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goldeneyedgirl · 2 years

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Ficmas22: Day 8: ATBT Faithless

Good evening chickens. I'm currently fighting off the flu because it isn't Christmas unless I've stressed my immune system into a breakdown (two sick dogs, one sick cat, and a clown family.)

Tonight, thanks to beautlilies who reminded me this even existed, we have a little one-shot from All These Broken Things-verse, post-Breaking Dawn.

I hope you enjoy it!

all these broken things: faithless.

She wonders when she stopped believing in some kind of higher power. In god and fate and destiny and the idea that it would all work out, somehow. She did believe in those things for such a long time; they were the tiny lights in the darkness, the hope that there would be something for her to fight for.

Instead, she’s nothing. She’s not Alice Cullen or Alice Hale or Alice Whitlock. She’s just Alice, the eternal refugee. The ghost and the victim and a monument to every ounce of her own fucking failure. Somewhere, her rightful self is furious with her for ruining everything so thoroughly.

She wonders when it happened, when she stopped believing in anything good for herself. In when she just… finally let her heart break into a hundred different pieces and let herself face the truth. That Jasper did not love her. He tolerated her and used her, but there was nothing else there, not for him.

The obvious answer would be walking in on him and Tanya. She never expected monogamy from a man who didn’t know she existed, but it had stung that he didn’t even try to be diplomatic about it, to try and keep his assignation hidden. That Tanya had the dignity of the house, of slipping away and be worthy enough to fuck in the house. She got the dirt and mud and shame of the woods.

(That shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did, really. He had pointedly made her no promises, and she had long since learned where her place was in the world. She should be grateful - and pleased he didn’t hurt her, she can almost hear James informing her. She thinks very highly of herself indeed, if she aspires to be the kind of girl a man fucks inside a house.)

But it wasn’t then that broke her. That had been hard but it was just confirmation of what she had known for so long.

It was Italy. It was surviving Italy. That she was so willing to die for Edward and Bella because, in her heart of hearts, she knew there was nothing left for her with the Cullens. She would never be a daughter or a sister or a wife or a mate. She was just a space filler, a haunting of the life that never came to pass.

It was sitting in the car driving back to Forks, next to Jasper and answering all of Carlisle and Esme’s questions, whilst distantly realising every single one of them was about Bella and Edward and Aro. None of them asked about her, not once. Sitting in stolen, mismatched clothing, and having negotiated a stay of execution from the Volturi on a tissue-paper-thin deal, not one of them asked if she was okay.

She’s so tired of waiting for something good for herself. She cannot believe in any sort of god or goodness when she’s facing down the Volturi a second time - standing face to face with Aro of Italy alone, because the Cullens are willing to die for one of their own.

(Had she noticed that Emmett accompanied Bella and Renesmee to Aro when they were called forth, but she is left to approach him barefoot with two strangers in tow and hoping beyond hope that her story is at least enough that they will survive? She had, and she had wondered if Aro would take her as his pound of flesh if it came to that.)

She packs up her clothing in the attic, folding them and laying them out like she is arranging bodies for burial. A ceremonial return of all that they gave her. The letters are written, she’s fucked Jasper good-bye, and now she’s finally leaving, the last of the Cullens’ so-called ‘friends’ to depart.

(She can’t even see what will become of her, the second she leaves them behind. That frightens her so much, but it makes sense. To make a decision, you have to want something. To want something you have to have something to hope for. One step out of the door and there is too much and not enough all at once. She’s never been brave, but she will just this once.

Because, frankly, it would be braver of her to stay.)

—

No, she stopped believing in god a long time again. In a rotten shed in 1948.

But herself? Her visions?

The Cullens?

(Jasper?)

She stopped believing in them the second they left her to face down the Kings of Volterra alone. When there was no comfort or confidence or acknowledgement, the illusion crumbled. They can no more be her family than she can be the girl she was supposed to be. She lost that and ruined that and she deserves to be alone for her failures.

Nothing better is ever going to come for her.

And that is why she is leaving.

#alice cullen #jasper hale #the twilight saga #twilight fic #jalice #my fic: all these broken things #my writing: all these broken things #fic: all these broken things #my fic: atbt #angst #drama #post-breaking dawn #alice suffers #she needs a therapist

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curdledmelk · 2 years

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The Steddie Clause (Part 2)

(Part 1)

The fact that Eddie might be falling for Steve dawns on him after Steve asks him to be his date to the office’s annual christmas party. Well, Steve actually asked if Eddie would be able to come with him since Robin was busy and he needed quote “Someone there who didn’t make me want to blow my brains out” but the validation that Steve liked him enough to be that someone was good enough for him. And so Eddie takes a risk. When he comes to pick up Steve to go to the party, he’s at the reins of a horse drawn sleigh and Steve gets this cute little dumbfounded look on his face that makes Eddie smile. The party is dull, so very dull, there's nothing to do besides drink and try to schmooze your bosses. Eddie understands why Steve didn’t want to face this thing alone. ”What do you think are in the presents under the tree?” Eddie asks, leaning into Steve’s personal space. “I don’t think there’s anything in them, they’re probably just empty boxes they wrapped for decoration.” Steve says with a confused look on his face. “Oh come on,” “Eddie, if there is anything in there it’s gonna be that packing filler stuff to try and weigh it down.” “Maybe you’re right. But, what if one of them was the best Christmas gift you ever got as a kid?” “What do you mean?” “When you were a kid what was the best gift you ever got from Santa?” “You mean from my parents?” “No, I mean from Santa.” “Eddie.” “Come on Steve, get into the Christmas spirit.” “Fine, I guess the best gift I got for Christmas was my BMW 733i.” “Really?” “Yeah, I think so” “And that was from Santa?” “Dude, my parents, Santa, it means the same thing.” “Okay, another question.” “What?” “What was the Christmas that you realized Santa was just your parents?” “1976, I was 10.” “Isn’t that…” “A bit old to still believe in Santa? Yeah, I know.” Steve says, cutting him off. “So what happened?” “You know how you’re supposed to write letters to Santa?” “Yeah.” “Well, that year I wrote two. One that my parents read and one that said something to the effect of ‘disregard the last letter, this is what I really want’ and I was so excited because this was a fool proof plan but when I wake up that morning we unwrapped the gifts and nope, it wasn’t there, only the G.I. Joe I asked for in the decoy letter.” “Well, What did you ask for in the real one?” “You cannot laugh.” “I promise I won’t.” “Okay, It was a Cher Doll.” “You’re joking.” “Nope.” “You’re telling me that there was nothing Little 10 Year Old Stevie Harrington wanted more for Christmas than a Cher Doll.” “Okay, you don’t have to make fun of me, I know it sounds ridiculous.” “I’m not making fun of you, I just didn’t know you were a closeted Cher fan.” “Trust me there’s more reasons for me to be in there than just liking Cher.” Steve says with a laugh Eddie swears makes the lights turn a little brighter. “Wait here.” “Why?” “Just trust me.” Eddie says before heading up to the tree placed by the band’s stage and looks in the presents for one of the smaller rectangular presents, a gift tag appears on it saying ‘To: Steve From: Santa’ and heads back to Steve, who’s standing there with a confused look on his face. “I believe this is for you.” Eddie hands the other man the gift. “How did? What? Wh-” “It looked like all of them had gift tags for people on them and I thought one of them would be for you, could be some sort of Company Morale Boosting stunt.” Eddie shrugged. “Well, I can’t be the only person who gets a gift.” “Then let’s hand them out.” “Wh- Eddie, no” Steve says as he watches the long haired man run back to the band stage. Eddie is whispering something to the woman at the microphone and looks over his shoulder to wave Steve over to him. Against his better judgment, Steve follows.

(Part 1, 3, 4)

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #christmas fic #the santa clause 2 #these two queers have taken up a significant portion of my brain

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lunarsilkscreen · 6 months

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Filler [Templates and Algorithms]

In my last post; I explored why AI might create random information to fill empty space. In this one; I'm going to ask the question: Why do we humans do it with such frequency that AI thought it was necessary?

Youtubeists and Video Essayists talk about their formulas and how the [Algorithm] prioritizes certain types of videos over others. YouTube used to give preference over longer videos {for unknown reasons} but now is pushing tiktik style shorts. (And hopefully going to get a big payday from the app ban.)

In essence; video Essayists all noted that videos of a certain length would get more ad revenue and created a format that other essayists could follow; that in turn created a [Meta-data Standard] as the [algorithm] saw that many viewers of popular YouTubers who were using this formula would also watch other YouTubers following that same formula.

That encouraged YouTube to suggest videos with similar metadata to viewers who watched videos with similar metadata. It makes sense if you think about how particular users use YouTube. Many use it as one would listen to podcasts; something that plays for a few hours in the background while exercising or doing productive things. Or in some cases; as a sleep aid [brown noise].

And so YouTubers adopted these rules enmasse because "That's what you do if you wanna be a professional and successful YouTuber." They had created what we would call a "Standard".

Now this isn't a new thing, humans have done what the [algorithm] has done manually; with things like magazine article length, paperback book length; professionally written letter length, educational material, even fliers have [professional] templates one would use if you want to give it that [Professional Tailored Suit] appeal.

Even essays written for High School and College have what's known as Word Count Minimums and Maximums.

The thing is; when You've run out of subject matter to talk about; how do you fill the space in order to meet those arbitrary minimums? What professionals call "Fluff". Entire articles, sitcom episodes, and even movies have been made with "Fluff Material".

And what this means is to fill the space with words that don't mean anything. This is part of the reason educational material sucks. There's a lot of fluff that ultimately wastes the readers time with absolutely no added value.

Fluff can take the form of several different variations; Repeating a sentence two or three different times or trying to add a joke that just isn't funny.

"The current president is topical, how about the poor unsmart job he sure is doing!?"

Or just putting a sentence that just doesn't have any reason for being in the middle of a paragraph.

I won't say that there isn't a reason for the existence of some fluff. Some fluff is good. But when every single piece is 89% fluff and 11% content... Well... AI is gonna mimic it.

If few word do trick, and convey the intended meaning; then why bother adding more just because you feel like it might be the better thing to do?

And you know what I mean when you've been listening to that same 10 minutes of a particular video over and over again trying to understand what it is they're talking about; only to discover in the next 2 minutes that the entire ten minutes was a pointless excercise.

Now I could go on and on about what different kinds of fluff look like in text. I could talk about pointless metaphors. Or over explaining a concept because you didn't think the target audience will understand, and ultimately confusing the audience further. Or I could just have written an entire fluff piece on fluff; and then ended the post with an entire paragraph of fluff to demonstrate.

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grad603-poppi · 1 year

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RATIONALE

Overall, I am proud of how quickly I learnt this application. I had never even heard of After Effects before, and now I would say I can successfully make most kinds of animations using the application.

What Went Well:

- I really enjoyed exploring 80′s style editorial design, as this is an area I have not researched or designed in before. I like the way they bend the rules of traditional newspaper styles.

- I think the approach I took was a unique and out-of-the-box way to communicate the content behind the audio

- I did find using presets was effective in enhancing my animation, but I definitely needed to manipulate the range, opacity, on/off, and other parts of the preset to make it work for me.

What could be improved:

- I think if I had more time I would have loved to become more familiar with what after effects is capable of doing, although I do like the way I have done it, I definitely feel like the process could be cleaner and more efficient if I knew a bit more about the application and had more spare time to play around.

