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seventeenlovesthree · 4 months ago

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Digi Dynamic Shipping Game

Send me two names among the following 12 and I’ll write a short analysis post about them:

Whether canon provides input on them or not.

Sorato are a very interesting and - at this point in time - unique case in regards to canonically confirmed relationships in the Digimon universe. Despite the fact that they had been shown to have started dating through the course of Digimon Adventure 02 - with the epilogue showing them to have two children together -, the ongoing course of the series post 02 is... Incredibly vague about them to say the least. Disclaimer: I am not intending to bash the ship, this is a personal analysis post in which I am trying to analyze it from my point of view based on what we're being shown. And I want to thank my dearest @dutchforstrangers and @jamesthedigidestined for all the input I got over the years to put this into words!

First of all, Digimon Adventure presented Sora and Yamato as very interesting parallels to one another, hinting at a certain family angle in subtext. To summarize it: They're both prone to try and handle things by themselves, hiding their true feelings behind masks as they both believe that they don't have what it takes to activate or even deserve their respective Crests at first, Love and Friendship. This is in part thanks to their shared familial trauma and strained relationships with their mothers. It’s why they’re so prone to being engulfed by darkness, why their dark caves are dangerous manifestations of their declining mental health, self-doubt and fears. That is why the soul-searching is needed, repeatedly so. It’s why they understand each other’s need to be left alone - which is something we will see throughout the entirety of the Adventure series for both of them. By the end of the first season, Sora had already been on her way to reconciliation with her own mother and, after everything she went through, was able to reassure Yamato that he could go on to find his own path as she did hers before, believing that he could do it too. In return, Yamato had been put - and eventually also put himself - in the position to pull Sora out of her own state of darkness as well. Because he had been there himself, he was finally able to put things into words. (Which may or may not be influenced by Yamato also perceiving Sora as a motherly figure, reminding him of his and Takeru's mother, according to the novels.)

Them being the way they are is also why they need Takeru’s softness and Taichi’s persistence (as well as Jyou’s support and Mimi’s reassurance at different times) to get it back together again. They have to be reminded that they don’t HAVE TO be alone in all this (even if they often choose to).

I want to underline Taichi's importance in particular here - because even though he reassures Sora to go for Yamato in 02, encouraging her to actively pursue what and whom she herself wants for once... Canon is very reluctant to openly state that they're actually a couple and the ongoing debate on whether or not the Digimon staff was ever fully settled on them being endgame or not doesn't help matters. (I will not open that debate once more, just know that this is still a thing.) On one hand, there is official art depicting them as close, with him usually having an arm around her shoulder, so "show don't tell" does apply here!

But on the other hand, the 02 audio drama "Armor Evolution to the Unknown" has a very... Debatable way to refer to them. "Daisuke’s Great Valentine’s Day Plan" has the other girls gossip over how they think that Yamato must really have a hard time enduring Sora's wrath and that they probably won't last through a fight; "Armor Evolving in Chaos" implies that Sora is asking herself why Yamato has been "so cold to her recently", causing him to desperately sing a love song for her...

It all feels very awkward and rocky. And to get back to Taichi here: The aftermath of 02 mainly shows us a somewhat dysfunctional bond between these three friends and it's very unclear what is even going on between them. For example, there is their portrayal in Diablomon Strikes Back; the way the picture of Yamato and Sora gets leaked causes the group to react in shock, followed by awkward silence... And the way Sora eventually leaned towards Taichi instead of Yamato, to this day, is reason for the fandom to debate on what the - at that time - current state of Sorato is. The writers of Tri even mention that "no official relationships are going on between [Taichi, Sora and Yamato]", which begs the question as to whether or not it had worked out in the end. We don't know if, when or why Sora and Yamato broke up, what their stance is towards each other. Just like the foundation of the relationship itself, we do not actively hear what they mean to each other outside of weird, non-canon audio drama humour - and all we get is vague subtext and a forced (somewhat fanservice-y) love triangle that was never supposed to be one in the first place.

I say forced, because in usual fandom portrayals of the "traingle", it's Taichi and Yamato "fighting" over Sora's affections, which is, never, not even once, confirmed to be true - and while Sora is being put into a position in Tri that implies that she has to pick between them (aka Yamato's concert and Taichi's football match)... It never actually happens. Instead, in the end, Sora and Yamato both appear to be more likely to have feelings for Taichi than for each other, but that is a whole different box of pandora to open up.

Long story short - canon has never settled on how to commit to them and thus, the infamous Taiorato fandom wars had never really come to an end. Which is a shame, because the initial set-up in Adventure would have allowed for a lot of mutual growth and healing potential due to Sora's and Yamato's shared experiences and view-points. Unfortunately, the anime decided to never really SHOW them spending actual screentime for the sake of bonding together post their scenes in Adventure, neither in 02 nor in Tri. And if they talk to each other - it is usually about Taichi. Tri does include little nods towards them (hands on shoulders, little reaction shots, mostly on Sora's behalf), but is equally prone to depict a visible distance between them, culminating in Yamato not noticing that Sora, by the end of the series, had cut her hair even shorter than before (so he's getting called out by Takeru for not being very observant). Kizuna at least implies that Yamato knows what Sora is up to - but the only scenes that actually include her have her be concerned for Piyomon and Taichi instead...

The epilogue itself had also always been reason to speculate for decades by now; in comparison to Miyaken - which had actually gotten quite a solid foundation in the most recent movie -, there had been a visible physical distance between Sorato while talking to their children, which heated up fan speculations as to whether they're still together at this point in time...

Whether I think why and how they’d work.

As I haven't been able to keep it shortly up there after all, you may be able to tell that I am somewhat frustrated with their portrayal. Whether production quarrels got in the way or not, whether they've been trying to undo the damage by keeping things as vague as possible throughout all these years, I am not able to tell. What I do know is that - Digimon never shied away from giving us realistic interpersonal relationships. We've seen it all, between friends, siblings, parents and children, married couples... The sad part here is - that also includes relationships that are not meant to last.

And as much as it may sting, as promising as their initial parallels may have been... To refer back to my previous analysis post, maybe their mutual tendencies to "pull back and isolate themselves" had been (one of) the reason(s) why they were not right for each other in the long run. Do not get me wrong, I support the idea that Sora had developed feelings for Yamato as a teenager - they were 14 years old, they had been through life-changing events together and related to each other due to their strained mother-relationships... Again, we never really hear how they feel about each other, but: Why wouldn't Sora feel drawn to Yamato as a kindred spirit, someone who could understand her and already proved to be able to give her the space she needed in the past? Let's also not forget that we're also still talking about Sora Takenouchi here - she's a born caretaker, even if she doesn't want to be reduced to that role, she is still naturally loving. So it also makes sense for Yamato to fall for her, to feel cared for, loved and wanted? To get the affection he had always craved while simultaneously being able to live out his own protective side? Heck yeah! In theory - it makes perfect sense! Let teenagers experiment, have fun, figure themselves out!

But canon also shows us that they - and Taichi - actually turn out to be quite... Dysfunctional young adults due to a LOT of unresolved self-esteem issues, mental health problems and a lack of a clear identity path. Adventure and 02 had shown them to be on a good way, but... Puberty apparently didn't allow them to work on their issues in healthy ways, which applies to all three of them - which, once again, is mirrored in the dysfunctional bond between them as well as in the fact that THEY were chosen to be the ones shown to lose their partnerships in Kizuna.

For some reason, Yamato and Sora had drifted apart and, as far as we can tell, were not able to rekindle their initial romantic attraction by the time of Kizuna/The Beginning. Instead, there were, apparently, a lot of confused feelings for Taichi involved... And an inability to open up to themselves and each other about their dreams, aspirations, paths. They tried to become "performative adults" - and lost themselves in the process. Sora is the literal embodiment of the "I'm going my own way by myself" as of Kizuna, distancing herself from literally everyone once more while she still follows in her mother's footsteps - and Taichi and Yamato did very similar things.

