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itsclydebitches · 3 years ago

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I kinda wonder, what could bakugou do (hori write bakugou to do) to make him less popular with the "anti" crowd. Like He was a horrid child no doubt and people who try to put blame on Deku or lessen the terrible shit bakugou did aren't great. But as we don't rly see it, we have to assume bakugous behaviour wasn't stopped, we only ever saw his mum "punishing" him when he was being rude after getting kiddnapped. Nothing will excuse what bakugou did, but he has stopped? He's overall a harsh person but he's not harrassing and bullying people anymore, specifically not deku, he's trying to attone for what he did to deku and has now apologised for it. His behaviour was never viewed as justified or good in the series, he's a scary figure in middle school, we're not meant to like his behaviour, so the series itself hasn't justified his actions.

As someone who relate to both bakugou and deku more than I'd like to admit (never told someone to jump tho, that's fucked lol) so I can 100% understand not liking or even hating bakugou but as someone who's not 15 anymore, looking back I also made a lot of really shitty decisions and like bakugou have tried to make up for it, and like deku I was 'friends' with people who hurt me.

Is there anything he can do for the "antis" to just dislike him rather that be "anti"?

(I'm very sorry if you've talked about this somewhere, you can just tell me to look for it if you have, I'll continue to look for your posts on the subject)

Hey there, anon! I think I’ve spoken about this only tangentially and/or in my main Bakugo meta, which is too big for anyone sane to read. So yeah, let’s chat here!

For me personally—and that’s all I can ever do: speak personally. I think it’s important to keep in mind that there is no single solution to please the “anti” crowd. Each fan will be looking for something slightly different in Bakugo’s character, much of which might contradict what a “stan” is currently enjoying. Given how charged a character he is, I'm not sure it's possible to get the entire fandom to like him—what I’m looking for hinges on having a different reading of the story than you seem to. Meaning, I think the series does justify his behavior. Not in any overt, super obvious way like having all the characters go, “Wow, Bakugo! I sure do love how you threaten people all the time. That’s super cool and heroic!” Things are rarely that straightforward. Rather, it’s in a more subtle, but consistent manner that paints a rather conclusive picture across hundreds of chapters.

Simply put, Bakugo is continually rewarded for his actions. Or, if not outright rewarded, his actions are ignored in a way that implies silent acceptance. Characters may not always like what he does... but they're willing to let it slide because Bakugo's heroism was always treated as a given, not something he had to earn and prove.

With the ever necessary disclaimer that I’m not fully caught up yet, here’s a list of some of the things that stood out to me in the first half of the series:

Bakugo’s bullying made him the most popular kid in school.

Bakugo’s bullying was ignored by/outright supported by the teachers.

Bakugo’s bullying did not hinder him from getting into U.A., one of the most prestigious hero schools around.

Despite acting horribly throughout his time at U.A. too, this behavior was continually ignored by the teachers and other authority figures around him.

Bakugo’s struggle to realize that other people aren’t “trash” doesn’t hurt his achievements in any way. He still gets top scores, still wins the tournament, etc.

Bakugo’s behavior gets him special attention from All Might, the greatest hero and Bakugo’s personal idol.

His behavior doesn’t make others dislike him in any manner that’s taken seriously. Everybody is still willing to not just put up with Bakugo, but—in time—start treating his behavior as a quirk (no pun intended lol) that they’re secretly fond of, rather than something he should legitimately be striving to change. Kirishima is the most overt example of this.

This is compounded by his behavior constantly being framed as humorous. Much like with Mineta’s perverted actions, characters might superficially go, “No, that’s bad!” but the story never demands any significant development because then we’d lose the “joke” of Bakugo screaming in rage at the slightest inconvenience, threatening to murder someone over nothing, constantly belittling everyone around him in a “funny” manner, etc. When fans talk about development of a manga character as archetypal and extreme as Bakugo, most don’t really want to see significant change to his base personality. Because then that would result in someone who doesn’t look like the “real” Bakugo: someone nicer, more even-tempered, more mature, etc. But for those of us who were never drawn to that personality in the first place, the continued acceptance of his rude, egotistical, and violent behavior is discomforting. The easiest comparison I can draw is between this and Bakugo’s mother slapping him. That slap is meant to be another “joke”—we see it constantly in shonen anime, something "humorous" you shouldn’t take too seriously because haha, it's just an overprotective mother—but many fans do take it seriously, using it as the basis for a whole “Bakugo was abused and this explains his behavior” reading. Well, I take the “joke” of Bakugo’s threats and insults seriously, especially in a story that starts with something like telling Izuku to jump off the roof. In the same way that many fans want others to treat Bakugo’s mother as a serious topic that has had a negative influence on his development, I want the series to take Bakugo’s everyday actions seriously as a negative influence on… well, everyone around him. But it doesn’t. His base personality is grudgingly adored.

The above two points are seen most overtly in Izuku, who never wavers in his respect for Bakugo despite how Bakugo treats him. Not just prior to U.A., but during their training too. Izuku, as the protagonist, is the emotional heart of this tale, so when he talks about how inspiring Bakugo is, it encourages the reader to see his behavior as inspiring too. Rather than, as said, something that needs to change. Izuku's continued friendship with Bakugo, his adoration of him, and his acceptance of the way he's treated has severely warped how the entire story sees Bakugo's actions. After all, if #pure Izuku can see the good in Bakugo, why can't everyone else? He must not be that bad after all.

I could get into detailed analyses of all the above—like how Bakugo was the one comforted after attacking Izuku outside the dorms at night and how the messed up relationship he has with Izuku is upheld as something to nurture; how the remedial courses he had to take were made to be rather silly, thereby undermining their supposed importance to his development; how Bakugo’s kidnapping had nothing to do with his flaws, but much of the fandom uses it as a way to dismiss any appropriate consequences because, “Hasn’t he suffered enough?” etc.—but in the interest of keeping this within a readable length, I’ll leave it at that. The point is that Bakugo has always been privileged when it comes to his behavior, resulting in others either outright praising it, ignoring it, or demanding that he change a miniscule bit, which always keeps him far below the standards of both his peers and the expectations of a hero. Everyone in 1-A must learn to be even better than the good people they already are... Bakugo needs to learn that other people aren't dirt at the bottom of his shoes. It's never been a particularly impressive development when pit against the rest of the class. All of which can make something like an apology feel pretty hollow. Yes, he’s apologized and I say with all seriousness that that’s great! But how does that apology stack up against 300+ chapters of content? As Bakugo’s words highlight, he's been a really awful person up "until now": he was consumed by Izuku being “miles ahead of [him],” he “looked down on [him]” because he didn’t have a quirk, he “didn’t want to recognize that,” he “hated that,” “grew distant,” “tried to beat you down,” “opposed you and tried to show my superiority over you,” and ends it all with, “it probably doesn’t mean anything telling you all this” before finally getting to the “I’m sorry.” This is basically a laundry list of how horrible a person Bakugo has been for the entire series, with an acknowledgement that this apology is coming really, really late. This is the moment where I could START to like Bakugo, depending on how he acts form here on out, but that pivotal moment arrived after six years of content and in the final arc of the story. It’s too late. Bakugo needed this kind of self-reflection and positive action 250+ chapters ago so he could (hopefully) grow into a better person across the story, not at the story's end. What we got instead is 322 chapters of him being a really horrible person, but the story going out of its way to excuse or even praise that behavior the majority of the time.

As a quick comparison to end on, I think what Bakugo needed was what Soo Jin got in True Beauty. You don’t need to have seen the drama to follow along. The tl;dr is that she has a lot of the core qualities of Bakugo: an all-consuming drive to win that was created due to abusive parents with high expectations, resulting in her bullying a peer to a pretty horrific extent. The difference between them is how the story frames their actions. When Soo Jin becomes the bully she loses everything. Rather than succeeding academically, her grades plummet, making it clear that this anxiety and self-doubt (things the fandom keeps insisting Bakugo is struggling with, but that rarely ever show up in the text) is actually impacting her day-to-day life. Her best friend drops her because she’s not going to support her choices. The boy she likes rejects her. She’s eventually forced to start over somewhere new - which importantly separates her from the girl she was bullying - and get some distance from her parents, resulting in the growth needed to become a healthier, happier, good person again. So when Soo Jin apologizes to the girl she hurt, it feels earned. The story continually recognized how horrific her actions were and put her into a place where she either had to change, or continue losing at everything else that was important to her. Bakugo? Bakugo doesn’t lose. Oh, he claims he does because he’s comparing himself to Izuku constantly, but that’s just him thinking in extremes. He still wins academically. Still wins many battles. Still wins at having friends. Still wins by maintaining the prestige of being a U.A. student. Still wins by getting All Might’s attention. Still wins by receiving Izuku’s respect and an agreement to maintain this rivalry that Bakugo is so obsessed with. Bakugo comes out well 99% of the time, he just thinks he's "lost" because he can't stand not being the absolute best.

For me, the story needed to have Bakugo face consequences for his behavior, not receive rewards and/or have others ignore it, and that revelation/apology needed to come way, way sooner. For me the issue is not a specific action that Horikoshi can have Bakugo do in the next chapter and them bam, I like him now. The problem is Bakugo’s entire concept, how he’s received by the entire cast, and his run across this entire series. "Entire" is the key word there. Which is why the “But he’s apologized. What more do you antis want?” reactions don’t sit well. What we wanted is a better written redemption arc across those 300+ chapters, not a single scene that’s meant to have us forget all the other problems inherent in the story. At this point it’s a far more complicated situation than, “Bakugo just needs to do X, Y, and Z and then we’re golden.” At the end of the day, Horikoshi failed to make me like him as a person and I’m pretty sure he isn’t going to change Bakugo enough to make him likable to me. Bakugo was never the sort of character I’d be inclined towards without a serious, nuanced redemption arc, but sadly, a core, crucial part of that redemption arc took six years to arrive. At this point there’s no way to change the problems in Bakugo’s writing for that huge chunk of the series and not enough time left in the series, it seems, to do the work we should have seen across the entire run. Honestly, idk if the Bakugo we'll get going forward is someone I can just dislike as opposed to being really uncomfortable with, but my money is on there being too little story left and too much investment in upholding Bakugo's base personality for that to happen. I could absolutely be proven wrong! But I think the problems are structural and needed to be better dealt with from page one, not hastily patched over in the final hour.

#BNHA #My Hero Academia #anti bakugo

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oreo166 · 3 years ago

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Avatar Hot Take #2

Time for another topic that might fuel some backlash and more controversy.

The amount of negative flak given to Aang for kissing Katara when he shouldn’t have in the EIP (Ember Island Players) episode -- compared to how much given to Korra when she first kissed Mako in the SoC (Spirit of Competition) episode -- is ridiculous:

Now let me give y’all a disclaimer right now: I am NOT saying that kissing Katara was the right thing for Aang to do at the time. In fact, I agree that it wasn’t.

With that said, however, nor was kissing Mako the right thing for Korra to do.

Yet why do I see many people calling Aang “selfish”, “entitled”, and even “ab*sive” for his error in the EIP episode? Heck, I’ve seen comments go far enough to imply that Aang should’ve been punched in the face! So would anyone mind telling me exactly where the frick all those kinds of comments are for Korra?

And no, what Aang and Korra did in the EIP and the SoC episodes respectively were not different. They were anything but different. Let’s examine the context of the specific scenario of each of the two episodes, shall we?:

EIP Scenario:

Aang asked Katara if she really meant what she said about seeing him as a “little brother” even though that’s what her actress said. Even after she replied that she herself never said so and only her actress did - implying that she did NOT see him like a brother - Aang still replied, “But it’s true, isn’t it?” Plus, he didn’t even say it with an angry or explosive tone; rather he said it with a clearly saddened yet calm one. This implies that if Katara had bluntly said that she had no romantic interest in him, Aang would’ve ultimately been fine with that.

Aang mentions to Katara the time when they previously and mutually kissed during the Invasion (and yes, it was mutual since Katara kissed back). He also told her that he thought they’d start dating each other by then. However, he acknowledges that they still weren’t together regardless. And Aang was still obviously broken-hearted yet calm when saying all of this. And to be honest, many hints were shown of Katara having at least some romantic interest in Aang such as Katara’s previous cheek kisses she’d only ever given to Aang; her suggesting the idea of kissing in the Cave of Two Lovers; and etc. So Aang really wasn’t wrong to believe that she wanted to be with him.

Afterwards, Katara solemnly says, “Aang, I don’t know.” Aang then asks, “Why don’t you know?” Katara explains, “’Cause we’re in the middle of a war, and we have other things to worry about. This isn’t the right time.” “Well, when is the right time?” Aang asked. “Aang, I’m sorry, but right now, I’m just a little confused,” Katara said as an ultimatum. So right here, Katara doesn’t say that she doesn’t want to date Aang at all. Rather, she doesn’t whether she actually will be able to or not since they were fighting in the war, and Aang still had yet to face the firelord. And at the time, neither Katara nor Aang knew how much longer the war would last, nor did either of them know if they’d still end up alive by the end of it. Aang, however, didn’t understand that. Rather, he started growing impatient, for he wanted to get a clear and direct confirmation from Katara herself if wanted to be with him or not -- which wasn’t exactly what she gave him.

And as we all know, Aang non-consensually tries to kiss Katara afterwards; she immediately pulls herself away from the attempted kiss, shouted at him for it, and stormed off. This part doesn’t need any explanations.

SoC:

Korra told Mako, “Save your breath. You’ve already made it clear how you feel about me.” “No, I haven’t. What I’m trying to say is as much as you drive me crazy, I also think you’re pretty amazing,” Mako replied. So right here, it’s blatantly made clear that Mako likes Korra back.

“So you do like me?” Korra asked. “Yes,” Mako sighed with uncertainty, “but I like Asami too. I don’t know. Things are complicated. I’m feeling really confused, and -- .” Then, as most of us know, Korra interrupted Mako with a non-consensual kiss, yet Mako kissed back regardless. Bolin, seeing it all, broken-heartedly runs off bawling. Mako and Korra blow up into an short argument about it, and Mako storms off as a result. So basically, what made Mako confused was that he romantically liked his girlfriend at the time, Asami, and Korra; he didn’t know he should’ve decided what to do about that.

So in both scenarios, Katara and Mako, at the very least, reciprocated Aang’s and Korra’s interests in them repsectively (even if it possibly was to a lesser extent). And yes, Katara DID develop romantic feelings for Aang. Hints proving so existed, as subtle as they may have been. However, Katara and Mako also explicitly said that they were confused, yet Aang and Korra still kissed them regardless. So really, there’s nothing that suggests that Korra kissing Mako in the SoC episode was more okay than Aang kissing Katara in the EIP episode.

Heck, I’d even argue that Korra’s kiss was actually even worse than Aang’s. Like I said before, Mako was already dating Asami at the time -- and Korra knew that herself! And while albeit Korra really was seeing mostly as a platonic hangout, she was technically dating Bolin as well; therefore, she ended up ripping Bolin’s heart when he saw her kiss his brother. It doesn’t matter if Mako kissed Korra back unlike Katara with Aang. You don’t kiss someone who already has a significant other. So if any of you anti-kataangers really want to preach about consent, then you ought to be talking about Korra more.

Now let me get one more disclaimer out of the way: I’m NOT saying all of this to bash on Korra or her relationship with Mako! Just like Aang — who angrily called himself an idiot after realizing his mistake of kissing Katara at an inappropriate time — Korra realized her mistake very soon after. In fact, we even get to see Korra apologize to Bolin for breaking his heart. For me to bash on Korra and her relationship with Mako, I’d have to end up bashing on Aang and his relationship with Katara — and that’s DEFINITELY NOT the purpose of this post.

TL;DR: Cut the double standards! Either bash on both Aang and Korra for their inappropriately-timed kisses or don’t bash either of them at all!

#avatar the last airbender #atla #aang #katara #kataang #aang defense squad #the legend of korra #tlok #korra #mako #makorra #again NOTHING AGAINST EITHER KORRA OR MAKORRA!#avatar fandom #avatar fandom discourse #avatar fandom crit

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rollychan · 3 years ago

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Okay, turns out I have more to say about the first Loki series episode already.

But first a preface/disclaimer: 1) I welcome all opinions if they’re stated respectfully / without any insulting of or jibing at others or other groups of fans (I mean it, any “some fans *rollyeyes*” will get you a swift block and Idgaf which side you’re on, I have no time for that bullshit) 2) I am a mere unintelligent trashcan of a person and also my native language isn’t English so excuse me if my thoughts here aren’t deep or intelligent enough or thought through. They are my own, though. 3) These thoughts will NOT be very organized. I apologize in advance.

Thoughts under the cut.

The TVA and Dystopian Themes

The first point I’d like to make is that the first episode gives me major classic dystopian vibes just set in a very bureaucratic world. I will explain why:

1) The fact that Loki is arrested for time crimes he wasn’t even aware he is committing and that are decided on by some mysterious few authorities nobody ever seems to see.

Let me expand on this. It feels very much like it’s another powerful dictator-like power, like Big Brother from 1984, like the ten world leaders from Brave New World. They dictate how things should be. They decide on exactly the one timeline that they allow to exist and any variance from that is punishable by death. In 1984, you had the Thought Police and an arbitrarily chosen enemy you had to hate that changed from time to time and everyone had to follow those changes, in Brave New World, it’s a bit trickier, but basically, people were genetically modified (was it before birth? I can’t quite remember that well the details of it) and pre-determined to be in one of three (or four? it’s been years if not a decade+ since I last read the book) classes by deciding on their intelligence and other factors. Pre-determination, rigid behavioral rules, no straying from the decided upon social norms. That’s what they all have in common. Not to mention the brainwashing. “War is Peace / Freedom is Slavery / Ignorance is Strength” anyone? The TVA might as well get such a slogan for themselves. The people working for the TVA all seem very brainwashed. The guy at the desk that stowed away the Tesseract grew up behind the desk, for godssake, he doesn’t even know what a fish is. Just like people in Brave New World are brainwashed from their birth.

“A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.” (Brave New World)

The TVA, like the people in the Brave New World, want there to be no conflict (forced happiness is the thing in BNW). They believe in what they do, and Mobius is actually very much a product of that. He believes he is doing the right thing. He believes that getting a Loki variant on his side will solve the problem the TVA are facing with the other Loki variant they are chasing. He will do anything for this goal, but he does have a different idea from the other characters we have met so far. They don’t think a Loki variant will help, but they are still all working towards the same goal.

And, I mean:

“You will be lifted clean out from the stream of history. We shall turn you into gas and pour you into the stratosphere. Nothing will remain of you; not a name in a register, not a memory in a living brain. You will be annihilated in the past as well as in the future. You will never have existed.” (1984)

I get major 1984 vibes here.

(I do think that Mobius might change his stance towards the TVA throughout the course of the series and I think he’s an interesting character to follow. But in the beginning, he’s still wholly entrenched. Him having a different opinion from the rest of the TVA does look like some foreshadowing though.

I have seen some people say the TVA is framed positively, which I respect as their opinion, but I don’t agree. I have seen nothing that cements in stone they’re the good guys here (there are some scenes I view as neutral and Mobius’ introduction I view as framing him as not totally evil, not the whole TVA as good). If anything, I get the feeling they are very powerful dictators and Loki caved because he realized how powerless he truly is there. But I guess that could be just me.)

2) Nothing is explained to Loki. There is no instance that acts in Loki’s defense. In fact, from what we have seen, there is usually no way anyone accused of time crimes can influence the court verdict. It is entirely one-sided and pre-determined unless someone from the TVA wants them alive.

Like, that is a major indicator of something being very very fishy here. No one who has a shred of morality will think that is just. Everyone accused of a crime has the right to a fair process, to a defense, to an appeal. Nothing about this process is fair. Everything about this process screams dystopia to me.

Loki isn’t even treated with dignity like every fucking criminal still has a right to in democratic countries. Getting the clothes lasered off without a warning? Would be a major human rights violation. Getting dragged left and right and dropped through floors? Major human rights violation.

This is, partly, played for laughs, but also not entirely. Loki does realize how little power he holds in that place and that moment is played seriously. It’s dictatorian, it’s unjust, it’s rigid.

3) People are arbitrarily erased / killed (”reset” is the term they use, I believe? When they use those glowsticks?)

