#and the info they do not have being that there won’t be any negative consequences to their actions

[yourqueenb]

I kind of want to do this for Theo, but I also can’t get past how stupid this is. I know it says there won’t be any consequences, but still the idea of MC and an injured Theo wasting time and energy wandering around on the flooding lower decks to save objects when they should be trying to escape is so asinine to me, especially given the information they as characters have/do not have

[ramblings-of-a-fangirl-blog]

Embracing Mental Health? Looking At The Companion’s Approach

I want to write about The Companion's focus on mental health and their related projects.

When The Companion first announced their book, several of my friends and I had mixed feelings. While the project had the potential to help many, it also had the capacity to cause harm, and we weren't sure which way it would go, since The Companion had not proven to be a safe space by then. By now, these initial concerns have not only been confirmed but have even surpassed our expectations in a negative way, sadly.

It’s clear that the people at The Companion never have experienced a certain... form of mental health struggle, because if they had, they would be well be aware of the issues and dangers that come with the way they are handling the project, and they would therefore be talking and acting differently. To some degree that’s a good thing, as I wouldn’t wish my worst enemy to have the experiences I had and am having, the experiences that part of my fandom friends have, the experiences that a lot of traumatised people go through. However, there are people who – as far as I’m aware – aren’t struggling with mental health themselves and still have voiced the same concerns, showing that it's possible to recognize the problems with The Companion's approach without having experienced severe mental health struggles firsthand.

The Companion is months into lauding themselves of promoting mental health awareness, yet they haven’t been consulting professionals. This is apparent in their lack of adherence to trauma-informed practices. I won't delve into the principles of trauma-informed practice, such as safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment, or the topic of trauma and its consequences as that would go beyond the scope of this text and you can look that up. These principles are however essential for handling sensitive topics like mental health.

When The Companion announced the book, our primary concern was the safety of the submission process. What would they do to ensure us that submitting stories would be safe, to show us they are trustworthy? How would they handle the story selection transparently? How would they support those, whose stories were not chosen, to minimize the risk of flashbacks, mental breakdowns, or re-traumatization due to rejection? The answer has become clear: they won’t. They have not made any effort to assure contributors that their stories will be handled safely and respectfully. Instead, they have set numerous guidelines for what “they’re looking for”, what constitutes a “good” story, turning it into a writing contest. If your story isn’t chosen, it seems it’s your fault for being a bad writer. They also disregard dyslexic individuals or non-native English speakers, as submissions with “typos and grammatical errors” might also be rejected. They aren’t just not providing information on how they will handle rejections in a trauma-informed manner but placing the burden of rejection squarely on the writer. Their message is essentially: “Be vulnerable, be open, be emotional, but if this process or the rejection leads to mental health issues and triggers you, that’s not our problem, it’s not even something we’ll address in any way because it doesn’t even cross our minds that it could be a problem.”  Safety is among other things fostered through giving information and thereby the chance to mentally prepare oneself, to know what to expect – what’s going to happen, when and how. Give me as much control about the process as possible. However, the submission process lacks more information. When submitting, contributors agree that their stories can be used in “any other project and format,” which is such an unclear wording that it offers no reassurance at all that I will have control over how my story will be used once I submit it. There is no information on if and how a submitted story can be edited. And there’s the info that the submission can be withdrawn but not a clear deadline. The fact that they’re not publishing all questions at once, while to some degree understandable, goes again against the principle of providing control and safety. If I know what all the questions are that gives me the option to calmly decide for which question my story would fit best. Of course, an easy dismissal could be, “If you’re too unstable to submit stories, don’t participate,” but considering this is all about embracing mental health, such a stance would be cynical.

Beyond the submission process, there have been other red flags throughout the project. Starting with the price: $99. For that amount, I can buy three handmade quiet activity books for children, which literally take hours to make. It’s hard to believe the printing of one single book costs $99, and hard to believe one could set a price before having any content ready. Transparency about the cost would help, and no, vague descriptions like "little details," "holes in the cover," or "a thread" do not count as transparency. I can buy an awl for $4 and make my own holes, and a piece of thread costs less than $1. These titbits of information do not explain the cost. We are unable to imagine what could justify the cost but even if we assume the book actually costs $99 to print, this price makes it unaffordable for those most in need. If the price is not something that makes you think, you likely can afford therapy well. You are privileged. Still, how can you not see that the price is an issue for others and that a book about/for mental health should never cost that much? I can get books by actual professionals like Bessel van der Kolk or Bruce Perry for a fraction of that price. Also, what about the Kickstarter? A Kickstarter to pre-order books and to cover all additional expenses for design and whatnot would’ve made sense. Yet not only is it unclear what a Kickstarter is needed for now, it also was originally announced to be starting at Basingstoke and without any information it just got postponed. I repeat: Creating safety by giving information would be the trauma-informed approach but that’s not happening. “But it will be available for free online!” All the promotional focus has been on the physical book's aesthetics, how good it will feel in your hands, how shiny it will look, how many details it will have. Those struggling with mental health and financial instability won’t get that tactile experience. So... is it more important for the book to look as fancy as possible or to be affordable and accessible to those who truly need it? The Companion’s priorities seem clear: appearance over accessibility. After all, it’s all they’ve focused on during the promotion: “This is how good the book will look” instead of “Here’s how we will make the story collection process safe for you,” which – again – is what most actually traumatised people actually wanted to know. The priorities are... weird. Making the book less shiny to make it more affordable doesn’t seem to be an option and by that, they fail the goal of supporting people struggling with mental health, in my opinion.

In fact, throughout this whole process, there has been so much focus on the marketing part and hardly any on the ‘embracing mental health’ part, outside of the interviews. Most recent example from the pin campaign: The email I just received, “Pledge until midnight to get these freebies.” But also other examples from the book, like the fact that the pre-orders had a limited number. “Give a sense of urgency and scarcity to get people to buy quickly” is a marketing strategy that, in my opinion, has no place in a project that is about mental health, where people need time to make decisions, where people need time to save money, where people don’t need to be put under additional stress, and where people might take time-outs of social media and newsletters for mental health reasons. Another focus has been counting numbers. “Let’s get xxx subscribers! Let’s get xxx people to join the waiting list!” Again, a potentially fun way to promote a project or a company. Yet again, focusing so much on such a superficial thing instead of a trauma-informed approach and instead of, say, a discussion about how to support people struggling on social media, makes the priorities weird again. ...because throughout the months I’ve seen various people writing about being at a low point in terms of mental health, in reply to posts by The Companion, and the supposedly so supportive fandom didn’t react.

What even does “embracing mental health as a fandom” mean, outside of the interviews? The Social Hour chats? The Companion did a good job at showing right away that this was not a safe space for me, by starting with the question of “What smell reminds you of childhood?” and expecting nice, fluffy answers. My answer is “vomit” and it’s not memories I want to talk about, nor do I want to listen to other people’s nice, fluffy childhood memories. That question made it clear right away: Not well-suited for people with cPTSD. The 60 for 60 challenge to get people thinking about things? The first post I saw was the question “What if you were forced to do a do-over, how would you relive your life in 2024 as a 15-year-old?” and my first thought was, “if I had to relive my life as a 15-year-old in the situation that I was in as a 15-year-old but with the knowledge I have now, I wouldn’t. I’d off myself.” And that thought was immediately followed by anxiety and flashbacks. Only on a second look at the post did I see that it didn’t specifically state that it would have to be the same situation that the person was in as a 15-year-old, but then, that quickly also made me want to ignore that challenge. Positivity chitchat? Positivity is good. Looking for glimmers is good. Toxic positivity isn’t. The focus on post-traumatic growth, a concept that hasn’t actually been properly validated by research, isn’t. Yet this is what The Companion aimed at with their questions for the green room sessions not once but twice: “The last few years have been really tough for many of us and our lives have changed. What’s one way your life has changed for the better you’d like to share with the group?” “Reflecting on the challenges you've faced, what's one positive insight or lesson you've gained that you'd like to share with others?” A friend commented that they’d dare The Companion people to ask Amanda with a straight face what positive insight she gained from experiencing eight miscarriages. The questions can be answered if your mental health struggles aren’t related to trauma or if they don’t go beyond a certain depth of struggle. Together with the financial situation, the target group of this project seems to be people with good income who struggle with life challenges such as the death or sickness of loved ones, bullying at work, etc. All very serious issues and things that are bound to have a negative impact on mental health. That’s just one subgroup of people struggling with mental health, though. And I’m not saying that there aren’t people with PTSD and cPTSD who have benefited from what The Companion is doing, I’m sure there are. I'm also not expecting The Companion to be a trigger-free space – that's impossible given the different life experiences of people. However, having a professional supervising the process and adherence to trauma-informed principles is not too much to ask.

The middle-term consequences? While I'm speaking primarily from my own experience, some friends share similar concerns. The middle-term consequence is that what comes with these projects is an additional stress factor for conventions, it makes me feel additionally unsafe. I can unsubscribe from The Companion’s newsletter, avoid their social media and just not keep track of these projects anymore. I have however been going to Stargate conventions and conventions with Amanda regularly. I ended up struggling with additional anxiety after The Companion’s panel at Basingstoke. I’ve skipped the last two conventions in the USA despite having the time and money to attend. The heavy presence of people who are clearly not trauma-informed and the fact that I can identify them by their T-shirts and hoodies, makes me feel unsafe. If you actively support a company that's selling a book that’s aimed at mental health and costs $99, I don’t trust you.  For the moment, I’m not sure what that means when it comes to Amanda. I owe her so much. I’m not sure if I would be here if it hadn’t been for her kindness and care. I appreciate and respect her deeply and am immensely grateful. Yet, I struggle to understand how she’d support a $99 book and that makes feel disconnected from her, too, even if I don't doubt the good intentions, and I know of others who are feeling similary. I don’t know what this will mean, moving forward. The thought of the potential loss of one safe person and one safe space is stressful. In addition to the impact on conventions, there’s the danger of people feeling once again (and by ‘once again’ I mean given their traumatic past experiences) excluded. The message seems to be: “You’re not alone. But no, not like that. If you’re not stable enough, here’s a list with professionals. You don’t get to be part of this clique because we’re not going to care about being trauma-informed and a safe space. You’re too broken for our group.” (On a side note, I find it interesting that none of us can connect to the whole hype around the enamel pins. If I were to wear a mood pin, I’d choose something simpler like the Mood Tracker by AtelierEumori. However I very probably wouldn’t tell strangers my mental health state to start with as it would feel unsafe and with safe friends I would talk directly if needed, so I wouldn’t use a pin to start with, but then different people have different preferences. If the pins by The Companion help even one person that’s good.) So, for me and some of my friends, The Companion’s approach not only fails to support a subgroup of people struggling with mental health but actively contributes to further distress.

“You’re just a hater, looking for something to complain about.”  I don’t actively participate in social media; I primarily use it to stay up to date with news from the pages I follow. I have, however, seen some public criticism directed at The Companion. It’s notable that this criticism is often met with dismissal or even attacks from The Companion’s followers, while The Companion itself remains silent. Outside of a form after the initial interview with Amanda, there hasn’t been an option to provide anonymous feedback, nor has The Companion created a safe enough space for non-anonymous feedback to be feasible. I know of persons who have refrained from voicing the points, the critique I’m discussing here because they fear hateful responses. This is particularly problematic because a key feature of trauma is the experience of being silenced. Personally, I wasn’t allowed to voice or even have an opinion as a child and teen, as daring to voice any protest would immediately result in additional abuse. This situation presents again a risk for re-traumatization and further marginalizes those already struggling with their mental health. The silence that comes from people not daring to speak up leads to a sense of “I’m overreacting, I must be a bad person.” Déjà-vu. Only once I started speaking with others I noticed that I’m not at all alone with these concerns, that I’m not the only person who’s experiencing a negative impact on their mental health from what The Companion is doing. The aim of this post is not to get The Companion to change, the damage is done. The aim is to make others who might feel alone with these thoughts feel less alone.

Edit: It's 'you should forgive your abuser' now. I’m speechless… Just a quick reminder for all survivors out there: No, you don’t need to forgive to heal.

[esther-dot]

So re Jon's legitimacy v. bastardy conversation. FWIW, when the annulment/marriage plot point was revealed in season 7, Linda of Elio and Linda fame, had a twitter conversation with another user and Linda basically implied she was skeptical of the annulment because it wouldn't fit in-universe rules and a poly-marriage would have made more sense as there is "precedent" for that (because ya know targs are going to targ). Linda and Elio are essentially GRRM's canon fact checkers so I found that interesting. Also, in one of Jaime's flashbacks I think, this was after the rebellion popped off and R decided to show his face in KL I suppose (so I'm assuming after any alleged marriage took place/after L got knocked up), he told Jaime something to the effect that he was putting "my wife and children" in your hands/care (which lmao). So he did still refer to E as his wife which I know, I know the bar is in hell. Don't get me wrong, R is POS but I do think in his warped mind he did care for E, didn't think he humiliated beyond comprehension (yet again, lmao), and loved his children. Also, wasn't he obsessed with the "dragon having three heads" so I don't think in his mind he intended to throw away E and their children (I'm not saying I agree with that sentiment myself) but in terms of GRRM's authorial intent I think this is where he was getting at.