My impression here is that, even if Sora and Yamato did eventually get back together again at some point, maybe after doing some more soul-searching and getting in touch with themselves again, getting their Digimon back... I'm not sure if they'd last. Especially if you consider Yamato's career path as an astronaut, who'd spend quite some time away from home, whereas Sora would not only be tasked with her own, probably very time- and energy-consuming career as a fashion designer; she'd also have to take care of their two children by herself... Which kinda delegates Yamato back to his initial lone-wolf-persona he never even wanted to have, literally forced to keep a physical distance, probably doomed to follow in his own parents' footsteps of being incapable of maintaining a happy, balanced marriage... It's not that he doesn't WANT to break through generational trauma, quite the contrary, he is a hands-on person after all, especially when he has set his mind to something - but he's not always the most observant and vocal when it comes to the subject of his own relationships and we know how he tends to deal with conflict, he either gets unintentionally hurtful or... Leaves. And since Sora can also very easily lash out when she feels cornered, Yamato might not be capable to give himself or her what they need - just like the silly audio drama once implied. Especially because after everything she went through, Sora needs as much reassurance and validation as he does - and living through a marriage in which her husband would be away just as much as her own father used to be in his marriage might... Not be the healthiest approach.

Whether I’d prefer them as platonic or romantic ship.

Whether or not we'll ever retcon the epilogue or not - my personal verdict is that Sorato could have been a great opportunity to show that dating as teenagers can be super fun and nice, but you may not be compatible long-term. But it's okay to break up and move on and maybe be a little awkward for a while, but since you still have that history and a deeper understanding for each other, you still get out of it stronger and with a bond that is just as meaningful as a romantic connection. I feel like it could really have been great like that and I do have a very soft spot for their potential - especially as parallels to Taishirou, there is nothing more fun than having these four go on adventures and silly double dates together IF everything is well executed and functional and if people actually TALK to each other for once. I have a billion set-ups in the back of my mind in my AUs where they would end up moping about their mothers and about Taichi and teasing each other, Sora would actually enjoy collaborating with Taichi and Takeru to get under Yamato's skin, but she also knows his gentle and soft and cheesy side, they adore each other, even if they're incredibly dense about it and Mimi would forever roll her eyes at them... I could go on.

But even if things stay like they are in the epilogue - the "Sorato is actually divorced in the epilogue, but still on good terms and take care of their children like responsible adults who successfully broke through generational trauma" approach can be pretty nice and enjoyable as well (especially in a scenario in which Yamato would end up with Jyou and Sora with Mimi, because I feel like these two get them the best - or both of them actually end up with Taichi, so the triangle can FINALLY be resolved in a satisfying way. The comphet memes about them from back in the day also really spoke to me, because I them getting together could also have been them trying to compensate for their attraction towards their own gender - OR because neither of them thought they could have Taichi in the end, but... THAT'S just a theory after all.) Either way, they care deeply about each other in every reality - even if I personally believe they might work better platonically.

#my two cents #meta #shipping analysis #you know i will not tag them with their names because i don't want to #spread negatvity and attract conflict #personal #shipping game

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thedeliverygod · 9 months ago

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Instead of rushing myself to finish my WIP, I decided I'm just going to re-post an oldie but goodie

Just as Sweet (with a bonus White Day 2nd chapter if you're interested!)

Hiyori was nodding along and smiling as Yama excitedly discussed her plans for Valentine’s Day with her boyfriend as they walked home. Still, as happy as she was for her friend, her thoughts drifted to whether or not she should do anything other than obligation chocolate for Yato as she did for the rest of her friends.

“And you, Hiyori?” Ami’s voice knocked her out of her internal debate.

Blinking in confusion, she questioned back, “What about me?”

“What about that guy on your phone sensei caught you staring at? Are you doing anything for him?” She wiggled her eyebrows, intrigued.

Hiyori felt like her face had caught fire, unable to form words.

“That’s right! Who is that guy, anyway?” Yama immediately jumped in, moving closer as they slowed to a stop.

“H-he’s just a friend!” She managed to finally spit out, though she quickly felt herself growing light headed with embarrassment.

The two other girls looked at each other, clearly not buying it.

“Right.” Yama dragged out, “But! You do have a picture, right? Show us, just for the fun of it.”

“If he’s just a friend, it’s no big deal, right?” Ami echoed her sentiments mischievously.

“You two are…” Hiyori grumbled to herself, reaching into her pocket with a shaking head as she huffed, “Fine.” As they shared their squeals of success, she sighed to herself as she unlocked her phone and moved to photos. ‘Most of the pictures I have are selfies from him stealing my phone when I’m tutoring Yukine-kun…’

Finding one she deemed as relatively acceptable, she held out her phone and turned her head away, “Here.” Her ears were instantly filled with more high-pitched squeals and she flinched.

“Hiyori!”

“He’s gorgeous! Again, who exactly who is this guy!? How did you meet him?”

She took a breath and shoved her phone back into her pocket, not sure how to respond. “I, um. You know the younger boy I mentioned before that I tutor? They live together.”

Ami squinted, “So you mean he’s his older brother?”

Hiyori shook her head, “No, he’s more like, um… his guardian?”

“So older guys are your thing, huh?” Yama snapped her fingers as she came to her realization. She winked and elbowed Hiyori, “Wow, and I thought being a closet wrestling fan was your only rebellious trait.”

She covered her face with both of her hands, pleading, “Stop.”

Yama and Ami shared a laugh before Ami repeated, “So… are you going to make chocolate or anything?”

“I don’t know yet.” Hiyori only slightly moved her hand to answer her friends.

“Why not?” Yama tilted her head, frowning.

Hiyori lowered her hands but turned her head away, her voice soft, “I don’t think he would return my feelings.” Before she knew it, she felt both of her friend’s hands on her shoulders.

“You never know until you try!” Ami gave her a gentle pat, “I think you should go for it.”

“And I think the same!” Yama let go of her to give her a thumbs up with a wide grin, “Besides, wouldn’t it be so fun to go on double dates?”

Hiyori laughed nervously, answering, “Yeah, sure…” Taking another breath, she commented, “Thanks, both of you.”

“Of course.” They both flashed more smiles and continued forward.

She returned as much of a smile as she could muster, but her feelings were bittersweet. ‘It’s so much more complicated than I can tell you. I wish I could. And I wish you could meet everyone, but… even I’m not supposed to be as involved as I am.’

Now that dinner was finished, the time had come to go through with her plan. The only problem was she hadn’t quite figured out how to ask Yato how to come by himself and not bring Yukine. As much as she loved the younger boy, she very much did not want him to be present for what was essentially going to be spilling her heart out to his god.

After going through various scenarios in her head, she decided to keep it plain and simple. Her heartbeat so loud that it was ringing in her ears, she typed out her text on her phone.

Can you come over soon? And by yourself if possible.

She hesitantly hit send and held her breath as she waited. Finally, her phone beeped to signify Yato’s response.

Uhhh sure. Is everything okay?

She took a breath before answering.

Yes everything’s fine

After another brief moment of silence, her phone beeped again.

Just give me a few minutes

Her heart continued to beat erratically within her chest, making the time pass both impossibly slow and fast at the same time. So, when her phone eventually rang, she wasn’t sure if she felt ready or not. In her hesitation, the phone rang several times before she finally hit the answer button.

“I had to sneak away from Yukine.” He announced as he appeared in a flash of bright light, “And it wasn’t easy, so you’d better make it worth it, Hiyori.” He finished with a wide grin.

Her mouth already dry at the sight of his smile, she swallowed and apologized, “S-sorry.”

“You getting sick? Your voice sounds kinda off.” He tilted his head and took a step closer.

Hiyori quickly shook her head, “No, no. I just could probably use some water…”

“On it!” Yato volunteered excitedly, dashing out her bedroom door before she could even get a word in.

Exasperated, she collapsed backward onto her bed and took the opportunity to at least try and calm herself down. Of course, all progress she made vanished as soon as he popped back in the door.

“Here you go,” He kneeled down and held it out.

Sitting back up, she nodded gratefully as she took it into her hands and took a sip. Sitting the glass down carefully on her desk, she looked back up to Yato, “You can’t just wander freely around the house like that, Yato. What if my big brother had been home?”

“I would just say I’m getting a glass of water?” He shrugged, “I wouldn’t worry about it too much, Hiyori. He’s kind of a weirdo himself.”

‘You’re completely missing the point.’ She held her palm up to her forehead, “If you say so.”

“So, really,” Yato sat down on the bed, across from her, “What’d you call me over for?”

She met his eyes and let out slowly, “I wanted to… give you something.”

His eyes widened curiously as he repeated, “Give me something?”

Hiyori nodded before looking down to her lap sheepishly.

“Oh—that’s right. It’s Valentine’s Day. I appreciate the thought, but I don’t really need obligation chocolate or anything.” He gave a small, forced laugh, “Of course I’ll take anything to Yukine, Kofuku and Daikoku, though—”

“I-it is chocolate, but it’s not out of obligation…” She still didn’t meet his gaze, reaching to the drawer in her desk to pull out a white box with a red bow, “…I-I made it myself, so it may not be the best, but I think it’s okay.”

