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#yes musa is my favorite and you can tell
dragonfly0808 · 7 months
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Musa’s Discography Pt. 1
Yes, I spend way too long thinking about stuff like this about my characters leave me alone ajajajjaaa
But srly like 2 people have asked me about this and I’ve spent way too long thinking about what Musa discography would actually be like so… here is her discography with a way too detailed description of why I chose each of the songs, I had way too much fun with this.
First EP. Written in the later half of s2 and before s3 published in the summer between s2 and s3
I had no specific ‘theme’ for this one, just songs I felt fit Musa’s mentality and would be cool for her first project
For the first EP, which consists of:
The Beginning by Madison Beer.
I just really love this intro it’s a gorgeous showcase of vocals and it’s beautiful and perfect.
I Hate the Way by Sofia Carson.
I love this song. Musa would base if mostly off of Riven’s epic screw up in s2 ch27. Also the guitar solo part feels perfect for her.
Whispers by Halsey.
I can’t quite explain why but this song is so Musa-coded to me. At least my version of her. She builds walls up and tries to not care and fails miserably every time. Also touches slightly on the depression that she def never adressed before going to Alfea and meeting the girls
Run and Hide by Sabrina Carpenter.
I feel like this song fits Musa’s mentality in s1 and part of s2 perfectly especially when it comes to romantic love. ‘Started thinking love’s a loaded gun, nobody wants to fight’ ‘If you can’t hide run, if you can’t run hide’ ‘I don’t wanna run I don’t wanna hide’ it’s just perfect for how she used to think and I really love the idea of her writing this precisely as she starts to let go of that mentality
favorite crime by Olivia Rodrigo.
This would be a more story-telling type song written with Helia cause I feel like putting those two together they would absolutely go full story tellers and poem-like lyrics and this feels like smth they would absolutely write one night they couldn’t sleep cause they love a good sob love story
Ribs by Lorde.
Written about the Winx and the Specialists with a sprinkle of dreading growing up
Second EP. Written during the first half of s3, published right before Winter Break
This one did have a slight ‘theme’ to it since it was mostly written while she was fighting with Riven over secrets on both sides and she was very frustrated with herself and projecting a bit on him.
Hard to Love by Rose.
This feels very Musa-coded to me. She has that instinct of ‘oh shoot I’m loved? Fucking run for the hills!’ But more like… again, she builds walls. So I can see her writing this one night very frustrated with herself like, why am I like this?
Rock Bottom by Hailee Steinfeld.
I love this song and I feel like it suits Rivusa so perfectly in the first half of s3 ‘We’re on the right side of rock bottom and I hope that we keep falling. We’re on the good side of bad karma, cause we keep on coming back for more. We’re on the right side of rock bottom, and to you I just keep crawling. You’re the best kind of bad smth, cause we keep on coming back for more.’ Literally them at this point before they learn to properly communicate. Also ‘what are we fighting for? Seems like we do it just for fun.’ Love this song
Monster in Me by Little Mix.
Another song that suits them when they’re at rock bottom. ‘Touch me, why don’t we kill each other slowly?’ ‘The monster in me loves the monster in you’. Def can see Musa writing this when she’s frustrated with herself and Riv cause she knows why they’re both screwed up but can’t quite figure out how to get past it
when the party’s over by Billie Eilish.
This was when, for a moment Musa considered just calling it quits cause she wonders if maybe they’re both too fucked up to make it work and she wrote this whilst in depression. She also realized that she was hurting him by picking fights and not being honest and wrote this in response to that realization
Midnight Rain by Taylor Swift.
This one was also co-written by Helia, they went for another story-telling not-to-be love story.
False God by Taylor Swift.
Another song that feels oh so Rivusa-coded to me. Like, cmon this is one of those songs that played in the back of my head every single time I had them argue in s3 and feels like the perfect song to end an album all about fighting the one you love
Winx Rewrite Masterlist
Part 2
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heartandflowerball · 2 years
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"Call it what you want"-Rivusa social media au(fake dating trope) - Chapter 6-
hello, I hoped everyone is doing good. New chapter of my fic? New chapter of my fic! I had so much fun writing it and it's probably my favorite(yes again)(yes i'm going to say that for all the chapters)
if you didn't already read the other chapters, click here, that will land you to the introduction that has links for all the chapters before this one and the tw
For this chapter I have written real life pov but don't worry, the texts are still here. I alternated many times with real pov and texts and not just once.
(i'am sorry if I have done anny error, english is not my first language )
Musa's Pov:
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Real life Pov:
Someone is already there when Musa arrives. Riven is leaning on the hood of his car. He straightens slightly when he sees her coming.
"So, are you going to get a tattoo?"
The fairy smiled softly upon hearing his voice and nodded.
"Would I have the honor to know what you are getting tattooed?"
"Flowers."
"Oh, in the cliché then!" Riven knows exactly how to provoke her. He knows very well that she is going to talk for 10 minutes to explain to him that flowers are not so cliché. So she does the opposite, wanting to surprise him. And it works very well because when Musa tells him "You'll see."Riven step back, yet his mischievous smile is still there.
It is at this moment that the specialist realizes that Stella and Beatrix are approaching them.
Riven bends down slightly to be at Musa's level and says to her, "What do we do?"
The fairy turns to look at the girls and decides to lean slightly against Riven. Their arms rub lightly. Here it is again. Chaos. Musa lets herself go in the cocoon formed by Riven's emotions around her while Stella tells them about the wonderful day she organized.
After a few minutes, Beatrix finally manages to stop Stella's long monologue and they all get in the car. Musa sits in the passenger seat and connects her phone to Riven's car to put on the music.
"I see someone has already made their mark." said Beatrix mischievously, closing her door.
And there, it happens. Musa blushes. A tiny tint of pink color takes place on her cheeks. Even more amazing is coming. Riven also blushes. But not like Musa. He has red patches forming on his neck. They don't look at each other while Stella and Beatrix burst out laughing at their reaction.
After an hour, they finally arrived in town. Beatrix is ​​getting a tattoo in the shop while Musa takes some fresh air outside with Riven who wanted to accompany her.
"Still with that idea of ​​flowers?" The boy's voice is a bit more raspy from the cigarette he's smoking.
Musa looks up at him and he can feel the fairy's breath on his neck.
"You will see."
That's when Musa sees a cat in the distance.
"Look at Riv a cat!" The fairy's voice is full of excitement as she runs towards the cat to pet it.
"Be careful, your kitten, Wylan might be jealous!"
Stella opens the door of the shop, "Musa it's your turn."
The mind fairy waits for Riven to finish his cigarette and they both go back to the tattoo artist. Stella sits on Beatrix's lap, who shows the two newcomers her tattoos.
"Oh it's super graceful, I love it" said Musa.
Musa's Pov:
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Real life Pov:
"You were right, it's not common." Riven admitted.
"Did you see that! Like that when I put on brown socks, it will look like flowers in a pot!" Musa's tattoo is on her ankle, a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
The girls pay as Stella heads towards Riven.
"Riven?"
"Hmm?"
"Please don't hurt her. She's been through enough with Sam already. She deserves someone good to take care of her."
Riven remains oblivious to Stella's words. “And you trust me about that?
The blonde lets out a laugh, "It's precisely because you are you, that I have trust."
"Let's go?" Beatrix calls them from the door.
"Of course my love" answers Stella smiling.
Musa's Pov:
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Real life pov:
After their visit to the tattoo artist, the small group goes to the market next door. Stella and Beatrix are in front of crystals, thinking about what is missing in their collection.
Riven meanwhile is in front of an ashtray stand. Musa joins him, "So you're already trying to replace the one I gave you."
Riven smiled upon hearing her voice. He leans gently on the shoulder of the fairy behind him, who is a little smaller. He turns his head and watches her as she places a hand on the specialist's upper back.
"You know very well that your gifts are irreplaceable. I'm just trying to increase my collection." Riven's voice is filled with smugness.
From a distance, Stella and Beatrix watch them. The blonde speaks first.
"They're like a heterosexual version of us."
"Except that they're both bi."
"True" Stella said smiling. "I don't know how to explain it but they make sense together. They're just the same person in a different body, it's inexplicable."
Beatrix gently takes her girlfriend's hand as they walk towards their two friends. Stella is still surprised by Bea's sweetness for her. No matter where they are, she's always reaching for her hand and it make Stell heart fluttered every time.
It's midnight. They stopped just before in a restaurant to eat. Riven had never laughed so much in his entire life. He even caught himself watching the way Musa's eyes narrowed slightly when she laughed at the story Beatrix told her about him. Now they're sitting at a remote table in a club in town. Stella and Beatrix clink glasses with a Margarita and a Mojito. Musa sips her Blue Lagon. She raises her head and clearly sees Riven judging her.
"Stop looking at me like that. You haven't even tasted it, you can't know if it's good or not. At least taste it." she told him, bringing her glass to Riven.
"No thank you I have to drive"
"Oh come on, don't do your goody two-shoes"
Riven can't resist Musa's face, so he agrees, carefully drinking from the straw the fairy holds in front of his mouth.
"It's not horrible, you're right!"
"Ah you see, I told you so!"
They do not know how but they find themselves dancing together. It's probably past one o'clock in the morning, Stella and Beatrix are literally eating each other's faces but they don't care. Musa and Riven have been dancing together for over an hour, their bodies rubbing together, their skin sweating. Riven's hands placed on the lower back of the fairy who has her hands on the specialist's chest, they dance. Everybody can hear their laughter and their smiles radiate. Unfortunately, they have to return to Alfea. Tomorrow is still uncertain, but Riven knows that that night he laughed for the first time.
Musa's Pov:
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~~~~~
Tanks you for reading this. <3Let me know if you want to be on the taglist. I would try to upadte this story every weeks.
taglist: @somnidasha @jamespottersgirlfriend @dukyungs @titleofkaidam @princessasoldier <3
Don't forget to comment or reblog, I love reading your opinions <3
(i have done all the edit and written all this myself so please don't steal my work)
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rivusatrap · 2 years
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SURRENDER
by @easilydistractedbyfanfic​
During a party in Alfea, the students get a bit too carried away and the atmosphere gets a bit too hot and Musa can feel something in the air, something pulling her towards Riven. Neither know what is happening but both are too horny to care. Could it have something to do with magic, or is it just them? Musa/Riven | Explicit |  15830 words (2 chapters)
Favorite Quote: “So what I’m hearing you say,” he pauses, draws out his enjoyment while she curls her fingers into a fist in preparation, “is that I fucked you into an upgrade.”
If you like smut, mind-fairy shenenigans, sex-polen type fics (not really but kind of), you’ll like this fic!
READ IT HERE
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You know you’re in for a ride when one of the fic tags say “Magic Made Them Do It-or does it?”
I only met Jenn, the lovely author of this fic, around 10 days ago when she joined the discord server, and I already knew I was gonna like her when the first conversation we had was about kinktober.
She shared this fic saying it was her first in the FTWS fandom and I happily clicked on it. The more rivusa fics the merryer!
But what she delivered comploetely blew my expetations.
The writing in this fic is amazing, the lines are perfect, and the little details she adds with the descriptions make you envision the scenes in your head so perfectly I caught myself looking for the scene in my scene folder to make a gifset of it before I remembered it didn’t exist.
One thing to note is that Jenn puts the “underage” warning and it does make sense considering in canon they are around 16/17 years old, but in my head they are all 18+ so you can easily pretend they aren’t minors while reading the fic.
Also there is the warning for it being dubcon and I understand why she put it there because of the “magic made them do it” trope, but I didn’t feel it was dubcon at all, so I guess it depends on how much you as a reader is sensitive to.
As amazing as the first chapter was, what really did it for me was the second one, because it had a few “tropes” (idk if you’d call them tropes but we’re going with this term) that I absolutely love.
Now, if you don’t want spoilers, stop here, this is your warning.
One of these tropes is one that I feel myself thinking about way too often to be healthy and often add to my own fics, which is the fact that (NSFW) during sex Musa is unable to control her powers and ends up either linking herself to riven’s mind, making him feel her emotions as well as her his, or making her push her emotions into his mind. And this fic has it!! And it’s a detail that had me squealing while reading it. 
Some people are into pulling hair, I guess i’m into mind fucking, idk...
Anyway, another trope- which this i’m sure is not a trope- is that I’m a sucker for adding awkward conversations about intmate issues that are kind of a mood killer and unecessary to the plot but add a real detail that makes the story either really funny or really relatable. Let me explain by using this fic an an example. In chapter 2 we have the awkward conversation of Riven telling Musa that he’s clean of STDs after they have sex without protection. And also him asking her to let him know if she’s pregnant.
I’ve seen a lot of fics not have condoms in them because they’d either interrupt the flow of the smut or they couldn’t find a way to pull it out of nowhere if the characters aren’t in a bedroom or bathroom or whatever. I, for one, love adding that detail because a) lets make safe sex sexy guys!! and b) yes, it does put a break in the smut but thats good!! It drags the scene longer, makes the characters say something other than “oh!” “fuck-” and “god!” and yes, i do love a messy/funny smut and having a character fumble with the little foil package while the other is crazy horny is funny and it is a challenge for the writer to get the scene back to hot. 
With my little ted talk over, and shutting up because this post is too long already, All these little details made Jenn’s fic even more appetazing to me, personally. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea but for me it was a delicious milkshake with caramel and whipped cream.
(Help me bully Jenn into writing more chapters, please.)
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amchara · 6 months
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Hi! Your official HEX gifter, back again!
For each of the following can you tell me what color you most equate with the character and which scene of theirs is your favorite:
Sky
Riven
Andreas
Sebastian
Thanks. 💜💙🩵
Hi! Sorry for the delay in replying. I had to go and watch a few scenes to make sure that yes, those are my favs!
Also, looking at my answers. I think it's safe to say I am very basic bitch when it comes to colour associations, lol:
Sky - That kind of deep, burning blue that you get on a clear autumn's day with no clouds in the sky.
Favourite scene: It's a tie between the scene in S1 where he learns the truth about his father and Saul at Aster Dell. "He killed hundreds of people. And you killed him. And all I get from the both of you is you're both flawed? What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?" - and the last scene in S2 where he confronts Bloom about to step into the Realm of Darkness.
What can I say... I like Sky kind of broken and disillusioned - all the better to build him back up again or to find those small moments where he's happy again. Runner up - any fighting scene with Riven, and or any scene where he is quietly but consistently supporting Bloom.
Riven: Deep, mossy green. Not the green of a forest but the undergrowth of a primal forest.
Favourite scene: The scene late in S2 where he is basically schooling Musa ("you're dead, again"), and you can see all the facets of his character - bit of a dick, protective friend, reluctant but well-versed warrior, etc. Runner-up scene - his first sparring scene with Sky back in S1, filled with banter and flirting. *swoon*
Andreas: A deep burgundy, like a well-aged red wine.
Favourite scene: The scene where he storms into Rosalind's office post-S2, demanding that they form a plan to save Beatrix. And when Rosalind refuses... he goes straight into enacting it by going to knock Marco out and exchange him for Beatrix with the Blood Witches. His love for Beatrix paired with his cold, ruthlessness. Perfection. Runner-up: His first scene in S2 where he's being a dick to Sky. Andreas has many facets, most of them being an asshole and I appreciate him for that.
Sebastian: Ooh, slightly tougher. I think... a mystical purple, almost gauzy and see-through, like a scarf on a fortune-teller's table.
Favourite scene: Hands down, the diner show-down scene with Bloom. Still the same charming, reasonable persona but now with So. Much. Menace. Mwahaha, excellent villain monologuing in this scene.
Hope that's helpful for you! I can't wait to see what you come up with! ♥♥♥
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charmixpower · 2 years
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Rewatching season 1 (and actually paying attention to Sky to figure out what the fuck everyone is talking about): Part 5
EP 21:
Bloom will barely react to near death but will shun herself after a break up, nothing about her priorities are normal
✨⭐ Shine bright like a diamond ⭐✨
Stella should be exhausted from melting all this ice
Daphne is suddenly blue now
Who the FUCK is that voice when she grabbed the crown
"the king and queen of Domino, convinced they lost both their daughters chose to go into exile to grive."