MY WHY

Using sans-serif for a newspaper title felt unnatural, but I have done this because in my research into newspaper in the 80′s it was very common to only use sans-serif typefaces. I really wanted to make this animation feel like something that would have been created in 1981.

In this following scene I did take a slightly more modern route. I did this because I really wanted to break up the newspaper scenes otherwise they way feel too repetitive and boring. I love the drama and suspense this scene has. The flickering light letters and the black negative space makes this composition feel eerie.

This following scene appears slightly different to the previous newspaper scene. At this point in the audio the person speaking changes. While still keep the same design principles I wanted to give the impression that this was a different “newspaper” to correlate with the changing of narrators. To me this makes the animation feel like a collection of events in history.

Up until this point all text was linear and horizontal. Contrast is a very important design tool that helps to engage audiences. By contrasting the layout I feel like it refreshes and resets the animation.

Again this is an eerie part of the audio, which I wanted to enhance by adding quivering letters and dripping blood. I also did this because I want to remind the viewers that although the audio doesn't say it specifically, there was a lot of violence involved in this historic event.

Again, another newspaper with the same design style but slightly different layout to continue the feeling of collections.

I felt like I had used a lot of negative space when it came to text, so I used this layout to break that up. I also hear a very slight stutter on the word “who’s” so I added multiple of the word, highlighting the importance of the word values in red. I did this because the entire disruption of this tour was caused by clashing of values.

I kept this text small as it mostly consists of filler words. Again changing up the layout of the text to contrast to compositions before.

I think this is a beautiful example of text as image. I feel this is a powerful scene. It is dramatic, having people feel like they are almost locked inside this word “prevail”.

I kept my credits very simple because I didn't want it to overpower anything in my animation.

AUDIO

For dramatic affect I added some bass, heartbeats and light flicking sounds. I got these from free sound.org. I also added some of the original sounds of the protests against The Springbok tour at the end of my audio for the credits.

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uzumaki-rebellion · 3 years

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Writerly Things.

Been editing my cowboy book and going through the last of my free HULU (it has me hemmed up binge watching stuff y’all!) So I’ll get back to updating BBBTF Vol. 3 on the regular soon.

However, I wanted to point out some things I had to handle while editing that may help you with any pre-writing and also the drafting stage:

1. Kill those passive action verbs! (it’s a bad habit of mine but I give myself grace because when writing for fun, I don’t worry about it) ie. “She was running to the car” versus the better, “She dashed to the car” or “She sprinted to the car”.

2. Shun filler words as much as possible. ( that, just, even, seem, very, really)

3. Be aware of character names being too similar or starting with the same letter. Causes confusion. I knew this but still had a character named Ricky and one named Rekia)

4. Kill scenes that don’t push the plot/narrative forward, no matter how cool or interesting they seem. It’ll drag the pacing.

5. Evict plot bunnies that can be saved for other storylines or books.

6. Pink slip unnecessary characters that use up scene space for no reason.

7. Break up long ass paragraphs and sentence lengths.

8. Five dollar words are better than hundred dollar words (purple prose/flowery language will not make scenes better, just corny)

Okay, back to it!

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like-a-bag-of-potatoes · 3 years

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Our Story - Prologue

theA/N: My first Chris Evans series. This is just a fluffy little series that has been floating around in my brain for a while, and because I've recently fallen head first into the Chris trashcan, I figured he’d be the perfect person for this little love story AU. I mean absolutely no disrespect with this, it's just a work of fiction. I also want to give a huge thank you to @percywinchester27 and @girl-next-door-writes for being my betas for this story. You are both amazing and I'm so grateful for your help on this.

Chapter: One

Pairing: Chris Evans x Reader (unfortunately no Chris in this part)

Warnings: Absolutely none.

Wordcount: 1850

Four weeks after my twentieth birthday, I left my childhood home in Savannah, Georgia, and pointed my nose towards New York. It was hard to believe that eight years had passed already, but my twenty-eighth birthday approached in large strides to remind me of how much time had passed, and how much had changed. New York City was a stark contrast to Savannah, the city that never sleeps VS the most charming city in America. When I first moved here, it was my intention to stay for only a year, then I would be back in Savannah with my family and the man that I loved so deeply, Josh.

However, life never really turns out how you intend it to, no matter how much you plan for your future. Josh and I used to talk at length about our future together, and I honestly couldn't wait to get started on it all, house, careers, and then a family of our own at some point. Then, after eight or so months of long-distance we finally broke and admitted to ourselves that it was just too hard. I know you might think that since we had stuck it out for that long, we surely could manage a few more months, but by then I had been asked to stay on in what was supposed to be a temporary position, and I had fallen in love, not only with the city, but with my work. I asked Josh to come to me, told him we could find ourselves a little apartment in Queens, or the East Village, something we could afford, and we could spend a few years together here before moving back home to start a family. I guess you’ve already figured it didn't turn out that way, and it ended, as long-distance relationships often do, in heartbreak. It was my first real heartbreak- amicable, civil, and soul-crushing. It was also then I realized, as we all, unfortunately, do at some point in our lives, that love does not, in fact, conquer all.

If I'm being completely honest, I knew within my first month in this magical city that I would never want to leave, and after things ended with Josh, I felt as though I had deceived him in some cruel, unintentional way. Every conversation we had, had after that had been filled with lies and promises I never intended to keep. I had fooled myself as much as I had fooled him. After our break up, although completely heartbroken, I felt free and unburdened, which strangely made me feel even worse about the whole thing. Our love didn't end in some big blowout argument, or because we didn't want to be with one another. It ended because of the thousands of miles that separated us, and because in the months we spent apart, I changed in a way that could not have been foreseen. Never did I imagine myself in a big and busy city, but as I said, New York and me, it was love at first sight.

You might be wondering what job took me from my safe and comfortable life in Georgia, thinking that it must have been some grand, once in a lifetime thing. It was not. It was a temporary job as a personal assistant. I found it as I sat by my computer one night, daydreaming about what kind of life I would live if I had all the money in the world, what life Josh and I could create for ourselves. That's when I came across the ad. A woman, Mrs. Wallace, needed an assistant. She was a very wealthy woman in need of someone to keep track of her very busy social calendar, amongst other things. I knew she was wealthy because she lived on Fifth Avenue, not that I had ever been to New York and really knew what that entailed, but I had seen movies and read books placed in the city and knew very well that Fifth Avenue was a very expensive street. There was little to no description of the job or what Mrs. Wallace was looking for in an assistant, other than that they had to be organized and were able to juggle multiple things at once. Beyond that it really came down to compatibility. I was nothing if not organized, so before I knew it, I had compiled an application letter and sent to her email. I told no one about this, because it was ridiculous for me to think I'd even get a reply back. In all honesty, it had all been forgotten by the next morning, and I didn't think of it again until three days later when, at dinner with Josh I might add, I got an answer. She would like for us to meet. We sent a couple of emails back and forth where I tried to, as politely as possible, explain that I did not have the means to travel to New York just for an interview. I stated that I appreciated her interest, and apologized profusely for not being able to make it out there. It was then she asked for my details, and about fifteen minutes later I got a confirmation from American Airlines that my ticket had been booked and paid for. Two days later I was sitting opposite Mrs. Wallace at a restaurant that I would never be able to afford, listening to her talk about the job I had applied for and what she expected of me.

The very first thing that struck me about Mrs. Wallace was her age. For some reason, I had imagined someone in their fifties, full of botox, fillers, and whatever else middle-aged women put into their faces to look younger, but Mrs. Wallace was not that much older than me. At the time we met, she was twenty-seven, so younger than I am now, and strikingly beautiful. Thick, black hair that looked professionally blow-dried and sculpted so that not a single strand was out of place. It draped over her shoulders in loose Hollywood style waves and stood in sharp contrast to the white blazer she wore. Her skin was olive, her eyes deep brown, and her cheekbones could probably cut glass. When you put that together with her long, model-like legs, an hourglass waistline, and a very ample bosom, the woman looked like a greek goddess. To top it all off she had a warm and kind smile, and a kick-ass sense of humor. Kate, as she insisted I call her, was far from the stuck up, nose in the sky, botox filled woman that I had imagined in my head. We hit it off, and before dessert was served, I had a job offer.

It's hard to explain, but I felt as though I needed to take this opportunity, that this was an experience I was meant to have in some inexplicable way, and I accepted right then and there without a second thought, or even a conversation with my family or boyfriend. Josh was angry with me at first, but supportive, so two weeks later I stood in front of 1040 Fifth Avenue and looked up at the towering building with its limestone and intricate carvings here and there. Kate greeted me at the front door as I stepped out of the car that she had sent to pick me up from the airport. This place even had a porte-cochere to protect the residents from rain as they walked from the door to their private chauffeur-driven vehicles. I would be staying here with the Wallace family, in the staff quarters with the rest of the staff of course, so that I could be available to Kate at all times. And that's how my New York adventure started.

Eight years later, I am still working for Kate, still living in my little room in the staff quarters, but I love it. I have a little bathroom and everything I need. Food is prepared for us all by the cook, Rosalia. She is a little, plump woman in her mid-fifties, kind and compassionate, not to mention deeply passionate about the food she prepared for the whole household. Along with me and Rosalia, the other staff in our quarters are Magdalena, the housekeeper, and Mitch, who is Mr Wallace’s assistant. There was more staff, of course, like the private chauffeur’s, who didn't live on-site and throughout any given day, people would be in and out of the place like it was a busy office space as opposed to the home that it actually is.

Now, Mr Wallace was a very busy man, working non-stop whether it be at his office, or at his home office. It seemed as whenever I saw him, he was walking in fast strides, either on the phone, or confirming things with Mitch who half sprinted behind him with his I-pad, trying not to trip over anything as he tried to keep up and take down notes at the same time. Henry, that was Mr Wallace’s first name, was a little older than Kate, not so much that you could accuse her of being a gold digger, but he was approaching his fifties now. He didn't look it though, he was a very handsome man, and kind. Imagine George Clooney, a man that just seems to get more gorgeous with every passing year. Kate and Henry were busy, always had their hands full with whatever it was, but somehow they always found time to share a meal together every day. Even if it meant having Rosalia heat up some leftovers for them at midnight. They were very much in love, and it was clear in the way they looked at one another, and how they always made sure to have that little moment to themselves every day. A couple of years ago, Kate had confided in me that she could not have children of her own, it was something that had weighed on her since she was only sixteen years old, but with Henry, she said, ‘I have all I need with that man, all the love I could ever wish for.’ It was a shame really, because I knew that Kate would have made an amazing mother, and Henry a great dad. ‘I'm alright,’ she had assured me. ‘I've come to peace with it, and learned not to dwell on something that will never be.’

So, that's the short version of how I ended up here, doing a job I adored in a city I loved with all my heart, so I think it's about time we move forward. Jump to the part where my real story starts. Spoiler alert; it involves a warm summer day in Central Park, a ruined dress, and an extremely handsome man named Chris.

******

If you liked what you read, how about slamming that reblog button and help spread my work? If you leave a little comment on top of that, you’ll be in my heart forever.

Want a tag? I got you!! Just send me an ASK and I'll add you.