There was a brief pause but Yato started to call out her name, “Hiyori—”

“Just let me get this out, okay?” She forced a smile as she looked up and he nodded, clearly looking concerned. “I’m sort of just using Valentine’s Day as an excuse to say all of this because I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now, but I didn’t know how to.”

She slid the chocolate box towards him, while getting up from the bed and beginning to pace around her room as she explained, “I realized I was in love with you back when you were gone. Kazuma-san sort of helped me come to that conclusion even if… it wasn’t exactly in the nicest way, to put it lightly.”

“What? What did he do?” Yato asked, his voice sharp and dark.

Hiyori glanced back at him briefly, “Don’t—don’t worry about it right now. He’s apologized since then. Anyway, we’ve obviously had a lot of important things going on that needed your full focus. Especially helping Yukine-kun get settled again. So, I didn’t want to say anything about my feelings, because I don’t really know how you feel. I know you really care about me and sometimes go over the top with that… but I don’t know how you really feel.”

She turned back to him but kept her eyes low, her hands clasped together, “So I held it in, at least until now. I know there’s never really going to be a perfect time, but I also don’t think I can keep lying to myself. Or to you, either. I just hope… no matter what, we can still be friends. Because I can’t imagine my life without you. That’s why I’ve told you over and over that I don’t want to cut our ties and that I don’t want to lose you.”

Yato wordlessly slipped off the bed and stood up.

Just as Hiyori felt the tears start to drip down her face, all of the built-up emotions finally pouring out, she felt him wrap his arms around her in a tight embrace. His face buried against her neck, she soon felt his own tears wetting her skin.

She wasn’t sure if she should laugh or feel worse, “I’ve got you crying now, too?” She reached up over his shoulders to wipe at her own eyes.

“Well, yeah.” He answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, adding a sniffle as he finished. He pulled back from her slightly, his hands lingering at her shoulders, “Hiyori, you… how do I even put this.” He let out a breath, “For so long I’ve been a minor god, no name, no shrine, nothing to hold on to. And then I met you and… you helped me with Yukine. You helped me understand him and become a better god so that I could take care of him like he deserved. You built me my first shrine. You’ve showed me time and time again that all my efforts to change aren’t useless. How could I not love you?”

Hiyori paused and swallowed, “I appreciate you saying that—but I’m not sure if you mean it in quite the same way.”

“Not the same way…?” Yato repeated, looking her over with a confused look.

“When I say I love you, I mean as so much more than just a friend. Kazuma-san and Tenjin-sama told me that gods—” She didn’t get to finish before he reached up to cup her face, leaning forward to press his lips against hers.

He only lingered for a moment before he pulled away, a small smile spreading across his features, “I have no idea what those two said, but I’m pretty sure I know what I mean.” He moved the hand that wasn’t resting against her face to her waist, pulling her ever so slightly closer to him, “But I can prove it to you if you need me to.”

Hiyori’s lips parted in shock and her voice caught in her throat before she managed to answer, “N-no, I believe you.” Her face was so hot she felt like her head was going to explode.

Yato pressed his forehead against hers, letting out, “That’s a relief. Although, I’ll admit I did sort of want to.”

“Of course you did.” She sighed in response before they both let out a round of laughter. “But in all seriousness,” She pressed her lips to his, “I love you.”

He answered her kiss eagerly when given the chance before giving his answer, “I love you too.” With that, he moved his hand to the back of her head and pulled her into a tight embrace again.

#noragami #yatori #noragami fave pairing day

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zaldritzosrose · 9 months ago

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I don't normally post personal shit, but tumblr is my safe space and I need somewhere to vent this though I'll probably delete later.

For whatever reason, I decided to torture myself by having the 'where is our relationship going' conversation on valentines day (apparently I hate myself). And unfortunately it went as badly as possible resulting in my now single ass crying herself to sleep while debating whether the cold is worth it at 1am so I can smoke my sads away.

There's that horrible feeling I've made the wrong choice and I don't expect anyone to sympathise or try to cheer me up, but expect a shit tonne of whatever posts from me with my fixations as a distraction.

Life update done, feel free to ignore.

#lana talks #personal #no need to interact

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where-is-francis · 2 years ago

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𝙏𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 —♡-> 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤𝙣

Before You Interact — Rules Of My Blog

𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙩: Part of my Tunnel of Love blurb series (masterlist coming soon)

𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙨: They/Them

𝘼/𝙉: I was debating on making these in a masterpost but ultimately decided against it. I’ll make a masterlist as soon as everything in this series is posted.

𝙏𝙒: Hinting at buying/smoking weed. That’s it.

𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤𝙣 would much rather be doing anything else for Valentine’s Day. Originally, he came up with an idea for a date — just the two of you at his house for the night. However, that plan only lasted about three minutes, as you were roped in by Nancy to help decorate for the school dance.

“Alright,” Steve put the car in park and turned to the kids in the back. “I’m leaving you guys to do your own thing. But if I have to drop you off late because you were too busy sucking face, I’m telling your parents.”

The group — Max, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin — all nodded and cursed the older male under their breath as they spilled out and headed to the gym. The dance wasn’t formal, but the small group still dressed up a bit, and it was enough to make him smile. In order to fundraise the school had, once again, made their own “Tunnel of Love” in the main hall of the building — which is where you would be right now. Steve caught a glimpse of you wearing your (just slightly) more formal attire as you ushered some parents through the hall.

Although you looked great, he still wished Nancy hadn’t convinced you to work for the night. Not on Valentine’s Day.

The graduate pulled the door open and stepped off to greet you, squeezing your hand quickly so nobody noticed. As much as he hated to admit it, the hallway looked really nice. There were streamers and tinsel fringe hanging from the walls and ceiling that reflected red and pink light spots through the area. Decorative hearts plastered across the usually cream colored brick were handmade by staff for the event and complimented the pictures.

As part of the Hawkins High tradition, anybody could donate a few bucks to have a picture of them and their spouse in the Tunnel of Love.

“You here for a tour, Sailor?” You smirked.

“Not particularly, and that’s ex-Sailor to you.”

Steve immediately eyed the small table you were running. A plethora of sugar cookies still sat individually wrapped — though they weren’t going to last long. He was debating on whether or not to buy a few before he left to inevitably go home and wait for the dance to be over.

“I’m sorry about tonight.” You whispered across the table. “They really needed some help. You should’ve seen it when I got here — Nancy had nearly driven herself crazy trying to do it all.”

He wasn’t mad at either of you, to be honest.

“I don’t doubt it. It’s okay, though. We still have later — I mean, after I take the pipsqueaks home.” Steve mused as he messed with the fake rose pens.

The couple that had entered moments before him were now done walking the tunnel, giving you two a moment together. You smiled and waved as they left — your friendly nature was one of the reasons the former king fell for you. He joined your side against the folding table and leaned back to rest against it while looking at you with heart eyes.

“I know how to make it up to you — if that’s what you want.” There was something teasing about your tone that had him giddy.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” He watched as your hand pulled out a ten from under the small money box on the table.

“Well, your parents came in to donate and leave their picture earlier. But, being the forgetful individual that I am, I misplaced it! Quite sad, if I do say so myself. And now they’re gone for the weekend — what is it this time, skiing? — and I can’t give them their money back.” You explained sarcastically.

Steve broke into a grin and laughed, eventually smacking you lightly on the arm. To be honest, he always hated seeing their picture in the tunnel. It was never about donating to the school, or showing how far they came from high school sweethearts. It was always about upholding the image of the family. The Harringtons.

“Oh yeah, and what do you suggest we do about this?”

You rose to meet him from the folding chair. Your arms skillfully began to trap him against the table until you slipped the bill into his front pocket. He couldn’t look away from your features in the warm lighting of the deserted hall.

“Gee, I don’t know. What about you and me grab a pizza and go to skull rock while the kids are having fun? Hell, might as well swing by Rick’s while we’re there. What do you say, handsome?”

Steve’s lips were a mere movement away from yours. It was an even better date than he had originally planned.

“You mean it?”

“Of course, baby.”

He swallowed the lump in his throat a bit. “I’ll go find Nance and get her to cover.”

Reblogs instead of likes. Reblogs help other people find my works. Comments and tags very much appreciated. 💕 More male and enby reader fics on my blog.

#x male reader #x gender neutral reader #stranger things x male reader #stranger things x gender neutral reader #steve harrington x male reader #steve harrington x gender neutral reader #jaws stranger things

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bookshelf-in-progress · 2 years ago

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The Six Swans for a fairytale retelling?

