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goldenkamuyhunting · 3 years

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Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 266 “Pinky Finger Bones”

So... with this chapter we begin digging into what happened in the past. Into what happened to Wilk... but also into what happened to Tsurumi.

He clearly stared into the abyss and the abyss stared back at him... but what’s worse is that Tsurumi became much more scary than the abyss itself.

By the way you might notice a resemblance with the quote “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” [‘Beyond Good and Evil’ Friedrich Nietzsche] which loosely means “When you confront evil, make sure it doesn’t influence you.”

Well, it’s clear Tsurumi not only let himself influence, he sadly became worse than the ‘monster’ he was fighting.

But let’s go with order.

The cover… is more like part of a flashback scene.

It shows Tsurumi and Tsukishima in Vladivostok, in 1897. Therefore we’re at the point in which Tsukishima was released from jail and was working as an intelligence officer with Tsurumi in Russia.

They are shown alone, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they went there alone, as Tsurumi could have other men with himself, to create a spy network. Or not.

We’ll find out only if it’s relevant to the plot so, for now, I’ll let it on hold.

Anyway Tsurumi and Tsukishima talk of how, since Vladivostok is the only Russian port that doesn’t freeze and can be used all year round, it’s a strategically vital point for Russia but also for Japan. Central had made appoint to let Tsurumi know they need to conquer it if they go at war with Russia.

At that point a Russian man spot Tsukishima and starts asking him if he is Japanese and knows a man named Hasegawa who disappeared without a trace 6 years ago.

As Tsukishima struggles to understand what he says (he’s clearly not well versed in Russian yet) the man talks about the bodies of Hasegawa’s wife and daughter, but we don’t get to hear what he says about them.

Tsukishima turns to discover Tsurumi has disappeared and, searching him, he finds him in front of Hasegawa’s burned photo studio.

Tsurumi’s expression, which Tsukishima can’t see, is interesting. His eyes are shadowed by the brim of his hat (while Tsukishima aren’t) and his eyes are stretched thin, many stress lines under them.

He’s probably lost in painful memories, which are likely now wrapped by the hate he feels for who caused his tragedy.

When Tsukishima reads on the sign ‘Hasegawa photo studio’, he realizes it’s the name the Russian was talking about. I’ll be honest, the coincidence is a little too forced. I mean, to have a random Russian guy asks to a random Japanese (let’s remember Vladivostok HAD a Japanese district so Japanese people is not that impossible to spot there) if they knew Hasegawa who disappeared 6 years ago and, COINCIDENTALLY, this Japanese is with the guy who, in the past, was Hasegawa, a guy who apparently doesn’t hear the question and marches straight to Hasegawa photo studio (they weren’t that close, Tsukishima lost sight of Tsurumi and had to search for him) so that Tsukishima can connect some dots back then and a lot more in the present is... well, way too providential.

It would be different if that Russian had a reason to check all the Japanese he were to spot and had done so for 6 years but no reason is given. We aren’t told he was Fina’s relative (Fina has a family to whom she was supposed to return the day she died)... and therefore pretty invested in the tragedy and it’s clear he’s not part of the secret police or he wouldn’t give Tsukishima random details. Tsukishima isn’t even standing near Hasegawa’s house at the time he was questioned, so it was possible to speculate they knew each other.

That guy who spoke with Tsukishima was just a Russian who woke up that morning and decided, spotting some Japanese, to ask him about a guy who disappeared 6 years ago for... no apparent reason beyond plot convenience.

But okay, let’s go on.

We’ve left Tsukishima connecting the photo studio with the guy the Russian mentioned, relying to Tsurumi the Russian guy mentioned ‘something’ about that man’s wife and daughter.

At this point I wonder if there’s a reason why we aren’t told what that something is. I would think that the fact that their bodies got burned up in the fire wasn’t something to discuss or wonder about but maybe... there’s more?

I don’t know.

Anyway Tsukishima wonders if Tsurumi knew Hasegawa, which really, seems logical enough as Tsurumi came there to watch his burned shop and Tsurumi denies it, saying there’s plenty of Japanese people in Vladivostok (which again make weird how the Russian guy asked them if they knew about Hasegawa). Tsurumi then claims Hasegawa should have been odd for wanting to open a shop away from the Japanese district, his eyes hidden by the brim of his hat and I facepalm here because he’s basically lampshading that Hasegawa had to be a spy for wanting to do so...

which seems uncharacteristically careless from him... unless he wanted Tsukishima to actually question him further... to push him to talk because maybe he too needed to talk but couldn’t... but Tsukishima is evidently ignorant in spy matters so he doesn’t get the hint.

He doesn’t lot go though, as Tsukishima remembers Hasegawa was Tsurumi’s mother’s maiden name, whom he noticed when Tsurumi went to pay his respect to her grave.

Tsurumi compliments for Tsukishima’s good memory and deflects Tsukishima’s suspicions saying it’s a common name in Niigata.

So we’ve some info about Tsurumi to ponder about, like how his mother is dead and how he was an Hasegawa so there’s to wonder if he was related to the ‘Hasegawa senior’ which whom he supposedly came in Russia as a teenager.

Was the guy his father using his mother’s maiden name? Or a maternal uncle? Can it be there was originally an Hasegawa Koichi and Tsurumi and him swapped (swapping identity with someone was a common spy technique)? If that’s the case was Kouichi a cousin of Tsurumi?

Or the guy never existed and it’s just a cover story? Hard to say, interesting to speculate.

Anyway we jump back to the present and to Tsukishima, a vein popping on his check, connecting the dots and realizing ‘that Hasegawa’ was actually Tsurumi.

Tsurumi then goes and says that 50 years ago some of the more extremist Ainu gathered up a great quantity of gold dust and were planning something... and here I pause again.

So, does this mean whose extremists did take a part of the hidden gold? Or that they were the gold’s guardians, aware of where it was hidden?

If it happened 50 years ago, unless the gold was stolen by the hideout, this means the extremists were the same guys who knew about the hideout. So, Ariko’s father could have been one of them as well as Asirpa’s grandfather (my bet is he’s the one who knew where the gold was).

Anyway the Ainu’s plan in order to fight the shogunate was to get a captain of the imperial Russian navy to divert Russian warships, munitions and such to them... and I think Tsurumi is exaggerating matters a bit because it’s really not enough to own warships, you also need men to drive them and I’m not sure how many Ainu there were who could do it but whatever, maybe back then was easier to pilot warships and use them to go to battle... but still, I kind of feel it would be complicate for him to ‘smuggle out’ Russian warships... I mean they aren’t exactly of the size you might ‘lose track of them’.

Going on.

To explain why the Russian captain would be willing to do so, Tsurumi says it’s common among soldiers who’re stationed far from central command to do as they prefer, which is something Tsurumi is intimately familiar with as he’s doing the same in Hokkaido.

However everything ended when the ship on which was the Russian captain crashed into a passenger ship in what’s called the “Russian warship Kalevala incident” of 1867 (which is completely fictional as no such thing happened in the real world) in which both ships sunk carrying everyone on board with them.

Timeline wise 1867 is also the year in which there’s the restoration of the imperial rule, with the Boshin war starting in 1868.

According to Tsurumi, since the Ainu lost the Russian captain willing to sell them weapons they should have felt at total loss about what to do with the gold.

Tsurumi then claims Wilk came in Hokkaido to search for that gold so that this was the start of everything that happened afterward.

Asirpa asks Sofia if this means it was Tsurumi the one who taught Wilk, Kiro and Sofia Japanese.

We can’t see Sofia’s face, as she’s holding her head down, but she’s sweating and panting, thinking back to when she held little Olga.

Clearly that incident of which she felt responsible still weight a lot on her, like an open wound that never healed... which in a way makes her similar to Tsurumi. Tsurumi though is trying to get revenge for that incident... while Sofia is trying to make up for it.

She then notices that Tsurumi has moved really close to her, his hand still holding the finger bones of Old and Fina, rubbing them.

We can see Tsurumi’s head is inclined on a side, in a way that reminds me of how Usami looked at the dead horse... although Usami was tilting his head on the opposite side.

In normal body language, tilting the head on a side indicates sincere interest and curiosity... and it can fit both situations too... only Noda also makes it creepy, as if both Usami and Tsurumi were interested yet completely detached, as if they were watching something alien to them, the angle being just a little bit too much to feel natural.

Tsurumi then goes on claiming that, on the day his wife and child died, he was the only one the secret police was after and if Fina hadn’t picked up Wilk’s wanted poster she wouldn’t have come back. Tsurumi through tried to date the blame to even sooner, claiming that if Wilk and co had never gone to his photo studio, his wife and child might not have been killed.

Sofia’s eyes are locked on Tsurumi’s hand rubbing that finger bone, as if she were hypnotized... and I’ll repeat what I said before.

Sofia has spent all those years after the death of Fina and Olga trying to make amends. As she believes her cause will bring benefit to the Russian people (and therefore to people like Sofia and Olga), she continued to fight for it, giving up on Wilk, the man she loved and on ‘happiness as a woman’ all to fight for her cause and atone for that innocent lives who died that day.

Of course meeting Hasegawa again and being blamed fully for those deaths is a big blow to her, it’s the trauma, the sin, she never overcome but tried to by doing something constructive, something she believed would be positive for the others.

It’s worth to remember Sofia came from aristocracy, she didn’t need a better Russia to live an easy life, she could have just continued being a pampered princess and instead she devoted herself to improving her country.

We can argue the methods she chose might not be the best, and how they put in danger innocent people, but the aim is selfless.

On the other end we’ve Tsurumi, whose family fell in disgrace... likely short after the Meiji restoration and possibly due to it.

He went in Russia as a spy probably in an attempt to prove himself and improve his and his family’s life, likely married in order to have a cover but ended up falling in love with Fina and he clearly adored his daughter, Olga.

Still he continued his job as a spy even if that put in danger his own beloved family, he continued teaching Japanese to Wilk and Co even if he knew they were partisans and, ultimately, for some reasons, he get discovered by the secret police.

Somehow he finds out they’re coming from him so, instead than denouncing himself, he sends away Fina and Olga without explaining Fina nothing.

Even if she promised not to, Fina could have gone back for other reasons, it was coincidence it was just because she saw the wanted poster.

When Wilk and Co shows up at Tsurumi’s house HE LET THEM IN, before telling them they can’t come anymore. He could have denied them entrance and send them away, he could have told them he was a wanted man and the secret police was about to jump on him but no, he let them in.

When the secret police arrives he doesn’t just hand himself to them but stop to talk with them at the door, knowing inside he has three revolutionaries who will realize the police is circling the house and that will feel threatened. When they start attacking the police he doesn’t tell them the truth but let them discover it from the Russian policeman and then he hands them a machine gun so that they can fight the police.

Tsurumi was an ACTIVE cause of the incident as much as Wilk and Co if not MORE because he has something to lose and that he was exposing to risk, Fina and Olga.

Yet now he’s shifting all the blame to Wilk’s party, trying to use Sofia’s sense of guilt to get leverage on her and force her to be cooperative so that he could get the gold and get revenge over Central.

Now... I’m positive that Tsurumi suffered A LOT for the death of Fina and Olga, that it was traumatic for him... but while Sofia is trying to make up for it, Tsurumi is just trying to take revenge, trying to frame the death of his beloved ones as something that has a meaning because it becomes an helpful step in his climbing to get the gold and the control of Hokkaido.

In fact, and I’ll flash forward a bit, Tsurumi wants to know what purpose his wife and daughter served in the world, claiming they died because of Wilk and Co and therefore they should give him some sort of compensation.

In this way he uses his own loss to extort information from Sofia so that he could accomplish his goal.

Mind you, all this is a way to cope with pain that’s similar to Sekiya’s, who wanted to know why his daughter had to die, but, differently from Sekiya who was completely blameless for his child’s death, which was merely an incident he had no control over, Tsurumi was also actively to blame for his wife and child’s death and he’s trying to cope with his pain by shifting the blame on others and by trying to turn those deaths into meaningful steps on the way to his original goal, improving his own life.

Ironically, as he loved Fina and Olga, it’s unlikely reaching his original goal will bring him solace, it’s another copying mechanism to excuse himself, if he can justify his wrongdoing to them as a necessary step on the way to his goal, he believes he will feel better... which is clearly a lie. This is not the way to cope with such a traumatic event but it’s a common mistake, an attempt to dim the pain by not coping with how he’s responsible for his own loss.

I pity him for how terrible his pain should be... but there’s no turning around how his way to cope with it IS terrible in any possible way.

But let’s go back a little to Tsukishima and Koito who’re eavesdropping on the conversation.

Tsukishima remembers how, during the war they tried getting control of Vladivostok... and how Tsurumi told him they should expand the territory for Japan’s sake and that they should make certain that their comrades were sleeping in Japanese soil. Now though he (and Koito if his white irises and vein popping are to be taken as a hint) is pissed off because he fears Tsurumi’s goal is just his own personal way of mourning his wife and daughter...

...and I facepalm again. Hard.

Now, okay, Koito can be pissed off, he made clear he uphold certain values and that he believed Tsurumi was doing it for a selfless reason only, the well being of his own soldiers, plus he had never experienced being poor so he can’t understand why people would want to be rich. He’s young, he was used and lied at but still wanted to trust Tsurumi to be more noble than he was so okay, he can be angry.

Tsukishima though was okay with tailing after Tsurumi even when he didn’t know which is true goal was...

...even when he believed Tsurumi might not have a true goal...

...just because he wanted to believe what Tsurumi was doing would benefit the ones following him... and now he is upset because Tsurumi had a goal... but one that was beneficial to Tsurumi? How was Tsurumi not having a goal better?

And how this change the game, really?

If Tsurumi’s actions were genuinely better for the men in the 7th, they remain beneficial regardless of Tsurumi’s ultimate goal, which isn’t meant to harm them, after all.

And just because Tsukishima decided to sacrifice his love story with Igogusa (which, Tsurumi’s lies or not, was something Tsukishima decided on his own)... well, this doesn’t mean everyone has to do the same as him.

But whatever, as anticipated before, Tsurumi used Sofia’s sense of guilt to ask her to tell him and Asirpa what happened in Hokkaido. He’s clearly talking about the Nopperabou incident and he explains he believes Sofia should know about it due to the letters she got from Kiroranke.

Well, the good thing in all this is that, if Tsurumi is asking her about the incident, this seems to hint that, as I speculated, he doesn’t know exactly what happened (unless he’s sure Kiro had false info which he relied her... but I doubt that’s the case).

In his anger, Tsukishima fails to understand that asking Sofia about what happened in the Nopperabou incident might:

- give Tsurumi clues about where the gold was (the incident took place when the Ainu moved the gold)

- tell him if there’s more people involved who could try to get into Tsurumi’s way

- make Asirpa feel guilty for the dead Ainu and more prone to help Tsurumi,

All this of course depending on what truly happened back then... but I think Tsurumi has some theories in this regard and he’s asking merely because he thinks Sofia’s words, which Asirpa won’t question because Sofia wouldn’t have any reason to lie, would be beneficial to him.

Sofia starts crying at all this, breaking down and admitting what we already knows, that Kiro believed ‘Wilk changed’.

The only new addition to all this is that it confirms Kiro believed Wilk changed because Asirpa was born... but this doesn’t really tell us if Wilk changed the day Asirpa was born or later, as the change could have been gradual and we saw that Kiro seemed to have a good relationship with Wilk after Asirpa’s birth

(and we know, for Wilk’s own admission, he wanted to raise Asirpa to be a guerrilla fighter capable of leading the Ainu...

...and taught her how misplaced sympathy could become a weakness and who’s weak gets eaten, how they can’t hesitate to kill (a bear cub) for fear of being cruel or they’ll die (of starvation)).

Kiro also said Wilk saw a light in Asirpa, a light of hope for the Ainu,

...which also fits with how Kiro himself entrusted the future to Asirpa and Sofia,

...and how Asirpa’s name means ‘future’.

Long story short, we still don’t know anything new as it was clear Asirpa ended up affecting Wilk but how and why Kiro believed this constituted betrayal worth killing him is completely up to speculation.

I stand my ground on the fact I believe if Kiro thought Wilk had to die, it was because he believed Wilk betrayed the partisan cause, which, among partisans, has always been a crime punishable with death.

Still I genuinely doubt Asirpa’s birth caused Wilk to turn into a pro-imperialist or that it caused him to stop caring about the minorities... and since Kiro didn’t try to kill him prior to the Nopperabou incident, I’ll say the problem didn’t exactly start with Asirpa’s birth.

On the other side I don’t think Kiro is lying, he genuinely believed Wilk changed.

We’re clearly missing how Wilk changing became something that caused or was connected to the Nopperabou incident and made him worthy of being killed later, without even being questioned.

Ogata hinted that Kiro might have been afraid Wilk would reveal something about Kiro to Sugimoto...

...but I somehow have troubles seeing Kiro killing all those Ainu since Kiro seemed reluctant to kill Inkarmat, who was clearly a big hindrance and didn’t want Sugimoto, who was a potential hindrance, to be shoot.

Besides Kiro clearly didn’t know where the gold was, so I’ve troubles thinking he would just murder all those Ainu without even trying to get info from them.

Could it really be possible Wilk make a 180° turn and wanted to hand the gold to the Japanese even if, apparently, when he was arrested, he was trying to escape in Karafuto with the gold so that he could bring it to his companions?

Or did he wanted to hand it to the Japanese authorities because he came to believe the Ainu, the partisans and the revolutionaries wouldn’t know how to use it to benefit their cause and would only make matter worse?

Difficult to believe so as, even if we’re to assume he decided that fighting was wrong, the gold could be used in small parts to improve Ainu’s life by buying necessities for them if times were to become harsh (just think at how the locust attack damaged Kirawus’ village food resources... if they had some gold they could have bought the missing food).

Or was Wilk trying to use it to BUY the Ainu’s freedom from the Japanese, not with weapons but with the gold itself, buying the whole Hokkaido island in Boutarou’s style, therefore betraying the Russian cause as they would remain to their own devices? It would seem an aiful naive plan from him besides it was hinted he still wanted to pursue his own dream of a far east federation for minorities by how he clung to those gold coins up till the time he was captured.

But still, we’re missing some big piece of the puzzle... which we don’t get in this chapter as the story kind of goes back a little to show us Sugimoto and Shiraishi in the bottlecar, just out of the church Sugimoto is in.

They had seen Koito get into the church, meaning they got there before Tsurumi started speaking with Sofia and Asirpa.

Shiraishi would like to rush in to rescue but Sugimoto is uncharacteristically prudent, saying Shiraishi they should go call Hijikata, because if they rush in they could be in numerical disadvantage.

Shiraishi though is worried of what Tsurumi could do to Asirpa but Sugimoto insists Tsurumi should know he can’t rely on information gotten with torture so, differently from Tsukishima, he figured out Tsurumi will try to get information from her of her own free will slowly.

Shiraishi is still worried and references how Tsurumi behaved oddly in the volume version of what happened in Karafuto (because in the magazine version the poor guy actually acted in a pretty normal way) then notices Sugimoto is actually wishing badly he could rush in and decides Sugimoto might be right.

Honestly I should give kudos to Sugimoto for managing to figure this out. From after Tsurumi got his hands on Asirpa he had been uncharacteristically smart, analyzing his opponent (Tsurumi) and understanding his moves, from how Tsurumi wouldn’t part with Asirpa to how he wouldn’t torture her but try to get info out of her willingly.

On a sidenote actually you can get reliable info through torture if you manage to keep control of your victim (meaning if he lied to you torture will just start all over) or if you’ve someone to use to blackmail that person but whatever, let’s go on.

Sugimoto and Shiraishi decide them to go call Hijikata, slam the car against a pole and fly out of it.

The chapter ends here but if Nikaidou is really around there to keep guard as Tsurumi told him to do...

...and spot Sugimoto we can count on him to go in berserk mode, scream ‘SUGIMOTO SAICHI! MY NAME IS NIKAIDOU KOUHEI. YOU KILLED MY BROTHER! PREPARE TO DIE!’ and reveal to everyone how Sugimoto and Shiraishi are there, possibly interrupting the whole interrogatory and letting us wonder for many more chapters WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED DURING THE NOPPERABOU INCIDENT. So please Nikaidou, don’t be around or scream discreetly. We don’t really want you to bother Tsurumi, Sofia and Asirpa NOW.

#Golden Kamuy #Tsurumi Tokushirou #Asirpa #Sofia #Tsukishima Hajime #Koito Otonoshin #Hasegawa Olga #Hasegawa Fina #Kiroranke #Wilk #Sugimoto Saichi #Shiraishi Yoshitake #Hijikata Toshizou #Golden Kamuy Ramblings and Theories

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fanmoose12 · 4 years

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Hi! Are you still taking levihan prompts? If so, I have 2 that you can pick from: 1. Anastasia AU 2. Despicable me AU (mostly from the 2nd movie). Idk why but I can see them in both AU's lol! You don't have to both btw

i decided to go with Anastasia, ‘cause i loved this movie so much as a kid! hope you enjoy my fic as well!

“I’m fucking sick of it.” Levi declared, looking at another ‘Princess’. “Just look at her, Erwin!” he gestured to the woman on stage, who was currently reciting all of Czar’s relatives. “She looks nothing like the Princess Hanna! She’s blonde for fuck’s sake!”

“We can always get her a wig.” Erwin noted with a smile.

“Her eyes are green.” Levi hissed.

Erwin chuckled, rising his hands in placating gesture. “Fine, fine. Maybe, you’re right and she doesn’t look like our Princess, but we can’t just give up.”

“We’ve been doing this for three weeks now! And in all that time we haven’t seen at least one girl, who resembles a Princess.”

“Maybe, I should get you a wig?” Erwin asked, smirking. “You’ll make a great Princess, Levi. I’ve heard that all Princesses are extremely whimsical.”

Levi gave him a flat look. “Very funny, Erwin.”

“Mm, you’re right once again. No one could mistake you for a member of Zoe family. You are too short for that.”

“Continue with those shitty jokes, and I’ll walk out of here, Erwin. And I won’t come back.”

“We both know you’re lying.” Erwin briefly glanced at the woman, who was still standing on a stage. Giving her a charming smile, he dismissed her with a wave of his hand. Then he returned his attention to Levi. “I’m your friend, Levi, and possibly the only person who can tolerate your constant bitching. Besides, if we manage to find a Princess, we’ll be rich! Just think about that!”

“It’s the only reason why I’m still here.” Levi replied, making a face. Sighing, he rose to his feet. “I’ll go and make some dinner. You can continue with your fruitless search, I’m done with it for today.”

Levi walked out of the theater, and headed to the other part of the palace. The palace corridors were icy cold at this time of year, and Levi wrapped his coat tighter around himself. He hated the cold, but it was still better than living on the street. Erwin and he were lucky to find the palace unoccupied.

As he made his way through the halls, Levi heard a strange sound. Someone was talking. Someone, whose voice didn’t sound like Erwin’s.

Levi took out his trusty knife and slowly followed the voice. It sounded closer and closer, until Levi stopped in front of giant doors.

The doors looked dirty, the gorgeous gold color from before now faded. Behind them was a giant ballroom. Levi remembered it as a grant, beautiful place. It was spacious and bright, almost every surface sparkling in the warm candlelight. But now it was grim, dark and covered with cobwebs. Nothing lasts forever, Levi mused before slowly and quietly opening the door.

As he entered, he immediately saw two figures, standing on the other side of the room. They didn’t even notice Levi’s arrival, as they stood with their backs to him, loudly arguing about something.

Well, Levi didn’t care what they were doing here. Or who they were. He lived here, and that meant that they had to leave.

“Oi!” Levi raised his voice to get their attention. “Who the fuck are you?”

The two figures span around, staring at Levi in surprise.

And as Levi studied their faces, as he looked closely at the woman in front of him, his breath hitched in his throat.

She looked so much like her.

That woman resembled Princess Hanna almost uncannily. She was older, of course, and wore a pair of round glasses, but she looked just like the lost member of the royal family. She looked just like the girl Levi had saved all those years ago.

The woman was saying something, as Levi saw her lips move but couldn’t hear what she was saying. His mind was reeling, his thoughts were in frenzy.

“Erwin!” Levi suddenly shouted.

The woman and the man, who stood beside her, stared at Levi with wide eyes. But he didn’t say anything, waiting to hear the sounds of Erwin’s heavy and hurried steps.

A moment later he walked in, coming to stand next to Levi.

“We have guests?” Erwin asked with a surprised smile.

“Erwin,” Levi tugged at his sleeve. “Look at her.”

And without saying anything else, Erwin did. Levi watched, how Erwin’s eyes focused on the woman’s face and then quickly darted behind her, to the portrait of a royal family.

“Oh,” Erwin breathed out. “Oh.” He repeated, still shocked.

He recovered almost immediately, as he took a step closer, a charming smile appearing on his lips.

“Good evening, my lady,” he took the woman by the hand, kissing her palm. “May I know your name?”

“Hange…” the woman said slowly, eyeing both Levi and Erwin with suspicion.

“Just Hange?”

The woman scratched her head, looking away. “I don’t know my last name.”

“Interesting,” Erwin rubbed his chin. “Well, my name is Erwin Smith, and that is my friend, Levi Ackerman.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Levi asked, glaring furiously at the newcomers.

“We were just passing by!” Hange hurried to explain, her eyes darting nervously from Erwin’s sweet smile to Levi’s hard face. “My friend Moblit and I,” she gestured to the man with chestnut hair, who was standing behind her. “We’ve heard that there lives a man, who knows how to forge documents.” She smiled a little sheepishly. “And we need them to go to Paris.”

“Paris?” Erwin’s smile became a lot wider. “What a coincidence! My friend and I are planning to go there as well. If you wish, we can accompany you.”

“I…” Hange looked at her friend, and they seemed to have a silent conversation. “What will it cost us?”

Erwin’s eyes glinted almost wickedly. “Before I answer your question, will you answer mine, please?”

“Alright…” Hange nodded, looking even more wary than before.

“This may sound weird, but do you know your family?”

“My family died.” Hange replied in a strange, detached voice. “Or they left me. I don’t really know. All I have is this thing,” she showed Erwin and Levi her necklace. “It says ‘together in Paris’. I don’t know what exactly this means, but I’m determined to find out.”

Erwin nodded and came to stand next to Hange, wrapping his hands around her shoulders and spinning her around.

“Do you see this girl, Hange?” he gestured to the smallest member of Zoe family. “Don’t you think she looks just like you?”

“You’re joking.” Hange scoffed, although her eyes didn’t leave the portrait and her hand was clutching the necklace tightly.

“I am not,” Erwin assured her in a calm, deep voice. “It is known that Princess Hanna was the only one of Zoe family, who managed to escape from the revolutionaries. And if you don’t remember your parents, you might as well be the long lost Princess. Princess’ grandmother, Empress Olga, lives in Paris now, why don’t you come with us and pay her a visit? It may be your chance to find out about your past.”

“To find out about my past…” Hange whispered in daze. “I always wanted to do that.”

She continued to stare at the portrait for another moment, and then she turned around, looking intently at Erwin and Levi.

“Do you really think it’s possible that I can be Princess Hanna?”

“I’m sure of it.” Erwin gave her another smile.

“And you?” Hange came to stand in front of Levi, her eyes boring into his. “Do you also think I’m a Princess?”

“You look like a dirty tramp and you reek like a wet dog.” Levi told her, crossing his hands on his chest. Erwin elbowed him in the side, whispering him to shut up, but Levi paid him no mind, keeping the entirety of his attention on the woman in front of him. “But I’ve seen hundreds of Russian girls, who have claimed to be a Princess. And no one resembled Princess Hanna like you do.”

