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especiallythewomenandthechildren · 4 months

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As If Destiny (part fourteen)🌹

Part 13🌹

A/N: it's been a hot minute, I'm sorry! I was swamped with AP tests and all that nonsense so I haven't had time (or mental capacity) to write. But I have cooked up something! Is it good? Well isn't that up to you dear reader? I hope you enjoy it and forgive me for the wait (and spolier: no coryo😔)! much love!!

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"You look horrible."

You would have retorted to Arachne's comment, but it was true. You did look horrible, and Arachne was blurry. Watching the world speed by in a blur wasn't a concern until you turned your head from the window and the mediocre train car was hazy splotches of color.

"And you look like a pale orb."

Your mind was being split with a migraine, and it felt as if the flood was rushing to your brain, even though you were sitting straight up. These symptoms, which included chills even in the heat-packed train car, had suddenly overtaken you. You played it off as motion sickness because you had no other reason to believe otherwise. Arachne was not so convinced, but she kept her suspicions to herself.

"Well, at least lay down before you hurl on my shoes. I really like this pair."

Your response came in a series of grunts and grumbles as you covered your face when the pain intensified. Arachne closed her leather-bound book while concern broke through her stone-faced expression. You leaned your head back against the headrest as you opened your eyes only to shut them out of the burning pain that accompanied the light.

"Where am I going to lay down exactly? There isn't enough room on these seats."

Ara rolled her chestnut eyes, a motion you obviously missed but could so tangibly feel.

"There is a real innovative mechanism called laying on the floor."

The words were surprising enough that you dealt with the pain as you peeled your eyes open enough for a dubious squint at your friend.

"I didn't even know you knew that concept existed."

You awarded the reason why you narrowly missed the midnight-colored book Arachne threw at you to your natural instincts rather than the still hazed vision of yours.

"Hey, damsel in distress here! A few days out of the Capital and you've lost all sense!"

Your most posh and eloquent voice was composed by the little giggles and breaks as you teased the redhead. She watched on as your joy was interrupted by a fresh wave of pain, earning the otherwise silent car a few winces. Arachne got up, walked straight across to you, and peeled one hand off the side of your skull.

"You're District now, Ace. Get comfortable with the uncomfortable."

She led your throbbing body gently to the ground. You thought she would step back to her original seating, yet Arachne has been one for surprises lately. As the pain washed backward into your mind, your eyes stared straight up at the beige ceiling of the car even with the squirming and huffs of Arachne filling your right ear.

You held in your laughter in paralysis for as many moments you could grasp before they broke through their capture within your throat. Your eyes were still trained on the ceiling as your body rattled with laughter at the clear discomfort and possible regret radiating off Arachne's body.

"Somebody is clearly feeling better." Arachne's reply was a sour grumble, but you joyfully met it with a blinding smile in her direction.

"Oh, but how could I not when the Arachne Crane is willing to lay on the atrocious floor for silly old me—OW! Stop attacking me!"

Well, and of course, the only natural reply was yet another slap to your abdomen from the smirking redhead.

The two of you stared up at the ceiling in an air of harmony. Silence has been more foe than friend in recent times, yet in those moments of peace, it was a readily accepted companion. Your eyes were strained at the ceiling, ears to the rumble of the tracks beneath you, and your heart was not with you but in shreds somewhere in District Eight. You closed your eyelids against the thought, but it reached into every corner of your mind and being. Though, before you could physically beat it out of you, the train began to slow.

Arachne was quick to get up and confirmed your arrival with astonishment capturing her pale features. You sat up and used your friend's outstretched hand to pull yourself up, catching a glimpse outside the window.

The train station was littered with a sullen and soot-covered population fluttering around. The distance was consumed by coal mines and smoke painting the sky a sickly shade of abuse. Grey was the only word to describe what crossed your vision. The sky, atmosphere, and people.

Both you and Arachne stepped outside and seemingly into your pasts. The hunger in the eyes. Paleness of the workers' skin. Ever-present tears latching onto the populace's eyes. It was a scene you and Arachne were all too familiar with. Before you, district-born citizens shifted into long-dead Capital residents. You were no longer the woman you forged yourself into but that little scared girl. The grey was not from the coal but rather the gloom of expired misery.

"Come on, Ace."

Arachne's voice was soft as her eyes trained on your vacant face. She lightly nudged you towards the direction of the transport cars for the rest of the scientists and peacekeepers. Your footsteps felt like molds within cement as you made your way across the train platform.

It was all in due time, you think. Every experience you've ever had with trains was all in regards to this district in which you now inhabit. District Twelve seems to be the only certainty within your life.

Nothing but pure curiosity flowed through you as the transport car made its way to the base. The sky was prepared for storms, causing the color to match the houses, yet the trees from the midway forest stood out. No matter how many faces or buildings you passed, your eyes were trained on the woods. Woods that held such deep secrets. And bodies.

The base was a large complex of several buildings as well as a series of courtyards currently filled with training peacekeepers. You and Arachne made your way into the main building and were impressed. Not by any architectural feats but the lack of pearly marble the Capital prides itself in.

You and your assessing companion had to split up into two different lines for registration, although you both would be filling the same role as researchers here. Arachne made her way to the front of the alphabet while you settled into the section for the latter half. You had a good while before you reached the registration table, so you spent your time once again analyzing your surroundings.

The area was far greener than the area surrounding the train station. The thought of how the foresters' area must look when the sun shines crossed your mind. Brightness in Twelve invariably shifted your thoughts to Lucy Gray Baird. Casca Highbottom was a cruel man, but would he add to the fresh scars of the underdog winner? Unbeknownst to you, your thoughts were painted crystal clear upon your face.

"If you are planning an escape route from here, I would recommend the trees."

Your trance was broken by a smooth voice. You spun around and were met with glistening hazel eyes belonging to an admittedly handsome man with freshly buzzed hair. Just one simple statement and reality was crashing hard around you as the realization that all of the past days' events were real.

You were disowned, outcast, and banished to the District that martyred your family and its sanity. Unfortunately, the silence that was a byproduct of your epiphanies was mistaken as disregard by the striking man. His smile turned shy while an awkward laugh escaped him.

“Uhm, that wasn’t very specific, was it? I am still getting used to the forests surrounding me.”

The boy, who couldn't have been more than a year or two older than you, scratched his neck while he avoided eye contact with you. It finally dawned on you that an actual response is expected from you and this boy was the first human you've spoken to in the past few days besides Arachne. As much fondness you hold for her, it is refreshing to hear another voice. You looked directly at him and gave him a kind smile.

“I am going to have to get used to it as well, though the advice seems pretty sound. I’ll end up somewhere, even if it is in a circle.”

His hazel eyes snapped back to yours as soon as he heard your voice (fortunately) not belittling him or insulting his awkward statements. The line moved up a handful of people in the span of your miniature conversation. You walked forward along with the line and when you turned back to face the brunette, your faces were mere inches apart.

Your eyes met his hazel ones as you hastily backed up in panic as you sought your rings to provide you comfort. Now, you were the one avoiding eye contact and coughing while trying to rid yourself of your reddened cheeks. Accident or not, the proximity felt like yet another reminder of your new twenty years of loneliness. Or possibly less, as Arachne tries her best to convince you.

“Uhm, I - I am so sorry! There was someone moving past me and I tried to make room and—”

“It’s okay, I promise.”

He was clearly sweet and shy, although a bit graceless. Though it wouldn't be too bad to make some friends in your home for the next three years. His cheeks burned with unbearable heat as he tried to move past the prior fumble between the two of you.

“Well, those are beautiful rings.”

You had completely forgotten about the jewelry you still had been messing with to calm your nerves. Your eyes moved to look at the one you currently had your ring finger looped through, and it was no surprise to see the riveting snowflakes shine in the fluorescent lights. Though you tried to fight it off, somberness overtook you, but you were able to manage a timid thank you as you were hypnotized by the ring filled with promises of the past. Unfortunately, the poor boy couldn't help but continue the unintentionally one sided conversation.

"You must be from the Capitol."

After mentally cursing yourself for losing your attention again, your eyebrows scrunched in curiosity at the boy's quick assumption.

"Am I so obvious?"

Your voice was a mixture of astonishment and vulnerability. Worries about standing out like a sore thumb and what consequences that might result in began poisoning your mind but were slightly calmed by this odd boy's laugh.

"I haven't been here long, but even I know that people in Twelve don't have jewelry like that. Plus, most scientists here are from the Capitol, so it was easy to guess. Not to mention other—uhm—attributes."

The last note was a bit peculiar but was easily surpassed by embarrassment. You hid your face behind your hands as you groaned in mortification.

"Ugh, you must think me vapid and insolent!"

Only a few more aspiring scientists and Peacekeepers stood between you and the table now, yet your eyes were still covered in humiliation that was only intensified by yet another chuckle from the boy.

"Yeah, no, out here in the Districts, we don't use those words either."

Yet another groan rumbled through your throat as you tried to fuse your hands to your face. However, your plans were foiled as a light shoulder bump sparked intrigue. Those hazel eyes were the first sight to grace the world outside your palms, and the second was his tender smile.

"Don't worry too much. Just hide your clearly expensive rings and steer away from words straight out of a dictionary. Do they make you guys recite from the dictionary out there? Give me five synonyms for embarrassed. Oh, wait, no—did I just accidentally insult the Capitol?"

And like that, the dread that had overcome you began melting off as you earned a chuckle of your own, which he met with a charming grin, although the concern about his possible offense made it slightly tense. You quickly tucked your rings beneath your shirt and scribbled a reminder into your brain to find new articles to fidget with.

"You know what? Some might be studying it as much as our textbooks for increasingly niche words to insult others."

There was only a girl in front of you now with dark red hair and freckled skin as you and your companion giggled. He was the first to stop as he looked to you for confirmation that he wouldn’t be hanged for laughing at Capitol residents, albeit with one of their own. A sweet silence accompanied you both when you looked up at the taller boy in interest.

"Well, now since you know where I am from, it's only fair I get to know the same about you."

A look of longing and sadness swam through his earth-toned eyes. He looked off into the distance while squaring his shoulders as if to carry mountains of weight upon them.

"Two."

You had always been good with words, but they failed you at that moment. Not only did Sejanus race through your mind, but his fallen friend turned tribute, Marcus. Was there any chance that this boy knew either of them?

"Next!"

Your gaze met once more, but all further inquiries ceased as an opening appeared in front of a middle-aged blonde woman with deep brown eyes. No time could be wasted in any aspect related to the Capitol, so you swallowed your curiosity and made your way forward. Though you never did get the boy's name.

The woman looked exhausted from clear years of service, and her voice only added to her evident exasperation. She asked the expected questions of what your name was and took your fingerprints as she gave you several forms to fill out while her head remained down, writing furiously at a stack of papers.

"Y/N Vaun, ma'am."

While you knew your surname was infamous in the Capitol, you were shocked at the sudden movement of the woman’s head upwards. Seconds passed as her gaze just burned into your being while you could do nothing more than avert your own sight elsewhere. The woman quickly regained her professionalism and swiftly retrieved a small, pristine white envelope. The texture was fine and could be from nowhere else than the Capitol. A claim supported by the evidently formal handwriting on the front displaying your name.

"It's an honor to have you here, Miss Vaun. You must be something special; that letter comes straight from Casca Highbottom."

The man's name was enough for you to stop all movement. Your fingers paused, your breathing ceased, and your eyes froze in place. Of course, the Hunger Games creator wasn't done playing games with you yet. Yet, if there was one thing you needed to master to survive here, it was a facade. So, you swallowed your anguish and gave a polite smile as you finished up all your forms.

You flew through them, especially compared to a young black-haired and tanned boy next to you who was one of the many illiterate. Just as you finished the last signature and handed off to the aging woman, you noticed Arachne appear in the corner of your right eye. In the corner of your left, you searched for the hazel-eyed boy from before, though all searches were fruitless as he was nowhere to be found. You grabbed your uniform, ID, and other important papers and made your way to your friend, and thankfully, bunkmate, as Capitol researchers only had to share their rooms with one other peer.

"Getting bribes already, Ace?"

Arachne joked as she nodded towards the pearly envelope that stood out from your other items. You responded with a swift jab to the side and a loud "hush!" The look in your eyes was quickly understood by the redhead to stall any further questioning till the hopefully, safety of your room.

You both walked out into the central courtyard and made your way to the scientist quarters in the west, opposite the Peacekeeper quarters in the east. You watched a regiment of the latter-mentioned group run past the two of you, guns in clear sight causing anxious breaths to ripple through your lungs.

Though, you attempted to remind yourself that you were seen as one of them. Not a threat. Due to the events of the past week, it had been hard not to keep an eye out over your shoulder. However, the arrival to your room was smooth and as soon as your door was shut, you wasted no time before throwing Arachne the envelope, which she caught swiftly. You let her examine it for herself as you looked around the room that you would be calling refuge for the next 36 months.

It was small yet not cramped. The walls were a bland grey and the floor cold cement. Directly opposite the door was a central window that pointed towards the woods, as your room was in the back of the housing complex. You threw yourself down on the right grey and metal-wired bed, leaving Arachne to settle into the one across as she grappled with the paper within her hands.

"Congrats, you are officially his number one favorite victim to mess with."

Your groans of frustration were confirmation that Arachne’s words were far from helpful. You got up from your sitting position and snatched the envelope out of her hands and began pacing back and forth. Whatever was in the envelope, it wasn’t good.

"Maybe he felt generous and gave you some money. Or a postcard from your home that he banished you from. Or maybe some spare morphling—oh, who are we kidding?"

You leveled her with a glare of equal disappointment.

"That was unnecessary and cruel."

"Just like the Hunger Games, right?"

Her words were a surprise, no doubt, but Arachne is full of them nowadays. She is District Twelve after all. And willingly! You looked down at the handwriting of the Games' inventor and huffed. Might as well get it over with.

In one expeditious movement, you ripped the envelope open and pulled out the equally as extravagant paper from its hiding place. You couldn’t resist the urge to quickly unfold the paper and read it in an instant. In all truth, that was all it took to read the articles of the letter.

It was a truth Arachne quickly found out after your scoff that piqued her intrigue even further as she made her way to read over your shoulder. Then it was her turn to scoff at the words written. You stood in place, rereading the letter’s contents over and over again while she walked over to the window.

"Just to be clear, he only hates you and Coriolanus because you look like your dead parents?"

Your bitter laugh was a sign enough of the ridiculousness of this whole situation and the cruelty of Casca Highbottom. No matter the reason, it was only fact that Dean Highbottom wished hell upon Coriolanus Snow and, by association and loyalty, you. Your eyes trained upon the words once more as you tried to make sense of them.

South of society and North of the reminders. The woods are full of blood's secrets.

You make your way to Arachne’s post by the window. Looking out to the rows and rows of trees, whether fortunately or not, the meaning of the words opened up in your mind. You turned your head to Arachne, who was already looking your way, and had a smile of exasperation upon your lips yet mischief in your eyes.

She already began shaking her head against whatever idea you concocted. Letter in hand and dread in place, you try to poke at the last bit of light you can grasp.

"Ready to take a hike?”

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It was mid-afternoon, and the sun began slowly breaking apart the clouds as you trekked through the woods, a disgruntled Arachne following.

“Of all the districts, you just had to be sent here?” She grumbled rhetorically while smacking a branch harshly out of her frowning face.

You were ahead of her, trying to analyze your surroundings for any type of so-called “reminders.” A small blade was in your hand as your focus centered on the plethora of tree trunks. You had no idea what you were looking for, but you knew Dean Highbottom. If there was one joy in the man’s desolate life, it was using the dead to torture the living. Ghost stories were his favorite pastime.

Your family's ghosts lived within these woods. Their blood became the fertilizer of the sturdy trees. The rabbit hole within your mind brought you nothing but fury until you were the one throwing all caution to the wind as you hit branches and cut trees in your way. The turn in your behavior was picked up instantly by Arachne, who rushed to your side, narrowly avoiding tripping twice. She gently put a hand on an outstretched forearm and forced you to look at her.

Not a single word came out of her mouth. Only patience radiated off of her as she waited for your explanation to ease her worries. You huffed as you looked up to force the tears inside.

“I know who I am going to find and what he has become.”

No name was mentioned, and there was no need. Arachne had also suspected Highbottom's ploy. Otto Vaun had been butchered with these very trees, and hard physical proof of your brother's death was the punishment you were sent to Twelve for. Arachne wasn't often someone people looked to for comfort, nor did she wish to be. However, after finally reconnecting with you, she wanted to be at least somewhat of a pillar of solace.

She went in for an attempt at a hug until you were saved from her unpracticed embrace when her eyes caught onto something strange. Arachne lightly gasped, causing you to follow her line of sight, and strange no longer became the right word. Sinister was the only description you felt fit.

A thick tree stood in contrast to all those surrounding it as its bark was not the casual brown it ought to be but rather a dismal grey. In the center of it was a charcoal black outline of a body, and upon closer inspection, bodies due to the varying lines around the arms and head. Upon the sides were fingernail marks clawing at the bark in deep grooves. It did not even smell like the rest, but rather of fatality.

Stillness and silence overtook the woods as you and Arachne were hypnotized by the macabre display. The pair of you were so fully absorbed that a movement was heard in the leaves, and you were on high alert. You quickly readied your blade and scanned your eyes over the area. You were unsure of which though horrified you most: a possible Peacekeeper who would rat you out for your unsupervised and unapproved excursion or an unfriendly local.

The sound began jumping from area to area along with your heart rate as you couldn’t stop your head from continually swiveling. It came continually closer, which naturally pushed you and Arachne back to the base of the grotesque tree.

You felt it hit your back, causing you to turn and feel the panic and fear of the sight all over again as you let out a small scream.

You stumbled back from the burnt bark only to be met with the source of your initial fright, a little brown rabbit who quickly hopped away at your appearance. Yet another small yelp of surprise pushed past your lips, causing Arachne to laugh as she stepped towards you.

“How you survived the arena, I don’t understand.”

Your arm was already instinctively pulling back to land a punch on her arm when a voice appeared from the leaves above you, causing the taunting girl to scream herself. Hypocrite.

“I knew you weren’t from the Seam! Too jumpy.”

A young yet self-assured voice spoke. The voice belonged to a young girl with dark curly hair, tan skin, and eyes that felt all too familiar. However, your interest was quickly recaptured as another girl appeared and voiced her opinions.

“If it makes you feel better, I said you were too pretty to be from the Seam.”

This girl’s voice was sweet and honey-like, reminding you of a certain charismatic singer and victor. The two girls, who seemed to be around 12, got themselves comfortable and fully visible as they sat upon some branches.

The one with curly hair was wearing a pair of dusty dark brown pants paired with a worn-out dusty blue blouse. Her blonde companion was dressed in a colorful textured pink and white maxi skirt with a baby blue blouse as well. You stared at them curiously while Arachne was in her natural state of suspicion and intimidation. The pair stared down at you expectantly, and when neither you nor Arachne spoke, their eyes lit up as rapid-fire questions were asked.

“So where are you from?!”

“How did you get here?”

“Have you been to any other districts?! What are they like?!”

“Why are you here?”

“Are you guys friends too?! Have you ever been to the Capitol?! Ooo are you from the Capitol?!”

“No way, look at the scars on her neck. That doesn’t happen in the Capitol.”

You had no control as your hand involuntarily covered the aforementioned scars. Arachne didn’t like this one bit and couldn’t keep the edge out of her voice.

“You know nothing about the Capitol.”

The possibility of even just one of you being from the Capitol should have caused the girls to take heed and for them to leave when they could. But the pair weren’t known for their social awareness.

The girl of certainty jumped down, quickly followed by her sweet-smiled friend. You just watched as she walked towards you and no matter how fast your reflexes, you were too stunned to stop the girl from poking your forehead. She moved away immediately, yet you swatted the vacant air, staring at her for some sort of explanation that might somehow excuse the odd action. She shrugged as if it was completely normal.

“My dad sees fake people all the time. I thought maybe I could too!”

The excitement in her voice did nothing to reason her appearance rationally. You’ve only ever met two other District Twelve locals, and they were Jessup and Lucy Gray. Jessup's silence was understandable, and you excused Lucy Gray's oddities due to her Covey affiliation, but now you are starting to think this is normal District behavior. If so, the next three years are going to be something.