.....I forgot that up to the first movie was planned, yeah them bitches were always ment to be alive huh
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If Bloom is about 5'6, and Daphne is more than full head taller than her
Daphne is at least 6'0 ok???
Also blue Daphne!!
"I'm off to find you!" Daphne is alive??? And hiding??? Also Bloom referring to Daphne in third person
This episode has one to the best pre transformation scenes!!! They way they all jump up!!!
I guess we all know if Flora would of passed the bringing life to a desolate planet exam now :)
Tecna should turn her hood into a helmet more often
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Musa finally using her focus in combat!!!!
(magical tools like Stella's "sword" and Nabu's staff are called focuses now bc they help focus magic, yes I'm bad at names)
"Isn't there a saying that goes the best defence is a good offence!"
Stella takes only offensive magic and basic magic classes confirmed
Tecna cracking so many jokes about Bloom being a princess
Musa's speaker spells are the best, just under her disco ball spells
I love how Bloom just hits shit when she can't transform, love her
Flora doesn't have any true offensive spells (spells that hurt on impact) she creates plants to attack (which is technically categorized as defensive and I need better names)
Stella: Cool ✨💖
Stella: wait I'm supposed to be mad at you, I retract that cool
Holy shit I didn't realize how fucking big that thing was until now
Bloom being a leader and telling Tecna what to do even while she can't do anything herself...it was ment to be
They could use version of convergence in s1, the mixing of magical spells, but cannot use true convergence, the mixing of raw magic
Stella is being so nice to Brandon for how angry she was
Bloom you are accepting Sky's apology wayyy too fucking fast
He doesn't get that apology accepted until at least the season finale, come on! Cheating is like one of the the biggest dick moves you can make in a relationship!!
Sky really really said "you always said I was your friend and nothing more", trying to put this on her omg, are the writers ok???
Bloom should of smacked the shit out of him for that one 💕💞
Winx club acknowledge that you have two of your male leads starting off as huge pieces of shit, and not just one 💗
"I forgive you" NO TF YOU DON'T
Oh wow this is making me angry at the writers. You had a another perfectly good meow meow in need of a redemption arc and a scene where he confronts the bad parts of himself and you throw it away to let Sky be the prince in shining armor
*ripping Sky out of the hands of the writers* I'll give him consequences!!!! And a character arc!!!!! AND ITS GONNA HAVE BLACK JACK AND—
Hmmmm of course the Sky Riven rivalry needs to be less one sided, to make it more obvious that their both bastards. Add a couple parallel scenes of Darcy/Riven, Sky/Diaspro (if I'm smart enough to do that), to set up Diaspro mind controlling Sky in s3. A few moments of each girl commenting on how Sky can be kinda a dick, a jokingly slightly snide comment about how "at least Riven isn't hiding he's a jackass", make a little Brandon glaring a hole though Sky's head all though out s1 on the top for flavor.....tbh I don't know what anyone was expecting. My favorite characters are Riven and Musa, I like it when characters are kinda bad people and have to learn to be better. Thats fucking god tier
If they just leaned into this angle of Sky being raised wrong and trying to unlearn his worst behaviors but still fucking up royally, with maybe a heart to heart about why he makes these horrible decisions sometimes, I'd like him a lot more!!
Idk in arguments with Bloom it's like he's not allowed to be straight up wrong, it's like none of the girls are allowed to be straight up wrong, cringe. I'm going to hit Sky with a stick labeled "character development" and "flavor" I'll be back
I'm actually going to punch Sky 💕💞, who told you your allowed to be happy rn? Your supposed to be as miserable as Riven rn, go to your corner cheater
EP 22:
Bloom should be way more unhappy about the Knut thing after her parents nearly died lol
Red Fountain castle....these schools are castles
Literally all of the Winx are making eye contact with eachother when Fragona says "the boys will stay here for now", Tecna may be aroace but she loves and supports her allos
OMG ITS HERE
Riven does (1) self reflection
Can he hear Stormy and Darcy talking out side of his cell about messing with his head???? Wait, kids show nvm
Why is Riven reacting so strongly, like he knows this is just Darcy right?
What is that thing??? Is that one of the army of decay but recolored or is that Darcy's original monster do not steal
Riven regains his sense of self with free help from Darcy!
Darcy's illusions...can be touched bestie
"There are many things I don't like about myself but I'm far from being a monster"
Would of loved if you expressed any of this BEFORE this moment
"I have a heart!!!!"
OUGH, MY SON
I'm not crying shut up
Ughh I just wanna give him a hug, is that so bad??
Riven bby understanding that becoming a better person isn't about making people forgive you, and no one owes your forgiveness if you become better
Sky definitely would struggle with that *laughs maniacally*
"I have a few friends too"
Hmmm I mean in the context of "hey I was manipulated and also Darcy was literally in my head" yeah
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My meow meow is more pathetic than yours
"hey! Kiddo!" Glad you finally decided to speak up Griffin
"it would of been impossible to guess what their planning"
They tried to kill people. Are we forgetting that?
"I've always been good a picking locks [....] The person hasn't been born yet who can keep me locked up."
And then this trait is never shown again
He just walks out
Griffin got a cooler lock than him lmao
Riven with magic is a fun headcanon exclusively if you don't give him enough to over power anyone, then he has to use his ingenuity—which is one of his best traits!!
Like Riven with enough fairy magic but can't transform and vice versa with witch magic
I think witch magic seems more complicated??? Compared to fairy?? Which would make it more fun to give him bc then hed have to really work to do weird shit
All of this to say:
Let👏Riven👏use👏magic👏so👏he👏can👏pick👏magic👏locks👏too
That's the only thing Riven having magic is necessary for, bc then magic locks CAN keep him locked up and thats just not right babes
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Background characters that could of been main characters with designs that pretty number 1, the witch Hecate
Goddamn rocking that light blue and red combo
That chick in the background comes from the same planet as Riven, you can tell by the shonen anime hair
Griffin sounds genuinely scared for Riven
He changed into his specialist uniform...but didn't bring any weapons?? Wouldn't that just be on his suit?
"Is this were it ends? No. You'll never get me."
Riven going from "I'm going to die" to "I'm too spiteful to die" to "the only one that kills me is me"
Salidin remembering that Faragona is a lying liar
I need to think more about thoese twins that work at CT
Bloom????? Are you ok????
She doesn't feel fear apparently
Sky agreed too quickly for how upset he seemed
Icy: NO—! Oh well he chose his own fate
All of the Trix have pretty strong on Riven apparently
"it's the same story as always, your stubborn as a mule" SAY IT MUSA
You'd think that Bloom would have a suit or something rather than her nomral clothes
DID NONE OF THE PROFESSORS HELP MIRTA? HELP???
Stella: So. Your not a prince.
Brandon: unfortunately, no. I'm Brandon, Sky's page
(First a squire, now a page, which...his job description is still bodyguard)
Stella: So Sky tricked Bloom and you tricked me
Brandon: and that changes everything
Stella: maybe, maybe not
Brandon, unlike Sky who attempted to push blame off of himself and instantly apologized, seems to have done the emotional equivalent of rolling over and dying
Man's has given up
Stella should not have enough magic to go on this mission. She should of collapsed after unfreezing Domino Palace
Icy wants to torture Alfea
Knut is a fucking dumbass 💕
The fact that Stella hasn't set him on fire yes is astounding, I wouldn't have enough patience for this
You know, CT is alive but I wouldn't assume the tunnels under it would be too
Why does CT have a personal garbage dumb?
Oh that's why, they have bugs that eat them
"No! Wait! If we attack we run the risk of blowing our cover!" "True. If we kill one the witches will sense it and we can kiss our surprise attack goodbye."
What? Are the BUGS apart of the tower??
These bugs are made of metal what the fuck
Bloom is definitely up there with the girls that can get along fine in a fight without magic, she's so unhinged
I love it when Bloom growls
(no seriously why are these bugs made of metal)
Good afternoon blorbo
There has to be like different tracks one can go into at RF. What ever Riven is in he's clearly the best at it bc everyone is freaking the fuck out over him
Is this an excuse to make all the boys "top of their class" by having them in different sections? Yeah, absolutely. Why?
You should of broken so many bones
Sky is so excited to see Riven, did you to not hate eachother the last time you saw— you know what whatever, this is admittedly adorable
Riven tries to apologize and Sky accepts it before he can even finish
Bloom is even jumping on Riven
Y'all are too nice around here
He's so pointy
EP 23:
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Riven, babe, when did you have time to change clothes
This show is so poorly made (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤
Brandon sassing Sky and Riven in quick succession. What ever Brandon is being paid it's not enough
That eye thing is fucking disgusting
"I still can't get over what's happening! I mean....this should of been a normal school year. Instead, were involved in a major crisis and we've got to safe Alfea! And the magic dimension!"
Musa having some very normal thoughts
"Look at it this way. This experience is teaching us so much more than school books could. We're part of historical events. We've had to come up with spells that can never be reproduced! We've got to fight alongside some of the most powerful people in the dimension!"
Tecna being fucking badshit (affectionate)
"you find all that thrilling do you! Well I don't like it at all! I'd rather be safe!!! At home!! With my parents!!!"
Nomral thoughts from a very interesting looking background character (seriously. Spot the main character is weirdly hard in Winx)
Musa: Flora's right!!!! We're like a big orchestra!!!! And each one of us has a very important part to play!!!!
Shut up I love her
Musa: each one of us is absolutely essential
I could write an essay about this moment, I won't tho. Just understand that Musa is perfect and I love her
Musa, Flora, and Tecna rallying the troops fjsndne
Tecna, talking about love: it can't be that bad
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Knut: See! Over there is where they hide all their secrets!!
Riven: are you trying to make me homesick?
I—what the FUCK was your home life like to warrant this comment
How can Bloom not recognize her own power????
When Bloom growls >>>>
"most powerful", get swatted aside by Griffin
When did all these background witches get cloaks
Where are the other two teachers??? :(( Where are the other members of staff that I care about so deeply???? Cruel
And they can't teleport off planet?
Anyways
Sky is really dedicated....to everything but taking responsibility for his own actions ꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖💙
Hi Stormy, I see you've made it out of the cage
EP 24:
Adults stop being upset in front of the kids
Some of these characters look like normal humans and others are so obvious alien. That's never more clear than when Griffin and Faragonda talk
Griffin and Faragonda are divorced
STELLA WHY DID YOU LET BLOOM LEAVE WITH SKY?!
BLOOM WHY WERE YOU SO ADAMANT ABOUT GOING IF YOUR GONNA GET COLD FEET
Sky is a kind guy™ but he's also a weird selfish inconsiderate person, at the same time. Layers
I now hc that Sky is specifically Codatorta's best student (even tho it should really be Brandon)
Where is Alfea's magical barrier???
The only thing the weird s3 call back had on this was the dedication on maintaining the barrier
Separate then incinerate, guys, come on
What the fuck is Salidn's and Codatorta's relationship?? They seem like they should be related or something.... Son in law maybe?
I WANNA SEE GRIFFIN AND FARAGONA TRANSFORM, AND I WANT TO SEE IT NOW
Brandon: don't be scared, I'm right here with you
Stella: well that's exactly what I'm afraid of my darling prince
Brandon: I want to ask you to forgive me for-
(Brandon runs his hands though his hair when nervous)
Stella: making me believe your a prince when in fact your just a simple attendant
Brandon: yeah
Stella: dont worry about that Brandon, I don't care if your a prince or not. My parents are royalty and it hasn't done then any good, has it!
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What is with this show and giving characters horrible undercuts?!
I see people, rightfully, mocking Riven for his stupid hair and not enough people dragging Brandon for this tragedy on his head
Musa: Hey love birds~! What are you doing? It seems we can't leave you alone for a second
Flora: oh leave them alone, they're so cute together
Stella: don't you two have something better to do? *Magic's a pillow at Musa's face*
Musa: HEY!! ARE YOU CRAZY!! I COULD OF GOTTEN HURT!!!
Brandon: Ha! You were three feet off the ground
Stella: Please. Be nice to my friends. I'm the only one allowed to torment them
Flora may be the mom friend of all mom friends, but Stella older sister friend reigns supreme
Sky really said as you wish, sir, did your tutor teach you that
There's nothing quite as cool as Stella teleporting mid battle
This music is so depressing
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Magixs is going to have a very strong therepy industry soon methinks
EP 25:
How have they not saved Mirta yet?
Omg Musa is so sassy about helping Mirta
Daphne is so pretty 🥰
I feel so bad for what I wanna do with this scene, but tbh Daphne makes no sense in canon (with the way she just disappears after s1) so I think I'm justified
Bloom how are you breathing underwater
Anyways Charmix should of been it's one transformation
Magic Winx gets a cutesy theme, Charmix would get a more metal one (like the RF theme), and Enchantix would keep the hauntingly beautiful one it has
And suddenly BOOM Charmix transformation
Bloom is BACK BABY!!!
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I can't believe they fridged Mirta for a whole season, that has got to be a crime
"don't be silly! I think I'll go for a walk."
Musa is so adorable and obvious about her crush. She tries to hard to not be like other girls, but in reality she's a blushing school girl though and though
Mirta being smug about them lmao
Stella: Riven!!! I think she's coming down!!!
Riven: oh god, oh fuck, I'm not ready—
This has got to be in Sky's top ten list for trauma, just the whole city dead
Tecna: must you always be joking Stella?
Stella: what do you want me to do! When I get serious I think of Bloom and I go nuts!
Tecna will always be bothered by Stella's main coping mechanism
"the children are beginning to show effects of battle fatigue" BEGINNING?!
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The chairs are fucking dope, ngl, this is sick as fuck
So much time dedicated to Sky fighting this thing, not enough time dedicated to Sky realizing that being a cheater makes him a fucking dick, cringe fail writers—
Hey Bloomy! Your amazing as always
Bloom absolutely carried Sky all the way to Alfea. This is just a fact
Icy's number one weakness is her pride
FARAGONA YOU LYING LIAR WHY DO YOU NEVER TELL ANYONE ANYTHING
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agathaloseshermind · 2 years
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Season 7 transformations
I’ve been procrastinating both cause I’m a lazy person but also I hate these ones so I am not excited lmao
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WHAT AM I LOOKING AT
I’m horrified I hate it. This transformation is why I became nicer to Neo Enchantix.
I don’t quite get the activation but considering I watched bits of the episode where they earn it, Faragonda somehow has artifacts that let them travel through time which they do to save the digmoles and earn Butterflix after blasting the beast who trapped them down.
..............sure
Ignoring the part where if Faragonda had access to these magic stones in the first place why didn’t she use them way before during times like when Domino fell, the curse of Sirenix was created, Darkar kidnapped Bloom and Valtor started destroying everything to name a few things this stone could’ve been used for. I googled why they needed this transformation and it says 
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H O W??????
Bloomix is the power of the DRAGON FLAME, is a spark of the power that CREATED THE UNIVERSE and was so powerful that it couldn’t be taken from Bloom in Season 6. You’re telling me this random former fairy poacher IS IMMUNE?????? It’s reason to exist is honestly awful given they already had a nature fairy who can do all that nature stuff. Oh and the fairy of fucking animals if Flora didn’t cut it. I’m not someone who cares much about Roxy always found her meh but she was flat out robbed this season. 
Design wise the girls do look good, the pink on Bloom looks solid though I do wish she wasn’t in pink given Stella and Musa are in pink and look better but is this really the best they could come up with for a nature themed transformation that also relates to butterflies? Like I’m just saying butterfly wings are very unique and each girl could’ve been based off different butterflies depending on who they are. Like Bloom as the leader can keep the monarch butterfly but the other girls should get unique butterflies. I’m not sure what butterflies to assign each girl but like there’s tons of butterflies the designers could’ve used also the wing design is strange to me given how butterfly wings actually are and how much cooler they look, like just google butterflix redesign and you’ll see the girls in actual butterfly wings and different clothes which make them look much better. The redesign of this transformation I like most if this Bloom one here and then the rest of the girls could’ve followed its base idea too or do the redesign here with wings I similarly like too. Yes it looks similar to Harmonix but I mean i
Ultimately my dislike of the design is not only cause its uniform because as I said in previous posts I don’t mind uniformity if I enjoy the design already but Butterflix just doesn’t do ENOUGH with how much it has to work it and like with Cosmix, you kind of just have to guess the girls’ elements based on colors because they don’t have anything to set them apart with their element.
