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aranarumei · 1 year ago

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the anomalous agate (part three)

*blows out candles* happy birthday to me! here's a gift for some of you <3

for anyone who has no idea what this is about, go here for part one

for those who do, here's the ao3 link, and if you prefer tumblr, it's just under the cut

case 2-x: the anomalous agate (part 3)

The clock had just ticked over to 4PM when Hanzawa Masato entered the shop on Sunday. I shivered at the brisk gust of wind that swept through Jewelry Étranger; Richard simply rose from his seat and said, “Welcome back, Hanzawa-san,” without a flicker of surprise on his face.

That was my fault—I hadn’t been able to keep my mouth shut during the intervening Saturday—but it was still good to see Hanzawa in the flesh.

I’d run into Kaede on Friday, and we’d ended up grabbing lunch together. She’d been accompanied by a friend who eyed me warily before Kaede explained how the two of us knew each other, and I was comforted to know that she had people so dedicated to looking out for her. I had a feeling that wasn’t the only reason for her stare, though—the bruise on my face had darkened into a faded yet obvious purple.

As we began to eat, it was impossible to not notice the attention we’d garnered, and Kaede asked, “Does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t even sting anymore,” I told her. After diligently applying an ice pack for most of the day before, the swelling had decreased and I was pain-free, assuming no one was poking my face. “Mostly it’s just awkward. But you can’t help that.”

At my answer, she relaxed, and we finally got around to making proper introductions. She, like Hanzawa, was a freshman in university, and—possibly like or unlike him—was studying literature. They’d ended up meeting through some mutual friends of theirs in high school, and once they’d found out that they shared the same taste in books and movies, became fast friends.

“Still, he’s pretty guarded,” Kaede said, and I wondered if her casual acknowledgment of that fact was the reason she hadn’t pressed for details on how Hanzawa and I had met. “Like, he knows so many people, but doesn’t really give off that ‘popular’ aura, you know? And he never had a girlfriend in high school—not that anyone knew of, at least.” Then she seemed to catch on to the fact that I felt awkward talking about Hanzawa when he wasn’t around, and quickly changed the subject.

We eventually started to talk about part-time jobs, and when I mentioned that I worked at a jeweler’s store, she whistled in appreciation. “Wow, that’s interesting,” she said, and I began to understand exactly why she and Hanzawa were friends. “What’s your store lighting like?”

I stared at her blankly. “The… lighting?”

“Sorry, I’m way too used to talking to other film buffs!” Kaede explained. “I was just thinking about how jewels are so hard to take photos of. It’s really difficult to capture the sparkle that you see in real-life, right?”

“Pictures definitely don’t do the real thing justice,” I agreed.

“Yeah, and I know that there’s some stuff that jewelers inspect for that requires special types of lighting, so I was wondering if there was any fancy equipment at your shop. But I’m realizing you probably don’t look at that stuff too hard, huh?”

She had the same kind of disappointment on her face as Tanimoto-san when she’d learned I couldn’t perfectly recall what metamorphism was. “I could… ask, maybe?” I offered.

“If it’s no problem!” Kaede accepted. “Lighting’s so interesting to me… it affects how things are viewed so much. Like, the type of makeup that people wear for filming differs from daily wear…” She clapped her hands together in realization. “That would be a great way to deal with your bruise, actually!” At my awkward look, she paused, and sheepishly tacked on, “Well, only if you wanted to, I guess… it’s pretty out there as far as a solution goes.”

“Ah… I kind of already bought some for that purpose,” I clarified. “So it’s a good suggestion—just one that I’ve already taken.”

“No, no, I’m glad you thought of it already!” Kaede exclaimed. “Did you shop at a store in-person? It must have been uncomfortable…”

What was really uncomfortable was maintaining the pretense that I’d thought this solution up on my own instead of being led around by Hanzawa. But judging by the fact that she hadn’t brought him up, I was pretty sure his skill with makeup wasn’t one Hanzawa often advertised.

“A little,” I said, opting for a half-truth. “At the checkout line, I got asked if I was buying the stuff for my girlfriend.”

“I guess it is uncommon to see guys buying makeup…” Kaede said, and then mumbled to herself, “But wouldn’t your bruise…?” Thankfully, she moved on from that line of thought and instead asked, “Did covering the bruise not work, since it’s still pretty obvious…?”

“It doesn’t really matter to me on the day-to-day,” I said. “But I definitely can’t work any public-facing job unless I cover my bruise.”

“Ah, I didn’t think of that!” Kaede gasped. “It’s probably good to use it sparingly, anyways—makeup isn’t that great for your skin, and I’d imagine yours is especially sensitive right now.”

“That’s good to know,” I said. “It’s been healing pretty well so far, so I don’t think I’ll have to use it much. I guess it’s because I just work security, but the television station I work at didn’t even mind—”

“You work at a television station?” Kaede interrupted, eyes gleaming in excitement.

I was surprised I hadn’t thought to bring it up earlier. It was a welcome change of topic, so I nodded.

Once again, she asked me about lighting equipment, to which I could give no answer, and she began to explain the various types of special equipment involved in filming. At a certain point, I had to awkwardly pause her explanation and point to her food, which had been left untouched for the past ten minutes.

“I got way too excited,” she admitted sheepishly when we’d finally parted ways.

“It’s alright,” I said. “I like hearing about that kind of stuff. It makes me think like… there’s just so much in the world that people don’t know.”

“I definitely feel that way, too!” Kaede said. “I mean, I know cameras fairly well, but recently I saw this interview from an audio director and realized just how much work goes into capturing and adding all the sound for films…” She managed to catch herself this time before she launched into another ramble and wished me a good day.

I wondered to myself if everyone had something they were secretly and intensely passionate about, like Kaede and Tanimoto-san. Though I’d developed a new appreciation for things after meeting Richard, I still wouldn’t consider myself a true enthusiast of anything.

It would be nice to be that way, I thought.

Later that day, I found that I’d been added to a group chat consisting of Hanzawa, Kaede, and I, where she delivered the news that the senior we’d made a report against had gotten expelled. Hanzawa replied first, sending a brief but warm congratulations, and I hesitated before doing the same. It felt strange not to acknowledge his existence directly, but I didn’t have anything I really wanted to say to him, either. Emotions were even harder to read through a screen—no matter what I said, I’d probably hit an impenetrable wall.

In the end, I simply set my phone on my nightstand and decided to sleep. I’d have to spend some time applying makeup before heading to work tomorrow, so it was best to tuck in early.

Saturday had passed, and now Hanzawa was here, entering Jewelry Étranger without even a hint of his initial hesitation. Maybe it was just my own increased sense of familiarity, but despite his calm demeanor, he didn’t look as closed off as before.

“You were looking for stud earrings, yes?” Richard asked. “I can bring out a few more, unless there’s anything in particular that caught your eye.”

“The lapis lazuli was quite nice,” Hanzawa replied firmly. “I’d love to see more of that.”

“…Please, take a seat while I fetch them,” Richard replied, a beat too late, and then he was off, an unsteady set to his mouth.

I supposed I’d been able to surprise him, after all.

“Milk tea, right?” I asked, motioning to where I’d set it down on the coffee table.

Hanzawa shrugged out of his jacket—today had brought biting wind along with the encroaching frost of mid-October weather—and laid it on the back of his chair before sitting down. “You thought ahead,” he said appreciatively.

“Well, you said you’d come, so…” I trailed off, not wanting to spotlight our last meeting, but unable to act as if it hadn’t happened.

Maybe Hanzawa was the same, because though he’d been distantly polite to Richard, his tone was warm as he spoke to me. He held his teacup in that same delicate fashion and took a long sip as he assessed my face. Finally, he declared, “You’ve covered it up well.”

My hand strayed towards my cheek before I willed it down. “I was worried I’d messed it up because Richard noticed,” I said, “but none of the other clients seemed to.”

Hanzawa didn’t seem surprised to learn this. “Richard-san’s quite observant; I didn’t think it would fool him.”

And fool him it hadn’t—not even for a second. I’d come into the shop to see that a client had come a few minutes ahead of their morning appointment. At first, I’d interpreted Richard’s look of vexation as an annoyance with my lateness, even though I’d come right on time, so I simply busied myself with making tea. He’d been unusually curt with the client, though not out of the bounds of simple familiarity with a regular, and once they’d left, he’d whirled on me with a sharp look.

I’d frozen in place, pinned by the emotion I couldn’t quite place in his eyes.

“Sit down,” he’d said, and I followed his order mostly out of shock.

“…Richard?” I ventured, and then bit down a yelp of surprise when he suddenly knelt before me.

Way to give a guy zero warning. I knew that Richard disliked the ways in which his beauty isolated him, but it was seriously unfair to see his face so close.

“What happened?”

I wrenched my gaze away from the fine strands of his eyelashes. “What?”

“To your face,” Richard said. Though he spoke quietly, there was a frigid edge to his words. “What happened? Tell me everything.”

“Ah—you mean my bruise?” I’d finally realized, and Richard’s hands shook at my confirmation. “It’s—well, remember Hanzawa?”

After giving him a quick rundown of the events, Richard’s expression softened. He sighed, and as he pinched the bridge of his nose, asked, “Why is it that you can never seem to avoid trouble?”

I shrugged, still a little distracted by how close his face was to mine. “…Is it obvious?” I asked after a beat. Maybe it was stupid, but I really didn’t want to leave.

“You haven’t done a bad job,” Richard assured. “Tomorrow, bring your supplies to work, and I’ll do it for you.”

Now that I thought back on it, Richard had seemed rather shaken when I’d told him what had happened. I’d known that Hanzawa’s visit had bothered him, but I hadn’t expected that Richard would react to news about him with such concern.

I tamped down another instinctive flare of jealousy and agreed with Hanzawa. “Yeah, he’s way too good at noticing things.”

“I wonder if there’s ever a customer that finds it unnerving,” Hanzawa mused. “To be seen so well… it could be frightening.”

“In a way, I think it’s relieving,” I said, thinking about how Richard had applied my makeup with swift prowess this morning. I’d thought I’d done a good job on my own, but when I’d checked his result in the mirror, it was flawless. And he’d been gentle with the entire process, too—I’d felt fussed over in a way that was as embarrassing as it was pleasing. “I really like the way he doesn’t presume anything, so maybe that’s why I think it’s fine. Because I never feel as if I've been judged by him.”

“What a lovely way to feel,” Hanzawa replied, savoring his milk tea with a smile.

Our attention was both redirected to Richard, who had returned with his tamatebako in hand. An odd look was on his face—I wondered if he’d overheard us, but he opened up his tamatebako without comment or force. The earrings on display weren’t limited to just stud earrings, but were likewise simple, sparse designs that highlighted the stone in question. Gold sparked through in different patterns in each stone, and some were entirely without it, the entire rock a deep, even blue.

Hanzawa studied each set with a keen eye. “Blue’s a rather neutral color, but lapis lazuli looks so rich it borders on ostentatious,” he sighed. “Still, it is nice.”

Aren’t you fond of green? I thought to myself. But since I remembered how awkward he’d looked the last time I’d said so, I kept quiet.

“Is there something that drew you to this stone in particular?” Richard asked.

“Like I said, it’s just such an arresting color,” Hanzawa said after a moment. “And… I was thinking a little more about what I wanted.” Maybe he’d realized he’d spoken with a bit too much bite, because he then laughed self consciously and clarified, “I guess I’m looking for something like a statement piece? Though it might seem strange to say as they’re just earrings, and not even in a particularly grand style. But this color…”

He kept drifting towards that point. I could see where he was coming from—with the exception of some sapphires, I’d never seen such a deep blue, and the gold color scattered within lapis lazuli left a vivid impression.

“Statement pieces do tend to be on the grander side,” Richard conceded. “However, I think any piece of jewelry is its own kind of statement.” He paused, eyes flickering towards me, and tentatively added, “I’d like to believe that gems reflect the feelings of their owner.”

“Is that so…” Hanzawa said, and in defiance of Richard’s caution, passed by his statement without further comment. “Tell me more about lapis lazuli?” he asked. “I knew about ultramarine, but I’m sure a stone like this has more history surrounding it.”

Richard relaxed back into his chair. “Historically, lapis lazuli was central in Ancient Egypt. You’ll see it almost anywhere in many artifacts from that time period.”

“All those gold and blue objects, then…?”

“That would be lapis lazuli,” he confirmed. “As you can see, it was prized for its color even back then. The gold part of these objects, though, was actual gold—the flecks you see in lapis lazuli are something else.”

“The gold color comes from… pyrite, right?” Hanzawa recalled.

“You would be correct. Pyrite is commonly called fool’s gold, as well,” Richard explained. “It’s quite different, though—pyrite is far more brittle, and naturally forms a cubic structure, as opposed to the malleable shapes of gold. The color also tends to be lighter and more like brass.”

I vaguely remembered Tanimoto-san saying she liked the cubic structure of pyrite a while ago—I’d really have to find out what that looked like. The cubes certainly weren’t appearing in the lapis lazuli before me, after all.

“So… essentially, the name fool’s gold implies you’d have to be an idiot to be deceived by it,” Hanzawa quipped.

At that, Richard cracked a small smile. “Something like that.”

“I can’t think of an artifact I’ve seen that wasn’t uniform in its blue,” Hanzawa recalled. “Isn’t that hard to source?”

“It makes it a great deal more valuable, yes. Both pyrite and calcite are common components of lapis lazuli that can add noticeable gold or white spots. While pyrite’s inclusion doesn’t often diminish its value, an abundance of calcite in lapis lazuli would.”

“So even something like lapis lazuli isn’t good enough to stand as is?” Hanzawa commented, without derision but with some measure of disappointment.

“To clarify,” Richard said, and it was at this point I realized that he hadn’t had the number of conversations I’d had with both Tanimoto-san and Hanzawa, “you’re speaking of the various ways in which gemstones are modified?”

“Something like that,” Hanzawa allowed, and I wondered just how much the man before me knew about heat treatments and dyeing and cutting and polishing.

“It is true that procedures like heat treatment influence the value of a stone,” Richard said after pondering the subject. “But no stone exists without human involvement. Each is mined or otherwise sourced, then polished and cut, and then fit into various settings. Not every jewel goes through each step of this process, but beyond that, every gemstone and jewel you encounter is prized only because someone has decided to do so.” He took a deep breath. “There is no stone in the world that exists without a human response. So, if there is a stone that is perfect untouched, then it is only because someone thinks it as such.”

Hanzawa was stunned into silence, a rare show of vulnerability cast on his face.

Richard took note and softened his voice. “So lapis lazuli’s value, like many others, arises from circumstance. It was one of the only sources for blue paint, and unlike a blue sapphire, could be carved. For those in Ancient Egypt, its rarity made it a signifier of wealth and status. Cleopatra used its powdered form as eyeshadow. Ra, the god of the sun, was often portrayed as having golden skin and lapis lazuli hair.”

“…There’s a lot of history carried in these, then.”

“Indeed.”

“I can understand why,” Hanzawa said. “In each setting, the stone looks slightly different. Like it has reinvented its image each time.” He inspected one pair of stud earrings where the pyrite gleamed in blue like a sharp crack of lightning before setting them down. “I doubt I’d fit a stone suited to royalty,” he said. He tried to couch his words in a light, self-deprecating tone, but it only worsened their effect. “I apologize.”

“No need,” Richard said, studying Hanzawa intently. “Still, Hanzawa-san… the fact that this stone is sold here means that it cannot be just for royalty, you know?”

