so successful she would've fought like hell to take the spot of Marinette's Best Friend away from Alya. She would've been MDC's top model, instead of having a stagnating career as just another practically nameless model for Gabriel. "I remembered my dear friend Timmy, we met when my mother was stationed in Gotham, he had told me that the Wayne family needed suits and dresses for their upcoming Gala and that Gabriel was too busy." Another partial truth, Lila didn't know any Wayne, but she knew Gabriel was too busy being Hawkmoth to make their outfits. "I gave him Marinette's number as an olive branch because I had thought she changed, but I guess she was lying. Oh and Alya? Adrien? Please don't mention my friendship with the Waynes, I don't want people thinking they can get to them through me." Lila smirked as both Adrien and Alya promised her they wouldn't say anything.

When Marinette told them she was cutting off her former friends for good, Tom and Sabine were over the moon. They knew about the Lila situation and all its complexities after the faux fox tried to infiltrate the bakery and convince them their daughter had stolen her necklace. They almost fell for it, until Tom remembered that Marinette had been helping him in the bakery during the time Lila said their daughter took the necklace. He had sternly told Lila that there was no way Marinette could have done it, and even offered to show her security footage that proved Marinette was not the thief. Instead, the brunette stormed out of the bakery, and Tom and Sabine knew they had to talk to their daughter. After a bit of gentle prodding, Marinette broke down and told them everything. She told them about Lila, her classmates, and Adrien, and she told them about everything they were putting her through. They were horrified, and that feeling was solidified after Lila got Marinette expelled. After their daughter's name was cleared, that useless principal was trying to dodge removing it from her record, until Sabine threatened to contact the school board about how their daughter was expelled without an investigation. They did everything they could, but it seemed Lila had everyone else in her pocket, and it seemed to stay that way once Marinette returned from college. She had swung by the bakery and explained that her phone had been shattered while she avoided the akumas, and she was taking this opportunity to change her number and cut those leeches off. Sabine and Tom promised that they would say nothing because it was only a matter of time before her former friends wound up at the bakery because of the radio silence from Marinette.

The chiming of the doorbell confirmed their fears. In stormed Marinette's old class, with her former friend Alya leading the pack. They could see Lila hiding in the back, and decided it would be better to say nothing. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng! We have a problem and thought you could help us. We've been trying to get in contact with Marinette all day, but we can't reach her and we wanted to make sure she was okay." Sabine smiled as she tried to hold in her rage. They weren't here because they were concerned, those brats wanted something. It would appear that Alya and co didn't know that Marinette's parents knew Lila was lying or what they did, so Tom decided to answer in a way Lila couldn't twist. "Oh, she came by earlier today and let us know that her phone was broken. She dropped it during one of the Akuma attacks, and it was pretty smashed up. She told us to let you know if you came by since she would be off the grid until it was fixed. It might be a while though, it was almost as bad as the time it got caught in the bread mixer!" His answer seemed to calm the group down, typical clumsy Marinette strikes again. "Ok, well can you please let her know to reach out to us once her phone's fixed?" The two nodded and promised they would, and watched as the group of adults left. Sabine turned to the freezer, "They're gone! You can come out now!" The two chuckled as their daughter slowly poked her head out of the walk-in freezer, ready to dash back in at a moment's notice. Yeah, they're glad Marinette was finally cutting those people off and the bright glow in their girl's eyes confirmed it.

The Gala was in a few weeks, and Marinette was STILL radio silent. Adrien was pacing back and forth in his room, trying to figure out what to do. Her social media was most likely controlled by an assistant like his was so he couldn't message her there, he couldn't get into her studio without an invitation or employee badge, and he realized he had no idea where she lived so he couldn't even pay her a visit or send a letter! "I don't know what to do! No one has heard from Marinette and her parents promised they'd talk to her about it!" "Maybe she finally got tired of your bullshit and decided to cut you and the rest of those users off," Plagg snapped from somewhere in his room. After The Paint Incident, Plagg's attitude towards him seemed to change. He snapped at Adrien more, called Adrien out on his behavior, and started giving Adrien harsh (and desperately needed) advice. Other than that, Plagg was getting on his case about slacking off on his duties as Chat Noir, claiming that his behavior was a disgrace to the legacy of the Cat Miraculous. Adrien was getting fed up with him, hadn't the stupid cat heard the saying 'if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all?' "Marinette wouldn't do that! We're her friends!" "Some friends. And some friend YOU are. You knew Lila was lying and let her wreck Marinette's school life, get her expelled, and continue to lie to everyone. You told Marinette to shut up and take it, news flash kid, the high road does not mean stay quite and let people hurt you! YOU currently know that YOUR friends only care about what they can get from her and that Lila is planning to pull some bullshit at the Gala, but all you're concerned about is making sure karma doesn't bite you in the ass!" Plagg roared. It was hard to argue with the little god without sounding like a hypocrite, but Adrien was going to try. "Well... When Marinette agrees to go to the Gala with me I can fix everything! She likes me, so we can get together, and I can get Lila to apologize! Once everyone knows they're on good terms things will go back to how they should be!" Plagg was paying more attention to the cheese he was juggling, but he did glance back at Adrien, "One, IF she decides to go with you. Two, she may not even feel that way it's been years. Three, How are you going to get a narcissist to admit to wrongdoing? Four, How does Lila apologizing change how your ex-class treat Mari when that's how they treated her before Lila showed up?" Adrien chose to ignore Plagg and tried calling Marinette again.

Alya was STRESSED. The Gala was coming up and she needed a new dress that would wow everyone and make her stand out from other reporters. She had already secured her Press Pass, and because she was Lila's plus one she could actually get into the Gala. The only other reporters with that privilege were Clark Kent and Lois Lane, close friends of the Wayne Family. Lila offered to get her a Gabriel Original but she turned it down, both girls shared a sentiment that Gabriel's designs had really been declining. "I think it was the loss of his wife. She was his greatest inspiration, and especially with Hawkmoth on the loose, I can understand not wanting to leave your house. Maybe he's just out of touch," Lila had told her, and Alya agreed. What she needed was a Marinette Original, something to show she was in with both designers. She was thinking of something fox-inspired, to pay homage to her time as Rena Rouge. She'd talked to the other girls about why Marinette had never told her she would be designing for the Waynes, and they reassured her, "Well, maybe she thought you wouldn't be interested or were too busy?" Rose offered. "You didn't really report on fashion until Adrien and Lila took you to that fashion show. Maybe she thought you wouldn't be interested." Juleka suggested. "Als, you're overthinking it! Mari didn't tell you because she couldn't! A family like the Waynes has wicked good lawyers, they probably made her sign an NDA." Alix concluded. They were probably right, Marinette would have told her if she could have, and Alya needed that dress. So there she was at Tom and Sabine's bakery again, asking about Marinette. "Oh, she just called this morning! The damage was too severe, so she had to get a new phone." Sabine told the young reporter, who thanked her lucky stars. As she left the bakery, she sent a text 'Mari's back!'

Adrien nearly dropped his phone when he got the text from Alya, before excusing himself to run upstairs and call Marinette. The phone rang, and rang, and rang, before the call was answered, "Hello? Who is this?" A woman's voice answered, but certainly was not Marinette. Adrien was floored, he was sure he dialed the correct number. "Um hi. I'm looking for Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I'm a friend of hers and was calling to speak to her." "Oh really? Well if you're her friend maybe you can explain to me why the second I had this number activated my phone was bombarded with calls and texts demanding things from dresses, to invitations to some Gala, and all kinds of other demands." Wait, had Marinette changed her number? No, she wouldn't have. "Listen, lady, I don't know if you find this funny but I KNOW Marinette wouldn't change her number. If you're her assistant you better give the phone to Marinette NOW or I'll see to it personally that you're fired!" Marinette should really have taken care to not hire such incompetent people. It was unfitting of an eventually-to-be Agreste. "I don't know who you think you are but I will make one thing clear: I DO NOT KNOW A MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG!" The line went dead. Adrien pressed the redial button, and felt his stomach drop as the call didn't go through, he had been blocked. From the way the group chat was blowing up, he could guess the others were getting the same response. Lila was going on and on about how Marinette was abandoning them in their time of need, and adding fuel to the fire. Adrien decided he was going to do damage control. He had thought a bit about what Plagg had said and realized that he needed to show Marinette that he was still on her side, besides it would be tougher to get everyone to make up if they were mad at her for something her crappy assistant did. He sent the chat a message, 'Guys relax. The woman on the phone wasn't Marinette but has her number, so she's probably a new assistant! Miracle Design Clothing has really exploded since the Waynes announced she made their outfits for the Gala so Marinette probably hired some help and the lady didn't know who we were. We can try again later.'

Lea Dubois was having the roughest week in all of her fourty-three years. She had gotten a new phone, since she her old one was stolen, and decided to get a new number with it. Not even a couple of minutes after activating her phone it began blowing up with calls and demands for a Marinette Dupain-Cheng. After a particularly snobby boy threatened to get her fired from a job she didn't even have, Lea decided to do some snooping and figure out who this Marinette Dupain-Cheng was. Googling the girl's name directed her to a Miracle Design Clothing website, and after scrolling through she found a tab labeled, "Founder." Clicking on it, she saw a picture of a smiling young woman with shiny black (almost blue) hair and sapphires for her eyes. She was a truly gorgeous woman, and from what Lea read very talented. That explained the demand for clothing. She decided to check social media next, and quickly found articles about how the rising star had been personally invited to the Wayne Charity Gala! That explained all the calls from people claiming to be Marinette's friends and demanding to be taken to the Gala, to that one girl who demanded an interview and a dress for the Gala. Lea went through the messages that quickly went from demanding to insulting and toxic, and thought to herself, 'I see why that girl changed her number, I hope she knows these people aren't her friends.' She decided to look up the people who had called her, and see what she could find out about them. A girl named Alix and a boy named Kim were both athletes, although both played for the minor leagues of their respective sports, but it did explain the requests for jersey designs. A boy named Ivan and two girls named Juleka and Rose had been calling about outfits for their next concert, apparently they were in a band called Kitty Section. Lea vaguely remembered that it was a popular group, before their lead guitarist was kicked out and went solo. Two girls named Sabrina and Mylene had asked her to create costumes for a production in the Théâtre du Châtelet, a boy named Max called asking for a suit for his new tech reveal, and another boy named Nino asked her to design a couple of album covers!

A few other people called, but they seemed to be genuine friends. One standout was a boy named Nathaniel who had called twice, once to congratulate Marinette on her work with the Waynes and invite her to an event for his comic. The second time was to apologize to Lea when he found out Marinette had changed her number. He had also apologized for the harassment his (and apparently Marinette's) former friends had been throwing at her. He explained that when they were younger, Marinette didn't know how to stand up for herself, and was pressured by her teacher to constantly put her needs on the back burner to help her classmates. Nathaniel told her it had gotten better when Marinette left for college, but now that she was back in Paris, things had gone back to the way they were. Instead of their teacher, the role of pressuring her had fallen to three people, Lila Rossi, Alya Césaire, and Adrien Agreste. That last name caught her attention, could that have been the bratty boy who threatened to fire her? "Sweetie I hate to do this to you, but if you have time could you meet me in person? We have a lot to discuss, and I'm beginning to worry for Marinette." Nathaniel had agreed and had said he was bringing a couple of Marinette's friends, her real friends. "They've been harassing us too, maybe we can look into getting a restraining order or something." And that was how she ended up in a cafe sitting at a table with some of the most impressive people she'd ever met. There were Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Marc Anciel, the power couple of comics. She hadn't read comics since she was a little girl, but her nephews talked nonstop about the Ladybug comic the two had started in collège. Olympian fencer Kagami Tsurugi, and hit rock artist Luka Couffaine. There was academy award winner Zoé Lee and fortune 500 company founder Chloé Bourgeois.

