#i don't recognise the set either but it looks awesome

[ghostlyarchaeologist]

Dean Devlin: In case you haven’t heard the exciting news, Christian Kane has officially joined the cast of #TheLibrarians The Next Chapter, coming to The CW 📚

[stopper-my-heart]

Nick Nelson's Comphet Hair Sweep

Hear me out. You know this gesture?

This is Nick Nelson's Comphet Hair Sweep™️.

I'll be sidestepping the trees today in favour of the forest (i.e., skipping over the other layers that any single instance of this gesture may involve in favour of the theme that unifies them: comphet).

'Comphet' = compulsory heterosexuality

For the purposes of this post, I mean that Nick uses his 'hair sweep' gesture when he's feeling self-conscious about his sexuality and is feeling compelled – from somewhere internal, external or both – to be or appear heterosexual.

Now then! Let's look at every single instance where Nick does his Comphet Hair Sweep (and a couple of times he doesn't, to support the point).

Season 1

Episode 1: Charlie's existence and awesomeness are causing a lot of confusion for Nick (a.k.a. Nick is trying to bury his sexuality head in the sand). In this episode, Nick's Hair Sweeps are all or almost all about him trying to reassure himself of or reassert for himself his heterosexuality.

1. This is one of Nick and Charlie's early "hi"s, seen during their "hi" montage. Nick: “Hi, I don't find you cute, everything's Normal.”

2. During lunch, Nick is playing rugby with the lads and Charlie is distracted by watching him. 'Coincidentally', Nick does his Hair Sweep right after Charlie looks over. Or maybe he's just feeling like he needs to be straight lad/bro-y with his rugby mates. Either way, there doesn't seem to be any hair in Nick's face that actually needs pushing out of the way.

3. Nick hears Coach Singh praise Charlie's running and looks over to watch. Nick is impressed and not staring at all.

4. Charlie tackles Nick for the first time. This physical contact is perhaps more Something than either of them was expecting.

5. Nick tackles Charlie. We don't see Nick's face while he does the Hair Sweep but all of his other faces surrounding this moment suggest surprise, enjoyment and confusion that are not solely related to Charlie's improvement at rugby. (Hello, leaves. Thanks for the reinforcement.)

-----------------

Episode 2: For the majority of this episode, we see Nick spending time alone with Charlie. He seems to be setting aside any confusion in favour of having carefree fun with Charlie earlier on and then later explores his sexuality a bit rather than avoiding it or pushing it down. As a result, we have only one Comphet Hair Sweep in this episode, during the transition between Nick's approaches.

1. Charlie helps Nick play the drums. Nick, steeling himself a very hetero-normal amount: “This is fine. Charlie can be pressed against me from shoulder to knee and I'll feel nothing.” (Narrator: He did not, in fact, feel nothing.)

This marks a shift where, from here on out, every single Comphet Hair Sweep is because of someone else's expectations of Nick rather than his expectations of himself. He can no longer ignore or avoid or refuse to recognise that he's into Charlie.

Note that Nick googles “am i gay?” at the end of this episode.

-----------------

Episode 3: This episode is another one where Nick spends a lot of time seeking out and spending time with Charlie, as well as defying his mates' expectations. As a result, we again have only one Comphet Hair Sweep.

1. Harry and Sai are discussing girls Nick might be able to get with at Harry's birthday party. Nick is feeling compelled to seem straight for the lads, but he also wants to shut down this discussion (his actual crush is right there and might get the wrong impression!).

-----------------

Episode 4: Unfortunately for Nick, in this episode he has to be around other people, with whom he hides himself, more often again.

1. Imogen immediately notices that Nick looks different (i.e., happier and more himself) after he and Charlie get together. Obviously Nick needs to re-place his hair after Imogen ruffles it, but he also wants to hide that the change is related to something decidedly not-hetero.

2. After Harry chucks a rugby ball at Tao, and Nick comes to check on Tao and collect the ball, Tao takes out his frustration and anger by throwing it back at Nick. If Nick wasn't already aware of Tao's feelings about the rugby lads, from this interaction alone it's clear to him that Tao is assuming that he's like Harry because he's part of that group, just another one of the (straight) laddish lads.

3. Before the St John's rugby match, Charlie jogs over to meet his friends who have come to cheer him on. Charlie has just reassured Nick that he won't say anything about their relationship to his friends, but Nick is still nervous and feeling a need to appear straight, especially with his own friends and the rugby lads all around.

4. Darcy nevertheless picks up on something romantic between Nick and Charlie and asks Charlie about it. When Charlie replies, "We're friends" and Darcy pokes at it a bit more, we can see Nick (who's been eavesdropping) in the background doing his Comphet Hair Sweep to compensate.

5. After Charlie is tackled during the rugby match for the first time, Nick calls out to him (which he doesn't do for any other player). We then see Nick come into frame in the background and do a Comphet Hair Sweep before the camera cuts away.

-----------------

Episode 5: Nick makes big strides towards pulling away from others' expectations of him in this episode. This is the beginning of the end of the Comphet Hair Sweep.

1. Harry throws something at Tao and Charlie, Tao retaliates with a shove and an insult, and Nick tells Harry off to stop the confrontation. However, Harry then turns on Nick, saying, "Aw, are you gay for them?", eliciting laughter from the rest of the lads. This homophobia hits close to home for Nick; he loses his nerve, stops sticking up for Tao and Charlie and does his Hair Sweep, uncomfortable but hiding behind appearing straight once again.

2. Nick invites Imogen to the park to tell her that he's not romantically interested in her. After doing so, Nick begins to do a Comphet Hair Sweep but abandons the gesture, changing it to just slightly pushing his hair to the side. This reflects Nick's decision to then be as open and honest with Imogen as he feels ready for at that moment, offering a confession of not “fitting” with their friend group.

2.5. Note that at the end of Nick's talk with Imogen, there's much more hair in Nick's face that he does not attempt to Sweep aside.

3. Unfortunately, Nick hasn't escaped Harry's grasp fully yet. He seems frustrated at letting himself continue to be confined by the group's hetero expectations but still chooses to conform, for now, though possibly deciding after this Hair Sweep that he needs to break free. (Cue animated lovebirds taking flight.)

-----------------

Episode 6: This episode marks the end of the Comphet Hair Sweep as Nick begins to come out to people. Tara has also just publicly come out and is struggling with the fallout from that.

1. Demeera on Reddit posited that the locking music practice room is a metaphor for ‘the closet’. If we take that view, it seems especially telling that Nick does his Hair Sweep right after telling Charlie that he may be bisexual and when looking towards ‘the closet’ where Tara and Darcy are currently trapped.

2. Note that it's Nick who then shoves open the door to ‘the closet’, setting Tara and Darcy free, and perhaps himself as well. We see Nick attempt a Hair Sweep but with the ‘wrong’ hand, doing it a moment later with the other hand. So he does the gesture twice, with both hands...‘bi’ times with ‘bi’ hands, if you will. (And then he sets off on the LGBT corridor run.)

3. This is the final Comphet Hair Sweep, and, notably, it's out of frame. Nick does it when Tao looks at him -- Tao, who is the last of their friend group not to know about the nature of his and Charlie's relationship, and who Nick knows adamantly believes that he's straight.

-----------------

Season 2

After S1E6, Nick does not ever do the Comphet Hair Sweep gesture again. The only remotely similar gesture he does is in season 2 when he sweeps his hair back after his shower in episode 2. He uses one hand to pull his hair back along both sides of his part. This is a Confidently Bisexual Hair Sweep if I've ever seen one.

-----------------

Note that this post is a mixture of genuine and tongue-in-cheek. I don't plan on specifying further; I'll leave that space for you to develop your own views with less influence from mine.

Thanks for taking the time to read through and consider this!

Thank you, too, to @bairdthereader for contributing "sweep" as the term for the motion.

[homunculus-argument]

Hey! I bumped into your post about the Russian man who has Rusalki in his pond and Baba Yaga's house poops in his yard occasionally. I liked it a lot. It's a shame that people always focus on Eurocentric supernatural folk stories and don't give Russian folk stories a chance. Slavic mythology, in general, is awesome.

I've wanted to do something with finnish folklore in a magical realism sort of setting, but I haven't figured out how to get the vibe right. Finnish folklore isn't particularly epic, mainly the supernatural is just mundane everyday things that want to ruin your crops, eat your cattle and kill you, just like every other daily inconvenience of rural farming life.

There was this concept of metsänpeitto - "cover of the forest" - where someone going through the woods either accidentally slips through the veil to the side of the forest spirits, or is covered up by the elves or tonttu on purpose (they'll do that out of spite because they're dicks), where everything looks the same or eerily similar, but you can't find your way back home. Sometimes you even can find your way home, but somehow can't touch anything or be seen by anyone, or they don't recognise you.

There's magic things you can do in order to try to undo it and get back to your own side, but most of the time you're just as hopelessly lost as a fly that's stuck between two window panes and can't figure out why it can't fly right through. People and cattle that were lost this way sometimes appear weeks later, starved startled and haggard, but sometimes the forest just covers you up and you never find your way back.

I wanted to incorporate this into a magical realism story, set in a world very much like modern Finland. Metsänpeitto isn't confined to forests anymore, there's woodland spirits that have adapted to life in cities just the same as pigeons, rabbits and jackdaws that forage their food from city parks and human trash. At one point the characters are in a city and can't find their way, and one of them realises that his cell phone has no connection and half the street signs are all garbled nonsense - shit, they're in spirit cover!

And his companion looks at him like no you idiot, you forgot to pay your phone bill again, and reminds him they're in the south. The signs aren't garbled nonsense, they're in Swedish.

[notasapleasure]

Wild hopes for Andor S2:

Oh, apparently blorbo *might* be in the trailer? Riding a speeder on Dantooine you say? Aughhhh don't toy with my emotions like this!!

So for posterity, before anything about s2 does actually become clear, my vague hopes/'if I got to write their story' headcanons for my Ferrix badasses are a jumble of the following:

I don't see them immediately going back to Ferrix, they're recognisable (Bix is known to the Empire, Wilmon will be known by association with Salman, Bee is known as Maarva's droid, they had an eye on Brasso as 'the big guy' even before he fucked shit up with the funerary brick...and I can't remember Jezzi doing anything specific but she'll have been seen round Maarva's home and funeral), and riot or not, I'd say the Empire will be in the mood to make an example of Ferrix rather than to go 'oops our bad we'll leave you in peace'. So it seems a bad idea for the fugitives to return there for their rebellion as soon as they've left.

On that ship we know there's a skilled electrician (Wilmon) and mechanic (Bix), and I've always presumed Brasso must know his way around a ship well enough to be able to take it apart, and that Jezzi has some similarly Ferrixian industrial skill. I thought it would be very sexy if they all got involved in making/repurposing tech for the rebellion. In my heart of hearts they're patching together the first fleet of X-Wings.

Orange. Ferrix orange (Brasso's felt jacket orange) and rebel pilot orange. And there's the shot of Cassian in an orange pilot's suit in the trailer. I just. I just have hopes. And dreams. And colour was so significant in Rogue One (the red of the force/rebellion...there was an awesome post on here pointing out way more examples than I'd noticed, but I always think of the lining of Jyn's vest). Maybe it's reclaiming Narkina orange, even? But the look of the Ferrix clothes reminds me so much of the OT aesthetic, I think that's got to be the more likely connection.

Bee? Kay? Do they meet? ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ trying to suppress the thought 'what if Bee helps to make Kay possible?' but the thought has been thunk. (ETA: NOT into the theory that they're the same person that's not what I mean. I'm talking hardware donation. Wires and chips. Not personality)

Dantooine. Dantooine base. After all this time!!!! What Legends book did I first read about the base on Dantooine in?? idek but if I'd ever written the epic angsty plot follow-up to that one fic (only ever just one night) it would have involved the Ferrix gang making X-Wings work on Dantooine :') I have feelings about Brasso the wrecker learning to make things instead :))

It should go without saying that I want to see Bix channel her healing into getting stuff done and fucking up the Empire.

I guess my feeling is that if we're time-skipping over a five year period in a, what, 12 episode season? There's not time for a huge arc for all the Ferrix characters alongside everything else the show needs to cover. My cautious assumption is that this either means a load of them get killed off/sidelined early, or they're kept together in the same setting so their stories are interlinked, but presumably with focus remaining on Bix (and Bee). Dantooine/wherever the rebel base is beforehand/the move to Yavin struck me as a good place for this, where they can still be brought in and out of episodes through whatever time-skips happen because it's a place the title character is going to be coming and going from regularly, like Ferrix is in S1. Naturally it is a selfish thought to want to recreate the S1 dynamic :)) because I want my blorbo(s) to get to be relevant and a part of Cassian's life still, but if that suggestion about Brasso on a speeder on Dantooine in the trailer is remotely accurate then I will cry happy tears.

Who knows, if they get to survive, maybe all those heart-pulverising fics and fanarts about Cassian's (glass) stone being laid on Ferrix will find a place at the end of the series?

[ask-daves]

hey! for davesprite:

you mentioned photography! how’s that coming along? well, i hope. and also, do you take photos on your 3ds? i personally think it’s pretty fun!

( directed to mod: your stuff seems awesome so far! maybe expect a little art your way? either way, you’ll see me around. )

- ⚠️ anon (for recognisability purposes.)

the camera clicks on. “i’m not sure why dave wants us to do videos for pretty much all of these, but, i mean. here i am. so, you know.” he seems a little more relaxed now that the aforementioned dave isn't in the room with him, but the difference is so marginal that it doesn’t matter.

he pauses, and moves to grab something off screen. “photography’s going… alright?” then he sets multiple things on the table, lifting up a small, black point-and-shoot film camera. "it's kinda been too hot for me to want to go outside and take pictures, even if i want to." he looks out toward his window a little wistfully, and then he's back on task. "so i figured i'd just show you all of the cameras that i have. tools of the trade or whatever."