“Then… if stones reflect their owner, what kind of people do you think wear lapis lazuli?” Hanzawa asked.

Since he’d just mentioned her, my mind flashed to Cleopatra—she was certainly an image that was out of sorts with Hanzawa. But when I thought of that story regarding her pearl earrings, I felt that Hanzawa had a similar sense of pride and wit. At the very least, he could certainly match the composure of a queen.

“…I think there is not just one type of person suited to a certain kind of stone,” Richard began. “Things are not that… well, set in stone.”

“Still,” Hanzawa pressed, “There must be some kind of consensus. Indulge a simple curiosity… what meaning is lapis lazuli associated with today?”

“…Some claim it is helpful for mitigating insomnia and negative feelings. But as for associations with the stone itself—truth, I suppose.”

Even a fool who thought their pyrite was gold would be able to catch the shift in Hanzawa’s expression. I realized then that even though he’d told me to tell him everything, I’d glossed over most of what I’d talked about with Hanzawa. Richard was brilliant, but he couldn’t actually read minds.

“Of course,” Hanzawa murmured, the strangled expression on his face having settled into an odd, muted reverence. “That’s why it’s so beautiful.”

He didn’t look towards me; he knew I’d known, and he was smart enough to tell that Richard couldn’t. Client privacy was important, but half the reason I’d wanted to speak to Hanzawa was to get rid of that troubled look on Richard’s face, and here I was, mucking everything up and making the situation worse for everyone. I anticipated Hanzawa would become withdrawn and make the quickest, politest exit possible, but what he did instead was worse.

In a single motion, Hanzawa drained his milk tea. “I’m no professional jeweler, but here’s my assessment,” he said, a resolute look on his face. “Lapis lazuli is on the delicate end. It’s flecked with fool’s gold, but not to its detriment—this makes it a stone that is as rich as it is fake. To wear it, someone must be capable of handling it with care, and grand enough to carry the attention its blue deserves.” He paused, sent a mischievous glance my way, and added, “Don’t you think Seigi would suit it well? He’s rather careful.”

As if on autopilot, Richard scoffed and replied, “Careful?”

Hanzawa dipped his head in agreement, though his smile was obvious. “Richard-san, I’ll defer to you opinion on him, as it’s you that knows him so dearly well.”

Richard’s face turned slightly red—I guessed it was a bit disconcerting to respond on instinct rather than thought. In a strained voice, he offered, “Would you at least like to try on some of the earrings?”

Hanzawa stared at Richard, his momentary cheer immediately dulled. Then he smiled again, but it wasn’t friendly. He reached towards the set he’d been drawn to during conversation and tried them on without much fanfare.

Once on his ears, I thought they suited him beautifully—the gold seemed to glow under the lights of the store, and the deep color enhanced the blue tones of his irises. But once Hanzawa inspected his own visage in the mirror, his plastered-on smile flattened into a dim ghost of itself, and he shook his head. “No, I was right,” he said, and removed his earrings before either of us could say a word. “This kind of thing isn’t for me.”

He'd become like steel; that countenance of his made it impossible to ask questions. He wished me well, and then whisked himself away, a sliver of wind wisping into the shop in his wake.

Richard lingered in front of the open tamatebako. That had been the last appointment of the day.

I sighed, unsure how to apologize, and simply said, “I’m sorry—I really thought that if he came to his appointment, it’d be…” And suddenly I realized that the more I understood Hanzawa, the less I was sure I knew.

“No… you were fine,” Richard said. “Wasn’t he comparatively talkative today?” When my frown didn’t lessen, he added, “For what it’s worth, he seemed to have opened up to you.”

“To me?”

“Well, it certainly wasn’t to me,” Richard answered with a raised eyebrow.

“Not much good it did you, though,” I muttered.

Richard sighed and motioned for me to sit next to him. I glumly pulled a chair to his side. “He entered here on a whim, the first time,” he said. “Today, I could tell that he was seriously considering what he wanted. Though I understand your disappointment, it is an honorable decision for someone to decide they aren’t ready for something.”

“You’re right,” I conceded, “but it still doesn’t feel right.”

Richard’s hand hovered by me; I wondered if he was going to poke my bruise, but he simply settled a cool hand on my shoulder. “Rather than push someone into a shaky decision or entice them into a purchase by playing to their desires… it is best when someone makes the choice on their own.”

Come to think of it, he’d called himself thoughtless for selling that amethyst to Takatsuki-san, who’d been moved by the powers it was said to possess. Hanzawa’s case was kind of the inverse situation, but he, too, had been moved—in the opposite direction. And if, like Takatsuki-san, the reason was due to an unresolved state of mind, the purchase of a jewel wouldn’t pacify it.

“…You’re way too good at logical arguments, you know,” I grumbled.

Richard squeezed my shoulder. “It’s just that you think with your heart,” he said. “But that is not a detriment—it is a strength.”

I felt my face growing warm and turned to hide my expression. “I’d better get this makeup off,” I said.

“Unique” was a lovely compliment, but somehow, the simple assurance that I was liked as I was felt twice as magical.

#might have made some typos... i'll fix them if so #fun fact i thought this ch was gonna be super short. its 4k. barely shorter than ch 1!#btw for those who dont know who kaede is hirano asks hanzawa if hes dating this girl named kaede in the vol 5 extras #hanzawa says theyre just friends. in the same volume (ch 27) we see him hanging out with a girl and ive decided thats kaede #my writing #the anomalous agate #cfojr #hanzawa masato #nakata seigi #richard ranasinghe de vulpian #the case files of jeweler richard #kiri.txt #harusono #jeweler richard

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jihyoruri · 9 months ago

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I lied. cibyn analysis.

ok so cibyn…. lemme start off w this… she’s the funniest mf EVERRR😭😭her relationship with kazuha has me LAUGHING like I just know they’re like “oh my god… we should dye your hair pink….” and they both js go along w it LIKE😭 I CAN NOT W THEIR HEAD EMPTY ASSES just straight YAPPING.

and… to my girl chaewon… in my heart ik ur winning… but youre mad funny being 5’4 with a bob tryna fight a girl from nyc who is FIVE FOOT EIGHT😭😭… I know wigs would fly and cibyn would STILL be talking to kazuha like😭brawl in the waiting room she don’t even turn around..

second. she played young yeonjin in the glory. this girl has some unreal level of control w her emotions… (I think).. I think she’s very aware of who she is and what she wants, and focuses on herself more than others. not in a mean way, she’s just like… you do you, whatever you do is your own problem.

overall I think she’s a nice person though, I don’t think she’d ever be rude to someone who didn’t DESERVE it yk what I’m saying..

to be honest I think cibyn is a pretty happy person, but she definitely got some issues cause of her mother… the belief that love is useless and will only get in the way of success is a very detrimental-to-your-health kind of way to think. It seems she only feels this way about romantic love though so she does still have good friends and let’s herself care abt other people, so… it’s not all that bad.

I don’t think she’s processed her issues from her childhood so if chaewon or yunjin were to confess… I think she’d need time to process it. i think she’ll probably get w chaewon (sorry yunjin 😞you can NEVER WINNN😭😭) but I think it’ll take her some time— you can’t just let go of years of the way you were, and I don’t think she sees a reason to. I don’t think cibyn minds the way she was raised or thinks— I don’t know if she craves a relationship but it really doesn’t seem like it. overall I think she’s pretty in-tune with herself and is overall like.. happy, but I think emotionally, she’s maybe not good with emotions she’s not used to/can’t control. i think cibyn probably likes being in control.

I also think she’s smart, like.. very smart. she probably jokes around and acts ditzy and whatever but smth tells me this girl is like. QUICK with it.. maybe not academically smart (although I feel like she’d be great with numbers and practical kind of subjects, math/science, maybe not literature cause.. u gotta be kinda good w emotions for it LMFAO) but she’s definitely very aware of the way other people ACT. she may not be aware of crushes her way but I think she can tell if someone is a good person or not idk.

overall uhhh chaewon stays winning I think cibyn likes control.. but I don’t think she’s AFRAID(?) to fall in love, I just think she has an aversion to it. maybe it makes her feel weak or smth?? i can’t rlly tell cuz she’s kind of always staying silly. she may b oblivious to crushes but she’s probably veeeery intelligent. I LOVE U CIBYN‼️(I want to study her under a microscope)

-🎏

LMAOOOOO cib!yn is honestly really funny😭 she intentionally does some of things to keep her peace but anyways i really like your view on her

#🎏anon #cib!yn

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kasienda · 1 year ago

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Love Remains - Ch 5

Written for @thelibraryloser‘s birthday.

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

Read on Ao3

Chapter 5:

Thirty-Six Days Since Marinette Lost her Memory

“I’d like you to do a supplemental reading this weekend to fill in some of your historical gaps.”

Gaps was one word for it. She took the assignment without complaint though she wasn’t sure when she’d be able to do it.

“Girl! Why didn’t you say something?” Alya asked as they walked to their next class.

Marinette shrugged. “Because I do want to fill in my historical gaps?”

Like in an abstract way if she could just suddenly know it the way she knew how to swing through the city on a yo-yo. Not the I want to dedicate hours of my life to this kind of way.

“But you don’t have to do that all in one weekend!”

“Do you think old me would have said something?” Marinette doesn’t know why she’s asking. She hates the comparisons, but it’s like a scab she can’t help but pick at it when her friends and family keep commenting on how she’s different.

“You like the green one? I thought pink was your favorite color.”

It was! But that didn’t mean pink was always best for every single accessory.

“That’s a beautiful drawing,” her maman said of the sketch of her father. “Have you sketched any new designs recently?”

She hadn’t. She didn’t want to. Clothes weren’t interesting. But she knew her mother wanted her to say yes, so she hedged.

Lila had spilled coffee on Marinette’s bag in art class. It had definitely been on purpose. Marinette glared at the girl as she resolutely gathered all her things to clean elsewhere rather than dignifying Lila with a response.

“That was totally on purpose. Why didn’t you say anything?” Alya had asked after the fact.

Marinette piled her bag’s belongings carefully on a bench while she wrung out the backpack itself. “Didn’t really want her to know that she was getting to me.” Marinette’s diary had revealed that when Marinette make accusations against Lila, the other girl usually managed to twist it back on Marinette. She didn’t really want to make the same mistake when Lila didn’t believe she was holding a grudge. “Why?”

“Well, you used to always call her out on things. Chloé too.”

Marinette sighed. At least people had stopped asking what she remembered. Maybe they had finally figured out that she really didn’t remember anything.

But it seemed other people did and Marinette now was apparently different than the Marinette of old, and now Marinette was never sure if that was a good or bad thing.

“If old you thought the teacher was being unfair or unreasonable, she definitely would have said something, but she would have been totally silent than if she just didn’t have time.”

And thank goodness Alya was willing to be straightforward about such questions. Her parents were not. They were so diplomatic about answering such questions, but they always seemed sad.

She felt like she was disappointing them.

“What do you mean? You’re not disappointing them!” Alya had objected.

“But I am. They want me to be her, and when I’m not, they’re sad.”

“They’re just worried about you.”

Marinette pressed her lips together. Yeah Marientte definitely knew that they were worried. Paranoid was more apt. They constantly texted, wanting to know where she was, to remind her to put on a helmet, and asking for check ins everytime a friggin’ akuma alert went off.

Which made it that much harder to get away to be Ladybug.

And she loved being Ladybug.

Her parents would probably be horrified.

“I just wish being me as I am now was okay.”

“Of course it’s okay.”

“But it isn’t , Marinette insisted, wanting to tug at her pigtails. She didn’t know how to explain, and Alya was looking at her with glassy eyes and Marinette knew she was disappointing her, too, though Alya was better at hiding it than anyone.

“You know that she’s you, right?” Alya asked softly.

Marinette shrugged. She might be, but it didn’t seem to matter to anyone else.

…

Literature had become more bearable now that they were starting a new novel. It was a story that no one in the class had read before. Marinette found the story riveting.

“Really?” Adrien asked. They had been partnered for a small presentation on the use of imagery in the book’s first three chapters. “What’s your favorite part so far?”

Goodness, he was so earnest. Even when they had been paired he had been so sweet about it when she was obviously the weaker link of the two of them.

“Sorry you were saddled with me for this project,” she had said.

“Marinette, you are the best partner to have in this whole world. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Her cheeks had burned. Was this guy for real? She might’ve maybe understood what it was old Marinette had liked about him.

Really she probably would have fallen for him too if it wasn’t for the fact that Chat Noir was right there guarding her life and being serving as the best sounding board and confidant a girl could ask for.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked after the most recent akuma.

She was fine. She just didn’t want to stop being Ladybug yet. Being Ladybug made sense. Being Ladybug was simple and something she was good at. Marinette’s life was so complicated.

“I’m okay,” she said, determined for it to be true.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Like, how did he do that?!

But fifteen minutes later they were sitting side by side on the Eiffel Tower each with their own ice cream cones as she vented to him about her mundane problems.

“I hate history. It’s the subject I know, like nothing about and my teacher— he’s trying to be patient, but he clearly doesn’t know what to do with me. He keeps assigning extra readings, but even when I have time to read them. They don’t mean anything.”

“That must be frustrating.”

She snorted. Understatement. “Even places on a map feel no more real than the map at the beginning of the fantasy novel we’re reading in literature.”

“I don’t know about history itself, but maybe we could do something about the geography?”

He stands up, and offers her a hand, which she of course takes. He pulls her to her feet like she’s a princess and pulls out a box of colored cheeses from his baton.

“What’s that?”

“These are power ups for our Kwamis.”

“We can power up our Kwamis?”��

He offers her a piece of cheese. “Eat this one.” He takes one of the same color.

Soon they’re transformed. They have airtight helmets and wings. He levitates just barely into the air. She doesn’t move, staring dumbly at his offered hand.

“Come on. I’ll show you.” His voice resounds inside her helmet. It feels both like he’s far away and like he’s all around her.

She again takes it, because she’d trust him to take her anywhere.

He led her on a low altitude tour of Paris, pointing out landmarks that are historically significant. But he doesn’t just recount events. When he speaks of kings and dukes, he tells a story. And suddenly King Louis VI and King Louis the XIV are not only separated by time, but by personality and vision.

They’ve been flying for hours already, when he takes her higher. They’re above the clouds, starting to see the curvature of the earth when he points out Normandy, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain.

And then they’re further out, beyond even air they can breathe, and the Earth shines below them, a glowing blue marble in a vastness of inky blackness.

She can’t breathe as she takes in the sight. There’s a whole world down there. It’s so big, bigger than any of her problems, and yet it’s so small when they’re out here in space.

His voice is still describing the places they can see. Continents and oceans, but she can’t process the words anymore.

“M’lady?” he asks, floating to her side with yet another hand reaching out, offering her support again and again.

“You’re amazing!” she says, and is awarded with pink blooming underneath his visor. And he was. How did old Marinette never see or notice?!

He never takes anything seriously.

He’s always cracking jokes.

He flirts with everyone.

Marinette had slammed the diary closed after she read it. What the hell had old Marinette been talking about?!

She had started a new diary after that, and it definitely wasn’t Adrien she had been writing about.

Looking at his eyes now, even with only five weeks of memories she’s absolutely certain he’s the sweetest, most genuine boy that lives on the planet he just showed her. And he didn’t just show it to her. He made her see it, he made it real in a way that no one else had.

She reaches for his hand, lets their fingers interlock, and it feels right.

Holding his hand, she’s not worried about how she’s different or the same. It doesn’t matter what she remembers or has forgotten. With him, she feels like a whole complete person.

She loves that.