The group exchanged pleasantries and got right to business, "So we heard from Nathaniel that you got Marinette's old number and that your phone has been blowing up with all the shit she used to get," Luka said. Lea nodded, "Yes. They refused to believe that she'd changed her number and one man even threatened to get me fired! I don't know what job he thinks I have that he can influence, but I digress. " "Ugh. That sounds like Adrien alright. I swear it was like a switch flipped in his head during Collége, he's acting like I used to," Chloé had come to terms with the kind of person she was, and had taken the steps to apologize and change for the better. A part of that was she swore never to touch a Miraculous again, she had become aware enough to realize that when given that much power she would be tempted to fall back into her old ways. "It's telling that their first reaction to being cut off is to harass an innocent person instead of reflecting on their actions and what lead them to that point," Kagami said, "I think we owe you an explanation since you have unfortunately been dragged into this." Lea nodded, that sounded good. "They weren't always this bad, well they weren't always this blatant about it. For a long time, Marinette was happy and popular, hell even when I bullied her she didn't seem bothered. Then Lila Rossi transferred. That girl is the type to convince people that two plus two equals five, you know what I mean," Lea nodded, her ex had been like that. "Well anyways, Marinette saw through her bullshit and called her out for it, so Lila declared war. Before anyone could process what happened, Lila had convinced the class that Marinette was the Devil's spawn. She even managed to get Marinette falsely expelled, and while that was reversed, it was the moment Marinette realized she couldn't rely on her classmates. Alya was an up-and-coming journalist and her best friend, but if she couldn't bring herself to fact-check this girl's stories..." Chloé paused to take a sip of her drink, and Lea thought of something, "Maybe Alya did fact-check and knew Lila was lying. I did some research before I came here, and I know that Alya ran the Ladyblog. I also know that her videos featuring Lila are her most viewed videos, but when I looked at the comments I noticed that a ton had been deleted. Maybe she knew but saw how much attention her blog was getting, and chose to ignore Lila's lies, or maybe she believes them, I don't know." The group continued to chat about their situation and were snapped out of it when the door to the cafe was flung open.

Alya was gonna kill Marinette when she found her. How dare she hire someone and not tell them who she was?! How dare she do that to her friends?! Doesn't she realize they need her? It didn't take much to convince the others, specifically Max, to ping the location off of Marinette's number and track it down. If she was going to be bitchy and ignore their calls and messages and hire some dumb assistant to annoy them, they were gonna make her pay! They had tracked her location to a cafe in the fashion district and were waiting for the last of the group to arrive. "I don't understand why she's being so petty," Lila whimpered, fighting back tears, "You all have been nothing but kind to her even when she's been such a nasty person!" "I don't understand it either," Sabrina said, "It's like a switch flipped in collège or something." Well whatever it was, they weren't gonna let her get out of this! Once Kitty Section had arrived, the group stormed into the cafe ready to give Marinette a piece of their minds! To their surprise, Marinette wasn't there. Their old friends turned enemies were there and sitting with them was a middle-aged woman, was she the one who had been answering from Marinette's number. "Where's Marinette?" Alya demanded. Chloé and Kagami lept to their feet. "She isn't here, and unless someone is dying you are not getting in contact with her!" Chloé was a lot less polite about it, "Wow, I'm surprised none of you got the memo. You've been cut off!" The older woman turned to face them, and Adrien snapped at her, "You! Are you Marinette's assistant or something? Get her here now!" Oh, that was it, Lea walked right up to him, ready for war. "I will do no such thing because I am not her assistant! I did not even know who Marinette was until you people began blowing up my phone with demands! I have never met more selfish people! And you," she pointed at Lila, "I've heard all about you and what you've done to that poor girl!" Lila began to sob, wailing about how she didn't do anything, and that she had been trying to mend bridges with Marinette by introducing her to the Waynes.

"Woah, Woah, hold on! You did NOT introduce her to the Wayne Family," Luka stood up and walked over, Lea noticed how Kitty Section seemed to shrink under his gaze. "Marinette met the Waynes at a fashion show in Gotham that Jagged Stone took us to. She met Selina and the two hit it off like a house on fire," Luka pulled out his phone and showed off pictures of a much younger Marinette with a woman who could have passed for her mother. "Notice the date? She was in high school when she met them. Here she is at Selina and Bruce's wedding. Know why she's there? She designed Selina's dress." The dress was a stunning white with elegant black lace. The top resembled the head of a cat, and if you looked close enough you could see little cats and bats hidden within the lace. "Marinette's been the Wayne Family's go-to designer for YEARS. Hell, the Waynes were at her graduation party, and the opening of Miracle Design Clothes Studio, and have been to every major life event she's had since she met them." Luka showed them More photos of Marinette and the Wayne family. "I don't know how you could introduce her to people she's known for years," Luka said, "Not to mention Stephanie tells me they're desperate to either adopt her into the family or have her marry into it," Marc added. All eyes were on Lila now, she had told them all that she'd introduced Marinette to Timothy Drake Wayne and that was how Marinette got the job, but with all this evidence it was clear her lie was dead in the water. Lea turned back to the group, watching as the realization crossed their faces that Lila had lied, and had most likely lied about various other things. Turning back to the people she had met she said, "It was very nice meeting you all. Please pass on my concerns to Marinette, and let her know if she ever needs friendly advice, she knows what number to call,"

The Wayne Gala was very... Awkward for Adrien. After their failed attempt to confront Marinette, Lila got exposed, and in the excitement, it came out that he knew about what she had been doing. Simply put he was excommunicated from the group. They figured that if they cut him, Lila, and Alya (who had doubled down on Marinette being the problem until it came out she knew Lila lied and had said nothing to protect her views) out that they could apologize to Marinette and she'd take them back. Their pleas on social media brought attention to the situation, and Marinette's friends and parents were more than happy to tell the world what happened to their favorite designer. When he, Lila, and Alya walked into the Wayne Gala, they turned heads but not for the reasons any of them had hoped for. People were polite to their faces and when speaking to them, but Adrien could hear them whispering behind his back. He needed to talk to Marinette, if he could smooth things over with her then maybe, just maybe this could be salvaged. However, the Wayne Family seemed to personally take offense to his plan, because whenever he saw Marinette (and she stood out in an absolutely jaw-dropping sparkling red mermaid cut dress) she was whisked away before he could say anything. First, it was Selina, who lead her over to some of his father's former clients and proudly told them the story of how she met the young designer. Then it was Bruce Wayne himself who came to introduce her to the Kents, who much to Alya's dismay didn't even glance her way. Finally, it was the Wayne Kids who were determined to dance with Marinette all night, Adrien swears Jason was smirking at him. Eventually, she broke off from the main party with Tim and the two were chatting on the balcony. This was as close of a chance as he would get.

Marinette was having an amazing night! She met so many amazing people and made so many new contacts! She even set up an interview with Lois Lane! She could feel Alya fuming on the other side of the room, and tried her best not to think about it. She knew Adrien, Lila, and Alya were at the Gala, and she knew what had happened a few weeks before. While she was happy Lila was finally exposed, she had moved on. She got to dance with each of the Wayne siblings, but her favorite dance had to be with Tim. When Selina had introduced her to him, their reaction to each other was to freak out. Tim was over the moon to meet the designer he'd followed for years, and Marinette was ecstatic to meet the young Wayne CEO (whom she may have had a bit of a crush on). The two had exchanged numbers and talked constantly, building up a close friendship. As time went on her crush on him grew as well, but she was too nervous to risk their friendship and say anything. Eventually, when she thought her feet were going to fall off, Tim led her over to the balcony. There they talked quietly about anything and everything when a cough interrupted them. There was Adrien, with a charming smile, but Marinette had learned not to be fooled. "Hello, Adrien. Enjoying the Gala?" Marinette asked, she knew he was up to something, and from the way Tim looked at him, he could sense it too. Marinette decided to take control of the conversation, "I heard what happened. With Lea Dubois and the phone number and everything. To put it lightly that certainly wasn't your best moment." "Well, I... I never thought you would change your number, so it kinda threw me for a loop. Anyways, I wanted to apologize for the part I played in all of this. I really dropped the ball and it lead to you getting hurt I never intended for that to happen," "Yet you continued to let Marinette's former friends use her for free things?" Tim butted in, holding up his phone and showing various text messages between Adrien and his friends. Adrien's face darkened, "How the hell did you get those?!" Tim just threw his head back and laughed. "I'm a tech prodigy. Finding texts is a piece of cake. I started looking after Nathaniel told me about what happened in the cafe. I also found the texts between you and your father, and no I won't let you use my girlfriend as a publicity stunt. We were gonna announce our relationship tonight-" Adrien turned around and stomped off before Tim could finish his sentence. Marinette sighed, he really hadn't changed. Turning back to Tim she asked, "Since when are we in a relationship?" The raven-haired boy blushed a little, "Well Unofficially since your graduation party, but neither of us knew it at the time. Officially now... If you want. If not that's cool and we can just pretend this never happened. Damn Adrien! I had a plan for this but he had to show up and ruin it!" Marinette chuckled and brought Tim's hand up to her cheek, smiling up at him fondly, "Officially now is fine with me."

[david-talks-sw]

An allergy to the Prequels

While I'm putting together a post about the evolution Lucasfilm's transmedia strategies, this part kinda turned into its own thing!

So I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but, uh... there hasn't been that much Prequel content since the Disney sale, right?

'Couple novels and comics, some episodes... but nothing meaningful.

The more I look into it, the more it feels like a deliberate avoidance to touch on anything Prequel-related - beyond the required quota, that is - to a point where they'd rather tell stories set during periods that are Prequel-adjacent (Dark Times, High Republic) than something set around Episodes I, II and III.

On-screen policy: "pretend they never happened"

I mean, this one's no secret. When The Force Awakens had been announced, with J.J. Abrams at the helm, everyone sighed in relief. "Finally, George Lucas won't keep ruining the franchise."

When Abrams had been announced as the director of Episode VII, I remember this cringey animated video started circulating online, titled "4 Rules To Make Star Wars Great Again" or "Dear JJ Abrams":

“Star Wars isn’t shiny and clean... Star Wars is a western.”

If you ask me, those two things are not mutually exclusive.

'Cause Star Wars has always been both, for many Prequel kids. Both clean and dusty, Coruscant and Tatooine. There was never a disconnect between the Original Trilogy (OT) and the Prequel Trilogy.

Even the documentary The People vs George Lucas shows Prequel-hating fans begrudgingly admit their kids felt all six episodes tied seamlessly.

Abrams, on the other hand, said: "I think [the "Dear JJ" video] was right on." Later on, he also said:

he considered "putting Jar Jar Binks's bones in the desert" on Jakku, somewhere, and

he intentionally made the lightsaber fights "rougher", "primitive" and "more powerful" unlike the fast-paced ones in the Prequels.

Later, we found out he wanted to blow up Coruscant.

It's clear he wasn't a big fan of the Prequels.

