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immaturityofthomasastruc · 10 months ago

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IOTA Reviews: Conformation and Re-Creation (The Final Day)

Well, here we are. The final two episodes of Season 5. It's been a long and complicated journey, so let me get you up to speed on what exactly happened this season, episode by episode.

Evolution: Ladybug and Cat Noir chase Monarch through time, and it's not nearly as cool as it sounds.

Multiplication: Adrien likes Marinette now because the plot says so.

Destruction: Cat Noir accidentally Cataclysms Monarch, and it somehow leads to the most guilt he feels using his Cataclysm on anyone.

Jubilation: Ever want to have the image of Ladybug and Cat Noir being teen parents burned into your brain? No? Too bad!

Illusion: Nino establishes himself as a leader so terrible, Zapp Brannigan would call him an idiot.

Determination: Marinette likes Cat Noir now because the plot says so.

Passion: Nathalie shows she'd rather silently judge Gabriel for his actions over actually doing anything to stop him.

Reunion: Marinette talks with the spirit of Joan of Arc, and it's not nearly as cool as it sounds.

Elation: Someone tries to murder Marinette over ice cream for the third time in four seasons.

Transmission: Yeah, I totally believe you're replacing Marinette and Adrien with two new main characters in the middle of your fifth season.

Deflagration: Because of Tikki and Plagg's terrible decisions, Monarch comes the closest he's ever come to winning.

Perfection: Kagami becomes a giant cloud Akuma, symbolizing her also becoming a total airhead for the rest of the season.

Migration: The writers realize they have no idea what to do with Luka, so they kick him out of the show entirely.

Derision: “How many things do you want to retcon to make this story work?” “Yes.”

Intuition: Gabriel continues to prove how pathetic of a villain he is, even when he has unlimited chances.

Protection: Even after being tricked three times by her, Kagami still thinks Lila is a trustworthy person.

Adoration: “We have Lumity at home”.

Emotion: The episode where Felix essentially commits genocide is somehow also the one where the writers want the audience to start viewing him in a sympathetic light.

Pretension: Felix likes Kagami because the plot says so, and vice versa.

Revelation: Lila only gets as far as she does thanks to Marinette becoming as dumb as the rest of the class.

Confrontation: Our heroes expose the villain's evil plans by spying on them through a bathroom peephole.

Collusion: Remember kids, violent revolutions against politicians are never the answer.

Revolution: Remember kids, violent revolutions against politicians are always the answer.

Representation: To the surprise of literally no one, Felix is revealed to be a Sentimonster, yet the writers still won't tell us that Adrien and Kagami are the same.

Now that you're all caught up, let's get into the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Conformation and Re-Creation

After a brief news report showing everyone enjoying the first day of Summer vacation, Gabriel and Tomoe finally decide to launch “Perfect Alliance”. What does this plan entail? For starters, Gabriel transforms into Monarch, detransforms to akumatize himself into Nightormentor again, gives himself the powers of the Mouse, Rooster and Horse Miraculous in order to clone himself and fly around the globe to spread his nightmare dust. Because just akumatizing Sandboy again and giving him the Mouse Miraculous' Multitude was just too complex of a plan.

Marinette is the first to be affected by the dust, we get a dream where she dresses up as a knight to save Adrien from a cheap recolor of Fang in his dragon form.

This is a weird episode of Super Why.

Marinette defeats the dragon, who reverts back to Gabriel, who is accidentally killed by the fight, causing Adrien to cry since Adrien was watching the whole thing. Marinette wakes up, thankful that it was all just a bad dream sequence. She decides she needs to find out just where Gabriel sent Adrien to make sure he's safe, something that won't make sense as I'll explain later on. As she tries to leave, she keeps experiencing sudden headaches, as do her parents and Alya.

Meanwhile, Adrien is still left reeling from the effects of the nightmare dust from last episode, to the point where he has a panic attack, demanding to be let out. Gabriel, seemingly aware of this, decides to give Adrien the “antidote”, an Alliance ring with an app called “Perfect Alliance”. So once again, despite claiming to do this for his son, Gabriel willingly chose to make his life worse as part of his evil plans. Remember this, it'll be important later on.

Plagg suggests Adrien transform into Cat Noir, but Adrien reminds him that there are cameras everywhere, so he can't risk it. Plagg disables the cameras, but Adrien still says no. Whether he was aware that the robot who was sent to give him the Alliance ring with the new app had a hidden camera is irrevelant, because Adrien gives a different reason why he can't transform.

Adrien: I'm not in my right mind. I'm too angry; at myself for falling short of Marinette's love, at my father for sending me here in London, at this stupid app and these rings that use my image... it makes me sick! This nightmare is giving me the horrible feeling that, if I transform, I'll get akumatized and destroy everything with my Cataclysm. Marinette, Ladybug...

Plagg: Surely Ladybug can help you.

Adrien: If I ask her for help, I'd have to give her information that would jeopardize my secret identity... and I can't.

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Okay, let me make one thing clear. The reason that Adrien can't risk exposing his identity thanks to all the cameras is a good one, and the fact that he doesn't want to risk exposing his identity to Ladybug in particular is a good sign of character development, but the problem I have is the fact that the writers decided to bench Adrien in the first place.

Yes, you heard that right. In arguably the most boneheaded decision in the show's history since... well, a lot of things this season, Adrien, despite being the son of the main villain, isn't going to get involved in the final battle at all.

There are multiple reasons why Adrien staying put in this room is a terrible idea, and most of them involve the fact that almost none of the in-universe explanations for this hold up.

Adrien is being heavily monitored by cameras? We just saw Plagg was able to disable them with ease.

Adrien can't ask Ladybug for help without jeopardizing his secret identity? The fact that he's at risk of being akumatized as is, with or without the Cat Miraculous, will still blow his cover due to Monarch's mind reading abilities (which we saw when Monarch almost learned Luka's secret in “Migration”), so he really has nothing to lose here.

Adrien isn't in the right state of mind thanks to the nightmare dust? Literally every other character who takes part in the final battle is able to either find a way to fight off the nightmares or keeps going while still under the influence of the nightmare dust.

Adrien's ultimate plan to take off his Miraculous and let Plagg choose a new temporary holder? We saw this exact same scenario play out earlier this season in “The Kwamis' Choice”, and things went horribly, horribly wrong.

Do you see why this makes no sense? Even though the show loves to boast about how valuable of an asset Cat Noir is, the writers are bending over backwards to justify keeping Adrien as far away from the final battle as possible, because they know damn well that they'd have to address how terrible his father really is with the reveal.

And the best part? This is basically the last we'll see of Adrien in this episode. Do you want to know how many lines he gets in the next episode, AKA, the final episode of the season? Three. AND THEY'RE ALL AFTER THE FINAL BATTLE.

But we're not done talking about this stupid idea yet, because unlike the other episodes, I have something else to rant about: The writers' commentary. In November of 2023, around four months after the finale premiered, the writers of this show recorded their own audio commentary, and while I don't have the exact translation (if anyone reading this has a translation of this, I would really appreciate the effort), I have seen one post summarizing the things they said, and all I can say is DEAR. LORD. This is not just shooting yourself in the foot. This is shooting yourself in the foot multiple times with Judas Bullets.

Like, it's amazing. We've always speculated just what goes through the writers' heads that makes them come up with some of the strangest ideas to take the story, and now, we have a first-hand account of why these episodes turned out the way they did. For this one moment, they gave about three explanations as to why Adrien was benched for the finale.

Let's start with the first one, Cat Blanc. I know what you're thinking, wasn't Cat Blanc an Akuma from an alternate timeline that our Adrien shouldn't know about? Not according to Melenie Duval. While Adrien's fear of being akumatized is reasonable, Duval claims that he could become Cat Blanc... which makes no sense as A) Adrien's nightmare was of an entirely different Akuma, and B) The aforementioned nightmare dust never informed Adrien of the alternate timeline where Cat Blanc destroyed the world, it just provided him with a nightmare about a similar scenario.

And in case you weren't questioning this woman's judgment, Duval has done on the record to state that her favorite episode of the entire show is “Derision”.

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Our next reasoning is especially stupid, as the rest of the writing team reveal that they had planned to keep Adrien out of the final battle as far back as 2014, nine years before the finished product premiered. Why would they do that? Because they wanted Ladybug to unify with the Cat Miraculous, of course! Sure, you could have just saved this unification for a special or something like that so you don't bench one of your main characters, or you could have at least had Adrien willingly give his Miraculous to Ladybug to unify with in person, but nope. This is seriously one of their defenses— I mean, explanations, for why Adrien isn't allowed to be in the final battle, because they thought it would be more important to give Marinette her 10th new form in three seasons than letting Adrien get some form of closure with his father.