She loves him.

…

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #partial reveal #ladynoir #memory loss #amnesia #marinette gave up the guardianship and lost all her memories #not as angsty as the trope usually is #happy ending #my own content #love remains

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ja3gerb0mbb · 1 year ago

Text

bloodsucker chapter 3: trost fair

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word count: 4k

content warnings: none

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

it was finally friday. i didn’t have any more literature lectures to attend; giving me time to push down my emotions from the week. i’m over it. it doesn’t matter. because, well it doesn’t. who is eren to me anyway? i was doing what i always did: obsessing over situations i have no control over. convincing myself eren’s words didn’t affect me was the easiest way of dealing with it. eventually, i started to really believe it.

“sash! get up!” i yelled, barging into her room. she was sprawled out on her bed; limbs going in every direction possible. i chuckled as her torso shot up, her eyes going wide, “what!” she spoke, exasperated. “we have chem in twenty minutes, dummy.” i left her room, walking the short distance to the kitchen. taking out two slices of bread to put in the toaster, i notice hitch walking out of her room, “morning, want any toast?”

hitch rubs at her eyes, trying to wake up. “sure, thanks,” her voice still scratchy from sleep. i throw in another slice, and turn my body fully towards her, “i feel like i never get to see you!” i kept my tone sweet, but i couldn’t help the bite that came through.

she softly chucked, sitting down on the island barstool that finally shipped. pouring water into a glass she spoke, “yeah, i’ve actually been sleeping at alpha phi most nights.”

i remembered that was the sorority historia was in. were they getting closer? i made a mental note to watch my mouth around hitch. “oh cool, were you going to join?” if she did, would she move out? maybe sasha and i would have an extra room after all.

“i migh-” hitch was swiftly cut off my sasha sprinting out of her room, “i totally forgot we had chem today!” she dramatically groaned. “hange’s sweet and all but damn i really don’t know what they’re talking about most the time,” she stalked her way over to the toaster, taking out the slices, putting them on one plate; attempting to save them all for herself.

i scoff, “um, hello! two pieces are for me and hitch.” sasha whips her head toward the other side of the kitchen, spotting hitch for the first time this morning. she gave an uneasy laugh, “sorry!” hitch gave her a laugh as well, joining us on the other side, grabbing all the fixings for toast. “i gotta run to class, i’ll see you later though?” it was a question, like she didn’t know if she would be coming back tonight. hitch ran out, rawdogging the toast with no napkin or plate.

sasha and i bid farewell before leaving ourselves. on our way to class, i warned sasha, “i know you have no filter, but keep your shit locked around hitch. i think she’s bestie-boos with historia.” sasha really doesn’t have a filter; she’ll talk about the last shit she took to a total stranger.

she groaned, “i’ll try! she seems kinda sweet, i’m surprised she’s getting sucked into all that.” she shoved the lsat piece of bread into her mouth; which was about half the slice. her cheeks grew, trying to accompany the size.

“really? i think she’d fit in perfectly,” i laughed at my own comment. as we reached the science hall, i opened the door for sasha. “do you have classes later today,” she asked.

i thought about the empty day ahead of me. i knew my mind would start to wander back to eren with the lack of work to keep me occupied. “nope. first and only class.”

“good! we’re going to the fair in trost later,” sasha’s face lit up. the fair was annual, and you could find everyone at sina there at some point. “ooh! the fair’s back already? who’s going?”

“the usual. your boytoy and connie. i think mikasa and armin said eren might go, but don’t get your hopes up.” the comment was laced with sarcasm, but my hopes started to soar. my pace stumbled as i tripped over my own feet. no. don’t. i tried to convince myself. you’re over it. you’re over it. i was familiar with the sound the mantra created in my mind. at this point, the phrase felt tattooed on my brain.

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i stared into the mirror for what felt like hours. attempting to fix every single hair out of place. “stop making out with the mirror,” sasha teased. “you look like a tool, thanks to me,” she walked over, adjusting the shirt to show more of my collarbone. i wore a miniskirt, but since it was colder out, legwarmers were scrunched up on my calves.

giggling, i replied, “if i didn’t have you i’d be walking around naked.” sasha placed two fingers in her mouth, making an obnoxiously loud whistle; “wish we got to see more of that!” she teased further. flipping her phone over on my desk, she checked the time. “shit! jean’s already here!” she made a beeline toward the door, and i followed close behind, grabbing my purse on the way out.

jean’s radio was blasting so loud, we could hear it halfway across the parking lot. gasolina, huh. must be connie on the aux. i laughed out loud at the thought. sash and i climbed into the car; i sat behind jean as per usual. “wassup sluts!” connie greeted us, holding his hand in the back to dap each of us up. he��s such a boy.

“damn gimmie a bite of that!” connie yelled, gesturing to my skirt; biting his teeth together loudly to make a ‘chomp’ sound that echoed in the closed car.

��EW connie, fucking weirdo!” sasha yelled, reaching her hands on either side of his headrest, yanking each of his ears. he let out a high pitched scream, making all of us cover our ears in pain. “im trying to drive!” jean yelled back, sounding like a frustrated dad, “quiet the fuck down!” it was his turn to abuse connie, sticking his hand out and slapping it into his throat. connie clutched it dramatically, gurgling and making sounds of death

as the laughter in the car died down, i noticed three bodies missing from our party. but there was only one in particular i was concerned with. . i couldn’t figure out why i wanted eren to go so bad. jean’s car isn’t even big enough for three people. i reminded myself. they’re just taking another car.

the rest of the long ride was full of arguing and screaming. rides with this trio usually were. “i’m so exited for the churros i haven't had any in so long,” sasha practically drooled at the thought of it.

“we know fatass,” connie said, looking over at jean and giggling like little girls. connie began to shake in his seat at his own joke, jerking his body into the back continuously. sasha attempted to hit him from behind, but he was moving too much for any to land. “oh look, i think i can see armin’s blonde ass hair,” jean roughly pointed out of the window, and i turned my head to see.

after glancing around, i was able to spot armin. with a raven haired girl and a moody boy with a manbun. my stomach did cartwheels and i fought the smile on my face. you don’t care. i reminded myself. jean pulled into the nearest space, and we all filed out quickly. jean gave my shoulders a shove, pushing my body forward, “move it!” he continued to poke at my back.

“asshole!” i pushed his chest, but he’s too broad to falter. “you look good though,” he commented as he looked me up and down.

“thats what i said!” connie yelled, before coming up to my face and licking my cheek. i stood astonished for a few moments. i heard sasha gasp before she began giggling with jean. “ew! no the fuck you didn’t std-bag!” he started running toward the entrance of the fair; i kept pace with him before jumping on his back, locking him in a chokehold.

“mikasa! wait up!” i heard from behind me. sasha had sped up her pace too, calling over the second group. at the mention of her name, she turned around, face lighting up. “hey! you guys made it here pretty quick!” eren turned around, locking eyes with me. i faltered my hold on connie, eventually letting go and hopping off his back.

“so did you,” jean directed to mikasa. armin made his way to me and sasha, hugging her before me. “i’m glad you guys made it!” it was weird to see the three of them together. i had gotten so used to it being mikasa and armin as just a duo.

“ay, where my hug at armin,” connie had a false bravado, sticking his arms out. armin skipped over to connie, embracing him. we watched as his hands slipped down to connie’s ass, gripping his cheeks tightly. our group erupted in laughter from the abnormal behavior from armin; maybe he’s been spending too much time with connie. in all the greeting commotion, eren slipped away. “hurry up!” he shouted at us with a half turned head. he set the pace of the group, and we walked faster to catch up.

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after being at the fair for a few hours, eren was still acting like a wet blanket. if we played a game, he watched from the sidelines. going on a ride? he stood in line and skipped out as we boarded the coasters. mikasa tried her best to include him, but he just wouldn’t budge. everytime her extended arm was rejected, her and armin were visibly taken aback. hurt flashed in their eyes; they looked like kicked puppies.

“you know he’s in my history class. i was tying my hair back and he literally called me filthy? like what is he even on?” sasha’s voice pulled me back to reality. we now stood in line for the churros sasha’s been dying to get her hands on. the three boys were engrossed in their own conversation.

“man, floch is so wild. i try to stay at least thirty feet away at all times.” i pulled my features in disgust at the thought of him. floch had a habit of rubbing everyone the wrong way. sometimes i feel bad everyone hates him, and then he opens his mouth and i’m reminded why. “i was on my way to class and he slapped my ass. in broad daylight!” mikasa told her story, genuine awe still laced her voice.

connie scoffed, joining in. “i expect nothing less from that pervy freak,” he turned to face us now.

“takes one to know one,” jean poked at him. “no need to by hypocritical, jean.” connie’s voice was bitter when spitting out his name. “i know you slap y/n’s ass all the time!” he proclaimed.

jean laughed while i gasped, punching connie in the shoulder. “you don’t get to laugh bottom!” i directed towards jean whose face became bright red in embarrassment. “aw, jean-boy’s blushing,” sasha commented, giggling at jean’s state.

as the laughter died down, i became aware of the cold air nipping at me. the thin long sleeve definitely wasn’t enough to keep me warm. i brought my arms up to cradle my chest, rubbing the sides of my arm. “cold?” jean asked, bringing his head closer to my ear. i nodded. before he could respond, i felt something being thrown on my back. i flipped my head around, eren held his own jacket to my shoulders, ensuring it didn’t slip.

jean rolled his eyes before walking away. jeez, lot of tension between them today. whatever their issue was, i don’t think they have plans on resolving it. i wrapped eren's jacket closer to my body. the fabric was cold, despite him wearing it, but it was a lot warmer than being exposed to the frigid air. “i’m gonna head to the bathroom,” my announcement seemed to fall on deaf ears. all but for armin who turned his head, “do you want me to walk with you?” genuine concern laced his voice. “no, i’ll be fine!”

i turn the corner after coming out of the bathroom building. immediately running into something stiff and soft. it took me aback for a moment, but i pulled away as soon as i came back to my senses. it was.. bertholdt?! he looked back at me with wide eyes, “y/n,” his voice was low, “you’re here!” he seemed to be just as taken aback as me, but eventually color spread on his face.

“hey! who are you here with?” i asked, taking another step away after realizing how close we were. beretoldt shifted awkwardly on his feet before responding, “yeah, uh, i came with reiner.” his tone was a bit unsure. i chucked at him, “what are you on a date or something?”

his eyes blew wide before denying profusely, “what no, no! i me-” he abruptly stopped talking and i soon felt an arm sling around my shoulders. the hand slipped down my arm, pulling me into the front of a body. the grip was cold and possessive; i looked up, immediately being captured in eren's eyes. he looked my face over, almost as if checking if i was okay before staring at bertholdt. eren’s arm gripped me even tighter, if that was possible.

the two boys started at each other; eren’s gaze was viscous but bertholdt looked like prey. “um, i was getting churros for the group,” i gulped, “wanna tag along bert?” my offer was sincere, although the gesture was made in an attempt to break the tension. he briefly met my eyes, before looking back at eren, “no, i should go back to reiner.” he lifted his hand up for a weak wave of goodbye before swiftly turning around.

eren and i stood in the same position, staring at the now empty spot. “that was weird,” i looked back up at him.

“yeah,” eren scoffed as a response. he rolled his eyes lightly before meeting my gaze.

“no. you. you were weird.” eren looked at me, almost astounded that I addressed him that way. his brows furrowed; in anger or confusion i wasn’t sure. “it was weird because he wants to fuck you.” i jerked my head back in surprise, and my brows began to furrow as well. eren took my reaction as a sign to remove his grip from my arm, and i immediately craved for more contact between us.

“and? that’s your business how..” bertholdt always acted shy like that, but even if he was ‘trying to get in my pants’ it wasn’t any of eren’s business. especially after the way he’s acted towards me. “just warning you,” he smirked coldly, mocking me. scoffing, i fully pushed away from his body and walked away.

i felt his presence behind me. turning my head, i could see he was a few paces behind, “stalking me now?” i chuckled lowly.

“just protecting you,” he joked back, but there was seriousness behind his tone. like he really intended to protect me. “from..” i dragged the end out, urging him to explain what he thought was so dangerous.

“the big bad wolves,” he deadpanned. turning to look at his face, his face was stone cold and dead serious. he bore into my eyes, as i burst out in laughter at his composure. “like beretoldt apparently!” my arms clenched my stomach and i tucked tighter into eren’s jacket. sure, bertholdt was tall but he wouldn’t hurt a fly. eren’s evaluation of him was dead wrong.

“the biggest and the baddest,” a light smile adorned his face as he continued the joke. the first i had ever seen up close. my breath hitched in my throat. we locked eyes, before his eyes drifted to something behind me. turning my head, i attempted to see what captured his attention. the ferris wheel. we still hadn’t gone yet; the park grounds would probably be closing soon.

“wanna go?” i ask. he turns his attention back to me, but i can see the hesitance in his eyes. “we should probably get back. don’t want anyone to worry.”

“they won’t, just send a text,” reaching out, i grabbed hold of his hand and slipped my first two fingers around his pointer. “come on,” i urged. before he started moving his feet, i had to tug his arm a few times, but he gave in, diverting his head down to hide the small smile on his face.

the line was vacant; everyone was probably already on their way out. the ride conductor smiled at us, before extending his hand to help us in the cart, “watch you step!” i took his hand, guiding myself into the capsule’s seat. however, eren ignored his gesture, opting to get in on his own. i rolled my eyes at that. as the door shut us in, he took out his phone. “armin said they’re all gonna leave in jean’s car. i’ll just drive you back to your dorm.” he put it back in his pocket quickly, looking up at me. we stared at each other; just breathing.

his gaze awakened the butterflies; they spread into my throat, almost suffocating me. clearing it, i broke eye contact. “how long have you been friends with them for?” eren seemed to notice my momentary discomfort.

“i met everyone last year. jean and i had biology together and he introduced me to everyone after he leached onto me for homework answers,” i joked. i would always be thankful to jean; sina wouldn’t be the same without any of them.

“sounds like jean,” eren scoffed; at the mere mention of jean or comparing him to a leach, i wasn’t sure. “yeah. such an ass,” i tried to break the tension, “sasha and i definitely got closest, though.”

his eyes lit up at the mention of sasha, “it’s hard to not get along with her.” he turned his head down, attempting to cover another smile fighting its way onto his features. being stuck in a cart with eren neither of us could get out of gave me confidence to ask around his past, “how long have you known everyone?”

he twitched slightly, but eventually answered. “well, mikasa and armin as long as i can remember. i know the rest from highschool but sasha and connie were a grade below us. really it was mika and armin that got closer to the three of them than i did.” was he lying? if i hadn’t seen the picture i would’ve believed him. he has a convincing poker face. but they were definitely closer than he was letting on.

his lie prompted a twinge of anger. first he abandons his friends and then he acts like they weren’t even that close? remembering their behavior today made me snap at him, “armin and mikasa really hurt when you weren’t here,” my confidence didn’t get me far; it came out as a whisper. his demeanor immediately changed and his posture stiffened. fuck, must’ve hit another off-limits topic. “you don’t know anything,” he practically growled. it was the most viscous i heard him speak; it almost didn’t even sound human.

my jaw went slack. he looked back up to meet my gaze, and his face was set in its usual state. “historia’s from washington. she went to rose high school too. crazy coincidence huh, wonder if you knew each other,” his tone was even; like he could control it again. my mind started racing. it was his turn to catch me off guard. how could he know? “i-” my voice cracked. i couldn’t continue, too baffled to form a thought.