Hange stared at Levi for a long moment. To his surprise, she didn’t seem to be offended by his words. On the contrary, her lips curved into a small, but amused smile.

“Alright then,” Hange declared, still gazing at Levi. “I’ll come with you.”

“Excellent!” Erwin straightened out, giving Hange another brilliant smile. “Then pack your suitcases, Princess. Paris is waiting for us!”

***

As he sat next to her on the train, Levi couldn’t stop glaring at Hange. The speck of dirt on her left cheek irritated him. His hands twitched with desire to tell her to wipe that shit off her face, but he promised Erwin he’d behave around her.

Still, the more he looked at it, the angrier Levi became.

Another ten minutes passed by with Levi’s gaze still focused on Hange. Erwin and Princess’ friend Moblit began to give Levi weird looks, but Levi ignored them. In return, Hange ignored him. She either didn’t notice his intense stare, or just didn’t care about it.

Another ten minutes, and Levi had enough.

He swiftly took the handkerchief out of his pocket and threw it at Hange. It landed right on her face.

She slowly lifted the white cloth and gave Levi a questioning look.

“Your face is fucking dirty, four-eyes,” Levi growled. He instantly wanted to smack himself – he promised to be polite and considerate around Hange, so she would get used to her role as a Princess. But her sloppiness pissed Levi off so much!

Another thing that pissed off Levi was her constant carelessness and her inability to take anything, and especially him, seriously. Even now she was giggling at Levi’s annoyed face, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

“And clean your glasses, for fuck’s sake,” he added, looking at her with disgust.

“Yes, sir!” Hange stuck her tongue at him and then burst out laughing.

Levi’s eye began to twitch. “Can you stop behaving like a child for at least a moment? And can you stop slouching in your sit? Princesses don’t sit like that!”

“And you know a lot about Princesses?” Hange asked. The stupid amused expression was still plastered on her face.

“More than you do.”

“But you do believe that I am a Princess, right?” Hange’s eyes glinted with mischief.

“Of course.”

“Then stop bossing me around!” she exclaimed.

In the sit across from Levi, Erwin chuckled. When Levi turned his gaze to Moblit, he saw that he too was hiding a smile behind his palm.

Fucking assholes.

Levi swiftly rose to his feet, heading out of the train cabin. He needed to get some fresh air. And get away from Hange. The smug grin on her lips made Levi’s blood boil.

***

Levi slowly made his way through the train. Almost everyone he passed through was busy checking their documents, making sure that the Inspector wouldn’t find anything suspicious.

Levi briefly glanced at the passengers’ passports. They were red. But as he walked out of the cabin, he was sure that Erwin held blue passports in his hands.

Shit!

Levi returned to their cabin as swiftly as he could without raising any suspicions.

“Erwin!” Levi said breathlessly, as he tumbled inside the cabin. “Everyone has red passports!”

Erwin looked at the passport in his hand and then back at Levi. “Shit.” He said quietly, but with feeling. Levi couldn’t agree more.

“Is something wrong?” Hange asked, fixing the glasses on her face. Levi was relieved to see that she had cleaned them. Small mercies and all that shit. “I thought you were good at forging documents.”

Erwin gave her a tight-lipped smile. “We are, but we mostly specialize on Russian documents. French passports are, sadly, not my area of expertise.”

“We need to run.” Levi urged, getting his suitcase. “If the Inspector sees us…”

“Yeah, I know,” Erwin nervously ran a hand through his hair. “Take Hange and go, Levi. Moblit and I will follow you.”

“Roger.” Levi nodded, grabbing Hange’s hand and yanking her up. “Let’s go, four-eyes. We need to hurry.”

“And where exactly are we going? Where are we going to hide?”

“There isn’t a place on this train, where Inspector wouldn’t look for us. So we have to get off this train.”

“Get off?” Hange’s eyes widened and her brows furrowed. “Do you mean—”

“Yes, we’ll jump off the train,” Levi said impatiently, leading Hange to the most secluded area of the train.

“Jump?!” Hange shrieked. “We can die!”

“Don’t tell me you’re scared, four-eyes.” Levi smirked. “C’mon, get ready.”

He let go of her palm and put his hands on the big metal door. To Hange’s surprise, Levi opened it without much of hassle. He was so short, but his back was wide and his arms were evidently strong.

“On the count of three?” he asked Hange, as he stood on the edge.

“On the count of three.” she agreed. She took a deep breath and then grabbed Levi by the hand.

Levi glanced at their joined hands in surprise, but then nodded, squeezing Hange’s palm.

“Three.” He whispered, jumping and dragging Hange after him.

While they were falling, Levi managed to maneuver himself in a different position. Still holding Hange’s hand, his other arm grabbed her waist, pressing her closer to him. As a result, when they landed, Hange fell on top of him.

“That was awesome!” she exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. Hange’s eyes were practically sparkling with excitement.

All Levi could do was to slightly node. Hange was close, so very close to him, and all thoughts seemed to leave Levi’s head.

“Hange!” Moblit shouted, as soon as he and Erwin landed not far from Levi and Hange. “Are you alright?”

“Of course!” Hange’s voice was loud and cheerful. She briefly glanced back at Levi. “Thanks for being a cushion for me!” she patted his shoulder and winked.

Then she got up and went to Moblit, who continued to fret over her. Levi didn’t know if he should be disappointed or relieved at the loss of warmth Hange’s body was giving him.

Of course, Hange’s clothes were dirty, and she herself was disgusting, but to Levi’s surprise, she didn’t smell as bad as he expected. She actually smelled kind of nice…

Still lying in the snow, Levi shook his head, he was slowly going crazy. Hange’s craziness was probably contagious.

“You seem kind of shaken,” Erwin stood above him, outstretching his hand towards him.

“Hit my head during the fall.” Levi lied, taking the offered hand and hoisting himself up.

Dusting off his snow-covered coat, he looked at the horizon. The train had almost disappeared from the view, leaving a cloud of dust after it.

“What are we going to do next?” Levi asked ignoring Hange’s excited blabbering behind him.

Erwin sighed, rubbing his face tiredly. “If my estimates are correct, we are somewhere in Poland. I guess we can get aboard the ship in Germany.”

“And how will we get there?”

“We can catch a bus in Strasburg. But the road there will be a long one.”

Levi glanced back. Moblit was holding Hange’s face in his hands, inspecting it for signs of injury. Noticing Levi’s stare, Hange stuck her tongue at him again.

Levi sighed, turning to face Erwin again. “Yeah,” he grunted. “The road will be long.”

***

“So?” Levi asked as soon as Erwin walked out of the postman’s office.

Erwin nodded, looking pleased. “It’s all set. Mike is waiting for us and he promised that Nanaba will talk with Empress.”

“What is set?” Hange suddenly appeared behind Levi’s shoulder. “Who is Mike and why is he waiting for us? Who is Nanaba and why does she have to talk with Empress?”

“Mike is my old friend,” Erwin explained with a smile. “His wife Nanaba is Empress’ distant relative. She’ll talk with her and persuade her to see you.”

“Persuade?” Hange’s eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. “But I thought that Empress was already waiting for me?”

Erwin’s warm smile became nervous. He stared at Hange in slight panic, not knowing what to say.

Levi decided to come to his rescue. “Empress doesn’t know about you yet.” He said in his usual bored voice. “But once you convince her that you’re the real Princess Hanna–”

“Convince?” Hange cried out, looking at Erwin and Levi in shock. “Convince?!” she repeated even more outraged. “No one told me I had to convince anyone! I didn’t agree to this!”

“Hange, please—” Erwin tried, but Hange silenced him with one furious look.

“No.” she said sternly, her eyes burning with cold fury. “No, I’m not going to do it.”

She turned around, but Levi grabbed her by the hand. “What the fuck?” he hissed, holding her wrist tightly. “We went so far and now you just want to quit? What the fuck happened?”

“You both lied to me, that’s what happened. I just wanted to find my family, I don’t want to lie to anyone!”

“But that’s not a lie! You’re Princess Hanna!”

Hange let out a merciless laugh. “And who is going to believe me?” she said, spreading her hands out. “You are the one, who always tells me how dirty and messy I am! Empress would never believe that I am a Princess!”

Hange jerkily freed her hand out of Levi’s grasp and started to walk away. And Levi just stared at her retreating back, not knowing what to say or what to do. What Hange just said was true, he did treat her like shit, always calling her names and scolding her. It was his fault that Hange was losing her confidence.

“C’mon, Moblit,” Hange took her friend by the hand, grabbing their suitcase. “We can find some other way to Paris.”

Hange was walking further and further away, but Levi stood still. Erwin moved passed him, giving him a pointed look and hurrying after Hange.

Levi watched how Erwin caught up with Hange and Moblit. He felt like the biggest asshole in the world. But surprisingly he didn’t care about their scheme right now. He wasn’t worried that Hange would walk away and he would lose his money. Instead he felt anger and regret. He was angry at himself for always running his mouth, for never thinking how his cruel words affected other people. He was regretting all the stupid things he had said to upset Hange.

***

“Wait, Hange, please!” breathlessly, Erwin took Hange by the elbow. “Let’s talk.” Erwin tried to use his most charming smile, but Hange wasn’t fazed.

“Are you going to ask me to continue our journey?”

“I’m not.” Erwin promised her seriously. The smile disappeared from his face, and he looked at Hange earnestly. “I just want to tell you something, that’s all. If after our conversation, you still decide to leave, then I’ll accept it.”

Hange gave him a long, critical look. Then she sighed. “Fine, let’s talk.”

“Thank you,” Erwin nodded and linked his hands with Hange. “We won’t be long,” he promised Moblit and started to lead Hange away.

They walked in silence for some time, and Hange was starting to get impatient.

“I thought you wanted to talk,” she reminded when they reached the small bridge.

Erwin gave her an enigmatic smile and came to stand next to the railing. “Come here,” he softly urged.

Hange huffed, annoyed by his strange behavior, but obeyed his request. She stared into the blue water of the lake beneath the bridge, watching her reflection.

“What do you see?” Erwin asked.

“I see you,” Hange grumbled. “And me.”

“Right, but what exactly do you see?”

Hange stared at the surface of the lake. Her expression stared back. Looking at her messy hair, big glasses and dirty clothes, Hange felt anger stir inside her. Levi’s words echoed in her head, as though mocking her.

“I see stupid and naïve girl,” she crossed hands on her chest, glaring at the water. “I see someone without past. And without future.”

Erwin softly chuckled. “Not to agree with Levi, but maybe you really should clean your glasses, Hange. Because I see something different.” he hugged Hange by her shoulders. His reflection in the lake was smiling gently. “I see a woman, whose bravery and kindness can only rival with her intelligence. I see a good, noble person.”

As Hange gave Erwin a sidelong glance, she saw that even though the smile was still present on his lips, his gaze was becoming distant and melancholy.

“You know that I grew up in the palace?” he began slowly. “My parents were a part of the court, and I’ve spent my childhood alongside other nobles. I’ve never met you, of course, I was a bit older after all. But I do remember tales about an insufferable little girl, who was running around the palace and hiding from her nannies.”

Hange didn’t remember that, all she could remember from her childhood was the cold, uncomfortable beds and angry shouts from the governesses in the orphanage. But she could picture what Erwin was talking about quite clearly. And she liked that image. A small, involuntarily smile appeared on her face, as she continued listening to Erwin.

“What I wanted to tell you Hange, was this - I met a lot of nobles in my life, I was surrounded by them, and well,” Erwin shrugged. “Most of them were terrible people. They were cruel and greedy, and they didn’t respect anyone, who was beneath them. But you Hange… you are different. I can see how bright you are, how sympathetic. It might be foolish of me, but when I look at you, I feel like you’re the only true noble I’ve ever met. Maybe you don’t look like a Princess, but it doesn’t matter. I’m sure that once Empress sees you, once she looks into your fierce and clever eyes, she will know that you’re her granddaughter.”

Hange stared at Erwin for a long moment, thinking over everything he just told her. Slowly, a grin appeared on her face.

She slightly nudged Erwin in the side. “You know, with the way you talk, I’m sure you can probably convince Empress that you’re Princess Hanna.” Hange paused, her eyes focusing on her reflection once more. Then she sighed, straightening her shoulders and turning to look Erwin in the eyes. “Alright, you won. Let’s continue our journey.”

“That’s it?” Levi’s voice suddenly came from behind them “Your tantrum is over?”

“No thanks to you,” Erwin pointed out, giving Levi a disappointed glare.

Levi huffed, and Hange could swear that his cheeks had slightly reddened. “I was an asshole.” He said, looking Hange in the eyes. Even though he was embarrassed, he didn’t look away. He wanted Hange to believe in his sincerity.

“Yeah, you were,” Hange easily agreed and Levi was shocked to see a grin on her lips. “But I’m already used to that.” She patted his shoulder, walking past him. “I guess that’s just how you are. So I’m not upset, don’t worry.”

“As if I would worry about something stupid like that,” Levi grumbled. The amused expressions on Erwin and Hange’s faces told him that they could see right through him.

Damn it, Levi cursed, both of them were annoyingly perceptive.

“Alright!” Hange exclaimed, making a wide gesture with her hands. “Gentlemen! Teach me how to be a Princess!”

***

“We are lucky that you’re better at remembering names of Czar’s family then at playing chess,” Erwin chuckled after winning another game with Hange.

She huffed, crossing her hands on her chest. “That’s unfair! I’ve learned the rules just yesterday, of course I’ll bad at it!”

“Believe me, four-eyes,” Levi came to stand beside her. “You can spend years playing chess and you still won’t be able to win against Erwin. He is insanely and annoyingly good at this game.”

Erwin shrugged, grinning slightly. “Do you want to try your luck, Levi?” he gestured at the chess board.

“No thanks,” Levi made a face. “I don’t want to be humiliated.” Then he turned to Hange, passing her a wrapped package. “Besides, I came to give Hange this.”

Hange’s greedy hands immediately began tearing off the wrappings. Finished with them, she took out what was inside and gave it a confused look.

“What’s this?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.

Instead of answering, Levi came closer and snatched the glasses of her face. He directed them to the light, inspecting them. Then he huffed. “Your glasses are surprisingly clean, Hange. Have your eyesight became even shittier? Or have you never seen a dress before?”

“Of course, I have!” Hange protested, pressing the dress to her chest. “But I’ve never wore one.” She whispered, hanging her head.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and put it on.”

When Hange lifted her face, there was a big smile on her lips. She shot up to her feet, briefly hugging Levi. “Thank you!” she shouted right into his ear. She swiftly kissed his cheek and then sprinted off to her cabin.

Levi gingerly touched the place, where Hange had kissed him. The skin there was warm, and even warmer feeling spread across his chest.

Standing with his hand on his cheek and a dumb-struck expression on his face, Levi was sure that he looked like an idiot. “Shut up,” he grumbled, seeing the smirk on Erwin’s face. He sat down heavily next to him. “Let’s play your stupid game.” He added, putting figures in their places.

Hopefully, a chess match with Erwin would give him something else to focus onto and he would forget about Hange’s dumb happy smile or her stupid pretty eyes.

***

Half an hour later, Hange appeared on the deck of a ship, accompanied by Moblit. Levi’s eyes widened as he looked at her.

She was wearing a dress Levi had given her and she let her hair down, the brown locks reached to her shoulders and framed her flushed face. She came to stand in front of Levi and Erwin, nervously smiling at them.

“What do you think?” she asked, tucking a loose lock of her hair behind her ear. “Do I look… acceptable?”

“You look gorgeous.” Erwin replied, standing up and taking Hange by the hand.

Levi couldn’t agree more. When he was a child and lived in a palace with his mother, he oftentimes sneaked into the ballrooms to gawk at all the ladies in beautiful gowns. Their dresses were expansive, their hair was put into complicated hairstyles, and their carefully applied make-up hid every imperfection they had.

Hange looked nothing like them. Standing in her simple purple dress, slightly blushing and shyly smiling, she looked more beautiful than all the ladies, duchesses and princesses Levi had ever seen.

In the meantime, Erwin span Hange around. “You are ready for the ball, Princess.” Erwin said, smiling softly at her.

The blush on Hange’s cheeks intensified. She casted her eyes down, her fingers were fidgeting with the hem of her dress. “Truth be told, I don’t know how to dance…”

“Ah, it’s a problem that can be easily solved.” Still holding Hange’s hand in his, Erwin laid his other arm on Levi’s shoulder. “Because our Levi just so happens to be an incredible dancer! He will teach you everything you need to know!” finished, Erwin let go of them and took a step back.

Hange still looked a bit shy, but she was the first one to make a move. She laid her left hand on Levi’s waist, while her right one took his palm.

Beside them, Erwin chuckled. “While, I agree that the taller person should be the one to lead,” he began, earning a fierce glare from Levi. “But for your first time, I think you should let Levi lead, Hange.”

“Oh,” Hange slowly blinked, changing the position of her hands. “That’s how I should do it?”

Erwin nodded with a smile, and in the next moment, Levi started to slowly move Hange around the deck.

“Relax and follow my lead,” he whispered to Hange, squeezing her hand. “There’s nothing complicated about it.”

Hange nodded slightly, her eyes focused on her toes. Levi tsked.

“I know my face is ugly, but you have to look your partner in the eyes.”

“You’re not ugly!” Hange argued immediately, lifting her face and glaring at Levi. “Maybe, you scowl too much, but it doesn’t make you unpleasant to look at! On the contrary, I like looking at your face.” Hange’s eyes widened as she realized what she had said. “I mean— not that I’m looking at you all the time or something! I just—” Hange’s hand twitched in Levi’s hold, as she wanted to run a hand through her hair. Levi didn’t let her go.

He was sure that his face was as red as Hange’s, but still he tried to keep a straight expression, continuing their dance. “Even with your stupid glasses, I like looking at your face as well.”

Levi cursed at himself, wondering what had possessed him to say those stupid words. However… the smile that appeared on Hange’s face afterwards was kind of worth it. Even if Levi felt like a fucking idiot.

“Thank you for the dress,” Hange whispered. She was still following Levi’s request and looked him straight in the eyes. And Levi stared back, unable to turn away from those warm brown eyes.

“You’re welcome.” Levi whispered back.

“I feel lightheaded,” Hange admitted after Levi had spun her around.

“And your heart is beating fast?” Levi asked.

“Too fast.” Hange agreed.

“I feel the same.” Levi said. He stopped moving, but didn’t let go of Hange and didn’t look away from her face.

“It’s probably from all that dancing,” Hange forced a grin on her face.

Levi nodded. “Maybe, we should stop.”

“But Levi,” Hange looked at him in surprise. “We already did.”

“Hange…” Levi began, staring at her almost desperately. “Hange… I—” he almost did it, almost said those words, almost told Hange how she made him feel. But Levi stopped himself, shaking his head.

What the fuck was he thinking? Hange was a Princess, and a few days later he would get her to Paris and then never see her again. Whatever he thought he was feeling couldn’t be real. He was just being foolish.

“There is nothing I can teach you anymore,” Levi finished, patting Hange’s hand before letting her go. “You won’t look like an idiot on your first ball, so my job is done. I… I need to go.”

And then he left, his heart pounding in his chest. He walked back to his cabin, not even once turning around to look at Hange. He knew that if he looked into her eyes again, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from spilling out the truth about his feelings.

***

Levi motionlessly lay in his bed, staring with unseeing eyes at the ceiling. The evening’s events kept replaying in his head, over and over. He just… he couldn’t understand.

He couldn’t understand what was happening to him, didn’t know what he was feeling and why he was feeling it. Levi had never felt like that, no one had ever made him feel like that. But whenever he was with Hange, something awoke in him. Something that made him feel at ease, that made him almost happy. Something that made him feel alive.

Levi didn’t know the name of this feeling. Or maybe, he did but was afraid to put a name on it. Surely, it couldn’t be that, he couldn’t be in love with Hange. They knew each other for a little more than a week, Levi barely knew her! But he wanted to know more – wanted to know her quirks and habits, her fears and dreams, her thoughts and feelings. Everything. He wanted to know everything about Hange.

And that scared Levi. More than he was willing to admit.

Because Levi didn’t believe in love. His life was full of sorrows and losses, there was no place for feelings and other foolish things. But looking at Hange, staring at her big smile or getting lost in her bright eyes, Levi felt something that dangerously resembled hope, blooming inside his chest.

Hange made him feel… she made him feel, she always managed to elicit some kind of reaction and emotion out of usually stoic Levi. She irritated him with her endless teasing, she amused him with her stupid jokes, and she amazed him with her kindness.

She made him feel other emotions, too. When Levi saw, how Erwin touched her shoulder or held her hand, when he watched, how Hange kissed Moblit on a cheek and hugged him tightly to her chest, a weird, angry feeling arose in Levi. His fists clenched and his mouth formed a hard line.

And whenever Hange touched him, whenever she laid her hand on his shoulder, when she was laughing too hard, or whenever she pressed herself against his side, leaning on him, Levi’s heart began to drum erratically, his breath hitched in his throat, as something warm settled in his chest.

Levi cursed, running a hand through his hair. He was so fucked. Because no matter what he felt for Hange, if it was love or some other dumb shit, the end of their story was near. Hange would go to Paris and she would become a Princess. She would wear fancy dresses and she would attend balls. She would be adored by everyone around her, and men would throw themselves at her feet, asking for a minute of her attention.

There was no place in this world for a scum like Levi. There was no place for him in Hange’s life.

***

Levi woke up with a start. He didn’t notice how he fell asleep, too engrossed in his solemn thoughts.

At first, he couldn’t understand what had woken him up. But then, a moment later, he heard it again – a quiet, muffled sound. Levi instantly became alarmed. He was sure that he was in the room alone, Hange, Moblit and Erwin had decided to join the ship’s crew for a round of drinks. Had they already returned?

The same sound came again, and Levi rose from his bed, trying to look around the dark room. As his eyes adjusted, he saw that the bed on the other side of the cabin was occupied by Hange.

She tossed and turned, sobbing quietly. Levi froze, his eyes wide as he stared at her. Hange was probably having a nightmare, and despite the fact that he frequently suffered from them as well, Levi didn’t know how to help. He looked around the room once more, but there was no sign of Moblit or Erwin. Levi cursed. If Moblit was here, he would know what to do. And Erwin would definitely find the right words to calm Hange down. But they were absent, and that meant that Levi was the one, who had to help Hange.

He slowly approached her, kneeling beside her bed. He looked at her and his heart caught in his throat. Hange’s face was contorted in pain, her cheeks stained with tears.

Levi outstretched his hand, tentatively laying it on Hange’s shoulder. “Oi, Hange,” he slightly shook her. “C’mon, wake up.”

But Hange didn’t seem to hear him, her breath getting more erratic and her sobs becoming louder. “No,” she whispered, furiously shaking her head. “No, no, please don’t leave me!”

Levi’s heart ached, as he watched her struggles. Wrapping his hands around her shoulders, he shook her again, more forceful this time. But still, Hange was unresponsive.

And so Levi decided to try a different approach. With his hands still around her, Levi pressed Hange close to his chest. One of his hands came to rest atop of Hange’s head, as he soothingly patted her hair.

“It’s just a nightmare, Hange,” Levi whispered in the softest voice he could muster. He pressed a gentle kiss on Hange’s sweaty temple. “None of it is real, none of it can really hurt you.”

And, surprisingly, it seemed to work. Soon, Hange’s sobs ceased and Levi felt how her hands fisted in his shirt. She breathed heavily, her whole body moving with excursion.

Finally she raised her head. “Levi?” her eyes were wide as she looked at him. Without her glasses, Hange seemed so young, so innocent and vulnerable.

“You had a nightmare.” Levi answered her unasked question. He still held her in his arms.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Hange whispered, bowing her head in shame.

“Don’t be.” Levi said rather forcefully. “It happens to anyone, and I’m glad that I managed to help you.”

“Thank you,” Hange softly smiled, and Levi’s heart melted. She was smiling at him, he made her smile like that. “But aren’t you angry? My tears ruined your shirt.”

“It’s fine,” Levi waved his hand, finally letting Hange go. A strange look appeared in her eyes, something that looked a lot like disappointment, but it was gone before Levi could inspect it more closely. “As I said, I was glad to help. You’re a Princess, after all. It’s my duty to help you.”

And now Levi was sure that Hange’s eyes were sad. “Is that everything I am to you?” she whispered. “Just a Princess?”

“It’s everything you should be to me.” Levi retorted, looking away from Hange. Her gaze was making him uncomfortable, it almost made him regret his words. “Go to sleep, Hange.” He sighed, getting to his feet. “Tomorrow is an important day.”

Tomorrow, they would finally arrive to Paris, Levi thought bitterly. Soon he would have to say goodbye to Hange.

***

The next day, Levi, Hange, Erwin and Moblit got off the ship. They stepped on the land and were immediately approached by a man and a woman.

The woman was lean and tall. With her stylish blue dress and short blonde hair, she was unmistakably Parisian. However, the man next to her, a big and wide guy with blonde thick hair and even thicker moustache, was undeniably Russian.

“Oh, god!” the woman exclaimed, as she ran up to Hange. “You look so much like her! You really are Princess Hanna!”

Hange awkwardly scratched her head, shrugging. “Everyone keeps telling me that.” She said with a lopsided grin.

“And they are correct, my dear,” the woman wore a bright smile. She took Hange's hands in hers, squeezing them tightly. “I’m so glad to meet you! And I’m sure Empress will be incredibly happy to see you. She missed you terribly, Hanna.”

Hange smiled at the woman. It looked more than a little forced. “I prefer to be called Hange.”

Even if the woman was taken aback by her words, she didn’t show it. “As you wish. But you need to at least get used to your title. Everyone will call you Princess now.”

Hange’s eyes immediately turned to Levi. She avoided his eyes as soon as their gazes met, but Levi didn’t miss the same hurtful look from yesterday.

“Ah, where are my manners!” the woman clasped her hands together and then outstretched her right one to Hange for a handshake. “I’m Nanaba. And that is my husband Mike.”

Hange smiled, and this time it was sincere. “I’m Hange, and this is my friend Moblit.” She gestured to him.

“Charmed,” Nanaba nodded, shaking Hange’s and Moblit’s hands.

And while Hange shook hands with Mike, Nanaba came to stand next to Erwin.

She grabbed his face and kissed both of his cheeks, smiling from ear to ear. “It’s good to see you again.”

Erwin shared her sentiment, looking just as happy. “I’m glad to be here as well, Nanaba. You look more beautiful with each day.”

Nanaba shook her head, chuckling. “You never change, Erwin.”

Then she turned to Levi, although she didn’t greet him the way she did Erwin. “It’s nice to see you, too, Levi.”

Levi nodded slightly. “I’m glad to know you’re doing alright.”

A moment later, Mike walked up to Erwin. He enveloped him in a tight, suffocating hug. “It’s been too long, my friend.” he said with feeling.

Erwin chuckled, hugging Mike just as tightly. “I missed you, too.”

As he let Erwin go, a big smile curved Mike’s lips. It disappeared as soon as he laid his eyes on Levi. “Ackerman.” He said. All the warmth in his voice was gone.

“Zacharius.” Levi replied in the same manner.

“Are they going to fight?” Hange asked Erwin, watching the scene with great interest.

“They did, a few times.” Hange was surprised by Erwin’s nonchalant tone. Her eyes widened as she saw that Mike’s face broke into a wide grin. He ruffled Levi’s hair, laughing heartily. “I see you still haven’t grown up.”