Tags: @thesecretlifeofdaydreamss

#Chris evans #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans x reader #Chris Evans series #chris evans au #OS #chris evans fluff

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bakugouisabitch · 4 years

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What do you think Ryou's soul room looks like?

sorry for the late reply. I honestly had some things to do lately and I knew it would take me some time to reply to this, anyway

I’ve seen many posts speculating about Ryou’s soul room and from what they say overall they mostly see it as this room of a simple boy, ofc, but with some dark traces or secrets hidden away thanks to the influence of the ring (see here and there) - which is a very realistic way of seeing his soul room imo because no matter how many times they try to deny it (in canon itself) the spirit of the ring has 100% been a big influence in Ryou’s life . period. It left an impact, for sure, and naturally so, otherwise, it’s just sloppy characterisation which is a common bad habit with the Bakuras I noticed anyway I am digressing...

Drawing conclusions from the fanon’s pov, I also tried to analyse some of the canon content... In the anime we were blessed with that wonderful, good-quality animated episode 79 which is literally just a Bakura filler cause none of it is shown in in the manga and in that episode (if you watch the sub version cause it was cut out in the dub) we can see, before that moment where Malik and Yami Bakura are talking “inside Bakura’s host”, a transition that goes:

...from Ryou’s dreaming face -> to Domino City -> to outer space -> and then this:

I’m 99% sure this is the animators’ idea/theory of Ryou’s soul room - which looks very similar to Yugi’s in fact.

You can clearly notice that it starts with an “opening of doors” sequence, almost like we’re entering a room, and it ends with another set of opening doors as well in the same ancient style of Windows Moviemaker. What i guess we can decipher from that, is that Malik was looking around for Yami Bakura, entering Ryou’s soul room at first and then leaving it. The next “room” we see might even be Yami Bakura’s soul room - even if it looks just like a vast space/infinite sky.

Here we see Malik in the middle of this infinite space. The “opening of doors” that precedes this setting is a clear sign for me that we are NOT in Ryou’s soul room anymore here. Also cause Malik says:

“...found it.” So he was probably looking around for Yami Bakura’s soul room, proving in fact that he was in Ryou’s before that. We even see Yami Bakura “flying” and coming from somewhere else to reach Malik:

...so we can’t even imagine how big and vast and almost infinite Bakura’s soul room might be (the concept of it being infinite even makes sense when you think about how big/endless Atem’s soul room is - the labyrinth of stairs)

Yami Bakura’s first reaction to that is:

which proves to us even more that Malik really managed to enter their soul rooms in this scene. Also because it makes sense since he gained access with it through the Rod. I like the idea of Yami Bakura having to fly to talk with him because I think his soul room is so vast and has more to offer than anyone can imagine...

ANYWAY, sorry i am digressing again - we were talking about Ryou here:

Ryou’s soul room looks pretty similar to Yugi’s: a room full of scattered toys of their childhood. What is peculiar about Ryou’s is that, between all the toys of cars and Godzilla and a big ass soldier, we see what looks like some sort of Barbie dolls:

here is one, and another:

One could, of course, conclude from that that Ryou liked to play with Barbie dolls as a kid (which is fucking CUTE) BUT i have to say that seeing that second doll placed right next to a figurine of a plane with a broken wing kind of feels like... telling to me... I know these are all headcanons but what if these dolls are supposed to be Amane’s toys?

What we know about Amane - Bakura's deceased sister - is that she died at a young age, with her mother, in a car accident - so it’s no reach to think that this plane and the fact that it is broken might even suggest that some of these toys might have even belonged to Ryou’s little sister at the time of the tragic incident?? And he keeps them in his soul room as a memory of a past long gone in which they used to play together and he was more happy ofc and careless?? fucking tragic, i know.

So... what I’m gathering from that animation sequence is that the toys in Ryou’s soul room do NOT ONLY symbolise some sort of innocence in him - kind of like in Yugi’s case - but they give me more of a nostalgic meaning, because in fact if we have to point out the difference between his and Yugi’s childhood, in Ryou’s case it’s marked by memories of a past long gone, a state of being he never got to live again ever since the tragic event. But the fact that he keeps them in his soul room symbolise like a longing, imo, of that peaceful state of mind he used to know back then, only as a child. *cries*

So, in conclusion, if you want to hear my version of Ryou’s soul room it would in fact be very similar to what the animators did there: A scattered pile of toys and objects of his past, his innocence, and his nostalgia. More objects that allude to his sister cause let’s not forget he still writes letters to her in heaven like shown in the manga and his mother, and the natural grieving that comes with it. Plus, i would add some duel monster cards and most of all some figurines of his DnD campaigns, cause they left an impact on his life as well. I’d imagine most of them are placed neatly inside a glass case, like a proud collection, but the ones hidden in the back are stained with blood and have cracks on their surface - cause a big portion of traumatic events that happened in his life were, unfortunately, alluded to these DnD figurines.

Since we can also see walls in some depictions of these soul rooms (like in Anzu’s case we can see them belonging to a dance room), I like to imagine Ryou’s walls to be transparent, made of glass, and reflecting onto that vast sky-like place that seems to belong to Yami Bakura’s soul “room”. Cause as much as it might be painful for him, he is always fully exposed to the spirit. Whatever goes on inside his room, or his head, is for the spirit to see and control, whereas he still has no clue from where or what that spirit comes from - and it’s portrayed in that infinite space he can only gaze upon but never venture in. But I like to think, by the time the Millennium World arc took place, most of his DnD figurines were immersed in sand, and the vast space he gazed upon changed into that of an ancient village, wrecked and abandoned, but for Ryou finally clear to see.

sorry this got so long omg

#bakura #yami bakura #yugioh #yu-gi-oh #ryou bakura #marik ishtar #malik ishtar #ygo #ask #icouldbesus #ygo discourse #malik #tendershipping #cause yes sorry #ziggy talks #*

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ebenenoir · 3 years

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I love TBOBF personally and was shocked to read it’s the lowest rated SW show (I think) and that even fans on here have mixed feelings. As a disabled indigenous person, I’ve been really vibing with the representation and love letter to both groups of people! But after watching Episode 5 I think I finally can put to words why TBOBF may not be as well received as Mando despite how much I love it.

As much as I’m enjoying TBOBF, it is slower and more drawn out than Mando and we’re getting flashbacks to things we were able to piece together on our own while watching Mando so it feels a little like “yeah we got that” but also Boba doesn’t have a lot of stakes, or stakes that are high enough for people to be even more invested. Like Din lost his kid, his ship, became the reluctant king of a dead planet and dying people, has to take the bus to get work, knew finding his people would mean losing them by being honest, and is having an existential crises regarding his helmet and creed. Boba is just vibing as a non violent crime lord trying to get his town to get along while also warning their respect and not losing his throne. Mando had more development and more at stake in one episode of a show he’s a side character in than boba has in 4 episodes.

I think, despite loving the show, they should have given him more to lose that he can’t afford to because I feel like Boba would be fine if he lost everything again because his character is built on loss and grief. I’d love to see him challenged in a way that makes him more proactive as a character, but I don’t fault the show or the character, just the writers and show runner. It’s why episode 5 felt like a ride compared to the last 4 episodes, the cameo was great but if you rely on a side character filler episode to tell someone else’s story then their story is probably really weak. I agree with another account on here, as much as it’s great to get Din back it should have focused on Boba and Femnec tracking Din down and making it an adventure rather than waiting for him to show up on the bus.

However, people also need to respect that Boba’s story isn’t Din’s. They’re two different people which means their shows are going to feel different. Tow siblings may be related and grew up in the same house but their rooms are still going to be unique. And also, Boba has been through a shit ton of bullshit since he was a kid. So his show may feel mundane compared to what he went through in the past with The Clone Wars and Attack of the Clones. He’s an old man now who still kicks ass, even if his biggest problem is dealing with a murder Wookiee and obese space worm twins.

I totally agree with what you say. You sum up the situation well.

Honestly, I try to watch tbobf without comparing to the mandalorian, so I think that's what helped me not to see the slowness of the first episodes in a bad light. There are shows that are boring at the beginning and become very interesting at the end. I know some fans defend the show by saying it's slow because they want the build the character but it's Boba Fett, I don't think he needs that development.

Now I can understand why people compare the two because both series are about Mandalorians, both were the first series to be derived from the Star Wars world and the first one was a big success.

"but I don’t fault the show or the character, just the writers and show runner."

I agree with what you say. At first I thought the reviews were harsh with tbobf but even Temuera doesn't seem to be particularly happy with the way Boba was written.

The advantage with the Din character is that he was created recently and it's easier to create his story while respecting the Star Wars universe. Whereas the character of boba already has his history and his myth. When you want to continue the story of such a famous character, you have to understand the character and sometimes the actor understands it better than the writers

youtube

This is a big problem for the writers of star wars since the sequels.

#anon ask #the book of boba fett #the mandalorian

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chattegeorgiana · 3 years

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You keep insisting that the ending Naruto pairings are the reason Boruto's sales are nowhere near as great as Naruto's, yet how come Boruto Naruto the Movie has brought in far more income than both RTN and The last combined? The Boruto Movie has gained almost 40.000.000$ while The Last only 20.000.000$ and RTN only around 17.000.000$. The reasons boruto is not as popular as naruto was is because the plot sucks, the anime has too many garbage fillers, the artstyle in the manga sucks, the new gen characters suck, and the manga wasn't even written by Kishimoto until recently. It has nothing to do with pairings. Hell, if NS became canon, people would've hated it even more, considering how hated Sakura was, and you even admitted she is the most hated character. And you also contradict yourself. First you say she's the most hated, then you say SP missed a marketing opportunity with her... like girl make up your mind? She's the most hated character in the franchize, in a poll she was chosen as the most hated by both male and female, even Kishimoto went out of his way to say girls came at him and said how much they despised Sakura, most people don't give a shit about her, using her as marketing strategy would've done more harm than good. She's even more hated in Japan and other Asian fandoms than she is in the western fandom, and that already says a lot! You're really arrogant to assume that the "silent majority" you speak of are all NaruSaku fans. I guarantee you it isn't. In fact, most people don't even care about ships that much. NaruSakus, you along with the SNS fans, SS fans, NH fans are part of the vocal minority that has nothing better to do than bitch about ships all day long.

But did I ever say that they were THE ONLY reason they are bad? They are an integral part of it yes, but not the only one.

Just because you saw some asks of mine here on Tumblr, you just throw these things around, like this is the only place I talk about the story of Naruto and this is the only aspect I do.

Yes, here on Tumblr I might do it through the virtue of the asks I receive, but that doesn't mean it's the only space I address these matters.

I have other social media channels as well where I discuss other aspects as well. Ya know, how like Boruto is nothing more than a tweaked "cooler" wanna-be version of Naruto, with no real substance whatsoever, a story that doesn't truly leaves a message behind, a morale, with characters that are the shells of their former selves or mechanics that are skewed and "free of" any logic.

But sure, make it as if that's the only aspect I talk about if that makes you sleep well at night.

As for the reason Boruto made so much? Well, I'll tell you why: because it had NaruSasu. Because they knew they messed-up with The Last, so they did the next best thing they could to try and keep the fanbase engaged.

Focused on the biggest portion of the fanbase that gathered around both shippers and non shippers by the virtue of focusing on Sasuke and Naruto and their offsprings. You know why? Because this way they catered to two human emotions: familiarity/comfort & curiosity.

Aka familiarity via having NaruSasu and curiosity to see the new gen kids.