“i just got this film camera—i have a lot of cameras, but, this was two dollars. so i’d be retarded if i didn’t, you know. grab it. it's a minolta freedom-tele. it's got a 38 and--" he turns it over to look at the lens, squinting a bit behind his shades. "an 80 mm lens. and then i have, uh.." he sets down the first camera, and then picks up the second, a solid, digital point and shoot one, one that isn't exactly massive, but it still is rather hefty for what it is. "and then this is my nikon coolpix p100. it's pretty nice, uh. i like.. shooting wildlife with it. because it can zoom pretty far in, you know." he turns it on, takes off the lens cap, and demonstrates. he turns it off and the lens naturally retracts. "i kind of prefer point and shoots, considering you really don't have to bust your balls for lenses, or whatever." a shrug.

"and then the last of the point and shoots that i still have. i actually sold one recently, just because i didn't like it, so yeah, last one, a fujifilm finepix a205." he shows the camera the small, compact silver camera. "i'm not the biggest fan of fujifilm, if i'm honest. this one's pretty sick though. easy to bring around with me whenever i go out or whatever. even though i prefer the coolpix, it just, it's so bulky that i feel lame as shit bringing it around."

a shrug, and he's tapping his fingers on the desk. "they're pretty cool. one of these days i might post a few photos i take. maybe. i wouldn't count on it though."

"that's it. thanks for the asks. see ya."

[none-shall-caricature-me]

WHY POE IS FAR HOTTER THAN THE FANDOM THINKS HE IS

Poe is amazingly hot, a surprisingly independent bitch, and y'all are blind.

Tell me this isn't sexy -

● In an omake, when thinking up a suitable mystery that will safely house the ADA, he wants to goe all overboard into making it very impressive. Sure, he wants the world to recognise his talent, but his dedication proves that he works so hard purely for his love of imaginative, thrilling tales.

Most authors get away with writing basically embellished but simple autobiographies, basic as fuck human emotions and tragic nonfiction - and still achieve mass popularity.

But Poe ? He would never do that. His love is not for some relatable realism or feel - good fantasies that will earn bank with society - but for bizarre possibilities beyond our limited imagination. Look at how he subverts expectations. He's set a standard for himself - to craft something at the level of a universal Creator in its blend of probability and improbability.

He aims for the sublime and unthinkable. It's a near - impossible task but he's determined to do it, to push human intellect to new heights. He wants to explore concepts that nobody ever has. He's a pioneer of thought. It's sexy as hell.

● There's something so attractive about people who despite failures believe they're awesome too and will take the glory they want. Though Poe's extreme obsession with proving himself was mostly a colossal waste of his time and energy, we can all relate to this fire for glory. Nobody wants to accept that others are superior to them. This guy wants to be in charge, to have influence over people, to be admired by the crowd. He won't be swayed from this deep seeded hunger for dominance. He won't let anyone replace him as the genius.

Even after befriending Ranpo he keeps trying to outdo him. Because he won't defer to anyone, won't accept himself as less than even Ranpo.

This fire for supremacy, though illogical at times, is a great thing.

● His gothness and genius. He thinks up incredible futuristic crime stories, yet he's not very evil. But he's not some goody goody saccharine hearththrob either. He loves exploring the dark potential of humanity and the world, and sociology and psychology are sexy.

Also the manga implies that his futuristic technological vision in the Ranpo mystery is logically sound - which means he's a scientific visionary too.

● He helped take down the Guild, because it had become 'boring and barbaric.' He's not constrained by stupid loyalty ties to Fitzgerald's self - centred goals (hey I totally understand Fitz's attempt to bring back his daughter. But his actions don't benefit others). He stands up for what he wants. Whereas Louisa derives meaning from serving Fitz, Poe doesn't stick to people with unimaginative and possibly destructive goals just to 'belong' or feel 'useful and appreciated' or because he needs their power to feel better about his humiliation. He takes it upon himself to get what he deserves.

● He's unpredictable as hell. He betrayed the Guild and nobody saw it coming. He allied with the Agency, but in large part due to his affinity for Ranpo. But then he came back to help Louisa. He regularly gets taken advantage of by Ranpo but also would have ended the Agency had he wanted Ranpo dead. He hates the Guild's goals but helps Louisa, a staunch Guild loyalist, because he empathises with her.

This dude only does things that he wants to do. Nobody can force him. If he gets used by someone then it's only because he believes there are more pros than cons of obeying them - if he ever got really pissed at them they'd be finished.

● His maniacal laughter when he trapped Ranpo in his novel. His obvious nervousness. He's not some oh - so - sophisticated - and - cool fucking basic bitch. He's totally in tune with his emotions and displays them sincerely. Which isn't always the wise thing to do, but hell yeah does it make for a vibrant personality.

[bougiebutchbitch]

Omg im staying on anon cuz these hoes are hell but i just saw your post about disliking like 60% of the sasuke fandom and i busted out laughing cuz im a huge sasuke stan but same. A lot of them are insufferable and toxic on a level that boggles the mind. I dont blame Sasuke I blame a decrease in braincells in this world. A lot of Naruto enjoyers get really accustomed to being spoon fed and I feel like for Sasuke stans that often unfortunately translates into (by proxy of her narrative being tied to sasuke) absorbing the misogyny written into Sakura’s character without a critical eye. It’s frustrating and it’s not the only issue in this crowd either 🥴 You and I are moots so now I feel like one of the good ones 🤣

<33333333333333 you're definitely one of the good ones!

I don't dive deep into that side of the fandom, but... y e a h there's a lot of misogyny floating around. 'I don't blame Sasuke I blame a decrease of braincells in the world' is exactly right skldjfgjskdfgksdfg

He's a great character but he doesn't have to be 'right' about everything all the time in order for people to love him... You can agree that Konoha ideally needed to have its whole ninja-production system dismantled, and not think him killing off the kage and setting up a worldwide Sasuke-dictatorship as a traumatised seventeen-year-old kid was legitimately the best option for anyone, himself included! And you can recognise that yeah, the fact that the status quo was reinstated for Boruto rather than severely disrupted is... an extremely dodgy narrative choice - but it's very odd to blame it on the fictional characters rather than looking at the wider context of why this decision was made by the writers!

But I can't control what other people do; I can only sigh and grumble and block without impunity X'D c'est la vie

I should say that - yeah, I engage with and reblog from the blogs of several Sasuke lovers because OBVIOUSLY he's an awesome character and a lot of his fans are really cool people. There's just a particular subset that makes me want to bash my head on a wall lmao

[hanawrites404]

One Dance

Game : The Arcana

Pairing : some slight hints of various pairings

Characters : Asra Alnazar, Nadia Satrinava, Julian Devorak, Portia Devorak, Muriel, Lucio Morgasson, Wynne Toprak, Lyra Slaquer, Sèbastien Slaquer, Raymond Slaquer (the Slaquers belong to @the-soupiest-artist) and Maura Hickey (who belongs to @puzzle-piece-angel)

Warnings : None

Timeline : Modern-Dance AU

This story is based of this song :

And this story is an introduction to the Vesuvia Dance Company and its members, so come along and let's see what does it have in store ✨✨

3rd person POV

"Tch. Boring......."

The wind whooshed against her as she tucks her flowing strands of hair behind her ear. She was leaning against the railings of her balcony, her hands resting on the cold metal as she examined her painted black nails.

To her, black was always the perfect colour. And she nearly never altered it to any other shade. It would be too tedious again.

The woman crossed her legs as she drank her Limoncello from the rim of her glass, the bubbles of the alcohol fizzed inside. Her throat bobbed with every sip and jingled the translucent crystal attached to her dark choker. The liquor quenched her dry throat, pricking it with its gas bubbles and bitter taste as she sighed the cold air.

The sparkling alcohol matched with her eyes as they stared upon the heads of the people walking past her apartment from the balcony. The cars driving away looked like playthings to her, and the trees swaying against the soft gust seemed like shrubs. Nothing was of interest to her outside as she continued to drink her beverage and blink away the yawn from her eyes.

She thought of going to bed again since she had nothing to do either inside or outside, but then a simple phone call from her friend changed all her plans.

"What is it Asra?" She answered, not a good afternoon, not even a hi. She wasn't in a mood for this.

"Heya Wynne! How are you doing first of all??" The person from the other side of the phone didn't seem unfazed by her disinterest because of his experienced friendship with the woman. She sighed and replied, admiring her nails again. "Nothing much, just passing my precious time as always" she chuckled at the last phrase. "What about you? What's the occasion for calling me?"

"Well, I missed you dearly-"

Wynne instinctively made an expression which spoke out 'Oh really?'

"And I have something to propose to you"

The girl blinked from curiosity and pulled away from the railings, walking inside her penthouse, still holding the glass of Limoncello and her phone near her ear as she told him to continue.

"So! You and I both know how much you love to dance right? You have also given performances at your workplace and you just love to lose yourself to the club music. You are a very awesome dancer, Wynne. And you don't mind showcasing your moves to everyone"

"Yeah, so what?" Wynne rubbed her temples, Asra was sure taking his sweet time and her forbearance.

"Well, I have sort of an offer for you. Why don't you meet me at the address I'm gonna text you and I'll spill everything when you arrive"

"Wait what?!" Wynne places her hand on her coffee table, her voice of disbelief and bafflement. "You got to be fucking kidding me Asra. Please tell me what is it and don't you dare cut off like this"

"Sorry Wynne, but I am busy. I promise I'll tell you everything there. Goodbye!"

"Asra! ASRA!!!" but she was too late.

"UGH, fucking bitch....." Wynne snarled as she clutched her phone tight in her palm. The device then vibrated in her hand and she rolled her eyes, opening her phone to find that Asra had sent her the destination in their chat. It was an address that was unfamiliar to Wynne, and thanks to the wonder which had already accumulated in her mind, she growled, and finally decided to reach the place.

Wynne swallowed the last sip of her drink and looked down at her clothes. Assuming that Asra was calling her to a public place, she decided to change from her casuals to a sleeved black crop top and matching palazzos and chunky heels. She combs her blue hair and applies her dark lipstick before grabbing the keys of her old red Cadillac, and she descended the stairs after locking her house.

"Asra, this better not be a prank or I will slap you to grave" she murmured grimly as she started the engine of her car and drove to the address. With a bit of traffic and breakers in between, it took her somewhat half an hour to reach an unknown college building. Now, why would Asra call her here? Was it perhaps for a college reunion? Then why was he talking about dancing? She had so many questions, and Asra owes all the answers to her after leaving her hanging on the phone like that.

"Winnie!! Over here!!" The woman turned her head to the call to find her best friend trotting while waving towards her. It didn't take her long to notice the tie-dyed rainbow shirt and glitter pants with sparkle sketchers, as Wynne just nodded and waited for Asra to finally stop by her car so she could give an earful to him for leaving her edged at the cliff. But calming her urge to denounce him, she patiently asked.

"Alright, I'm here. Now what? Why did you call me near a college?"

"A college?" Asra snorted and burst into a laugh. This made Wynne even more confused and annoyed as she snarled silently and eyed him, unamused. By phoning her at an unknown place when she was in a particularly bad mood only to laugh at her, she had set up her mind to drive away right in front of him and crush him with her car. But then, he luckily spoke on time before she could act her frivolous murder.

"Boo, this is not a college. It may look like one, but it's not. Trust me" Asra winked at her. Wynne, still being unamused, leaned her forehead against her fingers as she replied lethargically.

"Well, what is it then? Care to explain after calling me here without any proper explanation?" She already wanted to leave honestly. And can't she just sleep?

"Of course. If you would follow me, Milady" Asra being the gentleman offered his hand out to her though he was aware of Wynne's already increasing irritation. He stayed patient because he didn't want to reveal the surprise yet to her. The vexed girl grunted again and got off her car, placing her fair hand over his tanned one. Asra gently squeezed her hand in his with a warm smile on his face. That seemed to lower her irritation as she squeezed his hand back. Asra with a small blush spreading across his golden cheeks led her near to the campus, and Wynne followed him gradually.

Soon both of them were near the polished mahogany doors after passing the lobby inside. And before he could enter, Asra checked on his friend with another appreciative smile. Wynne raised her eyebrow. To her, Asra looked very gladder than usual. Though he was known to be a happy guy, he looked....... exceptionally optimistic today. Was today someone's birthday? Was today her birthday? She had no idea what the hell was going on and what the hell was wrong with Asra.

"What's the matter?" She asked. She sounded calm, but inside she was bubbling with novelty that what exactly he had in mind.

"This is not a college, Wynne" Asra repeated what he said before.

"Yeah, so what? Please don't pull another suspense now" the woman placed her hand on her lip. She loved the suspense, but too much of it makes her feel lazy.

Heh, as if she wasn't feeling lethargic already.

Asra chortled and patted her head, and he finally pushed open the huge doors to uncover something imperial, stupendous and incredible enough to leave Wynne's mouth gaping and her eyes caught mesmerized.

Inside the so-assumed as college, was a tremendous majestic dance theatre of what looked like belonging to a prosperous french period. It glittered with gold and red, as a satin rose sprinkled with dewdrops glimmering of sunshine. The walls were delicately painted with a royal maroon gloss and regal purple imprints of what left an impression of lavender flower. Even the hall gave off the scent of apricot and apple orchards. The hefty velvet curtains hemmed the rectangle stage elegantly, the spotlights modern, and the footing was simply immaculate.