“Shut up, you ugly giant,” Levi made a face. “And get your dirty hands off me!”

Mike started to laugh even harder, and soon everyone joined him. Everyone, except Levi, who was glaring at them.

“So…” Hange began uncertainly with her hands behind her back. “When I will meet Empress?”

“This evening,” Nanaba promised. “She will attend a play in the theater and I’ll introduce you to each other. Before that, we need to get you a dress. This one is pretty,” she nodded at Hange’s purple dress. “But you need something fancier.”

“Oh, alright. Of course.”

“Great!” Nanaba smiled once more, linking her hands with Hange. “Then let’s go shopping!”

***

Hange threw the curtain open, revealing yet another outfit to her audience. She grinned, spinning around to give them a better look. However, as she stopped, she was surprised to find out that almost everyone was gone. Only Levi remained in his seat.

“Eh?” her brows furrowed in confusion. “Where are the others?”

“They went to grab a lunch,” Levi said as he came up to Hange. “I have a more pressing question, though. Where the fuck have you found this monstrosity?” he stared displeasingly at Hange’s bright dress. “This thing looks like someone had eaten the rainbow and then vomited it all over the fabric.”

Levi’s colorful description sent Hange into a fit of giggles. She clutched her stomach, laughing even harder. Levi tsked, although his eyes were full of amusement, as he gazed at Hange.

“C’mon,” he softly shoved her back into the dressing room. “Take off this ugly dress, I’ll look for something… more presentable.”

Still chuckling, Hange nodded and disappeared behind the curtain. She was angry at Levi before, and more than angry, she was hurt, but their easy banter made her forget about yesterday’s conversation. She could almost pretend that everything was fine. That Levi and her were friends.

Five minutes later, Levi touched the side of the curtain. “Here,” he passed her a dress. “Try this.”

Hange looked at the dress in her hands. A smile appeared on her face, as she admired its bright yellow color. Her favorite.

She swiftly put it on and walked out of the dressing room, looking a bit shy. She still felt uncomfortable while wearing a dress.

“Yes,” Levi said in a strange, almost breathless voice. “We should take this one.”

Hange turned to the mirror, studying her reflection. The dress wasn’t long, reaching to her knees and showing off her long and slender legs, it wasn’t tight either, but it followed every curve of her body, accentuating her slim waist. The bright yellow color contrasted with Hange’s tan skin.

“Do I look pretty?” Hange grinned, looking at Levi in the mirror.

“You look beautiful.” Levi told her seriously, staring right into her reflection’s eyes. Hange felt her cheeks reddened, but she couldn’t look away from Levi’s eyes, which looked at her so intently.

“Alright,” she said, shaking her head and looking away. “Let’s take this one then.”

“Get changed and let’s meet with the others. They’re waiting for us at the café.”

***

“Hange, this dress is marvelous!” Nanaba admired the fabric in her hands. “You have an excellent taste!”

“Ah, I wasn’t the one who chose it. Levi did,” Hange said, grinning at him.

“Really?” Mike raised his eyebrow. “Levi, I didn’t know you like fashion so much.”

“This is your last warning, Mike,” Levi growled. “Shut the fuck up.”

Unfortunately, Mike didn’t seem intimidated. He just chuckled, sharing a long and knowing look with Erwin.

“Hange,” Nanaba called, unexpectedly serious. She took Hange’s hand in hers. “I need to ask you something. I believe you really are Princess Hanna, but I just want to make sure.”

“Of course.” Hange smiled, trying to hide her nervousness.

“Do you… do you remember the night of the attack?”

“I remember a ball,” Hange slowly began, staring into her cup of coffee. Nanaba slightly nodded – everyone knew that revolutionaries attacked the Winter Palace during a noble’s festivities. “I remember there were screams and sounds of gunshots, people running in every direction. Then there was a secret door, but I… I couldn’t open it. But this boy…” Hange raised her head, briefly glancing in Levi’s direction. Levi’s heart skipped a beat, as he stared at Hange back. Could she remember him? “He pushed the door open for me, he… well, I guess he saved me.” Hange shrugged, grinning crookedly. “Sorry, but I don’t remember much.”

Tears gathered in the corners of Nanaba’s eyes, as Hange finished. She pressed her close to her chest. “You remember about secret door! It’s really you! Ah, I’m so happy we finally found you.” She whispered in her shoulder.

Hange patted her on the shoulder. “And I’m happy to be found.”

***

Hange stood in front of a grand, gorgeous theater. Her hands trembled, and looking at all the people around her – beautiful women in fancy dresses and handsome men in rich suits, she felt completely out of place.

Hange had half a mind to run away. To turn around and flee, as fast as she could. She almost took a step back, when Levi came to stand beside her.

“Nervous?” he asked, giving her a side glance.

“Of course not!” Hange exclaimed, trying to sound far more cheerful than she felt.

Levi silently raised his eyebrow. Hange huffed and lowered her head. “Fine, you’re right. Maybe, I feel a little nervous.”

“You’ve been dreaming about this moment your whole life, right? Of course, you’ll be nervous.” Levi replied in a strangely soft voice. He took Hange’s hand in his, giving her palm a squeeze. “I’ll be there, if you need me.” He promised.

Hange instantly felt better. She relaxed slightly, as all of her panic seemed to leave her body. Levi’s presence gave her a weird sense of comfort. With him by her side, she felt like she could do anything.

Still holding his hand, she entered the theater.

***

Hange fidgeted in her seat, picking at her dress. She tried to focus her attention on the stage, where an undoubtedly spectacular play was in motion, but her eyes had been glued to the old woman in the next balcony. Could it really be her? Her grandmother? Her family? Looking at her, Hange tried to feel something, some connection, but she felt nothing but panic.

Erwin and Levi left a couple of minutes ago, telling Hange they needed to discuss something with Nanaba. And Hange had been panicking ever since.

“Calm down,” Moblit whispered, leaning to her. “There is nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about?!” Hange hissed. “What if she doesn’t recognize me? What if she does recognize me?”

Moblit smiled, taking Hange’s hand in his. “If she doesn’t recognize you, then we move forward, continuing to look for your family. And if she does recognize you, then you’ll become a Princess.”

“But what if… what if I’m not sure if I want to become a Princess?” Hange whispered, suddenly vulnerable.

Moblit shrugged. “You’ll figure it out. We can always run away, you know, travel to some other place.”

“You’ll run away with me? You won’t leave me?”

“Of course, I won’t. Hange, I followed you from Russia to Paris. We’ve known each other, since we were kids. I’m not leaving you alone.”

Moblit’s earnest words and his unyielding loyalty warmed Hange’s heart. She moved closer and circled her hands around him, hugging him tightly. “Thank you, Moblit. You are a far better friend, than I deserve.” Holding Moblit in her embrace, all panic seemed to leave Hange’s body. She relaxed in his arms and enjoyed the warmth his body was giving to her.

“Oi,” suddenly came Levi’s displeasing voice. “Stop your lovey-dovey shit. We need to go.”

Hange giggled, letting go of Moblit and getting to her feet. “There is no need to get jealous, Levi. I can give you a hug, too, if you want.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll pass.” Levi grumbled. “Hurry up, four-eyes. Erwin is already waiting for us.”

And just like that, Hange’s worry returned. She nodded shakily, tightening her hands into fists to prevent them from shaking.

She followed Levi into the corridor. He led her to a big oak door and stopped. Erwin was already there, smiling encouragingly at Hange.

“Are you ready?”

“Let’s do this.” Hange replied. She grinned, remembering Moblit’s words. He was right, there was nothing to be afraid of.

Levi briefly squeezed her hand. “Wait here. We need to announce your arrival first.” His hand touched the handle, ready to open the door.

“Wait!” Hange stopped him. “I need… I need to tell you something.” It was on Hange’s mind for a while. What she felt for Levi… maybe, it was her last chance to say it. “I feel… I feel…”

“Yes?” Levi moved closer, staring at Hange intently. “What do you feel, Hange?” his voice was no louder than a whisper.

“I feel like…” And Hange did it, she almost said those words, but… “I feel like I should thank you. For everything you’ve done for me.” No, now was not the time for that. She had to meet her family. She could deal with her feelings for Levi later.

“Oh.” Levi’s face was as neutral as usual. But his gaze seemed disappointed. Hange tried not to think about it. His hand reached to the handle again, he almost turned it and opened the door, but suddenly he turned around. “Hange,” he called, laying his arm on her elbow. “Hange, I wanted to tell you—”

“Y-yes?”

Levi stared at Hange hopelessly, his mouth almost formed the needed words, but then he shook his head. “I wanted to wish you good luck.” Levi finished, shaking Hange’s hand. He cringed at his awkwardness, but he knew it was a right decision. He couldn’t let Hange know about his feelings – not now, not ever.

With one last look at Hange, Levi turned around and opened the door.

“Maybe, you should have confessed?” Erwin whispered in his ear, as they walked into the room.

“No,” Levi shook his head. “She’s a Princess, and I’m the servant’s son. We’re not meant to be.”

Erwin obviously wanted to disagree, but Levi silenced him with look and pointed to Nanaba, who was waiting for them. “We have more pressing matters now.”

Nanaba walked up to them, shaking her head sadly. “She refuses to see you. Or Hange.”

“Why?” Erwin’s thick brows furrowed.

Nanaba shrugged. “She’s an old woman. And her heart was broken for a very long time.”

“What a load of bullshit.” Levi growled, moving past Nanaba and heading towards Empress.

“Levi, wait!” Erwin tried to stop him, but Levi didn’t even turn around. Erwin gave Nanaba an apologizing look and then hurried after him.

“What are you doing?” Erwin hissed, as he caught up with him.

“I don’t care what this old woman wants. Hange is waiting for her, desperate to meet her family. I can’t let her down.”

“No,” Empress Olga said, as soon as Erwin and Levi stood before her. “I told Nanaba already that I don’t want to see you, and especially I don’t want to see another one of those ‘Princesses’.”

“But, your majesty, please listen to us!” Erwin begged, reaching to her.

Empress made a face of distain. “Do you have any respect towards me?”

“Of course!” Erwin was quick to assure her.

“Then respect my wish. I’m an old woman, I’m tired and weary. Do you know how many girls I’ve seen who had claimed to be my dear Hanna? I do not wish to see another imposter, my weak heart won’t be able to take it.”

Erwin stared at her, and for the first time in his life he didn’t know what to say, what words to use to persuade Empress.

Beside him, Levi took a step forward, his grey eyes narrowed as he glared at Empress. “Behind that door stands a young woman. She lost her family, and all she wants to do is to find it again. She traveled from Russia to here, just so she could meet you in hopes that you will turn out to be her grandmother. And you don’t want to waste one minute of your precious time just to see her?”

Empress was silent for a long moment, staring at Levi and Erwin in deep thought. It looked like she was actually considering to change her decision, but then her mouth formed a hard line, as an arrogant look returned to her eyes.

“I think I know you, gentlemen,” her sharp eyes looked at Levi and Erwin with utmost precision. “Erwin Smith and Levi Ackerman, am I right? Your reputation precedes you. The tales of your frauds reached even Paris.” Empress rose from her seat, sneering at the two men. “And I’ve heard about your little audition. You’ve been looking for Princess Hanna’s lookalike for a long time, haven’t you? So don’t come to me, crying about some lonely girl! When all you want is to take my money! You don’t care about me, or that girl, all you care for is money! Guards!” Empress called loudly. “Take those bastards away, and make sure they don’t come back!”

Instantly, two pairs of strong arms grabbed Levi’s shoulders and started to drag him away. He kicked and pushed, trying to free himself but his struggles were in vain. He got thrown on the floor and the door closed behind him.

And as Levi looked up, he saw Hange’s beautiful eyes. They were full of anger and hurt. And Levi realized – she had heard everything.

Levi hopelessly stared at her, his eyes wide.

“Hange!” Erwin tried, reaching to her, but one furious look from her and he took a step back.

“No.” She said, her voice deadly calm. “I do not want to hear anything from you two. You were lying to me, this whole fucking time, you��ve been lying to me!”

As she started to walk away, Levi finally recovered. He ran up to Hange, grabbing her hand. Hange recoiled, as though she was burned.

“Don’t you ever touch me.” Her voice was cold and angry, so unlike the Hange Levi was used to.

“Hange, listen to me, please!” Levi asked, desperate to explain himself, to make Hange understand.

“Are you going to tell me another lie? I trusted you, Levi, I thought we were friends! But you and Erwin were just using me! You didn’t care about me, you cared about money! And I was so foolish! I believed you were helping me out of the kindness of your hearts! I thought I meant something to you, Levi.” She said bitterly. “I thought I was in l— Ah! It doesn’t matter anymore! Just go away, Levi,” Hange sighed, so wearily and tiredly. Levi’s heart clenched. “I don’t want to see you anymore.”

And then Hange started to walk away, and all Levi could was to stare after her, feeling his heart shutter into million pieces.

***

“I’m so sorry, Levi,” Erwin laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I didn’t know this would result in such a disaster.”

“All of it is my fault,” Levi replied bitterly. “I shouldn’t have gotten… attached.”

He sighed and hanged his head. He kept seeing the hurt expression on Hange’s face and he shook his head, trying to get it out of his mind. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Empress. She was walking out of the theater, and looking around, Levi noticed a car she was heading to. Without another thought, he rushed to that car. He opened the door and threw the driver out.

“Sorry,” Levi told him, as he took his place in the driver’s seat. “I’ll return the car later.”

In the next moment, Empress sat down in the car, completely unaware that her driver was missing. Levi started the engine and began driving.

“Andrey, slow down a little,” she asked, staring out of the window.

“I’m not Andrey, Empress,” Levi looked at her face in the rear window.

The woman gasped, clutching her chest. “You! What are you doing here? Stop this car immediately!”

Levi shook his head. “Can’t do, Empress. I won’t stop until you agree to meet with your granddaughter.”

“I can throw you in jail for this, do you understand?”

“I do. But I don’t care.”

Empress sighed. “You’re an incredibly stubborn man, messier Ackerman. Fine, let’s meet with this girl of yours. I very much hope she’s worth it.”

“She is.” Levi promised her fiercely. “You don’t know it yet, your majesty, but your granddaughter is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. She’s fearless, kind, strong and unbelievingly smart.”

Empress’ eyes were studying Levi’s reflection in the mirror. “You love her.” She didn’t ask, just stated it as a fact.

Levi averted his eyes from Empress’ knowing gaze. “It doesn’t matter. I know my place, your majesty. Street rats and princesses don’t belong together.”

Empress said nothing, just continued to stare at Levi.

Soon he stopped the car. They arrived to the hotel, where Hange was staying.

“She’s there, your majesty,” he told Empress, as he opened the door for her. “On the third floor, room number five. Be kind to her, and try to understand her.”

“You’re not coming with me?”

Levi sadly shook his head. “She doesn’t wish to see me anymore.”

“I was wrong about you, messier Ackerman. You’re a better man than I expected.” Empress didn’t smile, but her eyes were softer than moments ago. Then she got out of the car and slowly made her way inside. When she disappeared inside the building, Levi lifted his head. The light in Hange’s window was on, and he could see her silhouette, as she walked around the room. He stood there for a long moment, watching her. Then he sighed, and got back into the car, driving as far from Hange, as he could.

***

Hange was hurriedly packing her belongings in a small suitcase, when she heard a knock on the door of her room. Her treacherous heart skipped beat at the thought that it could be Levi. As she began thinking about him, the pain in her chest returned with a renowned vigor. She still couldn’t believe that Erwin and Levi had done this to her.

“I’ll answer the door.” Moblit said, squeezing her shoulder briefly.

“If that’s any of those assholes, don’t hesitate to throw them out.” Yes, she was hurt, but more than that she was angry. Angry at Levi and Erwin for using her and lying to her, angry at herself for believing them, for starting to care about them, for falling in love with one of them.

Hange’s solemn thoughts were interrupted by a sound of heavy, unhurried footsteps. Moblit didn’t walk like that. Hange raised her eyes and gasped, as she saw Empress, standing in front of her.

“My dear!” Empress came closer, laying her hand on Hange’s elbow. “You really do look like her. You’re almost a copy of my beloved Hanna.” Empress kept looking at Hange, when suddenly her eyes widened.

“This necklace!” Empress exclaimed, taking it in her hands and opening. Her eyes filled with tears, as she read the familiar words. “Together in Paris…” she whispered, holding the necklace in her trembling palms. “It’s really you, isn’t it? My dear Hanna, you’ve really returned home?”

“I hope so.” Hange shrugged and grinned unsurely.

“Oh my dear!” Empress threw herself at Hange, nearly suffocating her in tight embrace. She was crying loudly in her shoulder, and Hange awkwardly held the old woman in her arms. She didn’t know her, didn’t really remember her, but this woman clearly cared about Hange. It was nice. It was good to know that there were people who cared about her. People, who considered her a part of their family.

When Empess, calmed down, she took Hange’s face in her hands and studied it. “Look at you!” she exclaimed, smiling happily. “You’re so pretty, Hanna! We have to announce your return! Ah, yes, I should organize the ball. Everyone will love you!”

Hange smiled in return, and hoped it didn’t look too forced. She was happy, really happy to meet with her grandmother, it was her lifetime dream, but she felt uncomfortable, thinking about the ball. And she still wasn’t used to be called Hanna. She was Hange her whole life…

“Grandmother, I’m so sorry,” Hange touched the older woman’s hand. “But can we talk about this tomorrow? I had a rather stressful evening.”

“Of course, my dear, I’ll send a coach for you in the morning.” Empress rose to her feet. She looked around the hotel room, her face filling with distain. “And you should take all your belongings to my manor. An heir to Russian throne can’t sleep in a place like these! And by the way,” Empress leaned in, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Who is that man who answered the door? Is he your lover?”

“No!” Hange protested, waving her hands around. “It’s Moblit, he’s my friend! We grew up together, he’s like a brother to me.”

Empress hummed, still looking displeased. “Anyway, you shouldn’t sleep in the same room as him. It’s very improper.”

When the door after Empress closed and Moblit came back into the room, Hange breathed out, willing herself to relax.

She had never thought that meeting her relatives would be so hard.

***

“Come in,” Empress said, staring out of the window.

“Good day, your majesty. You’ve sent for us?”

Empress turned around. Messieurs Erwin Smith and Levi Ackerman were standing in front of her, looking uneasy.

“I did,” Empress said, taking a step closer to them. “It wasn’t easy to find you, messieurs. I can’t help but wonder why. Don’t you want your reward?”

“We didn’t expect you t—” Erwin began, but Levi cut him off.

“We don’t want it.” He said seriously. Then, glancing at Erwin, he hastily added. “I don’t want it. You should give all money to Erwin.”

“No, Levi’s right.” Erwin smiled, although it didn’t seem to work on Empress. “We wronged your granddaughter, your majesty. We’ve wronged her and we’ve hurt her. We don’t deserve a reward for that.”

“Huh, it seems like even criminals have honor. But are you sure, messieurs? You’ve returned my granddaughter to me, and I wish to repay you for that. Is there anything I can do for you? Maybe, there is something else you desire?”

“With all due respect, your majesty,” Levi began. “But you cannot give me what I desire.”

“Well, if that’s your decision,” Empress shrugged. “Do tell me one last thing, though – are you going to stay in Paris?”

“No, your majesty, we’ll continue to travel.” Erwin said. “Maybe, visit England, look for some job there.”

“Then I wish you luck.” Empress nodded, dismissing them.

***

Hange was trying yet another one of a dozen dresses her grandmother had bought for her. She studied her reflection in the mirror skeptically, while servants around her cheered and complimented her. She paid no mind to them, she had learnt already that their words and praises meant nothing. They would say anything, just to make her happy.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps on the stairwell behind her. She turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw who was descending.

Erwin and Levi.

Hange wanted to turn around, to ignore them, but they’ve already noticed her.

“Good day, Hange,” Erwin said warmly. “I see you are slowly getting used to your life.”

Hange nodded, and her eyes involuntarily darted to Levi. He was staring right at her, his eyes unreadable.

“Hange…” he whispered, his hands twitching with desire to touch her. “Hange, I’m s—”

“You can’t address a Princess like that!” one of the servants interrupted. “You have to call her ‘your highness’! And her name is not Hange!”

“It’s fine,” Hange smiled gently at the servant, dismissing him. “You don’t have to—”

“No, he is right,” Levi’s voice was completely devoid of emotion. “My apologies, your highness. I shouldn’t have forgotten my place. I hope you’re happy with your new life.”

Hange nodded once more, and even though her heart was breaking again, even though seeing Levi’s calm face and hearing his cold voice, calling her by that stupid title she was starting to loathe so much made the pain inside her chest intensify tenfold, she put on a smile. “And I hope you are happy with your reward, messier.” Swiftly turning around, she hurried away from that stairwell. She didn’t wish to see Erwin’s sad face or Levi’s impassive one.

And as Hange walked away, she didn’t see the pain that was inside Levi’s gaze, as his eyes followed her retreating figure.

***

“You look marvelous my dear!” Hange’s grandmother cooed. “Everyone will adore you! You’ll be the talk of all Paris!”

Hange restricted herself from making a face. Her grandmother was a good person, and she treated Hange with so much kindness, but the woman in the mirror wasn’t her. That woman in rich and beautiful dress with silk gloves and high heels, with crimson red lips and dark eyeshadow, with hair put into a tight bun instead of a messy ponytail, it wasn’t Hange. She could barely recognize herself.

“Had something happened?” Empress asked. “You look a little distant, Hanna.”

Hange slightly flinched. She didn’t want to be called that name either, she still preferred Hange, but she didn’t know how to say this to her grandmother without hurting her feelings.

“I’m fine, grandma,” Hange forced a smile.

But her grandmother was more perceptive than that. Her hard eyes studied Hange’s face. “I hope it’s not because of that fool, messier Ackerman.”

At the mention of Levi, Hange’s heart skipped a beat. She turned her face away from Empress, hiding her emotions. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, grandma. Levi and Erwin were nothing, but a way to get into Paris. And once they’ve done their job, we’ve parted ways.”

“They refused to take my money, you know?” Empress said nonchalantly. Her lips curved into a slight smirk, as she watched how her granddaughter’s eyes widened in surprise. “They told me that they’ve hurt you and they felt sorry for that. Messier Ackerman seemed especially troubled.”

Hange shook her head vehemently, refusing to even think about such possibility. “You’ve surely misunderstood something, grandma. Levi didn’t care for me at all.”

Empress hummed, knowing that nothing couldn’t further from the truth. “Maybe, you’re right. I don’t know them as much as you do. Anyway, I’m glad to hear that you don’t think about them anymore. It’s time for you to start a new chapter of your life. And speaking of that, hurry up! Your guests are waiting for you!”

“Of course, grandmother,” Hange sighed, preparing herself to go downstairs.

***

Hange breathed out in relief as soon as she left the ballroom. The room was big and spacious, but Hange was suffocating. Her tight corset and the never-ending stream of nobles, who wanted to great her, made Hange’s head spin.

Entering a chilly garden, she willed herself to relax. She walked to the nearest bench and sat down heavily. She couldn’t stop thinking about Levi. Why didn’t he take the reward? Was he actually guilty for using Hange? Could he really care for her?

Ugh, Hange wanted to see him so bad! She wanted to stare into his stupidly beautiful grey eyes and ask him what the fuck did he mean by his actions. Was it Hange’s wistful thinking or did he really feel something for her? Hange wanted to snatch out her own hair, that man was so insufferable! Even from afar he managed to frustrate and confuse her!

Hange was suddenly broken out of her thoughts by a warm hand that settled on her shoulders. She glanced aside and saw Moblit who sat down by her side.

“Why did you escape? Did you not enjoy the party?”

Hange groaned in reply. Because she had been thinking about that for a while as well. As much as she dreamed of meeting her own family, she didn’t like her new life. Truth be told, she loathed it. She hated having to wear fancy dresses, or chat with stupid nobles, or flirt with rich men. She hoped that by finding her family, she would be able to find herself, to finally realize who she was. But instead, she felt like slowly losing herself. She wasn’t meant for this life, she couldn’t feign politeness and she didn’t want to follow stupid rules and useless etiquette. Her grandmother was a good, kind woman, and Hange liked her! But she didn’t feel any connection, she didn’t feel like they were family.

And Hange suddenly realized – she didn’t feel like Empress Olga was her family, because she had already found her own family. She had found it in Moblit’s calm and constant presence, in quiet and engaging conversations with Erwin, and in an amusing banter with Levi.

“Moblit!” Hange put her hands on his arm, her eyes burning almost feverishly. “Moblit, do you know where Erwin and Levi are?”

If Moblit was surprised by her question, he didn’t show it. He just nodded and checked his watch. “They planned to get board a ship that will get them to England. It leaves in about an hour.”

“Do you want to run away with me?” she asked him with a big grin on her face.

“Of course.” Moblit replied without hesitation. He smiled at Hange in return. It was so long, since he had seen that crazy grin of hers.

Hange jumped to her feet. “Then let’s hurry! We have to catch up with Erwin and Levi!”

“Alright,” Moblit kneeled in front of her. Ignoring Hange’s confused gaze, he took her dress in his hands and then tore the fabric, tying two ends just a little over her knees. Then he raised to his feet and put his hands in Hange’s hair, freeing her hair out of a tight bun. “There,” he whispered fondly. “Now you look like your usual self.”

Hange’s eyes almost watered. She truly didn’t deserve such an amazing and loyal friend. But they had to hurry. So grabbing Moblit by the hand, she started running.

***

“We’ve been standing here for a fucking hour,” Levi grumbled, scowling furiously. “Why the fuck they aren’t letting us in?”

Erwin shrugged, listening to his friend’s complaints with a smile. “They probably are rechecking their equipment. And what’s the hurry? Are you so eager to leave Paris?”

“I’m sick of this city.” Levi muttered, hiding his face. He wanted to leave Paris as fast possible. And more than that he wanted to leave all the painful memories it brought him.

Suddenly Erwin and Levi heard a sound of hurried and loud footsteps. They turned around, and Levi’s breath hitched in his throat. He watched with wide eyes, not believing that it was actually real.

Hange was running towards them, dragging Moblit with her.

“Were you really just using me?” she asked breathlessly, as soon as she reached them. “Or do you also consider me a friend?”

“We’ve hurt you, Hange. And I cannot possibly apologize enough for that. But we do care about you,” Erwin’s lips curved into a warm and gentle smile. “In that short time, I’ve grown to care about you a great deal.”

Hange answered him with an almost crazy grin. Her hair was even messier than usual, her make-up was all smudged, her glasses were askew and her dress was torn in half. She looked absolutely wild.

And she gave Levi and Erwin no warning, as she launched herself at them, putting her hands around their necks. “You fucking assholes,” she laughed merrily. “I missed you so much.” Then without missing a beat, she asked. “Do you have a room for Moblit and me at your ship?”

Erwin chuckled. “Of course, we do.”

“Excellent!” Hange let go of them, still grinning from ear to ear. “Then let’s get aboard!”

“Wait,” Levi stopped her with his hand on her elbow. “What the fuck does all of it mean, four-eyes? Did you run away?”

“Yeah, I did.” She announced rather proudly. “Right from the ball.”

Levi huffed. “You’re insane.” He muttered with a small smile on his face.

Hange couldn’t stop staring at him. She grabbed his arm and started to drag him away to a more secluded area. “We need to talk.”

Despite his racing heart, Levi managed to keep a straight face. “What do you want to talk about?”