Which yes, had momentum and seemed to have a perfect recipe: no focus on the ships that initially brought he whole mess (Sakura and Hinata were close to non-existent in that movie), and "repaying" the fanbase that was initially pissed at the fact that people thought this was gonna be a T7 movie because of the heavy Kakashi and Ssuke advertisement when they were there to be found for onlyyy few seconds, lol.

But you see, in the test of time, Boruto failed because of the aforementioned reasons.

You say that people would've hated the ending if NS would've been canon, yet curiously enough the number of people that are even non shippers and agree to the idea that NS should've been canon has been increasing over the years. Which in a really curious way was surprising to me too as an NS fan that returned to the fandom after so long.

So you see, I am not sure exactly about that aspect there. Not to mention, since when does a story has to do what the fanbase dictates it? The story should follow its course and intended narration and that's that.

Yes, Sakura was hated, but that's not a reason to not have Naruto end-up with her because within the story mechanics we had many proofs that indicated that they should've ended together, regardless of how people felt about them.

Kishimoto didn't say girls came at him, he said girls sent him letters, which are two different things, because to his face no one truly said that, minus the editors who kept pushing Hinata forward and their bias as well.

Lol at you saying that using her as a marketing strategy would've done more harm than good when she's the only female character being marketed right now via figurines and all those other things.

So reality seems to be contradicting you a bit on that side.

Not to mention, you say that she's the most hated even in Asia and Japan? LOL, where did u even take out these lies?

The hate phenomena has always been a western fandom thing, not an Asian/Eastern fandom one.

You say that the pairings ripped with Sasuke and Naruto as well (funny how NaruSaku isn't dead even after years of being supposedly dead tho), for a character that should've been hated??

This whole hate thing was always a western fandom mirage, sadly, but in Japan and Asia she's always been loved. Like where did u even pull out that information from?

Also what I always said about a NaruSaku ending was that they could've taken a RTN route where they could've had ALL the pairings shown within a parallel universe, but sure, nice way to twist my words and make it like "I can't decide".

There are slight nuance differences which you either purposely not address or you don't know how to do the difference. The truth in this case only you know it.

But stop trying to act that high and mighty coming here on anon making it seem like ooh, I contradict myself and spread nonsense, just because you read a faction of all the ideas I discuss over my social media.

And now to address the silent majority argument. I never said silent majority are ONLY NaruSaku fans. That's what you assumed. Silent majority included NaruSaku fans yes, but also other fans who ya know, have some common sense within them and see how the story has been butchered for the sake of poorly treating a certain aspect of Naruto, which was the romantic one.

Which btw, you say that it wasn't a big deal, yet it was the no. plot included within the story, being presented as early as chapter 3, because chapter 1 and 2 revolved around Naruto wanting to become Hokage for people to acknowledge him and create bonds.

You say that the pairings aren't such a big deal in the fandom, yet guess what, SJ and SP directed a movie on that specific subject. Makes you wonder why now, doesn't it?

And it's a normal aspect to care about if you think about it for a manga that has been focused on BONDS. The romantic plot gets weaved in within the one about bonds really easily, because at the core of it it's about relationships.

And this whole world that we live it it's a relationship: between the body and the spirit, between then heaven and the earth, between friends, between relatives. EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD HAS A RELATIONSHIP BASIS: atom interacts with atom and here we are, living, breathing beings.

But sure, come to me and paint me in this way you're trying as if talking about relationships and their quality is a bad thing.

Mhmm.

Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

You're free to have your opinion, sure.

I just happen to not agree with it.

And that's that.

Have a good day or night or whatever.

#anti-boruto #narusaku #narusasu #relationships #shipping #naruto

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canyouhearthelight · 4 years

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The Miys, Ch. 125

I am so sorry that this is posting late today!! I didn’t realize my queue ran out, or that I didn’t load these in there.

Thank you, every day, to everyone who helped me hang in there as long as I’ve been lucky enough to write this story. As much fun as the weapons expo was, I swear we are working towards everything else that has changed in the time skip! I would love to hear what y’all are most excited to find out about.

Shoutouts always go to @baelpenrose, @charlylimph-blog, and @the-raven-fae for all your encouragement, plot bunnies, and beta-reading.

The day after the weapons exhibition, the air on the Ark was still crackling with excitement. Every time I overheard people chattering over a specific performance, I smiled to myself. That particular event had been the first that Parvati and Hannah planned without my help, and hearing the overwhelming approval for it was something I would be all too happy to convey back to them. They really had done a great job.

Sebastian ended up bowing out after the first year, because he was unable to balance the demands of the mentorship and the Undine. As the only one of the three who could not just change their job responsibilities, he had chosen his passion - which absolutely no one was upset about. Parvati had even joked that we had backup Councillors, but only one Undine.

The response I received from my mentees when I shared what I heard, however, was underwhelming. Hannah gave a small smile and nodded, while Parvati waved off the praise with a scoff. “We were essentially following a template,” she pointed out.

Hannah nodded at me with a rueful expression. “Unfortunately, she’s right. There wasn’t much of a challenge, there.”

Just as a full pout was settling into my chest, Alistair breezed in and took off his scarf - for once, I couldn’t tell myself it was just for dramatic effect, as the climate controls in public areas were phased in to mimic what was projected for seasonal changes on Von. Currently it was the cold season, and Alistair was miserable about it. “Of course it wasn’t a challenge,” he scowled. “You both have been assisting Madam Reid since the exhibitions began. However, it is profoundly rude to ignore the feedback you received.” He glared at Parvati and Hannah, who managed to look sheepish. “One of you will be Councillor one day, and your responsibility will be things just like this. You should be pleased with a job well done, not resting on your laurels.”

I nodded and didn’t bother hiding my grin. “He’s right, you know. Besides, don’t forget that this is when the hard part starts.”

Two sets of eyes widened at me, with Hannah adding a gasp of horror. “Oh gods. The feedback…”

“Yep.” I popped the last letter as I took my seat and the coffee that Alistair offered, noticing that he did not retrieve any for my mentees. Apparently he was really miffed by their attitudes before. “And, along with coordinating the event on your own…”

“Sophia, you’re joking,” Parvati glared.

“I am most certainly not,” I shook my head. “Every event, you have to read the feedback. You can filter it all you want, narrow down the categories, whatever. But I strongly recommend that you read all of the negative feedback if nothing else.”

“But you’ve always had help,” Hannah pointed out calmly.

“I did,” I admitted, “but that doesn’t mean I ignored or delegated the important parts. Having people who you trust to do a pulse check of what is being said unofficially is an extremely valuable tool. However, at the end of the day, the performance of the events, or the projects, or the staffing balances, comes right back to this office and only this office. I can listen to Tyche, or my partners, or other Councillors until my ears fall off. But if something went wrong, or could have been done better, I’m the one who catches fault for that. Which means, eventually, it will be one of you.”

With a deep breath, both women nodded and opened the files in question. After simply staring and scrolling for a few minutes, Parvati sat back and tapped the side of her chin. “Can we filter out all comments under five words and comments with only positive adjectives that do not contain a conditional statement?” She glanced at me and I nodded my approval.

That seemed to spark an idea in Hannah. “Prioritize comments including the words ‘dangerous’, ‘barbaric’, or synonyms of.” When her co-mentee gave her a quizzical look, she shrugged. “It’s good to have at least a count of people who object to the weapons exhibitions, and if they are just a small number at least there are guaranteed to be a few in there that are pretty funny.”

Parvati still looked like she wasn’t convinced, so Alistair spoke up. “If you do not enjoy the weapons exhibitions, why are you attending?”

“Ahhh,” she smiled. Clearly the thought had never occurred to her, which was entirely unsurprising. Parvati hadn’t dated Xiomara as long as she did by harboring a secret grudge against self-defense and proper applications of force.

Now that they found a starting point for weeding through the feedback, it was clear they were engrossed in gathering information. Periodically, I would hear one make a considering noise before jotting down a note to come back to later. I quietly moved to my desk and observed how differently they handled the process - When I went through feedback with Alistair, we shared it on the table emitter so both could see. Parvati and Hannah, however, sat across from each other, on their singular data pads, flicking particular pieces of information back and forth to each other without even glancing up. The partnership they had developed over the last four years of working with me was astounding to watch.

“What you are feeling now is exactly what it feels like to watch you and Tyche,” Alistair murmured, startling me out of my reverie. When I glanced at him, he simply lifted an eyebrow and tilted his head. “Even after working with you both for so long, there are moments where it is clear you both are working on some sort of wavelength the rest of us are not aware of.”

“Charly is pretty tuned in to it. And Arthur, when he wants to be.”

“Miss Harper is a force unto herself.” The corner of his mouth lifted in one of his rare, fond smiles. “As for Farro, I am beginning to believe that Reidish is one of the languages he learned for historical manuscripts.” Snark dripped from his tone out of old habit - if there had ever been any animosity between the two, it was long gone.

Although, apparently the hypothetical existence of ‘Reidish’ as a language was still bopping it’s merry way around the Ark.

“Noah,” I pointed out. “They understand us perfectly well.”

“Yes, let us all congratulate you two, not only on the fact that a mind-reading alien understands your communication better than your own species, but also on the fact that you have tainted them with your mannerisms.” The sarcasm would have stung, had he not felt the need to demonstrate by tipping his index finger and thumb over his eye in imitation of an eyebrow with one hand, while making a sock-puppet nod with the other - both of which were gestures Noah used as filler for human body language. The contrast between his words, the gestures, and the absolute deadpan expression on his face sent me into hysterics.

I didn’t realize we were being watched until Hannah’s voice broke through my laughter. “Derek actually taught them the eyebrow one. That wasn’t Sophia or Tyche. He started doing it because he can’t just lift one eyebrow, and Miys started mimicking him when they saw how useful it was to convey tone.” When Alistair only stared at her in disbelief, she huffed and turned to her datapad before flicking a recording to the table emitter.

Sure enough, there was Derek, adjusting Miys ‘fingers’ and repeating the gesture for them to imitate. After several adjustments of where the vomu was held, Derek seemed satisfied and flashed a double thumbs-up, which was returned in triplicate. As the recording ended, Hannah turned back with the smuggest expression I had ever seen on her gentle face.

“I’ll be damned.” Alistair’s voice was soft with surprise and a hint of admiration.

“Hannah, how do you have that?” I asked, concerned for Derek’s privacy.

She waved me off. “Zach was doing routine security sensor testing, found that in the process, and asked Derek if we could keep a copy of it. Derek said it was okay, and asked for a copy for himself.” She shrugged. “I’d never seen him voluntarily touch someone that much before, and even without that, it was adorable.”

“I’m glad he knows you have it,” I sighed in relief. “But yeah, it makes sense, honestly.” Hannah nodded in agreement, while Parvati and Alistair were clearly waiting for an explanation. I started ticking off reasons on my fingers. “Miys is very careful of personal space because they know how large they are, and Derek hates having his space invaded without permission. Miys is never ‘too loud’ for Derek, or touches without permission, or even speaks to him without Derek speaking first. There’s no pressure for eye contact, even just in Derek’s head, because Miys doesn’t have eyes.”

“Your mind is a strange and wonderful place,” Alistair stated drily before turning to Hannah and Parvati. “I hope you two have been taking notes on it. I happen to know what your next event is, and you’re going to need that level of insight.”

Arching an eyebrow at him, Parvati did not even look away to pull up her calendar, dragging it into her line of sight. Her eyes widened suddenly.

“You have three months,” I pointed out.