For things like refusing to take a ticket and then having no ticket. When nothing is explained to them before.

The court process is a joke. It’s a farce, they go through some (not even all) standard motions of court preceedings but there is 0 chance for the accused to win. It’s all an illusion, as Loki so correctly points out. Nobody questions it but him, but it very much is all an illusion, a mask for the dictatorship underneath.

I’m, like, 80% sure the ticket bs is there so they don’t have to deal with everyone and can get rid of the annoying variants before they ever reach the “court”.

Basically, I think the TVA are supposed to be dystopian. It fits right in. (There is so much more in my brain but currently I lack the words to express it)

Loki and Continuity

The first half of the episode feels very over-the-top. There is so much over-acting going on with Tom Hiddleston that I don’t understand. He feels incredibly OOC in that first half (save for a couple moments, perhaps). The panicky fumbling for the ticket after he saw another variant being “erased”? That’s so much NOT Loki it’s not funny. I can overlook the thing about signing the papers that are supposed to be “everything he ever said” but some things are so OOC they are not even in the same universe as Loki’s original characterisation (of the T1 & Avengers 1 Loki) is anymore. That ticket fumbling moment, for example.

They did go over basically all his life in that scene with Mobius (though Mobius was absent for a bunch of it). Those emotional moments were raw and IC, in my opinion (the way he reacts to his own death - btw, anyone reading this before watching the episode: they show the IW death scene and while the moment he dies happens while the camera shows Loki’s reaction to it, you can still hear the audio of it, so beware!) I think that moment he breaks down is well-done. And it’s in that vulnerable state that Mobius finds him and gives him the final manipulative push to tell Mobius what Mobius wants to hear.

If they pick up on these themes - the dystopian dictatorship that the TVA are in reality and Loki having to come to terms with never being able to turn back and freedom vs. determinism (chaos vs. rigid order?), it can turn out to be a decent show.

I have way more thoughts but I’ve already spent way too much time on this so here you go.

#random #loki series #loki series spoilers #loki series review #sort of?#not tagging this one with the negativity tag since it's not really negative

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wiypt-writes · 4 years ago

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Riding On

Ch 13- Healthy Competition

Summary: Mary decides she wants to compete in her first horse riding competition, so the family take an outing and Frank gets a first-hand experience of the world Fliss once called her life.

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

A/N: This is very Mary/horsey heavy so apologies in advance.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding On Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 12

October 2018

"Lissy, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Course you can sweetie." Fliss looked at Mary as she approached the sofa, Laptop in her arms. "Everything OK?”

"Yeah." Mary nodded, “Just before, some of the other girls at the yard were talking about a jumping competition in a few weeks and I was wondering…” She sat down, perching her laptop on her knees "Do you think maybe I could take Monty?"

"Do you wanna take him?" Fliss asked and Mary nodded. "Then of course you can"

"Really?" Mary's eyes lit up.

"Yeah, it's been ages since I went to a competition. It'll be fun!"

"I wasn't sure I would be good enough." Mary shrugged.

"Mary, Monty could do a jumping course with his eyes closed." Fliss smiled. “And you're plenty good enough. Besides, it doesn't matter anyway. It’s about enjoying yourself. I take it you got the website there?" She nodded to the laptop.

Mary grinned and opened it up. Fliss took it from her and quickly scanned the information. "FireAnt Farm Equestrian Centre, Tarpon Springs..." Fliss mused, quickly grabbing her phone to locate the area on Google maps.

"Is it too far?" Mary questioned.

"Nope." Fliss shook her head. "Probably take us forty minutes in the wagon. I used to travel much further."

"There's a lot of different classes to enter." Mary shuffled towards Fliss so she could see the screen too "I wasn't sure which one I would go in."

"I'd put you in the beginners class." Fliss replied as she read the details. "It's forty cm max height and you've jumped those plenty. And then why don't you try a few flat classes whilst we are there? The schedule doesn't look like they would clash."

"Flat class?" Mary frowned.” You mean like dressage?"

"Kinda, it’s about showing your pony off. You basically do a go round as a group in each pace on both reins and then you do a quick individual show. It’s easy, I used to do a simple figure of eight."

"Oh. Okay." Mary shrugged. "I never saw that before."

"Well, let's have a look." Fliss smiled, opening up a browser to YouTube. She flicked her eyes over to Alex who was fast asleep and then spent the next fifteen minutes or so showing Mary various videos of different kids showing classes on the Web.

"So Monty is a Welsh Pony." Fliss nodded.” Which means he doesn't need to be plaited, or braided, whatever. We turn him out true to type which means we just need to tidy his mane and tail up a bit. And as he's over fifteen he can go in the Pre-Veteran class. So they look at how he moves and performs for his age group. Why don't you do that which is the forth one in the morning and then do the junior rider. Then there's a long enough break before the beginners jumping."

"So I get to do three classes?" Mary grinned and Fliss nodded.

“Hey, it says here they're running a winter league." Fliss mused "Is that what you wanna do? Compete in the league or just the one off?"

"A league like they do for baseball or football?"

"Exactly that." Fliss nodded. "So you join up and it says here you get points immediately for just going in the class. They place to sixth position and award points. So you’d get ten points for finishing first, eight for second, six for third and so on. Then the person with the most points takes the Championship overall at the end."

She pointed at the screen “Say’s here the first one is on 3rd November and they run to March next year, so there’s five overall. What do you think?”

Mary grinned “Bring it on!”

Fliss smiled as Mary gave her a hi-five.

“Why don’t you bring Bronson?” Mary asked, “Or Cap?”

Fliss shook her head. “It wouldn’t be fair on everyone there.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I competed at a professional level” Fliss shrugged “It wouldn’t be very sporting of me if I entered a class full of hobbyists. I would have hated it when I was there myself. The only way I’d do it is if I went in and declared I was 'hors concours' or HC as it’s known.”

“Hors concours?” Mary repeated “What’s that?”

“It means that I’d be taking part without actually competing. So I might enter a competition to give a young horse experience or what-have-you but my marks would not be counted as such.”

“Bronson is only six.” Mary said “You said he had never done a jumping competition before.”

“He hasn’t.” Fliss pondered. “Maybe next season. This one we concentrate on you.”

Mary grinned and then Fliss turned her attention to what they needed to get her. They spent a bit of time looking at Tweed showing jackets, Mary deciding on the type of thing she liked before Fliss found a decent value second hand one on a local Equestrian Buy and Sell group on Facebook which Mary eagerly nodded at, the same seller also having a Navy Blue show-jumping jacket the same size.

“When you’re not growing so fast I’ll buy you brand new ones.” Fliss smiled, tapping in a message to the seller arranging to collect the items the following mornings. “So you have your DeNiro boots which we can polish, your short boots as well, you have a hat that will be ok, it should be velvet but for the time being it will do, so we need canary and white jodhs… a show shirt, a tie. I think we need to take a trip up to the Tack Shack tomorrow.”

“Oh, yes let’s!” Mary smiled “I have some of my pocket money saved, I can put that towards it.”

“Put what towards what?” Frank asked as he walked into the family room. He dropped a kiss to Fliss’ cheek and ruffled Mary’s hair, causing her to scowl up at him. “More horse riding crap?” he nodded to the screen of the laptop.

“It’s not crap, how dare you.” Fliss scoffed as Frank gave a chuckle. “We were talking about all the stuff Mary is going to need for her first competition in two weeks.”

At that Frank paused, looking at Mary. “You’re going to a competition?”

“Yah-hah.” She nodded and Frank smiled.

“That’s great Stack!”.

“I’m gonna do three classes. Two showing and one jumping.” She told him enthusiastically. “So we already sorted my jacket and Fliss is taking me to the Tack Shack tomorrow for the rest of it.”

“Why what else do you need?”

“Jodhpurs, a shirt and a tie.” Mary nodded reeling it off. “Oh and a new hat at some point but Fliss says the one that I have will do.”

“Why do you need another hat?”

“Well strictly speaking show hats should be velvet or suede.” Fliss shrugged “But for this level it won’t matter.”

“Sounds like another bashing my card is gonna take.” Frank grumbled good-naturedly and Fliss swatted at him. He chuckled again and stood up straight from where he had been leaning on the back of the couch, heading to the fridge to retrieve his standard post work beer.

“Can I wear the same tie for show-jumping and showing?” Mary asked.

“Hmmmm possibly. We can get two.” Fliss shrugged. “One that matches your tweed and then you can pick whatever you want colour wise for jumping. Have a look on the website, see if there’s anything you like.”

Mary grinned and took the lap top off Fliss who stood up, stretching slightly. She headed over to Frank, slipping her arms round his waist.

“She’s excited.” He stated, watching Mary as she tapped at the keyboard. His chest was warm at the utter delight on the young girl’s face as she was searching different coloured ties. “What sparked her wanting to do this?” “Someone at the yard. She overheard them talking and asked if she could go.” Fliss smiled. “She wants to do the Winter League” “They run a league?” “Yeah.” Fliss smiled “Five competitions in total. It’ll be good for her, a bit of healthy competition. I already managed to grab her two jackets. Both second hand but no point shelling out loads when she’s gonna grow out of them by the end of the season. Tweeds cost a fortune.”

“How much are the hats she was talking about?” Frank asked, taking a swig of his beer, his eyes flicking back to Mary then to Fliss.

“Erm, her size probably about eighty bucks, why?”

“Just get her one.” He smiled gently, dropping his voice “She never asks for stuff like this so…”

“You big softie.” Fliss smiled, standing on her toes to give him a kiss. “I love you.”

“Love you too. And thank you.” Frank gently, bumped his nose against hers.

“What for?” Fliss frowned.

“For this.” He nodded to Mary “Doing stuff that makes her excited and happy.”

“You don’t need to thank me.” Fliss looked at him, and then for the first time she noticed the look on his face. He was watching Mary, his eyes not quite as full of their usual sparkle. “Frankie, what’s wrong?”

He took a deep breath and looked at Mary “Hey Stack, have you spoken to grandmother this week?”

“Not yet.” Mary said “I was gonna later, why?”

“Why don’t you give her a call before dinner?” He suggested “You can tell her about your competition.”

“Okay.” Mary shrugged standing up “But if you wanted to talk in private you could just ask.”

“Fine, we wanna talk in private” Frank looked at her and Mary snorted as she stood up and looked at him.

“You forget I know you, Frank.”

“Oh, trust me I don’t.” He shot after her as she laughed, climbing the stairs.

Fliss turned to Frank as he sat down on one of the stools by the breakfast bar. “Honey, what is it?”

“I spoke to Greg before.” He looked at her as she moved to stand between his legs. “He still hasn’t heard back from her father about the adoption.”

“Okay.” Fliss dropped her hands to his shoulders as his rest on her hips “That doesn’t mean he’s gonna cause an issue.”

“No, but Greg’s twitchy, I can tell. I mean if the asshole wasn’t bothered about Mary surely we would have heard by now. It’s been almost eight weeks.” Frank wrinkled his nose.

“Baby there’s nothing we can do about it.” Fliss soothed “Yeah, if he protests it’s gonna be a little more agro than we thought but…well, we’ll just have to face it when it happens, ok?”

“I know I just…well I was hoping this would be done for Christmas, that’s all.”

“It might be yet, it’s not even November. Is there anything Greg can do?”

“He’s gonna send a chaser letter but other than that not really.” Frank shrugged before he sighed “I know you’re right, there’s nothing we can do but that doesn’t stop me worrying about it.”

“I know, because you love her. We both do. I’m worried as well but like you said to me, whatever happens we face it together.” She leaned down to give him a quick peck “Now, change of subject…you gonna come with us to the competition in a few weeks? Be nice for us all to go. Can be our first proper family outing.”

“Will there be beer?” Frank pondered, his hand sliding down the outside of her thighs and back up again.

“We can take a cool box” she smiled.

Frank chuckled “Of course I’ll come. Wouldn’t miss her first competition for the world.”

******

October ticked into November, bringing with it a slight drop in temperature and still no movement on the Adoption. However, Frank and Fliss had pushed it to the back of their minds which in the grand scheme of things wasn’t that hard as Mary’s excitement over her impending first competition was infectious.

When Fliss took her to the Tack Shack and told her that Frank said she could get a competition hat, Mary had almost cried, giving Fliss a huge hug but reserving the biggest hug of all for her Uncle when she got home. She’d paraded around the family room in her show gear, showing off her outfit for both Fliss, Frank and then again for Verity and Bill, and on a video call to Evelyn.

She practiced with Fliss or Joanne every day after school. They taught her the ring etiquette, how to talk to the judge and also set up a full course for her to practice on, Fliss teaching her all about how the first round was about getting clear and the jump off also introduced the element of time. Fliss felt an overwhelming sense of pride as the girl improved day by day and found herself actually believing that she’d do pretty well when the day came.

The afternoon before the show was spent with one final practice and then Mary had to give Monty a bath. Whilst he was drying off she then loaded the wagon with her jackets, cleaned her tack and then carried that to the wagon too where Fliss placed it in the tack locker, locking it up.

Frank was under the bonnet of said wagon, checking the oil and the coolant to make sure it was ready for the trip in the morning when he heard footsteps on the gravel and he looked up to see Mary hopping up the steps into the back of the wagon.

“What’s she checking now?” He looked over at Fliss, straightening himself up and reaching for the rag that was tucked in the back pocket of his dirty jeans. Fliss didn’t reply, she was too busy scanning Frank from head to toe, and making no attempt to even disguise the fact she was perving on him. “Earth to Lissy…”

“Yeah, sorry…what?” She asked, looking at him, biting her lip.

He snorted as he wiped his hands on the rag, shaking his head “And you call me a pervert.”

Fliss shrugged “I told you, the whole dirty mechanic things does stuff to me.”

“And the dirty mechanic will do stuff to you if you give him half a chance.” He grinned and she smirked, arching an eyebrow.

“You’ll corrupt our son.” She grinned, placing her hands over his ears, where he was positioned in the baby sling at her chest. “Mind you, he’s probably already scarred for life after your antics last night.”

“Didn’t hear you complaining.” Frank smirked. “Quite the opposite in fact.”

Fliss bit her lip a the memory of a particularly good round of sex the night before, which had resulted in her on all fours in the middle of the mattress. Looking at Frank she shrugged and he snorted, closing the bonnet of the wagon.

“All set.” He nodded towards it. “Oil topped up, coolant and water levels good…”

“So you didn’t find anything to fix, like I told you that you wouldn’t.”

“Hey, I just wanted to make sure it’s safe for my girls, it hasn’t been anywhere in a while.” He shrugged

“Joanne used it yesterday to go to the wholesalers for feed and shavings.” Fliss looked at him.

“Yeah, well…whatever, I make no apologies for wanting to check anyway.” He smiled, taking the kiss she offered.

Mary jumped down from the back of the wagon and reached up to lock the back door before she trotted round and handed Fliss the keys.

“You happy you got everything?” Frank looked at her. “Seeing as that’s like the five-hundredth time you checked.”

“Don’t exaggerate.” Mary rolled her eyes as Alex made a noise and the three of them looked at him before Mary pointed. “See, even he thinks you’re an idiot.”

“Rude.” Frank grumbled.

After one last check on Monty who was sparkling white (although Fliss knew they’d end up giving him another quick clean up in the morning), they headed home and after a quick shower Frank lit the BBQ outside. The family enjoyed a good grill for dinner, before Fliss disappeared upstairs and came back with a wrapped packaged. Frank frowned, as she handed it to Mary.

“Everyone needs one of those for competitions.” She smiled, as Mary looked at her, taking it gently.

“What is it?”

“Open it and see!” Fliss rolled her eyes as she sat back down on the seat, glancing at Frank who had Alex against his chest, his head resting on his shoulder.

Mary tore the wrapping paper off and gasped as she held up the pink gilet top. It had a small horse’s head embroidered on the front right hand breast but it was what was on the back that had caught her eye. She looked at it, then to Fliss and with a stunned smile turned it round so Frank could see. It was a motif of a horse jumping her fence with ‘Mary Adler’ arched over the top in gold, cursive writing and ‘Monte Carlo VI’- Monty’s show-name- underneath in the same typeface. Small diamantes were scattered around the entire design which caught the lights that were dotted around the garden and Frank’s face broke into a huge smile as Mary looked at him, then to Fliss.

“Sally has one of these for Jackson.” She whispered. “I always wanted one, how did you know?”

Fliss smiled “Sally’s mum told me you asked where she got it from. I thought I’d get you one. It’s a bit bigger so will fit over your jackets and a hoody if you need it to. You can wear it in the collecting ring and then take it off before you go in to do your shows and jumping.” “Lissy I love it, thank you so much!” Mary stood up and rounded the table to give Fliss a huge hug. Fliss kissed her head and cupped her cheek.

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”

“Well, come on.” Frank nodded to it. “Let’s see it on!”

Mary grinned and shrugged the gilet on over her jumper and beamed, giving them a twirl. Fliss told her to stand still and took a photo of the front and the back if it, before setting her phone down on the table.

After a little more chat, given the fact they had a busy day they all headed up to bed. Frank tucked Mary in before Fliss popped in to say goodnight, Thor jumping up onto Mary’s bed clearly deciding he was staying there for the evening with Fred. Fliss closed the door and made her way to the master bedroom where Frank was led on top of the bed in his boxers, Alex sleeping in the basinet as his dad flicked through the channels on the TV.

“How much did that gilet set you back?” he asked and Fliss wrinkled her nose.

“Does it matter?” “Not really.” Frank chuckled. “You spoil her.”

“So do you.” Fliss shrugged and pulled off her T-shirt and jeans before opening the door to the en-suite.

“But if it makes you feel better, I got a present for you too, Sailor.” She grinned, shedding her underwear and beckoning for him to follow her.

Frank blinked, smirked and jumped up off the bed, the pair of them giggling as he dispensed of his boxers and backed his future wife into the shower, shutting the cubicle door behind him.

*****

Fliss and Mary set off early the next morning, whilst Frank took a little more time making sure he had everything Alex needed before he headed out to his truck and keyed the location into his GPS. When he arrived he parked up, got Alex settled in the stroller and wandered down the yard. As he rounded the corner, he gave a blink, the place was packed with horses and people, all sorts of different competitions going on. After a little walk around he located their wagon and as luck would have it, Fliss and Mary were making their way back. He smiled, Mary was dressed in her older jodhpurs, and a hoody with her personalised gilet proudly donning her top half where-as Fliss looked every bit the cowgirl in her jeans, plaid shirt, cowboy boots and her hat.

“Hey!” She greeted him, giving him a quick kiss before she looked at Alex, her hand stroking his cheek.

“You all set?” Frank asked and Mary grinned.

“Yeah, we booked in, registered…I got my membership number...” she held up the laminated piece of paper with the digits 287 printed on “…and we got about 40 minutes until my first class.”

“So we need to get him off the wagon, quick bush down and then you can get on to warm up.” Fliss said, nodding to the ramp. Frank moved the stroller out of the way and he and Fliss undid the latches, dropping it down as Mary hopped up and undid he partition. She brought Monty down and set about undoing his travel boots and his tail bandage, taking his tail out of the braid before she hopped up to get her brushes.

“She’s like a coiled spring.” Fliss grinned, looking at Frank who chuckled.

“Yeah, she doesn’t do anything by halves.” He smiled, looking around “It’s busy.”

“First one of a season always is.” Fliss mused “There’s over twenty in her first class and 11 so far in her second. No idea about the jumping, I didn’t ask. I told her not to bother about it, as long as she enjoys herself…”

Frank smiled as Fliss gently touched his arm and set about helping Mary. Fifteen minutes later Monty was tacked up and Frank, from what little he knew about horses, had to admit they looked pretty smart. Her tweed was a dark green with a check pattern of brown and pinks, her show shirt was cream and the tie she was wearing was a green and pink striped one, matching perfectly. Fliss had braided Mary’s hair so it hung down her back and had secured it with a matching ribbon and as she jammed her new hat on she grinned at Frank.

“Looking good Stack” he smiled.

“Ok, ready?” Fliss asked.

Mary nodded and hopped up onto the small step at the back of the wagon, vaulting onto Monty, the pony simply standing still and observing his surroundings as if he did this every day.