“don’t dig around in my past, and i’ll do the same.” his face was smug now, happy he was finally able to one-up me. questions thrummed in my mind as my breathing picked up.

i looked onto the fair below through the wires of the capsule. i took deep breathes in, trying to control the knot in my throat. you don’t care. she doesn’t matter anymore, i began repeating. pushing everything down, i focused on the stands below. i locked my eyes on a bear from the ring toss. it was the biggest one there; hanging from the highest shelf. it looked like one i had back in washington; i smiled at the thought. i refused to meet eren in the eyes, focusing on that bear until the ferris wheel completed it’s course.

getting out first, i promptly started to make my way towards the exit, “have a good night!” the conductor bid a goodbye. i turned to wave when eren’s pace caught up to mine. he started walking in the wrong direction. “eren! wrong way dumbass,” my first words were coarse; forcing me to clear my throat again. “eren!” i yelled again, but he didn’t break his pace. what an attention whore.

giving in, i followed him, careful to keep pace between us. he marched his way over to one of the stands, hopping over the counter of the first one. it was the ring toss. he outstretched his hand, grabbing the bear on the top shelf. once it came undone, he walked over to me and outstretched his hand to offer the bear.

“eren!” my voice was loud, and i quickly lowered it, “don't steal that! what’s wrong with you!” i looked around the fair, but no one was near us.

he lightly laughed at me, “for the nerve i hit.” i fought the smile on my face, but it was useless. setting the pace, he changed directions to the exit. “cars this way dumbass,” he barely turned his body to mock me. an apology sat on my tongue, but i kept it back. i don’t think he likes the word sorry.

the car ride was quiet, and the blasting heater made me truly warm for the first time tonight. the bear at my chest provided a pillow; i felt my eyes close.

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i awoke to a light jostling. my eyes fluttered open as i realized i was being carried. two arms were tightly gripped under my arms and legs. one of mine was hanging, the other slug around a neck. eren’s neck, i noticed as i looked up at his face. he met my eyes quickly. “you wouldn’t wake up,” he scrunched his nose in a feature akin to disgust. “heavy ass sleeper,” he muttered under his breath. i could feel him bend down, and his grip loosened. i hopped out of his arms, putting balance back on me feet.

“my night in shining armor,” i teased him. he turned his face away, furrowing his brows. we didn’t have much further to walk; almost back at my dorm. “we still have a project to do,” eren nagged as i yawned, still not entirely awake. “i know, i know. we’ll finish it this weekend.”

jamming my keys into the door, i opened it, walking halfway inside before turning around. “night, eren.” he nodded, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans before walking back to the parking lot.

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a/n: gasolina is connie's song idec

spotify playlist

#eren jaeger #eren yeager #attack on titan #eren jeager x reader #eren jaeger fanfiction #eren jaeger smut #mikasa ackerman #jean kirstein

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natikoko · 7 months ago

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2,4,6,7,10,21,23,24,29 marlon

2. describe your character's voice. do they have a voice claim?

Marlon has a german country accent masqueraded as an american brooklyn accent, her words prosed articutely and doesn’t use slang or metaphors at all. if that makes the slightest semblance of sense. she tries sounding as “inkling” as possible but is slowly growing out of it

4. what's your character's favorite recreational activity?

…not joking, she likes jumping on trampolines. I’ve mentioned before that one of marlon’s biggest problems is that she’s constantly understimulated so doing physical activities such as this helps her a lot. her mood is actually night and day after she’s jumped on it for about an hour

adrian bought her a trampoline and she jumps and flips on it for a few hours. it tuckers her out bad. she also loves cleaning if that counts

6. what is the thing your oc likes the least about themselves?

marlon hates herself. I don’t think I could make that more apparent. if she had to choose, it’d be her drinking addiction. it constantly messes up so many opportunities for her and causes rifts in her relationships

7. what is the thing your oc likes the most about themselves?

marlon really likes her attractiveness. people seem to gravitate towards her, almost unnaturally. she doesn’t know if it’s because she’s vulnerable or if people are genuinely interested in her and her patheticness, but she loves it. why do you think she had two partners once upon a time?

10. what kind of music do they enjoy?

old german cabaret music. if based in our world, megan thee stallion

21. hobbies your OC enjoys?

cleaning, organizing, reading, eating(I’m serious), studying various random topics, drinking, drinking and painting and eating cheeses, recovering old world literature and collecting samples of musical records (very expensive hobby) (she uses pearl’s money) hunting (with her bare hands) farming (with her dad)

and watching marlon brando movies

23. what are your OC’s biggest flaws and biggest strengths?

marlon’s self worth is almost nonexistent. she’s impulsive, self-destructive, sardonic and stubborn. she’s insecure and short-tempered (I named several sorry). worst part, marlon doesn’t acknowledge any of these besides the fact that she’s insecure. her explosive anger effects people dearly and she doesn’t seem to even acknowledge it, her self-destructive and impulsive nature leads to her getting into situations that genuinely threatened the livelihoods of her and those around (got into a bar fight and someone pulled out a knife and almost stabbed her) and it’s been multiple times where adrian wanted to flat out break up with her

somehow, though, despite all of these negatives… marlon is very strong-willed. she didn’t escape that metro without it. she could stop drinking if she put her mind to it and went to rehab, but she thinks it’s punishment for everything she’s done wrong

she’s proud of her strong-will, but she wonders when she’ll put it to use

24. how does your OC handle the death of someone they know?

marlon ignores it. straight up. she’d pretend that it didn’t happen and try to proceed as normal. in reality, I think it’d be shock. something very inconvenient would happen to her (she’d drop an egg on the floor) and she’d crumble and burst into tears. probably would drink the rest of the night

29. when was their first kiss?

it was at 17, with tilly. she doesn’t like talking about the rest

#asks #this is a lot for Marlon!

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thebibliomancer · 2 years ago

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #293: AND FLIGHTS OF ANGELS...

July, 1988

THE FATE OF MARRINA!

Wait, hold up... the fate of Marrina tm? Flights of angels...? Isn’t that usually followed by sing thee to thy rest?

Yup. Yuuup. Marrina is going to die.

Shame. Shaaaame.

She seemed like she had potential as an Avenger. How long has it been since we had a married couple on the Avengers? ... Oh, when Vision and Scarlet Witch were on the team. Still, though!

But I might be jumping the gun.

Last times on Avengers: the Avengers are having a tough time lately. Because this is the character assassination era. Captain Marvel Monica Rambeau is a weak and ineffectual leader who wants to do things like... not kill Marrina. Dr Druid very much wants to kill Marrina as a first and only option and is actively undermining Monica and having ominous sex dreams. Marrina turned into a giant sea monster for some reason and has been sinking ships and destroying coastal settlements. Namor is sad because his wife doesn’t seem to love him anymore and also is a giant world-threatening monster.

Tough times.

You know who else is having tough times?

Atlantis.

Marrina is smashing them UP!

Which is pretty fascinating! It implies there’s still some of Marrina within her because no doubt she’d harbor some resentment for Atlantis giving her beloved husband the boot and elevating one of his worst enemies to the throne.

Maybe we can ignore the blatant foreshadowing and snap Marrina out of-

Oh.

This doesn’t imply anything. Dr Druid caused this, for some reason.

Ffs.

I’ll get to that when it’s relevant in the plot.

Meanwhile, Simonson gets to put on his Literature Hat by quoting Milton’s Paradise Lost regarding the biblical Leviathan which has little to do with Marrina except being a big aquatic troublemaker.

Namor shows up after Marrina has already gotten bored and wandered off and is distraught to see that Marrina is now killing people that he cares about.

Okay, not really.

But considering its her attack on Atlantis that makes Namor go rejoin the Avengers, it really does feel kind of like all that other damage and other death she’s caused bothered him significantly less.

Over at Hydrobase, Dr Drui psychically spies on Namor, satisfied that his manipulations have paid off.

He also swoons so that he can flashback to something that happened recently but that the audience doesn’t know about.

Very considerate!

Dr Druid: “Apparently only I have the will to save all who can be saved. I pray this will give me the strength to do what must be done!”

Fuck you Dr Druid Point 1: Dr Druid can use “controlled clairvoyance to find Leviathan Marrina so all that time the Avengers couldn’t find her fast enough to prevent damage, Druid was just holding out on them.

Dr Druid: “So, my terrible friend, let us see what we can do to convince the others that you are indeed a menace that must be dealt with properly!”

Fuck you Dr Druid Point 2: He lured Marrina to attack and destroy Atlantis by creating an illusion of a nice, juicy boat and since sea serpents are dumb, he just had the boat head down towards Atlantis.

Fuck you Dr Druid Point 1+2=3: Given that he can find Marrina with “controlled clairvoyance” and lure Marrina with illusion boats, he could have been finding and diverting her and saving lives this whole time. Granted, the effort seems to exhaust him. So maybe he couldn’t have kept it up for long. But he’s refusing to help to his fullest abilities and then criticizing Monica for not being interested in saving lives.

You, sir, Dr Druid, are the menace that must be dealt with properly.

Grump grump.

Anyway.

Dr Druid feels bad about being an evil shithead but comforts himself that he’s saving lives by luring Marrina to kill a bunch of Atlanteans and convincing Namor to rejoin the Avengers so Druid can convince the other Avengers that killing Marrina as their first option is the best and only option.

Dr Druid: “She is too dangerous to be allowed to roam the seas at will... while Captain Marvel wastes time and lives seeking vainly for some illusory cure for Marrina’s condition. But there is no time to waste in that direction. For I have had such dreams that foretell of grave danger in the near future... and Marrina could be just the beginning. Yet how could I convince my fellow Avengers of a threat heralded by dreams? Best to keep my own counsel... and deflect the Avengers from Captain Marvel’s useless endeavors...”

And he finds She-Hulk, Thor, and Captain Marvel talking to Dr Pym on the video phone.

Pym isn’t promising any miracles because the information they sent over was fragmentary. But he used his science brain and scienced up a possible cure. A shot in the dark really. A shot in the dark in the form several hypodermic harpoon needles that will inject Marrina with viral recombinant DNA suppressor. Which MIGHT revert her back to her previous form.

Dr Pym also warns the Avengers to obviously not stick themselves with the harpoon needles because that’d be dumb.

Can’t tell if this is a chekov’s gun or just added detail.

Like that super special dart gun in Lost World Jurassic Park that would kill a dude in less than a second if they accidentally stuck themselves with it. But then the gun never got used at all.

Anyway, Black Knight says it’ll take him a couple hours to make some bazookas to shoot these harpoon needles.

He still sees the problem that Namor will get in the way. But Namor shows up to say he’ll definitely not get in the way!

Namor: “A true monach, Dane, will sacrifice anything, even his own happiness, for the good of the subjects he rules. That is his sacred trust. And though I am no longer a monarch, am I not a guardian of Earth and its mortal inhabitants? Is my trust not as sacred?”

Thor: “Well spoken, Prince Namor. I do not bid thee welcome, for what glad greeting can cloak the grim task that confronts us -- a kinslaying. But I speak as one Avenger to another... thy sacred trust in this hour of trial is gratefully received. No other warrior would I as lief have at my side.”

Frens. Or allies. Avengers. Whatever.

Namor sweetens the rejoining deal. Not only will he be more of a help than a hindrance, he’ll also show the Avengers where Leviathan Marrina is keeping all the ships she sinks.

And he does.

The Avengers get in their QUINJET and fly to the random part of the ocean that Namor tells them.

They don’t see Marrina which could mean she’s out looking for more ships.

Thor suggests they start searching.

Dr Druid says he’ll try a clairvoyant trace. WHICH WE ALREADY KNOW HE CAN USE TO FIND HER. HE DOESN’T FIND HER HERE. THE WORST.

Black Knight cobbled together a sonar pod to scan the oceans.

And Captain Marvel nyooms out in her lightform to zoom all around the world searching the oceans.

THEY STILL DON’T FIND ANYTHING FOR HOURS.

When they eventually find her its because there’s a static patch on their scanners, since Leviathan Marrina can, for some reason, jam signals.

When the Avengers find her, she’s sinking another ship. They arrive too late to save the ship and I guess there’s no survivors in the water because they jump right to trying to harpoon dart Marrina.

The first harpoon needle shatters against her armored scales.

She-Hulk reloads the bazooka and Black Knight figures that maybe her underbelly will be more penetrable. But Leviathan Marrina twists at the last moment and the second harpoon shatters against her armored head.

Thor jumps out of the Quinjet too and starts Mjolniring Marrina in the face, trying to distract her so Black Knight can get a good shot.

Thor: “HAVE AT THEE, CREATURE OF THE DEPTHS! The Avengers shall endeavor to save thee in spite of thyself!”

Black Knight takes aim at the stunned Leviathan Marrina’s underbelly... and no luck!

Her soft underbelly is still too armored.

And now there’s only one harpoon needle left...

Leviathan Marrina rises up to try to eat the people that keep shooting at her and She-Hulk has a sudden good idea.

She-Hulk: “That’s it! Her mouth! Aim for her mouth, Dane! No armor!”

With the very last shot, Black Knight shoots Marrina in the tonsils (ouch) with the cure.

AND IT WORKS!

God only knows where her swimsuit came from when she turned back into her normal self. But she’s back to normal!

Good times are here again.

Marrina: “Oh, my love. Is this another fevered illusion... or have my fondest dreams come true?”

Namor: “Fear not, my heart. You’re safe now, I promise. And here is my kiss upon it.”

Aw, that’s nice.

Now we scene change to the Kang subplot that’s happening for some reason and I’m sure everyone is excited about.

Remember? The one with Kang-123488.23497?

That guy! That specific Kang! Also, a billion other Kangs. Too many Kangs.

Beard Kang says that its rare for Kangs to survive a council war which means that despite the point of the original Council of Kangs to be a trap to kill all Kangs but Cape Kang, there’s so many infinite Kangs that there are multiple council wars of which Kang-123488.23497 is just the latest (whatever that means in terms of a group that transcends time) survivor to be scouted to join the Council of Cross-Time Kangs.

Which is like a Council of Kangs but probably less of a trap to secretly murder its members.

Since Kang-123488.23497 or Kang has survived a council war and also killed a little baby assassin Kang, he has proven he has the stuff to join the Council of Cross-Time Kangs.

And since its a join or die situation, Kang joins.

The lady Kang is apparently Nebula Kang and she is told to escort Kang to his new quarters.

OH HI NEBULA!

(Except it isn’t really.)

(Retcon alert: it will later turn out that this Nebula is actually Ravonna, spying on the Council of Cross-Time Kangs for Immortus or something. Which does follow up on that plot thread. But at the expense of following up on the Nebula plot thread. Nebula was transported by the Beyonder to somewhere away due to Firelord’s careless words. Starfox left the Avengers to go look for her while the team went back to Earth. Wouldn’t it make this stupid new infinite Kang pile more relevant to the team if it was Nebula? This is where she wound up after the Beyonder yeeted her? And because her plot thread was never tied off, she’s back and causing trouble for the Avengers? Spoiler alert: Nebula Kang will cause trouble for the Avengers.)

OH HI NEBULA! SO THIS IS WHERE YOU’VE BEEN

Kang is confused that Nebula Kang is called Nebula so she explains that since everyone is a Kang, they choose individual names to avoid confusion.

Kang-123488.23497 decides he’s going to be Fred. Fred the Kang. Fred Kang.

As in Flintstone.

Such a choice.

Nebula Kang also tells Fred Kang that her quarters are just down the hall from his. And flirtatiously suggests he come visit her sometime so she can whisper sweet lore dumps in his ear.