I finally filled this prompt by writing "Without Words" as my story for the Four Loves Fairy Tale Challenge. Since I put the story in a separate post, I'm going to self-indulgently use this ask to provide some author's notes.

For quite a few years now, I've had the idea to retell the ending of this fairy tale from the prince's point of view. It's so dramatic! He's protected this woman for years, and had to be deeply in love to do so, and now he's faced with enough evidence that he has to put her to death. How do you deal with that? I fully intended to use his POV to fill this prompt, yet, every time I tried, I couldn't make it interesting enough to hold my attention.

Then a few weeks back, I had the image of the prince begging his wife to speak, while she had to stand strong and refuse, despite the pain it causes both of them. This became much more interesting (and easier to write as a short retelling), because the prince's conflict comes from not knowing, while her conflict comes from fully knowing what's going on and having to make the hard choice not to save herself.

From the first spark of this idea, the couple was named Eliza and Christian. Eliza because of Andersen's fairy tale, of course, and Christian because Andersen's tale is Danish, and Denmark has had ten kings named Christian. His name became even more thematically fitting when I decided to write this story for the Inklings Challenge.

I debated whether I should retell the "Six Swans" version where the heroine is accused of killing her three children, or the "Wild Swans" route where she's just accused of witchcraft. The witchcraft charge is enough to condemn her to death, is more directly related to her task, and makes her story parallel her stepmother's better. However, the missing children angle made this much more painful and implied a stronger bond between the two of them. They're not only married, but they've had three children together! He's protected her against two different accusations of murder! The fact that he's been so supportive up to this point makes it even more dramatic when he finally is forced to execute her.

It does seem a bit ridiculous that he's let this go on long enough to lose three children, but that just adds to the drama of the moment. Christian knows Eliza well enough that he doesn't believe she could kill their children, but after three murders, the evidence is getting harder and harder to explain away, and even the king has to obey the law, so he signed the execution order to prevent rebellion from his government.

If I hadn't written that opening scene, I'd probably be rolling my eyes at some of the language--"the way our souls entwine"? Really? Who talks like that? But sometimes you just gotta write something very, very sappy. It's good for the soul. And I have a good excuse because I posted on Valentine's Day.

On a structural level, my favorite line in the story is probably, "Does the prisoner have any last words?" I was struggling with how to transition between Eliza musing about Christian and her brothers to the moment of breaking the curse, when that line of dialogue occurred to me, and the scene fell into place. It's a standard line for this type of scene, while tying in perfectly to the specific conflict here. Plus, it stops the guards from tying up Eliza long enough to keep her arms free for shirt-throwing.

This story taught me a lot about how to strategically use telling vs. showing. The standard points of the fairy tale--the breaking of the curse, the reunion with her brothers, the mother-in-law's crime, and the recovery of the children--are all told, rather than shown, because this story is about the bond between Eliza and Christian, and stopping to show anything else distracts from that. Like, I had tried to show the brothers explaining about the curse and the lost children, but that tangled me up in the logistics of the scene, and made me drop the thread of Eliza and Christian's relationship. Reducing it to summary allowed me to keep the focus where it needed to be.

I am sad I had to push her brothers so far into the background. That family bond is such an important part of the fairy tale, but the story's focus means I only get to name one brother.

Usually, one of the youngest brothers is stuck with the swan's wing, but I gave it to the eldest, because 1) I wanted to be different, 2) In the limited space, it allowed me to feature both her eldest brother and the swan wing brother at the same time, 3) giving the wing to the crown prince creates much more interesting conflict.

Retellings that give the youngest brother the wing usually go on and on about how he's torn between his ordinary human life and the freedom of life as a swan, and that's so whiny and boring to me. Giving it to the eldest brother, however, has concrete political consequences. He's crown prince! Will the people accept a king with the permanent mark of a curse? Can he leverage this imagery to his advantage? Now that he's lost his dominant hand (I made sure to make it as inconvenient as possible), he can neither write nor hold a sword, which could have profound effect on his reign. Giving him the wing could be a bit like Rabadash's curse in The Horse and His Boy--something that forces him to prioritize peace--especially since I've written him as a bit of a war-monger. Even with his limited amount of page-time, he fascinates me, and I'd kind of like to see where his story goes.

With the brothers so blithely talking about going home and taking Eliza with them, I imagine that in the interim of seven years, events have transpired that have eliminated the stepmother as a threat. Going home is just going home to a beloved father, not going to war.

Initially, I had wanted Eliza's first spoken word to be her husband's name. When that proved to be impractical in the execution scene, I considered giving her no dialogue, to prove that she doesn't need words to be a force in the story. Making her one word of direct dialogue be her husband's name felt like the perfect compromise.

In offering to let Eliza take the children, Christian is really being reckless. He blithely talks of transferring the crown, but any one of his kids--who he's offering to let grow up in a foreign country--could one day decide to take advantage of their valid claim to the throne to try to take over his kingdom. He's really lucky that Eliza forgave him.

Portraying the final kiss as "I let my silence speak for me", was not intentionally inspired by Gaskell's habit of referring to kissing scenes as "delicious silence", but I'm kind of pleased by the connection.

I'm proud of that final line. Ties everything up so neatly and concisely.

#adventures in writing #answered asks #fairy tale retellings #the six swans #the wild swans #without words #why-bless-your-heart

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shamelessrabbithole · 9 months ago

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What’s your take on the Valentine’s Day post from Layla and Noel … I think it’s super strange

What is going on with them?😮

Hey, anon. I hadn't given it much thought until this ask, actually. My honest answer is that I was just happy to see new pics of Noel and really hadn't taken a deeper dive than that. 🤤

But, if I have to put on my critical analysis hat, then I'd say, yes, Valentine's Day is sort of an odd holiday for choosing to announce the parting of a beloved pet. My understanding is that she'd removed several posts earlier this year, and most were of Sushi, so perhaps the cat had died as much as a month ago. So why choose a day of romantic love to make a public tribute to her?

I think I may have interpreted this as a sign their marriage was in trouble because they'd been inactive on social media for a long time, avoiding their usual anniversary/birthday tribute posts and not appearing together publicly since September. Then comes this Valentine's Day post, that's more like a sizzle reel of Noel (looking mighty hot, might I add) and Sushi than an acknowledgment of each other and their relationship. But, of course, then we got the Cognaitive wrap party pic letting us know she'd accompanied him there, which leads me away from that initial interpretation.

I maintain my usual stance on their marriage, which is that what they choose to show and withhold and when is always kind of bizarre. And, the nature of their relationship, whether a platonic marriage of convenience or built on something real and romantic, is debatable, but nothing that I like to judge because I don't feel qualified to. I'd like to have more concrete facts, and even then, "to each his own," would still probably be my take on the whole thing. Because they're both adults and I believe they've entered into this marriage with free will and either can exit that arrangement if it wasn't working for them anymore.

This was probably too long and convoluted answer, but I'm hoping it satisfied the ask for you, the way I'd interpreted it. 🫶🏻

#shameless tea #shamelessrabbithole #ask me stuff #ask me anything #noel and layla

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majaloveschris · 1 year ago

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I think you won't be seeing anything from either of them together again. Unless its a special occasion like a birthday dump, where there's a video on a story that will disappear after 24 hrs. Acknowledgment from either side now, i think, would do more harm to both than good. I agree with a previous post here that said the uncertainty is what is keeping him going between real or not. Once you have a definitive answer, what else is there to debate about? This keeps both in peoples minds and mouths. I don't think they care whether people are saying good or bad stuff. Just as long as people are talking.

You could be right. Maybe even if she is in Hawaii with him (I doubt it, but who knows?) they will save those photos for another dump, just like they did for Valentine's Day.

I think most people decided during the very first month, when the pap walk, Disneyworld happened. Obviously, there are people coming and going, but as I said before, most people will try to build whatever happens into their own opinion. I don't condemn people who've changed their minds about this being PR or real. I get that this is a confusing situation, and most people have had enough, whether it's real or not. It's important to respect other people's opinions. We can all be right and wrong.

I think Alba's side doesn't really care about whether she receives bad or good attention until she does. However, I don't think Chris's side feels the same way. I don't think his team or Chris want to receive negative attention. This is, I think, one of the reasons why there are a lot of articles coming out of him saying or doing something like several years ago.