(in reference to this convo)

Oh, thank you for that info, anon! I’ve never followed those people closely but I’ve certainly heard them mentioned a lot, and know Martin considers them kinda experts on his world. (How weird is it to think about reminding the author of what he has written!) I’ve been struck by some of Martin’s comments to fans about them thinking about a certain thing more than he has or his recent comment about how he’s making things up as he goes along and felt that as fans, we look at things on a very strict/nailed down kinda way, whereas for him, the endpoint for our mains are fixed, but he’s exploring his world and developing it as he goes. Something I find so interesting is that he’s chosen to write about the past and the future, unfolding things as we read that change what we know, that mean what we know isn't.

With the entire fandom agreeing about R+L=J, it's easy to forget that technically, it's still a mystery being spun-out. To me, it is so omnipresent, it requires plot significance ie I feel that Jon will need to be trueborn and deal with the consequences of having a claim, but Martin has such a unique twist on things, it's hard to know which way that goes. He could take it mostly negative, the purpose be to derail Jon's life-- a subversion of how the hidden prince trope usually plays out-- and it be the means to dethrone him, not give him a happy ending. As in, say Jon is accepted as a legitimized Stark, becomes KitN, and then suddenly, this revelation. Usually unexpected parentage reveals result in a crown, Martin could decided to use it to take one away. After all, Robb wrote that will thinking Jon was his father’s son, and it seems to me that as understandable as his choice was in the moment (fears about the Lannisters getting Winterfell), I have to think Martin won’t “reward” it in the narrative by having it play out nice and neat. That solution seems destined to create chaos when we think of the R/L bombshell.

This:

Don't get me wrong, R is POS but I do think in his warped mind he did care for E

is something I've wondered about. Here is the line that I think you’re remembering:

Prince Rhaegar burned with a cold light, now white, now red, now dark. "I left my wife and children in your hands."                 

"I never thought he'd hurt them." Jaime's sword was burning less brightly now. "I was with the king . . ." (ASOS, Jaime VI)

which I think speaks more to Jaime’s feelings of failure/guilt than to Rhaegar’s perception of Elia since elsewhere there’s a mention of it being Aerys who wanted Jaime in KL. And yet, the way Martin writes about Rhaegar in different POVs and some of his comments made me think he feels very differently than I do about the character. The way Elia and Rhaenys' deaths are placed primarily on Tywin and The Mountain's heads which is true, except, none of that would have happened if Rhaegar hadn't set the whole catastrophe into motion with the Lyanna mess means I find the guy an absolute loser. I just can’t get past poor little Rhaenys hiding under his bed, thinking her father might save her when her father had run off with another woman in pursuit of an additional child. I suppose, the story is showing the dangers of being guided by prophecy and creating our own destruction, but in the words on the page, I don’t see the contempt that I feel for Rhaegar. 

So yeah, I have my feelings and I try to differentiate between them and what Martin intended the takeaway to be.

[avidrawsthings]

Since the post detailing the bullying Reina endured wont show up why not just do a recap instead?

IDK what is it with this damn site refusing to let me publish it lol It won’t even let me publish the second draft I made and instead just keeps giving me those annoying little cutesy error messages. Third time’s the charm I guess. One day I’ll learn to actually keep things very brief.

Going forward, trigger warning for harassment, bullying and sl*t-shaming. I’ll keep it as brief as possible and divide it in sections to keep it organized. Images will be included to provide visuals while also avoiding the massive wall of text this would be otherwise. Since I want to cover everything in a single post, this is gonna be quite lengthy despite my efforts to shorten them as much as possible. There will be 6 parts total. Sorry in advance. While each part is short it’s still a long post. XD Hope it’s a decent read for those interested.

Context regarding Merula’s characterization: Thanks to a number of factors playing out differently, the Merula in my setting had become incredibly toxic by Year 5. Basically she faced actual consequences for everything she’s done since Year 1. Since Reina’s relation to Ricardo (Jacob) was never public, Merula didn’t have the MC’s scrutiny as an excuse to get away with her bullying. As a result, she gained a reputation of being violent and destructive due to lashing out at the foreign transfer student (Reina)for no real reason. The frequent comparisons to her Death Eater parents didn’t help matters either. Instead of reflecting and learning to improve herself, Merula just blamed everything on Reina and let those negative feelings fester over the years, turning her into the person she became by Year 5.

Tldr: Merula’s a straight up villain in Year 5.

Pt.1: Beginning

As Reina had sensed pure malice from Rakepick the moment they met back in Year 4, she’s refused to be anywhere near the woman. Into year 5 this extended to Reina refusing to take Defense Against the Dark Arts, and she never became one of her apprentices. Reina resolved to break the curse on her terms and worked alongside Rowan, Talbott, Ismelda, Barnaby, Jae, Tulip, Badeea and Chiara. Despite the stresses that came with it, for Reina it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle.

The following November, Reina had attempted to warn Merula about Rakepick’s true intentions, but the Slytherin girl wasn’t having it and instead lashed back rather violently. With this Reina was completely done with Merula, however Merula wasn’t done with her.

Merula wanted Reina to be miserable and be driven to leave the school. It wasn’t just about being the strongest witch anymore. Reina’s attempts at warning her became her excuse for making plans to ruin the girl’s life by any means necessary.

Merula approached Emily Tyler of all people, as she knew perfectly well that the petty Gryffindor had it out for Reina as well. Two years prior Reina cursed and humiliated her after she (Emily) insulted Bill. Emily and Merula formed an alliance to get back at Reina.

Thanks to everything she gathered about Reina over the years of spying on her, Merula passed on any info to Emily that could be used to incite some much needed damage. Emily twisted that information around into some awful rumors.

Pt.2: Rumors

The rumors started by depicting Reina as a power-obsessed glory-hound, seeking out the vaults for nothing more than personal gain. When Rowan attacked her in the courtyard while under the Imperious Curse, this gave the witnessing students the impression that they were fighting and Rowan has had enough.

Reina’s refusal to work with Rakepick was seen as her viewing the woman as competition. It was that rumor specifically that began to drive a wedge between her friends. When everyone gathered at the library, Reina made it clear why she avoided Rakepick. By that point she’s always been honest, especially as Reina has always been a bad liar and her friends knew that. This time should’ve been no different, but Reina quickly found out some of her friends were already doubting her.

Charlie would be the first to question her claims, and while he had no ill intentions whatsoever, to Reina it felt like a slap to the face. Although she didn’t have proof to her claims, all of them knew she’d never lie. This is what led to the groups splitting in two: those that sided with Reina due to their own mistrust of Rakepick consisted of Rowan, Talbott, Ben, Tulip and Chiara. Barnaby, Ismelda, Jae and Badeea would join them later.

During that time Penny was not in the best mental state thanks to Beatrice’s situation. Merula took advantage of this and manipulated her over time into hating Reina. Penny was led to believe Reina didn’t care about the afflicted students at all, and the earlier rumors weren’t helping her case. Seeing Reina celebrating their second Quidditch victory with her teammates only enraged Penny, leading to her verbally lashing out at Reina in front of the entire common room.

Penny only stopped when Skye angrily told her to back off, and Sprout demanded to speak with her. Her friendship with Reina was severed on very bad terms. Merula had no real gain to this other than causing as much harm as possible. She proudly admitted it to Barnaby and Ismelda when they confronted her about it. The two officially cut ties with Merula at that point, disgusted and troubled at her lack of remorse.

Reina did her best to keep moving forward, but now with the added loss of her friendship with Penny and sensing nothing but hate from her, she now felt overwhelmed. By the following Quidditch practice, she fainted and had to be hospitalized after Orion couldn’t get a pulse.

Just as she recovered, the rumors became far worse.

Pt.3: Harassment, Bullying and Vandalism

After Christmas break, Emily spun more rumors that were ensured to hit Reina where it hurt and ruin her positive reputation.

With the knowledge that Reina took secret trips with Bill and Charlie the year prior to the Forbidden Forest, and again earlier in the year to the Prefects Bathroom (before the group split), the true context was left out and things were spun into something far more explicit.

Being portrayed as a whore caused a good chunk of Reina’s Muggleborn classmates to turn against her. What made it more difficult for her was the disdain she sensed from them because of things about her that were nowhere near true. This became one of those times Reina hated her Empathy and found herself wishing she could either shut it off or never have it again.

Soon her items, desks and Quidditch robes got vandalized and had terrible words etched/painted on them. Spells would get thrown at her out in the halls and she had to stop answering mail out of worry they were tampered with. While she still fought back and cursed those responsible, these people would not let up now that they got a reaction out of her.

She now had to deal with accusations of doing explicit things to not only get on the Quidditch team, but also to get all of her good grades. When the professors quickly caught wind of this they were absolutely furious. After some stupidly bold students confronted Snape thinking the rumors were true, they received detentions for the rest of their time in school, and failed out of his class. It didn’t take long for him to find out Merula had some involvement in this.

During Hufflepuff’s third Quidditch match, Reina was deliberately injured far more than her teammates by members of the opposing team. Though they were disqualified and banned, Reina had to be hospitalized for weeks because of her injuries. This caused her to miss her Quinceanera (15th birthday), something she had been looking forward to nearly all her life. Her family assured her they’d have the party for her that following summer, putting her at ease.

After being released from the hospital wing, Reina was accompanied by Rowan and Chiara back to their dorm to get her books while everyone else was at lunch. To their horror they find Reina’s bed, past gifts and belongings completely destroyed.

The only things she had left were the clothes on her back and the items in the schoolbag she was carrying. Devastated and reaching her breaking point, Reina ran off campus and went into hiding. The only ones that knew of her location were Rowan, Talbott and Madam Rosmerta. When she saw how distressed Reina was, she gave the girl her brother’s apartment to use.

Rowan and Ismelda gathered with several of the others, collected all necessary evidence and publicly exposed Emily, Merula and the other bullies, who were then punished accordingly. Although Reina’s name had finally been cleared, her sudden “disappearance” started a new set of rumors. This time around Emily, Merula and the group of bullies were met with suspicion from the other students, thinking the goons were involved in her vanishing somehow.

Merula was now subjected to harassment of her own and once again had to deal with accusations of being just like her Death Eater parents.

Reina would not return to the school for the next 50 days. Before she left, thanks to Duncan and Rowan she had reached out to Peeves by bringing up his friendship with Ricardo, and offered to create some chaos-inducing spells with his input, which caught his attention. While they were making some decent progress, it was put to a halt with her sudden departure.

Not pleased with the rude interruption to his chaotic plans, he decided to give Merula an especially difficult time after learning she drove Reina away to take her place. When Rakepick called Merula out on her behavior, the Slytherin volunteered to acquire the painting by herself (not that anyone wanted to work with her anyway) as a form of redemption.

Pt. 4: Retaliation

Although Reina was out of the way, it wasn’t enough for Merula. Still desperate for Rakepick’s approval, she began to sabotage just about anyone she felt would get in her way, including fellow apprentices.

Looking to get even, Merula and the bullies went after Rowan (glasses were broken), Ben (ambushed and beaten badly), Barnaby (ambushed with curses and hospitalized) and Ismelda (ambushed and her hair forcibly cut). Charlie’s arm was purposely broken in Gryffindor’s next Quidditch match, while Bill would be hospitalized thanks to one of his books being cursed.

Merula and some goons openly confronted Talbott on the courtyard as he was reading, and the Slytherin girl not only exposed his relationship with Reina, but also mocked his dead parents. She bragged how she overheard his conversation with Reina 2 years prior as they searched for his missing necklace and why it was so important to him.

Despite being furious and disgusted, Talbott maintained his calm long enough to realize the thugs were there to make sure he couldn’t get away. He was internally thankful he Obliviated her those years back after she found out he was an Unregistered Animagus, as without a doubt she would’ve exposed that as well just to spite him.

He was able to overpower the goons after using Wind Magic.

With Merula being the last one standing, he challenged her to a duel on the spot. She gladly accepted but was quickly defeated after Talbott called her out on everything she had done, ending by sarcastically wishing her luck in acquiring the painting from Peeves. By that point she had been trying for over a week.

25 days into hiding, Reina was in a much better mental state. She continued her work with Peeves in secret after having Rowan and Duncan pass the message along. Reina found the perfect targets in the form of all her tormentors, and was eager to get back at them for everything they put her and her friends through.

With her new resolve, her wand would transform into a staff, signifying she was ready for the next step in her magical journey. The staff allowed her to use stronger magic and she soon got to work.

Pt.5: Consequences

After the awful things she said to Reina months prior, Penny had since been shunned by most of her fellow Hufflepuffs. A lot of them thought she was working with Merula and avoided her entirely because of it. While untrue, all that mattered to Penny was Beatrice’s well-being.

Unfortunately she drove away her friends as well, angrily lashing out at them out of belief they sided with Reina, when in truth all they wanted was to help. Ismelda would be the one to finally snap her out of it by calling her out on her behavior, and making Penny hit the realization that she hurt Reina so badly there’s a high chance she’ll never be forgiven. This would haunt her for the rest of her time at school.

Merula herself lost all of Rakepick’s trust and respect after the woman figured out what she had done.

Rakepick was fully aware of what Reina said about her and didn’t care in the slightest. The girl still prioritized breaking the curse and it was pretty obvious Reina would still join the rest of the group when they headed to the next vault. While evil in this setting, Rakepick still had a degree of respect for Reina and the apprentices, even if they were only useful pawns to her.