And here's the final reason they gave in the commentary. Remember that dream sequence of Marinette dressed as a knight that was also sort of foreshadowed in “Gabriel Agreste”? Turns out, the writers wanted to, and stop me if you've heard this before, play with the tropes and symbolism of fairy tales. Wow, I've never seen any kind of pop culture do that before... except for Into the Woods, The Princess Bride, Hook, Shrek, Princess Tutu, Ella Enchanted, Hoodwinked!, Enchanted, Tangled, Once Upon a Time, Frozen, RWBY, Ever After High, Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, and Nimona. But other than those, that's so original!

Even though the writers are acting like they're breaking new ground, do you want to know what they mean by this? They're just doing another damsel in distress situation but this time, Adrien, the boy, is the one who needs to be saved by Marinette, who is, GASP, a girl?! WOW! That totally changes everything!

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Okay, yes, the damsel in distress trope has usually been seen as a misogynistic one due to the fact that the people who needed to be saved are usually women, but like I mentioned way back in my “Gabriel Agreste” review, just swapping the genders isn't enough to breathe new life into a trope as old as this one. It's arguably worse because Adrien isn't just someone who needs to be saved. He's a superhero, and like I mentioned, there were plenty of options to get him out of his room in London.

And I'm guessing that some of you are thinking, “But IOTA! You just want Adrien to save the day by himself because he's a guy!” Just remember that I had this exact same problem last season where the roles were reversed. Remember how I hated the way Marinette's arc about dealing with the stress of being Guardian was hijacked by Adrien complaining about Ladybug not trusting him? This time, we have an arc about Adrien trying to break free from his father's influence that's been hijacked by Marinette needing to save Adrien by herself, robbing him of any agency he had to the plot entirely. This issue isn't about gender. It's never been about gender. I would have the exact same problem if Adrien was the one who confronted Monarch by himself while Marinette was trapped in her room.

This leads to the biggest problem I have with this plot development: It ultimately goes against the core theme of teamwork the show keeps trying to convey. Remember how last season, Marinette needed to learn to let other people trust her? Now, she's going to beat up Monarch all by herself without any help. Remember how last season, Adrien needed to prove he didn't deserve to be left in the dark about everything? Now, he's going to stay all the way in London while his partner gets in the fight of her life. It's detrimental to both of them as characters, and makes everything that happened to them in Season 4 completely pointless.

Okay, now that I've spent five pages ranting about this insane decision, let's get back on track, shall we? As the Perfect Alliance app helps Adrien and Kagami calm down, Marinette sneaks into the Agreste mansion as Ladybug. Meanwhile, Nathalie has her own nightmare about Gabriel winning, AKA, the very thing she could have stopped a long time ago by ratting her evil boss out to Ladybug and Cat Noir.

We then learn just what the Perfect Alliance app really does. Basically, thanks to the technobabble, it helps alleviate the stress from their nightmares. Or, to put it in Layman's terms, Gabriel and Tomoe plan to get the entire population of Earth addicted to cyber crack. We see this affect several of Marinette's classmates, but because Mylene has a sudden disdain for technology that “Was made without respect for the Earth's resources”, she's the only one who sees the problem here. I'd ask why this wasn't established earlier this season, but it doesn't matter, since Mylene gives in anyway,

Because it's a day that ends with a “Y”, Gabriel goes to talk to Emilie's body yet again, and it seems like even the writers realized how tired this got, as Nathalie finally decided to ambush him with a crossbow.

Miss Sancoeur, I served with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I knew Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy the Vamprie Slayer was a friend of mine. Miss Sancoeur, you're no Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Yes, it only took five seasons worth of evil plans for Nathalie to realize just how demented her boss really is.

Nathalie: I can't let you do that... if you make the wish to bring her back, someone will have to go in her place. Emilie would never have agreed to this!

Gabriel: Do you think I'd be monstrous enough to sacrifice a human being?

Uh... yes? That is literally what equivalent exchange means. You really don't know how the wish works after researching it?

Shockingly, the frail woman armed with nothing but a crossbow isn't able to stop someone with superpowers. There isn't even a fight. Monarch just knocks the crossbow out of her hands and she faints. Maybe you should have actually come up with some sort of plan before confronting Gabriel by yourself, dumbass.

Back to Ladybug, she searches through Gabriel's stuff and finally learns he's Monarch... even though she should already know thanks to Felix and Kagami's play last episode. She even looks pretty shocked to see Monarch detransform.

Back to the commentary, the writers justify this with their absurd “Every episode can be watched on its own” rule. Because simply having Marinette say she already knows was out of the equation, I guess. Seriously, earlier in the episode, Tikki (who, along with Plagg, wasn't affected by the nightmare dust for some reason) had doubts that Marinette should break into the Agreste mansion, and it came across like neither of them knew the truth, and this was a reckless decision that wasn't motivated by Gabriel being Monarch at all. Once again, the writers fail to understand the idea of using “Previously On...” segments to help new viewers catch up on what's happening. It's even more confusing when you remember that Tikki knows Adrien is Cat Noir, so his father being Monarch coupled with his sudden absence should be setting off all kinds of red flags in her book.

Ladybug tries to text Cat Noir about who Monarch really is, but chooses not to send it after Gabriel pushes a few of her buttons. Rather than jumping Gabriel while she still has the element of surprise, she only chooses to grill Nathalie for questions once Gabriel is out of the room. And of course, only when she's on death's door does Nathalie tell Ladybug to stop Monarch, but not before telling her to transform back.

We see Gabriel and Tomoe put their plan into action. They create a fake scene of Ladybug and Cat Noir kidnapping Adrien and Kagami in order to rile up the public (who aren't in the best state of mind thanks to the nightmares) in order to for them to use the Alliance rings to transform them into the “Miraculized”. In other words, it's basically “Heroes' Day” all over again. Seriously, think about it. Just like “Heroes' Day”, it looks like Adrien is being harmed by Ladybug in an attempt to push the population to the brink of despair so Gabriel can create an army in the process. Yeah, the public doesn't know the two are the same, but the audience does. Granted, this is a minor nitpick compared to the rest of my problems with this episode, but I hope you can see what I'm getting at here.

Case in point, the reason Nathalie told Ladybug to detransform was because Gabriel has found a way to track her and Cat Noir through their “quantum signatures”. With Cat Noir, it was thanks to the dust from Gabriel's Cataclysm wound, and with Ladybug, it was thanks to the Magical Charm she gave Gabriel earlier in “Gabriel Agreste”... which he shouldn't have since it was destroyed in “Dearest Family”.

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Seriously, this is the season finale. How the hell are the writers still struggling to remember important events like this?

Now's as good a time as any to talk about the Miraculized's design. Yeah, they're pretty lame. They all look like they're wearing fencing gear, and don't look intimidating in the slightest. They also now have the ability to use every Miraculous power at once, which breaks the previously established rules about the Alliance rings in that only one ring can handle each Miraculous power. You could at least argue that the robots used in “Confrontation” had more advanced technology that made them capable of using multiple powers, but nothing has changed about the Alliance rings to justify this. And remember, this is something every Miraculized in the world can use, yet the system hasn't been completely fried, and as we'll later see Monarch can still freely use the other Kwamis' power even when they're being shared with the Miraculized across the world. In fact, how can the Miraculized even transform like this? Monarch doesn't akumatize anyone to spread this transformation. Gabriel just tells to say “Alliance, Miraculize Me!”, and now they can transform. Was this always a function of the Alliance rings? Is there a tiny Akuma hidden in each ring? How the hell does any this work?

Ladybug fights off some of the Miraculized who used Voyage to find her, and remembers Nathalie's advice to detransform. So just like in “Passion”, even though she's still wearing her Miraculous, the system specifically designed to track her down isn't able to find her unless she's still transformed. Marinette runs away to a safe place before running into Plagg, who tells her Cat Noir is out of commission. With no other options, Marinette decides to unify with the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous, turning into Bug Noire, revealing her identity to Monarch in the process, and ending the episode.

Bug Noire's design is admittedly pretty nice. I like the balance of red, black, and green, though the hair is a little too long for my taste. Granted, I still don't get why this is the reason why Adrien can't be here to fight Monarch alongside his partner. I'm just saying, was it really worth it, writers?

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... NATHALIE

Yep, right before the finish line, Nathalie gets her second award this season. After spending several episodes doing nothing but letting herself rot away, Nathalie only chose to finally do something about Gabriel once he was literally about to enact his final plan, thought she could stop him with nothing but a crossbow, and only begged Ladybug for help when it looked like she was about to die and had nothing left to lose.

“Re-Creation”, the final episode of the season, starts off with Lila watching some broadcasts of people succumbing to their paranoia (and she does it while smirking because the writers still don't think we understand she's evil) and transforming into Miraculized while she puts on a new disguise that makes her look like an evil Edna Mode.

How come Lila isn't even affected by the nightmare dust like the rest of the human population? As always, never explained!