#majaloveschris #chris and alba pr #cevans-love

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everythingsinred · 2 years ago

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Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Mikan (pt. 6)

Part 5 was posted very late and it took me so long to do and tired me out, so I was debating whether or not I should post today or leave it for tomorrow until I remembered that it's VALENTINE'S DAY! I'd be writing about them today anyway, so why not just post? Y'all just have more reading material for later.

Anyway, we just went over the Reo Arc! We know from Natsume's essay that his feelings have done a complete 180 and he's now very into her, but she's not privy to that information. Instead, we'll focus on her side of things and her newfound fondness for him.

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Chapter Seventeen

This last arc was a major turning point for both Natsume and Mikan. The difference is that Natsume has caught feelings (intensely romantic in nature), and Mikan has just started to think of him as a new friend. Just like Natsume doesn’t realize that Mikan has started to understand him better, Mikan is and will continue to be entirely oblivious to his romantic feelings for her.

Mikan begins her day in a great mood: she’s a single star now and has an immediate promotion in accommodations. She’s made a few more friends and she’s helped rescue somebody. She’s proud of herself. It’s not hard to make Mikan happy. She’s only a single star now, but her increased allowance, nicer room, and tastier food are all a huge step up from her no-star status, so she’s over the moon. By the time she finally gets to class for the first time in a week since the incident, everybody has heard rumors about what happened and is demanding details. Mikan, always eager to be liked and bask under the scope of positive attention, is happy to comply. She and Sumire fight under the spotlight for just a moment until Ruka and Natsume enter the classroom.

Sumire is Mikan’s friend now. She will always be difficult in some ways, but Mikan gets her now. Mikan doesn’t need people to be perfect to like them. She just needs to see that side of goodness, to understand how they work, in order to properly appreciate them. This is why I don’t think she’s a masochist. She’s just more patient than a normal person might be. She is willing to tolerate a certain level of bad behavior if she can see the goodness now and then. She’s always felt that way about Hotaru, and now she can feel that way about Natsume and Sumire. She was able to figure Sumire out, so now they can be friends, in their own special way, even if she isn’t as nice or sweet as one might expect.

NatsuMikan is able to function solely because Mikan is willing to put in effort. Natsume might love her now but her persistence is what allows them to have any kind of relationship.

Mikan wants that to be the case with Natsume. After all, she learned so much about him during that kidnapping incident. She sees him in an increasingly better light. That must mean she gets him now, that she’s figured him out the same way she’s figured Sumire out. So she smiles at him. That’s what friends do--smile at each other! “Good morning,” she begins to say, but he’s already turned around, intent on ignoring her.

The thing is, Mikan hasn’t figured Natsume out. She’s only gotten more clues to unlocking the bigger picture, but she still has a while to go before she can finally understand him. She might want to be friends with him now, but he’s giving off no indication that he feels the same.

But Ruka is. He smiles at her and greets her.

That’s good enough for now. After all, Mikan understands Natsume well enough now to accept that he won’t all of a sudden act like a best friend. She understands Sumire, and she’s starting to figure out Natsume. That’s a good start, and she’s still pleased with it.

These days everyone is working on the culture fest. Mikan gets little previews of what the other classes are working on, but one by one, all her classmates are summoned away by their ability class teachers. And although Mikan is excited to continue her work on the special ability class’s event, she can’t help but be jealous that her class doesn’t seem to have a teacher.

She's so insecure she's even jealous of the DA Class for having a teacher. Ridiculous. Trust me, Mikan--you don't want him.

She again feels like a reject, like a loser. Mikan compares herself to others often, creating expectations for herself and her circumstances that wouldn’t exist otherwise. She loves the SA class. It’s a place where she can feel accepted and at home. But other classes work a certain way, so she feels like her class lacking those particular features means that there’s somehow something wrong with her.

Lucky for her, the SA class does have a teacher, a time-tripper named Nodacchi who is frequently absent because of his chaotic alice. Mikan is very happy with her new teacher. He is just what she wanted from an ability teacher. He’s also intent on helping her train her alice. After all, her alice will be central in making sure their festival event goes smoothly.

Before they begin their training, he gives a tutorial on alice shapes. There are four shapes, and Nodacchi tells her that figuring out which shape her alice has will be important in the future (yes, it will). Mikan is struck with the new realization that an alice can disappear, that her classmates could leave, that she might have to leave. After all, each alice has its own unique lifespan.

Except, as Misaki points out, the fourth type is a little different. With the fourth type, the alice use (which is limitless--to an extent) affects the user’s lifespan. It’s not a matter of leaving the school earlier than planned; it’s a matter of life or death.

Mikan instantly thinks of Natsume.

She figures this out so fast. Don't be fooled by her trying to dispel the "bad thoughts"--she'll always keep this concept in mind.

A genius Alice with an enormous amount of power, who sometimes becomes so weak and exhausted he’s hospitalized? Natsume fits the bill pretty well…

But Mikan is horrified that she randomly thought of Natsume for no good reason and shakes herself.

Mikan is incredibly intuitive. She gets feelings about things and is quick to connect dots. She knows very little about Natsume but is already on the verge of figuring out his alice shape. The thing is that Mikan is ten years old, a little stupid, and her relationship with Natsume is complicated. She’s not consciously evaluating and investigating Natsume. He’s just a bothersome classmate who is a little less bothersome than he was before. If he comes to mind during a lecture, her first instinct isn’t to look closer at why that might be--it’s to shake herself free of those weird unwelcome thoughts and move on. So instead of wondering why she thought of Natsume in relation to conversation about the fourth alice shape, she’s wondering why she thought of Natsume at all. And so she moves it from her mind.

(It’s also worth noting that Mikan has this lesson with Noda after the Reo incident in the manga, whereas in the anime, she has it before. In the anime, it seems more random, thinking of Natsume like that. She has no real reason to assume he’s sickly, but as the anime continues she sees more evidence proving which shape he has. In the manga, she has already seen that he can get ill, and she’ll only see further evidence in the future. Additionally, her refusal to think about it will cease to be about her being naive and begin to be about the fact that she doesn’t want it to be true so she refuses to think about it.)

Now it’s time to start training Mikan’s alice. She’s going to stop Nodacchi from time-tripping, a much more straight-forward approach than she had been anticipating. But she has no time to linger on it, because he’s already starting to disappear. Freaked out and overwhelmed, she tackles him, her alice successfully keeping him grounded.

Nodacchi is repentant that he used such a scary tactic, but he was sure it would work to unleash her potential. He tells her there was once a person who had the same nullification alice as her. That person used their alice best when they were protecting people. And like father, like daughter, that’s the way it works for Mikan as well. Yes, she can use her alice to protect herself from time to time, but for the most part, her alice is at its best when she’s protecting somebody.

Another connection to her parents!

We can see yet another connection between Mikan and a mysterious other person. First that woman and now her dad; Mikan only gets little references and suggestions of people who have things in common with her. It’s easy to assume that just because Mikan doesn’t linger on this that she dismisses the information, but we know that’s not true. Mikan feels a connection with her father, as evidenced by the omake we discussed at the beginning of this essay. This does not go above her head, as we’ll see in a chapter or two after the Christmas Ball. I’ll discuss it more later, but it’s still worth it to keep it in mind as we read ahead.

Mikan has already demonstrated that her alice works best protecting others a few times, particularly just now in the Reo Arc, when she was able to stop Natsume from killing himself with her alice. Again, the protective potential of her alice is so incredible that it’s sad she constantly feels insecure about it. As I said, Mikan compares herself with others too much, and when she sees what other alices can do, she starts feeling like there’s something wrong with her when she can’t do the same thing.

But she is happy to hear that her alice can protect others. She has been concerned since she first discovered her alice that it might be a selfish power. Hearing Nodacchi tell her that somebody with the very same alice focused his power on protecting others and not just himself makes her feel a lot better about her nullification. She can protect people because someone like her was able to do it.

So she excitedly gets ready to continue the training--only for the nullification not to work the next time.

Chapter Eighteen

It’s time for the Alice Culture Festival!

Mikan is running late for the opening ceremony because she accidentally went to the wrong place on account of being very tired. She’s been doing a lot of alice training, so it’s exhausting for her.

Especially because her alice training is with Natsume.

Because Nodacchi disappeared, Mikan is low on options. She has to train with someone who has an offensive alice, something she can counter, so Hotaru and most of her SA classmates are out of the question. She nullifies pheromones without any effort, so asking Narumi would be no good. Asking Koko would probably be a good idea because she continues to be weak to his alice throughout the manga, but instead she approaches Natsume, who certainly has an offensive alice. He’s her partner too, so he might have extra reason to help her, maybe?