If there’s one thing Rakepick hated, it was having her time wasted, which is exactly what Merula had accomplished. She only decided to give the girl one last chance after she pleaded to get the painting from Peeves herself. Rakepick knew it was next to impossible for Merula to do it on her own due to her own decisions and behavior. The only way Merula would contribute to the chaos Peeves wanted was to be subjected to it herself, and Reina made sure she would.

Two weeks after Merula took on the task, she along with Emily and the other bullies appeared to have been struck with astronomical levels of bad luck. It all started after they received black roses in the mail, while Merula found a bunch on her bed. The only warning she received were that black roses symbolized hate, and whoever sent them was after the recipients now.

The group got subjected to all manner of pranks left and right not just from Peeves, but a few anonymous students (Tonks, Tulip and Jae). The pranks worsened over time, ranging from items like Glitter and Confetti Bombs manifesting out of thin air to attack them, pies to the face, Stink Bombs in their school bags and even a Jinx that left most of them in clown makeup that wouldn’t come off for hours. Knowing that the group was cursed, the other students avoided them.

Pt.6: Resolution

Reina at that point returned to the school, barely paying attention to the surprise her classmates had upon seeing her. The only thing she cared about was seeing the work she created with Peeves’ help: all of the spells inflicted on her tormentors. The Clown Face Jinx was actually Ricardo’s creation, and Reina used it at Peeves’ request. When Merula found out Reina was back, she angrily demanded the painting from Peeves after dishing out some (empty) threats, only to be met with paint splatter and confetti bombs. Seeing Reina as a threat to her goals, Merula headed to the courtyard where she found the girl waiting for her.

Merula demanded a duel to settle things between them once and for all, and Reina obliged. She’s defeated thanks to Reina’s new array of spells thanks to her staff. Merula makes one last ditch attempt at getting back at Reina by claiming she’s the one wasting everyone’s time with petty self-serving drama, but by that point no one buys it. Her name had already been cleared while Merula’s was pretty much done.

To get back at Merula one last time, Reina reveals the role she played in the pranks and that she received the real painting from Peeves after she arrived back at the castle, making Merula’s earlier threats against him even more pointless. She decides to put her foot down and make it clear going forward that Merula (and anyone else) would never bother her or her friends ever again, nor would she spy on them like she had done so much in the past. The choice was simple: leave them alone or face the consequences. The pranks were just a warning. Merula didn’t say anything after that.

Later on, several of the bullying thugs were expelled. Emily would have to repeat her 7th year due to poor scores on her N.E.W.Ts, barely avoiding expulsion herself. In regards to Merula, the Ministry decided keeping her at school was the logical option. Knowing well of who her parents are, and with the documentation of her past and current actions, they didn’t want to deal with the child of Death Eaters being set loose on the Wizarding World to do who knows what.

In the end, Reina got vindication after Rakepick revealed her true colors at the buried vault and attempted to kill her and her friends. The vault crew consisted of Bill, Charlie, Merula, Ben, Penny, Rowan and Reina herself. The friends that doubted her words apologized, while she herself also apologized for how she handled it. Penny kept her distance from her friends, both to focus on Beatrice and also due to feeling shame for her actions. By that point Reina had no interest in speaking to her.

It took Merula being subjected to the Cruciatus Curse by Rakepick to finally understand Reina was right about the woman all along. Had she listened to Reina’s warning rather than carry out her little revenge plot, she could’ve been better prepared. Not that Merula would ever admit it outright.

Had she been just the least bit rational, she’d at least still have Barnaby and Ismelda on her side, but instead she was all alone with only her thoughts for company. Deep down she felt she deserved all the bad things that happened to her. The only thing that kept her going was her desire to get revenge on Rakepick, and was more than willing to throw her entire life away to do it.

[causticsunshine]

SOME LTWT PORTLAND SHOW INFO (+ what i’ll be up to during night two):

first things first because the seattle venue is being a wet blanket about all flags and signs, portland’s venue, the roseland theatre—which i’ve been to before for both lights and chase atlantic shows and actually has decent floor space and a good view of the stage from the side balconies!—is being cool:

and some camping and line info because this is important, especially considering how some shows have been doing in this regard:

NO CAMPING, NO SHOWING UP BEFORE 6AM, AND NO WRISTBANDS!

SO DON’T CAMP OUT, BE AWARE IF YOU START LINING UP BETWEEN 6-9AM THAT SECURITY WON’T BE THERE UNTIL 9, AND IF SOMEONE LEAVES TO GO TO THE BATHROOM, GET FOOD OR SOMETHING TO DRINK, ETC., MIND YOUR MANNERS AND LET THEM RETURN TO THEIR SPOT AND/OR REJOIN THEIR GROUP IF THEY STILL HAVE FRIENDS WAITING IN LINE!

additionally, you need to either be FULLY VACCINATED with proof of vaccination and ID to match your documentation, or have a NEGATIVE COVID TEST STAMPED WITH 72 HOURS OF ENTRY (roseland is not accepting at home testing kits!) to get in! MASKS ARE ALSO REQUIRED so do not take them off unnecessarily inside the theatre!

and if you have a ticket from the original show at crystal ballroom: you can only attend night one on march 4th! they will not be honoring crystal ballroom tickets at night two!

and last but not least regarding Yours Truly: i’ll only be attending night two and have two very random balcony seats—i only wanted one ticket and GA but etix only let me pick balcony even though i got in when sales opened, then didn’t let me pick where i was sitting and gave me an extra ticket so i have two tickets in two totally different sections lmao??—but i’ll be showing up in old town around mid day with a friend so if anyone would like to hang out let me know!! all i know right now outfit-wise is i’ll have black kappa joggers on as well as a black fanny pack with 1d pins and some keychains hanging off of it, but when i know what else i’ll be wearing i’ll give an update so i’ll be easier to find for anyone who wants to say hi!

for the show itself though i’ll be attempting™️ to sneak my friend into whatever section i choose—like etix got me fucked up and also gave me one ticket for balcony AA row BB and another for balcony KK row BB….so i’ll have a good view either way lmao—because i brought them along for company’s sake and don’t want us to be separated (and yes my friend is not Aware of things but i did make them listen to the album and they did like some tracks, thank god) but we also might try to get away with sneaking into the floor/pit for the main show if we can get away with it, especially as i know @aliensyndrome is attending and has floor tickets so we won’t be totally alone down there, but🤞🤞 we can make that happen without consequence and trust that we’ll be on our best behavior taking care of ourselves, getting away from crowding, etc.!!

anyway, i hope to meet some cool people there and expect everyone attending to be smart, safe and respectful of louis, other fans, and all staff, so please be aware of and abide by the venue rules and other any guidelines put in place by security, staff, etc! 💗

[itsmeevie01]

A Moment in Time-Ch 7

MASTERPOST

Marinette was the first one to arrive at the bakery, much to her relief that evening.

After warning her parents that she had friends coming to join her, the teen hurried up the stairs to prepare for the evening. Mullo and Plagg flew off, and Marinette paused in the kitchen to pull together a snack tray, before following the Kwamii up the stairs to her room.

She made sure that while it was hidden, the box was now closer to her reach. Then, she pulled up a word document that had been idling in her computer for the past few months. The document labeled Ways Gabriel Agreste has Abused His Son.

Pulling up her email, Marinette opened her thread from the emails with Tim. Since she had the time, she may as well respond to his email.

 From: Mari_Beri2001@gmail.com

To: timdrakeeeee99@gmail.com

 Mr. Drake Wayne,

I can’t believe that I included Hawkmoth in that email! I must have been more tired than I thought. Hawkmoth has been terrorizing Paris since I was 12 years old. In the last four years, the man has possessed everyone from a toddler crying over a candy bar to a man grieving his wife’s death. My city has faced real-life myths and legends, as well as children who just wanted a nightlight. Hawkmoth will target anyone who has a negative emotion. Your ice cream dropped? You are an ice cream monster. You fail a test? Suddenly you are giving everyone passing grades. The worst part is, everyone who dies will be brought back, but the person who is possessed won’t remember anything. Many people have moved out of Paris, and most of the remaining citizens have taken up meditation and smaller forms of magic to protect themselves. Although the news won't admit it, our population had dropped quite a bit. Inside the city itself, there are about 1.9 million people now. Many have moved to areas nearby that have proved outside of Hawkmoth’s range. As far as we can tell he only strikes in the city proper. Before you ask, yes, someone is fighting him. Lady Tyche, Apate, and their new member Princess Meli will free the person of the possession and restore the city. They wield magical objects. It's theorized that Hawkmoth also wields a magical object and that’s why they’re the best suited to combat his creations.

It interests me, that you mention bringing this to Batman’s attention, but not the Justice League? Do you, by chance not trust them? I have heard that many people in Paris have called them for help, nothing has come of it, obviously. In my opinion, people don’t actually believe something is happening unless they experience it themselves. For the most part, people who come into Paris will hear rumors of Lady Tyche in passing, but since Princess Meli is new they haven’t heard of our other hero. To even most Parisians, Apate is a legend. To those who know her, she is a vigilante who will not hesitate to end a situation or clean up what the Lady and Princess won’t. Most of the time, however, she is known for following Lady Tyche’s lead. I’ve heard theories that it's because she is more violent and has a darker power than the other two. Once, I heard that she wants to protect the City of Lights, and won't use her powers unless necessary because of it. Some people think that when she uses her powers she spreads bad luck to the people nearby. On the other hand, many think that Lady Tyche leaves lingering good luck.

Sorry for the info dump, there is a lot going on in Paris right now.

Thank you for keeping an eye on Nona and Jason. Jason, as I am sure you know, can be impulsive. Nona isn’t much better. When he was here, Jason mentioned that you tend to be busy most of the time. He was surprised that you had responded so quickly as well, actually. I wanted to add that I am honored!

Thank you for the offer, but I don’t want to pry too much, if Jason is willing to part with the information, I really would like to know about their tike together. Please do not force him though. I am sure there are other ways to know what is actually going on. I do have to ask, what do you mean by ‘good spar’? do you two spar together often? If so, I do hope Jason doesn’t hurt you too often. I know that he usually put his all into everything he does, and I know that he is quite the fighter when he wants to be.

The slander is the work of a jealous girl in my class. She is of no consequence in the long run. I was surprised to find out (through you!) that the Bruce W on my commission list was for your family. Actually, don’t tell the rest of your family, but it’s not just the suits. There are a few gowns in the mix as well. Your family butler, I believe his name is Alfred, is sending me a list of measurements in the next several days.

Jason and I have known each other for as long as I can remember. If you want, ask him how we met. He will have a more concise memory since he is five years older than me. The best I can say right now is that he was the person I relied on for many years before we got separated. Since then, I think we both have grown, but I can still see who he was when he was 12 underneath everything. As I said, Jason would be the one to ask for specifics. Maybe after you ask him about how he knows my Nona?

Have a good day,

Marinette Dupain Cheng

P.S. of course I put energy drinks in my coffee! Is there any other way? If you ever want one of my recipes, let me know! I have a whole collection at this point.

 After she had sent the email, Marinette glanced over her room again to make sure everything was ready for when her friends arrived.

As she was getting up to fidget with the pictures, Chloé burst through the trap door. Behind her, Aurore followed at a more sedated pace.

“Mari! Hi! What is this? And why is she here? I thought you two weren’t talking anymore, remember? This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” Aurore raised an eyebrow at the other blonde before smiling at Marinette.

“your parents sent us up with some pastries. I think they were a little thrown off by Chloé and I arriving at the same time.” Here, the girl set the plate she had been holding that couldn’t be seen behind the more aggressive girl. “they mentioned about making sure to remind you that the past is past?” here, the two giggled as Chloé looked between them in confusion.

“Whatever!” she huffed, before flouncing over to Marinette’s chaise and settling herself there with a sniff. After the other two had stopped giggling, Marinette raised an eyebrow at Aurore in question. With a nod, the Ladybug holder turned to smile at Chloé.

“So, Chloé. We know that you and I are not exactly close, but there is something that Marinette and I wanted to bring you in on.” Here, she looked back at Marinette with a smile. Before she could continue, however, the heiress started to interrupt.

“if you two are-” Aurore’s phone started to ring, making the three pause as the girl turned to answer the call

“Mireille? Hey!” she turned and waved to Marinette, motioning her to continue with the conversation while she finished with her friend.

“No, Chloé. It’s more complicated.” Marinette leveled her friend with a look. “plus, if this was the same thing as two years ago, I would have told you earlier. You know that.” as Marinette soothed her friend, a small part of her brain reminded her that there was something that she hadn't told the girl. something that her friend would kill her for.

“Then what on earth is going on, Mari? You know it makes me nervous being out of the loop.” Marinette snorted pointedly at her friend.

“We weren’t trying to keep you out of the loop, C. it’s just…Aurore and I just realized what was going on. We wanted to make sure that we were making the right choice before going further. You have proven that we have.” Marinette paused, watching her friend. When the blonde still looked confused, the younger teen just smiled. “would Pollen like a bowl of honey?” Chloé bilked before laughing.

“Mari, dear. Who on earth is Pollen? Have you made a new friend I didn’t know about?” an indignant voice that Chloé was unfamiliar with responded.

“My Kitten hasn’t, but you have Buzz.” As Aurore finally got off the phone and turned back to the conversation, Chloé let out an ear-piercing shriek.