It was then that the blonde noticed the forgotten letter in your grasp.

“Ooo, what's in the letter?!”

You cleared your throat and tried to move past their questioning to ask some of your own. You nodded toward the tree with the ghastly marks. The two looked at it as if it was not different than the rest until it clicked in their head. They began speaking over each other until the one with familiar eyes began explaining.

“Ah, it's one of my favorite relics - that’s the right word, right?” She looked to her friend for confirmation, who giddily nodded her head. Both you and Arachne shared a look: this was going to be an interesting tale.

“Back in the war, the Capitol wasn’t good at dealing with the woods, so they started burning them down! The poor birds. So our soldiers got fed up, and whenever they got the chance, they tied them and did the same thing!”

Her ecstatic voice got you both lost as you tried to assure what she was saying. In addition, you started oddly feeling ice prickling your skin, yet there was no change on the surface. The local picked up on your confusion and was quick to confirm your suspicions.

“They sent them in flames! But you know what's funny? This tree outlived them all hahaha!”

Arachne was able to swallow the brutal practice easier than you, muttering something about “poetic irony.” She turned to gauge your reaction and instantly snapped into action.

Your eyes became glossed over, looking more like ice than your normally lively eyes. Your skin paled, and you were shivering. The second Arachne grabbed a hold of you, you fully lost consciousness.

“Was it the talk about fire or trees?” the dark-haired girl asked casually and was swiftly smacked upon her neck by her friend.

“You killed her! We are so going to be next! Rowan!”

The girl-Rowan, tried to play it off with a scoff and shake of her head.

“I didn't kill her! It's allergy season!”

Arachne was done with both of their likely endless banter and snapped orders.

“Stop bickering! Call someone and now!”

The two looked at your still-shaking body and swallowed. The blonde, who was still nameless to the two of you, turned to her friend in urgency.

“Go call your brother!”

Rowan was immediately against that as the fear overtook her eyes.

“No, absolutely not! Go call your sister! He will kill me if he found out!”

“They both will kill us when they figure out we actually did commit murder!”

Arachne was impatient and more than irritated at their lack of urgency.

“I will be the one committing murder if one of you doesn't alert someone immediately.”

Yet again, they turned to each other and pointed.

“Rowan, go!”

“Maude Ivory, go!”

Then, to the relief of Arachne's blood pressure, a man who looked only a few years older than you appeared, carrying what looked like a handmade bow and a quiver of arrows.

He noticed the two screaming girls first as he addressed them.

"What have I told you guys about yelling in the woods? Someone will find you—”

The words died on his tongue as he took in your cold and shivering body. Arachne, like anyone else, assumed the shock was from seeing an unconscious body on the floor. Yet, Rowan wasn’t unknown to the man and had been feeling some sort of connection to you.

“Wait, yeah! She does look like—”

“What did you guys do now?!”

The panic was evident in the dark-haired man as he tried to think of ways to explain the situation if any Peacekeepers were to walk upon them. The tone in his voice was warning enough not to press it, but the girls never really cared for warning labels.

“We were curious! We’ve never seen her before and she doesn’t look from Twelve! I think she is from one or two.”

Rowan exclaimed while Maude Ivory's voice was quick to refute.

“I think she is from the Capitol!”

“You better pray we aren’t!”

It was then that the three of them remembered or noticed that Arachne was sitting right there, cradling your body that had stopped shivering yet was ice cold. She felt for your pulse once more and it was slow, far too slow. The look evident in Arachne’s chestnut orbs translated the severity of the situation and was all the man needed to start moving. He crouched beside your body still within Arachne’s arms. He gestured to take your body but the Capitol girl was hesitant.

“We are researchers at the base, it would be safer to take her there.”

Just the mention of the base had the man shaking his dark unruly locks in opposition. He emphasized to Arachne that she had already broken several of their rigid rules by going out into the woods without proper training yet. Self-preservation was also a factor in his case because, well, he wasn’t the most favored person in the District. Arachne wasn’t sure why she agreed to let him take you back to his nearby cabin, yet here the five of you were.

The man sprinted to the cabin, busting open the door in the process. He set you upon an elevated cot while directing orders to the young girls. Maude Ivory was to grab a tin to start a small fire and Rowan to grab all blankets and thick material possible.

Arachne was never medically gifted so she stood out of the way while the house was enveloped in panic. The man was steady as he continued to check your pulse and ensure your chest was still rising. Maude Ivory and Rowan both returned with their allotted tasks completed, seemingly always in perfect synchrony.

Once both girls returned, he made eye contact with Arachne and ordered her to continue checking your well-being. He stepped into a small kitchen just opposite the room you were set in. Arachne could only assume that it was a living room of sorts yet the cot made her think it was also a bedroom.

She sat beside you while the girls tried to ensure you were warm and took in the state of the house. It was messy, small, and unorganized. There was dirt on the floor, leaves stuck within the cracks, mud on all the surfaces. But what caught Arachne’s attention were the tens of varying colored and shaped papers posted upon the wood walls.

The man quickly returned with an odd-colored tea and a towel, quickly dabbing it inside the tea and placing it upon your forehead. The redhead was subconsciously making her way to the decorated wall and was met with messy yet intricately detailed drawings. Her eyes scanned each one, bafflement exceeding the prior. It was only when she landed on a drawing that was of a woman Arachne knew all too well.

She whipped her head in the direction of the man, whose focus was still on you. Arachne kept her distance as her tone became just as icy as your being.

“Who exactly are you, white knight?”

Maude Ivory and Rowan both cocked their heads at your words while the man only creased his eyebrows, puzzled by her words. She took a calculated step forward and the Arachne Crane of only a few weeks ago came back alive. Arachne didn’t appreciate being played and that dislike extended to people playing with you. Though any interrogation was silenced as you began waking up.

Your eyes fluttered open and as soon as reality hit you, you picked your head up only to smash it back down in frustration. The move immediately frightened the suspicious man and Arachne, who rushed to your bedside to ensure you wouldn’t do the same move. You were quick to smack their hands away from you as you sat up, clearly displeased with the past events.

“I’m fine, I don’t need to lie down! I’m sick of being sick.”

Arachne rolled her eyes at your lack of self-concern while the man’s brown eyes creased in bewilderment. You looked around and noticed the prior two girls and the room, this likely being their home. It suddenly hit you that the man was a new addition to your little group. You nodded to him and gave a quick “nice to meet you,” seemingly unfazed.

After examining you herself, Arachne decided you were good enough to make the trek back and as far away from the man as possible. She pulled your arm harshly, causing you to stumble from the layers of blankets and clothing upon your now warm body. The force caused your necklace of rings to fly out of your shirt as well as nearly smashing into yet another man who just appeared.

This one was much older, hair already graying and eyes sullen. His skin was scarred and calloused. He didn’t smell much better than he looked. However, as your eyes connected, you noticed a similarity. A memory. The detail struck you both as he gasped.

You feared you did something or possibly hurt him so you started checking for wounds when his dry hand reached out and gently lifted your chin upwards to his now glossy and pooling eyes. His eyes mirrored yours in shade, a similarity you’ve never shared with anyone besides your own blood. He took you in as tears were let out, his hands shaking with the force of his sobs. Your mind was flooded with theories and questions, all of which you didn’t know what to make of.

You felt a cold metal on the side of your face and gently took his right hand away to reject an insane possibility screaming within your mind. Though, as you looked down at his hand, all of reality crashed down along with your knees. It can’t be possible. It cannot be possible.

The man followed you to the floor, the both of you crouched and you joined his crying. You pulled your necklace up to his finger. Side by side, two rings, of a lost era, proudly displayed the house of which you were the only remnant. Or so you believed.

A stag with vines surrounding was the notorious family crest of the Embridges. Your mother’s family. You looked back into the man’s eyes and he was no longer just a man.

“Uncle Alreic?”

You felt the air being ripped out of your lungs as he crushed you within his embrace. He soaked your hair with tears and followed it with patting it down. Alreic rocked you back and forth as if he let go just a fraction you would disappear.

Time was no longer a concept as he held onto you and you had forgotten the spectators until the young man with dark curls crouched beside you two. He lightly nudged Alreic’s body away from you until he could meet his eyes. You expected him to be upset but instead, his eyes lit up from their glossy state.

“Look Otto! Look, I told you you would see your mother again!”

Your breathing stopped but not because of a strong hug, but emotional destruction. You looked at the boy who was called Otto then back to the man who declared him such. It was then that you finally knew why Highbottom sent you here.

It would have been far too easy, far too gracious to let you off with just their graves. You have to deal with the resurrection of fatality’s pain.

⋆✦⋆⋇⋆✦⋆⋇⋆✦⋆⋇⋆✦⋆⋇⋆✦⋆⋇⋆✦⋆⋇⋆✦⋆

let me know what you guys think:)

@notyourwildestdream 🌹@darktrashsoulbear🌹@fantasylovestoryme 🌹@nekee-lilac02 🌹@a-avengerparker 🌹 @queenofshinigamis 🌹@darlingisntit 🌹 @scarletstarrs 🌹

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conkers-thecosy · 11 months

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Hullo!

So, this might be long, but I wanted to write a proper wee writing update. I have my fingers in a few pies and as October is coming to an end, and thus "Bagginshield-tober" with it, I thought it might be nice to let folks know what my plans are as far as projects go!

I've got three chapters left to write for "Stealing Moments, Moments Away" - I've decided not to do the prompt for Sunday, so this weekend I'm going to park my butt in my desk chair and write those last few chapters. I'm out on Tuesday (my friend is doing a drag show, so I'll be at work all day, then going out for dinner and drinks right after) so I won't have time to update the final chapter on Tuesday. I'm thinking of updating Monday's chapter on Sunday, and Tuesday's on Monday, but we'll see!

Once that's done, I'm going to take a few days off! I wouldn't usually, but I've had such a busy month and I got a bit burned out there for a bit, so I think I need to start scheduling breaks for myself. Next weekend I'll get cracking on "Backs to the Wall" and hopefully get back to weekly chapter updates with that once again!

Now, I know folks were waiting for me to start "King" in November (because that was the original plan!) but if October has taught me anything, it's that I can't work on multiple projects, haha 😅 I had meant to do NaNoWriMo and work on it for that, but honestly? I got so stressed when I was writing "Poet" for Camp NaNo and it's actually the fic I'm least proud of in my whole collection. I've worked so hard on the series, I really want to do the finale justice!

I do feel bad because I know folks are waiting for this one, but I'm going to focus on "Backs to the Wall" first, then write the smutty one-shot set directly after "Poet" and then work on "King". I really hope no one is too disappointed, as it's likely that I won't make a start on it until the new year now - please forgive me! 🙏

After that I have another canon-verse one-shot that I've been toying with since day dot, and then I might branch out into some AU ideas. But that's a ways off yet!

I know this is a bit of a long post, and honestly I don't know how much anyone will be interested in any of this, but I just wanted to document it somewhere for anyone who might be wondering what I'm up to! I wouldn't want to leave anyone hanging, especially after changing plans with regards to what I'm working on in November.

Thank you to everyone who has been reading and supporting and showing any kind of interest in my little fics! I mean to keep scribbling out my silly bagginshield nonsense for a good while yet, so your enthusiasm keeps me going!

Ily guys! 💛

#conkers corner #writing update #soldier poet king series #backs to the wall #bttw #bagginshieldtober #bagginshield-tober #stealing moments moments away #oh dear.... now I have to decide if I tag this as bagginshield?#I don't usually... I don't want to be annoying?#I'm sure anyone who's interested is already following me. so?#sorry for waffling on #I hope this isn't too boring haha

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megabuild · 5 months

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this isnt about the ask game but i need you to tell me more about your take on pausetho. i just binged starblight desert and theyre the worst /aff what do you have to say about them

the fact you've specified starblight desert is really interesting to me because not only it is a team canada series but it's also the most recent team canada series- which isn't a bad thing to be clear, because pausetho is eternal and forever, but it interests me because i think pause and etho's dynamic changes a lot in a way that i wouldn't consider applicable to other ships of his that have that long and ongoing history (eg. ethubs, beeftho).

when i think of pausetho i think. the two of them are fundamentally quite lonely characters. full disclaimer that i'm far from #educated on their respective mindcrack povs because i haven't watched them in a hot minute, but. etho is extremely lonely often through choice, especially imo with the way i interpret his time on mindcrack as being shortly after all the 404 nonsense on the lp (tldr he has just went through the most traumatic experience of his life and learned most of what he remembers prior is probably fabricated). etho is also known for his masks and during mindcrack i think a big one was being this very respected and almost famous guy.. a lot of it was in jest ofc but like he's Thee Etho's Lab! this in addition to the fact that he's sort of intimidating in the same way he was in 3l+ll because his uhc rankings were pretty solid.

meanwhile pause is also lonely but imo in a different way. because etho is a guy who chooses loneliness to avoid the eventual hurt that comes from connection whereas pause is a guy who chooses connection time and time again but never really properly connects. hes a lot harder to analyse so forgive me because i also have to tread the dreaded rpf/fiction line here and start pulling from examples most people wouldn't consider due to it being Too Real (also i dont care because its complicated but anyway) one thing that always sticks out to me is the various mindcrack podcast episodes where he ends up being outspoken? i dont have any actual numbers on hand but i Def remember it in regards to like, discussions of female gamers and gamergate and the like and pause often being the one guy to speak up and be like This is shitty actually. that in addition to some far more complicated things i dont have the words to get into right now eg. being the guy on the gayest straight server ever who is actually bisexual But anyway. my point is that among mindcrackers pause to me is in a weird situation where he certainly fits in very well but simultaneously sticks out like a sore thumb in ways he cant really do anything about without massively compromising himself, so despite not being lonely in the same way etho is, there is a certain Something there.. sorry this makes zero sense but this ask has been sitting in my drafts for like a week and im desperate to get rid of it. PLUS he also deals with this in the form of a mask (he is actually a very anxious and soft hearted guy imo but often plays up and is fiercer and shouts more to get laughs but also to come across as bigger and more intimidating than he actually is. not that he needs to because jesus have you seen this guys uhc stats? frankly i should have skipped this entire essay and just linked the various times that etho and pause have clashed in uhc)

anyway jesus this got long . all of this is literally not real btw the main reason i like pausetho is because theyre funny and pause is one of my favourite guys and i wish there was more content for him. but also generally like.. this is the complicated messy reason to like them but also yeah generally just watching team canada and seeing their dynamic is fun bc they are just really good friends ^_^

#anon #asks #pausetho #I need to go back and watch more mc because this is like all based on my vague memories from 2 years ago. And a dream

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givemeonereason · 8 months

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My Blue-Eyed Master Part 2

Part 1

Photo Credit: Here

Rating: Sassy Candy!

A/N: Gojo is such a tease! I can't say I wouldn't mind his flirting.

Thank you for the wait as well. I am trying to space out my pieces because it gives me a chance to cool down before starting again. Creators are all susceptible to the dreaded creator block.

If you're interested in being added to a taglist for this series, please send me an ask or a message and I'll be happy to add you :)

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Days are a blessing when they don’t have nonsense caked into them. 98% of them are no-nonsense and you like it that way.

People come into the cafe, eat and drink, converse with the ladies on staff, and leave.

There haven't been any major incidents in recent months, which puts everyone's mind at ease. It is rare, but people disobey the rules and something will be done about it. Thankfully, the police have never had to get involved. June would most likely have to shut Cafe Sakura down if that would be the case.

But, like most things, it's only a matter of time...

And that thing, is him.

Today was going good. There was a morning rush, and by rush, several tables were being taken by a small group of housewives chatting about their social club and two local college students who used the wifi to send exam papers. They all order drinks and small treats.

It's relaxing when you don't have a stereotypical crowd. The crowd is there for one thing and one thing only, girls.

It's true, that cosplay cafes are made with the fantasies of men in mind, but that doesn't mean that lots of different people don't come in to enjoy what Cafe Sakura has to offer.

Afternoon crowd, that's a different story.

People come in from all walks, and straight out of the woodwork sometimes. Salarymen on their lunch break, dear Ren who has been coming to the cafe for years since she practically raised June while her mother was working, students on their vacations, tourists who are looking for that otaku thrill, and some stragglers who stumbled in without knowing what they would find.

Halfway through your work day, you dropped off a plate of scones and clotted cream at the table you were assigned to. You smiled and gave a small curtsy towards the three gentlemen in business suits before turning away towards the back.

“..Scuse me?” You heard the suave voice before you saw who spoke. “Miss crustacean, I would like to order now.”

You stopped dead in your tracks. And closed your eyes tight.

I swear to the gods above that if it’s who, or better yet what I think it is, I’m quitting tonight.

“Helloooo?” You saw him waving at you to get your attention out of the corner of your eye. You turn towards him, the look in your eye very well would have been a K-O, instant kill, high score.

He threw his hands up in self-defense. “Woaaaaah there missy, what’s got your panties in a bunch?”

Die.

Your eyes relaxed a little but still remained narrowed at the white-haired man when you looked at him. “Who said I was wearing any?” It was deadpan, but took that shit-eating grin off his face.

His eyes went wide for a moment, but he smiled wider than he was before. “Is that an invitation?”

Die.

Keeping eye contact with him. “Sure, an invitation to go to hell.”

He smiled so wide his eyes closed. “As long as you’re there with me.” He opened one eye to make a wink at you.

God, please, if you exist, smite this man down!

“I’m not your waitress today.” You turn with your nose in the air, walking towards the coffee bar to brew a cappuccino.

The pout on his face drew the other girls to his table, rushing to take his order and steal his smiles from him.

You snickered to yourself. A small win for you.

The current standings: Jackass 1 - 1 You.

You kept the smile on your face when you walked up to a nearby table. "Good afternoon Master, what can--"

"Oh please say you'll come!" A young hostess is gawking and squealing loudly at the irritating man.

You shake your head and start over. "Forgive me, Master, Milla is very excited today. What can I get for you?"

You wrote down the small order the younger man asked for. He looked to be in college and it showed in the way he couldn't help but stare Milla's backside as she batted her eyelashes at the white-hair, blue eyes...

"Mister, please come. It's going to be so much fun!" She's gyrating and swaying her hips. "All the girls are going to dress up." She gave him the look, the eyes, and the cleavage money shot. "You'll love what my costume is going to be."

He rested his chin on his hand, elbow propped up on the tabletop. The way he looked at her over his dark sunglasses almost made her melt into the tile floor below her. She giggled. "And what is the costume you're going to wear?"

The college kid at your table spoke up, super intrigued as to what she's going on about. "Yeah, what are you going to wear?" He sounded so desperate, you thought as you set down the fruity mocktail on the table.

Milla turned so that both men could see her, giggling in a very cute way, her face flushed. "It's a secret." A finger pressed against her lips. "So that means you'll have to come find out." She poked her cheek, smiling largely.

The man who you were serving had stars in his eyes the way he stared at her. He pulled his phone out. "Just tell me when!"

She sashayed to the entrance door and grabbed a few flyers. And handed them to the guys, flashing winks at each one of them. "I'm going to be so excited to get to wear my outfit."

You looked at her, she's still so young. She has so much to learn about the ways of men. Not to say that she doesn't know much, but she's way too eager. The men eat that right up though.

You were her age once. Eighteen, almost out of high school. The guys who came to the cafe would request you by name. It was super exhausting to keep up with it every night after school, but it gave you a sense of worth. Being an honor student and working as a hostess at a maid cafe are polar opposites, but the confidence boosts what's best. Most of the time you came off as stuck up, shut out, but at the cafe, you could woo any man's fantasies.

If you truly wanted to gain that type of attention back, all you had to do was crank up the charm and the men would be at your feet. But after working there for several years there really isn't much point in trying too hard. The level of respect you received was good enough, especially from your regulars and new customers alike. You were polite and sweet and that was all you really needed to do.

"What about you Y/N?" Him again.

You turned to him with a sweet smile. If the gods won't strike him with lightning then an uncharacteristic smile from you might work. "What about me, Master?"

His smile was larger than life. He took his glasses off his face, his blue eyes peeking out behind the strands of hair in his face. Milla was blinking in his direction. Her cheeks were red. You knew what she was thinking, he's so hot. But this is just the game you're playing.