“How did you recognize me?” Hange asked suddenly. “I know you did, from the very first moment that you’ve seen me. So. How did you do it?”

“I… I saw your portrait.”

“Bullshit.” Hange replied with a grin. “You were that boy, right? The one, who saved me?”

Levi’s eyes widened. “How did you—”

“I didn’t remember you, not at first. But then, some pieces started to come back to me.” She chuckled. “You really believed I was a Princess, huh?”

“Of course, I did.” Levi crossed his hands on his chest, trying to appeal nonchalant.

All of his attempts were rudely destroyed, when Hange unexpectedly leaned in and gave Levi a peck on his lips. “W-what was that for?!” Levi spurted. “For saving your life?”

“Of course not, dummy,” Hange’s eyes gazed at him with a mix of amusement and fondness. “That was for being the most insufferable short grump I’ve ever met!”

“Oh?” Levi raised his eyebrow, putting his hands on Hange’s waist. Standing on his tiptoes, he kissed Hange again. “Then that was for being such a four-eyed weirdo, who literally never stops talking.”

Hange’s smirk grew wider. She tangled her hands in Levi’s hair, pressing closer to him. “That’s for always hiding your feelings and never showing how kind and caring you truly are!” She put her lips on his, and this time the kiss was much longer and deeper, leaving both of them breathless. Pressing her forehead against Levi’s, Hange grinned like an idiot.

Levi’s hand touched her cheek, gently caressing it. He waited until his breath was under control, before whispering right in Hange’s lips. “And that’s for being so incredibly smart and irritatingly amazing. And also for making me fall in love with you.”

His lips almost touched Hange’s, but suddenly they both heard a polite cough. Turning around (with their hands still around each other), they saw Erwin. He was standing beside them with a smug grin on his face.

“While I am very happy for you both,” he began, trying to stop himself from laughing out loud. He had never thought that he would get to see Levi looking like this – with red, swollen lips and messy hair. “But you can always continue this some other place. The ship is sailing soon. Moblit is already aboard,” Erwin added, answering Hange’s unasked question.

“Then let’s go!” she shouted, wrapping her hands around Erwin’s and Levi’s shoulder.

With her friends beside her, and a bright future ahead, Hange felt happier than she did in years.

#levihan #levi x hange #levi and hange #levihan fanfiction #snk #snk fanfiction #aot #aot fanfiction #snk fandom #levi ackerman #hange zoe #my fics

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letterboxd · 4 years

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Common Language.

With her third feature, Lingua Franca, now on Netflix, Filipina filmmaker Isabel Sandoval talks to Valerie Complex about undocumented immigrant workers, sensual cinematography, taking narrative risks and Steven Soderbergh’s sexiest film.

“I’m not the type of filmmaker that is into crowd-pleasing and I think that resonates with audiences.” —Isabel Sandoval

Isabel Sandoval’s films have an auteur, European appeal; they take their time. Inspired by cinematic film legends including Chantal Akerman, Wong Kar-wai and James Gray, Sandoval is pushing forward in an industry reluctant to change, creating narratives that speak to her existence, and her experience.

After making two feature films set in her native Philippines (Apparition, Señorita), Sandoval relocates to her adopted hometown, New York City—or at least a small seaside corner of it—for her third film. Lingua Franca follows Olivia (played by Sandoval), an undocumented Filipina trans woman who is looking to secure a green card so she can continue to stay and work in the US. Olivia knows the only way to legal status in present-day America is through marriage, but struggles to find the right person to accept her offer.

Green-card marriages also cost money. Olivia takes a job as a live-in caregiver for Olga (Lynn Cohen), an elderly Russian woman living in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood. She soon finds a love interest in her client’s grandson Alex (Australian actor Eamon Farren), and her future seems solidified. Or is it? As anxiety about deportation mounts, Olivia strives to maintain autonomy in a world that continually rejects her.

The slow, meditative nature of Lingua Franca has already found fans on Letterboxd. “Trans narratives are so often couched in dramatic twists and turns, but here we get something so much more gentle,” writes Connor. Sandoval’s turn as a woman searching for her truth while existing at the intersections of marginalization is also hitting home. “This is the hardest I've been struck by a performance since Jeon Do-yeon's masterful display in Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine back in 2007,” writes Joshua. “I really cannot believe this is Isabel's first performance and I certainly believe that it won't be her last.”

Sandoval instinctively injects concepts of immigration, loneliness, and displacement throughout Lingua Franca in a way that doesn’t overwhelm, but does force deep empathy. “Artfully plays with a lot of themes at once,” agrees Letterboxd member Oluwatayo.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of ‘lingua franca’—“something resembling a common language”—can be interpreted in various ways. For Sandoval, she aims to create her own common language of passion, pain and new beginnings. With migrant workers sharing a common language of homesickness in every corner of the world, I had to ask why she chose New York to be the setting for this emotional drama.

Isabel Sandoval (as Olivia) and Eamon Farren (as Alex) on Brighton Beach, New York.

Letterboxd: What is it about New York that made the setting work for you and Lingua Franca? Is it the diversity of the environment or…? Isabel Sandoval: You know, growing up in the Philippines, New York was seen as romantic. I wanted to put my stamp and unique views of life in New York City. I wanted to do two things with Lingua Franca: I wanted to do my own New York movie from the perspective and the gaze of a foreigner and an immigrant, and I wanted to make a different kind of film that was quiet and patient. I wrote the script around the time when Trump got elected president, which painted a perfect storm for the premise, story and view of the film. I was also influenced by the James Gray film Two Lovers, which was filmed in Brighton Beach.

That’s not an easy thing to accomplish in a New York movie, yet you manage to do that with such patience and quiet and subtlety. I was shocked. But, you know, New York is not all crazy. There are places that are quiet. Exactly! Especially in Brooklyn. I wanted to capture the different worlds that exist block to block in the film.

Your movie deals with a lot of themes: family, immigration and romance… I’m always drawn to stories with a socio-political point of view about women who are marginalized and forced to make intensely personal decisions. French filmmaker Jean Cocteau once said: “Filmmakers make the same movie over and over”. As you progress and make more films, and you’re being involved as a storyteller, you’re beginning to polish; your style becomes more evident and sophisticated. That’s just the story I felt attached to because it was one I was passionate about and it was the right time to create it.

How do you feel about being embraced by the film community, both domestically and abroad? Tribeca, Locarno, SXSW and Venice are among the festivals that have premiered your films. It’s vindicating to me. My first feature film shot and produced in the US screened internationally, but, with Lingua Franca, it’s come full circle. I think critics now embrace and know that I have a voice and a sensibility that’s worth exploring more. They want to involve a filmmaker with different views, especially in an industry where you need to conform to certain formulas and certain group things in terms of how we approach certain issues or certain things or certain ideas. It truly makes me feel independent.

Art-house film and cinema has long been associated, or at least for the last fifteen years, with really gritty, social-realist drama. I’ve received reviews of my film that criticize it for not being romantic enough. My film captures emotions that are not easy, obvious and straightforward. I’m not the type of filmmaker that is into crowd-pleasing and I think that resonates with audiences.

You are the director, the star, the editor, and the producer of Lingua Franca. How did you stay organized enough to manage all of those tasks? I have one job and that is to make a film and tell a story. I had a clear vision of what I wanted to accomplish, and honestly, it’s me being a stubborn auteur.

The camera work is really sensual and intimate. What conversations took place between you and cinematographer, Isaac Banks, and what, if any other films, were the inspiration for that look? He and I discussed patience and sensuality often, so that’s why Wong Kar-wai had quite an influence on my work with In the Mood for Love and also Christian Petzold, the German director, who directed Transit and Phoenix.

Lingua Franca places a particular lens on the fragility of Filipino, migrant culture. In the film, Olivia exists at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, ICE and Covid-19—and you lay that all on the table here. What do you hope the audience will see in Olivia’s story at this time? She’s a trans woman, she is a woman of color, she is an immigrant, but she’s also more than the sum of these individual parts. I know my film demands a lot of intellectual and emotional labor, but it’s important that viewers think deeply and critically about Olivia’s motivations, which may seem contradictory and complex. I want Lingua Franca to be an emotional experience, even if it’s not the most comfortable to watch. If I get one audience member to do the emotional legwork of trying to understand where the main character is coming from, I will feel complete as a filmmaker.

What do you think is the must-see Filipino film, classic or new? [Peque Gallaga’s] Oro, Plata, Mata, which came out in 1982. It is a multi-generational tale set in central Philippines. It’s just a sprawling, dramatic epic, and it’s one of the films that made me want to be a filmmaker. It’s not the most technically polished film, but it takes risks narratively. At the end of the day, it’s not about how big the production is. It’s your willingness to be expansive and explorative as a filmmaker that counts.

What do you consider the sexiest film you’ve ever seen? Out of Sight by Steven Soderbergh.

Out of Sight?! I did not see that coming. Yes! That film doesn’t have any sex scene, but it’s the level of seduction for me. I think sensuality is not necessarily a physical encounter between bodies, but the patience and longing of the moment.

What is your all-time favorite comfort film? A League of Their Own by Penny Marshall. That was the first movie that I saw where I bawled in the last ten minutes of the film.

If I were doing a triple feature with Lingua Franca, what two films would you recommend to watch before or after? I would recommend Ali: Fear Eats the Soul by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, which is another interracial love story between a German woman and a Moroccan immigrant. The other one would be Two Lovers by James Gray, which is set by the beach.

Isabel Sandoval (as Olivia) and Lynn Cohen (as Olga) in ‘Lingua Franca’.

[Spoiler warning: The final two questions concern aspects of the film’s ending.]

I thought the ending of your film was powerful, because we’re right back at the beginning of Olivia’s journey. Sometimes things don’t work out and you have to pick up the pieces and move forward. Exactly! I also wanted to make a point that even though we are focusing on Olivia, I pulled the camera back to highlight bigger sociological themes. She is one of many immigrants in the script and their fates are not resolved by the end of this movie. I wanted that to be a subtle reminder this type of thing becomes cyclical. Life goes on, it’s just another day. Olivia is a displaced immigrant woman in America where Trump is president. Whereas Olga, who’s Ukranian-Jewish, left her home country fifty or sixty years ago in the aftermath of the Holocaust. I wanted people to see this connection.

Based on the meaning of ‘lingua franca’, was that your original choice or for the title? The definition really fits the story. The film is an invitation to the audience to really pay closer attention to language—the language of things said and unsaid. That probably was also a big point of decision for me to open and close the film with words in Tagalog, which is my native language. A lot of people have asked “why didn’t Olivia accept the marriage proposal?” at the end of the film. Sure, that would’ve been practical, but I invite the audience to look at the language between Alex and Olivia. I challenge them to look beyond Olivia as just an immigrant without papers or as a trans woman looking for love, but this is a woman who is taking her agency back and her ability to determine her life moving forward.

Related content

Leonora Anne Mint’s list of Films by Transgender Writers and Directors.

The Top 100 Filipino Films on Letterboxd.

Jojo Kuneho’s lists of Tagalog movies.

Philippines: The Ultimate List.

Follow Valerie on Letterboxd.

‘Lingua Franca’ is distributed by ARRAY Releasing and is available on Netflix.

#isabel sandoval #transgender filmmakers #trans director #trans filmmaker #new york films

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manuscripts-dontburn · 4 years

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The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

Author: L. Frank Baum

First published: 1902

Pages: 176

Rating: ★★★★☆

How long did it take: 2 days

Since I am from a country where Santa Claus is not the one to bring the presents and instead I see him as an intruder who tries desperately to butt into our traditions, I was unsure if I wanted to read this. But thankfully L. Frank Baum managed to fabricate the history of Santa in a way that was utterly charming and actually could be labeled as middle-grade fantasy. I truly enjoyed myself!

Wildwood Dancing

Author: Juliet Marillier

First published: 2006

Pages: 432

Rating: ★★★★★

How long did it take: 6 days

Snuggle up in your comfy armchair, and with the snow falling outside and a warm cup of tea beside you just plunge into Wildwood and be swept away. This is a wonderful retelling of several different fairytales, rich in imagery and using the picturesque Romanian countryside as a setting. The characters are endearing (or frustrating when they need to be) and the atmosphere sizzles with magic. The strong bonds between the five sisters, out of whom none is left out of the story, on top of the romantic attachements, succeed in making one emotional and truly invested. Simply wonderful!

With the Fire on High

Author: Elizabeth Acevedo

First published: 2019

Pages: 400

Rating: ★★★★★

How long did it take: 3 days

Perhaps this is not the most amazing book ever, but I still decided to give it 5 stars because... 1. it was everything I needed at the moment 2. the characters were strong, easily recognizable from each other and somebody I would love to know 3. it appreciates the difficulties of normal life, without need to go overboard with the drama 4. the author does not waste time and has no patience with useless fillers 5. I tend to hate contemporary stuff, or I get easily bored by it, but this book made me just feel fuzzy and and happy and comfortable

Tichá srdce

Author: Alena Ježková

First published: 2013

Pages: 456

Rating: ★★★★★

How long did it take: 13 days

Jedinečná publikace s trochu zavádějícím názvem, jelikož všechna srdce, která jsou v knize představena, nejsou ani trochu tichá, ale hovoří jasně a přesvědčivě. Alena Ježková představuje čtenáři nejen historii řádů, které někdy působily v Čechách (a v jiných částech republiky), nejen osudy klášterů, těch zvláštních míst, kde čas jako by stál navzdory tomu, že historie se jimi prohnala (většinou značně nevybíravě a nemilosrdně), ale především dává možnost získat unikátní perspektivu a náhled prostřednictvím řeholníků a řeholnic. Nejvíce ze všech získaly můj respekt sestry Boromejky. Vše je bohatě ilustrováno černo-bílými fotografiemi a celkově se tak jedná o velmi krásnou knihu, kterou je nejlépe číst pomalu.

Women & Power: A Manifesto

Author: Mary Beard

First published: 2017

Pages: 116

Rating: ★★★★☆

How long did it take: 1 day

Illuminating and disconcerting.

Papa Panov's Special Christmas

Author: Lev Tolstoy

First published: ?

Pages: 13

Rating: ★★★★★

How long did it take: 20 minutes

... and thus Lev Tolstoy made me teary-eyed with less than 15 pages.

A Christmas Carol

Author: Charles Dickens

First published: 1843

Pages: 144

Rating: ★★★★★

How long did it take: 2 days

Although I have been familiar (in great detail actually) with the story, it took almost 33 years of my life to actually read the original text. It also happens to be my first taste of Dickens. My, did he know a lot of words! The Christmas Carol, no matter how over-exposed to the public psyche for over a century, breathes a true Christmas spirit (Ha! See what I did there?), warms your heart and will surely withstand all the further tests of time.

Once Upon a River

Author: Diane Setterfield

First published: 2018

Pages: 464

Rating: ★★★★★

How long did it take: 10 days

This book is a love song: for the river Thames, for the art of story telling and for everything that makes us good as people. A kaleidoscope of characters, most of whom you grow to love throughout and feel so close to that their plight will eventually move you to tears and make you rejoice whenever they get to be happy. The story had a long, long and slow beginning, resembling, in a way, the river itself, and much like it it grows on strength until it obliterates everything with a flood of beautiful language and shimmering mystery. Love, love, love.

Marie-Thérèse, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter

Author: Susan Nagel

First published: 2006

Pages: 418

Rating: ★★★★★

How long did it take: 14 days

There is really nothing I can fault with this biography, except perhaps one needs to keep in mind that a book about Marie Therese will naturally try and present the events of her life as she saw them - and at times that can be problematic. Other than that the books does exactly what it sets out to do: it presents facts and paints a picture of an interesting (if politically largely unimportant) person from before her birth to her death, never really deviating from that goal, and it is quite informative as well as fairly easy to read.

Olga's Egg

Author: Sophie Law

First published: 2018

Pages: 314

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

How long did it take: 8 days

Unfortunatelly this ranks among my most disappointing reads of the year. The premise of the book - searching for a lost Fabergé egg that once belonged to Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, while battling through personal tragedy and multi-generational story - was actually great. However a subject like that needed so much more work and depth and length than it was ever given. This could (and should) have been a 500+ page epic delving into the Russian psyche covering different genres from mystery, doomed romance, historical ficton and a detective story. Instead it merely touches and lets go of all these, does not excell in any and leaves you completely unsatisfied. The search for the egg is completely straightforward with no proper secrets, no dead-ends are encountered, and the main protagonist is given everything on a silver platter on her very first try (the fact that another person, not nearly as involved or knowledgable, comes to the same conclusion as her in no time makes it all even more yawn-worthy). Some of the scenes in the book are absolutely useless. Example: we learn something had happened. Next scene shows you exactly what you have just found out. With no other info added. I was also confused as to why did the author insist on renaming an actual historical character of English tutor to the Tsar´s children Charles Sydney Gibbes, given that no other change to his biography was made. The ending is completely unrealistic, anti-climactic, and the sugary-sweet epilogue unneccessary. The ammount of "non-fiction" information thrown into the book feels forced and pretentious due to its shortness. What a bummer.

The Regalia of the Russian Empire

Author: Irina Polynina

First published: 1994

Pages: 240

Rating: ★★★★★

How long did it take: 2 days

Excellent and beautiful volume which combines interesting facts with high-quality photographs and picture reproductions. Absolutely would recommend to anyone with interest in Russia, the Romanovs, jewellery or just history in general.

The Starless Sea

Author: Erin Morgenstern

First published: 2019

Pages: 498

Rating: ★★★★★

How long did it take: 5 days

Have you ever finished a book and you realized your hands were shaking and you had tears in your eyes simply because it was too beautiful? Because I have not - until The Starless Sea. More of my emotional breakdown HERE.

#booklr #wrap up #December 2019

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smilesthroughfandoms · 5 years

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Every Single Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode in one sentence or less

I’ll probably post a more in depth-review later this week, as I have opinions literally no one wants to hear but I will proclaim anyway, and then I’ll probably also due a revision of my ‘Past Queens Connection to Star’ post from way back in season 2. Cause that needs an update.

Anyway, enjoy!

Star Comes to Earth: Princess Cinnamon Roll that Could Kill you comes to earth and meets Misunderstood Safe Kid.

Party With a Pony: Spoopy Wardens hunt for the glitter pony while Star gets ice for Marco’s sweaty back.

Matchmaker: In which we learn it was probably a bad idea to give Star the wand in the first place.

School Spirit: Star misunderstands football and Marco tries to get Ferguson to blow his whistle not in that way.

Monster Arm: “Not my bowels! I love my bowels!”

The Other Exchange Student: Star is jealous of the meatball man from Bakersfieldville.

Cheer Up Star: “It’s supposed to be ironic!”

Quest Buy: Very accurate depiction of what it is like to work in retail.

Diaz Family Vacation: Both Marco and Star see new sides of their dads but that’s not necessarily a good thing

Brittney’s Party: Star and Marco party on a bus that Ludo hijacks

Mewberty: Star gets horny and snares boys in her web but not in that way

Pixtopia: Marco messed up and Alfonso marries Ferguson’s rebound

Lobster Claws: “… You can’t eat children.” “Really? Not even the annoying ones?”

Sleep Spell: “Camera Phooone!”

Blood Moon Ball: We’re suppose to ship them now, right?

Fortune Cookies: Love is never the answer kids

Freeze Day: Father Time offers Star and Marco some mud before riding away on his wheel-mobile pulled by giant time-hamsters I am not making this up.

Royal Pain: King Santa Claus destroy mini-golf

St. Olga’s Reform School for Wayward Princesses: Princess Prison sure is a nightma–OH MY GOD ARE THOSE CLUBS?!

Mewnipendence Day: No wonder monsters hate Mewmans so much.

The Banagic Wand: Star still doesn’t get Earth and like all of us, Marco is always hungry.

Interdemensional Field Trip: Miss Skullnick fears the “Big Change” while Marco sends Jackie cat memes

Marco Grows a Beard: Ludo is out, Toffee is in, and Marco will probbaly be terrified of beards forever

Storm the Castle: “SURPRISE!”

My New Wand!: DIP DOOOWN

Ludo in the Wild: Wait, since when did Ludo become badass?

Mr. Candle Cares: “Star and I have recently become smooch buddies… On the lips.”

Red Belt: Marco searches for a meaning in life and Star searches for hammer.

Star on Wheels: *epic remix of Marco saying Star is in trouble*

Fetch: Marco can’t open juice and Star runs away from her problems and sending thank you cards

Star vs. Echo Creek: Star gets high and destroys a police car

Wand to Wand: Both Ludo and Star are terrible at magic also major ship tease

Starstruck: Star and her idol Sailor Super Saiyan destroy a park and Marco is 100002% done with this shit

Camping Trip: King Butterfly has a mid-life crisis and tries to control an eagle

Starsitting: They’re gonna be great parents some day.

On the Job: Buff Dad is best dad and buff babies are adorable

Goblin Dogs: “You might think this line is long, but listen to my goblin song!~”

By the Book: Ludo and Star still suck at magic and Glossaryck is a bigger troll than Alex Hirsch

Game of Flags: And I thought my family was dysfunctional...

Girls’ Day Out: Janna is back and is still awesome btw

Sleepover: “TRUTH! STAR HAS A CRUSH ON MA–” *cue fandom freakout*

Gift of the Card: R.I.P. Rasticore Chaosus Disastorvayne… He couldn’ get his fucking chainsaw to work

Friendenemies: Star becomes one with Christmas tree while Tom and Marco go on a date and sing a romantic pop ballad.

Is Mystery: Meatfork is apparently a family name and Ludo is really starting to freak me out tbh

Hungry Larry: “He’s still hungry…”

Spider with a Top Hat: He tries and he is awesome and that’s all that matters

Into the Wand: SPAAAAADESS!!!

Pizza Thing: Marco is OCD about mushroom and Pony Head buys skinny jeans

Page Turner: Moon, how did you miss Toffee in the orb he was right there!

Naysaya: Marco is a mood in this episode

Bon Bon the Birthday Clown: Honestly my favorite episode overall

Raid the Cave: Glossaryck is the true neutral asshole.

Trickstar: Weird Al is a treasure and I’ll mes up anyone who makes Marco cry!

Baby: Aw, look at the little deadly baby, I love her!

Running With Scissors: Marco gets a new edition to his shipping harem and she is so cute!

Mathmagic: Why did the chicken cross the road?

The Bounce Lounge: Marco is definitely the mom friend.

Crystal Clear: The Chancellor guy is amazing and Rhombulus just needs a hug and wAS THAT ECLIPSA IN THE BACKGROUND?

The Hard Way: “SURPRISE!” 2.0

Heinous: Oh, so that’s how Marco got all that money.

All Belts Are Off: This is the negative side of “Pro-tag teen hangs out with older adult figure” trope done splendidly

Collateral Damage: Marco how do you not know what a possum is?

Just Friends: I’m fine! *blows up sign to prove just how fine I am*

Face the Music: This song is actually a banger

Star Crushed: Looking back, I’m starting to think the writing peaked at this episode....

BATTLE FOR MEWNI EDITION!!!!!

Return to Mewni: This is… just an exposition filler. Not much else to say….

Moon the Undaunted: B4! B4! B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4!

Book Be Gone: Seriously, did Glossy take trolling lessons from Alex Hirsch this is hilarious!

Marco and the King: This is the “Pro-tag teen hangs out with older adult figure” done slightly better

Puddle Defender: Aw, look at the little buff babies, they’re getting so big!

King Ludo: The mime stole the show.

Toffee: Yeah, I think the writing peaked somewhere around here...

Scent of Hoodie: Huh, so Ponyhead can be written as likeable, who would’ve thought?

Rest in Pudding: The colors are not doing the censors any favor here, huh?

Club Snubbed: I literally yelled “Phrasing!” whenever they dropped the title

Stranger Danger: Is she the new antagonist of the series? I can’t tell

Demoncism: Tom is a wonderful baby boy and Ponyhead is written as likeable, part 2!

Sophmore Slump: *sobbing* Jackie deserved better, dang it!

Lint Catcher: I’m starting to wonder if there is any competant authority figure in Mewni

Trial by Squire: I think the writers were all like” You think these guys will ship anyone with Marco?” and decided to test that theory.

Princess Turdina: I got more lore out of this episode than I thought I would.

Starfari: Welp, she makes me uncomfortable.

Sweet Dreams: *Sailor Moon-ing intensifies*

Lava Lake Beack: Proof that this fandom will ship anyone with Marco at the slightest inclanation

Death Peck: Rich Pigeon is my new favorite birb and Ponyhead is written as likeable for the third time

Ponymonium: Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Night Life: The writers made so many new ships they had to get rid of an old one!

Deep Dive: “Chicken butt”

Monster Bash: Well, that explains the cheekmarks.

Stump Day: I think they just made an episode based around a picture from that bookcover.

Holiday Special: *insert every cheesy Christmas/Holiday episode trope here*

The Bog Beast of Boggabah: The title is fun to say and the episode is average at best.

Total Eclipsa the Moon: Seriously, I’m supposed to think she’s an ultimate villain.

Butterfly Trap: In which we are all Sean, don’t lie we were all him at the end

Ludo, Where Art Thou?: Dennis is best brother, hands down.

Is Another Mystery: *sniff* I got more emotional over this episode than anyone else did and I’m not sure how I feel about that

Marco Jr.: I… I just… Why? What’s the point?

Skooled!: Epic advertisment fakeout combined with wonderful character development and lore with a shock ending makes a 8/10 episode.

Booth Buddies: Old Man McGucket ships Starco, proceed to react accordingly

Bam Ui Pati!: Ponyhead is kinda likeable in this episod–nevermind she’s back.

Tough Love: Oh man, it’s happening! It’s happening guys here we go!

Divide: We are going to war everybody–And they’re all dead. That was quick.

Conquer: They should have paid Alex HIrsch to voice Glossaryck at this point, it’d be more in character for him.

Butterfly Follies: Proof that someone will always complain about politics no matter what.

Escape from the Pie Folk: Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that he kinda resembles Eclipsa more than Festivia?

Moon Remembers: I was expecting a freakout but was pleasantly surprised

Swim Suit: I’m starting to get a bad feeling about Rhombulus

Ransomgram: Why is everyone in this dimesnion hot?!

Lake House Fever: She’s a good mom

Yada Yada Berries: They missed an opportunity to have a Seinfeld actor guest-star, just saying

Down by the River: I’m glad that she can relax

The Ponyhead Show!: And Ponyhead is offically no longer likeable, can someone toss her into an abyss please?

Surviving the Spiderbites: SpiderSlime is canon proceed to react accordingly

Out of Buisness: How did this place go out of buisness???

Kelly's World: Man, they’re really setting these non-Starco ships up to fail, huh?

Curse of the Blood Moon: Pfft, yeah, sure, Starco won’t be canon at all!

Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell: I think Ludo has the most consistent character arc out of the entire show’s history.

Ghost of Butterfly Castle: Moon, Star is your daughter and Star supports Eclipsa, why would you not tell her?

Cornball: This episode has a heartwarming lesson that I hope more people come to realize

Meteora's Lesson: I’ll take any Toffee scenes I can get

The Knight Shift: I honestly don’t remember what happened n this episode

Queen-Napped: Seriously, can someone please dropkick Ponyhead into an abyss?

Junkin' Janna: The JanTom interaction I’ve been waiting for

A Spell with No Name: These types of episodes stopped being charming awhile ago

A Boy and His DC-700XE: I think Tomco has more ground to stand-on then Starco at this point

The Monster and The Queen: Don Panchito voices Globgor! There’s hope for this show yet!