“OH MY GOD MARINETTE DUPAIN CHENG NO FUCKING WAY!” then, Marinette was falling backward under the force of her best friend tackling her in a hug.

 After Chloé had calmed down, the three girls spent the next four hours talking. The first 15 minutes had been about how the original two had handled living a double life for four years. After that, the girls turned their attention to the document that Marinette had pulled up.

The rest of the time was spent overanalyzing the spending Habits of the top four people on Marinette’s suspect list.

 When asked why she had the list and not Aurore, the duo explained that many times while Lady Tyche was out patrolling and being a beacon of good luck, Apate would be behind the scenes. Many a night, office buildings would register a break-in before the figure would turn into literal shadows. The security guards who would be sent to investigate would be faced with a missing pane of glass that had suspiciously black edges on the frame. Most of the time, when Apate was ready to leave, if anyone was around, they would lose their senses for the time that it took for her to leave. After, they would think that had simply blinked before getting on with their life.

Using this method, the protectors of Paris were able to cross many off their lists. In the few times, they had entered private residences, the break-in would happen when the family was away.

 Of course, Marinette’s hacking skills had come into use, as she had taught Aurore the basics a few years back. Unknowingly, the two had set their alter egos up for success.

The duo had spent more nights than they could remember curled up on a rooftop, laptops booted up. They would spend hours at a time sitting there with paper strewn around them as they raced to hack in and access as many schedules and bank statements as they could. Although it was highly illegal, the two had spent almost as much time working on the internet crossroads to narrow their such as they had fighting Akumas.

 Chloé’s awe at the work the two had put in showed. When they asked her to help them continue to narrow down the list she agreed. When she saw the first document sitting open on Marinette’s computer, the shock on her face lasted all of ten seconds before the heiress was helping her teammates dig into the private life of one Gabriel Agreste.

 When Marinette had said goodbye to her friends, Aurore left to patrol and Chloé went home with the hope that she could access more sensitive information from her father's unlocked computer. When the other two had raised concerns about it, the teen had waved them off. Apparently, the mayor was much laxer on the security of his work computer than he should be.

 After climbing up to her room, Marinette closed down all of the programs that she didn’t need to leave running overnight. As she closed out most of her browser, the teen hesitated, before she clicked into her email. Sitting there, waiting for her was an email that had been received in the middle of her session with her friends.

 From: timdrakeeeee99@gmail.com

To: Mari_Beri2001@gmail.com

Miss Marinette,

I have to say, you know quite a bit about these heroes that have been fighting in Paris. I started looking up the topics that you mentioned but couldn’t find anything. After several attempts, I used a VPN to make it seem like I was in Paris. That made the entire thing open up like a wrapped present. I must say I am surprised that it hasn’t made its way out of Paris yet. Well, I was surprised, until I was reading through some tourist guides. It seems that the new phrase is what happens in Paris stays in Paris. That, and very thorough censorship on public media. How have you made it this long in that city, without losing it completely?

I was able to flag down Signal, who is known as the Daytime Bat, and passed along what you had sent me. I included my own research as well, so don’t be surprised if they go to investigate further in the near future. Well, I guess you wouldn’t hear of it, but if they show up, it is defiantly because they are concerned.

I wouldn’t say that the JL is not trustworthy, but I trust Batman’s Gotham team more. Maybe it is the familiarity that comes from being rescued frequently from hostage situations. I trust them, and they know that I won't give them information just for the hell of it.it doesn’t help that the JL tends to make a massive mess when they come through town. I would rather they stay far away from me, thank you very much.

So, it turns out that both you and Jason are very cryptic. I don’t know how much you know of the time between when Jason was 13 and his 16th birthday, but he said that he was with a friend of your mother’s? He said that you would know her as Aunt Talia and that your mother was always the more levelheaded of the two. This was…confusing for many reasons, one of which is that your Aunt is my little brother’s bio mom. Anyway, Jason said he was with your Aunt when he met Gina, in ‘this little place in Canada.’ He mentioned an island and a bay that sounded a lot like the Bay of Fundy. If you have any idea why your grandmother would be out there, then we can puzzle out how they met. As for how they got separated, I am afraid that this time it had something to do with a chef? Something about him chasing the two of them out of town with a cleaver? Apparently, this chef is another relation of yours. Marinette, I must be honest, you have quite a few deadly relatives. you aren’t going to come through the screen and slice my head off, will you?

This afternoon, I got a call from the police station, by the way. Apparently, Jason and Gina had been busting drug gangs in their free time and there was some incriminating evidence. I am not quite sure how they got into it, but they have been issued a warning by the local Bats. You may be seeing this chaotic duo again in Europe sooner than either of us would like if this keeps up.

As to the sparing question. Jason, as I believe you are aware by now, likes to keep fit in a variety of ways. Bruce made sure all the children under his roof could fight and protect themselves. This means that while Jason may be the biggest in the family, and I am considered the smallest, I can still beat him in an even spar if I put some work into it. For the most part, I prefer not to use the same tactics that Jason uses, and since he and I tend to train at the same time, we see each other but don’t usually go head to head. I have to say it was quite a rush to beat him earlier today.

Alfred mentioned something about housing a guest who would be making sure that the family was presentable for the Gala. That wouldn’t happen to be you, would it? If you do come to Gotham, may I show you around? I know that having an experienced guide in any city makes things much easier.

On that note, I am going to make the assumption the Bruce didn’t know who he was commissioned, so I will warn you that he may ask that you get a background check done. Up until this point, he has only communicated with you through lawyers about the press fiasco. he probably won’t make that connection for a while yet.

Have a good evening,

Tim DW

P.S., of course, I would like the recipes! Any that you send would be greatly appreciated! My family thinks that I rely too much on coffee and not on sleep. Do you have that problem much? It has gotten to the point that I have a few shops that I go to that the rest don’t know I like. It’s the only way to get the sweet nectar of coffee! What is the worst thing you have done to procure caffeine? I hope your family helps you more than mine does. They say that if they didn’t monitor my caffeine intake, they would be enablers.

 Marinette giggled at Tim’s frustration with her brother. It looked like the two of them were going to keep it a secret a while longer. Although, when she did go for the Gala, and the fittings the week before, it would only be a matter of time before the Waynes figured out the two were related. After all, the features of Willis Todd are hard to hide.

Still smiling, Marinette made a note to tell the others that Batman had been notified.

Glancing at the time, Marinette reached blindly for the cold cup sitting nearby. The grey cup that was covered in pink sparkles read ‘I can’t talk right now. Leave a message after the squeak!’ The cup was one that Marinette had made after she started to wield Mullo, the mouse Kwamii, more.

Mullo and Plagg had been instrumental to her while she had been investigating the many businesses of Paris. Since then, the teen had kept the mouse around as an alternate form of defending herself. While the public had not been introduced to Little Mouse, the quiet vigilante had done quite a bit of work for the City.

As Marinette sipped on her current super coffee, (cold brew, two shots of espresso, one pump of vanilla syrup, and a mocha monster. affectionately named Minnie Mouse) she made a list of her tasks for the night. If she could send off the sketches of what the Waynes wanted for their gala pieces, then she could do the basic list of things she would need to get at the fabric store the next day. After making her list, she could start on her design for her own dress. Glancing back up to her computer, Marinette froze. She had to email Tim back at some point as well.

As she was standing to retrieve her camera and sketchbook, Marinette’s personal email dinged. Glancing over, she realized it was an email from Tim. Again. With a frown, the teen opened the message. The email was in no way close to the formal communications the two had been trading.

 From: timdrakeeeee99@gmail.com

To: Mari_Beri2001@gmail.com

MARINETTE

I AM SO SORRY. WHEN THE WHOLE PRESS THING HAPPENED, WE ALL TALKED ABOUT IT AS A FAMILY. JASON WASN’T THERE AND I JUST FOUND OUT WHY. HE AND BRUCE WERE YELLING AND I WASN’T EAVESDROPPING BUT I HAD GONE TO TALK TO B AND HE HAD BEEN YELLI GAT JASON ABOUT SEEING A SISTER.

JASON WAS YELLING AND TOLD B TO SHOVE OFF BECAUSE AND I QUOTE-

“MARINETTE WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANY FAMILY EMERGENCY AND IF VISITING HER WOULD GET HIM IN TROUBLE THAN HE WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FAMILY.”

YOU

ARE

JASON’S

SISTER

HOLY SHIT

-tim

 Marinette’s brain came to a screeching halt as she read the email once, twice, three times before letting out a string of curses. Dammit, Jason.

She collected her thoughts and pulled up an open template to respond to the other teen

 From: Mari_Beri2001@gmail.com

To: timdrakeeeee99@gmail.com

Tim. Please tell me you have taken a deep breath and have had time to reflect since you send the last email.

Yes, Jason is my older brother. Well, half-brother. My mother died when I was young, and since she had been having an affair with Willis Todd (a horrible man, by the way.) she had put his name down on my birth certificate. Catherine definitely never liked me, but she put up with my presence. Multiple times, Jason and I would run away or end up on the streets because of the fighting that would happen in that house. One day, I ran when Jason wasn’t around and was caught by CPS. Up and away I was sent to France whit the couple who had found me when I ran away from CPS. Jason thought I was dead until that scandal broke almost two months ago. That’s why he vanished. He came here to visit me. This was the first time I have seen him in 10 years. Neither of us was exactly thinking clearly.

It doesn’t surprise me that your father knows that Jason and I are siblings. However, it also wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t make it very far down that path. Jason thought I was dead for years. I kept tabs on him, but that doesn’t mean he knew about that until he got over here.

I am going to respond to your last email as well.

Yes, the current plan is for me to arrive in Gotham. About a week before the Christmas Gala. That way, I’ll have time to do any last-minute fixes. I would love to have you show me around your city if that offer is still open. I haven’t been to Gotham since I was 6 years old, so I don’t remember much of the place.

-Marinette

Ps, I’ll send those recipes soon. I don’t think you want a super coffee tonight. 😊

 After hitting send, Marinette sighed. With luck, she could have her list done by dawn. What was one more super coffee, after all?

HIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!

ok ok ok ok

i have been really excited to post this one, and actually almost posted last night! Self control? don’t know her! 

this one i think is really important because Tim and Mari aren’t super formal in their talking anymore. also...who can guess what went down with Aurore and Mari???

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[writerforfun]

Hello! So I have a question about the showing and not telling the audience, I’m in the process of writing a story in which the reader has a fear of abandonment. And I want to show the audience that the reader has that instead of telling, and I figured it would be by like the other characters talking about it. But I’m wondering if there is anything else to include in showing the audience?

Hey @hayhays

Good on you for asking. (PLEASE CHECK THE LAST PART, THAT CAN HELP THE MOST.)

My advice may not be the best but I'll do my best.

Usually, it's best to make the reader feel it rather than just show them when it comes to mental illness or trauma. You can do this but listing down the symptoms first.

When it comes to fear of abandonment, these are the following symptoms:

overly sensitive to criticism

difficulty trusting in others

difficulty making friends unless you can be sure they like you

taking extreme measures to avoid rejection or separation

the pattern of unhealthy relationships

getting attached to people too quickly, then moving on just as quickly

difficulty committing to a relationship

working too hard to please the other person

blaming yourself when things don’t work out

staying in a relationship even if it’s not healthy for you

For adults its the following:

always wanting to please others (being a “people pleaser”)

giving too much in relationships

an inability to trust others

pushing others away to avoid rejection

feeling insecure in romantic partnerships and friendships

codependency

a need for continual reassurance that others love them and will stay with them

the need to control others

persisting with unhealthy relationships

the inability to maintain relationships

moving quickly from one relationship to another

sabotaging relationships

lack of emotional intimacy

For children:

constant worry about being abandoned

anxiety or panic when a parent or caregiver drops them at school or day care

clinginess

fear of being alone, including at bedtime

frequent illness, which often has no apparent physical cause

isolation

low self-esteem

Now how to use them?

Body language, behaviour with strangers, friends and family.

Depending on the level of isolation your character has been surrounded with, they may not be able to interpret the emotions of others around them well. They would find themselves in misunderstandings quite often, misinterprets things people say or do, often assuming ill intentions.

They over-analyze even small actions of other people when they can't find with logic. They'll try to strategize her way through relationships and social constructs, treating humans like pieces on a chessboard.

They will be so paranoid they will feel burdened with even small greetings and gifts towards other, from being nervous to feeling insecure about what they will gift to the recipent.

These are just some of the things that will upset them.

Trust and bonding issues. You character will probably never be able to trust others, even when people get close to them. Even when the other person feels close and for them everything is fine, they'll feel like a thin, invisible wall is stuck between them.

Now make a list of questions on their behaviour pattern and on theri fear of abandonment

What would people abandoning them do to them mentally?

Would it make things worse?

Would isolation be something they hold close, as it is something they are so used too?

If they saw a family together, would it make them uneasy?

How badly does it effect them?

Any thing that triggeres strong reactions?

How do they cope with it?

Use this to write about their fear of abandonment.

Say your character has been in her class for a week, they just became friends with the person on their right. Ho much attention does your character pay to their needs? How does your Character push themself to please the other? How do they respond to the other infroming them they can't speak/ hang out with them/ meeting a firnd they do not know? Do they react negatively or do they pretend it does not effect them?

