#and started pursuing his own interests from the beginning instead of his father's approval he could have changed everything for the better | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

outrunningthedark · 3 years

Note

Thinking more thoughts about your post...Something about how Buck, actively and with intention, chose to show up for Christopher. He chose to be a loving parental figure to Chris, when he easily could have been dad's best bud/fun uncle guy. And in a way, Eddie made a choice, too? Because of his parents' multiple attempts to take Christopher from him, Eddie could have walked away. Of course he never in a million years would have abandoned Chris. But he could have and he chose not to. Not out of obligation, but a deep, abiding love. (Which Buck saw from day one: telling Maddie that Eddie doesn't think of Chris as a "burden" at all, he "loves that kid like crazy.")

I think it's interesting how the Buckley-Diaz family is a family built entirely by choice ("you don't find it son you make it..."). And how powerful and beautifully queer it all is?

Anyway, I 💜 the Buckley-Diazes and always appreciate your thoughts on them.

Let’s talk about how our favorite family came to be, yes? It starts, of course, with Eddie Diaz, Christopher’s biological father and current legal guardian (people don’t like when I omit these facts so...there ya go). Eddie finds out Shannon is pregnant with their first child and what does he do? Enlist in the army. Outwardly, he claims it’s for financial reasons - it’s the easiest way he can provide for their family. However, he knows (and later admits) that part of his motivation for enlisting not once, but twice, was to escape his responsibilities, especially after Christopher was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. In flashbacks from Eddie Begins, we find out that Eddie held a small photo of Christopher close to him as he fought to survive in Afghanistan, illustrating his desire to return home to his son in one piece. After being discharged from the army, Eddie goes home to his family (just as he said he would!) and is soon left to care for Christopher on his own because Shannon decides she needs time to figure herself out. Eddie’s parents try to plead their case for why Christopher should be left with them - Eddie is working three jobs to provide for his son, practically killing himself, and Helena and Ramon view this as a bad thing because it leaves him with no time for “what matters most”. They also don’t approve of Eddie wanting to pursue a firefighting career because he will be working 24-hour shifts, “leaving Christopher with God knows who”. Eddie’s left his son before, it wouldn’t be a shock if he took his parents’ advice and did it again, right? Well. Instead of giving in to Helena and Ramon, Eddie CHOSE to ask Christopher how he felt when Eddie was overseas. He wanted to hear his child, not his parents, say it would be better if he were gone (again). Christopher (unsurprisingly) did not do that. “I miss you all the time.” In that moment, Eddie made a promise to both himself and Christopher that wherever they go, they go together or not all. Eddie’s application to be a firefighter with the 118 in LA is eventually accepted, allowing he and Christopher to embark on a new journey without interference from the grandparents (or other Diaz family members). It is here that he crosses paths with his new coworker, Evan Buckley. Eddie does not receive a warm welcome from Buck at first because Buck feels “threatened” by the new guy stealing all the attention. It doesn’t take long for them to call a truce, however. By the end of Eddie’s introductory episode (2.01), both men realize they make a good team and agree to have each other’s backs. The friendship/relationship being formed between Buck and Eddie helps Eddie come clean about being a single dad, and their bond is already at a level where Eddie feels comfortable having Buck bring him to Christopher’s school after an earthquake and drop them both off at home. He basically just met this man and is like, “Sure, I’ll put my kid’s life in your hands. I trust you to get him (and me) home safely.” Alright. Makes sense. Then things get very interesting very quickly. Eddie’s grandmother takes a bad fall and breaks her hip, leaving no one to watch Christopher while Eddie is working. Eddie and Buck (yeah, you read that right) go to the hospital to retrieve Christopher and bring him back to the 118 until Eddie’s aunt is out of work. Eddie is nervous to talk to Bobby about Christopher, but it turns out he didn’t need to be because “Buck gave me a heads up.” Buck...told Bobby they were gonna show up with Christopher... and Eddie had no clue... OKAY. Oh, but Buck wasn’t done! He decides to call in reinforcements (Carla) so Eddie can get Christopher whatever he needs without mentioning it to Eddie (possibly/probably because he felt that Eddie would try to push back against the idea that he was struggling). It is at this point we can see how Buck is assuming a role in both Eddie and Christopher’s lives. He is ready and willing to assist Eddie with Christopher’s care whenever necessary. Skipping ahead to season 3... the Buckley-Diaz family dynamic is reinforced in a big way. Buck’s mental health is declining after a blood clot keeps him from returning to work, so Eddie comes up with a solution he thinks will help: have Christopher hang out with his Buck (that’s canon!) while Eddie is at work. Buck cannot stay sad/mad for long when around his favorite person, duh. If you’ve seen the show, you know what happened next. There was a tsunami. Christopher ended up missing, but was found alive and in good health. Eddie had two choices in the aftermath: never leave Buck alone with Christopher again, or realize there was no way Buck could have predicted a natural disaster and move on. He CHOSE the latter because he couldn’t deny what his heart was telling him: there is nobody in this world Eddie trusts with his son more than Buck. Just when you think things are back to normal, Buck finds out Bobby is the reason he hasn’t been able to return to work, and decides to file a lawsuit in order to get his job back. Eddie is angered by this because he is not permitted to reach out to Buck while the lawsuit is ongoing. He is still angry with Buck after the lawsuit is settled (Buck is reinstated to avoid bad press), but CHOOSES to forgive him because they’re supposed to be a team. I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the skateboard incident. Eddie not only CHOSE to confide in Buck about what he perceived to be his shortcomings as a father to a disabled child, but he CHOSE to work with Buck on building an adaptive skateboard (rather than nix the idea all together),& he also CHOSE to have Buck there the first time Christopher gave it a try. In Eddie’s mind, Buck was part of the solution, not the problem. Which brings us to...season four. Christopher has been separated from his immediate family and friends due to the pandemic, but you know who Eddie *does* allow him to see in person? Yep. His Buck. *pretends to be shocked* Several episodes later (4.08 to be exact) Christopher is having a hard time coping with being isolated from everyone he loves, so he goes to the first person he can think of (without asking his dad!): Buck. What has always struck me about this scene is how Buck did not wait for Eddie to handle the situation. He took it upon himself to get Christopher to open up about his feelings and then reassured him that he would never have to worry about being separated from Buck because “I’m not going anywhere.” Time passes and things seem to be going okay, but then...Eddie gets shot. Buck’s first instinct once he knows Eddie is in surgery is to inform Christopher of what has happened. He has to be the one to tell him. Buck also decides he has to be the one looking after Christopher while Eddie remains unconscious post-op. When Eddie finally wakes up, he confirms Buck made the correct decision: “You were there for him when I couldn’t be. That’s what matters.” That’s plenty of warm and fuzzy “I choose you” type of content, right? We’re done here? Mmm...not yet. Eddie had one last thing to say. A year prior to his shooting, Eddie nearly died during the rescue of a young boy trapped inside a well. When he managed to make it out alive, Eddie started thinking thoughts, mainly, what would happen to Christopher if Eddie died? Who would take care of him? (I bet you can guess where this is going, huh?) The answer is Buck. Eddie wants Buck to be Christopher’s legal guardian if Eddie dies. Why? “No one will ever fight for my son as hard as you. That is what I want for him.” And WHY did Eddie wait so long to tell Buck this life-changing news? Because Buck genuinely believed he should have been shot instead of Eddie. Eddie has a son who needs him to stick around, obviously. What does Buck have? Who does Buck have? Answer: Buck has Christopher (and by extension, he has Eddie). Eddie told the truth because he realized this was the one thing he could do to ensure that Buck begins to prioritize his own health and safety. You act like you’re expendable. But you’re wrong. tl;dr THEY ARE OFFICIALLY TIED TOGETHER UNTIL THE END OF TIME BECAUSE IT’S WHAT EDDIE WANTS.

#tv: 911 #tv: 9-1-1 #christopher diaz #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie #buckley-diaz boys #this right here is why sometimes my answers take three days #get me going on the buckley-diaz fam and look what happens

138 notes · View notes

unforth · 3 years

Note

Could you elaborate on the parallels between the Scorpion and his dad and WKX and Purple Danger? I find that thought really interesting! <3

Oh my god you're asking me for meta? No one asks me for meta!!! Getting this made me so happy, thank you! And yes, I'd be delighted to!

Lemme preface this by saying: I have not read the book, and I've only seen episodes 1 through 27, and while I do know some spoilers for past what I've seen, I don't know everything, and I obviously can't speak to changes in dynamics that may happen past what I've watched.

So, I noted in this post that I felt like I'd just gotten slapped in the face by the parallels between Zhao Jing, and his relationship with Xie-er, and Wen Kexing, and his relationship and Gu Xiang. Specifically, the lines in episode 26 that caught me were these:

And the contrasts and similarities that they drew to these scene from Episode 24, which I watched yesterday:

(all screen caps are by me - I won’t have more screen caps just cause I really don’t have time to hunt them all down, I’m sorry, but the first two were easy to grab, and the second two I’d already taken cause that scene really got to me yesterday).

These lines, coming only two episodes apart, seemed like a really stark and deliberate effort to show a connection in the attitudes of Zhao Jing and Wen Kexing. They've also got some similarities in the childhood/history that got them to this point: Zhao Jing's family was fallen from grace, as was Wen Kexing's. Both are noted as seeming different from the "regular" people around them - Wen Kexing, it's explicit; with Zhao Jing, it's more how others seem to behave around him. It's harder to get a sense of Zhao Jing, since his own self-report is so dubious and the flashbacks we get to the Rong Xuan era are all given from the perspective of different unreliable narrators, whereas Wen Kexing's memories seem fairly intact (well, water of forgetfulness aside) and match the other remembrances we get of the same scenes.

With those similar, dubious foundations, they both resolve from a young age to take revenge for the perceived slights committed against them - and both have decided that regardless of who the specific instigators are for their suffering, they have no compunction about involving innocents as a whole. Zhao Jing wants the power he feels has been denied to him, and sets about conspiring to get that power. To achieve that, he sets about on a course that involves lying and using literally everyone who can help him. Likewise, while I'm still definitely missing some damn important of Wen Kexing's backstory (starting with, who protected the dog for him, and how he went from "kid getting regularly beaten by the previous ghost king" to "adult who is said to have literally eaten the previous ghost king"), he also clearly sets out to gain power through whatever means he can, and to survive, though from the get-go, his goal is essentially the inverse of Zhao Jing's: Zhao Jing wants to lift himself up, and sees nothing but virtue in doing so; Wen Kexing wants to bring everyone else down, and knows he's damned through-and-through for it.

(They're parallels, not matches, just to be clear! It's not that I'm saying everything is the same - on the contrary, it's the differences that makes it so intriguing).

Now, then, at some point relatively early in this entire process, each of these young men found a child. Given that Xie’er and Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishou are of the same generation, presumably they’re all around the same age - 27 or so - and also presumably, the previous generation were all in their late teens to early twenties when they had their own disastrous round of adventuring. So, if Xie’er is, say, 25, and Zhao Jing was probably around 20 (since he was one of the younger folks in the flashbacks), and 20 years have passed, and Xie’er was probably around the same age as child Wen Kexing when he was found? (I don’t know, and I don’t know if that’s ever established, sorry) So around 7? Then we’ve Xie’er being adopted by Zhao Jing and Wen Kexing being adopted by the Ghost King, each almost exactly 20 years ago. Presumably, also, Zhao Jing marries...drat, I can’t remember her name...was it Li Yao or something???...right around the same time - hence why Xie’er would think of her as a mother. Anyway, sorry, I’m really tired and I just lost the thread slightly, but the point is: a 20-or-so-year-old Zhao Jing finds a young Xie’er; and a few years later, a likely-early-teens-aged Wen Kexing finds a toddler Gu Xiang (because Wen Kexing is 27 now, and Gu Xiang is I’m guessing around 18, and she’s likely 3ish when Wen Kexing finds her, so that’d make her 3 or 4, and him 12 or 13).

And here’s where the parallels really show the essential differences between these men, despite the areas of commonality in the hate they hold toward the world and their desire to see the world brought low.

Because, given a small child, Wen Kexing’s immediate, clear thought is: I will never let this child experience what I have been through. Now, he’s busted, and he’s crazy, so from that point of view, he still does her harm: she thinks of murder as nothing (as does Xie’er) for example. But even in that, the motivations are different. Gu Xiang says it herself after she kills the beggar and Cao Weining confronts her about it: if a person is out to harm her, if a person even might harm her, isn’t she justified in killing him? If that isn’t the quintessential Wen Kexing lesson right there, I don’t know what is: “Gu Xiang, you don’t kill because I tell you to, and you don’t kill for fun, and you don’t kill for no reason - but the moment, the very instant, you have a reason? Don’t hesitate, because if you do, you’ll be the corpse, not them.” Everything Wen Kexing teachers Gu Xiang is with the aim of helping her survive in the cruelest environment in the world, one that has flayed him and raked him over the coals over and over and over again. Further, despite the hints I’ve seen so far that he has early allies at Mount Qingya (Tragicomic Ghost has been shown to at minimum pity him, and find him an odd curiosity), Wen Kexing entrusts no one else with the most vulnerable creature who has ever come into his life (well, aside from that adorable puppy, which I have the bad feeling is going to be shown to be horribly murdered before his eyes, possibly by his own hand to prove a point...that would be thematically appropriate...). He gives Gu Xiang the tools to survive and fight for herself, even against him, and when she even begins to suggest she might prefer to be somewhere else - when he sees evidence of her finding happiness - he does everything he can to encourage her joy, support her happy ending, and free her. Wen Kexing is Gu Xiang’s father, in every useful interpretation of the term - she may call him master, and others might call her his maid, but their relationship is tender, encouraging, mutually supportive, and loving. Wen Kexing wants what is best for Gu Xiang, even at the expense of his own comfort and happiness, because he cares for her that essentially and deeply - and she likewise goes out of her way to protect him more than once.

MEANWHILE.

Given a small child, though I haven’t yet seen any flashbacks to when Xie’er was little and I don’t even know if there are any, it’s really obvious that Zhao Jing instantly goes, “how can I best use this to my advantage?” Instead of setting about to build this child up to be a functional adult who can stand up to the challenges that threatened to crush Zhao Jing’s life, Zhao Jing deliberately sabotages Xie’er’s ability to function as an independent unit. He teachers Xie’er to kill, not to protect himself, but on command - to kill because Zhao Jing says so, who Zhao Jing says, on even the merest whim, and is so successful at doing so that Xie’er has even less respect for life than Zhao Jing does (which was never much to begin with). Further, while we know that Wen Kexing will kill to protect Gu Xiang, Zhao Jing never so much as lifts a finger to do his own dirty work, and has zero compunction about throwing Xie’er under the bus when he suits his ends. In 27, he flat out says - “if you keep acting like this, and kill the Gentle Wind Sect, you’ll ruin me - which means I can never let you stand next to me in public.” He says this when he knows that Xie’er craves his approval and that one of Xie’er’s most cherished objects in all he’s done is to reach a point where he can stand at Zhao Jing’s shoulder as an acknowledged heir and successor and proudly say, “yes, I did all those things to help my father, because I’m a good son.” Further, Zhao Jing is constantly abusive and manipulative. When Xie’er does what Zhao Jing has trained him to do, on command (like a dog? more parallels??), Zhao Jing praises him, touches him kindly (and when else do you think Xie’er is ever getting touched kindly? Nothing like the casual and appropriate physical intimacy with which Wen Kexing and Gu Xiang shoulder bump and interact) and tells him how precious he is. The instant Xie’er steps a toe out of line, Zhao Jing denigrates him, threatens to take away that which Xie’er most wants (acknowledgement), scolds him, calls him a fool, says he doesn’t understand. Zhao Jing calls Xie’er his son, and insists that Xie’er call him yifu, and the world may even see that way - though they hardly can, since Zhao Jing refuses to be publicly associated with Xie’er - but they couldn’t be less related when compared to Wen Kexing, who allows all to see him call Gu Xiang his servant even as he flagrantly, publicly, repeatedly treats her as his child - culminating in the speech he gives Cao Weining when he gives permission for them to wed.

Everything Wen Kexing does, as fucked up as some of it is, is done with the aim of building Gu Xiang up into a strong, independent, functional adult who is less stained than himself and capable of pursuing happiness in the world.

And everything Zhao Jing does, all of which is equally if not more fucked up than what Wen Kexing does, is done with the aim of tearing Xie’er down, making him a powerful tool - a trained dog, if you will - and a dependent person who can be deployed on an enemy and must be kept permanently off-balance so that he never ever is an independent, functional adult - and, to help ensure that, he deliberately orders Xie’er to commit depraved acts that guarantee that Xie’er is more stained than himself, and therefore incapable of finding happiness in the world.

Anyway, I could probably go on, but I gotta leave to drive my kid to school and run a couple errands, but, in conclusion: when Zhao Jing said, “the world has failed me, and I shall do the same to the world,” and it became clear to me that he and Wen Kexing essentially share (or at least shared) the same core goal, I was struck by a lightning bolt about the parallels and contrasts between them as people, and them as father’s, and here you go.

Hope this is coherent, I’m really sleepy and in a rush. :D And I hope it answers your question!

(Also dear everyone: if you reply to this or add to it in reblogs I ask that you please respect that I’ve only seen to episode 27, and not rip me apart for things I haven’t seen yet, and try to avoid giving me spoilers? I know a few - or at least I think I do - like I know all the Major Character Death stuff - but I’m sure if you’ve seen the whole series you can spot places where you, dear reader, know things I don’t, and I’d ask that you not ruin those places for me, because I’m watching as fast as I can - about one episode a day - and I’d rather find out for myself. Thank you!)

#unforth rambles #unforth metas #meta #word of honor #word of honor spoilers #word of honor meta

38 notes · View notes

mistergrass · 3 years

Text

Zodiac Mom Headcanons: Momiji’s Mom

Slowly but surely I am making my way through these mom posts. This time let’s talk about someone whose worst moments as a mother were put on blast for the audience to see.

Rat & Snake Mom | Ox Mom | Tiger Mom | Rabbit Mom | Dragon Mom

Momiji’s mother is an only child born in Berlin.

Her father, a handsome and charismatic man, is a renowned photographer. Her mother, beautiful and alluring, is a dancer. They’re drawn to each other immediately when they meet on a photoshoot that features her mother’s dance troupe.

Their romance is as short-lived as it is passionate, and the affair comes to an abrupt end when her mother becomes pregnant.

The responsibility of a child falls almost completely on her mother’s shoulders, essentially ending her dance career (something she had left her family to pursue), and the beginnings of a cruel resentment begin to take form.

Her father has the spirit of an artist -- not wanting to be tied down to one woman, and not very suited for a traditional family lifestyle. That being said, he doesn’t abandon mother and child completely.

As Momiji’s mother grows up, her father will pop in and out of her life as he pleases. She thinks her mother can be too strict, too mean, and becomes a difficult child to handle as a result. But when her father comes to visit, she is over the moon and perfectly behaved. He’ll take her to museums, show her the photographs hanging in his studio, give her a stepping stool so she can help in his dark room, and (unlike her mother) will never ever scream at her even when clumsy, childish hands accidentally spill things or knock things over.

Her father never sticks around for very long, and as wonderful as it is to see him, it hurts tenfold when he leaves. And so, she grows up with her mother’s snappish impatience, and her father’s casual and conditional affection.

Going into her teenage years, Momiji’s mom begins to come into her own as an artist -- admiring and following the path of her father. She loves painting and ceramics, but she begins to grow into an undeniable beauty and it’s not long that she’s discovered as a model.

Her mother does not approve of this choice. For her, it’s bad enough that she has to watch her daughter openly prefer her father’s company to her own (despite everything she’s given up to raise her, while he can barely spare to send a postcard on their daughter’s birthday), but now her daughter is adding insult to injury by pursuing her father’s lifestyle. A lifestyle her mother was forced to give up to have a child.

It also doesn’t help that Momiji’s mom finds almost instant success as a model.

Where her mother was simply impatient before, now she becomes cruel.

She begins to undermine her daughter’s beauty, nitpicking at every little thing about her appearance. Momiji’s mother is now being constantly told that her photos are drab, ugly, unprofessional. That her beauty is fleeting, that the world around her will discover one day how little talent she has, and that her artistic abilities are worthless and boring. All this while she’s still only a teenager.

Momiji’s mom acts out in different ways, but mostly by taking on more modeling work (that exhausts her) and bringing home boyfriends her mother would never approve of (for good reason).