I don’t know if Kangs fucking Kangs is weird or not. Nebula Kang, whether Ravonna or Nebula, isn’t Kang. So its fair game for her. But they all dress alike so its a bit narcissistic, isn’t it?

Anyway, the lore dump she wants to sweetly whisper to him is about “the deadliest weapon in the omniverse” and how the Council of Cross-Time Kangs is all about finding it.

Well, that answers my question of what the hell this organization even does.

After she returns to her quarters, Nebula Kang says there are depths to Fred that she’ll enjoy plumbing.

God, Nebula. Stop being horny.

But she sits in a comfy looking chair and puts on what looks like an airplane neck pillows so she can check on her “catspaw.”

Nebula Kang: “Becoming a member of the Kang Korps was the wisest move of my career. And seducing the future leader of the Avengers will be the second!”

AND SHE TAKES ON THE FORM OF THE SEXY OMINOUS LADY FROM DR DRUID’S OMINOUS SEX DREAMS!

GOD DAMMIT DR DRUID, YOU’RE LETTING NEBULA MANIPULATE YOU! STOP THINKING WITH YOUR DICK, YOU DICK!

Anyway.

Back at the plot, the Avengers fly Marrina toward a hospital. Namor refuses to let anyone else hold her because he’s a romantic like that.

But suddenly everything goes wrong because we’re not allowed nice things in editorial mandate land.

Marrina: “I’m cold. So cold. I feel as though a hand of ice clutches at my heart and freezes my blood!”

Namor tries to warm her up with kisses but observes that her lips are like ice.

And suddenly she freaks out, begging Namor for help while also thrashing and clawing at him.

The cure didn’t. She’s reverting to the bestial form that preceded the leviathan. And shortly after, reverting to the leviathan.

Her thrashing causes Namor to crash into the ocean.

Thor tells Namor to kill Marrina before she can become big huge large again but Namor hesitates and she becomes big huge large.

Where the fuck did the mass for that come from?

Whatever. This is the Marvel universe where Hank Pym makes conservation of mass weep like a tiny child.

Actually... Speaking of that... hey this is a dramatic moment and all... its very sad that Hank Pym’s shot in the dark cure didn’t work... Why didn’t he just send the Avengers an assload of Pym Particles?

They shrink Marrina, put her in a little terrarium, and then study her and try to cure her from a more informed point?

Dammit, Hank!

You’ll shrink Tigra later and put her in a cat carrier but you won’t shrink Marrina? Playing favorites!

Anyway, not only does Marrina grow back up to a big ol’ Leviathan, she grows bigger than she was before.

Makes no sense but sometimes writers have to force the ending they want.

See, this isn’t the same level of threat the Avengers were already dealing with. It’s an indeterminate but larger level of threat.

Thor even says that if Marrina keeps getting bigger, she may endanger THE ENTIRE EARTH! As opposed to just shipping and coastal communities.

Thor and Captain Marvel decide to unleash electricity on Marrina, hoping to electrocute her before she finishes transforming.

For some reason, Monica decides this is the time to comment that she doesn’t know if she reaaaaally believes Thor is the reeeeal Norse god of thunder. But whatever, it’s not a relevant line of thought to this situation.

Thor summons lightning with Mjolnir and Captain Marvel turns herself into electrical energy and both slam into Leviathan Marrina with a KRAKKATHOOOUM!

Ah, Simonson. If nothing else, always good with lightning noises.

Anyway, its not going to be clear until next issue but this is the end of Monica Rambeau's stint as Avengers chairwoman.

She accidentally fucked up electrifying this giant sea monster, dissipated too much of her energy, and winds up de-powered and nearly dead.

This is the character assassination era. Even in this moment, she can’t be allowed a heroic sacrifice. It has to be another colossal boneheaded Monica Rambeau pratfall.

Sigh.

We’ll get to that with issue #294.

For right now, Captain Marvel is an afterthought, lost in the confusion of everything else going on.

The massive electrocution (which remember, cost Monica her powers accidentally) does not stop Leviathan Marrina. Hell, its not even said that it significantly inconvenienced her.

So Black Knight decides that despite the curse of bad shit if it tastes blood, he must use his extremely cursed cut anything sword to kill Leviathan Marrina.

Namor stops him. Because This Is Something He Has To Do Himself.

But the thing is. Black Knight did decide to risk the effects of the curse to save the world. I’m contrasting it with Monica losing her powers because of a fuck-up.

I’m so grumpy right now.

Sigh sigh sigh.

Namor: “Marrina, my beloved. Hear me, wherever you may be. That which I swore to guard has been taken from us both... And only death now can free your soul from within this living prison! RISE LEVIATHAN! Rise up, and meet your nemesis! FOR MY BELOVED! FOR MARRINA!”

Also, Black Knight freaks out yelling about blood.

Huh. I knew there was a curse on the Ebony Blade that would activate if it ever tasted blood and that’s why Dane tended to just whack people with it.

But I don’t know if he’s ever said what the curse would do, exactly.

For starters, it seems to knock him the fuck out. And his Atomic Steed nearly plummets into the ocean before Thor catches him.

Thor comments that if the curse has really activated, he might be better off dead. So Thor apparently knows what it does.

Dangit, leaving the audience in the dark.

Leviathan Marrina isn’t quite dead because she’s quite big and takes quite a while to die.

She swims to the bottom of the ocean to where she piled all her sunken ships to die among her prizes... and her eggs.

‘TWAS A NEST!

There’s three eggs. Which hatch and the babies zoom off into the ocean depths.

One of the Avengers (it’s unclear because they’re speaking from off-panel) wonders who the father was and another Avenger says they may never know.

But judging by that one hatchling, I’d say that the father was most likely Black Panther.

No wonder Namor is so pissed off at the guy later on.

Marrina shrinks down to her pre-monsterified form (where did the mass go??) and Namor cradles her dead, deceased corpse and swears to find her babies and “teach them of their mother’s spirit.”

Presumably her Alpha Flight and Avengers spirit and not the spirit of all the ship sinking.

He also swims off to build Marrina “a bier fit for a queen... where you will rest forever amidst the coral, the sea jade, and mother-of-pearl... the most precious jewel in all the sea.”

And Namor fucks off.

So I guess he’s not actually rejoining the team.

He’s going through a lot right now so it’s understandable.

With Marrina dead and Namor fucked off, the Avengers decide to go to a hospital for Black Knight when suddenly (as the end of issue cliffhanger) Dr Druid realizes Captain Marvel never came back from that lightning thing.

Great. So not only is her depowering presented (next issue) as something that was a fuckup and not an intentional sacrifice), also none of her friends even noticed she was gone. The dude that’s been constantly undermining her was the only one that noticed.

This issue fucking sucks.

I’ll complain more about Monica’s treatment when I get to next issue but Marrina gets the short end of the stick too!

Turned into a giant, world-threatening monster for reasons of -shrug, confused grunt- and her husband is forced to kill her. After they try all of one time to cure her.

She didn’t get to do a lot in Avengers but she was an established character over in Alpha Flight and she’s being killed off as part of a story to kick Monica off the team and presumably to make Namor sad.

Stern was apparently kicked off the book for pushing back against the character assassination era but I don’t know whether Marrina was always part of Gruenwald’s plan or whether Simonson added that on.

Either way, it sucks.

I feel very negative about this stretch of comics.

Maybe things will get better. But the Worst Roster in issue #300 is upcoming. And then after a bit, John Byrne will be taking over both Avengers books.

There’s some that like John Byrne’s writing but his run contains several very irritating retcons and shifts in characterization.

We’ll see.

Follow @essential-avengers because where else are you going to get this level of olde Avengers coverage? The rest of the internet? Don’t be ridiculous. Like and reblog and comment, maybe.

#avengers #essential avengers #Captain Marvel #Monica Rambeau #namor mckenzie #Marrina #Leviathan Marrina #Dr Druid #who is here for some reason #he shouldn't be I hate him so much #She Hulk #Thor #Black Knight #Dr Pym #various kangs #essential marvel liveblogging #Nebula #or is it

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moonlightreal · 1 year ago

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Reading The Secret Circle in 2023

I love this series. It was probably my first teenage witches series, it was YA before YA was really a separate genre, and LJ Smith is a solid writer. But I’m giving it a reread to see what I see, that my teenage self, who had read much less YA, didn’t see. And I’ll just write whatever comes to mind while I read.

The first thing and the main thing that made me twitch was Faye. The femme fatale of the coven, Hera the jealous goddess, boyfriend stealer and terrorizer of the school. In her first scene she’s pressuring a guy who has a girlfriend to take her out on a date, and since the whole school lives in terror of the coven’s powers the poor guy can’t say no. This is super uncomfortable.

Ms. Smith likes this femme fatale character type, she uses it again in one of the Night World books. I don’t think I’ve ever run across this kind of character in any other YA book. Faye is a very sex-positive character but also a sexual predator of unfortunate boys. She’s not a good person but she’s presented as wicked but still one of the good guys.

In the second book there’s a buck-wild scene where Faye, Suzan and Deborah play “Pizza Man He Delivers” they get the house done up like witchy love nest with candles, incense, crystals and music, and then they order six pizzas and if the delivery guys are cute they invite them in to seduce them. And I have so many questions. 1)did anybody do this in real life ever? 2)does Ms. Smith think anybody did this in real life ever? 3)how many adult films is this exact scene in? It’s straight out of a dirty video, with characters who are supposed to be 16! Ms. Smith is a much weirder writer than you might think lol.

Good girl Cassie decides this is wrong because the guys “don’t have a choice” even though they are enjoying the proceedings. The real life dangers of seducing and sleeping with random guys don’t seem to cross Cassie’s mind, so maybe their school has really bad sex ed.

But (back to slightly more serious thoughts) reading Faye it also occurs to me that she’s the femme fatale without ever being slut shamed. Her sexuality is scary but not shameful. Suzan, the voluptuous Aphrodite of the coven who barely gets a mention that doesn’t include mention of her chest size, is not really written as less-than because she likes seducing guys. In fact there’s a scene where Suzan helps the other girls get ready for the school dance and Cassie thinks, “She’d thought Suzan was just an airhead, but it wasn’t true. Suzan loved beauty and was generous about sharing it with other people.” and that is an amazing, amazing way to write the “fashion obsessed airhead” character type. Half my headcanons for Stella are based on that image that stayed in my head from the time I first read this series to the time I started watching Winx.

Each girl in the coven is based on a goddess, and they each have a signature color. This is not a bad writing trick to handle a bunch of characters and make them distinct! The third “bad girl” is Deborah the biker chick, based on Artemis the huntress. Deborah rides a motorcycle and wears itty-bitty tops and leather jackets and at one point has a leather hat with a chain on it. And she’s “not interested in boys.”

Ms. Smith was writing in the early ninties when there were “gay books” and ‘normal books” and she was writing normal books as directed by her publisher so all her characters are white-cis-het. But Deborah, while described as very pretty with a dainty face, is kind of butch. One of the boys, the cold and emotionless Nick, is described as not liking girls, but I don’t get any potentially gay vibes off him. If you wanted to read into it Nick could be ace and Deborah could certainly be a lesbian.

This made me wonder-- if she started writing again today when representation is the trend in YA literature, what would Ms. Smith think? We can’t ask her so I can only make a guess based on her writing, her blogs, and the fact that she’s no fan of Trump… I think she’d freaking love it. Ms. Smith’s jam is writing forbidden love, and now she’d have all these new kinds of couples to write and new reasons for their love to be forbidden. Thinking Night World here because that’s a series that could be expanded, what do all the supernaturals think of same-sex relationships? The witches are very traditional but same-sex relationships happen among animals so maybe the shapeshifters are chill with it. Who knows? Ms. Smith could worldbuild that stuff to her heart’s content and I think she’d have just a grand time.

LJ Smith mentioned somewhere that she put “everything I could find or make up about Wicca” into Secret Circle. There were BARELY any books about witchcraft in 1992, and I wonder what Ms. Smith could do today, when they’re everywhere and she could look up all different magical traditions. She’d have so much to work with!

So what did she have to work with? The girls use rhyming spells and lots of candles. They use herbal teas and homemade beauty products. There are circles and books of shadows. The elements and nature are mentioned a lot, but despite the girls reflecting goddesses they don’t worship the old gods.

There aren’t a lot of magic tools, interestingly. The girls use a lot of stones, each girl has a unique “working crystal” and a type of stone that they use most. Then there are the “master tools,” a set of regalia the leader of the coven wears: a bracelet, tiara and garter. Not a wand, besom or cauldron in sight! At one point one of the characters mentions typing up spells to make a “floppy disc of shadows” which is a phrase I think I read in a Silver Ravenwolf book, but I don’t think Ms. Smith read any SRW, she’d have pulled WAY more from it if she had.

But if you are, like I was, a young magic user looking for how-tos in fiction books, the Secret Circle is great. The main magical takeaway is the use of stones and crystals, which the girls use constantly. As jewelry, as pendulums, in spells, or just to hold to absorb their attributes. Each girl mentions her favorite stone at some point so whoever you are you’ll probably be inspired to use your favorite stones more often.

In fact I think I’ll drop the page from the old Circle Daybreak website here.

Finding your working crystal Each witch in the coven, male or female, also has a special stone, often of their color choice but not always. This is their working crystal, and is used to draw out their own special virtues and powers. Here are what different crystals can be used for and what they mean. You, too, can use your working crystal, in addition to wearing a certain color, to bring out these qualities in yourself.

The garnet brings circulation to normal, helps the blood clot, and purifies. It builds balance, awareness, and well-being, as well as preventing fears and insecurities. Garnets also draw out negativity, and can make one more attractive to others.

The ruby intensify love, compassion, and sexuality. It, too, brings circulation to normal, and purifies the blood. Also, rubies are high-energy stones for courage, boldness, and action. Faye likes to wear star rubies to increase her sex appeal to men.

Carnelian stimulates energy and appetite, as well as physical power and courage. It helps ground one to the physical plane, and promotes practical application of ideas. As Suzan’s crystal, perhaps this is why she has such a fondness for twinkies.

Citrine is Deborah’s crystal and may be the source of her energy. It provides a sense of stability and promotes practical application of ideas and a rational approach. Citrine also adds energy and emotional balance. It clears the body of toxins.

Topaz calms and cleanses. It relieves and balances emotional breakdowns. It aids in the healing of nervous fatigue, exhaustion, and extreme stress. Topaz also aids with headaches.

Peridot is used for clear sight and problem solving. It is a healer of the spirit and physical body. It provides protection from nervousness, and increases fearlessness and willpower. The circle uses it for dowsing. It helps with hurt feelings.

Melanie’s crystal is jade, and she uses it for mental clarity. It brings peace and calm, and has a stabilizing effect on the body. Jade also builds courage, clarity, and tranquility of the mind. It aids stomach problems.

The emerald strengthens memory, clear seeing, and wisdom. It enhances speech and creativity. Emeralds also increase intelligence, foresight, and prophecy. It aids heart problems and asthma, and eye problems.

Malachite purifies things on the material plane. Its bands provide protection of creative ideas. Malachite also promotes tranquility, success and good wealth in business. It is sometimes called lapis liguris.

Lapis Lazuli is used by vampires in The Vampire Diaries as protection from the sun. It illuminates the mind, and has purifying and healing properties. Lapis also promotes mental endurance, insight, and wisdom, as well as building good judgment and psychic abilities. It helps emotional healing.