"Asra......This is-"

"Alluring? Captivating? Hypnotising??? Is there any other English word I am missing??"

"Well, I would say that yeah. But...this place is like a fantasy!!" Wynne exclaimed as she idolised the beautifully festooned and pleasingly symmetrical ceiling. "I know right? Told you so. I'm glad you liked it. It's one of my favourite places to stay at" Asra joined her as she entered in, the click of her heels grating into the carpets of the theatre.

"Yeah......it's like this has come straight from the golden era of art. Like in one of my school history books! I...I never would have guessed that it would even more wonderful in real life. I thought it was more of a vision of romantic people which were just left as dreams" Wynne skimmed the sides as she examined the details closely, thinking internally about how much work must have gone into creating such a painting over such a vast canvas.

"Well, this theatre runs on donations and funds, but it's sure undeniable that this dance studio is glorious and alluring" Asra shrugged.

"Yes...it is........ Wait" Wynne stopped in mid-sentence and turned to him, her hand still on the wall. "Did you say, dance studio?". Before Asra could open his mouth to reply to her, another unfamiliar voice echoed from a corner. It sounded soothing, pleasant and graceful, but Wynne could not recognise who it was. However, the source was soon revealed as she walked towards both of them, and both of their eyes got fixated on her.

"Oh! A guest! Is she the person you were talking about, Asra?" The fair lady enquired, and Asra nodded in agreement. "Yup! She is the one. The 'blueberry syrup' " Asra winked at the unknown lady.

Wynne was now really questioning her existence....... blueberry syrup..........

Seriously?

"Oh! Now I see why you called her that" the soft ravenette chuckled, even her laugh chimed blissful which can send anyone to ease. Asra giggled and agreed to her, his dimple delicately forming on his cheek like a tiny crescent moon.

"Anyways, here she is. Wynne" Asra introduced the bluenette to the foreign lady, who smiled sweetly at her and Wynne waved for a greeting.

"And Wynne, this is Lyra" Asra finally disclosed the name of the gentle lady, who then stepped closer to Wynne and reached her hand out for her to shake, which the other lady gladly took after staring at her pale hand. And as she had guessed, her hand was soft like feathers.

"Lyra Slaquer, but you can call me Lyra. It's a delight to meet you, Wynne. I hope you enjoy your stay over here" she spoke with another cute smile. Wynne nodded and took her hand back, breaking a small grin herself. The name 'Slaquer' whistled a bit familiar to her, but she had never met Lyra before so it was kind of odd, but she pushed the thought and quickly replied to her.

"I too wish to enjoy my visit over here. This place is still kind of anonymous to me since Asra did technically blackmailed me to arrive here" the woman stared at the white curlyhead with narrowed eyes.

"What?!" Lyra gasped as her hand partially covered her mouth. "He did?! I'm so sorry for that, Wynne! He usually does not do that though" she grabbed her chin in her two fingers.

"Wait, I never blackmailed you" Asra's purple eyes widened in scepticism.

"You provoked me. You fed my curiosity and you left me fucking dumbfounded by your sudden hanger, you agitated me so much that the urge you aroused in me won. And whose fault do you think it is??" Wynne crossed her arms and stared at him, with her weight on one leg.

Asra's cheeks lit up with bright pink by the lady's question. It was not a surprise that Wynne caught his fib about being busy just to bring her here. He had known her ever since they were kids, and Winnie was the most attentive one out of the two. A smirk engraved on her dark lips as she tapped her foot on the floor, waiting for a comeback, though she was already aware that he doesn't have an answer. He was caught, he was very badly caught. And he sadly had nothing to objectify with.

Lyra meanwhile just looked from Asra to Wynne, then back to Asra. She was waiting for one of them to speak, but someone calling her name, presumably from backstage, snapped her out. "Coming!" The twirly ravenette replied, and she rushed to attend to her call. But soon after she stopped at her heels for a moment, and turned back to gently grab Wynne's hand and then finally walking with her.

"Come on Wynne! Let's make you meet everyone. I'm sure they will love you" Lyra notified her and she continued dragging her. The blue-eyed lady sounded so favourable and eager that Wynne couldn't muster the will to pull away and refuse her. She was better than deterring the warmth of a civil lady like her, and Wynne peeked back at Asra, who just waved at her, mugging 'have fun' to her.

'I will kill you.....' she gestured back at him with a scowl and flipped him off until Lyra and she completely disappeared behind the stage. And good thing she didn't notice Wynne being blatantly horrible and rude.

Not that Asra minded her cynicism anyway, he still loved her for how she was.

"Guys, listen up! We have a visitor here. She is Asra's dearest friend!" Lyra with a sunny smile as twinkling as the moon inaugurated her to everyone present backstage.

But little did Lyra know that Wynne already knew four motherfuckers present inside.

"What the heck? How are you all at one place?? And most importantly, what are you guys doing here???" Wynne pointed her finger from puzzlement at all of them and questioned the troop she knew very well through conventions and clashes she would never forget. Some of them which she found awful, and some of them surprisingly candy. She honestly never wanted to meet any of them at all, but profoundly in her heart, she was obliged that she was oriented with the six awesome and decent idiots.

"WYNNE?!!" A particular red-haired fellow, a ginger girl, a raven head man and a purplenette lady, together cried out the lady's name. The four were in a greater shock than she was in. Because neither Asra told them who the guest was, nor did they expect her to be the visitor out of any other persons they could have guessed. Now that's quite a shocker eh?

"Oh~ you know them???" Lyra bent towards her, her blue eyes shone with inquisition. "Yes...Yes, I do" Wynne sauntered towards them, this time, with a wooden floor, her heels gave off the clicking like of a ticking timepiece. Her hands were crossed, and she was tickled that how all the pals she was intimate to were existing in the area.

"Since when?" Lyra strolled with her. "Long story, Dear. It's all thanks to Asra, you can say. He is the cause why I know all of them. Like I met Nadia during one of his get-together parties, and then I met these two siblings- what was their name again? AH! Julian and Portia, at a grocery store when I and Asra wanted some stuff. And like that, I met his other best friend, the giant guy over there, Muriel"

Wynne brought up each one of them as she enunciated about them to Lyra. The ravenette listened to the bluenette with peak attention. She adored the manner and the refinement she held up while chatting to her. It was ethical, posh and highly lordly, just as a splendid black swan.

"And that's the story in a nutshell. Now tell me" Wynne kept her hands on her hips and glared at the four. "What's going on here?". "Wait, Asra didn't tell you what exactly is this place and what is our purpose here??" The physician asked her with mistrust.

"Well, no. He told me nothing. But he did say that this is a dance studio" Wynne tapped her chin, trying to recall what else he had asserted.

"Well yes, you are correct on that. This is a dance studio. Which includes the theatre along with the backstage, the rehearsal rooms, a canteen area with the lobby, a recreational cabin and the dorms. Our dancers live here and we provide them with a comfortable and hygienic place to stay along with necessary hospitality, and they all perform for the company" Nadia replied.

"Wait, the company? You guys are running a corporation together?" Wynne cocked her eyebrow again. This all was very new to her, and pretty intriguing too.

"You can say like that. This is Vesuvia Dance Company, and I'm proud to say that we all are like a close-knit family here. I run the company and also work as the organiser. Portia is the set painter. All the lavender imprints you saw on the screens were done by her" the umber woman referred to the chubby girl as she waved heartily at Wynne.

Judging by Portia's denim suspenders splattered with numerous sorts of pigments, she did look like a very hard worker. Just like how Wynne always knew her to be.

"And that gentleman over there, Muriel, he does the building work. So the stage and every scenery of the bureau is retained by him. During performances, he also makes sure the lights and every other piece of equipment are operating appropriately. Portia occasionally teams up with him for the arrangement of struts and special effects. Without him, the true magnificence of the dance would never have reached the audience" Nadi commended.

Muriel's cheeks blossomed pale red as his jade eyes shyly lowered down. Portia had the opposite reaction though. She just grinned and locked arms with the giant man catching him off guard and turning him more rattled than ever.

"I-It's not that much of a big deal" he mumbled abjectly. Wynne chuckled at the scene and muttered 'cute' before facing Nadia so she could introduce the medic next.

"And you must know Dr Devorak. Just as his profession speaks, he takes care of the condition of every member of the company and assures the safety of everyone from likely injuries or illnesses. He also schedules a diet plan if required, and he is also quite sincere in his work, and the members easily recover, all thanks to him"

"And....did any previous member die even though he was around?" Wynne heckled, and Julian fell right into her mockery as his face burnt deep red, the vivid colour spreading across his porcelain skin. He was positively ashamed, and Wynne snagged him so badly he was staggering. But luckily, Nadia seconded him up as she soughed.

"No Wynne. No one has died. The doctor is a qualified physician, and every one of us relies on his skills of treatment. He is also very humble, so there is nothing for us to be concerned about in terms of health" She retorted. "Alright. I believe you" Wynne shrugged with a sly smile, although the flush on Julian's cheeks didn't vanish. Wynne was like a harpy when it comes to disparaging someone, which sometimes makes Julian fear her. Other than that, Julian did like her, she can be cute sometimes and he has seen it. But just like every ambivert, all she requires is the right time to express it.

"And moving on, Asra is our principal dancer, so he is the one who comes with most of the choreography, but he also ensures to give opportunities to the other dancers to suggest any addition. With his and everyone's aptitude, the event comes out to be beautiful" Nadia affirmed with a low smile on her swift lips.

"I see....." Wynne held her chin in her fingers and nodded.

"And the thespians along with Asra are, Lyra, Maura, and-"

"Hello guys! What's up?"

"Woah Woah Woah!! Take it easy! We didn't go anywhere" Julian stumbled back onto a table as he attempted to brace away from the not-so sudden jumpscare of the stranger who appeared to have popped out in between out of nowhere. Well, a stranger to Wynne, to be precise.

"Haha, sorry Ilya. I was just excited to meet the new guest, and I didn't wanna miss them!" The outsider gleefully met the sights of the new lady with his azure ones, a purple glisten romped within his iris, just like how the gold flapped inside the matron's lustrous eyes. Other than his apertures, she noticed how he looked a bit similar to Lyra, contemplating the same type of hair and complexion of the skin. She then looked down at his clothes. The uproar he was wearing captured her eye, reasonably. Wynne was stringent, and a fashionista filled with critique, but what the man was having over him wasn't so terrible to her at all. She could see the striped black-white sweater, baby pink pants,

And were those turquoise crocs he was wearing???????

"Interesting...." Was all that Wynne could say.

"This is Raymond. He is our pianist, and he with his band performs along with the dancers. And he also conducts the music" Nadia enlisted. "Oh, so he is the soul of the performance huh. Pretty....... eccentric" Wynne eyed Raymond who glanced innocently back at her. She rasped and dabbed Raymond's shoulder as she reacted. "But sure. He is cute".

"Oh! If I'm cute then you are the loveliest girl in the whole world, and the ebony fabric on your fair body is like shadows surrounding the glowing moon" Raymond's eyes sparkled with esteem and cherish towards her, like a child recognizing their favourite superhero. That wasn't a good sign for Wynne at all. Especially deeming that it has only been minutes since he and she got introduced to each other. But, inferring that he was the type of guy to give random sweet compliments to anyone, she coolly answered.

"W-Why thank you Dear. You are.....pretty yourself. I like your hair".

"Thank you, Ms Wynne. You are too nice" he blushed with a wide beam. "Yeaaaaahhhhh" Wynne internally winced but tried not to show it to not come off as rude and anguish the cute boy.

"Alright! I think that's everyone in the area. There are three more people who are left to be introduced, but other than that, I hope everything is to your liking, Wynne. Asra brought you here so you could think about joining the company" Nadia rolled a strand of her long hair around her finger.

"Wait, join you all???" Wynne asked.

"Oh my gosh, you are gonna join us??? PLEASE DO!! I would love you for that!" Raymond practically jumped on his feet with enthusiasm.

"W-Wait, but why??? Why do I have to??" Wynne struggled to justify.

"Well, why not. We all have seen you perform before, Wynne. And you would make an exceptional dancer! Also, it's very fun hanging around with everyone and dancing too, don't you think?" Portia added.

"Yeah Wynne, Pasha is right. We know you don't like being around people so much, but we would give you space when you need it. We may stick close, but we will make sure to not bother you much" Ilya gently smiled at her. She did frighten him sometimes, but Julian would be happy to have a bit of her insolence and sarcasm hovering around. Everyone would love to have that.

"I agree with Julian. You are a wonderful lady, Wynne. It would be our absolute pleasure to have a talented entertainer as you dance with us. I promise I won't talk much if that annoys you. But I want to get to know you better, Wynne. I bet you would be very fun!" Lyra playfully whacked her shoulder, only to receive a deathly grimace from the bluenette's wolf-like eyes.

"O...Oh...." Lyra cautiously procured her hand and backed a bit away from her. She wasn't dreading of her if anything. She just got more.....intimidated. She had never met a woman with such grimness flooding out of her, yet be so nimble as a twilight waft along with the gloom she hauls. Lyra felt like a little butterfly just witnessing a vicious spider open her gapes and watch it flash with yearning and malevolence, but close enough, she could see the dignity and that dwelled deep in those gazes.

And those golden orbs had apprehended her just like a tempting spider's quagmire.

Wynne was never known to miss her target anyway.