But y'know what? Not many fans over 20 were, at the time. And when The Force Awakens came out, most them celebrated it as a wonderful love letter to the OT.

Star Wars is cool again. Mission accomplished 🙌 !

However movies keep coming out, and references to the Prequels - if there are any - are literally just that... references.

Sometimes in the shape of a cameo ("hey look, Genevieve O'Reilly from the Ep. III deleted scenes is playing Mon Mothma again!")

Sometimes in a name (Luke name-dropped "Darth Sidious"!)

But nothing set during the Prequel era, and nothing treating the events that happened in that period as relevant or impactful, beyond subtextual nods.

In fact, the trend of avoiding anything Prequel-related continues as the final film in the Skywalker Saga comes out:

The Rise of Skywalker has a secret Sith society that chants the name "Palpatine" instead of his Sith name "Darth Sidious",

the film pretends the Kaminoans never existed,

and neither TROS nor Trevorrow's Duel of the Fates script even try to bring Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker back on screen. Let that sink in, we're talking about the Chosen One, Skywalker Senior, whose sins caused this whole mess... and his name isn't even uttered once in the final chapter of what Disney dubbed the *Skywalker* Saga (or the entire Sequel trilogy, for that matter).

But hey, The Clone Wars got renewed for one last Season! That's cool right? So many stories had gone unfinished and somehow the animation looks even better than befo--

-- oh. It's not 22 episodes? Only 12?

Four of which had already been shown to us, but hey! We need to set-up the Bad Batch series, so let's shoehorn those episodes in there, and forget Son of Dathomir, Dark Disciple or Crystal Crisis.

*sigh* Better than nothing, I guess.

In other mediums: "just not a priority"

Now this is something that I'll explore more in the transmedia post (and purely my interpretation), but the noticeable change between Lucasfilm's transmedia strategy *post-ROTS* and the one post-Disney sale is that:

Before, the games, comics and novels were the main content. After all, Revenge of the Sith had been released, so that was it, for the movies. Thus, a variety of other content was being cranked out to keep the Star Wars franchise relevant. There were comics set 100 years after Episode 6, comics set 25,000 years prior, games set in the Old Republic era, other stories in the New Republic era, novels galore, a couple of parody films and an animated show, The Clone Wars, which sometimes received its own tie-in comics, novels and games.

After the sale and ever since, most of the transmedia products have had only one goal: promoting the films & streaming shows.

So while in 2015 you won't see an abundance of Prequel content... you'll see an avalanche of OT books and comics come out.

Why? Because the heroes of that era will be in the Sequel Trilogy movies. It provided context to the kids who hadn't seen the OT yet, and reintroduced those films to a new generation of fans, while priming them for the Sequels.

A multimedia marketing strategy that ultimately proved successful.

However, it continued even after The Force Awakens came out.

Don't believe me? Compare how many comics there have been set during the Prequel era vs the OT era.

If they make comics about the Prequels, they're limited runs.

Case in point: before the current Yoda series, the best any Disney Prequel-set comic series ever got was 6 issues.

Note: it's worth pointing out that the frequency of mini-series aren't just a Star Wars-specific thing, it's a comic book industry thing. The readership for comics is dwindling, many people are reading scans online, and so no publisher wants to commit to a story that lasts more than 4-6 issues. My problem is: there absolutely would be readership for a Prequel comic series to warrant an extended run instead of a mini-series.

Let's talk books. There have been give or 64 canon novels published since the Disney sale.

Only 11 of them are set during the Prequel era. And even those stories only came out when the planets were aligned.

Almost half of them were released while being a part of some bigger multimedia push.

Example:

Before the Obi-Wan Kenobi series was being released on Disney Plus, we'd had one novel and like two comic stories about him during the Prequels... released between 2012 and end 2021. That's about three pieces of content in almost ten years.

Clearly a low frequency.

Then, when the series is around the corner, two books and a comic story comes out in the space of months, plus an anthology book with an alt cover with his face on it and a comic with a story of him and Anakin in the first issue, all in 2022.

My takeaway: short of there being a film or series that needs to be promoted, you'll rarely get any Prequel comics or books.

And this is OBI-WAN we're talking about. The character who even the Prequel haters love. Imagine how little attention the other ones get.

Gaming-wise, Battlefront had no Prequel content at all (again, 2015 was the year where OT content was shoved down the consumer's throats to prep them for Episode VII), and Battlefront 2 only released Prequel content a full year later.

All that being said, we did seen some Prequel elements here and there. After all, some actors got to reprise their roles, books and comics came out featuring Prequel characters... but there's a catch.

The stories they appear in are set in-between Episodes III and IV, a time-period known as "the Dark Times" or the "Imperial era".

"Dark Times" being used instead of the Prequel era

It's easy to see the appeal of this era. You keep the same threat from the Original Trilogy - the Empire - but redress it with Prequel elements... while also cherry-picking the best characters of both the OT and the Prequels and giving them a chance to shine again.

The situation is more clear cut, as opposed to the complex one in the Prequels. Bad guys are stormtroopers, good guys are anyone else. And the stories no longer take place in the shiny capital, you're back on the frontier.

But at this point... it feels like a cop-out.

When you consider how much content has been set during the Dark Times, it's nothing to sneeze at. Since the sale, we've had:

2 movies (Solo, Rogue One)

4 series set in that time-period (namely The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and Star Wars: Rebels).

2 video-games (Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor).

17 novels (such as Ahsoka, Lords of the Sith, the new Thrawn books, etc)

And just a whole bunch of comic book series & mini-series (like Kanan, Princess Leia, various Vader-centric comics including Darth Vader: Lord of the Sith, many tie-in mini-series promoting Rogue One, Jedi: Fallen Order, Obi-Wan Kenobi, etc).

There's been so much content made for this time-period that it feels like an unwillingness to do the work and create something set something during the Prequel era, let alone something that follows its Jedi.

After all, why make a story set in the Prequels (disliked by vocal fans) when you can just take the characters in that story and put them in an OT setting (which will appease the Prequel-haters)?

Maybe these stories get relegated to the Dark Times because:

there seems to be a perception that anything set in the Prequel era won't sell?

or maybe the current SW writers weren't fond of Episodes I, II and III, and don't find those Jedi characters likable, thinking they're too righteous and dogmatic which makes it hard to craft a story around them.

Or maybe it's because they're under the impression that the Prequel Jedi are bad. Like, canonically, in the narrative. Not just in a "I don't like them" sense, but also in a "the story is all about them becoming corrupted" sense.

Let's expand on that last point.

Retconning the Prequels as the "Fall of the Jedi" era

Somehow the rare stories set during the Prequels that we do get seem to automatically be about how "the Jedi lost their way/failed".

The series Tales of the Jedi is explicit about it...

... and I already explained why it contradicts what George Lucas established here and here.

You also see it in Rebels and the new season of The Clone Wars...

... in comics...

... in games...

It gets to a point where the Prequels era has now been redubbed the "Fall of the Jedi" era by Lucasfilm.

You wanna know what that period was referred to before the Disney sale? The "Rise of the Empire" Era.

Because - and I'll never get tired of saying this cuz it's factual - the Prequels aren't about the fall of the Jedi, they're about the fall of the Republic and Anakin, and rise of the Empire and Vader.

So in addition to being overdone, the "Jedi lost their way" is not even the intended narrative of the Prequels (if one puts any stock in Lucas' words). It's a minor subplot at best, hardly the focus of the films, let alone a whole time period.

But dubbing it "Fall of the Jedi" implies that there's another era in which the Jedi were in their heyday.

Because Star Wars authors are in luck! Yet another alternative has presented itself in the shape of a new transmedia initiative, and it's even better than the "let's set it during the Dark Times" solution:

A new transmedia initiative: The High Republic

You wanna deal with the Jedi before the Empire, but for some reason you wanna avoid dealing with the ones seen in the Prequels?

Look no further. Meet the Jedi of the High Republic.

Noble, adventurous, inspired by the Knights of the Round Table, they're everything the OT kids dreamed about when they heard ol' Ben Kenobi talk about the Knights of the Old Republic.

That's more like it!

Note: the High Republic was created for other reasons and has many more upsides than the ones mentioned above. Namely, a fresh new spot in the timeline that allows for creative freedom and a beautifully-coordinated transmedia storytelling effort where retcons are non-existent. However it does seem evident that not having to deal with the 'unlikable' Prequel Jedi and their "fall" is one of those upsides.

Another perk that the High Republic era offers is more freedom in terms of storytelling compared to the Prequels.

In 2016, Pablo Hidalgo tweeted he still quotes to authors the following excerpt of West End Games' guide for aspiring Star Wars writers, from 1994.

You can't write "this was the best day in Luke Skywalker's life", for example, because another author may want to write a better day than the one you just wrote.

My guess is that a similar approach applies to how all characters from the movies are treated. They're massively iconic. So you can't write a book that drastically changes how Mace or Yoda or Obi-Wan are perceived overall.

The stories need to be self-contained, disregardable if necessary, because you'll have dozens of writers coming up with new stories for those same characters, and you need to leave them some room.

Examples:

Notice how in the book Dooku: Jedi Lost we never see how Dooku turns to the Dark Side and joins the Sith.

Same goes for crossover comic book arcs of the Star Wars issues, like Vader Down or Crimson Reign... the characters don't really change by much in those comics. You could stick to just watching the movies and you wouldn't really miss anything.

But with The High Republic, you indeed can develop these characters as much as you want.

All stories featuring Avar Kriss leave an impact on her, you can nail down who she is perfectly in one book or one comic arc, both being just as meaningful to her character.

The fact that she's not as iconic/famous a character as Mace Windu means that authors can go to town on crafting an interesting and nuanced character arc for her that'll have a beginning, middle and end... something Mace will never really get.

CONCLUSION:

Back in 2015... let's not kid ourselves. The Prequels were unpopular and Disney is a multi-billion dollar corporation. Opting to make as much money as possible is what they do.

It's the same reason they decided not to go with George Lucas' original plans for the Sequels, in 2012.

I mean, imagine you're Disney. You just dropped 4 billion dollars, with a B, on this franchise. Your next Star Wars movie needs to be worth the price tag. Now, you can pick between two options:

Option #1 is uncharted territory and it explores the midi-chlorians (the cursed word…!) and the guy who presented you with this option also openly admits that a big chunk of customers won’t like it, but he wants this to be done because it’s his vision.

Option #2 is very simple: a soft reboot, that plays on nostalgia that the same chunk of customers (aka the 'boomer and Gen-X fans who grew up with the Original Trilogy and now have kids, grandkids and MONEY) will like.

It's a no-brainer. They gave the customers what they wanted.

But time has passed, the fans who were children when the Prequels first came out have grown up, and grew up with characters like Yoda, Mace, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto and other Jedi as their heroes, aside from main characters like Anakin and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.

Can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more?

No, let's either ignoring the storytelling potential of these characters or reducing it to them being "righteous, arrogant and dogmatic".

God forbid we get a story showing the Prequel Jedi in a *gasp* more positive light? One where their POV is more understandable, instead of the same old "we brought this on ourselves" storyline.

There's a whole decade between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones... you're telling me there's no space to show us Anakin's training and how he formed bonds with the Jedi we later see in The Clone Wars? I tried my hand at it here:

Interesting or fun Prequel-set ideas from other pro-Jedi fans on Tumblr can be found here, here and here.