Azurite aids in communication. It clears thoughts, and cleanses negative mental states. Azurite also aids in insight, vision, and hypnosis. It reduces stress and depression.

The sapphire aids in communication, as well as aiding clairvoyant perceptions, divine wisdom, and prophecy. It also cleanses negative mental states and disturbances. Sapphires help with nervous and mental disorders, and asthma.

Blue Topaz adds spiritual strength. It calms, sooths, and sedates. Blue topaz also brings a peaceful and natural healing state of consciousness. It builds mental clarity, and aids emotional healing.

The amethyst, Laurel’s crystal, has a calming and healing mental effect. It enhances the meditative state, and creates pure thoughts. It also adds spiritual insight and higher values, in addition to alleviating mental stress. The circle uses amethyst to ward off evil

Extra Secret Circle stuff: There was a sequel series written by Aubrey Clark. They are not very good. I did have them from the library but it was some years back so my memories are vague. Ms. Clark did her best but she just doesn’t have Ms. Smith’s gift for getting the characters right. She also killed off some characters, I think Suzan didn’t make it, which sucks.

Ms Clark brought two new things to the series: the concept of witch hunters and Scarlett, Cassie’s half-sister. My first reaction was, “Ha-ha, Mary Sue long lost sister!” but… it’s actually a pretty valid idea. Bringing in a child of Black John is a good way to add something new and connect to the original villain without bringing him back from the dead, and Scarlett can start evil and then be turned to good. Valid plot! I, uh, don’t remember if that actually happened in the sequel series, but the idea’s good.

There was a TV show. I was excited to learn this—but I learned it too late and could only find a middle episode and something I forget what about the plot annoyed me so much that I never tried to find the rest. I really probably should at least watch episode one, give it a chance, but the CW’s style is just so not my jam.

I’ve read that the show and the sequel books have similar plot points so that could explain some of the sequels’ events, if Ms. Clark was writing to tie in with the show.

#lj smith #secret circle #night world

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motownfiction · 2 years ago

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the trade

All her life, Lucy’s parents told her a lot about the trade.

About how some insecure academics would tell you that you can never admit it if you like teaching (You can). About how publish-or-perish is mostly real, but very few candidates fresh on the job market have more than a piece or two on their resumes. About how the ranking of your school doesn’t matter as much as the research fit, as much as who has the money for you to come study there. Lucy took some of these secrets to heart; others, she ignored (as evidenced by her almost meltdown when she was accepted at Wayne State for a terminal master’s and not to Michigan for their accelerated Ph.D. a few years back). But now that she’s at NYU, a year and a half into her doctoral studies, she realizes just how little they prepared her for this part.

She’s worked with a lot of students by now, but none have gravitated toward her so much as Nikki Fredericks. Nikki was in Lucy’s first-year writing class last year. She comes from Toledo, Ohio, she has purple hair, and she wants to be a poet (“But my mom says I have to become a teacher first,” she said in the middle of their first writing conference last fall, dejected as can be). It’s no matter. Nikki is a poet at heart. Even her research papers sing off the page. It’s raw talent, unshaped, but Lucy doesn’t see any problem with that. She’s still unpolished in so many ways. But for all the good students she’s had in semesters gone by, Nikki is the first one who seems to really care. Nikki is the first one whom Lucy sees like a mentee.

And she has loved every second of it.

Will loves to see her inspired like this. He reminds her that she’s always wanted to be needed. The way he says it, it sounds like a warning. But it doesn’t bother Lucy much. It’s good to help people. It’s good to help students. And if Nikki Fredericks wants Lucy’s help, then so be it. She’s going to give it to her. The world deserves to hear her voice.

Whose voice? Will asks one night when Lucy is looking over Nikki’s paper for another class. Hers or yours?

Lucy doesn’t answer that question.

Nikki took her other composition class in the spring of that year, and this fall, she’s taking Lucy’s introductory literature course. It becomes a little inside joke. Nikki is the one constant in Lucy’s schedule, the paper she’ll always know she’ll enjoy the most in a wide-variety stack, the person she’ll always know in the middle of those first-day ice breakers. Lucy loved being that student in her own undergraduate classes. Now that she’s the instructor … it’s not the power that she likes. It’s the way she’s able to see herself make a difference, the way she’s able to be the teacher she always wanted.

In the spring, Lucy’s leading discussion sections in a British literature survey. It’s the closest they’ve ever let a second-year doctoral student come to teaching a survey course, as she’ll tell anyone who will listen (so mostly Will). She mentions something to Nikki after class when Nikki comes up to her desk and asks if she can look over her thesis statement for the upcoming essay on Othello. She expects Nikki to say yes, she’ll register, no problem. But she doesn’t.

Instead, she shuffles her feet at the front of the classroom and says that even though she knows she’d mostly be dealing with Lucy, she’s heard some really tough things about the main instructor. So she’s going to take the American literature survey instead.

“But I’ll keep in touch with you!” Nikki promises. “Like … how could I not?”

Lucy nods. She thinks it’s really polite that Nikki would say that, would let her believe for even half a second that she’ll stay her mentor (if she ever was in the first place). But Lucy knows better. She knows that when Nikki Fredericks drops off her Blue Book on the last day of the semester, that will be the last time she and Lucy ever really see each other. And even though she’s said goodbye to plenty of students before, none of those other students were so smart. None of those other students seemed to care that she was the teacher.

She tells Will she’s not that sad about it. That she understands. And on some level, she does. But when Will hands her a cup of tea and sits down beside her on the couch, she realizes just how tense she’s been … how much she can feel herself getting old, already, at twenty-five.

“They’re always going to move on,” he says, “but that doesn’t mean they forget you.”

Lucy sighs into the clouds above her vanilla tea.

If only her parents had prepared her for these parts of the trade. The personal ones. The heartbreaking ones. If only they’d warned her.

Then maybe she wouldn’t have to sigh into her tea.

(part of @nosebleedclub january challenge -- day xxviii!)

#drabble #writeblr #ch: lucy callaghan #ch: will o'connor #ship: c'est la vie say the old folks #year: 1992

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moonchild-things · 2 years ago

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Chapter Seventeen: Formidable Opponents

Summary: Shōyō Hinata loves volleyball! There is no doubt that all he really thinks about is volleyball. His sister, however, isn’t the same way. Sakura is ready to start her first year of high school at Karasuno with her twin brother and doesn’t really want to do anything, unlike Shōyō. Though she can’t help it when she gets dragged into the antics of the volleyball club.

Word Count: 8792

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---

TO SAY THAT THE KARASUNO CROWS WERE fired up about their upcoming tournament was an understatement. After their game against Nekoma and their training camp, just about everyone had kicked it into high gear to start work on their practicing. They all worked to improve their spikes, blocks, and, of course, their receives.

Currently, Ukai was spiking balls at the team to work on their receives. "Follow-through when you block! Staring won't cut it!"

Shōyō grunted and got back onto his feet, "Sorry, Sir!"

"You must go after every ball as though it's your last!" He hit yet another ball at Shōyō, who tried his best but was unable to save it despite his dive. "'Cause if you don't, the ball you ignored will be the ball you cry over at the end of the game!"

Sakura laid out on the ground by the wall, a book in her hands. It seemed to be a literature book, most likely one that Takeda recommended to her at some point. She seemed to be a bit more invested in the book that she was reading than watching the boys practice. After all, she's seen the guys do this stuff all the time. So reading seemed like the ideal thing to pass the time. Though as she was reading her literature book, she thought back to the discussion that she had seen the night they all got back from the training camp.

---

After the training camp and their journey back to Miyagi, the Karasuno team were all gathered around their coach and club advisor as they stood before them. Sakura was sitting behind Ukai and Takeda near the whiteboard, though she was still listening in on their conversation. Once again, it's not like she had much else to do. All she can do is just sit around and wait for the practice to end so she can head home with her brother.

"Everyone," Takeda clapped his hands, "well done playing against Nekoma today! So getting right down to business, the Inter-High preliminaries begin next month, starting June 2nd."

Ukai nodded his head, "Miyagi has no regional prelims, so we launch straight into prefectural. Only one team out of approximately 60 in a prefecture proceeds to the nationals. Lose once, that's all she wrote. If you want revenge against Nekoma you must by becoming first in Miyagi. Second won't cut it. Although there's the small issue of them pulling their own weight to represent Tokyo."

"Don't worry!" Tanaka called out, "I know they can do it!"

"Yeah, they were tough!" Nishinoya agreed as they huffed through their noses.

Endo nodded his head and smirked, "That cat captain doesn't seem to be the slacker type, he'll get his team there." Sitting beside him, Asahi didn't appear too happy to have his friend mention Kuroo yet again.

The team all talked about what's to come now that they have the preliminaries to look forward to. Soon enough their practices will have to ramp up quite a bit. They'll have to focus a lot more if they wish to make the cut for the tournaments after all, though it seems like Ukai would push them far enough to get there.

Sakura knew that going to the practices was going to annoy her quite a bit. Waking up in the morning is already a hassle. She hasn't even worked up the nerve to tell Shōyō that she'd rather sleep in and ride her bike to school on her own instead of watching his practice. On one hand, she doesn't like waking up so early. On the other hand, she quite likes getting to see how happy Shōyō gets that she's there. So it's a bit of a toss-up whether or not she would want to be involved in this. Though that's the usual internal debate that she has every once in a while. Nothing totally new for her.

They all started to clean up the gym now that they were finished with their practice and discussion. Eventually, Endo's phone rang, and he left with only a wave over his shoulder. The call dampened his mood far too much for him to even give them all a proper goodbye. It also caused him to leave early, to the chagrin of just about everyone else.

"Hey! Where does that stuck-up prick think he's going?" Tanaka, one of those more than annoyed to see him go, scoffed as they all watched Endo walk out with the phone plastered to his ear. Even though he waved at them while departing, he was more focused on his phone call. "We've still got cleaning to do!"

From the way that Endo's mood had suddenly changed, he could only assume that the call he got was not a pleasant one. Most likely having to do with his father. Asahi sighed, anxiety starting to build up in his chest for his friend. "I think you should just let him go for now." Asahi has more than enough knowledge of the Endo family to know the animosity between them. Joji's mother is an angel and Asahi likes her a lot. Joji and his mother also have a pretty good relationship together. It's Joji and his father who have the fractured relationship that Asahi is more than aware of. That's who he's worried about with Joji at the moment.

Nishinoya tilted his head questioningly, "Huh? Why?" If anything, he'd think Asahi would be the most curious about what Endo had become so worked up about enough to leave so suddenly.

"I'm not sure," Suga spoke up as he picked up a volleyball, also a bit apprehensive about their friend's sudden departure. "But I didn't like that expression on his face."

Shōyō jumped in after finishing his race with Kageyama. Who won that race isn't exactly clear since both of the boys would loudly declare themselves the winner. "Yeah, it kind of looked like he ate a whole lemon that was super sour."

"Leave him alone," Sakura rolled her eyes and yawned, "are you done? I want to get enough sleep tonight."

---

The way that Endo left was suspicious to Sakura, but she wouldn't pry into his business. Unlike her twin, she can keep her nose out of places that she didn't need to be. If anything, she's more focused on how Shōyō is going to act now. After the other night, she knew that her brother was going to start pushing himself even further for the tournament. Oh, how she's looking forward to that.

It seemed like her brother was also lost in thought, most likely about the other day as well. He didn't receive the ball that was spiked at him which caused him to fall to the ground. "Nice one, Hinata-kun!" Ukai called, "Get back on your feet! One more!"

"Yes, Sir!" The boy shouted and hopped back to his feet like a spring, "Thank you, Sir!"

After a few more hours, practice finally came to a standstill. All the boys started to get their things together and wind down after such a productive practice. The only thing that was really missing was Endo and his annoying commentary or comments to his friends. It was quite a mystery where he was, really the only ones who knew where the blonde was were the third-years. Though it was obviously a personal issue, so it's not like they were just going to tell everyone where exactly Endo was. It was something they knew was a touchy subject.

Currently, Sakura was handing her brother a towel and water bottle. Meanwhile, she made some short, sarcastic comments towards Kageyama who was growing more than annoyed with her. "You're right, that is cool!" Nishinoya exclaimed, drawing the first-years attention to him, "That photo is huge!"

Tanaka nodded his head, "Right?"

Asahi approached them and bent down to take a look at the magazine that the libero was holding, "Let me see." Though he gasped once he got a good look at the photo that Nishinoya held up to him.

Shōyō, Sakura, and Kageyama walked over to the group that was sitting on the ground curiously. "What is it?" Shōyō asked, "What's up?"

"Looky." Tanaka held up his magazine to show the curious first-years, "These guys are this year's three to watch high school boys! They've made Ushiwaka from Shiratorizawa one of the three players to watch in this year's Nationals." Sakura peeked over his shoulder to get a good look at the photo. What stared back at her was a photo of one of the most intimidating boys she has ever seen. He has olive-colored eyes that were scowling at the camera with brown hair. To her, he appeared to be quite the intense type of guy. If she really concentrated, she could vaguely remember Ushijima being mentioned when she had gone to tour at Shiratorizawa. Though she didn't really think much of it since it was a school she didn't really intend on going to. Still, she thought that this Ushijima, the "miracle boy", was obviously quite a strict-looking guy.

Shōyō marveled at the photo and the school that the boy played at, "This is the school Kageyama didn't get into and imouto didn't go to."

Kageyama's eyes twitched, "Shut up!",

He disregarded him and tilted his head, "So, who's Ushiwaka?"

"Don't you know?" Tanaka asked.

Suga chuckled and explained, "The only player Hinata-kun cares about is the Tiny Giant."

"That's an understatement," Sakura mumbled and crossed her arms over her chest.

Tanaka shook his head, "Ushiwaka is… currently the hands-down the number 1 ace in the prefecture. Wakatoshi Ushijima."

Their captain also came over to take a look at what they were all fussing over. "Yeah, now this is what a real ace should look like." Daichi then glanced over at their own ace with a deadpan expression.

Asahi started to sweatdrop, "Hey, why are you looking at me?" Poor guy, Sakura thought as Nishinoya walked over to the bearded teen to pat him on the back in comfort.

Suga looked up at the younger setter of the team, "Kageyama, you tried to go to his school, right?"

"Let me guess!" Tanaka started to laugh. "You wanted to tell this Super High School Level ace 'Move faster, you klutzy shit!' to his face?"

Sakura snickered at both the thought that the setter would do that and Tanaka's impression of the gloomy king. Oh, she's certain that he would try to do that with his arrogant personality and all.

Kageyama bristled, "I would never!" He then turned and glared harshly at the sniggering girl beside him. Sakura just continued to laugh as her brown irises glittered in amusement.

Shōyō didn't seem to be paying that much attention around him. His large eyes solely looked over the photo and article that talked about Shiratorizawa and their star player. "We need to defeat them to play against Nekoma."

"Whoa there!" Ukai then walked on over to them all, "Shiratorizawa isn't the only good school team out there."

All of the boys then came to crowd around their coach. Suga asked him, "Do you mean last year's best four, Sir?"