"S-Sorry....." Lyra's diamond orifices veered under and a weak rosiness escorting her cheeks.

Wynne just shut her eyes, sighed softly, and immediately gawked at Muriel who was typically tight-lipped the whole time. But she decided to inquire him too because his opinion also mattered after all. "What do you think, Big Guy? Would you be happy to have me over?" She straightforwardly asked. The huge man was taken aback for a bit, he had believed that Wynne won't bring any mind to him, and obviously, she proved him wrong. And now he had to respond to her because everyone else had their eyes on him too.

"I......." He started.

"Mhm?" Wynne waited.

"....................."

"I won't mind" that's all he said.

Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of solace and rejoiced while Muriel just reddened and pouted. He wondered what made the people so relieved when all he did was say 'yes' for the new girl to stay. But what it truly meant was that they were ahead in favour by one more vote.

Wynne snorted. "Yeah yeah, celebrate all you want, but still. I haven't agreed to this yet. So technically there is still be left to decide. Now don't get too much excited already" she stated.

"You are certainly right on that. But we are willing to wait for your final decision, Wynne. Whether positive or not" Nadia told her, and the others agreed to her, nodding and muttering to each other. "Good. I don't like rushing things. I'm glad that you understand" Wynne's lips curved into a slight smile, and everyone else in the room returned a grin. "Of course. We want you to be comfortable after all. You are our friend" Julian added. "And we promise to support ya!" Portia said. "You can speak to us if you ever have any trouble, Wynne" Lyra peered at her. "And we promise to not irritate you at all!" Raymond assured her with a bright grin on his lips.

"We......We would take care of you too....." Muriel softly smiled.

Wynne softly chuckled, shaking her head delightfully and placing her hands on Raymond and Lyra's shoulders. She gleamed at both of them, and she thanked all of them for the patience and hospitality they all gave to a newbie like her. She truly felt honoured and warmly greeted by all of them, and she felt much pleasanter than she was feeling appearing for the first time. Nadia was pleased to see how everyone welcomed Wynne. She was looking forward to the guest making herself comfortable among the partners and come to be a valued part of the small artsy gang and relish the beauty of dance and music together with everyone.

And am I missing someone important to introduce?

"So! What did I miss, lovely ladies and gentlemen?" Some other unidentified person barged in like a typical theatrical garish zealot. Just as assumed by his way of the fashionably late entry, his clothes were incredibly contemporary and vogue and his shirt were half-buttoned to expose his semi-hairy chest. The unknown man rested his elbow at the frame as his piercing emerald eyes stridden around on everyone's faces until it spotted its victim. A certain gal in black.

"Ah! Gotcha" the stranger grinned and grazed his teeth over his lower lip. He pushed himself back on his feet and walked towards his prey. His hand brushed through his curly dark locks, the hooves of his shoes made a satisfying click with every step he got closer to Wynne. He wasn't focused on anyone else other than her, his eyes glimmered under the daylight, like lush green leaves after monsoon showers.

Wynne perked up her eyebrow up. Who is this guy now, she pondered. She glanced at his shirt for a moment and noticed patterns of peacock feathers with splats of prominent blue and white matching the print. Very remarkable, she thought. But also somehow very familiar too. The design on his cloth was something she had seen somewhere before, but she couldn't recollect when exactly.

Nevertheless, the unfamiliar man wearing the familiar clothing gently took hold of her hand and locked his emeralds with her gold.

"And you might be......" She started.

"Sèbastien Slaquer at your service, mademoiselle" he fervently kissed her knuckles, nurturing the sweetness of her skin on his lips.

"Ah...Slaquer......french....Wait a minute" Wynne interrupted.

"Yeah, what's the matter? Remembered something important?" He tilted his head and looked at her, his eyes taking in the charm of her marvellous face and dusk merging with her rosy skin.

"Slaquer.....no wonder why it was sounding so weird to me.......I think I have heard this name before.....in a brand name" Wynne held her chin.

"Oh, you have? I don't know. My brand sure is well-known--"

"Wait, did you say, your brand???" Wynne gripped him. "Yes of course" he shrugged. "Hmmm.....that explains your shirt..... the peacock designs..... peacock designs???"

Wynne suddenly gasped. "You are french, aren't you?!"

"Oh, are you giving me a racist remark now?" Sèbastien knocked and chuckled at his joke. "But yes, you are right. I'm french. And so is my little brother and my cousin behind you" he gestured to both Raymond and Lyra who were currently casually conversing with each other. "Ohh those are your siblings? Alright," Wynne nodded. She wasn't surprised because the three of them did kind of resemble each other. The opaque curly hair, ivory skin, thrilling eyes.

And speaking of Raymond and Lyra, Wynne noticed how personal they were. Both were standing near one another, and Raymond never halted eye contact with Lyra, and Lyra also had her entire attention on him. They didn't seem to mind anything happening around them. They just talked, but every word they said to each other pertained only to them. They were just cousins, but Wynne was mildly amazed how they behaved like mutual siblings who loved each other to the brim.

It thawed her heart, but also made it ache as soon as she realised she doesn't have such a person whom she can call a sibling. Her mother was never there to give her a sibling.

Wynne was always alone at such times.

"Anyways, what do you call a peacock in French by the way? Maybe that would remind me" Wynne turned to the tall man. It disturbed her how he towered over her. She was fundamentally disturbed by how ALL of them towered over her.

Heh, looks like someone has taken Portia's place of being the smallest.

"Oh, Paon" he answered within a second.

"AHH! I got it! That's your fashion brand, ain't it so?" She banged her fist on her palm as soon as she ultimately understood the name she was trying to remember all the time. "Well yes, you are correct again. Wait, you mean you know my work??" He gazed at her. "Mhm. I have seen it. Peacock layouts are your trademark, along with the colours, royal blue and brine green. Your type is modern, but also have a slight tinge of French flavour, dating back to the eighteenth or nineteenth-century or so. I have even seen the blogs that talk about you, very impressive I must say" she complimented him.

"O-Oh...Why thank you for your tributes, mademoiselle. You are pretty vigilant and almost figured out my whole style. Not many people can, you know" he laughed. "Of course, no problem Mr Slaquer" Wynne giggled. She found Sèbastien relatively interesting already, even after knowing him only for instants. Not only she liked his judgment of fashion, but also how he and she shared the same passion for design.

"Oh please, call me Sèbastien. It's my upmost pleasure to meet you, Miss......."

"Wynne. Wynne Toprak" she said.

"Toprak?? You mean, Priddell Toprak??" Sèbastien asked her. "Yup. I don't use my middle name too often, actually" she mentioned. "Ohhh I am have heard about you a lot, Ms Toprak. I have witnessed your works too, but I just wasn't lucky enough to see your beautiful face until now. Lucifer's Wings, that's yours right?" He questioned.

Wynne's cheeks turned a slight pink. She always thought that she can improve her style more and more, so she never found her methods perfect. And someone just breaking it to her that they admired her works and call her beautiful on top of that turns her shy and flustered.

"I-I...Thank you. And yes, that's my brand. I started it when I was like, 15 years old or so" she replied. "Woah, now that's a young talent I see. Very terrific, Ms Toprak. And I love how you make black match every other colour of your clothing. Your mode is very diverse and comfortable for anyone. Now that's how I want fashion to be. It should be dispersible to everyone, without any discrimination. And also with being unique, but also not too bizarre, if you know what I mean" Sèbastien's eyes shot to Raymond for a second.

Wynne bobbed her head. "I agree with you. Clothes which are different but also not too much of it. We don't want to walk around looking like piñatas now, do we?" She shrugged. Sèbastien broke into a fit of laughs and he shook his head. His laugh sounded like harmony to her, she chuckling with him too.

"Also, I am guessing you work with Nadia in designing the dresses for the dancers?" she continued. "Yup. Right. I have a contract with her for that. And Raymond has one too for his band to perform in the theatre" Sèbastien rubbed his neck. "Ahh...I see......Well, my friend had invited me here to take a look, and decide whether I should join the company with all of you or not" she noted.

"Oh! So you are going to design with me too?? Like a collaboration??" He sounded pretty energetic about it. "Well, maybe. But I also am a dancer. So let's see what happens" Wynne shrugged again.

"Woah...what a gifted lady. I'll be looking forward to work with you, mademoiselle" he softly kissed her hand again. "Oh it's nothing much. Trust me, Dear. But sure, I'm anticipating too" she sadly smiled at him. She still wasn't sure if she should join or not. But seeing so many likeable people who welcomed her so sweetly, made it hard for her to refuse. But also, what worse can happen if she joins? She loved dancing, and maybe along with fashion, she can make her career in another field too.

But still, she needed a bit more time. Though her mind was already telling her to agree to the contract and sign in. But she still needed to wait. Not just yet, please.

"Ohh!! What a lovely lady in the house!" Wynne heard another adorable voice from the entrance. She glanced at the new blonde woman, her long hair as golden as daffodils and her eyes as green as polished malachite. She also noticed the dress she was wearing. A long red skirt and a white buttoned top. It was simple but pretty, along the black ghillies with distinguishing neat white socks.

"Oh hello there. Nice to meet you" Wynne turned her attention to the blonde dame, whose cheeks lightened to blush as she bashfully smiled at Wynne.

"Nice to meet you too! I'm Maura. You must be Wynne, right? Asra told me about you" she replied. "Yeah, that's me. In flesh" she snorted.

"Ah, Wynne. Maura is the one who planted all the flowers and plants in the garden. And she always knows what type of flower would suit anyone. Also, not only she is the gardener, but she is also a prudent performer of Irish stepdance. It looks very difficult to me, to be honest. But Maura always does it so effortlessly" Sèbastien added on. Maura blushed harder and timidly thanked the man for the compliment, who just patted her head with a playful wink in return.

"Oh! Now that's very sweet of you. I absolutely loved the sunflowers in the garden by the way. They are my favourite. Every other flower in the garden were beautiful too" Wynne smiled at her. "Of course! I'm glad you liked them. I love sunflowers too. They sure a happy radiant flowers, don't you think?" She glinted at Wynne. "Definitely. I love them because they remind me of my mother, that's why" Wynne sadly smiled, the fond portraits of her precious mother as her hair and eyes lustrous as the cloudless floral elegance of nature flooding into her psyche. She dearly missed her, too bad she was no more.

"Oh! That's wonderful! I'll make sure to make a bouquet of sunflowers for you once they fully blossom. You can even gift them to your mom. And tell her I said hi" Maura twinkled. Wynne was seized aback by her abrupt tenderness. People were being too much nice to her today that it seemed so alien to her. But appreciating her generosity, Wynne warmly smiled.

"Thank you, Maura. She would like it" she still couldn't believe that such kind people still exist.

"My pleasure, Wynne. This is the least I can do" she smiled back.

"Also, Irish dance, now that's very interesting. You gotta show me some moves and teach me one day" the bluenette placed her hand on her hip. "Ohh for sure! I would love to. What dance do you do? Or do you specialise in some other thing than dancing" Maura leaned her head.

"Ah! I'm usually into hip hop and ballet. I learnt a bit about belly dancing too, it's also called Raqs Sharqi in Arabic. And other than dancing, I also run my fashion brand, and that's my real profession. It's called 'Lucifer's Wings'. I still remember how I took days to come for a decent name" she facepalmed and chucked at her forenamed naivety.

"That's a very nice name! You gotta show me your works someday then. I bet they will be very very beautiful and elegant, just like you!". "O-Oh....thank you for the.....compliment, Dear. And of course, I'll show you my latest designs, if that will satisfy you" Wynne brushed back her bangs. "I am sincerely honoured, Wynne" Maura grinned at her, her hands behind her back and her cheeks pink.

"No pressure. Your welcome" she raised her shoulders. Alright, she had to admit. She had started to like Maura too. Who wouldn't? And it was funny how she presently was liking the Slaquers and Maura more than the six she already was aware of. Maybe it's the benefit of the joy of meeting new people. Maybe........

"Also, I have a small question, would you mind me asking?" Wynne blinked. "Not at all, sweetie. Ask away" the blonde replied.

"Asra said this place runs through funds" Wynne blinked again.

"But who exactly is funding you all?"

Maura wasn't the one to answer her question. And neither was Sèbastien. Or Raymond. Or Lyra. Or any of the five.

It was the one out of the six who was known to be snooty, and robust, and blond.

And a passionate pup person too.

In came the notorious devil with two of his faithful albino pair of hounds growling at everyone in the room. His garnet coat with gold trimmings and the spotless Tom Ford Customs, obviously costing so much it would make our pockets spontaneously explode, were dry cleaned and smoothed very strictly, and his hair was huddled back with shower gel, replacing the pleasant smell of vanilla in the air with a tincture of mint.

"How are you all losers? You missed me?" The man removed his Gucci glasses and straightened his silky black gloves on his hands as he looked down at everyone.

"Tch, not him again" Wynne heard Sèbastien scoff and cross his arms. He looked irritated, and so did Maura, but she didn't have any frown on her face like him. She just looked..... unsettled. Meanwhile, others in the room were feeling as uncomfortable as both of them too. Muriel was looking away, Portia began to mind her business, Julian hid behind his papers, Lyra and Raymond tried to ignore the man and Nadia just sighed tiredly and rubbed her temples to give some comfort from the headache she just got. Possibly because of the new blond who entered.

"Hello Lucio" Nadia was the one who bothered to greet him, and she didn't look like she had a choice.

"Hello, Noddy! So how are my wife and her useless crew doing?" He cocked.

"Ex-wife, for your information. And they all are doing better than you, anyway" she scowled.