Back in the Agreste mansion, Bug Noire and Monarch are duking it out, and we get some pretty creative uses of Lucky Charm, like when she summons a piano to crash down on Monarch. Meanwhile, after Marinette's friends manage to get the Alliance ring off a Miraculized Ivan, we get to see how the rest of the world is dealing with the Miraculized. In Shanghai, the Renlings help Fei through her nightmares, Su-Han has recruited Jagged Stone, Luka, Penny and Fang to the Order of the Guardians instead of actually getting backup like he said he would in “Multiplication”, Present Bunnix finally decides to do something and uses Burrow to sent the Guardians to Paris, while the United Heroez fight off the Miraculized and learn the true nature of the Alliance rings. Just remember, it was too much for the writers to let Adrien get involved in the final battle, yet all these side characters get to do something in the finale for some reason.

Meanwhile, as if things couldn't get any worse, Nino decides the Resistance needs to get involved after reassuring Mr. Damocles that they never give up. Believe me, not much would change if you guys just threw in the towel, especially now that the United Heroez are here, and have Eagle, a member whose powers work as an instant cure for everyone's nightmares. Hey, while we're on the subject, does anyone know where the United Heroez were this entire season? I can excuse Fei as she's just one teenager in Shanghai, but the Americans have a small army of heroes, including the president, yet they just let two violent coups in France happen last week.

As Bug Noire and Monarch keep fighting, Bug Noire comes up with the brilliant idea to Cataclysm the Butterfly Miraculous, only being foiled by Monarch already having Resistance active. Okay, is a side effect of using the Cat Miraculous this season a taste for blood? Why the hell are the heroes so okay with trying to use Cataclysm on their enemies now? Bug Noire then decides to use her Cataclysm for something far more reasonable, breaking the ground beneath her and Monarch. Because I guess Bug Noire is really gunning for Biggest Idiot this episode.

Back with the Resistance, they meet up with the Guardians, United Heroez, and Ladydragon, who have actually been getting shit done. Wow, it's just like that scene from that one movie where all the characters we've come to know over the years rally together for the final battle! What was it called again? Oh yeah, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over.

While the other heroes are overwhelmed by the Miraculized, we cut back to Bug Noire and Monarch yet again, now inside the area where Emilie's body is. The two keep fighting as Monarch tells Bug Noire why he's doing all this, all while Lila breaks into the mansion.

Monarch: I want my wife, Adrien's mother, to come back to us! Once our family is reunited, Kagami and Adrien will become the eternal icons of this world! And we will be here to witness their absolute triumph!

Bug Noire: “Your wife”? “Come back”? “Kagami and Adrien, eternal icons”? How many lives are you going to ruin in the name of your crazy dreams?!

Monarch: As many as it takes! In order to bring Emilie back, someone else will have to disappear! In order to heal the wound that Cat Noir inflicted on me, someone else will have to be wounded!

Bug Noire: Someone else? But who?

Monarch: Anyone! No one matters except us! How about you, Marinette? Wouldn't you give your life for your sweet Adrien's happiness?

Bug Noire: Do you really think that's what he'd want? To discover that his father has turned into a supervillain, willing to make innocent people pay the price of his madness?

Monarch: Adrien would do the same thing!

Bug Noire: Never! Unlike you, Adrien has made his peace with it. He's not living in the past! He has a whole life ahead of him!

Bug Noire: You'd know this if you ever took an interest in him. But in reality, Adrien means NOTHING to you anymore! You've locked him in your house! Locked him in your Alliance rings!

Bug Noire: Locked him into a life that allows you to hide behind him in order to justify YOUR madness!

Monarch: All I want is for him to be happy!

Remember all of this, because it's going to be important soon.

Bug Noire uses her Lucky Charm, and gets a tube of glue. She uses some of it on this random boomerang she found (I'm assuming it's the remains of Nathalie's crossbow), sticks it to her yo-yo, and then throws it at Emilie's coffin. Monarch reflexively grabs the sticky boomerang, and loses all of the rings on his right hand just as Bug Noire uses Cataclysm on the elevator to get to this area of the mansion, with the intent on CRUSHING EMILIE WITH IT. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen! Monarch saves his wife, but because he's distracted, he can't stop Bug Noire from throwing her staff at the Butterfly Miraculous, knocking it off and reverting Monarch back to Gabriel. Bug Noire ties up Gabriel's feet, and when Gabriel tries to sucker punch her with Venom, Bug Noire grabs the hand, threatening to Cataclysm the remaining Alliance rings and the two rings she should damn well know contain Adrien's Amok. Either she's bluffing, or we accidentally got the Paris Special universe's version of these events.

Bug Noire tries to reason with Gabriel, who then breaks down crying, showing how deep down, he just really cares about his family. And even though just six episodes ago, Marinette said that it was very easy for idealistic people to be taken advantage of by others, she buys into Gabriel's last-minute sob story, and wouldn't you know it, he stabs her in the back. Congratulations, Marinette. You just doomed the universe. Even when the Dino Charge Rangers accidentally got everyone on their planet killed, they were at least able to fix it themselves.

It's time to go back to the commentary, where we can learn the writers' true intent for this scene. They honestly believe that both Marinette and Gabriel care for Adrien in their own ways, and the whole reason that Marinette chose to trust Gabriel was to teach the lesson that it's important to talk out your feelings with others... a lesson that fails because 1) Marinette had already beaten Gabriel through violence, 2) Marinette trusting Gabriel backfired horribly, and 3) Gabriel won because he took advantage of Marinette's trust! You can't teach a lesson about trust when for all intents and purposes, Marinette once again lost BECAUSE SHE CHOSE TO TRUST SOMEONE!

Even though he had to unify with Tikki and Plagg to try making the wish in “Deflagration” (I really shouldn't have used the “Great Continuity!” clip earlier), we get yet another retcon this season: Tikki and Plagg have to reveal their true forms. Yeah, I know Tikki's true form was briefly seen in “Dearest Family”, but that doesn't change the fact that Monarch didn't do this when he had the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous in “Deflagration”.

Tikki and Plagg's true forms just look okay. I like the otherworldly theme, but they don't really stand out much. They honestly look more like forms Ladybug and Cat Noir would have than anything else.

It's here that we get the culmination of five seasons' worth of lore. After a brief glimpse of it in “Ephemeral”, Tikki and Plagg, the Kwamis of Creation and Destruction will merge their energies to form their true true form, the Kwami of Reality itself, able to grand any wish asked. This majestic, otherworldly being's name? Gimmi. Just... Gimmi. The commentary claims they're named after an ABBA song, and I wish I was making this up.

Like with Tikki and Plagg's true forms, Gimmi has an okay design. They're just a little too pink for something meant to be a fusion of the red Tikki and the black Plagg.

As Marinette begs Gabriel not to go through with this, Gabriel doesn't think twice about it, and instead, gives Marinette the rings containing Adrien's Amok, along with a request, fully aware that his time is almost up.

Gabriel: Marinette, make sure that Adrien never knows about the villain that I was, but instead, that he remembers the times I tried to be a good father.

Alright, we've finally gotten to the most controversial part of the episode: Gabriel's “redemption”, and I put that term extremely loosely.

Put aside the fact that almost a third of this season was spent telling the audience that a certain character who shall not be named is beyond saving despite working alongside him multiple times for the past two seasons, Gabriel's last-minute redemption falls flat because he doesn't even seem to feel remorse for what he's done. Not once does he actually say he's sorry for what he's done, just how Emilie's death affected him. That's understandable, but he doesn't even seem to acknowledge the weight of his actions or how many lives have been endangered. Remember earlier, when Monarch said he was perfectly okay with sacrificing someone else if it means his family can be happy? Yeah, that never comes back, especially now that him making the wish is portrayed as a good thing when every time it's been discussed ever since it was first explained in “Robostus” just how dangerous actually using it is.

In fact, let's discuss the fact that Gabriel is getting to make the wish in the first place. The whole idea of this basically contradicts Gabriel supposedly realizing he's gone too far. Rather than just having Gabriel give up his quest and let Emilie rest in peace, we're supposed to be happy that Gabriel double-crossed Marinette even when the music is making it seem like it's a bad thing... WHICH IT IS! Once again, for a show that loves to go on and on about how powerful love is, it really loves to show people getting screwed over whenever they decide to show compassion to their enemies. Imagine if in Return of the Jedi, when Luke chose to not give into the Dark Side by sparing Vader, Vader took the chance to kick him in the crotch while he was distracted. That's basically what happened here.

Next, notice how Gabriel specifically asks Marinette to make sure Adrien never learns the truth about who he was, and “Remembers the times he tried to be a good father”. After everything he's done, Gabriel isn't even willing to let Adrien learn about what he's done, because he wants him to focus exclusively on the times he TRIED to be a good father. This isn't the matter of Gabriel missing Adrien's fencing tournament because he had an important business meeting. Gabriel was a literal supervillain who preyed on innocent people in order to obtain absolute power, and he wasn't even a good father to his only kid. He was neglectful, controlling, and in the last few months of his life, spent more time trying to ruin his relationship with his girlfriend for no reason other than because he thought his associate's kid was a better match for him. He was a terrible father, and Gabriel even seems to be aware of this, but rather than find a way to repent for everything he's done, Gabriel is basically going to take the coward's way out by forcing Marinette to sugarcoat his life instead of admitting he was, at the very least, a flawed parent, all so Adrien will feel bad when he finally drops dead.

