one of the most complex and delicious choices they made with misty is that she genuinely understands what kind of attention is valuable. they crafted this character who is so desperate for love, so hungry for attention and companionship and recognition, a woman who would doom her entire team to a life in the wilds just to hear one more nice thing said about her, and then they put her in a position to grab at fame. when the team is rescued, misty would have been barraged with offers to tell her story. media appearances, interviews, book deals. people would be able to recognize her on the streets, she would have been (at the very least) a local celebrity for the rest of her life. she smiles when she sees the flash of the cameras getting off the plane; she wants to be seen, and the offer is right there in her lap.
instead, she stays silent. she stays out of the limelight, she says as little as possible, just like they all made a pact to do. can you imagine just how difficult it was for her to say no? for her to see that people would be falling over themselves just to talk to her, that she could have used what happened to make connections, make friends, be famous and lauded, sympathized with, talked to, complimented. she could have told the world how SHE was the one who saved them, who got them through the worst moments of their lives when the plane crashed.
and the price for all of that is to admit to some cannibalism? she has no shame about what happened. she eats jerky and wears heart necklaces and remembers the wilderness with open fondness. besides, she knows how to sell herself, how to spin what happened. when she pretends with jessica, she paints the perfect portrait of a victim, the perfectly sympathetic survivor wracked with guilt for what she had to do.
all of that is right there within her grasp. so why doesn't she go public? she displays absolutely zero guilt over breaking the black box, or anything else she did in the wilderness. literally the only reason she never breaks the silence is to protect her team. her friends. to honor whatever pact they made. a pact she makes in '98, when they're still together. when she thinks their lives are all so deeply entangled and their bond is so permanent and unshakeable that it would be easy to choose this family over public attention. it makes sense that she keeps quiet in the beginning.
but the team breaks up, and as far as misty knows they all go their separate ways. still, misty stays quiet. years pass and no one calls her, no one visits. so she goes on unsuccessful dates and works a job where her co-workers seem to barely tolerate her. she gives socks to gross men who still don't call and lives alone and gets a parrot who never talks to her.
she spends her adult life living with her loneliness because the people she loves asked her to, and then forgot she existed.
25 years of this deep sense of loneliness and she never wavers. never tries to tell her story or make a grab for the fame she knows she could still get when she looks at "25th anniversary" splashed over the tabloids. in a world that has grown up around her to create social media and influencers and viral posts. every single day it would have gotten easier for misty to reach out and take even a small slice of the attention she so badly wanted her whole life.
instead, she quietly follows her actual friends. she tracks weddings she's not invited to and the birth of children she'll never meet. she registers to vote for a woman who might not even know she's still alive, and decides that it's enough. that 25-year-old memories of true connection are better than acknowledgement from a million strangers. she collects all of these little details and files them neatly, an umbilical cord of connection that she is the only one supporting. like this information will be important again, relevant again. she sustains herself for twenty-five years off of the mere possibility that maybe, somehow, someday, she will be part of her team again.
and then, like finding the flashing red light of a black box while she's all alone, the universe rewards her.
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“Like, guess who has a date toniiight?” Daisy sang, ruffling up Misty’s hair.
Misty groaned and swatted away Daisy’s hand. “Oh tough one,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You?”
“Well, duh,” Daisy admitted, but continued anyway. “But that’s not all! Tracy made a few phone calls and got a friend to like, join us, so you have a date, too!”
Misty blinked up at Daisy, her brain firing hundreds of questions around all at once before finally settling on “Tracy has other friends?” Which didn’t help the situation at hand, but was a damn good question as far as she was concerned.
Daisy rolled her eyes, which was fair, and all but lifted Misty out of her chair by her arm, dragging her to the bathroom to start getting ready. “I’m sorry, but you can’t just sit around, like, waiting for Ash forever.”
Misty flushed at the mention of Ash. It wasn’t like her crush on him was much of a secret at that point; Tracy would have absolutely spilled the beans had Daisy not figured it out for herself years before the two even started dating, but it didn’t mean Misty liked to hear it stated out loud like that so plainly. “I am not just sitting around waiting for Ash,” she argued.
Daisy shot her a look, clearly not buying that for even a moment, before shoving her into the bathroom and closing the door with a click, informing her she wouldn’t let her out until she was ‘like, ready’.
Later that night, they arrived at the restaurant, Daisy looking absolutely flawless as usual, and Misty looking roughly the same as always as something of a protest in being forced to be there, much to Daisy’s annoyance.