Cornonation: They’re the best couple/parents/anything around!

Doop-Doop: I honestly think Rick just put Morty through some flux-capacitor or something

Britta's Tacos: Hey, remember these people that we suddenly brought back? No? Me neither!

Beach Day: This feels like a Season 1 episode and it’s nice

Gone Baby Gone: I want a TV show aout them now! Disney, please!

Sad Teen Hotline: Mr. Diaz is way to invested in Star’s love life.

Jannanigans: Hello last minute Janna character development!

Mama Star: So that’s how Mewni came to be--and I don’t care anymore

Ready, Aim, Fire!: Let’s get that finale ball rolling people!

The Right Way: Ok, that spell is actually pretty badass.

Here to Help: There, Starco’s finally canon will you guys just shut up now!

Pizza Party: Moon you idiot you ruined everything!

The Tavern at the End of the Multiverse: Toffee was right all along... I think we all knew that in some way

Cleaved: I expect nothing substanial and that’s what I got

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #svtfoe2 #svtfoe3 #svtfoe4 #battle for mewni #smilesthroughfandoms #Don't repost without my permission #seriously don't #these are my opinions #scary i know

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thegreenfairy13 · 5 years

Text

Salacious Start Part 1/2

A Gobblepot Fanfic. AU. Edward Nygma leaves Oswald Cobblepot for Mrs. Kringle. Heartbroken, Oswald tries returning the goods he bought for a very special night with his boyfriend. At the sex shop, he runs into sales assistant Jim Gordon and develops a massive crush. Read it on Ao3 here.

Her name is Kirsten, or Kristine, or Kristen. Oswald doesn’t know, doesn’t care. All he knows is that her name, whatever that might be, numbs him, makes him feel weak to the core. Red hair, wherever he spots it, feels like being engulfed in fire; he’s sick of red hair, and frumpy glasses, and pencil-skirts. Heels make him want to gag.

Kirstine Krankle. That’s her name, probably, maybe, could be, doesn’t matter. Before that bigoted witch entered his life, everything had been fine. Deep down he knows it’s not her fault, but the wound is still too fresh, his love for Ed still too deep for him to think clearly. Only days ago, they had been in love, almost ready to go public, to tell the world that the entrepreneur Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot and his bookkeeper, Edward Nygma, are a couple. Of course, that was before Ed found Kirsten - and back to God, whatever that might mean.

“You know, Oz,” he said, holding his hand too tightly for it to be comfortable, sweating profusely while doing so, “I’m not really gay.”

The table had been set for a romantic dinner. Olga, his housekeeper, had placed flowers on the dining-room table, candles had been lit, silver cutlery and crystal-glasses sparkled in the pale light. A metal clamp grasped Oswald’s heart and squeezed it tightly.

“I’ve never been,” Ed carried on, and honestly, it would have been more merciful if he had just shot him into the guts. “You’ll understand, in my line of work, it wouldn’t look good if I was with a man.”

Oswald’s ears are ringing. Not really gay? What's that even supposed to mean?! What line of work? He’s a bookkeeper, for fuck’s sake! Not that he’d ever say ‘fuck’ out loud, he’s way too dignified for that, but in his own head, he can swear all he wants.

“I won’t deny it, I’ve been infatuated with you, but you’ll have to admit, we’re not suited for the long run,” Ed said, looking expectantly at the man who had only seconds ago been ready to spend his entire life with him. “It was a misstep, and I’m sorry if I hurt you,” he said gazing intently into his eyes. “But we can remain friends,” he suggested and Oswald wanted to vomit.

“I understand,” he said instead, forcing a broad smile onto his face.

And that was basically the story of how Edward Nygma walked out of his life.

Well, almost.

There was still this little, discreet, white plastic bag in the corner of his bedroom. It should have been a surprise for Ed.

Oswald knows Ed likes it rough. He himself isn’t particularly fond of pain but who is he to deny Ed his pleasure? So one fine day he set out and bought shackles with pink plush covering the metal, a whip, and a blindfold. He wanted to give Ed a special experience, an unforgettable night. Now, those items just make him want to cry.

Entering the sex-shop once more, even weeks later, isn’t any easier than it had been the first time. His heart is beating too fast, his hands are shaking, and not even his sunglasses grant him any sort of privacy. He’s constantly looking over his shoulder, hoping nobody he knows will recognize him here; despite the fact that those people would be shopping here too.

He rushes through the aisles, hoping to find a salesperson soon. Oswald just has to return the items before they drive him crazy.

He bumps into a man built like a locker: broad shoulders, heavy biceps, perfect abs, gorgeous blue eyes, hair like the color of the sun.

Swallowing heavily, Oswald reads the name tag: ‘Hi, I’m Jim,” it reads and there’s another button right next to it: ‘Don’t be shy, I’m bi.’

Oswald feels the blood rising up his cheeks as he takes the information in. His throat runs dry when the other man arches his eyebrow at him, staring him sternly down. All of a sudden, he can see the appeal of whips, shackles, and blindfolds with absolute clarity. And good graces, he does feel shy.

“Can I help you?” the man asks and if Oswald ever heard thunder, well, it’s not half as intimidating as this deep voice. It’s a low rumble, the sound of molten lava on its way to destroy entire villages. It's only purpose is to wipe out each and every resistance. Oswald’s knees go weak.

“Yes,” he squeaks, having never felt smaller in his entire life. The man talking to him is a Roman god come to life, he’s Apollo, he’s Ares, he’s gorgeous, perfect, beyond words.

And he?

He’s Oswald: too scrawny, too pale, too black-haired, and he’s got a disability. Ever since that damn car-accident, he limps, his knee is turned sideways at the weirdest angle and he can’t even outrun a snail.

‘Hi Jim, I’m bi,” could probably outrun a sports-car if he wanted.

Swallowing heavily, Oswald clutches the plastic bag tightly to his chest. And no, he’s definitely not ogling the man, not a bit, no sir! He’s just very tastefully checking him out, that’s all.

Jim rolls his eyes and waits for his tongue-tied customer to speak at last.

“I’m certain you can help me with all kinds of sorts,” Oswald blurts out, mentally kicking himself how that came out. For a second, the employee looks taken aback but he composes himself quickly enough. By that point, Oswald’s cheeks probably resemble a wildfire.

“I simply want to return some goods,” Oswald finally shares, slowly releasing his death-grip on his plastic-bag. In comparison to Mr. Ares, he sounds like a teenage girl talking to one of the Jonas brothers.

“We don’t take anything back unless the sanitary-seal is still intact,” Jim informs him cooly while already holding out his hand to take the bag from Oswald’s trembling fingers. “You’ll understand that in this kind of shop we only resell stuff if…”

“I perfectly understand,” Oswald interrupts. “And I can assure you that my seal is perfectly undamaged, untouched,” he rambles on, fighting the urge to bite his fingernails. “You can totally check if you want,” he adds nervously. “In fact, I’d love you to see…”

Oswald thankfully snaps his mouth shut when observing Jim’s eyebrows slowly creeping up to his hairline. It takes him a moment, but then he finally understands. Slapping a hand over his mouth he just stares at Jim, mortified.

“That,” Oswald stutters. “That,” he soldiers on, stumbling awkwardly through the words, “that wasn’t me trying to tell you I’m a virgin.” “My seal is broken,” he rattles on. “I mean if I had a seal,” he adds, earning himself a bewildered expression from his newfound Roman god.

Shaking his head, Jim takes the bag mutely from Oswald’s hands. “I think I’ll check for myself,” he mutters flatly and the raven-haired man prays for a hole in the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

One year! One year he had been with Edward, his first boyfriend, his only boyfriend. It just hits Oswald now how easy everything had been with him. Everything had progressed naturally, no awkward flirting on either part had been necessary, and thank god for that! He’s terrible at it!

To Oswald’s endless mortification, Jim tips out his purchases over the counter and checks if the original packing is indeed still undamaged. “You still got the bill?” he asks, not a hint of emotion to his voice.

“I, yes,” the embarrassed entrepreneur rasps out, checking each and every of his pockets and coming up with nothing.

“Sorry,” Jim tells him flatly. “Not taking anything back without the receipt,” he adds with determination and if that attitude doesn’t make Oswald’s blood run hot and cold at once! This man is steadfast, he can tell, and it’s a massive turn on.

But Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot isn’t used to taking orders. Especially not by some sales-assistant. He’s used to getting his will and right now, he wants to get rid of his Ed-memorabilia - right the fuck now.

“I’m sure there could be something arranged,” he whispers conspiratorially once he found his voice again. He doesn’t know it comes off as slightly disconcerting. “I mean,” he continues, dropping his voice an octave in order to sound more persuasive, “it won’t be that hard for you to just issue an invoice for your, eh, services." Oswald’s eyes wander down Jim's chest, reading the name tag once more, and really, somebody should have told him to be more subtle. "The tip I’d leave would be as handsome as you if you know what I mean, Jim,” he adds with a clumsy wink, trying to sound flirtatious.

Jim drops the bag as if it had bitten him. “I’m sorry?” he asks slowly, sending off all sorts of alarm bells in the other man's head. “I think I’ve misheard you,” he says, drawing out the words very slowly, almost angrily. He straightens himself. With his back stiffened and his chest puffed out, Jim looks even taller - and a lot more intimidating.

“I, no?” Oswald asks insecurely, shrinking another two inches.

Shoving the bag back into the pale man’s hands, Jim backs away. Eyes narrowed threateningly, he goes into a lecture the usual sales assistant wouldn’t dare to give a customer. “The button on my chest might say ‘don't be shy’, but that sure as hell doesn’t involve proposing paid sex," he informs him bluntly. "It's just our way of encouraging our customers to ask questions. If you need someone to fulfill your desires,” he adds with a knowing twitch to his lips and simultaneously shoving the bag back into Oswald’s arms, I’d go to another establishment. But I’ll happily answer any question on penis pumps you might have.”

With those words, he turns on his heels, leaving a mortified Oswald behind. Again clutching the bag helplessly, he’s right back where he started with the only difference that he made a complete fool of himself. Cursing under his breath, he tries figuring out how that encounter could have probably gone so terribly wrong. Worrying his lower lip, he considers calling after Jim but the man won’t even look into his direction.

Shoulders slumped, Oswald decides to leave the store and wait until Jim finishes work. Well, in hindsight he really should have given that idea a second thought.

#gobblepot #gobblepotsummer2019 #fanfiction

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costaxserena · 5 years

Photo

Introducing Anastasia Romanov. She is Store Clerk at Top Ten Records that belongs to the Wild District. She’s 21 years old and strongly resembles Abigail Cowen. She’s open.

Trigger Warnings: Death, Violence.

Get to know her…

Anastasia is a bubbly, strong-minded girl that marches to the beat of her own drum and goes through life ready to fight for what she wants. That’s just how she learned she had to be in order to survive, but once you talk to her you’ll see she’s actually a sweet and kind of clumsy girl who just wants to let her past fears and future expectations go for a while and have a good time. She can keep up a conversation for hours on end if she likes you or coldly cut it off in a second if she doesn’t, but come back later with a new idea. The redhead actually loves any sort of high-adrenaline activities, but she can also see the appeal in an afternoon spent reading a good book and nerding out with friends.

Welcome to the coast…

Anastasia Nikolaevna grew up amongst the aristrocracy of Russia. Her mother and father were not only of old royal blood, but really important in the political game too. For as long as she can remember, the little girl heard her father leave early in the morning and come back late at night, a lot of times bringing more work with him. Her mom spent her mornings at the office and her afternoons taking care of Ana and her three older sisers and younger brother and their lessons. The girl can barely remember more than that. She was very young when her family was ambushed and forced into her stately home’s dark basement, with the house being lit on fire and rebels threatening her and her family. All she can remember is her running away with Alexei. Her sisters hid elsewhere and her mother and father... She has no idea how they passed, she just knows her papa told her to run and they’d try and stop the bad guys. Only she and Alexei made it out, barely alive. As they tried to reach their grandmother, who was already on her way to them, they were separated. Anya was taken away, pulled onto a car that she didn’t recognize and Alexei got lost in the crowd of screaming servants and onlookers. She remembers jumping out at one point... And then it’s all darkness. Her next memories are months later, in a small and cold (but safe) orphanage in Paris, with her head throbbing, burn scars that she didn’t remember getting on her back and arm, and barely any recollection of what her life used to be.

In the orphanage Anastasia learned to not fully trust anyone and to take care of herself and what she cared about. She eventually adopted a small dog she found on the street, Jimmy, and he was her one companion through the cold nights and the mediocre lessons. The girl got a job as a busgirl in a couple of restaurants and saved as much money as she could, so one day she could go and discover her past, with the little things she could barely remember being her guide. A boy that leaved nearby in an abandoned house befriended Anya and decided to join her in her adventure, since he too needed to run away from his current life and Anastasia’s plan sounded as good as any. So, as soon as Anastasia turned 18 she and Dimitri ran away, the clues they found along the way leading them back to Russia. They stayed there, hiding out in empty buildings and dark streets, without knowing what else to do. Until Dima saw a picture of a young woman that looked just like his best friend. It was her older sister, Olga, and this stroke of luck saved them. They stole some fancy clothes, washed as well as they could and practiced their manners and accent with the help of a man who took them in for a bit, Vladimir, When they finally reached out to the governement officials, Anastasia explained she was part of the lost royal family. No one believed them, but lucky for them the Grand Duchess’ friend, Sophie, was at the offices that day and heard their story. One look at Anya was all it took for her to take them straight to Lady Marie, and after some struggle, she finally recognized her grandaughter and Anya found her home.

Stay a while...

It’s been a year and a couple of months since Anastasia finally found her grandmother and even though she couldn’t be happier, all the lessons and information she’s getting from her have been exhausting. She’s been taught how to walk, talk, dress and even laugh. All of this done mostly from the protective shade of the Grand Duchess’ sturdy mansion walls. Dimitri was, of course, sent off; but Marie allowed Anya to mantain contact with her best friend. Anya’s just arriving at Costa Serena, since Dima has been living here for almost two months now and told her about it. With Sophie’s help she was able to convince her grandmama to let her come study at AU and live in secret here, where she’s safe. The condition was that Sophie and the Grand Duchess would get a house in Florida and visit often, to keep up with her. Anya’s good with that, this way she gets to live with Jimmy in town, near Dim, and see her family every month. Right now she’s focusing on her Psychopedagogy major and a secret job Dima got her at Top Ten Records. Old habits die hard and she likes to know she can care for herself and get some money on her own, even if doesn’t absolutely need to at the moment.

Connections:

Dimitri Ivanov (Best Friend): He’s the one person who Anya feels she has known almost all of her life and she trusts him completely. She would do anything to protect Dima and their friendship, she’ll always be thankful for his help in finding her home.

Richie Shepard (Friend): She met the man at the cove one day and something about him seemed familiar, but her lack of actual knowledge of pop culture didn’t allow her to know exactly what. That is until he made damn sure she knew, and the rest has been mostly fun and games.

#disney rp #town rpg #abigail cowen #abbey cowen #anastasia #anastasia romanov #c #tourist #wild district #openf

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fgodestinyawakenings · 6 years

Text

FGO Destiny Awakenings: Fuyuki Singularity Section 9 pt.1

"I came back to have a good time with you guys. But honestly, I feel so attacked that you guys are attacked. What the fuck happened here?!"

Caster Cu returning from his boar hunt

Facing the Greater Grail

“Uruz!” A gentle green circular light shone beneath Mash’s legs from Caster’s chant. The wounds and cuts on Mash’s arms and legs from the earlier encounter with shady creatures disappeared.

With a huff of breath, Caster set his staff down and shot to Ritsuka. “Time for the Greater Grail. This will be our last break. Is there anything you’ve left undone?”

From Mash then to his sister who returned with a shook of her head, Ritsuka returned and made a brief shook his head with a slight smile. “No, we’re ready.”

“That’s good to hear. I dislike Masters who can’t make up their minds when push comes to shove,” Caster grinned back. “You two are still a rookie, but you’ve got the most important thing a pioneer can have.

“The divine luck to grasp fate, and the ability to make decisions. Don’t forget how to be reckless. People like that are the ones who’ll get blessed by the stars.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Olga Marie approached to the two men with a scoff escaped from her lips. “Whether we forge ahead or go back, we need to rest first.”

When she swung her head, Olga Marie’s orange orbs narrowed and inquired, “Doctor, are you checking vitals? The two of them looks paler than usual. Especially Fujimaru–!”

Before Olga Marie finished her words, Ritsuka fell forward only to be caught by Ritsuko grabbing hold of him in front. Despite her pale face, Ritsuko tried to ease her brother down onto the ground. “Ritsuka?! Ritsuka?!!”

“I’m fine…” Ritsuka weakly replied. He attempted a feeble grin to his sister. “I didn’t think it would be as bad as you, Ritsuko.”

“That’s bullshit, you know better you’re worse than me. You can’t even stand upright now!” Ritsuko scolded back.

Mash turned to the holographic screen of Romani. “Doctor!”

Romani nodded back as his green orbs scanned the analyzed data. “Yeah, this doesn’t look very good. It’s because of the unexpected Servant contract, the other contract with Caster for Ritsuka-kun.

“It’s putting the stress on their brains. Your brother and you never used your Magic Circuits and now they’re running at full capacity–!” Romani cut his own words as his eyes grew at what he saw. “This is…!”

“Ugh…” Ritsuka covered his mouth with his hand and angled his head aside. “I’m going to hurl…!”

“W-WHAT?!” Ritsuko, Mash, Romani and Olga Marie exclaimed in panic at Ritsuka’s confession.

Though a few moments later, Ritsuka heaved out a deep breath and responded in a weak monotonous voice. “I’m just kidding. Should I be throwing up…?”

“No, please don’t… You’d be in a worse condition than now if you do, Ritsuka-kun,” Romani sweatdropped with an exasperated sigh slipped from his lips.

Mash’s brows furrowed and sighed too. “Senpai, this isn’t such a time to be making a joke about yourself.”

“It’s humor, Mash… Everyone loves and need to make fun of themselves at some point,” Ritsuka muttered.

Ritsuko sat beside her brother and smacked his arm lightly. “At least your snarky mouth is still energetic alright.”

The Doctor shifted to the worried Mash and instructed. “Mash, set up a camp. It’s time to make warm tea with plenty of honey.”

“Got it, Doctor. I think tea time is a good idea,” Mash nodded and headed to the side to prepare.

While Mash retrieved the ingredients brought out from her shield, Caster turned around back to them. “Oh, feeding yourselves before the final battle? Then maybe I’ll go hunting for some wild boars.”

As Caster headed to the exit, Olga Marie called out to him. “I’m sure there aren’t around here. Besides, forget about meat, if you must get something, make it fruit.”

-0-

“Here you go, Senpais.” Mash handed a pair of warm honey tea to the two.

Ritsuka nodded and grabbed hold of his cup. “Thank you, Mash.”

As Ritsuko took hold of hers and sipped carefully down, Mash stared at the two for a minute before asking. “Are the both of you feeling a little better?”

The orange-haired Master showed a small beam and nodded. “Yes. Sorry to make you worry, Mash-chan.”

“No, I’m just glad you’re better that’s all,” Mash smiled back. As she turned her head skywards, her violet orbs stared towards the sky earning interest from the siblings.

“Is there something wrong?” Ritsuka asked, his head swung towards the burning red sky too.

“No, Ritsuka-senpai. It’s just…” Mash’s violet orbs remained fixated on the sky and went on. “As high as we are above the ground back in Chaldea, we can’t see one bit of blue sky.”

“Blue sky, huh?” Ritsuka muttered as he recalled the grey blizzard clouds before entering Chaldea. And, the sky they noticed now was blood-red with dark clouds.

Ritsuko had turned her head to stare at the sky and nodded. “If you spend two years up here, I guess you wouldn’t see it, huh?”

A second later, Mash wondered aloud. “Was there a blue sky here, too?”

“Definitely, I’m sure there was in this city,” Ritsuka answered as his sister nodded in agreement.

“Now I think about it,” Mash turned her head to them a second again and tilted her head. “Senpais, both of you are siblings, right? Is there a reason both of you don’t resemble each other?”

“Hm?” As they glimpsed each other, Ritsuka chuckled while Ritsuko grinned at her. “That’s because we’re step-siblings, Mash-chan.”

“Step-siblings?” Mash wondered.

Ritsuka nodded and explained. “Yeah. We both are children of previous marriages. My dad married her mom when I was 11.”

“His dad divorced with his wife while my dad disappeared on us when I was still a baby,” A brief sad smile emerged on Ritsuko for a moment. As Ritsuka ruffled her head, she continued. “But, it was when I was 10 my mom fell in love with his dad at their workplace and we became step-siblings.”

“I understand, it tells why both of you are close to each other,” Mash smiled.

Ritsuka scoffed with a relieved grin. “Well, she’s my responsibility since we’re stuck here. And, she owes me for dragging me here.”

“Hey, it’s better than being under the hot sun in that crazy summer,” Ritsuko laughed while rolling her eyes.

At their antics, Mash let out a soft chuckled and beamed. “As I thought, Senpais are human after all.”

“Is that so?” The Fujimaru siblings stared at her and showed a curious expression.

“Kyrielight! Could you come over and help me? I need you to bring these fruits to them,” Olga Marie’s voice called out from the other end.

“Understood!” Mash replied. She then turned to the siblings and bowed to leave. “Please stay and wait, Senpais.”

-0-

A moment later, at the small circle of 4 individuals had done eating varied dried fruits from the brought makeshift leaves plate. Ritsuko let out a contented sigh from the filled stomach while Ritsuka gulped finished his second cup of honey tea.

Mash also let out a satisfied sigh and nodded. “I’m stuffed. I can’t believe you had dried fruits with you, Director. Again, your level of preparation astonishes me.”

“I just happened to have them,” Olga Marie shrugged. Though it was further the fact she requested Romani to bring more dried fruits to supply for 4 people. “Citrus is effective against headaches. But that aside–!”

As she swung to the siblings, Ritsuko shot a curious expression while Ritsuka ate the remaining dried fruits he took. While chewing, he shifted to see Olga Marie staring at him and offered a few dried citruses. “Would you like seconds, Director?”

From his blunt yet ignorant tone, Olga Marie twitched in annoyance. “No, I’m full! But from now on, remember that I like coffee more than tea!”

Despite her words, Olga Marie snatched the dried fruits from Ritsuka and stuffed herself to them. Realized what she did, she set aside the dried fruits. “N-No, that’s not it. That’s not what I wanted to… Oh, forget it!”

With crimson red blush glowed on her cheeks, the Director turned back to the siblings with a huff. “Th-The work you’ve done so far has been passable. As the Director of Chaldea, I have to give you two credits.”

Puzzled expression shared with the siblings as they faced each other. They later spun to the Director with a lit-up bright grin and bowed in unison. “Thank you very much, Director!”

Olga Marie turned away with blush remained and sneered. “Hmph. What’s that look for? I’m sure it’s a fluke, but right now you two are all we’ve got.”

As harsh as she sounded, Olga Marie twitched in irritation at their disbelief expression shot at her. “What I’m saying is, keep it up and you might hear praise from me yet. I know a third-rater can do first-rate work.”

Much to Olga Marie’s further anger, Romani’s holographic image appeared beside Ritsuka and grinned.

“Well, well, admitting that Ritsuka-kun and Ritsuko-chan did a solid job. Have you eaten something sweet?”

The Director glared at Romani and rebutted, “Romani. If you’ve got time to be flapping your gums, use it to send these two a supply or two instead. I would feel bad if someone failed because they were ill-equipped. Especially, when they have been doing their best.”

“What’s this? ‘Feel bad?’,” Romani gasped before revealing a bright smile to her. “How kind of you. Director, does this mean you’re finally opening your heart?”

“Idio…” Realized what she nearly said, Olga Marie, turned bright red and amended. “I-I mean pitiful! Pathetic! You couldn’t even tell that?”

As he joined Fujimaru’s siblings chuckling, Romani answered. “Well, I never grow tired of watching a young man and women interact. Although, for young women, Director, you’re not really…”

“Is that right?” Mash stared at the Director for a moment before responding with a small beam. “The Director is older, but I feel we have similar tastes. I feel affection for her.”

“I suppose age doesn’t matter, regardless! The Director is still a woman, Doctor,” Ritsuko nodded with a grin too.

Seeing the Doctor nodded in understanding at their words, Olga Marie jaw dropped and twitched. “What are you going on about? I told you before that you’re all just tools to me!”

“Zur, zur!”

Olga Marie nodded at the inhuman growl and included. “There, see? Even this shadowy-like monster-thing agrees with me!”

Oblivious to her, the four paled at the sight of the skeleton monster crouching beside her at ease. Mash gulped as she nervously pointed out, “Um, Director…”

“A-About that shadowy-like monster…” Romani gulped and lifted his trembling finger to the monster beside her.

“Huh?” Curious and puzzled expressed on her faces at the four reactions.

Olga Marie turned to where Romani pointed and gawked at the skeleton monster cheerfully waving its bony hand at her.

Face turned pale in that instant, the Director’s lip quivered in fright. With a shaky sigh, she shrieked at the top of lungs that echoed through the cave. “Eeeeek! Mash, hurry up and get rid of it! It’s gonna eat me! It’s gonna eat me!”

-0-

“What gives? I thought you two supposed to be resting,” Caster raised one of his eyebrows at the sight in his view.

Olga Marie crouching and shivering behind a large tree, her mouth muttering ‘please don’t let them eat me’ over and over.

Romani’s face buried onto the desk with dark clouds hovering over him. His shoulders sagged tiredly refusing to budge an inch for a while after that chaotic turmoil.

Mash and Ritsuko lied their bodies over the large uneven tree roots.

Their faces showed a dull and exhausted expression after getting rid of the unforeseen assault from the said skeleton and its army.

Last, Ritsuka lay down on the ground with face planted in the dirt. After breaking every single bone and executing each of them, the energy he gained back from resting used up in that instant.

Ritsuko let out a dull groan and replied, “The craziest party you’re missing out just happened.”

“Yeah,” Ritsuka replied but his voice was being muffled by the ground. “The greatest party of all time. Uninvited skeleton army and all-out brawling match those damn things.”

-0-

With Caster having his fill from his hunger, the group continued walking and entered the cave beneath the giant tree. Once inside, it comprised a series of seals carved around above 50 feet of barren rock.

“What is that…?!” Ritsuko stared at the interior with confusion and horror.

The eerie purple light shining behind the barren rock made Olga Marie gulped as her eyes widened.

“This is the Greater Grail… It’s an ultra-superior Magical Reactor… What’s it doing on this island nation in the Far East?”

“According to our data, it was built by an eminent family of alchemists called the Einzberns,” Romani’s voice explained from Olga Marie’s wristwatch.

“Though, they didn’t belong to the Mage’s Association, and were solely made of homunculi.”

As Olga Marie’s mouth opened to speak, Caster interrupted and turned his head to gesture above them. “Sorry, that’s it for the chitchat. The lady has noticed us.”

Followed Caster’s gaze, a young woman with platinum-blonde haired tied in a bun, pale slender physique and impassive golden orbs stared down at them. A black sword rested in front of her with both hands settling on the hilt.

The chilling gaze from her silence made both siblings and Olga Marie gulped in fear. Mash gulped at the sight and murmured, “Unbelievable magical output… Is that really King Arthur?”

“No question,” Romani’s holographic image appeared beside Mash and nodded to affirm.

“She seems to have changed somehow, but she’s the King of Britain, Arthur, wielder of the Sacred Sword.