And y'know, part of the Star Wars intent is for fans to take the ideas in the movies and come up with their own stories. You're supposed to create headcanons.

What I'm saying is fans of the Prequels are being given less "imagination food" than the rest, and many of us who like the Jedi in particular are forced to rely on headcanons only. "Better than nothing" is no longer an acceptable standard.

There's a range of recognizable Jedi characters that have already been established in films and TCW, can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more, instead of whole new ones?

[hazardsk8r]

(THIS IS AN OUTDATED POST)

(i've been writing this since 2 in the morning, so i'm sorry if the writing here looks messy. /gen)

everyone's asleep? COOL!!!

time to ramble about my hypothetical vicdark AU that no one outside of my comfort zone would probably want to hear!! /lhj

okay so... what if dark doesn't die, and he ends up teaming up with victim and it turns a little gay?

like... hear me out maybe.

warning though, this is mostly based off of headcanons. so if this is inaccurate. whatever, fuck it, we ball.

(getting this out of the way before we start, i'm going to be referring to alan as noogai3 here.)

---

okay so dark lives, right? HIP HIP HORRAYYYYYY!!!! we celebrate!!

but sadly he's in terrible critical condition. so what does he do? break into some hospitals and steal some shit like bandages or whatever sticks need and goes into hiding in a cave and starts trying to heal himself.

while in hiding, victim has been using their mercenaries to try to bring both dark and chosen into justice for two reasons.

one, justice of course.

but also two, they're trying to get more information on noogai3 since they're both created by the same dude and thinks the both of them are a good way to get closer to their ultimate goal of confronting the son of a bitch. (albeit, in victim's pretty fucked up way.)

meanwhile for dark, he's somewhat recovering and is able to somewhat fend off for himself. albeit, still kind of weak.

a little while later, the mercenaries had found out about dark's location and decided to pay him a little visit. they all show up to the cave while dark is probably eating a sandwich and try to convince him to surrender, which he doesn't. so the mercenaries then start fighting dark to try to arrest him and it was probably the coolest thing ever for like.. 30 seconds.

with the worst timing ever, the virabands end up failing on dark and he ended up getting beaten up bad... again. so he gets paused and taken to the hoverbikes, and the mercenaries fly off with one of the most infamous criminals of the outernet arrested.

back at victim's company, dark gets placed into healthcare immediately for about a week. later with dark mostly recovering, victim then decided that it was finally the right time to question him about noogai.

victim heads over to dark’s bed and begins to question him about noogai’s whereabouts.

dark mentions that he really doesn’t have an idea about where noogai currently lives at the moment. but he does know how to bring objects outside of the outernet into there. especially since noogai was able to be teleported there.

victim becomes intrigued. they begin to question dark more. eventually, the interrogation ends up derailing into a somewhat deep conversation about what happened and how the two ended up where they are.

victim talks about what happened to them in the first ava with noogai3 just abusing the shit out of them and ending up deleting them. and victim wanting to get revenge on the little shit.

dark then rambles on about how noogai also fucked him over in a way that coded him into being automatically destructive towards chosen out pf his control, but still ending up forming an alliance with him and escaping from the pc, to then how it all went into shit in the showdown and how “betrayed” he felt by chosen rejecting his virabot idea.

(putting this here just in case. but i do NOT think that chosen “betrayed” dark in any way. all chosen did was say no to violence and destruction once and dark got all petty and upset and decided to dramatically call it betrayal. ok we good? alr lets move on)

so both victim and dark are kind of just sitting there now.

victim doesn’t forgive dark immediately, but has been able to empathize with him in some kind of way.

so victim walks off telling dark to get more rest but they’re going to let go of him soon in like a few days, but dark tells victim to stop for a second.

victim questions what dark could want this time, and dark explains that he can help victim with their project.

victim goes like “okay, no. i have a whole team dedicated to this and i don’t need more hands over this project.”

but dark explains how he’s good with technology and all that kind of stuff, and that he can help even bring noogai3 into the outernet so he could be sent to justice.

and something about those words just kind of resonated with victim. like they’re both two sides of the same coin.

so victim just goes like “ok i’ll think about it.” and leaves.

but yeah victim eventually ends up agreeing out of hesitation because like… that’s a criminal they’re working with LMAO. but they did admit that they could use another stick who’s kind of close with noogai to help with the project as well.

so yeah. victim lets dark take part of the project and dark pretty soon became victim’s second right hand guy apart from agent lol.

also victim had a team from their technology department make personal new virabands for dark since the old ones just don't work anymore now, which looks pretty damn snazzy if you ask him lol.

(here is my rushed presentation with an equally rushed edit of what it looks like)

from then on, to probably a year now, they have been working pretty closely with each other on the project!

cue the really fucking gay shenanigans with a side of angst.

---

and that’s how they met! that's a whole lot of words! but i need to describe my personal interpretation of their dynamic real quick.

think of their dynamic in the way that they’re both a force to be reckoned with. they're both really smart in their own ways. with victim's knowledge on how to control others, to dark's knowledge on how to ruin others lives and destruction. but i think they're both equally smart when it comes to technology lol.

they’re both pretty uncaring towards others except for each other. they both only think about things that only benefits them. they’re both really confident in their own crafts and tend to get passionate fairly easily. they also tend to do really huge nice things for each other but swear that it’s “nothing personal”.

there’s also no such thing as the “meaner” one of the duo because frankly, i think they’re both equally evil bullies. there are differences though.

victim is kind of like the more colder one of the duo and way more professional than dark. but they can become pretty fucking insane too though if you push the right buttons and make them feed into their more toxic traits.

they’re really unsure how to respond to personal affection to the point where they usually just reject it, but also because of their disgust for it. idk it’s either one of the two.

dark is the more playful insane one of the two, like he would just come up with the most insane shit imaginable and victim would always have to be like “hey dude it actually sounds pretty fucking awesome. however, you need to stop.”

he’s the more bolder affectionate one out of the two, always pulling victim to hugs and putting an arm around their shoulder to victim’s disgust, but they do gradually get used to it a little bit though.

… yeah that’s kind of about it for the basics about the au.

---

closing statement? i dunno.

i think it's kind of funny how i heard a random piece of dialogue from the class of 09 visual novel and think "what if that's victim and dark... HOLY SHIT-"

yeah uhhhh if you're still here, thanks for reading through all my bullshit. i couldn't be more thankful /pos

might post more stuff soon because tbh i've gotten a pretty huge attachment to this ship and au...

sorry lmaooo. be sure to like and subscribe idk

[jung-koook]

this day in 2012 little sky was bored and decided to turn on her laptop and checked some kpop forums (after a few years I realised that these forums were sasaengs forums. this is the only explanation for why they have so much information, especially about a group that hasn't debuted yet.. at that time I think it was quite ~common~ to share these information, but those were different times, now we see how wrong that was.) until she read one about the new group that was about to debut. she was literally mesmerized by everything she was reading and seeing there. while humming 소녀시대 '소녀시대' she decided to research more about this new group and the members, a new group that seemed like it would bring something very interesting and new to the world of kpop. she spent the last few days of 2012 literally doing just that. then she found more things about namjoon, then jin. at this point she was already obsessed. she would come home from school and immediately go to see if they had posted more about them, more videos. then in 2013 almost close to them debuting she found out about the other members and found out about jeongguk. and omg......... there she knew that he had chosen her and she had chosen him. 🥺 lmao let me stop talking about myself like that 🥹

the part below is hard to share and may trigger some people, so please don't read if it will trigger you. (I'm going to talk about depression and not wanting to live anymore) but I want to share a little more of what bangtan did in my life with you guys. maybe I'll delete it later lmao.

2012 was a very hard year for me. at the age of 12 I was already diagnosed with depression. I was very much a person who didn't like life, I didn't like living. in 2012 I was diagnosed with "su* c *dal depression". I didn't even know this term existed, but I was hospitalized in 2012 because my doctors said I needed to have someone watching me for 24 hours. finding out about bangtan was really a lifesaver for me. I really needed this distraction. I really needed something that would make me disconnect a little from what I was going through. a lifesaver, that's what they were for me and my life. bangtan has no idea how much they helped me, how much they saved me, how much they were my friends when I needed it most. I never cared about these holidays at the end of the year but since 2012, holidays at the end of the year have become something so special for me and so emotional too. I will always remember this moment and how grateful I am for it. and no matter how old I am, I will be 60 years old and I will still be grateful for everything bangtan has done in my life. I will always be grateful for finding them when I needed them most and for them existing. the positive impact they had on my life and still has will always shock me. because they are people who don't even know me but they helped me so much, often much more than these people who did. thank you so much for bangtan existing. thank you so much for each member and for everything they did for me without even knowing me, and for being my lifesaver. ♡

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Overheard AU.

This is a very rough draft of an AU I wrote ages ago but haven't polished. Thought I might post it to see thoughts.

Summary: You really shouldn't talk about secrets in an open area like the street.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It starts with Tanaka Jin. He’s nothing special. He’s just a man with a sick child who is a fan of All Might. He’s lost his job and he’s struggling to find a new one when he barely has any worthwhile skills. He has a license for Quirk use given he can’t turn his off, but most are weirded out by his ability to be able to tell exactly what you want to eat.

He’s nothing special and when he sees All Might saving a kid from a villain made of sludge he stops to point his camera at the man. When he sees the hero run off, he follows. He wants his son to be happy, stuck in the hospital all day. Maybe a picture or video of the man a little closer will take his son’s mind off the bills the boy knows is piling up.

What he finds is All Might deflating and revealing a secret to a young boy.

He gets it on film.

Tanaka isn’t a bad man. He’s nothing special

But he’s a desperate man.

He would delete the video but he thinks of his son in the hospital, ill and not getting better. He thinks of the fact he lost his job. He thinks of his dead wife. He thinks of the fact the bills are getting higher and the fact he has very little in savings.

He’s not a bad man. Just desperate.

Later it’s what prevents him from being punished with more than probation.

-0-

The news doesn’t run the video for a week. They want to check and double-check it, make sure it’s real.

It is and it runs on a Friday morning.

All Might learns about it when his PR agent blows up his phone, screaming. He watches it as his agent rants.

“I need to go.” He tells her and she stops.

“It’s true isn’t it.”

He doesn’t answer, just hangs up and runs.

His agent, a young woman named Akiko who refuses to use her last name and has a Quirk that has her gain energy from the sun, swears. Loudly and colorfully in seven different languages before she grabs her laptop.

Fuck you Yagi, she thinks before she throws herself into work.

Meanwhile, Izuku and his mother stare at the TV. It’s a day off of school thanks to a villain attack- though online schooling was there as was common for those incidents- and Izuku had just returned from his run when the video played.

His mother watches and then turns to him. He stared at her.

“... I believe in you.” She says and she means it even as her heart screams and her worries fill her. She believes in him. She knows he wants to be a hero, knows he’d claw and climb his way to it and she knows he’ll be hurt.

A Quirk will help him.

Izuku breaks down in his mother’s arms as she hugs him.

Toshinori shows up and knocks on the door while Izuku begins a light workout, worried about the media. Inko lets him in and they sit down to speak, all three.

The secret is out and Inko prepares for a press conference with Akiko while Toshinori calms Izuku and promises he won’t change his mind even if others offer.

It’s the start of a future with the two women threatening the men in their lives, while the men leave the women to their plotting.

It’s safer that way.