And yeah, let's talk about how Gabriel assumes that Adrien shouldn't be allowed to know the truth... WHEN THAT'S NOT HIS DECISION TO MAKE. Adrien should be the one to judge whether he believes Gabriel was a good father or not. Of course Gabriel would assume he was a good father despite the numerous red flags, but Adrien is another story. By keeping the truth hidden from Adrien, you're depriving him of a potentially important moment in his life where he finally learns to break free from his father's influence. Instead, even though he's a fucking superhero, we're just supposed to accept the fact that Adrien is just a poor, fragile, sensitive baby boy who can't handle hearing any bad news or else I guess he'll explode. It says a lot when, of all movies, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier did a better job handling an idea like this, by saying that pain is a natural part of life.

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But let's talk about the biggest problem with this turn of events: The fact that it essentially vindicates everything Gabriel has done, with or without the mask, as well as essentially convey a pro-child abuse message. In case you weren't around before I posted this review, I asked my followers who have been victims of child abuse or poor parenting to share their experiences so I could get an idea of how similar they were to what Adrien has had to go through. And a lot of them were pretty similar.

During almost all of what I read from these people, their parents or guardians shared one thing in common: An inability to admit being wrong. All of them tended to either blame their kids for whatever happened to them, or find ways to justify their poor treatment. As far as they're concerned, it's the kid's fault that they're being treated so poorly. And while I'm sure a handful of people isn't enough to survey the entire population of abuse victims on this planet, the fact that some of these people, as in actual victims of child abuse, were able to see similarities with their own upbringings and the way the main villain treats his son and don't buy the show deciding to act like all of that was perfectly okay says a lot about how much this finale dropped the ball when it came to the lesson it wanted to teach.

Yes, from what I've read from my followers and other things online, some abusive parents do believe that what they're doing to their children is out of a warped view of love, but that isn't enough to validate their actions completely, and it obviously doesn't validate Gabriel's actions during the last five seasons. During the entire run of the show, Gabriel has denied his son a normal life, treats him like an object, and despite claiming that he really loves him deep down, he almost never shows it. It seemed like the show was either going to have Gabriel realize the error of his ways due to how fruitless they ended up being, but having him get the upper hand on Marinette at the very last second ultimately makes it so all of his effort, every evil plan, every civilian endangered, was all worth it. And that's why Gabriel's final moments supposedly acting like he's repented for his actions don't work, and why it turned what was initially just a boring finale into one that was beyond infuriating.

And I'm assuming that you're thinking to yourself, what exactly is the wish Gabriel was so desperate to make that he tricked Marinette at the last second?

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We never really learn what kind of wish Gabriel makes using Gimmi, even in the epilogue. I'm also going to talk about this in a later post, but of course Astruc, being Astruc had to give his usual sarcastic remarks to anyone who had the slightest question about what the hell just happened.

I love how someone will ask something like “Do you mind clearing up a few questions I have about the season finale?”, and Astruc will hear what they said as if they just asked, “Is Mylene secretly the reincarnation of the Anti-Christ?”.

So Gabriel makes his wish, somehow reunites with Emilie's soul as he ascends to Heaven... until the angels realize they made a horrible mistake, and send Gabriel to his custom-made Tenth Circle of Hell. Reality itself is rewritten and all of the characters we've come to know over the past five seasons are effectively dead. If that isn't supposed to be a happy ending, I don't know what is.

According to the transcript, it's been a month after the wish is made, we see how Paris has changed since then. Not only has Miss Bustier given birth to her baby, she's also been elected as Mayor of Paris, already passing her first law, the “Eco Rule”.

Miss Bustier: It consists of very simple principles: don't take more from the Earth than what it can give us, distribute its riches equitably and don't pollute more than it can recycle.

Remember when Mylene said that you can't solve climate change with a single law? I guess the writers forgot to recycle that moral too, because despite the vague as hell guidelines, Paris has already adapted to function without plastic wrappers or cars. Just remember, it's only been one month since the wish was made. Even Star Trek needed at least 130 years and a nuclear war before its utopian society could be established. And that's not even getting into the new school she's helped create.

Miss Bustier: In this new school, there will be no classes or struggling to get good grades. Children of all ages will be able to intermix and freely access all kinds of activities.

The fuck you mean “no grades”?! How the hell will that even work?! We're supposed to see this as her being an impressive politician, but it comes across like some grade schooler's “If I were president” essay. And remember, ONE. MONTH.

How else has the Eco Rule been implemented? All of the Alliance rings have been melted down and reforged into a statue honoring... the great hero, Gabriel Agreste.

Yep. This is the ultimate fate of the main villain after five seasons of terrorizing the city of Paris: He gets a fucking statue in his honor. Are we sure this is a victory for the good guys? And no, just surviving the villain's master plan doesn't count as a win.

Even better, according to Adrien, he somehow helped defeat Monarch... even though Gabriel is Monarch, so is Monarch a different person in this world? What about Monarch's previous identities, Hawkmoth and Shadowmoth? Did they still exist in this world? They had to, considering that Chloe and Andre are still nowhere to be seen since the revolution, implying that either she's different in this world, or she also betrayed Ladybug for the same reasons. Nathalie is also back in full health, so did she ever use the Peacock? Was the Peacock ever damaged? We see Felix has it in this new world, but Emilie is still dead, so did she die of different causes in this timeline? Speaking of time, what happened to Bunnix? Did she survive too? Is she aware of the changes to the world like she was in “Cat Blanc”?

To summarize, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?

Adrien is hesitant to wear the ring because he's not sure if he can ever be even half the man his amazing father was. Marinette tells Adrien to be himself while handing the ring to him. So... was this an order? If so, was it intentional? Does Marinette even know what she's doing, or because she's a product of Gabriel's wish, she has to do this without a hitch? In fact, when he made the wish, why didn't Gabriel make Adrien, Felix, and Kagami humans instead of forcing them to rely on rings containing their souls that can easily break?

This scene is a great way to summarize Adrienette this season: The writers trying to write a heartwarming scene while hoping the audience doesn't think too hard about all the uncomfortable things it implies.

After reforging the Miraculous she got back from Monarch, Marinette decides to hand them off. Because fuck it, let's break the temp hero rule while we're at it! Chloe who? Ladybug, Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, Viperion, Pegasus, Ryuko, Vesperia, Polymouse, Pigella, Purple Tigress, Miss Hound, Rooster Bold, Caprikid, Minotaurox, Bunnix, and even Argos (despite being the reason the heroes lost their Miraculous in the first place) assemble, ready for whatever challenge the world throws at them. Also, there's no reveal between Ladybug and Cat Noir this season because the writers still want to drag this plotline out, even when there's no excuse as to why they can't now that Monarch is gone.

We then learn who got the Butterfly Miraculous: Lila, who plans to get revenge on Marinette. Yep, the girl who has never even touched a Miraculous in five seasons is going to be Hawkmoth's successor. Not Tomoe (who I should mention never answered for being Gabriel's accomplice), not Audrey, not even Chloe. It's Lila. How the hell did she even get it anyway? Did Gabriel intentionally recreate the world to have Lila get the Butterfly Miraculous, or did Lila somehow retain her memories through close proximity to the wish and--

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Fuck it, season's over anyway. Thank God...

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS...MARINETTE

While I can't say for certain what she did with Adrien is her fault thanks to Gabriel making the wish, I can say a good chunk of the things Marinette did leading up to Gabriel winning are on her. She recklessly used her Cataclysm multiple times in her fight with Monarch, tried to crush Emilie's comatose body with debris, once again chose to gloat about how she was going to take Gabriel's Miraculous instead of just doing it the first chance she got, seemingly forgot Adrien was a Sentimonster, and somehow managed to lose even when she had Gabriel at her mercy.

So, yeah... this finale was terrible, if it wasn't obvious from this review.

It was just a complete trainwreck from start to finish. A good chunk of the first part was spent either ignoring the events of the last episode, or coming up with excuses as to why Adrien shouldn't get involved. And that's not even getting into Nathalie's “redemption”, which only really happened once she had nothing to lose, seeing how she was even closer to dying than Gabriel was. In fact, now that I think about it, why was more emphasis given to Nathalie's declining health over Gabriel? You know, the guy who's enacting his final plan because he's supposedly hours from death, yet effortlessly manages to clone himself, fly around the world as an Akuma, and keep up with Bug Noire when he struggled to enact a plan that required him to leave the lair without traveling around the world during “Intuition”? Given how we now know that the writers wanted the final battle to involve Bug Noire, I'm starting to think they also prioritized her opponent being in top shape while ignoring the Cataclysm wound affecting him.