Transformation sequence wise.... I don’t think I need to tell anyone why it’s bad but I guess I have to for this post but the sequence of the girls transforming is zooming into their face - they get the dress - they turn around - boom wings. It’s so bland and again there’s no individualization for each girl just butterflies. The meme dance is horrible, dancing in Winx Club has always been awkward due to how their bodies are drawn and its just exasperated here. Also it just kills the excitement of the new mood because why are they suddenly dancing. They just defeated a beast and saved a species which earned them a shiny new transformation and rather than excited I’m left with a wtf did I just watch feeling. Also the song is meh, its not a banger and not horrible but eh Im just not getting into it.
Rating wise its 3/10, I heard that it cant hurt anything from nature which sounds good but also makes the girls pretty helpless in a lot of cases. The only reason it gets 3/10 is cause the designs are kinda cute and I can’t bring myself to be too harsh on it though its definitely my least favorite of all the transformations.
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Onto Tynix now
The way they earn makes sense enough, makes sense given how vast magic is that magical creatures can grant transformations so check mark on that though it immediately loses some of that check when its use is for the girls to shrink down and enter the mini worlds. Like seriously guys Enchantix already did that, like that it lets them bond with their fairy animal more though (unless I’m misunderstanding mini worlds and they’re not literally shrinking down to go into a place, they’re teleporting into the mini worlds using Tynix in which case, okay transformation to enter special locations makes sense). Makes perfect sense given they were the ones to give them the transformation to begin with.
The designs are um a bit much? The gems are nice though I hate Techna’s dress and Musa’s hair doesn’t really fit her outfit. Maybe its just cause of the picture but the hair looks off with all the gems, colors and her skirt. Also I don’t like blonde Flora. Bloom, Stella and Aisha look good though. Particularly Aisha, she slays
Transformation wise the idea is pretty cool though I don’t get where the fashion model idea came from given this transformation is from fairy animals. You’d think the fairy animals was involved in some way with the transformation but nope I guess its just the girls posing for the camera. I’m not into songs like the one for Tynix but it is good for its genre
Don’t have much thoughts on this transformation tbh its just meh to me. Rating 6/10
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redhairedgirl95 · 1 year
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Ho postato 334 volte nel 2022
Sono 198 post in più del 2021!
206 post creati (62%)
128 post rebloggati (38%)
Blog che ho rebloggato di più:
@ourgraciousqueen
@redhairedgirl95
@elektranhatcios
@pottsisstarksheart
@sreppub
Ho taggato 242 dei miei post nel 2022
Solo 28% dei miei post non aveva tag
#giulia speaks - 156 post
#screaming into the void just because - 154 post
#winx club - 141 post
#stella winx club - 104 post
#giulia answers asks - 94 post
#brandon winx club - 82 post
#brella - 75 post
#thisisdzulia - 48 post
#ao3 - 44 post
#writing - 44 post
Longest Tag: 129 characters
#in my headcanon stormy is stella's assigned enemy so it makes perfect sense to me that they would fight over handsome boy brandon
I miei post migliori nel 2022:
#5
I wish writing fanfiction weren’t laughed at by society. So what if people love characters so much so they are willing to pour their heart and soul into writing them?
It’s an act of love
31 note - Postate 1 agosto 2022
#4
Who do you think would be the guy(s) bestie(s) for each Winx and what would they bond over?
Winx + Specialists besties! Here we go!
Stella + Sky - After the switch and a lot of talking, I think they would mend their relation and bond over the difficulties of meeting the expectations that weigh on their shoulders as heirs to their realms' thrones. They'll save one another from embarrassing situations at royal events, sparing the other from having to deal with yet another exasperating suitor. It doesn't hurt that Sky is good at dancing and never crashes her feet.
Stella + Timmy - I've always thought these two could work really well as friends. Timmy would help her manage her social media, and Stella would give him relationship advice (mostly unsolicited).
Aisha + Brandon + Riven - All things sport! These three would definitely take part in every single competition they stumbled upon (especially Riven). I feel like Aisha and Riven would be extremely competitive, so Brandon is there to balance things and make sure everyone has fun. Also, they are all into surf, and with Aisha controlling water, every day at the beach becomes an excuse to ride the most impressive waves.
Bloom + Helia - Bloom draws (even though this plot point is lost early on in the series) and, given that Helia is extremely talented, she can learn from him. They challenge each other to try new subjects, new techniques. They put on an exhibition at some point, it's a huge success.
Musa + Helia - Yes, Musa loves head-banding to her favorite punk rock songs, but she also craves peace. I can imagine her playing her flute in the gardens while Helia paints. They would just keep each other company, quietly.
Flora + Riven - I've read more than one fic in which these two are considered good friends and I totally see it. Flora's kindness can balance Riven's outbursts. Riven has trust issues, so it would be a slow process getting to know each other and becoming friends, but, once he's sure he can trust her, they could spend time together with him talking to her about his feelings for Musa, his relation with the other Specialists; while she would listen and offer her own insights. Flora likes him because he's honest, which isn't always a good thing, but with Riven she can be sure he's telling her exactly what he thinks.
Tecna + Nabu - Tecna respects commitment and intelligence, and Nabu has both. He has studied hard to become a strong wizard, and he and Tecna could work together on how to better combine magic and technology.
37 note - Postate 6 settembre 2022
#3
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They call it “emotional pop music with thudding bass”
I call it Taylor freakin Swift
❤️‍🔥
39 note - Postate 16 settembre 2022
#2
can you write headcannons on stuff the girls do together?
Stuff the girls do together &lt;3
Flora does everybody’s hair. She is extremely good at it – it might have something to do with all the practice she’d had making flower-crowns as a child. Stella always goes to her when she wants a particular hairdo for a special occasion. In turn, she does Flora's nails and helps her with her outfit.
Stella, Musa, and Aisha go clubbing together. They know all the best places in Magix and they are known there. All the barmen know their usual drinks - which are often on the house.
Musa helps Tecna with coding: Tecna develops whatever videogame she's working on, and Musa provides the perfect soundtrack. They're thinking about using their combined skills in the future for profit.
Bloom and Flora run a bookclub. It's just them at the moment, 'cause the other girls don't have the patience for it. Still, they gather once a week under Flora's favorite tree and discuss their readings with a cup of tea.
Tecna helps Stella run her social media. She's also invented a device that can alert her of the presence of paparazzi, and that has saved Stella from being caught in embarrassing situations more than once.
Aisha and Stella teach Bloom how to be the perfect princess: Stella deals with everything related to style, proper behavior, how to do the perfect curtsy; while Aisha tells her about her duties and how to carry them out.
Musa loves experimenting with bold make-up looks. All the girls are her guinea pigs, but Stella is the one who volunteers the most - and the one who complains the most when Musa accidentally pokes her in the eye with her eyeliner brush.
Aisha teaches Tecna how to swim. It's a slow process, but she's improving.
All together: they go shopping, play board games, help one another with homework, go out into town, save the magic dimension ... the usual.
39 note - Postate 4 ottobre 2022
Il mio post numero 1 del 2022
Stella: So to quote another tortured princess, just let it go.
56 note - Postate 16 settembre 2022
Guarda ora l'Analisi del tuo anno 2022 di Tumblr →
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skloomdumpster · 2 years
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Another anon, about Helia It’s kinda hard to tell, when Fate was announced I immediately knew that Sky and Riven will be in the show considering how Sky is the main male specialist from the OG and Riven is the bad boy that suits teen drama stereotypes unlike the other boys. I was expecting to see them in S2 however seeing Grey being introduced as Aisha’s love interest instead of her OG guy “ Nabu” makes it harder to believe that they will bring the other boys. That being said at the moment I think it’s better to leave Flora and Stella without a romance, Flora just came in and we know nothing about her throwing a boy at her would be weird, then Stella just broke up , now is dealing with her mother and preparing for her character arc then transformation. I would love in S3 “ I am counting on you Netflix” they can bring Brandon for Stella “ they were my absolute favorite and I adore them” it would be perfect sense to give Stella the happiness she deserves after what happened to her in S2. This is just my stupid thoughts and hopes that probably will never happen lol.
Those thoughts are not stupid in the least!! And I think you're right on the money!
I'm very nervous on the Brandon stance, because while in one hand we know he's not in season 2, I just.... Idk gut feeling he might be? IDK
On the Nabu thing, I hear he was Aisha's love interest who was incredibly powerful and then he dies (???) in front of her, leaving homegirl traumatized and I, for one, do not care about that plot in the least. Aisha deserves an epic love that doesn't suck the soul out of her, that challenges her yes, but also that makes her happy and I will die in this hill.
Black women characters rarely have the chance to live out happy romances and slowburns, they get punished time and time again and you can see this in fandom, as a black character gets put with a white counterpart and people jump at the opportunity to say "they're just friends". I think Fate would be doing itself a disservice by sticking to the Nabu storyline and I'm very excited about Grey and/or any other romance Aisha gets.
About Flora, I think you're SPOT ON and if you're not, you should be. We need the time to see these brilliant women shine by themselves and truly live their own storylines. If I may, I would also throw Musa into this. Yes, slowburn rivusa, but also, let the woman live her own plot!!
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ghostiewriter · 2 years
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Yeah, different anon, but I agree with you. I don’t feel like this season has any space (esp. considering the number of episodes) for romances outside of Skloom, Aisha\Grey, and some Rivusa buildup that has to go through Samusa and Riventrix first.
Also, I don’t feel like a romance would fit any of the other girls atm? Maybe it could work for Terra, but I don’t see it much with everything else going on. I’d rather it be when they have time to actually develop it, and maybe even have her explore her sexuality (done well it’d be really good rep). Also, she’s just gone through everything with Dane in s1, and it’d be repetitive to immediately jump in with a new one.
As for Stella, there’s just too much going on. She needs to figure herself out, first. I can’t see her having anything with anyone rn. The only thing I would consider is her having scenes with someone that imply smth\plant the seed for the future, but nothing more. And yes, I know Brandon’s not there, but I still think it’s possible, mainly because I also have a feel they’re not necessarily inserting his character as it was in the cartoon and could do something on the lines of Aisha and Grey.
And Flora, she just came in. Her and Helia were my favorites as a child in spite of being a quite simple couple because I was like Flora back then, and it was nice to see that someone shy and not so outspoken could be happy too. That’s why I really hope he or some version of him comes in the show eventually, but Flora herself needs to be explored first. I really wanna see her, her personality, her powers, learn what she was doing away (and where she was) before anything else. I also admit I’ll be a bit disappointed (though I’ll 99% still love the season) if they don’t make her a bit “shady.”
I want her coming in already knowing some secrets, maybe having been on a mission\missions and being more advanced with her powers, just seeming all so innocent (and being it for the most part) but then plotting behind Rosalind’s back more than anyone else. It’d be cool if she had been sent (maybe even due to her family ties) to a more advanced school (like the one they have on Lynphea in the cartoon) in order to learn more advanced magic, and maybe to prepare if something like everything rn with Rosalind happened. Plus, she needs to build her bonds with the other characters, explore her relationship with Terra (maybe even Sam, although I wish he didn’t exist), and I really want her to be bffs with Riven even if it’ll probably never happen.
And like, the show will prove me wrong on this but I’d love it if there were Helia mentions without him being there. Or even if when he hopefully comes in later we learn he and Flora already knew each other. Considering that Helia was a very talented specialist in the cartoon, I have this idea where he and Flora would have met while doing this sort of more advanced training and left as friends as they were unsure of how to voice their feelings. Then, Helia’s forced to come to Alfea for reasons, and everything builds from there. Even without this headcanon though, they could have already met for whatever reason (maybe Helia still being against specialist training and running to Lynphea), and well, the rest would be the same.
OKAY HI SORRY I KNOW YOU SAID A LOT AND I AM SO WITH YOU ON EVERYTHING BUT CAN WE JUST PAUSE FOR A MOMENT BECAUSE I AM OBSESSED
One: I FUCKING NEED A RIVEN/FLORA FRIENDSHIP LIKE I NEED AIR!!! If Flora follows her personality that she has in the cartoon, that grumpy/sunshine bestie dynamic between them? UNMATCHED!! Flora being the only person (other than Musa for obvious reasons) who’s able to read Riven and his wee tells and emotions? Riven being an only child but Flora being the closest thing to a little sister to him? That protective nature they have for each other? FUCKING SIGN ME UP I NEED THIS DEAR GOD
AND SECONDLY, YOUR HELIA AND FLORA HEADCANONS??? YES?????
No because the idea that there’s some lingering tension between them when they meet again, and everyone else can see it except them and it could just be such a pure ass relationship!! Or even Helia coming in as a sort of spy (maybe for another specialist school or something) and acting stand-offish with Flora to keep her away from the mission but she’s confused because she knows that’s not how he really is and she keeps prodding until she figures it out👀or just even Helia coming in as this new, mysterious specialist like he did in the cartoon and we get a “she fell first but he fell harder” plot between them👀
GOD I NEED IT ALL!! And I DEFINITELY need some Flora sneakiness in there, like she’s so sweet and kind but she’s got this whole other side that’s playing Rosalind just the way she wants!!!
Also I would fucking love for them to explore Terra’s sexuality but I doubt they will🤡but it would be such an interesting dynamic if they brought the witches in and maybe one of them end up having a thing with Terra👀the literal definition of opposites attract but it would be so fucking cute
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fitztragedy · 6 months
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Well hellooooo there!!!✨ It’s me again, your friendly neighborhood HEX Santa. A solid 7 for canon compliance then. Consider it duly noted!
You mentioned that you’d like to see more of your favorite couple in their day to day life as students at Alfea. Is that still what your heart desires most? If yes, in light of the fact that you liked S2 but not the ending, would you prefer that these moments take place in the context of season 1, season 2, post-canon, or perhaps all of the above? And if no, don’t hesitate to tell me what you’d like to change about your wishlist. 'Tis the season, after all.
Talk soon, xoxo
hello my dear!!
Yeah so i've seen more rivusa in AU fics or fics that are set during battles or while shit is going down at alfea but i havent seen much of them as a couple during times where alfea is just a school, u know?
Like do they have classes together? Do they share apples in the caffeteria? do they study together? how much time does riven spend in the winx suite? does musa and bloom have an arrangement on who gets the boys' room each day? do they holds hand on their way to classes?
It might be a boring set up but idk i like reading these types of fics.
uhm if u dont change anything in cano i guess u'd have to set it up at the end of s02 but i dont mind if u change something and put them as a couple in the middle of s01 for example. Also u dont have to write them already a couple, u can write them becoming one, but then i'd like to see a bit after they become a couple, stretch that ending a bit.
sorry it took me a bit to answer, my laptop broke and i had to reinstall tumblr on my phone and i hate typing on my phone so im sorry about typos
im. so. excited!!!
0 notes
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Notes from Public School (2023-2024) - Day 40
I love my MLL’s (Multilingual learners).
So much.
In my elementary school in the west end of Greenville, most of my MLL’s come from Mexico, Central America and South America.
I’m thankful they’re here in Greenville.
I’m thankful we’re a part of each others lives.
I think my deep empathy for them and their families comes from my time as an MLL in Mali in West Africa.
I remember clearly what it was like spending a whole day hearing a new language and being unable to speak words and phrases I wanted to speak
After a particularly tough day working in the local market, my brain and ears were exhausted from hearing Malinke.
I simply started saying, “Iyo,” to everyone who said anything to me.
That means, “Yes,” in English.
The next morning, a man pushed his brother on a bicycle to our mission station.
“We’re here,” said the man.
“Why?” asked my friend Musa.
“I asked that guy if he would fly my brother to the capital city and he said, “Iyo.”
Guess what?
I was that guy.
Oops.
I said, “Iyo,” to questions I didn’t understand.