Frank pushed the stroller as Fliss walked besides him, Mary slightly ahead as she made her way into the collecting ring. Fliss followed her in and Frank stood at the side, watching as Fliss made sure the girth on the saddle was tight enough before she nodded, spoke to Mary who also gave a nod and walked away from Fliss. Fliss stayed in the ring with her, gently giving her instructions, helping Mary to warm Monty in. And then Mary’s class was called. Fliss took the gilet off her before Mary looked over at Frank. He gave her a huge grin and a thumbs up and she smiled back before he saw her take a deep breath and follow another rider into the ring.

Fliss joined him and they made their way down a little so they could watch. Monty was easily the smallest pony in the class and Frank frowned.

“He looks tiny.” “He is only 14’2 hands high.” Fliss shrugged “But this is a veteran class, for horses fifteen and over. So they’ll look at how he moves, not how he looks next to the other horses.”

“Oh.” Franks shrugged, turning his attention to Mary, then the two women stood in the middle “Are they the judges?”

“The one in the hat is the judge.” Fliss said “The other is a steward. She basically shouts the instructions out and helps the judge.”

Frank watched as the woman instructed the group to trot on. They did a few laps around the ring before they set off into canter. Mary’s face was set in concentration as thy ride repeated the action on the opposite rein before they all lined up.

“Now they do their individual shows.” Fliss said, her eyes focussing on the action in the ring. “This is what Mary was practicing yesterday when you showed up.”

There were two horses before it was Mary’s turn. She walked Monty out of the line-up and stood him, perfectly square in front of the judge. She chatted to the woman who walked around Monty to take a look at him, before Mary set off to do her show. Frank glanced at Fliss and smiled as his girl was beaming with pride as Mary completed her show, foot (or hoof) perfect before she halted, saluted to the judge and then gave Monty a huge pat. She glanced over at Fliss who gave her a thumbs up, smiling.

All in all it took about forty minutes to work through the class, and once the last person had done they all set off in a walk as the judge was muttering something, her eyes flicking along the ponies. Eventually she nodded and the steward walked out, pointing to a large bay. A few people started clapping as the Bay moved inwards to take first place, and then next was a smaller chestnut and then she pointed at Mary.

“Fuck, Frank she got third!” Fliss almost exploded as she started to cheer, Frank giving a grin as he also clapped, Mary’s face split into a huge grin as she took her place. 4th, 5th and 6th were awarded, rosettes were handed out and then the placings took a lap of honour before exiting the ring.

“Well done!” Fliss beamed at Mary as she grinned, looking at her yellow rosette “3rd out of 20! Mary that’s amazing for your first go!”

Mary nodded, taking a deep breath, the tears filling her eyes “I’m so happy!” she spluttered and Frank gave a chuckle, looping his arm around her, giving Monty a pat.

But that was nothing compared to her reaction when she won second place in the next class she was in, the Junior Rider. Fliss really did explode at that point, and Mary burst into tears, the judge looking a little shocked before she smiled at Mary, handing her the blue rosette.

After they’d calmed Mary down, they untacked Monty as there was a little wait until the jumping started and Frank headed off to grab them a burger from the fast food van at the far end of the yard. They sat on the ramp of the wagon, Frank teasing Mary as usual, before they heard a little cough and all looked up.

“I’m really sorry to bother you.” A woman spoke shyly “But are you Fliss Gallagher.”

“Yeah.” Fliss smiled “Erm, hi.”

“My daughter…she’s a huge fan. She followed you and Charlotte DuJardin in the 2012s and she’s…well, she’s hiding over there because she wouldn’t come speak to you.” The woman bashfully admitted and Fliss felt her cheeks growing red.

“Oh…thanks.” She said, “Which one is she?”

“The blonde over there…”“Be back in a sec.” She smiled at Frank, standing up.

Frank looked at Mary, his mouth falling open “What just happened?”

“Fliss is a horse riding celebrity Frank.” Mary shrugged. “She was a huge star until her accident.”

Frank turned and watched as Fliss spoke to the teen who was clearly in awe, and then smiled and nodded when her mom waved her phone. She posed for a quick photo before she turned and started to walk back towards them.

“I feel kinda sorry for her in a way.” Mary sighed.

“How do you mean?” Frank looked at his niece.

“Well, imagine finally doing the job you always dreamed of…only to have it cut short like she did.” Mary spoke, her mouth full of burger “Half the show-jumping teams around the world have people in them that are in their sixties you know. Fliss was only 28.”

Frank pondered for a moment as Fliss approached, he hadn’t really thought about it from that point of view before, nor had he even considered for one second that Fliss might still be recognised. Either way, he felt a little warmth in his chest as she flopped back down next to him, reaching for the rest of her burger.

“Can I get an autograph?” he asked.

“Piss off.” She snorted as he laughed, dropping a kiss to her cheek.

Despite having enjoyed Mary’s flat shows, Frank did NOT enjoy the jumping. It scared the shit out of him. Fliss walked the course with Mary, now dressed in her jumping outfit of white breeches, navy jacket and a bright pink and blue sparkly tie as they examined the route she would take. And then far too soon in his opinion it was her turn to go in and he wasn’t sure he could watch.

“And entering the ring now we have Mary Adler riding Monte Carlo VI…” the announcer spoke on the tanoy as Mary trotted Monty in. The buzzer sounded and she picked up canter and pointed the pony at the first jump. Monty cleared it with ease and did the same with the 2nd, 3rd…all the way to the 11th leaving one to go.

“She clears this she’s in the jump off.” Fliss muttered. Frank took a deep breath, watching as Mary approached the small oxer and Monty took off. His back feet brushed the pole and Fliss held her breath, but thankfully despite rolling, it didn’t fall.

“Wait, that means she has to do that again, right?” Frank asked as Fliss clapped and cheered as Mary headed towards the gate to exit the field.

“Yeah, but not as many.” Fliss said, as she headed over to Mary.

Not as many, but twice as damned fast as Frank found out. The ponies where whizzing over the 5 jumps in the jump off, which were part of the course but not in order, the numbers being 2, 7, 5,9 and 8 the turns being tighter as the idea was still to go clear, but in the event more than one clear was achieved it went down to time.

The riders were in no order, and Mary decided to go a little further down the line so she could watch the others take the turns, a tactic Fliss suggested. By the time she was due to go in there were 5 clears already.

“Ok, so you’re gonna have to go for speed too.” Fliss said, looking at her “But the main thing is try and stay clear. If you want my advice, cut the corner between numbers 5 and 6. Everyone is looping round 6 to get to 9 but if you hang a right as soon as you’re over 5 you’ll have a few seconds off. Its tight, and he won’t have as many strides, probably 3 max, but let him take you ok?”

Mary nodded, swallowed and headed in. She took the first jumps easily and then after the 3rd did exactly what Fliss said. Monty put in an extra half stride, however, which threw Mary’s balance a little as he took off and for a horrible moment Frank thought she was going to fall but she didn’t, she regained her balance and turned, taking the last 2 jumps easily.

Mary secured 4th place in her jumping, the smile on her face was infectious and Frank found himself beaming along with them as they walked back to the wagon.

***** “Where’s Stack?” Frank asked as Fliss emerged into the room dropping the bag of Mary’s show clothing onto the sofa. Thor, who had been with Joanna whilst they had been out all day, flopped down onto the rug in front of the TV.

“She’s giving Monty some treats after he did so well today, and chewing Jo’s ear off about the competition. Jo said she’d watch her back over when she’s done.” Fliss smiled, reaching for Alex as he started to gripe “You hungry, Bean?”

Frank smiled as she settled on the sofa, undoing her shirt so she could feed him and he sat on the arm, looking down at her.

“She did so well today.” He said, “I never in a million years dreamed she’d be doing anything like this.” “Well, I did warn you the first time you walked onto my yard that once you have that horse smell on your hands, you’re hooked.”

“Don’t I know it?” Frank grinned, kissing her cheek.

A little while later, Fliss finished up feeding Alex and peered down at him, the baby gazing at her, waving his eyes, his lips curling up into a smile and Fliss laughed.

“He’s smiling again.” She said.

“Sure it’s not wind?” Frank teased.

“Err, no I just burped him.” Fliss scofed indignantly “They start smiling at 6 weeks, he’s smiling. I can tell.”

Frank chuckled and peered down, smiling at his baby and earning himself one back in return. He gently took him from Fliss so she could do up her top before he set him down and followed her into the kitchen where, upon examining the contents of the fridge, they settled on take out for dinner.

“So I know Mary did but did you enjoy it?” Frank asked as Fliss pulled a beer for them both out of the fridge.

“Yeah, yeah I did. You know, seeing it there, all those people competing…there’s nothing like that around here.” “Got me thinking, maybe I could run something like that at some point down the line.” “Sandybrook Show huh?” Frank smiled as he popped the caps off their beers, settling down at the kitchen counter.

Fliss grinned “Yeah, it would be kind of cool to expand into stuff like that.” She took a drink “I’ve actually been giving it a bit of thought in general.”

“What, competitions?” Frank asked.

“No, expanding.” Fliss swallowed a mouthful of drink “The land at the back has always been available to me to buy, the old Farmer said he would give it to me whenever I want, and it would add another ten acres to the portfolio. I could grow the yard area, more stables, more grazing, hold events like that one today…” she trailed off, frowning as she noticed the look on Frank’s face. “What’s wrong? Don’t you think it’s a good idea?”

“No, I mean yeah, I do. We always talked about expanding your business.” He hesitated “I guess I didn’t realise it would be so soon.”

“What do you mean?” Fliss looked at him. “I’ve been up and running now for almost three years.”

“I mean after Alex being born.” Frank said, his eyes flicking to where his baby son was asleep in the basinet. “He’s barely ten weeks old Liss, don’t you think you’d be taking on too much?”

“I’d manage” she waved her hand “I could recruit more staff.”

She could see from the look on Frank’s face he wasn’t convinced. She took a deep breath and turned in her seat so her body was facing his “Sailor,I can tell you’re not happy about the idea.”

“It’s not that I’m not happy.” Frank shook his head, and that was the truth. The fact she had such drive and want to build something better was amazing, he loved it in her, but he was struggling to find the words to voice what he was feeling about it. “Ok, I’m…just gonna come out and say this and I don’t want you to fly off the handle…four weeks ago you were petrified of leaving Alex with your mom. You still don’t like being away from him now, and…”

“Of course I don’t like it.” Fliss frowned “I’m breast feeding him, and-“

“Exactly.” Frank looked at her “So you take on this extra work, what are you going to do? You wanna put him in Creche, find a Childminder?”

Fliss shrugged a little “Mum said she would have him but I don’t want to put that on her, not every day. Maybe two days a week and then I don’t have to be at the yard all the time. Joanne runs things now and I can just…”

Frank chuckled “I know you. Name me one day in your pregnancy that you didn’t pop in. You were teaching like almost until the day you dropped. And before you start I’m not saying that was a bad thing, far from it. You said yourself it kept you active and your brain engaged. I’m just saying there’s no way you’ll take a back seat. It’s bad enough trying to get you to stick to your Sundays off.”

“I know.” Fliss nodded “But that’s something I’ll have to get stricter at.”

“Ok.” Frank took a deep breath “Whatever you say.”

Fliss frowned “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Dismiss what I said.”

“I wasn’t.” Frank shook his head.

“Yes you were, you just completely shrugged it off.”

“No.” Frank said, his voice remaining calm “I said whatever you say. If you say that’s what you’re gonna do then…”

“Don’t you want me to do this or something?” Fliss asked and Frank took a deep sigh.

“Liss, we literally just went over this. I never said I didn’t want you to do it. Quite the opposite. I just…well I think it’s too soon ok?” he looked at her “Alex isn’t sleeping through yet, you’re tired during the day as you tell me when I get home. Hell, I’m tired and my job is nowhere near as physically demanding as yours not to mention the fact I’m not the one feeding him and…” he licked his lips

“You fix boats.” Fliss looked at him, a little sullenly “That’s physical.”

“Not as much as I used to.” Frank shook his head “I’m based in the office a lot now, as you well know because you complain I don’t come home full of grease as much as I used to. We won’t mention the fact that I’m growing a little…how do I put this, softer round the edges now because of that, hence the weights in the garage”. He smiled, attempting to make a joke out of it as he could recognise only too well the look in her eye. It wasn’t full blown anger yet but if he didn’t cut the discussion off soon it was going to be. “Look...” he reached out and took her hand “We’re incredibly lucky. We’re in a position where you don’t need to rush back to work. My job pays well, your business brings you in a very decent turnover each month, we have savings…I just think that we should take advantage of that and you should take a few more months off, maybe look at going back in March, say. Take a full 6 off to be with him, enjoy being a mom.”

“Is that what you want me to do?” Fliss asked after a moments pause.

“This isn’t about what I want.” Frank sighed, his tone now starting to betray his frustration. “I can’t and won’t stop you doing anything, you know this. I just want you to consider your options, that’s all.” Fliss took a deep breath, gave a nod and pushed her stool back, draining the rest of her beer. “Where you going?” Frank frowned.

“For a shower.” She said simply “I need to get out of these jeans and this shirt.”

Frank gave a groan “Why do you do this?” “Do what?”

“Every time we have a slight difference in opinion on something you clam up.” He looked at her “Let’s talk this through, Liss. Don’t walk away.”

“I’ve nothing else to say.” Fliss said, her voice ending in a little chuckle. “You’ve made your opinion on the matter very clear.”

“Yeah, and now I’m waiting to hear yours.”

Fliss took a deep breath “I don’t wanna take six months off.”

“Ok.” Frank nodded “Then you don’t have to. I still think it’s too soon for you to be looking at expanding though.”

“I know what you think Frank, you told me.” Fliss shrugged “You don’t need to keep repeating yourself.”

“I keep repeating myself because you seem to be completely and utterly dismissing what I’m saying.” Frank looked at her.

“For fucks sake Frank.” Fliss looked at him. “Stop talking to me like I’m one of the kids.”

“Well to be honest, you’re doing a pretty good job of acting like one.” Frank looked at Fliss, his eyebrow raised as he felt his temper beginning to flare “And a petulant one at that.”

Fliss gave a chuckle of ironic laughter “Oh that’s rich, you calling me a petulant child. You’re the one kicking off because I’m refusing to entertain some stupid idea about taking 6 months off work”

“You know, a lot of women would kill to be in the position to be able to do that.” Frank looked at her and she shrugged.

“So?” she frowned “With the greatest of respects, I don’t care. Yes, I’m lucky. I get that but I don’t want to Frank!”

“And I’m not saying you have to! Jesus Christ!” Frank groaned “When did I, at any point in this discussion, ever say you have to stay at home huh? You tell me exactly when those words left my mouth….” Fliss looked at him, and blinked as her mouth closed and she swallowed. “See, you can’t because I didn’t say it!”

“Well, you might as well have.” She glared at him “You’re trying to control my decision about what I feel is right for me…”

“You think…” Frank cocked his head to one side, as he felt a flash of angry heat rush up his neck to his cheeks at her words. His temper was really brewing now, the angry knot in his stomach growing tighter by the second. “You think I’m trying to control you?”

“Well aren’t you?”

“God damnit Lissy!” Frank’s voice was loud as he stood up from his chair, “You’re downright infuriating at times. No, that’s not what I’m doing. At all. What I’m doing is trying to have a sensible discussion with you.”

“Well I don’t want to discuss it anymore.” Fliss’s voice raised “So, like I said. I’m going for a shower. Or would you like to discuss that as well.”

“Oh for fucks sake…” Frank groaned his hands rubbing his face as he let out a frustrated noise, shaking his head. “You know what, I give in. Do what you want. Shower, buy more land, work, don’t work…just…whatever.”

Fliss shot Frank a glare, and then a small noise from the basinet jerked them both out of the stare-down and Fliss headed over to pick him up. Turning she made for the door, baby in her arms.

“What are you doing?” Frank asked.

“Going for a shower, like I just said.”

“Well leave him with me.” Frank frowned, “What’s the point of taking him upstairs just to lay him in the crib whilst you shower?”

“Because I want to take him with me.” Fliss looked at Frank. “I can leave the door open. I like him being there. Is it a problem?”

Frank snorted, his hands on his hips as he looked at his feet “No problem.” He huffed out a little laugh as he raised his face to look at her “But you tell me you’re ready to go back to work when you can’t bear to be apart for the ten minutes it takes you to shower.”

Fliss’ face fell and Frank felt a pang of guilt at what he had said, but in his mind it was true. She hated leaving him, and he didn’t want her to be in a position where she felt she needed to, whether it was to prove something to herself or everyone else. He’d never tell her this but he loved the homely feel of coming home and his future wife and baby son both waiting for him, either on the sofa or the sun lounger. It was a wonderful, caring, passionate environment that he’d never had before and if he was brutally honest he’d quite happily see her at home until Alex was back in school. She didn’t need to work, but she wanted to, he got that. And he would never stop her. But the fact was she was still on edge about their son being left with people and he could almost picture the melt down she was going to have if she rushed back.

“Fuck you” Fliss seethed at him, drawing him out of his thoughts as Alex began to cry, clearly picking up the vibes in the room. Frank sighed, shaking his head as Fliss began to soothe him

“Lissy, just…”

But she didn’t stay to listen, instead she turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, Alex’s little whimpers dying in his ears as she made her way up the stairs.

The argument made for a tense family dinner. They both tried their best to be normal, talking to Mary about her day, not wanting to but a dampener on it but as ever she was sharp. When Frank tucked her in, she asked him about it and he assured her there was nothing to worry about and that it was a silly disagreement which would be forgotten in the morning.

He hoped.

Fliss didn’t really speak to him much the rest of the evening, taking herself to bed early and she was flat out when he came up a little later. With a sigh he gently brushed the hair off her cheek before he kissed her temple and settled down himself.

He woke in the middle of the night, and still half asleep reached out to Fliss’ side of the bed but she wasn’t there. He sat up, blinking and then saw that Alex’s bedside crib was empty too. Frowning, he climbed out of bed and as he headed downstairs he could head soft baby cries from the family room.

“Hey, everything okay?” Frank asked, opening the door and looking at Fliss as she was stood by the large window seat, gently rocking Alex as she tried to calm him.

“Yeah he’s grouchy.” She said, “I’ve fed him, he’s been changed…” “Want me to take him?” He offered and she shook her head.

"It’s fine Frank, I got him. I mean, that is what you wanted isn’t it? Me, being a good little wifey-to-be and mummy, right?"

Frank blinked before he gave a groan “Really, do we have to do this now?” he sighed, shaking his head. “I never said that, at all.”

“What it sounded like to me.” “How would you know?” He looked at her “You were so focussed on your position that you didn’t listen to a damned word I said. Because if you had you would have understood my point of view instead of accusing me of trying to control you.” He took a deep breath “When are you going to get it into your head that I am not your shit bag ex?”

“I didn’t say that.” Fliss looked at him, shaking her head

“But you thought it.” Frank eyed her “I could see it on your face.”

“There you go again, presuming you know what I’m thinking.”

“Am I wrong?”

“Yes, you are.” Fliss looked at him “What I was actually thinking was how shit it was you couldn’t just support me with what I wanted to do.” “Baby, I do support you, and I’ll back you with whatever you want to do, but I’m not gonna lie to you and say I’m happy about something when I’m not.” Frank shook his head.

“How can you back me when you don’t agree with what I want?”

“Because that’s what being together is about.” Frank looked at her “It doesn’t matter what I think…” “It matters to me.” Frank let out a groan “We’re going round in circles…” he shook his head as Alex’s screaming grew louder “Look, why don’t you let me take him? You go get some rest, we can talk about this later.” “I said I got him its fine.” Fliss shook her.

“Oh for fucks- just let me help will you?”

“Go back to bed Frank.” Fliss blazed it him in the dim light of the family room, her brown eyes angry “You have work in the morning, I don’t. Remember?”

He words themselves were innocuous, but the sheer sarcastic way she said them wasn’t. Frank felt the weary anger from their earlier argument which he had been fighting so hard to keep buried, slowly seeping back into his veins. He’d tried to explain his point of view, over and over again but she was being too fucking stubborn to even attempt to see it through his eyes. As he watched her cradling their sobbing son to her chest he didn't have the energy to keep going round and round in circles, not at 3 in the morning anyway. So instead he gave into the frustration he was feeling, and shot a stinging barb, one simple word spoken with exasperation as he shook his head and turned to leave the room. "Bitch"

**** Chapter 14

#riding on #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #frank adler x original female character #gifted #gifted fan fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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parachutingkitten · 4 years ago

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Season 5 Analysis

STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I am going to be applying the concept of criticism to a TV show you presumably love and adore as much as I do. If you do not want your idea that the show is immaculate to be challenged, I would not advise reading past this point.