The second half was mostly boring thanks to just how low the stakes felt. We know where Adrien is, and since Bug Noire was fighting Monarch, there was no danger of them taking her Miraculous, so for the most part, the Miraculized fighting the other heroes just felt like padding. Nobody even seemed to look for Ladybug or Cat Noir, not even the heroes. Of course, then we got to Gabriel's wish. I've gone over this before, but it bears repeating. Gabriel's “redemption” just doesn't work due to how little effort is spent actually making the audience feel bad for him other than saying “His wife is dead, and he's sad, so that justifies everything”. It doesn't help that we kind of had four episodes explaining why some people can't change, and it wasn't used when talking about Gabriel, but rather, Chloe and Lila. Because these writers really have their priorities straight.

The ending of the season itself practically falls apart with how many plotholes and unfortunate implications it has. And before you say that stuff like Adrien once again being left in the dark can be resolved next season, here's the thing: This was planned to be the series finale with how everything feels wrapped up. There's a sense of finality that shows all the main characters getting their happy ending, and we're just supposed to not question the new utopia Paris is now, much less the fact that even after eight years, Ladybug and Cat Noir still don't know who the other is. Even putting that aside, the show has always done a poor job of following up on plotpoints established in earlier seasons, as the lunchroom scene from “Illusion” shows.

Here's a summary of all the lessons the finale teaches: We shouldn't hold terrorists accountable for their actions if they just say they love their family, abuse victims should be constantly coddled and shouldn't be allowed to know the truth about their viewers, it's okay to keep crucial information from your significant other, genocide is okay as long as the person who commits it says it's for a good cause, love for others can easily be taken advantage of, so never trust anyone, genocide is the only way to create an eco-friendly world, environmental protection laws can be passed within a month and nobody (not even car manufacturers) will complain, teenage girls are worse than abusive parents who double as supervillains, and even if it was planned for almost a decade, don't let your main heroine be the one to save the day, but rather, the villain.

If anyone reading this is planning on becoming a writer and is worried that people won't like their work, just remember that there are people who get paid to work on this show.

But yeah, this is how the season ends, not with a bang, but with a nosedive. I was mostly pissed off with how Seasons 3 and 4 ended, but here? I'm just disappointed. This was the finale that we waited eight years for. The epic final battle against Monarch, and rather than the ultimate fight to the finish, the writers came with several excuses to not involve one of the two main characters in the final battle, the other main character fails to actually save the day, and the villain is rewarded for all of actions because he chose to turn himself into a messiah. I tuned into this season to at least see how the story would end out of curiosity, but it didn't even deliver an ending that made all the pointless filler, poor writing, and bad characterization worth it. I started this finale off bored, and I ended up furious for how lackluster this ending felt. It says a lot when this finale has been compared to Star vs. the Forces of Evil in terms of just screwing everything up.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE SEASON IS... MARINETTE

Marinette may not have been able to beat Gabriel in terms of stopping his plan, but she did manage to outdo him in terms of stupidity. Because she got the award four times this season (Evolution, Revelation, Confrontation, Re-Creation), she takes home the title of Biggest Idiot.

And for those who are curious or didn't keep up with my reviews, Gabriel gets second place with three Biggest Idiot Awards (Intuition, Protection, Revolution), we have a five-way tie for third place with Luka (Determination, Migration), Mayor Andre (Adoration, Action), Chloe (Deflagration, Collusion), Felix (Emotion, Representation), and Nathalie (Passion, Conformation), who all got the award twice, and a ten-way tie for fourth place with Alya (Multiplication), Xuppu (Destruction), Mr. Damocles (Jubiliation), Nino (Illusion), Joan of Arc (Reunion), Ice Cream Man Andre (Elation), Kagami (Perfection), Kim (Derision), and Tomoe (Pretension) each getting the award once.

And with that, we're done with Season 5. It's been a long road, but all I can say is...

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At least, until the analysis and ranking posts.

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bovineblogger · 11 months ago

Note

have you reviewed the cows from far cry 5 yet? i searched for it in your blog but nothing came up

FAR CRY 5

COWIE COWIE OWIE COWIE COWIE I LOVE MR BROWN BULL!!!! HOW SW. who is that youtuber in the lower right hand corner. i just noticed them. can i help you

PERSONAL RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5

#far cry 5 #cow #cows #animals #silly #video games

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cocogum · 6 months ago

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The Great Wave - Chapter 5 Review

‼️ SPOILERS FOR THE CHAPTER ‼️

I’m not going to lie, this was the best chapter of the first volume so far. Not only was it better than the old chapters because we had much more to see and think about, but it’s also because it had some soft intimate moments mixed with happy scenes and not to mention felt longer than the others.

I would like to point out that I was completely in the right to explain why it was perfectly reasonable for Amalia to be worried that Aurora would take her place. In my chapter 4 review, I mentioned how Aurora had no right to lead the kingdom without Amalia even if it was in her legal right to do so. Aurora doesn't fully grasp the beliefs of the Sadidas. If she banishes Amalia, the final member of the royal Sadida family, from the kingdom, she will lack crucial insight into the kingdom's governance, particularly regarding the functioning of the Tree of Life.

It's important to note that while Yugo may not be a Sadida or a Twelvian, he has at least demonstrated the bare minimum level of cultural understanding and interaction that surpasses Aurora. Having lived among the Sadidas and rescued them multiple times, he has even communicated with King Oakheart without difficulty. However, it's worth noting that not all Sadidas may fully accept Yugo despite everything he has done. A good example of this would be what @vinillain has said about the topic in their post. I actually recommend you to see what they have to say about it.

Aurora has told Amalia to go back to her adventures, implying that she doesn’t need Amalia IN HER OWN HOME. Not only is the blue cow trophy wife a dumbass, but she’s also extremely unaware of the consequences she could receive if she lets her go.

It’s completely ridiculous but insane to kick the only remaining royal family of the Sadida kingdom if you don’t know how to keep the very living thing that keeps its people breathing.

This just keeps me wondering what the hell is Aurora’s goal besides ruling another kingdom other than the Osamodas one. Is there even another goal? Because if there isn’t, you gotta keep the only member of the royal family around you if you don’t want to fuck a kingdom up babes.

Aurora is legitimately an embarrassment to all blondes out there. They are already tired of hearing the annoying stereotype of “being dumb blondes” so don’t make it worse for them.

I hate what this is implying and I hate how Amalia explains it to Yugo.

Amalia already told Yugo in Season 4 that the sadidas protect the trees with their lives. And now, she’s here specifying to him that once a Sadida dies, they are still very much present in other ways.

Tot I swear on my ass, if this turns out to be some kind of foreshadowing for Amalia’s death, I’m booking a plane ticket straight to France. However, if this turns out to be some sort of implication that Amalia will replace or be the official guardian of the Tree of Life, I might be into it. We’ll just have to see where her words will go.

I loved how Yugo immediately went to console her and brought her into his arms. My guy doesn’t hesitate at all anymore and I’m so proud 🥰 He’s now able to give her the love she deserves 💕

This is the first time he mentions the past, and I'm glad he remembers how she used to be and can see the good in her, even when she was less mature.

Look at how he admires her in this very moment! He’s absolutely smitten 💕💕

“But already full of courage.” Yeah, the fearless sassy adventurer is definitely his type lol

I’ve been seeing a lot of people talk about the pregnancy situation with Aurora and with Amalia as well. The recurring references to pregnancy in certain chapters have led some to speculate about their significance. They are so vaguely placed in some instances but still present that the mentions almost appear like they’ve been strategically placed, leading to the belief that they may play a crucial role in upcoming events.

Here, we have Amalia crying her tears out at the idea that Aurora is perfectly justified to regain her position as queen simply because of her alleged pregnancy.

Just this scene alone makes me believe that Amalia has all the right to get pregnant as well. This is literally the scene that’s pushing the idea of her getting a kid.

Amalia. Get pregnant already. YUGO HELP HER-

I genuinely hate the fact that Amalia believes Armand would’ve let Aurora become the leader in his place because she’s harbouring his “child.”

Like no babe that doesn’t make any sense.

Throughout Season 4, we were able to clearly understand that Armand and Aurora did have feelings for one another but that didn’t mean Armand thought she was worthy to take his place if he was gone.

There’s a reason why there was only one throne in the Sadida kingdom.

There’s a reason why he was the only one conversing the most with other symbols of power or influence such as Master Joris, Yugo, and the cow king.

There’s a reason why he only addresses himself when he’s talking about the sadida leadership.

There’s a reason why he says “my people” rather than “our people”.

There’s a reason why he told Amalia, straight to her face, that she’s got it from here right before he sacrifices himself.

Armand never thought about Aurora when it came to any kind of leadership.

And sure, even if the child is real (because I still do not believe that wench), that doesn’t mean Armand was expecting the child to take over for him, much less Aurora, when Amalia was still in the picture.

Man was just horny that’s it.

Oh oop- drama???

Omg no this is genuinely such a good moment.

Amalia accidentally tells Yugo that he’s a stranger in the eyes of the royal Osamodas family and supposedly the other leaders as well and Yugo simply accepts this fact while she’s over here internally cursing herself for saying that to his face.