I had neither the ways nor the means to fly the man’s brother to the capital city.
I learned an important lesson.
The best response to questions when I was exhausted was, “N’segeta,” which simply means, “I’m tired."
That's how my MLL's must feel.
Tired.
They hear English all the school day long.
They get very little break from it.
So one of my goals each day is to inspire them.
I use that word in the old way.
To give them breath to breathe.
To hug them first thing in the morning, look them deeply in their earthy brown eyes and say, “¡Bienvevenido!”, “Welcome!” and mean it with all my heart.
To stay beside them all through the day and ask over and over again, “What can I do to help?”
To ask them to teach me something from their home country so they can see me as a caring learner just as they are.
To use my favorite boxing metaphor, to show them that I am in their corner and, if they get knocked down, I’ll lift them up, brush them off, and send them back out into the ring shouting directions for ways they can make it to the end of the round.
This inspiring seem to be working with my students.
On Friday afternoon, just before he walked out of the school door, one of my students named Jhan handed me a gift.
It’s a tiny origami hat with some symbols from his home country of Colombia on it.
He knows I love origami.
He is a perceptive looker and listener.
He made it for me and gave it to me as if to tell me, “Mr. Barton, with you by my side I think I can make it. You inspire me. I can breathe.”
His hard work, thoughtfulness and grit lets me know he is by my side and gives me hope that I can make it. That I can breathe.
For this I am agradecido.
I am thankful.
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thefinalcinderella · 3 years
Text
Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru Chapter 10 - Shooting Star (Part 1)
We finally made it...we’re in the endgame now...
Full list of translations here
Translation Notes
1. My Grandfather’s Clock is a popular song written by Henry Clay Work in 1876. The 2002 version by Ken Hirai was especially popular in Japan
Previous | Next
January 3rd, 5 a.m.
Yuki was in a dimly lit room in the Ashihara Ryokan. He changed into his Kansei University uniform and jersey and picked up his bench coat.
Two hours had already passed since Yuki woke up. After breakfast and a bath courtesy of the ryokan that took place at a time that could be better called late night, Yuki returned to the room where he had spent the night once the food in his stomach digested properly.
It was a night where he wasn’t sure if he had slept or not. However, his mind was clear and lucid. Excitement and tension became sharp blades that pared his body, and he felt somewhat light.
My energy is high, Yuki thought. He had felt the same way when he passed the bar exam. He read the questions for the essay exam and wrote his answer. It was almost funny how the meaning of the questions soaked into his brain, and before he could even think about how to answer them, the answer sheet was filled with words; it was just like automatic writing. He had never been able to output so smoothly what had been inputted into him until that moment, as though his consciousness had become clear and his sixth sense was working.
He knew that the same moment of elation and focus was about to visit his body and mind.
The return leg of the Hakone Ekiden started at 8 a.m. Yuki would slowly warm up over the next three hours, in order to build up his energy levels. It was Yuki’s method to relax and relieve his nervousness for two hours, and then concentrate on warming up for the remaining hour. Ever since the time when he was confronting his bar exam, Yuki preferred to increase the intensity of his concentration at this pace.
The six-mat guest room was completely occupied by the three futons laid out on the floor. Shindou, wearing his mask, was breathing faintly in his sleep. Yuki gently put his hand on his forehead and found it was still a little hot. The landlord was grinding his teeth as he slept soundly.
Yuki lightly folded his futon and put it in a corner so as to not wake them. Standing by the window, he quietly pulled back the curtains: the cozy garden of the ryokan was covered with a light dusting of snow, and ashy snowflakes continued to fall from the dark sky.
Yuki had never been skiing before. He didn’t understand going to the trouble of sticking boards to your feet in a cold place in a cold season. He thought it would be better to spend that time on one’s studies, and more than that, living with a single mother, they had no money to spend on fun.
Can I run down a steep, snow-covered slope? I can’t say I don’t want to run in the sixth leg at this point. Should I have at least experienced skiing if it’s like this?
The window was immediately fogged up by Yuki’s breath. The room was slightly warm from Yuki, Shindou and the landlord's combined body heat.
It’s not just me, Yuki reminded himself. In the past few years, there has never been snow on the roads of Hakone at New Year’s. Most of the runners—no, maybe all of them—have never gone down the mountain roads of Hakone covered in snow. Everyone lacks experience. I can run. I can run.
Chanting that in his mind as though to convince himself, Yuki picked up Kansei’s sash from the alcove. It seemed to still be damp from absorbing the sweat of the five people who had run in the outbound leg.
After carefully folding the sash and putting it in his jersey pocket, Yuki quietly left the guest room.
He walked through the corridor to the front door and saw the ryokan’s proprietress holding a newspaper.
“Oh, you’ve already changed?”
“Yes. I’ll be warming up from now on.”
“Outside?” Looking at the still-dark front of the building, the proprietress furrowed her brow in concern. “It’s minus five degrees right now.”
Yuki had planned to go outside, but he quickly changed his mind. He would have to wait until the temperature rose a little, or his muscles would stiffen up from the cold.
“May I borrow this space?”
He pointed at the empty lobby, and the proprietress graciously said, “By all means.
“Do you want to read the paper? I asked them to deliver it earlier today.”
While reading the newspaper, Yuki sat down on the floor of the lobby and began to stretch. He exhaled and began to relax his muscles and joints.
The paper had a big spread on the outbound leg of the Hakone Ekiden. Bousou University won the outbound leg by a narrow margin. It was a close race where it was impossible to tell if Rikudou University would make a comeback in the return leg, or which school would take the overall victory.
There was also a mention of Kansei under the headline “A Challenge with Only Ten People”. There was a photo of Shindou, unsteady and desperately trying to run on the mountain roads. Yuki opened his legs and brought his upper body down while reading the article.
“With only ten members, Kansei University unexpectedly put on the brakes in the fifth leg. They dropped down drastically in the rankings and ended the outbound leg in eighteenth place. However, with ace runners such as Kurahara, a freshman, and Kiyose, a fourth-year, in the return leg, there are still plenty of opportunities for a comeback. All eyes will be on the development of this small team’s great challenge.”
At the end of the article, there was a signature (布). It’s Nunoda-san, Yuki thought. The reporter Nunoda, who had come to Lake Shirakaba during summer vacation, had continued to keep an eye on Kansei.
There are still more than enough opportunities. We believe that, but it’s reassuring to have a third party say so as well. Yuki put the newspaper on the rack in the lobby and silently worked on stretching.
It was 6 when Shindou appeared in the lobby. He was wearing Musa’s bench coat and a mask. “Good morning,” he said in a hoarse voice, and pushed on Yuki’s back to help him stretch.
“You should be sleeping.”
“I asked Musa to give me a wake-up call because I knew you would be thoughtful like that.” Shindou sat down next to Yuki. “It’s snowing.”
“Yeah.”
The two watched the fluttering snow through the lobby window.
“How are you feeling?”
“Good. What about you?”
“I’m feeling much better.”
Yuki began doing sit-ups. Shindou lightly held his ankles still.
“To tell you the truth,” Yuki murmured, “I’m getting uncomfortably nervous. I want to run away, if I could.”
“I was the same way,” Shindou laughed under his mask. “Why don’t you try listening to some music? I took it from your luggage without asking.”
Yuki took the iPod Shindou gave him and put the earphones in his ears. He listened to his favorite songs for a while, but today, the world of sound was no comfort to Yuki.
“It’s no use.” Yuki tore out his earphones. “When I’m running, it feels like music I don’t like is playing through my head incoherently and endlessly. And it’s music that you can’t even get into! Like My Grandfather’s Clock (1) and stuff like that!”
“You hate it?”
“I don’t like irritating things.”
“I think it’s a good song, though,” Shindou said, and Yuki stood up with a “hmph.” Looking up at Yuki, who was rotating his ankles, Shindou made a suggestion.
“No matter what song plays in your head, you can always arrange it so it’s up-tempo.”
“Shindou, you’re amazing.” Yuki was deeply impressed. “I’m filled with worries. All I can think about are bad things like, what if I fall down the slope, or what if my shoelaces get torn off.”
“Yuki-senpai, you can even aim for the sectional prize.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you’ve always accomplished what you said you would do. Whether it’s the bar exam or the Hakone Ekiden, you said you’ll do it, and you did.” Only Shindou’s eyes were smiling. “So say it this time too. That you’re aiming for the sectional prize.”
As though pushed by Shindou’s quiet force, Yuki said, “I am.”
“Yes, then it’s fine now. You will definitely run a good time.”
Yuki looked down at Shindou, who was nodding in satisfaction, and couldn’t help but laugh.
“I know how useless I was yesterday,” Yuki said. “I knew you were experiencing this pressure before the race, but I couldn’t support you like this.”
“No matter how much support I get, in the end, I’m the only one who can bounce back from the pressure.” Shindou also stood and prompted Yuki. “Let’s jog.” The two put on their shoes at the door and went outside. There was no sign of the sunrise anywhere, but birds were singing in the mountains. The fine snow felt dry against their cheeks.
“But yesterday, you stayed by my side until the very last moment before I started running, Yuki-senpai. That gave me a lot of strength.” Shindou pulled down his mask and breathed in the cold air. “That’s why, I’ll stay with you today. I’ll stay with you until you start.”
Yuki didn’t have any words to respond. He was simply happy, and watched Shindou put his mask back on.
“We’ll freeze if we stay in one spot. Let’s run.”
“By the way, how’s the landlord?”
“He said he’s going to take a morning bath.”
“He’s in a sightseeing mood, that person.”
“His nighttime teeth grinding was very loud, wasn’t it?”
They chatted about trifling things as they jogged, and Yuki and Shindou's white breaths flowed shakily along the dark, snowy lakeside path.
---
Kakeru was feeling restless.
Kiyose was acting strange. When Kakeru invited him to go jogging after breakfast, he refused, saying, “Go ahead. I’ve got a lot of calls to make.”
It’s definitely strange that Haiji-san didn’t do his morning jog. He didn’t seem to sleep well last night either. I wonder if his leg hurts.
After running around Yokohama Station for about thirty minutes, Kakeru decided to go back to the hotel. He could still warm up at the relay station. He had never cut a jog short before, no matter how sick he was, but right now he was worried about Kiyose. He wondered if he was planning on pushing himself too hard. As if spurred on by a bad premonition, Kakeru ran back to the hotel.
In the lobby of the small business hotel, Jouji was opening a sports newspaper while watching the weather forecast on TV. Noticing Kakeru running across the lobby and pushing the button for the elevator, he came up to him and said, “You’re early.
“Your jogging time was unusually short today.”
“Where’s Haiji-san?”
“I think he’s in his room. Prince-san and Hana-chan are organizing their luggage together. I was chased away. I can sense that he’s trying to keep me away from Hana-chan.” Jouji pouted in dissatisfaction, but Kakeru wasn’t listening anymore. He rode the elevator to the fifth floor. “What’s going on?” Jouji asked as he followed him.
Kansei had three rooms: Kakeru and Kiyose’s room was at the far end of the corridor, Jouji and Prince’s was next to theirs, and Hanako’s room was near the elevator.
After exiting the elevator, Kakeru passed a man in the hallway. He was in his late thirties and carrying a large black bag in his hand. Thinking that it looked like a house call bag, Kakeru turned around with a start. The doors to the elevator the man got into were just about to close.
That wasn’t a guest just now. That was a doctor. Kakeru had a hunch. He must be the doctor who came to examine Haiji-san’s leg.
“Haiji-san!”
Kiyose was sitting by the window near the two beds. He looked up in surprise at Kakeru’s menacing attitude, and Kakeru sprang at him.
“Let me see your leg, let me see it!”
Kiyose fell down onto the bed, pushed by the momentum. Kakeru didn’t care and tried to pull up the cuff of Kiyose’s track pants.
“Just calm down, Kakeru! I’ll explain!”
Jouji was standing in the doorway of their room, watching in amazement as Kakeru and Kiyose grappled with each other. Noticing the commotion, Prince and Hanako came out of the room next door.
When Hanako asked, “What’s this all about?” Jouji tilted his head to the side.
“Uh, I have no idea.”
Kiyose finally pulled Kakeru off of him and beckoned everyone in the doorway to come in. The group that had stayed in Yokohama gathered in the room and sat down on the beds and chairs of their choice.
“Haiji-san, there was a doctor in this room a while ago, wasn’t there?” Kakeru sat on the bed and questioned Kiyose.
“There was,” Kiyose admitted as though he could see that there was no way out of this. “It was the doctor who always examines me. I asked him to make a house call and he gave me some painkillers.”
“The leg you said you injured—did it not heal?” Prince asked in shock. Jouji and Hanako had never even heard that Kiyose was injured, and they looked at each other in disbelief.
“What are you going to do?” It was all Kakeru could do not to let his voice tremble.
“Of course I’m running.”
“Are you okay with being so reckless?”
“If I’m not going to be reckless now, then when?”
“If…” Kakeru hesitated to put it into words. He was afraid that if he said it aloud, it would become reality.
“What if you can’t run for the rest of your life because of your recklessness today?”
He saw Jouji gasp and Prince hanging his head. Hanako didn’t move, only watching the course of Kiyose and Kakeru’s exchange.
Kakeru stared fixedly at Kiyose and waited for a response.
“It would be very painful,” Kiyose’s voice was quiet, and Kakeru knew that he had been thinking about that for a long time already. “But I won’t regret it.”
There’s no stopping him, Kakeru thought. If he were in Kiyose’s position, he would still choose to run.
Kakeru made up his mind. If that’s the case, then there’s only one thing I can do: to put as little burden on Haiji-san as possible, I should gain as much time as I can in the ninth leg.
The silence that enveloped the room was broken by Kiyose's phone ringing. He hung up after a short conversation.
“That was Shindou. The final entries were announced at Lake Ashi. Just as expected, Rikudou put Fujioka in the ninth leg.”
Jouji looked at Kakeru with both anticipation and worry in his eyes. “Okay,” Kakeru murmured. Blood was rushing through his body, and his heart was beating with joy and a fighting spirit; the day had come when they could finally compete in the same place. At the TSU meet in spring, he had only chased Fujioka’s back, but it was finally time to test how fast and strong he had become since then.
“Kakeru, don’t lose the race,” Kiyose said. Kakeru nodded determinedly.
It was past 7 in the morning.
They had to leave the hotel now. From now on, they were to split up: Kakeru and Jouji were going to the Totsuka relay station; Kiyose and Prince were going to the Tsurumi relay station; Hanako was going to Otemachi, the finish line.
“Are you okay with Jouji attending you? I can go with you, if you’d like,” Prince asked Kakeru, but he didn’t understand the intention of his question at all.
“Why? It’s fine as we planned.”
Even though his generous consideration was turned down, Prince didn’t seem offended at all, instead laughing and shaking his head lightly as though to say, “Good grief.”
When they reached the Yokohama Station premises, Kiyose said to Kakeru, “About what you said earlier.
“The situation isn’t as serious as you think. The painkillers are working, and I’m not beyond recovery.”
“Is that really true?”
“Have I ever lied?”
“Quite a lot.”
Kiyose frowned at the sky for a few moments, seemingly recalling his past acts.
“Don’t worry. I’m telling the truth this time,” he smiled. “I’m looking forward to seeing you run at Tsurumi.”
He felt like he wanted to say something to Kiyose—his gratitude, worry, and determination. But they were feelings that would never take shape no matter how many words he spent on them, so Kakeru only said, “I’ll hand you the sash not a second late.”
The group raised their hands a little to say goodbye, and then headed up the stairs to the platform to go to their respective places.
---
8 a.m.
As the starting gun sounded from Lake Ashi, the Bousou runner started running first. One minute and thirty-nine seconds later, the Rikudou runner followed.
One after another, the runners from each school left Lake Ashi with their sashes, with a time difference reflecting the times they had finished at Lake Ashi in the outbound leg. This time, the return leg of the Hakone Ekiden was beginning, heading for Otemachi, Tokyo.
Schools with more than ten minutes of difference from the outbound leg leader, Bousou, would start together ten minutes after Bousou began the return leg. In this year’s race, five schools had to start at the same time: the federation selected team, Eurasia University, Kansei University, Tokyo Gakuin University, and Shinsei University.