She reached out and shook Hannah’s arm vigorously. “Han.”

A quick glance and a second horrified expression looked at me from the table.

“Three months.”

“Sophia.”

“You’ve both helped me with it, for at least the last four years. And you said you wanted a challenge.”

They both groaned comically, but I struggled not to smile at their antics. I knew they weren’t really as worried as they pretended to be.

Alistair leaned over the whisper again. “I thought Tyche was the evil one.”

That did get me to smile.

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#the miys #humans are weird #found family #humans are space orcs #earth is space australia #survival #apocalypse #aliens #haw #hfy #humans are space fae #science fiction #scifi #original scifi #original writing #my writing

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bluesylveon2 · 3 years

Text

My My I Could Never Let You Go

Summary: Sasha Zoe just wants her dad to walk her down the aisle. There is only one problem: she doesn't know who her dad is! Sasha invites 3 men in hopes of finding out which one is her father. What could possibly go wrong?

Pairings: Levi x Hange, Sasha x Niccolo, and other background relationships

Disclaimer: This is a Levihan Mamma Mia au. This fanfic is inspired by Mamma Mia which is directed by Phyllida Loyd, written by Catherine Johnson, and uses music from the pop group ABBA. Attack on Titan is a manga/anime series written by Hajime Isayama and published by Kondasha

A/N: Is it too late to say that Sasha’s wedding takes place in the first week of August? (edit: I realized my mistake and I fixed it) Tbh this chapter is short and just filler BUT it does set up what will happen in the next few chapters. You could say it helps with the subplot. I did make a few edits to the fic, especially last chapter because I’m nit-picky like that.

Need to catch up? Catch up here!

Ch 8: Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy

2 months before the wedding

It was a beautiful, sunny day in Kalokairi, and Hanami could not agree more as she sips her coffee in front of the Swell Cafe Bar.

The smell from her coffee was wafting her nose, the warm sunlight on her sun-kissed skin, the beautiful view, and the slight breeze that moved her sundress a bit were perfect for her.

She tapped her foot to the music playing in the background. The owners were playing an old 80's jazz song. Hanami wasn't familiar with it, but she liked listening to the beat. She also noticed the waiter shyly glancing at her every now and then as he worked.

Aw, she thought. It seems like he's too shy to walk up to her. He kept subtly glancing at her since she sat down.

Hanami looks in the man's direction and gives him a bright smile and a small wave, causing the guy to blush and look away with embarrassment for getting caught.

Hanami chuckles to herself. She considered winking at him, but she didn't want the poor guy to blush much.

She rests her head on her palm, and her gaze returns back to the sea. She reflects on what has happened in the past few months.

2 months ago, during Easter break, Jean approached her with a plan to win over Mikasa. At the time, Hanami was unsure if he would be able to pull it off. Everyone knows how much Mikasa likes (is that even the right word?) Eren. Yet, everyone knows about Jean’s huge crush on Mikasa.

She only agreed after Jean offered to pay for everything during their "meet-ups" (she insisted that they take turns instead and Jean agreed), assist her with her Maid of Honor duties for the wedding when she had to go back to college (Hanami did her best to exclude him from anything related to Sasha’s dads), and do any other favors for a year. Hanami knew Jean was serious after the conditions.

You see, Hanami used to not like Jean back in high school. He was cocky, arrogant, and annoying (at least to her and (not)surprisingly, Eren). Hanami made sure to express her dislike for him. However, Jean changed after an incident when Marco broke his right leg and Jean was too late to stop it. He became more mature and considerate of his friends. As a result, both he and Hanami decided they could be friends, and everything went from there.

And so, Hanami agreed with one condition: Jean must teach her how to dance.

The reason being is Hanami’s Austrian friends invited her to one of the many balls held during ball season in Austria. Everyone in Hanami’s friend group knows she cannot dance, especially in heels.

Luckily for her, Jean was the only available guy with a decent enough dance experience to teach her.

(All the guys agreed that Jean was the best dancer of all of them. Eren is a close second.)

The two would sometimes bicker, but they had each other's backs. They define their friendship as comfortable, per se; they were comfortable enough to actually kiss each other to get out of a sticky situation.

Hanami could remember an incident a few days ago when Sasha decided that the two, plus her and Niccolo, to take a trip to Skiathos to take a break from all the wedding plans. They had settled for a party at a local beach bar at night. Skiathos is known as a party island after all. Niccolo and Sasha had separated from the group to swim in the sea, so Jean offered to buy Hanami a drink since they were alone.

About 10 minutes had passed since and Jean did not return, so Hanami went out to find him. She did not expect to find him at a table near the bar surrounded by girls without holding any drinks. Despite how cocky Jean looks, he cares about personal space and making sure his friends are ok. He would hate it if someone decided to harass Hanami while he was gone.

The girls were getting a bit too close to him, so Hanami decided to step in. She strutted to his side while ignoring the other girls and proclaimed how much she missed him. She then grabs his hand and subtly squeezes it, to which he squeezes it back, giving her permission to do what she was about to do.

Jean had turned to face Hanami, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her close to his body. Hanami looks up at him and grabs the collar of his shirt with both hands. She pulls him down for a kiss while ignoring the other girls who were still present. She wrapped her arms around her neck, while Jean's hands played with the hem of her cover-up. It was nothing sweet and cute like what normal couples do. Their kiss was more heated and was enough for the other girls to leave them alone.

They never brought it up again just for their own sakes. Jean and Hanami made an agreement to help each other by acting as if they were dating as practice for Mikasa. Hence why they kissed during the party. The two even agreed to squeeze each other’s hands as a sign if they were comfortable to proceed. Jean had no experience with dating, and Hanami had one boyfriend back in high school. She had more experience with dating than him.

(Hanami only mentioned that Jean had improved on his kissing skills and left it at that).

Hanami continues looking at the view as she waits for Jean. Apparently, he requested that they meet up one more time, and this is very important. Hanami questioned why this meeting was important. Did they not cover everything in the plan? Is there a plot hole they might have missed? She does not turn her head when she hears the man of the hour heading in her direction.

“You’re late. If you came any later, then I would go on a date with the waiter instead,” she teases and turns around to fully face him. He wore a white long-sleeve button-up shirt that he rolled up the sleeves. He also had on slacks and a pair of dress shoes. She found it strange that he decided to dress nicely when it was only 10 am. Usually, he dresses in casual clothes. She eyes the camera in his hands.

Jean sits in the chair across from her and places the camera on the table. “This is not a date, Hanami.” He dismissed with no hint of a laugh anywhere. “I’ve-” he hesitates for a second. “-been thinking about something lately.”

“Oh,” Hanami says and leans forward a bit. She noticed his hesitation and folded her hands on top of the table. She gestures to the camera on the table, “What’s with the camera?”

"I’m just practicing for school. I need to take a picture of something I admire and paint it for the school's art exhibit."

Hanami chuckles. "Too bad Mikasa is not here. She is the perfect subject for your painting."

Jean shifts around in his seat uncomfortably. Hanami notices but does not ask about it out loud. Why did he look uncomfortable? She thought he would at least agree with her.

"About that..the plan with Mikasa..." He trails off, sounding almost uncertain and confused.

"What’s up?." Hanami asks and raises an eyebrow. She was taken aback. Did Jean notice a hole in their plan? She sits up and stares at him intensely. She's getting the answer one way or another.

“Did we miss something with the plan?”

Hanami knew that Mikasa would not arrive at Kalokairi until days before or maybe the day before the wedding. Jean’s plan was a long shot. Who knows if Mikasa would fall for him in such a short amount of time. Then again, they have been friends for a while now.

“No...It’s nothing,” He says dismissively. Hanami raises an eyebrow. Jean was never this jumpy during their past meet-ups. She is not one to pry, but something is clearly on Jean’s mind and he was the one who insisted on meeting up today. Looks like she might have to play a secret weapon.

“Ohhhkayyy,” she says, holding out the word. She slumps in her seat, feigning disappointment.

“Don’t tell me you’re backing out of the plan? It would be a shame to put all that time to waste.” Suddenly, she smiles a wicked smile.

“Don’t you agree, Jeanbo?”

Jean breaks out of his trance and looks at Hanami with shock. He was speechless. Jean could name only two people from his friend group who knew his childhood nickname. Marco, for obvious reasons, and Armin. Armin found out on accident and promised Jean not to tell anyone. How did she know?

Checkmate.

“How do you know that?” Jean asks with a hint of fear.

Hanami places her elbows on the table and rests her hands on her head. “How did I know?” She smiles slyly and raises her eyebrows.

“I met your mother last summer when Sasha and I were visiting Annie in Paris. Sasha wanted to take a road trip around France, and we ended up in Strasbourg as a stop for some sightseeing. You should’ve seen how shocked we were to find your mom in town. She was even shocked when we mentioned that we knew you! It’s a good thing we recognized her from the various letters she sent and the old photos.”

Hanami looks at Jean, who is still speechless. She continues her story.

“You were on your trip in Spain with Marco at the time, so the girls and your mom wanted to keep it a secret. Don't want to ruin the surprise, you know?"

Hanami chuckles to herself.

"Although she did ask if one of us was your girlfriend though. I think she wants grandchildren soon, Jeanbo.”

Hanami laughs at her little joke. Jean was too busy blushing to even laugh at her joke. Doesn’t his mom know that he is too young for that?! He decided to take note to never bring any of his female friends back home.

“Anyways, she even made us her famous omelets, which were the best I ever had! You have to make me someday, Jean. Don't even try to back out of it. Your mom said you could make it." She looks at him

She even showed us your baby pictures! You look so adorable!" she gushes.

Meanwhile, Jean has not said a word. He was too shocked to even talk.

"It's too bad you changed…" Hanami trails off and glances into Jean's golden-brown eyes. Suddenly, she stands up from her seat and leans forward. One of her hands rested on the table for support, and the other was reaching out to Jean's face.

Jean only watches as Hanami gently grabs his chin. He was too flustered to make any move to stop her. Her thumb was in the front, and the rest of her fingers were in the back. He doesn't make a move to stop her. He only blushes instead.

"You just had to grow a beard and your hair out into a mullet. You know, most guys can’t work it, yet here you are. Congrats, I guess."

She tilts his head left and right as if she was examining him. She leans closer to his face that Jean can feel her breaths fan his face.

"You also got taller and muscular too." She tsks with slight annoyance. "I wonder why no other girls on the island haven't jumped you yet, huh, lover-boy?." She laughs while referring to the fact that Jean harbors a crush on Mikasa for years now.

Her hand trailed up from his chin to cup his cheek. Jean stays still and continues to watch by looking into Hanami's espresso brown eyes behind her glasses. He hoped she could not see him short-circuiting with how close she was.

He feels her shift the hand on his cheek to pinch him. Hard.

"Ow! What the hell, Hanami?"

"You just had to lose all that baby fat and get a sharp jawline instead! I’m going to miss the pinchable cheeks I never actually got to see!"

Jean breaks out of his trance and raises his hands up to stop Hanami.

Two can play this game. What was the best thing to do in this situation? Grab both her cheeks as retaliation.

"You hypocrite! You're the one with chubbier cheeks than me!"

The two continue pulling at each other’s cheeks and throwing insults at one another. They completely ignored that they were in a public area and people nearby can see them. There was an elderly couple nearby who watched the scene unfold. They couldn’t help but laugh to themselves because it reminded them of when they were young. The waiter from earlier was starting to doubt his impression of Hanami. Who knew she was also childish?