Because Amalia knows she’s right. And Yugo knows it just as much as her, if only more. Despite how Yugo wants to help Amalia in the situation she’s in, he’s aware that his very existence is a disturbance to the other leaders. (Which is a parallel to what happened with the Eliatrope goddess and the other gods around her.)

It greatly bothers Yugo to not be able to help his wife because of what he is and it is pretty understandable. There are people who are clashing with Amalia so he’ll obviously want to fight back.

While we're on the subject of who’s more of a stranger than the actual alien, I’d like to point out that even the royal Sadida staff treats Yugo like he’s part of the family. When Yugo and Amalia were having their moment, Renate (or Canar, I can’t remember who is who these two are just always together) enters the sacred grounds and calls for them, reminding them to be a part of the wedding their friends are having. But the way Renate (or Canar) addresses them is not by their royal status, but simply by their names.

This is an important detail to be aware of because Renate/Canar had no reason to justify why he called them by their names alone.

It just goes to show that some royal servants can be comfortable calling Yugo and Amalia this way without receiving any consequences. It also implies that only the servants who have interacted and gotten along with Yugo and Amalia when they were younger, are allowed to address them by their names.

And I love that fact so terribly much.

Amalia is a queen who understands personal relationships with servants and doesn’t think the idea is a bad thing. She has always been looking forward to speaking to her servants and befriending them since she was a child. Renate, Canar, and Evangelyne are examples of this.

Another detail that can be pointed out in this scene is what Renate/Canar said next: there was a wedding the two are supposed to attend later in the day.

This wouldn’t have been such a big thing to think about if it wasn’t for the fact that Yugo mentioned to Grougal that the two people in question who are getting a wedding, are two of his and Amalia’s friends.

Literally what? Who?!? Who are those friends??? That literally came out of nowhere!

It can’t be Eva and Dally because they already got married ages ago. So who could they be? Some friends who the brotherhood of the tofu met during one of their adventures? New characters that we’re going to see in Season 5 if it ever gets released? Or simply new characters that we’re going to discover in the manga? I’m throwing all the possibilities in the air because these two individuals cannot be normal civilians that Yugo and Amalia decided to plan a wedding for. Yugo precisely stated that these people are their friends.

Because of the Brotherhood’s lack of presence, one might assume that the couple getting married could consist of a Sadida and an Eliatrope, which would explain why Yugo and Amalia are familiar with them.

The Eliatropes and Sadidas depicted in this panel appear to be getting along, as they are all gathered in circles surrounded by Sadidas who seem to be accepting of their presence.

@aphilayx circled the exact amount of small groups that contained sadidas and eliatropes conversing together.

We can also believe that the marriage is unlikely to have any of the brotherhood’s friends who they met in their adventures take part in the ceremony, as was the case with Tristeva and Yumalia’s weddings. It appears that only Alibert, Adamaï, and Chibi, who are not from the kingdom, will be participating.

All of these points only encourage the idea that the marriage Yugo and Amalia would participate in could be between a sadida and an eliatrope.

…if the eliatropes weren’t children.

The eliatropes are not adults yet. Only a few months, or possibly a year, have passed between Season 4 and the webtoon. The eliatropes are not ready to marry anyone.

But then again, an interracial marriage would still make sense. Because why would any other race be here? I don’t see anyone else. The room we were shown only displayed sadidas and eliatropes. The only other person who isn’t an eliatrope, a sadida, or even a dragon, is Alibert (poor guy’s the only Enutrof there lol). He sticks out like a sore thumb 😭

Speaking of the room, we finally get to see Chibi and Grougal! It's great to have more opportunities to see them, especially since they were only featured in the first episode of the Ovas and one episode of Season 4 until now. In both of those times, they barely spoke or said a line. But here, we can finally see them having more moments and SPEAKING.

Well, only Chibi is talking but I think that’s pretty understandable since Grougal seems to be less talkative than him cuz he’s…well a baby dragon.

Grougal chews on wood when he can’t eat anything else…

Honestly, that’s relatable for all human babies. And then we got Chibi over here who decided to snitch on him for trying to eat Az. I never thought the future inventor would be able to snitch like that, how embarrassing.

DUDE WHY ARE YOU BRINGING DOWN GROUGAL LIKE THAT?! BRO’S JUST TRYNNA BE A DRAGON-

I’ve never seen Yugo get this mad at Grougal damn. I only saw Adamaï acting like that in season 2...daddy’s mad.

Yugo gives off the vibe of being the responsible older brother who had to act mature to help the parents handle the younger kids. He’s such a big brother to them both to the point where he’s making me think he’ll be such a good househusband father.

He’s even compromising with them!! Telling Grougal to wait a bit until the food can be ready.

Please that is such a fatherly thing to do!! They usually do this when the mother isn’t watching lol. Yugo’s over here telling Grougal to wait just a bit longer so he could be able to eat whatever he wants at the banquet.

By the way, I bet the feast will only be filled with drinks and fruits based on the food we’ve seen in the webtoon trailer.

Ruel had once complained that all the sadidas ate were soups so I guess that’s also another thing these people eat. The only time I’ve seen a sadida eat meat was Amalia in the first episode of the Ovas cutting a cooked animal in Ruel’s contraption.

So yeah, Grougal’s gonna starve either way lol

Also I’m definitely using this panel as my lock screen 💕💕

Look at him, he’s about to ground him before Alibert can.

Just cuz of this scene alone, it made me think that’s how he’s gonna act if he ever gets a kid(s) with Amalia. So if his kid misbehaves, he’d make that frowning face lol

And now we’re back to these imbeciles.

It irks me that these two blue-skinned clowns are being served and taken care of by the sadidas. They got THEIR OWN SUITE ARE U KIDDING ME-

The blue cow king even had some food prepared by the sadidas for his goofy ass ride! Stop treating the sadida servants like they are your own ones!!

Aurora is as unlikable as always, ordering the people to prepare her room.

I swear not even younger Amalia used to order her people like that. She used to get along with them and even talk to them as if she was about to spill some tea. But Aurora? Cow is so entitled that she’s even acting like that to people who are not even from the same race as her.

Blue cow mentioned that the chest the Sadida servant was carrying, had a “kougnard” in it (in English it’s a “skrot”).

We couldn’t see what it looked like but it clearly scared the shit out of that sadida woman. So I took the time to search up what a “Kougnard” was and it turns out it was actually a very ugly bat creature.

A “kougnard” is an animal you can use for transportation or a companion you can bring around while adventuring. Their main use is transportation though so they carry you from point A to point B if you can’t find a zaap gate near you.

They originally came from Ecaflipus, the Ecaflip God’s dimension. The kougnard that Aurora has is a newborn one which would explain why it could fit into a chest.

For a visual example, this is what a kougnard looks like in its adult form 👇

So yeah, pretty ugly.

Like ew wtf no wonder the sadida woman shit her leaves. Sorry for any player who uses these things but I don’t see how you can even touch one of them, let alone look at them for more than fifteen seconds. They look like ugly crusty bats that are fighting for their lives just to breathe.

Also what’s up with Aurora keeping familials in chests?? Wtf?? Isn’t she pro-animal or whatever?? Literally what’s up with that?? What’s so special about a living baby kougnard that she has to keep it in a chest???

That thing is even ugly as a baby, just look at how that sadida woman reacted when she saw it. Literally freaked her the hell out.

Apparently, Aurora wears the animal on her head in the next chapter according to what the next chapter’s cover entails. She seems to have something in her head and @geekgirles deduced that if we focus our attention on the top of her head, we can see claws.

I swear if that blue cow is actually looking down on people in that panel while having an ugly crusty-ass bat on her head, I’ll be laughing my ass off at this goofy behavior.

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doll-elvis · 1 year ago

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PRISCILLA (2023)

~ my thoughts as an elvis fan

(credit to @urpinkstargirl for the photo)

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD:

so I saw it last night and I’ve been stewing on it ever since as I wanted to be 100% sure in myself before saying this publicly

**brace yourselves**

After just one viewing… I feel confident in saying that I preferred this film over “Elvis” 2022 🤧. It was just so immersive and so deeply intimate that I walked away from the theater feeling like I had just lived a life with Elvis, and experienced all the ugly and wonderful things that came with it

I am seeing it again tonight and possibly tomorrow just to recapture that feeling (which made me cry… three times…)

And although I’m not the biggest fan of Sofia Coppola, there is simply no denying that she has perfected showing “girlhood” in film, and making the most unique experiences, like being Marie Antoinette and being Priscilla Presley, somehow universal to everybody. I haven’t felt being “14” since I was 14, which was a whole 5 years ago, but WHEW… I most definitely felt 14 again when watching Priscilla navigate life in Germany

Also- we all saw how Austin Butler was completely cheated out of an Oscar and so I’m begging that we do not do that again. Give the Oscar to Cailee Spaeny (who played Priscilla) right now 😤 There are no words besides “immaculate” to describe her performance. Her future is so bright as an actress, I just cannot wait to follow her career + she just seems like the sweetest person ever??