"Obviously, but there are also other good teams this year." The old blonde said, pulling out a paper from his pocket. "Like Wakutani South, which has excellent defense and solidarity. Date Tech, the team summed up with the term 'Iron Wall'. Their team has higher blocks than any other. Isn't Date Tech the team we lost 2-0 to in the Prefectural Public Tournament this March?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at the description of Date Tech. Ah, the team that beat them and ended with two teammates leaving. Hopefully, they don't have a repeat of that. The last thing this team needs is for not only a loss, but also their teammates giving up again."Their second-year, Aone, is the one to look out for. Date Tech has always been a best four level team, but last year they ended up the best 16 tier in round three against the tournament winners, Shiratorizawa. That's why they aren't seeded this year. What this means is depended on their pairings it's possible to be matched against them in round one. Next up, is… oh, right. I'm told you held a practice game with them not long ago." Kageyama gasped at the mention of Aoba Johsai, "Their setter is Number 1 on their team for offensive power. He is also an excellent setter. He is possibly the best all-around top player in the prefecture. Toru Oikawa, the leader of Aoba Johsai."

"The Great King!" Shōyō bristled.

Sakura clicked her tongue at the reminder of the boy. His personality just rubbed her the wrong way. Sure, she can admit that he's a talented player and leader for his team. However, he was still a prick. His talent doesn't make up for the way that he annoys her so much.

"These are last year's best four."

Tanaka was growling at the reminder of the annoying team, especially Oikawa, "Damn!"

"Last, but obviously not least, Super High School Level ace, Wakatoshi Ushijima commanding Shiratorizawa. That's about it. I'll explain more details later." Suga and Daichi both had the same thought about how Ukai wasn't as much of a slob as they first thought. Their flowery expressions caught the attention of their coach, "Are you two thinking something rude about me right now?" Both boys shook their heads rapidly as Ukai got serious again, "Anyway, that's my personal prediction for this year's toughest four. That being said, if you keep staring up at the top, you'll get the rug pulled out from under you. No team in the tournament is there to lose. They are all there to win. All the while we're training with everything we've got, the others will be training with everything they've got as well. Previous winners and losers alike are all aiming for victory. Don't forget that. Also, do not allow them to call us 'The Clipped Crows' ever again!"

All the boys chorused together, "Yes, Sir!"

Sakura was a bit surprised, Wow, he can actually give good advice it seems. And it was extremely good advice. They shouldn't focus on their possible future opponents and lose sight of who they were facing first. If they did think about Shiratorizawa too much they might end up losing to Date Tech or Aoba Johsai because of it.

The door to the gym then suddenly burst open as Takeda came in. He started at the group in surprise. "You're all still here? Sorry I'm late! I was stuck in a meeting." He approached the group and pulled out a piece of paper with a bracket on it. "Anyway… I've got it! I've got the pairings for the Inter-High preliminaries!"

Everyone grew anxious and giddy to see just who was in their bracket for the tournament. They all quickly tried to peer at the paper, even Tsukishima seemed interested. Though Sakura wasn't that interested as she lazily blinked. She may have been interested in who they were playing but she wasn't the one actually on the team. It's not like she has any insight on the other teams anyway since she doesn't know much about them besides the basics.

Though their sharp eyes all saw just who they were up against for the first round. Of course, that wasn't the most alarming part, it was who they might possibly play in round two that really caught their attention. "If we make it through round one, and Date Tech does the same, we'll be matched against them in round two," Nishinoya observed.

"That's not all," Tsukishima drawled out, "Aoba Johsai is seeded in our block."

Shōyō and Kageyama froze as Tanaka groaned,"For real?"

"Didn't Ukai just say not to focus on the top?" Sakura rolled her eyes, drawing everyone's attention to her. She raised a lazy eyebrow at them, "So don't focus on it."

Daichi nodded his head at the younger girl, "We know."

After looking over the block and just who they were going to be playing against, everyone was getting their stuff together to leave. Though as they were finishing up getting their things, Tanaka spoke up, "Say, the rich boy didn't get to hear any of this." Something that everyone knew, but didn't know whether they should say anything. He scoffed, "Doubt it would matter though, he doesn't care enough about volleyball to really let it sink in."

Asahi huffed while pulling on his jacket, "He's just busy tonight." He didn't really like that his missing friend was constantly brought up. Endo has his own stuff to deal with at the moment, it certainly was going to cause enough stress on him even now with the tournament coming up. Asahi couldn't imagine what was going on with him. No doubt he's going to try and get Endo to talk about it to try and figure out what's best for him.

"Yeah, he'll probably be back tomorrow morning," Suga said, already seeing how Asahi was getting annoyed about the questioning of Endo's whereabouts. Truly, the setter is also worried about Endo, but he knows that it is touchy. Suga doesn't know everything about Endo, he's a bit of a secretive and mysterious person. Asahi is probably the only person that Endo is open to, and just about everyone knows that.

Tanaka tilted his head, "Where is he anyway?"

Asahi answered, "He's doing work with his father."

"What does his dad do?" Shōyō asked in curiosity.

Nishinoya pulled on his jacket, "He's a doctor or something, I think."

"He also owns a company with medical supplies." Asahi spoke once again, this time a little bit snippy as they all headed outside. Just thinking about all of this is starting to vex him. The situation that Endo is in always frustrated him. The fact that Endo has told him multiple times that he has little to no say in his life after high school is so upsetting to him. He understands that Endo is an heir to his parents' fortune and company, however, he'd think any parent would hear out what their child wants. Though not for Mr. Endo. It's his way or no other way, and that irritates Asahi far too much.

Still, he shouldn't think of that, for now, they have practice in the morning to rest. So he just started his trek home, even as the rest of his friends moved on to another topic to speak about. More specifically, they started discussing the tournament. Something that Asahi should be more focused on.

---

It was the next day, and Sakura was walking around the school campus heading to the boy's practice. She checked in with Shimada and her own club and found that they aren't really doing anything today. Shimada and Mori said that it would be okay for her to leave early, especially since Sakura had been talking about the tournament coming up for the team. All of her club members could tell that she was pretty anxious about it and maybe even a little excited. Yokoyama commented about how this may have been yet another time that they've witnessed emotion in the usual stoic girl. Sakura just rolled her eyes at that and headed out, more than willing to escape before they said anything else.

Just as she was heading towards the gym, she heard a boy ask, "What's with him?"

"Yikes…" His friend shuttered as they moved away from the intense boy who was glaring at nothing in particular.

Sakura turned to find that it was Kageyama who was scaring them. He was getting himself a drink from the vending machine

Sakura waltzed up to Kageyama as he started to drink his milk, "What did the vending machine do to you, King?"

Kageyama spun around to glare at who had just called him that, "Don't call me that!" Of course, it was Sakura who was smirking at him with her thin, pale lips. His glowering seemed to get even more intense now that he knew it was her.

"Whatever," She shrugged her shoulders, unaffected by his glare. Though she just sighed, staring up at him with a calculating gaze. "Look, I get that you're thinking about that stuck-up prick Oikawa. Honestly, I don't care what sort of grudge or whatever you have against him or he has against you. What I do care about is how well you play."

Kageyama huffed, "Why? Only hoping your brother will get to play? Stay on the court as long as he can?"

"Yes," she answered plainly, it's not like that was a secret by any means. "You and I both know that's all he's ever wanted. So I want to make sure that it happens. You just focus on playing your best, first win against Tokonami, then Date Tech, and so on. When you actually play against Aoba Johsai, then you can sulk about Oikawa."

The setter assessed what she was saying, and she was right. He shouldn't be thinking about Oikawa at the moment since they aren't playing him any time soon. He clicked his tongue, "You know, you're just as annoying as your brother."

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "Whatever."

"...Though I guess it's good advice."

"Oh?" She smirked at his grumbling. Kageyama bristled, it seemed like he didn't mean for her to hear him say that. "Did you say I give good advice?"

Kageyama huffed harshly and had the urge to throw something at her. He really didn't like the fact that she smirked at him so smugly. Reminded him of that blonde, glasses-wearing bastard. A volleyball would be best, maybe his milk carton would do. However, it's still got plenty of milk in it, so it would be a waste. He settled for shouting at her, "Dumbass!"

"I'll take that as a thank you," Sakura smirked before walking past the annoyed boy. She took quite a bit of enjoyment from how irritated he is. He's quite easy to rile up.

---

"It was even more boring than I thought it would be," Endo told Asahi as they stood in their third-year classroom. Ever since the first minute of class, Endo had taken any second to complain to Asahi about the meeting with his father.

Asahi sighed, "I know. At least, you didn't have to actually talk during it."

Endo huffed while running a hand through his hair in frustration, "Still didn't stop some investor trying to talk with me. Like I wanted to talk to some old geezer about some company I want nothing to do with."

The meeting the other day was complete and utter bullshit to Endo. All he did was sit in the back and watch the deal that his father was trying to make. Sure, it wasn't something like being forced to interact with people. All he had to do was sit and watch. However, no matter what it was, he still had to deal with his father's stupid business. Still didn't stop some old guys from asking him questions. Of course, to keep the Endo family's image perfect, Endo just smiled dashingly and answered questions or spoke quickly with them. He would have much rather been at practice. Though his mother begged him to not make much of a fuss about it. Endo is certainly a mama's boy, so he did as she requested begrudgingly and only complained a bit. He couldn't really say no to his mother, not if she really wanted what was best for him. Or what she believed was the best for him.

As they lapsed into silence, Asahi turned his attention back to the bracket in front of him. Endo watched with sharp eyes as his friend stared down at the paper in front of him. He sighed sharply through his nose before grabbing the paper off of Asahi's desk. Asahi sputtered now that it was taken from him and Endo placed himself on the desk instead. "Stop staring at that paper." He said, now leaning against Asahi's desk to draw his attention to him, "I can smell your anxiety from miles away, you know."

"Eh!" Asahi gasped, "Don't do that!"

Endo rolled his eyes, "Really, Asahi, you're getting worked up over nothing! We have a different team, things will be better." He stuck his tongue out, "Besides who says that we'll play those goons. Maybe they'll lose in their first match."

Asahi deadpanned at him, "You know that won't happen."

"Oh, let me be optimistic if I want to!" Endo blew a raspberry at his best friend. Though Asahi did smile a little bit at Endo's silliness. Just what Endo was hoping to get out of him. The last thing he needs is to deal with a nervous Asahi. Having him constantly thinking about how he was shut out so much in their last match against Date Tech isn't good at all.

Their small libero then came out of nowhere and started yelling, "ASAHI! ENDO! GO! CLUB!"

The other third-years in the class jumped "What the…?"

"Like they're dogs?"

Now walking through the halls after a marching Nishinoya, Asahi rubbed the back of his head, "Nishinoya… it's okay now. I won't run away. I know that everyone's got my back now." The libero paused in his steps, giving Asahi his full attention. The ace had an intense look in his eyes, "I'll stand proud this time and I'll tell them I'm the ace of Karasuno!"

Endo smiled at the declaration and flashed them both a smirk, "Besides, you know I won't let him get away any time soon." He quipped, "He might have escaped me for a month, but not anymore!" He jumped up and grabbed Asahi by the shoulders, "he's not gonna skip out on us anymore!" Despite Endo not truly being that invested in the sport, he'll be damned if he lets Asahi get out of this again. There was no way that Asahi could run away from the sport, at least until they both graduate, then Endo will let Asahi go since they won't be on the team together.

---

It felt surprisingly nice to Endo to be back at practice. Missing the practice the other day had put a little bit of a damper on his mood. However, it was like a nice break. Still, he didn't have fun on said break, but it was like a good day just to rest he supposed. Of course, he was chewed out by all of his friends for missing yesterday. They questioned him quite a bit, Tanaka and Nishinoya were the loudest about it and wanted to know just what he had been doing.

Though he wanted to sound mysterious and secretive, so he told them only a little bit of what he did. For all they knew he was doing business with his father, though he didn't specify what kind of business. He kind of figured that they knew it has to do with the medical supplies stuff, but he tried to make it sound far more nefarious than what it was.

Sakura saw right through him and wasn't even interested in hearing about what he was doing. Although he tried his best to get her to be at least a little curious about his escapade outside of school. However, all she did was lazily blink at him and then roll her eyes. She sat herself down on the floor and started working on her school work.

Currently, he was standing beside Tanaka as they worked on some spiking practice. Kageyama was setting to them and at the moment he was setting to Asahi. Obviously, the ace of the team was able to hit a perfectly strong spike right over the net.

"Nice kill!"

Kageyama complimented him, "Nice, Azumane!"

"Azumane!" Ukai then called.

The ace turned to his coach, "Yes, Sir!"

"Are you good at back attacks?" He asked as Asahi became slightly unsure. "Hey! You guys come here a second!" The boys all gathered around their coach as he started to write a few things on the whiteboard. He explained a certain maneuver to them, one that consisted of a back attack, and turned to them once he was done, "And that's how it goes."

"First we need to find the right hitting height." Kageyama thought aloud.

Shōyō seemed to be a little unsure, "That looks complicated."

"I don't think we've tried something like that before," Endo said with a hand on his chin in thought.

"Let's try it." Asahi said standing up with a spark of determination, "Thank you for your help!"

Some time had passed, and the boys had all worked together on figuring out the few plays that Ukai had shown them. Putting them into fruition was a bit harder than anticipated. Especially since Endo may or may not have messed up a bit too much. Though he got over it eventually and figured out how to use them in play. Sakura, now finished with her homework, stared at the whiteboard in curiosity. Many of the plays that Ukai had written were a bit complicated. Well, perhaps they looked complicated to her since she's not an actual player. Takeda then approached Ukai who was standing beside the board that Sakura was studying.

"Ukai, you look tired," Takeda commented to the coach who did look a bit tired. The man had circles under his eyes and he was yawning a bit earlier. "You've been arriving right when practice starts every day. How are things at work?"

"Yeah, I specialized in retail all this time, but I've recently taken up a early morning crop tending, so I've been working nights at the store to compensate. After all, I can't let my family coddle me all the time."

Sparing a glance up at the coach, Sakura turned her attention away from the board for just a second with a bored voice, "You're actually responsible?"

"You-"

Takeda cut him off before Ukai could retort to Sakura, "Thank you so much!" He bowed deeply, "I'll bring you a bottle of sake some time!"

Ukai's eyes sparkled at the promise of alcohol, "You mean it?"

Sakura stored that in the back of her mind. If ever she needs to bribe him or something, alcohol is the way to go. Takeda looked over all of the plays Ukai wrote out. "Still there sure are a lot of attack patterns. Are we using all of these?"

"It depends. We need them to focus on the game in front of them." He said, "But we need to pay attention to all the games after this one too." They then watched Suga set a quick attack to Shōyō, which was hit perfectly, "That Hinata-Sugawara fast attack is starting to come together!"

On the court, Kageyama and Asahi were working together on their sets and spikes. Kageyama jumped up to his senpai with wide eyes, "Azumane, what did you think of that last toss? Was it too high or too low? What did you think?"

Asahi started to sweat at the intensity coming from the king, "Uh, well I'm okay wit-"

Kageyama insisted, "Nothing is too trivial! Don't hold back! I'll adjust!"

"Really?" Asahi said in apprehension, not totally prepared at the exuberant manner Kageyama was talking to him with. He scratched his chin, "Okay, then how about just a little higher? Oh, and also make it a little further from the net."

"Absolutely!" Kageyama exclaimed, "I would like to do another 10!"

"What?"

"Should we do more? Okay, let's do 20!"

Asahi shook his head rapidly, "No, no, that isn't what I meant."

"He's so aggressive," Endo laughed loudly at the worried expression on Asahi's face. He wasn't sure if he should go over there and save his big teddy bear or just let the first-year bother him. Either way, it's entertaining.

On the sidelines, Sakura snickered, "I've never seen him so worked up like this." Of course, she had to take a photo of him. For blackmail, obviously.

Kageyama still hadn't let up, "Do you mean you want to practice a different pattern?"