Additional Disclaimer: This includes criticism of Nya’s arc, so if you’re the type of person to get catty about this subject, turn back now.

Mood for this season: It’s spoopy time.

You don’t need to, but if you are interested, and haven’t seen my analysis of past seasons, you can find those here:

Pilot - Season 1 - Season 2 - Season 3 - Season 4

You can also find all of these, and future installments, on my blog using the tag #analysis

Hey everyone! I’m still doing these things! Let’s see, when was my last one? Over two years ago...? Yikes, I owe y’all an apology. I really didn’t mean to put these off that long. Anyway, get ready to hate me, cuz although (for the most part) this seems to be the fandom favorite season… I think it’s overhyped. I know, don’t kill me. I’ll explain myself. I don’t think it’s bad or anything, it’s very well structured, but I definitely wouldn’t rank it among my favorites. First, for a little context, I am making a one second of every ninjago episode video right now, so I’ve been binging the series and all it’s shorts back to back, so I think I’ll have a bit more to say about connective tissue between seasons, and hopefully you guys can look forward to more of these analyses between now and the new year when I’m releasing that video. I’m also officially a film major now so… sorry if I come of as extra pretentious or get too deep. Anyway, let’s jump into the thick of it, shall we?

Plot

This is probably the area I have the fewest number of complaints about. This season has a breakneck pace and it keeps everyone busy. I think that’s why people like it. Everyone’s favorite has something to do. Which brings me to the question… which ninja’s season is this? Lloyd is on a lot of the promotional stuff, but he’s possessed and out of the picture for over half the season, so that can’t be right. Cole turns into a ghost, and the season is a ghost season, but that can’t be right cuz I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone claim it was his. Nya reaches her true potential, maybe it’s hers? Well, she does have a large b-plot, but she is consistently not a part of the a-plot. Kai has a whole thing with being protective of Lloyd, he has his fear of water, maybe it’s just another Kai season? Thing is, it’s no one’s. It is an ensemble season, and I think that’s a healthy thing for ninjago to keep doing. The more we label certain seasons for certain ninja, the more complaining we’ll get about who’s turn it is for screen time that we’ll miss out on telling a good story. Also, If the season is focused on a ninja you don’t like, you are less likely to like the season (see my next analysis for that can of worms). Again, this season tells it’s story really well. Morro directly ties into the ending of last season, and Nya’s getting water powers was foreshadowed the season before. That’s some cool connective tissue to start. The opening episode establishes the three different things the ninja will be looking for, and for once they’re actual tools instead of a series of weapons, blades, masks, whatever. I like that. Jay has some really good humor, Zane has his speech changes, Kai has his irrational fears and protective instincts, Cole has his ghost angst, Lloyd has to deal with his father’s passing, Nya is a new water ninja, Wu has a shop to run and a student to reconnect with, even Ronin has an arc about developing morals and gaining friends. There’s the mystery about how to deal with the ghosts, what the rules are, there’s the leader subplot, the ninja’s money situation, and lore of the different realms, they even worked in Skylor and Borg, there’s a lot of cool stuff going on. This is a tightly woven script that manages to include a lot of new concepts that you get pretty quick. I don’t feel like there’s even that much fat to cut. The opening is a little slow and strange, and the cloud kingdom episode feels a little unnecessary, but I do like the idea of visiting a different realm early in the season so the audience isn’t caught off guard in the climax. Again, the plot all works for me, it’s the other stuff I find myself pretty meh on.

Characters

Ronin

I’m pretty sure Ronin is the only new (non villain) character introduced. I like him a lot. Ninjago needed a true wildcard to shake things up and be unpredictable. I also think he’s pretty nicely woven into the action of the plot. I think his introduction is a bit strange. Like, the ninja already know him, but we’ve never seen him before? Just the way they talk about him sounds like they’re quickly recapping who this guy is for those who missed previous episodes. It’s fine if the ninja already know him but either 1) Introduce or foreshadow him a season earlier or 2) Introduce their dynamic to the audience before it becomes plot relevant. Maybe the ninja are grumbling about him being a nuisance while tea shenanigans are going on or something. Or maybe you have a scene of him stealing the scroll and making snarky remarks about the ninja while he does it. Idk. just something so his sudden plot relevance isn’t out of nowhere. Also, I don’t hate his and Nya’s dynamic, but I know a lot of people love it, and I’m just not totally here for it. Is he supposed to be a father figure for her? Mentor? Frienemy? Just plain friend? (love interest???) it’s not super clear and I could have used some clarification. I also like his use and tie to the next season, so overall, well integrated character.

Nya

I’m adding in Nya here cuz she goes through a major character change, and how she’s handled is one of the things that rubs me the wrong way about the season. A lot of people will probably disagree and/or hate me for this section of the analysis so… here we go! The thing she has to get past to reach her true potential is fear of failure (supposedly) and the solution to that is to just… not care as much? First of all, I know this isn’t supper important, but the fun thing about the ninjago elements is that every elemental master matched up personality wise with their element. Jay is the energetic master of lightning, Kai is the hothead master of fire, Zane is the calm and calculating master of ice, Cole is the strong and dependable master of earth, Lloyd is the literal child master of energy. This especially goes for all the new season 4 masters. So what qualities are often associated with water personalities? Well, serenity, control, flexibility, elegance, patience… calm. You know, like a Zane type character (the element directly adjacent to hers). These are things that Nya isn’t - or at the very least don’t define her. (there’s also something to be said about water and its ties to more feminine qualities, which Nya has been actively shown to reject, but I won’t go into that rant here.) She was designed as the fire master’s sister, and when you try to fit a fire personality into a water shaped character mold… it doesn’t exactly mesh well. It doesn’t make sense. But, like I said, whatever. Maybe that’s the point? Like she has to change her personality to be more in tune with water? Sure. But let’s talk about this fear of failure thing. Because that’s the stated thing that dialogue tells us she needs to overcome. But when has Nya ever been afraid of failure? Fear of failure means avoiding doing something because of fear. Nya is ridiculously persistent, always has been (you know, fire personality). She tries training when no one tells her to, she makes her own alter ego to try and be a hero and save the people who would constantly tell her she wasn’t ready. Wu says she only wants things that come easy, but that’s never been her character before now, she has carried the team with her tech, research, and covert ops that no one forced her to do, all things which are not easy. Fear of failure is usually characterized by what if questions. If Nya is so afraid of failure, why don’t we hear her saying stuff like “but what if I’m not strong enough, what if I can’t save them in time, or worse, what if I lose control of my power and end up hurting people?” Cole shows much more of a fear of failure this season surrounding his insecurity about being a ghost. He wants to sit out from missions because he’s not sure he’ll be able to do it - he’s afraid of failure. But whatever, the writing isn’t clear at expressing her true setbacks, but she does display a real problem that a lot of people have and I think could have been well done if set up correctly. She shows an undying persistence that gets her too close, and makes her increasingly incapable. She lets her frustration hinder her progress (again, fire personality trait), and I think that’s interesting because I don’t think ninjago has done this character arc yet. The supposed solution to this problem is that she just needs to… care less? And yes, I kind of see where they were going with this, we sometimes cloud our natural potential by thinking about it too much, but saying “you need to stop caring” is the absolute wrong way to word it. Caring is not her problem, the problem is her control over the emotions that come from her caring. Caring is a good thing, and teaching kids that if you’re ambivalent about your problems, they’ll go away is not a good message. What she needs to do is take a step back. She needs to take a break, stop to think, and look at the big picture instead of hyper focusing on the roadblock directly in front of her. The usual and much better wording of the moral I think they were going for is “stop overthinking things”. Teaching kids to look at a problem from a different angle and give themselves time to cool down is a great thing. And just think of it, in the climax she could have this ah-ha moment where she steps back and looks at the bigger picture - the whole town, surrounded by the ocean - and gets the idea to sink the preeminent into the water, you could even easily tie that back into the bucket exercise, and that’s what triggers her true potential rather than the current… I’m honestly not sure what. Random flashbacks and the end of the season approaching quickly. Alternatively, you could tie it more directly into samurai x, and make her struggle with letting go of the past and allowing yourself to give up something good in your life to progress to something better. Anyway, I don’t think this was a bad decision long term, she needed to be solidified on the team as a full fledged ninja, I just think this season doesn’t handle the transition that well. Anyway, whatever, I’ll be waiting for your hate comments in the notes.

Romance

Um… there’s none this season? Like there’s a few Wusako moments that are still as weird as they were in season 2, but they’re really not prevalent. There’s also the Jay seeing the future thing which has some weird implications next season (again, some interesting connective tissue between seasons), but that’s about it. Maybe that’s part of why I don’t love this season? Like where’s the pixane? Lol, I’m kidding. But maybe that’s why a lot of people do like it. If you don’t like the canon ships… this is a nice little safe haven for you. Rare for a majority of the series.

Villains

So Morro is a good idea… in theory. I know he’s the fandom’s favorite edgy boy, but idk I think the brand of angsty teen they ended up with was more of an angsty 13 year old than 17 year old. His voice is really grating and I always want to yell at him to just… go get some cough drops. Stop throat screaming, use your diaphragm man! Also, everyone goes on about his last minute redemption, but as far as season 5 goes, he has like half a second of a change of heart. Literally, when Wu comes over and he’s drowning, he’s still being a persistent little idiot like “you never cared about me nooooo!” and it’s only at the last possible second that gives him the crystal, and even that he does it kind of saltily. The preeminent is pretty cool, I like her concept, her design, all that. All the other ghosts are fine I guess. Nothing super memorable out of them, although their aesthetic, especially when there’s a bunch of them swarming around is pretty cool. One last thing was I never understood how Morro “becoming the green ninja” worked and what exactly it was that… did for him? Like he didn’t actually get the power of energy, right? I don’t remember him using it. Did just him defeating Lloyd make him the green ninja? How does that transfer work? And why did he need it to take over the world or realms or whatever? Like I get that it’s supposed to give him more power and what not but idk, it wasn’t super clear. That’s a minor thing though.

Climax

Pretty cool. I like the ATMOSPHERE. Green light is a hard thing to use and justify correctly, but it works really well here, especially with the dark kinda gray blue sky complimenting it. When the preeminent starts walking into the ocean, it’s genuinely terrifying, but you understand exactly how it works and why she’s strong enough to do it. Nya’s true potential is again a little out of left field and could have had some better motivation put behind it. Like what is it Nya learned in that instant? To not be afraid to protect people? She’s… been doing that. Idk. I’ve hit on that enough for now. Overall, there was good variety. I like the green ninja fake out, I like the realm hopping, I even like the little Garmadon visit and Lloyd getting the robe. I feel like we didn’t need a part one and two, you could have had different titles. I mean come on. But hey, now we know, if Pix had only been there, the whole climax would have been wrapped up in like 10 minutes apparently. Pix for the win.

Humor

Really good. Like I’m surprised how much I laughed. Jay wasn’t annoying humor, it was good stuff, there were some good running gags, there’s a solid fourth wall joke about who the lead ninja is at the beginning of the season. Overall, I am pretty impressed. My favorite joke was perhaps the bit where Jay is sarcastically positive, the voice acting is just really solid. Then again, there’s also the whole Borg scene where he roasts half the ninja, that’s solid stuff right there. There’s just some really solid character interaction this season and the humor feels a lot more natural and less forced.

Drama

Okay, we’ve got a lot this season. Y’all know how I feel about Nya’s arc by now. It does not work for me. Ronin’s relationship with her is alright, but kind of comes out of nowhere. Ronin’s solo plot about kinda working for the ghosts works. Cole’s ghost angst works for the most part, although I wish he would have actually skipped a mission and then gone in to help save his friends once they can’t do it without him. That was probably the most solid drama of the season. The other main thing we have this season is Kai’s whole… fear/protective streak. This also doesn’t really work for me. Like, I get that Lloyd and Kai are friends and stuff, like his whole true potential was centered around Lloyd. But like, why does it have to be framed so weirdly? Sometimes in trying to make it seem like Kai is protective of him, it seems like the other ninja just like… don’t care about him? Not all the time, but there are some weird vibes. Also, it doesn’t really go anywhere. No one learns anything about themselves from this subplot, nothing comes of it, there isn’t really a payoff. Also, Kai has yet another irrational fear, this time of water, which really comes right the hell out of nowhere. They try to explain it away like “Oh, Kai feels powerless and so water can get to him” but like… what? That’s the exact situation he was in at the end of season 2 and he seemed perfectly content to literally swim across the ocean (which um… what do you mean the sworn protector of ninjago can’t swim?). Where is this coming from?! Again, it doesn’t really go anywhere, there’s not a point where he has to learn to confront it or he grows because of it. It’s just pointless stuff added cuz the writers like giving Kai vague trails to try and develop him. The cloud kingdom is kinda cool. That last minute twist about them working with Morro is… stupid and unnecessary though.

Spotlight Episode

I really like the Spinjitzu master tomb episode. Some cool riddles, I like the first two rooms a lot. I do think the third room is a bit strange. Like, the clue was “don’t look ahead” and the solution was to look beneath them, which is the exact same solution as the previous room. Like, you already have magic ice that shows the future, why not play into that? Don’t look ahead could maybe mean don’t look to the future, the opposite of that being the past. Maybe they have to draw on their past adventures to solve it somehow? Learning from the past is a good lesson, right? But overall, I really like it. Some real solid humor this episode. This episode has the sarcastic Jay optimism, Kai totally stalling for time, Zane dealing a pretty sick burn on Cole, just a lot of fun stuff. I like it. It just has great energy and nothing feels like it’s drawn out for too long.

Misc

The aesthetic this season… can be inconsistent, but the main ghost vibe displayed in the opening theme is really solid and I really like it

Speaking of the opening, Ghost wip is great and the opening in on par with last season’s (which is my fav) for sure

Ice age references… okay.

Chima references…. OKAY...

Okay, but like Deepstone can… kill ghosts? Or not? Is it just something ghosts can touch? It’s supposed to be like water in weapon form, right? Like that’s how I understood it when they first introduced it. Wouldn’t the deepstone bars kill Ghoultar then? And then like, Cole’s bike is made of deepstone. He uses it as a weapon. Wouldn’t it kill him? It kills other ghosts when they touch it. How… how does it work?! I need answers!!!

The captain of the steam boat says they’re going as fast as possible, but later Ronin comes in and cranks it up like twice as fast… that always bothered me like, why would he lie about that? Who is this captain and why is he so chill about everyone’s lives?! And then later Wu cranks it up yet again, like the ship had slowed down to it’s previous speed. What the hell is happening with the controls of this ship???

So pissed that the nasty CGI nightmare cloud monster that chases the ninja is named Nimbus. Totally forgot about that. I have an OC with a cat named Nimbus… I promise, there is not going to be a stupid twist bout the cat being the monster thing in Mists of Fate. That would be very stupid.

I was all excited that season 13 gave us minecart chases, but I totally forgot season 5 gave us one first. I really like the return to the caves of despair btw, good reuse of a known location.

How many times this season did we do the:

Kai: Oh, I don’t like water, I can’t do it uwu Cole: ...You serious?

Thanks for reading! And if you got this far… I don’t know. I would love to hear your thoughts if you have any! These are just my opinions, so don’t think too much of it if you disagree.

-Kitten

#ninjago #analysis #ns5 #ninjago possession #parachuterants

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graham-cheshire · 5 years ago

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Study & Theories for the Gromm

Hello once again dear readers. For those of you who haven’t heard of @starr-fall-knight-rise I suggest visiting them and reading their stories, as they are some of my favorite sci-fi stories and provide entertaining perspectives on humanity from the viewpoint of aliens as well as forming the basis of this post here.

I have been very pleased with how well my previous two posts were received and have considered continuing this little series. Today though I will be covering a species I did not anticipate doing when I first considered doing posts like these, called the Gromm.

My decision to cover this species came after starr-fall’s big reveal on April 23rd got me to finally create a Discord account and getting on their server, where I discovered a composed list of the alien species and their appearances. The Gromm is one species that is not on that list and in fact has little information on them despite playing an important role in an arc of starr-fall’s stories known as “The Burg War”

As usual I shall start by providing confirmed facts and information about the physical appearance of the Gromm by starr-fall’s stories and answered questions, then I shall list what information we can infer from other provided details, and wrap up with my own theories regarding what is the most plausible for their appearance.

As a note about the Gromm, most of the information given on them is that they are coated in slime and are described as being slug-like, so for reader with a weak stomach to such things I advise reading at your own risk.

Before starting there are the following disclaimers= First: I want to give thanks to starr-fall-knight-rise for allowing me to do this & for receiving my speculations positively, I in no way own the Gromm or make any claim to doing so & want to say that I am doing this simply because I love starr-fall’s stories & wish to contribute in some way to the fandom. Secondly: I am by no means a biologist & most of my research comes from the internet, if I am wrong in my information please do not bash me and simply provide clarification in the comments. Thirdly: I will use reference images to help describe my thinking and theories and I in no way own or take credit for these images.

The Confirmed Appearance Details

In this area we have more to go on than we did with the Gnar’lack or the Finnari, but also not having much that lends to a full description with which to imagine their total appearance, but they provide great starting points.

“...considerable mucus tissue covering most of its body.”

“...eyes rolling against its chapped skin,”

“The creature had no real mouth to drink like a human,”

“the Gromm, who have mucus membranes covering their bodies,”

“a sort of gelatinous slime-covered species”

“slug-like creatures that require water to survive”

The Inferred Appearance Details

“...the shriveled corpse dried into a husk under the sun. “This thing looks like a F***ing mummy.” The captain mumbled...” = With this and a general knowledge of mummies I believe we can infer that the Gromm possess both skin and an internal structure of bones &/or organs that can support such skin when the body is desiccated, rather than being just a blob of slime.

“The average Gromm was about three times the size of that body,” = With this we can infer that a large amount of a Gromm’s body mass is made up of moisture, suggesting either that their exterior layer of slime is thick or that they have a bloated appearance.

“...no real mouth to drink like a human, so instead, they dumped the bucket of water over the creature’s deflated form. Immediately, it began to look better, perking up & swelling to a proper size.” = From this it can be inferred that they don’t possess mouths that are typical to humans and suggests that they absorb moisture and hydration through their skin. More will be discussed about that in the Theory section.

“It took a gasping breath” = With this we can infer that the Gromm at least possess some form of mouth through which they can breathe, due to the nature of the act of “gasping”.

“The average Gromm didn’t produce more than a quart of slime per day,”= More on this will be covered in the Theories section but this can be used to infer that the Gromm are likely larger than humans.

“The Gromm sat up...”= With this we can infer that the Gromm possess bones to support movement and some form of waist or structure with which one half of their body in on the ground and the other half raised and held aloft.

“...settlements...”, “...buildings...”, “...city...” = With this we can infer that the Gromm possess appendages with which to operate tools and perform construction.

“as the Gromm citizens dived for cover.” = With this I think we can infer that the Gromm are not totally slug-like in the manner of movement, as “diving for cover” would suggest a need for speed that slugs and the like do not possess.

“...species that required a lot of water to maintain their homeostasis,”, “...creatures that require water to survive,”= With this I think we can infer that the Gromm might be amphibious in nature, or possessing qualities that would aid in marine-life or travelling in water.

Theorized Appearance Details

To start this section off let’s confirm that two main points on the Gromm is that they are slug-like and covered in slime, so a large part of my theories shall be draw from information on these.

To begin I’d assume that the complete body structure of the average Gromm would resemble that of an earth slug, see below:

And I think we should keep this comparison in mind and attempt to not stray far from it in the future theories as the Gromm would need to retain resemblance to slugs for the comparison to be made.

As general information on slugs, they are a type of animal called a gastropod, in the same area as snails. The majority of all named species of slug live in marine environments but people are more familiar with the type known as “land slugs”.

The majority of land slugs have two pairs of retractable “feelers”/tentacles on their head, with the upper pair being light-sensing and having eyespots on the ends, while the lower pair provide a sense of smell. With the Gromm I feel it’d make sense to keep these “eyestalks” as in the Confirmed section one was said to have had it’s “eyes rolling against its chapped skin”, which would be a weird phrasing for simply rolling eyes.