Tell it and show it.

Example:

Anna was the first person who spoke to me. She was the first to even look at me for the second time. Since my first introduction nealry a week before, all I could think of was to maintain this friend.

I didn't want another. So I did all I could to keep her close. I bought her gifts, bought her things, and pushed myslef closed to her. I didn't like it when she turned from me.

It made me feel like a burden to her and often all I could think of would be the soul crushing pain in my chest when they would leave. It's hard to breath then.

"I can't meet you tomorrow," Anna told me, "my cousin and I are going to hand out."

I wantted to scream and beg her to stay. Maybe I should join her? No she won't like that. Wait does she not want to hang out with me? Am I too much?

"Sure, no problem. Have fun."

Please don't hate me.

Okay my example isn't that good.

But you have to show the emotions and tell at the same time.

Before you move forward with all I worte this is the most important part:

One of the best method of writing such trauma is to see how others have written them.

Seeing scientific reseacrh for them as well.

Read some psychological articles - can be popular science, doesn't have to be the actual research articles - about the topic and look for accounts of personal experience from people who have experienced something similar to your character.

One thing that might be a good starting point to look into is attachment styles. If your character has abandonment issues she has an anxious, an avoidant or a fearful attachment style.

Anxious attachment style is basically someone who fears being abandoned and therefore requires and demands a lot of reassurance and 'proofs of love', but the way they try to gain the reassurance tends to be overbearing, exhausting, can be melodramatic or aggressive and can ultimately corrodes the love and affection their partner feels for them. They can also be prone to baseless distrust and jealousy.

Avoidant attachment style is basically someone who is reluctant to admit that they care about their partner, reluctant to show affection and is uncomfortable with emotionally close relationships and emotional expression. They assume they will be abandoned and consequently avoid emotional closeness such that the other person can't hurt them when they leave them. Their partners tend to be dissatisfied with the relationship because they don't get their emotional needs met.

Emily Grierson Fear Of Abandonment Analysis (it's a partly readable article)

Check out this feed as well for more info

Writing Fiction with Emotional Honesty (this might help)

One of the best pratice is to act out your character, be in theor shoes and see how it goes.

My adivce may not be the best and please for give me for that. If you need more infor please feel free to ask.

I hope this helps!

[dittydipity]

i keep seeing people compare akechi to adachi and that never sits right with me because while they fulfilled similar roles in p5 vs p4, they’re fundamentally different in a way that i think goes unaddressed.

tired: adachi is better than akechi or vice versa

wired: the two are different in a way that often gets overlooked and comparing them is more complicated than solely basing it on their roles

[spoilers for both p4 and p5r]

a couple of adachi's lines keeps popping up in my head. when the investigation team is confronting him, yosuke screams "I'll never forgive you" to which adachi says: "You can keep your forgiveness."

adachi's whole motivation was boredom. "Reasons...? None, really. I could do it, that's all. And it was fun... I guess that's my reason?" a true chaotic neutral.

adachi is a bumbling detective for most of the game. he's the young rookie detective: super eager about the case, a little too enthusiastic about everything going on, which makes him run off at the mouth and blurt out info. but that's all an act. adachi's whole facade was to make people think he cared about all the stuff that's happening - that he’s like everyone else. his reason for putting up the facade was so that he wouldn't be found out or caught because if that happened, his “game” would be over.

when he does get caught, he drops the whole pretense and any semblance of his clumsy, sympathetic self. he has no interest in anything that isn't exciting to him, and he unapologetically dodges blame for the consequences of his actions. he couldn't give less of a damn about what the investigation team, or anyone, thought about him.

adachi doesn't want forgiveness because he doesn't care.

on the other hand, there's akechi.

the first thing akechi did after christmas was turn himself in so that joker wouldn’t have to, and he found it preposterous when they let him walk. in his phone call to joker on 1/8 he says: “I’ll be the one to choose my path. That's how I've lived up to now, and it's going to continue from here 'til the end.” he wants to be the one to take responsibility for his decisions.

to him, being forgiven is equivalent to erasing everything he's done. that goes against everything he believes in - he wants to face the consequences of his actions, and he can't do that if they're dismissed.

a lot of people say that 3rd semester akechi is the "real" akechi, in that he’s finally free to be himself and show the true personality beneath the detective prince mask he had on during the majority of the original main story. but i don’t think that's entirely true. in the 3rd semester he's sarcastic, aggressive, and antagonistic. while that is definitely much closer to his true self than anything we’d seen before, i think he still has a wall up: he's amping up all his 'negative' traits. he wants everyone to think that this violent, unstable, unfeeling person is who he really is. he maintains an apathetic attitude because he wants everyone to believe he doesn't care about what he's done or whose lives he's ruined. if he can get everyone to see him as an unremorseful monster, then he won't be forgiven, meaning he can then take responsibility. he's not running from what he did, he owns it. akechi doesn't want to be forgiven for what he's done because he knows he doesn't deserve it.

akechi doesn't want forgiveness because he does care.

to be clear: you’re NOT meant to forgive either of them. this is more about how they go about trying to make sure of that. but in the case that you do...

akechi would throw your forgiveness back in your face. adachi would leave it to rot.

[ohnobjyx]

A snowy summer

Part 5: June + Part 6: July

Wow, rl has keep me occupied so much that I almost forgot that I haven’t finished this series yet. I think I intended to make June and July into a single post and separate April and May, I don’t know it ended up like this, but let’s roll with it.

Disclaimer: I try to keep things objective (if I include my personal opinion, it’s in cursive and in brackets), but I’m biased because of the XZ friendly content I’m usually exposed to and by my own views of their situation. Open to discussion, but please make sure you’ve enough information to do so.

In June and July there were some incidents that really had me staring at my laptop speechless, brain completely fried by what I was reading. I suppose I don’t have so much energy to invest myself in issues like those (I have enough with my own rl problems, thank you very much), but still... wtf.

School uniforms

In recent June, the welfare project done by his fans got questioned for a project. It was about some school uniforms that they donated to a school, in collaboration with another organization (BYH Foundation).

However, it was questioned because the uniform has the letter 赞 (zan) in it. It means “to approve, to support or to praise” and it’s also the internet slang for “like” (thumbs up). Because it sounds similar to xz’s name, it’s often used as a substitution for his name in internet posts. In fact, in an interview, he was asked if he preferred “xiao (little) zhan” or “xiao zan”, and he said both were fine. Some commercials use phrases with this character to refer to him.

The antis accused XZ’s fans of trying to use the students to promote their celebrity. After this, BYH Foundation issued an apology, because of “their lack of consideration”. They had wanted the word to mean “positive”, and as a wish that the children grow up healthy and optimistic. But because of the misunderstanding, the foundation expressed their regret and took back all uniforms and other materials.

Faced with this, netizens again expressed their disagreement. “Why take away the clothes if the children liked them? Why must people who complain always be right? How disappointing!”

(Personal opinion time: so… giving the uniforms is criticized. Taking them away is criticized. Can someone tell me what can they do that it won’t be criticized?)

Charity in Yunnan

In mid-June, XZ participated in a charity event in Yunnan, promoting agricultural products. XZ’s fans support association changed their name to XZ Audio and Video official w/ibo, centering their efforts in promoting his works.

His activities in Yunnan were accompanied by an interview.

Offering legal help to those affected by cyberbullying

On July 1st, XZ studio issued another statement. I think we are familiar with this one, since it’s quite recent.

This issue began on June 22nd, when a w/ibo user berated XZ for not “controlling” his fans: “… and, by letting them do as they please, you let them think that there was nothing wrong in what they were doing. Today is Fathers’ Day, and your fans dare to curse my mother and my late father. I’ll not let this go. I’ll boycott you, and if I consider it necessary, I’ll report it to the police. I’ll leave this post here, so we can come back to it and look at the source of the problem. You reap what you sow, you can’t blame me on this.” She posted a few screenshots of some people insulting her parents.

A few fans wrote to her:

“Excuse me, I’m sorry for disturbing you, I know you don’t like XZ, but XZ has been leading us fans, and I’ve seen that your account isn’t XZ friendly. Every well intentioned critic, we’ll take it, but I hope you won’t involve XZ because of the words of others, there are a lot of rational fans out there.”

The user answered:

“From the beginning to the end, he has never said: ‘don’t report maliciously, don’t insult and humiliate others, don’t curse other people’s parents, don’t look for others’ private info, don’t threaten others’. Has he said them? He hasn’t. He never elaborates, hums and haws, pass over these topics. I’ll tell you, today’s matter, I must see an apology. Either from the ones that cursed my parents or from XZ on their behalf. If there’s not apology, I’ll chase this matter to the end.”

This user released a week later a document called “Assessment on the value and risk of XZ’s fans”. She took the data from several platforms, and analysed them, getting statistics about the type of XZ’s fans. This report depicted a very negative view of his fans.

This was a very controversial issue. The heart of the controversy is that there’s no evidence that the netizen who cursed her parents is XZ’s fan. And even if they “were”, nowadays many people are deliberately posing as XZ’s fans to insult and abuse others in order to frame him.

However, with her report, the people who don’t know the heart of the matter got more ammo to insult and humiliate XZ. She updated her post, saying that she had been being investigated, that someone had tried to get her address and name, so in the comments, more and more people blamed XZ for the issue. XZ’s teams then offered their help in the form of legal advice and lawyers to help her get legal support.

The user took the offer and agreed to receive legal advice. XZ’s studio then posted their update (the one linked in the first paragraph of this section), rejecting all king of cyber bullying and offering help to protect the rights of the netizens affected by cyber violence. The Studio also spoke clearly: they won’t tolerate XZ’s fans abusing other netizens, nor people posing as XZ’s fans to attack others.

The “stolen” account

On July 11, XZ’s Audio and Video official w/ibo posted an official apology. This time, the issue was this one: a w/ibo user had “passed away” due to mental illness (depression, the user followed the supertopic about this particular ailment and had posted a few times about it). However, after their death, their account was active again, and began posting about XZ.

People attacked the user for using a deceased person’s account (comments were like “don’t you know the history of the owner of the account you’re using?”), and consequently, all of the content in that account was deleted.

The same afternoon, XZ’s Audio and Video official w/ibo issued their apology. They contacted w/ibo, and asked the user to restore the deleted content and to respect the deceased.

This was also controversial, since they couldn’t know for sure that the one who bought the account is a fan of XZ. Because of this, XZ’s fans were attacked again. W/ibo issued a post declaring that the account had been accessed through the same device from last year to present, so the account hadn’t been stolen, and they continue to investigate it.

In summary: this time, XZ’s fans had apologized too quickly. This user was someone who used 3 different IPs and 3 different accounts. They had followed the “depression” topic, posted a few things and went silent for a while, making people think they had succumbed to the illness. Then, using the same account, they started posting about XZ, making people think that the account had been stolen, and manipulated other people’s sense of justice and compassion to defame XZ.

W/ibo took the initiative and blocked all of their accounts.

(Okay, when I actually read about what happened, I was like... wtf. Seriously wtf. This is some plot going on over there, I thought this kind of defamation plots only happened in Chinese historical dramas. I... really don’t get it. I’m speechless still.)

W/ibo and XZ Studio Conference

The topic of w/ibo and XZ studio conference went on hot search on July 14, in which, they talked about fan guidance and management:

“W/ibo believes that influential public figures and celebrities should bear the responsibility of guiding and restraining fan’s behaviour, essentially through the fans’ group. But in last months, because of failed guidance and reactions, all kind of fan groups had a disruptive behaviour online, causing a harmful impact on society.

W/ibo believes that celebrities’ studios and companies should reinforce the guidance and restrain over the fans. To those who pretend to be a certain person’s fan, they should be reported and people should collaborate with the platform in its management of the issue. We can’t ignore them if these people’s actions are suspected to be illegal, and protect our rights, fulfilling legal responsibilities.

XZ’s studio has expressed their agreement with W/ibo’s recommendations, and expressed their intention to increase their level of collaboration and support of this platform’s management.”

The announcement was ended by a statement on how the latest incident has showed a very ugly and harmful part of the society, and that everyone should collaborate to improve the society and Internet. It also included a list of accounts that were banned for fake rumours and leading other fans to arguments. 

This was accompanied by an apology by XZ Studio.

(This is what some anons asked me about on their asks. I hope you can all read between the lines to get what was the deal about this one.)

From start to finish, we all can see that the platform has a lot of responsibility to bear here. That’s something people in China have also pointed out. However, XZ and his team can only nod, and bear with it, because while there is only one platform that has all the right conditions, there are a lot of more celebrities. They have to rely on it for a lot of things, so they can’t just end things with them.

So last week, his studio issued a statement that said:

“This studio appeals again:

NO entering any kind of votes, control ourselves with our comments and not calling other to participate in events.

We reject mutual insulting and abusing, don’t start group conflicts.

Don’t go over your own economic possibilities to support projects, works and commercial products.

Make sure to take care of your studies and jobs first, before following a celebrity’s projects or music.

We hope that everyone can make the most of their own lives, have independent thinking. We hope that we can all go together towards a brighter future, and give more positive energy through our actions.”

The studio called the fans to stop voting him and placing him at the top of the charts for a while, so things can cool down definitely, in my opinion. And yet, he still topped as one of the most successful endorser, from March to July (it’s really a trend that hasn’t stopped, even after 2/27. In March, two weeks after 2/27, he even topped as one of the top celebrities in w/ibo anyway). 