Hanami and Jean’s bickering went on for a few minutes until Hanami gave in.

“Ok. Ok. You win, Jean!” she says after sitting back down in her seat. She rubs her now sore cheek. Yeesh, that guy has a grip.

She looks up at Jean’s face. It looks more relaxed and not as tense as before as a result of earlier.

Hanami mentally high-fived herself because her plan of getting Jean out of his whatever he was going through was a success. Now it was time to get serious.

“Jean. I can tell something is on your mind.” She reaches forward to place one hand on top of his on the table. She does not make any motion to hold it.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me specifically. However, just know that I am here for you, and I am happy to listen. I promise not to say anything.” She finishes with a smile.

Jean gulps and takes his hand away to tug on the collar of his shirt. Hanami just watches him patiently.

“It’s about the plan with Mikasa...I think we need to change tactics.”

Hanami crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow. “How so?”

“We...need to get Mikasa jealous.”

Hanami chuckles a bit. She has never seen Mikasa jealous in all of her years knowing her. Unless you consider that one instance with Annie training him, but Hanami thinks Annie didn’t view Eren that way. Hanami could not help but wonder how they can get Mikasa to feel jealous of a random girl with Jean in a short amount of time. Again, it depends on when Mikasa and Historia arrive.

“How do you plan on achieving that, Jean?” Hanami asks and takes a sip of her coffee. Things are starting to get interesting now.

“How are things with the bachelorette party?” Jeans suddenly ask, changing the topic. Hanami places her cup down on the table and looks at him suspiciously.

“Well, it is definitely going to be at the hotel plaza. Sasha had requested it there. Oh! Hange and her band are going to perform too. Hange wants to relive her glory days, or so she says. Why do you ask?”

Jean presses his lips in a thin line as if he was contemplating what to say next.

“I need your help with something for the bachelorette party.”

Hanami’s suspicious look never left her face. She takes some time to think about what Jean just said.

Suddenly, it all clicked in her head. She points an accusatory finger at him and glares at Jean.

“Don’t tell me you plan on inviting male strippers to the bachelorette party?!” Hamani yells and startles Jean as well as some passersby.

“No! Do you want me to get killed by practically this whole island?!” Jean exclaims, leaning forward in his seat to cover Hanami’s mouth. He keeps it there for a minute before leaning back to take a deep breath. Of course, Hanami would quickly jump to conclusions.

“No.” He says again calmly. “I need your help setting me up with-” He glances around him, looking slightly unsure. “-Rico when she arrives.”

Hanami looks at him dumbfounded. “Come again?”

Jean sighs and looks at Hanami with a serious face. “You heard me. I want you to set me up with Rico.”

“Rico? As in Rico Brzenska, the three-time divorcee? You do realize she is old enough to be your mom, right?”

“Of course I know that! It’s all part of getting Mikasa jealous!”.

Hanami nods her head, trying to understand whatever just came out of Jean’s mouth. To her, it sounded as if he must have gone mad or something. “Uh-huh. Do you plan on going after Pieck next?”

“No! She’s married!” He exclaims while blushing.

Hanami smirks and crosses her arms in front of her chest with triumph. “Exactly.”

Jean rubs his temples and looks at Hanami with a serious face. “Look, Niccolo came up with an idea about crashing the bachelorette party. Of course, we will make sure to let you have your fun before the guys come in.”

Hanami nods along, showing Jean she is following the story. “So you want me to help you get close enough to “seduce” her (she uses air quotes on the word seduce) that you end up dancing with her at the party and hope that Mikasa notices? Let me guess, you plan on adding more attempts right before the wedding and maybe at the reception?”

“Exactly. You can even try to put in a good word for me when Mikasa comes.”

Hanami nods again in understanding. “Ok, but I won’t do it for every interaction, ok? Only if it is just us two. I don’t want the other girls to raise suspicions if I start complimenting you randomly. Also-” She clamps her hands together. “-I won’t gatekeep Mikasa from Eren. If they want to talk, then I will let them talk. I don’t want to raise any suspicions between the two if that makes sense.”

Jean nods in agreement. “Ok. That sounds like a deal. You will help put in a good word for me to Mikasa, I can try talking to Rico before the party, we will work together to get me close to Rico. You also can't tell Mikasa about my old nickname. It's embarrassing enough that more people know it.” He holds his hand out for Hanami to shake.

Hanami laughs at how serious Jean was. She thought it was kind of funny to see how dedicated he was to this plan. She shakes his hand to seal the agreement. “I promise not to tell Mikasa, Jean. I do have some doubts about the Rico part. I don't mind saying ‘I told you so’ if things go south.”

She places her hand back down on the table and looks at Jean. She smiles, and it even catches him off guard. “You put a lot of effort into this, Jean. You deserve to be happy with Mikasa.”

“Y-y-yeah. You’re right.” Jean rubs the back of his head nervously, causing Hanami to laugh again.

Hanami continues smiling as she stands up and grabs Jean’s hand. “C’mon! I paid last time, so it’s your turn to pay for the food and I’m very hungry! I’m craving some walnut pie with ice cream!”

Jean never questioned her request. That woman had a sweet tooth second to Annie’s. He sighs as Hanami lets go of his hand to call over a waiter and start ordering a whole list of food.

This woman is going to be the death of him.

I know this is a filler chapter, but I am currently working on ch 9 right now. It is a good way to look at Hanami’s character though.

Updates may take a while because the semester is about to end

I chose Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy because I can see it fitting Jean and the many Nicosasha Tiktoks I used to get with this song.

The timing in this fic might be weird because I try to make it somewhat accurate with the research I find.

Speaking of research, this fic is basically a list of places I want to go to in the future. Too bad I can’t go now 😭

#levihan #levi x hange #levihan fanfiction #nicosasha #erwin x hange #mike x hange #mikenana #aruani #hitch x marlow #marco x mina #pokkopikku #snk #aot

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precuredaily · 3 years

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Precure Day 206

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 08 - “Syrup and the Mysterious Letter" Date watched: 7 April 2021 Original air date: 23 March 2008 Screenshots Transformation Gallery Project info and master list of posts

this is not important

How do you follow up that epic trip to the Palmier Kingdom? With some shenanigans and a mystery. Let's take a look.

The Plot

Syrup has a nightmare that he's trapped in a dark room, with only one doorway to the outside that's closing and a hand is keeping him from getting out. He screams that he doesn't want to be alone. He screams aloud in his sleep as well, and then the bell of the clock tower strikes six o'clock and then Syrup and Mailpo both dart awake. A startled Mailpo then spouts out a letter for the Precures. Meanwhile, Scorp surveys the city from on high and notes that the clock tower is a part of the collection. He decides to capture it to keep some clout within Eternal after his failures in retrieving the Rose Pact.

Later that day, at school, the girls are hanging out at Otaka's restaurant. Nozomi, Urara, and even Rin are wolfing down hotcakes (etymology note: depending on the region, hotcakes may be different from pancakes) when Syrup walks up to deliver the letter. They open it and discover, rather than a written note, it contains a piece of a flier, a flower shoot, and a piece of hotcake.

They are all perplexed by the contents. Rin identifies the shoot as coming from a tokeiso (lit. clock grass, known as a blue passion flower in English), and Nozomi takes this to mean that someone wants them to go to Rin's flower shop and eat hotcakes. Instead, they all gather at Natts House after school and continue to pore over their clues. Komachi notices the items each have a V-shaped imprint on them and thinks it might be a code, but none of the v-words they come up with make sense. Suddenly Nozomi, in her own Nozomi way, identifies that the piece of paper smells like crepes and she leads them to the new crepe shop that just opened up, called Clock Tower Crepes. They grab a flier and wouldn't you know, it matches their piece. At this point Karen notices a theme, between the clock tower restaurant and clock grass flower, so they suspect the mysterious messenger is telling them about the clock tower. A bird flies by as Syrup comments that he hasn't seen anyone here, and then Scorp shows up and informs the sextet that the clock tower's bell is in the collection, so he's taking the whole thing for Eternal and he turns a nearby fire hydrant into a giant Hoshiina.

and I do mean giant

The girls transform but this time, the Hoshiina isn't really interested in them. It's mostly focused on tackling the clock tower and it only swats the Precures away as they try to attack it. At the same time, a bird attacks Scorp, who similarly flicks it away, and the girls notice a bird's nest high in the tower, threatened by falling rubble and just outright falling. Mint surmises that the bird sent the letter as a request to protect their nest. Scorp mocks the girls for protecting the tower for some birds and they retort that his idea of what's valuable doesn't matter. Then Scorp turns his attention to Syrup, telling him to come back and work for Eternal again, marking the first time this is mentioned. However, Dream butts in and says that he can come to the Cure Rose Garden with the Precures and be much happier than going with Scorp, and he obviously sides with them. After rescuing the bird nest, she hands it to Syrup and then performs Shooting Star on the Hoshiina, destroying it.

Afterwards, in a beautifully lit twilight scene, the girls place a protective cage around the nest, and comment on how unexpected it was that the bird sent the letter. Komachi, Karen, Rin, and Urara are still unsure how the piece of hotcake fit in, though, and Nozomi thinks for a minute before concluding that "hotcake" has "tokei" (clock) in it, the same as the other two clues. Rin is spectacularly unamused.

As the girls admire their work and note how happy the birds seem, Syrup decides to open up to them a little bit. While leaning over the railing, looking out into the sunset, he admits that he sometimes has nightmares about being alone in the darkness, trapped and unable to escape. Nozomi tells him to send her a letter whenever that happens and no matter where, when, or what, she'll come into his dream to rescue him. Despite his protests she insists she'll respond earnestly to his feelings. At that moment, Mailpo unleashes a torrent of letters from Milk, some of which come open to reveal their contents, and the girls notice a picture of Milk watering a glowing blue sprout. They decide to all deliver the letters to Coco and Nuts together and the episode closes on a still frame of everyone rushing along with arms full of letters.

The Analysis

Stuff like this is why I love Nozomi as a character. She's goofy and isn't quite on the same page as the other girls, but she's trying her hardest to solve the mystery, and her unique experiences and knowledge help them find the answer. She wants to help the birds and protect the clock tower from Eternal, but she also doesn't miss a beat emotionally supporting Syrup when he opens up about his troubles. It's not her strongest showing, it's not quite the Nozomi we get during major plot episodes, but she's earnest and heartfelt and I like that. And that's a good description of this episode overall: it's not as strong as a major plot episode but it's earnest and heartfelt. It is on the upper end of middle-of-the-road, and that's fine. The only thread of character development here is Syrup opening up to the Nozomi a bit, which is a plot largely ignored until after the fight. The rest is mostly filler and doesn't contribute to the ongoing plots and mysteries surrounding Syrup's past, his connection to Eternal, the hunt for the Four Monarchs, Coco and Nuts developing as kings, the Blue Rose, or the Cure Rose Garden.

Looking at the here and now though, this episode is satisfying, well-paced, and has lots of gags. Nozomi repeatedly acts the fool, causing the other girls to react a lot.