-0-

The press conference takes place a week and two days after the video is released. All Might stands there with Izuku by his side, both dressed nicely.

All Might deflates a minute in and listens to the yelling.

“Please, calm down,” he asks and they listen, waiting. “It is true. My Quirk is known as One for All and is able to be passed from holder to holder as a sacred torch. And yes, I am going to be passing it down due to an injury that has severely limited me these past years.” Izuku is shaking beside him but manages to give a small smile to the crowd. “Young Midoriya Izuku is my chosen successor and has started his training already.”

“What’s his original Quirk?!” Shouts a voice and Toshinori makes a choice. It wasn’t bad when he was young but he’s heard things, seen how other pros wrinkle their noses and make comments, he’s seen the rise in statistics.

He doesn’t know but he’s aware.

“Like I am, Midoriya is biologically Quirkless.” He speaks and he sees the young boy turn to stare while everyone falls silent. “Due to this, we need to do a very hard workout for him to be able to earn the Quirk before the entrance exams.” He continued, ignoring the questions as he gave a small overview of his Quirk, admitting it also stockpiled Quirks and that was why he could hover for long periods of time. He spoke fondly of his mentor before he finally opened the floor to questions.

“Why chose Midoriya? Is it due to your shared origins?” Asks one.

“I chose him due to him showing me what it means to be a hero again. He inspired me to push beyond my time limit to save someone and I knew I had found my successor in a young teen who would run to help someone no matter what.” Vague and simple.

“Midoriya, what do you think of this?”

“... uh it’s a dream come true. I’ve always admired All Might and training with him is amazing.” Young Midoriya says and Toshinori smiles at him before the questions continue.

“All Might! Why not give it to someone with a Quirk?” Toshinori wants to growl. He wants to glare.

Instead, he lets Midoriya speak.

“Well as he said it can also potentially stockpile Quirks to. It makes sense to occasionally have a Quirkless successor to keep them low. Too many can potentially destroy a body due to the unstable factor of the Quirks.” Midoriya offers.

“Are you worried about Quirk Singularity?” Asks another paper. Midoriya perks up so Toshinori lets him continue.

“Oh! Well potentially? It makes sense but that’s just one theory and while it is possible that Quirks are outgrowing humans, human adaptability means that most likely we will create things to help us. Most likely support gear or the such. Though there is also the Wave Theory that shows some promise but then if that happens we don’t need to worry about to many Quirks stockpiling.”

“Wave Theory?” Asks a few reporters. Izuku blinks and then continues.

“The Wave Theory was proposed a few years back. Basically, the idea is that various myths, legends, and folklore are actually signs of Quirks. A scientist proposed the Wave Theory as a theory in which every few hundred or so years humans gain powers for a period of time before they vanish.” Midoriya explains. “It makes sense when you look at it. Magic and accusations of witchcraft could have been Quirks, while various sightings of dragons, elves and so on could have been mutations…”

“... why has this theory never been known before?!?” Asks a reporter who has pulled out a different notebook to write this down. Midoriya’s face falls.

“The one who did the research and created the theory was a Quirkless scientist who was murdered. No effort to find her killer was ever found and because she was Quirkless her research was never believed.” Midoriya says bluntly. Silence fills the room. “Her name was Dr. Kennedy Johnson and she was American.”

The conference ends on a quiet note. Toshinori can see their eyes.

They’re thinking statistics themselves.

He places a hand on Midoriya’s shoulders and the boy smiles at him.

He smiles back.

-0-

At UA, a teacher without a class watches the conference and sighs.

“You want me to help?” He asks his boss and the white rodent laughs.

“Oh yes. He needs a helping hand I think.” Aizawa Shouta groans but smirks to himself.

This could be interesting.

-0-

Now that the secret was out, now that people spoke about it to each other, heroes began picking up patrols. They made sure to be seen, made sure to do their job.

Some so they could rise in the ranks. Some because a part of them looks at All Might with a hole in his side and still working to his limit and feel guilt.

A few because they recognize that boy and feel guilt as well.

One because he’s angry and bitter and hates the fact that he will never beat All Might now. That everything was for nothing and that he had done what he’d done for nothing.

But they patrol. And some make sure to swing by where the tiny successor goes to school and lives, to keep him safe.

The police do too. They watch and keep an eye out. This boy will receive a Quirk bigger than him. He’s a successor to an empire. He cannot fall.

Teachers at Izuku’s school begin treating him differently. They try to win his favour. Izuku ignores it, not caring.

It’s only now they care? Only now they want him to like them?

He gets angry and rants to his mom, rants to All Might about it, and both promise to come down hard on Aldera. Just not yet. Izuku is too busy, too focused. He can’t have a scandal now.

Pity he won’t get a choice.

-0-

Bullies don’t go away because someone becomes popular. Some do but others, others angry that the Quirkless freak, the Quirkless waste of space is getting a Quirk, getting what they should have…

They don’t.

They plan it out, and approach Bakugou Katsuki for help.

Katsuki is an angry child. He’s angry and bitter and he’s got a complex about being the best. He has to be the best. Deku, stupid Deku, has always looked down on him he knows this-

He ignores the whispers he’s an idiot and he had fallen from a high spot and of course someone would check on him-

He doesn’t think, not really. In another life he would throw himself at a boy his first day of school, risking it all. In another life he would ignore orders not to use gauntlets that could kill during an exercise because he thinks Deku looks down upon him. In another life he would push and push and force himself into something because he wants to know the secret. All his life consequences have missed him due to his Quirk, due to the fact no one cares about the Quirkless boy. Katsuki is a genius, but he is still a boy confined by his own thoughts and beliefs.

Is it any surprise he joins a plan to beat down Deku? Any surprise he wants Deku to know his place?

They corner Deku after school, right behind it. A teacher sees but looks away. They agree with the boys. Others deserve it more.

The groups only can do a bit of damage before a grey scarf is tanking them away, as wood grabs them and as a voice shouts.

“Don’t you move, I’m going to be looking into why a teacher let this happen.”

Aizawa looks down at the young boy and sees another in his place and knows in his bones that he won’t let this kid fail, even as he drags away the boys, grabbing the teacher who looks pale.

He will make sure this kid succeeds.

No one notices the reporter until the next day when the papers scream:

ALL MIGHT’S SUCCESSOR BEATEN WHILE TEACHER WATCHES.

It’s a storm and a half. Aldera is torn apart and every way they had treated Izuku is released by the young secretary who had cared for him and tried to help.

People are asked opinions and heroes glare at the school. They snarl out opinions and spit out their thoughts. UA releases a statement they will help with the lawyers if needed as does a hundred different schools. Some offer to have Izuku complete his final year with them.

It’s a mess. More so when Endeavour speaks.

“Endeavour!” One reporter manages to corner him. “What are your thoughts on the Aldera situation?”

“... one of my sons is Quirkless. The entire reason he is homeschooled is to prevent things like Aldera from happening to him.” Endeavour spits out. “Places like Aldera are cesspools.”

“Why didn’t anyone know about this?” Asks the reporter. “Why hide your-“

“My wife wanted to.” Endeavour snaps. “If you want I can release the videos of our discussions about it. My wife is mentally unwell and struggled with the idea of a Quirkless child. She loves him dearly but…” he sighs. “I have no care but due to her place in a mental institution I have kept silent so it would not set her back. With all this going on though I am speaking out about it. Being a bigot is disgusting.” It’s all he says and he leaves, unaware of the fact his children had watched and now are ripping things apart in confusion, only one knowing anything and looking at her brothers in worry.

Another watches and bares his teeth in anger.

But for Izuku the words of a pro hero known to be a traditionalist, known to be a jerk, known to be unpleasant… his words affect everyone too. If Endeavour thinks it’s disgusting…

Then he knows they truly are wrong. Everyone.

-0-

“He wasn’t the worst.” Izuku speaks. He’s sitting in a courtroom, a day off from his training to participate in the lawsuit. It had suddenly been put in court fast. Very fast but given that All Might’s successor was involved, was it any wonder. “Kaa… Bakugou wasn’t the worst.”

“Oh?” Asks the lawyer presenting the schools. “According to the teachers he-“

“He was the most verbal.” Izuku agreed, cutting him off. “He was the most verbal. But I’ve only known him to use his Quirk twice on me. Every other student did it often.” Izuku stands to show off his arms, detail a kid with spikes who would lean in to close on purpose in front of the teacher, speaking of one of Bakugou’s friends with long fingers who would shove them down his throat to choke him out. Bakugou would beat him up but rarely use his Quirk- not after he had been scolded harshly for using explosives on others. “I remember one time a student put spider lilies on my desk and a teacher pulled out a vase. Bakugou grabbed both and exploded them.”

“Sources say he told you to jump off a roof and pray for a Quirk in the next life,” the lawyer presses.

“And a teacher put a knife on my desk after a Quirkless girl slit her wrists,” Izuku says and the lawyer stops, stares and turns. Said teacher has gone very pale in the crowd.

Izuku is only kind of amused when the lawyer right there resigns, stating there is a limit and they crossed it, agreeing to take any penalties offered.

It’s a pretty clear victory for Izuku and his side, and they walk out without a backward glance.

As well, Izuku had managed to get something for Ka… Bakugou.

His mom told him that she didn’t think he should keep using his nickname and Izuku had to agree. It had stopped being a friendly thing years before and holding on did no good- not after he decided to beat him up simply for getting a possible Quirk.

Bakugou would be allowed to attend a hero school under probation. If he attends UA with Izuku they would not be allowed in the same class or be allowed to fight against each other. He would be monitored.

It’s enough. Izuku hopes it’s enough.

Meanwhile, the hero who had helped him during the beating is still around. He’s Eraserhead and Izuku is so excited to meet him.

He’s the one who comes up with a plan for schooling. Izuku is homeschooled now and spends most days on the beach. Eraserhead is often with him shouting out lessons or using the trash to teach. Sometimes other heroes come by to help.

Izuku is taught by a variety of heroes as he works and he finds himself thriving where before he would not.

“It takes a village,” he overhears his mother say to Eraserhead. “Thank you all.”

“He’s a good kid from what we’ve seen. He’s inheriting a big legacy.”

“Yes. Yes, he is.”

-0-

Izuku is given the hair the day of the regular exam- though he’s not taking it. That had been discussed with Nezu, Eraserhead, Yagi and multiple others who all agreed he would need more training before using his Quirk. Instead, he was to take the recommendation exam- which was a giant race through an obstacle field. He wouldn’t need a Quirk, just his mind for that.

He takes the hair and swallows, making a face. It’s just him and All Might, the others having agreed not to show up.

“I’m proud of you,” Yagi tells him. “You’ve come far.” Izuku hums and looks over the beach, cleaned and clear.

“...Thanks All Might,” he tells his hero. The man laughs.

“Nothing of it young Midoriya.”

Izuku will go to UA as the successor of All Might.

He wonders what the world had in store for him.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Y’all, please stop sending me questions you can google or questions on topics you already know my answer to, or questions that you know nobody this side of the internet has any answers to.

I understand it could be nerve-racking and unsettling to not have answers you want or to not have them presented in the way you want.

But this is not about you. And I’m quickly losing patience for the people in my inbox who simply cannot resist the impulse to center their own desires and expectations over whatever is actually going on with their biases and/or within HYBE which nobody here actually knows.