“You’re gonna totally regret not at least trying to dress up,” she had told her, but Misty pointedly ignored her and tied her hair into her usual messy ponytail.
Truth to be told, as much as Misty liked to pretend her sister was ridiculous with that ‘waiting around for Ash’ nonsense, she wasn’t… wrong, exactly. She liked Ash. Loved him, probably. He was handsome and sweet and kind and brave. He was a famous pokemon league and world champion and her best human friend in the entire world.
If she ever found someone she liked more than him, she told herself she would go for it, but the truth was that Ash was kind of it for her romantically, and she was just okay with that, even if nothing ever happened between them.
Tracy waved them down from a small, round table in a cozy corner, his mysterious companion facing him with his back to the door. Misty took a deep breath and twisted her lips into a pleasant enough smile, preparing to fake it through this damn dinner, when the guy turned around, his big, brown eyes widening as they landed on her.
“Ash?!” she gasped.
“Misty?!” Ash asked, just as surprised. Their eyes lingered on each other for a few long, long moments before Ash finally turned back to Tracy and pointed accusingly. “I knew you didn’t have any other friends!” he cried, and if Misty wasn’t too busy trying to hide her blush and glare daggers at Daisy at the same time, she would have laughed.
Oh Arceus. She was about to go on a double date with Ash Ketchum.
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There is just something about Echo and Rex’s relationship that makes me wanna scream. There’s so much history and love and respect and I cant even begin to describe how much they mean to me.
The way they reunite on Skako. The way Rex’s face looks when he sees Echo is alive. The way Echo squeezes Rex’s hand back.
Rex basically giving Echo his blessing to go with the batch. Reinforcing the idea that Echo belongs where he decides he belongs. That Echo goes where he is needed.
Echo trusting Rex at every turn. With no hesitation. Always. Even with little information. Even when the deck is stacked against them. He trusts Rex. Always will.
That’s so fucking good.
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when your children are still babies, they get so so upset when gojo comes home and doesn’t immediately pick them up. your baby has recently learned that the sound of the front door opening and closing usually signals the return of their father so tonight, when the door opens, your baby’s head perks up. when he finally takes his shoes off and makes his way into the home, he spots his little angel on the couch. “hi baby!” he coos at them with a smile on his face and his hands full with some packages. “let me go put these down and i’ll be right back!” he tries to explain, to which your baby just obliviously smiles at, just happy to see their father and know that he’s giving them attention. but when they realize that he’s leaving their sight and didn’t immediately pick them up… oh have mercy. it becomes a shit storm because who does he think he is?? to not give his baby all his time and attention! gojo comes running back into the living room confused as to why they’re crying but as soon as he picks them up, they stop crying and start giggling. what a dramatic little baby you’ve been blessed with. the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree ig
— doc dad levi anon
SHUT UPPPPP because you know Satoru loves the attention too, they’re a perfect match together bye. All you can do is stand, bemused, as Satoru picks up the baby and almost instantly quells his crying, rocking him back and forth before stretching his arms to hold the kid at eye level with him and cooing, “Oh, I’m sorry my love, I missed you too, soooooo much,” Satoru bends his arms to brush their noses together and grin at the giggles the baby emits, “You missed me too, yeah? Aren’t you the sweetest little thing, missing me like that? So precious.” Satoru covers the baby in kisses and sweet words for nearly five straight minutes and they both love to bask in each other’s attention (you have the videos to prove it).
Something kinda funny tho is… you’re 98% sure your son can tell that Satoru will give into quickest lmfaoo. Your baby cries sometimes when you have to leave him, sure, and can definitely throw a fit when he wants your attention—but he seems to know to cry (or squeal, or babble, or screech) on demand for his sucker of a father. Nanami, Shoko, Megumi, and Yuuta (your on rotation band of baby sitters) have noticed that the kid loves to be held and has no shame gesturing for it—but they’ve never experienced the baby crying when they so much as step away for a moment, unless he’s hungry or needs to be changed. You don’t have the heart to tell Satoru he’s being played tho, so you just let them have their moment <333 (not that it would matter, Satoru can’t stand to see your kid cry in any capacity, so he’d go right back to giving in; plus it’s a win-win in his book anyway: baby stops crying, and he gets cuddles from his son).
(Then again, you think the need and love for attention might just be genetic, because Satoru has cried big tears a handful of times just leaving you and your baby at home for a few hours).
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