"This is bullying!" "This is humor!" Blah blah. Sure, but it's also an act of love.

I think it’s telling that she approached him. Whether or not he’s nice to her yet is irrelevant. She fully contemplates this later during the Z Arc (and me mentioning this arc so often is maybe foreshadowing that there will be lots to read when those chapters come around) but for now it might be a less conscious thought: so far in the story, her big uses of her alice have involved Natsume’s alice. She’s been most successful with him, so asking him is only natural.

She pleads with him, desperate to train her alice, and is surprised when he easily agrees. But he’s a sadist, and obviously only agreed so that he could torture her! It was a hard few days, she recalls, but ultimately her alice did get better.

So Mikan and Natsume spent time together. Seeing as Nodacchi gave her the primary goal of refining her alice, Mikan must have spent most of the time she was meant to be working on the culture fest with Natsume. He’s not doing anything anyway, so she can practice with him--and suffer--for most of the time leading up to the beginning of the festival. The details of all this time spent together isn’t shown, but it’s fun to imagine how it went.

(Again you must forgive me for only offering Mikan’s perspective here. This is her essay after all. If you still haven’t read Natsume’s part, feel free to read his parts as they’re more outwardly romantic and for longer.)

As she’s musing on this moment, she trips and falls, leading her to meet the Principal students. They are elegant and kind and Mikan is impressed by them, so much so that she immediately spills about it to Hotaru and Yuu when she finally meets up with them again. Since Sakurano is on stage at that very moment, Yuu gives her a little introduction and tells her that there are Principal students and trainees (like him and Hotaru), and that each ability class has a representative (where is the SA class rep? We shall see).

That boy is just everywhere. Truly unavoidable.

He goes through the line-up and points them out on stage until he reaches Natsume--presumably the dangerous ability class representative. But not even Yuu knows much about Natsume’s situation or why exactly he’s on stage. Natsume is a mystery to all, and yet everyone seems to know him. The Principal students, just like everyone else, immediately recognize her as Natsume’s partner. According to the school gossip, Mikan cannot be brought up without her relation to Natsume. Natsume, being a special star in addition to the prize of the DA class, being paired up with a random new student is still bizarre, and Narumi caused quite a stir with that decision. Now everybody assumes that there’s something special about Mikan too, and there is, though she doesn’t quite understand it yet.

In any case, the festival has finally started. All preparation has paid off because everything looks wonderful--the sets, the costumes, and all the kinks are worked out. The only problem is that despite their initial enthusiasm, nobody’s coming. The SA attraction is out of the way compared to everybody else, and even if it wasn’t, they still have a reputation for being lame. When they finally find some people walking by, they rush to greet them, only to have their class and attraction torn apart before it’s even tried out.

Mikan is crushed by this encounter. They don’t need to see it to know that it's bad. The SA class is full of misfits, and while being in the class itself is a blast, not worrying about what others think, the fact of the matter is that other people judge them and look down on them. In a school-wide festival, that kind of prejudice is felt. It feels like all of her insecurities are being laid out--the class is full of useless leftovers, not even worth checking out.

I was always so jealous of Mikan for having an older brother-figure who looked after her like this. They have such a wholesome dynamic.

But Tsubasa cheers her up instantly, reminding her that they’re at the bottom, so they can only go up. If people are prejudiced, then they need to change their minds. They expect garbage, so they’ll be easy to impress. Mikan is instantly back in high spirits, because it’s usually not hard to cheer her up for those who put in the effort.

Just like I talked about Natsume’s weird bond with Tsubasa in his essay, I’ll touch on Mikan’s relationship with him in this one. Tsubasa is like an older brother to Mikan. They’re obviously much closer than just classmates. Though she loves everyone in the SA class, Tsubasa is special to her and their bond is deeper than the ones she shares with the other students. Tsubasa is the first person in the school who understood her and comforted her. He’s just like her in a lot of ways, looked down on and treated like trash for not being a star student. They’re labeled as troublemakers and rejects, but Tsubasa was the first person who didn’t argue with that label, and instead embraced it. It was his words that finally gave Mikan a place to feel like she belonged. Now, he’s able to see when something bothers her and is quickly able to remedy it. Tsubasa is one of Mikan’s healthiest relationships because he looks out for her without creating unfair demands. He wants to cheer her up, but instead of just telling her to smile, he gives her a reason to.

Sumire, Ruka, and Narumi stop by just in time to see the SA class excited again. Though Sumire insists that they’re only there because they have nothing else to do, they are clearly there to give some support and to be the first customers to try the SA attraction. Mikan compliments their cute Alice in Wonderland themed outfits, and then requests reciprocity, asking if they like her outfit too. She is still the shallow girl she was in the beginning, and seeing as she’s in a cool new outfit of her own for the festival, she wants to be complimented (very cute of her). Narumi is quick to flatter, Sumire is quick to insult, and Ruka doesn’t say much of anything, which is super weird to Mikan.

They start playing and all of them are crushed by the game in a different way. It’s a tough game, and Mikan is the hardest level, the big boss at the end. It’s a clever and engaging game, and in no time at all, it’s a big hit.

Chapter Nineteen

The second Mikan hears word that Natsume of all people has stopped by at her attraction, she abandons her post to go see him.

I can only imagine how that went down--that Mikan heard Natsume was there and then jumped down from her carpet, reasoning that most people don’t reach the end anyway. She doesn’t wait to see him, in any case. Natsume is here!

She's so excited to see him! He's given her no reason to be excited to see him but she still is!

She’s excited to share her accomplishments with him now, whether it’s the SA event or getting a star rank upgrade. Though she wants validation from everyone, it seems so specific to want attention from somebody so unlikely to give any.

She is very excited to see him, her partner, her new friend, the guy helping her train her alice. He wasn’t aware of it, but he also helped her get pumped for the festival which allowed her to come up with the idea. Mikan is proud of the RPG. She wants to show it off to as many people as she can, and that includes Natsume. Mikan is insecure about a lot of things and she requires a feeling of validation. Having her friends come see her attraction makes her feel proud of herself. Natsume is a tough critic, but he’s here, and she’s so excited to impress him with the game she helped come up with that she wastes no time before she goes to see him.

Just like with the somatic class visitors, Mikan asks his opinion on her outfit, but for some reason Natsume can’t allow a moment to be nice. He has to ruin everything by being a jerk, and so he pulls her top out and then comments on her flat chest. Mikan’s mood is instantly ruined. That’s just what happens when she gives him a chance to be nice.

But Tsubasa shows up--reliable and kind Tsubasa--so she has someone to rush to for comfort.

Natsume is rubbing salt in the wound--insulting the RPG and everyone who is playing it, wondering why anyone would get addicted to such a lame game.

What Mikan wants is validation and positive attention, like anybody else would want when they’ve created something they’re proud of. For some reason, whenever Natsume is around, he’s just rude, and for seemingly no reason. She wants to think that they could get along, or be friends, but he only ever manages to be unpleasant. And right now, especially hurtful, because this RPG was something she and her class worked on for a long time.

Somehow, Tsubasa manages to convince Natsume to participate.

Mikan is located at the very end of the maze. Most people don’t get that far, and definitely not very quickly. She figures Natsume, despite his rude arrogance, is no exception. So she bides her time and eats a banana, unconcerned.

He must have cheated somehow.

Until Natsume does show up, and rather quickly too. He just wants to get the last test over with, and Mikan doesn’t mind that either, explaining curtly that he has to get her off her carpet in thirty seconds without touching her. She is very proud of the fact that all their training means that she can nullify his alice easily, so he shouldn’t even bother.

Nobody has managed to pass Mikan. Her task is nearly impossible. She is certain Natsume won’t pass either. She is unmoved by his cockroach attempt and even seems annoyed when he slowly slumps down the wall. He’s been nothing but rude all day so she won’t give him the satisfaction of winning the game, no matter how quickly he got to her level. She’s not going to waste her time worrying about a jerk like that. She tells him flat out that acting sick won’t work, but he’s sweating and breathing heavily, not responding to her. It all feels a little too real, and she calls to him, concerned. Then, she remembers Nodacchi’s lecture and his description of the fourth alice shape. She’d thought of Natsume then, and she thinks of him now. What if he is ill?

Because she was there during the kidnapping. She saw how weak and sick he was, how much he was struggling. What if this is just like that? What if he’s really sick and he needs help? Mikan thought of Natsume before but quickly dismissed it. We can see now that maybe her dismissal wasn’t entirely due to naivete. She just didn’t want to think about somebody she considers a friend having a shape like that (I’ll talk about this more during the--you guessed it--Z Arc).