"Ah, still defending them huh? You do know this won't stop me" he smirked and kept his hand on his hip. Nadia closed her eyes, breathing calmly. "I don't care if you stop or not, but you are wrong. You always will be. My crew will always be committed and hard-working. And they all mean a lot to me no matter what bad you say about them"

Nadia's words effectively dissolved the tension in the room. Wynne just kept up at her place, listening to everything. She wasn't stunned to find him here. If her five friends would be here, then so would he.

The surprising fact was that she preferred the blondie over everyone else due to their previous relations and memories. It may sound unbelievable, but Wynne knew Lucio more than anyone, and it probably was the same with Lucio too, that he knew Wynne more than he knew anyone else. She was just a kid she met the guy when he was younger than today. And it has been two decades since, yet they kept in touch and their love never deteriorated.

Maybe.....maybe Wynne did have someone to call a sibling.

"So good to see you here, Lulu" she sounded pleasantly happy. That adds to another reason for joining the company.

"Wait- WYNNE?!!" The man was startled, finding his close friend at a place he least expected to. His lips widened to a grin and he forgot about everything, only to dash to the lady and tackle her in the biggest hug he can ever lend. Wynne laughed, and simply held his back, embracing his nostalgic warmth and scent close to herself, remembering every time they spent together merrily.

Sèbastien was dumbfounded, his mouth agape. Maura too was a bit astonished, that a sophisticated lady like her would be friends with such a flamboyant and hyperactive person. Well, she didn't judge it. Opposites do attract, you know. Maybe that was the case here. Maybe......

"What...What are you doing here??? I didn't know you were coming for a visit. Noddy never tells me anything" Lucio implored, fretting at the last sentence. "Well, it was more like a surprise visit. Nadia didn't know, so don't blame her" she replied. "Arrgh, fine. If you are saying it, then I'll gladly listen" he winked at her."Good" she cracked a tiny smile, snickering in the middle, and he joined her with the laughs.

"Now now, do you work here too??" She asked as she stopped.

"Work?! No!! I don't work with these idiots. THEY, work for me" his chest surged like a roasted turkey's bust.

"Oh yeah???" She raised her eyebrow, her eyes darting to Sèbastien. He shook his head, denying Lucio's statement. He then crossed his arms, and behind Lucio's back started mocking him by making his hand talk like Lucio and mouthed the gibberish with his eyes rolled up.

Wynne almost got caught by wheezing and cackling like a witch. Luckily her convenient hand covered it up.

"--And that's how I brought them all here. I am their saviour, Wynne. I raised them from the streets and gave them homes and look how they repay me. Not even a decent formal greeting!!" He bragged. Wynne already knew that the 'saving' part was not true no matter how fondly she thought of him, but she still played along to not dishearten her best friend.

"I understand, Monty. They are pretty tired too, you know. You can excuse them for that" she augmented, perfectly roleplaying.

"Excuuuuuse me?!! I work for hours at the meeting of the cooperations and look at me!! Not even a sweat on my brow. Oh, come on!! Are you all that lazy??? You are such losers for god's sake UGHH" Lucio hysterically placed his hand on his hip and cited them all. None of them were diverted, just as predicted. But Lucio was just pouting as always, and Wynne was feeling hotter and also sheepish. Were the two things even proportional?? She imagined so.

"U-Uhhh" she slowly walked to him and carefully placed her hand on his shoulder. She clasped her fingers around his joint and sighed peacefully.

"Hey...Lulu. I know you are worried about them and thinking that they are not....... trying harder, but they all deserve a break, you know. They all are like you after all. You all are humans, you need rest. You need fresh air"

She stopped and breathed a bit.

"And you know what you and your mates want??" She asked him, with a small beam of mischief on her lips.

"Huh??? What do I need??" He raised her eyebrow at her. She then grinned and booped his nose.

"You need ice cream, Silly! Ice cream! Who doesn't want a sweet cold treat on such a hot day hmm?? Come on all!! Let's have ice cream outside! I'm sure Asra can cover us up on that, free of charge" the bluenette invited everyone over, melting the potent tension just like ice cream under the giant ball of burning gas, leaving sweetness and chill dripping all over.

Everyone agreed to Wynne and relaxed from Lucio's outburst. They were finally keen to take a break they deserve and make their way through the other side at the exit. Lucio and his pets already ran to where they would most probably find the ice cream guy of the house, while everyone else silently thanked the blue lady for preventing Lucio to turn things worse. Some shook her hand, some gave her a quick hug and a bright smile, while some gave her thankful glances. She welcomed all of them with a simple nod, happy to help of course.

"You did great, Wynne. Thanks for shutting that asshole up" Sèbastien patted her head before moving out, shoving his hands in his pockets and whistling away a loud ballad. Maura followed Sèbastien, but she stopped to gently shake Wynne's hand and give her one of her confectionary smiles, also thanking her for saving her from the virago.

"It was nice to meet you again, see you soon" and she went away, her skirt fluttering with the inside wind, as the bluenette saw her walking.

"Hey...that was considerate of you, stopping Lucio from flaring on all of us. I never liked him screaming at anyone, but thanks to you, now I can finally breathe fresh air" Lyra humoured and Wynne chuckled with her. "No problem, Lyra. Lucio and I have been together since my childhood. He had been like this since his college days. So it's not shocking that he is still like this. I honestly love it" she laughed.

"That's great, even for him. I'm happy that you have someone close to you" she gladly smiled. "Yeah, I am happy too. You also have awesome siblings, take care of them just like they take care of you, okay?" Wynne leaned on her weight. "Ah! Of course! Ray Ray is my closest confidant. We are just cousins, but I treat him as my brother. Sebby is also very sweet to me, but he is one thirsty man for gossip and he often turns......scandalous" Lyra whispered the last thing to her.

"But I'm really glad they are here for me, and I'll be there for them too! I'll protect them at all costs!!" Lyra puffed her cheeks with resolution and adherence. Her adorable reaction made the goth lady guffaw from amuse. She held her stomach, one of her hands fanning her face and gashes of laughter accumulated at the nook of her eyes.

Watching her laugh was like watching a thunderous hurricane reflecting a widespread rainbow, or like a broken glass casting an bewitching silhouette.

"You are such a sweetheart. Keep it up like that" Wynne patted her shoulder out of appreciation. Lyra shied a little, she found the other lady's laugh so mellifluous as a psalm's ensemble. She creased a ringlet behind her ear and ogled fondly at the shorter woman.

"I am trying my best, Wynne" she timidly replied to her. "I know, Dear. I know" she closed her eyes and exhaled. She unfolded them again, only to glimpse back into her sapphire watches. Lyra was so captivated by her that her heart skipped a beat when she observed the golden blaze and crystal frost inside her. It was enthralling.

"Also, may I ask for a favour?" Wynne gently held Lyra's chin and poked it up her lips. She didn't even realise that her mouth was open in awe that she blinked rapidly, and stammered a bit, her face flickering to an apple glow. Soon she regained her composure and answered back to her, not making her wait for long.

"Yeah?? What's the matter?"

Wynne stayed silent for a bit.

"......................."

".............................."

".................."

"......................................................"

"Can you show me the contract papers? I gotta sign up"

The clock strikes at 11, and so does the cap of Wynne's pen. Finally, she wrote her name on the paper and learned to become one of their family. She was having fun and was impatient for her first performance.

Well.....maybe Asra did the right thing annoying her huh. Bless him for that, and everyone else of the Vesuvian Dance Company.

Now let the extravaganza begin!

[silver-wield]

If you don't yet have an analysis of when Cloud saves Tifa from the collapsing staircase, I'd like to hear it!

Sorry this one took awhile, Nonny, I was gonna do it yesterday, but I got super tired and then I was gonna do it earlier but I got pissed off and had to walk away from the internet before I threw my computer through a window.

So, the collapsing staircase aka the cloti hand grab. Bring it!

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be long and awesome! Because I saw things and I have suspicions!

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Please check my master post to see if I've already covered your question, thanx

Let's mosey!

Recap time!

Let's backtrack a tiny bit first. Cloud's making his way up the pillar, had his bro moment with Biggs – damn you Square – and he's heading up to where Barret is on the top level.

Reno and Rude are in their chopper, throwing shade at Shinra while doing their jobs. I love how idgaf Reno is during this bit. Like, honey, you not even trying.

As Cloud comes into view on the staircase, Reno spots him and it's time for revenge! Nothing personal, bitch!

Ok, nothing very special here. SOLDIER!Cloud taking a look about for whatever resources he has to hand – none – and we've got Reno in the background waiting for him to get in range. (Yall also almost ended up with my gif of Nyx Ulric loool he pretty but Cloud’s prettier)

Reno's impatient. He fusses with the joy stick, drums his fingers, then puts his arms behind his head. The fact he's done this last move suggests he has no doubt he'll be gunning Cloud down sooner or later. We can see Rude keeping his eyes front – you can just catch the direction of his gaze behind the left lens of his sunglasses.

HOLY SHIT! Rude blinked! Like several times in quick succession! (gotta slow the frames down to 0.25 to catch it btw) Now, this could be nothing since Rude is very hard to read and has even smaller micro-expressions than Cloud does, but when someone blinks like that it usually means they recognise the person they're looking at. He's seen Tifa running up the stairs. I don't know why he might recognise her, aside from having a headcanon about it, but I'm telling you, I saw him do several rapid blinks when he caught sight of her, then draw Reno's attention to her. His eyes behind those sunglasses are ever so slightly wider than usual btw. It's really hard to see, but there seems to be a definite look of “I know you” about him.

Reno shooting at her might have been a mistake on Rude’s part. He could have forgotten himself in that moment of recognition and didn't mean to direct Reno to a new target. That would explain why he pulled away from the attack and made up an excuse about his hand slipping.

This makes me excited to find out if Rude knows her and what the deal is with that OG crush. My headcanon? He's a former student of Zangan too and helped get Tifa to Midgar when she was injured. She doesn't remember it since she was at death's door for most of the trip. I saw a bit saying Zangan had to use a lot of healing materia on her and she stayed in the hospital too, so it's reasonable she wouldn't recall Rude. But, we don't know for sure yet, which is why headcanon.

Still exciting though!

Cloud's heard footsteps on the stairwell, so turns to see who it is and you can just catch a glimpse of Tifa appearing through the metal slats. This is the first time Cloud spots her. The camera then pans up to the helicopter again where Reno prepares to shoot Tifa.

I don't wanna say for sure that Rude's jaw clenched here. The lighting is suspect because of the angle it strikes his face. He did something. I noticed something, but it's so utterly subtle I can't tell what. He either clenched his jaw for a brief second or his lips firmed, again for a brief second. It's probably easier to catch if you slow the frames down then don't look at Rude and rely on your peripheral vision to see it. That's how I end up replaying things a million times because I saw something and then have to spend half an hour trying to find it again lol

Reno definitely smirked, I caught that no problem.

So yeah, moving on from Rude's super micro-expressions, before Reno's even finished speaking he's pulling the helicopter away from Tifa. Like, Reno's still saying “bullets” when it happens. That's a very snap decision, especially with how fast Reno talks usually. And the entire time Reno's speaking Rude is looking at Tifa. I mean, he's expressionless – he could give Cloud lessons – but there's also emotion coming from him. I kinda feel a bit sad looking at him in this screen.  

Guess we'll get more Rude backstory in part 2!

Reno bangs his head and I always laugh at that part. Get rekt!

Cloud's all da fuq? since it's so very obvious Reno was lined up to shoot and then suddenly not. But there's no time to think about why because Tifa's still running up the stairs.

Omg I'm so good I even impress myself sometimes! Check either side of the screen. Tifa at one edge and Cloud at the other, already in motion to save her as the first bullets from Reno's miss start destroying the staircase. You could not get closer to the start of this catch!

Tifa's foot is on the second step here. That's not even a second after the last screen. Her sub isn't even fully solid that's how soon she yelled for Cloud. Going by common sense, the staircase is collapsing to her right and she needs to get up another 12 steps? In a couple of seconds? Yeah, she knew that wasn't happening. She needed him. I question how she knew he was there. She couldn't see him from where she was. Maybe she guessed the chopper was shooting at him, but it could've been anyone from Avalanche. She's not looking up the stairs, her eyes are at her feet.

I think she yelled for Cloud because that's who she wanted. Like Aerith said to follow her heart, Tifa's heart cried out for Cloud when she was in danger.

Well, if that isn't a look of surprise right there. She really didn't expect him to be right there at that moment. She was screaming for him, hoping he'd save her and there he was. Her face goes from this tense “I'm about to die” look, to this wide eyed shock that there he is, right in front of her, reaching for her. Right when she needed him most. If he wasn't there she'd have been shot and the last thing she said would've been his name. That's how important it is that she screamed for him there. It wasn't that she knew he was waiting for her. She didn't know he was there at all. She just wanted him to be the one to save her so desperately and he came through.

So I bet a lot of people have looked at this so romantically that he's reaching for her. Hell yeah in a way, but what makes it even better is when you remember you're looking at Cloud through Tifa's eyes. This is how she sees Cloud looking at her in this moment, all heroic and brave and just right there for her. That confident stance, totally out from behind any kind of cover, just waiting and reaching for her. It's funny she never calls him a hero in the game, except as a motivator at the end when he's dangling off a building, because he absolutely is pulling off the hero moment here. She called his name and he appeared to save her. It's exactly how she said during their promise.