What I do know,

- is seeing akgaes complain about BigHit neglecting Jimin for years because out of all the vocal line members, he never had a solo OST project. Like, before BTS’s PET era, this was one of the topics his akgaes would be getting hit tweets on practically every month. This was their raison d’être. How could the company that shunned solo work allow that solo opportunity for other members but not Jimin? Nobody got any answers or even acknowledgement of this great disservice from the company, for years. Not until early 2022 when Jimin casually mentioned that he was never interested in that sort of opportunity in the first place until a friend personally asked him as a favour.

- is seeing akgaes claim the company never acknowledged Jimin’s historic BB Hot100 win, when anybody can google to see that’s clearly not the case. I’m convinced the only reason this continues to be a talking point is due to akgaes and their sympathizers centering themselves in an equation that has nothing to do with them. Jimin has said his team acknowledged it, we can see this from their main sm profiles and the members’ personal sm pages, just as was done for Jungkook, we know HYBE’s management highlighted it as the main accomplishment in the quarter to their investors, and his achievement was positively highlighted in many articles on the k-side. But just as with the cake situation, the people complaining about this want the company to respond in a way that reflects their own personal expectations regardless of the reality of what actually happened, what the members have already said and what they actually wanted at the time.

- is seeing akgaes assert blindly for months that HYBE partnered with Billboard to delete Jimin’s week 2 and all D2C sales. Assert that HYBE masterminded the buttfuck that was the deletion of sales by Hanteo, by Billboard, by *insert random industry player*, only for it to be revealed that Billboard treated every HYBE artist mentioned in their expose article dishonourably, including NewJeans who akgaes have decided for whatever reason is why their chosen idol is not getting the recognition they want for him. It’s been clear that issues with shipping and stocking are not even limited only to BTS members much less just Jimin, and so HYBE must be sabotaging TXT, Enhypen, and the other artists in the company they’re supposedly pushing to replace BTS and Jimin. HYBE must’ve also been behind BTS’s sales irregularities on Hanteo as well as other groups’ including Twice and EXO’s sales deletions in the past.

- is seeing akgaes assert for almost a year that the decision to use Weverse albums and not provide an option for physical versions was forced on J-hope by the company. His akgaes demanded answers for months and received no answers and no acknowledgment. Only for Hobi to reveal almost a year later that he chose that option out of his own desire to try something very different, despite advice to the contrary from others within the company including other BTS members.

Notice, all of this have been things to be legitimately upset about, but akgaes taking control of the conversation has only served the purpose of redirecting any focus away from the members, to render them powerless, shifting focus away from third-party industry players who work independently of HYBE and have their own motivations, and towards the company where they aim to remove their chosen member from to exert more control. 10 times out of 10 this has been the case, even when it’s not just irrational to arrive at that conclusion, but flat out counterproductive. I don’t even like HYBE, but it’s annoying to constantly point out obvious holes in logic or in situations that anybody with any knowledge of how BTS has operated for years can easily see.

We’re not actually privy to the full conversations the members are having with the company about their career strategy and goals.

What we do know is that like any other team, resources are allocated and the results nearly every time have been greatly influenced by their own input. We can judge for ourselves that despite the members working within the constraints at BigHit, such as:

- Yoongi being told he couldn’t release D-2 in 2019 due to unknown constraints but released it in 2020 to no issue,

- Yoongi being told he couldn’t give Jimin a song he wrote due to PDogg’s refusal but this not hampering the artistic output of either artist,

- Jimin being refused his request to have a visual album but no expense was spared for his very elaborate production choices…

…that while the company sometimes says no to the members for reasons we don’t know (and can’t know, we’re fans not A&R managers for BTS), in retrospect these decisions appear tied more to logistical and strategic constraints, sometimes incompetence, rather than malicious intent. The company still supports the members’ projects and all seven members are happy enough with their current management over any other option, that they’ve chosen to renew their exclusive contracts early, not just once, but twice.

I too want Jimin to have received nominations for the MTV EMAs. I want that for all my biases but especially Jimin because his chart and sales performance dwarfed most of the competition, but even more so because Jimin released one of the most remarkable works of art created in 2023. And it deserves to be recognized and celebrated.

But already, the conversation is shifting towards HYBE propping up Jungkook to shaft Jimin, deliberately refusing to submit his work (which just like the other claims about Billboard and Hanteo, none of these people can provide any evidence to support except this happened to another artist years ago and HYBE bad), etc - all akgae talking points that have as little basis in reality we know as any other conspiracy theory you see in any solo space in BTS fandom. These theories only support the idea that the members are in direct competition with each other, do not deserve their team, and should leave the group. Because there’s a whole host of explanations for what we’re seeing here, but the constant impulse to reach for that particular reason is because it leads to only one goal.

I already said months ago after the Billboard article, that it served the purpose of handicapping Jimin’s chart performance to look overly reliant on Asian buyers (read Chinese money) reducing its legitimacy for Western awards, and we’re already seeing that play out. This has nothing to do with HYBE, and everything to do with the carelessness of the fandom in blowing up funding sources while aiming to shatter yet another Western record. When history has shown us every time BTS as a group did this, the industry responded by looking for a way to handicap the group. Which was then done for Jimin as he was the first to break that record.

HYBE could’ve sent his songs to radio. His songs have very good commercial quality. HYBE could’ve sent Still Life ft Anderson Paak to radio too as it had very good commercial quality. But we also know the members chose their roll-out strategy and suit of promotion tools and this likely influenced decisions like why some songs were sent to radio and others weren’t. And the first thing I noticed about all the EMA nominations is every artist had their songs sent to radio. Every single one. And so if the Billboard expose didn’t completely handicap Jimin, then it’s possible because his songs weren’t sent to radio he wasn’t even in the running in the first place. Here, feel free to blame HYBE all you want. I blame them too, but just as I did in Hobi’s case, I also believe this was in part influenced by his own decisions and hold him responsible as well.

I don’t baby any of the members in BTS. I’m not their mother. And when I see things I don’t like, I don’t absolve them of all responsibility and place it squarely on the company, because the members know more than me about their own situations, and are grown Korean men who have all the privileges and options that entails, and who continue to remain in a team they keep saying they respect and are grateful to.

I cannot want more for my biases than they want themselves. That’s not why I’m here. I don’t see myself as their advocate, contract lawyer, mother, manager, or girlfriend. I’m their fan and so I’m ARMY. I’ll support them as much as is within my means and preferences, object to actions of the company that directly impact me or on issues that I find morally repugnant based on having all the facts at my disposal, not based on fan theories made by groups of people who have a history of working outside of the members own interests and desires.

I can manage my disappointment on various things while recognizing all the above. Perhaps after this first set of debuts, both the members and HYBE will rethink their promotion strategies, make modifications, and maybe they won’t. That’s their cross to carry, not mine.

This is my position on everything that happens in Chapter 2 and 3, (because all these grumblings will only metastasize when the members come back, as that’s how it’s typically goes in every k-pop fandom, regardless of the fact this only ever works counterproductively for the artists).

Please read this the next time you mean to send me an ask on a related topic. While I might share your disappointment, I don’t share your anxieties, and I don’t have the answers you’re looking for. The only people who do are the members and they don’t owe you any explanations unless they think it’s necessary. I’m not trying to be rude, condescending, or harsh. This is what I genuinely think.

[soulkeeper801]

Unexpected - Twice’s Sana pt. 1

Minatozaki Sana x f!reader

Fluff

“You don’t have many pictures of yourself on your feed,” Sana texted, realizing it was only one picture of your face out of the very few posts you had on instagram. “Mind sending me one? :)”

Sana and you had matched on a dating app over a week ago. She wasn’t looking for anything and ended up there as a suggestion from one of her friends to meet new people.

When she swiped right on your profile, she didn’t think much of it. You had a picture of your cats, your little home office spot and a picture of yourself with a filter on.

She loved the cats, loved the tidiness of your desk and thought you looked cute with the filter on.

After you sent her the first text, the conversation didn’t stop. She would wake up to a message continuing what you were talking about the night before and would keep texting during the whole day.

Sana was intrigued by you, by the way you were always willing to listen to her long voice messages or how you would never let the conversation die by always having something new to ask. She went back to the app to check your only photo a couple of times, smiling to herself at how silly you looked with the filter on. 

Some days later, she decided she wanted to see more of you, she knew you had a beautiful personality and behind the silly filter she noticed your pretty face. Trying to not be too straight forward and ask for pictures, she asked for your instagram instead. It would end up being the same, right?

Wrong.

When she took a look at your feed, she noticed you didn’t have many posts and there was only one that had a picture of you. The one she had seen before but without the filter. She was right about you being pretty but didn’t know you would be so secretive with your socials. Her feed was filled with mirror selfies, places she had gone to, her friends, a lot of pretty things. She was hoping to find something similar on yours but she didn’t.

��Oh,” you replied to her previous text, “would you believe me if I say I don’t usually take pictures of myself?”

Sana frowned. She wasn’t mad, she was just... curious about you. 

“I understand,” she replied, “I’m sure pictures don’t do justice to your pretty face :)”

She wasn’t going to keep asking, even if she did want to see you.

“Now you’re putting too much pressure on me,” you answered, “if you ever see me in person you’d get disappointed :P”

She laughed out loud. It was moments like those that made her fond of you. 

But you gave her an idea. 

“Would you reject me if I treat you to a coffee this afternoon?”

She stared intently at her phone, your name on it as you were typing an answer.

But you would immediately delete whatever you wrote, making her heart beat faster at the expectation.

It made her smile to herself. How did you have this much power over her by only knowing each other for a few days? 

“I wouldn’t dare,” you replied and it made her heart flutter. She smiled widely at her phone screen. “But don’t get scared when you see my face :P”

She laughed at your silliness one more time before sending yor the address of the cafe she had already chosen for you to meet. 

She had a good feeling about you, her heart couldn’t be wrong.

Part 2

[true--north]

Your Iduna headcanons? 🍁

🍁 It kind of contradicts Dangerous Secrets, but I like to think that she and Agnarr got to know each other, that the deleted scenes happened, Agnarr just forgot it because he hit his head.

🍁 Iduna seems to have some connection with the Air. Not like Elsa with the Water, but not like any other member of the Northuldra tribe. She was special since the beginning.

🍁 She was torn between two places. She loved Arendelle and Agnarr, but she missed the Forest.

🍁 I headcanon that there was a family, "our oldest family" of shamans, leaders and healers, and it was foretold that the Fifth Spirit would come from it. It's Iduna's family. Maybe some might think that Iduna herself was going to become the Spirit because Gale made her her favourite.

🍁 She loved singing but was afraid that Agnarr could recognize the voice.

🍁 It was love from the first sight, first a childish philia, later something other.

🍁 Iduna's hair was so lush and free that she needed a special balm to make it into an Arendellian hairstyle. Frozen has a thing for hair symbolism, does it?

🍁 Iduna was spending so many times in the library and in the secret room, she traveled to some merchants and forgotten book stores to find some medieval manuscripts and notes about Nordic folklore and legends.

🍁 Iduna didn't know for sure that her people were not to blame but she wanted peace and reconciliation.

🍁 She agreed with Agnarr about the isolation because she did not know another way. Magic of Nature was celebrated back then among her people but here in Elsa, she saw something other, too powerful magic of ice; she saw that Elsa was afraid of it.

🍁 She considered Johan for a moment when Agnarr seemed to be unreachable, but her love to the latter was too strong to settle with another.