"What are you going to be dressed as?" The words practically roll off the tip of his tongue.

You stand at the front of his table and playfully pop your hip, taking your pointer finger and tapping your bottom lip. "Hmmmmm, I don't know. Do you have any suggestions?"

He tilted his chin up exposing his sharp jawline. Milla almost fell over so she turned towards you. "I know, Y/N you should be a kitty-cat. That way you can meow and wiggle your butt at all the cute boys."

Blue eyes, the college kid, and a few other tables are now listening in. "I think all of you ladies dressed up with cat ears would be really hot." A high schooler at a nearby table added.

Kiko, a tall, slender hostess with long red hair walked over to join in the fun. "Maybe we should have a kitty day. What do you think Masters?" She's egging all of them on. She's a star vixen in the cafe. And her sensuality knows no bounds. The entire cafe is practically drooling when they hear her suggestion.

A loud and pronounced, "Yeah!" could be heard from across the room. She swirled around, her hair flowing over her shoulders like a goddess. "I'll make sure to put in a word with the Mistress." She went and grabbed some more of the costume day flyers and handed them out to the other tables. "Make sure you come to see us for this too." She whispered to two middle-aged gentlemen at a table she walked passed, "I'll be wearing a Wonder Woman outfit." The men delicately folded the flyer and tried to find a place to treasure it, one in his wallet, the other shoved in the interior pocket of his jacket.

You laughed to yourself. Sometimes you forget how lively the place can be when your coworkers are stirring all the men up. And you have to admit, it's very fun to play along. Maybe you would actually enjoy costume day. It will probably be packed and who knows what ruckus is going to ensue.

The warmth from your side tore your attention away from the tables that were hooting at Kiko. The voice coming smooth in your ear. "I was thinking maybe mermaid-related since you like seafood so much." You could feel the heat of his breath against your neck. It caught you off guard.

You turned and just barely brushed your nose against his. He was bent at the waist for equal eye level. You blinked a few times getting a clear view of those celestial eyes. The burst of color like a blue void sucking you in. But mostly you notice how gentle his eyes are. You shake your head before you're lost through time and space alike. You take a step back. "I would really like to see how well you wear a shell bra."

Annnnnnd, done.

You scoff. The sugary, sweet tone of your voice back to a sarcastic cadence. "Sure, and I'll make sure to be glistening wet too."

He bent further towards you. His response was too quick with his excitement. "You will?!"

Time to take the lead! Jackass 1 - 2 You.

"Only if you kiss the girl."

He almost fell by how he moved in towards you. You took the opportunity to flick his forehead.

"Owwww." He placed a palm across his forehead. "That hurt." His nose was scrunched up, his lips pouting.

"Don't be a big baby."

He rubbed the spot marred against his skin with red. "Oh! Let me kiss it," Milla went towards him, but you stopped her. "No, let him suffer."

He narrowed his eyes at you. "Curses!" He balled his hand into a fist. "I will get you if it's the last thing I do."

"Okay, when you get back from the 1950's murder-mystery, give me a call." You laugh and walk away.

"Don't worry Master, she can be a big meanie sometimes." She took his arm and helped him back down in his seat. "You never know, maybe she's mean to you because she really likes you."

Milla and the man both heard the echoing burst of your laughter.

"I promise, she's really great." Milla sounded hopeful, her face showing worry. "I don't know what it is with you. I haven't ever seen her act like this before."

He thought for a moment. "Milla, my sweet, could you do me a favor?"

She smiled at his enderment. "Of course, Master."

If only she could have recognized the wickedness in his intention.

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Don’t steal other people’s works! Respect creators!

Reblogs, comments, and likes are appreciated :)

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Taglist:

#gojo satoru #satoru gojo #gojo and reader #gojo and you #satoru x reader #satoru and you #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu gojo #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #jujutsu kaisen x you #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen and you

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alrightsnaps · 3 months

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You're quitting bridgerton? Won't you watch season 4?

i will probably watch if it’s sophie and benedict’s season (i know people are confident it will be but for me it’s a big if. i’m not at all confident sophie beckett will be in the show at all).

but strictly as a casual viewer. fandom has been growing sour for me for the past two years and the past season was pretty much the last straw.

i don’t think i’ve come across a fandom so hostile about book readers asking the bare minimum of respect from the production supposedly responsible for bringing these books to life. i already stayed through the insane policing of s2 after what shondaland did to kate and anthony. i can’t stomach the same for benophie or franchael.

at best ill finish some edits i have sitting on my laptop for a while out of nostalgia, but the bridgerton fandom is not for me anymore. it was my comfort during some very difficult times during covid and after and went in with a lot of excitement for what the future of the show would bring. that was crushed repeatedly at various points since 2022.

i don't think genderbending michael of all male characters was a good decision and i’m not sticking around for sanctimonious fans, who either got their faves on screen and don't care or are casual watchers who don't care, censoring book fans for expressing their frustration. before a day passed from the news mind you! it may work with straight women who are too scared to be accused of homophobia but im a wholeass sapphic woman, i could care less about keyboard warriors’ nonsense (especially when half oh them aren't even queer but feel like white knighting for some reason?)

representation is not and was never supposed to be a competition and i’m never forgiving jess brownell for making it appear it is. there could absolutely be room for ALL of us in the bridgerton universe in a way that would leave most viewers happy. and i’m not talking about supporting characters, but leads too. the bridgerton franchise already had a very successful limited series; more could be made, with queer leads this time.

that woman knew exactly what she was doing when she decided to scrap a favourite male lead of the book series. she knew this isn't a contemporary story but HR and the narrative largely hinges upon gender. especially for francesca and michael. she knew genderbending would mean essentially an original story but instead of creating original queer characters to star in it she took away a favourite book couple.

all this while putting a black woman in the middle of it all to face the backlash.

i wish masali the best and hope she has a strong support system.

but julia quinn, jess brownell and shonda can fuck off as far as i’m concerned.

maybe in a couple of years someone who loves romance will make a beautiful adaptation about a fan favourite HR book, whether straight or sapphic, with respect to the readership. and i’ll be tuned in.

#my asks #bridgerton #asked and answered

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k7l4d4 · 4 months

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K Reviews and Rants: Miraculous Ladybug Season 5! Episode 12

Hello all! Sorry for the late post, I had to get to work before I could drop it, and it took forever getting back home.

Honestly, looking back at this one, what makes me the most disappointed in this episode is that, aside from the cliched and forced conflict between Marinette and Kagami based on Kagami FOR SOME REASON believing Lila is a trustworthy friend despite, to my knowledge, never once interacting with her in the past and Lila actively going out of her way to try and emotionally hurt Kagami with a faked photo before... what makes this the most disappointing to me is that this episode could've established some interesting REAL drama between Marinette and Kagami.

Out of all of Marinette's friend-group, Kagami is the one she sees the least; not only is she as isolated socially as Adrien, she doesn't even go to the same SCHOOL as Marinette, so the two rarely ever get a chance to hang out, talk, or do any kind of things as friends. Having this episode show off how much of a gulf exists between them, with Kagami ending the episode by making it clear that, even if Marinette didn't mean it, she hurt Kagami by taking their friendship for granted, and having Marinette reflect on what it says about her as a friend. For all this show insists "Marinette must always learn a lesson," it never seems to want to take advantage of this by exploring Marinette's character flaws for real. It's disappointing.

Now, onto the review! As always, please forgive any profanity on my part.

Episode 12: Perfection

Uughh... not even a minute in, and Chat and Ladybug are talking about their love lives in the middle of a battle. Now really is not the time, and the fact that the writers couldn't have saved this for before or AFTER the fight... yeah, I'm not impressed.

Oh, it's a montage of them talking about their love lives... I just, didn't we literally get MULTIPLE CONSECUTIVE EPISODES going on about how "the Cat and Ladybug can't date!!" while at the same time insisting "Marinette and Adrien are made for each other!"? They aren't even pretending to keep themselves consistent.

They... they really aren't even going to pretend to acknowledge the complete and utter clusterfuck that is the internal continuity of this series by this point, are they? Also, Marinette saying "Kagami did everything she could to get me and Adrien together" makes me laugh, and not in a good way. She hasn't really done ANYTHING beyond telling Marinette, more or less, to pull up her big girl pants and confess already. At minimum, she's more direct than the nonsense the rest of Marinette's friends and Marinette herself got up to.

...The fact that Marinette seriously seems to think Kagami, OF ALL PEOPLE, would make fun of her for not having managed to get together with Adrien all the way makes me cringe. Even taking into account Marinette's bad habit of catastrophizing things in her head, this is such a severe misread of her character, I can't even begin to take it seriously. This isn't even Marinette blowing up something that MIGHT happen out of proportion, this is just baseless paranoia on her part.

...Was them having Marinette use Chloe's "ridiculous, utterly ridiculous" catchphrase deliberate? If this is meant to be a sign of how Chloe has gotten into Marinette's head, it doesn't really work because it's both shoehorned in, and presented in a scene that's being played for laughs.

The more this show tries to play Marinette's emotional problems for humor, the more and more frustrated I get with it. Seeing a girl in her teens rolling around on the ground freaking out over whether she'll ever be able to talk to her crush is just weird, not funny. Any possible humor that could be found is overshadowed by just how utterly excessive it is.

Funny how Zoe went (in Kwamis' Choice) from questioning the class's zany schemes to now being fully complicit in one.

Oh, Chloe ended up interrupting the class's latest scheme to get Marinette to confess... what a shocker. Seriously, I just cannot take this presentation of Chloe seriously as a bully; she's either so passive she's basically hot air, or she just suddenly shows up out of nowhere. Oh, and she basically bodychecked Marinette in front of a teacher... yeah, teacher of the year, Caline, Teacher of the fucking year. Don't get me wrong, I LIKE Caline... but the writing having her be THIS oblivious is utterly infuriating.

Now Lila dragged Chloe off like a toddler throwing a tantrum. Literally, hands waving and feet kicking included. THIS is the person they insist is such a massive threat that she's less redeemable than the Genocidal Felix and the Abusive Father Gabriel. Someone who can be handled by DRAGGING HER OFF BY HER SHOULDERS AND UNABLE TO EVEN STAND UP FOR HERSELF.

Wow, they just had Chloe claim that Lila publicly embarrassing her in order to defuse a situation to plot out something worse "earned her a place as Chloe's best friend." I just... I do not GET what the writers are trying to say here. That Chloe doesn't value Sabrina as her best friend?? That she and Lila are equals?? Like, this doesn't even fit Chloe's established pattern of behavior; she's stubborn as a bull and as subtle as a brick, she wouldn't CARE about being "hush hush" about making Marinette miserable, so Lila being able to wrangle her... just does not make sense to me.

...Oh, and Marinette just did something stupidly clumsy off-screen that somehow sent stuff flying. SHE WAS SITTING DOWN ON A MAT ON A BARE FLOOR!!! They just... UUUGGGHHH!!! I can't even BEGIN to get into how nonsensical this is!! Her being clumsy IS NOT FUNNY!! It hasn't BEEN FUNNY in several seasons, and just making it more exaggerated does not make it better, it just makes it more cringe-inducing, and the fact that they are only included it to force Love Square Drama PISSES ME OFF.

Wow, a wall of declined calls from Kagami... Marinette is basically ghosting Kagami, and to be honest, I'm not inclined to pity her. She's being an idiot right now, and even taking the forced drama and inability to confess into account, this is just pathetic. Although the fact that Kagami hasn't hunted Marinette down and demanded to know why she isn't answering her calls yet baffles me. This is the same girl who decided the best way to gain a spot on an elite fencing team was to show up during practice and demand to fight the best fencer they have, being ridiculously brash and bold is WHO SHE IS.

Now she's yelling MOO at a picture of a cow to make something that sounds like "you." I just can't even pretend to take this seriously. This has gone on for so fucking long that I just cannot be bothered to give a shit about her struggling to spit out THREE FUCKING WORDS anymore. Miraculous Ninja handled her inability to spit it out SO MUCH BETTER, with drama, and tension, and emphasizing how much this affects Marinette's mental health. Canon is treating it like a bad joke.

Apparently Adrien wrote a song for Marinette, and Kitty Section is intending to play it at their concert, I guess? Ughh... moving on, moving on...

Kagami's been scribbling on a piece of paper several times already. Why do I feel like I'm gonna hate this?

This song would be more touching if it weren't FIVE SEASONS INTO THE SHOW.

Honestly, Adrien's voice actor really does not have much of a gift for singing. Like, he's not BAD, but it sounds more awkward than it should.

It kinda cuts away some of the passion of the song, as does their attempt to make a joke out of Nino going off script mid-lyrics. Seriously, they are just doing Nino all the dirty this season aren't they?

And the paper that Kagami is scribbling on returns!!

I just... this episode really cannot stop undermining its own seriousness, even for a second, can it? Alya was in the middle of an honestly surprisingly good pep talk (for once), and then the show ruined it by having Kagami show up and Marinette frantically try to signal that she was standing right behind her. This. Is Season. FUCKING. FIVE!! We are PAST this kind of bullshit, or we SHOULD be, what is so hard about making a fully serious, minimal/no humor episode!? This is, if anything, THE PERFECT TIME FOR IT!!!

And now... we get to the part of this episode that both baffles me and fills me with utter HATE the most; Kagami has apparently been following a "friendship test" ... FROM LILA. I just... Have they ever even established HOW Lila and Kagami even know one another!? They are never shown to hang out, or talk, or do ANYTHING to one another, yet somehow Lila has Kagami's personal phone number, and Kagami trusts her enough to decide whether Marinette and her are friends, despite the fact that Lila knowingly and deliberately attempted to fuck with her head with a faked photo of her and Adrien. I DO NOT GET IT. There is NO FUCKING REASON FOR THIS BULLSHIT!!! Kagami doubting her and Marinette's friendship after Marinette has spent the past who knows how long ghosting her calls, THAT I could understand, but Lila is a big, fat, fucking BLACK MARK on this plot by how utterly pointless her conclusion is!!

Why the HELL would Kagami EVER have any reason to believe Lila has her best interests at heart, ON ANY LEVEL!? And it's still never even explained how the two know one another, they just "do." To me, it downgrades this entire plot of Kagami coming to question her and Marinette's friendship.

And now we get Kagami sulking over being "imperfect," which explains the episode title a bit, and I just... I just do not follow this at all. On the one hand, I honestly enjoy a reminder that Kagami is herself the victim of an emotionally abusive parent whose excessive expectations have lead to damage for Kagami's self esteem... but it just feels so forced here because she's treating the way Marinette is treating her as a personal failing, when for all she knows, she hasn't even DONE anything wrong.

What kills this for me is that there is no backstory here. Lila just "exists" in this scene for the sake of inflating her status as a "master manipulator." She's even less of a plot device then she usually is, because the overarching conflict could have happened without her having to be involved on any level.

And we get a creepy scene of Lila cutting Marinette's face out of photos, where did she even GET those photos?

It feels like this episode is seriously trying to push this idea that Kagami is "perfect at everything" as a reason why she's taking her apparent failure at being Marinette's friend so hard... but it doesn't land for me. Even discounting the parts of Kagami's life that Gabe and Tomoe would have no reasonable way of knowing about, Gabriel is WELL AWARE that the very first time he ever Akumatized her was over her loss against Adrien in fencing. Throwing "perfection" around willy-nilly doesn't MEAN anything, and it just comes off as forced for the sake of future "drama."

...Okay, how the absolute FUCK did Lila somehow "know" about Marinette "using a secret language with her friends that Kagami doesn't understand"? That list alone is just nothing but bad vibes, but this is just idiotic.

...I just... I am struggling not to fucking scream right now. Seeing Monarch use his skills at emotional manipulation to chip away at Kagami's willpower would be SUPER interesting... if it weren't totally ruined by the fact that the "power" he gave her is LITERALLY JUST SENSORY DEPRIVATION AND A WEIRD-ASS VERSION OF THE DRAGON MIRACULOUS' ELEMENTAL POWERS!! I would go on a rant on why and how Longg represents "perfection" or what weather has to do with "perfection" but I think I'd have an apoplexy if I did that.

The repeated usage of "perfect" is really grating. It's just completely and utterly forced. Oh, and Kagami somehow has enough awareness in her Akuma form to think back on things, but somehow hasn't considered the possibility that just because she can't SEE or HEAR anyone, doesn't mean she isn't potentially HURTING PEOPLE. Oh, and how in the world does Monarch expect for an Akuma that can't even NOTICE the heroes to get their Miraculouses!?

Okay... WHEN did Tomoe ever warn Kagami about ANYTHING!? Also, again, I repeat... how in the world is an Akuma that can't see, hear, or TOUCH anyone supposed to help Monarch achieve his goals?? The only really interesting thing about this Akuma is the fact that it actually does something semi-interesting with how it gives the Akuma the Miraculous powers... but the fact that Kagami CANNOT INTERACT WITH ANYONE OR ANYTHING makes it completely pointless. Like, how has no one noticed that she can't even hurt someone yet!?

Okay, so she CAN summon her weather powers, even as a giant cloud... but how in the world is she not noticing THE FACT THAT THERE IS A HELICOPTER BEING FLOWN AROUND HER NOW GIANT HEAD!? Like, they are solidly establishing that she is far more aware than Akumas typically are, even through her sensory deprivation, so how is she not even THINKING ABOUT ALL THIS!?

Okay, so she DOES have a way to fight Ladybug and Chat Noir... barely. And there's still the little problem of being UNABLE TO SEE THEM, and the fact that she isn't solid. she can't exactly retrieve the Miraculouses if she can't touch them.

Sigh... and we get more of S5 basically wasting the concept of Rejecting Akumatizations after the fact by having them show up more and more... honestly? I like how Randy Cunningham handled it better. With RC9GN, the shift to the Sorcerer stanking people directly based on their feelings rather than specific objects was interesting, because it meant that Randy couldn't just beat up his problems. But with MLB, it's kinda wasted a little because they can't keep it consistent how aware the Akumas even ARE.

Like, the way they are currently having Kagami rejecting the Akuma (I REFUSE to call it a Megakuma) as this praiseworthy thing... it just rings so hollow at the moment.

...They are trying to use the "I have always had this feeling I need to be perfect" crap as "foreshadowing" for her being a Senti, aren't they?

Ugghhghghghghgh!!! I just... I just can't take this any more seriously. It feels so forced for the sake of emotional drama.

Okay, HOW does Tomoe even know where Gabriel sent the Akuma?? Seriously, just HOW. It's not as if that's advertised knowledge, it happened in an incredibly secluded location, and TOMOE CANNOT SEE.

I just "love" how they are trying to hint at this deep, mysterious connection between Tomoe and Gabriel. It TOTALLY doesn't come out of nowhere, not at all! And with that, I'm done with Perfection. [One] more episode and then "Derision." (Shudders)

#miraculous ladybug #mlb season 5 salt #mlb season 5 spoilers #mlb writing critical #mlb writing salt

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pixelatedanimereviews · 1 year

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Fall 2023 Plan to Watch

Happy Fall Ya'll

As today is the first day of fall, and the last season of anime for 2023 is fast approaching, I figured there was no better time to list out what we'll be watching for the Fall 2023 Season.

This is in by no means order of rank, just how they got colleged together. All in all, we'll be starting the season with 25 shows and 4 (at the time of posting) that we'll be keeping an eye on for an official release as they still haven't been picked up.

Spy x Family Season 2 《Action ▪︎ Childcare ▪︎ Comedy》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 7th} If you haven't seen Spy Family (btw I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be Spy vs Family, but whatever) then that's on you I guess. Like you still have time to go watch season one, and you should because it's about to get good! I'm just excited for some good comedy mixed with just the right amount of James Bond style action.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End 《Adventure ▪︎ Drama ▪︎ Fantasy ▪︎ Magic》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Sept 29th} I first heard about Frieren from one of Gigguk's videos when he was talking about the manga. I love me some true fantasy anime, and I have a feeling that if the anime is as good as the manga is, that I'll be writing probably several think pieces about it.

The Kingdoms of Ruin 《Action ▪︎ Adventure ▪︎ Fantasy ▪︎ Gore ▪︎ Sci-fi》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 6th} The premise of Machine vs Magic/revenge plot seems really interesting, and I'm intrigued by the Gore tag.