I heard that people kept voting for him like crazy, because they didn’t want the general public to think that he wasn’t popular. However, facts remain that he is popular among his fans, but less neutral in the general public (I’ll explain this in my last post).

That’s why it’s going to be very important how his next project is received by the general public.

←Part 4(II): Plum blossoms in the snow (II) | Part 7: To the snowy summit side by side

[lin-dorie]

Cuties/Mignonnes, from the project to the meaning and international public interactions

OK Let’s talk about it. 

Let me tell you what Cuties is really about, the meaning behind it and what you need, as an international public, to understand it properly.

/!\ Spoilers needed. 

So Mignonnes/Cuties is French-Senegalese movie produced by Bien ou Bien Production in collaboration with Netflix for international distribution. Maimouna Doucouré is an award winning director, she’s french-senegalese, 35 years old, grew up with a dad and two mothers surround by a big religious family. Nothing wrong, just a little girl having thoughts and dreams like any others. 

Mignonnes, her very first long metrage, is based on a study she conducted for the project. She interviewed hundreds of young people with her team (pedopsychologist included) to collect a lot of infos and ressources to built a movie dealing with young people anxiety, sexual discovering, bullying, social media and young black people representation in movies. 

I. Story telling from someone who watched it.

Amy is 11 year old, she came in France with her mom and little brother. While hidden, she discovered that her dad is in Senegal and will soon come back with a second wife as it is authorized by Islam and accepted in Senegal. Her mom and aunt don’t tell her anything but she saw her mom crying about the topic, not knowing what’s happening, she ressents her dad and her condition as a refugee, the typical “it was better where we were before”. 

Her family is muslim, she wore a hijab to her religious ceremonies and practice like she was told to, without the opportunity to do otherwise. In her building there’s a girl, Angelica, she has a rebellious side in opposition to her workaholics parents and she dances hip-hop style which Amy has never saw. She befriend her and her circle of friends and decided to dance with them at a local championship. In order to learn the dance and prove to them she was “cool”, she stole her cousin’s phone, got herself instagram and started relooking herself as a young woman instead of the pre-teen girl style she got before.  But, she gets her periods. She’s afraid, she’s anxious, but most of all she doesn’t understand because nobody told her. Her aunt take care of her telling her “you’re an adult now” and how she wish she’ll live a beautiful life like they are. This is a problem as Amy doesn’t know what it is to be “an adult” nor does she know what it is to grow up, and the only roles model she has at home are her sad mom and her ultraconservative aunt. So she starts acting out, comparing herself to more developped girls, tries to be like them and starts mimicing them for their dances. While fighting for the phone she stoled with her cousin, she locks herself in the bathroom and posts an intimate photo of her on instagram as a last proof she’s a woman. Obviously, she’s getting bullied in school for that, her mom come, slap her across the cheek, call her names and ground her.  Amy became depressed and in her anxiety, tries to reach out for her friends who turned their back on her so they won’t be associated with her.  Nonetheless, she succeed into entering a championship with her former-friends and are disqualifies due to highly innapropriate behaviour on scene.  She go back quickly to her house during a panic attack, her mother comfort her telling her she doesn’t have to attend her father’s wedding if she doesn’t want to. Reassured, she skip the wedding and go play with kids her age. -END-

II. Producing and interpretation. 

DISCLAIMER : Self-made interpretations as someone who’s into thoughtfull movies. It may changes from one person to another. 

As sais before, it was produced by Bien ou Bien Production which a french production corporation based in Bordeaux. They are producing movies dealing with diversity, social issues, minority representation and religious debunking. They also produced Doucouré’s award winning short film “Mom(s)” that was dealing with the topic of polygamy in Senegal, and was based on her own life. 

Being produced by them again for her long metrage was a financial security and a very good deal. She got a France TV (public channels organisation) financial deal and scored that spot into Netflix international catalog making her one of the only black french-senegalese woman director into the international catalog. 

Obviously, as it is not a movie for children/teenagers, there’s few meanings behind the already well written script : 

Growing up without ressources : Amy is a stereotypical 11yo girl who doesn’t know anything about relationships, sexuality and woman body. It is well know that parents tends to have “the big talk” with their children when they are around 15-17yo, but puberty starts around 13yo and with that : sexual desire discovery, gender identity crises and body changes. Innocents idioms like “you’re a big girl now” or “you’re not a child anymore” shortenned childhood, leaving young girls without ressources to develop themselves and, often, shame to ask for answers.

Female representations and social media : We can’t criticize this movie without putting a context around it. Our society has been developped around certains standards, weither they are socials, professional, personnal... Social media and main stream TV promote a way of life that is unattainable for 90% of us but they give us the opportunity to act “as if”. In this movie, Amy is just like one of us except that she is way too young to understand the behaviour she is immitated. You can see it when she doesn’t understand why her friends are lying about their ages, when she’s pushing a girl into the water (possibly drowning the girl), when she cries on stage in front of those parents judging her... What Doucouré is trying to show us is that little girls are little girls, they aren’t tough enough to be shown anything just because it’s socially accepted. 

Children education :  To me, this is the main purpose of the film, showing that it is important to educate children. Predatory behaviour, public image, false advertisment, relationships... There is no “right time” to talk about it, and most of the parents are too late, the fact is protecting your children is also making them understand why this behaviour is dangerous, why this outfit is innapropriate and never blame your children for mistakes they can make. Amy is the exemple of what could happen if you don’t educate your children, and she is brave enough to rise when her my mom take a step toward her to comfort her. 

Religious family and sexual education :  As an atheist, I won’t talk about metaphors behind the prayers or anything, someone who believe in their God the same way her family does will be more adequate to talk about it. But it is one of the main critic and thus, I have to share facts : The movie isn’t centered around it, the only reason it is here is because they needed a traditional figure such as the aunt, they needed a strict environment such as a religious family and they needed a twist that would put the little girl into a negative feeling, they needed her to ressent her situation as a refugee in order to criticize how it is to grow up without help. So why Islam ? Well, in France, we have two main religions : Roman Catholics and Islam. Using Islam as the main religion of the film helped them showing the good sides of this religion such as love, family devotion and loyalty.  Added 22/08/20 : Islam has a lot of branches like any other religion. In Senegal most muslim practice Soufism, find differences between the way you practice and theirs mights come from that. Especially regarding the hijab, it’s common for young people to wear their hijabs only during ceremonies.

III. Streaming plateform and international public : 

If you’ve read all this, you know now that it isn’t about girls twerking or pedo porn normalization, in fact, until Amy came into the group, the girls are doing basic hip-hop dance (well, at least they try...). So how a movie mostly acclaimed by those who saw it can be the center of such a scandal ? 

Well, first let’s talk about culture appropriation.  As a 25yo white european woman I’ve had my share of culture appropriation story, did I mean anything bad when I did it ? No. Was I ignorant ? Yes. As everybody with a little bit of dignity I reflected on myself and stopped whatever the f*ck I was doing that was innapropriate as a white woman. That said, we can’t denied that the world has absorded some part of the black africans culture when it got popularized.

Twerking is actually a mixed between dances from African diasporas (especially Mapouka and Soukous from Ivory Coast and Congo), it is known nowadays a sensual hiphop dance and there is nothing wrong with doing it when you’re a grown up in your right mind doing whatever you want to do. So why using this dance in the movie ? First, it’s part of the heritage of Amy, a 11yo girl who hasn’t lived in a occidental culture before. Second, it is a way of telling you, public, that what you do has consequences. Suggestive dances on TV, sexualized hiphop dances in the streets, rated r music video available on YT... Adult contents are available anywhere, anywhen by anywho. Children included. It is what the director, who study the subject of the impact of oversexualized content on young girls, is trying to tell you through the film. 

Now, Netflix and the art of communication. Netflix has first released a trailer, a poster and a pitch that aren’t the one used to promote the film in the first place (France included). After the start of the backlash they released another set that are stil not the one used to begin with. Why ? Because Netflix is an industry, they aren’t cinema professionnals, they aren’t critics, they are a company like any others. They didn’t watch the film, didn’t understand it and didn’t advertize it as it should : A movie for adults who want to know what they could do to help the younger generations. 

Because a movie isn’t just for entertainment, there is no film just made to amuse you, everyone is trying to tell something thanks to their art. Yes, those same young girls who acted in the movie won’t be able to watch it because they are too young, not because it is inapropriate but because the subject is too thick for them to understand it fully at such a young age. The way Netflix handle the promotion of this movie was also bad because international public can’t resonnate with it the way we do. And I include myself because I was the age of Amy not long ago, in the same country she came to. Cinemas from every country is proper to this country, we have the chance to be able to watch films from other places made by people whom don’t speak our language, have their own religion or not at all and try to reach us with their own issues and traditions. 

I’m not saying this movie will be the best of this year, and I’m not saying that everything inside of it is perfect, what I’m trying to say is that it’s easier to agree with the majority than to forge your own opinion but if you take the time to watch you’ll be able to understand others and empathize with them. 

I hope it will help some of you understand the purpose of the film, that some will be kind enough to watch it before throwing their critics and that most of you will still enjoy movies for watch the director is trying to say instead of what the politics want you to see. 

[du0tine]

psa from solange:

hey everyone!

hope all is well. as you may or may not be aware i will be living in nepal for about 8 months in the coming year and have been training very hard in order to climb properly when im there.

for more info on my climb: here

the reason why im posting this is because i don’t think i can interact with everyone like how i used to for a bit. im going to sparsely be on this platform and will be busy scaling mountain peaks and as a result it’s important to be aware of the consequences.

i might never be able to come back to this platform talk to you guys or in fact anyone else. given in case i fall to my death, get hit by an avalanche. die from lack of oxygen or any of the risks that come with mountaineering and climbing. it really doesn’t sit in my hands because it doesn’t matter how good of a climber you are, it’s mother nature that gets to decide your fate.

so yeah i don’t mean to be dramatic but there’s always the underlying possibility of me dying and although i of course want to avoid that i can’t guarantee anything. ive literally had people who are sponsored by the same company as me unfortunately die from getting in between natures ways. it happens, it’s inevitable. sometimes it’s just sheer bad luck.

that being said i will try my best to update and of course will but it’ll mostly be queued up works from collabs or my own things. once all of those are up i have been thinking about deleting my account, deleting my network that ive paused after losing hope for it (after so many of the negative things that have occurred with it) but until then the network will come back (brand spanking new) and it’ll be running under my other co-admins. ill oversee things but we will have to see how things go.

i hope you guys can understand this since climbing is the driving force in my life. it literally courses through my veins and is something i do with all my heart. so of course, my personal life + climbing is my priority.

i will be going on hiatus soon and will let you all know when that date arrives. hopefully until then everything will be properly queued. i will update from time to time updates from my climbing and my time in nepal.

don’t be afraid to reach out to me should you need anything :) my personal Instagram has since been deactivated and my climbing account is all that remains but since I have my sponsors on that one and an actual audience I need to cater to I won’t be releasing it to tumblr because I would just like that privacy. however close mutuals (irl friends) can ask for it but we have to generally know each other well.

for anything else contact me here:

tumblr dm (replies may be slower than intended)

kakaotalk: du0tine

discord: solange #5127

my personal phone number for close friends.

just note if i don’t reply it’s because:

im either on the mountain with no connection.

i have no time, im not ignoring of course.

or I died which is a possibility.

love, solange!

[ohcoolnice]

8, 43, 48 <33

Answered one of these too long so under the cut. also not happy stuff so keep scrolling if that’s not your jam :D

48: Are you a forgiving person? Do you like being that way?

hhaha i just asnwered this one so I won’t answer it again but short answer: yes. not always. :D 

43: Is there something that happened in your past that you hate talking about?

used to be i think my relationship with my ex boyfriend. incredibly toxic and I was with him for a year and I didn’t even love him but he basically manipulated me into staying and he would purposefully try to pit me against my own family so i would stay with him as a support system and I didn’t even realised for a long time he was the cause of 90% of my issues with my parents at the time. He literally, word for word, said to me once (when i told him how good my relaitionship with my dad had been for that month, which hadn’t really happened for me for YEARS like not since the ninth grade and this was four years after and I was finally excited things were going well) and he was so upset when I told him so i was like, “what’s wrong” and he THIS BITCH said “You shouldn’t get your hopes up.” and i was like “I know it’s not going to be perfect forever but I’m just enjoying ti right now.” and he’s like don’t enjoy it too much “If you’re happy I don’t see where I fin it in your life.” I kid you NOT. he also doesn’t know the meaning of the word no and he got mad when I pushed him off me time after time. 