Her first serious boyfriend is a man six years her senior who is possessive and jealous, and rips to shreds the last bits of self-esteem she had left.

By the end of their four year relationship, Momiji’s mother has come to believe that something inside her is deeply, truly ugly. She has an overflowing anxiety that others will see her for what she truly is. Something that is wholly incompatible with her inability to be alone -- whether romantically, or via the need to surround herself constantly with people.

It’s at this time, at 20 years old and in her second year of university, that she meets Momiji’s father at a campus mixer.

At first, she’s intimidated by him (thought that doesn’t stop her from making conversation). She finds he’s not just studying abroad here, but attends the university full-time. He’s fluent in Japanese, German, and English, and seems so much smarter than she believes herself to be. In addition, he has a cold, distant demeanor to him that makes him seem unattainable.

Momiji’s father on the other hand, is taken immediately by this woman. He’s awkward and nervous in large social gatherings, but has been told from an early age never to outwardly show his discomfort. But she talks so passionately, so freely, that he can’t help but be drawn to her. When he fumbles over his words at the end of the night to ask her out for dinner, she realizes that she’d mistaken his shyness for apathy, and it immediately enamors him to her.

After two dates, they become inseparable.

She’s taken in by his kindness and gentility. He listens to her as if everything she says matters. He isn’t at all like the arrogant personalities she’s dated in the past, and if anything has an aversion to talking about himself. He never once makes her feel stupid, puts her down, or makes her feel worthless.

She’s prone to terrible mood swings and bouts of manic self-loathing that will leave her a sobbing mess. But where this has driven away boyfriends in the past, it only serves to make him more devoted to her. He holds her in his arms, and never once gets upset with her for being so much to handle.

Momiji’s father is an only child from a high-ranking Sohma family, and has had the entirety of his life mapped out for him since birth. He works to inherit his father’s business, and to maintain their standing in the family. Insurmountable pressure had been put on his shoulders from a young age, one that isolated him from making true friends in favor of focusing solely on his studies. He was never allowed to be overwhelmed, to not be good enough, nor to be disobedient.

But Momiji’s mother is like a walking piece of art -- chaotic and beautiful. He finds her endlessly interesting. He’s never met anyone who talks so openly about the things they love, the things they hate, or their own fears and insecurities. He likes feeling as though he can take care of her. He likes being someone reliable for her. And, eventually, he finds her to be the only person in the world that he can be vulnerable with. He has only ever cried in front of her.

For the last two years of college they spend all their free time together. He uses his cushy Sohma allowance to take them on trips and long weekends around Europe. And when the time comes for him to return to Japan after graduation, he can’t picture even a moment of his future without her.

He proposes, she says yes, and she agrees to leave her life in Berlin behind to move to Japan.

It’s a difficult transition. Though she had started learning Japanese when they first started dating, she’s far from fluent. It makes forming friendships and new connections within the Sohma family all the harder.

It’s also clear that her mother-in-law does not take too much of a liking to her. Momiji’s father bends over backwards making sure that their new home has space for her to continue her artistic pursuits, which comes off as frivolous to her new family. She also has limited housekeeping skills which reflects poorly on her ability to be a proper wife.

It’s an isolating experience, especially with her husband working long, late hours nearly every night. The loneliness begins to eat at her, resurfacing the shattered self-esteem that her new husband had spent the past two years healing. She seriously considers moving back to Germany on more than one occasion, but then she gets pregnant.

She’s not ready for a child. It’s too soon, and the thought of taking care of a whole other person is terrifying when she can barely stand to get out of bed most days now. But her husband assures her this will be a good thing, that maybe it will help the aching loneliness she feels.

Before she has a chance to get excited, they’re summoned by a young Akito.

Momiji’s mother doesn’t really process what she’s being told. Her husband has to translate what the little six year old is saying to her, and when he does his face is pinched and anxious.

A curse, he says. Her child is cursed. Somehow it makes sense, what with everything that dwells inside herself, but it’s hard for her to grasp this whole thing beyond that.

The pregnancy is a difficult one, filled with complications and scares that leaves her health completely depleted. When Momiji is born two months premature, her nerves are completely frayed.

True understanding of her child’s situation doesn’t really hit her until she holds a small rabbit in her arms, swaddled like a baby.

She vomits when it first happens. The transformation leaves her completely shaken, and she can’t understand why no one else around her seems to find this as horrific as it obviously is.

She does her best for the first few years. Honestly, she does. But the child makes her nervous. The supernatural nature of it all terrifies her, and she shakes every time she tries to hold her child and finds a little rabbit there instead.

As he grows older, she finds herself snapping at him over the smallest things, just as her mother did to her. A guilt builds inside her steadily that somehow she is at fault for this, that her hidden, disgusting nature warped and mutated their child. The thought of it puts her in hysterics at times, and she finds she can never relax in her own home.

Her husband urges her to keep herself together. There’s a desperation in his voice when he talks to her now. He reminds her, again and again, that above everything else Momiji is their child. Theirs, and no one else’s. He is their son that they have created, and he is still a symbol of the love they have for each other. Once she adjusts to the situation, she’ll learn to love him the way he knows she can. She just needs more time.

During this period, other zodiac mothers make an attempt to reach out, and her Japanese is finally at a level that she can have pleasant conversation with them. Haru and Yuki’s mothers invite her to lunch often enough. Shigure’s mother is also very hospitable. She also takes a real liking to Kureno’s mother, though the woman is clearly disliked by many of the other women in the family.

It helps, but it’s still difficult to talk to these women about her issues with the curse and with her son. Their eyes are judgmental, and she worries if she falls apart in front of them it would not be met with the same warmth as her husband (though he’s hardly ever around anymore).

Stress and guilt and shame and fear slowly build inside her for the next four years. Then, one day, she sits down to paint and realizes she can’t. She’s too locked up -- the reality of her situation has become too overwhelming, and she can’t even release it through her art.

She finally decides to tell someone about what’s going on. Her husband had been very clear with her that this curse is to remain completely secret, but it’s not as if she wants to do a news interview. All she wants is to talk to her mom.

Her mother is still the same harsh, critical woman she’s always been, but they’ve grown closer in the past few years. Becoming a mother herself has made her appreciate her own mother more, and the distance has softened both of them to each other considerably.

She tells her mother the whole story, with her listening surprisingly sympathetically throughout. By the end of the conversation, Momiji’s mother feels more comforted and loved by her mother than she has in years.

It’s Momiji’s father that gets the call from his livid mother-in-law demanding to know what’s happened to her daughter, and if he’s doing anything about the fact that she’s having a complete nervous breakdown that features wild delusions regarding their child.

Momiji’s father comes home that night, and for the first time he becomes truly angry at her. He scolds her for telling her mother anything about their situation, which only serves to make her just as angry since she was only seeking a bit of support.

But it all gets much much worse when he says how lucky they are that her mother thought she was deranged.

The whole world drops from below her feet when he admits that he let her mother continue to think that she was clinically insane. The man who had always defended her, understood her, cared for her -- the man she had left everything for -- had created a lie so egregious and spouted it back to her own mother.

She demands to know why he would do such a thing, and when he sputters out his thoughtless obedience to this strange family -- the one with the child treated like a king, and with all these dark secrets. After so long of telling her that she was his light when his family treated him like nothing, after telling her that she was his most important family now -- it’s a betrayal that she’d never expected from the man she loves.

The reality of her isolation comes down all at once. There is no one left she can talk to, there is no place she can go, and this child now represents something completely foreign to her. The only thing that was keeping her together was her husband’s assurances that the child was completely theirs -- but it’s not. This child belongs to the Sohmas, to some curse that her body housed and nurtured. The disgust that’s been building inside her body breaks like a dam and completely washes over Momiji.

She becomes inconsolable. She refuses to look at her son, and her husband becomes subject to fits of rage and anguish. He feels as though he’s completely lost her, and with the love of his life so indisposed, he feels just as alone.

Momiji’s father is the one who tells her about the option to wipe her memory. Not just in hopes of reeling back her sanity, but because he wants her to forget the lie he told. If she forgets that, maybe their marriage can go back to how it was. If she forgets that deep cut of betrayal, maybe she won’t look at him like he’s some misshapen stranger.

She agrees as quickly as she had when he proposed. Together they decide that forgetting Momiji will ultimately be for the best.

At first when she recovers, things seem to return back to normal. But there’s always a piece missing as the years go on. There’s always something not quite right. Momiji’s father is paranoid and nervous -- the presence of his wife is no longer a comfort, but a stressor. And sometimes, for the briefest moment, he’ll catch her staring at him. Her eyes far off and distant, like she’s completely lost in thought, and the expression that rests on her face will be one of fear. When she comes back to herself, it’s as if she hadn’t even noticed.

The zodiac mothers are told not to speak to her after her memory is erased, which suits most of them just fine (Haru’s mother took particular offense to the decision). Below is the relationship chart for pre-memory wipe:

Friends with: Kureno’s mom, Haru’s mom, Shigure’s mom, Ritsu’s mom

Doesn’t like: Yuki’s mom, Hatori’s mom

#Fruits Basket #Fruits Basket Headcanons #Zodiac Mom Headcanons #Momiji's mom #Momiji Sohma #at least I wrote something for this fandom again #been thinking about this woman a lot this week #she took as long as she did cause we have some much info on her though #I do my best work when I'm given bare scraps lmao

35 notes · View notes

bluemoon-writer · 5 years

Text

Childhood Friends AU: The Dupain/Cheng/Le families

This is some background on how Marinette and Kim’s parents became friends

Part 1 and Part 2 the Childhood Friends AU: MariKim

-their mothers are best friends, Tom, Sabine, and Kim’s mom, Apinya (I don’t think she has a canon name yet, so this is what I’m naming her for now) all went to DuPont as kids

-Tom was the friendly, everyone’s best-friend, guy who never said no to anything, not because of peer pressure but bc he loves being around people and literally wanted to do everything. Sports to Art to Student Council, Tom did it all. (not that he was good at all of it tho)

-Sabine was a shy quiet kid bc she was afraid of being judged. She’s was super athletic, does martial arts outside of school, and absolutely whip smart, best grades in the class. Despite being shy, she is competitive AF. She had a massive crush on Tom, partly bc she admired how he could put himself constantly, and brush off losses. She started to come more out of her shell when Apinya was moved from class B to class A with her.

-they start an IMMEDIATE rivalry

-in class B, students were given extra credit for participation, and Apinya was the top student. When she switches to class A she is constantly raising her hand and shouting out answers out of habit. Since she was the number 1 student in class B, Sabine thinks she’s trying to show off, and is implicitly saying “haha I’m going to take the number 1 spot from you”

-so Sabine starts raising her hand in class and soon they have a full on competition to see who can get the best grades. They tie at nearly everything.

-When the class is split into two teams for a fun game a jeopardy both teams tie bc of Sabine and Apinya

-When group projects are assigned the two best groups are Sabine’s group and Apinya’s group

-Apinya doesn’t think they’re rivals, she interprets their ‘competition’ as a form of friendship. While she likes to win, and values having good grades, she is not competitive like Sabine (Kim’s sense of competitiveness actually comes from his dad). Apinya is really more a jokester, in her opinion. Really, she’s creative as hell, but doesn’t think her parents will approve of her pursuing artistic avenues so she focuses her artistic energy into jokes. She loud and fidgety (ADHD af) so she tricks herself into thinking she’s the class clown.

-their ‘rivalry’ ends when both of them realize that they can be getting even better grades if they team up.

-this realization happens when their teacher pairs them up for a city wide science fair competition, and easily take the first spot

-they hit it off and Sabine realizes that Apinya isn’t trying to maliciously steal her top spot and Apinya realizes that Sabine’s quick wit is great for improv and math.

-soon they’re best friends and partner up on every project. Apinya convinces Sabine to join the debate team, and Sabine pushes Apinya to join the art club.

-Now Tom has been admiring Sabine for a while. Ever since she started raising her hand in class. Now she’s joined the debate team with him.

-Tom is, admittedly, not good at debate. He’s a very straight forward guy, and isn’t good with what he calls “word-trickery” but he admires those who are good at it, and he likes doing it bc it keeps him up to date on current events.

-Sabine joins debate and is AMAZING at it. Her genius mind and competitive nature combine for maximum skills. And Tom’s admiration of her turns into a full blown crush. He starts baking treats to bring to the ‘debate team’ aka Sabine.

-and Sabine is dying bc she gets to spend practically every day with her crush and he’s even nicer/stronger/sweeter than she thought

-and eventually, they both confess to each other but they don’t date.

-Tom’s father refuses to let him date and when he thinks that his son and the pretty girl from the debate club might be a thing he gives him more hours in the bakery to prevent it from happening.

-Apinya starts a game night at her house, as an excuse for Sabine and Tom to spend time together outside of school

-Tom tells his dad that he’s giving Apinya cooking lessons

-When the girls find out the name sticks

-Eventually, they graduate and Toms father can’t stop them from dating.

-Sabine and Apinya go to university, Sabine for accounting and Apinya for art, specifically sculpting.

-Tom goes to culinary school, he’s been arguing with his dad about bread and has dreams of opening his own bakery. His programs lasts two years and when he graduates he proposes to Sabine. (She said yes, of course)

-Apinya doesn’t date in school out of solidarity for her friend. But once in university she is whisked off her feet.

-they meet when she’s 20. He’s older by 7 years and a fairly successful business man following in his fathers footsteps. Meet Lê Sinh Chi.

-He’s in Paris on a business trip when he meets Apinya. It’s love at first sight for both of them and by the time he leaves Paris they’re dating.

-He immigrates to France for her. His father is pissed bc he is suppose to take over the company. Chi wants to expand the company more internationally and tries to convince his father to build a headquarters in Paris, but his father refuses and instead threatens to disinherit him.

-Chi calls his bluff and moves to Paris anyway. His father kicks him out of the company but doesn’t disinherit him or remove him from his will.

-In Paris, Chi has a lot of business contacts. He’d been planning to take his father’s company international for a while and had spent several years making contacts with businessmen around the globe.

-he briefly works at the company of one his contacts before splitting off to start his own. Within a year, it’s booming.

-Within a year he proposes to Apinya

-He’s extremely competitive. He was the third of four children and fought hard to distinguish himself from his older siblings. He graduated university at age 19 and got his MBA by 21 and immediately went into business.

-he gets along great with Tom and Sabine. Despite having many contacts in France, visiting for business and permanently moving somewhere are very different and he’s glad to have some friends

-all it takes is one “cooking lesson” and the rest is history

-Chi is offended at first when Apinya tells him to come to cooking lessons with her, but quickly realizes that it’s a game night

-some nights turn out very...interesting. Many end after Sabine and Chi lose their voices from yelling so much.

-Chi almost murders them all in monopoly, but Sabine had been secretly embezzling from the bank so she managed to pull out on top. Apinya and Tom were so scarred from the experience that they swore to never play it again at game night.

-That works until Marinette and Kim come along

-Chi gives Tom the loan he needs to start his bakery. Tom had a respectable amount saved up, enough for a shop actually, but not enough for his dream shop. With, Chi’s loan Tom is able to get the perfect location.

-After Sabine and Apinya graduate they both get married within six months of each other.

-They joked about a joint wedding, but if they did that then they wouldn’t be able to be each other’s bridesmaids

-Sabine helps Tom craft the plan for his bakery. They’re a dream team, with his culinary skills and knowledge of the baking industry and her accounting skills and knowledge of business they create the perfect design.

-Apinya starts working on a sculpture collection based on themes of, oddly enough, creation and destruction

-Sabine and Apinya both end up getting pregnant around the same time which they love (ages 25/26 or so)

-they swear they didn’t plan it

-Tom and Chi aren’t so sure

-They go to baby classes together, and occasionally pretend to be lesbian lovers when people ask about their husbands

-Just before Kim is born, Chi Switches from a his position as CEO to chairman so that he can have more time with his family

-Tom actually closes the bakery for two weeks after Sabine gives birth so that he can take care of both her and baby Marinette

-when he opens back up, his mom actually comes and works the register for him until Sabine is ready to come to work

-Sabine is not the type to like to just sit around. Even though she’s not working in the bakery, she’s still doing the books every night. She actually feels like she doesn’t have enough to do and begins doing personal financing for Chi as his company is getting large and he doesn’t trust a stranger to handle his accounts

-Apinya and Tom teamed up and designed Kim and Marinette’s nurseries together. Apinya designed and built the furniture and Tom decided on decorations and the color palette.

-Kim was born a month before Marinette, a fact that he uses against her for the rest of her life

-Kim and Mari start having playdates before they can even crawl

-Sabine and Apinya put them in little baby swings next to each other

-Tom and Sabine had been using their attic space as a weird office/guest room/storage area but when Marinette and Kim got older they decided to transform it into a playroom for the kids

-Marinette loved the room so much, and had so many fond memories there, that she eventually made it her bedroom

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #tom dupain #sabine dupain cheng #le chien kim #ml #mlb #ladybug and chat noir #marikim #childhood friends au #ml headcanon #miraculous ladybug au

452 notes · View notes

kitty-otome · 3 years

Text

MY LADY JULIET (FIRST IMPRESSIONS)

RELEASE DATE: january 22nd 2021

SUMMARY: you may be a trust fund baby, but you work hard to achieve your dreams: making your mark, and maybe finding love along the way. sadly, your parents have other plans, surprising you with a fiance. are you bound to you parents choices? or does the voice beyond your balcony offer something more?

LOVE INTERESTS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE: 4/6

LOVE CHOICE: no

p. s. “first impressions” means i only read the prologue and the first chapter of every main story available. i make a lot of assumptions and i’ll probably go on a tangent at some point or another, so please be warned.

— THE PREMISE

in short, the mc (you) is a rich kid who dreams of becoming successful without the help of your parents (just like every millennial born wealthy, how predictable). unfortunately for her, her father unexpectedly throws her into an arranged marriage (on her birthday, might i add) with the flashy ceo of an entertainment company. in this story, your fiancé is chosen for you, so the other love interests are not other wealthy men, but people who work for your family/with you (AKA people your parents wouldn’t approve of). meaning, unless you pick the fiancé’s route, we’re falling into a romeo and juliet dynamic (hence the title of the game).

i think the premise is fine. it’s nothing new or original, but that doesn’t necessarily make it bad. who doesn’t love a good forbidden romance? i think it’s interesting that your fiancé is picked for you, rather than you pick the fiancé, i think it’s a good chance of pace.

— THE WRITING

the writing is quite good, much like the writing in most of voltage’s new stories. there isn’t too much description (at least in the prologue/first chapter), thus quickening the pace of the story. so if you’re someone (like me) who likes slower paced stories, you might find that these first chapters feel a bit rushed, i know i did. but if you’re someone who hates descriptions and long monologues, and who just wants to see action, you might really be into this style of writing.

personally, i love long descriptions and endless monologues describing the train of thought of the mc/narrator, but i know i’m of the minority.

furthermore, i find that whoever wrote this is very good at creating intrigue. although the writing isn’t particularly poetic (in my opinion, at least), it definitely sucks you in in other ways. the writers managed to spark curiosity in the readers without confusing them (something voltage writers then to do when attempting to create intrigue), which is quite a feat.

— THE LOVE INTERESTS

there are currently four love interests that you can play at the moment, they are keiji fujieda (the butler), haruto miyake (the chef), yoshiki minagawa (the coworker) and shotaru uekusa (the childhood friend). the love interests that are not available at the moment are hisashi aoyama (the fiancé) and motoki takahashi (i don’t know what he does, you don’t see him in the prologue, but i assume he works for hisashi based on the information available about him).

they’re all very attractive characters, aesthetically they’re very nice to look at. keiji truly does not interest me at all, he comes off as a cardboard box with a high sex drive, and hey if that’s your thing then get your thick brown packing material sis, but that’s just not for me. haruto seems alright, he comes off as quite immature to me, but i find that him and mc have good chemistry. yoshiki interests me. i’m really curious to see what he’s like when he’s in love (since he’s always as. stiff as a board). his main story seems pretty good too. however, i feel like they might’ve tried to recreate a takuto moment with his character design? who knows. shotaru seems pretty cool, i find his relationship with mc to be very cute. however, the love interest i want to play most hisashi. he seems like a very complex character and i’m really curious to know what are his motives behind marrying mc. i feel like he has a really fascinating/tragic backstory.