The Vexations of a Shut-in Vampire Princess 《Fantasy ▪︎ Vampire ▪︎ Comedy》 {HiDive ~ First Episode Aires Oct 7th} This looks like silly nonsense, and we love the "Vampire that doesn't drink blood" troop.

I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness《Fantasy ▪︎ Romance ▪︎ Comedy》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 4th} This title is a mouthful, but I'll forgive it as long as there is a good amount of sassy comedy.

The Apothecary Diaries 《Drama ▪︎ Historical ▪︎ Medical ▪︎ Mystery》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 21st} I know a lot of people are super excited for this show. We really enjoyed Raven of the Inner Palace and are excited to see more shows just like it. The animation and artwork in the promo video look gorgeous, so we'll see if it lives up to the hype.

The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2 Part 2 《Fantasy ▪︎ Magic ▪︎ Mythology ▪︎ Slice of Life》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 5th} I'm so ready for this part 2! We fell in love with series back when season one first started airing. The art, the world building, the characters and their growth, and the mix of mythology is just so perfect! So excited to get to be back in this world and experience the journey it takes us on!

Ragna Crimson 《Action ▪︎ Fantasy ▪︎ Isekai 》 {HiDive ~ First Episode Aires Sept 30th} Dragons. That is all.

Undead Unluck 《Action ▪︎ Supernatural ▪︎ Comedy》 {Hulu ~ First Episode Aires Oct 6th} Look, all I know is that the last couple of anime that Disney has acquired have been bangers so I'm not going to miss out on this either.

I'm in Love with the Villainess 《Fantasy ▪︎ Girls' Love ▪︎ School ▪︎ Comedy》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 2nd} This is one of two Yuri that we are getting this season. This one looks to be silly and goofy, and I'm always down for some silly girls love fun!

Butareba - The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig - 《Fantasy ▪︎ Isekai ▪︎ Comedy》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 7th} This.........I mean why not. As long as it doesn't take an Inukai-san's Dog turn then I'm sure it'll be entertaining. I'm hoping for my sanity that it's just wholesome fun.

I Shall Survive Using Potions! 《Fantasy ▪︎ Isekai ▪︎ Reincarnation 》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 7th} You know, every seasons got have at least 3 dumb, turn your brain off, lazy writing but oddly fun Isekais. This will probably be mine for the season.

FLCL: Grunge 《Action ▪︎ Avant-garde ▪︎ Comedy ▪︎ Mecha ▪︎ Sci-fi》 {Max (HBO) or Adult Swim ~ Currently Airing (Sept 8th)} Oops, I guess I'm already behind. Oh well! I'm also adding Shoelace to this as well because it aires in a couple of days (Sept 30th), but other than an article saying that it'll be on Toonami there's no official release posting for it. Anyways, I'm excited to see it, as that grunge punk artsy look is something I don't see often, but I enjoy it when I do. I heard the last two spin-offs didn't do great so I'm hoping these don't fall flat.

Firefighter Daigo: Rescuer in Orange 《Action ▪︎ Adult Cast ▪︎ Drama》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Sept 30th} I'm going to give this 3 episodes. I'm hoping for some intense drama, but have a feeling that this will feel like one of those "cop propaganda" shows that are prolific here in the US.

Shy 《Action ▪︎ Drama ▪︎ Super Power》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 2nd} Who doesn't love a shy Super Hero trying to overcome their shyness to save to help maintain the safety of the world! I'm gonna give it at least 3 episodes because this could either be really good or really bad.

KamiErabi GOD.app 《Action ▪︎ High-Stakes Game》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 4th} I was really worried at first that this was going to be some kind of spin-off of King's Game. None that the synopsis is out, we're worried it'll be some kind of mash-up between King's Game and Platinum End. I want to be wrong. Please, let me be wrong.

16bit Sensation: Another Layer 《Adult Cast ▪︎ Otaku Culture ▪︎ Comedy ▪︎ Workplace》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 4th} Hehe haha, twist of fate, now you work on this hentai game in order to help us save the studio and also your job. I'm just enough of a degenerate that I'll probably enjoy this.

Migi & Dali 《Mystery ▪︎ Comedy》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 2nd} Mystery Comedy? Spooky twin boys that pretend to be one boy. Huh.

Protocol: Rain 《Drama ▪︎ Video Games》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 7th} Take the "High School Idol group that's trying to save their school" troop, but make it e-sports, net boys, and the net cafe that "saved" them. Hoping it'll be interesting.

My New Boss is Goofy 《Adult Cast ▪︎ Slice of Life ▪︎ Comedy ▪︎ Workplace》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 7th} I don't know why, but a part of me was hoping that this man's boss was actually Goofy, but it's not Disney Jailed so there was, not gonna lie, a bit of disappointment when I realized that wasn't the case. I'll still watch it. Just means that I'll have a few less "Hyuck" jokes when I do my review.

A Girl & Her Guard Dog 《Romance ▪︎ School》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Sept 28th} We are...apprehensive about this one, but will give it at least 3 episodes, but if it gives us the creeps due the Age-Gap Romance troop then will probably drop it.

Stardust Telepath 《Girls' Love ▪︎ School ▪︎ Comedy ▪︎ Supernatural 》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 9th} This is the other comedy Yuri this season, but this one has an alien girl instead!

Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductuons 《Detective ▪︎ Mystery 》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 2nd} Wow are we a sucker for these kinds of shows. However, we've seen these swing from really good to truly awful. Hopin' I don't have to drop this one.

The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch 《Fantasy ▪︎ Slice of Life ▪︎ Comedy ▪︎ Supernatural 》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 1st} A funny, lighthearted story about a Witch and her silly little human she raises. This will probably be what I watch to wind down in the evening.

Tearmoon Empire 《Drama ▪︎ Fantasy ▪︎ Comedy ▪︎ Romance ▪︎ Time Travel》 {Crunchyroll ~ First Episode Aires Oct 7th} Ah, the old is Time Travel just Isekai debate. We, for one, do not think that it is as it's still that same world even if time has changed. That aside, there isn't enough of these one world time travel shows these days, so it'll be interesting to see how this one shakes out.

These are the 4 that, at time of posting, do not have an official release (streaming or other media) to the US

The Four Brothers of Yuzuki - Where are there parents? Who is the main brother this story is about? Will there be overwhelming merchandise of these brothers who look the same but are different ages as well? These are the important questions that may never get answered.

Paradox Live - I don't know why, but for some reason, I'm getting DMMD vibes off these guys. I love DMMD. Why is this not available here in the US?

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You - I very vaguely remember playing this clicker idol game. Kinda sad I probably won't get to see how this show turns out.

You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story - Experienced how? I need to know! Don't keep secrets!!

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makeste · 4 years

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BnHA Chapter 306: the beginning of the WHAT

Previously on BnHA: Nana and the Gang were all, “hey Deku, we can read your thoughts and feelings so we should already know the answer to this, but for some reason we want to quiz you on whether or not you’d be down to kill Shigaraki Tomura.” Deku was all, “um okay, well tbh, probably not seeing as Saving People has been my entire thing since literally the start of the series.” The Vestiges were all, “yes that makes perfect sense and again we already knew that, but well, good for you buddy and I’m glad we had this talk. Anyway I guess we should ask these two cryptic fuckers in the corner to finally turn around now before we run out of -- ” and then the chapter ended. Because OF COURSE IT DID.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, WOULDN’T IT BE SO MUCH BETTER IF I GAVE YOU A CONFUSING CHAPTER WHERE EVERYONE FINALLY LEARNS ABOUT OFA, AND GOES BACK TO THE DORMS, AND THEN THE CHAPTER ENDS WITH DEPRESSED NOMAD DEKU STANDING ON A PRECIPICE WITH GRAN TORINO’S TATTERED CAPE FLOWING IN THE WIND.” Everyone is all, “???????????” Horikoshi is all, “also the parents are moving to the U.A. campus, and Jeanist’s neck is two and a half feet long, for everyone that was wondering.” Everyone is all, “WHERE ARE KACCHAN AND TODOROKI AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHO ARE THE SECOND AND THIRD USERS”, and Horikoshi is all, “:)” and fades away into nothingness like the fucking fae he is. Like a fucking imp who’s kept his end of the cursed bargain. What, the, fuck.

okay guys, so after the longest Thursday of my fucking life, during which I was secretly hoping that my spoiler containment net would be somehow be breached, inadvertently exposing me to theta spoiler radiation, so that I could be all “oh no... spoilers... there’s nothing I can do... I have no choice but to look” (which sadly did not happen), it is finally Friday and the chapter is finally out. so I’ve got my clown kit at the ready and other self-deprecating memes on standby, and I’m ready to go. and I should note that I’m also ready for Horikoshi to pull some absolute bullshit and be like, “oh you know what, we haven’t checked in with Rat Principal in a while have we” and spend the entire chapter on nonsense like that. I’M READY FOR FUCKING ANYTHING so bring it

(ETA: it would be nice if this man wouldn’t call my bluff every now and again.)

oh, right, we were due a color page! wow look at this

isn’t this supposed to be the future?? what’s with all of these staticky CRT TVs

anyway, so! is this the first time we’ve seen Tomura’s stylish finger prosthetic glove thingy in color?? because I didn’t expect it to be red. also, at some point you just have to give in and change your pants into cutoffs or something, Tomura. start a new trend of stylish villain capris

meanwhile Deku is dressed like he’s going on a journey into the desert to find a mystical oasis. actually this cape looks a lot like Gran Torino’s. I have to go back and see if Gran’s is all raggedy like this

(ETA: it wasn’t before but APPARENTLY IT IS NOW. I also forgot that Horikoshi had showed it sitting on a side table in the hospital a few chapters ago.)

lastly, AFO looks like someone’s thumb after they’ve been washing dishes for twenty minutes. you are just the ugliest dude in history, and as always, fuck you

HAHAHA SOB I KNEW IT

oh, Twowy McTwoface is finally starting to turn around? better CUT BACK TO DEKU’S HOSPITAL ROOM THEN. wouldn’t want to accidentally ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS or SOLVE ANY MYSTERIES, god forbid

well, whatever. whatever!! anyway so now someone’s knocking at the door. I say “someone” but we all know it’s Hawks

yep

they were actually standing outside the door for a while hoping they’d overhear another juicy plot conversation, but no such luck this time

lmaooo Jeanist wtf

acting all embarrassed, but you’re really just as curious as Hawks is. making him do all the dirty work for you huh

ARE YOU SERIOUS THIS IS AN INJUSTICE

so like two seconds after Katsuki gets dragged away you open the door for the rest of them!! well, fine!! I really want it to be a more private/personal moment between the two of them anyway so let the other kids check in on Deku first then

and in the meantime, time to see Hawks put the thumbscrews to All Might’s resolve lol

I wonder how much of it Hawks has already put together in the last five minutes. One for All is something connected to All for One that Tomura seems to want. Tomura was apparently targeting Deku. that’s more than enough to make a few deductions right there. I wonder how much Hawks knows about Deku’s quirk. he did watch the sports festival, and he ran into the kids interning under Endeavor that one time

okay well maybe he hasn’t put the rest of it together just yet, but Hawks is making a pretty reasonable pitch here to All Might

also this is a pretty spectacular view. is this a hospital or a hotel??

AHLKJLKJLKJ ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO TELL THEM

OH MY GOD HE IS?!?!

JUST LIKE WE ALL EXPECTED, THE NEXT TWO PEOPLE TO LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT OFA ARE GOING TO BE HAWKS, AND BEST FUCKING JEANIST

-- LFKLKKLDK ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS. ARE YOU --

( •̀_•́ )

[sitting cross-legged on the ground pulling up little clumps of grass and letting them fall from my fingers one by one] yeah. sure. okay. fine. sure

-- OKAY, NO. NUH-UH. NO

everybody better hold tight cuz I’m about to pick up this whole chapter and yeet it into the ocean like a fucking frisbee lol

HORIKOSHI I DON’T CARE ABOUT THESE PEOPLE SITTING HERE WATCHING TV WTF

-- OH

well okay then. proceed. though lord help me if they’re about to reveal the secret of OFA to the whole fucking world skdkj

oh snap

well, there it is. pretty much what I expected, but it’s good to actually get to see this moment with him taking responsibility

though at the same time, thank you Horikoshi for not forcing us to sit through the rest of that

their fucking faces omg. okay but seriously, what nation doesn’t secretly love a good scandal

the Endeavor Pamphlets, part two. thank you for giving the country something to opine about on twitter in these trying times, Enji

so now they’re asking about Hawks and Jeanist but I cannot even focus on anything all of a sudden because what?!

is Jeanist even a real actual human being you guys?! are we sure he’s not three kids sitting on each other’s shoulders?? are you related to that one guy with the really long neck from the Jedi Council?? are you Orochimaru, bro??

so now Hawks is apologizing for the murder of Twice, and for hiding the connection with his dad

the fact that he has to give this serious formal apology and beg forgiveness for the shameful crime of Having An Abusive Father is really something else, though. just. it’s realistic, but I still hate it

moving on now to the one thing he actually does owe the public an explanation for

not to go all “Hawks did nothing wrong” on you guys yet again, but seriously. 100% facts. fandom can (and no doubt will) debate this until the end of time, but if Twice had gotten away they wouldn’t be having this press conference right now because there wouldn’t be any heroes left to give one. anyways though, I’ve already said more than enough about that in previous posts

so now some severe-looking lady with the weirdest fingers I’ve ever seen is saying that her mother was injured during Machia’s rampage

and she’s basically all “a fuck lot of good ‘I’m sorry’ does us all about now.” true true

wow she’s really getting fired up

and now Enji is basically saying that he understands that an apology isn’t enough, and what they really need now are solutions. okay, well! SO THEN WHAT IS THE PLAN THEN

hmmfsdgh

this eloquent PEZ dispenser makes a good point you guys

wait, hold up

CERTAIN citizens?? um excuse me, what??

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shit

holy shit. well, this will go over well

okay! so this tells me a number of things, though

basically the minute that Hawks learned about One for All, he realized that anyone connected to Deku (e.g. Inko) would be a target for AFO. AFO wants OFA, meaning AFO wants Deku, and one of the easiest ways to get to Deku would be to target his family

Hawks therefore realized that Inko needed to be placed into protective custody

but the fact that ALL of the hero course students’ families (and is it only the U.A. hero course, or all of the hero course students across the country?) are being given protection tells me that Hawks and co. don’t want to single Deku out as being important. so then it looks like they’re not going to tell everyone about OFA (or at least not the public. which, good). so rather than drawing suspicion by saying “we’ve got to protect everyone connected with this one kid”, they’re making it seem like all the U.A. kids’ families are getting this treatment

but since the heroes are now spread so thin, they can’t just send a protective detail to each and every family, so they’re bringing all of the families to the same place instead to better keep an eye on them

so that’s all well and good, and a very smart move. except that idk how all of this is going to go over with the general public, all of whom are probably feeling unsafe at the moment, and who will probably see this as preferential treatment -- basically just the heroes looking after their own and leaving everyone else to fend for themselves

(ETA: okay so @hanashimas’ translation clarifies that U.A. is offering their services as an evacuation shelter for everyone who wants it, not just the families of the U.A. students. that’s much more appropriate so I withdraw my previous “wtf” reaction lol.)

anyway though here’s Mitsuki and Inko

can we take this as confirmation that the two of them really are friends? that’s one piece of fanon that I’ve always hoped was true, so I’m gonna go ahead and say it’s confirmed

(ETA: also this means that Hagakure’s parents (or maybe “parents” in quotation marks) will supposedly be moving in as well. sure am curious as to how that’s going to go.)

now someone in the press crowd is asking whether U.A. can provide adequate security, which is honestly the LAST thing I expected these people would be outraged about lol. shows what I know I guess

(ETA: again though, this makes sense if the “certain civilians” thing was just a translation error.)

LMAO DAMMIT ENJI

YOU CAN’T JUST ALWAYS PULL THE “JUST WATCH ME” TRICK AND EXPECT IT TO SHUT DOWN THE CONVERSATION EVERY DAMN TIME YOU ASSHOLE

-- OH MY GOD RED ALERT

TIME TO ANALYZE THIS BECAUSE OMG

WASH CAN’T BELIEVE HIS FAMILY GROUP CHAT IS STILL SENDING HIM FUCKING MEMES AT A TIME LIKE THIS. HE DOESN’T GIVE A FUCK IF THE DABI DANCE IS TRENDING ON TIKTOK, MOM!!

FOR A MINUTE I THOUGHT MT. LADY WAS HOLDING MIDNIGHT’S TORN-UP MASK, AND BY THE TIME I REALIZED THAT’S ACTUALLY HER MASK AND NOT MIDNIGHT’S, I HAD ALREADY CONSTRUCTED AN ELABORATE HEADCANON IN WHICH MT. LADY AND MIDNIGHT WERE SECRETLY DATING BUT HADN’T COME OUT TO ANYONE YET, AND THEN TRAGEDY STRUCK, AND NOW MT. LADY IS GETTING READY TO SET OUT TO SEEK VENGEANCE. AND WELL, NOW THAT THIS HEADCANON EXISTS IN THE WORLD, I’M NOT SURE IF I’M READY TO GET RID OF IT

MIRKO HAS GOTTEN HERSELF A PROSTHETIC (ROBOT??!) ARM, NOTHING ELSE THAT’S HAPPENING IN THIS CHAPTER IS EVEN SLIGHTLY IMPORTANT!!! HELLO!!!!!

AIZAWA WITH THE EYEPATCH GOOD LORD. THE WORLD ISN’T READY. HE LOOKS LIKE HE HASN’T SLEPT IN NINETY-EIGHT YEARS, BUT SOMEHOW HE MAKES IT INTO THE HOTTEST THING EVER AS PER USUAL

WHO THE FUCK IS THIS FUCKING GUY. ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW HIM? IS THIS KAMUI?? WAS THAT THING WHICH I ALWAYS ASSUMED WAS HIS HAIR ACTUALLY A HELMET OR SOMETHING WHAT

LOL AND MEANWHILE

you tell me, Dabi! weren’t you the one who said that wouldn’t be enough to kill him? what even is your endgame here. I’m starting to worry about the villain brain cell supply you guys. I feel like Compress took most of them with him when he left

OH??

“when asked about One for All, Endeavor fucking lied through his teeth.” well, well, well

SLKDFJLSKGDJLKLKGJL THE DORMS

( ⁰ ⌂ ⁰ )

SLDKJFLKJWLKJLK

WLKDJSLKJFWKELKSDJLKHGLK

HDSMFLKGKL:GDSELK

OCHAKO’S HAND IS SHAKING OH MY GOD

THERE’S YOUR KAMINARI, EVERYONE!!

RHA’S SCANLATION TEAM REALLY THREW DEKU’S HANDWRITING UNDER THE BUS HERE HUH

HE TOLD EVERYONE!?

WHY THE FUCK IS HE WRITING IT AS A LETTER

(ETA: 9. also if he really wrote every kid in his class then that means the U.A. traitor -- or Hagakure as we like to call her around these parts -- also knows about OFA, and knows that Deku has run the fuck off and isn’t at U.A. anymore. so that’s just great!)

OH HELL NO

the hell does that mean, you must leave. leave to go where. son you are not up and leaving to go power up and lead us all into a timeskip. and I swear to GOD, if you left Kacchan too...!!