She's very gung-ho about finding the sender and addressing their problem, and the other girls have to struggle to keep up with her. Coco and Nuts talk to Syrup about this as well, admitting that Nozomi is the type to act first and think later, but that aspect of her has saved them in the past and they're indebted to her enthusiasm. I talk about Nozomi being central to this and in hindsight she is, but when watching the episode it feels more balanced. I guess it's the illusion of words vs actions. Everyone talks a lot but Nozomi is the one that figures out two of the three clues, and the one who takes the lead in defending the birds once they recognize them. She's the one that suggests Syrup should stay at Natts House and the one that encourages Syrup at the end. Rin contributes information about the flower, Komachi and Karen speculate about the imprinted symbol, and Urara...... doesn't really have anything meaningful to add now that I think about it, other than some exasperated faces (see above).

As I said though, there's some good gags along the way. My favorite is them mistaking the impression left by the bird's beak as a "V" and trying to figure out words that start with "V" that it might represent.

(if you’re not familiar, b and v are phonetically similar to begin with and basically blend together in Japanese, hence this mistake)

There was also a funny gag at the start with Rin acting so shocked that Nozomi and Urara were eating hotcakes after lunch..... only for the camera to show her eating them as well. Komachi and Karen’s reactions were priceless. And the first half of the episode has much of this jollity, it’s pretty upbeat. The second half is more serious, as they deal with the threat against the clock tower and the birds’ nest, but it doesn’t get weighty until the end.

Syrup is still kind of an enigma up to this point. All we really know is that he's a delivery boy who wants to visit the Cure Rose Garden, and he's got a strained relationship with most of the other fairies. He mostly keeps to himself, considering Mailpo as his only friend, and just floats between spaces delivering letters and putting up kind of a stand-offish front to keep people away. However, his nightmare sheds a lot of insight on his situation. This time we learn that he's haunted by dreams of being trapped alone in the darkness. He's younger in his dreams, which is a visualization of vulnerability. The force restraining him is a claw, and based on what we learn later about his time working for Eternal, this dream could be a representation of that period, compounded with his ongoing sense of loneliness and his lack of belonging. Even the fact that he sleeps in the clock tower is because he doesn't have a proper home and he doesn't trust other people enough to provide him one. However, he's been getting to know the girls over the last several episodes, seeing what drives them and what kind of people they are, and he's beginning to feel like he can trust them, so he opens up about some of his fears to Nozomi at the end. She understands that he's afraid and alone, and promises she'll rescue him in his dreams if he asks her to, because she cares. The practicality of this doesn't matter, Syrup is her friend and she'll protect him, that's all there is to it in her mind.

Minor note, the significance of two out of three of the clues actually gets lost in translation. The common thread is that they all have “tokei” in the name, which means “clock”. The clock tower is pretty self-explanatory. The plant called “tokeiso” in Japanese is called a blue luster in English, losing the descriptivism of its Japanese name that describes its clock hand-shaped sprouts (Google it, it’s very pretty). Lastly, although the Japanese word for the pastry they’re eating is “hottoke-ki”, derived from hotcakes, and there is technically a difference between pancakes and hotcakes (and flatcakes and flapjacks) English speakers are most familiar with the term “pancakes” and that’s what the subtitles translate it as.

Lastly I want to remark on the art. This is a good art episode... mostly. Scenes of the Hoshiina notwithstanding, because for some reason they really dropped the ball on that. The art isn’t amazing or anything, but they play with proportions for comedy in a way that makes it fun, cute, and endearing.

look at this goof

I’ve commented before on reused music I think, well in this episode I picked up on a villain cue from way back in FWPC. It’s by no means a bad thing, but I primarily associate reused music with the period from Fresh through Smile, and now I’ve noticed some in the Star Twinkle-Tropical-Rouge period. It’s nice to demonstrate to myself that this has been happening all along and isn’t a phenomenon exclusive to on part of the series.

Full disclosure: when I first watched GoGo back in 2013 or 2014, I skipped this episode (and the next one) by accident, due to a naming bug.

disclaimer: those are not the files I’m using now, these are. Only the best.

Due to the way people came and went from this project, the filenames changed a lot, so by a quirk episodes 8-9 happened to be alphabetized between episode 40 and 41. I had my player set to auto-play the next episode and I was working on a project at the time and not giving the binge my full attention, so after episode 7, the next file in the folder was 10. I bring this up to theorize that skipping these two episodes initially may have influenced my opinion on their relevance. I jumped straight from the Palmier Kingdom to Milky Rose's introduction and didn't wind up watching the episodes that bridged this gap until well after the fact. I may never know what impact this had on my overall response, and maybe I’m overthinking it, but as I view these two episodes as kind of filler or padding to get to Milky Rose, it’s a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I only dismiss them because I experienced it without them first.

I know this review is all over the place, so to summarize my thoughts, it’s a solid episode with some genuine moments, but overall it feels like padding or filler, since I know what’s coming in a few episodes. That isn’t a bad thing but it doesn’t do much for the characters or their relationships with each other, except for Syrup as he’s new around here. Coco and Nuts, surprisingly, are barely in this episode. It is not bad, but it’s not one of the better episodes the show has to offer. And that’s fine.

Next time on Precure Daily, there’s another mystery to solve, and this time Komachi goes full detective to find the cake caper. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 2 Kettei!

#Precure #Pretty Cure #Yes! Precure 5 Go Go!#YPC5GG08 #PCD206

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silvia7272 · 4 years

Text

9 ~ Revelations Revealed

Hey guys. I can’t believe how many notes I have on My Cardigan Story. It's truly amazing and I love you guys so much thank you. I hope you’ll enjoy today's chapter, and I hope you’ll understand some points I make and whether or not you like it is completely up to you.

I’m going to Headcanons that the Kwami’s can’t see what their holders do once they transform, however, I do think some of their personality does get passed onto them when they do transform. Marinette becomes confident and strong like Tikki, Chat Noir is playful and funny like Plagg, I always thought they matched once they transformed.

Word Count: 3249

Also, how would people feel about having 3 in 1 fics? So, I’ll put 3 fic stories in one post, that way there's more content to enjoy, around the same length as the others and it may but just a little bit of filler so you can enjoy more interactions. They may seem less important so I think the 3 in 1 fics will be canon but not as relevant, if an idea has it's on fic, it's important/I wanted to expand on it.

Tags: @queenmj10, @fangirl39, @animegirlweeb, @northernbluetongue , @maribat-is-lifeblood, @raisuke06, @indecisive-mess-named-me, @luleck, @themotherofhogwarts, @more-or-less-human-i-guess, if you wish to be tagged all you have to do is say. Also, if you change your name please tell me, I don’t want to leave you out since you’ve asked to be tagged.

***

“Marinette how could you?” Uggh this again? Could they not give it a rest? This was the same routine Marinette had been living by before Chloé and Rosina entered the picture. It didn’t matter what she did, Lila would be persistent about making the class hate her, even though she had accomplished it she still wanted that hatred to be directed towards someone.

She just so happened to be that someone.

If she said the truth, she was of course lying.

If she denied, she was lying.

If she did anything, she was lying.

And god was she sick of it. Couldn’t they see Lila was just spinning so many tales to grab their attention it was unbelievable?

But she couldn’t do anything else.

Because it still hurt so much.

And she couldn’t tell anyone.

“I didn’t do that, she’s lying.” But of course, they all rolled their eyes at her. Lila was ‘hysterically sobbing’ into the arms of Mylène, they never saw the smirk the brunette gave her.

And they just believed her. With no evidence to back it up.

Man did it make her mad.

She also didn’t miss the disappointed look Adrien had given her, but she was quickly able to go back to her friends and act as if nothing had happened.

Because she had to.

If she continued being angry, then she would get Akumatized.

The day she was nearly expelled was close enough, she could never let something like that happen.

So, she thought the best option was to bottle everything inside.

But she remembered how it all came crashing down on her when Rosina let her enter that Trinklet world. She knew it was bad when she had cried for a long time, she didn’t know how long due to the no time concept, but it must’ve been awhile.

And yet she still bottled everything in. How else was she meant to deal with it?

“Maaaaaaaari? Are you ok there? You’ve been spacing out?” A hand was waved in front of her face as she blinked out of her stupor.

“I’m fine, I’ve just had a lot on my mind, I’m fine really, hahaha” She was trying to play it off as cool and hoped the other two wouldn’t notice.

“You really need to learn how to relax Marinette. I’ll plan a spa day for us all” Marinette had to stop the blonde from pressing anything.

“Nonono, Chloé really it's fine, I’m almost done anyway” She laughed nervously. And it played out like the day usually did.

The day ended and they went home, she ignored that feeling of eyes upon her as Rosina bounced along beside her.

She ignored the feeling of eyes upon her as she was nearing her house with Rosina looking around.

She ignored the cold hard stare in front of her as she bumped into Rosina who had halted midstep… And stopped bouncing.

“Rosina? What's wrong, is everything-”

“Aunty!” Rosina leapt and hugged the tiny woman in front of her.

“Amoretto! Cease this public display of affection!”

Whack

“Sorry, but I haven’t seen you for so long. And I have so much to tell you. Marinette’s been great, she’s my first ever friend here, and I’ve made other friends as well and-” Franchezca put her arm up to stop the young girl from retelling her everything the girl deemed necessary.

“That’s all very good, however, there are some important matters I have to dish out. To Miss Dupain-Cheng. Alone” the girls widened their eyes.

That did not seem good.

“Wha-What? Why?”

“We can discuss that privately, now let’s get going… You’ll soon learn that I can be a very impatient person” She slowly walked out and before Marinette could even process what was happening she felt as if she was being pushed.

“Whoa whoa whoa, Rosina stop pushing I’m gonna-”

She fell.

“I’m so sorry Mari. It's just that, it must be really urgent if Aunty wants to talk to you” As much as Marinette wanted to deny seeing her, she was vaguely curious.

“But, why not bring you along? You haven’t seen her in weeks” The redhead shrugged.

“I don’t mind, she’s always like this, but you better get going. She really hates waiting” Marinette nodded before running off, knowing Rosina would make an excuse to her parents.

She didn’t know why the former Ladybug holder wanted to have a word with her, but she did grow with slight nervousness with each passing moment.

“Finally you made it, next time I ask to meet you, it should be quicker” Marinette huffed before glaring. She was talking to her niece, why was she so grumpy anyway?

Before she could ask, a light was forming around the older woman. She was shocked, that was the same thing Rosina had! They both had one?

“Ladybug! Hurry up and come hither” She stepped inside this light and disappeared.

“Don’t say that so loud!” She followed before disappearing as well, luckily no audience was watching them.

***

“Where are we?” This was not like Rosina’s Trinklet. Hers was a lot more peaceful and fuller of nature. This had tons of doors on either side of them when looking around it seemed very narrow, like a never-ending office. But it seemed that Hernandez knew where she was going, heading towards a certain red door.

She opened the door and the blue-haired girl walked in.

“What is this place?” Looking around all the girl saw was darkness, except for a large white light in the middle of the room.

“We’re going to take a trip down memory lane. Now look deep into it” Franchezca commanded. Marinette rolled her eyes at this order but proceeded, she really wished she wasn’t going to be treated like this, but she looked deep into the light, ready for whatever she was about to face.

She didn’t expect to see Alya of all people.

“He cannot be allowed to hear that message Alya, if he does I’ll die of shame” This was the past, how was that possible?

“Okay okay, I got an idea. If Adrien’s phone went to voicemail it means the dudes busy, which also means you can get to it before he does” Back when they were friends. This was the day Theo made that statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir.