Kansei had a time difference of eleven minutes and fifty-three seconds with Bousou. Even though they would start the race simultaneously after ten minutes, the extra one minute and fifty-three seconds would not be discarded and would be automatically added to their overall time. Because of the simultaneous start, the visible order in which the runners were running and their orders by their times might differ from each other for the return leg.
In the return leg, especially for lower ranked teams, the competitors must not only look at the race’s development before their eyes, but also keep in mind the complicated time calculation, and try to fight calmly to raise their actual rankings as much as possible.
I’m made for this, Yuki thought. Rather than competing against others, he preferred to think about how to achieve his goals by developing countermeasures and how to show off his abilities while doing that. The sixth leg of the Hakone Ekiden, the mountain descent, suited his personality; he didn’t have to be misled by the apparent rankings, he just had to use his skills to run down the winding slope against the invisible enemy called time.
Just as he had declared, Shindou stayed by Yuki’s side the entire time before his departure. He helped him stretch, massaged his calves to prevent them from stiffening up in the cold, and conversed with him casually. Thanks to him, Yuki was able to calm his mind and focus on the race.
When the time came to set off, Yuki took off his bench coat and left it with Shindou. The temperature at Lake Ashi was minus three degrees Celsius. There was still powder snow in the air. The road surface was covered in snow and the ruts were frozen. Even with a long-sleeved T-shirt under his uniform, there was no way to prevent the cold from pressing down on him. The lack of wind was the only saving grace.
Jounan Bunka University was the last team that was able to start according to its time difference with Bousou. After being called by the staff member, the teams hurriedly lined up at the start line to start simultaneously.
Yuki looked at the crowd of people next to him. Shindou was almost swallowed up by the waves of spectators, but he was watching Yuki firmly.
“We’ll meet at Otemachi,” Yuki said. It might not have reached him, having gotten lost in the cheers, but Shindou was nodding.
Ten seconds after Jounan Bunka, the runners from the five teams started running at the same time on cue. Yuki’s glasses immediately fogged up from his body heat, but he soon regained his clear vision thanks to the cold wind blowing.
The road surface was covered with a thin layer of snow, making it nerve-wracking to even walk on flat surfaces, but running on it, there was no time to check your footing. Every step he took, the sherbet-like snowflakes bounced off his legs. Even the lightest shoes with the latest features couldn’t prevent the soles from slipping slightly as they kicked the surface.
The first four kilometers from the lakeside road to the highest point of Route 1 were mostly uphill. Of the five teams that had started at the same time, Eurasia was in front and Yuki didn’t hesitate to follow him. When he checked his watch at the first kilometer, his pace was less than three minutes and twenty seconds.
On the way up, he was a little too fast considering the poor road conditions. But if he didn’t go all out here, then there was no way Kansei would be able to improve their ranking in the return leg. Besides, Yuki thought, among the runners assigned to the sixth leg, the Rikudou runner was the only one who has a record of twenty-eight minutes for the ten-thousand meter. In other words, the runners in the sixth leg don’t put much emphasis on speed.
From the highest point to the town of Hakone-Yumoto, almost the entire sixth leg was downhill. Even if your time on flat surfaces wasn’t good, you could still go fast on the downhill if you gathered momentum. What was important was the dexterity to change your running style depending on the ups and downs, a sense of physical balance, and the boldness to run downhill without fear.
Even if he entered the first uphill slope at a somewhat fast pace, he would be able to conserve enough stamina. With this judgement, Yuki didn’t recoil.
They left the lakeside and headed up the path towards the mountains. There was one small up-and-down right before the highest point. As they approached the first descent, Yuki looked at his watch again. Kiyose had instructed him to run at a pace of three minutes and twenty seconds per kilometer on the way up, but he was now going at a pace of three minutes and fifteen seconds per kilometer.
I can do it. He was convinced. His body felt light and he was able to asjust his footwork according to the ups and downs without even thinking about it.
Tokyo Gakuin University and Shinsei University were already about to be shaken off from the lower-ranked group, which was now composed of six schools as it had absorbed Jounan Bunka, who had departed ahead of them.
All Yuki could think about was overtaking as many schools as possible in front of him. The cold didn’t bother him anymore. He climbed to the highest point in one go.
The downhill slope, which stretched for nearly fifteen kilometers, awaited him, meandering on and on beyond the falling snow.
---
“Isn’t he going too fast?”
Watching the portable TV, Kakeru arrived at the Totsuka relay station with Jouji. The screen showed Yuki and the others passing in front of the main gate of the Flower Center, the five-kilometer marker.
“But I heard that the normal pace for the sixth leg is five kilometers in around thirteen minutes?” Jouji said in his usual carefree way, but it didn’t ease Kakeru’s concerns. It was the pace after you got into the descent in earnest—it was hard even for a runner himself to hold back his speed once he was completely going downhill. Once your body got into the rhythm of the descent, it wasn’t impossible to run down a hundred meters in fifteen seconds. In the sixth leg, despite the long distance of 20.7 kilometers, the speed in some places was comparable to that of a short distance run.
However, even though the first five kilometers were uphill and the road conditions weren’t good, he was running in sixteen minutes. Even with Yuki’s running ability, it seemed to Kakeru that this was clearly an excessive pace.
“I’ll call Haiji-san.”
Kakeru took out his phone from his jacket pocket.
“You worry too much,” Jouji said, shrugging a little.
“Yes, this is Kiyose.” The phone immediately relayed Kiyose’s voice along with the bustle from outside. It seemed that he had already arrived at the Tsurumi relay station.
“Are you listening to the radio?”
“Prince’s phone has a TV function. He also found out about it just now. We’re watching it. It’s amazing what you can do with a cell phone these days.”
“Yes. No, not about that…” Prince’s slow pace and Kiyose’s hopelessness with technology made Kakeru feel dizzy. “Isn’t Yuki-senpai running a little too fast?”
“Yeah. I would call the landlord, but there’s no point—the coach cars don’t stay close to the runners on the mountain roads of Hakone.”
“What should we do?”
“There’s nothing we can do. The rest is the descent. It would be foolish to slow down now, so we can only pray that Yuki doesn’t slip and fall,” Kiyose let out a light laugh, as though he had gotten over all his worries. “Anyways Kakeru, make sure to jog and warm up properly. I have to get in touch with Nico-chan-senpai and King now, so we’ll talk later.”
The call ended, and Kakeru let out a sigh.
“I told you it’s fine,” Jouji took the phone from Kakeru. “You need to trust us a little more.”
“Trust, huh,” Kakeru began to rotate his ankles and prepare for a jog. “Come to think of it, Katsuta-san said that too.”
“H-Hana-chan?” Jouji immediately turned red. “Why are you bringing up Hana-chan?”
“What do you mean why?”
“Are you doing that on purpose or are you really that airheaded?” Growing impatient with Kakeru’s pointless reply, Jouji turned to him again. “Hey, you know, I like Hana-chan.”
“I know.”
“You know!? How?”
“Nico-chan-senpai said it on the phone yesterday.”
Even when we’re apart from each other, we can still be overheard just as well as when we’re in Chikusei-sou, Jouji grumbled.
“What about you, Kakeru?” He asked the question he wanted to ask the most: “Is it okay if I confess to Hana-chan?”
Why do you need to check with me for that? It seems that the residents of Chikusei-sou are convinced that I like Katsuta-san. Kakeru, pondering up to that point, felt a jolt to his heart like the feeling of falling during the first stage of sleep.
I like Katsuta-san.
It was partly because he was so dense that he couldn’t even laugh at the twins, but it was a feeling that had been in his heart so quietly and naturally that he hadn’t been aware of it until now.
Kakeru had always kept Hanako’s figure carefully in his memory. The color of her scarf on the night they walked together. The profile of her face when she watched them train under the sky where summer clouds were rising. The first time he saw her, her thin back as she pedalled her bike through the shopping district.
Kakeru was looking at Hanako. And all that time, her eyes and thoughts were solely on the twins.
“Now I get it.”
Kakeru was shocked at his feelings that had finally become clear.
“…What are you talking about?” Jouji nervously asked, seemingly thinking that it was creepy how he had suddenly zoned and then nodded to himself.
“No,” Kakeru shook his head. “I think you should just confess to her.”
It wasn’t an act of bravado, but a feeling of clarity. He was sure that Hanako would be happy to know Jouji’s feelings. Perhaps she would be equally pleased with a confession from Jouta, and there might be a quarrel there. But that wasn’t Kakeru’s business.
This wasn’t a competition. Hanako’s heart belonged to her. Jouji’s heart belonged to him as well. It was the same as how Kakeru’s heart only belonged to him. It was a domain that was free from all standards and measures, something no one could steal or bend.
It was satisfying to know that there was a gentle but strong feeling within him that had nothing to do with speed or victory or defeat. Hanako, who taught him those feelings, seemed more and more important to him. Kakeru would be happy if her love was realized.
Also, I’m used to long-distance running. I’m good at patiently waiting for an opportunity. Even if Hanako has feelings for the twins right now, you can’t state definitively that it’ll be forever.
“I see, I guess it’s better to tell her. Uwah, what should I do, I’m so nervous.”
Jouji was determined to confess his feelings to Hanako without any hesitation, not realizing that Kakeru, who was patient when it came to the important things, was chewing on his first realization of love like a ruminating cow.
---
Yuki was smoothly descending the mountain.
In the beginning, he tried to run on the ruts because he was afraid of slipping on the frozen snow, but then he couldn’t steer a good course through the turns. Too much concern about slipping would cause him to put pressure on his muscles, which would make it all come to nothing. In the end, Yuki decided to run and take the course as usual.
Running downhill is fun, Yuki thought. To be able to feel such acceleration with my own body. His speed was so fast that even the soft snowflakes hitting his face from the front hurt like pebbles. While balancing with his whole body, he followed the slope as it led him forward. His fear of falling down didn’t cross his mind at all in the face of the pleasure of speed.
The front of Kowakien was the ten-kilometer point of the sixth leg. It was also a TV relay point. Even though the weather was bad and it was early in the morning, there were spectators along the roadside cheering for them. Following the Eurasia runner, Yuki turned to the right, and he could hear the watery footsteps of the Shinsei runner right behind him.
Yuki, of course, had no way of knowing, but the announcer and the commentator Yanaka were watching the live feed and commentating on the running of the athletes from each school.
“The footage of the lower-ranked teams at the ten-kilometer mark is coming in. What do you think, Yanaka-san?”
“They’re going at quite a fast pace. I thought that the section prize for the sixth leg would go to Manaka, who is steadily improving their rank from twelfth place, but there is a possibility that it will go to one of the lower-ranked teams.”
“According to the data at hand, except for Tamura-kun of Rikudou, all the runners in the sixth leg have an official record in the twenty-nine-minute range for the ten-thousand meters.”
“When it comes to the mountain descent, the time on flat surfaces is not that important. If you can run ten-thousand meters in the twenty-nine-minute range, then the rest is all down to guts.”
“Guts, you say?”
“Yes. The speed and incline the runners experience is much more than what you see on the screen. It’s like pedalling a bike down a steep slope with both hands free. And today, the footing isn’t good. It’s crucial to calmly keep your balance and have the guts to keep your momentum going.”
“Which of the lower-ranked teams do you think is closest to the section prize?”
“I still don’t know yet, but I like Iwakura-kun of Kansei. He has a very stable lower body. His upper body doesn’t sway unnecessarily, and he doesn’t flinch from running down bad roads at all. He is an excellent example of how to run downhill.”
“I see. The rest would depend on their persistence when the road becomes flat after Hakone-Yumoto. They've passed the ten-kilometer TV relay point.”
As they descended in altitude, the snow turned into sleet mixed with rain and the road became covered with a sherbet-like muck. Yuki realized that he had crossed the width of the crosswalk in two steps.
The current crosswalk was probably four meters wide. If he had crossed it in two steps, then that meant he had gone two meters in one step. Yuki was once again shocked at himself—his acceleration was incredible. He had gained momentum and was literally running as if he were flying, and his stride was widening as a result. He glanced at his watch: for the past five kilometers, he had been running downhill at a pace of two minutes and forty seconds.
One kilometer in two minutes and forty seconds. It was a time Yuki couldn’t achieve on flat ground. As far as he knew, the only person who could sustain such a pace for five kilometers on level ground was Kakeru.
The branches of the cedar trees on the roadside were piled with pure white snow. The trunks were black and wet, and the mountains had been transformed overnight into a beautiful, monochromatic world. As soon as they appeared in the corner of his eye, they streamed backwards, smoother and faster than in a movie.
So, this is the world Kakeru normally experiences. Yuki had a lump in his throat.
Kakeru, you’re in a very lonely place, aren’t you? The wind rumbles loudly in your ears, and all the scenery passes by you in an instant. It feels so good that I never want to stop running, but it’s a world you can only experience alone.
For the first time, he understood why Kakeru was so devoted to running, sometimes to the point of overdoing it. If Yuki were allowed to run at such a speed, he would certainly indulge in it like an addict. He wanted to see the world in quicker, even more beautiful instants. Perhaps that was a momentary experience, almost like an eternity. However, it was too dangerous—it was a world that was too beautiful, too harsh to challenge with a flesh and blood body.
Now I’m just looking at the gate that would lead me there from a distance, with the help of the mountain roads of Hakone, Yuki thought. He knew that he wouldn’t get any closer.
Dragged in by Kiyose’s enthusiasm, Yuki’s life had been centered around running for the past year. But that life was coming to an end today. I have my own way of life. I don’t want to aim for momentary beauty and exaltation, sharpening my mind and body day after day. I want to choose to live among people, even if I’m covered in filth. That’s why I passed the bar and am trying to become a lawyer.
Today’s the end. But I’m glad I experienced this speed for the first and last time. Yuki smiled slightly as he sped along the mountain road. Kakeru, don’t go too far. What you’re aiming for is a beautiful place, but it’s lonely and quiet. So much that it doesn’t suit a living person.
It would be nice if there’s something to tie Kakeru’s soul to the earth, Yuki thought. In people’s lives, in people’s joys and sorrows. It’s only by planting his feet on the ground that Kakeru would definitely become even stronger. Balance was essential. It was the same as running down a snowy mountain road.
As Yuki entered the Miyanoshita Hot Spring Village and passed in front of the Fujiya Hotel, he saw something unexpected and let out a short cry.
“Uwah!”
In front of the hotel, there were many guests waving Hakone Ekiden flags. Some of them were dressed lightly in yukata and padded kimonos, shouting their voices hoarse even as they shrank back from the cold. Among them, Yuki saw his mother, his younger sister who was only half related to him, and his mother’s second husband.
“Yukihiko!” his mother shouted loudly.
“Onii-chan, do your best!” His young sister leaned forward, and his stepfather, who was holding her, nodded firmly.
“This is so embarrassing…”
He passed by the hotel in a few moments, but Yuki ran for a while with his head down. Did my family elegantly spend the New Year’s at that hotel? Yuki snarked inwardly to cover up his embarrassment. They probably knew I wouldn’t be able to come by even if they invited me, so they planned to surprise me by not saying anything. Even so, it’s too bad for my heart. I hope the TV and radio didn’t pick up the voices and figures of Mom and the others. Nico-chan-senpai would definitely make fun of me if he knew. Well, he should only have a radio, so I think I’ll be fine.
Yuki suddenly felt happy. That look on Mom’s face just now. She looked desperate and tearful, like she was the one running.
Yuki didn’t remember his biological father. He had died in an accident right after he was born, so his only memories of his father were in his mother’s words and photos. Since his father’s death, Yuki had only lived with his mother, and he treasured her very much. His high school girlfriend had once said to him, “Yuki, you’re a mama’s boy, aren’t you?” Of course I am, Yuki thought. A son who doesn’t take care of his mother isn’t a good son.