Though Asahi was saved when Daichi called out, "Hey, you guys! We've stayed late enough!"

"Yes, Sir!"

So all of the boys started their clean-up. Daichi reprimanded Kageyama and Shōyō for racing while mopping and Endo tossing stray balls at Suga. When clean-up was finally done, all the boys got their jackets, their school bags and headed out of the gym after saying goodbye to their advisor and coach.

It seemed like Kageyama and Shōyō were going to race once again. This time down the hill towards the shop at the bottom of the hill. All of the boys started heading down, laughing and sighing at the fact that even after practice the troublesome duo still had so much energy. Sakura stuck to the back of the group, her walking pace was far slower than the others, especially since they were so much taller. Curse these volleyball giants and their long legs.

She walked lazily besides really the only person she tolerated in the club and the person she may despise the most. Sakura doesn't have much of a problem being with Yamaguchi. Ever since their private talk the other day, she feels like she can be comfortable around him. She opened up a bit to him, and he was nice to her and didn't seem to want to push her own anyway. So she accepted him as a friend at this point. Tsukishima, obviously, was on a different level. She cannot tolerate him and his snarky comments most of the time. He's a bully, and she hates him for it. End of story.

"Oh, you guys can go ahead," Yamaguchi suddenly said as he paused in his steps, which caused his two friends to do the same. "I have somewhere to go before I head home."

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at him, "You sure."

Yamaguchi nodded his head with a smile, a bit touched that Tsukishima was worried about him just a little. "Yeah, I'll be fine. See you guys tomorrow. Make sure you get plenty of rest, Tsukki." He smiled brightly and sweetly at him.

The blonde clicked his tongue, "Whatever, see you."

"Bye, Tadashi," Sakura said with a small smile.

The boy flushed slightly at the fact that she called him by his first name and smiled widely. "Bye, Sakura!" He really hasn't gotten used to the fact that Sakura and he are on first-name basis.

As he started his trek to whatever errand he had to run, Tsukishima and Sakura were left alone. Something that could go one of two ways. One, they could just stay silent and not speak to each other on their walk to the store. Or two, one of them was going to say something to the other just to rile them up. Of course, it was going to be the latter since Tsukishima was glancing at the girl from the corner of his eyes.

"It's weird."

Sakura sighed, a bit annoyed that he actually wanted to start a conversation with her. Though she'd humor him for now. "Weird?"

"That you actually made friends with Tadashi."

"Is it?" She raised an uninterested eyebrow, still not batting an eye at him, "Hm."

It seemed like pointing out the fact that she doesn't have many friends were getting to her. Tsukishima really was getting annoyed with how he couldn't annoy her. "Why do you always stay so late anyway? Don't you have anything better to do?"

She shrugged her small shoulders, "I guess not. It's far more entertaining watching you guys mess up during practice than just studying at home." She could tell that he was trying to rile her up. He was trying everything he could, it seemed. He was bringing up some sensitive topics for her but she wasn't going to take the bait. Ever since she stood up for herself during the gallery, Tsukishima has been poking and prodding at her a bit more lately. It was beyond annoying.

He scoffed, "I find it quite pathetic that you seem to have separation anxiety from your brother."

Sakkura could feel herself wanting to retaliate at that, but she kept her cool. Tsukishima watched as she took a deep breath through her nose and let it out through her mouth. Obviously, she was calming herself down before speaking. She only hummed in reply, trying to act like what he was saying wasn't actually getting to her. "Hn."

That topic didn't seem to bother her as Tsukishima had hoped. Though he wasn't going to give up on trying to rile her up. Instead, he tried something else. "So you turned down a scholarship to Shiratorizawa for what exactly?"

Sakura bristled slightly. Why was he trying so hard to annoy her this way? If only she had longer legs to speed walk away from him. Though his much taller stature would catch up with her easily. She huffed, "It's none of your business why I do what I do."

"I find it interesting that you seem to revolve your existence around your brother." He commented, already seeing that she was starting to boil over. His smug smirk graced his lips as his golden eyes started to glow in the dark, "You know, you really are just a clone of your brothers, a shadow."

"Yeah, like I haven't heard that before." Sakura scoffed at his attempt at offending her. Seriously, he should be a little more original. She paused and turned to face him completely. Her dull, brown eyes looked up at him as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Look, I didn't go to Shiratorizawa because I didn't think I'd fit in with those rich kids. Besides, it's better to go to a local school than one a bit farther away." She was telling the truth, at least half of it. A part of why she didn't go to the school was because of the distance, but also the fact that she'd be away from her family, more specifically her brother. So she isn't lying when she says the fact that it was too far away was a factor in her decision.

Tsukishima seemed to stare at her for a while, trying to gauge whether or not she was lying about it. He wouldn't put it past her to lie to him about something like this. Though her indifferent mask seemed to be keeping him from finding out if she was telling the truth or not. "Tch." He tsked before starting to walk off again, "I'm sure you're just trying to convince yourself of that."

Sakura glanced at him with her sharp brown eyes and followed after him, "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. You'll never know."

It was silent between them. The only sound was the distant shouts of the rest of the team at the bottom of the hill and their footsteps on the ground. Neither of them was looking at each other, more than content with ignoring each other. Though Tsukishima broke the silence again, "You're nothing like your brother." Obviously, Sakura rolled her eyes. "At this point, he'd be telling me his life story about exactly why he would or wouldn't."

Sakura let out a small chuckle at that, he wasn't wrong there. "Hm, Shōyō just likes to be dramatic most of the time. I'm not. It's not something you need to know, especially since we aren't friends." Her voice turned bitter at stating that fact. It's obvious that she was more than annoyed at the fact that Tsukishima wanted to know things about her, personal things. If he wasn't being such an ass about everything and a bit more sincere then perhaps she would be more inclined to talk to him about it at least a little. But he's just being a bully, so she's not going to give him anything.

"Hey, Tsukishima, Hinata-chan!" Tanaka called and held out a bag to them, "Daichi got us meat buns!"

Tsukishima took the bag from him before handing it to Sakura, "Oh, thanks."

"Hn," Sakura said and took her own meat bun out of the bag. If there is one thing that's good that comes from staying late with the volleyball club, it's the free food Daichi gets them from time to time.

Tanaka noticed their missing friend, "Isn't Yamaguchi with you guys?"

"He said he had an errand and went home," Tsukishima explained as he subtly watched Sakura walk over to her brother. He eyed her as she listened to her brother talks excitedly about something stupid or other. Though the way that her usually bored gaze turned amused and affectionate, gave him pause. Yeah, she wasn't like her brother. And Tsukishima wanted to know exactly why.

---

The days went by pretty quickly. At least, it felt really quick to Endo. Perhaps it was because he was having quite a lot of fun nowadays both at school and practice. True to his father's word, after the one meeting that he had gone to, none of them mentioned the company again. It was pure bliss. Sure, his father and he didn't talk all that much, but that's nothing new. Besides, his father is never usually home when he's there. Hideaki would usually stay at work quite late and leave really early in the morning, so it's not like either of them say that to each other that much. Still, it brightened Endo's week now that he didn't have to think about it at all.

Practicing was quite fun for Endo. All he focused on was trying to learn new attacks and such that Ukai had come up with. Sure, he's still not the best player on the team, and really is only good at his serves, but it didn't mean he didn't have any fun. All he can really do is get better, and having his friends there to cheer him on, and a new coach to teach them, it can only go up from here, right?

Though tomorrow was the day, the tournament starts tomorrow. Endo was quite excited about it, he wouldn't lie. Tournaments were so fun for him. Drama can come around from every corner when teams clash against each other. Besides, Endo doesn't get stressed at games or such. He can keep a cool head most of the time, the pressure doesn't really get to him. Most likely because he doesn't put too much worth into winning or losing. He could care less about who comes out on top, so that might be why he doesn't usually get so worked up about them. Still doesn't mean he wouldn't put in the work. After all, if he didn't he'd be letting his friends down.

"Well done, everyone!" Ukai called now that they finished practice. It was a bit earlier than usual since the last few rays of light were still gazing down on the ground even if they were dim. "Let's quit early and go home to rest up."

"Yes, Sir!"

"Okay, that's all-"

"One minute!" Takeda suddenly exclaimed, "Can I add one more comment from Shimizu and Sakura?"

All of the attention was now turned to the manager and the girl who was sitting on the ground. Sakura jumped at the fact that she was included in this and shook her head with a click of her tongue. She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted on her feet, "Well, it's more from Kiyoko-senpai, but whatever." The manager had approached her the other day and asked her to help with something that Kiyoko found in the closet. It seemed to be completely forgotten and abandoned, so it took some time to clean it up. Though Sakura has to say that she's quite… happy to see it. She actually couldn't wait to sit in the stands right behind it to cheer on her brother.

"I'm not that good at pep talks, so…" She trailed off and turned to head towards the ladder to the upper floor. She waved to the photographer, "Sakura, if you please."

The younger girl got up and followed her senpai, "Sure thing." The two girls climbed the ladder with Kiyoko carrying a black cloth with her. The team watched in anticipation to see just what the girls were going to do.

"What's that?" Nishinoya questioned what everyone was thinking.

They then flipped the banner over the edge to show the team. It was completely black with the kanji for "Fly" written boldly in white. All of the boys were in awe of it, since they never used it before.

"I didn't know we had this!"

Kiyoko looked down at them, a tad bit bashfully, "I found it while I was cleaning so I washed it."

Extremely motivated, Tanaka and Nishinoya both pumped their fists. Tanaka shouted, "Now I'm on fire!"

Nishinoya agreed on with rosy cheek, "I'm impressed, Kiyoko. You do good work!"

"Okay! It's time to get psych-"

"Not yet." Diachi cut them off, "I think… there's more."

"Y…" Kiyoko started now with everyone once again turning all of their attention to her.

All the boys were hanging off of her words, anticipating just what she would say, "'Y…'?"

She took a deep breath as her cheeks started to turn a rosy red, "You can do it."

It was silent. All of the boys were now processing what she had said. The only sound in the gym now was Kiyoko's sneakers on the ground as she ran off. It took a moment for them to understand what she had just done. Eventually, after a second, all of the upperclassmen break out of their stupor, only to start balling their eyes out.

"Shimizu…" Daichi started to sob, "has never done this before!"

Kageyama and Shōyō stared at him, "You too, Captain?"

"These people are dumbstruck," Tsukishima said, disturbed.

Yamaguchi started to sweat, "Usually, they're so boisterous."

Endo smiled with some tears in his eyes, "She's so kind."

Noticing that his sister was still standing up behind the banner, Shōyō jumped with his eyes sparkling, "Oh, Imouto! Say something too!"

The other orange-haired teen jumped now that everyone was looking up at her expectedly. Their teary eyes staring at her caused her to squirm a bit, "Huh? Why me? Um…" It took her a moment to figure out what to say. Much like Kiyoko, she also isn't good at pep talks. Sure, she's pretty good at hyping up her brother from time to time, but not an entire team. Plus, Shōyō understands Sakura far more than the others, so she didn't even have to say much for him to understand her support for him. So she flashed them a small, soft smile with a bit of uncertainty in her voice, "good luck?"

That certainly gave every boy a jolt, since they've never really seen her smile in such a manner. Only a few people have come close to seeing the corners of her lips lift up slightly in a smile. Though this time, while appearing a little unsure of herself, the smile was still far more genuine than anyone on the team has seen. Though the boys then broke out into even more cheers at the sight, which scared the poor girl just a little bit.

"Wait, what is this?" Tsukishima shouted, more than unnerved by how they reacted to Kiyoko and Sakura, "This is getting out of hand!"

Through his sniffles, Daichi shouted, "We're going to win round one!"

"Yessir!"

Nishinoya cried out, "Kiyoko! Sakura!"

"I have the strength of 100 men!" Tanaka screamed.

Despite the strange scene, Sakura was… excited. They were all pumped up for the tournament tomorrow, and she is no exception. The second tournament that her brother has ever been in and his odds look far better than in middle school. As she watched the team shout and freak out with each other down below, she truly couldn't help herself from smiling softly at them all. Yeah, things are looking pretty good for her brother.

---

Yawning loudly, Sakura ran a hand through her slightly messy hair. Today was the day. Yet another important day for her brother since the first match for the tournament is today. Now, while she was tired, Sakura was also a bit energetic. It's kind of contagious between the twins. Sakura is usually able to control herself and keep herself cool and collected, but it just seemed like today was the day that she was willing to be more excited than usual.

"Can you believe it, imouto!" Shōyō exclaimed as he quickly put his bike away and seemed to be buzzing in place. "We're heading to the tournament today!"

"Yeah, it's great." Sakura smiled subtly at her brother's enthusiasm.

He jumped up and down like a rabbit, "You'll cheer us on, right?"

"Of course I will." She said almost offended that he would think she wouldn't, "Mainly just you though, I don't really care about the others."

Shōyō tilted his head. Even after all this time, Sakura still didn't seem like she liked the other guys. "Why not? Aren't you friends with any of the others?"

"Hm, no." She then thought about it for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe Yamaguchi. Or Suga, Daichi and Asahi. Though that's it." There were only a few others that she tolerates. Perhaps the second-years, sans Tanaka and Nishinoya, though that's about it. The others were either too annoying or an asshole(*cough* Tsukishima *cough*). Though as a whole she'd cheer on the entire team. If they all succeed then that means Shōyō succeeds.

"Oh, I thought you'd-"

The twins then suddenly heard shouting from behind them and the ground started to rumble as Kageyama came racing up from behind him. He passed the two, picking up the wind around them and nearly knocking the twins over. Shōyō growled and quickly took off after him, "Why, you! Come back here, Kageyama!"

Sakura readjusted her uniform after it was messed up by the sprinting setter. She clicked her tongue but let it slide. For today, she could understand why they might have an unimaginable amount of energy. Though they usually are like this so perhaps she shouldn't let it slide. Oh, well.

Though it's not like she was going to race after them. She'd let them run to the club room while she continued her calm, lazy pace. Doing this not only allowed her to not exert any extra energy and contemplate things.

Ever since coming to Karasuno, she's had hope. A hope of her brother finally getting exactly what he wants. An opportunity to prove himself as a player. To show everyone that no matter how short he is, he's still an amazing player. All she wants is for him to prove himself and be the best that he can be. Joining Karasuno seems to have given him the opportunity to do so.

She knows that he has improved exponentially since middle school. He's refined his technique and has a team that can support him in the game and such. While she can support him from the sidelines and give him encouragement, he always needed an actual team to be on the court with him. Karasuno certainly is that team for him.

While she has to admit that some of his team members are annoying, they're talented. They're good enough to help her brother achieve his goal. Some of them get on her nerves, however, she'll look past it for the sake of Shōyō.

Sakura is proud of Shōyō. He's worked hard to get towards this. She knows that this is just one step towards winning as many games as he can. He'll stay on the court for as long as he can. That's all she hopes. Then he'll become just like the Tiny Giant, his idol.

Though, she sighed while getting closer to the club room. Finally turning the corner and seeing Shōyō and Kageyama talking about something, she watched them from her position. She didn't want him to lose. Even if it's a bit of a possibility. They are still a new team, the odds are stacked against them no matter how much they practice. Karasuno is going against other teams that are known to be far more put together. As a pessimist, she's not going to let go of the fact that they may lose. While Shōyō may not think it's possible, Sakura would be the realist of the two and not be too hopeful about everything going right for them.

The last thing she wants is to see her brother get upset after losing despite putting in so much work and having this new team. She'd hate to see that. Even if she's more than prepared for it happening.

---

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