“Her gender’s different from the legend, but she had her reasons for dressing like a man in Camelot. I mean, you can’t assume the throne unless you’re a man, right? She must’ve had to pretend to be a guy for family reasons.”

With an annoyed sigh, Romani’s eyebrows furrowed and continued, “I have an idea who’s behind that.

“It’s mentioned in the legends, but Merlin really has a terrible taste.”

“Huh? Ah, you’re right.” Mash’s violet orb widened after understanding what Romani had said and stared back at her. “I thought that person was a man, but it’s a woman.”

“Eh? Then, the King Arthur right now before us is a woman?!” Ritsuko’s orbs widened in shock and leaned her head to examine closer to affirm Romani’s words.

“Wait, Merlin?” Ritsuka’s blue orbs widened after viewing closer, but he swung to Romani and asked. “You mean that Merlin who’s the trusted advisor, mentor and parental figure to King Arthur? That same Merlin who is the most powerful warlock in Arthurian legend?!”

“Yeah, the one and only,” Romani nodded and sighed.

Caster swung his staff forward and reminded with a steely voice. “Don’t be fooled by her appearance. She’s a monster. Her power is not of muscle, but a ridiculous amount of magical energy.

“Every single strike is massive. If you’re not paying attention, the top half of your body will go flying.”

“Basically, just think of her like a human rocket,” Mash nodded and whirled her shield forward. “Understood, I’ll fight back with everything I’ve got.”

“Good.” Caster nodded with a smirk. “If you defeat her, the anomaly in this town will disappear. Listen, that includes both me and her. After that, it’s your job. I don’t know what will happen but do the best you can.”

Nodded again, Mash gazed back at the black Saber above them. Teeth gritted and saliva gulped down their throats as they prepared whatever attacks she fired at them.

Instead, a small amused smile curled on Saber’s lips and she hummed. “I see. You’ve got an interesting Servant with you.”

“What! You could talk? You were just maintaining your silence all this time?” Caster shouted with complete bewilderment at the words she uttered.

Saber beamed wider and replied. “Yes, and you were being watched the whole time you were chatting. I merely acted as a scarecrow.”

With a stride forward, she grasped the black sword with her. Saber leaped off from her spot and landed on the ground with black armor remained intact from the jump.

She strode a few steps forward with apathy at their alert expression. “But—it’s interesting. I’m curious about that Noble Phantasm.”

Within reach, golden orbs stared intently at the dark-colored shield, Saber prodded. “A shield, is it? Be ready, strange girl. This sword shall test the truth of your shield.”

The black sword swung forward pointing at both Servants, Caster shouted with a determined glare. “Get ready, Masters, young lady!”

“Here she comes—Masters!” Mash shouted.

Blue and orange orbs glanced at each other, a fixed answer made between the siblings. Ritsuka nodded and commanded, “Yeah, let’s fight together!”

“No way are we gonna lose this! Mash-chan, Caster!” Ritsuko shouted too.

“Yes! Mash Kyrielight, here I come!”

When violet and red orbs gazed back at Saber’s golden, the latter gripped hold of her sword and lunged forward towards them. Caster raised and swiped his hand in the air with a yell, “Ansuz!”

Fireballs fired out from the rows of runic words, all homing towards Saber. But, Saber effortlessly dodged with ease, turning and slashing each that came towards her. An irritated grunt escaped Caster’s lips, he spun and tapped his staff onto the ground.

Multiples of magic circle appeared on the ground as one occurred before Saber.

The minute she entered, the magic circle glowed and erupted into a huge fire pillar. Relieved and amazed faces expressed on Ritsuko and Ritsuka.

But, a black energy wave sliced off the pillar revealing an unharmed Saber. She soon charged forward further and another magic circle erupted a fire pillar. But, it too got extinguished with a stroke of her sword that cut it down.

With the last of the fire pillar erupted, Saber emerged out unscathed and tried to strike at Caster. But, Mash stepped in between them while Caster jumped backward. Her shield gripped before her against the striking sword.

The black sword against the metal plate of the shield, sparks formed from the clashing. As they drew back, Mash raised her shield up again to stop the incoming strike. The blue-haired Servant waved his staff and summoned tree vines from the ground.

Raised her weapon, Saber maintained her ground despite being pushed by the tree vines. When the tree vines slammed her against the rock wall, Saber jumped out from the dust cloud and sprinted towards them.

When the black sword clashed with Mash’s shield again, rocks burst out shooting from the ground by the immense pressure. While the siblings shield the rocks coming to them, Olga Marie stepped forward as her arm twitched with a piece of rocks fall to her hand.

She then flung it onto the ground and it exploded into a bright light. A second later, a luminous yellow magic circle formed before the three deflecting away from the incoming rock.

Saber leaped back when a flamethrower blasted at her by Caster. As she charged to strike, Mash once again deflected the attack with her shield. The black knight swung her sword against the violet-haired Servant that sought to stand her ground.

Each repeated swinging of the black sword, Mash hold her shield firmly against the beating. While swinging, Saber asked with a challenging tone. “What’s wrong? Won’t you come forward?”

From the next powerful swing, Mash held her shield against it. Yet, the great pressure made her flinched. “Ugh!”

“Mash-chan!” Ritsuko gasped with both her hands raised to her mouth.

Ritsuka muttered with his fists clenched. “Damn it…”

The equally furrowed eyebrows and narrowed orbs expressed worried and fear on the siblings’ faces. Despite noticing it, Olga Marie shot a swift glance before shifting her view to the front. At the front, a magic circle formed beneath Caster while Mash shielded another of Saber’s strike.

When Saber pulled back her sword, instead of striking above, she swung it against the ground. The powerful and quick swung of her black sword knocked Mash back flying with her shield thrown away.

At another collected gasps, Caster growled and whirled his staff. “Tch! Ansuz!”

Kindled his staff into flames, Caster charged ahead and stroked his staff against the black sword. While it clashed, Ritsuko and Ritsuka looked at each other with a small nod.

Before they could dash over, Olga Marie drew her hand out to them. “If you two intend to go help her, you’ll only be in the way.”

She then took a deep breath and continued, “No, worse than that.”

Ritsuko turned to Olga Marie and demanded, “But Mash-chan is…!”

“Prepare your resolve,” The Director’s comments cut her, her orange orbs suggesting them to shift back in front.

“Mash…” Ritsuka mumbled, shifting to where she was. On the ground, Mash slowly lifted her head to watch Caster fending off Saber. The torn coat and the bleeding cut on his face didn’t deter Caster from the injury.

Mash’s violet orb gazed resolutely at their fight with a steadfast expression. Her hand propped on the ground to push herself up with her enduring strength.

Despite the impassive expression on her face, Olga Marie’s calmer voice assured to them. “I understand how you two feel. Painfully so…”

Ritsuka shot to her with a frustrated and restless expression. “Then, are we going to just–!”

Olga Marie cut them off with her sharp tone, “Both of you are that girl’s Masters. That girl is your Servant.”

Her shield reached into her hand, Mash grabbed and dragged it close to her. With her shield set on the ground, she gradually got herself stood on the ground. But as she stood up, Caster swung his staff at Saber.

Saber moved her body to the side to dodge and whirled her sword against the ground. The swinging movement created shock waves from the ground and sent both Caster and Mash flying back.

“Guah!” Caster landed and skidded against the ground with a heavy thud. The blue coat ripped and his torso covered in both abrasion and dust.

“Ugh!” Mash got knocked further back and crashed into the rock wall.

The awful sight before them had their eyes swelled in horror. Ritsuko’s mouth trembled to cry out her violet-haired Servant’s name. But, the fear consumed her as she turned her eyes away shut from whatever may take place next.

“Fou…?” A concerned squeak escaped from Fou as he stared at the orange-haired Master with a concerned expression.

“Do not look away!”

Olga Marie’s sharp and harsh voice made Ritsuko snapped her eyes opened. She faced at the Director whose gaze remained fixated at the two Servants. Olga Marie continued reminding her. “Face straight ahead! Hold your head high! What should you really be doing as a Master?”

Pulling himself up with the staff, one of Caster’s red orbs glanced over to where the commotion he heard. Towards Ritsuko, a startled expression shown on her face. She realized how cowardly she had done.

As though she made up in her mind, Ritsuko nodded with understanding and faced back to the front. Ritsuka had peered at his sister and turned back to the front after watching her determined face.

As once more, Mash reached for her shield and stood back up. Despite the ragged breath leaving her lips, her gaze remained rigid at Saber who stared down at them. The black knight heaved a deep sigh and gripped her sword.

A sudden eruption of purple aura shrouded around Saber. Ritsuka’s wristwatch beeped with Romani’s warning voice exclaimed, “It’s coming!”

“I shall answer those eyes,” Black soil and sands from the ground circled around Saber like a whirlwind. With her cold golden orbs, Saber decided with a yell, “And to the heart, that means to protect its Master!”

Another outbreak of energy burst from Saber, and the purple aura soon twisted into a dark-colored light transmitted to the sword. The channeled energy created a broad sword-shape around the black blade.

Before the three could react, Mash stepped right before Saber in a distance. Her shield stood rigid while she gritted her teeth at the incoming attack. Ritsuka’s blue orbs widened and called out, “Mash!”

“Young lady!” Caster shouted.

Olga Marie gasped with a complete worried expression displayed on her face, “Please endure it, Mash!”

Without hesitation, Ritsuko narrowed her orbs and hurried towards where Mash stood. Ritsuka noticed and tried to follow. But, Olga Marie caught his hand as he was about to go. “Wait!”

“Director, you asked what we should do as her Master right?”

At the sudden question from Ritsuka, Olga Marie stared at him in bewilderment. Ritsuka continued without glancing back. “Even if we’re just going to be a burden… More than anything, we want to be there by her side, together and fight.”

“That’s a Servant you’re going against! There’s no way you two will stand a chance against Saber. Mash is your Servant that’s why–!”

“Then, go to hell with the Servant and Master you guys decided for us!” Ritsuka’s sharp yelling made her flinch in shock. He shifted behind to confront her with frustration, anger and yet, determined expressions.

The raven-haired Master continued with his strong blue orbs staring back into her orange. “Before a Master and that crap… That’s our friend struggling with her life risking for us to get out of here. And as her Master you keep asserting, we’ll fight together right by her side!”

His hand moved to hers that gripped his arm, Ritsuka pulled it off from her and hustled off to follow his sister. Olga Marie snapped out from her stupor and shrieked at him, “F-Fujimaru!”

But, the two siblings ignored her screams and continued heading to the violet-haired Servant. As Mash stood there, she gulped at the immense pressure growing from Saber. Her grip on the shield’s handle tightened and braced the coming blow.

“Iron Hammer of the Hollow King.

“Overturn the aurora.

“Swallow the light!” Raising her weapon high, the energy around the blade turned bigger. The whirlwind around Saber whirled stronger and faster.

With another sharp breath, she suddenly yelled with a resolute tone, “Excalibur Morgan!”

End of Section 9 pt.1

#fgo #fate grand order #fgo destiny awakenings

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otmaaromanovas · 5 months

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Hi! Can you give us a huge insight of Tatiana Nikolaevna's personality? I would be interested in some rare quotes said by someone who met her! (cos she is my favorite royal like ever and I'm hopeless obsessed with her 😫)

Hello! Of course, here are some of my favourite rarer quotes about Tatiana - or from Tatiana herself - which I think give a great insight into her personality....

"Tatiana Nicolaievna had holly different… character. Less serious than her elder sister she was also more positive. In her could already be discerned a strong tendency to dominate to impose her authority coquette. She saw and noticed everything, and often made observations to her sisters, who because of it nicknamed her ‘the governess'… she took great care of her appearance and was it was said that she resembled her…”She's already a woman," said the Empress about her that year. She was the favourite in the family. She was very superstitious. One day she wrote to a graphologist, a fortune teller, to ask that she inform her about the destiny in store for her. By an intermediary, the other had sent to her a note couch in these terms: "A fatal destiny awaits you" Thereafter, the Grand Duchess never stopped bombarding her tutor, Petrov with questions such as "What does that mean? How am I to interpret this letter?"" - Alexander Spiridovich, Last Years as Tsarskoe Selo, volume 2

"It was Tatiana Nicholaievna who would call N.P. Sabline by telephone to transmit ‘Papa’s’ order to come with his friends to play tennis." - Alexander Spiridovich, Last Years as Tsarskoe Selo, volume 2

"As for poor Alexei Nikolaevich, he was as if rooted to the armchair the whole time [unwell]. It was touching to see his sister, Tatiana Nicholaievna, lavishing attention on him before the luncheon." - Alexander Spiridovich, Last Years as Tsarskoe Selo, volume 2

"In [Alexandra's] eyes, as well as in those of her sister, Tatiana Nicholalevna, all that was Russian was superior to all the rest. To try, even jokingly, to lower something Russian in favour of something foreign was to expose oneself to losing her sympathy forever." - Alexander Spiridovich, Last Years as Tsarskoe Selo, volume 2

"Russian was taught by Peter Vassilievitch Petrov, whom I had had myself as a teacher at the Pavlovskoe military school. Petrov was already an elderly man, very gentle, and very good hearted. He held the Tsar's children in affection and they, in turn, were attached to him as if to a kindly relative. Often, when they were alone with him, the Grand Duchesses used to play with him, shouting, laughing, pushing him, and generally hauling him about without mercy. It was Tatiana Nicholaievna, graceful and agile as a gazelle, who would always give the signal on these occasions and direct the games. She was, at that time, a very pale little girl. One day, Petrov asked Olga Nicholaievna to name a white object for him.

My blouse, replied the Grand Duchess.

And a black object?

My slate pencil.

And a green one?

My sister Tatiana.

That really was the tint of her complexion." - Alexander Spiridovich, Last Years as Tsarskoe Selo, volume 1

"[Alexandra] herself taught them sewing and needlework, her best pupil being Tatiana, who had an extraordinary talent for all kinds of handwork. She not only made beautiful blouses and other garments, embroideries and crochets, but she was able on occasions to arrange her mother’s long hair, and to dress her as well as a professional maid." - Anna Vyrubova, Memories of the Russian Court

"Suddenly [whilst watching a cinematograph] the bigger girl [in the movie] snatched a toy from the little one who, however, held on to it and refused to give it up. Foiled in her attempts, the elder seized a spoon and pounded the little one with it, who quickly relinquished the toy and began to cry. Tatiana wept to see the poor little one so ill-treated, but Olga was very quiet." - Margaretta Eagar, Six Years at the Russian Court

"One of the under-nurses was married last year. She had come to the palace straight from her school, at seventeen years of age, and was there for nearly seven years. She was naturally very much attached to the children, and when her last day came was in floods of tears all through the day, and the children were terribly distressed to see her in such grief. The little Grand Duchess Tatiana told her she could stay on if she liked, she knew we all loved her and would be sorry to part from her ; and then she came running to me to beg me not to send dear Tegla away. I answered that she might stay if she liked, but that she had promised to marry Vladislav ; it was her own wish, and I did not think she would like to break her word. The other girls gave a little party to celebrate her leaving us, and the young man was amongst the guests. When the girl heard that he had arrived her grief broke forth again. She realised that the time of parting had come, and the children cried most bitterly. Little Tatiana Nicolaivna took a sheet of paper and a pencil, and wrote with great difficulty a letter which I translate : " Vladislav, Be good with Tegla. Tatiana." She placed this letter in an envelope and printed in large letters on the envelope, Vladislav, and sent it to him by the housemaid. I went in later to speak to the man and wish him happiness. He pulled this letter out of his pocket, and with tears in his eyes begged me to thank the little Grand Duchess, and assure her that he would never forget to be good to Tegla. All the more, because it was Tatiana Nicolaivna' s wish. He always carries the letter about with him. She came to visit us several times after her marriage and was very happy. Whenever she writes she always sends a special message to Tatiana to say that Vladislav is very good to her, and the little one looks so pleased and says, " Well, I am glad."" - Margaretta Eagar, Six Years at the Russian Court

"After coffee, I went for a walk with my pupils… They really liked to go to the shops and buy everything. Anastasia Nikolaevna was especially attracted to stored, where they sold doll shoes of various sizes… Tatiana Nikolaevna did not always accompany since the doctors found her heart was weak and she went with the Empress to take baths." - Sofia Ivanovna Tyutcheva, A Few Years Before the Catastrophe

"Alexandra's 594th letter to Nicholas, Sept 19 1916: …I do so want to get quicker well again, have more work to do & all lies upon Tatiana’s shoulders." - Joseph T. Fuhrmann, Nicholas and Alexandra: The Wartime Correspondence

The following are from Correspondence of the Russian Grand Duchesses: Letters of the Daughters of the Last Tsar by George Hawkins:

Tatiana to tutor PVP - 10 July 1906 - "Dear Petr Vasilievich! …Why did you write that I was not good? You mustn’t do that, you must write that I was a very good girl. Your devoted Naughty girl, Tatiana." -

Tatiana to PVP November 6th 1909 "…On these few lines I had 10 errors… I am so ashamed when I think about it"

Pierre Gilliard to Tatiana 25 May 1916 - "...It seems that purple is his [Dmitri Pavlovich] favourite colour… Alexis Nikolaevitch says that it is also yours…"

Letter from Alexandra to her brother and sister-in-law: 2 September 1911 …[after Stolypin's assassination] Tatiana came home very tearful and is still a little shaken whereas Olga put on a brave face throughout." - The Correspondence Of The Empress Alexandra Of Russia With Ernst Ludwig And Eleonore, Grand Duke And Duchess Of Hesse

Note from Anastasia to Tatiana - "1913 Aug. 4. My sweet Tatiana, please find out all about us and let us know through Shura about tomorrow, will we take off our caps for breakfast? Your Anastasia. Don’t forget." - Anastasia Romanov: The Tsar's Youngest Daughter Speaks Through Her Writings

Letter from Pierre Gilliard to Anastasia, Spring 1916: "…I already wrote a long letter to Tatiana Nikolaevna yesterday, but I don’t think I shall send it, otherwise I would not dare to go back to Tsarskoe Selo, I would fear for my life." - Anastasia Romanov: The Tsar's Youngest Daughter Speaks Through Her Writings

"4 December. ...The general atmosphere that lords over [us] nowadays does not inspire peace. As soon as dressings end, Tatiana Nikolaevna goes to do the injection, then sits down with K [officer]. The latter is constantly restless, first sits by the piano, playing something with one finger, chats a lot and fervently with the charming child. Varvara Afanasiyvna is appalled, what if Naryshkina walks in on this scene, Madame Zizi, she would die. Shakh-Bagov has fever, is in bed. Olga Nikolaevna sits by his bed constantly. The other couple also moved there, yesterday [they] sat by the bed and looked at a photo album. K. is being so coy. Tatiana Nikolaevna's small dear child's face cannot hide a thing, [it looks] pink, excited, Isn't this closeness, the physical contact harmful[?]. I feel scared. The others are jealous, angry, and I imagine they spread all sorts of [rumours] throughout the city and later beyond." - From the memoirs of V. I. Chebotareva

"Today Tatiana Nikolaevna walked with me upstairs after dressings, to do Popov’s dressing. The poor child is terribly embarrassed; grabs my hand: “So awfully embarrassing and frightening… one never knows whom to acknowledge and whom not to.”" - From the memoirs of V. I. Chebotareva, Sister of Mercy

"To the right of me sits the Grand Duchess Tatiana. She's a grand princess from head to toe, so aristocratic and regal. Her face is pale matte, only the cheeks are slightly rosy, as if pink satin is trying to escape from just under her thin skin. Her profile is flawlessly beautiful, as if cut from marble by a great artist. The widely set eyes provide uniqueness and originality to her face [...] The nurse's Red Cross kerchief is more flattering to her than to her sisters. She laughs more rarely than her sisters. Her face sometimes has a focused and stern expression. In those moments she looks like her mother. On the pale outlines of her face are traces of deep thoughts and sometimes even sadness. Without any words I feel that she is special, different from her sisters, despite their common traits of kindness and friendliness. I feel hers - is a wholly secluded and unique world." - From the memoirs of Sophia Ofrosimova, Sister of Mercy

The following are all from Tatiana Romanov, Daughter of the Last Tsar: Diaries and Letters, 1913–1918:

"9th June. Tuesday. Today our Mary [Vishnyakova] left us, our nanny who was with us for 16 years. She left because it is time for Aleksei to be transferred into male hands so she will not have anything to do here anymore, so she left. I feel so sorry for her."

"28 February 1916. Tsarskoe Selo. Dear Mama, Would you not want to try to put this piece of fur to your cheek? Olga . . . gave it to me when I too was suffering from headaches. It is from the grave of the orthodox Semyon Verkhotursky. Try it, maybe it will help you. If not, then return it to me tomorrow. I hope that the Lord will help you, and all will be well with you. May God bless you. 1000 kisses from your very own daughter, Tatiana."

"6 April. On Wednesday, I will have my dreary Committee, and even the thought of it makes me sweat. I do not like these horrible committees."

"22 September. My meeting is on Wednesday at 2 o’clock in the Winter Palace in Petrograd. And that knave, Neydgart —he wanted me to read something at the beginning of the committee [meeting], but darling Mama said there was no need. To think, [he wished that] I would read such idiotic, stupid things in front of 14 people! Ah!"

"13 December. I have the great pleasure to go to the Petrograd Committee today. Oh! Not wanting to [go] at all."

"...the dear children worked until the 8th hour. Tatiana Nikolaevna cut her finger with a scalpel, quite a lot of blood flowed, and although the blade was clean, perhaps dust might have ended up in the wound. Melik-Adamov and Shakh-Bagov were sitting nearby. What poetic sympathy Tatiana Nikolaevna brings! How warmly she responded when called to the telephone and was read the telegram about his injury. What a good, pure, and deep girl she is! Youth is attracted to youth, and how her eyes sparkle! Awfully nice!" - Memoirs of V. I. Chebotareva

"Before they left we kissed each other good-bye, and we all had a dim feeling that this was a crucial moment. We had been marched away separately at every previous change from boat to train, but this seemed to be different. Tatiana Nicolaevna tried to take the matter lightly. "What is the use of all these leave-takings? We shall all rejoice in each other's company in half an hour's time!"" - Sophie Buxhoeveden, Left Behind

"I was presented to the Emperor and to two of the young Grand Duchesses, Olga and Tatiana. The latter, to my idea, was the prettier of the two; but both had the simplicity of manner that is the greatest charm in every person and especially in anyone who holds such a position as theirs. They were not blasé in the least, and their faces shone with pleasure and excitement... The eldest, Olga, was very intelligent and gay and had a heart of gold; but she was also rather timid, so that her sister Tatiana, who was much more sociable, was easier to get on with at first." - Olga Voronva, Upheaval

"The Grand Duchess Tatiana was as charming as her sister Olga, but in a different way. She has been described as proud, but I never knew anyone less so. With her, as with her mother, shyness and reserve were accounted as pride, but, once you knew her and had gained her affection, this reserve disappeared, and the real Tatiana became apparent. She was a poetical creature, always yearning for the ideal, and dream- ing of great friendships which might be hers. The Emperor loved her devotedly, they had much in common, and the sisters used to laugh, and say that, if a favour were required, ''Tatiana must ask Papa to grant it." She was very tall, and excessively thin, with a cameo-like profile, deep blue eyes, and dark chestnut hair... a lovely "Rose" maiden, fragile and pure as a flower." - Lili Dehn, The Real Tsaritsa

"The Tsarevitch was a lively, amusing boy, with a wonderful ear for music, and he played well on the balalika : like Tatiana he was shy, but, once he knew and liked anyone, this shyness vanished." - Lili Dehn, The Real Tsaritsa

"October 24 - Today, Tatyana Nikolaevna first came alone: "After all, I'm going here, as if to my second home," and, indeed, she was so sweet and comfortable. She ran with me to the kitchen, where we prepared bandages. The empress laughed and said that Tatyana, like a good house dog, got used to it." - Diaries of Vera Chebotaryova

"In her physical appearance and her serious and ardent nature, she most resembled her mother. "She was also the family's manager and organizer, and possessed, more than her sisters, a highly developed sense of her position as the daughter of the Tsar." Tatiana was very different from Olga in temperament and interests. She was more confident of herself and more reserved, with more perseverance and balance. Slender, with auburn hair and clear gray eyes, she was strikingly good-looking and enjoyed the attention her beauty commanded. As the Empress became more and more an invalid, Tatiana, eighteen months younger than Olga, took over much of the responsibility for the younger children and the household. Had her life run its natural course, she would have graced many a ball." - The private world of the last Tsar, in the photographs and notes of General Count Alexander Grabbe

"Her Imperial Highness is President of the Committee for helping War-ravaged Russia, and is fully explained on the opposite page by M. Czerniewski. She is no mere figurehead, but takes the deepest and most constant interest in this splendid work." - British newspaper article

"Of the persons left behind [at Tobolsk] Tatischeff was the senior; and of the remaining part of the imperial family, Tatiana was considered senior in the place of the Grand Duchess Olga." - Examination of Sidney Gibbes, The Last Days of the Romanovs

"The Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaevna was very thin. You could hardly imagine anybody as thin as she was. She was twenty-one years of age, was tall, darker than the rest of the family, and elegant. The colour of her eyes was dark grey. Her eyes made her look different from all of her sisters, who showed their souls through their eyes. She was reserved, haughty, and not open hearted, but she was the most positive. She was also religious, but the motive back of her religion was: "It is my duty,' while Olga Nicholaevna had it in her heart. She was always preoccupied and pensive and it was impossible to guess her thoughts. She played the piano and played it better than anyone else in the family. However, she had only a better technique and did not show feeling in her music. She painted and embroidered well. She was her mother's favourite and the one in whom, of all the daughters, she confided the most. If any favours were to be obtained they had to be gotten through Tatiana Nicholaevna." - Examination of Sidney Gibbes, The Last Days of the Romanovs

The Grand Duchess Tatiana was about twenty. She was quite different from her sisters. You recognised in her the same features that were in her mother — the same nature and the same character. You felt that she was the daughter of an emperor. She had no liking for art. Maybe it would have been better for her had she been a man. When the emperor and empress left Tobolsk nobody would ever have thought that the Grand Duchess Olga was the senior of the remaining members of the imperial family. If any questions arose it was always Tatiana who was appealed to. She was nearer to her mother than the other children; and it seemed that she loved her mother more than her father... All of them, including Tatiana, were nice, modest and innocent girls. There is no doubt they were cleaner in their thoughts than the majority of girls nowadays." - Examination of Commissar E. S. Kobylinsky, The Last Days of the Romanovs

"Tatiana looked like the czaritza. She had the same serious and haughty look as her mother. The other daughters : Olga, Maria and Anastasia,* had no haughtiness about them. One had the impression that they were modest and kind. I also can not describe the way they dressed, as I did not notice it." - Examination of Commissar Yakimov, The Last Days of the Romanovs

"Two other commissaries went to Tobolsk to remove the remainder of the family — Tatiana had been left in charge of the invalid and household. Olga, the eldest daughter, did not enjoy her mother's confidence in the same degree. She took far more interest in literature than in the practical affairs of life, and would hide herself in a comer with a book or tell stories to the soldiers, utterly forgetting domestic trifles. Anastasia, still a child, and rather backward, could be left in Tatiana's care." - Narrative of the editor, The Last Days of the Romanovs

Happy reading! I hope this helped :)

#q #ask #answered #Tatiana Nikolaevna #Tatiana Romanov #sources #otma #history #russian history #imperial russia #romanov family #romanov sisters

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ghostgetter · 6 years

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This is less of an analysis post and more of me, like..