MY GOD I CAN’T PROPERLY ABSORB ALL OF THESE OCHAKO FEELS RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I’M TOO TERRIFIED TO SCROLL TO THE LAST FUCKING PAGE, FUCK

I JUST GOTTA DO IT. I JUST GOTTA SUCK IT UP AND DO IT. FUCK

FUCK

WHAT. THE. FUCK

y’all I’m not even gonna waste your time with more keysmashing, JUST ASSUME THAT I AM DOING IT NONSTOP, FOREVER. and let’s just jump RIGHT IN HERE

okay so here I thought that All Might and co. had taken him away somewhere to train, but that is CLEARLY not what’s going on here. this kid is standing here in his Apocalypse Aesthetic hero costume which has CLEARLY seen better days, with Gran Torino’s cloak (GUESS THAT EXPLAINS THAT, THEN?? SO DID GRAN FUCKING DIE EXCUSE ME WTF), and a fucking backpack. this little green idiot has RUN AWAY FROM HOME. this is the absolute LAST THING ON EARTH I ever expected to happen so PARDON ME WHILE I SCREAM CONFUSEDLY INTO THE VOID

he does not look okay. you guys he doesn’t look okay at ALL. he has NEVER looked like this. this isn’t just a “I’m sad because I’m leaving all my friends behind” kind of look on his face, or even just a “Gran Torino died maybe and I’m still having emotions over it” look. this is an EXHAUSTED, dead look in his eyes. something terrible has happened

WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR ARMS DEKU. THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING DOWN WITH YOUR ARMS GODDAMMIT

love how this random building is just straight up collapsing, like that’s just a normal thing that happens every day now. lovely

APRIL MEANS IT’S NOW FULL ON SCHEDULED ALL-MIGHT-DYING-HOURS, BUT LET’S COMPLETELY IGNORE THAT THOUGH BECAUSE FUCK THAT NOISE

“THE SECOND USER? WHO KNOWS? CERTAINLY NOT ME” HORIKOSHI I SWEAR TO GOD

“BAKUGOU? NEVER HEARD OF HIM!” HORIKOSHI PLEASE

WHERE. IS. KACCHAN

did he go with Deku?? did he get a chance to talk to him before he left?? did he get his own private letter which he read and then promptly blew up in a fit of panicked rage?? is he going to go after him?? DOES HORIKOSHI KNOW WHAT HE’S DOING TO ME RIGHT NOW?? OF COURSE HE DOES, DON’T BOTHER ANSWERING THAT

omg. though actually the fact that we’ve already jumped a few weeks forward makes me hopeful that there won’t actually be another timeskip, or at least not much of one. I’m sure that’ll be the big debate of the week, but I don’t think we can jump too far forward here. for starters because of that All Might prophecy I mentioned. and also because TomurAFO isn’t just going to wait around for months. and also because I’m 100% sure that Deku’s running-away backpack is just filled ENTIRELY WITH NOTEBOOKS and this asshole cannot possibly survive more than 3 days on his own. UNLESS SOMEONE COMES TO HELP HIM THAT IS. OR SOMEONES, EVEN. OMG. omg omg omg. fuck this chapter lmao

#bnha 306 #midoriya izuku #hawks (bnha)#takami keigo #endeavor #todoroki enji #best jeanist #all might #uraraka ochako #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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rivalsforlife · 3 years

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Phoenix Wright: The Truth Reborn: Oh No We’re Doing This Again

hi.

Nearly two months ago, I wrote an essay summarizing and making very wild conclusions about the second Takarazuka Musical. I did this about two and a half years after watching the first Takarazuka musical. As such I did not have the full context for many things from the musical and was relying mostly on my memory, which blocked many things from this musical for my own safety. However, just this week, I decided to rewatch it, because I enjoy tormenting myself. I said I wouldn’t write anything on it. Here I am writing something on it.

Here’s the youtube thumbnail so that you know what you’re getting yourself into. And here, of course, is the link. This is the HD version which may be slightly more pleasant to watch. Maybe.

It was not quite as cringe in a funny way as the second musical to me, and therefore this essay may be less funny, but I feel like I’m doing a disservice to people by providing a summary of the second musical while completely neglecting the first. Quite possibly doing this is even more of a disservice. I just eagerly await the day that the third musical is translated because *that* will be the day that I finally shuffle off this mortal coil. Either way, I want to write this stuff down so that I never have to watch the musical again out of curiosity.

The following essay will contain major spoilers for both the first and second Phoenix Wright Takarazuka musicals, as I will be using many points from this musical to argue my thesis of the second musical. ... like you were going to watch them anyways.

This one broke 8k. I’m dead inside.

Introducing The Director

Again another disclaimer that I don’t have anything against the actresses or the theatre troupe. I DO have something against Suzuki Kei, who I recently learned is the writer and director of all three of the Ace Attorney Takarazuka musicals, and is quite possibly my mortal nemesis.

This man is the one who brought this monstrosity into the world.

This man, allegedly, cleared the first four ace attorney games *seven times* before sitting down to write these musicals. He played these goddamn games seven times and did not take in a single word. The man clicked through them mindlessly while watching a badly written legal romance drama in the background and got them completely confused. I genuinely have no idea how this man could have played these games more times than even me and yet managed to get so many characters (MAYA!!!!) completely and utterly wrong. This haunts me every day, truly.

This man played Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations, and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney seven times. SEVEN TIMES EACH!! and was told to create a musical based on the series. He played these games seven times each and you know what he said?? You know what he said?? “This sucks, I’m getting rid of all of Phoenix’s backstory, butchering half the characters, and writing Phoenix/Lana fanfiction, but also rewriting all of Lana’s backstory so that she was Phoenix’s childhood friend, and you know what, I’m changing her name for good measure.”

I think this man played the games seven times each and then hated it so much and was so sick of it he tried to write something that destroyed as much of the series as possible while still being vaguely recognizable. And then somehow it became a massive hit because people like me see this and go “what the actual hell” and watch it, or people who haven’t played the games see this and go “wow what a great musical!” and then he wrote TWO MORE, destroying EVEN MORE every time in his wake, until finally, finally, he stopped after making Edgeworth straight and time traveling into the past to face off against a corrupt Gregory. I guess that was the last straw.

I have to issue a disclaimer here that for legal reasons this is a joke. I don’t actually hate this man and would not punch him in the face if I met him because that would be rude, and he is entitled to his wrong interpretation of the games. I don’t know what his thought process was. But allegedly he did play the games seven times according to the wiki. This whole essay here is satire and not slander and I don’t want to offend this guy if he somehow stumbles across my nonsense tumblr post. At the same time: Suzuki Kei blink twice if you need help.

Anyways half the reason that I’m making this essay is because I want to share my fake ao3 page for this musical. The other half will become apparent later.

Sorry if that’s illegible because of tumblr quality it’s not really important. All you really need to know is that it’s a fake ao3 screenshot for the musical. Also in the author’s note I said he played the games four times but it was actually seven I just remembered wrong because I didn’t want to believe it.

at this point you may be like “Grace shut up and get to the actual musical” and okay, fine, let’s start this nonsense. Also note that I may be referencing things from my essay on the second musical very frequently; I’m not going to force you to go read that though because the fact that you’re reading this is enough of a torment already.

The Musical Begins

Unlike the second musical, this one opens with some narration from Phoenix.

Transcript:

Phoenix: I’m reviewing a particular case at the moment. To me, this case... is one I’ll never forget.

Immediately I think this is important because it establishes that this whole musical takes place in a flashback that Phoenix is reflecting on. Why is this important? Because we know, by the time of the second musical which takes place three years later, Leona is dead.

Knowing that Leona is inherently doomed to die of her Sad Woman Disease paints this whole musical in a different light. It’s not Phoenix reflecting on how he got back together with his lover; it’s Phoenix dwelling on their past together, and the opportunities they had, before her life was so cruelly and inexplicably taken away. We don’t know if Phoenix’s reminiscing takes place before or after Leona’s death... but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was after.

Phoenix, still in the present, starts to sing. “A wave appears on the horizon like a mirage, it trembles, then vanishes. Your voice, carried upon the waves, fades upon the shore, erasing the splendor of the past.”

This line actually shows up in the second musical, sung by Lucia about her imprisoned fiance quite possibly. It’s kind of hard to tell what the meaning of these songs even are. They’re too abstract for me I think. But this line appears very frequently in the first musical when Phoenix is thinking about Leona.

Then we enter the flashback time.

Phoenix inexplicably yells at a newspaper saleswoman. This is not relevant to anything whatsoever. Then Larry barges in to the office, looking for Maya. Phoenix describes him as “A real trouble maker, but you just can’t hate the guy”, the latter part of which I think many people would disagree with.

Well, afterwards, Maya comes in. Phoenix describes her like this while making exaggerated “can you believe this shit” gestures.

Transcript:

Phoenix: She’s as ditzy as they come. Oh, and about the outfit... Apparently she comes from a family of spirit mediums. Try not to make fun of her, okay?

Suzuki Kei personally has it out for Maya and I can never forgive him for it. Maya in these musicals is here for pure comedic relief but it’s not even comedic because I just get so angry. How can you play the trilogy seven times and think this about her?? The girl who figured out DL-6?? The girl who told Phoenix to sacrifice her life in order to find the truth?? The girl who put on a brave smile in order to try and cheer up her younger cousin even after she saw her own mother murdered right in front of her eyes?? That Maya Fey?? Ditzy as they come??????

Ugh. Moving on.

Maya and Larry run off, leaving Phoenix to watch the American Broadcast.

Important things to note here are the Godot mug, the little line up of what I think are the messed up little ace attorney figurines beneath the screen, and the fact that while this broadcast is supposedly from and to America the screen is actually not at all showing America. Like literally almost everywhere in the world except North and South America.

The broadcast says that Leona Clyde, age 24, was arrested for murdering the senator Robert Cole! Leona Clyde -- that’s Phoenix’s ex-girlfriend! He runs off to the detention center.

She is not happy to see him.

Leona: Mr. Wright... I’m not the woman you once knew.

Let’s Play A Matching Game

Sorry for the abundance of screenshots that are going to be throughout this section. Phoenix convinces Leona to let him defend her. Some of the conversation seems... familiar.

Leona: No one would defend someone who admits to killing a senator. I’m waiting for a court-appointed attorney.

Edgeworth: Every defense attorney I’ve talked to has turned me down.

Phoenix: In that case, let me defend you.

Game Phoenix: Let me defend you.

Leona: Don’t be ridiculous!

Edgeworth: Don’t be ridiculous.

Phoenix: I’ll never accept that you’re a murderer. Let me prove your innocence!

Game Phoenix: Huh? Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to prove that Miles Edgeworth is innocent.

Leona: I’ve already confessed my guilt.

Gumshoe: He confessed that he did it! In court!

Leona: It’s foolish to think you can win this case.

Edgeworth: My case is near hopeless, Wright.

Leona: (in response to phoenix offering to defend her) No you won’t! Don’t ever come here again.

Edgeworth: Look, just go away, and leave me alone!

Phoenix: You of all people should know. Once I decide to do something, I see it through to the end.

Edgeworth: Once you start on something, you always see it through, don’t you?

Leona: I never thought that you’d be representing me.

Phoenix: Ah, who could have guessed this day would come?

Edgeworth: Not me.

Phoenix: You believed in me. You saved me. And this time, I swear... I swear I’ll save you!

Game Phoenix: Edgeworth believed in me, and I believe in him. I’m the only one who knows the real Edgeworth. I’m the only one who can help him.

I could’ve done a few more, but tumblr is already threatening to murder my laptop.

So long story short, Phoenix manages to convince his lover to let him be the defense on the case. Then immediately after swearing to save Leona, he starts singing a song, which I’m not screencapping because this is enough:

“As long as there are people in this world, there’s only one path I will follow! As long as there is love in this world, there’s only one path I will believe in!”

Edgeworth sings this in the second musical after saying that he returned to California because of Phoenix. Phoenix sings it now after swearing to defend Leona. You draw your own conclusions.

And then we finally get the opening credits. Eleven minutes in.

Just Pretend This Is Narumitsu Fanfiction

Following the credits, we see a beautiful beach. Couples (exclusively heterosexual, of course,) dance and embrace in the background for some time, before revealing Phoenix and Leona, in the Even Further Past, before the LSATs or whatever the ace attorney universe’s excuse for law school exams are.

Phoenix establishes his absolute hatred of change, an important characterization moment.

Phoenix: The view here never changes, huh?

Phoenix reminisces on when they were kids. Leona’s parents were both lawyers (they’re both lawyers) and sometimes they would be like lawyers with her when she was a kid. This inspired her to also become a lawyer after their tragic death of Sickness. They never specify what the sickness is that caused two people who must be relatively young to die while Leona was in her early twenties at the latest. It may be whatever sickness claimed Leona’s life later. Sad Woman Disease. (Sad Man Disease for her father, I guess?)

Phoenix also talks about why he’s becoming a lawyer.

Phoenix: Watching you chase your dream inspired me to become a lawyer too.

So, it’s not “my childhood friend looked sad in a newspaper” because I guess that makes no sense or is too gay or something. But this is another important piece of Phoenix characterization. His entire life so far has been focused around Leona. They’ve been friends since they were kids, and then Phoenix decided to become a lawyer solely because Leona was becoming a lawyer. Not even to try and get back into contact with her after she moved away or anything; just because he’s so obsessed with her that he wants to have the same career as her, then they can run a Mom & Pop Law Firm or something, years in the future, after years of happy marriage and a few children or like whatever the hell.

Well, there’s a few steps they’ll need to get to that. At this point Phoenix still hasn’t confessed his feelings for Leona. He does so here, on this beach.

Leona tries to protest.

Leona: But I’m pushy, selfish, and only care about my goals... You’d get fed up with me.

Phoenix: That’s what I’ve always admired about you. That’s who I’ve been chasing all these years. That’s the only person... I love.

Sooo, Phoenix, your type is pushy selfish people who only care about their goals...? In the first, older lower-quality video translation it was “only care about my work”, too. Hm. Things to think about.

They sing a little duet together. Then we go back to present-day of what’s technically still a flashback. Whatever. Murder is happening.

Back To The Murder

So some plot things to establish: Leona is the legal counsel of Governor Miller, who is running for president in the AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. After the flashback so that Phoenix has some time to change clothes, they show an interview of him talking about the murder.

Governor Miller: I vow to forge a peaceful country with my own two hands, and to prepare myself for whatever may lie ahead.

Reporters: Through thick and thin, he’s a friend of the people!

The Takarazuka musicals are not very good at hiding their killers.

Phoenix: Oh yeah... It’s almost time for the presidential election, isn’t it?

NEVER FORGET, WRIGHT. THIS IS AMERICA. LAND OF THE FREE! god what even was that line.

Anyways, we meet Gumshoe, who is incompetent once again. Maya runs around the crime scene, picks up the murder weapon, puts her fingerprints all over everything, moves things around, all while Phoenix is like “lol get a load of the world’s stupidest girl” or whatever. But who cares about that.

It’s time to get to the only valid part of this musical.

Edgeworth’s Gay Little Villain Solo

You may have seen this one before.

Edgeworth arrives, but not really. It’s like Phoenix heard Edgeworth was prosecuting and immediately entered a dream-like state, where Edgeworth is heralded by the sound of trumpets in Great Revival. He’s played by a different actress than in the other two musicals, since I think she retired in between the six or so months from this musical to the second. She still plays the role well, though, or as well as can be when you’re written in an ace attorney Takarazuka musical.

Shrouded in scarlet solitude... it’s Edgeworth.

Yes, those are six Edgeworths. Yes, they pick Phoenix up and carry him around and dance with him. Yes, it was probably not meant to be at all homoerotic.

He sings a song that’s called “My rule”. I only figured this out later, but it’s loosely based on a “catchphrase” of his in the Japanese version - in game 1 he says something along the lines of “All I can do is get every defendant declared guilty! So I make that my policy.” In DD in his dramatic anime introduction before the trial, he says “I intend to question the defendant with all I have. For that is a part of my creed.” “So I make that my policy” and “For that is a part of my creed”, to my understanding, are both translated from the same line, which I think is like, “sore ga watashi no ruru”, “That is my rule.” (If I’m wrong, please correct me.) In this song he sings about how he’ll reduce all criminals to ash and such, basically talks about his game 1 prosecuting strategy as “my rule”.

It’s very fun and probably if you want to only watch one number of this musical, it can be this one. It starts about 26:10 in the video I linked.

Once the musical number is done, Phoenix and Edgeworth stare at each other, and the background fades into the courtroom, so court begins. I feel like I should note that Phoenix has not picked up any evidence or talked to any witnesses in this investigation except for Gumshoe, since Maya just moved some things around and then Phoenix had some weird fever dream about Edgeworth which presumably took up the rest of the day.

The Trial, Day 1

Edgeworth: Consider it a prelude to the poignant Greek tragedy that’s about to unfold.

Maya: The real tragedy’s your pompous attitude!

Those are the only screenshots I took of this trial day. Here’s a summary, though:

The trial starts off with Leona confessing, Phoenix says “no I think she’s innocent”, and since ace attorney doesn’t care about the defendant’s wishes he’s allowed to proceed. For some reason Leona lets him do this without complaint.

Gumshoe is the first witness, he claims to have caught Leona red-handed at the scene of the crime, standing over the corpse. Phoenix tries to claim that since Gumshoe didn’t see Leona committing the crime, he didn’t actually catch her red-handed, to which Edgeworth responds “What do you think being caught red-handed means?”

Once Gumshoe is dismissed, Lotta takes the stand. She has a photo of the actual moment of the crime, where Leona is holding a knife in the air in front of the victim.

The Takarazuka musicals like to do this thing where the image is blurry and zoomed out, but then Phoenix will go “I’VE NOTICED A CONTRADICTION” and it zooms in really far as the resolution increases drastically in order to show you the contradiction that is impossible to spot for yourself, because they don’t want people figuring out the mystery in this musical based off of a video game where you have to solve the mystery yourself. Anyways Phoenix zooms in on this photo and sees that there’s blood on Leona’s hand, presumably before she stabbed the victim. How did it get there?

Edgeworth suggests the victim was stabbed multiple times. Phoenix says the autopsy report contradicts that. Edgeworth, uncharacteristically, does not update it to suit his argument.

Phoenix concludes that this photo is not showing the moment Leona stabbed the victim, but the moment Leona removed the knife! ... Which somehow casts doubt on her having been the one to stab the victim. Because as everyone knows, anyone wanting to kill someone would never remove a knife, it’s not like they’d bleed out faster that way, or anything.

And this whole contradiction is confusing because presumably if the victim was stabbed and then the knife was removed, they’d know that happened, because then the knife would not be found stuck in the victim’s body, since the victim was only stabbed once. So this shouldn’t be news to the prosecution that someone removed the knife after stabbing. But the investigation was headed by the most incompetent version of Gumshoe ever, so. sure. I guess no one knew.

That at least manages to extend the trial another day.

This Totally Has To Be Illegal

After the trial, Phoenix goes to talk to Governor Miller, aka Mr. Totally The Real Killer. Phoenix asks him why he decided to hire Leona as his legal advisor.

Basically, it’s because her parents were both renowned lawyers. Her father was a Chief Prosecutor, and her mother was a defense attorney. ... a prosecutor and a defense attorney couple... who does that remind us of...

Phoenix points out that just because her parents were good lawyers, it doesn’t mean she’d necessarily be one. Miller says that, sure, but she is actually really talented, and her law school marks were spectacular. Phoenix says “WHY WERE YOU LOOKING AT HER LAW SCHOOL MARKS”, like it’s somehow? suspicious? for a government official hiring legal counsel to look at their law school marks?

Apparently it IS suspicious because Governor Miller freaks out and asks if this is an interrogation. Before Phoenix can press much further, he gets a phone call, and leaves Phoenix alone in a big room.

So naturally Phoenix behaves like a fully grown adult running a law firm.

If all he did was sit in the chair, lift up a desk lamp, and poke his finger on a pen, that’s one thing. But then he leans over, OPENS THE GOVERNOR’S DESK DRAWER, and finds a knife that’s just sitting there casually. It looks like a butter knife. It’s not anything major. Maybe the dude just wanted to butter his toast?

I mean I know Phoenix will dig around in stuff whenever in the games, but he has no reason to suspect Governor Miller at all, much less dig through his drawer probably full of confidential government documents to lift up a knife that he thinks is suspicious. It’s not even covered in blood or anything?

Naturally Governor Miller’s assistant comes in just then, and Phoenix puts the knife. in his breast pocket.

bud. It may look like a butter knife, but putting knives up against your chest is not a great idea. Much less stealing a knife from a governor?

Well, in his panic, he accidentally knocks over a bunch of books on the desk. The governor’s assistant helps him pick them up, and they find a photo. Look a little familiar?

The photo has the assistant, the victim Robert Cole, Governor Miller, and the victim’s brother who died in an incident two years ago. He’s the “Neil Marshall” of this musical, and he died in what was essentially the SL-9 incident. Same general premise, except it occurred in the courthouse, and the names are different.