It’s also really hard to talk about because the stuff he did to me and pressured me into doing physically disgusts me and I have so many regrets. It definitely made me a stronger person but like...at what cost. I literally might never want to be in a relationship ever again. I thought i would but he emotionally drained me for so long (needing to know where I was at all times, wanting to know what I was doing, getting upset if we had a different opinion on how long the spongebob tribute at the superbowl should have been - i did not care at all and that was “unnacceptable” so he lectured me in public i wanted to punch the bitch)

anyways so I haven’t really talked about it with anyone even though i finally broke up with him like I think It’s been a year and 3/4 now, almost 2 years (damn) and I just talk about it to myself in an empty room because Idk i guess I’d tried to break up with him so many times in the span of that year that no one expected it to last even though all my friends knew it wasn’t healthy. Basically he followed me home once after a class so I had to run though a building and escape through an alley and i told my friend and she didn’t really even care so I kinda figured no one wanted to hear about it so I stopped talking about it and haven’t. 

unfortunatley the consequence of that was that most of the people in his life that i’ve talked to have some idea of what happened that isn’t true at all so he’s been a liar. He also made a friend of mine cry by conering her and pressuring her for info on me in a mcdonalds MONTHS after we’d broken up. And I’ve also stopped talking to a lot of people and withdrew for a long time. From like everything in my life. But it got easier once I heard some girl slapped him last year :D 

ooo did not mean for this to be this long. i hate talking about it now because I have so much to say and I feel wrong for saying it all for some reason??? Idk. It’s a time in my life I want to forget so I try to ignore it. I was a kid, only 17, and he took advantage of my naiivety and I’m not a fan of that. 

So much of my relationship with matthew and cordelia is that it reminds me so much of my relationship with my ex before we dated. And he became like this completely different person and I hate that person. I don’t think Matthew would do that - i know he wouldn’t, but like, still I think that theirs is a relationship that should stay as friends and that that’s the extent of it. Any more i think just isn’t meant to be and could turn toxic fast. 

k stop talking me. 

8: What would you say is your best quality?

My ability to smile and act like nothing is wrong becuase it got me through hischool and no one knew i was depressed ha. 

but also I like to think I’m caring. My dad and I don’t have a great relationship, it’s like he loves me but he’s also really verbally cruel, so he tells me i’m selfish and a lot of things when he’s mad he just takes it out on me mostly (my brothers as well but I’m his “biggest burden” lol so he takes it out on me mostly which is fine since I have a short amount of patience for anyone attacking my siblings and I’ll immediatley start talking back and it just causes more issues lol) so really i don’t know how much of what he says is true and what isn’t. But he calls me selfish any time I don’t do one thing for him, or don’t do somethign the way he wants it, or if i literally forget anything (i have medically disgnosed horrible memory this one makes no sense to me) he calls me selfish and like a horrible person and whatnot. This is usually normal i just don’t even listen to it half the time i just absorb it and ignore it. 

But despite this i like to think that I’m caring since I do care for people sometimes to fault and I think the fact that I like standing up for other people even if i don’t do it always for myself would be my best quality. Cause it’s fun and i like taking charge idk. It’s part of the reason i probably have issue with authority and taking orders. doesn’t work well. 

Thank u for the ask! I feel really awkward about sharing this much of my life because I’d rather just be this happy go lucky person on her that I am irl but without all the negative parts of my life. Then again most people won’t read this so i think it’s fine :) 

Thanks!

[anneliesecallow-blog]

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[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 229, Replies Part 2

1) “Jesus, it is sort of a Gentle/Joker situation, although eve more tragic, as those two were actively trying to help someone, while Twice was just minding his own business. God, I can already imagine what happens next…”-  Jin’s respectful, compliant and asking for some leniency from the officer, trying to get him to understand that not only wasn’t he at fault for this, he shouldn’t get punished for the actions of another person who hurt them both. Yet it falls on deaf ears. The officer just isn’t interested in Humouring Jin’s side of the story or arguing in his favour. His demeanour speaks of somebody who’s seen this same story play out again and again in his line of work, heard the same excuses Jin’s using from guilty parties who were at fault, and he’s just so tired and de-sensitised to it all, he can’t summon any empathy for Jin, even as he acknowledges that there may be some truth to Jin’s claims. 

Jin’s not important to him- just another number in a caseload on another day amongst thousands, and he treats him as something to be neatly filed and packaged away as the system demands he should treat those involved in such accidents, but the consequences of treating jin as a Nobody will haunt the young man for the rest of his life. If the System doesn’t see him as somebody worth standing up for, how could Jin, on his own, come to see himself as somebody with self-value? Jin’s life wasn’t ruined by spite or malice, but simple apathy and negligence from those who could have reached out to help him.

2) “Oh that’s even more fucking cruel than I expected. I thought he was going to be fired over a criminal record, but that motherfucker was a important figure, and of course the place will side with the one that was wrong”- Not just important, but also apparently vindictive. He apparently passed the info along to those who could put pressure on Jin’s workplace, and Jin’s boss didn’t care enough about Jin to bother keeping around somebody whose presence would be a negative impact on his future dealing with the clients, so he cut him loose without even bothering to hear him out- it hasn’t even been that long after the accident, judging by how Jin still has the bruise on his eye. At worst, the guy got a broken arm, something that might have affected his ability to do his business, and when they wanted somebody to blame for this slump in their productivity on his end, he blamed Jin, despite it apparently being his fault for not looking where he was going. 

Maybe he just wanted to make them think that he wasn’t to blame so he could keep his job in spite of his injuries being his own fault, but that just meant that their ire turned to Jin instead, and pushed him further down the path of isolation. Jin’s firing is the result of higher-level businessmen being more concerned about meeting quotas and deadlines than caring about the small man stuck in the middle, but it’s very similar to have Toga had to ‘fit in’ to her proper place growing up- except Jin never even tried to act outside the social Boundaries of what everybody thought was acceptable, he just ended up being blamed for an incident that at worst inconvenienced more important people than him, and left Jin Alone and without help from the system that supported everybody else.

3) “That makes it quite ironic that Twice became a villain himself. Lord, the only place he was accepted was with the same type of people that killed his parents, that’s really messed up.”- Honestly, when seen In that light, the term ‘villain’ becomes very broad-reaching- as if it’s being applied not just to those who commit crime or endanger others, but those who can’t or won’t fit into their proper place in society, whether by their own action or compelled to do so by others. We got to see what Villains looks like to idealists like Izuku and the rest of 1-A, through the USJ fights and Stain’s murder sprees, but Twice and the league’s situations show that Villains can be as much victims of the system lashing out rather than genuinely malicious.

4) “All alone, Twice turned to the only person that he could count on: Himself. Nobody else would accept him, but he didn’t wanted to feel lonely… “- That’s perhaps the true tragedy of Twice’s situation. He didn’t start out by choosing to be a villain. He didn’t want to be a hero, he didn’t even want to stand out in the life he was living before the incident. He just wanted to be ordinary. He just wanted to fit in…but nobody really trusted or cared about Jin enough to let him. Not even Jin himself- after all, he must have done ‘something’ to deserve a life that shitty, right? Small wonder his clones turned on him, when they saw one of them getting to ‘live like a king’ over the rest of them, and then all that self-hatred cam bubbling to the surface….

5) “But god, this backstory keeps getting worse and worse, because as he’s saying, he never wanted fame, power or even money, he just didn’t want to be alone, and crime was the only way he and his clones knew how to survive.”- How many villains stole, robbed and threatened others because they were looking for creature comforts? How many of them were unable to get what they wanted the ‘normal’ way, because they lacked the education or learning opportunities to better themselves? How many of them were taken out by patrolling heroes to fulfil their designated duties and game more fame and recognition? How many heroes saw a mugging and bothered to listen to the aggressor’s situation before arresting them? How many Villain’s crimes started off small, and grew and grew more because they had to be good at it or they’d never get close to a ‘normal’ civilian life?

6) “Oh fuck no, no no no, I see where we are going with this… A broken bone is enough to destroy one of his clones? And he’s worried about it? Because there’s the possibility of him actually being a clone?”-Remembering all the times that Twice has been at the forefront of the fights with the league, attacking with his Razor tape-measures because he won’t use his quirk’s powers to the maximum advantage, he’s a far braver man than most give him credit for. All that time, unknowing, uncertain of he’d even exist if he took a hard-enough hit, yet Twice still throws himself into danger for the sake of his friends. He really does have the heart of a hero, willing to possibly sacrifice his own existence if it meant protecting those close to him

7) “Oh wow, holy shit Twice, I thought you and your “you”s were the petty criminal type, robbing a bank or two at most, not that you managed to get yourself into a fucking watchlist

What the fuck man, you really got carried away, didn’t you?”- Given what we See Twice pull off when he gets ‘Sad man’s parade’ going, it’s entirely possible that the hero society assigned him to the most wanted list based purely on the hypothetical end result of Twice using his powers unrestrained. I’m fairly certain this currently-growing army of Twices is the most clones he’s ever created before, but he must have cut loose with smaller-scale stampedes during his crimes sprees to make a getaway. Even All Might admitted that he can’t protect places he can’t reach with his own hands, and if Twice multiplied enough to literally swarm over cities from one end of the country to the other, it wouldn’t matter how many Twices All Might destroyed, he’d never be able to kill enough of them to halt the spread past a certain point.

8) “Honestly, I’m almost forgetting that Giran is a criminal broker, I keep seeing him as Twice’s psychologist.”- It might have been motivated by the net profit he’d gain from introducing such a valuable Member to the league, but Giran does actually take the time to sort out what makes Twice tick, to understand what drives him, and assess what would be best for Twice to do to improve his sanity going forward- which is tons more effort and camaraderie than Jin had ever received in his entire ‘life’ before that point- all delivered in the space of a short conversation between the two of them. Judging by his bag-head getup, Giran even went as far as to commission and provide Twice with his mask and Razor-tape measures so he could more freely move around and utilise his powers within his self-imposed limits. Given how alone Jin was up to that point, it’s no wonder he feels such gratitude towards the first man to reach out to him and give him a helping hand- because the sad truth is that this seedy, villainous Broker acted more like a hero to the damaged Jin than any single one of the officially-sanctioned employees running around society right now.

9) I cannot help but wonder why Skeptic felt the need to have one of his Humanoid Puppets act as a chair for him, when he could have simply had them get him a chair instead- heck, both of those puppets could actually ‘be’ a chair and table he transformed, and then utilised them like their original functions anyway

10) “OH JESUS FUCK NO

I KNEW THAT WAS COMING”- If Giran were to be called Jin’s therapist, then Skeptic here is an amateur Psychologist, assuming he’s completely cracked how to handle Twice just from reading some data in his mental state and believing his own smarts are sufficient to handle him without issue. Unlike Giran, Skeptic treated Twice at a distance, looking at him as a tool he can utilise for the MLA by pushing his buttons, but he never demeaned himself so far as to actually talk to jin. Had he done so, he might have realised that Literally Breaking Twice was the worst possible move he could have made to subdue him- which sucks for him, but is excellent news for Giran, hence why he laughs his head off at how Septic overestimated his own intelligence

11) “YOU MOTHERFUCKERS STILL HAVEN’T KILLED HER?”- That Flashback was probably only 1-2 seconds in the real world, and the downsides of having unthinking puppets under your direct command is that when you stop giving them commands, they won’t take the initiative. These Puppets froze in place the second Skeptic switched the group’s focus from ‘slowly twisting Toga’s head off in front of Twice’ to ‘Subduing twice so we can resume forcing him to watch Toga get her head twisted off’- which probably means Toga’s head is being held at a very uncomfortable- but not fatal-angle whilst twice is getting some percussive therapy done to him.

12) “And that’s the closure he needed for that situation with his clones.”- The hint was on his head all along- the ‘original’ Twice was the one that got tied up by his clones after they turned on him, and thus remained strapped to the chair when they turned on each other- you can see the blood from the head wound he got by their surprise attack dripping down when he’s slumped over in the background of 115, and his flashback in the prior chapter clearly shows the same wound in the tied-up twice, so you can tell he’s the original amongst all the others before the fighting even started- going into that, if taking enough damage like a broken bone is enough to goopify a clone, then getting stabbed deep enough to cause lasting brain damage would have also done the trick, though twice can be forgiven for not putting the together because of said brain Damage and mental trauama resulting from the fight.

13) “There was a chance he was actually just a clone that took over as the leader by accident, and was the last one alive in the end, but no, now he knows the truth, he doesn’t need to afraid anymore, because he’s a real person.”- His whole life, Jin’s felt like a failure. He failed to make something of his life due to unfortunate circumstances beyond his control. He failed to have enough trust in himself to keep his sanity intact. He feels he’s failed the league as a teammate by not doing more to repay them for the kindness they’ve shown by given him a place to belong, damaged as he is. And he feels like a failure for not having the courage to commit himself to verifying his existence as ‘real’ or fake’ loathing himself for his indecision and inability to answer the question that torment him. 

When skeptic forces him to confront his own mortality, and feel his worst fears come to pass, twice finally gets confirmation that he did one thing right- he didn’t lose his own life in the midst of his near-suicidal self-breakdown and mutilation. He kept on living, even whilst questioning himself if he deserved to continue existing, if he was just a shadow copy of the ‘real’ twice, living on in his creator’s shoes, and now he finally has confirmation, stability, that he knows he’s the real deal all along, he ready to do another right thing- he’s ready to stop holding back and save his friends with his own hands- all 12 Hundred Billion of them.  

14) “CLONES? OH, HE’LL SHOW YOU THE CLONES, HE’LL SHOW YOU HOW FAR HE CAN TAKE HIS QUIRK. BETTER GET A CALCULATOR, SINCE THE EXPONENTIAL GROWTH IS ABOUT BE OFF THE FUCKING CHARTS”

Twice: Hey! Skeptic-tank! I hear you’re a smart guy!? Well, I’ve got a little math problem for ya! Hope you’re ready, cause I’m using the Twice-Times tables for this doozy!!