Bizarre that he wins this maze purely because she cares about him.

Mikan is so distracted by her worry that she forgets about the RPG for a second (another example of her prioritizing others so much that she can't consider or ponder any other action). Helping Natsume is most important, so she calls out to him again and then jumps off the carpet so she can help him--

Just to be yanked down and pulled into a mocking embrace. And then, to seal the deal: he calls her a moron.

Mikan has been tricked. Bamboozled. Made a fool of.

Natsume is the first person to pass the game and Mikan is ashamed of herself for falling for his dirty tricks. He took advantage of her worry and concern and then called her an idiot for caring. Such a jerk. Her anger over being tricked quickly overrides her concern about the fourth alice shape. It's important to note that while this never fully vacates her thoughts, it's something she's more than willing to push aside and not linger on. Any excuse will do and Natsume does a great job in providing them.

She’s upset yet again, clinging to Tsubasa, her only solace in a world of shame and anger, as Natsume picks his prize: one of the SA class members’ lamps.

Natsume is so lucky that she's not paying attention to Koko.

But instead of picking Tsubasa’s, he picks hers! Koko says something about reading Natsume’s mind to see which one to pick, but Mikan isn’t really listening. All she cares about is that Natsume has ruined her day and is now about to ruin her whole week! How is she supposed to have a fun festival if she has to spend it granting Natsume’s stupid wishes? There’s no way they would be kind or fun wishes, either--probably just another excuse to tease or torment her.

Conclusion

Mikan is put in the unbearable situation of liking Natsume for reasons that are very easy to forget once he opens his mouth. He seems to relish being a jerk, in fact, almost as if to spite her for daring to want to be friends with him. He will continue to challenge her for the rest of the arc.

We have just begun the culture fest! It will maybe take me another two posts to wrap it up, so please bear with me. Tumblr recently raised their image limit so it's way more than ten (I believe it's 30 now) and I thought that meant my Mikan essays could afford to be longer when I post them, that I could include more chapters per post. But no. Absolutely not. Yesterday's entire Reo Arc post took a LOT out of me. Formatting them is very tiresome and exhausting so even though these posts are fun, I don't like spending 3-4 hours on editing each post when my Natsume ones took half that amount. So it'll be more pictures, same amount of text. Probably. Thank you for your patience :)

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#gakuen alice #alice academy #ga #sakura mikan #mikan sakura #natsume hyuuga #hyuuga natsume #my meta #ga meta #ga meta: nm #ga meta: manga #ga meta: manga nm #let's talk about natsumikan #let's talk about natsumikan: mikan #it might not be valentines day for u but it is for me! and thats all that matters #im hesitant to include a song rec bc this was only three chapters but ill do my best #what once was by her's #i think the lyrics work when it comes to mikans pov abt natsumes alice shape. idk dont quote me on that #these should be easier to format

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cherrypieships · 2 years ago

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valentine’s day

A/N: unfortunately for you bitches i am now enjoying posting fic on here. here’s a valentines day one

Ship: Davey x Pepper (s/i)

Summary: modern au! Davey asks Pepper to be his Valentine

The seasonal aisle in Target is sensory overload in the best way. Davey ponders this as he turns over a box of heart shaped candies in his palm. The pinks and reds and glitter-pasted surfaces are overwhelming as he browses through the three stretching aisles of shelving, looking for the perfect little gift.

Days ago, he’d asked Pepper what she’d like for Valentine’s Day and, being Pepper, she’d waved the question off. He wasn’t stupid though, it was her favorite holiday, and she was getting a gift come hell or high water. He’d been browsing her Etsy likes for about an hour before making the realization- he hadn’t even asked her to be his Valentine yet. And that had set his scheme in motion.

Now he stands in the seasonal aisles debating whether she’d prefer chocolates or a stuffed animal.

Eventually he gives up and decides on both- a plush orange cat holding a pink heart that says ‘you’re purr-fect’ in its mouth, and a heart-shaped box of Russell Stovers wrapped in glossy red cellophane- and moves on to the cards. There’s funny ones, and sentimental ones, and ones with pretty artwork on the front, but nothing really screams Pepper to him.

Stumped, he decides to mosey up to the checkout and make a card with whatever printer paper and markers they have lying around at home. Which is probably just her stash of colorful sharpies for scrapbooking.

The girl behind the cash register eyes him as he places the items on the belt. “Cute cat,” she remarks, sliding its tag past the scanner.

He blinks, looks around quickly, and then realizes he is, in fact, buying a stuffed animal. “Oh,” he says, “thank you. He looks like our cat at home.” He lifts his phone, the clear-backed case proudly displaying a polaroid of Pepper, her face smushed affectionately against Mango’s own.

The cashier grins, tilting her head to see the picture better. “Oh, wow, yeah. Cute!” She slips the little creature into a plastic bag, his whiskers peeking out over the top. Good, he thinks, he can breathe. It takes a moment to notice what a silly, irrational thought it is, and he wonders briefly what posessed him before he realizes- it’s something Pepper would say.

He turns the phone in his palm, takes his own look at the picture. It sends a trickle of warmth up his cheeks, the thought of returning home to his little family, and he makes haste of paying for his purchases.

The next destination is a flower shop near their shared apartment. Checking his watch, he’s making good time- he has an hour and a half before she even gets out of work. He slips into the store.

The cool New York air gives way to a warm, humid climate when he slides in the door. The smell in the shop is clean and sweet, all roses and lilacs and hydrangeas. It washes over his face in a gentle welcome, and he makes his way towards the large-headed pink peonies tucked into the corner. After working up the courage, he manages to stop stroking the silken petals and ask the florist to cut a bouquet together.

It ends up even prettier than he’d expected, with fluffy peonies cushioned by baby’s breath and paired with cream-colored roses. The thick green stems are wrapped in brown paper and tied, at his request, with a red embroidery string. They perfume the small space of his car the whole way home.

He takes the stairs up to their apartment two at a time, target bag slung over his elbow and flowers tucked firmly in his palm. It isn’t until he’s already keyed his way in and toed off his shoes that he realizes there’s music floating in from the kitchen. It takes him a few bars to place the song- you squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi, I can tell that it’s gonna be a long road…

He’s both elated and saddened to hear the dulcet tones of his girlfriend’s voice singing along. Of course he’s happy she’s home, out of work early and ready to start the rest of the evening together. On the other hand, he’d really been banking on a surprise for her.

Mango curls around his ankles, mewing indignantly when she is not given immediate pets. Always the pushover, Davey grants her a scratch behind the ears. “Hi, honey. Where’s mama, huh?” He coos.

The orange tabby knocks her face against his shin in lieu of another answer, and shimmies off to her perch amongst the couch cushions. He snorts at her antics, and trudges his way into the kitchen just as Pepper turns around, a whirlwind of inky ringlet curls and vanilla fragrance. Her eyes are wide as she catches sight of him. “Oh, hi! You’re home!” She sounds a little panicked.

Nevertheless, a grin curls over his face. “Hi, angel,” he says, a kiss to her lips. It’s then that he notices the smear of vanilla frosting on the apple of her cheek. He thumbs it away. “You’re home early.”

Red dusts her cheeks. “I… wanted to surprise you,” she admits, finally taking a step to the side, and there, on the counter, is a dozen misshapen cupcakes. They’re red velvet, his favorite, smeared messily with poppy-pink frosting and adorned with edible pearls. Seven of them spell out ‘B-E M-I-N-E-?’ in white icing. It’s a little silly, and a lot endearing, and he’s so overwhelmed with the visible effort she’s put into it that he can’t stop himself from throwing the target bag and flowers onto the counter and sweeping her up into a kiss.

She shrieks, delighted, and kisses him back, messy and vanilla-flavored. “I was gonna-” he interrupts her with another kiss. “Ask you to be my Valentine! But you ruined the surprise!” Davey would feel bad if she sounded at all disappointed. But she doesn’t.

He pulls away, scooping the flowers up again. “I was goin’ to ask you, baby, I was gonna set these up all nice for you.” He hands them to her, revels in her little gasp before pulling out the chocolates and, best of all, the mini-Mango.

Pepper buries her nose in the flowers, moving from the peonies to the roses and back again. When she looks up, her bottom lip is pushed out, and she clutches the little cat to her chest. “Oh my god, you’re the best,” she says.

Though he can feel his cheeks heat, he waves her off. “You’re the best.”