— THE MC

i don’t know what i feel about the mc. i think it’s still too early to really make a true judgment of her character. however, from what i see, she’s basically the stereotypical angsty rich kid who wants to live like one of the middle class kids, and i’m not crazy about that to say the least. i’d honestly rather have a bratty and self centered mc than an arrogant and “rebellious” mc who tries to act like she wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth, because then at least she’d acknowledge her privilege and have room for growth. but that’s just my opinion.

with that being said, her desire to distance herself from her parents is very understandable. her father is a raging misogynist and and her mother is an airhead-ish enabler. so her dislike for her parents is very understandable.

(off topic but, i think i should mention that her father’s words really hurt me, like actually hurt me. they gave me flashbacks from my own childhood, so if you’re sensitive to parental abuse or misogynistic remarks/insults, i would probably steer clear from this game.)

now, earlier i called the mc rebellious with quotation marks. the reason why i did that is because this mc has a very.. anticlimactic way of showing rebellion (in my opinion). this mc has a regular office job. there’s nothing wrong with having an office job, but if you hate your parents and want to rebel against them, shouldn’t you a) become a heavy metal singer so your parents are too embarrassed to be seen with you or b) become so successful you parents can’t interrupt your life anymore? who the hell becomes a regular office employee to rebel against their overbearing millionaire parents? not only that, but she explicitly says she isn’t completely satisfied in her current position. if she was satisfied with her job, then it would be a completely different story, but she isn’t. so, how is it rebellion? how is working a job you’re unhappy with supposed to make anyone jealous or envious? i honestly would’ve loved an angsty alt mc, who’s more interested in touring the world with her band than getting a husband, or a really brainy mc who’s more interest in pursuing higher education than getting married, or even a really business oriented mc with a wildly successful company who’s more interested in making bank than babies.

just imagine picking a job that you’re only half satisfied with when you have all that money at your disposal? that’s humiliating.

plus, she talks out loud to herself a lot which makes me weirdly uncomfortable. i understand you’re frustrated girl, but just get a journal or something. you’ll wake up the entire neighborhood with that blabbering.

— THE MAIN STORIES

most of the plots actually seem really good. in keiji’s main story, you realize you’ve fallen for him while he’s helping you plan your wedding. in haruto’s main story, you make a bet with him that you’ll fall in love with your fiancé, but you end up falling for him instead. in yoshiki’s main story, you start falling in love with him as you work together, but then you realize he might have sinister motives (much like a certain plot from irresistible mistakes). all of these plots seem great!

shotaru’s main story, on the other hand, seems absolutely pointless. in his story, you fall in love, but then he starts falling for a maid and you start falling for your fiancé, but for some reason, you’re trying to save your relationship, even though it sounds more convenient for him to marry the maid and for you to marry, well... your fiancé. (???) i promise i’m just as confused as you are. maybe the summary is just written really weirdly. i assume that’s what it is because the reviews are really good.

— THE MUSIC + SCENERY

unfortunately, there’s no music. although they let you know of that aspect at the beginning of the story, it still bums me out a little.

the sceneries are kind of boring, most are just old recycled backgrounds that i’ve seen a million times before, but the driving animation looks really fantastic (you know, when the love interest is driving)! it’s a different pov, the mc is in the backseat rather than the passenger AND the steering wheel is finally on the left. yippee-ki-yay! i know the steering wheel is usually on the right in japan, but as an american, i was very happy to see it on the left. that right side steering wheel irked me so much for some reason. it’s such a small detail but it brought me so much joy.

so, will i buy one of the main stories? maybe, mostly because i’m genuinely intrigued by where this story’s going to go. i’ll probably buy yoshiki’s main story, or hisashi’s main story, when it comes out. motoki looks to be my type, but i don’t know anything so far about his personality, so i couldn’t say for certain.

have you already bought any of the main stories? if so, what did you think? let me know!

#my lady juliet #mlj #love 365 #love 365: find your story #voltage inc #otome game

3 notes · View notes

patandpran · 4 years

Text

The Nuisance and the Handsome Prince - A Sarawatine Medieval AU - Chapter 1

Tine is an aspiring Squire who has been training his whole life to work alongside the Kingdom's finest Knights. Sarawat is a Prince who, on the outside, seems fierce and unapproachable. He is disinterested in any of his royal duties, namely his Knight training.

What happens when Tine is assigned to be the fierce and handsome prince's Squire?

Aka The Medieval AU that I can't get out of my head.

Read on Archiveofourown here, Read the prequel by the lovely @sarawatism here

Tine grew up in a household where the royal family’s portraits were mounted on the wall only out sheer necessity - if any castle guards decided to do a random inspection, they would pass as a family loyal to the crown. But the truth was that Tine’s parents had always encouraged him to question authority, albeit in a discreet and quiet rebellion.

His family was middle class and he was the son of a blacksmith that was proud of the weapons and tools he produced. While Tine wasn’t exactly interested in how to create the wares that kept the roof above his head, he loved the power that the items possessed. Specifically, he loved the way that the swords his father created crashed and clanged together.

Tine thanked the Gods that his older brother, Type, was ready to take over the family business. While it meant Type inherited the storefront and the craft of black-smithery, it gave Tine the freedom to explore and forge his own career path.

Since he was very young, all that Tine wanted to be was a squire to a knight. He was not delusional enough to aspire to be a knight; a birthright was required to ascend to such a position and Tine knew damn well there wasn’t any lordship in his family tree. This didn’t dismay him though. He didn’t want the glory or the title of the fight, he just wanted to be on the playing field, in the middle of the ruckus.

Tine trained with his best friend, Ohm, and Ohm’s father who was a retired squire himself. He had fought next to the king in the last battle and assisted many other knight’s of high positions during his career and Tine looked up to him and considered every word that the man spoke as sacred.

Ohm was quite disinterested in their training but made a point of putting in some effort to that Tine didn’t leave him completely bruised and bloody after every sword match. They had grown up training together and knew each other’s moves as if they were each other’s shadow. They were as close as true kin and while Ohm did not necessarily share Tine’s passion for his future as a squire, he played along enough to keep his father off his back.

Tine’s family had been wary at first when he announced his career intentions as the ripe age of thirteen but after five years of intense training, he had the blessing of his father to pursue the career he had always dreamt about. On his eighteen birthday, Tine’s father presented him with something that Tine would treasure most out of any of his earthly possessions: his very own sword.

The sword had a hilt that was specifically designed to fit in Tine’s grasp and was perfectly balanced to help with his fighting style. When his father passed the sword to him for the first time, tears had sprung to Tine’s eyes and he knew officially that he was ready with his father’s approval to go after his dream.

Every spring the kingdom hosted Squiring trials in the heart of the castle ground for the kingdom at large. Knights from near and far would attend, hoping to find the best, most eager fresh squires to assist them on their missions. It was that very spring that Ohm and Tine would attend their first trials, hoping to be selected by one of the honourable knights.

The morning of the first day of the trials, Tine woke with a start and his stomach clenched with nerves. He had never been inside of the castle walls before and he was more than ready to see how the other side lived. He dressed quickly in his simple armour and placed the sword that his father had forged for him in his belt. His mother had prepared a delicious and hearty spread for his breakfast but Tine could only pick at it.

Tine was enveloped in a strong hug by each of his family members. His father held on the longest and Tine couldn’t but feel inspired by the support that was surrounding him. His family was not permitted to attend the trials as they were commoners so they would have to wait until the end of each day to know the result.

Ohm was waiting just outside of Tine’s family home, leaning lethargically against a post. He munched absentmindedly on an apple and then fed the core to his horse before noticing Tine. “Good morning. Are you ready?”

Tine chuckled at just how disinterested his best friend seemed. “Good to go. Where is your father?”

“He went ahead to meet with the other former squires.” Ohm explained as he began to mount his horse. Tine prepared his own horse before climbing on its back. “They have their own viewing area for the trials but he’s rooting for us.”

The journey to the castle gate was not very long, in fact, Tine secretly wished it was longer. His heart raced as they looked upon the large stones that made up the outer wall of the fortress that housed the royal family. It would be the first time in a long while that Tine saw the royal family in person…

“Hey”

A voice called out and caught Tine’s attention as he finished filling up the water bucket his mother had requested he filled for their evening bath. Tine was so startled by the unexpected interruption that the bucket spilled from his fingers and spilled over the cobblestones and soaked his shoes.

Tine furrowed his brow in frustration and glared up at the person that had caused the accident. His breath was violently pulled from his lungs when he realized who was addressing him.

“My prince.” Tine quickly bent down on one knee and ducked his head in apology.

The prince cocked his head to the side in amusement and knelt down to pick up the fallen bucket. Tine watched in fascination as the prince tugged on the rusty handle of the water spout and pumped water until the bucket was full again.

Tine had only ever seen Prince Sarawat in the portraits on his family home’s walls and had always been drawn to the prince’s fierce gaze. Tine was shocked to see that the gaze the prince was famous for was nowhere to be found and instead a fond smile graced his lips as he held the brimming bucket out toward Tine.

His head reeling with confusion, Tine slowly rose to his feet and took the bucket from the prince. Their fingertips brushed during the exchange and Tine thought it might be a sign of good luck to touch a royal, and, without thinking, intertwined his fingers with Sarawat’s. “Uh…” The prince muttered, an anxious look in his eyes. “Can I get my hand back, please?”

“Sorry, my grace.” Tine pulled his hand away from the prince’s and scolded himself for the under thought action. “I just thought that you your touch might bring my family or my future a blessing.”

“I’m just a human, you know.” Sarawat stated plainly, a hint of frustration in his voice as the fierce gaze stretched across his face. “I thought you were different. That’s why I came over here but, I guess you’re just like the rest.”

The prince turned and Tine felt shame spreading through him. Their interaction was over before it even began. No one would believe him if he told them the story of the prince, he thought, as he walked the long way home from the town centre. No one would believe that the Prince would see something in him and then retracted the thought so he never shared the story with anyone.

Horns signalling the beginning of the trials shocked Tine back into attention, the memory of his one interaction with royalty lingering in his mind. Ohm nudged his friend and mouthed, “Are you okay?”

Tine nodded at Ohm reassuringly as the castle gates swung open, inviting all the squire candidates to enter for the specific occasion. Tine and Ohm dismounted their horses upon entering the castle gate and passed them off to people they assumed to be castle servants.

They were lead by a knight into one of the outer castle yards where a makeshift arena had been arranged. The stands were full of knights that they could potentially be paired with, members of the royal court and on a high stand stood the royal family, sitting on their four thrones: The King, The Queen, Prince Phukong and finally, Prince Sarawat.

The prince wore emerald green robes that brought made the intense colour of his eyes even more prominent than the last time Tine had seen him. They were both much older now, having ten years past since their meeting in the town centre. Tine’s breath hitched at the passing thought of the Prince possibly recognizing him but abandoned it quickly.

“Potential squires.” The King stood to his feet and addressed the crowd. “Members of the court, knights from all across the realm, some of our retired squires and most importantly, my family, we are here today to witness the Squire trials. Good luck to all the candidates and remember, even if you aren’t selected this year, please come back next spring.”

The crowd erupted with cheers and, just like that, the trials began. The knight that led them into the castle grounds split all the candidates into small sparring groups. Each squire was given an opponent and a wooden stick. The aim was to knock the opponent’s stick out of their hands and whoever won moved onto the next round of the trials.

Tine faced off against his opponent, a big and muscly looking young man, and circled in a defensive position. The stranger lunged at him and struck forward. Tine easily dodged the attack by ducking out of the way and as he moved back up to his feet, swiftly knocked his opponent’s stick to the ground. It was over in a matter of seconds. His attacker looked at Tine, dumbfounded, but was quickly swept off the field to make way for new partners. Tine barely had a chance to feel proud of his accomplishment.

Half of the crowd of candidates disappeared during the first round. Tine was relieved to see that Ohm remained amongst the thinning few that remained. Ohm, while disinterested in training, was a natural born fighter. It was in his blood so Tine was not too worried about his friend’s success in the trials.

The next round challenged the candidates to a test of wits as they were presented with an iron box that concealed an item that the head knight claimed that they needed to retrieve to advance successfully to the next round.

Tine examined the box slowly as the candidates surrounding him took to hacking away at the thing with their swords and other weapons. He had spent much time in his father’s workshop and while he had never been particularly interested in his father’s work, he admired just how passionate his father was for intricate craftsmanship. Tine turned the perplexing box over and over in his hands until he spotted a line in the design. He traced it with his fingers until he found that one of the corners of the box was much weaker than the rest. He placed the box on the ground before pressing the tip of his sword into the corner. At first nothing happened but after attempting a few different angles, the box popped open.

The crowd erupted with cheering as the item was revealed: a key. Tine retrieved it quickly and looked up to see that he was the first to accomplish the feat. The crowds cheering made his heart race with exhilaration but he knew that he needed to remain humble. He slowly turned toward the King who was surprised to find studying him with intensity. But that wasn’t what made the breath escape from Tine’s lungs: Prince Sarawat was looking at him with something that resembled interest as a smirk spread across his lips.

Tine tore his gaze away from the royal family and re-focused. Slowly, more and more candidates successfully opened their boxes, each finding a key of their own. Ohm was among the next few to retrieve the key and once he had, he made his way over to Tine with a grin spread across his lips.

“This isn’t so bad, is it?” Ohm asked.

“Don’t jinx us so early.” Tine muttered, as he was ever suspicious.

“Trust your training.” Ohm reassured him and clapped a steady hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I believe in you.”

Before Tine could share his appreciation for his friend’s words, the horn signally the next round’s start echoed through the arena. A set of burly looking knights brought a collection of odd-shaped cases out onto the field. “Each key has a coordinating lock. Find the lock, find your weapon and find your opponent. You will know your opponent as you both will have the same weapon. First one to fall will be disqualified. Go!”

The slew of young men advanced upon the cases, desperate to be the first to find their weapon. Tine snaked through the crowd swiftly, trying each lock with his key. Finally, after six attempts, a lock sprung open to reveal his intended weapon: a lute.

Tine took up the instrument with utter confusion. The strings sparkled under the hot sun, refracting the light of the afternoon into Tine’s eyes. He squinted and contemplated the absurdity of the situation but was humbled when he saw the rest of the young men around him had the same predicament at hand. They were meant to face off with items that were beyond the conventional definition of ‘weapon’.

Tine wielded the thing as if it was the sword he father had made for him and spotted another candidate with a lute in his hands. Tine advanced upon the young stranger and coughed to catch his attention. Tine was always in favour of a fair fight. His opponent didn’t seem to agree.

A flash of a discreetly concealed knife appeared from his opponent’s pants pocket. The young man smirked slyly, keeping the knife hidden behind the instrument but it didn’t make it any less lethal. They began to circle each other in a fighting stance, each stepping one foot across the other before his opponent advanced upon him with a raging cry.

Tine decided that if his opponent was going to play dirty, he might as well too. As soon as the man got close enough to get a proper stab in, Tine moved the neck of the lute in front of his opponent’s feet and his opponent clumsily tripped over it and fell face down into the dirt.

“Disqualified!”

Tine had made it. All the blood, sweat, tears and exhaustion that he had put into his training over the years had finally paid off. He had survived the first day of the Squire Trials and that was more than he could've asked for when he entered the castle gates that morning.

At the end of the day, there were fifteen young candidates left on the field, each more exhausted than the first. Tine and Ohm exchanged a relieved look between them before the horns that signalled the beginning of the first selection ceremony sounded across the arena. The crowd became silent as the King stood to his feet, ready for whatever announcement he was about to make.

“As per tradition, I will make the first selection for my eldest son, Prince Sarawat.” The King announced, a mighty tremor to his voice. “The Squire that will work by my son’s side during his knight training will be… you!”

Tine followed the King’s gaze and was shocked to find that it was settled on him. His heart immediately leapt into his throat as he looked at Prince Sarawat who looked, if anything, disinterested and annoyed by his father’s decision.

This was not what Tine had signed up for.

#tine x sarawat #sarawatine #2gether #2gether the series #brightwin #bright x win #my writing #thai bl #gmmtv #2gether fanfic #the nuisance and the handsome prince

14 notes · View notes

vin-taege · 5 years

Text

low expectations | 2

summary: after disappearing for six years to pursue law, you come back to Seoul, only to be hired by Jeon Jungkook, tattoo artist on the rise, and your high school ex

genre: angst, eventual smut, l2e2l (lovers to enemies [kinda?] to lovers)

pairing: tattoo artist!jungkook x lawyer!reader

words: 4 600+

The clock read 3:35 am. You were up all night researching about the rival tattoo shop, Soliloquy. So far, there were only page advertisements and a ton of articles gushing about the shop. But "Seoul Ink" was also almost in every article - a "threat” to the long-running business, as the media would say. They had little to no detail too, and after a while, they all seemed to be saying the same thing. So you decided to shift gears and search more on Jung Minho himself. Not much was known of him, not even his educational background. Trivial things like height, weight, and age were listed. There were a few pages dedicated to fawning over him, seeing as he Was undeniably attractive. He looked just about Namjoon's age, striking cheekbones and a pierced tongue he'd often flash at the camera. You sighed, ready to give up. You've been clicking every link you came across, and Namjoon wasn't done with the suspect profile yet. The coffee you made had grown cold and your wrists had also started to ache. You were already on the 5th page of Google. You were desperate. Just as you were going to shut down your laptop, Jungkook's words echoed in your mind, "I'm finally doing something I love." You shook your head, willing yourself to stay awake just a little longer. In a last attempt, you skimmed over a few more links until one caught your eye. "Gwangju Rapper Under Fire for Drug Scandal"

You sat up, suddenly wide awake. The article was from four years ago, but you didn't know if the source was trustworthy. It was a news archive, and the web design was a little off, making you doubt its legitimacy. You read it, nonetheless, and picked up a lot of crucial information. Why in the world would this even show up in Jung Minho's search results? You clicked the picture of the rapper, a shiver running down your spine with the striking similarities he had with the Soliloqy head. Coincidentally, the rapper's career ended just a month before the first Soliloqy branch was built. You bookmarked the tab, and thought of calling Namjoon. However, another glance at the clock told you he was probably fast asleep by now, and you didn't want to wretch him away from his rest. Speaking of sleep, your eyes were already starting to droop. Maybe it was better to deal with everything tomorrow. It was still your month off anyway. °°° 6 years ago There was a loud knock on your window, waking you from your slumber. Your head had been buried in printer paper, what would be half of your book report on the novel "Animal Farm." It has only been three days since your mother began her temporary stay at your father's house, but she's already become unbearably pushy when it came to your studies. She was only staying for a week, but that was four days too long for you. You could still hear the knocking, but you were too sleepy to respond. Until it got louder. Lifting your head off your desk, you squinted at the window, the lamp light piercing your eyes. Your vision adjusted until you could make out a mope of brown hair pressed against the window pane. You rubbed your eyes, hurriedly getting up from your chair to open the window. "What are you doing here?" Your voice was still groggy from sleeping. The second you got a closer look at him, your heart stopped. The stench of alcohol was on his breath, and he was sweating like he ran a marathon. To top it all off, he was crying. He stumbled into your room, half walking, half getting carried by you and plopped down onto the bed. Sprawled over the covers, he let out a throaty groan, quickly getting hushed by you. "Jungkook! Don't be so loud!" you hissed. "What are you doing here?" He cracked open an eye, lazily tilting his head up to look at you. Suddenly, he smiled, hugging you and pulling you down with him. Your cheek was squished against his chest, his arms squeezing your torso. "My honey, baby, love of my life, sweetheart, darling." You tried pushing him off, initially disgusted by the overpowering scent of alcohol. Jungkook was oblivious to your discomfort, only beginning to sob harder. Hearing his cries, you stopped struggling, sliding your hands up to curl around his neck instead. You laid there, waiting for him to calm down. It was silent for a moment before his voice broke through the dead air. "I don't think I'm going to college." He took a shaky breath. "I got into an argument with my dad. I told him I didn't want to go to med school. I told him I'd hate it there. He- he kicked me out. My mom didn't even care." Your heart started to pound along with his. Oh no. No. Your mother already dreaded him because he was planning to be an art student, but now that he would possibly drop out, you knew she'd never approve. It would be unacceptable for her. Not only that, but what would happen to Jungkook now? What about your future? "What do you mean you got kicked out?" you said in a small voice. He gently nudged you off him so he could sit up. He began fiddling with his thumbs. "I don't have anywhere else to go. I don't have any money. ___, I'm so sorry. I'm such a fucking failure. Fuck!" He slammed his hands down on the bed, the springs squeaking. You flinched, the sudden aggression scaring you.. "Jungkook, stop. You're drunk." "I broke a fucking vending machine," he mumbled as if it was an afterthought. “I didn’t have money for beer.” "You what?!" you hit his shoulder, making him curse out, more of in surprise rather than pain. "Do you know how illegal that is, Jeon? You get kicked out and the first thing you do is commit a crime?" "Well, what do you expect me to do?! We don't all have perfect lives, ___. I went here and I thought you could kiss the pain away or some shit, and you're gonna fucking lecture me about street etiquette?" he scoffed. "Why are you so up your ass sometimes?" "Sometimes I don't know why you just can't manage to get your shit together. I want to support you, Kook, I really do. But sometimes you're just so fucking impulsive!" you didn't even realized you had raised your voice. Jungkook was staring at you with wide eyes, jaw clenched. You thought he was going to retort, maybe even scream back at you, but he remained silent. Unshed tears welled at the corners of his eyes. He wiped them with the back of his hand, swiftly standing. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come here." He moved towards your window, a leg raised up, ready to leave. You grabbed him by the forearm, tugging him back. "Wait, I'm sorry. Kookie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said." You hugged him from the back, ignoring the sweat sticking to his shirt. "We're gonna get through this, okay? You still have me. You still have Tae. I'm sure you can work something out with your brother. But stay with me for now, okay?" Slowly, he leaned forward and shut the window. He let you lead him back to the bed, not even bothering to shower with how tired he was. Without another word, he curled up next to you, trying to fall asleep. On sleepless nights, you'd call him on the phone and he'd sing for you. This time, even though your voice couldn't hold a candle to his, you returned the favor, not stopping until you heard his calm, deep breaths. °°°

"So you're telling me-" Namjoon paused, stirring his cup of coffee. He had come early today to help you unpack, while also going over the case. "That rapper and the Jung Minho may or may not be the same person?" "They almost look exactly like each other." You turned the laptop over to him, bringing up the picture. His eyes widened, spoon hovering just above the coffee. "Don't you think it's kinda fishy our probable suspect, who may I add, planted drugs in the ink refills, looks exactly like this rapper from four years ago who got caught in a drug scandal?" Namjoon shrugged. He leaned over the kitchen counter and read the article, eye brows furrowing further after each line. "Honestly, that is weird. Hm. But you know what's weirder? You reaching the sixth page of Google."