He is taking her hand. That's his fingers wrapping around hers, while hers lay open against his palm. She is the passive party in this hold, while Cloud is the active one. She could've mutually grabbed him, but she didn't. This is him saving her. This is not an equal grab. This is Cloud grabbing Tifa. Only after his fingers close over her hand do hers do the same back.

Cloud backs up, dragging Tifa up the last of the stairs to safety, while keeping himself safe as well. There, he spins her around and puts his free hand on her back, while keeping hold of her other hand in his. He doesn't let her go at all during that move. In fact, you can also see that Tifa now has both hands on Cloud. The one he took is still holding his and she's put her other hand on his arm. She was likely very scared during that moment he saved her and she's holding onto him as an anchor to feel safe. Cloud saved her and she feels safe with him.

Cloud's expression is wary and alert, since he's focused on the danger, while Tifa's is scared. Just because she can fight, doesn't make her a fighter.

Cloud lets got of Tifa's hand so he can lean out from behind their safe spot and check on the danger, but he's left his other hand on her back. During this moment, Tifa actually leans back which would increase that contact.

Her face is quite blurred since we're focusing on Cloud in the foreground, but her expression seems to hint at a “thank god I have you” look.

Oh look, the camera refocused. Definitely a “thank god I have you” look, not to mention the tears in her eyes. She was terrified.

Also, that hand is still on her back.

But, she can't be weak in front of Cloud. She wants to prove she's his equal, that she doesn't need a hero. She just wants him. I mean, before he turns to look at her, she's staring at him like he set the stars in the sky for her.

As he takes his hand off her back and pulls out his “what the hell?” line, which is clearly him mad at her for being so reckless and almost dying on him, she gives him a brave smile and puts on her own persona as someone who can totally handle all this chaos. Scared? Tifa? Noooo.

She says “nice catch” all casual like she wasn't petrified and screaming his name less than thirty seconds ago and he is not impressed by this one bit. He's unconvinced Tifa's as blasé about this as she's acting, which is why he continues to challenge her. Which isn’t the first time he’s done it. He doesn’t let her bullshit him.

Basically, she's trying to be brave and support him, but he doesn't want her to put herself in danger because he wants to protect her. They're both trying to prove they're worthy of each other and doing stupid shit in the process.

This is actually a very good moment for them because we know Cloud pretty much does whatever Tifa wants because he wants to make her happy, but this shows he's not above arguing with her or challenging her when she's being reckless and endangering herself. He's not got her on a pedestal. She's not some unobtainable dream woman. She's real to him and he feels comfortable getting mad and showing negative emotions to her. That's why he can call her crazy without worrying it'll sour her opinion of him.

Remember, Tifa is non-confrontational by nature. She doesn't like fighting and will usually agree or let things go for the sake of an easy life. But, she disagrees with Cloud or tells him off several times throughout the game. This shows she's comfortable having confrontations with him. She's not worried about upsetting him and being rejected during a typical interaction. She worries about scaring him away when she’s unsure he’ll stay, but once he’s said he’ll stick around she relaxes and doesn’t seem as worried about him leaving her. It was only when she tried to move their relationship from friendship to more during alone at last that she worried about rejection. 

Tifa accepts Cloud's feelings, even the negative ones and deals with them in a mature way. She doesn't dismiss him or ignore how he feels. She just relates her feelings to his and points out that he's still going up the pillar, so she will too. She wants to stay by his side. Her heart led her to him. If he's going, then so is she. Her expression is earnest here. There's nothing more than what she says. She's not leaving. Nothing can change her mind.

OK WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, RUDE?! DO YOU KNOW TIFA?!

He swallowed! His mouth tensed and he swallowed! Lips pulled down. Behind those sunglasses I caught movement. There's definitely something going on with Rude here and it's something that Reno doesn't know about since he doesn't recognise Tifa and he has no idea why Rude did that.

Ok, one last quick shot of yet more unnecessary touching between Cloud and Tifa. Why is he doing that? Literally to keep her within arm's reach. She said she's not leaving, so he's gonna keep her safe no matter what. To do that, he needs to know exactly how far away from him she is. Also, he wants to touch her lol

Conclusion

Well, there was lots of good stuff hidden in there and I'm even more convinced that Rude knows Tifa after I caught some of his micro-expressions. I'm excited to see if it's true in part 2, but more so the fact that we're gonna get the Turks characters' fleshed out compared to OG. We've already learned that Reno while not giving a fuck, also actually really gives a fuck. I love him. He's such a snarky butt.

But, this was about Cloud and Tifa, not Rude.

Yeah, she literally couldn't see him at any point when she was running up that staircase. She screamed his name because that's who she wanted in that moment to appear and save her. The surprise on her face is genuine. She didn't know he was there. Cloud's in full “I must save Tifa” mode, so it's real!Cloud motivating SOLDIER!Cloud to do what he doesn't think he's capable of. They then have a lover's spat about Tifa being reckless and show the healthy disagreement side to their relationship by not screaming and shouting at each other or being sarcastic – like Cloud is with someone else. While Cloud might not like Tifa going with, he understands her need to. She's also put it in terms that he can understand, but part of him is very unhappy about it, which is why in that last shot we see him with his hand on her arm ready to protect her at a moment's notice. He's not letting her out of sight or arm's reach.

It's some damn good solid relationship building from them during a tense moment.

[plantcrazy]

Lost Children of the CCC - Update 06/04

Thought I'd give a quick status update since I'm still about a week away from uploading the next chapter(s).

Chapter 3: Looking Good, finished writing the first full draft last night. Going to sit on it for a couple of days then go through it again and if all's good should be up for the beginning of next week.

(Current) Chapter 4: Finished writing. Very happy with the contents of this one. I don't think it needs much tweaking, character interactions seem smooth, and I'm very happy with how the trip down memory line goes. I think I haven't got the character's voice quite right due to his accent, so I'm going to go in a tweak that a bit more later.

(Current) Chapter 5: Made a start on it last night, about 460 words in. Needs a lot more work, a few areas need more clarity regarding whose speaking.

New Chapter 4?: I'm thinking I might add in a chapter from outside the Wall since any later feels a bit late. Also would work for the slight time jump between Chapters 3 & (current) 4. It's looking like we'll either pay Henry a visit or S̸̶̢̡͔̦̰̮̘̘͉̳̺̺̞̮͔̰̪ͣͦ͐̂̒̃̈́̇̒͘o̴̳̠̩̖̳̪̥͙̙̪͎̯̣̭̩͇̠͙̅̍̿͂̊̏ͣ̒͗̈́̈̽̓́̚m̪̟̩̙̫̦͚̜̰̝ͫ͑͋̽ͨ̇̑̆̿̿ͤ͂ͧ̕e̵̶̥͎͔̖̤̘̜̳̮̦͍͋ͣ͂͐̐ͣͩ́ͫ̏̀́ͅ ̶̷̏́ͥ̍̏̋͛͐̋͛̈ͭ͗̌̆̚͟҉̡̭̰̭͔̖̠̯͓ö́̓ͮͧ͋͋̓̇͏̩̞̭̣̰̘͞t̵̸̺͔̖̠̾̊̂ͪ̃ͭ͑͆̋ͧ̽̾ͩ͒͗͒̂̕͝h̴̴̸̖͍̳͍̖̜͈̙̬̺̳͎̘̭̬͖͈̥̪ͣ̂͂͐̇͢ę̸̨̗͖̘̺͇̯͍̞̞̥͈͍͖̼̹͖͕̯͋ͤͮ̒̿͛͑ͤ̒ͤ̔̒͑̍̆ͅr̂̐̆͛͊̔͋ͮ̊҉̸̶̳̩̘̦̜͇̯͖́ͅ ̴̭̼͚̬͎̗̓ͫͨ̂̈ͣ͛̈ͬ̒̃̍ͤͩͤ̑̋͑́͘͞͡'ͦ͑͗̍͏͍̮͙͖̙̺̤͉͕̰̟͍̬̤͡f̷̹͉͍͍̠͈̝͈̳̰̟̘̋ͯ̓̾̆ͭͮ͗ͮ͗̀͐̇̓̎̔̉ͮ̕͞r̛̻̠̦̝̥̬̼̙̤̽̑ͮͬ̿̾̎͋ͤ̂ͦ̿̒͗̌̏̑͜i̡ͣͭͭ̍ͦ̎ͩ͊͛ͩ̅̈̍͊̚҉̴͎͖̪͓̺̦͙͙̪̩̥̙̝̪̞̖͚́ę̖̪͙̼͉̥̥̤̮̙͖̲͙̪͉̑͑̂̅̓̀n̷̢̝̦̺̗͔͈̰̟͍͔̘̜͒͗̆̓ͩ̀̎̎͋̊d̶̍͂̔͋́̆ͨͪͮͮͥͥͩ̆̀́̚͏̴̼͖̩̯̻͖͙ș̸̬̭͍̠̻̟̥̹̻̪̦̾ͨͯ̉͞'̵̨̳̰͉͇̞̺͔̥͔̘̝͎͎̻̄͐̋͐ͭͫ̎͊͂ͬͭ, but I'm thinking the latter to set them up for the next half since Henry will be joining us much later.

And below I'll include a couple of snippets for the next chapter for anyone who wants a little spoiler (Nothing major or game-breaking tho).

Snippets

Snippet #1:

He’d snuck out early one morning to the train yards. He’d done the trip many times before, usually just to get up close and admire the sleeping beauties, but that day had been different.

That day was going to be the day: He was going to hijack a train.

Snippet #2:

Reginald looked out once more. He didn’t recognise anyone- was that a top hat?

“What’s going on over there?” He asked pointing to the crowd.

“OH, AWESOME! He’s out today!” Ethan cheered running over to join the group.

“Come on Josh! You’re gonna miss the show!”

“Show?” Reginald asked again, still confused.

“Come on, you’ll see. This is the best entertainment we get around here!”

- - -

Remember, this stuff above is the draft vs. before it gets proofread, so a lot of this might get changed.

[natashaashleymarvelromanoff]

I'm So Glad You’re Back - Chapter 5

Chapter 1.  Chapter 2.  Chapter 3.  Chapter 4.  Chapter 6.  Chapter 7.  Chapter 8.  Chapter 9.  Chapter 10.  Chapter 11.  Chapter 12.  Chapter 13.  Chapter 14.  Chapter 15.  Epilogue

See you in a minute

After Tony had refused to help them with their plan, Scott and Natasha made their way to find Bruce. Or professor hulk as he was called now. It was still a little strange to see Bruce as the hulk but she'd gotten used to it by now. However, Scott was mesmerised. She even had to elbow him a few times since he lost concentration because he was staring at Bruce so much. She supposes to be fair on his part he hadn't actually met Bruce before so seeing him like this would have been a lot to process.

They had met in the diner for lunch and told Bruce about their plans, Bruce had been more than happy to help them. He understood how his friends must have been feeling and he too would do anything to get their lost friends back.

….

Now back at the compound the next day, Bruce, Scott and Natasha had set up some equipment that attached to Scott's ugly brown van and Bruce had set up his station to control where Scott's presence in the quantum realm so that he didn't get lost.

But once they started up the machine and sent Scott into the quantum realm. It went a little wrong. Okay, maybe a lot wrong. Somehow they managed to turn Scott into a teenager, old man and baby before they had to cut the power and bring the normal Scott back.

As Bruce and Scott argued about how to fix the technical equipment to make it work, Natasha left the room. Opening the doors to the outside hangar, the Russian walked over to one of the pillars, leaned against it and let out a deep sigh. She felt defeated.

How were they supposed to get everyone back if they couldn't even help Scott travel safely through the quantum realm?

Maybe all this was a lost cause. She thought.

Deep in her unhopeful thoughts, Natasha didn't notice the car pulling down the driveway until it was a few yards away. Whipping her head up at the sound of the engine, the redhead instantly recognised the sleek Audi as Tony's.

Pulling up alongside her, Tony parked the car, got out and walked over to her.

“So let me guess. You turned Scott into a baby?” the genius sniggered at her with a smirk on his face.

Jutting her chin to the side in annoyance since she knew Tony was right, the first female avenger nodded and rolled her eyes at him.

Tony’s smirk getting even bigger he also laughed a little louder which in turn, made Natasha give in to laughing too.

“Yeah, and an old man. I don't think its gonna work tony.” Still smiling at the events from a few minutes ago, Natasha voiced her worries to tony, her smile faulting slightly.

“Well that's a shame, I guess I'll just head home them and not share my super awesome time travel plans with you, you know since I figured it out.”

As tony turned to walk back to his car, Natasha's eyes widened. Only realising what her friend had said.

"What did you just say?” Almost running the short distance between her and Tony, she looked up at him with hopeful eyes, but she was also in disbelief.

"I figured it out nat. I know how to time travel, and it's completely safe.” his brown eyes beamed at her when he told Natasha. He still couldn't believe it himself, to be honest.

If it wasn't for that picture of Peter he had saved in his kitchen, he doesn't think he ever would have tried to figure it out.

When he saw that picture it stirred some feelings inside of him. He loved that kid. Tony knew he never said it but he did. Yeah, he was annoying at times and was a pain in the ass but he loved the kid. It hurt to even think about him. Of course after he got back from space he had asked about his aunt may and friends, but unfortunately, they hadn't made it. Tony still felt guilty to this day. And he was sure if it was any other time he saw that picture of the two of them he would have just thought about Peter and put it back down. But Scott and Natasha's words had stuck with him all day. That photo. That photo was his reason to at least try and he did.

"Oh my god. You did it? wait. I thought you said you didn't want any part in this?” Natasha hopeful face transformed into a confused one.