When he leans down to kiss her again, he’s stopped with a manicured finger to his lips. “Wait, is that a yes?” She poses, brows furrowed as if she’s really, actually concerned he’s gonna say no. They’ve been dating for years.

He rolls his eyes. “Yes, angel. I’ll be your Valentine.”

#drop a like/rb if you read! 💖☁️💫#my fic #davey #i challenged myself to write something shorter than usual so here u go #trynna teach myself not everything has to be a project

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authormars · 9 months ago

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I am procrastinating on my Valentine's Day fic that was supposed to be posted on February 12th, then February 14th, and now today

I'm debating whether to post it here

#Obey me #It's Dialuci if anyone cares #I would assume no one does

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donnerpartyofone · 9 months ago

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I just saw a great example of this: Somebody posted a looong gifset from WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (it was already surprising to me that someone I follow would post that and the situation has been rectified) with the caption "favorite OTPs" and I thought...oh my god there are people out there applying shipping language to WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, as if Harry and Sally don't exist for the exclusive purpose of being in a relationship with each other. This isn't like, Harry and Sally go to wizard school or join the resistance where there's a hundred other characters they could get with and they need you personally to identify them as the One True Pair; most people probably can't even name one other character from the movie. They only exist to be a couple, and actually they're one of the most famous screen couples in history. The title WHEN HARRY MET SALLY is synonymous with the romantic comedy genre, which itself only exists to describe characters hooking up. The very film title describes the fact of them being a couple, there is no other possible topic of discussion here, and there is no room for your specialized language that was developed to describe which Avengers you think should bone each other regardless of whether you agree or disagree with a writer's choices. Please don't say that Harry and Sally from WHEN HARRY MET SALLY is your fave OTP, you sound insane and also a little dumb.

This is what we're worried about when we complain about fandom brainrot; not that you love things that are bad or childish, but that you will reach a point where you can't even recognize anything else anymore. The forms of literature and dramaturgy that necessarily preceded fan fiction, and even your own original writing and art, are all getting filtered through the conventions of fan fiction, and one day you wake up to find that you can't even talk about one of the biggest Hollywood romances of all time without referencing the niche framework that your little cult uses to debate which of the Star Warses should fuck each other. This is weird and bad and you should cut it out!

Anyway. I just thought I should start Valentine's Day off by shitting all over a different culture's way of appreciating romance. I hope you have a good day and eat lots of candy!

Comfort movie this comfort character that, what are you doing to make yourself profoundly uncomfortable, what are you watching that's so disgusting you can't take your eyes off it, what scares you so much it makes you intensely aware of what you take for granted, if you don't have stuff like this in your regimen then you are operating on a serious nutritional deficit and also your opinions on media are worthless.

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fazbear--cooperation · 3 years ago

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Curiosity

Mason unzipped his lunch box and stared at the food inside half-heartedly.

Homemade sandwich; fresh fruit neatly cut into little shapes and a little slice of banana bread. He had watched Doll make the bread yesterday. It was hard on the outside. But the inside was smooth. Soft. His mouth watered (not that he'd admit it).

He took the slice out first, taking a moment to let its scent waft over him. It was comforting.

A twinge of guilt made his heart skip a beat when he realized this. But he shrugged the feeling off.

He bit down, his tongue relishing in the texture and flavor. But it turned sour at the sound of another student shuffling up to him from behind.

He had skipped out on the lunch room. Too noisy. Too many kids.

It made him anxious.

He came out here, on the playground, to sit on a swing.

Right now, it was quiet. Serene.

At least, it had been.

Now another numbskull approached him. He fought back the urge to turn around and spit.

"You look happy."

Mason cocked an eyebrow.

Oh. It was Caden.

Caden was... alright.

The boy sat on the swing next to him and kicked off slowly.

Neither of them spoke, until Mason managed to swallow the mushy paste in his mouth before he wiped his face with his sleeve and set it back inside the box. It was strange. He didn't like eating in front of Caden. It made him more aware of how ridiculous he must look. Half the time forgetting to chew with his mouth closed; sometimes he'd cough or sneeze and spit food on his vest.

Caden always laughed and it made his cheeks burn.

What did he care?

He didn't care about anyone else watching him. He didn't care about what anyone else thought of him.

But Caden had a way of making Mason self-conscious. In every aspect.

He noticed the fringes of hair out of place when Caden was around. He noticed his teeth weren't as straight or as white as he wanted them to be.

Did Caden notice those things about him?

He turned to study the boy.

Caden's eyes were shining. They were always shining; bright and curious. His hair was smooth (Mason sometimes found himself thinking about running his hands through it). He had a pronounced jawline - something he inherited from his father. Michael had always been regarded as a handsome man. His attitude was fierce, but none could deny his striking appearance.

But even though they shared similar physical structures, Caden's personality couldn't be farther from his father's.

Caden was a bright boy, literally. Confident and strong. You could try knocking him down, but he wasn't about to stay down for long. And he was smart, incredibly smart. One might not think so, from the way he forgot most things. But that wasn't his fault. He was a very hands-on leaner. Picked up many things very quickly if he could get right in and do them. He wasn't afraid to make mistakes, and he didn't care what other's thought.

That was another thing Mason admired about him. He was always so happy. Whatever anyone did or said.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Caden's teasing jab broke Mason out of his train of thought and he realized the boy had stopped swinging and noticed Mason staring, for who knows how long.

"I was just zoning out," Mason retorted, a little more fiery than he'd meant to.

But Caden wasn't fazed. "You do that a lot. Always something on your mind." The kid flashed him a smile before he kicked off again.

Mason bit his lip and turned away. Caden's smile got him, every time. And he didn't know why. He didn't know why he loved that stupid lopsided grin so much. "Anyway." He nonchalantly picked at a stray leaf that stuck to the side of his vest. "What're you doing out here?"

"Came to see you! Duh!" Caden's voice rose as he swung higher, and Mason wanted to tell him to hush, in case anyone else could hear.

"Why?" Mason asked, feeling his heart skip another beat.

"I dunno," Caden spoke earnestly. "Just wanted to!"

"Okai." Mason looked down at his shoe. There was a scuff mark on the end. When had that gotten there?

"Pass me that fruit, eh?" Caden stopped swinging and pointed to Mason's lunch box, which still lay opened on his lap.

He handed Caden the cup of fruit, and Caden threw his head back, slurping the whole lot of it without hesitation.

And yet, he still looked so handsome. Even with juice trickling down his chin and onto his shirt below. He licked his lips and Mason swallowed.

He wondered what they felt like.

What if... what if they kissed?

"F*cks sake, Farkle," he found himself cursing out loud, and his cheeks turned beet red when Caden gave him a 'wtf?' look.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine. Whatever." Mason closed his eyes and kicked off his own swing, if only to get away from Caden.

It didn't occur to him he was still holding the lunch box until it shot off his lap and landed in the dirt below him, its contents spilling out in turn.

He skidded to a halt and stared at it, horrified.

Next to him, Caden snickered. "Guess you gotta wait til we get home to eat now, eh?"

"I guess." Mason had never wanted to disappear so bad before. Cursing himself again, he reached out to pick up the lunch box.

His hand brushed Caden's, who'd had the same idea and he flinched.

He sighed audibly and Caden flashed him another glance, this time laced with concern.

"You thinking about your mom again?"

"Uh... Yeah," Mason lied, twiddling his thumbs together, because it was easier than admitting what he was really thinking about.

"You wanna talk about it?" Caden finished putting Mason's scrapped lunch back in his box and held it out for him to take.

He accepted it reluctantly and stood up, brushing stray patches of dirt off his pants. "Nah. I... I think I wanna be alone."

"Oh." Caden's expression was hard to read. Was he worried? Annoyed? Mason couldn't tell. "Alright. I'll get back to the lunch room then."

Mason didn't respond as Caden dusted off his own pants. He felt Caden's gaze boring into the back of his head before the kid turned with a shrug and jogged back toward the building.

Mason waited til he was out of sight before he groaned, rubbing his temple with his fingers.

He was so uncertain. So confused. So scared of these feelings that overcame him when Caden was around.

Did he like the kid? Was that weird? He wasn't sure.

But until he sorted his feelings out, he thought it might be best to avoid the kid altogether.

He shot the lunch building one last anxious look before he bolted for the bathroom. He'd hide out in there until his next class started.

#mmsau #caden #mason #that teenage anst #this look familiar?#I wrote it two years ago #wow it's been two years #I was debating whether or not to post this on valentine's day #but I already have something else planned for that day ;)#💌

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