You glared at him, continuing to unpack your kitchen utensils. "Excuse me, but I am dedicated to my job." "You mean dedicated to your ex?" you sputtered, almost dropping the knife holder. Namjoon smirked at you. "I've been talking to Jimin, and he told me some really interesting stuff." Of course it was Jimin. That man was too charismatic for his own good. "Please don't remind me." Namjoon took a sip of his coffee, grimacing when it burnt his tongue. He made his way to the sink and gargle some water, sighing when it somewhat relieved the pain. "___, you could've told me, you know? I mean, we could've averted this whole thing if that's what you wanted." "No, Joon. It's okay, I don't regret taking this case. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I guess I just don't like talking about it much," Namjoon looked at you, saw how tired you looked. Both physically and emotionally. "Come here," he opened his arms, and you gladly hugged him. His scent was welcoming, like that of new books mixed with citrus from the scented hand sanitizer he kept in his bag. "I think you need more hugs and less work." "Joon, I think I want to get my ex back," you mumbled into his sweater. You heard him sigh before letting you go. "As your assistant, I'd say this is probably a bad decision. As your best friend, I'd say this is definitely a bad decision but do what you think will make you happy." You ate breakfast quickly, eager to dive into the article more, even though you had already read it multiple times. Nostalgia hit you - it felt like it was a thesis night again, you and Namjoon scouring every corner of the Internet just to fill the Related Studies part. Ironically, a cheetos bowl was by the laptop, reminiscent of your college days. The rapper's stage name was a lead in itself, however he seems to be off the grid. The only other pictures left of him were blurry ones taken from afar. All of his music wasn't uploaded on the Internet, save for pictures of the CD cover. It was so suspicious how underground he was. Namjoon bookmarked the pages and copy-pasted all the needed pictures and information. It was a bit of a stretch, but so far, it was the only connection you could make with Jung. After a while, Namjoon cracked his knuckles and faced you. "I know this is pretty random, but can you come with me to the tattoo shop today?" "Why? I thought we couldn't get an interview today because they were booked. Did all their clients simultaneously agree to ditch their appointments?" "No," he laughed. "I'm getting a tattoo." You almost spit your coffee out. You looked at him, waiting for him to burst out laughing and tell you it was a joke - but he never did. "What do you mean you're getting a tattoo? Aren't we forbidden to get those?" "Wrong again. We could, but just somewhere we could hide it. I'm getting it on my inner forearm." It was the perfect spot, especially since he owns an abundance of long-sleeved tops. "And you're getting this because...?" "Because I’ve actually been thinking of getting a tattoo since last year. And I've been needing a break from being so... upright and formal" You didn't press for a further explanation. The whole “professional lawyer thing really was tiring. "Welcome to Seoul Ink, home of the best ink!" Jimin's cheerful voice greeted you. The pink lighting was turned off, letting the sunlight shine through the glass. The music playing was softer this time, matching the calm afternoon vibe. "Hi Namjoon! Hi, ___!" He wiggled his eyebrows when he greeted you, making your roll your eyes. Namjoon headed directly toward the designs placed on the walls, quickly spotting the one he was staring at yesterday. "How much for this one?" "30 000 won. Discounted, just for you," Jimin stood next to Namjoon. "Could be done in under thirty minutes. Are you walk-in, or would you want to place a schedule?" "Walk-in." "Shit. Would you mind waiting for a bit? The next open spot is," He checked his phone, before looking back at the taller male. "-in five hours." Namjoon sighed, face dropping - when suddenly, Jimin's phone beeped and his eyes lit up. "Actually, you're in luck. Tae's client cancelled last minute." As if on cue, Taehyung walked out from behind the hallway curtain. Your eyes almost popped out of their sockets seeing how much he's changed. His hair was colored blue, in contrast to Jimin's. He had full sleeves, and a small butterfly tattoo just under his jawline, by the side of his neck. The bandana he was wearing held his hair back, giving you a good look of the multiple piercings on his left ear, not to mention the one on his lip. "___?" Before you could reply, he was already running towards you, pulling you in for a tight hug. You chuckled hugging him back, always so affectionate even back the. You could feel the muscle he has gained, compared to his lanky built back in high school. “I didn't believe Jungkook at first, but wow! You look great!" "Tae," Jimin snapped his fingers, gaining Taehyung's attention. "Hyunjin backed out, but you've got a new client. Rosehead design. Tatt virgin so go easy on him."

“Why did no one tell me ___ was gonna be our lawyer?”

“I did. I told you four times, Taehyung,” Jimin rubbed his temples. His words fell on deaf ears, Taehyung still mesmerized by the mere sight of you. Six years ago, he never would’ve thought he’d see you again, but here you were. Fate had a way of bringing people together.

“Are you getting one too?” His voice was deeper, as if it wasn’t already deep before. You were relieved to find out he was more than welcoming to you, even after what you made him do. You shook your head. “Just Namjoon hyung then.”

Taehyung led you into his work room, the door of it being the one bombarded with polaroids and fairy lights. You never got the chance to look at the pictures, and now that you did, your eyes were immediately drawn to one near the upper left.

It was an old one, dating way back to high school. You knew because you were in it - face lit up with a bright smile, mid-laugh. Sitting next to you was Jungkook, mirroring your happy expression as he held a barbecue stick up. You recognized it from your prom night. Jungkook didn’t have enough money to rent a suit, making him pass on prom. You and Taehyung decided to ditch it, having a small barbecue party in his backyard instead.

You sensed someone staring at you, and turned your head to find Taehyung. He was startled, sending you a goofy expression afterwards.

Namjoon sat on the soft reclining chair, trying his best to make himself comfortable. Taehyung was humming as he did the preliminaries; getting the design ready and sterilizing the needles to be used, including turning on a lamp with normal lighting so he could see better. “I have some bubblegum in case you want some. It serves as a pain outlet.”

He handed you a small bowl full of gumballs, then continued to prep the tools and Namjoon. The older of the two boys shoved in two gumballs, jittery even before the procedure began.

“You didn’t take any energy drinks or coffee before this, right?” Taehyung rubbed Namjoon’s inner forearm with a cloth dipped in alcohol. He paled, eyes widening, “Am I not supposed to?”

Taehyung clicked his tongue. “That’s why you’re so nervous. Well, this is just a flash tattoo. No color, easy lineart. It’s going to be a walk in the park!” He smacked Namjoon on the shoulder a little too hard, making him yelp.

“Tae, Jimin said go easy,” you murmured, though you still got your phone out. Namjoon’s reaction while getting his first tattoo was too hilarious to no film.

“I will,” he plugged the cord into an outlet, the tattoo gun roaring to life. “Okay, lawyer hyung, I need you to relax because this would only hurt more if you don’t.”

Twenty minutes in, and you were positive Namjoon had cried out for his mother exactly thirty times so far. A thick wad of chewed up bubblegum was in his mouth, and it was only getting bigger. Taehyung on the other hand, was fully composed, eyebrows knit in concentration.

You tried talking to Namjoon to ease the pain, but he either couldn’t form a coherent response, or wasn’t listening to you altogether. Presently, his eyes were screwed shut as he fiercely rapped along to an Eminem song playing in the background.

“I missed you. He missed you too. A lot,” You almost didn’t catch Taehyung say it. His eyes were still on his work, but he continued. “I still feel bad for doing it, but I couldn’t chose sides. You’re both my best friends.”

You shot a worried glance at Namjoon. Although Taehyung wasn’t looking at you, he spoke again, “Don’t worry. His nerves are making this more painful than it actually is, and he’s so far into the pain he probably won’t even recall us talking.”

You cleared your throat. “Are you mad at me?”

Taehyung chuckled, pausing to lightly shake his head. “I could understand why you did it. I genuinely am happy for how far you’ve come.”

“Is he...?” you trailed off, scared to know the answer. You didn’t have to say his name for Taehyung to know who you were referring to.

“He’s sad. Bitter, I think? I guess he thought it was a good idea to channel all that sadness into anger. You know how he is,” he sighed. “He still loves you though.”

His words made you freeze. He cracked his neck, soft brown eyes looking back at you, before going back to his work. “Did you know the main thing that motivated him so much was you? It was always you he talked about. He always said he wanted to prove himself to you.”

“He doesn’t need to do that.”

“I know. I kept telling him that, but I think it would be better if you did.” Taehyung worked in silence, save for Namjoon’s garbled rapping and the buzz of the tattoo gun. From time to time, he’d encourage Namjoon with an “Almost there!” or “You’re doing well, hyung!”, but Namjoon tuned everything out. He really was too into his head.

“Tae, I still love him,” you rushed out. The younger boy raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“And I want him back,” He smirked, turning the gun off. He clasped his hands loudly, making Namjoon jump lightly from his seat. “Break time!”

Namjoon melted into the chair, letting out a long, trembling breath. He was sweating all over, quickly slipping into a nap after muttering a silent, “I think I’ll rest for a bit.”

“I mean,” Taehyung’s voice rang once more. He snapped his gloves off, throwing them in the garbage bin “He hasn’t dated anyone else ever since. I got him really stone drunk once, and he kept crying about how much he missed you.”

“You’re telling me this because?”

“Because I hate seeing both my best friends miserable?” he shrugged. “Get some air, look at some of the designs outside. I think Namjoon hyung isn’t the only one under extreme stress today.”

The other designs plastered on the walls were all unique in their own way. You got why Jungkook’s shop was so popular - it almost transported you to another dimension. The care and detail he put into the shop was amazing, exactly the way he used to describe it.

The entire six years you went away, he never left your mind. The idea of getting it over with, of coming back to him, kept you going. But after graduation, after becoming one of the most sought-after lawyers even in your age, fear started to slowly cripple you.

A lot of “what if’s” disheartened you. Most of all, shame. You couldn’t face him after what you’ve done.

“Hey.”

You flinched, startled by Jungkook’s suddenly standing next to you. “You thinking of getting one too?”

“No. Not today, at least,” You were both looking at the designs without really paying attention to them. The feeling of being next to each other without actively addressing each other’s presence was weirdly comforting. You were waiting for each other to make the next move, both too nervous to start, until you did. “I missed the food here. Remember that cheap ramen shop just outside our school? Mrs. Park was a nagger, but nothing could ever beat her cooking.”

To you surprise, he laughed - something you haven’t heard in ages. You were glad to make him smile again, even if it was just for a little while. “Man, none of the ramen shops here could ever beat Mrs. Park’s. It’s what’s tasty in Busan.”

“Speaking of Busan, Jimin’s actually from there too. No offense to Tae, but at least someone here could get the dialect.”

“Hey, don’t be too mean. Remember when he cried about missing Daegu the night before finals?”

“Ah, shit. I was so stressed out, like, what the fuck do I do? I want to comfort him, but I also want to not get kicked out of school. But looking back at it, I knew I was gonna fail with or without reviewing, so.” You laughed, hitting him lightly. Whenever he smiled, he really didn’t look any different from the Jungkook six years ago.

“How did it feel like moving to Seoul?”

“I was a bit nervous at first. Scared. I was no one, just this kid from Busan moving into this city of opportunities, and at some point I felt like I was going to drown in them but never really take one? I was so scared of becoming the person my parents thought of me but-” he paused, smoothing out a design that was about to fall off. “Taehyung was with me. And I wasn’t just this scrawny Busan kid anymore. I was this Busan boy with this other Daegu boy, and we had stars in our eyes, which at that time, was enough to fill our empty wallets.”

“And I just lived in the moment. And I... I thought of... I thought of you.”

The dreadful silence came back. Before you could stop yourself, much less think about your next words, you blurted them out. “I wonder if things turned out differently.”

Jungkook tensed Just when you got him to open up, he retreated back into his shell. He crossed his arms, fists balled up. “That’s the thing, ___. They didn’t.”

“Don’t you want them to?”

“At some point I did,” you glanced at him, his stony expression never meeting yours. You wanted to grab his hand and tell him you were sorry, that you were going to make things right. “But you were six years too late.”

He walked away, disappearing back into his room. Defeated, you walked back into Taehyung’s, finding him already resuming his work with Namjoon. Your partner looked more relaxed, even able to hold a conversation now. “Oh, there you are!”

Namjoon waved at you with his free arm. “We were talking about a cafe meeting, just to lay out all the details to the other boys and possibly get more info.”

“Yeah, ___! I could pressure Jungkook to treat us out. I haven’t had a good croissant in weeks.” He wiped the tattoo with a cloth, revealing crisper lines, before bringing the tattoo gun back on the skin. “I miss eating bread.”

You thought of the idea, figured a simple lunchout wouldn’t hurt anyone. The two boys continued with their banter, but you tuned them out. Jungkook’s words ran through your mind, as well as the design he touched back then. It was a pinky promise outline. You remembered it being the exact one he used to draw on your notebooks back then. Before either of the two boys could say anything to you, you were on your way to Jungkook’s room, pushing the door open.

He looked at you, surprised, pencil in hand. You must’ve caught him mid-drawing. “I want it on my hip.”

Puzzled,he stared at you for a moment, wide eyes shifting from you to his sketchbook. “You want what?”

“The pinky swear,” you pointed to the space just above your hipbone. “I want it here.”

“You can’t just barge into my work room and demand for a tattoo service.” You stared him down, feet firmly planted on the ground. He knew you weren’t going to budge, and with an exasperated sigh, he motioned towards the tattoo chair. “Fuckin’ sit down.”

Just like Taehyung, he took his time to prep everything he needed. Open a new needle pack, sterilize your skin, even got the design ready. “Tatt virgin, knowing you, you probably drank coffee before this didn’t you? And you got this tattoo on a whim, huh?”

“Maybe,” you blushed.”Last minute decision.”

He raised an eyebrow. The familiar buzz of the tattoo gun filled the room, but he didn’t bring i close to you yet. “Hip tattoos tend to hurt. What made you want this one?”

“It’s our design. You kept it,” Your bluntness surprised him.He pressed his lips together, furrowing his eyebrows a bit. “It was a nice, minimalistic outline. Good for flash, easy to make. Me keeping it doesn’t mean anything.”

“Jeon, you are still so bad at lying,” you rolled your eyes. Under your confident mask, you were actually very anxious. You still didn’t know what your boundaries were. What if you were stepping over the line and he’d get pissed and give you a shitty tattoo? No, Jungkook wasn’t that petty.

“Jeon, you are still so bad at lying,” he mimicked you, pulling a face. He snickered, “See how annoying you sound? Oh my God, ___, you’re still a big nerd.”

“You begged me for formula cards back then, and you know it,” you stuck your tongue out. Smiling, he shook his head. A gloved hand wiped your hip with a rag faintly smelling of aseptic. He paused, giving the pattern on the skin a once-over. “This is gonna hurt.”

“It’ll hurt less,” you whispered. He gave you a questioning look. “Seriously, ___, this is near the bone. It will hurt like a bitch.”

“I know,” you shuffled in your seat. “I mean, it’ll hurt less because I know you’ll be the one doing it.”

You didn’t need him to reply, and he didn’t. However, you knew it wasn’t out of spite, or because you pushed a button. The hum of the tattoo gun got louder, a sharp pain on your hip bone. But seeing Jungkook smile the way he used to - like when he was still yours - provided more comfort than you could ever imagine. And that was enough for now.

#jungkook x reader #jungkook #jungkook scenarios #jeon jungkook #bts #bts scenarios #bts smut #bangtan smut #jungkook imagines #bts imagines #bangtan scenarios #bts au

778 notes · View notes

richincolor · 4 years

Photo

New Releases - April 7, 2020

This is quite an interesting time in publishing. While we try to celebrate new releases each week, we know that dates have been changing due to printing and shipping issues, so we have definitely celebrated a few before their actual publication. If you know about any changes, please let us know. Here are four books releasing this week and two we missed last month.

Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Smira Ahmed Soho Teen

It’s August in Paris and 17-year-old Khayyam Maquet—American, French, Indian, Muslim—is at a crossroads. This holiday with her professor parents should be a dream trip for the budding art historian. But her maybe-ex-boyfriend is probably ghosting her, she might have just blown her chance at getting into her dream college, and now all she really wants is to be back home in Chicago figuring out her messy life instead of brooding in the City of Light.

Two hundred years before Khayyam’s summer of discontent, Leila is struggling to survive and keep her true love hidden from the Pasha who has “gifted” her with favored status in his harem. In the present day—and with the company of a descendant of Alexandre Dumas—Khayyam begins to connect allusions to an enigmatic 19th-century Muslim woman whose path may have intersected with Alexandre Dumas, Eugène Delacroix, and Lord Byron.

Echoing across centuries, Leila and Khayyam’s lives intertwine, and as one woman’s long-forgotten life is uncovered, another’s is transformed. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

The Perfect Escape (The Perfect Escape #1) by Suzanne Park Sourcebooks Fire

Nate Jae-Woo Kim wants to be rich. When one of his classmates offers Nate a ridiculous amount of money to commit grade fraud, he knows that taking the windfall would help support his prideful Korean family, but is compromising his integrity worth it?

Kate Anderson wants a fresh start, away from her controlling father. She fantasizes about escaping to New York, where she can pursue her dreams. But how can Kate get there when she can’t even buy dinner without his approval?

Worlds collide when Nate and Kate meet at the zombie-themed escape room where they both work. As sparks fly, fate steps in: a local tech company is hosting a weekend-long survivalist competition with a huge cash prize that could solve all their problems. The real challenge? Making it through the weekend with their hearts intact… — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

We Didn’t Ask for This by Adi Alsaid Inkyard Press

Central International School’s annual lock-in is legendary. Bonds are made. Contests are fought. Stories are forged that will be passed down from student to student for years to come.

This year’s lock-in begins normally enough. Then a group of students led by Marisa Cuevas stage an ecoprotest and chain themselves to the doors, vowing to keep everyone trapped inside until their list of demands is met.

Some students rally to their cause…but others are aggrieved to watch their own plans fall apart.

Amira has trained all year to compete in the school decathlon on her own terms. Peejay intended to honor his brother by throwing the greatest party CIS has ever seen. Kenji was looking forward to making a splash at his improv showcase. Omar wanted to spend a little time with the boy he’s been crushing on. Celeste, adrift in a new country, was hoping to connect with someone—anyone. And Marisa, once so certain of her goals, must now decide how far she’ll go to attain them.

Every year, lock-in night changes lives. This year, it might just change the world. –Cover image and summary via Goodreads.