15) “And now it Twice’s turn on the spotlight. The previous chapter set a really worrisome stage for him to dance, and unfortunately, he can’t leave while the song is still playing. And neither can we, so get ready for Chapter 229: All it takes is one bad day.”- The title not appearing till the end of the chapter- especially the double page spread part- gave me a similar Vibe to the Sports Festival and Todoroki’s own Origin Chapter. I mentioned in an earlier ask that Horikoshi put an even more nerdier Western-shout out in his titles than ‘Interview with a Vampire’, and this was it. Plus, the Title makes a tragic kind of sense when you look at Twice’s entire flashback. 

Unlike the Joker, whose ‘Bad day’ considered of everything and everything that could possibly, to the point it was practically a Cosmic Joke how absurdly bad things got for him before he fully broke, Twice’s bad day was a simply normal one, a bad day with a single incident that you’d see anywhere, but which continued to snowball and have repercussions on every day of his life going forward. It defined him, and ultimately made him who he was, but looking back it was just one small bad day that not even the arresting officer thought was a big deal. With everything we see of him throughout this arc, and how we know Twice can be a good man, heroic even, at heart, it’s tragic to see how that bad day ultimately caused those who were barely tolerating him to cease their support, leaving him to fall through the cracks and denying him the Opportunity to become a hero like Deku, since his quirk would doubtless have been one that could have greatly benefited hero society. But no-one really gave him a chance. Not until the league.

@thelreads

[pearlplusau]

Pearl Plus AU- The bright light part 2

Amethyst 8XWJ was one of the earliest to pop up from the Earth’s crust. When she first emerged off the kindergarten walls, she face-planted on the hard ground and was immediately greeted by a fellow quartz soldier, 8XWI. All gems she emerged with were great and fun, but 8XWI was special. When she saw others summoning their weapons, she was able to conjure her own with just one attempt. When she was taught about the Great Diamond authority and how the system works, she immediately adapted to the idea of higher power and understood her purpose of serving to live, living to serve. She was skilled, she was talented, she was… listening and attentive.

“What’s holding you back?” Holly asked in a sympathetic tone, her face twitched from calm to manic. “No idea where My Diamond’s pool is?” She brings back the whip once more, grinning to herself, “Shocker! (pun intended)”

She gripped the handle tighter, amplifying the static and electric current, causing an ear-splitting buzz to ring around the area, and flunged it towards 8XWJ’s arm. “Huh?” before she was able to react, electricity coursed from the handle to the tip and zapped her whole without warning, “Ahhhhh!” she screamed and trashed, but the whip won’t let go!

She kneeled down, and tried to resist! But it was too much, she thought of her comrades, her fellow amethysts losing the battle on Earth! Never will she be able to see them again! She didn’t want to give in, but…her form begged to differ.

The surge of destruction was too much! Being weak from her previous punishment, she couldn’t hold much longer, and…

Poof!

A purple quartz gem clinked as it landed on the platform, clattering as it stayed on its spot. 8XWJ was poofed and retreated into her gem.

Holly Blue Agate was smiling as she set her weapon down and thought to herself. ‘Finally, took care of the annoying purple upper-crust.’

“That takes care of that!” She claimed out loud as she dusted her arms off, and glared to the other gems gasping around her.

“Was that really necessary Holly?” Aquamarine questioned in annoyance, “Poofing gems in the open wide would be lead to…” She held her thought and snapped her fingers, realising her true intentions, “Ohhhh, I get it, you want us to report your little crime to the diamonds so you’ll be able to deliver the message, clever…”

“Yeah yeah, don’t get your hopes up, I know the rules around here.” Holly replied as she slipped the purple gem into her front pocket.

A loud voice boomed from all around the area, “HOLLY BLUE AGATE FACET 2D CUT-22! YOU HAVE BEEN SEEN TO HAVE TEMPORARILY DISABLED AN AMETHYST, PLEASE REPORT TO THE HALL ROOM IMMEDIATELY! YOUR CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR ACTIONS WILL BE JUDGED BY THE GREAT DIAMOND AUTHORITY. HOLLY BLUE AGATE FACET 2D CUT-22! YOU HAVE BEEN SEEN…” the voice repeated the same statement until the blue gem found her way to the hall room.

As she leaves, she glanced at the surrounding gems as they muttered their predictions, different coloured sapphires glanced around nervously and whisper information among themselves, but Holly took no interest in what the future holds, her plan of meeting the Diamonds will be worth all the negative impact on her image.

She went in search of a warp pad, the fastest way to the Diamonds, a white pearl was at the control panel and stated her crimes,

“Holly Blue Agate, you have been reported of dismantling an amethyst out on the open. As you know, you will be sent to the judgement hall and be set on trial by the Great Diamond Authority! Any last words dear?” The pearl asked before giving the confirmation code on the warp pad.

“Why yes Pearl! I look forward to be in the presence of the powerful Yellow Diamond, AND my glimmering diamond of course! This judgement will be a little talk between us don’t you worry.”

“We’ll see about that…” The pearl thought while typing in the code.

Holly was cuffed in glowing white shackles by two Topazes, her eyes widen as this is something unexpected.

“What is this? Handcuffs? Is this really nessasar-” Before she could finish her question, the shackles glowed and bounded Holly in a white bubble. Frozen in time, she was unable to finish her statement, her mouth was wide open but her facial expression remained annoyed.

“Huhu! This new law implemented is really rather convenient for us, don’t you think so Topaz?” The pearl had a smug face of enjoying these minor “punishments” while the topazes were unfazed with the statement. They proceeded by raising a control panel that resembles a joystick and monitored the bubble by sending it to the designated location.

Inside the orb, Holly could still see, but she could not speak, she could not move. The only sense she could control was her sight, but all she saw was the orb heading to somewhere no agate had been before. Her white boots were in uneven positions, this frustrated her, but she cannot do anything about it, she simply stayed frozen,

It was a long journey, but Holly can make out the structures and buildings leading to the black coloured cubed Courtroom. As she gets closer, she realised there’s still a chance the diamonds won’t even attend the trial for a Quartz soldier, she tried to have cold feet as she felt nervous but the atmosphere wouldn’t allow it!

The orb came to a halt, the front of the orb scanned the building’s wall, taking a sample of the colour to match the Courtroom building. The colour dripped down from the top like a small current of black ink being poured over. When the orb was fully covered in Black, it slightly floated up and went through the wall with the sound of electric current zipping through the air.

The black orb enters a dark room, where it finally dissipated away in a cloud of back dust.

“-ary…” She finally finished her sentence hung over her mouth during the entire trip. She sighed and readied herself, wanting to look as best as she could be for the Great Diamond Authority.

The wall opened up a door sized hole, a tense, anxious blue zircon came in mumbling with floating screens around her, she was just a bit shorter but also belonging to Blue’s court by her colouring. She looked around the room and spotted the blue agate, her face contorted in  bewilderment and confusion.

“YOU’RE the one on trial? But you’re an Agate! When the files came in it says two quartz soldiers “roughhousing” in front of the Great Ballroom!” She examined the tall gem and retrieved a hologram picture from her monocle, it shows a purple gem being violently taken hold by the blue gem.

“Why yes! I did took advantage of that amethyst, you see, she had vital information about an issue of a colonisation process and asked me to inform the diamonds!” Holly tried to explain her actions, but Zircon just looked mortified while taking in the information given, she pulled out another hologram screen and typed in the new info.

“The door to the trial room will be accessible any second, do you have any more information to give before we proceed matters and actions to the diamonds?” The lawyer gem urged as she readied her equipment.

“That will be all, surely the diamonds would listen to what I have to say before deciding what to do with me!” Holly spoke with a dab of uncertainty.

The door to the courtroom opened up.

“Let’s go.” Blue Zircon led the way with Holly trudging behind her.

In the dark room, Holly stood on a glowing platform, waiting for the arrival of the three diamonds. A yellow zircon warped to the left of Holly, she took one look at her opponent lawyer and smirked, “New to this huh? First job and you get to defend an abuser? Isn’t that a bit, anticlimactic?”

“Being my first assignment, no, it’s not thanks for asking.” The tone in her reply was not at all thankful nor sincere, but before she could finish, two pearls warped into the room in front of them.

Yellow Pearl was the first to speak, “All rise for the luminous Yellow Diamond!” Yellow warped in and proceed to her throne with an expression of annoyance.

Blue Pearl continued, “The lustrous Blue Diamond.” Blue warped in and slumped into her throne in…. anger?

Both pearls synchronise for the last diamond, “And the Great, Magnificent, Brilliant White Diamond!” The brightest diamond warped in and shone the room so bright Holly was blinded for a moment, until the diamond dimmed her light and proceed to the throne in the midst of Blue and Yellow.

“Let’s just finish this so we can go back to our duties.” Stated White diamond before starting the trial.

Having the three diamonds present was not as glamorous as expected, in fact, it was intimidating.

The three diamonds stared down at the accused with annoyance and little patience.

It was VERY intimidating.

The yellow Zircon initiated the trial by stating the situation and the actions committed.

“…And so, here we are, at the end of this trial our great leaders will decide the fate of this Agate and end this case.” Yellow Zircon was about to proceed to her points and arguments but the diamonds up there were not at peace with each other.

“Is everything all right my Diamonds?” The lawyer asked with her arms saluting.

But the diamonds took no notice, Blue and Yellow Diamond were silently arguing about the topic beforehand, while White looked like she wants to just zap the accused and get things over with.

“This does not look good….” Blue Zircon whispered to Holly, “Why don’t you just admit your bad choice of actions and get it over with?” She suggested.

“Never! What I did to that gem was for a reason, and that reason will not be wasted from the inconvenience of the diamonds.” Holly protested but took one more glance at the diamonds, Blue diamond looked more unhappy and upset than usual, she looks like she’s trying very hard to hold in her sadness and frustration, Yellow diamond has her outfit to be slightly ruff and off placed, with her electric current leaking from her finger tips, not being her usual strict self. As for White Diamond, She just looked as same as before, her face says, “It would be so much easier to just blast this gem with my powers and have this all done immediately!” And it looks like she’s not having the patience to handle the current situation.

“Fine! Just because this trials wasting out leaders’ time, I’ll just present the information, but not without evidence.” Holly glanced at her pocket and checked the purple gem in place, and went into the confession.

“My Diamonds!” Holly saluted while addressing the leaders, “There is something I would like to confess.”

The diamonds paid little to no attention to the Agate, as they were occupied with their own matters.

Holly could hear some words mumbling amongst them, but could only pick up Pink Diamond’s name and nothing more.

Yellow spoke with a slightly louder voice, loud enough for Holly to get the picture.

“Blue, this is not the time to defend pink and her failing colony! You of all gems should have known her failure was inevitable, why struggle now to try and help her when you could help me convince this to White?” Yellow Diamond whispered, sounding infuriated but also trying her best to lower her voice for the sake of their reputation.

“This is the exact type of behaviour that will led her thinking we don’t trust her! You gave her a chance to prove herself, so you must stick with it!” Blue snapped at Yellow louder than she should, which tipped White into snapping back,

“Enough!” She demanded and glared, both diamonds froze and sat back down.

“Proceed this trivial little judgement so we can get it over with!” The diamond commanded.

“Yess of course My Diamond!” Blue Zircon saluted and summon some holographic files, she fuddled a bit, tried to pull the right file, but ended up dropping them to the floor like paper scattering around everywhere, but worse.

“Deepest apologise, I’ll just….uhhh…” Blue Zircon was dripping more tears than sweat, she tried to collect herself and the files, but she could feel the stares of the three powerful diamonds looming over, her anxiety is building up, it’s reaching the limit, she wasn’t ready for this!

She took on a desperate glance at Holly, hoping someone would help her out, but Holly had other plans in mind.

“My Diamonds!” Holly stood up, addressed and saluted in a clear, articulated voice.

The diamonds glared daggers at her for disrupting the defendant, but it was clear that she had caught their attention.

“I understand that this trial has interrupted your daily schedule, and I know you are all in a hurry of getting back to more important matters, I will be able to speed up this trial if you generously allow me to speak freely for just mere minutes. Hopefully, this can all be resolved as soon as it can be.” Holly explained to the diamonds and hoped that they would agree with her.

The three diamonds exchanged looks of uncertainty, but they also wished to get back to more pressing matters.

Finally White Diamond spoke, “Very well, you are given 5 minutes to prepare your explanation that will be brief and informative, no stuttering and mumbling will be tolerated and if so, you will be executed immediately! We shall have a short recess, Dismissed!”

Everyone retreated into their own rooms.

(First of all, i would like to thank @marzipanotaku16 for her amazing points and criticisms for making this work better than anticipated, we’ve known each other online and through the magic of steven universe. She’s also the friend that encouraged me to start a blog and share the writing for everyone to read, this blog wouldn’t be here without her.

Anyways, this story took longer to write and it would be concluded at part 3, I have some plans and ideas for more stories that may intrigued y’all but haven't really started drafting yet, so that’s gonna take a while to finish up.

And I would like to remind y’all that this is not completely a pink pearl oriented story, this blog is for me to express my ideas through the power of writing and the internet (lame lol) 

This tells me you read the whole thing, so thank you, dear reader, and have a splendid day, happy reading and enjoy! )

[ali4800064]

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