For the mouth we have inferred that it is not the standard mouth like with a human so I’m inclined to think that it is a mouth like that of a slug, which eats using a minutely toothed chitinous ribbon, called a radula, that is typically used for scraping or cutting food.

As a further point on mouths and as a jumping point to the next main point of the Gromm let’s cover the fact that they don’t seem to absorb hydration by drinking and instead through their skin. This is actually a trait used by frogs and salamanders, who have mucus coatings that keep them moist and help them with oxygen diffusion across their skin, same as worms. The layer of mucus on frogs helps them retain moisture in their skin, which they use to both breathe and stay hydrated, so a similar function could be used by the Gromm.

Now let us cover another big point on the Gromm, their slime. To start I’ll clarify something from the Inferred section, where I suggested that the Gromm are larger than humans. It’s stated that the average Gromm produces about a quart of slime per day. Now in vertebrae, like humans, mucus is a slippery liquid that is used as a biological lubricant with a major function of protecting against infection. The difference here being that human mucus is interior while a Gromm’s mucus is exterior, covering the entirety of their body, every inch. The reason I theorize that the Gromm are larger than humans is that humans produce around 1 liter of mucus a day. Now not only a 1 quart is slighter larger than 1 liter but humans produce mucus in several parts of our body. While most people might already know that mucus-secreting tissue can be found in the nose, mouth, throat, and lungs it can also in our eyes, ears, GI tract, and reproductive and urinary organs. If one were to take all that mucus and balloon it out to form a layer I think it would be larger than a human, if not the same size.

To further cover the mucus it would likely not be a thin or runny layer as the Gromm have also been described as gelatinous, which suggests that they have an overall jelly-like appearance or that the slime layer is thick. It’s also likely that the slime is clear, as that is what mucus normally is, with the immune system making it white or yellow, and bacteria making it green.

As we established this slime likely helps the Gromm in hydration and protection against infection, but with slugs their slime serves other functions such as aiding in movement, finding mates, and warding off predators. And with that I’ll cover what I think is most plausible for the Gromm’s form of locomotion. Given the facts we have I don’t believe that the Gromm would move in the same way as a normal slug, they would need to be faster and have a body capable of sitting up and sitting down. Since the structure thus far has been largely gelatinous and doesn’t suggest limbs with joints or bones I’d be inclined to go with a tentacle approach, possible with smaller tentacles working similarly to legs to push and pull them along, example provided below:

This picture also provides a good example of how a Gromm might sit up as we’ve given the impression that they do.

Finally let’s discuss the limbs, particularly the appendages that they would use for manipulating tools. While it might be easy to assume that they’d have longer tentacles that doesn’t seem to be a theme among starr-fall’s other alien species, as most of them have hands, and so I’d stick with the hand structure but perhaps tentacle-like arms and fingers like so:

With that I do believe that we are done. I apologize for taking so long to post this collection of studies and theories, my work and life schedule have taken recent turns and upheavals, nothing major but things that did distract me. I hope this was all informative and that it was close to what starr-fall imagined. Hopefully I’ll have time to do another one of these soon for another of starr-fall’s less well-known species. If any readers have tips on where they think I could improve in my writing please comment they are always appreciated.

#starr-fall-knight-rise #alien #fan theory #research #species #just speculating #sci-fi #slime #slug #Studies & Theories of an Alien Species

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neoistic · 3 years ago

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what's going on with STAYs?

the hyunjin (and woojin) situation - a (very long) rant

DISCLAIMER : This post was not meant to slander Hwang Hyunjin or Stray Kids, it is intended to educate others on their problematic behaviour.

I'm gonna start at the beginning of all this. So unless you a.) live under a rock or b.) unlike the rest of us you have a life, then you have possibly heard of the idol bullying scandals. If you dont know what that is, I'll give a brief summary. A bunch of idols were being accused by former middle school or high school classmates of bullying. It started with Soojin of (G)I-dle and then the whole thing started rippling. Aisha of Everglow, Kihyun of MonstaX, Mingyu of SEVENTEEN, and many more. It's even gone as far as SA allegations. Basically everyone and their mothers were being dragged into the mess. However some of these accusation were later to be proven as false. Others have been somewhat half-true. The point is the majority of these idols end up going on a hiatus and stopped contributing in their groups activities for a while. It was a very frustrating situation. There's been apologies, addresses, fights occurring left and right. While these idols were being accused, everybody was like "let's wait for the official statement from the comany and see what is up, and then we make our decision from there. So for now lets stay our best to be neutral". That was the norm for a majority of fandoms. And then there were STAYs.

_____________________________________________________________ I think we've learned in the last five months that STAYs are anything but a normal fandom. After what has happened and the way they chose to behave entirely was embarassing. I feel like toxic STAYs really ruined the name of this fandom when the Woojin situation happened. But after Hyunjin was accused of bullying, they pretty much just shredded any redeeming qualities that fandom had left—all of it—everything went down the drain. Soon enough I feel like people are going to be embarassed to become a STAY or to mention that they're a STAY, because those motherfuckers really screwed this up If some of you're really confused right now, as to why I called STAYs toxic. It's because the base of this fandom is pretty privilege. Ok, let's start with the definition. What is pretty privilege? Pretty privilege is the principle that people who are deemed more attractive (based on societal beauty standards) have an upper hand in the world and are afforded many opportunities that us regular folks don't have. Like most other biases, pretty privilege is something we're all aware of—whether we have experienced it first-hand or not. Yet, it's not often that we are willing to admit or even talk about it, especially if we're on the receiving end of its benefits. This bias, also known as lookism, is defined as “Prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person's appearance” and occurs in a variety of settings such as social environments, workplaces and especially in this godforsaken fandom. Let me explain; everything that they do for the boys is simply based on looks. And how do i know that? Because when the baseless accusations that targeted woojin came out one of the things that i kept hearing over and over again was that they always thought he was 'ugly'. And that to me is very intersting because this fandom found him ugly but they didn't say anything, because he was in the same group as their faves. So they kept their mouths shut, and they acted as if they loved him they told him all the sappy bullshit. When he left they decided to pull an "Okay let's tell him how much we miss him, then dump it, and leave it there."

Consequently by cause of his so called 'wrongdoings' you're now telling people "Oh I found him ugly all along, but now I can finally admit it" which is an incredibly pathetic move. They were throwing shit everywhere based off unsubstantiated allegations. Through this I realised that everything goes down to looks. Because when this exact same thing happened to Hyunjin and his accusations, which at the time we did not know the legitimacy of it, the first thing they chose to tweet was"uhmm hyunjin is too cute to be a bully," say what now? You wanted to tell me you decide whether someone is capable of bullying based on their looks, how is that supposed work. Not everybody's heart is as beautiful as their face, I'm just saying. Like why on earth would you think that Hyunjin isn't a bully based on the fact that he's handsome but you believe the accusation about Woojin based off the fact that he is quote 'ugly'. You see the parallel difference between their behaviour towards them and that's because all they care about is looks and they will do just about anything to garner the attention of these boys. Yes, you're right, the reason behind their doings is because they know pefectly well that Stray Kids read their comment. Their defending them because they are desperately wanting their faves to pay attention to them. And they think by letting Hyunjin get away with everything, he would thank them for it.

_____________________________________________________________

Exhibit B; When the posts against Woojin came out the very first thing they told us was that, you have to believe the victim no matter what. It got to the point where even when we tried to reason with them about how there was no solid evidence, all they said was how they would rather believe a possible liar then a possible r4pist. ikr, oh. my. gosh. However when it's Hyunjin's turn to get blamed, believing the victim doesn't matter anymore. The actuality that people were already putting a judgement on the victim, and refusing to hear them out is just shocking to me.

The energy was completely different, for some crazy reason it didn't matter when it came to Hyunjin. When it came to Woojin we had to believe the victim because it's so damn important, and it got to the point that people were saying they believed Stray Kids that he 'bullied' them. Although Stray Kids didn't say anything, they never said a peep, a word, nothing. Everyone kept saying I believe Felix saying #8, i believe Chan and his vlive, are you for real? First of all what is Felix supposed to say then?? The group has 8 members not nine, is he supposed to put #9 in? #13? #24?? And with Chan he has already clarified that his statement on vlive that time wasn't about Woojin.

Then they were diagnosing them them of depression they were victimizing the poor boys of something they were not a victim of. So not are they speaking for them, they're telling us that you believe them off what you've stuff in their mouths, not things they said themsleves. On the other hand when Hyunjin was accused of bullying no we don't believe them we believe Hyunjin. What? Do you know him personally or what? You dont! I don't know what's the matter with you people. This fandom is just a no. You guys are left with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Then you know what it gets even worse because if you think this is bad. It's not even half of it. How does it get worse? They were people saying that "It's bullying, its normal everybody does it," I don't know what universe you live in, but where I live down here, on earth bullying isn't something that everybody comes around and do. It's not a phase in life. "From ages 15-20 you're a bully" That doesn't happen it's not a chapter in life that everyone goes through like puberty, that's not what happens with bullying. You dont just wake up and go through a phase in you life that is inevitable, that you have to be a bully and a jerk to everybody, that's not a thing. You can't just sit here and justify bullying. Because how are you supposed to sit here and say that bullying is normal and that everybody does but when Woojin does it... You see where I'm going with this right? They said it wasn't okay for Woojin to bully Stray Kids and that he is a horrible person "how could he?" But then you bend over and said "Bullying is okay because Hyunjin is the one doing it" When he is on the receiving end it wasn't okay, though when he was the one administering it was completely fine and forgivable.

Do you not see how problematic you're being right now? You're justifying bullying because you think he's pretty? Are you playing with me? I read his statement and he apologized for his immature and insensitive demeanor, even he wasn't justifying it. the reason behind me mentioning this is because even JYP themselves specified that they would do a better job at picking trainees. That alone says something. They forthrightly threw him under the bus. Why would they do something like that? Because the allegations were true. Here's the thing, Hyunjin has not admitted to bullying anybody, what he has admitted to was being immature and hurting people with the way he spoke. That statement felt like he was beating around the bush about a lot of things. It's like "ok i hurt someone, I can't justify it, therefore I'm sorry" Okay but did u bully anybody? yes or no? That wasn't clarified. You guys can decide for your selves, but this was Hyunjin's and his former teacher's statement.

_____________________________________________________________

The message I'm trying to get accross from all this is that Stray Kids have way more power over you than you realized, and that is definitely not okay. To the point where you are throwing your morals away, just to defend them. You know what? no idol should have influence over you like that. I don't care how good looking, how hot, how sweet, how talented they are. I don't care if they grew up with a single mother and a story so sad it will make Simon Cowell cry. I don't care how many time they have supported the lgbtq+ community. I don't give a damn about how adorable they act on camera with their members. You can not validate immoral actions whatsoever. And no, you absolutely can not sit here being a desperate, self-absorbed, pick-me, dusty girl for a man who doesn't even know you.

Exhibit C; Before we end this I want to clarify something. STAYs did not became toxic because of the Woojin fiasco, this fandom always was toxic, and the Woojin situation simply revealed that. The facts are that they were always toxic, they were always messed up, they were always fake. The wreckage with Woojin showed us their true colors. That is the reality, my friends. As of now this fandom is directly taking the crown for trashiest fandom alive in kpop. At this degree I honestly don't know what else to say. I have no respect left for them. I do though want to say that I am genuinely sorry to all the kind STAYs, I'm sorry that you have to deal with this. Because in the near future I don't see this issue going away. Since Stray Kids is becoming more and more popular and it's never going to stop they're going to keep getting bigger and bigger, the story will just become more aparent. Thank you for listening to my long rant. And at the end of the day all I can say to STAYs is good luck, cause you'll need it.

_____________________________________________________________

anywho stream Still Dream

youtube

Sources:

https://www.myimperfectlife.com/features/pretty-privilege

https://www.koreaboo.com/series/stray-kids-hyunjin-bullying-allegation/

#stray kids #kim woojin #skz #bang chan #lee felix #changbin #seungmin #han jisung #lee know #i.n #hyunjin #hwang hyunjin #jeongin #kpop #hyunjin stray kids #still dream #cubs #jyp entertainment #Youtube

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linklethehistorian · 4 years ago

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Randou and the Sins of Season 3's Fifteen Adaption (Part 3/???)

DISCLAIMER AND NOTES: (3/6)

— Lastly, if you’re seeking complete positivity and praise towards the animated adaption, you will most certainly not find it here; if you cannot handle criticism towards the animated series in any way, I highly recommend you stop reading now and go elsewhere. Likewise, although perhaps to a somewhat lesser extent, the same can be said if you came here looking to find complete and utter negativity and condemnation of it, as while it may be true that this article is more often than not critical towards the Fifteen anime adaption for reasons stated within, that does not mean that I despise its existence on mere principle alone, nor do I intend to refrain from mentioning some of the things that I did enjoy or could at least partially defend in spite of their differences from the novel.

(All elaboration on this final point and the rest of the article has been placed under the cut — due to both how long it is, and the presence of spoilers; I apologize if this is any inconvenience. Once more, if you are going to turn back for any reason, now is the time to do so; if not, feel free to continue onward, and I hope you enjoy!)

While I’m still on the subject of this piece’s fairly critical nature, I would also like to save any of my potential commenters on this point a ton of valuable time, effort, and trouble by taking a moment to make it extremely clear from the start that I am, in fact, already very well aware that there is currently a lot of disdain in the BSD community towards those who choose to speak critically of Season 3, as well as exactly what the overall argument is that is being made against us; I have already heard and read several times over the declaration that it’s somehow inconsiderate and disrespectful to “complain” about this season’s flaws when most anime do not ever make it past their second season and Bungou Stray Dogs could just as well have been the same, and, with all due respect to the people making these claims as individuals, commenting one more time on how extremely lucky we are to even have this season at all and/or telling me how I should be ashamed for writing an article like this because of that is not going to change my opinion on the matter, nor will it ever convince me that such an argument is anything but, in the long run, far more harmful to both the community and the series as a whole than the majority of the criticism it tries to speak against.

Despite what seems to be believed by many of the people asking for us to tone down the negativity, I do not personally feel that the vast majority of people expressing their grievances with some of the animated series’ recent choices in regards to their handling of adaptions actually lack any appreciation or awareness that we are lucky to have Season 3 at all, nor do I think most of them even truly believe it to be “bad” as a whole. On the contrary, at least insofar as my personal observations are concerned, as impossible as it may seem to some of you, the simple fact of the matter is that most of us actually still do love and are thankful for the new season as much as the rest of you; the only difference between us is that we do not let those feelings stop us from saying what we feel needs to said about it and providing feedback — regardless of whether those things happen to be positive or negative.

Indeed, I think that one of the biggest issues with this fandom at present, when it comes to this issue, is not the complaints of people like myself, but rather the unwillingness of those on the other end of the spectrum to recognize that loving something does not mean you have to close your eyes to all of its flaws and sweep them under the rug as if they didn’t exist. While it is absolutely everyone’s right to choose to only look at the positive side of things if that is what they so desire, it is also incredibly essential to at least concede that without those in the fandom who are willing to acknowledge both the television series’ positive and negative traits in tandem and call it out on its biggest flaws when necessary, things would be far, far worse than they already are at present and there would be absolutely no hope of them ever improving, either; after all, without the incentive to do better in order to keep their work popular and profitable, there would simply be no reason for any studio to try to meet any standard of quality at all, since they would know that no matter what they did or how poor their content was, their fans would still be there and consume it at the same rate as before out of “gratitude” for it even being made in any capacity.

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tineechi · 4 years ago

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Kono Oto Tomare Chapter 93 English Summary

https://raw.senmanga.com/Kono-Oto-Tomare!/093

Sooo... Sorry for the delay. The Japanese raw chapter was released a few days before in Baidu but I was so busy and lazy at the same time. T_T

Standard non-native Japanese speaker disclaimers apply.

The chapter is entitled 'Anxious/worried child' and starts off with Keishi cooking in the Doujima house's kitchen. He tastes his dish, declares it delicious and calls for Akira and their grandmother.

On the table, Akira says that the miso soup is delicious. Keishi happily tells them that he tried changing the dashi stock and checks with Akira if she likes this taste. Akira says "Yes. I like it." He asks "Grandma?" and Grandma seriously answers with "A little bit dark..." (I think she meant the color of the soup. Miso soup is usually clear but I think Keishi's dish may be more opaque than usual. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

Akira changes the topic and asks how Sakai-kun is doing. He tells her that he is doing good and trying his best. Keishi also says that Mittsu can now concentrate better than when her mother was not yet discharged from the hospital (She's still in rehabilitation though).

The scene shows their past practice where Keishi points out that Mittsu needs more volume on a specific part and Mittsu says that Akira-sensei has also pointed that out. He then continues on to say that his fingers (not having enough strength) is why he still couldn't play it.

Keishi tries to assure him by saying that he firmly has the basics in him but Mittsu is still a little unsure. Keishi sits beside him and "borrows" his hand. Keishi tries to show Mittsu how to do it by placing his hand over Mittsu's and showing him the movements. He explains that "You might get it if you experience it once". Keishi holds Mittsu's finger and shows him the direction to pluck the strings while saying "My way of playing it..."

Mittsu is surprised and enlightened. Mittsu says "Oh. It is like this?" Keishi clarifies that their posture is a bit different (because Keishi is sitting beside Mittsu and not sitting like he is actually playing the Koto) but the direction is kind of like that. Mittsu is astounded and says "Amazing!"

Mittsu continues to be super happy and amazed. He says that a wonderful sound came out and that he's using the same koto and nails as before but with this motion, the sound came out beautifully. Mittsu also says that he wouldn't forget the feeling just now and tries to copy the motion again and again. Keishi looks touched by Mittsu's genuine happiness.

Keishi finishes recounting that experience to Akira while saying "I was about to cry that time." Akira smiles and says that Sakai-kun's sound has really been improving lately. Keishi energetically agrees with her like a proud brother. HAHAHAHA. Akira tells Keishi that "After all, I am very glad that I asked older brother for this." Keishi is surprised and drops bits of rice from his chopsticks. Tears just falling from his eyes like a waterfall. XD

Keishi asks "Can I squeeze/hug you?" and Akira says "No!" :D

Grandma stubbornly makes a sound like "Hmph!" and stands up after eating her meal. Keishi asks if she is already done and Grandma says that she did not return to this house to hear them talk like that/talk about those things. Grandma tells Akira that she returned because she was worried when Akira said that she wants to rebuild the Tsubaki group. She asks them "What are you two doing? Taking care/looking after such amateurs (Tokise kids)?"

Akira and Keishi look at each other and Keishi jokingly says "Grandma also...would you like to come and teach?" Grandma shows an angry and scary face and Keishi takes it back immediately and apologizes.

Grandma resignedly says "Jeez...from a long time ago, you two..." She turns her back on them, and says "If you can afford to teach other people, why not try playing a song at a concert?" and leaves the room.

Keishi asks "Just now... was that referring to me?" Akira answers with "It's only about big brother, right?" (Because Keishi's the only one who stopped performing with the Koto. Hahaha)

Akira laughs and says that Grandma really isn't honest. She says that it looks like somehow big brother got involved in the Koto again and that makes her happy. Keishi smiles at her and jokes about the miso soup.

Keishi becomes serious for a moment, asks about the club and if it’s going smoothly. Akira tries to explain that it is a challenging song and that they're really having a bit of a difficult time. Keishi agrees but tries to say "but other than that..." but Akira interrupts by saying that there's still a bit of anxiousness and worry (As far as I understand, she mentions that there is still an anxious child. But I might be wrong. It might be an idiom or a common expression but I just assume that some club members are still unsure how to play their parts. Please correct me Native speaker-san.)

The scene changes to Momoya and Atsumu in the classroom. Atsumu is super excited in telling Momoya about what Kudou-senpai has said. Momoya looks a little bored listening but Atsumu continues with "And then... after that...". Momoya interrupts and tries to say "Yoshinaga...you don't need to report everything to me." Atsumu is shocked, feels a bit embarrassed and looks down while saying "Ahhh... I..It was annoying huh?" Momoya looks a bit guilty and tries to rein it in by saying something along the lines of "It's hard to do that, right?" (Meaning it might be hard for Atsumu to do that for him.)