So This is Love: A Twisted Tale by Elizabeth Lim Disney Hyperion

What if Cinderella never tried on the glass slipper? Unable to prove that she's the missing princess, and unable to bear life under Lady Tremaine any longer, Cinderella attempts a fresh start, looking for work at the palace as a seamstress. But when the Grand Duke appoints her to serve under the king's visiting sister, Cinderella becomes witness to a grand conspiracy to take the king-and the prince-out of power, as well as a longstanding prejudice against fairies, including Cinderella's own Fairy Godmother. Faced with questions of love and loyalty to the kingdom, Cinderella must find a way to stop the villains of past and present . . . before it's too late.

Missed in March--

We Are Totally Normal by Rahul Kanakia Harper Teen

Nandan’s got a plan to make his junior year perfect. He’s going to make sure all the parties are chill, he’s going to smooth things over with his ex, and he’s going to help his friend Dave get into the popular crowd—whether Dave wants to or not. The high school social scene might be complicated, but Nandan is sure he’s cracked the code.

Then, one night after a party, Dave and Nandan hook up, which was not part of the plan—especially because Nandan has never been into guys. Still, Dave’s cool, and Nandan’s willing to give it a shot, even if that means everyone starts to see him differently.

But while Dave takes to their new relationship with ease, Nandan’s completely out of his depth. And the more his anxiety grows about what his sexuality means for himself, his friends, and his social life, the more he wonders whether he can just take it all back. But is breaking up with the only person who’s ever really gotten him worth feeling “normal” again?

From Rahul Kanakia comes a raw and deeply felt story about rejecting labels, seeking connection, and finding yourself.

Run Rebel by Manjeet Mann Penguin

When Amber runs, it's the only time she feels completely free - far away from her claustrophobic home life. Her father wants her to be a dutiful daughter, waiting for an arranged marriage like her sister Ruby.

Running is a quiet rebellion. But Amber wants so much more - and she's ready to fight for it.

It's time for a revolution.

#New releases #yalit

12 notes · View notes

hdnprplflwrs · 4 years

Text

(1/2) So I’ve been getting into Miraculous Ladybug,

And let’s rate some ships, shall we? These are just the ones with the most material to work with and are the most interesting and are (as I see it) canon to the show. I’m not including ships where, canonically, one side actively dislikes the other or there was no interaction or a clear definition of a friendship between the two parties. This list also does not include polyamorous ships because there are no polyamorous relationships canonically.

1. Adrienette: Marinette kind of flickers between seeing Adrien as a friend and as her numbero uno, especially as the series progresses. Currently, with season 3 finished, she sees him as a mix of both but would still rather see that he’s happy and without her than with her and unhappy (example: her letting Kagami be with Adrien — also showing that there’s no beef between her and Kagami !!! kinda). Adrien, on the other hand, is such a confused boy™️ about his feelings and him stating ALL THE TIME that Marinette is “jUsT a FrIeNd” is very infuriating, but he never actually sees Marinette as more than a friend because the moment he starts developing that crush he’s already with Kagami and she’s already with Luka. As a ship, they just have terrible timing and they are great friends, but we all know they’re endgame (somehow). 5/10.

2. Ladynoir: Everyone and their grandmother knows that Chat Noir loves Ladybug (as if that isn’t mentioned every two episodes); Ladybug, in the other hand, sticks to the superhero code and firmly roots herself in the friendzone. I know there’s a lot of debate within the fandom about whether or not their relationship is toxic because they both don’t know each other’s true identities and, consequently, the complete picture of themselves. However, in the Oblivio episode, we see that Marinette and Adrien have an incredibly strong bond, as superheroes and as their normal selves. Because they were relieved of all the baggage from their past history (because hello, they forgot it all), they were able to build that relationship rather quickly and show a version of what could be. But in the Timetagger episode, Bunnyx mentions that their relationship is basically all over the place. Maybe with the added complications of Luka and Kagami in the mix, Ladybug and Chat Noir go on a wild adventure through the years, also not finding the right timing like Adrien and Marinette. But Timetagger implies that Ladybug and Chat Noir are endgame because Bunnyx has only seen their relationship up until Timetagger in her present, because she is sent back to the past (this time stuff just makes everything confusing), so she wouldn’t exactly know Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s future until she’s back in her Burrow with the fixed Bunny Miraculous, and even then she can’t tell them exactly what will happen. As of the S3 finale, we know that Chat Noir and Ladybug are still partner-in-crime goals. However, Marinette is kind of moving on from seeing Adrien as a crush with Luka, and we all know Chat Noir will always love Ladybug, so it really depends on their decisions on who they want to pursue a relationship with the next few season to determine their future. 7/10.

3. Ladybug and Adrien: THIS IS TOXIC. LET ME JUST GET THIS OUT OF MY SYSTEM. Ladybug and Adrien both see the other as without fault even though they aren’t perfect. Ladybug has her moments where she’s star struck by Adrien, and Adrien has his moments where he’s star struck by Ladybug. In the Christmas special, Ladybug causes Santa Claus to get akumatized (but she also made the wrong assumption that Chat Noir was protecting Adrien from a baddie) because she attacks first and asks questions after. Her crush on Adrien got in the way of her usual analysis of the situation: if the Santa was akumatized, why is he delivering Adrien to his own house? Her views of Adrien and Chat Noir also affect her decisions this episode: the thought of Adrien being Chat Noir doesn’t even cross her mind because her perception of Chat Noir is so different from Adrien that she doesn’t question why there’s a Catacylsmed object next to her gift wrap and can’t put together that Adrien is Chat Noir. (Idk how exactly to explain it. Does this even make sense?) On Adrien’s side, his desperation for Ladybug to like both Chat Noir and Adrien Agreste can complicate things further. In the Desperada episode, he doesn’t stick to his guns and refuse the Snake Miraculous in the first place because HE ALREADY HAS ONE; instead, he spends MONTHS subjecting himself to saving Ladybug because he wants Ladybug to like Adrien, which is not how the Snake Miraculous should be used, as Master Fu describes. Basically, Ladybug’s and Adrien’s idolization of each other leads to them making extreme decisions regardless of the consequences to others; really this ship is just extremely toxic and I don’t like it. 3/10.

4. Chat Noir and Marinette: Probably the most wholesome out of the Marinette/Adrien/Ladybug/Chat Noir square. It is essentially the complete opposite of Ladybug and Adrien because neither have feelings for the other (in the sense that they won’t admit it). Marinette can see through all of Chat Noir’s bullshit because as Ladybug she’s spent so much time with him; Chat Noir gets to know Marinette better than Adrien could get to know Marinette because she doesn’t know he’s actually Adrien. Marinette also gets to know the sides of Chat Noir he would never show Ladybug as we see in the Glaciator (or something like that) episode; she also gets to know the extent of his love for Ladybug and acts upon the knowledge that she doesn’t want to hurt a friend as Ladybug. Chat Noir is able to get to know Marinette and you can kind of see that he’s began to crush on her (possibly because she so much like Ladybug except without the teasing **coughing fit ensues**). I mean, you saw that eye pop in Evilliustrator, don’t pretend you didn’t. He shows Marinette the surprise he planned for Ladybug, which is already, like, dambro. I honestly don’t think he would have shared that with anyone else. In Frozer, he ditches Kagami for Marinette and he’s getting more concerned about her well-being as time progresses. Chat Noir and Marianette is also when they found out about their secret identities in the Chat Blanc episode, so there’s a strong chance this relationship is going to play a part in the future. 8.5/10.

5. Kagadrien: This is another ship where the fandom is divided. Kagami receives a lot of hate for preventing the Adrienette ship from occuring as well as directly competing against Marinette for Adrien. However, I find her character intriguing. Her mother is incredibly strict and demands a lot from Kagami; she is a master of fencing and I assume she is also a master of everything else Kagami can do while blind, upping her anti. Because of this, Kagami grew up without true friends and into a decisive and brutally honest character. Her mother probably helped enforce this mindset of black-and-white, that if you aren’t right, you’re automatically wrong. Adrien is the first to offer her friendship and their shared experiences of growing up in a restrictive household without any friends allowed for a common ground. I wouldn’t necessarily say that Kagami is outgoing because that implies that she knows how to talk to people; her interactions at the beginning of the Ikari Gozen episode with Marinette demonstrate her isolated childhood as she doesn’t know how to comfortably converse with Marinette. On Adrien’s side, Kagami is one of the few people who look past his model career and pretty face and is the only person who can relate to him and his life. Kagami is also the only person his father has no qualms about him hanging out with and as fencing partners, they build a level of comradeship that Marinette and Adrien (if they never received their Miraculouses) couldn’t necessarily replicate. Kagami has already chosen Adrien and I think she lowkey blames Marinette for Adrien not being able to pick her or Marinette, but in the Captain Hardrock episode, Alya brought up the point that Adrien (Luka doesn’t really count because we all know he chooses Marinette) has a choice to make as well. Really, the only thing keeping this ship from happening is Adrien’s conflicting feelings for Ladybug, Marinette, and Kagami. If Adrien does choose Kagami, their parents would approve of the union as it combines their two strong families (GoT vibes anyone?) and their relationship would be able to flourish. The only other downside as a whole is that neither of them have a healthy relationship to model theirs off of as Adrien’s mother is missing and Kagami’s father isn’t even mentioned at all, but it creates an interesting dynamic of them learning how to navigate a relationship with another person. 7.5/10.

I got five more, but this is already pretty long. I’ll post the next five soon, but thoughts on these so far?

#miraculous fandom #miraculous kagami #miraculous theory #miraculous ladybug #miraculous marinette #ladybug and chat noir #ladybug #chat noir #marinette #adrien #kagami #ship #adrien x ladybug #fan theory

12 notes · View notes

p-artsypants · 5 years

Text

Longest Night (3)

The day started out sucky to begin with. Her crush ousted to the class and Adrien. Lila taking pride in exacting her revenge. But by the time patrol was over, a young man was dead, and Ladybug's identity was at risk. Lila was the least of her concerns. Good thing Adrien was taking it all like a champ.

Ao3 | FF.net

Adrien returned to school after that, and Marinette stayed home. She spent her time designing, watching movies, helping in the bakery, anything to keep her mind occupied. It was unfair that she had to stifle her emotions, but she refused to be a pawn for Hawkmoth.

Her phone laid still all day. No word from Adrien, no apologies or further harassment from anyone else. And that was totally fine with her.

It was now evening, on the day where Ladybug made a new enemy.

—

After school, and after fencing, which was an absolute mess, Adrien returned home to his cage.

Something that Nino had mentioned at lunch time had really stuck with Adrien, and he decided to act on it before things were too late.

“Nathalie? Can I talk to my dad? It’s...it’s kind of urgent.”

She considered for moment. “I’ll see if he’s free.”

God, how awful. Having to make an appointment with his own father. But such was the life of the son of a famous designer. “Thank you.”

Nathalie walked into the office and closed the door behind her.

Adrien dropped his bag on the floor, and then collapsed in a chair with a huff.

“What a day,” said Plagg, coming out to sit on his leg.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“I told you that Lila girl was trouble, but you decided to be all high and mighty.”

“Again, I didn’t know that she was threatening Marinette, or else I would have done something else.”

“I guess I can’t give you a hard time for being stupid.”

“Ignorant,” Adrien corrected, “I was ignorant of the problem.”

“Stupid, ignorant. The thing is that pigtails needed your support, and as a hero, you should have done more.”

“Well, what was I supposed to do?! If I called her out, she’d get hurt and get akumatized. If I let her lie, she gets caught and gets akumatized, or other people feel betrayed and get akumatized! I’m between a rock and a hard place here!”

Plagg smirked, “one of those options had a higher Akuma probability than the other.”

Adrien rolled his eyes.

“Akuma-wise, I think you made out well this time. Pig tails is strong. And checking in and making up with her was good move.”

“Thanks...it just felt like the right thing to do. It was kinda of my fault anyways.”

“By doing what? Being cute?!”

Adrien chuckled. “I mean, there had to be a reason that Lila picked me as Marinette’s victim.”

“Marinette had a crush on you. The only person who is at fault here is Liar.”

“Lila.”

“See! Even her name gives her away!”

“Plagg...”

“I’m just sore that you got dragged into petty high school drama. Same with pig tails, she seems like a nice girl.”

“She is a nice girl!” Adrien confirmed.

Plagg snickered to himself, then continued. “But because you both saw through her, you’re being dragged through the mud.”

Adrien huffed. “It’s stupid. It’s totally unfair.”

“I agree. Chat Noir should pay her a visit and hold her over the edge of building by the ankle.”

Adrien laughed. “I’m not doing that. I bet Hawkmoth would love it though.”

“Eh, probably.” The Kwami gave him a proud little pat on the cheek. “Just promising pig tails that you’d be there for her was a good move. You could have ignored it, to avoid getting involved.”

“No way, there’s no way I could have done that.”

Plagg smiled with his fangs. “And that’s why Master Fu picked you.”

“Oh you.”

The door to Gabriel’s office clicked, and Plagg swooped away to his hiding place.

Adrien looked in horror as Lila walked out of Gabriel’s office.

“Thank you again for seeing me on such short notice, Mr. Agreste.” She said, her voice laced with faked concern.

“Yes, Miss Rossi. I’m glad you decided to come right to me with this. It greatly concerns me. I’ll be talking to the police to get that camera confiscated, and I’ll be having a word with my lawyer about a restraining order.”

“I’m happy to hear that.”

“You’re welcome here anytime. My secretary will show you out.” Then he glanced to Adrien. “Nathalie says you wanted a word with me?”

Adrien didn’t respond immediately, since he was too busy glaring at Lila. His fists clenched at his sides, as he trembled.

She just sent him an innocent wave and turned to leave.

“Adrien?”

He stood and walked briskly into the office, standing rigidly.

“You seem uncomfortable, does this have anything to do with those pictures from Miss Dupain-Cheng? Rest assured, Miss Rossi just informed me of the matter and I’m about to take care of it.”

“Lila is a compulsive liar.” Adrien spat, pressing his index finger down on his desk for emphasis.

“Excuse me?”

“Marinette admitted that she has a crush on me, but she insisted that she has never taken a photo of me, ever, without my consent. Furthermore, Lila has been threatening her for the last two years.”

Gabriel sat in his chair and crossed his arms. “You’re saying no photographs were ever taken?”

“None! Marinette let me look through her phone. The only photos she had of me were photos from shoots or ones of us with our friends.”

“And you believe her?”

“Absolutely. Marinette is honest, kind, and good. You know that! She made that derby hat that Chloe Bourgeois copied and tried to play it off as her own.”

“Oh yes, I remember that.”

Adrien began to pace as he ranted, “Marinette is the class president. She’s always bent backwards to help others, including me. But when Lila started lying to everyone, Marinette called her out for it, and Lila in turn threatened her. Marinette kept being the amazing person that she is, and I guess Lila finally had enough and pulled this...this stunt! Lila has turned everyone against her except for me.”

“So you’re the only one that believes Marinette?”

“Only because no one else knows that Lila is a liar! She claimed to know Ladybug! But Ladybug appeared one day and shut that down.”

Gabriel met his eyes. “You’ve met Ladybug?”

“She’s saved me from some Akuma, so yes.”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “Be that as it may, I can’t allow you to be involved in such childish drama. If there’s even a chance that Miss Dupain-Cheng took any photos, I have to pursue legal action.”

Adrien crossed his arms. “No.”

This surprised Gabriel, as he raised his brows. “No?”

“No. Marinette is not a threat to me. However, Lila is.”

“Oh really?”

“Lila has insisted that I will ‘belong’ to her one day. She doesn’t take my feelings into consideration, and someone who compulsively lies is not the kind of person I should be professionally associating with.”

“I see—“

“Marinette, on the other hand, is interested in the fashion industry and has been recognized by you, Jagged Stone, and Audrey Bourgeois! And even though her parents aren’t in fashion, they are still well known business owners with a good reputation and creditability!”

“I didn’t say—“

“And furthermore!” Adrien cut him off. “We have never pursued any legal action action people who have done far worse!”

“Like who?”

“Like that model that groped my butt on the runway? Or that fangirl that tackled me on the street and pulled out a chunk of my hair? The rabid fan girls that send me their unmentionables in the mail? Or Chloe Bourgeois in general? All of those incidences, I told you that I was uncomfortable and wanted you to take action. Instead, you told me that was the life of a celebrity, and I had to deal with it.”

“I never said—“

“But the one time there’s a rumor about a very good friend of mine, you want to pull out all the stops! And you’re not taking my feelings into consideration!”

“Adrien—“

“Marinette is one of my best friends, dad! It’s like you purposely want me to be miserable!”

“Are you quite done?” Gabriel bit.

Adrien snapped his jaw shut, and stood silently.

Gabriel exhaled loudly. “You’ve made your point quite clear. I will withhold any legal action for now, but once there is undeniable prove that she did take explicit photos, I will be getting a restraining order.”

“Thank you. As long as this undeniable proof isn’t just Lila’s words again.”

“It would have to hold up in a court of law. If Miss Rossi gets up to testify, and the court fines that she is lying, she can be charged with perjury. That’s not something I want to deal with.”

“Oh.”

Gabriel sighed again, rubbing his forehead. “Have you had any contact with Miss Dupain-Cheng since this came out?”

“Yeah, I visited her during lunch.”

“Alone?”

“My bodyguard stayed in the living room.”

“Nothing happened?”

“No. She was crying, we talked. That’s about it.”

“Alright.” He tapped his fingers on the surface of his desk. “You…you seem to have some warm regards towards Miss Dupain-Cheng.”

“She is a very good friend of mine.”

“Just a friend?”

Adrien blushed. “Yeah…just a friend.”

Gabriel hid a twitch of a smile, “of course. Well, you know my rules for dating. You’re sixteen now, so you may pursue whomever you wish. I would just like to meet them first, and approve of them.”

“uh, yeah, but—“

“And you must be prepared for your fans. In an age with social media, people will make assumptions and become irrational. You’re significant other must be prepared to ignore the criticism that happens from dating a celebrity, you understand.”

“Yes, I do. But why are you bringing this up now?”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Girls are fighting over you. Eventually, you’ll pick one. And gauging your protectiveness of Miss Dupain-Cheng, it’s not hard to guess.”

“Wait. First you were accusing her of stalking, now you’re accusing me of having a crush on her?”

“Miss Rossi was the one to accuse her of stalking. I’m only acting as a concerned father. You’re a teenager, about the same age I was when I started dating. I’m not an idiot.”

“I didn’t mean to insinuate that you were. I just…I don’t feel that way about Marinette.”

“If that’s what you say, then that’s what I’ll believe.” He turned toward his computer and started to type something, while Adrien just stood there awkwardly. “Don’t you have homework to do?”

Ah, the abrupt dismissal. “I—yes, uh…thanks.”

“Mmhmm.” Gabriel replied without looking up.

Adrien sighed and left the room, closing the door on the way out.

Gabriel waited a few minutes, then went to the painting of his wife.

—

A few moments later, Hawkmoth stood in his lair, his eyes gazing out the window into the fresh fall evening. Paris was a large city of course, and there were many hearts in pain. They echoed and ebbed together in a chorus of agony, dropping out once the emotion was spent, only to be replaced with another.

He stood waiting, focusing on a pinprick of emotion. A girl in distress and anguish, who lived not too far away.

There.

A slow burn, one that had been rolling for hours. A controlled, focused burn. These were the most dangerous akuma. The ones that felt injustice and stewed in it for a long time. The white hot flashes were sufficient and numerous, but those that burned with wrath were powerful.

But he didn’t call for an akuma.

He imagined a young kid, a designer with hope on the horizon, though she was drowning in the drama bestowed upon her as a high schooler.

It’s like you purposely want me to be miserable!

Gabriel clenched his fist. How dare he! How dare his son question his decisions! Didn’t he know it was for the best? Didn’t he know he was doing this for him!?

No. He didn’t. Because if Adrien knew who he was, he’d run. He’d scratch and claw and scream and beg to be let go.

And if he found out he had akumatized his crush, he’d never speak to him again.

“Dark Wings Fall.”

Gabriel Agreste remained in the big empty room, surrounded by his little butterflies.

“Master?” Asked sad little Nooroo.

Gabriel shook his head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Am I…am I forgetting her? Am I giving up?”

The little kwami didn’t say anything, but floated up to meet his eyes. “You’ve been passing on the ones who are grieving. You have no problems akumatizing those who are selfishly angry. You…I think you’re healing yourself, by not hurting others.”

Gabriel didn’t answer, but looked back outside.

“I think…it’s a little nicer that way.”