So avoid this if you dislike spoilers okay thanks.

I’m trying to figure out why I’m so unsettled with Deep Dive’s revelations, and it’s because of a lot of callbacks back from season 1, and other points that I’m trying to piece together. I’m decent at that part but figuring everything out as an end result has me frazzled, so. This is really just like…reminders of things to pay attention to? Maybe it’ll remind you of somethings.

1. Let’s talk about his wand first

The wand transforms to conform to the holder. It, in its adaptability, transforms to fit the personality/image of the holder. So looking at this wand, for Marco…it doesn’t…make sense to me? I think the thing that throws me off is the color and the wings. It just doesn’t look like it fits for him, so why did it transform like that?

Then I remembered

The ceiling in St Olga’s seems to fit this wands kinda style. It’s a more…century gothic monster image, and it fits in with the wings. So, okay, we recall where possibly that design came from. But where the light shines to?

Alright, it’s this neat looking prophecy floor, conventient with a star, a sun, and encased by a crescent moon. It’s already been touched on, as to who fits what on this table - all except the moon, really. Though, I think the moon has been predicted to resemble the blood moon binding them together. Which brings me to my next point

3. Marco: “It’s like our souls are bonded -”

The reason that Marco is capable of producing magic is because of this. Why? Well, no idea. The blood moon is some kind of ancient magic that hasn’t been explained - just brought back. But he gets his own cheek marks in order to do so.

Crescent moons! Okay, that’s fine. You’re thinking it’s probably because of the blood moon, or perhaps it’s linked back to the prophecy. I’m not entirely sure why they’re crescents. There could be a few reasons, or just one is focalized. But then I remembered - I’ve seen that specific crescent moon somewhere, and it’s in plain sight.

The thing with Eclipsa that bothers me so much is that it’s so clear that there are other distractions in the way that leads to her being the ultimate villain for everyone. I can go on about her ploys but I really do think she’s going to be using Marco against Star. He’s been corrupted by her dark magic, he has “a dark magic-monster virus” still lurking in him (whether this comes back is debatable but nothing’s off the table), he lurks a little too long by her crystal in the intro (he observes it in a sort of cautious manner, kinda entranced/curious), she knows what he means to Star, and I don’t think this needs to be said, but she very much parallels Star in more ways than just personality. Marco, I think, is the outsider, “I would give up everything for this one person” Eclipsa relates to in the fact that she had that with the Monster she was running away to. He’s from an entirely different Dimension. I don’t see Marco being unscathed in whatever Eclipsa is doing behind closed doors.

Eclipsa is a planner. She’s cunning, she’s smart. She’s three steps ahead of you while you’re still trying to figure out if she’s involved in the first place. She’s that kind of enemy.

And honestly, I think the endgame plot - whichever that may be, involves her in some way, shape or form. So again, planned? I’m leaning towards this.

Because it needs to be reinstated that Marco wasn’t going to the Blood Moon Ball with Star. He was encouraged to do so, through someone (or something) using his irritation with Star going on a date (”The Moon of Lovers” is what finally convinced him to go down to the Underworld). And it was this guy:

Which is later revealed to be a portriat Eclipsa is exremely familiar with, hiding an entrance to passage ways linked throughout the castle.

Yeah, every point here related back to Eclipsa.

You need to ask yourself why that is. Why her daughter has a prophecy-looking room in the basement of the school she took over. Why Marco’s wand looks similar in design to what the paintings on the ceiling represent. Why she knows the sailor and the secrets it hides, who told Marco to go to the Blood Moon Ball. Why Marco has crescent moons on his cheeks.

Everything leads back to Eclipsa.

So I’m not saying that the soul-binding dance between Star and Marco during the Blood Moon Ball was orchestrated by Eclipsa (or someone in association doing what she needs to get done), which is fortelling the prophecy of the Sun and Star, encased by the moon and destined to do something (a battle is the highest guess because nothing else is hitting me), but I kinda am saying exactly that.

#/#//#///#////#star vs the forces of evil

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jobinterviewghost · 5 years

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Pertain to Mama: Casey Donovan talks career, catfishing and playing 'Mother' Morton in Chicago - Star Observer

Showbiz survivor Casey Donovan is at the top of her game with a brand-new role as Matron 'Mama' Morton in the musical Chicago. She talked with Peter Hackney.

Casey Donovan probably shouldn't remain in the public eye.

If that sounds like a sledge, it's not. Vice versa. Because she won Australian Idol in 2004 at the tender age of 16, Donovan has actually attained what few alumni of truth TV skill shows have managed: an enduring career in the home entertainment business.

Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy and a handful of others aside, the career goals of Donovan's peers from Australian Idol, X Element Australia, Australia's Got Talent and The Voice Australia have failed.

By contrast, Donovan has actually taken pleasure in # 1 single, a # 2 album, starred in big ticket musicals such as The Sapphires and We Will Rock You, been the face and voice of supermarket huge Coles, won Deadly Awards and Sydney Theatre Awards-- not to point out season three of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here-- and now she's returning to the stage as Matron 'Mama' Morton in the brand-new production of Chicago.

"Chicago seems like coming cycle," she tells the Star. "It was the first musical theatre of any kind I ever experienced.

"I was about 10 when I first saw it. We went to see it after my grandad's brother passed away. He was a big musical theatre fan and at the time he died, there was a production of Chicago in town. Mum resembled, 'OK, Chicago was his favourite, let's go see it,' which was my intro to musical theatre.

"I pinch myself when I believe that all these years later, I remain in it myself."

Donovan states the production has put her out of her comfort zone sometimes-- however as rehearsals continue, excitement has actually changed nerves.

"What I really love about my job is that I'm a vocalist firstly however then I get to stroll down various avenues like musical theatre and tv, and broaden my comfort zone. I resemble a blended bag of lollies," she chuckles.

"'Mama' is an excellent character. She runs the entire jail, she likes the women in there-- however she doesn't do nothin' for nothin'. She wants her own method but she'll never turn her back on anyone. I'm really thrilled to embody her and I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity."

Luck, of course, has little to do with it. The real factor Donovan is where she is today is since of her enormous skill, coupled with large effort. Regardless of her powerhouse voice full of colour and texture, things haven't come easy to the 31-year-old Sydneysider and her varied profession included a stint as an Uber motorist throughout a "quiet period" numerous years ago.

"I'm sure a great deal of people believe, 'Oh, she's a star, all these celebrities should be making millions'," she states. "But the Australian entertainment market is small and the loan isn't constantly huge-- and at the end of the day, I need to pay my bills.

"I liked driving Ubers. it was a nice change in my life, I got to meet new individuals and drive them from A to B safely. Often, people would look me over and ask, 'What's going on? Am I getting pranked?' and I 'd need to state, 'No, I'm simply an uber chauffeur today'," she chuckles.

Casey Donovan. Image: caseydonovan.com.Donovan's candour reaches a challenging period of her life, which saw the vocalist catfished for 6 years when she fell for a guy named 'Campbell', to later on learn he didn't exist and was created by her then friend, Olga. Real to form, Donovan is modifying the experience as a

positive one, turning lemons into lemonade: the singer is working with the Star's own Patrick Abboud on an Australian variation of MTV's Catfish, which will follow everyday Australians who are suspicious of their online relationships."I leapt at the opportunity because this offers people closure and I can support them, and I can definitely empathise because I have actually been there myself,"she says. The experience has actually provided Donovan brand-new insight into her own'catfisher'." I don't think Olga was positive in herself and recalling, she wasn't comfy with her sexuality. I don't believe she knew how to browse what she wanted therefore she needed to create this persona to get near another woman,"she muses. As for her own sexuality, she says: "I constantly get questioned,'Casey, are you a lesbian?'and I'm like,' I'm not anything

.' "You like who you like and you love who you enjoy and you can't simply switch things on and off. I feel you miss out on chances if that takes place."A pilot episode of Catfish Australia will see Donovan host the program with Abboud and is set to air on Channel Ten during pilot week. However for

now, her life is all about the

Windy City, with Chicago opening as the Star goes to press. "It's offering really well, some of the

programs have actually currently sold out, so get tickets, escape truth for two-and-a-half hours and let us

transfer you back to the 1920s with some fantastic dance moves and Bob Fosse choreography. It's just ageless home entertainment."Chicago, starring Casey Donovan, Natalie Bassingthwaite, Alinta Chidzey, Tom Burlinson(Sydney and Brisbane seasons)and Jason Donovan(Melbourne) is now playing at Capitol Theatre, Sydney. Tickets from$ 59.50 are readily available at chicagothemusical.com.au. © Star Observer 2019|For the latest in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) news in Australia, be sure to visit starobserver.com.au daily. You can also read our latest publications or Join us

on our Facebook page and Twitter feed.

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gyakutengagotoku · 7 years

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GSvsAA - Apollo Justice - Character Profiles

As promised, I shall deliver. The profiles for DD and SoJ will be following shortly, like tomorrow.

Some of these name puns may be familiar to old fans since the days when GS4 hadn’t yet been revealed as “Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney” to the West. Fortunately for us, the following mainstream games (setting aside the incredibly long pause of mainstream games between AJ and DD) have had some quick notice of localization.

*prays hard for DGS* They have a bundle pack now. Come on, Ms. Hsu and crew, I know you guys can pull through...

Please check this post or the master post for more details on this translation project. As usual, spoilers below.

Link to DD profiles.

Main cast

Apollo Justice - Odoroki Housuke (王泥喜法介) odoroki is Japanese for “surprise”. The hou (法) is “law” and suke, often pronounced “skeh”, is a common ending for boy names. The entire name comes to “Surprise! Here’s a new law boy!” Mr. Takumi designed his name as such since GS4 at the time of its reveal back in TGS 2006 was meant to appear as a surprise for fans who were expecting good ol’ Nick. Trivia: It seems Takumi and the crew had trouble coming up with kanji for his name. They went with “king”, “mud”, and “happiness”. Why mud? Well, not too many kanji avail for the doro part, and splitting it up even more would have been too clunky. (Also, he feels like mud most of the time anyway. >:3c )

Trucy Wright - Naruhodou Minuki (成歩堂みぬき) naruhodo, as many of us fans know by now, is an expression of understanding like “I see” or “Okay”. minuki comes from the verb minuku, which means “to see through” to the truth. Her original surname, Enigmar, is Nanafushi. More on that below in Zak’s entry. Mr. Hat is Boushi-kun, or “Hat-kun”.

Phoenix Wright - Piani-to (ピアニート) No, that’s not what he’s called in the game, but it’s a fan-favorite name that has pervaded the Japanese fanbase since 2006-7. It’s a mix of the English word “pianist” and the acronym NEET, for “Not in Education, Employment, or Training”. It’s an alternative to “Naruhobo”, which isn’t as widely known among Jap fans, but I still sometimes see it. Ever since he returned to law in DD, though, it’s been a name reserved for his AJ-era self. Regardless, he’s still a terrible piano player and has been procrastinating on practice.

Kristoph Gavin - Garyuu Kirihito (牙琉霧人) garyuu can mean “dragon’s fang” or “self-taught man”, but it can also refer to a person of (usu. unrecognized) exceptional talent or genius. Interestingly, the ryuu in his name is the kanji in 琉璃, ruri, for the gem lapis lazuli. Blue is a rather symbolic color for this character. Kirihito, with the above kanji, is literally “man of mist” or mystery. Written differently, it can also mean “killer”. As usual, Takumi likes to give his first-case villains some really direct, spoilery names.

Klavier Gavin - Garyuu Kyouya (牙琉響也) As mentioned above, garyuu can mean “dragon’s fang”. The G-shaped medallion he wears is actually meant to somewhat resemble a dragon’s fang, though it’s also supposed to be a G for “Garyuu Wave”, aka The Gavinners. I believe this name was chosen to parallel everyone’s favorite dragon-boy, aka that spiky blue bird-man-guy-dude. Kyouya is a common boy’s name as well, though the kyou (響) in his name means “echo”, “resonance”, or a distinctive “sound”. Unlike Phoenix, he's a good musician.

Episode 1

Shadi Smith - Urafushi Kagerou (浦伏影郎) ura, written as 裏, means “back”, as in the background or the back side of something. fushi, from the verb fuseru, means “to hide, conceal, lie in wait”. kage is “shadow”, and rou is a common albeit a bit old-fashioned ending to a boy’s name. More on his actual name down below in Zak’s entry.

Olga Orly - Sakai Masaka (逆居雅香) The saka in her last name is the kanji in sakarau, which means “to disobey, defy”. (It’s also the first kanji in Gyakuten Saiban, but that’s probably just coincidence for once.) It also comes from her nickname “Ikasama Sakai”, as in “Cheating Sakai”, which is also a palindrome. masaka is an expression of disbelief, like “Impossible!” or “No way!” It also fits well with her last name as a sort of tongue twister. Trivia: Takumi named her after a senior he had in high school who had the nickname “Ikasama Sakai”.

Episode 2

Wocky Kitaki - Kitaki Takita (北木滝太) His full name is literally three kita, as in the expression “Kita kita kita!”, which I can conveniently describe as “Come at me, bro!” His family name is known in-game as the Kitakitsune Clan, or the Northern Fox Clan, and the first kita in his name (北) is “north”.

Alita Tiala - Namina Minami (並奈美波) Her name was picked to parallel Takita up above; it’s made of three nami, which by itself means “wave” and isn’t really relevant here, but minami means “south”. Trivia: It seems the staff had a difficult time remembering her name, often mistaking it as “Nami Minami”.

Guy Eldoon - Yatabuki Mugitsura (矢田吹麦面) yatai is “food stand”. The name of his stand backward so happens to spell yakibutaya, which is a a food stand for ramen noodle served with roast pork. The irony is he only serves miso ramen (localized to salt). The two kanji of his first name, when squished together like 麺, means “noodle”.

Edit: Well, I’ve been informed that this isn’t quite the case, as “Yakibutaya” is more of a brand name of noodle, rather than an actual category of noodle stand. I once saw this joke made in a 4koma comic series from the AJ anthology, but now I’m out of ideas.

Trivia: It’s been implied that this guy’s stand is the usual place where Nick and Maya frequently stop by for her favorite miso ramen. It may even well be the same place where she and her sister used to go, though Eldoon’s gone through a number of these stands. His dog’s name is Renge - “lotus flower”, which the root is sometimes used in noodle broths, but it can also refer to the Chinese-style of spoon. Her name has thus been localized to Spoon.

Plum Kitaki - Kitaki Koume (北木小梅) Her English name was taken from her Japanese name, which is literally “Little Plum”.

Pal Meraktis - Ukari Teruo (宇狩輝夫) Ukari comes from the word ukkari, “carelessly”. kari is “debt”, and considering his situation before he was killed, that’s a pretty big debt he carries. Meanwhile, I’m not sure about his first name. It could just be another case of taking someone’s actual name.

Winfred “Big Wins” Kitaki - Kitaki Tsunekatsu (北木常勝) His name comes from the phrase tsune ni katsu, which means “always wins”. Even the kanji are the same.

The Rivales Family - Katagi (華汰義) Clan katagi refers to non-gangsters, as in the “good citizens”. So, uh, I guess these “Rivales” guys are actually pretty good-natured gangsters? Trivia: Actually, Takumi got this name from a dentist’s office in his neighborhood. I swear he comes up with the oddest places of inspiration.

Wesley Stickler - Kawadzu Kyousaku (河津京作) kawazu means “frog”, probably referring to the old Chinese legend of a frog who lives in a well and knows nothing about the outside world, but believes it knows all there is to it. In other words, it’s a person who willfully lives in ignorance. (Also, his face is kinda... frog-like? Well, maybe more like a zombie.) kyousaku means “bad harvest”. Well, it’s true he’s been studying hard, but I think it’s clear he isn’t very successful with applying his knowledge.

Episode 3

Romein LeTouse - Romaine Lettuce (ローメイン・レタス) It is what it is. Takumi admitted in an interview that he came up with it just because he happened to see it in a recipe once.

Lamiroir (ラミロア) It’s probably taken from the French word “miroir” (”mirror” in English), in reference to the phrase “mirror image” of a person. It’s actually supposed to be “le miroir” in French, since “la” refers to feminine-group nouns, but in this case, I’m sure “la” works for her. Check Thalassa’s entry below under Episode 4 for more details.

Machi Tobaye - Maki Tobahyu (マキトバーユ) maki means “curl” or “roll”. He does have some curly hair, doesn’t he? It also can mean “wrapped up [in]” depending on what verb it’s paired with; perhaps like how he’s been wrapped up in something beyond his control? His last name may be from the phrase toraba-yu, meaning "job change”, from the French word “travail”, which actually just means “job”.

Edit: Mr. Takumi strikes again. In his official statement, he forgot where the inspiration for this name came from, so I can’t make any decisive claims. In other words, my hopes and dreams have been crushed.

Daryan Crescend - Mayudzuki Daian (眉月大庵) His last name sounds like mayu-suki, that is “likes cocoons”. Also, the second kanji in it is tsuki, “moon”. There seems to be a connection there with his localized name. In an interview, Takumi mentioned that Daian came from a list of “cool names” for prosecutors he drafted up back then. As it turns out, daian can also mean “backup plan”.

Episode 4

Valant Gramarye - Arumajiki Varan (或真敷バラン) arumajiki means “unworthy”. It also sounds like the words “all magic”. Varan is taken from baran, which when paired in zakkubaran, means “frankly”.

Vera Misham - Ese Makoto (絵瀬まこと) ese is “sham” and makoto is “truth”. The first kanji in her last name is also that for “picture”.

Drew Misham - Ese Doburoku (絵瀬土武六) doburoku refers to a type of unrefined, cloudy saké; also known as “nigori”, which means “murkiness”. I don’t know if this means he drinks, but it was thanks to a bad cup of coffee that he met his death.

Spark Brushel - Hamigaki Shoutarou (葉見垣正太郎) hamigaki is literally “brushing teeth”. shoutarou is from... shotacon; that is, the shoutarou complex. Uh... at least he’s got the blush stickers? Trivia: That he shares a similar name to Hami-chan (Pearly) has been the source of a crack pairing with him and Pearl. *shudder* On a lighter note, Hamigaki was originally the name for a rakugo artist who was supposed to appear in the game. By rakugo naming conventions, it would be “something-something-tei Hamigaki”.

Zak Gramarye - Arumajiki Zakku (或真敷ザック) See Valant’s entry above. For his real name, Shadi Enigmar, it’s Nanafushi Kagerou. nanafushigi is the “Seven Wonders”; his first name is the same as from the Shadi Smith entry. Trivia: Both nanafushi and kagerou are insects. The former is the stick insect; the latter is the mayfly. One is usually in hiding and the other has a infamously short lifespan. Deep.

Magnifi Gramarye - Arumajiki Tensai (或真敷天斎) tensai means “genius”. Being paired with arumajiki sure is ironic, huh?

Thalassa Gramarye - Arumajiki Yuumi (或真敷優海) I can’t find a particular pun behind her name; it sounds like a common girl’s name. The second kanji umi (海) means “sea”, so perhaps that inspired her localized name. I can’t help but wonder if her name was picked to match with Zak’s real name, Nanafushi (Enigmar), to create the “Seven Wonders” and “Seven Seas”. The Troupe has been known to tour the world, after all. (This is just my speculation, though.)

That’s it for AJ profiles! Time to move onto the 3DS games.

#i translate #gsvsaa #aj #character profiles #turnabout trump #turnabout corner #turnabout serenade #turnabout successor

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jodiwalker · 7 years

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The Bachelorette finale: Romance is Dead, But Reality TV Lives On

Two roads diverged in an ABC wood

And sorry she could not travel both

And be a polygamist with TWO engagement rings, long she stood

And stared down a life of (alleged) mediocrity

To where it stood in the Miami sun, under the looming presence of Olga;

…

I shall be telling this with a sigh

For at least the next week until Bachelor in Paradise premieres;

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and Rachel—

Rachel took the one most traveled by,

And that…has made all the (terrible) difference

My apologies to Robert Frost and 6th grade English teachers everywhere, but it simply had to be done. Rachel's explanation to Bryan as to why she would be choosing to accept his marriage proposal (as constant torrential winds whipped her edges and lashes into a fury, while simultaneously numbing her recently shredded heart), is that she has always gone for the complicated, challenging man, and turned away from the easy choice in the past. And that has not worked out for her. So here, on the altar of ABC, and with literally only one option in front of her, Rachel is choosing the easy route this time: the man who wants to propose to her without exception, the man who does not challenge or complicate her life. Rachel is choosing the road most traveled by.

And that has really fucked up her Bachelorette legacy.

Watching Rachel's 3-hour finale may have been stone-cold torture, but that was only because it contained one of the realest moments ever seen on this contrived reality show purportedly about romance. Given the choice between a man who would potentially give her that once-in-a-lifetime kinda love but wasn't ready to propose that once-in-a -lifetime kinda commitment, and a man who was prepared to propose to her from the moment he met her when she still had 29 other boyfriends and he only knew her name, Rachel — the self-assured, luminescent, beloved, successful attorney from a wealthy Dallas family — chose the bro that was a sure thing to get her an engagement ring.

I’m not saying it’s the wrong choice. I’m saying, Rachel lived out the plot of The Notebook and she chose James Marsden over Noah. Because The Notebook is a movie and this is real life. And reality clearly states: for monogamy to live, romance must die. [Ed Note: But if you're married and reading this, your relationship is probably the exception! Definitely!]

In that moment, Bryan was Rachel's second choice, and no amount of Instagram posts sponsored by Dunkin' Donuts Cold Brew are going to convince anyone of anything else. There are lots of people who fall passionately in love with someone and think they're going to marry them, but it doesn't work, so their now slightly hardened heart falls reasonably in love with someone else, and that's the person they can make marriage work with. The caveat here is that most people don't travel those two journeys at the same time until they reach a fork in the road with one path labeled, "Once a Girlfriend, Always a Girlfriend Ave," and the other, "Fiancé to Bryan, Former Contestant on UPN Gameshow The Player Street."

We’ll get to what Rachel’s ultimate choice means for the status of her #blessed life, but let's put it off a little longer by focusing on some other, slightly more hopeful points of this season's all-to-real conclusion:

The Glow Up of Eric

What a difference a beard makes! I think every single person who watched The Bachelorette this season had a complicated relationship with Eric's physical appearance. At times he was boyishly handsome; at times he resembled a young, broader Steve Buscemi; at times he was hella fly; at times — those times usually spent in tiny, ornamental scarves — he was utterly goofy. But most times he resembled that episode of The Office where Jim tries to convince Dwight he's a vampire by flipping up the collar on an oversized coat. Because Eric wasn't always shown to be the zen-like sweetheart hottie that he is now, but he was always, always, wearing a winter coat with a big ass collar.

But post-Hometown Eric was a different Eric. Yes, he still wore a lot of (thick?) crew neck t-shirts with sport jackets, and then, inexplicably, with a pea coat over that, but beginning with that first nicely-fitted Canadian tuxedo in Baltimore, post-Hometown Eric just generally looked more like a grown ass man. And when he returned to the Chris Harrison's Loveseat of Terrors during his After the Final Rose segment, it became clear…

Rachel broke Eric's heart and made him a man. For real, he looked like he could have been in the singing group Boyz II Men, and he definitely looked like he could make love to you, like you'd want him to. Further, he looked like a man who can grow an excellent beard and weave a narrative about love and opening your heart and growing that makes you punch out one thousand heart eye emojis to your best friend while furiously googling "eric bigger bachelorette trainer baltimore phone number or email address."

Everyone—seriously, everyone, even Neil Lane who got like a two seconds of airtime—came out looking like a loser in this Bachelorette finale, except for Eric. Glow on, baby, ya did good!

Evaluating a Few of the Other Rejects from Men Tell All So We Can Continue to Put Off the Painful Inevitable

Kenny, I love you. I cried when Chris "Plus-We-Got-Bloopers-Comin'-Up" Harrison told your daughter that you were going to Disneyland. But what in the fresh Men's Wearhouse hell is this?

Kenny. The tie! Kenny?!

Kenny's outfit choice was unfortunate, but hey, the man has has been a dad for 11 years — the last time fashion was his top priority, I guess he would have been wearing decorative dog tags and a Von Dutch hat. So I can cut Kenny some slack. You knew who I will cut zero slack?

Dress for the gross, racist, sociopathic persona you want…because it looks exactly like the gross, racist, sociopathic persona you already have. I don't know why Lee insists on wearing this teal shirt so much. Maybe he thinks it brings out the height in his Something About Mary jizz hair? Maybe he thinks it distracts from the fact that he sent out insanely racist and misogynistic tweets and has yet to apologize for them, and now his apology is just saying that he wants to "learn"? Here's an educational tip, Lee: don't wear a three piece suit where the third piece is from a different, somehow even uglier suit, where the overall combination comes together to make you look like a mortician’s apprentice at a family-run funeral home in Reno where something seems just a liiiiittle off about everybody.

But I'm really not the expert to advise on these matters. No, for that let's turn to Anthony, a master in both three-piece-suits with unorthodox shirt-color choices and racial rhetoric.

"I think you're just saying ‘I've been a bad person,’ but you're not acknowledging the kind of invisible racism in your mind. You may not be doing it intentionally, but it's still motivating your actions. The racism that is ingrained in your actions to the point of invisibility is still pushing you to behave in a certain way towards Kenny, towards Eric, towards me that you don't even recognize. So, are your actions motivated by racist thoughts that are implicitly embedded in your mentality?"

For the record, Lee's response goes a little something like this:

And finally, dear Dean, whose clock on being this franchise's It Girl began running out the moment it started ticking — time is a cruel friend, Dean. You'll learn that when you're old enough to spot your first laugh line.

I still love Dean, but this really ridiculous blazer has me nervous that he might grow too thirsty for his own britches post-Paradise. But at least those britches aren't also navy camouflage.

That, and the fact that he wasn't a dick to Rachel, at least, gives me hope.

Define…Engagement

Okay, there's no more putting off the inevitable. The episode preceding the finale ended on a cliffhanger because suddenly it became clear that Rachel and her hot co-boyfriend Peter were at an impasse. As of the Fantasy Suites — which is to say both his second-to-last solo date with Rachel and his fourth-ever solo date with Rachel — Peter was not sure if he would be ready to propose to her after just six weeks of being aware she existed. See, he believes, “Engagement is marriage. I want to do it as many times as I get married, which is once." And Rachel believes that getting engaged in the next two simply days means, "cultivating a relationship and seeing if it can work outside of that."

This is the one place that Rachel is just crazy-wrong. She is defining a committed dating relationship, but she is assigning that definition to something else entirely. The hardest part of watching this finale is that Rachel was so good at being the Bachelorette. She was smart and thoughtful and in control. What I wanted out of Rachel as a Bachelorette was for her to be different, for her to grow beyond the vehicle she chose to ride in on her “journey to love”...

But Rachel Wasn’t Different

Rachel told Eric's Aunt Verna [ed. note: long live the queen] that, yes, she was the first black Bachelorette, but she came to the show looking for one thing — love — and in that way, she should be exactly the same as the 12 Bachelorettes that came before her.

And that might have been the hardest pill to swallow while watching Peter and Rachel have a lash-destroying, sweater-ripping breakdown as they realized that they loved one another, but they simply couldn't make their wants and their needs match up. In the end, Rachel wasn't any different than the 12 Bachelorettes that came before her. She might have seemed better than the show, and she surely was too good for a lot of the dudes the show provided her with…but she and The Bachelorette shared one goal that overrides all of that: this journey for love ends in an engagement with a Neil-fucking-Lane diamond, and you can either get on board with that or get the hell off of the love train, ya'heard?