Atsumu becomes excited again and says "Not at all!/It's defintely okay!" HAHAHAHA. (The interaction between these two will kill me. XD) Atsumu continues by showing Momoya a notebook that he writes on about what happens in the club and what every one has been talking about. (Talk about diligence and passion. Sheeesh this Atsumu boy! :D) Momoya reacts with "Uwa!"

Atsumu says that if Momoya wants to ask anything about the club, he can ask him. Momoya says "Well... Thanks..." then thinks to himself that Atsumu has bad handwriting. LOL

Momoya is a bit astonished because there was an entry written in the notebook about Momoya saying that they need to play more in the classic style. Atsumu writes in the first person perspective and notes that only his sound is 'floating'. Also, Momoya saying that playing according to the musical score is the start line (meaning... every one needs to know how to play the correct way as a basic skill. Then they have to improve their playing from that point on.)

Atsumu says that he didn't think before that music can be that deep but he thinks that Momoya is great because he knew about that. Momoya tries to disagree and says that he does not know about it that much. Atsumu insists otherwise and says that he was listening to music everyday and then it was like he suddenly understood (I think he meant about how Chika had an epiphany and explained how to play music from the last chapter. Atsumu uses a phrase I'm not sure about. 目からウロコ - I think it's scales from the eyes falling suddenly or kind of like genuinely understanding/seeing something. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

Momoya thinks for a few seconds and asks "You listen to music every day?". Atsumu smiles and says that "Yes, I do." and that he likes his grandfather's music very much. He also listens to anime songs, special effect songs and character songs too. Momoya says "Character songs..." and Atsumu embarrassingly says "Umm.. right... Momoya-kun doesn't listen to those kind of songs..." Momoya answers with "Well... I don't know much about it..."

Then Momoya says "If you have any performances/songs that you recommend, send the titles to me through LINE." Atsumu is surprised and clarifies "My recommendations?" and Momoya answers with "Who else's?"

Atsumu looks super happy, pulls out his phone and says "I'll send them. I'll send them right away." Hahaha. Momoya tries to say "It's okay if you don't send it right away."

While typing, Atsumu's hands are shaking and he keeps thinking that it's the first time that he's sending recommendations to Momoya. He is a bit teary-eyed and he says that "Looks like a friend." (Feels like a conversation between friends) out loud. Momoya is a little shocked and Atsumu covers his mouth, thinking "Oh no! I said that out loud/my voice came out." Atsumu tries to say sorry in a very panicked way and thinks to himself that Momoya definitely thinks that what he said was annoying.

They are interrupted because the class is about to start and Momoya turns to face the blackboard (with his back to Atsumu). Atsumu is still a bit troubled by the situation and Momoya is thinking to himself that this is a bit troublesome. He is thinking that it's not just about making it sound classical when they play. He thinks that when they play as an ensemble, Yoshinaga's sound is usually 'floating' and no one tells him that it is that way. Because no one calls him out for it, it becomes normal and he keeps playing the same way.

Momoya pulls out his phone and reads the Line message from Atsumu saying that he'll send the recommended titles.

Momoya continues to think that he can't say anything even if he notices. It is probably a sound quality issue and maybe Atsumu (he refers to him as Yoshinaga here) is not skilled/dexterous enough to make changes to his sound even if he informs him.

The scene changes to the practice and the four of them are playing as an ensemble. Momoya hears Atsumu's sound and notices the difference immediately. They finish the parts and Kota is happily asking Atsumu if he felt that it was good that time. Atsumu also happily says that he feels the same way.

Chika doesn't really look happy and says that it was "their best so far but..."

Kota asks "But?..." and Chika says that it's like it's not refreshing enough. It feels like it's not good enough.

Seriously, Momoya says "Mizuhara-senpai and Yoshinaga are still cheating a bit." Both of them react with "Eh?!" Kota says "I'm not cheating though." Atsumu also say "I also am not doing something like that."

Momoya, with a funny face, says that that means more problem for him.

Kota asks about the part that he did wrong and Momoya answers with "Well.. No.. it's not like it's a mistake specifically."

The he tries to explain something along the lines of "the best place for the pauses/places without the sounds". (Hihihi, it's very technical so I'm not too sure but I think he is referring to the way you put the pauses when you play the song. It has to have meaning to make it more evocative. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

Momoya continues on to explain that Mizuhara-senpai is probably listening to the other’s sounds too much. Because of that, his timing is delayed. On the other hand, Yoshinaga's issue is his basic impatience. He is usually staying ahead/ in front in terms of timing.

They're all surprised and Kota is panicking a bit. Hihihi. Chika asks if that is all. Momoya asks "Eh?" and Chika tries to explain that "Well.. No.. I can't say it properly... but the atmosphere/mood of the sound, is jerky/bouncy/shaky...It is not just about the timing gaps/differences only." Momoya is surprised and Chika looks at him seriously and asks "You understand what I'm saying, right?" Momoya thinks about it, then peeks at Atsumu for a bit (Atsumu notices this. I think he understands that the issue is with his playing.) and Momoya thinks "This is bad..." to himself.

Atsumu asks him directly "Is it me?" and Momoya tries to say no but he remembers Kota saying that it is okay to not hesitate and tell them things honestly. Atsumu seriously tells him "Say it." Momoya is shocked and Atsumu continues to say "If there is anything, say it/tell me." Momoya tells him "Yoshinaga's sound is floating. The sound quality doesn't match the surroundings/other sounds. It's probably the reason why the atmosphere/mood of the sound is jerky/shaky." (referring to how Chika described it before.)

Kota asks how exactly can you match sound quality and Momoya answers that it is not really simple/easy to match sound quality that's why he didn't want to say something. If it was a strength or technical problem, you could do something about it. But, sound quality is more fundamental.

Chika asks "Why is Yoshinaga the only one with a different sound quality? What if he changes/replaces his Koto?" Chika and Kota continue on talking about this matter but as they are discussing, Atsumu is not really listening. In his mind, he is thinking "Why is that? Why am I the only one different from the others?" He looks at his hand wearing the rounded nails. He remembers Takezou-senpai saying "We are from the Ikuta style. We use this kind of square nails." Then he remembers his Grandpa's smiling face and him saying his name "Atsumu!"

Atsumu looks really sad after that. The closing remarks are "The only bond with my late grandfather..."

So basically, Atsumu's style of playing and sound is a bit different from everyone else's. But he loves his grandpa and his music so it'll be hard to make changes to that. I say that they should ask Suzuka and Akira-sensei about this. I'm not really musically talented so I don't know how to fix it (even Momoya doesn't know and he's super talented) but I doubt that Suzuka-sensei will ask Atsumu to change his playing style. He probably knows a thing or two about incorporating different styles to make it better.

Shout out to our boy Momoya for being honest this time (though he needed a lot of convincing. His hesitation comes from a place of caring. T_T)

No romantic moments for the main couples this chapter. Boohooo! (Oh! Well... There was a lot from Momoya and Atsumu! ^_^)

Onto the next chapter... Thanks.

#Kono Oto Tomare!#KOT #Kono Oto Tomare #Kono Oto Tomare Summary #この音とまれ #この音と��れ！

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canyouhearthelight · 5 years ago

Text

The Miys, Ch. 79

This was another chapter that was soooo fun to write. Don’t worry, I’m not getting off the plot, swear. So, thank you @charlylimph-blog for helping me flesh these pranks out. Also, thanks to @satan-parisienne and @baelpenrose for beta-reading.

Disclaimer: Food mentions below the cut. I also want to clarify that I do not hate brussels sprouts. I did, for several decades, though, and added that to one character in this chapter.

Given my track record with handling ship-wide issues in a personal capacity, I made a point to set up an actual appointment with both Grey and Xiomara to discuss our concerns. Unfortunately, that meant it would be a few days before we all had time in our schedule. All I could do in the meantime was try to do my actual job and pay more attention to odd behaviors of people around me.

I would like to submit for the record that I wasn’t succeeding with focusing on work terribly well. And I wasn’t the only one.

“Seventeen,” Alistair greeted me as he arrived. For what could only be dramatic emphasis, he removed a scarf and flung it over the back of the chair across from me.

“Ark’s temperature controlled,” I pointed out, staring at the scarf. It actually looked soft.

“Seventeen different individuals,” he continued, ignoring my comment. “In a sum total of six groups, between three and eight people per group. Several were in more than one group.”

Wow. Go, Detective Worthington. “This was just on your way from your quarters to my office?”

“From the cantina on deck fourteen, actually.” He stalked over to the food console, returning with a plate of food and two beverages.

“So, one, that’s an even shorter walk than the one from your quarters.”

He nodded around a forkful of pasta before swallowing. “Which makes it even more concerning.”

“True.” Taking the tea he offered me, I gestured at his penne. Part of me was pleased to see it was one of my recipes from Before that I added to my profile once I learned how. “I thought you just ate?”

“I attempted to, certainly. However, there have been several issues with the consoles in the cantinas. I was given to believe they were resolved, but somehow I still ended up with brussels sprouts instead of capers.” He glared at me archly. “You are well aware of how I feel about those atrocities.”

“Even if you did like them, I can’t imagine substituting capers for brussels sprouts and still coming even remotely close to whatever you asked for.”

Already, he was standing to dispose of his empty dish. “I was sure that your console would be safe, but I selected a dish without capers, either way.”

“That’s fair.” Although I was mildly confused why he thought the console in my office would be ‘safe’ from the malfunction he just mentioned, but I also had no idea about the consoles in the cafeterias acting up, so he may have a point.

I was about to ask for details regarding the people he had seen. I really was. However, I was preempted by the actual trumpet from the Book of Revelation started screaming from the speaker in the ceiling of my office.

“BAYYYYY-BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE shark, do do do do do do!”

I screamed and jumped hard enough to fall out of my chair, while Alistair had flattened himself against the wall in an effort to escape the cacophony. Covering my ears, I begged Miys to disable the speaker. I was reasonably certain I was yelling it, but either way the noise cut off abruptly and I was able to get up off the floor.

“What the bloody hell - bloody hell!” Alistair jumped abruptly at the figure that was now standing in my office. I wasn’t surprised, either, when I looked.

Standing right by my now-closed door was a shorter-statured figure, wobbling on its feet. I couldn’t even really see the face, because my eyes would not look away from the top of their head. Specifically the earmuffs perched on there.

Five. Pairs. Of. Them. One pair was standard noise cancelling, but two were fuzzy - one neon green, another sparkly purple - and the other two, while not fuzzy, did have patterns in similarly bright colors: one set pink and green plaid, one fluorescent yellow and blue stripes. Yet another pair was dangling around the figure’s neck, along with what appeared to be two pairs of earplugs. I was getting the idea that the blaring music was something they were familiar with, against their will.

While puzzling at the noise-blocking hardware, I finally noticed the words across the figure’s hoodie. It very clearly said ‘Fuck this shit’, framed by delicate vines and flowers. “Charly?” I asked, completely confused, before realizing she likely couldn’t hear me. I gestured for her to remove the headphones, and once she did, I tried again. “Charly. What is going on?”

“I have not had a hot bath in two weeks. Every time I walk through a door, the room plays that awful song until I leave the room, and cold spaghetti squash should be illegal! Very, VERY illegal!” As she spoke, her voice choked up more and more, and by the time she finished she was crying in my office. Again. “I can barely eat, I can only sleep if I’m exhausted and practically pass out…” She trailed off.

I got her seated and rubbed her arms. Turning to Alistair, I spoke softly. “Can you please bring some of the stew from screen six in my file? And probably water for now.” To Charly, I reassured her. “It’s your beef stew recipe, the one you gave me. For whatever reason, my console here and the one at home never glitched out when the ones in the cafeterias did.”

She sniffed and nodded. My assistant quickly returned, gently setting down the stew and warm bread, along with some butter. He narrowed his eyes at me, sharply. “I took the liberty of also getting some butter for the bread, because clearly some of us are heathens who serve warm bread without butter.”

“Some of us like to spread cheese sometimes,” I defended myself. “Okay, hon. First, I need you to drink at least half of that water so you don’t dehydrate from crying.” A very tiny white lie. The real reason was an old trick I learned back Before - humans aren’t wired to be able to cry and swallow at the same time, so we stop crying if we are drinking something.

Once that kicked in, I let her dig into the stew. Keeping a careful eye to make sure she didn’t accidentally inhale anything in the literal sense while demonstrating the figurative sense, I tried to figure things out. “First and foremost, has anything else happened, anything that could have caused you injury?”

“Juss annoyig,” she told me around a bite of bread. Swallowing, she clarified. “Anytime I try to bathe, I only get cold showers. No hot water, even the sonic function gives me cold water. I’ve had to resort to letting a bucket of water sit out long enough to be room temp. Anytime I try to get any sort of food or drink other than water, all I get is cold, icky spaghetti squash. You saw what happens when I walk into a room.” She gestured at the speaker on the ceiling. “I’m not even sure how you stopped that.”

“I had Noah disable the speaker entirely,” I admitted. “So, all mid-range psychological torture? All irritants, nothing actually dangerous in and of itself?”

“Except the fact that I’m so jumpy I can’t sleep, I guess. This is the first thing I’ve eaten in two weeks that wasn’t something Coffey had to go get from a canteen, bring it back, and give it to me. And even that only works if it isn’t something I actually like.”

“But there are over a dozen full-time food vendors?” I was so confused.

She rolled her eyes. “You know I don’t trust other people’s cooking. Yours, yes. Tyche’s, yes. Mine, of course. But that’s it.”

“Miss Harper,” Alistair interrupted, gentle but horrified. “You said it’s been two weeks….”

She waved the concern away. “Two weeks of eating food I don’t like but don’t gag on is way better than cold, yucky spaghetti squash or food that may have… crawly things in it. You do know that some people cook with…. those things, right?” She eyed him suspiciously.

“Objection withdrawn,” he sighed. “However, I do believe that part of what you are experiencing may be part of the wider issues we’ve been having with the food consoles. All of the public ones have been malfunctioning recently, and every time they are reset, it happens again. I nearly ate brussels sprouts today, for heaven’s sake!”

“Okay, seriously Alistair? They aren’t that bad. Stop being dramatic,” I scolded. When I turned back to Charly, she was staring at her lap, very focused on the hem of her sweatshirt. Fear spiked through me like ice. “Charly? What is it? Did something else happen?”

“The consoles might be acting up because of what’s happening with me,” she admitted quietly. “Not the other way around.”

Huh? “What do you mean? You think the same person who is doing this to you is going to target everyone?” I could feel my panic levels rising. Suspicious people, maybe a cult, were increasing in numbers throughout the ship. Maybe they were sending a message? It was pretty well known that Charly was close with Tyche and myself -

“IthinkthisishappeningbecauseofaprankIpulledandsomeonegotmad.” Once she finished blurting out her statement, she screwed her eyes closed and seemed to be waiting for something bad to happen. When nothing happened - I don’t think Alistair even understood what she said, and I know I didn’t - she cracked one eye to peek at our faces.

“In English?” I asked, shaking my head.

“I think...I may have...broken? The food consoles? I might have played a prank? And someone didn’t like it?”

I fought the urge to go entirely limp as all the panic and dread I had been building up rapidly plummeted. “So, all of this… you broke the ship… it’s all a prank war?” She nodded, face scrunched up in embarrassed apology. I pinched my nose before running a hand down my face. “And you started it, you believe?”

“It wasn’t on purpose!” she cried. “It was a harmless prank, I freaking swear. I programmed the food consoles to give boba tea as every one hundredth beverage dispensed. That’s it. I even made sure to program it to be sugar free! Just matcha tea, lactose-free milk, sugar substitute, and the little boba pearls. At most, someone would get it, go ‘hey this isn’t what I asked for?’, try again, and get the right thing.”

“Except that’s not the worst thing that happened,” I prompted.

“No, it isn’t! After about…five days? Suddenly all thiiiiiiis,” she flailed expansively, “started happening! There is no way you can tell me that I deserve all this for erroneous boba tea here and there.” Charly stared at me, pointedly.

To be honest, it really did seem like overkill.

“Well,” I sighed. “The good news is, only a select few people have that level of access to the ship to do something so far reaching.” My fingers drummed on the table as I tried to think of ways to narrow our list of culprits further. “Obviously, they don’t mean you any actual harm, just a significant level of annoyance and inconvenience. And it would have to be someone who would take boba tea to be a grievous insult apparently…” Fuck.

My head snapped up as I leapt to my feet and bolted for the console. Once I had a boba tea, exactly the way Charly described, I took a huge pull from the straw. Chilled, clean flavor, no notable texture, not terribly sweet, no aftertaste…

And chewy boba pearls. Like little candies. Most importantly? They were squishy.

“Mother fuck��.” Charly and Alistair both gave me questioning looks. “I will one-hundred percent admit that your prank had very innocent intentions. But before I tell you who did this, I want to be clear: absolutely no retribution, and no more dinking around in public resources. Deal?” She nodded so hard I thought her neck may break. “Someone with an enormous food aversion to anything ‘squishy’ ended up with one of your drinks.” I jiggled mine for emphasis. “And I am willing to bet they got a mouthful of tapioca before they realized it. They absolutely knew there was no error - they only drink water, and they are extremely sensitive to caffeine. Once they realized it was a deliberate error? There was no saving you, girl.”

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, and I could see everything falling into place. “Oh no. Nonononononono. I didn’t think Derek used the public consoles! I never would have done it if I knew that! Or exempted him, or something… Oh gosh, I have to go apologize. I feel awful!” With that, she bolted from the room, throwing a “thanks for the stew!” over her shoulder on the way out.

Alistair just shook his head. “She really pulled a prank on the one person we can’t keep out of anything on the ship, who we have to rely on his good intentions?”

“Obviously, not on purpose,” I pointed out.

“It still doesn’t explain the small cabbages that contaminated my lunch.”

Taking a long pull from my tea, I tilted my head side to side. “It really kind of does. Charly hates capers with a passion, based solely on what they look like.”

“Madam Councillor. Brussles. Sprouts. Surely there was a better option.”

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#the miys #humans are weird #science fiction #found family #aliens #apocalypse #humans are space orcs #original fiction #food #earth is space australia

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angelofthequeers · 5 years ago

Text

Minty Fresh, Strawberry Sweet, Cinnamon Spice: chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

@trainflavor tagged as requested :) And @zenniaphoenix, here’s the completed fic!

Chapter 3 | AO3 link

As soon as he detransforms, Adrien takes off running back to where he’d left Marinette and Kagami in his haste to turn into Chat Noir. But neither of them is there; the only sign that they’d been on that street at all is the melted ice cream that he’d dropped when Heart Hunter had found their street.

His heart leaps into his throat. Are the girls okay? If anything’s happened to them, he won’t forgive himself, even though Chat Noir has a duty to Paris and transforming to take down Heart Hunter had rationally been the best way to keep them safe – but maybe he could have made sure that they were safe and hidden before running off –

“Adrien!”

Adrien’s shoulders slump in sheer relief when Kagami rounds the corner, catches sight of him, and runs up to him, her short hair and red skirt billowing. He opens his arms to catch her but he’s not expecting her to throw her arms around his neck and practically suffocate him.

“I’m okay,” he chokes. When he takes a deep breath, the faint smell of her sports deodorant fills his nostrils; so different to Marinette’s scent of vanilla and strawberries, yet just as warm and comforting because of who it belongs to. “I found Chat Noir – he got me somewhere safe –”

“Well, you shouldn’t have left us in the first place!” Kagami lets go and steps back to cross her arms and scowl at him. “You just left me and Marinette there. You put yourself in danger. If you hadn’t found Chat Noir…”

How can he reassure her that he wasn’t in any danger as Adrien? He can’t; not without revealing himself as Chat Noir. Instead, he just takes her hands and looks her in the eyes. Cinnamon, is the first word that pops into his mind. He and Marinette really had been correct about her ice cream flavour.

“I’m sorry I made you worry, Kagami,” Adrien says. “But I – Marinette!”