#ml #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #identity reveal #adrienette #ladynoir #fanfic #fanfiction #longest night

42 notes · View notes

salmonthestoryteller · 5 years

Text

Roswell New Mexico Ships - Plot Speculation

(Blame it on Roswell High)

Okay, so, after reading the book series, I notice that a lot of the plots for RNM come directly from it. They’ve been altered in various ways to fit different characters and the time skip, but the basic points fit.

Examples (Spoiler Warnings for Roswell High ahead!):

A Stowaway caused the ship to crash.

There is a civil war occuring on the Pod Squad’s homeworld.

The group believes one of them has committed a murder, but it turns out they were mind controlled by another alien - an adult who survived the crash.

Both Sheriff Valenti and Major Manes (Kyle & Alex’s fathers) are involved in Project Clean Slate. (The Book’s version of Project Shepherd.)

Cameron (who Jenna Cameron is based on) is blackmailed by Valenti (who is the RH version of RNM’s Jesse Manes) to spy on the Pod Squad.

There is a secret facility that houses another survivor of the crash (though in this case only one, not a large group), and that facility is blown up.

Project Clean Slate has a secret weapon that targets alien biology.

Jim Valenti is killed by an alien, and Kyle does investigate. (Though their characters are not sympathetic in the books.)

I’ve posted a lot of excerpts about different plots in the book, but - despite it being a large portion of the series - I’ve left out a lot about the romances along the way. So I figured I owed a whole speculation post about them. Spoilers for the whole series ahead! Read at your own risk.

Echo, Kyliz, (and Liz x Adam)

Echo in the book runs something like this:

Max is in love with Liz

He saves her life when she is shot

Echo get together

Max breaks up with Liz because he feels he’s putting her in danger

Liz goes on a date with someone else (not Kyle), and Max gets jealous

Liz and Max share a moment when their lives are in danger

Max then reiterates they can’t be together because it’s too dangerous

Max is in danger of dying

Echo gets back together while the group searches for a way to save Max

Max’s life is saved

Echo are together and happy

Max personality slowly changes as the Collective Consciousness begins to take over his mind and life.

Max’s altered personality draws Liz closer to Adam (Another alien from the books)

The Collective Consciousness literally break in while Max is kissing Liz (Ew)

Liz breaks up with Max when she realizes he is no longer the same person.

Liz and Adam share a couple moments

Liz tells Adam she isn’t in love with him, and that she’s still in love with Max.

Adam is killed by DuPris

Max’s body is completely taken over by the Collective Consciousness

The group searches for a way to save Max

Max tries to communicate with Liz through dreams

Max manages to seize control of his body once, when Liz kisses him

Max almost dies with the Collective Consciousness - his molecules disbanding

Liz manages to save Max with the power of their bond

Echo get their HEA

While I’m not sure the ten year gap counts as the break up, we’re pretty much at Max almost dying in their plot points - though the plot points are a bit jumbled for RNM. In our case, Max is actually dead right now. So the group searching for a way to save him comes second, not first.

It’s also true that we don’t currently have an Adam, and while I kind of hope we will get an Adam, I’m also hoping they leave him as a teenager the group looks after. I don’t think his plot would work with the time skip. Nor do I think they could convince you that maybe Liz might end up with him as they do in the books.

However, in RNM we have Kyle. Kyle was who Max was jealous of, not a random character, early in season one. Liz trusts and cares about Kyle in RNM, which is similar to how Liz feels for Adam in RH.

While I feel the plot involving the Collective Consciousness in RH isn’t really directly translatable to RNM, the idea that Max is different when brought back after dying could be done for other reasons. He was already acting oddly after killing Noah, so changing more after coming back to life is believable. (I’m still kinda hoping for Dark Max. But Lightning High Max flaunting his powers could be interesting as well.)

This could draw Liz closer to Kyle, and eventually lead to an Echo break up, during which we get lots of Kyliz moments that make us question whether Liz will end up with Kyle instead of Max. I do suspect if that is the case, that we’ll eventually have a scene, like Liz and Adam have in the book, where Liz tells Kyle she still loves Max and Kyle accepts it with the same heartbreaking grace that Adam did. Because that’s very much a thing our RNM Kyle would do.

I’m not sure, without repeating his nearly dying again, how the end of the novels would translate for Echo. Which is a pity because I really liked the literal use of Max’s earlier line: “Even if my molecules were spread out from here to whatever galaxy my home planet is, that wouldn’t stop me. All my molecules would be like little homing pigeons. They’d all zoom to you, and then I’d reform.”

Whatever danger they choose to put Echo in instead of the Collective Consciousness, I definitely feel like Echo will get their HEA.

Malex, Miluca, (Michael x Iz, Michael x Cameron, Alex x Iz, Alex x ?)

This is a lot more jumbled due to the change of love interests. I do feel that RNM has swapped Alex into Maria’s position in the books (romantically) more than Michael into Isobel’s. And, likewise, has swapped Maria into Isobel’s place. There is a chance they are swapping Maria into both Isobel and Cameron’s place, but it seems unlikely. Also including Alex’s romantic plot because they could be mashing them.

Michael and Maria grow close, and he spends a lot of nights in her room rather than with his foster families.

Michael feels jealous when he spies Maria with a guy in one of her dreams. (It’s him, but he doesn’t realize that. I have no explanation for his level of cluelessness)

Michael and Maria kiss (This is important because it’s their only kiss until the ending.)

Maria gets ahold of one of the Stones of Midnight, granting her psychic powers and bringing her under attack by psychic alien bounty hunters

Michael takes the Stone of Midnight, faces off with the psychic alien bounty hunters and nearly dies

Maria confesses to Michael she’s in love with him

Michael is captured by Project Clean Slate, and grows close to Cameron

Michael and Isobel share a moment after his rescue

Maria demands Michael choose between her and Isobel, and Michael chooses Cameron.

Michael discovers Cameron was a spy for Project Clean Slate and breaks up with her

Michael and Isobel attempt to share another moment, but realize they’re too much like siblings and this isn’t going to work out.

The Stowaway puppets Maria and Michael into a makeout session against their will (WTH is with the villains in RH all being voyeurs?)

Maria uses the moment to break his control over her by connecting to Michael through their bond, which leads to the whole group being able to connect and fight back against the Stowaway

Cameron comes back to help save them from the Stowaway

Cameron leaves in the end because Michael can’t bring himself to trust her again.

Michael and Maria suck at being just friends and act more like a couple but don’t realize it.

Michael has a brother, Trevor, who turns out to be a traitor, and Maria is who comforts him

MIchael’s brother redeems himself, and asks Michael to return to their Homeplanet with him

Michael tries to put distance between Maria and himself, causing her to think he doesn’t love her the way she loves him

Michael realizes he can’t leave Maria at the last possible moment. (Literally at the wormhole)

Michael and Maria finally get their HEA... in Book 10

Alex and Isabel start to get together after he discovers the alien secret

Nikolas spies on Alex and Isabel’s date. (See what I mean about the villains?)

Isabel breaks up with Alex for Nikolas (another alien)

During Isabel’s breakdown after Nikolas’s death, Alex sits outside her door night after night, telling her stories so she won’t feel alone.

Alex and Isabel get back together

Alex introduces Isabel to his family

Isabel breaks up with Alex when an old crush on MIchael rears its head

Alex is accidentally sent to the alien homeworld

Isobel writes Alex letters when he’s on their homeworld, sending them up into the sky on fireworks

Isabel sneaks into Alex’s house and steals Manes’s computer files in an attempt to find a way to save Alex

Alex manages to return on his own, with a Stone of Midnight and pursued by another alien

Alex makes it to the Evans house and collapses in Isabel’s arms

After everything, however, Isabel and Alex talk and realize they just want to be friends

Michael's brother is the alien out to kill Alex for the Stone of Midnight

Alex ends up going out with multiple girls after he and Isabel end things

Alex finds out Isabel’s life is in danger, and demands an alien tracking device from his father

Alex is who Isabel turns to when Trevor asks her to return to their homeworld with Michael and him

Alex and Isabel are the snarky commentary for the two couples at the end of the book, neither in a romance

Well, damn. This is convoluted. And, frighteningly, both Michael and Alex’s romances are full of constant breakups, love triangles, and Michael doesn’t actually get together with his will-they-won’t-they until the series is basically over. I really, really, hope, they don’t do this for Malex.

However, you definitely see where Alex took over Maria and Michael's book plot in the flashbacks. With Michael staying at Alex's toolshed rather than Maria's room, sharing moments, etc.

Basically, we’re at the love triangle in Michael’s plotline. Which did strain Maria and Isabel’s friendship (and they were good friends by the time that plot came up in the book), but which is thrown a loop when Michael chooses someone completely different. I actually approved of that, because it really did end the love triangle in an unexpected way. However, they already gave us Cameron’s whole book plotline, linking her to Max instead of Michael.

I'm a bit at a loss of how they'll handle the love triangle. While I've considered it, having Maria betray them to Project Shepherd seems unlikely. Introducing a third love interest to betray them seems like a repeat of Cam's plot. Part of the reason Michael and Isabel considered each other in RH was because they were members of the Pod Squad. It was basically about the fact they were both aliens and trusted each other completely. That part of why there was a love triangle doesn't exist in RNM because Isobel isn't the third party. My best guess is they'll end Michael and Maria the way they ended Alex and Isabel in RH - with them simply deciding they're better as friends.

I can see both Michael being captured by Project Shepherd and Alex being sent to the alien homeworld as plots. With lots of pining and worrying involved. I would love for Michael's brother Trevor to be a character in RNM, and him gunning for Alex would be seriously awesome angst.

If we steal from Alex’s plot, we can have Alex dating a lot of different guys.. Then him demanding a piece of Project Shepherd technology to save Michael with.

While a scene where Michael chooses Alex over returning to his homeworld would be incredible, can we please take a hint from OG and not wait until the end of the series for it?

Nobel, Maribel, Kybel (Isabel x Nikolas, Isabel x Alex, Isabel x Michael, Isabel x Trevor)

Isabel has a crush on Michael when they’re younger

Alex and Isabel start to get together after he discovers the alien secret

Nikolas spies on Alex and Isabel’s date

Isabel breaks up with Alex for Nikolas (another alien)

Nikolas pushes Isabel to use her powers in ways she’s uncomfortable with

Valenti shoots Nikolas

During Isabel’s breakdown after Nikolas’s death, Alex sits outside her door night after night, telling her stories so she won’t feel alone.

Alex and Isabel get back together

Alex introduces Isabel to his family

Isabel’s old crush on MIchael rears its head after she spies herself in a dream of his

Isabel breaks up with Alex after Michael and her share a moment after he is rescued from Project Clean Slate

Michael and Isobel attempt to share another moment, but realize they’re too much like siblings and this isn’t going to work out.

Alex is accidentally sent to the alien homeworld

Isobel writes Alex letters when he’s on their homeworld, sending them up into the sky on fireworks

Isabel sneaks into Alex’s house and steals Manes’s computer files in an attempt to find a way to save Alex

Alex manages to return on his own, with a Stone of Midnight and pursued by another alien

Alex makes it to the Evans house and collapses in Isabel’s arms

After everything, however, Isabel and Alex talk and realize they just want to be friends

Isabel and Trevor share a moment during a party at the UFO Museum

Trevor betrays the group to DuPris

Isabel enters Akino, and Trevor helps them get her through it without joining the Collective Consciousness

Trevor, Michael and Alex kill DuPris after he kills Adam

Isabel and Trevor have several more moments

Trevor asks Isabel to return to their homeworld with Michael and him

Isabel chooses to stay because “My family is here. My whole family. I can’t leave.”

Trevor promises her he’ll return someday

Alex and Isabel are the snarky commentary for the two couples at the end of the book, neither in a romance

Okay, I get the notion of “Not everyone needs a romance to have a HEA”, but after pairing Isabel with pretty much every guy in the book who wasn’t her brother, not giving her a romantic HEA seemed pretty messed up to me. I adore her and Alex as both friends and a couple. I didn’t really care for Trevor with her, so in a way I’m kind of glad she stayed and their romance was left with an ambiguous, “I will return someday” rather than him staying. But, seriously? Can Isobel end at least one series in a happy, committed relationship?

I feel like they purposefully set up Noah as a lawyer and Isobel’s husband because OG fans would connect him to Jesse. Where he’s much closer to a mix between DuPris and Nikolas. Isabel was given Adam’s plot of killing someone while being puppeted, though in her case it’s Rosa and the Girls rather than Valenti. But Noah’s death came early in the series, like Nikolas, unlike DuPris who is not revealed as the villain until much later, and remains a major villain for most of the series. (I am currently eyeing Grant Green, seeing as DuPris ran the alien news tabloid, and Grant ran the fake alien news radio broadcast, but that has nothing to do with Isobel’s romances.)

We know her entire romantic plot with Alex is out the window in RNM. I also feel like they will not be touching on any notion of her and Michael together at all. They’ve stressed the Pod Squad’s connection as familial a lot, and I don’t think they’ll be changing that.

Bookwise that only leaves Trevor as Isabel’s official book romance. I want them to bring in Trevor because I feel his overall plot would be a great addition. But if they do pair him with Isobel, I really hope they give a lot more time to their romance. More interactions before the reveal Trevor is a traitor. Definitely him helping to save her life somehow and redeeming himself against whoever he betrayed them for. More time after he rejoins the group, before they have to make the decision to return to their homeworld or not. Maybe the leaving scene can be season 3 or 4, so he can return in a later season, and Isobel can have a romantic HEA. If that is where they go.

I still have hope for Maribel in RNM. Honestly, Maria and Isabel have the closest relationship for her after her and Alex, and so if we’re reading subtext - how is this: While telling Trevor she can’t leave, she is holding Max and smiling at Maria.

Or, alternatively, since Kyle is so awesome in RNM, we can have her Naughty Nurse dream visit in a totally different scenario, and have Kybel?

Basically, Izzy’s romantic future is completely in the air.

#roswell new mexico #echo #rnm echo #malex #miluca #kyliz #maribel #kybel #rnm nobel #nobel #roswell high #ships #plot speculation #spoilers

15 notes · View notes

low-budget-korra · 5 years

Text

The legend Of Korra : Book 02-Philosophy Everywhere

I'm going to divide this one into two parts, talking about the episodes before the episodes 07 and 08 and after them. Due to this first half, I consider the 02 book the weakest of all and here are some of the why.

Beginning 6 months after the events of Book 01, after all that dark shit that happened, everything is great. Right away we had a significant change that was the change with respect to animation, previously made by Studio Mir and that in book 2 began to be made by the studios Pierrot. Nothing against the work of the studios Pierrot , after I started studying digital art I saw that it is something way more laborious than I already thought it would be, but Studio Mir's work was so good in Book 1 that this change is a "down" for the season.

We are presented with the danger of this season, evil spirits and the reality of our dear Fire Ferrets. Bolin is the only one who continues in Pro's Bending while Mako became a cop and Korra is just being the Avatar, and Asami is trying to deal with the CEO’s stuff of the Future Industries.

Now something that bothered me a lot in the first half of season. I felt that everything that Korra went through in Book 01 was for nothing, as there is no development in the character. She remains the same spoiled, arrogant from Book 1

The relationship between Mako and Korra is appalling, especially because of Korra's unbearable and inexplicable behavior earlier this season.

We are also introduced to Unalaq, uncle of Korra and soon we see that his relation with Tonraq is, at least ,troubled. Also we met Tony Stark .... cof sorry, Varrick and what a good surprise this character was.

Returning to Korra, this second season she is even more childish than the first. It's inexplicable, I dont know what happened. Like, I can understand her sense of frustration of still being treated as someone who is incapable of making choices, but what does she do? She goes there and shows that she is incapable of making choices.

Like all the building of partnership and trust that was made in book 01 between Tenzin and Korra, something that I unfortunately forgot to mention in my review of book 01, was thrown in the trash because in the first "fight" she exchanged the Tenzin that literally hugged her in the worst moments of her life until then, by an uncle she barely know

I think that when, soon in the first episode Korra dispenses the Tenzin, Unalaq must have thought : "Man, that was easy"

Then we have Korra with unnecessary anger for her father for him not told he was banished from the Northern WaterTribe and why. Like, girl, this is certainly something your father is not proud of, maybe even blaming himself for the inexperience and arrogance in which he acted when, after chasing the barbarians who attack the city , ended up destroying a sacred place. I'm sure you did not tell him about how "cool" the first conversation you had with Amon was.

Okay, I'll take it easy with Korra, maybe this "Stop Protecting Me" it is her trying to reaffirm herself as Avatar after all she suffered in Book 01. Then this almost desperation for not wanting to be seen as a child and wanting to be considered a capable person, made her, ironically, act like a child and show herself unable , after make some wrong choices.

You guys remember that when the NorthTribe invaded the SouthTribe, she chose to stay with her uncle and not her father. Even Tonraq being an incredible father.

(Look at this? This person is trustworthy right. The guy is sitting in a dark room, alone doing a bunch of nothing. IN THE DARK!)

Unalaq was another one that I did not like since the moment I saw it. He is by far the worst villain even more that Ozai's greatest megalomaniac style, worse yet, Ozai wanted his Nation to rule the world while Unalaq wants evil to dominate simply because he wants to. But I give him something, he was good to see that moment of “wanting approval” that Korra and exploits it in his favor.

When Korra discovers that his uncle was responsible for the unjust sentence of his father when Unalaq underwent an attempt of kidnapping and that he also was responsible for the banishment his father years ago. First of all I can not blame her for the violent way she approached the judge for the conversation because I think it would do the same. (Dont mess with the people i love)

Something very interesting to note was that this season was where everyone was further away from each other. And the frozen scenery of the northern watertribe helped amplify this feeling. The soundtrack of this season is also incredible, all of the seasons are actually.

Another thing I liked was the interaction between the sons of Aang. It was a bit sad to know that despite being a great Avatar, Aang was a bit flawed as a parent. Paying more attention to his duty to the world than with his family. And clearly having a favorite son, Tenzin. I can understand why, but is sucks anyway

But I also think the character who was best explored this season was Tenzin. We can connect with his concerns. The burden of being responsible for the survival of the airbender culture, the fear of failure, and the quest to be a reflection of his father.

We know more about Bumi, and dude, the scene in ep.04 where he talks to his father's statue, apologizing for not being an airbender, and besides that , he did what he can to keep the world . And Kya is kind of a more lesbian cooler version of Katara in terms of personality.

One more “down” to this Book in the beginning was to make fun with the Bolin being clearly in an abusive relationship with Eska. This is not fun people, people die because of it.

Poor Mako in the first half, his only getting slapped by Korra . Later on I understand, but I dont agree with his position of delivering Korra's plans to get help for the southern tribe to Raiko. Episode 06 was focused on Mako, Bolin and Asami. We can see Asami, in a moment of weakness that I dont understand until today, kissing Mako. Bolin pursuing film career and Mako showing a certain ability as a detective. This I found cool because it gains another layer to the character , it is no longer just the romantic interest of Korra. It also had virtually the revelation of Varrick as a secondary villain for this arc of them

Bolin also has something nice, If in the first episode, he was shown was someone who only can fight with The Krew, later in book 2 he and we see that he is capable to fight alone for himself.

And Asami, this babe was her own “up and fall and up again” arc as CEO of her dad company. And she shows that she has what its need to take control of the business.

I really dont know what happened to the writers in this first half of book 02, way below the expected But Raava inspired them to make the wonder that is the second half of the season. And so I finish my analysis of the first half of book 02

Beginnings part 1 and 2 are my favorite episodes of the entire AVATAR series. Seriously, everything in these episodes is incredible, from the differentiated animation (Studio Mir is back baby!!!)to the soundtrack, and of course, the script.

In Beginnings we are introduced to the first avatar, Avatar Wan. And so, we are presented as the cycle began. From real, every time I see these two episodes I cry like a baby.

"Return to the beginning. Find Raava "

Lets talk about Wan, he was a young thief trying to survive, in a dangerous and authoritarian era of what might be considered the beginnings of the Fire Nation, a city that lay on the back of a Giant Turtle, protected them from the spirits -dominated forests.

I will not say much about these two episodes because even if you dont remember , go watch, seriously, it's incredible. And because if I start talking about them I will not finish.

In short. Wan receives the power of fire from the Giant Lion Turtle and go into the forest. Then he return home before entering the forest, and thus steals the fire power ,which was forbidden to use in the city.What is worth mentioning is that the bendinds there were not developed , dont expect martial arts movements.