“I know, but then I realised you were right. As much as I hate to admit that to your stupid face. We have a chance again. After 5 years and we should take it. But Tasha, if we're gonna do this, we need to make sure that we don't change anything. I don't want to risk losing the life I have now. And I'm sure you don't want to either.” Tony really hated admitting she was right, and naturally, she was loving it, listening to his words with a smirk of her face.

"Of course, I don't. I don't want to lose anything either. All I want is to bring everyone back.” Natasha's face softened as she watched tony.

"Okay then. Let's get started.”

As tony shuffled backwards to go to the boot of his car, Natasha stopped in her place, only just realising that something was missing. Or rather someone.

“Wait. Wheres James?”

“Oh yeah I forgot to tell you, I figured since we were gonna build a time machine it would be best to not have a 5-year-old running around near it just in case we lost him in the 1700s by accident.” Tony joked at her. Laughing at him, Natasha just agreed with him. He was right. She didn't want James near any of it just in case something went wrong.

Then after she had laughed at him, Tony pulled something out of his boot. Natashas breath caught in her throat as she instantly recognised the rounded surface.

Steve shield.

“I figured if we're gonna do this, you should have this. I don't know why I didn't give it back to you before but I guess better late than never.

You don't have to use it of course, but I just thought to have this on you, it would almost feel like he's there with you.”

Taking the large shield of him, Natasha felt her eyes brimming. She tried to sniff her nose to keep them from falling and she flashes the genius a smile. She remembered the last she saw it, back in Germany. Nearly 7 years ago now. Even though she wanted to take it with her on their mission, she knew she couldn't. It was steves shield, if something happened to her she didn't want to take it.

“Thank you, Tony.” She told him, in the sincerest voice she could. She really was thankful.

Tony and Natasha let themselves back inside where Tony explained he had figured out how to time travel. After a few hours. The 4 had the beginning of a plan. First, get everyone back on earth, then build the machine inside the hangar. They didn't have a solid plan on what to do exactly once they had built the time machine but a vague plan was formed to get the stones first before Thanos could get them.

As the boys got on with building the time machine, Natasha made video calls to all of their fellow Avengers and Guardians. She didn't explain in detail but Natasha had told them that they had a new plan on how to get everyone back and she would explain when they got here. Unfortunately, she couldn't reach carol but once Carol saw her video calls she was sure her son’s aunt would come as soon as possible.

Rocket and Nebula where the first ones to come back home as well as Rhodey.

Herself, Scott, Tony and Bruce explained to them all their plan. Most of them are sceptical at first but once Tony had explained that the details and that he was confident it would work, they accepted it. It also helped that rocket was on board with the plan and was also confident that it would work.

That left only Clint and Thor. Once Rhodey had returned to the compound he had informed Natasha that he thinks he knows where Clint is. This is the closest they have gotten to finding him. It was either now or never.

Natasha took the opportunity immediately. If anyone was going to get him it was going to be her. She hadn't seen him in 5 years. She had missed him so much. He was her oldest friend in this world and Natasha was determined to bring him back, and hopefully telling him about their new plan would convince him.

Since it had been nighttime where Thor was when they had been building the machine, she couldn't call him until it was the day for him, but since she was on her way to Tokyo she had Bruce make the call instead. Bruce had informed her that Thor would be at the compound by the end of the day. Natasha was relieved to hear it. She knew Thor had been depressed since the snap and she tried her best to make him feel better. She'd been there before so if there was anything she could do to help one of her closest friends she would.

…..

Arriving in Tokyo Natasha turned on the Quinjet's stealth mode, to make sure Clint wouldn't hear or see her and run.

As she walked through the alleyway littered with bodies Natasha approached the former archer. Now known as Ronin to his victims and enemies.

His back was turned to her as she stepped closer, then when she stopped, her oldest friend removed his hood. She couldn't help but think he looked different. His hair. His face. His eyes. They were the eyes of a distraught man. A man who had lost his entire family. But no matter what he had done, no matter what happened Clint would always be her friend and she would never judge him on his actions. He never judged her, instead, he saved her all those years ago. And she was just about to return that favour.

Natasha knew she maybe treading on eggshells when she moved closer to him but she needed him to know she still loved him. After all this time, She was finally speaking to him again.

“Clint. Killing all these people isn't going to bring your family back. We found something. A chance maybe…” her voice was soft, the same voice she used to speak to James when he was sad.

"Don't” Clint's voice was harsh as he spoke. The first words she had hear him say in 5 years.

"Don't what?”

“Give me hope” his voice broke. Throughout the years he had held onto hope that one day his wife and children would come back, but as time and time went on, he lost that hope. Clint didn't know if he could handle having that hope ripped away from him again.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner” she took another step closer. Just an arm's length away. The colourful neon signs were their only source of light as the former spy looked at her friend. Slowly raising her arm, she took Clint's hand in her own. Trying her best to comfort him right now.

It took a few minutes for Clint to agree to leave with her, but once he did they both made their way to the quinjet and set course to the compound in New York.

The ride home wasn't too long since they had taken the quinjet, but Clint had been near enough quiet the entire time. She had spoken to him and he had just listened. Natasha told him about their friends, who had survived and who didn't. The guardians and Carol who were their space team. But she neglected to mention James and morgan. Natasha didn't think telling him about her son and Tony's daughter would be the best idea, especially since he had lost his own kids and was still mourning for them.

Once the two former assassins arrived back at the compound they were greeted by their team and thor who had arrived just a few hours before them.

Thor had looked quite sad when Clint laid eyes on him, he still kinda looked the same since the last time he saw him, but his long hair was slightly scruffier like he hadn't brushed it in a while and he looked smaller if that was even possible. It was almost like he’d lost some of the bulk of his muscle. But once the god's eyes landed on nat, they lit up, with a smile on his face to accompany them. He almost considered it strange at first until he realised that they probably kept in contact for the past few years. Natasha had told him about what happened to Thor before Thanos came. It didn't surprise him after that, that the god and Natasha would be close.

After greeting Thor with a smile and a big bear hug, Natasha made it a point to notice how far their time travel machine was coming on and impressively they had almost finished thanks to Rockets help. Natasha figured him and Tony would get this done quick, not that Bruce wasn't a big help but he was a bit too big to get into the smaller details although he did do most of the heavy lifting and Scott helped with the engineering, when he volunteered to do it everyone had given him a quizzical look, until he reminded everyone about his degrees.

This was it, they were almost there. Not long now.

It had been so long since Clint had been at this stupid compound. Now that he thinks about it, it has been almost 7 years. He remembered setting of the alarms off base so he could get wanda out. Wanda. It hurt to know she had gone too. He felt responsible for her after her brother sacrificed himself for him, she was so young too. He almost thought of her as a daughter.

As he followed Natasha through the compound to the common room, Clint got lost in his thoughts, thinking about all of his friends. It wasn't until his foot kicked something on the floor that he was broken out of his trance.

Looking down, Clint noticed that the thing he had kicked was a toy? Furrowing his eyebrows he stared at the child's toy in confusion.

Natasha had walked further on than him into the kitchen, not noticing his frozen posture.

As clint stared at the toy at his feet, the father of 3 started to notice more toys. They almost littered the floor if It wasn't for a box in the corner that had been placed there to keep them tidied away.

There were crayons scattered across the table, drawings covering the walls. Toy cars on the floor placed to look like they were racing each other. As clint looked around the room his eyes started to well. Seeing all these toys, it reminded him of home. His kids. Cooper, Lila and Nate.

Natasha hadn't noticed clint had stopped to stare at the toys in the room until she turned around to hand him a cup of coffee. Stopping instantly in her tracks she grimaced at the look on her friends face. She didn't even think about James's toys when they had come back.

“Nat. who’s toys are these?”

Moving her feet so she could walk closer to clint, Natasha stopped in front of him. Placing the two cups onto the table, Natasha took a breath and looked him in the eye with a small smile on her face.

“They're my son’s.”

“What?” she had a son? That didn't make any sense. He thought she couldn't- Clint's eyebrows knitted themselves together even further, obviously curious about her answer.

“About a month after the snap, I found out I was 2 months pregnant.”

“2 months? But that means you got pregnant when you were- oh.” Clint's sudden realisation made him lose his voice. If she was pregnant when the snap happened, it meant she conceived the baby before. And before the snap, her sam and Steve were on the run together.

He knew that nat and Sam had just been friends and that's all. But Steve, nat and Steve were possibly even closer than him and her. They had been partners during shield. They had run the Avengers as co loaders after Ultron. And she had betrayed tony for him during the battle in Germany. He had no doubt, that Natasha's child was Steves. No doubt at all.

“Yeah” Natasha nodded at his silent conclusion. She leaned over to a cabinet at the side of the room and pulled a picture frame from it. The redhead passed it over to her friend for him to see.

It was a picture of her and James. She was pretty sure it had been pepper that took it one Christmas, James had a smile as big as a Cheshire cat on his face as she held him in her arms, both wearing garish red and green sweaters that lit up. A gift from tony of course.

“His name is James. James Samuel Clinton Rogers.” clients breath caught in his throat as he heard his name. She gave her son his name?

“Congratulations nat. Really. I know you would never admit it but I know you always wanted this. Even when you believed you could never have it. I'm really happy for you, and Steve. I know he isn't here but I know he’d to be so happy for you too.” as he finishes his sentence, Clint actually smiles at her. This was the first time she had seen him smile since she got him back. And she's guessing its probably the first time he's smiled in a long time. Leaning in she wraps her arms around her oldest friend embracing him into a hug. Clint was hesitant at first to receive the gentle contact. He hadn't been hugged in years. But once he felt the familiar feeling of safety with his friend, he instantly returned the gesture with the picture frame still in his hand..

“We're gonna do this Clint. We are. We're gonna get them back.” After pulling back from their hug Natasha reassured him of their goal. He nodded at her words to make her feel better but honestly, he was still trying to not give too much hope to the idea. Truthfully he was terrified that if he focused all his efforts and hope into bringing his family back and he failed, that he would completely lose himself and the man he was would never return. No matter who came to save him.

…..

It didn't take the Avengers long to work out a solid plan. With the help of everyone in the room, they figured out exactly where the stones had been before Thanos had taken them and even narrowed it down so that they didn't have to make multiple jumps

The plan was clear.

Jump back to the past. Get the stones. Do not let anything that already happened change. Jump back to the present. Use the stones with the new gauntlet. Bring everyone back. Return the stones to exactly where they got them from.

Sounds easy enough right? That's what they thought.

As Tony and nebula finished making the last of the bracelets for the team. The rest of the gang were planning on who would go to which destination to collect the stones.

Tony, Scott and Bruce would travel to 2012, during Loki's attack on New York to get the time, mind, and space stone.

Thor and rocket would go to Asgard in 2014. The same time Jane had been possessed by the reality stone.

Then Rhodey, Nebula, Natasha and Clint would jump to 2014 too. But rhodey and nebula would go after the power stone on Morag and Natasha and clint would fly the Benetar to Vormir, collecting the soul stone.

“Sounds good. Anyone wanna back out before its too late?” Clint questioned. Suddenly 9 pairs of eyes started to shift around the room, interested to see if anyone would do as Clint said.

But no one did. This was it. They finally had a chance, after 5 excruciating years of giving up hope. they were finally going to bring everyone they loved back.

…..

9 bodies stood on the platform around the time machine. 9 nervous people who wanted to bring their family back, and would do whatever it takes to do it.

They had all been silent with worry as they stood on the time machine. Natasha noticed the looks on her friend's faces and spoke up.

“5 years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family and we lost a part of ourselves. Today we get a chance to take it all back. Remember your missions. Stick with your teams. Don't let anything mess this up. If you can, try to avoid changing anything that could affect us. We don't get do-overs. Be careful. Look out for each other.  This is the fight our lives. And we're going to win, whatever it takes. Does everyone understand.”

As she looked around at her team she saw each one nod at her. Following their orders from their captain. It was strange to be in charge of a team again, considering the last time she was it was with Steve, and with different teammates. But she fell right back into her old position.

“Shes really good at that huh?” Rocket piped up, making Natasha smirk at the little racoon.

Looking down from his height, Scott smiled at Rocket and agreed. He really was a big fan of the Avengers. Kiss ass.

“Okay, let's do this.” Tony said as they all punched in their coordinates and bruce activates the timer on the control panel. Then they waited for Friday to count down from ten, Natasha gave a final look to her team before they jumped and smiled as she said.

“See you in a minute.”

[ybyg]

久しぶりでしょうね？ Let's catch up.

I haven't been diligently studying Japanese due to... just life. Some unavoidable things happened and I had to live through the nightmare. It's all right now. I think. I'm here to update you about how miserable it's been trying to catch up with what I've missed and maybe talk about the time I spoke to JO1's Sho who can speak English and I wanted to make an effort to speak to him in Japanese but failed (without sounding like a twat who's showing off).

Continue reading under the cut.

Note: I barely edited it, so if it sounds out of place, or my Japanese sounds awkward... tough luck, I'm probably not going to edit it.

1. Wanikani update

レベル１０に入ってでした。正直は、まだレベル9ですね。This thing levels up as soon as you learn everything there is on the level you formerly in, without taking into account if you have complete at least a round of revision on the last thing that you've learned (they call it 'review' on WK).

The SRS thing is proven to be the best method to recall phrases and kanji. I'm paying for Wanikani (okay, the thing is good. I like it) and have Anki installed and haven't reviewed anything since I created my decks. But it works alright. I may have the worst memory/information-retaining brain and it might've taken me forever to recall what 予 is (it's beforehand, apparently), but I can still remember the ones I've learned the longest; basically from levels 1-4. (I'm learning 予 in the latest level, that is level 9. I'm still suffering turbulence here.)