The past Marinette excitedly ran and pulled down the traced schedule of Adrien’s life went into…

It flashed from event to event, from stealing Adrien’s phone to abandoning Paris, being rude to André and planning to gate-crash Kagami’s chance of being near Adrien. Once she had lost all her friends to Lila, she was able to recognise that this behaviour was unacceptable and extremely creepy, she regretted it as she realised her jealousy got the better of her when it came to Adrien. Hell, she wasn’t even sure if meeting Rosina a year ago would let her be sane, her being so close to Adrien and all, would she have blown up at her? She didn’t want to think about it anymore, that was the past and she was living in the present. Sure, she was younger, but that wasn’t an excuse for her behaviour. At least she was learning as she swore, she would never do it again.

“These are the mistakes you have made Ladybug. And you need to recognise everything you’ve done from past to present. You need to understand your actions aren’t always right.” A red dot immediately zoomed out and came into view of Franchezca’s face.

“Marinette may have made some mistakes in the past but she’s acknowledged them and became better and! -” A hand shushed her before she could continue.

“I’m not finished yet, bug. And do not interrupt me again” They glared before Tikki reluctantly flew back to the blue-haired girl.

She muttered a sorry before flying back into the girl's purse.

“You’ve continued this even, you stole the boy's phone, read other letters, rude to people when you were upset-”

“Hey so are you!”

“I have a reason.”

“You don’t treat the Chat Noir as your partner, more like a sidekick, although that I can’t reprehend you on that, all Chat Noir’s are sidekicks, a Ladybug holder has more power than Chat Noir.” Marinette would’ve interrupted but she was silenced by yet another glare.

“All of your past mistakes are there, written in black and white, are here for you to see”

“But I’ve changed since then, I’m not friends with any of them, I even learnt to forgive my bully. I have new friends that I can trust not let me do that anymore. Your Niece helped me a lot Mlle Hernandez, and I thank her a lot, so I don’t understand what I need to do?!” She didn’t mean to raise her voice, but she was really struggling to comprehend the solution, if there was any solution in fact.

“You still keep all of that anger and regret inside of you” Marinette widened her eyes. She… Does?

“I don’t blame you for not recognising the symptoms, or anyone else for not noticing. You put on a mask to make sure you don’t seem hurt, but you are. And that negative emotion is going to eat you up until either you explode or an Akuma gets a hold of you. And I seriously doubt you’d want that to happen.” She nodded, still trying to process the new information handed to her.

“And you need to let that go”

“Huh?”

“Do you want to end up cold and bitter, like me? You are young, still young, you children make stupid decisions all the time, because it’s a part of life, and first-hand experience is the best way to learn. It's up to you if you want to forgive or forget, but don’t harbour any negative emotions towards your past. So, let it go”

“Why are you giving me this advice? Don’t you hate me?” Marinette retaliated.

“What reason would I specifically hate a 14-year-old girl? I hate everyone equally so don’t flatter yourself. Even if I still don’t agree you should be Ladybug, you also shouldn’t burden yourself and ask for help once in a while, you don’t need to only rely on yourself. This is meant in and out of battle, so remember that you aren’t alone, you have your sidekick after all”

So, she just wanted to help? That seemed completely out of character for someone like her, but Marinette guessed that since she didn’t know her like Rosina, it wouldn’t be fair to make that judgement.

Plus, it was true, even if Marinette didn’t want to admit it. She was still taking her time with asking for help from others, normally she would gladly take on all the work whenever her friends asked for anything, or she would offer to make banners for Alix whenever she had a race, or help out in the art room whenever she was free, and she only noticed how unhealthy that was, she was desperately clinging onto her friends now since she didn’t want to be abandoned again.

Maybe she did need some help?

“Thank you, Mlle Hernandez, I get it now. I’ll learn to let my anger go and focus on my future” The older woman was about to respond but Marinette beat her to it, she smirked inwardly as well.

“But I’m also determined to prove to you that I am a good Ladybug, even if you don’t think so. Maybe not now, but I swear in the future I will prove you wrong, and I won’t fail Paris. With my friends, we will defend Paris and defeat Hawkmoth”

Ding

Franchezca felt something, or technically saw something, a silhouette of Rosina behind her, smiling like she always would be.

She grinned, that determination was contagious, she knew that feeling all too well.

“Very well, Ladybug. Prove me wrong, but prove yourself right before that” She turned on her heel as Marinette and Tikki hugged another.

“That was awesome Marinette, you were so confident”

“Thanks, Tikki. It may have been tough, but she just wanted me to understand I guess” They would’ve continued if not hearing a voice.

“Well, Ladybug? If you want to prove to me that you’re serious then we need to get you out of that ridiculous level 1 costume, it’s a disgrace to all fashion designers. Kwami, have you really not informed you're chosen of the levels?” Tikki shot out again, she was still angry with Franchezca with that comment about Chat Noir.

“You know as well as I do that there are too many power-ups to explain all at once. We still have so much to clarify, I didn’t want to overwhelm her.”

“…What?”

Something told Marinette she would be staying here for a loooong time.

***

There was a lot to discuss yesterday.

And the cold hard truth was exactly that, cold, hard, and straight to the point. It may not be exactly what the blue-eyed girl wanted to hear, but she was glad to hear it now than later, in the midst of battle.

If R-

“Marinette!”

Uggh, here we go again.

“Yes?” It was coming. Any minute now.

“Care to explain why you sent horrible texts to Lila yesterday, especially after we confronted you, if this is because we found out your true colours then say it to us don’t be mean to Lila!” God damn, they were so ignorant of everything, she just wanted to-

Wait. This is exactly the same routine, and yes, she couldn’t stand it, but it was her life.

And she was going to change that routine.

“Fine…”

“How da- wait, what?” Even Lila seemed surprised, she was normally meant to fight and prove her innocence, not cave over immediately. What happened?

“I said fine, I promise not to text Lila, even though I don’t have her phone number, ever again. And I don’t know why she keeps bringing me up in conversation. But you can go back and forget about me and I’ll promise never to talk to her or text her ever. I really don’t care, I have plans with my friends anyway. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom. But seriously, just please tell her not to drag me into her fallouts, I don’t care about any of that stuff.” She wanted to laugh but had to hold it in as she passed them all and walked straight into the restroom. Once she sat in a cubicle the red Kwami flew out of her purse.

“That was great Marinette. Franchezca’s advice really helped.”

“Mhmm, yeah I guess she really was right. After I let go, I feel calmer and happier, plus I have more free time now, unless an Akuma comes obviously, but, I sorta feel… Better”

“That’s wonderful Mari-” They heard the door open so Tikki covered her mouth and whizzed back inside Marinette’s purse.

Marinette was unsure who it would be, but for all she knew it might be someone completely random, or someone she didn’t know.

There was no way to- it was Lila.

Marinette would’ve glared but soon remembered to let it go, huh that reminded her of Frozen, maybe she should watch that with Rosina some tim-

“You seem different, finally grew a backbone?” She instigated.

‘Just ignore her Marinette, she isn’t worth your time anymore’ She continued washing her hands, not daring to look in the mirror to see those green devilish eyes at all.

“It doesn’t matter, I swear I will make sure your empire will crumble, I can be very persuasive-”

“That’s nice” That slipped out, but she wasn’t really paying all that much attention anyway. She wanted to get back to her friends. Chloé still booked that spa day, and even though she was against the idea at first, she was excited to see what that would entail.

“-And your new friends will leave you”

Crack

Marinette should’ve ignored it. She knew Lila was just trying to get under her skin. But it was so hard, and this was only the first day.

“Aww, Mari~” The brunette mocked, using the same tone Rosina would use.

“I’m sure they are nice people, but I can be nicer, and they will leave you. Don’t take it too harshly I’m just stating facts”

“Stop”

“What? Sorry didn’t hear you, does the little mouse finally talk?” Lila laughed whipping her hair, about to make an exit.

“I don’t care”

That stopped Lila.

“You don’t care about your friends, oh my looks like you’ve been lying this entire time”

“Stop, just please stop, I don’t care anymore just stay with your other friends, will you? I don’t care that you’re lying, I don’t even care that Adrien knows. Just leave me alone will you? You’re so annoying.” And she walked off, she needed to chill and have some time pass before going to find Rosina and Chloé.

Maybe she could ask Rosina to take her to that opposite world again? She wondered if she could research some relaxation techniques to use, maybe some meditation?

She was sure to write everything down, that would surely calm her.

She didn’t care about the look a pair of green eyes were giving her.

She was starting to become happier. A sudden weight was lifted off her shoulders.

Besides, she had a meeting with Chat and Crisono later that day.

***

“Where is she? Ohh Bugaboo? Where are you?” The message Chat received didn’t scream urgency, but he couldn’t help but feel he had been duped into coming here as a prank.

“Chat quit it with the names already” He heard her voice before he heard her feet land on the ground, strange, he should’ve heard her the other way around.

She was getting better at sneaking up on people.

“Aww, but you know you love my names secretly buga-” He paused.

No longer was he staring at a pigtailed heroine that had captured his heart, no, he was staring at a new Ladybug.

It was the same Ladybug, of course, the voice matched, and he knew she wouldn’t just quit out of nowhere.

But it was different, she was different. Her outfit had changed a lot, she had black gloves and boots with red spots, and an overall that seemed to be covering her bodysuit, and her hair, it was no longer tied up, but down, two pieces of hair tied up.

“Ladybug, you- you’ve… You changed outfits? How? You look even more amazing” She blushed, ahh a sign from the heavens, be still his beating heart, he couldn’t contain his excitement. What made her want to change outfits he wondered?

“Thanks for noticing Kitty, I found out an awful lot about the Miraculous’ yesterday.” Chat slightly narrowed his eyes, here we go again, another secret he can’t be apart off, he should’ve guessed.

“And there's something I need to tell you. But you can’t tell Crisono. She’ll be here any minute now and I’d prefer if she didn’t overhear.”

“What is it?” He would just have to hope she’ll tell him later; they were partners after all. Besides, Crisono was his friend, he had to make sure it was something alright, but by the way his Lady was looking, it didn’t seem to be too pleasant.

She took a deep breath. And he could still remember how everything fell silent.

“The Miraculous cure doesn’t work on Crisono, if she dies, she dies”

***

Huh, this became more of a life lesson than saltiness. Although I still stand by Franchezca, children make stupid mistakes and decisions all the time, and even if I do simply love all ML Salt, I know it's exaggerated and fanon, and that’s alright, we’re able to take a fictional show and write how we interpret it ourselves, because it's not real, and that’s alright, it's real to us and that can be enough. Although I should clarify that this isn’t taking the higher ground, at least I don’t think so, just that Marinette is choosing to forget about them and live her own life, while they choose to either dwell on unimportant matters. Marinette wants to be happy, and if that means choosing to cut her old friends off then so be it. Hope that makes sense.

(Sorry turned sappy there) Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one should be Piper, unless I get writer's block and do a bunch of 3 in 1 fics, or even some drawings, (I’ve done one of a character not yet shown in the fanfic, feel free to guess) Annnnnnnnd I’ve sorted names and Kwami’s to all the friends, I’m really excited to show them and for myself, to draw them, I went into detail about what I want in my book so I really can’t wait until they’re released. I’m so excited.

Ladybugs costume will be uploaded right after this hopefully, last time I had too many problems to count.

So, stay tuned next time, Cya. Hopefully, the next one will be longer, just wanted to get this out of the way.

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