Here ,even with power, Wan is merciful and selfless. He did not think only of himself, he did not exposed who participated in the rebellion with him and still spared the life of a guard. He is then banished to the forest and .... aaa did not say, I cant not speak of these episodes man

Anyway, after going through "trouble" on his first night out in the woods. He seeks the help of a spirit who simply says "it's not my problem", so Wan tries to fantasize as spirit to be able to enter the oasis of the same spirit that denied him help. Then he discovers that there are other LionTurtles, and consequently, other cities.

And in his journey, even with hunger he decides to release an animal, which turns his animal partner. And so, seeing the altruistic action of Wan, the same spirit that denied him help, helps him to escape the hunters. And so he decides to stay and learn from the spirits.

And so, Wan learns the dragon dance, protecting the oasis and his friends spirits. My baby Wan <3

Back in town, Wan's old friend decides to lead a group of people who believe that only with the power of fire, it is possible to live in the forests. Needless to say that shit happens right ?!

Then Wan decides to travel the world with his pet, Mula. The music in these parts is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, really.

Then Wan discovers Raava and Vaatu fighting and, unknowingly, helps Vaatu to escape. With the help of Raava ,who at first dont like the ideat of joining with Wan to fight Vaatu), Wan finds the other lions turtles and is given the other bendings.

Raava is light and peace. Literally, the good. Vaatu is evil.

However, Wan can only change elements, when the spirit of Raava passes through his body. Wan is an example of a good person, he literally made the biggest shit in the world but instead of running away, as many would do, he took responsibility and face it.

And it is on this journey that he begins to train heavy, the elements, and learn about the balance of the world.

"He can not destroy light any more than i cant destroy darkess. One can not exist without the other "_Raava

"Most humans think only about themselves" _Raava

Man, this is so true, worse, it's a direct truth. There is no metaphor here.

There we see humans using the power of fire to clear the forest, nothing new really. The same group as that friend of Wan. And so, these people attack anything (spirits) they see, not knowing whether it is good or bad, just by their own ignorance. What unfortunately happens in various parts of the world with minority groups that are attacked only by the ignorance of the aggressors.

In this 5-minute scene, we see all the power of ignorance and violence. Humans have invaded and destroyed the forest, and still set fire to any spirit that appears. In Brazil we have farmers doing exactly the same thing with the natives, with the moral help of the president. But we are not here to talk about the shit hole that is Brazil right now....

The stronger Vaatu gets, the smaller and weaker Raava gets.

(I'm almost crying because I'm writing while I'm watching this wonderful episode.)

It is then that Wan touch’s on the energy that comes out of one of the portals and this scene happens

(This scene gives me so many chills. Its simple epic)

Now officially as Avatar, Wan and Raava succeed together defeating Vaatu, imprisoning for the next 10 thousand years. It is also Wan who makes the decision to close the portal, separating spirits and humans.

We then see the Lion Turtles talking that a new era has begun, and we will no longer be given the power of the elements to the people. Then shows Wan's narration as he separates two armies, because it seems that war is what a human being does best.

Then we think the episode ends there. With the message of the duty of the avatar and all but ...oh boy we are wrong . We see a much older Wan, mortally wounded in battle. Regretting that he had not fulfilled his duty to bring peace, that darkness still surrounds humanity, he did not have enough time.

"Do not worry, we will be together for all your lifetimes and we will never give up" _Raava

Soon after this talk of Raava, Wan dies and the cycle of avatars begins.

(im not crying... you are)

Something I think is very important to mention is that these two episodes, as well as this season of The Legend Of Korra, use something that I hate, that is the megalomaniac villain and the megalomaniac consequences. Only, especially in these two episodes of the Wan, we are not focused on this but on the learning of the character and all the wisdom of Raava(the hero).

Vaatu can be evil, he has to be evil because he is evil. Now, Unalaq? "Urrr I will release the spirit of darkness to become an evil avatar because I want, even if it destroys the world."

If Vaatu was the villain alone, trying to lead Korra to the dark side, I think it would have been better, or if Unalaq had been better worked for us to believe in his ambitions ... All the Korra villains have a very cool ideology be it equality, freedom or prosperity. Unalaq is only a classic religious fanatic, and a forgettable villain.

Moreover, the rest is just Korra and his friends preparing for Harmonic Convergence to beat Vaatu. And the end of the arc’s of Asami, Bolin and Mako.

Now, on this journey of Korra in the spirit world, when she misses Jinora and meets Iroh. Their interaction is wonderful.

I'll separate some quotes from Iroh to Korra, who at the moment is in the shape of a child.

Iroh says: "Even in material world you will find it, if you look for the light you can often find it. But if you look at the dark, heres what you will see "

Several things can be compared to this speech, but the first thing that came to mind was depression and its power to catastrophize everything. As depressive girl, I think I have the property to speak at least of my experience with it.

As depressive, I often see things on the more negative side and thus, "I search for darkness" and so, it is only her that I see. And as much as the search for light is arduous and tiresome, it compensates. It's a daily struggle. Even in the worst of times, look for the light in the dark and you'll be fine. Even if the path is dark and scary, we all have light and we can all walk that path, whether alone or with help.

And Iroh was also right in another speech, helping others is one of the best things you can do. I can not describe the good feeling that takes care of you when you help someone. I think if we all did that, the world would not be in such a mess.

Now let's talk about the shocking and sad scene of the loss of connections.

Honestly I think it's something that can be reversed, and if I did it in a fanfic the creators can do in HQ u.u

About the fanfic, ~propaganda moment here~, I swear that I will continue translate it a and post at least once a month on Wattpad with the link here on Tumblr.Who was interested, here is the link of the chapters already translated. I still do not consider myself fluent in English, so I accept any corrections.

Link for the chapters in English: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/117030440-the-legend-of-korra-book-5-legacy

(This is just to say how much i love Korra with loose and messy hair, my god how I find it sexy. And for you guys to see this gorgeus image and forgive me for the “propaganda time”)

Returning...

Anyway, at first, I found it very heavy and unnecessary but after analyzing the series as a whole and not just Book 2, I think I understood.

Korra is the avatar in a world practically totally different from the world of Aang and the previous avatars. A world where technology grows every day, a world each more similar to ours. That is, a new era. And this new age, perhaps it did not need other avatars.

Dont slap me please. But like, for example, what am I going to ask a 19th-century person how she communicated, if we have the cell phone today? Things have changed, the experiences and how to deal with the things too. Perhaps Avatar Kyoshi does not have adequate advice for the Avatar in an increasingly political and complicated world.

The breaking of the cycle was literally the end of an era of Avatars, the avatars that will come after Korra, in theory, will be more apt to deal with these problems so similar to what we experience.

But yes, I wanted her to somehow reconnect.

As you can see, although I love reading philosophical, political, social, historical, and psychological things, I do not quote any specific author in my interpretations, but I certainly use the knowledge I learned in what I write. "Lara, why dont you quote this guys here?" Cause my memory is terrible in memorising words, which means that I would have to reread, to know who exactly said what, and my college dont let me have this much time

Another thing I forgot to mention, the Gifs are not mine, more talented people than I've done them, and I just picked it up from the internet. Ican tag you in the comments if you are the author of those

Although it is not the book that most focuses on psychological issues, it does so through philosophical questions of "Who I am" and "What is my duty in the world"

Overall, book 2 of The Legend Of Korra is the most nostalgic of all, in my opinion. And in my view, the theme that stands out is that of "Search for own identity".

We see this in Wan,Bolin, Korra, Tenzin, and Jinora in a more prominent way.

Wan on his quest for Avatar's identity, even if it is unconscious. Korra for the exact opposite, her quest is for herself. Who is Korra? And would Korra be limited to just been The Avatar?

Who is Tenzin? He finally detaches himself from his father's image. As he says in the fog of the lost souls: "Im not a refletion of my father. Im Tenzin " Bolin who discovers his is not just a sidekick to his brother, he is more than that

And Jinora discovering and embracing without question her full potential with the spiritual side.

And besides, i hate it the all giant final fight. I simple dont like it.

#the legend of korra #avatar korra #team avatar #Asami Sato #tenzin #mako #bolin #avatar #korrasami #raava #avatar wan

4 notes · View notes

gimmetheheadcanons · 6 years

Text

Sinners & Scapegoats 3/?

A/N: Beta'd by the lovely and always supportive @siancore. The heart and soul of the Richonne fandom we don't deserve. chapter 1 here, chapter 2 here

3. Worse

Rick abandoned his fruitless teddy bear rescue mission pretty soon after it began. All it took first was an unexpected phone call from his own son to put him to shame. Made impatient by his excitement and wanting to share a piece of news his mother had insisted could wait, Carl Grimes' determined dialling unwittingly drew his delusional dad back to the real world of professional boundaries and paternal promises.

"Carl what did I tell you about bothering your father at work?"

"But mom! I just wanna know when he'll be back!"

"In his own time."

In his own time.

Rick felt the slight from miles away. An attack on his fatherhood, his commitment to his duties. It was the first time Lori had brought their battle to the 'Carl front'. The humiliation of listening helplessly over the line was unbearable to Rick, a man who prided himself in his relationship with his boy, his entire world – the center of the universe

Propelled into action by his hurt and in a desperate bid to prevent any further sullying of his good name, Rick raced all the way home – driving with very little regard to the traffic laws he was charged with reinforcing daily. Halfway into his journey, the righteous anger he felt dissipated, and he was left with an uncomfortable truth – Lori wasn't wrong.

He had a son, a little boy of his own, and whilst Michonne was out there, earning her points as a parent, he had to be dragged back to his. It wasn't right, Rick thought angrily, cursing himself, and not Lori this time, for the situation he had gotten himself into. What was he going to do anyway? Kick down his front door in a fit of rage and proceed to throw down with the mother of his child in front of said child? Over what? A comment that may have been just that – a comment. Entirely harmless, except against his ego, thus rousing his defensiveness.

Rick was exhausted; he hadn't even walked through the door yet and he was already done with this. He thought back to little Sophia, caught up in a world of hurt by the state of her parents' marriage, and he shivered at the thought of ever inflicting a different kind of damage onto his own child.

As inexcusable as it was, sooner rather than later, the tension between him and his wife would overflow and impact Carl's blissful childhood existence. Rick could feel it in his bones, the breaking point approaching. The day he would slip up as a Christian and disrespect his once beloved bride by calling her a fucking spiteful bitch. And Carl would hear him and be forever changed by it.

Unless he put a stop to it first.

There it was again, slithering across his mind. A shameful snake of a thought telling him to go against all he promised before God and a congregation of witnesses.

Divorce.

Rick shuddered at the thought, at losing his family, at bailing on them when things got tough. At ever seeing his son look back at him with weary, world worn eyes instead of the innocent, twinkling blue ones that lit up every time Rick walked through the door.

"Dad!"

"Hey there, champ," Rick yelled back, the cheer in his voice overcompensating for a guilt that sought to choke him. "Heard you had a story for me?"

Carl was twelve, but that didn't stop him from jumping into Rick's arms with a jubilant smile on his young face. He was overjoyed to see his father back so soon after his phone call; not bearing an ounce of ill will for Rick being away for so long in the first place. Rick clung to his son, his perfect little boy, grateful for the hero's welcome he knew he didn't deserve and knowing to cherish it whilst it lasted. Over Carl's shoulder, loomed Lori looking less than thrilled by her husband's return.

"Sorry I'm late," Rick mouthed to her, half expecting the apology not to take, but it did.

Lori Grimes simply shrugged her thin shoulders before leaving for their kitchen. A begrudging acceptance of the situation was all she could muster for him, and Rick immediately knew why: She had been hoping for another hour without him. Rick sighed mournfully.

How did they get here and how does it end?

"Okay dad, you can let go now," Carl said, interrupting Rick's thoughts regarding the dark state of his marriage. The not-quite teen playfully squirmed free from the man who continued to cling onto him, completely unaware of his new existence as a sad relic of a once happy marriage. Embarrassed, Rick quickly apologized and ushered his son to tell his tale.

"My piece got picked for the gallery! Everyone's coming to see it and I need you guys to be free on Thursday. This coming one not the next. At seven."

That was all Carl said but Rick was already lost.

"The what now?"

"At school," Carl said, sounding frustrated with his father's inability to extract the relevant details that made up this supposed good news from the excitable ramblings. Rolling his eyes impatiently, Carl started from the beginning.

"We have a new art teacher. Ms. Anthony."

"Yes, son, that I'm aware of," Rick said, unable to help himself but careful not to betray anything further regarding Michonne.

"Yeah she's from New York and so cool and different. Like waaay more interesting than Mrs. Randal. Man was she a pain! Dad, we were painting bowls of fruit over and over and over again. Things were that bad."

"Hey now, don't be so harsh on old Mrs. Randal, Carl. She's a kindly old woman."

"Yeah, but I'm glad she retired, because if I had to paint one more apple – I would've gladly had a stroke too!"

Rick shamefully chuckled at Mrs. Randal's expense. His son's declaration was undoubtedly dramatic as old Testament damnation. But he was glad to hear Michonne brought some much needed vigor to her new role and ditched the cumbersome curriculum of her predecessor. Back at school, he was never a fan of art and he had a sneaking suspicion the blame lay at Old Lady Randal's feet then too.

"Anyway, Ms. Anthony is awesome. We started a new art project two months ago and she promised if all do great job we'd get to display our work in our own gallery – like the Metropolitan, but right here at Henry Ellis!"

Rick clapped his hands right on cue, signalling to his son how incredibly impressed he was. And in all honesty, he was, especially with how fast Michonne was working to make her stamp on this town. She really was something special.

"And when did your school get a swanky new space for the display of art?"

Carl laughed heartily at the way his father continued to feign ignorance just for his amusement, and Rick grinned back, pleased to make his son's face beam.

"It'll only be for one evening. We get to turn the gym into one with movable screens to divide it up, and then lights on like stands, so people can really see the art. Oh and there will be snacks, for the guests – the moms and dads."

"Wow! And you're saying your piece got picked for this event? That's amazing."

Carl's body shifted uncomfortably at Rick's praise. "Well – we all get to display our work because it's a class thing," he confessed finally, for a moment looking slightly embarrassed at exaggerating his own importance.

"I'm sure your piece will be the best one there," Rick said, reassuring his son, as a parent would, but acutely aware that knowing Carl, he would be proven right. The kid had talent; he had been drawing on any and all surfaces since the day he was big enough to pick up his first crayon. It used to drive Rick and Lori nuts, trying to keep Carl's artistic sensibilities within the confines of a sketchpad, but as the years went on, Rick was glad they never did anything to stop him.

His father's praise had a reinvigorating effect on the boy, and Carl returned to gushing about the upcoming event.

"Ms. Anthony did say mine had real potential. She said I get to put my piece in the center spot because she was so impressed with it."

"That's my boy! Up top!"

Lori walked back into the hallway just in time to witness the celebratory high five between the Grimes men, and Rick was pleased to see her approval. They shared a quiet moment of pure parental pride, glad to shower their son with love, for he was a tribute to the heights they could achieve when their partnership worked.

"We're all so proud of you, sweety," said Lori.

Carl thanked his mother with a hug and it was just as welcoming a sight to Rick as his high-five had been to her. This was worth fighting for, Rick reminded himself, determined to etch this image into his mind for the next time he would be overcome with doubt.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Can I call Shane now that dad knows? You said I could tell him once I told dad."

Lori's face changed at Carl's request. There was an awkward pause before she answered with a tense smile on her face. "Sure baby."

"You know the number still?"

"Duh," Carl said sarcastically before correcting himself for fear of repercussions for his tone. "I mean yes, mom."

Lori sighed before laying out her terms. "Are you going to make sure to head straight up afterwards? Because I need you in your bed in fifteen minutes."

Carl happily agreed with his mother's request.

"Okay then, you can go call Shane," Lori said finally, dismissing Carl who dashed out the room the moment right after the first word and nod.

Left behind with his wife, Rick could feel the stillness in the air.

The mention of his best friend's name shouldn't have had this effect on them, and yet, Rick could feel something was hideously off. Lori looked back at him with brown uncertain eyes and Rick couldn't make sense of why. Or he didn't want to. He wanted to go back to the glorious picture of domestic bliss from mere moments ago.

"He expects us to attend this event. The both of us, together."

She spoke to him with none of that artificial sweetness she saved for him whenever Carl was in their presence.

"And Shane?" Rick regretted it as soon as he asked. His distressed heart cried out for him to stop pursuing this line of questioning.

"He said he'd ask him. I told him not to bother him," Lori said, arms folded over her chest a little too defensive to be casual.

Rick let out a small laugh. There was nothing funny about it. "Why Lori? He's family. Why shouldn't he attend his godson's art exhibition."

"Oh, don't Rick. Don't."

Lori turned on her heel, ready to retreat to the kitchen and leave the start of another argument. But Rick Grimes refused to be left behind.

"What, Lori? What is it that I am doing?" He demanded, following his wife into the kitchen and making sure to shut the door behind him.

Lori swung back around to face her husband, confronting him in a low angry whisper so as to not attract their son's attention. They were so well rehearsed in their bouts, they had specific modes. This was not to be one of their earth shattering "To hell with the neighbors, Carl is at school so bring your worst darling" clashes.

"This!" Lori hissed in a tactically low voice, carrying all the irritation or a much louder one. "You're making me feel bad for trying to spare you your feelings."

Rick let out an empty gasp to convey his utter surprise. "Since when? Also, what feelings?"

"It's not my fault that your son loves your best friend. You shouldn't have a problem with that!" Lori continued, serving up the outrage in tightly contained manner.

Again, none of this was making sense to Rick. He could barely follow the turn this conversation suddenly had taken.

"I don't have a problem with it, Lori," he said, answering honestly and somewhat calmly. "But you seem to. Why wasn't it okay for Carl to call his buddy Shane to tell him his good news? Why do you think that would bother me?"

Rick felt he made his question clear enough for his wife, and for a moment, with perhaps nowhere to hide, Lori Grimes was silenced.

He didn't relish in point scoring during arguments, especially when all he wanted was a sincere response. Lori seemed to agree with him. She ran her hands through her long, messy brown waves; her hair looking more and more frazzled these days to match the unkempt stubble on his chin. The toll of an unhappy home life was becoming apparent on their faces. Leaning against the kitchen counter, she finally answered.

"I don't know why, Rick, I don't know why anything bothers you anymore these days. It just does."

Rick bit his lip angrily at the disgraceful attempt at deflection.

"No Lori. You don't get that do that. Not this time."

The clatter of one unwashed pot against after that Rick sent it went flying into the sink shocked Lori for a moment. But then she let out a completely unironic cackle.

"Do what? Walk on eggshells?" Lori cried, barely able to contain her outrage pointing at her husband's behavior as another exhibit to enter into evidence.

Breathing heavily, Rick wiped the splash back of water droplets from his face. He wasn't angry, he told himself, knowing he was barely keeping it together.

"What's that? Missed my head?"

"Don't," Rick whispered the blood draining from his face.

She knew he would never but said it anyway.

How could she.

Needing a break after landing such a blow, Lori bowed over a little. Her hands resting on her knees and her face artfully hidden under a mess of dark hair instead of owning up to the cruelty of her comments. Rick could hear her sob a little, but was in no mood to comfort her.

"Fine. I'm the bad guy," he sighed, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head. "What else is new?"

"No, I am. And I'll go on being the bad guy, Rick," Lori said, straightening up and staring Rick in the eye. She had a pathetic, exhausted look on her face but an iron will and a tone that matched. Lori had been done recharging her artilleries. "I'll be the bad guy. For caring about my husband. For wanting him not to be bothered at work until he's done. For making sure his son doesn't forget to tell his father news that matters first! A man he barely sees these days anyway!"

Rick took a step back, unprepared, he had been wounded by the accusation of neglect on his part.

"I know I've been busy," Rick admitted, feeling sorry for himself and his actions. This was an argument he had lost back in the car. There was no point in hiding that fact.

"You have," Lori replied, relentless in her criticism, not yet knowing she had overreached and Rick wasn't done.

"But that's not what's going on here," said Rick. He was ready to bring the argument back to his original point.

"And what is then Rick?" Lori asked.

After a pregnant pause, Rick decided to come out with it.

"You don't have to keep Carl from Shane."

Unless there is another reason.

But Rick was momentarily stunned into silence by his wife's speedy interruption. "Okay. I won't, but you don't have to keep forcing yourself to be here."

King of self-imposed amnesia, Rick Grimes ran with the subject change, no longer sure what he was getting at in the first place. Instead he decided that this would be the moment. One that called for a new kind of weapon – sincere openness.