AND FINALLY WE REACH THE END OF ACT 1. They do a musical number here which is a weird sort of mashup of the main opening credits song, Edgeworth’s Villain Solo, and the love duet between Phoenix and Leona. They are all such different songs that it sounds a little weird.

ACT 2, FINALLY

The act begins on a sour note with Maya playing with the knife and showing off her characterization, which is one of the most infuriating Maya characterizations you’ll sometimes see around the fandom by people who don’t like Maya.

Maya: Let me whip up my special spirit channeler hamburgers!

sigh.

But then we’re saved (?) by the arrival of EDGEWORTH, who is presumably just here to chat. He asks Phoenix if he’s defending Leona in hopes of winning her back, then says to keep out of it, since it’s a very important case and he can’t understand the gravity of it.

Then Phoenix says this.

Phoenix: Would you be saying that if you were the one on trial? The defendant is in a dark prison, reaching out for hope... Can you imagine the loneliness and sorrow of being ostracized?

CAN YOU IMAGINE IT, EDGEWORTH? CAN YOU IMAGINE IF YOU WERE ON TRIAL AND I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO WOULD DEFEND YOU AND BELIEVED IN YOUR INNOCENCE??

Edgeworth responds to this by essentially rehashing his speech in Turnabout Sisters about how he needs to find all defendants guilty because he can’t guarantee their innocence and all that. Maya gets upset and leaves so that Phoenix and Edgeworth can talk about their childhood in private.

Phoenix once again complains about how people change since nine years old.

Phoenix then says that he has something Edgeworth doesn’t: the POWER TO BELIEVE! Then Maya comes in and tries to spike Edgeworth’s coffee, so he leaves.

The Class Trial

Phoenix explains a bit about Edgeworth and his backstory to Maya. Namely, the class trial. Phoenix was accused of stealing lunch money, Edgeworth stood up for him, but instead of Larry, Leona stood up for him. I guess Suzuki Kei thought “oh the class trial, if Leona stood up for him, it would be so romantic, because she’s a woman, and he’s a man”, or something like that.

Edgeworth wanted to become a Great Lawyer Like His Father! But then he turned cold as ice.

Phoenix: His father got too deeply involved in a case... and paid for it with his life. Edgeworth saw him murdered. He was never the same again. I bet he couldn’t forgive the criminal.

Yeah I bet he couldn’t ever forgive the person he thought killed his father all these years, Phoenix. I bet he really hates that person, Phoenix. I bet he has nightmares about that person killing his father or something, Phoenix.

Phoenix: He vanished, then returned without his mercy or compassion. He had become a monster. When he lost his father, he also lost the ability to believe in others.

So like... one of the most chilling things about this musical is that they never actually solve DL-6. This probably roughly takes place 15 years after DL-6, since they were about the same age when the class trial started, and at least Leona is 24 now. The next musical takes place three years from now, and in it, Edgeworth refers to von Karma as his mentor, implying he’s still around and doing things.

So, in addition to everything else going wrong with this musical, DL-6 still happens, but von Karma never frames Edgeworth for it fifteen years later. The statute of limitations runs out, and von Karma forever gets away with his crime. And Edgeworth has no idea.

What changes did they make to DL-6, though, you may ask? I’m desperate to know as well. In the third musical, which I’ve watched because I hate myself but am unable to fully understand because I don’t know much Japanese, there is a scene where Miles flashbacks to DL-6. It’s abstract, but he makes gun-throwing motions at Gregory, followed by a gunshot sound.

Therefore, in this musical’s internal canon, either Miles Edgeworth shot his father, or he believes he did for the rest of his life.

... moving on.

Phoenix: But he still has his humanity. It’s still there, deep down inside!

At least, if nothing else, Phoenix still believes in him. Even this Takarazuka Musical couldn’t touch that.

The Feenie Sweater

Right after this, Larry barges in, and Phoenix leaves him alone with Maya. The musical tries teasing Larry/Maya, but fortunately, Maya’s having none of it.

Maya: You’re barking up the wrong tree.

Props to this musical for not being as bad as it could have been.

After this, the two sit down on the couch, and Maya asks for more gossip on Phoenix and Leona. Larry launches into a story, which turns into a flashback that ends up being narrated by Phoenix halfway through. This one’s about Phoenix and Leona’s relationship.

This is an interesting line in here, “I’ll guide you to the future”, for it loosely referencing the sort of love ballad Phoenix sings with Lucia in the second musical which is about “I’ll take you to that radiant future”, and he later sings to the memory of Leona right around the time of his big spiral into despair.

I’m sorry if you haven’t read my other essay and just said “wait what” to what I just typed.

Leona was getting ready to move to New York to defend the weak “in the big city”. This is rather strange wording because it implies that California does not in fact have a big city. She says some things in her conversation with Phoenix that probably plant some of his later issues.

Leona: This is the first time we’ll be apart since we were kids.

Leona: We promised we’d always be together.

Leona: I’ll be waiting. Waiting for you to come to me.

Haha. Sure would be a shame... if something were to happen... and they wouldn’t be able to be together anymore...

So some dancers wearing black come in and take off their outer jackets, to symbolize the passage of time. They circle around Phoenix and Leona. In this, you can just barely see, Phoenix is wearing a pink sweater beneath his jacket.

“Oh,” I think to myself, “Is that the Feenie sweater? Are they including it here as a reference to the games?”

Then the dancers keep moving.

THAT IS NOT THE FEENIE SWEATER. That is a pink sweater with a sexily drawn woman on it.

This is the other half of the reason why I decided to go through with making this essay.

This is so incredibly funny to me. Suzuki Kei Who Has Played The Games Seven Times has seen the hand-knit bright pink sweater with a giant red heart on it seven times. The sweater Iris, Phoenix’s girlfriend, lovingly knit for him that he wears all the time even though it is one of the tackiest, cheesiest items of clothing to ever exist. And so, when the costume designers were designing the clothes for College Phoenix Wright, they asked themselves: “Should we include the Feenie sweater?”

and “NO,” someone must have shouted, “NO, we can NOT include the Feenie sweater, it is PINK and it has a HEART on it and it’s TOO GIRLY. Phoenix Wright is a MANLY MAN. He would not EVER wear something PINK with a HEART on it.”

“BUT,” someone else said, “it’s a REFERENCE to the original games, where he DID wear a pink sweater with a heart on it! We MUST include it to pander to the fans!”

“WAIT,” a third person interjected. “I have a BRILLIANT IDEA. We can keep the pink... But to make it VERY CLEAR he is a heterosexual, masculine male... we put a sexy woman on it.”

And Person Three Got A Raise.

Thank god we’re finally halfway done this musical.

We Just Have To Go On With Our Lives Now

There’s plot or something happening. Leona breaks up with Phoenix inexplicably over the phone. Probably because of that freaking sweater. Imagine wearing that. God.

Eventually we go back to Phoenix talking to Leona, and he asks about the Jack Lyon case, which is the rip-off version of the Joe Darke case. Leona is pretty cagey about it, but Phoenix proves that she was there in the gallery that day. Leona refuses to answer, claims again that she killed the victim in her case, and leaves.

This makes Phoenix sad, so he starts singing.

Phoenix: I want to bring you back! I believe in you.

If this sounds familiar, it’s the part where I started absolutely losing my mind in the second musical because this line had never shown up before then, I’d forgotten it was in this musical, and Phoenix was screaming it alone in a red room, so I thought he was like desperately resorting to a necromancy ritual in hopes of bringing Leona back to life.

Instead, this line actually has CONTEXT, though it does just end up enforcing my theory. This is Phoenix mourning what he used to have with Leona, wanting to bring the “old her” back, because he’s devastated that people sometimes change. There are several flashbacks of their college days where he’s wearing his Sexy Woman Sweater. He does succeed in winning her back at the end of this musical. Before she dies, of course.

Phoenix in musical 2 still believes that he can bring back what he used to have with Leona... even beyond death. That’s something affirmed by this musical. I’m very grateful to it for somehow managing to enforce my nonsensical theory.

Doctor Ema

After this, Phoenix returns to his office, and meets with someone new.

That’s right! Only now, halfway through the musical, do we actually get to meet the Ema-equivalent to Leona’s Lana-equivalent. Her name is Monica Clyde. She has little rainbow heart stickers on her briefcase, which is the closest thing this musical has to acknowledging that gay people exist.

But what does this little briefcase contain, you may ask? Scientific investigation tools? No.

A full surgical toolset. Because you never know when someone’ll get sick, or when someone will need an entire operation in front of you. I guess.

So yes, Monica Clyde is not a forensic scientist in training, but a doctor! She decided to become a doctor because of her parents, who passed away of The Sickness, and so became a doctor in order to save lives like theirs.

Once more this has much darker and deeper implications than the musical is even aware of, because Monica is so anxious about treating sick people that she carries a full surgical toolset around with her at all times, scared to lose someone like she lost her parents... and then sometime in the next three years, Leona, her big sister, is going to die.

Of what? The strange Sickness that claimed her parents? A car accident? A botched spur-of-the-moment surgery? Whatever it is, Monica was unable to save her, even when she’d been training her entire life for it.

Monica is not mentioned at all throughout the second musical. It’s as if she does not exist.

Because unlike Ema of Rise From The Ashes, Monica is not at the heart of this story. She is, primarily, a plot device here to make Leona not trust Phoenix so that he can angst about their relationship.

What a mess this world is.

The Trial, Part 2

Rather than try to prove Leona’s innocence, Phoenix wants to link the current case to not-SL-9, the Jack Lyon case. He does this by showing this picture.

Senator Cole, the victim, is in this picture. His younger brother whose name I’ve forgotten, the victim of not-SL-9, is also in this picture. They are brothers. It is apparently novel that they are in the same picture, and somehow makes their cases linked.

As well, Governor Miller is in the picture. I guess you could say like... Governor Miller’s legal counsel is the defendant, so that’s another link? Even though the Governor would presumably know a Senator, so this isn’t an unusual group. Right now Phoenix has absolutely nothing to prove that these two cases are linked other than “hey, these two victims are brothers”, but apparently it works. So they spend a lot of time talking about not-SL-9, since Leona has confessed to the murder on day 1 and there is absolutely nothing indicating that she can’t be immediately declared guilty.

They hid the fact that Monica was a hostage in this not-SL-9, meaning that some of the case records were forged. Here’s Edgeworth’s reaction when this comes out.

Edgeworth: This is an outrage! I’m the most influential prosecutor in America! There’s nothing I don’t know!

In RFTA, when Edgeworth learns he’d been using forged evidence to give a man the death penalty, he is devastated, his entire worldview is shaken, he sees himself as a monster who could end up becoming horribly corrupt if he isn’t stopped.

Musical Edgeworth goes “I DIDN’T KNOW SOMETHING???”

It’s certainly strange characterization, but I guess Edgeworth is further behind in his character arc than in RFTA, so... ugh. Fine.

Phoenix calls Monica out as a witness to prove she was involved in the case. This causes Leona to panic, and try to dismiss Phoenix as her attorney, like Lana in RFTA, but Edgeworth interjects to call Monica in anyways. He and Phoenix have a little moment.

Edgeworth: You said to believe in others. I suppose I’ll try believing in you. Try to keep up.

Phoenix: Edgeworth!

So Monica comes to the stand to testify. We get to see this picture of Monica being held hostage, and not-Joe-Darke’s incredible eyeliner.

Lots of it is very similar to the actual RFTA, except instead of the victim being stabbed on the knight with the giant knife, he’s instead stabbed with a regular old knife. Leona still refuses to admit to what really happened, until Edgeworth convinces her to believe in Phoenix.

Edgeworth: Your attorney is a runaway train with a one-track mind. Yet he placed all of his faith in you. Believe in him. You owe him that much.

Leona testifies, and says that when she found the victim, he was stabbed with a scalpel.

Here is where things get weird.

Scalpels Can’t Kill People

So basically earlier in this trial, they talk about how Leona knew that the knife that stabbed the victim was double-edged despite being buried in his chest. The judge questions if this means Leona killed him, but Phoenix is quick to say no, she was searched when she entered the courthouse and couldn’t have concealed a knife.

Yet, Monica was able to bring in her surgical toolkit which contains several sharp knives, scalpels, scissors, etc.

This is the first major contradiction.

Leona continues to say that when she found Monica, and the scalpel stabbed in the victim, she also ran into Governor Miller, who if you haven’t been able to tell yet is the Gant-equivalent of this musical. He offered to help her with the cover-up, etc.

The next bit goes a lot like RFTA. Phoenix accuses Governor Miller, who barges in, says Phoenix has the decisive evidence in his pocket. This is the “butter knife” that Phoenix took from his office when he dug around in confidential documents and stole it for no particular reason. It has Monica’s fingerprints on it! ... And Phoenix’s and Maya’s too probably because they were handling it without gloves, but they don’t mention that part.

Leona cries about how she shouldn’t have trusted Phoenix because he was apparently now blaming Monica, Monica looks terrified, she and Leona have some good sister moments but it’s not as good as it could be if the story was actually about Leona and Monica like how RFTA was about Lana and Ema. But Phoenix has the decisive piece of evidence that can turn this around.

It is this:

Phoenix: Scalpels are made for medical incisions, not stabbings. So how did it stab the victim?

...

... What?

So like. Yes, scalpels are made for medical incisions. Medical incisions often involve cutting through flesh, very easily. As a result, they are sharp. Extremely sharp. As in: their purpose is literally to stab people, very specifically.

Yes, they’re easier to control, so that surgeons don’t regularly stab people how they’re not supposed to be stabbed, but it’s not like, impossible to stab someone in a killing way with a scalpel? Admittedly, I have never tried to kill someone using a scalpel. And I do not have experience using a scalpel for surgeries because I am not a surgeon. But I’m pretty sure, if you take a sharp scalpel, and you stab someone in the chest with it with a reasonable amount of force... they die.

Like, is this a particular kind of scalpel that is not very sharp? Is the problem that the blade doesn’t match up with the initial wound? But even then, we don’t have the original unforged autopsy report or even a picture, so how would Phoenix know what the original wound looked like to say it didn’t match up? And even then why wouldn’t Phoenix say that instead of SCALPELS CAN’T STAB PEOPLE???

This is his decisive contradiction and it makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE TO ME!!!

Well Darn I Guess Scalpels Can’t Kill People

This is such a decisive piece of evidence, that scalpels can’t kill people, coming from the man who thought “caught red-handed” does not involve being caught standing over a corpse with blood on your hands, that it causes Governor Miller to confess.

Unlike Gant, who created the murder with Neil Marshall both to ensure that there was decisive evidence to convict Joe Darke, a serial killer who had not left any decisive evidence behind, and gain control over the prosecutor’s office in order to pull similar stunts to get criminals convicted using false evidence, Governor Miller does not have that as his motive. After all, he’s not a police officer. Instead, he ended up accidentally killing not-Joe-Darke, and then set up the incident in order to get Leona on his side. As her parents were both influential lawyers and very respectable, having her and her parents’ reputation on his side could help him become President of America Where This Takes Place.

So, let’s just take a moment to run over some of the things that made the original Rise From The Ashes great, in my opinion. Just for fun.

1 - The heart of the story between the Skye sisters. Lana closing off to protect Ema, Ema wanting to get through to her sister and get back to the way things used to be. Phoenix, in this story, is more of a bystander to this plotline rather than in the heart of it himself.

2 - Edgeworth’s Character Development. Basically RFTA creates an interesting transition between Turnabout Goodbyes and JFA. It causes Edgeworth to re-evaluate everything he knows about being a prosecutor. So quickly on the heels of Turnabout Goodbyes, it crushes the last bit of hope in him. It compares him to Gant, who also hates criminals, and forces him to wonder if his hatred of crime will one day lead to him being a criminal himself. He’s already convicted one person on forged evidence; how many others could there be?

3 - The Ends Justify The Means. ... wait come back, don’t leave. What I found neat about this case was also Gant’s motive. At one point he was presumably an honest person who hated crime and wanted to stop criminals. But over time in the police force, he became corrupted. He wanted to have all criminals convicted. So what do you do when you don’t have the evidence to convict them? Joe Darke was a serial killer who has killed several people and may have killed more if he’d gone free. The only way to stop and convict him was by using forged evidence. Other criminals could hide evidence to get away with their crimes, so people like Gant would make it up to catch them; but then when do you stop? What happens if there’s no evidence because someone is truly innocent? When does the line between “this person is a criminal and I want to stop them” and “I just want to convict everyone I’m dealing with” become blurred? This is also something he shares with Edgeworth and helps to advance his character.

All three of these things are either lessened or outright ignored in this musical. Leona and Monica’s story takes a backseat to Phoenix and Leona’s Love Story, with Monica only showing up halfway through, and mainly as an excuse as to why Leona is withdrawn. Edgeworth doesn’t seem to blame himself for the forged evidence he used, and doesn’t have a crisis questioning his morality over it. And Governor Miller’s motive is purely power. Unlike Gant, who would have become Chief of Police whether he solved SL-9 or not, Miller needed Leona to win the presidency. And instead of asking her to help him with his campaign like a normal person, he just blackmailed her instead.

... How do you play the games seven times and miss this much?

The Case Finally Ends

god. we’re almost there.

The case ends, Leona is declared not guilty but will still face trial for covering up murders and such. Probably less of a sentence than Lana because she was not involved in ongoing police corruption? Either way she’s dead in three years, so she’s got something a bit more concerning coming up.

She’s led away. Phoenix sings a bit about Leona before being interrupted by Edgeworth... who has something important to tell him.

Edgeworth: You awakened within me those once-cherished emotions I had discarded. I see visions of a distant, nostalgic past.

So basically this is the unnecessary feelings of the musical. Something along the lines of “seeing you again and fighting for my former ideals is making me question many things about myself.”

How does Phoenix respond?

Phoenix: Edgeworth... Try talking normally for a chance.

Sure, we were all thinking it, but that’s a little cold, Phoenix.

Edgeworth tries a smooth recovery.

Edgeworth: I don’t do... idle chit-chat.

This doesn’t accomplish much. So he leaves to allow Leona to visit with Phoenix alone. He’s got to go change for something more important coming up.

Leona and Phoenix decide that they’re going to get back together once Leona is done her sentence! They make a promise that is very funny if you know she’ll be dead in three years.

Phoenix: I’ll be waiting. For you.

There are a lot of hugs here, I’m not screencapping them all. There are also several moments where their faces get very close together and like, their nose brushes the other’s cheek or something, but they never actually kiss. Is it because the actresses weren’t comfortable with it (valid), or they thought kissing would be too much for the musical (sure, whatever), or since both characters are played by women the show staff did not want two women kissing on stage (probably the real answer)? I don’t like watching kisses, but I kept bracing myself for one and then it never happened, so.

Phoenix ends the main part of the musical with one last musical number starring my personal favourite piece:

Phoenix: I want to bring you back! I believe in you.

I like to think that at this point, this is present-day Phoenix, after finishing his reminiscing, still desperately wishing he could bring Leona back from death.

But alas, he cannot. And so, after one last daydream of them dancing together on the beaches of California, singing about their love, the musical ends.

Dance Time!

This starts at exactly the two hour mark, if you’re interested in watching what is, once again, one of the only fun parts of this musical.

Seriously, Edgeworth’s actress kills it here, when I first saw this I went “oh, this is why I saw so many people being gay for her on twitter.”

Edgeworth’s song is an encore of “My Rule”, so it’s lots of fun. Afterwards Phoenix gets another fun piece.

Then we get to the love ballad part, which I can probably overanalyze, I feel like I haven’t done enough ridiculous over-analyzing in this essay in comparison to the other.

Uhhh so the fog represents how Phoenix feels lost in this world without Leona. You can see it in the second screenshot separating the two of them, representing the barrier of death between the two of them. Idk it’s midnight I’m getting worn out from having to think about this musical for so long.

But his mourning over Leona’s death becomes even more apparent in the credits, where Phoenix sings that one line again:

Phoenix: I want to bring you back! I believe in you.

I’m not fixing that screenshot, I think it’s oddly fitting, in a way. That’s me right now.

Then at the very end, he sings this song.