Perhaps because he grew up watching his mother work late into the night, Yuki set his sights on his goals early on. He wanted to get a steady job so that he could make his mother’s life easier. Fortunately, he had confirmed during his school life that his brain wasn’t half-bad. If that was the case, then it would be easy to aim for the bar exam, which was called the strongest qualification. He thought that being a lawyer, where he could work between logic and emotion, would be suitable for him, and more importantly, it seemed to make a lot of money. As soon as Yuki entered high school, he began preparing for the exam on his own. He studied hard and worked on his stamina. He thought that he should be well-versed in the inner workings of relationships between men and women, so he went out with girls.
However, something happened that made Yuki’s efforts all come to nothing: his mother remarried. Her new husband was an office worker who earned a decent wage, so his mother didn’t have to work anymore. She loved her new husband and seemed to be very happy. His stepfather was easily able to do more for her than Yuki had ever wanted to do for his mother.
Yuki couldn’t help but feel devastated. He had his pride, and when he decided to do something, he had to finish it, so he didn’t give up on passing the bar exam. However, it was all in vain now. The following year after his mother remarried, she had his little sister. This was also a situation that made Yuki, who was in his late teens, feel awkward and uncomfortable. When he got into university, he left home and rarely came back, even at New Year’s.
Seeing his family cheer him on made the trivial pent-up feelings he had melt away. As though to match that, the snow had completely transformed into rain.
Both his stepfather and his sister had always cared for Yuki as a member of the family. And most importantly, his mother was happy. That’s all that matters. That’s exactly what I’ve always wanted. It would be childish of me to keep sulking about the fact that my mother became happy in a slightly different way than I envisioned.
Yuki laughed, unnoticed by anyone else, in the midst of his white and billowing exhalation. Before he knew it, he caught a glimpse of the Teitou University runner's back at the end of the turn. He couldn’t sense anyone behind him; he seemed to have pulled away from the lower-ranked teams he had started the race with.
He looked at his watch and confirmed that he hadn’t slowed down his pace at all. His mind and body felt light. He could go the rest of the way downhill at this pace. What was important was whether or not he could keep up this running for the last three kilometers of flat ground after Hakone-Yumoto. Kiyose had given him advice yesterday.
“After a downhill slope, even flat ground feels like going uphill. That’s when the real battle begins.”
I think I’ll be okay, Yuki answered in his mind. I have no intention of losing today—to the battle between me and my body and mind.
---
The drums were still beating at the Odawara relay station. In front of Kazamatsuri Station, there were many people crowded into the kamaboko company's parking lot, waiting for the arrival of the sixth leg athletes.
“Did you see that, Jouta? Yuki’s face was there just now!”
Nico-chan had directly witnessed the scene in front of Fujiya Hotel with the TV function of his cell phone. It was only when Haiji called him earlier that he realized he could watch TV on Jouta’s phone as well. Even Nico-chan, who was knowledgeable about computers, only used his phone for calling, and Jouta only used his for texting. Perhaps it was because he wasn’t interested in the evolution of machines that he could be satisfied with the rundown apartment.
“Yuki-senpai’s mom is young and beautiful,” Jouta said, biting into a rolled omelette. “By the way, he’s going to win the section prize at this rate, isn’t he?”
“Yuki doesn’t seem to be aware of that fact, though. The Manaka guy is just as fast as him, so it's hard to tell.”
“Ugh, I’m so frustrated! I want to tell Yuki-senpai his time.”
“How?”
“I’ll use willpower or telekinesis or something,” Jouta put the omelet he was partway through eating away in his sports bag and began to look at his phone intently. “In less than twenty minutes, it will be Nico-chan-senpai’s turn.”
The screen showed Bousou in the lead, and Rikudou chasing behind with a difference of about one and a half minutes. They were about to finish their descent and head towards Hakone-Yumoto Station. The Manaka runner, aiming for the section prize, had improved his position and was now in eighth place. His pace hadn’t slowed at all.
“How’s Yuki?”
“He’s not on the screen. Until they go out to Hakone-Yumoto, the lower-ranked teams won’t be shown much.”
Nico-chan told Jouta to keep an eye on Manaka’s time and began his final adjustments. He ran lightly in the parking lot to loosen up.
Nine o’clock in the morning. The Bousou runner arrived at the station in the lead. His time was sixty minutes and forty-six seconds. Rikudou and Yamato were the next to receive their sashes. Nico-chan hurried back to Jouta, who was near the relay line.
“Amazing!” Jouta was excited. “Even on flat ground, his speed hasn’t slowed down. Keep going, Yuki-senpai!”
On the screen of his phone, he could see Yuki sidestepping the Teitou runner at the crossroad with New Hakone Road. Kansei, in fourteenth place, had a clear view of TSU in front of them.
“Yes, that’s it!”
Nico-chan took off his jersey. Now it was time to see if Yuki could get the section prize.
“Manaka?”
“We'll be able to see them with our own eyes soon.”
Jouta raised his head from his phone. “They’re here!” he shouted.
The red uniform of Manaka, running along the railroad tracks, was just about to turn off the road and enter the relay station. They knew he was a candidate for the section prize, so the cheers were even louder. Manaka’s sash was handed over.
“What’s his record!”
“Sixty minutes and twenty-four seconds.”
Jouta read the information on the TV screen on his phone out loud. It was a good time for running on snowy roads. Even Rikudou’s Tamura, whose ten-kilometer time was in the twenty-eight minute range, had a time of sixty minutes and forty-eight seconds.
At the relay station, the schools relayed their sashes one after the other. The TV screen showed that Yuki was almost there.
Yuki, just a little more. The staff member called Nico-chan to stand at the relay line. All that was left was a race against time. Next to him, the TSU runner received his sash and started running. He could hear Jouta’s voice as he timed Yuki on his watch.
“Sixty minutes and seventeen seconds, eighteen, nineteen…”
Yuki entered the relay station. He was gritting his teeth and holding the unfastened sash in his right hand. He might have learned Manaka’s time from the spectators along the road and was trying to summon up all his strength in the final stretch.
“Yuki!” Nico-chan howled. “Sixty minutes and twenty-four seconds,” Jouta screamed. There was a stir from the spectators. The sash still hadn’t been passed to Nico-chan’s hand. Yuki was a step short of the section prize.
But at that moment, Nico-chan forgot about the existence of times. Yuki’s eyes were looking straight at him. He wasn’t thinking about the section prize at all, he just wanted to give the sash to Nico-chan as soon as possible. That was the only thing he was thinking about as he made it through the last three flat kilometers. Nico-chan understood that. He could see that in Yuki’s fingertips, which were still hot and damp despite being exposed to the cold wind.
“Good job,” Nico-chan muttered.
“I’m tired. I’m leaving the rest to you.”
Yuki clapped Nico-chan on the back, managed to step firmly on his trembling legs, and prevented himself from falling over.
“Yuki-senpai!” Jouta snatched a towel from a staff member and ran up to Yuki to support him. “It's disappointing, but you were incredible!”
“Disappointing? What is?” Yuki drank water from a plastic water bottle and finally found his voice.
“The section prize. Yuki-senpai’s time was sixty minutes and twenty-six seconds. If you had been two seconds faster, you would have tied for the section prize.”
“Really.”
Two seconds. Yuki laughed. Only two seconds. Such a short amount of time that passed in a single breath. Did I miss out on being the best in this leg by such a small margin?
“Oh well,” Yuki said. “Those two seconds were like an hour to me.”
Jouta almost cried when he saw Yuki’s soles after he took off his shoes. The blisters at the base of his big toes had peeled off and there was blood welling up, even though the skin on his soles had grown so thick over the past year. He realized just how hard it was to run down the mountains of Hakone.
“Of course it was enough. You were so cool, Yuki-senpai.”
After patting the tearful Jouta on the head, Yuki looked at the road leading toward the town of Odawara.
I’m leaving the rest to you, Nico-chan-senpai.
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heartandflowerball · 1 year
Text
"Call it what you want"-Rivusa social media au(fake dating trope) - Chapter 18-
I put a link for the petition for the show in the chapter 13, please go sign it.
if you didn't already read the other chapters, click here, that will land you to the introduction that has links for all the chapters before this one and the tw.
hello, I hope everyone is doing good. New chapter! I'm sorry for not having posted before but I have been struggling with life lately, but it's fine now. Anyways, enjoy this chapter<3
sorry if there is any grammar error, english is not my first language.
Real life pov:
She knew what she was getting into when she asked Riven to train her, but waking up at 5 am everyday is definitely not her favorite thing. Musa walks through the still silent corridors of Alfea, an apple in one hand and a water bottle in the other. She eats in silence, hurrying so as not to be late. She passes through the large front door and heads for the training platform. Musa approaches it and goes to Riven who is waiting for her with a slight smile on his face. He sits up and walks over to her, placing a light kiss on the fairy's forehead. Riven's soft lips brushing her skin give her a small smile and slight butterflies in her stomach.
"Hello did you sleep well?" He asks her, taking the fairy's things and putting them next to his.
"I never sleep well when I have to get up this early."
"Ah but it was you who decided to get yourself into this mess, it was you who asked me to train you."
The fun can be heard in the voice of the specialist. Musa rolls her eyes, shaking her head.
"What do we begin with?"
She ties her long brown hair in a ponytail while asking this question.
"You run around the track."
"Excuse me?! I don't think so."
"Too cozy to run, mind fairy?" He walks around her with a smirk. "I knew it."
She nudges Riven slightly. "I'm just still not really awake that's all."
"Yes that's it, go run."
Musa opens her water bottle and takes a sip before starting to run.
"Aren't you running?"
She hands him the bottle to put next to his as he shakes his head negatively in response to her question.
"I knew it, teachers always give orders but don't participate. Predictable."
The boy's eyes narrow slightly as he runs his hand through his hair. He knows very well that she is trying to provoke him by telling him that he is incapable of doing something. It's a trap. Yet he falls into it. And that's why they're both running side by side on this damn track.
The light wind hits their faces as Riven lightly grabs Musa's wrist.
"If you throw punches like that, you'll break your knuckles."
She looks carefully at what he shows her. He positions Musa's fingers well while speaking.
"You close your fingers, from the smallest to the index finger and, your thumb, you put it over your index and slightly on your middle finger. Not in your fist, otherwise you'll break it."
He lets go of her wrist, looking at her carefully. Without warning, she throws her fist in the air to attack him and he ducks to dodge.
"Wow okay, that kinda sucked."
She gives him the middle finger before repositioning her hand. The boy speaks again: "You don't fight to attack, but to defend, remember that."
She nods and tries to hit him again but this time he grabs her arm and twists it slightly then lets go.
"Musa please."
"I'm trying I swear, but I can't!" She said raising her voice slightly, angry that she couldn't.
He watches her sit cross-legged on the floor, throwing herself to the ground with a sigh. Riven comes to sit beside her.
"Hey hey, none of that here. It's normal not to be able to do something the first time you try. It's not to brag but I've been training since I was 7, you come to start a week ago. You dance, don't you? The first time you try a new move, you can't do it. That's the same thing here, Love."
Musa's facial features relax as Riven speaks. She nods, still a little pissed at herself. She makes grabby hand toward him. The green-eyed boy opens his arms to her and Musa comes to snuggle up to him. She rubs her nose lightly against the black fabric of the boy's t-shirt. He gently circles her waist and pulls her against him. The fairy's skin lights up where Riven puts her hands.
"Don't be so hard on yourself Pixie."
Musa nods gently as he gently rubs her back.
"It's just, I feel like perfection is always expected of me."
She feels her eyes fill with tears.
"You can let go with me."
He places his hand on her lower back and questions her with a look. She nods and he pecks her shoulders with kisses. She loves that about him, that he asks for her consent all the time before touching her. This is something completely normal but often overlooked by many people. Even before they were really a couple, he still gave her a questioning look. And that makes the hug he's giving even more comforting. He doesn't quite know how to take care of someone crying, so he does what he does best, giving what he lacks. A hug, a simple touch. They spend a good amount of time in each other's arms. After taking a deep breath, Musa gets up and repositions her hands.
"Come on, Riv, we'll try again!"
He gets up with a smirk.
Musa's pov:
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Real life pov:
Classes will start in 5 minutes. Aisha is looking for her biology book while walking through the halls when she feels someone grab her arm. She turns around to see Musa handing her something. She lowers her eyes and actively looks at the book in Musa's hands. Her biology book.
"I found it in the bathroom, next to Terra's plants."
Aisha sneers putting the manual in her bag:"What was he doing there?"
"I don't know at all, are we going to class?"
The water fairy comes to put her bag back on her shoulder and closes her coat.
"So how are you today?"
"Aisha, come to the point."
"I don't see what you mean."
They walk side by side towards the room.
"Of course you know, you hate small talk."
Aisha rolls her eyes: "I have to do a project for my art class. I took some pictures there but I would like to know if you could compose the background music for my diaporama?"
The corner of Musa's lips quirk upwards in a small smile.
"I'd love to do that. Now come on let's go to class otherwise we'll be late."
Aisha slips her arm into Musa's, trotting in the hallway, laughing a little.
Musa's pov:
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Real life pov:
Towards the end of the afternoon, at the other end of the school, outside in the grass are lying Beatrix and Stella on a picnic tablecloth. Stella has her head resting on her girlfriend's lap. The blonde's eyes close slightly from the sun abusing her eyes. Beatrix comes to position her hand above the blonde's face to give her some shade . Stella sits up and comes to position a kiss in the other girl's hand.
"Thank you."
Beatrix makes a fake expression of disgust.
"Yuck, you got saliva in my hand."
"Okay, I'll stop the kisses then." Answers the blonde resting back to Bea laps.
"Don't even dare stop, darling."
A soft laugh comes out of Stella's mouth.
"What makes you girls laugh?"
It is Bloom, who has just arrived, who asked the question.
"Nothing nothing." Answers Beatrix.
The redhead comes to sit next to her. Flora and Terra do the same as Aisha and Musa sit opposite, lightly pushing the playing cards that are lying there. Stella remains lying on her girlfriend's lap as the others take out their things to start their homework. Musa looks up from her notebook to see the blonde gently kissing the inside of Beatrix's wrists, who smiles softly at her.
Musa's pov:
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Real life pov:
An hour later, only Musa remains sitting in the grass. All her friends have left for their last lesson of the day or for their extra-curricular activities. Musa is sunbathing on the green grass as the sun warms her skin. A shadow falls across her eyes and when she looks up, it's Sky she sees.
"Hello?" Said the brunette raising an eyebrow as a question.
"We're going to our room with Riv to do our homework, are you coming with us?"
Musa props herself up on her elbows: "Where's Riven?"
"Putting the swords away, do you go with us?" The blond asks him, holding out his hand.
She grabs it and gets up at the same time to take her bag. They head for Riven who is waiting for them outside the school's front door. Musa smiles at him and walks past them.
Sky looks at his best friend: "How someone grumpy like you managed to date a ray of sunshine like that?"
"Oh shut up" Riven told him pushing him lightly.
He shakes his head amusedly. He loves these two, even if he will never tell Sky, he will risk to flatter his ego too much.
Musa's pov:
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~~~~
Tanks you for reading this. <3Let me know if you want to be on the taglist.
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(I have done all the edit and written all this myself so please don't steal my work)
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herstroywritten · 3 years
Text
For All Her Colors
Does Alfea have a ballroom? I’m going to assume it does. 
This idea for this fic came to me in the middle of the night and I just had to write it. And by that, I mean that I knew I wanted Riven to simp over Musa in a bunch of different outfits and colors and had absolutely no plot for it. Can’t say it’s my best work, but I enjoyed writing the banter. And thus, I present you Simp!Riven and Flirty!Musa.
And just for research purposes, what colors do you guys classify as “sexy”? My friend and I have had this conversation multiple times and it always gets more and more interesting.
YELLOW
Bright. Brighter. Brightest.
That's what Riven thinks of Musa's smile. He thinks this same thought each and every time he sees her smile.
He likes her shy smiles, the ones where she bends her head downward and plays with the straps of her backpack, the ones where her lips pull up and she tries desperately to hide the blush that frames her cheeks right after he's told her he's particularly fond of her current swim attire.