And I know it might seem insane to say that I preferred “Priscilla” over “Elvis” and some of y’all might crucify me for that take but my preference solely comes down to the fact that I appreciate Priscilla’s perspective much more so than the Colonel’s, who to me, has always been the least interesting aspect of Elvis’ story

My biggest gripe with having the Colonel narrative/tell Elvis’ life in the 2022 film is the fact that it made the film feel rather impersonal to Elvis as I don’t think the script or the storytelling ever fully allowed for Austin Butler to explore what he was like beyond the stage

And personally speaking, I have a much deeper love for Elvis the person as opposed to Elvis the performer, and I think that “Priscilla” showed the human side of him far more than “Elvis” ever did (like y’all we actually get to hear and see him reading his philosophy books in this!!!)

But before I get into what was actually depicted in film, and all my praises, I thought I would briefly state what I thought could have been done better. Don’t get me wrong, this movie was beyond amazing, however, it was definitely not without its’ faults:

1. If you have seen a lot of reviewers talk negatively about the pacing in this film- just know that they are unfortunately, completely right in that assessment. The whole timeline of Germany felt literally five minutes long, and the 70s also, felt maybe 10 minutes long which just made both the beginning and end feel rather rushed. Also there were at least 5 scenes that just faded to black before going onto the next one, and some very abrupt cuts in scenes which felt a bit awkward

2. Because this is a biopic, and because it’s based on a real life, there is no climax like you would be accustomed to normally in a film and so I think that the average viewer, like someone who may not really care about Priscilla or Elvis, will probably walk away from the film feeling unsatisfied- possibly bored. I saw it with my mom and my sister, and my mom was asleep in like 45 minutes 😭. The movie definitely got repetitive at some points but I acknowledge the fact that life is repetitive, especially for Priscilla in the 60s while Elvis was off making movies

3. While Priscilla (played by Cailee Spaeny) aged realistically and seamlessly, Elvis (played by Jacob Elordi) was essentially the same person (physically) for 95% percent of the film. For some reason, his hair was already dyed black in the Germany scenes, although we know it was brown at that time, and so there was no real transformation for him until Lisa Marie is born. The height of the actor was definitely jarring at first but eventually I got used to it…however…I damn near busted out laughing when they showed him in the Comeback special outfit 💀 His performance was nothing but incredible (ESPECIALLY THE VOICE) and so I learned to get over the physical disparities rather quickly

4. The ending of this film, particularly the song, was overwhelmingly sad and impactful but I was really disappointed that we didn’t get to see Priscilla’s and Elvis’ relationship after the divorce. This film ends with Priscilla leaving Graceland, starting her “new life”, which didn’t make much sense to me considering this movie was adapted from her book, which very much explores that part of her life, especially with Elvis

I would have really love to seen moments like this from Priscilla’s perspective ⬇️

excerpt from “Priscilla, Elvis and me” (avoid this book)

5. NO CIRCLE G RANCH!!! It is borderline criminal to make a film about Priscilla and Elvis and to not include their time spent at Circle G ranch ** which Priscilla has always said were their happiest times together **. I assume that this was likely an issue because of the budget and the fact that they only had 30 days to film but god… I would have really appreciated some of the domestic bliss that Priscilla and Elvis shared while living in the trailer on the ranch. There were many happy moments/sequences (y’all are going to die when you see the rollerblading/go cart scenes) in this movie, but I think their gradual separation/withdrawal from one another (post marriage) would have hit harder if we saw how happy they were together during their ranch phase

6. For those who have read “Elvis and Me”, we all know about the famed LSD scene that takes place and unfortunately, Coppola heavily missed the mark on it. We don’t see Lamar Fike making out with a tree, we don’t see Jerry Schilling in a closet- instead we see Priscilla and Elvis just kind of rolling around, laughing amongst themselves while the room around them turns different colors

There were definitely many key moments/stories like that missing from the film, and I honestly wish that the movie was an hour longer so that we could have seen the book more fully fleshed out

Lastly, here’s just a general synopsis of the scenes in Germany… I was going to do the whole movie but I don’t have the stamina to type it all out 😭. If y’all want to know something specific please feel free to comment below and I will let you know <3!!

After the beginning credits are shown, the film starts with Currie Grant (who was renamed as Terry West) approaching Priscilla in a diner, inviting her to a party at Elvis’ house. After talking with her parents and assuring them that Priscilla will be looked after by him and his wife, it cuts to her in the back of a car, on her way to meet Elvis. The scene is exactly like how it is in the book, Elvis asks her how old she is, he remarks that she is “just a baby” and so on- Elvis then plays “a Whole lotta shakin” at the piano and that is one of three musical performances we see from him

Priscilla is then re-invited by Currie aka Terry via Elvis to comeback to the house again. Elvis invites Priscilla up to his room, she looks around and sees letters from Anita Wood, and a poster of Bridgette Bardot just like in the book. After Elvis talks about Gladys and how he is still reeling over her death, and how lonely he has felt since then, they share their first kiss to the song “Crimson and Clovers”

There are some scenes of Priscilla at school and some scenes of her sort of convincing her parents to let her continue to see Elvis. And they do agree, but just like in the book, they want to meet him first. Elvis is questioned by Priscilla’s father on why he wants to be with her to which Elvis replies that she is very mature for her age and that he likes talking to her since she is from home aka the United States. He then assures Priscilla’s father that she will be taken care of. After that we see them going to the movies where Elvis expresses how much he wants to be a serious actor, and then they share another kiss on the car ride home. It then cuts to Christmas time where we see Elvis giving Priscilla a watch and then BOOM- Elvis and her are on the way to the airport where they say their final goodbyes as he leaves for the United States

The film really does follow closely to the book (at least from 59’ when they meet to 69’- again the 70s were really rushed) and so I really recommended to read that prior to watching the movie

As for the more sensitive scenes-

There is no explicit sex, no graphic nudity, and no scene where Elvis forces himself upon Priscilla. He does say “this is how a real man makes love to his woman” but all he does is kiss her before she pushes him off. There is a rather long “polaroid-taking” sequence where it shows all the outfits that Elvis would Priscilla dress up in but other than that, we only see Elvis and Priscilla make out

And it did show when Elvis accidentally hit Priscilla in the eye during the pillow fight scene in her book, along with the scene of him throwing a chair in her general direction after she expressed she didn’t like a demo of one his songs, and the scene where he grabs all her clothes from the closet and tells her that she should go visit her parents. I don’t think that the scenes made Elvis look abusive: Coppola was surprisingly nuanced in showing that he had reasons for his sometimes bad temperament i.e the pills he took along with the fact that he was frustrated with his film career

It also shows Elvis’ infidelities but really only through movie magazines that Priscilla sees. So it’s never explicitly shown, I would say it’s more hinted at than anything

And there are two scenes of Priscilla with Mike Stone but again, nothing that is explicitly shown, it’s just hinted at

Finally, to finish this up, this is what I wrote on my Instagram account which I very much stand by ⬇️

Just please give this movie a chance y’all, it was so beautiful and so sensitively done… I cannot wait to watch it again <3

#I was not prepared for this movie #cailee and jacob completely floored me #I’m sorry I ever doubted y’all #give everyone an award #wow #priscilla presley #priscilla movie #priscilla 2023 #elvis and priscilla #elvis presley #elvisaaronpresley #elvis #elvis fans #elvis fandom #sofia Coppola #cailee spaeny #jacob elordi #Spotify

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one-piece-aus · 6 months ago

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Unbottle Your Emotions

Eutass Kid x Reader (Part 1)

Ahoy readers! Some of you who read my Whumptober works know I made two short whumps of Kid in a highschool AU and I can tell you enjoyed those angsty works. I've dug around in my drafts and found this, I wrote it a few years ago but nonetheless, it's the beginning of this story so I thought why not post it? Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Enjoy ^-^

"Alright, class," Makino addressed you and your classmates once she finished attendance. "I have a partner project for you to work on for the next two weeks. Before you ask, I have already assigned who you'll be working with."

You glanced over to Hawkins, if you were lucky you'd be partnered with him. The two of you were loners who stuck together. You found it easier to work with him since you kinda were on the same level when it came to that. He made eye contact with you and knew you wanted him to check his chances of being paired with you. He drew his cards under his desk before looking back to you and shaking his head. You sighed, pulling up your hood and resting your head on your arms, you continued listening to your English teacher.

"You'll be choosing a topic to write about, whether it's a review of a movie or a poem about birds, I want the two of you to make it together. This will be a presentation assignment so make sure to capture your listeners' attention and practice what you'll be reading." Makino paused, going over to her laptop, and clicking a few keys before turning on the projector. "Here are your partners."

Once the screen had been displayed your eyes scanned over the list to find your name. You saw Hawkins got paired with Cavendish, you almost felt bad for him until your eyes landed on who you paired with. The person Makino assigned you to work with was Eustass Kid.