Phoenix: I’ll spend... this eternal life... soaring through... the heavens!

Technically, this refers to his name Phoenix, but let’s dig a little deeper. He spends the rest of his life soaring through the heavens... the heavens that Leona went to after her untimely death, perhaps?

Overall, the musical becomes much more interesting when you just see it as a prequel to the second musical. This musical establishes many core concepts of Phoenix’s character: his refusal to believe in the concept of things changing, for one, and also his extreme dependency on Leona who he was never separated from since they were kids and where he based his entire life around her dreams and ideals. All he can think about is her. And in the end, he promises to wait for her in California.

Yet, to paraphrase Miles Edgeworth, all that is waiting for him is her death. Their dream of opening up a Mom & Pop Law Firm will never come true.

Thanks again for bearing with me even though this wasn’t as funny!

#ace attorney #phoenix wright the truth reborn #idk maybe someone wanted to know what the first musical was like without actually watching it?#my essays #my posts #i'm TIRED i'm going to BED goodNIGHT #this is less funny jokes and more actually criticizing the musical #because so much of this is like. wow. you really thought that was a good idea huh #just skip to the feenie sweater part honestly that's the funniest part of this musical

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taki118 · 4 years

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Go Watch the Venture Brothers

So just heard the complete and utter Bullshit news that Adult Swim has cancelled one of (if not the best shows) they have the Venture Bros. This series is one of those shows that for WHATEVER reason never got to the level of fandom Rick and Morty has even though they’ve been at the genre parody game longer and in my opinion better.

The series is about Rusty Venture former boy adventurer and failing super scientist who in an attempt to keep his head above water in debt goes around with his two boys Hank and Dean, and bodyguard Brock on misadventues while various legal archnemisis go after him, such as the Monarch.

So if you never watched or never heard of this 7 season series let me give you a break down on why you should,

1) Art Style & Animation

Venture bros is one of those rare Adult aimed animated series that that really truly tries to utilize their medium to the best of their abilities. Season 1 had like such a small budget and corners had to be cut so it can be a little hard to watch at times.

But with each passing season they get a little better, a little more fluid, go just a little harder and it truly feels rewarding to watch. Like seeing an artist you follow online improve over the years. Like they COULD have stayed with the choppy and stiff animation from season 1 it fit right in with its fellow adult animated shows but it didn’t. They strove for quality to have something that matched the story they were telling.

2) The Writing

Venture Bros has some of the tightest and consistently great writing of ANY serialized show I’ve seen, adult, animated or other wise. Wanna know why? Cause it’s all done by TWO people (save for like one ep each season where one other person is allowed to touch their baby). Yeah TWO people and they work their asses off every season to interject, humor, refrences, parody, plot and character development in equal measure.

3) Character Development

Um yes in case you were wondering that’s right an adult animated show has CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT that holds as the series goes on. Not to give spoilers but characters will go through changes in alignment, relationships will develop and change, some characters will go through negative arcs where they are straight up unbareable for a season before coming out the other side even better than they were before. There is no end of epsiode or even end of season reset. Characters, settings, and dynamics all change over the course of the show and it feels just so god damn good.

4) Story Development

Just like the characters the story of the Venture Bros grows and changes each season. Things that are set up even as early as season one are paid off as the series goes on. Like not to be that bitch but you know how RIck and Morty teases an overarching plot ALL THE TIME but like will often just spit in the face of fans hoping for more than like one episode a season addressing it? Yeahhhhhhh that doesnt happen here, fans are consistently rewarded for putting the time in to rewatch and really think about what happened in the series. Characters that are seen in the background or are just referenced by other characters will be brought in to be recurring characters, things that start off as a small detail or gag will be given larger relevance and each time they do this you get that “OH I remember that from last season! So thats what it was!” The writers WANT you to rewatch, they WANT you to analyze and they WANT you to theorize, and they give you a show that gives back the time you put in.

5) Parody & Reference

This series does a great thing with parody. They make real characters who are just as enjoyable as the characters they parody, they make story lines that both poke fun at the absurdity of the media but shows the writers love for it. So often parody and references are just used to mock the thing but with Venture Bros you feel the love and care so when you know the thing being parodied you can laugh but feel good about laughing cause they are never laughing at a thing maybe you cared for in your youth but rather laughing with it.

And it’s never just one thing. When they parody a thing its often layered with other things to make it even more unique. Scooby-Doo is overlayed with famous criminals, Laura Croft is mixed Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, GI Joe is given the look of the Village People and so on. They never go for the easy joke or reference. Hell theres an episode that starts with them reciting the lyrics to David Bowies Space Oddity for really no reason other than they could. They weave these things in naturally with their setting and characters so nothing feels out of place. Like if you dont catch a reference or parody you dont feel like “I think this isa reference to something?” like a LOT of things do not just adult animated shows. You arent taken out of the moment cause it all feels so natural.

6) The Characters

God damn these characters, I could go on for hours about these characters. From main to one off these are some of the most likeable characters you can find. I mean it when I say I can’t think of a single character I wish they had cut cause they are all so well created. Even the ones I hate i have fun hating cause they were made to be that way. I’ll be good though I’ll only talk about my absolute top faves.

- The Monarchs

You ever sit and wish villain couples could have functional healthy relationships? Well look no further than Malcom Fitzcarraldo aka The Monarch and Dr. Shelia Girlfriend (yes that is her last name). The Monarch is a high strung impulsive saturday morning cartoon villain whos tendency to over react is only matched by his unspecified hatred of Dr. Venture. And Dr. G is his nonsense partner in crime who will cut a bitch if they don’t play by their admittedly weird rules. Both characters are great on their own but are better together. Though that doesnt mean they always get along. Like a real couple they have their ups and downs they fight, break up, make-up and grow stronger in their relationship with each season.

- Shore Leave

Ok ok so I want you to imagine James Bond, mixed with GI Joe simmering in a cocktail of the most flamboyant gay men you have ever seen and you have one of my favorite gay characters/characters in general. Shore Leave is a member of OSI (the shows SHEILD/GI Joe parody organization) he’s loud, brash, flippant, sassy and highly competent at his job loving every second of getting to beat bad guys down within an inch of their life. I love seeing him play off the stoic Brock and the two have this great brotherly dynamic that’s never called into question. He also gets to have a very cute romance with Al the Alchemist (who is also great). I could talk about this man all day.

- Dr. Rusty Venture

They did such a good job with this man. He’s a self serving, sexist, perverted, whinny, self important asshole and yet you feel pity and genuine sympathy for him and want him to succeed. You can see how Dr. V was given a raw deal by his father who seemed to care more about his adventures than his sons well being and how this molded him into the bitter man he is today, but on the flip side you can see where he chose to use that as a crutch for his worst behaviors and impulses. Seeing him slowly grow and change and be an actual good father to his boys while all the while still be a giant dick is actually really great.

- Dr. Byron Orpheus

Ahhhhh Dr. Orpheus part Dr. Strange Parody part busybody stay at home dad, he’s just such a delight. Dr. Orpheus is a divorcee, with an unfulfilling job of maintaining order to the cosmos (which isnt as hard as one might think), and uses his magical ablities in ways most of us would (ie menial tasks and home chores). Overly dramatic and affectionate Dr. O is a delight whenever he appears, but he’s at his best around his daughter and old friends The Order of the Triad.

Again I can go on but all these characters ranging from main to recurring are crafted with the utmost care for you to want to see them succeed or fail, to see them again even if you know it’ll never happen, and want them to cross paths with other characters.

The Venture Bros is one of those series that I will ALWAYS recommend even to the pickiest of humor tastes. But if you don’t believe its as good as I said or don’t think the concept is to your tastes I’ll recommend a few eps that I think best show off the base idea of the series without giving much away. In terms of plot and spoilers, though somethings wont make a lot of sense.

- S1 ep10 "Tag Sale – You're It!" - Dr. V is having a yard sale so of course all manner of costumed weirdos show up. - S2 ep5 "Twenty Years to Midnight" - basically a fetch quest around the world to save the planet with daddy issues - S3 ep2 "The Doctor Is Sin" - Again daddy issues but with one of the best recurring characters and a great showcase of the series deeper emotional plots - S4 ep6 "Self-Medication" - Really embraces the parody as Rusty goes to a former boy adventurer support group. Anyway the show is 7 seasons with 80 episodes, please go watch it. I will never forgive @adultswim for cancelling what was to be their final season. And in closing GO TEAM VENTURE!

#venture bros #the venture bros #venture brothers #adultswim #adult animated shows #animated shows #animation #go watch this show #go watch #adult animation

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bounce-a-coin-off-your-witcher · 4 years

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shelter me from winter’s bite

Everyone’s doing a hypothermia fic so I figured I may as well contribute. It’s one of my favorite tropes.

title taken from Brian Czyzyk’s poem “Hoarfrost” (he’s my favorite young queer poet and you should check him out).

tw: hypothermia, angst with a happy ending, whump with a happy ending

---

“Do you always have to be so damnably loud?” Geralt growls, glaring at Jaskier from across the small room.

“My apologies for existing,” the bard snaps back. He’d only been rearranging his pack, looking for something reasonably clean to sleep in while his clothes were laundered by the innkeeper’s lovely wife. “I’ll try to do so more quietly from now on, good sir.”

Geralt huffs out a breath in passive-aggressive annoyance and Jaskier bristles.

“Oh well, then. C’mon witcher, I know you want to say it!”

“Say what?” Geralt asks. His voice is low and threatening. He’s ready to play the game and by god he’s going to win this time.

“It’s practically your motto at this point,” the bard hisses through his teeth, angry and bitter and tired. Geralt sees victory. Sees some peace and quiet on the horizon. “Say it!”

Geralt does as he’s told, like any good witcher would: “Fuck off, bard.”

“There it is!” Jaskier laughs joylessly, throwing up his hands. He pulls on his doublet and boots and heads for the door. “If you want me gone so badly, Geralt, then I will go. I’ll get out of your lovely white hair and leave you to mope in peace.”

“Fucking finally,” the witcher snarls, turning away. He doesn’t see the genuine hurt in Jaskier’s blue eyes as the bard quietly closes the door rather than slamming it. He doesn’t hear the quiet sob that rips its way out of Jaskier’s throat as he stands very still, shocked and suddenly exhausted all the way to his bones. He doesn’t smell the salt of his bard’s tears as he slips silently down the hallway and out into the late autumn night. He doesn’t notice the snow starting to pile up on the windowsill ahead of season.

He’s too busy being a self-flagellating moron to notice any of that.

---

Geralt is woken in the middle of the night by a commotion downstairs. He can hear several loud, panicked heartbeats and one very quiet, very slow heartbeat beneath all of those; it’s achingly familiar but the half-asleep witcher can’t quite call its source to mind. Geralt listens as the innkeeper barks out a series of sharp orders: “Meredith, you get to the kitchen and make some strong black tea! Florence, fetch a pail of warm water and two or three towels from the laundry. Josiah you lazy lout, get into the attic and fetch some blankets! The poor lad has gone blue all over!”

The witcher peers into the hallway and catches the skinny stable hand, Josiah, racing for the attic staircase. “What’s going on?”

“A farmer from the next town over was on his way over to help a friend’s sow give calf and he found-” the lad pauses to suck in a great gulp of air and launches off again “-and he found that friend of yours lying in a snowbank, muttering nonsense and shivering like a leaf. The poor fool didn’t have a cloak on him or anything, just a doublet and walking boots! He’s near-dead!”

Geralt curses and makes for the stairs, taking them two at a time until he reaches the main floor. There are voices coming from the kitchen and he follows them as if in a dream, his feet moving without aid of his conscious mind. “Jaskier? Is it the bard, Jaskier?”

“Are you the great brute what kicked him out?” the innkeeper’s wife asks, crossing her arms over her ample chest and narrowing her eyes. Geralt falters.

“No, he- he left on his own, in a huff.”

“Wonder who could have started the huff,” the woman rolls her eyes. This isn’t about his status as a witcher, Geralt knows; this eye roll was made by a woman who knows a lovers’ quarrel when she sees one. Except that this stupid little spat might have cost Jaskier his life.

“Where is he? May I see him, goodwife?”

The woman points to a table in the corner, which has been cleared of cooking implements and cushioned with a heavy bearskin. Jaskier lies atop the brown fur, his skin frighteningly pale, his lips and fingers tinted a slight blue. Geralt rushes to his side and takes one of the bard’s stiff hands in his own. He brushes a stray lock of brown hair from Jaskier’s forehead and nearly recoils in shock from the temperature of his skin. Even colder than his hands, which are already dangerously frigid. If Jaskier cannot play his lute-

Geralt doesn’t even allow himself to finish the thought. Instead he works on rubbing small, careful circles onto the back of the bard’s hands with his thumbs, warming the skin in tiny increments: “Shh, you’re safe. I won’t let you go.”

The bard remains unmoving, heartbeat fluttering weakly, lungs barely drawing breath; Geralt fights back an overwhelming sense of panic, trying to recall whatever training he’d received at Kaer Morhen concerning freezing humans.

“Do you mind if I take him upstairs and tend to him myself?” the witcher asks.

“Can you take care of him?” the innkeeper’s wife replies.

Geralt bows his head, shame licking like flames up and down his bent spine, and nods. “Yes, Ma’am. I have dry clothes for him in our room and I was trained extensively for emergency situations such as this, all witchers are.”

“Alright,” she narrows her eyes. “But he’d best be alive come morning.”

“I’ll happily turn myself over to the village elders to be dealt with accordingly should the bard come to any harm,” he vows. Her eyes widen minutely and he can read the surprise in her body language, but she remains relatively calm.

“Any further harm, rather. Alright, then. I’ll have my husband and the girls bring those supplies up to your room for him. We’ll be glad to go back to sleep.”

“Thank you for your kindness,” Geralt bows formally. She blushes despite her irritation with him and waves him away.

“Take your bard and go, witcher, before I change my mind and spend all night caring for him myself out of motherly pity. Go.”

Geralt hefts Jaskier into his arms, heavy bearskin blanket and all, and hurries up the stairs to his room. He will not let Jaskier come to any further harm. Not by his hand. Not by his word. Never again.

---

Back in their room, Geralt quickly undresses the shivering human, peeling away what few damp layers there are with growing disappointment. Jaskier hadn’t been prepared for a walk in the snow at all! Although, to be fair, it hadn’t seemed that cold earlier in the evening and the snow had been sudden and heavy.

He wipes Jaskier down with a warm cloth and slips one of his own clean shirts over the bard’s head. He tries not to let his gaze linger on the way Jaskier’s shoulders don’t quite fill out the dark material. Or on the way his dark, wiry chest hair peeks out through the open laces at his throat. The witcher quickly shuffles him into clean smallclothes and wraps him in a thick wool blanket.

They sit curled before the fire and Geralt holds Jaskier against his chest. He hums with his voice like gravel, grating out one note after the other in some attempt to soothe the bard’s aching body. Jaskier shivers and shakes violently in the witcher’s strong embrace, his eyes clenched shut with the cramps that wrack his frame as his muscles return to their normal temperature. Geralt feels like he’s holding a porcelain doll and keeps his grip deliberately loose, tight enough to comfort but not restrain.

“G-Geralt,” he groans. “Hold me, please.”

The witcher squeezes his arms more confidently around the bard’s middle, burying his face in Jaskier’s soft hair and breathing deeply. The warmth that usually emanates from his busy human body is gone and his chamomile-honey scent is buried beneath a layer of damp cold; it feels wrong. Terribly wrong. Geralt murmurs against his temple, begging the younger man’s forgiveness: “I’m so sorry, Jaskier. Gods, I’m so sorry. Will you ever be able to forgive me? I’m a fool, you know. I’m a fool witcher who never says anything important until it’s too late. I’m so incredibly sorry, my love.”

“This is a very good dream,” the bard sighs, smiling despite the pain. His eyes open, bleary and addled. “Like I was having in the woods, but better.”

Geralt raises an eyebrow and Jaskier seems to understand the unspoken question, even in his current sorry state.

“The real Geralt would never be so gentle with me, dear heart. You must be a dream, sent to me on my deathbed to ease my passage into the afterlife. There’s no other explanation for your sudden displays of tenderness.”

“It’s... It’s really me,” Geralt affirms. He runs his hand up and down the length of Jaskier’s spine, “I’m here, Jaskier. Can you ever forgive me for being so stupid?”

“I forgive you for being stupid ever other day, dear witcher. It is of no consequence to me.”

“It almost was,” Geralt frowns. “I nearly- I almost-”

Jaskier’s arm raises weakly and his too-chilly hand presses to Geralt’s cheek. “I shouldn’t have stormed off like an idiot. I shouldn’t have kept picking the fight. We both fucked up, alright? What matters is our second chance. We got to have one, Geralt.”

“Hmm.”

“Am I wearing your shirt?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Yours were all being laundered and this one was clean and it had been in my pack near the fire so it was already warm and-”

“Did you take care of me all night?”

“Hmm.” Geralt sighs after his hum and glances away for a moment. “What did you mean about... about the dream in the woods?”

“Oh. Well, when I was very cold and things were hazy and slow, I dreamed that you were there with me. Everything got very fuzzy and warm for a little bit, and when it was warm you were holding me like this and giving me little kisses. It was... nice. Even though I knew I was dying because you were being so soft, so considerate; saying things to me you’d never say out loud in real life.”

“I love you, Jaskier. I will try my best not to lose my temper needlessly,” the witcher swears. “You don’t deserve it.”

“Can we still cuddle like this?” Jaskier asks, leaning his weigth against Geralt’s firm chest. “It’s so nice to be held.”

“Of course. Anything you want. I’m not going to waste my second chance by treating you poorly. Not for another second, my beloved bard.”

“B-beloved?”

“Hmm.”

“Oh, well then I’m definitely still dreaming.”

Geralt lifts Jaskier into his arms and carries him over to the bed, which is piled high with their extra blankets. He tucks Jaskier into the nest against the wall and lays along the outside of the mattress. He presses his lips to the bard’s, reveling in Jaskier’s returning warmth, and smiles. “I’ll prove it’s not a dream. Every day.”

“Sounds nice,” Jaskier yawns, snuggling into the witcher’s arms and settling down to sleep.

“It will be.”

#geraskier #hypothermia #getting together #bouncey's endless getting together fics #geraskier fic #geraskier fluff #whump with a happy ending #fluff with a happy ending #geralt #jaskier #jaskier whump #jaskier gets hypothermia #caring geralt #soft geralt #winter fics #geraskier winter fics

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absolutebl · 3 years

Text

This Week in BL

May 2021 Wk 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Close Friend Ep 6 fin: (Imagine You/KimmonCopter) - Fan gets a VR of his idol, they fall in love, but does it transfer to reality? A unique story and great casting of Kim & Cop into roles that stretched both actors. My favorite of the series and a good closer. Close Friend as a whole is so uneven I can’t recommend it, but individual episodes (3 MaxNat, 5 JimmyTommy, 6 KimCop) are okay.

Top Secret Together Ep 3 - no subs as yet but I still found it enjoyable. I like this series, it’s quiet. Sure, the only really unique touches are the office setting and the gay advice dads, but honestly I’LL TAKE IT. Of course my favorite couple is the hazer + freshie back at uni. What can I say? I’m a sucker for the old OLD tropes. (Should I just do a SOTUS+S rewatch this weekend to get it out of my system?)

Y-Destiny Ep 9 - Look, I’m just not a fan of the rake archetype BUT my favorite combo for this is another player, and BL almost never does that. But ta da! Y-D wins with f-buds + high heat pulp (well I suppose this is university-set Cheewin). I don’t love honest-gay messy in a long haul series (Friendzone... shudder) but I don’t mind it in short form. So I think this may be my favorite installment in this series so far.

Fish Upon The Sky Ep 8 - *big fat sigh* I thought they were going to redeem Pi by having him be genuinely nice to Meen, but no it was all to do with a dumb pin. Even though he suffers from crazy stalking in this ep, I still don’t like Pi but I’m TOTALLY on his side. Is FUTS taking us on a light weight The Effect journey? Because at this juncture I think I’d prefer that.