And he likes her mischievous smiles, the ones that spark to life as her eyes sparkle with understanding and hidden messages. Those ones he has the privilege of admiring right after she's made a joke that isn't quite as innocent as it seems, or when her and the girls are planning something he can only assume will land them all in some sort of trouble, or (and this is his personal favorite instance) when she makes a not so sly pass at him from across a room with just her eyes in a way that he knows will land him in a load of trouble.
And don't even get him started on Musa's wide smile, the one that she currently sports as she throws her head back laughing at Bloom's lame attempt to stay afloat after her not so coordinated cannonball into the lake.
Her hair is loose, a rare occurrence at any time, and he watches as she swims to the shore and walks to where he is sitting pretending to admire the sunset and fooling no one in the fact that he's just staring at her. She's all curves and  bare skin as she steps out of the water, droplets grazing her body. His eyes follow their way downward with each new strip of skin that is revealed as she makes her way out of the lake, fully aware of the fact that she knows he's watching.
"My eyes are up here," she jokes half-heartedly as she plops herself down next to him in a very unladylike manner. Stella would be horrified.
His lips twitch up at her words, but he makes on effort to look up, focusing instead on the way that yellow bikini top lifts and falls as she breathes in and out. Breathing was never something he'd thought of often before her. Sure, a living, breathing human being was a must in any partner. But before her, there had been no long drawn out thoughts about how deep breaths and hitches in a someone's breathing pattern made him want to just… snap. But, now, as he looped his arm around Musa's waist and brought her onto his lap, hearing her breath catch somewhere at the back of her throat, he wondered if breathing could be a kink.
"You going to speak? Or do you just plan on staring at me for the rest of the time I'm in this swimsuit?" She shifts herself on his lap so that they're face to face, and pokes his cheek with her index finger. "Come now, you can do it. You can form a coherent sentence and speak it for me. You're a big boy."
And at that line, how could he not give her what she was asking for?
"You would know." He all but growls in her ear and she throws her head back, flashes the sky one of her wide smiles, bares her throat to him. He leans his head down, presses his lips to her neck, feels her vocal chords vibrate through him as she laughs.
"You're a child. You know that?"
"Not my fault my mind can't control itself."
"Actually, I think that is your fault?" She cocks an eyebrow at him, gives him her mischievous smile.
"Let me correct myself then, love." He makes a show of leaning in as close to her as he can get without actually touching her and says, "Not my fault you're unavoidable in that bikini."
Her eyes darken as she wraps her arms around his neck, "Hmm. What about this bikini is so appealing to you?"
"All of it."
"Would you," she taps a finger to her chin. "I don't know. Would you say the color is particularly attractive?"
That's an interesting question. "Huh?"
"You heard me. This color. The yellow. Do you like it?"
"What?" He tries again, looking at her all perplexed because really, where is this going?
"Riven, I know you're struggling with words at the current moment. But really, this isn't that hard a question. Yes or no. Do you like the yellow?" She huffs lightly and he has to remember to take in air and let it out as he feels her hot breath against his bare chest.
"I can manage words just fine. I just don't know what exactly that question entails?"
"Oh, you know, the usual. Do you think this color is attractive? Does it make you want to strip me naked right here, right now, and fuck me senseless?"
He chokes on his own spit at that response. "Okay, first of all, there is never a time when I don’t want to strip you naked. Second, I am not answering that question because I know there's no way this conversation isn't somehow related to the rest of your little pixie friends and I… I don't even wanna know."
"Oh, come on," she whines. She leans down then and kisses his jaw. "Humor me," she whispers to him.
Her breath tickles his skin, carving a path of wanting as it travels through him. And fuck, , is it really possible to be turned on by someone's breathing?
She's trailing her lips over the parts of his skin that are available to her, not quite kissing any part of him but present enough that he's about to lose his goddamn mind.
"Hmm?" she murmurs in question, pushing him to answer her ridiculous question.
And though he's sure that his answer is about to make him the popular talk of the Winx suite, he answers her anyways, "Yeah. Yeah. Fine."
"Fine, what?" Lips brushing past his cheeks, past him jaw, against his mouth.
Fine, dig my grave right now, why don't you? he thinks. Instead he answers with a grumbled "Fine, that's a very attractive color."
Quick as his words come out of his mouth, Musa's lips are off of him and pulled back into her wide smile as she shifts herself around and hollers over her shoulder, "HA! Stella, you owe Bloom money! He's totally into it!"
Good gracious fucking God. What in the devil's name did he just get himself into?
LILAC/LAVENDER
Turns out, what he got himself into was a game of circling rounds. Riven's not sure of the details, not sure he wants to be sure of the details quite frankly. But, the main idea is this: there came a night when Bloom decided the girls needed a good old-fashioned "slumber party" and in between the late night snacks and movies, the girls had found themselves in a heated game of truth or dare. Aisha had dared Terra to start leaving a plant in Dowling's office every day until she noticed, Terra asked Stella for some very juicy information about what was going on between her and that newly-appointed bodyguard of hers, Stella paid forward the embarrassment by asking some very detailed information of Bloom concerning the girl's current relationship and that had led to the conversation of… lingerie? This is where stuff gets a bit fuzzy for Riven. Really, Musa's explanation had all but gone down the drain once he's heard that word. He truly wishes the story had ended there. He would have been fine with that. But no, the pixies had somehow managed to stir the conversation to the topic of… colors? Sexy colors? Again he's not too sure of the details here.
What he is sure of, however, is that Musa now wears a different color every day just for the sake of testing his reactions. And yeah, he's got plenty of reactions.
Take now for example. All of Alfea is crowded into the greeting hall, a raging party is in full swing, and the only lights that can be seen are that of the moon through the large French doors that surround the school and the occasional lighter from a student who doesn't care all that much about getting caught. The whole Winx suite is crowded by one of the round tables situated in the middle of the room, no doubt Stella's choice of seating. Let it never be said that Stella of Solaria was anything but the center of attention even on her worst days. And attention is what she is getting, as she sits ever so daintily on the edge of her seat, leaning forward so that she can graze those perfectly manicured nails of hers across the biceps of who Riven assumes is the bodyguard Sky (and everyone else in their little group, for that matter) won't stop talking about. She's fluttering her lashes at him, whispering something Riven knows for a fact is not very ladylike of her, because the more she speaks, the farther forward the poor sap leans and the deeper his blush grows.
Whipped, Riven thinks to himself. Someone should warn the clueless sap he's in for a hell lot more than what he thinks he's signing up for.
And someone should tell Sky to stop with the heart eyes before they become a permanent fixture on that pretty face of his. Bloom has somehow managed to get him on the dance floor, but from the looks of it, there is very little dancing being done. More stumbling and tumbling across the floor and toward a corner of the room. Riven has to stop himself from laughing out loud as Sky almost tramples over a poor freshman girl in his rush the follow Bloom.
You're not as smooth as you think you are, Sky.
He's not really sure where the rest of their gang is, but he can't really bring himself to care either. The only person he really cares to track down is sitting cross-legged on top of the table that Stella and bodyguard guy are feeling each other up under, and he spotted her the second he walked into this lame party. She's draped in lavender silk, or something akin to it. He's not sure, but he (again) couldn't care less what the material is. The color though, that he is wildly interested in. He knows it's a game. He knows she's looking for a reaction. And he told himself he wouldn't give her one, but far be it for him to deny her anything when she's all long legs and tan skin in just a tiny lavender dress that he swears makes her look like a goddess from the heavens.
And then she curls her lips his way, and he stands corrected. Not from heaven, but hell. Because the pure lavender of her dress cannot possibly match all the thoughts that must be running her mind, all the thoughts running his mind.
She's worn that color before, and his brain has memorized the exact shade of it without him knowing. It's the color of the sweater she wore when he first spoke to her. For days after, Riven hadn't been able to get that exact hue out of his mind. He would see flashes of it in the sky as the sun set, would notice flowers of that color around campus (had they always been there?). He would even see it when he closed his eyes at night.
Still smirking at him, she makes her way over and reaches to clasp her hands at his shoulders when she finally stands before him.
"Thought you might be into this one," she whispers in his ear. They both know she means the color. 
"Can't say I don't appreciate it," he chuckles into her ear, the diamond-dipped earrings she wears tickling his lips as they sway. 
And then she's tugging him to the middle of the dancefloor.
"Hey, I-"
"You don't dance. I know," she smiles up at him. Her wide smile, the dazzling one that makes him forget to breathe. "But… come on, just one song? For me?"
The way she pushes the strap of lavender off her shoulder in a very intentional manner does not bypass him.
In the end, he lets her have as many songs as she wants.
BLACK
Musa wears the color lavender a lot more often for the next few days after that party. Riven knows she likes that it riles him up, likes that she can do that to him, but it's getting to the point where he can't think straight whenever she's around him. And the teachers are noticing his lack of attention during classes, mainly swords training, which Musa has decided to add to her daily activities. Meaning, of course, that she has decided to make an appearance to each of his training sessions, sit on the grass just beyond the training grounds with all her friends, and bat her eyelashes his way as she shows off all the lilac and lavender her closet possesses. 
"You need to stop that," he mumbles to her as she comes to meet him at the boy's lockers after one of those training lessons.
"Stop what?" Her voice drips in innocence, sweet as honey. If he were facing her instead of stuffing gear into a bag, he knows she would be giving her best angel eyes and he would likely let her seduce him into a corner somewhere (or maybe let her strip him right here in the middle of the locker room… he's a man of few requests) and drop the subject altogether. 
"I just let Boris have a win because of you. Fucking Boris. The guy can't even walk a straight line without tripping himself."
"Not my fault you can't stop looking my way."
"That's a lie and you know it."
"No. No, I think it's the truth."
"Musa-" 
"Riven." 
He huffs in mild annoyance. "Seriously, as much as I want you to seduce me into every corner of this stupid school, I can't be letting Boris and all the other wimps of this school keep winning. The other day, Silva asked me if I needed medical attention. Medical attention, Musa! He thought I had hit my head or some shit because I kept tripping!"
"Who's to say you didn't hit your head?" She's laughing at his expense and as much as she loves her laugh, he's a man verging on the edge of insanity with her around him.
"Are you even hearing me?" He takes off his shirt and runs a hand through his hair miserably. 
"Oh, alright." He feels her run her hands up his back before they land on his should blades and she pushes against him, pulling herself to her tippy toes so that she can press a kiss at the top of his spine.
He shivers at the feel of her lips and she laughs against him.
"Tell you what," she says, her lips still brushing his spine. "I'll wear a different color on our date tonight."
"Date?"
"Yeah, you know, that thing couples go on so they can spend time together?"
"You're not as funny as you think you are, Musa."
"Oh, I'm hilarious."
"Did we plan something I'm forgetting about?"
He finally turns around so that he can face her, and she's forced to let go of him.
"No, we did not plan anything. But you've been training all week and I've been watching you train all week. And I've decided you need a break… and you're not wearing a shirt right now, which has reminded me that I need attention." She shifts her eyes across his whole form, stopping just above his waistline as her hands come up to his abs. 
"Well, then. No inhibitions there. Straight to it, are we?" But he has to chuckle at her statement.
"I spend all my free time living in inhibitions, Riven. Biting my tongue. Dealing with other people's emotions and what not. Mind fairy, remember?" Her eyes come up to meet his, but her hands stay where they are. "I know where to place my inhibitions and reservations, and it's not here."
He stares into her eyes, noticing the way they shine under the dim light of the locker room. He thinks they color resembles the darkest toffee, or maybe those caramel chocolates she so loved. It's another color that haunts his dreams. Has he ever told her that? 
"No, baby. You're right. Keep those inhibitions for the rest of this school." He leans down to kiss her, feeling her smile beneath his lips. 
She's doing things with her hands, making them dance across his skin as gracefully as he knows she can dance across a dance floor. He's just about to suggest that they go find that corner and she can continue to corrupt him, but before he can find the words, she's pulling away from him. 
"I'll see you at 8 when you come to pick me up," she says as she walks backwards, aiming for the exit. 
"Wha- You tease!" 
She laughs again, and damn it if the sound doesn't send his heart soaring. Fuck, he thinks to himself. Maybe Stella's bodyguard and Sky weren't the only whipped ones in this rather large group they had formed.
"Don't hate the player. Hate the game," she states with a wink.
"Where are we even going?"
"You'll see!" And then she just walks out the locker room, leaving him staring at the door and surrounded by a million pieces of gear that he was meant to have finished packing ten minutes ago. 
Hours later, he's standing in the Winx suite and watching Terra reorganize every plant in the living room as Bloom and Aisha argue about which Harry Potter movie was the best.
"The first one!" Bloom screams from the kitchen as she waits for her tea to boil.
"What? No! The first one had too many introductions and too little action," Aisha screams back at her from their room.
"You're just saying that because you don't appreciate true art."
"True art?! I'll have you know-"
He's just about to lose it when Musa finally walks out of her room. He hears her door open before he sees her and he has just about thirty second to thank the gods for finally putting him out of his misery, and then he turns around… and his jaw drops.
The dress she wears has long sleeves, a low cut V that leaves very little to the imagination, and hangs off her shoulders just enough so that he can see where the curve of her clavicle meets the lines of her neck. It's shorter than the lavender dress she wore to the party last week. That alone could have been enough to end him, but Musa liked to push her boundaries. She liked to test the water. True to her word, she was not wearing lavender. No, instead she was wearing black. 
Knowing with absolute certainty that his favorite color was black.
"Pick your jaw up off the floor, Riven." Stella's heavily judgmental voice snaps him out of it. She's leaning by the doorway of Terra and Musa's room, watching him with a cocked eyebrow and a smirk on her face. 
"You're one to talk," he shoots her way. "You almost jumped that poor bodyguard during Alchemy class the today."
"Key  word there would be almost," she shoots back at him, no shame whatsoever in her voice. "You two, on the other hand, have actually jumped each other in the middle of almost every event we've been to since you started dating."
"That's not true! They were jumping each other even before they got together. I once-" 
"Terra!" Musa shoots her roommate a poignant look as her cheeks flush bright red. "We said that would stay between us, remember?"
Well, this is interesting, Riven thinks to himself. Honestly, watching these girls interact is like watching a train crash. A very synchronized one where each cart would willingly crash to try to protect the other carts, but a train crash nonetheless. There's always something interesting going on in this dorm.
"Oh, oops! There was no once. I never once saw anything. Nothing, nothing at all." Terra shuffles back to her plants, but it’s too late.
"No, no!" Stella commands. "Please do tell us what you once saw." 
"Yes, please do." Aisha encourages, eying Musa with a wicked smile on her face.
"Yeah, Terra. Come on, tell us!" Bloom's tea is forgotten as she makes for Terra, tugging at her hand and pulling her onto the couch where the rest of the girls go to join them.
"Well-" Terra starts.
"Nope!" Musa all but shouts. "Nope! Nope! Nope! I am not going to stand here and listen to you tell this story. We're leaving. Goodbye!" 
She's tugging him out the room as Stella's voice rings into the hallway, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
And as she pulls him through the hallways and into the courtyard, Riven gets a great view of Musa's dress from the back. The back is so very low that he's honestly amazed that it's able to stay on her body without completely falling off. The tip of the V that shapes the back of the dress reaches the bottom of her spine, and as his fingers accidentally brush the sleeves at her wrist, he notices that the dress is velvet. Soft. Warm. And so willing to bend and curve into the exact shape of her body.
In the darkness of the coming night, even her hair looks like velvet black. And when she turns those chocolate colored eyes to him, and the shadows make their color darker too, Riven remembers exactly why he loves the color black so much.
RED
Black has always been Riven's favorite color, and he doubted it would ever change. Well, he used to doubt it would ever change. Currently, he's having a lot of doubts as he watches Musa descend the stairway of Alfea's ballroom in a dress of red color.
The fabric clings to her body and flares at her feet, moving with her as though it was a part of her. Her hair is up and away from her face, and from all the way down here, he can see the bright red of her lipstick. It's the exact same shade as her dress.
A siren, he thinks. She is a siren. And he is just as big a fool as every other man in the stories of sirens, because he would lay down his whole life for a chance to be closer to her. He would follow her anywhere, and he does for the rest of that night. He doesn't even pretend to complain about the dancing. 