"I'm not. Lori," he said softly, moving towards his wife slowly. "I want to be here, I want to be with my son."

Rick paused for a moment before adding the rest. "And I want to be with my wife, if she'll let me."

Lori did nothing to answer her husband's plea, flinching the moment her reached out to hold her hand. And it was enough for Rick to know that he was on his own in manning the scaffoldings that kept his marriage from falling. Lori would never leave him, but she would never stop trying to drive him out.

"I have to go check on Carl. Make sure he washed up before bed."

Both resigned to their fate for the only reason they could offer up, Lori made way towards the door.

Rick hesitated for a moment before calling out to his wife one more time.

"Lori?"

She didn't turn around to face him, but briefly stopped at the door regardless.

Never an inch.

Rick sighed and swallowed his true words for empty ones. "Tell him I'll be up in a minute to say goodn-."

She was gone before he had finished.

Rick waited until Lori returned downstairs before going up to see his son. He wolfed down the night's leftovers, unheated pasta straight from the plastic container in the fridge, before sprinting up the stairs and into Carl's room.

"Hey kiddo, you all tucked in?"

Carl groaned at his father's babying of him. Rick knew it must've looked strange having one parent enter the room, just as soon as the other left.

"You know I'm too old for tuck-ins dad."

Rick chuckled at his son's response. "Like heck you are."

"You can say hell."

Rick raised his eyebrows. "I know I can."

"But I can't," Carl grumbled, sinking further into his bed at the injustice.

"Yep and don't you forget it."

It was always a little disconcerting how quickly the boy in front of him changed. Less than an hour ago, he was flying into Rick's arms the way he always had. Here, they were embarrassing him at the mere thought of a tuck in and pushing his luck with curse words.

Rick wondered if Shane would let Carl swear around him. Maybe that's what made the kid idolize the carefree, cool cop when compared to stuffy straight and narrow old man. The thought irked him and led him down a rabbit hole he so desperately wished to avoid.

"Hey, by the way, what did Shane say when you called?"

"Not much. It was loud where he was but he said he would come."

The boy was downplaying how disappointed he was that his godfather didn't make a bigger deal about the news. But knowing his friend, Rick imagined the man was three beers in already and in the mood to do the kind of adult entertaining Carl's phone call was keeping him from.

It brought a small petty smile to his face; Carl may think the world of Shane and on the right day his godfather thought the same – but the boy only had one father and that was boring old Rick.

"Hey, proud of you son," Rick said, repeating himself but each time meaning it just the same. "Now I might not get the finer details of something as out there as art, but I know talent when I see it."

"Thanks," Carl replied with a look of genuine affection on his face for Rick's hammy, dorky dad act.

Rick looked at Carl's room, covered in a visual history of his son's artistic journey, from original comic book creations and creepy crawlers to sketches of friends, family and fellow townspeople. He had no idea where his son's artistic sensibilities had come from, it sure as hell didn't run in the Grimes family line. But unlike the men that came before him, Rick was supportive of his son's endeavour. Proud of his creative capabilities and his thoughtful, imaginative nature. As was Lori, and he was grateful to hear Michonne now too.

"So…Any hints as to what this masterpiece of yours is like?"

"You're just gonna have to wait until opening night, like everyone else."

"Wow, that's cold, son," Rick gasped, getting up from Carl's bed and stumbling to door in an exaggerated manner of a wounded soldier.

"Hey dad?" Rick heard Carl call out for him. He turned to face his son, completely serious and ready to attend to his needs. "Just don't make things weird for me at school."

Not knowing how to respond, Rick simply nodded before hitting the light switch off and leaving the room, his anxious mind wondering if Shane had received such a warning from the surly teen that was threatening to take his sweet son's place. Somehow, feeling every bit as wounded as he had pretended to be just a few moments ago, Rick Grimes knew the answer was no and all that did was make him want to take off his oldest friend's head with the dirty pot his wife thought was meant for her.

#fanfiction #richonne #twd #gimme: sinners and scapegoats #siancore

63 notes · View notes

ohjohnno · 4 years

Text

Outrageous Fortune Reviewcap: S1E05 (”The Infants Of Spring”)

This is, obviously, a bit of a step down from the last one. That doesn’t mean all that much in itself - the last episode was one of my favorite TV episodes of all time - but this one, regrettably, does contain a lot more Hong family shit, and that’s always depressing. Still, it’s not a wash, and there’s plenty of interesting stuff to be found here.

For one thing, this is the first Outrageous Fortune episode that doesn’t mostly center Cheryl. She is - aside from a brief stint delivering papers in the cold open - between jobs right now, and she’s not taking it well.

The episode thus centers around the West children, who all must find their own ways of helping to alleviate her distress. For Jethro, of course, it’s easy: he drops off his clothes for her to iron at the house as an excuse to be able to pay her for something. The others, alas, have to get more creative - and they’re more than a little bitter about it.

As usual, Loretta’s willingness to do a Good Deed seems to be only skin deep; she’s the one who initially brings up the idea of helping Cheryl, but she doesn’t go about it in the healthiest ways. For a start, she tries to convince Van to give her money so that she can give it to Cheryl (”I don’t have any to give her”, she says, which seems improbable, really, considering her history). This almost works, but even Van can see through that, and he instead just up and gives Cheryl the money himself. But by that point, Loretta’s had another idea, and it’s turned into something far bigger than helping out her poor old mum.

A glimpse of a pirated kung fu movie Van got from Mr. Hong sets the gears working in Loretta’s mind, and soon she’s up to no good, albeit in a harmless way. Her scheme is as simple as it is illegal: she’s gonna buy pre-released DVDs from the Hongs, make copies of them, and sell them to the customer base of the Video Shack for a profit. It’s definitely the most wholesome kind of criminality any of the Wests have got involved in so far - she correctly identifies herself as “fighting the good fight” against the corporations, not that that’s really her main motivation - but Cheryl nonetheless wouldn’t approve, and neither does Kurt, whom she still treats like a dumb lackey.

It’s the singleminded intensity with which she pursues her goal that makes it interesting. Loretta, see, doesn’t just buy a few DVDs from the Hongs; she sets up a whole distribution deal, and then uses some of that money she apparently didn’t have to buy a proper copying equipment. She does that all without telling Kurt until she’s already done it, of course, and mocks him as a “pussy” when he complains. It’s not news that Loretta’s friendship with Kurt is softly abusive, but her sudden hunger for money is new. For the moment, it’s also very successful - she has no problems blackmailing the store’s owner into giving her management of the place, and she ends her plot by giving us the title card shot that’ll persist throughout the first two seasons.

Van, having already helped Cheryl with her cash flow problems, spends most of the episode dealing with issues of his own. For the most part, I wish he didn’t, although I will grant that there are a couple of moments I truly cherish. The little laser-gun noises Van makes while shearing the hedge are hilarious, and the whole physical comedy situation in the car - getting stuck under Suzy after she somehow throws her back out during sex, accidentally deactivating the handbrake during the struggle to get out, Suzy’s terror as the car begins to roll towards the lake with her, immobilized, in the back - is perhaps the only really, truly brilliantly funny moment to ever come out of the Hong family.

The rest of the plot is less interesting, although it does have its moments. Van does display his first sign of resistance to his father’s will when he meets him in prison this time - perhaps taking his brother’s advice from last episode - but in the end he still acquiesces, and as a result we get our first introduction to the manic, lovably drug-addicted pyromaniac Sparky, an old friend and associate of Wolf’s who is, apparently, in dear need of some company.

He’s funny, and Van’s awkward nervousness around him is funnier. But his part in the plot is a little boring; he’s really just there to create a logistical conflict for Van, catching him between his commitment to his father and his job with the Hongs, thus forcing him to rope in Jethro to imitate him on an errand. Sparky, as it happens, was hired by the Video Shack’s owner to burn it down for the insurance money, and provides something of a miniboss fight for Loretta, who’s copying pirated DVDs in it at the time; Jethro, meanwhile, successfully completes the Hongs’ task and is rewarded for it with sex by Tracy (the daughter, in case I’ve forgotten to mention her name by now), who is under the impression that she’s fucking Van and is thus, I’m pretty sure, a victim of rape-by-deception. It’s another of the many plot threads surrounding the Hongs that has aged poorly, especially since it’s played entirely for laughs.

It eventually turns out that Suzy is newly pregnant with a child that may well be Van’s, which is, if nothing else, at least maybe the first sign we’ve had of any actual reason for her to have been having so much baffling sex with Van. But that, too, is used in a kinda predictable way - the other Hong girl is mad at him (she doesn’t like Suzy, for no good reason), the father remains clueless, and Suzy remains utterly one-dimensional. If we learn anything new from this, it’s that Jethro has no problem whatsoever with deceiving women into sex, which isn’t exactly the most surprising thing we could ever have learned about him. God, it’s all so unbecoming of a show like this.

Pascalle’s plot in this episode, on the other hand, is very good, and a perfect snapshot of this show’s moral complexity at its best. She’s getting a little dissatisfied with being a waitress in a strip club full of drunk and handsy old men, so the club’s owner, Robbie, offers her an escape route. You can probably guess what that route is.

He doesn’t seem like a bad guy, this Robbie; he’s genuinely kind with Pascalle, rather than Nice Guy kind like the photographer from a couple of episodes ago, and he’s not especially pushy. But it’s impossible to ignore that he has a self-interested reason to be offering her this carrot; Pascalle is gorgeous, and every new beautiful stripper in his club is more potential money in his pocket. She’s also still very young, and the spectacle of an adult man gently trying to ease a teenager into becoming a stripper is always cause for caution. Still, at least his method of getting what he wants is genuine-sounding positive reinforcement (”I really think you’ve got what it takes!”) rather than anything less wholesome, and the girl he leaves her with for training doesn’t seem to bear him any ill will.

She’s an interesting minor character in her own right, though she doesn’t do much after this episode (that I recall, anyway). She’s doesn’t love her job, but she doesn’t hate it either; after all, it’s paying her way through college, and it’s not like it’s any more shameful than any other job. Pascalle, for her part, learns quickly, and is soon ready to make her own debut.

As it happens, Judd and his youthful sidekick are in the audience at the time; Pascalle gets cold feet, but she can’t back out now. So the other girl, reassuring her that this sort of shit has happened to everyone, advises her to just pretend she’s where she most wants to be instead. The result is one of the show’s best sequences so far, and one of the only moments with memorable directing.

Pascalle goes onstage and disappears into herself; she is, as far as she is concerned, on a beach in some nameless paradise, being photographed by someone who sounds like their first language is Spanish while she poses for some big magazine or something, looking the absolute happiest she has in the whole show while the audience jeers and cheers and - in one particularly galling case - laughs hysterically.

Judd’s sidekick (whose name I can’t recall off the top of my head) is particularly into it, and that’ll come back to bite later. But Pascalle doesn’t notice, and she’s made so much money that she doesn’t care. It gives the audience something of a quandary; on the one hand, it feels a lot like she’s being exploited, but on the other hand she seemed to genuinely really enjoy the experience. That’s an old feminist debate made manifest in a single character’s plot arc here, and it’s very nicely done. No answers are given, though - we have to make up our own minds on the moral questions, at least for now.

The end of the episode is nice; Cheryl, having received money from all four of her children, is deeply proud of them. The four of them, of course, are all happy to have provided for her; the fact that two of them made that money through means she would entirely disapprove of, and that the others were unrelatedly involved in yet more things she’d disapprove of, is a beautiful little icing. Thus ends the episode, having set a lot of things in motion for a lot of the characters and yet still leaving me feeling a little dissatisfied, mostly cos that Hong stuff is so boring. Still, I’ll just keep holding my breath, ‘cos the worst is already over. On we go!

#Antonia Prebble #Siobhan Marshall #antony starr #Robyn Malcolm #grant bowler #television #outrageous fortune #Frank Whitten #rachel lang #Gutter Black #nz

1 note · View note

confrontingbabble-on · 7 years

Link

The bible writers created the same dubious, inconsistent, incoherent, irrational, ignorant, carnal, bloodthirsty crazy-ass mofo god...as their rulers were...

“...the Bible is chock-full of examples of God just messing with people, apparently for shits and giggles. For example ...

#6. God Goes Fear Factor On Ezekiel...

The Book of Ezekiel is about a conversation between God and the priest Ezekiel, mostly about why God is going to destroy Jerusalem (spoiler: because they're a bunch of assholes). Ezekiel is supposed to go to the city and tell them about it, but God doesn't really expect them to listen (remember: assholes).

To make things fun, there's a catch: Ezekiel can't just tell them God's plan. Instead, he takes away Ezekiel's ability to speak, and then forces him to communicate the message through an elaborate game of charades. See? Fuckin' with us.

First, God gives Ezekiel a scroll and tells him to eat it.

OK, that's not the weirdest thing God has ever told someone to do. Plus it tastes like honey. So far, so good. Then God tells Zeke to construct a little scale model of Jerusalem out of clay, and stomp the crap out of it like a bully wrecking a sand castle. This is, we guess, the less subtle part of the prophecy.

Then God just wants to see how far he will go. He tells Ezekiel to lie down on his left side and stay there for 390 days. Then he's allowed to roll over -- presumably with one hell of a cramp and a bad case of bed sores -- but he has to lie on his right side for another 40 days, pointing at the squashed remains of the Jerusalem model the whole time so that people really get the message.

God, snickering, just cannot believe he's doing all this, so he really ups the game: The entire time, Ezekiel is allowed to eat nothing but bread that he cooked on a bonfire of human poop. This is the part of the prank show where most victims would start looking around for hidden cameras, but not Ezekiel. He just stoically bargains God down to cow poop instead and mistakenly calls it a victory.

#5. God Thinks It's Hilarious When You Eat Your Kids...

At various points, the Bible dictates that children who disobey their parents should be executed, while those who mock their parents should merely get their eyes plucked out. At one point, kids who laugh at a prophet for being bald get eaten by bears. Oh, that doesn't mean God really, really wants children to be good. He just hates kids. And you, for having kids. In fact, fuck you buddy, eat your kids.

Seriously, God makes that threat a lot. In Leviticus, he warns the people of Israel that if they fail to obey his laws, he will strike them down with famine and disease until "You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters." In Deuteronomy, he does it again, but expands the threat to assure his people that they won't be allowed to eat their nephews instead: "Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating."

In the Book of Jeremiah, God warns the Israelites to cut out all the false idol worship, and if they don't, they're going to lead an unfulfilling spiritual life. Oh wait, no -- eat your kids. And after they're done, he'll make them eat their friends too.

The threat even turns up in Ezekiel, as part of the prophet's rant against Jerusalem. Here, God promises that not only will fathers be forced to eat their children, but the children will also eat their fathers. We don't even know how that's supposed to work, or in what order. Like a ... a sort of Ouroboros human centipede thing? That's messed up, God.

#4. God Hits The Purge Button On Aaron's Sons...

Moses' brother Aaron had two sons, Nadab and Abihu. They appear only briefly in Leviticus, when Moses is showing the priests how to priest properly. Following the rules prescribed by God, Aaron slaughters some animals, cuts off the bits he's supposed to cut off, lays the offerings down on the altar in the correct way, lights up some incense, and waits. God approves of the ritual and makes a big light show to tell Aaron that he did well, and all the priests celebrate a job well done.

Next, Nadab and Abihu do the exact same thing. Only this time, God instantly incinerates the brothers in a furious hellstorm right in front of their horrified father.

Now, there's been a lot of debate among scholars about what exactly Nadab and Abihu did wrong. Some have suggested that they used the wrong incense ("Is that the pine bullshit? Nobody likes that pine bullshit!"), while others think they may have lit the fire wrong. Either way, Moses puts his arm around Aaron and basically tells him, "Yeah, your kids explode sometimes. C'est la vie!"

Aaron's surviving children and nephews then have to bury the dead brothers, but Moses warns them to be doubly careful, because if they make God any angrier by complaining or even not combing their hair properly, he'll probably kill everyone in Israel. Why? Well, you've guided all your Sims to the pool and then removed the ladder. You know why.

#3. God Has Ten Plagues, And He Is Going To Use TEN Plagues...

Exodus: Moses wants to free the Israelites from Egypt, but the Pharaoh won't let them go, so God sends ten horrible plagues against the Egyptians to show them who's boss. After each plague, the Pharaoh remains stubborn, so God has to step it up a notch, over and over again, until he's finally just straight-up killing babies.

The Pharaoh and the Egyptians are obviously the bad guys here and deserve everything that's coming to them -- unless you consider that, according to the Bible itself, the Pharaoh did not restrain the Israelites by his own free will. Every time God threw frogs or locusts or bees at him (bees were one of the plagues, right?) the Pharaoh considers letting the Israelites go, but God forces him to change his mind.

After each passage that describes one of the plagues, the Bible says, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart." God is playing both sides of this conflict. Even after Pharaoh finally releases the people and sends them out toward the Red Sea, God makes him change his mind again and send his army out to pursue them to a watery grave. Though he's always painted as the villain, the Pharaoh didn't really have any say in the matter from the beginning.

Biblical scholars have argued about why God would directly intervene in the Pharaoh's free will to constantly force him to defy God's own wishes, and the best response that they can give is that God just wanted to prove his power to everyone. In short, he promised ten plagues, and dammit, he was going to give them ten plagues. It would have spoiled his fun if the Pharaoh gave up after, like, three.

#2. God Don't Want No Uglies...

The Book of Leviticus is a particularly uneventful part of the Old Testament. It's mostly just a bunch of rules about rituals, instructions for priests, and obscure moral laws that God pulled out of a hat. It's marginally more interesting than reading a law school textbook, if only because of the graphic violence.

But if you can read Leviticus without falling into a coma, you'll notice that God has some pretty high standards for who should be allowed to worship at his altar. There are the slightly more reasonable rules -- like God doesn't want any bald or beardless guys, and nobody who isn't married to a virgin. Absolutely no divorcees or widows, and absolutely no prostitutes. It's like a bizarrely specific dating profile; he stops just short of demanding you be both cut and vegan.

But then he goes on to order that nobody with any kind of "defect" may come to his altar either. What constitutes a "defect"? God has an extensive list that he's very pleased to read out.

It includes no blind people -- in fact, nobody with bad eyesight of any kind. So if you wear glasses or contacts, you're probably out. Nobody who has a crippled foot or hand, so that old college sports injury probably rules you out. If you have a "flat nose," you're out. If you have sores or scabs, you're out. Nobody with a bad back. Nobody with "damaged testicles." And for some reason, God makes it very clear: Absolutely no dwarfs.

These people are still welcome to praise God, of course (and by "welcome," he means "required," unless fiery death is on their bucket list) but they're not allowed to approach him with offerings. Because yea, the lord, he swipeth left on thee.

#1. Don't Ask God For Things When He's Hungover...

While Moses is leading his 600,000-strong congregation of Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land, they begin to complain that the Arabian Desert isn't exactly a Golden Corral Buffet. The only thing they have to eat is bread made out of coriander seeds, and they start begging for meat. Moses, who has a direct telephone line to God, can tell that he's getting mad, and tries to get everyone to calm down, but they got the hangries.

Eventually, God speaks to Moses and tells him he's changed his mind -- he will give the Israelites some meat. In fact, and we're actually quoting God here , he's going to feed them meat "until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it."

The next day, the Israelites awaken to find their encampment two cubits (around 36 inches in non-Bible units) deep with wild quail for about a day's walk in either direction. There is an ocean of quail. They are stranded in it. The only option? Eat your way out. The Israelites spend two whole days and one night hunting quail before they sit down to the greatest quail feast in history. And afterward, they're struck down with the greatest salmonella outbreak in history.

God technically wasn't lying when he promised that the meat would later come out of their nostrils. That's the poetry of it. Try to imagine 600,000 people simultaneously power-spewing and suffering explosive diarrhea in one densely populated encampment, and you get the horrible idea.

The Bible quickly jump-cuts away from this story, mentioning only that they buried the dead in this place and named it "Kibroth Hattaavah," or "the Graves of Craving."

And God? He dropped the mic.”

http://www.cracked.com/article_24512_6-bible-stories-proving-god-basically-insane-prankster.html

Read also... http://www.cracked.com/article_20694_6-filthy-jokes-you-wont-believe-are-from-bible.html

And... http://www.cracked.com/article_20255_5-shocking-scenes-you-wont-believe-are-in-bible.html

#atheist #agnostic #secular humanist #skeptic #Religion #Christianity #religious insanity

37 notes · View notes