Kagami whips around as Adrien waves at the pink figure that’s just skidded around the same corner, and a small smile crosses her lips at the sight of Marinette bolting down the street, cheeks red and black hair falling out of her pigtails. God, she’s so gorgeous. How had Adrien never noticed before? Sure, he’s always been aware that Marinette’s pretty, and he’s called her their everyday Ladybug, but he’s never noticed just how…radiant her soul is. She’s loud where Kagami is quiet, soft where Kagami is abrasive, poetic where Kagami is direct, and the sudden realisation that he loves both these girls so much and just as much as each other makes Adrien’s head spin.

“…hope you found a good place to hide,” Kagami’s saying when Adrien manages to pull himself out of his lovesick daze. “I couldn’t find Adrien, but Ladybug encountered me and helped me hide properly.”

“Of course!” Marinette says with a breathless laugh, scratching the back of her head. “I’m a pro at hiding from akumas. Between getting mummified by Pharaoh and knighted by Darkblade and hit by Reflekta both times, I kind of try not to be anywhere near them if I can help it.”

“I’m glad you’re okay, Marinette,” Adrien says in a slightly hoarse voice. Marinette’s cheeks pinken and she lets out an odd giggle and by god, again, how has he never noticed just how gorgeous she is?

“Tou yoo – you too!” Marinette babbles. She groans and facepalms. “Excuse my stuttering. You make me nervous. In the best way! Not in a bad way!”

Adrien lets a small grin slide across his face as he slips an arm around Marinette, whose cheeks darken to the colour of Ladybug’s suit. It’s not the first time he’s associated her with Ladybug but, well…she’d been Multimouse. He’d seen her with Ladybug. There’s no way they can be the same girl, not unless she’d somehow pulled off some epic trick, but he can’t think of how she could have possibly done so. And besides, it’s not fair to associate Marinette with Ladybug. Ladybug had rejected him once and for all and he’s moving on; moving on to Marinette and Kagami. A part of him will always love Ladybug, that much is true, but no way in hell is he going to hurt these two amazing girls.

He’s made his choice. He’s committed. Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Kagami Tsurugi are the girls he picks. And it’s not like he’s losing Ladybug; as she’d said, he’s still one of her best friends and he’s irreplaceable.

“I always wondered why you stuttered around me,” Adrien says. “I don’t think you’re a freak for it or anything, by the way. You can’t exactly help it.”

Marinette lets out an explosive breath. “Oh, thank god. One of my nightmares was of you laughing at me and – well, I don’t think you’d laugh at me! No way! I just tend to get into anxiety spirals and catastrophise like mad.”

“Ah. Anxiety.” Kagami tilts her head. “I hadn’t considered that that could be a reason for your hesitance. I’m sorry for judging you unfairly, Marinette.”

“Well, you’ve got enough ‘no hesitation’ energy for both of us,” Marinette says with a nervous little laugh. Kagami smiles at her.

“Yes, I do. And you –” She turns and jabs a finger at Adrien, “– were in the middle of apologising to me for making me worry.”

“Oh!” Marinette’s eyes widen. “Did you – Adrien, were you okay?”

“Yeah! Chat Noir hid me,” Adrien says. “Anyway, as I was saying to Kagami…I’m sorry for making you girls worry. I thought I was helping by finding Chat Noir, but I didn’t think that I’d be worrying you. I guess…well, I guess I’m just not used to people genuinely worrying about me like that. My father worries about me, yeah, but his worry’s more of a ‘my perfect son is two seconds late, this is unacceptable!’ kind.”

Marinette and Kagami’s mouths droop after Adrien’s apology. In the blink of an eye, he’s got both girls clinging to him, and their arms also snake around each other but neither seems to mind. If anything, they seem to lean into each other as well.

“We’ll always care about you, Adrien,” Marinette says.

“And we accept your apology,” Kagami says. Adrien squeezes them both.

“Thanks, Marinette, Kagami. And…” He takes a deep breath. No going back now. “I ran into Ladybug just before she turned back, and I got to talk to her.” For some reason, Marinette stiffens in his embrace. “She was pretty cool about my crush, but she did pretty firmly tell me that it couldn’t happen. And I know I’m not going to get over her overnight but, well…I choose you. Both of you. I’m committing. Just feel free to slap me if I mess up and hurt either of you –”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of slapping you,” Kagami says. “I’ll just make you dread every fencing session of ours.”

“And I’ll make you paranoid of all the treats I bring you,” Marinette says into his shirt, her muffled voice slightly higher than usual. Adrien shudders, because Kagami is already a terrifying opponent when she’s not angry, and Marinette must be super angry to meddle with pastries.

“Okay, yeah, that’s fair,” he says. “Just tell me, at least? I don’t want to mess up and hurt you two without knowing what I did.”

“Deal,” Marinette and Kagami say before releasing him and stepping back. They exchange a look, and Adrien’s suddenly wondering if it’s too late to run, because there’s no way he’ll survive when both these girls team up against him.

“Uh, why do I feel like I’m going to be eaten alive?” he says.

“You go first,” Kagami says. “He’s full of nervous energy, just like you. I’d like him relatively calm before I try.”

Marinette pokes her tongue out at Kagami in return. Before Adrien can ask what the hell’s going on, Marinette’s reaching over to clasp his hands, lacing their fingers together, and she gives him a nervous little smile while biting her lip.

“I was, um, well…hoping you could kiss us. Only if it’s okay with you…” she says. Adrien’s stomach lurches, but not in a bad way; it’s much more of an oh god, I have two amazing girls to kiss way instead.

“Y-Yeah!” Adrien squeezes his hand. “It’ll probably be awful, though. Sorry, I’m just…you know, wrapping my head around the fact that I’m allowed to be with both of you. And the thought of being with you both is doing something to my insides. Not in a bad way, and I do want to kiss you, I just don’t want to let you down, because I know you must have been dreaming of it if you’ve been crushing on me for this long and I know Kagami’s got high standards and I –”

He’s cut off by a pair of warm, soft lips pressing against his own as Marinette stands on her tiptoes to kiss him. It’s not hard, not forceful, not demanding more than he wants to give; instead, it’s hesitant and light, inviting him to make the next move, to take it as far as he wants, with nothing more expected of him. And as he kisses back, trying to channel all his late-night air kissing practice while Plagg teases him mercilessly, it’s almost impossible to come to terms with just how much he loves it.

It’s far from his first kiss, or even his second. He owes those both to Ladybug, even if he can’t remember them. But kissing Marinette is right, like coming home after a long, hard day – home, not the cold, empty mansion in which he currently lives – to warm food and laughter and love. After a moment, Marinette lowers herself back down, and she squeaks and flushes bright scarlet as Adrien tries to recapture the brain cells that are leaking out of his ears.

“W-Wow,” Marinette says in a voice so high that every dog in Paris has probably been alerted. “That was – oh my gosh – I kissed Adrien –”

“Just remember to breathe,” Kagami says with an amused little smile. “If you pass out, Adrien and I will be so worried about you that I won’t get my turn.”

Marinette gulps and nods. Meanwhile, Adrien’s finally managed to scoop back his liquefied brain, although he’s got a sneaking suspicion that it’s just going to melt again after he kisses Kagami.

“Go for it!” Marinette makes a vague hand gesture. “I’ll just try not to freaking die over here.”

“If you’re sure?” Kagami says, still smiling like this is the funniest joke she’s ever seen. Marinette nods rapidly, so Kagami steps up to Adrien, who’s starting to wonder if he’s even going to make it out of this alive. His question is answered as soon as Kagami wraps her arms around his neck in a loose embrace and guides their lips together: no, he’s not going to survive this, not if he gets to kiss Marinette and Kagami.

Where Marinette had been soft and let him control the pace, Kagami easily takes the lead, awkwardly working her mouth against his but not uncomfortably; more in a way that makes it blatantly obvious that this is her first kiss, despite her self-assuredness. But, as commanding as she is, Kagami is never once forceful and demanding in her kiss, as one might have suspected from her personality. Instead, it’s like she’s taking his hand and pulling him along, leading and guiding but giving him more than enough room to object and slow down if need be.

It’s nothing like the time Lila had wrenched him in for that cheek kiss; she’d been overpowering and dominating, but Kagami’s force is far gentler and much more respectful. It’s like the whirlwind of their fencing matches, of their rebellions and escapes from their overbearing parents, and although Adrien’s thought this far too often today, he can’t deny it: it’s so different to Marinette’s kiss, yet equally amazing in the best possible ways. Maybe that’s why he’s so drawn to both Marinette and Kagami.

Adrien couldn’t say if Kagami’s kiss lasted longer than Marinette’s. All he knows is that when Kagami finally steps away to give him the space to process what had just happened, he’s not even sure if it’s the same year.

“Wow,” is all his mouth will say once he’s got some semblance of higher brainpower back. “Wow. Both of you. Just…wow.”

Marinette and Kagami laugh and grin at each other.

“I think we broke him,” Marinette says.

“I guess we’ll just have to fix him, then,” Kagami says.

“Oh my god.” Adrien nearly faints on the spot. “Stop it. I can’t handle both of you.”

The girls exchange another grin.

“I think you were right, Kagami,” Marinette says. “Sharing him is the best idea I’ve heard all day. It’s so satisfying to watch you break him.”

“It’s exactly the same for me,” Kagami says. “Maybe one day, I can break you too.”

Marinette whimpers and flushes scarlet again. Her face is so red that Adrien blurts out, “You’re utterly adorable, ma fraise,” before he can help himself, and Marinette blinks owlishly at him.

“Your strawberry?” she says.

“Um…yeah?” Adrien scratches the nape of his neck. “Because your flavour is strawberry? And your face is red like one right now?”

“Hey!” Marinette shoves him playfully, still blushing. “Don’t mock me!”

“Shall I defend your honour?” Kagami says. “I’m sure I could find another ladle.”

Adrien snickers and takes a step towards Kagami, who stands her ground with an amused eyebrow-raise. He leans in, brushes some of her dark hair away from her ear, and murmurs, “Challenge accepted, ma cannelle.”

He’s going to get absolutely murdered later. But oh, it’s so worth it to see how pink floods Kagami’s face when he steps away, because when does he ever manage to get one over her?

“G-Get me a ladle too,” Marinette babbles. “I’ll yefend dour – defend your honour too!”

The slow smile that spreads across Kagami’s face confirms Adrien’s suspicion from just moments before: he’s dead. But honestly? Death by two terrifyingly tough girlfriends doesn’t sound like the worst way to go.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fic #aotq fic #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #kagami tsurugi #adrigaminette #kisses #heart hunter #loveater #yeah it's just adrigaminette fluff #i think i got a cavity #adrien's not used to people caring about him #all the love for adrien

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thepoisonroom · 5 years ago

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hey im thinkin about getting into standup, but im overwhelmed thinking about where to start, do you have any tips?

oh my god i do!!!! i wrote this whole thing and i'm coming back to this intro to say that it turns out i had a LOT to say so apologies for the length! and take this all with a HUGE grain of salt! i'm one person working in a very specific niche (LGBT comedy) in a weird granola-y city so my experiences are not universal. anyway:

i started as a complete beginner to like writing my own material and doing spoken performance (i was a band kid which is SO different) so if you have any experience in those areas you've already got a huge leg up anyway:

first and most obvious is take notes! i have a tiny joke notebook that i take everywhere and before that i kept notes on my phone. write down ideas you have during your day or before you fall asleep. it's an easy and organic way to acquire material without the pressure of sitting down and Being Funny On Command. having that repository of ideas in your back pocket will make it easier to sit down and prepare your set, and i find it always gives me inspiration for more material.

if you're really nervous, i'd recommend going to the open mic that you're looking at ahead of time so you can get a sense of what the crowd and vibe are like there. i do a really small lgbt open mic which is a really friendly low-pressure audience. if your town has something like that, or an open mic that advertises itself as a place for first timers, i'd recommend that. the crowd makes a HUGE difference and if you don't jive with the culture of the mic it's worth it to be picky! i really don't want you to go to some gross bro-fest and have a bad experience getting heckled by drunk randos. you deserve an audience that'll help you relax and enjoy your time onstage.

find out the standards and practices for your mic! mics have very different systems for deciding who gets to perform, but most of them involve arriving ahead of time to put your name on a list. find out when the list goes up and how it works. small mics will usually let everyone who signs up perform. big mics will sometimes choose people randomly. sometimes they'll give priority to first timers or out of towners or people the host knows. it's important to know this so you have some idea of how to get onstage, and how likely it is that you'll get a spot.

at most mics the organizer will have some way to let you know how much time you have. try to find out how they do this and how much time you'll have. all the ones i've done will show you a light when you have one minute left and then another when your time is up. try not to stress about this too much. it's usually no big deal if you're just trying out a little bit of material and wrap up early. it's also not a big deal if you're in the middle of something when you get the first light. just expect it and give yourself that remaining minute to wrap things up; you don't have to panic and cut yourself off.

it's very common for newbies to deliver their material too fast! you're nervous! we get it! but you can take pauses to think, or to let the crowd finish laughing, and that's totally great and fine! don't pressure yourself to get in every single joke you wrote down! if you pace yourself everything will land more cleanly and it'll help the audience follow your line of thought. pauses feel so scary and long when you're starting out, but i promise they're not bad and seem much shorter to the people watching than they do to you.

it's very normal to bring your joke notes onstage during an open mic, so don't sweat about memorizing all of your material. it's a place where people go to practice! on a similar note, don't worry if you forget things completely or skip something and have to add it in out of order. this is when those pauses come in handy! you can absolutely give yourself a second and then transition into a new topic. no one will mind (or notice tbh) if it's a little disjointed. again, you're practicing!

everyone has different systems for how they like to prepare and get feedback. one of my friends rehearses her sets in front of two different audiences and gets their feedback. i used to rehearse my sets in front of my ex for feedback but now i usually just make a voice recording of myself practicing that i can listen to or watch beforehand. if you can find an audience and feel comfortable letting them see a work in progress, practicing in front of someone you trust is a great way to workshop your material and get used to having an audience. even if you're practicing with a live audience, it can also be really helpful to record the whole thing so you can watch it back and have a clearer record of which parts landed and which ones need work. it can be hard to remember what you said and did, especially if you're nervous, so having that record of how it went is super helpful when you're making edits.

also this might be something that everyone in the world knows except for me a year ago, but it's very normal to try the same material repeatedly, even at the same mic. i didn't realize this and used to write an original 5-8 minutes every week but no one expects you to do that. you're there to practice and perfect material, not impress everyone with the volume of writing you do.

oh i also didn't know this but it's very acceptable to riff off of jokes that the host or comics who went before you have done in the mic. if you're into improvising this is a really easy way to cash in on the audience goodwill other people have generated. but if you're someone who prefers to memorize that's very cool too. it's not required, it's just a cheat i lean on if i'm not sure how i want to start.

this has been implicit in other stuff i've said but it's worth it to say it directly: do NOT worry if what comes out onstage is different from what you planned. it's hard to predict how you'll react to having an audience, and it's also super normal to cut or add in material depending on the vibe you're getting from the crowd.

don't worry about structuring your jokes or physical/verbal performance a certain way just because other people do it. lean into whatever makes you feel funniest and most confident! our idiosyncrasies are what make us funny! i make a lot of dumb hand gestures onstage and i laugh at my own jokes and do the same stupid voice whenever i'm speaking as someone else within a joke. that's my approach and it works for me! it's not how, like, john mulaney does it, but it's not my job to be john mulaney, it's my job to relax and express myself.

oh also like this should be obvious but remember that you're also there to be an audience member and learn from watching other people! try to be courteous and listen to everyone else! if you like people's performances and feel comfortable doing so it's nice to tell them that afterwards! standup is a solo performance but you can learn a lot from other people, and those relationships can be super helpful if you want advice or want to eventually get booked to perform for money.

sorry, i see now that some of these are really concrete and some are really esoteric. the practical tips are good as is, but i think what i'm mostly trying to say with the more esoteric stuff is this: the reason i love doing comedy with other women and LGBT people is that i think we all have such different and interesting senses of what it could look like to be funny. some people love puns and some people love impressions or storytelling or absurdism or whatever. pop culture can give us such a monolithic idea of what funny looks like but in reality it's a huge creative challenge to find new ways to be funny! try to focus on what inspires you and gives you ideas! it's about expressing yourself, so you are the ultimate arbiter of what that expression can look like.

oh also a disclaimer: especially for marginalized people, there can be a ton of pressure to use your personal experiences as joke fodder. if you're in an audience that doesn't share those identities, it can be really tempting to work overtime to make them comfortable with your perceived difference. be really mindful of your own boundaries so you don't end up feeling bled dry by something that's supposed to be fun and affirming! i do a lot of jokes about being a lesbian and being biracial, but for me it's important not to rely on homophobic or racist stereotypes to get laughs, because that's something that personally makes me uncomfortable. i talk about my mental illness a lot in standup, but there are parts i keep private even though they're funny, because they'd feel too vulnerable to share. make sure to ask yourself how you'll feel sharing your experiences with an audience.

also, a quick note for you or anyone else who's interested in standup even a little bit. PLEASE do not hesitate to hit me up, whether on anon or off anon or in the DMs, if you ever want advice or want to workshop joke ideas or need a test audience or ANYTHING. i've been unusually lucky in my experiences, and even i've been put off by other comedians' material and behavior, and the culture of the standup scene in my city. i've been really lucky that i met other LGBT comedians early on who wanted to support and mentor me, and it's really important to me to pay that forward to anyone who wants to try it out.

i'm really sorry that that was so long-winded, but i hope some of it helps! if you do end up trying standup, please message me and let me know how it goes! i'm rooting for you!!

#anonymous #ask and receive #charlotte isn't funny #long post

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dragonhrte · 5 years ago

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Destiny? Chapter One: Everything Starts Somewhere

Author’s Note:

This is my first fan-fiction series. Quick disclaimer; for all intents and purposes, I do not own the MHA or the BNHA franchises. Aside from standard story line events and dialogue this work is mine.This is a Soulmate AU, featuring specific phrases that are etched in ink on the skin. Thank you for giving this a read, please comment and leave a like/kudos.

Word Count: 1,612

Please note that

*abc* is a sound effect

‘abc’ is internal thoughts of whomever

“abc” is dialogue

(abc) is a side note from yours truly ;)

~Love DragonHearte

It’s best to start at the beginning,

“At this current moment in time about 80% of the population has a quirk, which is a talent that is unique to the individual. The manifestation of a quirk has become commonplace over the years. There is another oddity in the world that is quite rare, only 32% of the world’s population have this particular manifestation. A soulmate mark, usually a phrase found on a particular part of the body. However, because it’s such a rare occurrence, there’s not much research or knowledge on the subject.” Mr. Aizawa paused and motioned with his head for me to enter the classroom,

“This is Evangeline, she’s new, you can wait until the end of class to make her acquaintance.”

With that, I nodded my head in acknowledgement and made my way to the only open spot in the room behind a kid with green hair and freckles. I’ve moved around enough to not give attention to the inquisitive stares following my movements. Mr. Aizawa continued with the lecture that I knew by heart since I was one of the few that actually had a soulmate mark. I tune out the words having heard them too many times to count, and absentmindedly running my fingers over the fabric of my skirt right above where my mark was concealed. The principal had told me that the teacher who usually teaches this class, World History, is absent, so they have my homeroom teacher, Mr. Aizawa, teaching a review lecture it seems. The rest of the class seemed to pass by quickly. The stupor I was in broken by the ringing of the bell indicating class over and the beginning of our lunch period. However, most of the students didn’t even bother to head out the door to the cafeteria. They instead chose to clamber around the desk I was sitting at and surround me in an enclosed circle of bodies. One after the other shouting different questions at me leaving me a bit overwhelmed and panicky. My eyes darting from one face to the next, seeing their mouths move, but not the sound of their voices. This is just too much, and I need out. NOW! I bolt shoving through the mass of students and make a break for it. Bathroom, bathroom, bathroom. Ah, there it is! I add an extra burst of speed to get to my destination, my sanctuary. I rush over to the sinks I run my hands under the water and splash myself in the face with the cool water. It feels good in comparison to the sweltering environment around me. All those eager kids, like vultures for information about the new kid. ‘I was prepared for something similar to this. There will always be the excitement of the new classmate. But this, this was different. A completely different animal. Maybe it has to do with the hero class in general. Something in the water... Aside from that, I haven’t freaked out like this since the third grade. This is insane, get it together Eva! Don’t let this super important school get to you. They’re teenagers just like you, they’re all relatively human, except that pink one. I don’t know about her, we’ll have to ask about that one.’