Nitiman Ep 4 - honestly it’s like Nitiman is vested in showing FOTS exactly what it’s doing wrong. Both shows introduced faen fatales this week. But Nitiman did theirs with a sympathetic character, genuine interest on both sides, bisexual confusion, and sweetness. In every way the opposite of (and superior to) FOTS. Even claiming, outing, and stalker characters are happening but treated differently. It’s like parallel universes. Not sure how I feel about the ending kiss though. Still, this is my favorite currently airing show. I look forward to @heretherebedork explaining to me my own feelings and why I want to forgive Bbomb the kiss but not Mork for anything. Since I’m evidently morally hypocritically confused.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Love is Science? (Taiwan) Ep 10 (BL subplot) - Taiwan is experiencing a C19 surge right now so this series will be delayed at least 20 days.

Be Loved in House: I Do (Taiwan) Ep 3 - dropped with subs thank heavens, all the usual tropes when you pair grumpy + tsundere: challenges, bets, crashing into beds, veiled threats... oh my! Gay boys in stripped sweaters giving advice in cafes is my new favorite thing. It’s the BL version of the “bartender is my psyche” trope. Still finding the boss character creepy. About Hank Wang (plays Shi Lei) anyone else obsessed with his sanpaku eyes? Just me? Fair. Also he keeps reminding me of Pluem Purim, I have no idea why. Something in the mannerisms, I think. They don’t really look alike. (This show may also be delayed.)

My Lascivious Boss (Vietnam) Ep 8 - continues to be good, we now have 2 faen fatales, blackmail, worried friends, and the secret identity slowly devolving. Looks like we get at least two more episodes and could be as many as 12? Very much enjoying this show.

Most Peaceful Place 2 (Vietnam) Ep 3 (AKA 6) fin - it was fine, they always rush the ending a bit in Vietnamese BL. I found the first season much stronger than this second one over all. But since they aired in the same year and there’s only six total I feel like they should be judged as a whole. So I guess I’ll say, RECOMMENDED with serious pacing issues and some plot drag particularly in the second half.

Gossip

The cast of Until We Meet Again met together, ostensibly for their own amusement but speculation is that it has something to do with Between Us AKA Hemp Rope.

Breaking News

Singto’s next starring role BL got announced Paint With Love. Between him and Ohm, they seem to be attempting to corner the market. I’m in favor. Singto plays Met, a wedding organizer, who hires Phap, a poor artist, to work on a wedding painting. Phap messes something up and ends up having to work for Med on a more permanent basis. Yet another office set BL from Thailand, following in Japan and Taiwan’s well suited footsteps... we hope. Phap is played by Tae (the original Forth in 2 Moons). No side dishes announced as yet.

Pornographer Playback is airing, the third in the series from Japan (first 2 = The Pornographer AKA The Novelist & Mood Indigo). Not recommended unless you want non-BL gay cinema with high heat, and don’t mind the mess Japan always doles out to go with it. Such as: morally flexible characters, crass manipulation, gaslighting, cheating, seduction of a minor, so much smoking, het porn, and ambiguous, sad, or depressing endings. Part one of this final installment has dropped, part two is not yet available. No subs (even if they say they have them, they’re autiogen nonsense.)

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International accessibility reasons.

Things are looking dire. What will we do with our lives?

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

#asian bl #thaibl #thai bl #Top Secret Together #Y-Destiny #close friend the series #Close Friend #Fish Upon The Sky #Nitiman #taiwanese bl #taiwanese drama #Be Loved in House: I Do #Love is Science?#vietnamese bl #Most Peaceful Place 2 #My Lascivious Boss #this week in bl #epiode recaps #Paint With Love

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awritingtree · 4 years

Text

Never Enough (4/7)

Sirius Black x daughter!reader

Summary: In the previous chapter, Y/N Black saved her father from death. What is the aftermath of the Department of Mysteries?

Words: 3.3k

Warnings: mentions of injury, mentions of violence, hospital, medical stuff, mentions of death, sadness, self-deprecation thoughts

A/N: You have @heloisedaphnebrightmore to thank. She’s the reason I decided not to end the series here 😂 But I am so excited for all of you to read this. GAH

Also if you want, LISTEN TO THIS SONG as you read on repeat. I swear it makes it so much better. I think of the song as Sirius’ POV. Start it at the point where I've put **

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ofCZObsnOo

Series Masterlist

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

It had been two weeks since Harry Potter and his friends had broken into the Ministry of Magic. Two weeks since the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. Two weeks since all twelve Death Eaters, except Bellatrix Lestrange, were captured and sent to Azkaban. Two weeks since the Ministry witnessed the return of Lord Voldemort. Two weeks since Umbridge was removed from Hogwarts and Dumbledore was reinstated as Headmaster. Two weeks during which Cornelius Fudge started to face backlash, ultimately stepping back as Minister of Magic. One week since it was decided that Sirius Black would be given a fair and just retrial for his ‘crimes’.

It had been two weeks since Y/N Black was admitted to St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Two weeks since Y/N Black had saved her father, Sirius Black, from death.

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

“What are you doing here!?” Ted Tonks glowered.

Sirius glanced away from Y/N, seeming to just realize that there were other people in the room.

“I’m here to see my daughter, Ted,” he spoke, confused at the hostile manner he was addressed in.

“Really? One could have never known,” Ted scoffed back.

Sirius’ eyebrows furrowed in irritation. He didn’t understand why Ted had such a problem with him visiting his own daughter, his own blood.

Andromeda placed a hand on her husband’s shoulder, “Calm down, dear.”

“Calm down, Andromeda!? I will not calm down! This man is the reason our baby girl has been hurting these past few years. He’s the reason she questions her worth as a human being. He’s the reason she cried all summer. He’s the reason she’s here in the first place!”

Sirius snapped, “Your baby girl? She’s my daughter!”

“Of course that’s all you’d get out of this. I ought to-”

“What is going on!?” Molly shrieked at the scene in front of her. Sirius and Ted were almost at each other’s throats, wands out ready to throw curses.

“Come on, let’s get you some fresh air,” Andromeda softly said as she dragged Ted away, but not before throwing a nasty look towards her cousin.

Sirius continued to glare in their direction until they disappeared.

“Can you believe them? Just because they’ve taken care of Y/N when I went to Azkaban doesn’t mean she miraculously becomes their daughter,” he huffed.

Tonks looked at Sirius disapprovingly, “She might as well be.”

Sirius watched Tonks storm out, turning around to see Remus, Molly and Arthur looking at him disapprovingly.

“They’ve taken care of her since she was a baby as one of their own. They’ve watched her grow up. Instead of feeling jealous, you should be grateful to them. If it wasn’t for Andromeda and Ted, she would’ve surely been sent to live with the Malfoys.”

Sirius grimaced at the thought of his daughter being raised by such vile people. He sighed before settling down on the chair next to Y/N’s bed. He gingerly grabbed her hand to hold in between both of his.

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

Y/N laid in the bed, bandages wrapped around her head and various parts of her body. The bruises inflicted due to the Cruciatus Curse were visible, exposed for all to see. Her body twitched occasionally, an aftermath of the curse and head trauma. The Healers didn’t know if this twitch would become permanent or if it was a temporary thing; only time would tell.

“She hit her head pretty hard. Twice from what we've been told. That doesn’t include the hits she took to her head and other parts of her body from the stone surroundings when she was being tortured by the Cruciatus Curse. There was some internal bleeding that we’ve managed to fix. But all of that blunt trauma damaged her brain.”

“The twitches… will they…?”

“We don’t know the full extent of her injuries. There is only so much we can tell while she is unconscious. We can think about doing anything further only after she is no longer unconscious. We’ve done all we can for now.”

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

Ted and Andromeda walked in to see Sirius sitting next to Y/N’s bed. They paused in front of the bed as he looked up. All three of them stared at each other tensely before Andromeda and Ted moved to sit on the other side of the bed. Sirius watched Andromeda run a hand through Y/N’s black hair, as a mother would. He watched as she untangled her hair and proceeded to braid it to her side, with tears brimming her eyes. The sight of Y/N - the girl who she always felt was her daughter - bandaged, bruised and twitching seemed to start the waterworks. She sobbed into Ted’s chest as he collected his wife in his hands. He held her tightly to himself, trying to keep himself together for her sake. He couldn’t break down now, he needed to be brave for her. He needed to be brave for Y/N.

Sirius watched his cousin being led away by her husband. It was only when they were no longer in sight did he allow his own tears to flow.

**Sirius didn’t regret anything in life, but this was one of those rare moments when he did. His biggest regret was the way he treated his own daughter.

Sirius sat there well into the night, guilt-ridden. It was his fault for her being here at St. Mungo’s. It was his fault for being such a bad father. It was his fault that his daughter had grown up with his cousin, had a parental relationship with someone who wasn’t him. It was his fault for not escaping earlier, or not going to look for her after. His fault for not trying to build a relationship with her once he escaped.

Truth be told he was scared; scared that he’d end up being like his father, scared that she would end up like his family. It was not justified; he knew it wasn’t. It shouldn't have mattered to him that she was a Slytherin, he shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. He didn’t know her; he didn’t even try to get to know her. Sirius knew what he did was wrong. If Lily was alive, she surely would’ve beaten some sense into him. He could just imagine his brother and sister-in-law chastising him for his decisions. Sirius had made too many mistakes; mistakes he was now paying dearly for. He let his own fears and assumptions be his and Y/N’s downfall. Now, she couldn’t even bear to live in the same house with him. He had royally screwed up and he knew it.

Sirius wished he could unsay all that he had spoken. She was his daughter and even though they had some bad blood between them, he hoped she would give him another chance. He hoped she would give him a one-in-a-million chance because he wanted to build their relationship back up again. He wanted a chance to get to know his daughter, and for her to get to know him. The probability of any of it happening was extremely low but he would take those odds.

Sirius wanted a chance to right his wrongs, show how sorry he was. But he couldn’t because she was here, unconscious and gravely injured at St. Mungo’s, because of him.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me,” Sirius sobbed over and over again to an unconscious Y/N through the night until he fell asleep from exhaustion.

“I swear I’ll be better.”

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

Three weeks after the battle, Remus walked over to Y/N’s bed at St. Mungo’s. Sirius was sleeping on a chair next to Y/N’s bed, his head resting on her bed. Her hand had found its way into his hair, holding onto it lightly in a fist. Remus was instantly taken back to a fond memory when she was no older than one and half years old.

Remus walked into the apartment of Sirius Black. He carefully made his way through the corridor, to the living room. As he got closer, the sound of adorable babbles filled his ears. Baby toys littered the floor, a miniature toy broom, stuffed toys, dolls, and many other things. But Remus took no notice of the mess as he could only pay attention to the most heartwarming sight he’d ever seen in his entire life.

There was baby Y/N sitting on the sofa in a blush-coloured onesie. Her bright grey eyes were shining with happiness, a familiar twinkle of mischief already visible. Near her tiny legs, that were kicking in a small jagged motion, was Sirius laying on the sofa. He was facing the ceiling, his legs draped over the arm of the sofa. He was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and a plain old white t-shirt stained with food; no doubt from Y/N being picky and not eating her food. One of Y/N’s tiny hands was bunched up in Sirius’ shoulder-length black curly hair whilst the other petted his head as best as a one-year-old could. Sirius lay with his eyes shut. The affectionate smile on his face giving away that he was indeed listening to the nonsensical babbling of his daughter.

The sight of you both right now reminded him of the good old days. Remus dearly missed those days, when things seemed much simpler and happier - when James and Lily were alive.

“He’s been here since yesterday, refuses to leave her alone for even a moment. Dad tried kicking him out again, but he wouldn't budge.”

Remus turned around to look at Tonks.

“He has always cared for her greatly.”

“He’s never done a good job of showing it though has he? But now that she’s here, injured,” she said, bitterly.

Remus remained silent, pursing his lips together. He didn’t have any argument to defend his best friend. He couldn’t even deny what she had said, they had every reason to resent him and his actions.

Remus stepped up to the bed to shake Sirius awake.

“Padfoot. Wake up. It’s morning, we have to go. We can’t be late.”

Sirius woke up groaning. He carefully removed Y/N’s clutch on his hair before sitting up and rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms.

“What time is it?” he asked groggily.

“Your trail starts in an hour. You need to leave now if you want to shower and change into something else to look more presentable.”

“Right, of course,” Sirius said. He got up and leaned over Y/N, brushing a stray strand of her hair out of her face.

“I’ll be right back, my baby girl. I love you,” he whispered, a loving look on his face. Though, his eyes were swimming with regret at the sight of his daughter laying there injured all because of him.

He pressed a delicate kiss to her forehead trying not to hurt her any more than he already did before hastily making his way out, not sparing anyone a glance.

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

Sirius marched back to St. Mungo’s, a slight skip in his steps and a wide grin on his face. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning. However, the grin dropped right off when his eyes fell upon the utter chaos ongoing around the room he was heading towards. Healers were rushing in and out urgently. Sirius started to panic, fearing something had happened to Y/N. His eyes moved around the hall to look for someone, anyone. His eyes fell on Ted and Andromeda, the latter sobbing. Ted was unable to hold his tears back as well.

“What’s happening? What’s going on?” Sirius asked as soon as he reached them.

Andromeda sobbed out louder at his questions.

The sound of a bed being wheeled on the floor drew his attention towards the door. Sirius felt his heart drop to his stomach. There was Y/N, her body twitching and trembling. He could see dark red blood staining the back of her bandage and pillow as her head moved around.

“We’ll have to use the body-bind curse,” he heard one of the Healers say as they passed by him in a hurry.

Sirius did not realize that he was trembling, tears streaming down his face, until Y/N and the Healers disappeared around the corner.

“She- we don’t know what happened. She was fine one minute and the n- next… She started twitching and thrashing around and we didn’t know what to do,” Ted informed Sirius in a hoarse voice.

Sirius, Ted and Andromeda sat in the waiting room for what seemed like hours, awaiting any news from the Healers. Andromeda, exhausting herself from all the crying, had fallen asleep on one of the chairs, cuddled up to her husband’s side. Ted’s leg kept shaking, moving up and down. He was becoming restless; it had been too long since the incident and they still hadn’t received any word on what was happening. But no one was as restless as Sirius who had been pacing back and forth the entire time. He didn’t pause for one second, no matter how much Remus tried to convince him to sit down. Nothing anyone said or did would ease his mind. No one except a Healer.

The heavens above seemed to have granted his wish, a Healer walked into the waiting room with a slight smile, “Mr. Black? Mr. and Mrs. Tonks?”

Ted quickly shook Andromeda awake who abruptly woke up. They all rushed towards the Healer.

“Her brain had started to bleed again-”

“You said that you fixed that,” Sirius interrupted in anger.

“Yes, we had. But sometimes the bleeding can start up again when there is substantial damage.”

“Will she be okay?” asked Andromeda worriedly.

The Healer sighed, “She is stable for now. The damage to her neurons is extensive.”

“What- what will happen if she doesn’t get better?” Ted questioned, his voice trembling afraid of the answer he was going to receive.

“We do believe she will. But if she doesn’t wake up within a few days, we can only presume the worst. I am sorry. We can only hope for now. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.”

“Can we go see her?” Remus spoke up as the others seemed too shocked to do anything.

“Yes, of course,” the Healer gave them a reassuring smile, which didn’t fulfil its purpose the least bit, before heading out the door.

Sirius, Andromeda, and Ted regained their senses and proceeded to head towards their baby girl.

Sirius felt sluggish as he approached Y/N’s bed. Her body was thin and frail, having lost weight in the past few weeks. Her pasty skin stood out against the greasy, unwashed long dark hair. Her chest moved up and down in a rhythm that matched her ragged breathing. Her body continued to twitch from time to time.

Ted couldn’t help but break down at the sight in front of her. Y/N looked so close to death. He sat down on the bed next to Y/N, stroking her hair back, tracing the beautiful features of his baby girl’s face.

“You can’t leave me. Not yet okay? Who's going to wake up early with me to go on walks and pick flowers? Who am I going to spend the whole afternoon baking and having food fights with? You can’t leave me here alone with Dro and Dora. Who else is going to save me from their craziness, huh?” he said, weakly chuckling through his tears. “I- I’d be so lonely if you left. You can’t go. Hold on, Y/N/N. Please. If not for yourself then for me. Ple- please don’t leave me.”

Andromeda’s sobs filled the otherwise silence of the hospital room. Ted continued to quietly plead, choking on his own words, “Don’t leave me. Please.”

Sirius sat there in silence, his unblinking eyes fixed on Y/N’s form; watching her chest rise up and fall back down with each breath - a sign that she was still alive and breathing.

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

Ted and Andromeda had left once visiting hours were over, but Sirius remained. No one, not even the Healers, could force convince him to leave.

He remained perched on the seat beside Y/N’s side well into the night. His eyes burned from the lack of sleep, but he refused to give in. He couldn’t sleep, not when she could need him at any moment. What if he fell asleep and didn’t realize something wrong in time to call for help? No, he would not allow that. Sleep could wait till he was completely sure she would be alright.

Sirius stared at his daughter, his battling-for-life daughter. Her protruding bones made her more visibly sickly under the shadows cast by the pale moonlight shining through the window positioned at the head of her bed.

Sirius leaned forward, his hand shakily caressing Y/N’s cheek. He brushed back the hair that covered her face. A choked sob echoed through the silent, dark room. The tears he kept at bay all day long fell at last.

“Y/N/N, my baby girl. I’m so sorry for all I have done. And haven’t done. But you need to fight. You need to make it through this. You have so much to live for. You need to wake up okay? You need to wake up so I can make this right. I still want you. I need you. I can't imagine a world without you. I’ll make it right; I solemnly swear to love you all my life. Please just fight. Live.”

Sirius sat there watching Y/N, not daring to close his eyes for a moment in case something happened; in case she stopped breathing. He sat in silence praying that someone would wake him up from this nightmare. If he could only see her sparkling grey eyes that were so much like his; filled with the same mischief, once again he would die a happy man. He wished he could take her place, for he would happily die if it meant she got to live.

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

Sirius did not know when he had fallen asleep. His head rested against the edge of the bed and Y/N’s hand had once again made its way to his hair, holding on to it in a loose grip. Sirius was startled awake by the whimper that left Y/N’s mouth as her body twitched once again.

“Y/N? Y/N?” Sirius spoke in a rush, hoping his mind was not playing tricks on his ears. A groan left Y/N’s mouth as she moved around in her bed.

“Healer! Healer! Someone! Anyone!? Please, I think she’s waking up!” Sirius yelled, not caring about the other patients still fast asleep in the same room.

“It’s okay, baby girl. You can open your eyes now. You’re fine. I’m here. I’m here,” Sirius said softly.

Y/N’s eyelashes fluttered, her eyes moving under her eyelids. She slowly opened her eyes. She immediately squeezed her eyes shut, groaning at the sudden increase in brightness. Gradually, she opened her eyes again, blinking to adjust to the sun lighting up the room.

Y/N shivered as a cold draft swept through the unfamiliar room. She looked around the white-walled room. There were around seven other beds in the room, plain white curtains adorning the railings to hide away the bed if needed.

“Y/N?”

Y/N brought her attention to the man standing next to her bed. He was tall and well-built. Shiny black shoulder-length hair framing his fair-skinned face. His unfamiliar-familiar striking grey eyes were scanning her face, concern and worry shining through them as clear as the daylight seeping through the closed curtains. A slight stubble shadowed his face from having spent the night in the hospital. The man oozed a form of casual elegance, tattoos covering his chest and arms. He was handsome, but this was dampened by his prematurely aged face and wrinkled clothes.

“I’m sorry. But who are you?”

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

General taglist: @heloisedaphnebrightmore @pregnant-piggy @approved-by-dentists @kashishwrites @remmyswritings @angelinathebook @idont-knowrn @coffee--writes @kinkyduuh @ickle-ronniekins @the-mighty-bookworm @chaoticgirl04 @malfoyspogue @dracofeltonmalfoy @dracosmainhoe

Never enough taglist: @evilluciferisevil @slyther-inn @bloodyxheaven @gcdric @mycobrakai1972 @loony-loopy-lupinn @mads-bri @tessaem @hannah220506 @hariosborn @kpopgirlbtssvt @xapham @90smessy @swearingsolemnly @hidejeon @whoreforfredweasley

Lmk if you want to be added to either taglist :)

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