I haven't seen my stats. Let's have a look, shall we?

I live by the words 'it could've been worse.'

My percentages used to be at least in the 90% across the board, but I just jumped straight into reviewing and clearing over 900 radicals, kanji, and vocabulary without revising, hence why I've done terribly and now it's bringing my stats down.

Radicals I can't believe I fucked up my radicals. They were supposed to be the easiest. I have no words.

If you need a single tip to start learning kanji, you can start by learning its components, and that is the radicals. It'd be easier for you to create stories for mnemonics. Other than that, try Heisig's Remembering the Kanji.

Kanji I am aware I could've done better at this, but kanji itself is just confusing. It's sometimes easy to predict some of the words, like ち that's used for earth or soil (地) and pond (池)--and not to mention the difference is just the radicals soil and tsunami--but I deduced that some aspects of nature fall under the ち umbrella.

And then there are devils like 他 and 地. Ugh. I'm going to leave it here.

Vocabulary

I know what the word 交じる stands for, and then you have 交わる which is thrown into the mix just to confuse me, and that just pisses me off every damn time.

I honestly know the meaning better than the pronunciation... which is dumb because if I were to speak in Japanese, I'm supposed to say the words majiru or majiwaru, not to be mixed or to intersect.

One thing about WK: you might understand the meaning differently. For example, they may offer the word substitution, but I would think of another word, replacement. Unless you input the word 'replacement' into the system, it would still be wrong in your reviews, and you're expected to remember substitution instead. And as an ESL, well, sometimes I'm just expected to drill the word substitution into my brain. I barely use the word daily anyway. So, you're expected to do extra work in order to learn, which is not a bad thing, but it can be annoying sometimes.

To recap, I don't do terribly despite not doing WK for a few months, but I could've done better. It's still in the okay territory, but I'll do my best to improve my reading skills and expand my lexicon.

What's next? I still have to clear up 92 lessons which include the level 9 that I've yet to cover and the entirety of level 10. On top of that, the tens and hundreds of reviews need to be cleared out daily... it's still going to be a rigorous routine when it comes to this one.

2. Grammar (and Reading)

In order not to spend my own money on learning materials, I persuaded my mum to get me みんなの日本語 (MNN); both workbook and notes for Level 1, and I chipped in with my Kinokuniya discount card. Yes, I am 26, but my finances haven't been the greatest as of late, so if anyone needs to hire a writer/social media manager, please send me a DM.

I digressed. Anyway, I've reached the 4th chapter, and it's been great so far! The workbook is completely in Japanese, and as someone who can read hiragana, and to some extent, katakana, it's definitely a great book that helps me improve my reading skills. I wish WK and MNN were at least streamlined because the kanji on WK has the tendency to be more scattered due to the complexity of certain kanji despite them being N5-N4 kanji.

[I edited out a paragraph on Kanji levels and complexities but would like to highlight the inconsistencies in the kanji levels that's shared on the Internet, including in WK. I suppose you will never find the one true answer as to which level does 傘 (umbrella) belongs to: is it N5 per stated in Jisho, or is it N1 as stated in WK? I guess you will never know...)

I prefer MNN over Genki as Genki explains points in English and annotates translation/furigana as bright as day underneath the Japanese texts. As a high-functioning English/romaji reader, my brain isn't doing the hard word; it's just reading the English and romaji. MNN forces me to read in Japanese and makes me translate the sentences on my own, so I am actively learning from the activity. Whilst it has a separate book that explains the chapters in English, I find it very helpful for me to immerse myself in Japanese then flip through the English version of the book just to see how well I understand the lesson. I would suggest Genki for absolute beginners and MNN for those who are in the lower-intermediate level.

I've been reading JO1's mails and articles related to them with varying degree of successes. The shorter ones are simpler and more manageable, but reading longer ones make me quit halfway. I should be reading more so it'd be easier for me to recognise the ones I've yet to learn and strengthening those I've learned.

3. Active learning (Speaking, Listening and Writing)

I've tried to speak in Japanese to myself, and it's mostly え、なんだろう今。。。、ヤッバ、マジ？、いいですね！、ほんまに？ and the latter being 'really?' in Kansai dialect (関西弁), thanks to half of the members of JO1. Since I'm learning 'textbook', formal Japanese, I'm still finding it extremely difficult to communicate in vernacular/colloquial Japanese. Not that I'm familiar with 敬語 (keigo/honorific language) either, just trying to fit the よ, ね, です, します, ません et cetera have racked my brain and I'm at the precipice of trying not to lose my mind. Perhaps, if I tried harder, I'd be able to use it comfortably. But for now, please let me suffer from my stupidity.

Since I wanted to 'try harder', I'm currently going through Making Out in Japanese (it sounds crude, but so far it's been very mild and helpful)

I haven't been writing in Japanese, which is horrible, because what's the use of reading when you can't write. I tried making my own flashcards which ended up taking too much time so I turned to digitalised SRS instead, which can be both annoying and unhelpful sometimes. I'm not a fan of learning through the screen as it takes too much space on the table and plays a part as my focus destroyer. But I can't complain as these devices do make things infinite times easier for me.

For the past couple of weeks, I've interacted with more Japanese JAMs (that's what JO1 decided to christen their fans) and have made the effort to type in Japanese, albeit broken Japanese. I employed my brain, Jisho and the untrusting Papago and Google Translate (the translation sites merely help me check if my sentences make any sense). I bet they're reading my tweets and messages thinking, 'What the fuck is this person on about?' Well, I don't know either.

And here comes the horrible part.

I won yonton (용통 in Korean, basically a video call) and had the chance to speak to the JO1's leader. Which is awesome, yes? I had a week to prepare and that particular week leading up to the event had given me multiple heart attacks. Some dramas happened, an interview happened... and I had only a few days left to prepare. Towards the end of the week, I decided I was going to do 自己紹介 (self-introduction) in Japanese. I know enough to say *キラです。クアラルンプール出身です。マレーシアJAM です, though that sounds super awkward. What I did on the day was the exact opposite.

Well, it's a known fact that the leader speaks English. Heck, it's an open secret that we know he went to a school that had an English department, whatever that means. As the owner of this brain who've spent approximately weeks and hundreds of hours on Japanese, I think know enough to say those words. But what did I do?

I spoke to him in English.

Of course, like everything, it takes a while to set in. That evening, it occurred to me that not only I had spoken to him in English, I also didn't let him speak. I didn't let him finish his sentence.

To be fair, it was only for 30 seconds. I don't need him to speak, and I wanted to, for once, assert my dominance. (The running joke here is that he plays the character of a freaking flirt, and as a lesbian whose compulsory heterosexual crush is him, I have the inclination to get the man to sit down and shut up for once. I guess I did?)

It's not me if there's no faux pas. Anyways...

Today's the 290th day since I started using WK, basically the beginning of my journey to relearn Japanese. Will I be able to communicate at least on a conversational level by the time I'm 30? We will see.

If you're reading this and needs recommendations on resources that are free, hit me up!

またね。

[lalorrunningclub]

Surf Coast Century 18 - 100km Leg 4 by Stefanie Kilner

My day started with a restless night. You know the ones, where you wake every hour thinking you missed your alarm. Then when Shona’s alarm went off, I thought it was mine and was wondering why it wouldn't turn off lol.  But I eventually got up with plenty of time to spare, ready to give Shona a great send off for the start of her leg.

Being the last leg my day involved driving around cheering on my other team mates as they started, went through checkpoints or finished their legs. The atmosphere was amazing and i was so excited for everyone. Despite the weather that was on and off all day, we all made the effort to have a good time.

As my leg approached my nerves started kicking in. I had been sick for 2 weeks prior to the event with a chest infection and nausea. The struggle to eat for 2 weeks really made me nervous for completing 23km. But I just remembered what my teammates said, and knew if I needed to walk most of it, it was ok.

Before my leg was to start we saw Andy, gave him his gels, a bit of a pep talk and cheered him on as he headed off for the last 23km of him 51km. Now my nerves were in overdrive and I was thinking I was going to struggle. Watching Vula on the app we knew she wasn't far away. Taking my mind off the nerves I focused on cheering other runners and enjoyed a chat with Shona. Next thing you know Vula rounds the bend and comes bounding up towards us. Oh my, s@#t was now real. It was my turn. A hug to Vula, a cheer from my teammates and off I went.

My leg starts with a run through the Bush, with gentle inclines and jumps over roots. I passed a few people and as I was heading up I started thinking maybe I could do this. All of a sudden I hear some crashing thunder and only hope it passes without affecting me. Another km and I hit the trail overlooking the beach. AMAZING. But don't get too distracted as it's a steep run down loose gravel over bumps every few metres. But the sound of the waves was awesome.

As you reach the bottom you make a return to run inland again. This part involves roads, steep dirt tracks, a hilly road, a muddy dirt hill, lots of walking and other people to chat to on the way. As I'm walking up the rocky mud hill a few 100km runners zip past me up the hill, surprising me with their ability. "Great work guys". Then comes the muddy hill that gives the word "MUD" a run for its money. A free slips and squeals from me and I'm making for the edge for any bit of traction I could find. Just don't grab those prickly bushes Shona warned me about lol. By the time i reached the top  I swear I was 6ft tall. Make an attempt to scrub some of the mud off on small shrubs and off I go again.

Some beautiful scenery to take in now right before a steep decline down a hill that you can't stop on. My mantra now was just to keep my pelvic floor up and not let my mummy bladder take over. Right at the bottom of the hill is a gate, so slow short steps so that I could come to a halt to make my way through.

Some more bush running with some hills up and down, as they normally go. Past a few houses. Back on a track. Down a road and towards the bridge. Going over a bridge may not seem daunting, but how would you feel about going under one? The man in the video made it look easy, but I tell you now it wasn't easy. I tried to video it, but almost lost my phone so decided to focus on just clambering underneath. You could either go high or low as the rocks in the middle were slippery. So I decided to take the high road. Others join me and we're all having a good laugh at ourselves. Get to the other side, clamber out and repeat to myself that "Get to the other side, clamber out and repeat to myself that "I made it under the bridge woohoo". And now a short run to the checkpoint. I use the time to pack my raincoat back in my pack have a quick drink and head off again.

Now it's time for the beach trails towards the lighthouse. Up, down, round the bend, all whilst keeping my eye on that lighthouse. "You've got this Stef, you can do it". I just keep moving, closer and closer. And before I know it I have my hand on the lighthouse wall and I'm heading off towards Anglesea.

More trail running, only problem was that my legs and body were now tired. Only half way in, I knew the next 12km were going to be tough. So I started adopting the walk run technique. Mainly run the flat and downhill, and walk the hills. I just had to keep moving. And as the sun was getting lower my aim now was to get to the beach before it set. After a couple of km I got to the steps down to the beach, short and steep I had to focus on not tripping. On the beach for a few 100m and back up the stairs. I think this is where my photo was taken over the beach, but not 100% sure lol. Back with some trail running now, and I thought I saw Andy ahead of me. I couldn't properly tell so didn't call out. Now for the next run towards the beach. This time using big rocks made into steps and with a few fallen down trees along the way. All whilst listening to some footprints behind me. But i just focused on what i was doing because i didn't want to end up going head over heals. Finally the brush thins and i can see the beach. And then there's that person that looks like Andy again, heading towards the toilets. "Nah" i tell myself "he's way ahead of you". So i keep running, i message the guys to say I'm at 15km and the sun is starting to get low.

A km in and i get a message to say Andy has just gotten to the beach. I message back to ask if he meant the part i was up to, to get an idea of where he was. Shona messages back to say I'm ahead of Andy. I'm disappointed in myself for not calling out now. But just keep trudging along. A few km along the beach with the sound of the waves and it's getting pretty dark, so i decide to get my headlamp out. I tell myself to just keep moving. I can walk, but just don't stop.

The exhaustion was really setting in, my chest was tight, and my muscles were screaming at me. The negative thoughts started, telling me to pull out, just stop, call the guys. But I knew they'd be waiting for me even if I had to walk the rest of the way. So I pulled my big girl panties up and kept going. End of the beach run is met with some steep steps. I'm up and off again. Beach trail running in the dark. Then all of a sudden I'm at 20km. I'm in struggle town. And suddenly I'm over a hill and I can see Anglesea. I'm only 2km from the end. "You've got this Stef".

Running along the trail and suddenly there's an arrow where I wasn't expecting it. (We had made a wrong turn on our training run too). Until now the marking had been amazing. I starting looking around and suddenly saw a red tag, yep that's the way. Down towards the beach. I'm on the sand and message the guys with a expletive voice message declaring I was on the beach. Woohoo the end was in sight. Run along the hard sand, easy. But suddenly I reach the spot where the 50km and 100km events had started. The sand was lumpy and extremely soft. Ok I'm walking because I don't want to break my ankle running through that in the dark. Those few 100m felt like a km. But finally through and on firm ground. And I'm off, I can feel that finish line and I'm not walking anymore. Leap over a few puddles, avoid the mud. I can feel my excitement growing. A mixture of being excited to see my teammates, and just being utterly exhausted and my run coming to an end. It's there I can see it. Where's LRC? Will they recognise me in the dark? "Go STEF ", yay they found me. Run through that finish line, LRC 'L' in the air. I'm done. Walk through, get my medal and then see my boys. Give them cuddles, bawl into tears and then relax knowing I've just been on my feet for over 3hrs.