🍁 Iduna would have given birth to the gifted child even if she married someone else.

🍁 In the end, she blamed herself (Elsa will inherit it).

🍁 Anna inherited her love to romance books and balls.

🍁 All windmills of Arendelle were made by Iduna.

🍁 Iduna thought about Lord Peterssen as of her foster father.

🍁 Iduna loved needlework and knitting, she embroidered her purple dress by herself.

🍁 There were so many moments when Iduna wanted to tell Agnarr about everything, but there were also many moments when she wanted to forget about her past.

🍁 The first year after the wedding, they built their estate in the mountains, it was Iduna's idea to be closer to Nature.

🍁 When Iduna became queen, she took over the guardianship of the Orphanage and improved the conditions here.

🍁 She also opened a public children library.

🍁 Iduna studied better than Agnarr. Their teachers loved her.

🍁 She often persuaded him to sneak out the castle to go for a walk or buy something in the town (chocolate), whereas without her Agnarr was indecisive and would have obediently sat behind closed gates.

🍁 The other children at the Orphanage might be jealous that she was chosen for the castle but Iduna knew why it was that: because the Regent knew that she was the Northuldra.

🍁 Iduna, describing Agnarr her supposedly lost behind the mist wall parents, told real stories about Yelana, the Leader and her mother.

🍁 She told Elsa and Anna many stories of Northuldra, about giants, huldras, the heavenly elk and the secret white river. The girls thought she had composed them herself.

🍁 There was at least one case when Agnarr or the sisters got sick, and Iduna treated them with herbs according to the Northuldra recipe, which she remembered.

🍁 Iduna loved to tease Agnarr and make little pranks to see his smile, because the prince was usually sad and quiet.

🍁 When the masquerade ball was held in Arendelle, she recognized him even in a mask.

🍁 Iduna felt weird when he was talking about his mysterious lovely savior, so every time she tried to distract him.

🍁 Their last days on the ship(I call it "The royal crocus") were the calmest and clearest: finally no more secrets between them. They were talking a lot to get to know each other once again.

[fallowtail]

Top 5 Hetty outfits - jk ahem. Top 5 ghosts dynamics?

Oh this is rough their dynamics are all SO good....aahhhh ok. Ok. Going to try my best to fight my brain fog and lack of articulation skills to briefly explain why I chose them! These aren't in order either because that'd be just too evil, lol. Ok.

...I'M DOING SIX YOU CAN'T STOP ME because I accidentally wrote six of these because I miscounted and I don't want to delete one that I already wrote up, lol

Hetty and Trevor ...ok, this one is obvious, but they're just. So. Weird. In a way that you don't expect but that works absolutely perfectly. They're so similar when you get down to it and they bounce off of each other hilariously, I feel like that scene from Isaac's book where Hetty has created a scheme, and is so proud of herself for how devious she is, while Trevor rolls his eyes because he knows how stupid it is but he is still going along with it anyway because he knows if he does she'll give him a treat later (which she does!) sums up their dynamic really well. I love that they butt heads so much and think they have nothing in common when they so clearly do, lol. The way he's slowly shifted into being fondly amused by her vs aggravated is really cute- the way they're both so enthusiastic about what they get up to in the basement is so sweet, Trevor actively wanting Hetty to open up to him, to talk to him and be silly and let loose...that fond little smile she makes at him when he's being a goober during the pillow talk scene. Ugh. They do genuinely like each other but are just so stuck in their ideas about what they should want that they dig their heels in. This is the one I am the most mad about not being able to properly explain how I feel because there is just. SO. MUCH. Going on there with them. Why am I not good at writing, AHHH

Isaac and Hetty THE BESTIES! Oh Isaac and Hetty are just sooo funny like he watched her live her entire life, they are best friends, the two of them both think they run the house but they constantly default back to each other and are usually the only ones the other will listen to, he tried to romance her and then told her he was gay, he enables her bad behavior, he both refuses to take romantic advice from her but also desperately wants her advice, he deeply loves her but very clearly thinks there is something wrong with her, they have dates where they just stare out the window for hours, she clings to him constantly like he's a security blanket, she envies his ability to find love but also kind of hates his boyfriend who she encouraged him to get together with LOL, they're gossip besties, they both deeply crave the others approval, Isaac being happy Hetty found her stableboy but also not being sure why she's chosen Trevor, like. Oh my god. I love Isaac and Hetty so much that I can't find the words even more than the others. They're just so, so, so perfect together and you can always see Brandon and Rebeccas best friendship come through with these two, their scenes are always my favorite.

Sam and Hetty Wow, I wonder if there's gonna be a trend here with which dynamics I enjoy the most because it involves my blorbo, hmmm Something about Sam and Hetty finding family within each other and wanting to learn from their past mistakes and heal from their family damage with each other and then still falling into those same patterns they did in life but with the desire to fix it this time when they realize is so interesting. I love how even in the pilot Hetty warms up to the idea of her moving into the mansion so quickly despite claiming otherwise, and that even in as latest as the Halloween episode you can see them butting heads over Hetty's need to manage people to express care because she thinks she knows best and if she knows best, why wouldn't she tell people how to get what they want? And Sam lashing out when people do that to her because she wants her accomplishments to be her own and for someone to be proud of her for what she does.

Hetty and Flower and Alberta Look I said there was gonna be a trend but I'm squeezing the Lady Ghost Society into one group so that my last 3 answers aren't all for them, lol. The way the lady ghosts interact is so fun and I love that they're all different- Hetty and Alberta being all over each other this season despite their huge conflict at the end of s2, the way Flower and Alberta were the ones who volunteered to be roommates originally, Flower not realizing Hetty didn't understand what good sexual stimulation felt like and then being distraught when she realized Hetty didn't know what happened to her on the washing machine and Hetty feeling comfortable enough to come to Flower to confess her sins and Flower helping her work through it, Alberta having forgotten Flower's name in season 1 but then in season 2 she's the one who makes sure Flower remembers what her name is, it's just so...!! The fact they have a Lady Ghost Society Council is so cute too, oh my god.

Isaac and Trevor Oh my god one that doesn't involve Hetty, what the hell Isaac and Trevor are so interesting...they're kind of similar to H-Money in that on paper you don't think they'd get along, but their interactions are so?? I think Isaac envies Trevor in a way because he's so easily "one of the guys" which is all Isaac ever wanted, buuuut he also thinks Trevor is kind of an idiot, lmfao, because Isaac just thinks everyone in the house except for him and Hetty aren't particularly intelligent I think. (Also he can't get past the pants thing.) Trevor and Isaac both so very, very desperately, just want people to like them, both of them make up these stories about cool things they did to fit the persona they so badly want the others to believe...The Liquor License is such a good episode for them, the way Trevor is content to tease Isaac when he thinks Isaac is having fun doing his snooty thing but then as soon as he realizes Isaac got left alone he goes to find him...they're just really, really fun to pair up together and I'm looking forward to this next episode with them being a duo! You can really see Brandon and Asher's friendship shine through in their scenes together.

Isaac and Sam Isaac and Sam's relationship is so weird and I absolutely love it. Isaac shadowing Sam all day in the new episode and kind of making fun of her "Yogaaaa!", them doing yoga together and her ditching him when he fell asleep...there was an interview back in December where Rose talks about the Sam and Isaac dynamic and how weird it is saying Sam just really seems to want to serve him and his best interests and that there's something going on with Sam for her to want that out of Isaac LOL, she really does seem to cave into him the most out of any of the ghosts because something in her just seems to want to impress him? But at the same time he annoys her. It's fascinating. That little heart to heart they had about not needing outside approval but then immediately dropping it as soon as they got approval for her book was SO funny and they really just want everyone to like them and be proud of them and it makes for such a fun relationship to explore.

Phew! Ok, that was long, and I'm frustrated I can't properly say what I actually want to say or feel for any of these but hopefully that all comes across decent enough! <3

Ask me my top 5 anything game!

[stoopid-turtle]

BTS in Order Addendum 1

I know what you're thinking. There's more??

Well, I found a playlist that had some sparse translations of the bts in order through the end of June. I figured I'd fill in some of the unknowns. Most aren't too exciting, but there are a few notable things to point out.

I added all this in the original BTS posts, but I'm doing this post for those who don't want to crawl through the timeline they've already read through to pick out what's new.

This is April + May. I'll do June next. This playlist was not near as comprehensive as the bilibili one. But this had the advantage of translated dialogue, which really, obviously, helps contextualize some of this.

On 4.17, the first day of filming with gg, DD yelled about needing to take a shit from off camera. GG reacts to the camera. Yep. Our gremlin did that on his 2nd day of filming.

On 4.18, when gg is rehearsing, dd asks, "Why are you [wwx, I'm guessing] being so fierce to me?". The translator notes that he uses a cutesy way of saying "me".

On 4.19, on the cloud recess lectures set, GG and dd talk about how to portray LWJ across the timeskip

On 4.29, the translator notes a famous scene of DD staring at gg and his (DD's) PA noticing. DD is at a distance from the camera, so it's kinda hard to see where he's looking, so it doesn't seem obvious to me.

On 5.1, GG tells the bad joke, the pun based on LWJ's name, to DD

People seemed interested in GG's codeswitching so I tried to keep an ear out for it. I'm not gonna commit to any certainty here, but GG may slip into it on 5.3. His comment is so short, though, so it's hard to tell. He is talking to DD though.

On 5.3, we have the clip of dd talking about how cute Xue Yang with gg responding by rainbow farting about LWJ

5.3 also has the scene of gg complaining about how useless he is in the yi city action bit and DD says it's cute.

On 5.4, during the clip where DD is complimenting gg's singing, it sounds as if gg slips into the voice again

There's a clip on 5.4 I've seen some refer to as DD getting jealous at yb teasingly flirting with gg. There's no sound so it's impossible to know the context beyond them setting up a scene. DD does look angry for a few seconds and he does appear to direct that look at yb. But YB's back is to the camera so we can't see what he's doing. Also, earlier, yb and dd had been making faces at each other, so this may be more of the same.

On 5.5, dd mentions that gg's body double looks like him from the back. When gg says to choose him, dd says he's already chosen gg.

I was wrong! GG calls dd gouzaizai on 5.5 when DD refuses to return his bamboo flute. So there's 2 times documented of GG calling dd that.

At one point on 5.5, gg says to camera that he envies dd for being able to stay up late. Then he acts like he got caught saying something he shouldn't have. Not sure why.

On 5.7, when dd playfully betrays gg with the clans, gg asks if they can replace dd. The director says DD has charmed everybody already, while gg just starts repeating that dd is so handsome.

I was also wrong about there being no hostility towards WQ or her actress on set! On 5.9, during the shooting of GG in the Wen dungeon, he has an exchange with the director about a line having been removed that was part of the WWX/WQ storyline. GG asks and the director confirms that they've canceled that, and GG looks jazzed about it.

Later, on 5.11, when YB and GG are goofing around with the bow and arrow, they pretend point at the top of the waterfall and gg says, "And then WQ is over there. And then she's going to fall down from over there." Later saying, "And that's how WQ ends her shooting".

I'm guessing that the famous "delete it" scene may have been on 5.4. That scene talks about gg filming a WWX/WQ scene with the bunnies the next day, and there are 2 different bunny scenes filmed on 5.5 that we know of.