So Rachel chose Bryan. Which hopefully felt like a fairytale ending for them, but to everyone else, it kind of felt like the end of love and romance and passion and maybe the franchise. Watching The Bachelorette is supposed to be an escape, but hearing Peter tell Rachel that not choosing to meet him in the middle would be choosing a mediocre life, and then watching her do it was all too real. (He later apologized at After the Final Rose. Rachel insisted she was living her best life. The audience wept.)

As I ruminated upon the disillusionment of romantic love as I know it though, my subconscious reminded me that oftentimes during Rachel's journey for love© I found myself thinking of Des and Des' Bangs journey for love© in season 9. Those comparison's never made a ton of sense at face value because when it came to being the Bachelorette, Des managed the job with all the aplomb of a crumpled napkin whereas Rachel was a confident and assured polygamist leader.

But both women ended up in the same place. You may recall Des weeping on a dock for somewhere between four hours and four calendar years because Brooks the Secret Mormon realized he just wasn't as into her as she was into him. She was running toward the altar and he was all, "This has been super fun Des, but I'm going to have to scoot on back to Salt Lake City now." And that was really tough on Des, the human equivalent of a Lip Smackers. Then all of a sudden, as if the scales of Bad Boy Mormon Brooks had fallen from her eyes, Des realized that she was free to be fully in love with Boring Regular Boy Chris who came from a family of — I kid you fucking not — chiropractors.

And do you know what? Those two mediocre kids have lived happily ever after. Both Des and Rachel seemed to want one thing really, really badly, but in the end, maybe they actually needed another thing. And that thing was free chiropractic adjustments for life and not a handsome, well-adjusted former model (in both cases, I swear!)

Of course, I have a hard time believing that this Bryan and Rachel can go the distance until they get a handle on his mom's whole Lysa Arryn vibe, and his whole robot-made-of-plastic vibe. But sometimes…sometimes, mediocrity is built to last — I truly believe that Toyota Camrys will be all that survive the looming world apocalypse.

Part II: The Next Bachelor

The most disappointing part of what was truly an emotionally grueling finale experience was not even getting the climactic relief of finding out who the next Bachelor is. Now, I understand the predicament ABC is in—there's no perfect candidate from Rachel's crop, probably because they took up valuable space of what could have been non-Bryans who were willing to propose after four weeks with numbnuts like Lee and Lucas. So let's assess our options:

Peter and/or Dean

The most obvious options for the next Bachelor are Dean and Peter. The former was a favorite all season because he quickly revealed himself to be a hot Precious Moments doll with a heart of gold, and the former was always hot, but in the last analysis revealed himself to be someone who is aware that this process is bogus and while it might create a romantic adventure full of blimps and Greco-Roman wrestling simulations, it does not set couples up for long-term success.

Unfortunately, both Peter and Dean's greatest strengths are their greatest weaknesses, as well. Peter's use of logic in not wanting to propose to Rachel if he wasn't prepared to marry her, made him a more attractive candidate to as the Bachelor, but it also made him a worse one. As Rachel pointed out in their After the Final Rose segment, Peter might not be cut out for the speed of this this process. As I would like to point out, Peter definitely wasn't cut out for this process, and Rachel's comment was definitely fueled by still being in love with him and being defensive about choosing Bryan by default. Gasp, oh yes I did.

As for Dean, the main problem seems to be that he's going on Bachelor in Paradise, which is like starting with wine, moving to tequila shots, and then trying to go back to wine again—it's not going to be pretty. The best thing about Dean being the Bachelor is that he would mess up so much. He is very young and very sweet, and needs to do quite a bit of, let's say, self-work before he holds the hearts of 30 women in his clumsy Ken Doll hands. And being the woke young thing that he is, Dean said as much to The Hollywood Reporter: "I’d say I don’t think I’m ready yet, at this point in my life. Of course, I would never immediately dismiss any offer, but I think I’d really have to sit down and really think about it."

So, my I present for you consideration that Dean and Peter be the Bachelor together??? Not like when they made the dudes vote between Kaitlyn and Britt, and then Kaitlyn won, but not by a lot, so like half of the guys were still there to date someone else. That was really stupid. [Ed. Note: this probably would be too.] But as everyone knows, the most beautiful love affair to come out of Rachel's season was that of handsome male bonding between Dean and Peter. And they complement each other so well! Dean could help Peter loosen up a little; Peter could help Dean get in touch with his emotions; Dean could help Peter experiment with florals; Peter could help Dean not experiment quite so much with florals. And they could have totally separate groups of potential women sister-girlfriends, and no one would ever have to get in a fight, they could just support each other and everyone could be happy.

Eric

Eric would be an excellent Bachelor, his only problem is that the editors didn't reveal his fun personality, and he didn’t reveal the full extent of his hotness until way too late in the season. I just don't know if he has the popularity. Also, I know ABC is scared to cast a black Bachelor again because they haven't yet realized that pretty much the only adjustment that needs to be made is not purposefully casting racist potential suitors to stir up racially-fueled drama. Which seems like a pretty easy fix!

A Semi-Famous Person's Brother

The Bachelor already has a storied history in this arena. There was Aaron Murray's brother Josh Murray; the much more famous Aaron Rodger's (estranged) brother Jordan Rodgers; and most importantly for our purposes here, Jerry O'Connell's brother Charlie O'Connell was cast as the actual Bachelor simply because he was Jerry O'Connell's brother. Like, Zac Efron has a brother who's in his mid-20s and already has a Buzzfeed article devoted to how cute he is. Doesn't Scarlett Johansson have a twin or something? I don't know, I'm not a casting agent, just find a reason to get someone random and hot on here so we don't have to keep swimming around in the same tepid pool of candidates!

A Nostalgically Semi-Famous Person

Listen, I'm just trying to think outside the box here. Like…what's Trey from Laguna Beach up to these days? He was cute with a budding career in trucker hat activism. Maybe a non-Ashley-Parker-Angel member of O-Town? Where’d that guy from Brink! disappear to? I'm pretty sure Ephram from The WB's Everwood is still out there somewhere? I think we're onto something here…

Bachelor: The Next Generation

I'm just crunching some numbers here, and if current contestant Kenny has a daughter that's 11, then a contestant from the original season of The Bachelor 15 years ago could reasonably have a child that's 25 or 26 now. It's not a real suggestion that said hypothetical offspring should be the next Bachelor…but it's worth noting that one day, in the not so distant future, someone will come onto this show as a contestant…whose parent was a contestant before them. It happened on American Idol, and it will happen here. Swear to me, dear reader, that we’ll make it out before that happens...

K, see you next week for Bachelor in Paradise, pending how awfully they handle the Corrinne/DeMario situation! It will probably be pretty awful!!!

#the bachelorette finale #the bachelorette recap #the bachelorette #rachel lindsay

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jess-the-vampire · 7 years

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Tom Vs The Forces Of Evil (Au), Chapter 7

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"Pfffttt......C'mon b-fly!! You gotta catch up!!", a flying blue colt head said as she made her way through the castle. "Lilacia!!", a small pink-haired boy ran after her, "Wait up!!!!!" "Ew, I will once you stop calling me that" The pony flew into the next room, leaving a panting 8-year old mewman prince in her wake. Tom stopped a bit to catch his breath, he wished his wings were in already so he could catch up to his friend. After he finished resting he looked up to see where ponyhead went, she couldn't have gone too far. He paused when he noticed which door she went through. His father's study. He felt himself grow weak and his head start to hurt a bit at the sight as he stepped forward and bravely opened the door. The room was empty, and all the lights had been turned off, he could barely see anything and the room was huge to him. "Lilacia?" He asked meekly.

He stepped into the room, only to have the door close behind him, trapping him within the darkness.

He yelped, and tried to open it again but to no avail, he was panicking, feeling his heart race. He fell to his knees and hugged himself, hoping someone would find him. Then a light came on, a candle, and he didn't hesitate to move towards it. "Tom?, a human boy in a hoodie held the candle out in front of him, and walked towards the trembling mewman. "M-marco?" "Tom, thank goodness you're ok...." The human knelt down and wrapped himself around the prince, "I was so worried about you and-" Tom was embracing the boy's comforting warmth when suddenly it changed, Marco's voice was getting deeper and his grasp was becoming less comforting and was starting to hurt as it sinked more into the boy's skin. Tom opened his eyes in panic as he realized it wasn't marco who was holding him anymore. Tom wriggled out of the man's grasp when a familiar pain and fear struck through his entire body. He looked up to see a familiar pointed face that almost resembled his own looking down upon him, his marks were recognizable even from a distance. "Dad?" "Come on Tom, we're going off to handle business....you wouldn't want me to do anything would you?", he grabbed onto the boy's arm. Tom shuddered at those words, as he always did when they were being shouted at him or used to scold him. He felt tears coming on, "No....no..." His arm was being tugged upon and Tom struggled to get out of his grasp, "I don't wanna!!" "You're going to learn to behave like a king one way or another...", Tom felt claws sink into his skin, making him wince. "No!! Leave me alone!!" "Come along Tom.." He said ans he dragged him further into darkness, the candle long gone. "N-no no!!" - "NO!!!", Tom sat up, breathing heavily and feeling his heart race. Dream, just a bad dream. He looked at his arm, it was fine, he felt no pain at all. He rubbed his face with his hands, he was all sweaty and he felt awful, having bad dreams like this weren't uncommon to him but every time one happened it was the worst thing imaginable. Tom took deep breaths, he wasn't on Mewni, he was living with Marco on earth, his dad wasn't here, he was still 14, ponyhead was free from St. Olga's after they busted her out a few weeks ago. Everything was fine. Tom ran fingers through his hair, trying to process everything, he hated nights like this. He convinced himself to stand up and stretch out a bit, he pulled off his old T-shirt hoping to reduce all the heat. "TOM!!" the door to Tom's bedroom was suddenly opened as a brunette boy launched in, he was in his best fighting pose. Although upon seeing a confused and shirtless Tom in front of him, his look of determination and bravery suddenly melted into embarrassment. "Oh...I Uh..." Marco held his hands out in front of him, "I'm sorry...Y-You...I.." Tom dropped the shirt on the bed and put his hands out in front of him, "No it's ok...I just had a bad dream is all....Just uh...feel kinda gross..." "Oh...", Marco eyed the floor, "Sorry..I-Uh...thought you were under attack.." "It's ok, I'm fine....Just....it's normal.."Tom relaxed and sat down on his bed, his wings on his back twitching a bit. Marco considered leaving, but shook that thought off to sit next to his friend, "Do you wanna talk about it? Is it anything to do with our revolution at St Olga's a few weeks ago when you had us break ponyhead out? Cause I know that place really freaked you out.." Tom shuddered at the memories of seeing Marco being tortured, Ponyhead being uncomfortably brainwashed, and the guards who'd been trying to restrain him when his anger almost unleashed in an attempt to save Marco. Everything from that day was terrifying, but nothing compared to feeling of his father. "No, it's not that..." Marco was looking more concerned now, "Can you talk about it?" "I have no idea...." Tom shifted, "I know I promised to tell you things, It's just..with some things.." The human smiled, "I get it, it's ok." They sat in silence, watching their feet swing back and forth before Marco playfully kicked Tom, making him chuckle and kick him back. "You know, frankly...you looked pretty good in a dress Tom..." Marco teased, "You outta wear one more often.." Tom rolled his eyes, "Like i said Marco, i was trying to disguise us and it slipped my mind that we could've dressed as guards....and besides...there isn't anything wrong with guys liking dresses anyway, you seemed to enjoy it.." Marco grew warm and made a pout face at his friend, "It's pink.." Tom laughed even more, "I dunno Diaz....pink doesn't look half bad on you, and besides....what's wrong with pink?" He was clearly acknowledging his hair and some of his wardrobe, and Marco embarrassingly rubbed his neck. "Sorry..." "It's ok..." "I'm just trying to make you feel better, and i guess i'm not helping much, huh?" Tom shook his head, "No Marco, you trying is good enough...I'm glad you're trying.." Marco looked Tom up in down, "Are you going to be able to get back to sleep? it's past midnight and we have school today..." Tom rubbed his eyes, "I have no idea....maybe, just...don't worry i'm sure i'll be ok..." "You know me Tom, I do worry..." Marco reached an arm around him, "Nothing you say won't make me worry about you.." Tom laughed weakly, "Yeah, that's true....", He nudged Marco gently and playfully. "I'm sorry for keeping you up....you can head back to bed I guess..", He stood up, "I think maybe i'll go downstairs and eat something....then head back to bed.." "You sure you don't want me here with you...?" Marco asked, "I can always bunk for the night, that way if anything else happens...i'll be ready..." "You wanna bunk?", he looked a little surprised," I don't wanna trouble yo-" "Nah, go ahead...go eat something, i'll set up next you..." Marco pushed his friend out the door, "I might be asleep by the time you get back...just don't stay up too long, we got school and you really don't need to fall asleep in class again..." Tom rolled his eyes, frankly he'd prefer to be asleep. Tom headed downstairs and made himself a bowl a cereal, munching alone in the kitchen, past memories of when he'd sneak out of bed to raid the kitchen back home in Mewni. His father was always angry at him for doing that, but frankly, when wasn't he angry at Tom anyway? Tom has had many insane dreams before, and this was far from the first he'd had with his father, but he'd certainly never felt so helpless in other dreams he could recall. He sighed in relief, thankful he'd been dreaming, going anywhere with his dad never meant anything good. He washed his bowl in the sink and headed back upstairs, feeling a lot better and less anxious. He closed the door behind him and stepped inside, pausing to find a familar brunette passed out on one side of Tom's bed, he'd been trying to clearly make a spot on the floor but fell asleep in the process. Tom smiled and slipped onto his usual side, closing his eyes and hoping things would be much more peaceful. "Good night Marco.." - Tom was frankly shocked when he woke up without another nightmare, his magical alarm beeping so loud it could've woken the neighborhood, letting him know it was time for school as he shut it off. "Ack!!" Marco, on the other hand, had completely fallen out of Tom's bed at the noise and was now rubbing his head. "Remind me to get you a normal alarm clock...." He muttered, standing up, "That thing is insane.." "Hey, you can only hear it in this room..." Tom grinned, "So you'd still be asleep, undisturbed, if you hadn't bunked..." That was when Marco checked the time, "Dude, don't you think it's too early? You got time to sleep in still...." "Yeah, but less time to get ready..." Tom said, trying to get up before Marco pushed him back down on the bed. "Sleep....you don't need that much time to get ready, rest is more important..." "Awwww, c'mon Marco-" Tom whined, "I get up early for a reaso-" "And that reason matters less then you possibly falling asleep in school..." Marco made him lay down, "Sleeping in, is one of the many joys of being young...enjoy it." A buzzing sound could be heard from the mewman pouting at Marco, and that's when Marco remembered Tom had wings on his back . The back that was on the bed. Marco immediately pulled Tom to sit up, checking his bare back for his potentially harmed wings. Tom gave him a look, then laughed a what he was trying to do, "Marco, relax....my wings are fine, I'm magic...remember? I know we're kinda like bugs to you, but wings don't get damaged that easily. Not to mention I could heal them...." Marco sighed in relief at the un-damaged pink wings sticking out of his friend's back, they seemed slightly bigger since the last he saw them? Apparently they didn't get too much bigger then this overall, and only reached their true extreme when Tom unlocked something something....magic nonsense he couldn't make out. They moved a bit and Tom saw Marco's fascinated expression, "You wanna touch them?" "What?" Marco exclaimed, blushing and moving his head away from Tom's wings. "It's been months Marco, they're not as fragile as they were before....go ahead, it's cool...just be careful..", Marco sat on the bed and Tom shifted his back towards him. The Human stared at the wings in fascination, before reaching a hand out to touch one. "Woah..." It was soft, and thin like paper. Marco was careful, whenever he pinched it Tom seemed to flinch, and last thing he wanted was to hurt Tom when he was showing immense trust to him. "I'm glad you like them, hopefully i'll be able to properly fly with them someday, Star's lucky....she gets cool bat wings...and it doesn't take long for her to use them..." Tom rambled on, "Some demons aren't lucky enough to get wings..." Marco let go of him and stood back up, "Well, that was cool..." "Someday, they'll be as big as my Dad's..." Tom went on, before pausing at the thought of his dream. He shook off those thoughts as quickly as he could, before Marco got suspicious, "Anyway, I'll go to sleep if you're sure...." "I am.." Marco set Tom's alarm again, and climbed in bed next to him, "And yes i'm staying, I gotta keep the big bad monsters away from you..." "Shut up.." Tom pulled the covers over both of them, and went back to bed.. - School was just as boring and average as it usually was, other then Jackie and Marco having a full on conversation for once (Courtesy of Tom), It passed by rather uneventful. Marco, however, had a bit of a skip in his step as they walked home that day. "I can't believe you got Jackie Lynn Thomas to talk to me today!!" Marco looked ecstatic, like he couldn't believe any of it despite how small it even was. "I owe you big time, We talked and we got along, and she didn't laugh at me!!", He nudged Tom, "Maybe soon we can go on a date!" "That sounds great Marco.." Tom said, "I hope things really work out between you two.." "You ok?" Marco asked, "You sound kinda sad.." "It's just....you're doing so well with your crush, and Star...", Tom went on, " You know...." Marco bit his lip, "Y'know, for what it's worth...I think you're too good for her.." "Don't say that Marco..." "You are.." He argued, " I don't know what happened in the past, but you're one of the coolest people I've met!! You're funny, and forgiving, and willing to look past flaws, and willing to get yourself help, and just so much fun to be around.." Tom grinned, a bit red, "That's...really nice of you Marco.." "Heh, sorry? Too much?", Marco was also red and embarrassed. "Nah....that's plenty.." Tom nudged his friend, "Well, I guess maybe I can start dating again after I'm better....It's hard to get over your first love, y'know?" "I can imagine..." "Hey, Marco?" "Yep?" "You think i'm ever gonna..y'know, find someone out there? I mean it's just...You know I'm not very..social, And uh....my family's just kinda..." Tom's father suddenly crossed his mind again and he flinched a bit, "Yeah..just....I just don't want to be alone and sad the rest of my life y'know?" "Tom, you're not gonna be sad and alone for the rest of your life, at the very least you'll be stuck with me...", Marco joked, "And If I can help it, i'll make sure you never feel like that ever again..." Tom smiled, and that's when a light bulb popped into his head. "Nng, Tom, What's with the face?" Tom's mischievous grin was making him nervous, and his nerves must've shown clearly on his face because Tom was laughing. "Don't worry Marco...", He said as they arrived to the Diaz residence, " Just go do your Homework stuff....I Got some stuff to do....." He dropped his backpack on the couch, and made his way upstairs before Marco could question the prince. "Tom, I swear, if you're gonna pull another magic prank on me!!!" Marco called after him, he heard Tom's door slam shut from downstairs and sighed. He pulled out his homework and walked into the kitchen to work on it, only hoping Tom wasn't up to anything sinister. - Tom was acting suspicious all week frankly, and he refused to tell Marco why. Marco didn't like it when Tom was being suspicious, just as much as he didn't like being forced into uncomfortable situations, Tom might have been his best friend but that didn't mean he couldn't do something wrong when Marco least expected it. Maybe Janna and Ponyhead finally broke him? Marco shuddered at the thought of the three of them ganging up on him, that was a disaster waiting to happen. He was shut in his room, working on the last of his homework considering it was friday and a new weekend was about to start. His parents were out at some sort of event and he and Tom were to take care of the house when a loud noise got his attention from downstairs. He fell out of his chair and scrambled to get back up, opening his door and running to the stairs, "Tom?! Is everything ok?" "Ack.." Marco could hear Tom grunting from the kitchen and made his way down the stairs gently, and that's when he noticed the living room was set up with snacks and the pillows were shaped into a fort over the couch. There were Marco's favorite movies and video games lined up on the coffee table, and a familiar pink rabbit sitting on the couch. Marco looked at this briefly before finding an fallen mewman on the floor, covered in nacho cheese and aching like heck. Tom noticed Marco looking down at him and smiled weakly. "Suprise?" "Tom....what happened?" Marco reached a hand out and pulled Tom to his feet, he looked rather embarrassed. "I tried to make Nachos..." "And-?" "I uh...used magic....maybe?" "Maybe?" Tom gave an embarrassed laugh, "Ok, I did use magic...a lot of it...I uh....." Marco smiled and rolled his eyes, "Tom, I saw the setup in the living room, what's going on?" Tom rubbed his arm, he felt sticky and gross all over, at least the cheese hid his embarrassed blush. "Well, you've done alot for me....since I got here, and I was uh..." He didn't have the guts to even look at Marco, "Look, I just thought...after all the stuff I put you through, I could do something kinda nice for you...and ..Yeah..." Marco giggled, "Go get cleaned up dude, then we'll talk more about this...." Tom grabbed his wand out of the cheesy mess, and in seconds he was clean all over, him and wand free of cheese. He made Marco step aside to clean up his mess with an apologetic smile, "I'm better at cleaning spells then cooking...for good reason..." Tom attempted to look Marco in the eyes, but before he could, felt arms wrap around him in a tight hug. Marco held on to him like he'd vanish forever if he didn't, burying his head into Tom's shoulder, "Thanks Tom, This is really sweet of you..." Tom returned the embrace, "It's the least I could do.....I know I've put you through a lot since I came here..." He sighed sadly, "It's just, you've done so many wonderful things for me, and I really haven't done a lot for you and I just kinda....feel like I should've done this a long time ago...". He separated them, and took off his hat to place it on the human's head. "Tonight, It's about you, not me, not my ex, not Lilicia....just my best friend..." - Tom and Marco learned they shared much in common soon after Tom moved in, they shared taste in music, in movies, even in tv shows as they sometimes binge-watched soap operas and cooking show's together for the heck of it. and Marco loved it. He never though he'd have another friend who enjoyed so much of the same stuff, Well, Tom didn't enjoy everything but he could clearly tolerate if for Marco's sake and that was good enough for him. Marco and Tom were playing a fighting game, and of course strategic Marco was doing very well while non-strategic Tom had died a few times. After the next boss was defeated, Tom paused the game much to a pumped up Marco's distaste. "Hey! What'd you do that fo-" Marco stopped talking as Tom pushed a present in front of him, Tom clearly didn't use magic to wrap it as it was taped up sloppily and the bow was a bit ajar, but Marco carefully took it from him red-faced. Tom tried to hide his blush, "I uh.....got you something....it's kinda stupid, I just thought you might like it...." Marco gave him a smile and started unwrapping, opening the brown box to find a familiar armband sitting on cushioning tissue paper. "Your red armband?" Marco asked, "Tom, You didn't have t-" "It's nothing Marco.." Tom said, "I wear one just because I like to, and since I didn't use the other...I though you might like it...." Marco slipped it on his left arm, it felt snug, but honestly kind've nice. Tom smiled, "I heard friends get each other matching bracelets and stuff on earth to show signs of friendship, So I figured this was close enough...." Marco tugged Tom over for a hug, "Well, Girls are the only ones who really do that, but I love it....now I look just as cool as you.." They separated and grinned at one another before Tom picked up his remote to resume playing. "Thanks for tonight Tom..." Tom glanced at his armband hugging Marco, and his hat resting upon the human's head, his lips parted in a beautiful smile. "What are friends for?" - Marco opened his eyes after midnight, and it took him a bit to remember where he was and what happened. He felt very tired and all he wanted was to go back to sleep, but then he was startled to hear a strange rumbling noise coming from right next to him. He tried to move, but then realized he couldn't. And then he realized he wasn't even in his bed, he was sitting upright on his couch, covered in blankets. And right next to him, was his roommate, fast asleep, and head resting happily on the human's shoulder. He was snoring lightly, the rumbling noise finally having a source. Marco had to laugh, Tom looked so silly, he could've sworn he might have even been drooling a bit. They were watching movies last night, and by the looks of it, passed out during one together. Marco sighed, what a night, but at least Tom was resting peacefully. Marco shifted a bit and decided to go back to sleep, no point in waking Tom up, when he felt Tom move....a lot. Tom was starting to mumbled in his sleep, and Marco's ears pricked up and the sounds of Tom mumbling Marco's name as well as a few other words that sounded a lot like "Dad" and "No". Then Tom shifted himself off of Marco and began moving much more wildly, his pleasant dreams clearly turned into more nightmares. Marco tried to grab onto him, he needed to wake him up or calm him down. His arms went around the fidgeting Mewman's waist, "Tom Tom!! Hey, it's ok....I'm here..." Tom stopped moving, he clinging onto the source holding him, and opened his eyes, breathing heavily. "M-Marco?" "Yeah...I'm here...", Marco still held onto his friend, "Are you ok?" Tom refused to let Marco go, and seconds later he noticed tears were starting to run down his cheeks. "No.....no, i'm not ok..." Marco let Tom cry for a little bit, rubbing his back to comfort him, after Tom calmed down Marco rested his hands of Tom's shoulders and had him look at him. "Can you talk about it?" Tom didn't speak, but he shook his head. "Ok....I won't ask then...." Marco tried to stand up but Tom held on still, "Just.....give me a few more minutes ok?" The trembling boy closely held onto his friend closely until his shoulders ceased moving and his breathing became much more normal. He looked ashamed of himself when Marco saw his face again, like he just ruined a birthday party, or like how he looked after the ball. "Tom, It's ok....", Marco started, "It's ok to cry....." "I ruined your night..." ,Tom mumbled. "No, you didn't...you didn't ruin anything, don't blame yourself for being sad....", Marco assured, "Don't you ever blame yourself for this....for how you feel....". Tom didn't say anything, wiping his eyes and trying not to look at Marco in the face anymore, then he manged to speak in a small voice, "You...aren't angry at me?" "No, why would I be angry?" "Dad gets angry....when this happens.....", He mumbled, "When I ruin nights for him for being upset......." "Don't listen to him, It's ok..." Marco soothed Tom a bit more and helped him stand up, "Let's clean up everything, then head to bed, i'll bunk with you tonight....I don't want you to sleep alone..." Tom nodded, and held onto Marco's hand as Marco started picking up plates of food and trash off the coffee table. Tom helped Marco clean in silence, movies and games put away, food gone, tables and carpet cleaned. The living room soon looked good as new and Marco headed upstairs to Tom's room. "We're not gonna change?", Tom mumbled, earning a laugh from Marco. "Tom, it's 1 am, and I don't wanna leave you alone tonight....let's just get some rest...ok?", Marco ushered Tom onto his bed, and slipped next to him. "You're having nightmares and you're not yourself....I'm not leaving until you feel safe again.." They faced each other on the flame sheets and Marco set Tom's hat between them so he could properly lay his head down on Tom's other pillow. "You don't have to...", Tom started. "And you didn't have to plan a night for me, or get me and Jackie to talk, or give me your armband...", The human interrupted, "Tom, I want to do this, let me help you...." Tom seemed to consider it for a bit, and closed his crimson eyes, yawning. "Ok...." He said in a small voice, a few seconds passed and he mumbled out something else, something almost hard to hear. "Thanks...." Marco smiled and watched his friend slowly fall asleep peacefully before allowing his own eyes to droop closed. "That's what friends are for Tom.."

#tomco #star vs the forces of evil #svstfoe #svtfoe #tom the demon #marco #marco diaz #fanfiction #fanfic #my art #tom vs the forces of evil

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