*Smek*

I swat my cheeks to snap myself out of the soon-to-be thirty minute internal monologue. After giving myself a steeling look in the mirror I head out of the bathroom and walk in the direction of the cafeteria.

I walk into the central eating area and scan for a place to sit, all the students for my class are busy conversing with one another. I start walking in the general direction when I spot it, the holy grail of all lunch tables. It’s completely empty and no one is going to bother me while I try to eat. I avoid eye contact with the other students from 1-A as they attempt to grab my attention, by flailing their arms around and pointing to their table. ‘I don’t think so, judging by the massive freak out I had earlier, the last thing I need is more interactions.’ After setting my tray down, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. It takes mere seconds before a small group of students congregate around me. ‘Greeeaat’ I think to myself as I force a friendly smile and wait for them to realize I can’t address all of their questions at once. A firm *Ahem* can be heard from the center of the mass, and like Moses parting the Red Sea, a boy with glasses and an intellectual look about him came forward, and said, “Hello, my name is Tenya Ida, I apologize on the behalf of my fellow classmates for bombarding you earlier.” He finishes his statement with a deep bow, turns away from me towards the classmates who are gathered, and then issues what seems to be come directions to the rest of the class.

They form a line of some sort and wait. He turns back to me after this, and pushing his glasses back up, he says, “They should all wait their turn now and not talk all at once, which is what seemed to overwhelm you the first time.” I nod to show my understanding, and then raise my hand instinctively, then ask myself, ‘why did I just raise my hand for permission to speak when he’s a student just like me?’

“Yes, Evangeline?” Ida says.

“I would much prefer if they weren’t lined up, it feels weird and too formal,-” ‘Not to mention like they’re in line to meet with a queen or some other royal,’ “- I don’t mind if they’re bunched up, just one question at a time would be better.” He nods and asks my fellow classmates to do just that.

I point to a girl with a round face, chocolate brown hair, and kind eyes to start off what feels like an interview session with the press. She says, “ Hi, my name is, Ochaco Uraraka, what’s your name?”

“Evangeline Shaffer.”

The next person is the boy from before with the blue hair and glasses, “I’ve noticed that you’ve got a distinct way of speaking Japanese, foreign even. If you don’t mind me asking, where are you from?”

“Well, that one is a bit more complicated, my family traveled a lot when I was younger. I’m from a little bit of everywhere, but you would be correct in assuming Japanese is not my first language. I still have a hard time with it sometimes, so if I ask any of you to repeat something it’s probably because I need to be able to properly understand you all.”

“So what’s your power?” a fairly short girl, with green hair and her tongue sticking out asks. I then notice a small boy with freckles and green disheveled curly hair, whip out a notebook. Pencil in hand, he was poised above the paper after writing in anticipation of the next word about to come out of my mouth.

I quirk my brow up at this strange observation but answer the question nonetheless. “It’s a form of crystallization, but instead of crystal it’s quartz.”

Some students have already left, after getting the information they were looking for, but there were four that came over at a significantly belated time in my conversations. One of them was pink, with strange, but beautiful eyes, she came over and introduced herself as Mina Ashido. With her were a boy with a lightning bolt in his hair, Denki Kaminari, and there is also a boy with bulky elbows, who introduces himself as Hanta Sero. The last person of the group was a boy that seemed super friendly, when he came up to the table he beamed showing his shark-like teeth, his name is Eijiro Kirishima.

Ashido practically bounced her way over to my side of the table and encompassed me in a tight hug. “I just hope that we can be awesome friends is all! Welcome to class 1-A!”

“Thwank Ou” (Translation: Thank you, head/face squished = distortion of words)

She released me from the hug and sat down at my table next to me allowing me to take in a deep breath of air. Kaminari and Sero sat down across from me while Kirishima sat at the other side of me that wasn’t occupied by Ashido. ‘Everyone else has left my table, why are they still here?’

“Um, weren’t you sitting somewhere else?” I say, hoping they’ll take the hint that I just need some time alone.

“We thought that it would be better to sit here so you’re not sitting alone at the lunch table, especially on your first day.” says Kaminari.

I next hear thumping noise approaching the table we’re all sitting at, and look up to find a boy with spiky, ash-blonde hair, and saggy pants sit himself down at the table. I look on at his actions with wide eyes, ‘Wow, who pissed in your cheerios this morning?’ Sero looked over at me and motioned over to the new addition to the group while saying, “This is Katsuki Bakugo, don’t mind him, he’s always like this.”

“I don’t need you to introduce me Tapeface!” He exclaimed, but he didn’t bother to introduce himself anyways, he just went back to eating his lunch.

I feel a slight tingling sensation on my left hip, but I dismiss it because, for the rest of the lunch period there was no real excitement other than whenever Bakugo was a part of the conversation. Watching their interactions was a great change of pace from my previous school experiences, ‘This is actually pretty nice, maybe the world isn’t all that bad after all.’

Chapter Two: Somewhere

#mha #mha x reader #my hero fanfic #my hero academia #fanfic #fanfiction #bnha #katsuki bakugo x oc #katsuki bakugou x oc #soulmate #soulmateau

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taexual · 6 years ago

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HOLIC - 8 | jb x reader

pairing: Im Jaebum x Reader

genre: enemies to lovers au | roommate au

warnings: some strong language + angst

words: 3.1k

disclaimer: i do not own the gif, please let me know if it belongs to you, so i can give proper credit

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Work was awful. It tended to be this way on Tuesdays because that was usually the day when so-called high-class socialites swarmed to art galleries to purchase pieces that’d make their guests think they knew anything about art, and, on top of that, crowds of artists and photographers gathered here, trying to get meetings with every possible staff member, wanting their work exhibited here. But today was bad even by those standards.

At first, the iPad you usually used stopped working. You were informed that they were doing maintenance on the servers today but you didn’t expect the entire system to crash on you just when a particularly pompous woman asked you for more information about one of the photographers whose works she’d enjoyed at the exhibition last week.

You told her the name but she wanted more details that you couldn’t provide her with because no matter what you pressed on the damn tablet, it would only display errors.

“I’m very sorry,” you said, feeling cold sweat wash over you. An epic escalation was awaiting, you could feel it. “We’re having some technical difficulties today, if you could just wait a moment, I—”

“I think I’ve waited enough,” she responded in a thundering voice that almost made you flinch. “I came to an art gallery to buy something from you, did I not? Why am I being forced to wait when I’m not even sure I want to invest in this… artwork, at all.”

Already having learned to be patient with similar snobby attitudes, you gave her an apologetic smile.

“My apologies, ma’am, this should be fixed soon and then I can answer all questions you might have about the photographer,” you said and then tried to get rid of her by sending her to a floor you didn’t work at, “in the meanwhile, could I interest you in the photography exhibition on the second floor? The theme is—”

“I could not care less,” she cut you off again. You understood her irritation so you could forgive her for not really listening to you, but, Jesus Christ, did she have to yell? Her loud voice echoed all through the gallery. “Find me someone who can answer my questions immediately. Or better yet, find me the manager. I refuse to be treated with disrespect by incompetent staff members.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” you said, hating the endless apologies that passed your lips. You wondered if she could tell they were fake. “My manager is the owner of the gallery and he is, unfortunately, away on a business trip. I can direct you to my supervisor, though, if you’d like.”

“You better do that,” she responded, crossing her arms over her chest and nearly scratching herself with the huge, sharp-edged rings on all of her fingers. “And don’t give me attitude. I will not tolerate that.”

You didn’t realize that explaining the hierarchy of the gallery – since she was so eager to talk to someone higher up – was a form of giving her attitude, but, for the sake of not getting kicked out for bad customer service, you nodded wordlessly and guided her across the gallery to where Eva, your supervisor, was having a conversation with one of the new photographers, whose exhibition the gallery was preparing for.

“Eva,” you said, not bothering to address her in a formal way. She wasn’t much older than you and the two of you spent so much time together at work that neither of you bothered with the formalities anymore. “There’s a snobby woman ten steps behind me. She is a nightmare. The system crashed, so I can’t help her, and now she wants to talk to you.”

Eva bit her lip, not particularly happy to be dragged away from the photographer – you tried to get a look at him, but he had turned away, watching the paintings around him instead, while he waited for Eva to give him her attention again.

“Could you keep her occupied for just one moment?” she asked. “I’ll be with her in a second. I’m kind of busy right now.”

“She is a nightmare,” you repeated, emphasizing the word for more effect. “I’m sure she’ll sue us if we don’t accommodate to her wishes right away.”

Eva groaned.

“I swear this is the tenth time this had happened in the past few weeks,” she said, after excusing herself from the photographer, who – aside from being very attractive – was a lot kinder than the snotty, problematic woman. “It’s time the staff here grew some balls. You, included, by the way. It would really take some weight off my shoulders if you just found a way to deal with her without getting me involved.”

Eva – probably – didn’t mean it personally but you took offense. You couldn’t exactly intimidate the woman with your status in the gallery and she wasn’t listening to anything you tried to tell her. On top of that, her loud voice truly gave you the chills. You felt bad for her children if she had any.

Confused what to do with yourself now that you were subtly scolded, you glanced at the photographer next to you, nodded at him as a way to excuse yourself as well – Eva hadn’t asked you to keep him company, after all, and you really wanted to get out of here, anyway – and then headed to the staff room to finally inhale.

The system still wasn’t fixed when your workday came to an end and you were forced to stay up later to help the IT team test out the updates they’d attempted to install after finishing with the maintenance. They had you walk around the gallery and scan the names of the photographs and the paintings while they checked if the system recognized the names and provided the user of the program with all the information about the artwork possible.

You knew this would make your job easier in the long run, but you were completely not in the mood to spend the whole night at the gallery, hence all of the complaining the IT team had to endure from you – they got their revenge on you by constantly criticizing the way you used the tablet, though, and that didn’t really help your self-esteem.

You ended up getting home three hours later than usual and, naturally, feeling three times more exhausted and upset than usual, too. To be honest, you just wanted to jump into the shower – which, you weren’t sure if you’d even enjoy – and then go to sleep. But, aside from not knowing if the hot water was back or not – Jaebum was on the phone with someone when you got home and you haven’t parted on a good note anyway, so you didn’t ask – you also realized you had no idea if the sheets on the mattress in your room were fresh or not. You had initially planned to sleep here because you weren’t in the mood to spend another night in Jaebum’s room, no matter how comfortable his bed was, but he did have sex here last night.

Groaning because you just couldn’t relax today, you walked out of the bedroom and saw Jaebum walking out of his at the same time.

“Did you change the—”

“I called the—”

Both of you had started to talk at the same time and both stopped, watching each other for a moment or two.

“You go,” you told him then. If he had something offensive to say to you, you’d rather get it over with faster so you could spend the rest of the night sulking. You’d planned to do that anyway.

“I, uh, I called the maintenance,” he said. “They said they’ll be here on Friday at best but Monday for sure.”

You closed your eyes. “That’s next week.”

“I know,” Jaebum said. When you opened your eyes, you saw him bite his lip while avoiding your gaze.

God, you could feel an outburst coming but you made no attempts to stop it. Maybe a part of you thought he deserved to hear it after being the cause of your inner misery ever since you moved in here.

“I’ve never had a roommate before,” you said and waited until he dared to look you in the eyes. “But, I swear, you are the worst imaginable roommate in the world.”

“W-wh—”

“You shut the fucking hot water off! And why? To get back at me for getting your water bottles out of the fridge,” you were louder now. “Well, guess fucking what? You can fix the damage I’ve done within an hour the most – your stupid water can get cold again. But you—you do shit without thinking about the consequences, you broke my—”

“I let you sleep in my room!” Jaebum cut you off, your aggression brushing off on him as he threw his hands in the air. “I tried to make it up to you for that.”

“I left you no choice the first night,” you disagreed. “And it doesn’t even matter. Does it look like I want to sleep in your room? I’m sort of left with no other option since I still don’t have a proper bed.”

He was going to object – the first syllables of his counter-argument were already at the tip of his tongue – but then you pushed past him into his bedroom. There was no point in asking him if he’d changed the sheets of your bed. You weren’t going to sleep there.

“But since you’re obviously so kind to me,” you said, glancing at him over your shoulder one more time. “I’ll be sleeping here again.”

He was taken aback for a moment after you slammed the door of his bedroom in his face – if he wasn’t so angry, he’d have admitted: this was a real power move – but then he tried knocking. Gently at first, but harsher after you didn’t react and didn’t open the door.

“Jesus, I’ll fix your damn bed!” he yelled at you through the door. “Just lose the fucking attitude and talk to me like a normal person. I was trying to be nice to you.”

The attitude, again. First, the rich, snobby bitch at the gallery insisted you gave her attitude for just doing your job. Then Eva countered by saying you don’t even have an attitude at all, or else she wouldn’t have to do your job for you. And now Jaebum was accusing you of the same thing even though you just told him the truth; not in a particularly nice way, but you had to put it out there.

After you simmered down, though, – while staring at the books piled by the wall in front of Jaebum’s bed for a whole hour, – you realized that if you hadn’t let the comments made at work get to you this badly, you wouldn’t have bitten Jaebum’s head off. Maybe he deserved that for all of the snarky comments he’d said and the things he’d done, but he was truly trying to have a normal conversation with you today, so maybe you should have been more understanding.

Sure, you’ve argued with him this morning – it got kind of bad, really – but you were still forced to live him and being civil with each other would have surely made this experience appear less like a torture.

Or maybe, another part of your brain disagreed, you should have truly let him know that he was not going to get away with everything by just being nice to you. Maybe you should have slapped him, too, for more effect.

As two sides of your brain gnawed at each other, arguing about what you should have done and said, you heard another knock on the door of the bedroom. It didn’t take a genius to guess who was behind the door, but you still hesitated before opening it because you weren’t sure how to act.

You did feel guilty about the outburst in the hallway. You’d always been a firm believer that the best way to resolve any issue was to have a calm discussion about it; it’s just that sometimes, you acted before you allowed yourself to think.

Maybe you’d feel better with yourself if you didn’t yell at Jaebum after you opened the door. So, you just stared at him.

He stared back, truly having expected you to scream at him. He had prepared what to say to you but he forgot all of that when you just looked at him, no words leaving your lips.

“Uh…” he said, lifting the plate in his hands slightly. “I brought cupcakes.”

Not having expected that – the two of you were now, clearly, involved in a wordless fight which one could surprise the other one better, – you looked down at the chocolate treats on the plate in his hands. “So you have. Are those the ones Lily brought over?”

You had moved away from the door slightly – Jaebum wasn’t sure if you did that consciously, though – and he slipped into the room. After you didn’t object against him being in your personal space – even though, technically, this room was his – he nodded with a small smile.

“I hadn’t slept with her when she brought them, though,” he said, putting the plate on the bed and sitting down next to it. “So, I’m sure they’re not poisoned.”

You let out a sound that was a mix between a sigh and a chuckle and sat down on the other side of the plate. You didn’t feel like talking about the way he’d handled everything with Lily. Actually, you couldn’t even remember why you were so upset about it, in the first place. Jaebum and Lily’s relationship – or lack thereof – wasn’t really your business. Maybe you’d allowed your personal feelings to get in the way and that’s why you yelled at him this morning. And this afternoon.

Both of you took a cupcake off the plate each and, after unwrapping it, began to eat. You stayed quiet for the most part, but when the cupcakes were halfway finished, you sighed again.

“Sorry for bursting out like that when I got home,” you said, choosing to only apologize for the most recent fight. A small part of you still considered Jaebum worthy of the harsh words you’ve said to him after Lily had left. “I had a long day at work.”

Jaebum nodded as a way of accepting your apology but didn’t make a big deal out of it, asking instead, “what happened?”

“It wasn’t… I guess it wasn’t truly horrible,” you said. “I’m just sensitive to that sort of stuff, maybe. I can’t be myself when I work – I’m not sure anyone can – so that means I can’t stand up for myself, either. I just have to let the visitors and even my superiors walk over me.”

“Yeah, that sucks,” Jaebum nodded. “You have to put up with every degrading thing they say if you want to keep the job.”

“Exactly.”

“I laughed mid-track at my station today,” he said then and you looked at him, curiously. “I didn’t realize the mic was on when I was reading a text on my phone during one of the songs, and I just burst into laughter before a part of me went, oh, but wait… I don’t remember pressing the button.”

You tried to gasp but just the image he put in your mind made you chuckle. “Did you boss realize?”

“No, he wasn’t working today, thank God,” he said, smiling, too, now that this got you to laugh however softly. “I would have been fired for sure. He’s a no-bullshit sort of fellow.”

“I’d have loved to hear that, though,” you said. “What time is your show?”

You already knew Jaebum worked at a radio station because he’d mentioned that during one of your late-night conversations back when you still thought he was a girl, and he thought you were a guy. He never elaborated much – and you didn’t really push – so you found yourself rather excited to find out a little more about him. He was starting to feel like Def to you again.

“Two to four,” he said, explaining why he was still at home most mornings. “It’s this really uncomfortable time because most people are already done with lunch but not done with their work day yet, so no one really listens to the radio at this time.”

“What do you do there?” you asked. “I mean, what is your show about?”

“Up-and-coming artists,” he said, sounding unusually sad. “They’re not really that, though. I just basically play underrated songs that no one knows. People send them to me – well, not to me, personally, but to the radio station – and I pick the ones I like the most and play them. It takes me a while to get through all the Soundcloud mixtapes we get sent, but I don’t mind. I don’t get to talk a lot during the show.”

“I can imagine how many days you make by doing this,” you said and Jaebum gave you a confused look, so you explained, “well, I think when someone hears their song on an actual radio, they really lose their shit, you know what I mean? It doesn’t matter to them what time the radio show is on. They’re just excited to hear their song playing and they’re probably very grateful to whoever chose it. You’re the reason for their happiness.”

“Huh,” Jaebum looked away from you, a slight rosy shade adorning his cheeks. “I-I forget that sometimes. The job—it’s all mechanical. I listen to music without thinking much of the artist, but you know what? You’re right. If it was my song playing there, I’d be losing my shit as you put it.”

You snickered at that but then an idea hit you. “Why don’t you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Play your own song at the radio,” you said, reminding him – and yourself, too – that the two of you knew more about each other than you had pretended to know for the sake of acting as hateful roommates to each other. You weren’t really complete strangers to each other, after all.

“Oh, man, no,” he shook his head, his eyes scanning the room wildly for a way to change the topic. He was like this when it came to his music. He refused to talk about it overly much over texts but he was even worse in real life. “Anyway, I came here to make amends and maybe make you feel better about your day at work. Shocking, yeah? But, look what happened: it’s you comforting me.”

You laughed. “Get out of my room before we actually bond.”

He laughed at this, too, but then stopped, “oh, well, technically, this is my room.”

“Oh, I’m not going back to sleep in my room,” you said. “You had sex there, that mattress is… marked.”

“Oh, God,” he visibly cringed at your choice of wording. “I changed the sheets, I’m not some animal.”

You chuckled, but your mind was starting to wander. Now that you’d finished eating Lily’s cupcakes and the topic switched to Jaebum and Lily’s previous activities, you couldn’t help but remember Jaebum’s scared face when you told him a girl had been knocking on your door.

And then, before you could think twice about it, you asked, “hey. Remember, the other day, when Lily first came over?”

“Yeah?”

“When I told you that there was a girl behind the door, your face kind of…” you couldn’t find a way to describe it properly but Jaebum seemed to understand what you were getting at as he looked away, his face paling slightly again. “Uh, what was that about, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“It’s nothing,” he tried to dismiss it. “I just… for a moment, I thought it could have been my ex-girlfriend. She’d reached out to me recently but I didn’t reply and I thought she might have found where I lived.”

Oh, this was loaded. You didn’t know Jaebum had a clearly problematic ex, but, more than that, you had no idea she was trying to get back together with him and he was, evidently, terrified of that. There was so much you wanted to ask him but before you opened your mouth, he stood up from the bed, taking the empty plate with him.

“Anyway,” he said in a somewhat forceful way as if he was letting you know that you weren’t going to discuss this topic further. “I’m going to go to bed. Well, your bed. You sleep here.”

You tried to smile despite the change of topic. “You don’t mind that?”

“No,” he shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I don’t.”

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