Later in the night, they're swaying back and forth with her hands tracing the hair at the nape of his neck and his hands at the back of her waist. He hasn't stopped looking at her since she approached him at the beginning of the night, and she hasn’t complained.
"I knew you would like this one best." She says softly, as if she knows he's in a trance and doesn't want to break him out of it.
"Mmm?"
"The red. I knew you would like the red best. It's my favorite color. Did you know that, Riven?"
He smiles slightly.
"Of course I know that. Why do you think I always have a red pen on me  when we're studying together?"
"You don't study, Riven."
"No, I don’t. But you do. And I like to watch you study." 
She laughs softly, still not wanting to break the daze they're in.
"You seem to like to watch me do a lot of things lately."
"What can I say? You're a little bit enchanting, my dear."
"I have the girls to thank for that, I suppose. They placed bets on what colors you would like best."
"Do I want to know who suggested what?"
"Probably not, but I'm going to tell you anyways. Terra suggested lilac because she noticed how much liked the color on me. Stella said black because she assumed correctly that it was your favorite color, and Aisha sided with her because it seemed like the winning argument. Bloom said yellow because she wanted to go for something different."
"And red? Who said red?" He shouldn't entertain this game if he wants to live past this school year, but he figures he can manage one or two heart attacks. He's been through worse.
"I did." Her eyes sparkle up at him. He laughs at her answer, because he should have guessed.
"I should've known."
She beams up at him with her wide smile. "So, did I win? Is this your favorite color on me?"
His palms brush the bare skin of her back as he dips her, and then pulls her close to him as fast as he can because he craves her closeness like a drunk man craves liquor on his loneliest nights.
"You're my favorite."
And when her eyes glaze over and her gaze wavers as she gives him her shy smile, he knows for a fact that he is further gone than Stella's bodyguard or Sky or any other fool in this fractured world that claims to be in love.
Red becomes his new favorite color.
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sisterssafespace · 3 years
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السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
recently i’ve been struggling a lot. i was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and bpd not too long ago now. but, i have been struggling so much with bearing it all? i haven’t told my family anything as i’ve told a few close friends. so, i cannot blame my family for the fact i’m very emotionally volatile. even though, i know i’m struggling i keep pushing people away & maybe it’s the embarrassment? the shame? that my anxiety attacks are coming back & they’re more frequent, more painful & so much easier to trigger now. i feel like i have this huge secret that i’m carrying around & it fills me with shame. i know mental health isn’t something to be ashamed of but, in a way i’m the one in my family who can do it all? so, the fact i’m struggling so much that i cry in my room a lot of the time whilst they all are chatting away fills me with sadness? i’ve never been close to my family so, it’s been this way for a long time. i’m very independent but to a fault even when i need help i won’t reach out to anyone. i know i have Allāh swt who will help me through anything & everything. but, i don’t know i feel overwhelmed i feel horrible every moment i’m alone my eyes tear up and i begin to cry because i’m hurting so much. sometimes the world feels so unbearable like i cannot go on any longer but then i remember [2:286]. sometimes, i feel as though i’m not cut of for this world it brings me so much pain & suffering. do not me wrong, i am blessed with so much but in my heart there is a lot of sadness & pain. i feel so weak the days are passing by & with each other my resolve to carry on gets weaker too. i have been referred to therapy & to take some medication but i have no time to go i have no will power to get up & seek treatment. it feels like i’m watching myself slowly wither away with each passing day. i try to make dhikr to distract myself but i end up having an anxiety attack because all i can think about is how i’m a bad muslim. that Allāh swt loves me so much He is putting me through these battles to strengthen me but, i cannot even handle them. i honestly see myself wishing that i could just disappear sometimes. - 🌊
بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم،
قال الله تعالى في سورة القصص :
وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ أُمِّ مُوسَىٰ أَنْ أَرْضِعِيهِ ۖ فَإِذَا خِفْتِ عَلَيْهِ فَأَلْقِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ وَلَا تَخَافِي وَلَا تَحْزَنِي ۖ إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ
We revealed this to Moses' mother: 'Suckle him, but when you fear for him cast him into the water. Neither fear, nor sorrow because We shall restore him to you and make him among the Messengers.'
[ Qur'an 28:7 ]
و عليكم السلام و رحمة الله و بركاته 🌸
My dear sister, I started my answer with an ayah about one of my favorite stories in the Quran that is the story of how Musa (as)'s mother had to let him go as a newborn and throw him into the river (to save his life) because Allah swt told her (inspired her to do) so. This story is also mentioned in surat Ta Ha (20) - the surah that I love to call my anti-anxiety pill - but I chose this ayah from surat Al-Qasas for the precise words that Allah swt orders to Musa's mother :
ولا تخافي و لا تحزني | Do not fear nor sorrow (grieve)
The grammatical structure for these phrases is : Prohibition "النهي" which means that Allah swt orders you against doing that thing, it is not a request, it is not a piece of advice, it is actually stronger than that. It is prohibited that you give into your fear (i.e. anxiety) or fall into sorrow, saddness (i.e. depression). The same structure is used when Allah swt spoke to sayyidah Maryam (Mary as), when she was in labor and she was all alone, scared, confused, in pain, she even wished for death,
فَنَادَاهَا مِنْ تَحْتِهَا أَلَّا تَحْزَنِي
But (a voice) cried to her from beneath the (palm-tree): "Grieve not!"
[Quran 19:24]
I personally support and adapt the tafaseer that explain this as that Allah swt loves, appreciates and cares for the women and the girls of the believers so much that He swt prohibits them to feel sad or anxious. - But we will get back to this later in the answer, in shaa Allah.
Now let's go back to the beginning. I have 3 main ideas, let me bullet them not to forget anything:
1) The diagnosis: You said, my beautiful sister, that you were diagnosed not too long ago, with 3 mental health issues. So I take it a shrink/ psychiatrist diagnosed you. And then what? it is not enough to have a diagnosis, what is more important is to have a plan, i.e. therapy. It is important to identify the issue but it is more important to figure out how to deal with that issue. Sis, you need professional help. That ache in your heart and those worries, those thoughts in your mind they won't just disappear on their own. You need therapy. 🥺🥺. Which brings me to point number 2:
2) Asking for help: There is a story that I heard somewhere, a long time ago, but is so iconic that it stayed with me. One time this man's boat drowned. And he was fighting for his life in the middle of the ocean, and he asked God to save him, after a while a boat passed by and stopped for him, they wanted to rescue him but he said " no I don't need you, I have God, He will save me", so the boat moved on. And the man made duāa again and asked God to rescue him. After another while, another boat approach him, and they wanted to rescue him. Again, he declined and said " I have God, He will save me " so they went away. Eventually, the man got tired and couldn't do it anymore. He drowned. After he died, he asked God why didn't you save me? I was waiting for you to rescue you me.. and God said " who do you think was sending you the boats? " ..
Why am I telling you this story? I feel like you are doing the same as this man.
Sometimes people are a means that Allah swt puts in our way to save us! Yes, you are being all toughened up and 'strong' by trying to retrieve from people - even your own family - and not bother anyone with your issues, but you are actually doing more damage and more harm to yourself and to your loved ones this way. No good ever comes from passively sitting in a corner and isolating ourselves in our pain and suffering, especially to us girls, we are very social creatures who thrive and heal with compassionate, empathy, sharing, co-dependence (not in a negative sense), and solidarity. Half of the problem goes away just by talking about it. We immediately feel so much lighter after we have a good talk/ crying session with someone we love. By isolating yourself and drowning in your misery, you are going against your nature and that only amplifies your pain 💔🥺 So I am begging you, to take a step towards your support system, be it family, a cousin, friends, a teacher, a therapist.. you need help and you can't do this alone. Asking another human being to be there for you never means you trust Allah swt less or that Allah swt is not enough for you! On the contrary, maybe that person is fulfilling a purpose for the sake of Allah swt by being there for you. Allah swt has created us this way, there is no shame in asking for help I promise.
⚠️ ALSO OMG HIGHLY IMPORTANT THERE IS NO SHAME IN HAVING MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE I HAVE TO SAY THIS!
I don't know how much we have to deconstruct, how many walls we have to break down to set ourselves free from all the negative feelings that culture and the patriarchy installed in us since a very tender age, like shame, guilt, self-loathing.. it is A LOT, but we have to. There is no other way around it to free ourselves. And one last thing, my sweet sweet sweet sister, even if you think you can do it all, you can keep it all inside and put on a brave face and go on about your day while there is a battlefield in your head and a fire burning in your heart, you don't have to. Have mercy on yourself. Allah swt would never approve of this, you putting yourself through so much pain by refusing to seek help. And you wonder why your anxiety attacks are back! 💔🥺 which brings me to point 3:
3) Anxiety attacks: Are you sure they are anxiety attacks not panic attacks? How do you identify them? What are your symptoms? And how do you deal with them? How do you cope? See, beautiful sister, this is very very serious! You can't keep going like this and think " oh Allah swt is putting me thru this to make me stronger. " Umm actually, no, Allah swt is not putting you through this. He gave you this at the beginning yes, but He showed you the way, and you stubbornly refused! So now, you are putting yourself through this, my dear, and you do not deserve it!
Please do not take this with a rough note, I am using a very very soft tone, I promise. And also, lots of hugs and caresses 🥺❤️
I want you to promise me that you are going to consider my words, and seriously think of asking for help. For the sake of Allah, for the sake of yourself and your sanity. Remember, you do not own yourself, you do not own your soul, you do not own your body. It is all an amanah that we are responsible for keeping safe and sane until we return to Allah swt, and we are going to be held accountable for what we did with it. Allahu al'mustaān.
Looking forward to getting your updates!
May Allah swt sooth your pain and give you thr courage you need to ask for help. Ameen.
Fi Aman Allah.
- A. Z. 🍃
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nickysescapism · 3 years
Text
here my thought on Fate real quick:
Things that did not piss me off:
Bloom being extra spicy really mega ultra special² (by now I’m not even surprised anymore)
Silva
the short time we spent with Marco
That one good-looking specialist girl that got killed off pretty quickly (you will be missed)
Terra’s dad
Bloom being the only one with an american accent (because british accents are supperior and also it shows that Bloom does not “fit in”)
Sam aka another white boy (but my feelings towards him were neutral so yeah)
Things that did piss me off:
the blatant whitewashing
unnecessary pop culture references (we get it you watched HP and make IG stories)
pls stop butchering the four houses like that if you can’t get your facts straight
the constant fatphobia
Riven’s obvious biphobia and everyone just accepting it
the 'blond mean girl' trope because what would we do without it
the victim (Dane) falling for the bully (Riven) for no apparent reason
“I hAvE A cOuSin NaMeD FlOrA”
the only black woc being the “mom of the group” because we haven’t seen this stereotype for a hot sec
the boring and repetitive sequences of the specialists training with wooden sticks like children in elementary school
“We DoN’t HaVe WiNgS aNymOrE”
Bloom being super selfish and everyone risking their lives for her constantly because they all love her anyway
the line “you full-creeped on my insta last night and I haven’t told anyone” exists non ironically (Riverdale called they want their awful-cringy-lines back)
"Riv"
fetishizing bi people (because bi’s can only ewist on Netflix if they are doing threesomes because that’s what being bi is all about apparently)
using the word mansplaining in the first episode TWICE in the span of a few minutes and not even using it right
the only healthy relationship (Musa and Sam) is so freaking boring that one had to make up a non existing drama to make it less boring
the unburned slaughtering like 10 specialist who are pros and do this job for years but two first-year fairies were able to get away without a scratch
the non existing friendship between the winx's and therefore it makes no sense that they still keep hanging out with each other
the erasure of our queen tecna!!
all the good specialist were erased too (like Timmy and Brandon)
the outfits making them look like grown ass moms and not like teenagers
the cast looking like they are more likely to be in college than in high school
Beatrix (besides everything she isn’t even a good villain, she is the worst secret “villain” i’ve ever seen like she is like a freaking elefant in mouse town)
and now Alfea basically is Hogwarts 2.0 but a cheaper version of it
changing Musa's powers because we need element powers for some freaking reason and not even doing anything with her powers for like 90% of the show
everything looking so dark and greasy and boring and basically not like Magix or anything magical at all
Stella (she is basically Diaspro but so much worse)
the lowkey abusive relationship between the adoptive parents (mom) and Bloom just to never mention it again
Aisha having no backstory and telling EVERYONE constantly that she swims but we never get scenes of her outside of her "parenting Bloom" sidequests
Terra saying that she misses Stella because she insulted her and was mean to her, because fat girls need this constant body shaming amiright?
they really tried making Stella bullying Terra ✨their thing✨
Aisha struggling with her powers is suddenly not important anymore when it’s inconvenient
the girls hate each other for like 80% of the show and suddenly they have a deep bonding
Musa being useless and stating the obvious and only being there for obvious exposition
"You are sad, aren’t you?"
“Yes, how do you know that? Is it because I’m crying my eyes out right now?”
“No, dummy. I’m a mind fairy. I can feel what you feel.”
the whole changeling plot
erasing the Trix and compromizing them into one character, but then give Beatrix two side kicks so they are basically a group of three again ???
they made it even more straight than the OG
the Sky/Stella/Bloom love triangle because we needed that one
the adults being stupid af
Vanessa apparently almost dying in the fire and having third degree burns but only at places that can be covered by clothes easily (and also they do not look like third dagree burns at all)
Bloom ready to kill her “parents” because they took away her door
“BuTt StUfF” another great literal masterpiece from our all-time favorite Riv
Stella is not only not part of the group for like 75% of the time, the others also don’t like her at all and therefore you don’t care about her problems at all
the teachers being unecessary mean to their students like “oh you just learned to control your powers, well damn you still suck hope you get better soon lol that looks so bad try harder”
Aisha being the only one who has no love interest
^same as Terra who is pining after a dude that doesn’t like her that way
Bloom always playing the victim and always acting like no one suffers as much as she does
using pop music that doesn’t fit the tone of the scene at all (and also ruining one of my fav songs)
Alfea basically turning into every garbage teenage high school Netflix ever had
Everyone acting as if Beatrix is super smart and a good spy even tho she sucks at it without end (why would you try to get as much attention as possible?? and kill your accomplice???)
no other planets but realms and still here everyone knows that California is part of America because americans aren’t full of themselves at all. Just replace California and America with anything else. :)
“You aren’t from Solaria, are you? Where are you from?”
“I’m from California Fer Island.”
“Uh...is that..part of...?”
“America Everix, obviously????”
they tried desperately to be woke by throwing stuff around like “don’t be sexist” and “don’t come at me with this feminist bs” like good job...to the white old dudes who completely missed the entire point of feminism and sexism - performantive feminism if you will - always SAYING the most basic feminist (women can be strong too) stuff but not DOING it
fire is somehow effective against BURNED creatures (e.g. throwing water filled balloons at a mermaids)
all telling and no showing (expositions + no flashbacks = BORING)
Sky being so obessed with Bloom that he doesn’t care that she drugged him at one point
Dane’s character doing a 180 out of nowhere for plot convenience
Stella being a threat to other students but no one seems to care
the good ol’ the bad guys aren’t really bad but in the end turns out they are and the good guys were the good guys all along plot twist that we have seen a million times on netflix alone
Sky not having trust issues after Bloom spiked the water bottle and just accepting that she felt the need to drug him
Sky having daddy issues and that being treated as his main character trait
using phones all the time but when it’s important suddenly no one got a phone with them
beatrix drags a random “bad  boy” into her evil plan because that was ever a good thing to do but kills her only partner that already had the trust of FaRa
Sky still persuing Bloom even tho he knows that Stella could blind Bloom because she can’t control her powers and even threatens to do so - again no one saw a problem with that??
Bloom being one of the worst liars out there but Aisha is like “wow, you are a great liar” like no bitch you literally had to help her five seconds ago
Stella blinding her best friend being one of the most underwhelming plots I have ever seen (I mean how can a show fuck it up so bad that a literal girl blinding her best friend doesn’t interest me?)
no one can have an interesting storyline because there is the slight chance that they could outshine the real star (bloom)
^therefore most sideplots are super shallow or just boring
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