JL is hella flirty with DD! I didn't realize but the scene where it looks like dd's doing a "watching you" gesture (on 5.9) is actually JL mouthing "I love you" to dd. DD then jokingly stares and says "silencing spell" over and over.

On the same day, during the big clan gathering in the burial mounds post-timeskip, gg is studying his script, and dd puts his sword to JL's throat. JL then praises him in a weirdly flirty way. DD says "You said your inner thoughts out loud" and JL says "So be it."

Also in random dd moments, on 5/22, DD tells JC that his purple robes are the most coquettish (骚) of all robes.

DD calls gg something that gets translated to "coquettish" or "flirty" a lot. Not sure if it's the same word he uses here.

All that said, after this, I'm honestly kinda attached to my theory that SOME significant development happened in GG and DD's relationship around 5/3 and 5/4. They are noticeably closer physically after that point.

[singsweetmelodies]

With all respect and love, I absolutely love your fake dating au. If I had to choose an update between that and the kissing fic (or anything else really) I would always choose the fake dating au. There is so much potential! Please tell me you plan on updating and finishing it? If you’re not, can you at least share with us the fic plans so we can have some closure about it? Would you consider letting another author adopt the gif to finish it if you won’t? It really is a Piarles must-read. I hope I can learn the ending!

but see, anon, you DON'T get to choose. only i get to choose, and i have chosen to update the 2023 kisses fic. 😌

... you know, i debated for a long time if i would even bother answering this ask, or just delete it right off the bat. because in my opinion, this is an incredibly rude, insensitive and entitled thing to send to any writer. it was ONLY A FEW DAYS AGO that i talked publicly about how important it is to remember that writers are humans, too, not machines, and to please treat us like humans. and yet here i am again.

i'm going to answer this one more time, and i'm going to answer it in detail, and then in future if i get any asks in this vein, they WILL be deleted without any interaction. you guys are making me consider turning off anon asks entirely, which i really don't want to do, because the other half of my anons are SO very lovely!! but i also have had enough of waking up to rudeness and blatant entitlement in my inbox.

so. why exactly is it that i think this ask is so entitled and insensitive? didn't the anon say "with all respect and love" and compliment my fic at the start of it?

yes. yes, they did. but the thing is, saying "with all respect and love" doesn't mean you can then proceed to be rude to me and it's all fine. that's like me saying "with all due love and respect, i have decided to delete the fic entirely." the fact that i prefaced it with "love and respect" does not make what i did later alright. (although in this case, it WOULD be alright regardless of whether i prefaced it with "love and respect" or not, since it's MY fic and i can do what i want with it.) this anon, on the other hand - this anon has no right to demand anything of me. i am a fanfic author and i do this for free. it is not my job. i have no obligation to do any of this. which means that nobody out there, really, has any right to demand performance from me. (lmao can you tell i have been deep in the law textbooks lately) but the point stands! i don't owe you anything at all.

yes, you can ask me nicely, and i can choose to reply if i want. (hell, if you ask me nicely, i'd probably LOVE to write things for you!!) but you don't get to DEMAND updates from me. and "tell me you plan on updating and finishing // can you at least share with us the fic plans so we can have some closure" is not asking nicely. that's demanding. YES, anon gave me a compliment and they said "with all respect and love." but they're STILL demanding performance from me, and that's not okay. the anon is making it sound like i owe you "closure" (even though this is a work of fiction, not a break-up you're going through, and i think the word "closure" is a VERY dramatic one to use.)

once again (because apparently i LITERALLY CANNOT emphasise it enough) i do not actually owe you anything. i, katie singsweetmelodies, owe you NOTHING. i do not owe you updates or fic plans or whatever the case may be. i might choose to share them with you, yes, but on my own schedule, since they're MY creations made in MY free time.

right. got that off my chest. gosh. NOW! one other thing that i want to make very, very clear before i end this off - i do not give my permission for anyone to "adopt" my work or to write a continuation of it. i am the one who's put in the hours to write all the setup we have so far. i'm not letting someone else benefit off that. if you so badly want a fake dating fic with the conclusion already ready, then you are more than welcome to put in the hours and create it from scratch yourself. but for someone else to take over my work and take it in a direction i probably won't even like? no. absolutely not. permission emphatically NOT granted.

anon: i'm sorry if you feel that this reply is unnecessarily harsh. but this could not have come at a worse time for me, because i really did talk about the importance of treating writers like people just here, just a day or two ago. needless to say, it really struck a very bad chord with me to get an ask like this right after i took pains to explain, publicly, why these kinds of asks are not okay.

i really am happy that you are enjoying the fake dating fic. and i do appreciate that you tried to tell me that, even though the way you did it was completely out of line. i hope that this answer won't... preclude you from enjoying the fic in the future? or something? i'm not sure, to be honest. the whole thing has left rather a bad taste in my mouth.

but one thing i will say to anyone reading this: i know it's been a long time, but just bear with me. i mean it when i say that there will be an update eventually. no, i can't tell you when. i'm not even going to try and give you a schedule, because like i said, i'm a human and not a writing machine. but the fake dating fic is very close to my heart, and i want to see it finished someday just as much as you do. ❤️

(P.S. - if anyone was very worried reading the first part of this answer: NO, i am not actually going to delete the fake dating fic!!! i was just using a very dramatic example, lmao. the fake dating fic is one of my favourite things i've written, and despite the slight... mess... about its updates recently, that's not going to change anytime soon. 💙)

[beecreeper]

1, 17, 24! for all the fellas. (and i think you should include poppy and myrala <3 )

Eilidh you know I owe you my LIFE for giving me explicit permission to yap about two more characters than usual.

Yapping under the cut!

1.) What memory would your OC rather just forget

I already answered with for the main three here, but lets add Poppy and Myrala in there >:3

Myrala would want to forget the time she accidentally on purpose killed a guy during a mugging gone wrong when she was a teenager. But then again, she acknowledges that it was the event that changed her life and set her on a better path. So it’s less that she wants to forget it and more than she wishes it could have happened differently.

When Poppy was around 7 she was attacked in the middle of the night by a shapeshifter guy in her mercenary family who turned out to be unhinged and literally feral. Her family saved her in time but it left her with facial scars and trust issues. She would delete that memory without hesitation.

17.) What is the worst thing you have put your OC through story-wise?

Briar: Briar has the worst time at throughout Act 2 and especially at Moonrise. It is driving her CRAZY how close she feels to understanding her memories and yet they are STILL out of her grasp. Being at Moonrise gives her all these feelings with no memories to attach them to which feels horrible and vulnerable and she hates hates HATES it. She’s also very much aware that she’s losing ground with a lot of companions and losing control of the situation but she is just too DESPERATE to bother doing damage control. Being down in the mindflayer colony, those body memories get even STRONGER and also MUCH WORSE. After they kill Ketheric she spends a while at his corpse and trying to resurrect him or speak with dead or SOMETHING so he can fucking TELL ME WHO I AM YOU DEAD BASTARD

Ferox: Oh man. So much. I’ve already talked a lot about him killing Myrala which is obviously the big one, but then also in his bad timeline he’s ALSO gonna kill Lae’zel during the durge stuff in Act 2. It fucks me up extra badly because it would come right on the heels of Lae’zel’s second romance scene where they spar and Ferox is afraid that he’ll lose control and hurt her but then he doesn’t and he feels so happy and so in love and then just a few nights later Bhaal takes over his brain and takes it all away from him AGAIN.

Molli: So SO much. For some reason I live to make Molli suffer. I think the peak of it was Gortash giving her to the mindflayers though. After years of suffering under this guy and he just tosses her aside without a second glance even as she’s being dragged away and BEGGING to stay. Feeling like it’s *her* fault and that she did something wrong. Being so fucking scared and desperate that she blindly promises her body and soul to some unknowable eldritch entity without a single thought. That’s her rock bottom and everything after she wakes up on the nautiloid is crawling up from that.

Myrala: Having Ferox murder her super super violently. My darling girl I’m so sorry I made you get torn to pieces for character development. Even in the AU where she gets to live and be a tav, it’s at the cost of feeling deeply horribly lonely for 15 years instead.

Poppy: Poppy is honestly my least traumatized oc tbh. As it stands now, her story is *mostly* all shenanigans and no drama (childhood ptsd incident not withstanding). Honestly getting tadpoled at all might be the worst thing I’ve done to her.

24.) What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they’d made those decisions?

This is so hard to answer for Briar and Ferox because of how little agency being a durge affords them in their life path. I mean, I could talk about the different paths they potentially take throughout the game but this feels more like an alternative backstory question than it does an alternative ending question to me.

Like? I guess Briar *could* have chosen to try and defy Bhaal and *not* murder her druid circle, but Bhaal would have taken her over and forced it anyway. However this version of Briar would be a lot more defiant of Bhaal (canon Briar doesn't have to deal with how vulnerable and violating getting fully taken over by Bhaal is because she indulges her urges on her own. This version does and it leaves a sour taste in her mouth from the get go). The main trajectory is the same but she'd be actively fighting it every step of the way. The plot with Gortash would definitely shift from "I'm gonna betray him in Bhaal's name" to "I'm gonna use him to kick my dad's ass and make him SO mad"

One choice that would have changed a lot for Ferox was his decision to help Myrala escape from the goblins. I'm not sure whether she would escape on her own or die in the attempt, but either way it spares him that HUGE trauma. Like, he's still not having a good time but at least he doesn't slaughter the only piece of true happiness he'd ever known. In this path he wouldn't become a paladin and would follow down a pure barbarian path until Sceleritas finds him (probably after Bhaal makes him kill his entire goblin tribe like he did with Briar and her circle). He'd still end up heading Bhaal's cult but the vibes would be different. He's still not *happy* about being Bhaal's chosen, but he's less *tortured* about it.

One of the biggest choices in Molli's life was her decision to go to Baldur's Gate to become a bard and look for her sister. If she hadn't, she would have instead stayed in her hometown trying to manage her dad's modest textile trading business that she inherited when he died. She is *not* suited to business, is crazy stressed out and overwhelmed, and yearns really badly to have the time to perform at the tavern like she used to. She day dreams a lot about what her life would have been like if she really had sold the business when she had the chance and been a bard in Baldur's Gate instead (LMAOOOOO).

Myrala's path diverges right at that moment when she kills someone. Instead of taking it as a wake up call and converting to Eilistraee, she could have instead dug in her heels and continued down the road of a petty criminal, getting even deeper involved in whatever gangs exist in Menzoberranzan. I think she'd be pretty good at it too, probably gaining a decent amount of power in the criminal underground. This is, of course, a VERY different version of her where she's suppressed her moral code and is actively deciding to be selfish, hoping that it'll be worth it eventually.

Poppy is also hard to answer because her life has been very much dictated by the fact that she never sticks with anything. Her decisions have very little long term impact because she's just as likely to make a new decision that changes her whole direction a few months later. She's as equally likely to join a pirate crew in Calimsham as she is to be a hired guard for a trade caravan out of Neverwinter as she is to join a monster hunting party of Gur. And in order for her to *not* be bouncing around like that, it's not a matter of one decision. She'd have to be a fundamentally different person. Maybe someday she'll find something that sticks and get her to stay in one place but that remains to be seen. Like, I gueeeeess I can see a version where she just sticks with the mercenaries she grew up with, but that kinda life is ALSO just bouncing around between odd jobs, but it would be a really similar life to she does when she goes off independently but on a much smaller scale.