He was the most hostile guy at school, it was no secret the guy had anger issues and was completely obnoxious. You avoided him like the plague for two reasons:

1. You were a good student and just wanted to learn, obnoxious kids disrupt the silence and your ability to learn.

2. You could only tolerate someone directing their anger at you for so long before crying; not that they made you feel sad, but because you felt anger at them and wished to shout back at them to defend yourself, yet you held your tongue back since you didn't want to cause further trouble; that bottled up emotion stressed tears out of you.

You hated crying because that made you think you appeared hurt and weak when in reality you were angry and frustrated, the more you felt it the more the tears came. That's why tried to quickly get out of the predicaments if you were ever in them.

The quickest way you dealt with someone's anger and got out of the problem was ignoring them if they were just insulting you or apologizing respectfully if you did something to piss them off. Since you pulled off these things well without appearing to be phased and having acknowledgement of the issue with genuine respect, those in school weren't aware you had a limit. However, you witnessed how Kid gets whenever someone pisses him off, you knew there'd be no way you could keep the bottle closed if he directed his anger at you, so that's why you always duck away when you saw Kid coming.

Internally you panicked when you saw you were assigned to be his partner. You didn't know how you managed to get this far acting as a ghost while being in the same classes as him this semester. You usually weren't in a corner or by the window, you were near the front of the room, second row and just two desks away from being in the center of the class, great for viewing the board. Perhaps you were a ghost to Kid since he sat around the back near the window.

Kid raised his head and looked around, searching for you, you pulled your hood further over you and lowered your head to face away from Kid. "Oi, Teach! Which one's the one I'm working with?" You heard Kid ask, I guess he really didn't know who you are.

You listened to the footsteps of the teacher, drawing towards you just as a brush does to the paints on a pallet. You feel her gentle hand rub your head, maybe thinking you were asleep, you did come in class yawning. You hesitantly lifted your head, looking up at Makino and seeing her smile. Oh, bless her heart for being kind and welcoming, wishing to create a pleasant and welcoming place for her class, but that's what's going to bite you in the ass because it meant you couldn't get out of this since she wanted her class to be comfortable with each other. You sighed, making it a sound like a yawn, and sat up but still kept your hood on.

"This is [L/n], Eustass," Makino told Kid, gesturing to you before she went to another student who had raised their hand.

You didn't say a word, instead, you took out your notes and reviewed them to see which ones you needed for the project. The daunting sound of Kid approaching your desk only made you read through your notes more frantic until he sat down in the chair in front of you with a scowl on his face. You looked away from your notes, masking your uneasy state as you finally spoke to him.

"Hi! Sorry- I was searching for the notes we'll probably need!" You apologized then glanced back at the papers and began putting the ones you didn't need back in your binder. You just needed to get on his good side, if you didn't irritate him you two could get this project over with and never have to speak to each other again, that's how classmates go.

"At least you seemed to know what you're doing," Kid responded, eyes gazing over the many notes you've jotted down as you slipped them away in the binder.

"Uh- you can pick whatever you wanna do for the project if you want," you told him and put your binder into your bag. "I'm uh- fine with whatever unless you wanted to ask the teacher to work with a friend instead, then I'll find a topic to work on by myself."

"None of my friends are in this class," he shrugged and folded his arms. "Besides I know Makino wouldn't change my partner even if I asked, I'm just glad it's not strawhat I'm working with again."

"Strawhat? Luffy?" You tilted your head, not recalling Luffy being in your class.

"He was in one of my classes last semester and we had Makino as our teacher," Kid explained as put his arms on your desk, taking up half the space.

"Oh..."

"You know the guy?" Kid inquired, raising a non-existent eyebrow at you.

"Not really."

"Good, he's annoying and so are his friends."

You sweatdropped unsure how to respond to his complaint. Normally you'd let some continue their rants until they were done, especially if they had anger issues you didn't want to trigger them, but you wanted to get everything figured out before class was over.

"So did you have something in mind?" You asked getting back on topic.

"We're not writing poetry, that's for damn sure," he grumbled, pushing his cheek onto his knuckled fist.

'How ironic, that's probably what Cavendish and Hawkins are,' you thought to yourself as you glanced at the two blonds. Cavendish seemed to be boasting about myself again, maybe being partnered with Kid wasn't so bad.

"Have you listened to any metal songs?" Kid inquired, throwing his idea out there.

"Yeah..."

"Really?" he questioned, not believing you.

"Yeah."

Kid's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, really?!"

"Uh yeah." How many times were you going to have to repeat yourself?

"Huh, I didn't think you'd listen to that kind of music."

You shrugged. "My dad got me into metal and rock when I was younger. Better than what plays on the radio."

"You don't have to tell me twice. Idiots that listen to what they play on there now don't know what real music is."

You chuckled, agreeing with Kid, maybe he wasn't so bad. "I guess we found our topic. Now we need to figure out how we'd be writing it." You flipped over one of your papers and started writing down a few methods. "Fan letter to the artist, a review of the song, analysis of the lyrics-"

A loud buzz rang throughout the school and repeated itself, you cringed at the obnoxious noise blaring in your ear. Someone must've started a fire in the bathroom again. Your class filed out of the room, merging into the sea of students exiting the building. You wanted to cover your ears as the noise became louder in the halls but you didn't want to appear like a weirdo using your hands, you had wireless earbuds but that wasn't something to take out in the stampede you were in since you could drop one. You just had to suffer internally.

Once outside, you went and stood by Hawkins while waiting for the fire department to find the fire. You rubbed your ears now that you were away from the crowd and just had your fellow loner next to you.

"Acting like a cat again, [Y/n]?" Hawkins asked, seeing you paw your ears. He often compared to his cat, Faust.

"Yeah, my ears just hurt from the noise." You despised noise.

"You should listen to some soothing frequencies after instead of your regular choice of music if you want your ears to recover properly," Hawkins advised.

"Ehhhh... I might have to this time."

"Oh?" Hawkins glanced at you, inquiring you for further details. You didn't usually listen to him when he advised you to give your ear a break from your music, hence why he grew curious to understand why you were thinking of taking his suggestion.

"I might be hearing more noise today at school but once I get home I'll probably be able to listen to it."

"And what makes you think you'll be hearing more noise?"

"I don't know, maybe-"

"OI! [L/N]!" Kid shouted to get your attention as he marched over to you.

You flinched at his voice in that tone, and the irritated expression on his face made you think you did something wrong. You turned to him and held your arm behind your back.

"Sorry, what did you need Kid?"

"Give me your phone."

"What?" You feel your chest begin to burn and you know your forehead will begin to paint itself red.

"I need it to put my contact in your phone."

You were going to push back but you folded your tongue seeing the impatient scowl Kid wore. Not questioning him further, taking your phone out of your pocket. Unlocking it, you hastily clicked over to your contact app and handed it over to the redhead before you could see him grow more impatient.

Kid, just about to add a new contact, couldn't help but notice how you only had five contacts on your phone. Only three out of the five weren't family-related. Did you just not add people to your phone? He scoffed the thought off, it wasn't his business. He began typing his number into your phone.

You wanted to ask why Kid needed to put his contact in your phone, however, your bottled emotion prevented you from speaking your question. Kid seemed pissed enough, you weren't going to attempt to do anything that might push him off the edge. You shifted your footing, the expression on your face displaying your unease.

"Perhaps you should tell why you're adding your number to her phone," Hawkins spoke up for you.

"Fuck off Basil, it's not your business," Kid barked.

"It may not be mine but it is [Y/n]'s business to know since it is her phone," Hawkins stated unphased by Kid. Oh, how you wished to be as stoic as Hawkins. Granted, you did a good job ninety percent of the time but it crumbled easily in the presence of hostile or authoritative anger.

Kid glared at Hawkins for a moment before he handed you back your phone, his attention now on you. "Send me a text," he instructed you and pulled out his phone.

You weren't sure what exactly to send so you just typed 'Hi' into the chat. A ding came from Kid's phone and he checked the message to make sure it came from you. Comparing his screen to yours, you felt your hands brush against each other. The chills surfing across your body turned your body pale from how uncomfortable you felt to Kid standing this close to you. You wanted to isolate yourself in your room, though when Kid moved away you couldn't help but be grateful.

"Alright, I got it." Kid put his phone in his pocket and started walking away. "Text me about our project later."

You stood there confused with the hidden parts of your head burning red. You didn't understand why Kid confronted you like that when he could've easily asked when the two of you got back to class. You stared in the direction Kid left until a concerned hand rested on your shoulder and you let out a breath you didn't know you were holding. Glancing over, you met Hawkins' crimson eyes.

"The cards said you needed a comforting hand," Hawkins said unsure if he helped. "There was an 80% chance you would've shed tears if not."

Right, Hawkins is the only one who knew of your bottled frustration; he saw it happen when he walked in the middle of you being scolded by a teacher. Anyone else would've thought you were upset and sad but he could read the frustration and anger written on your face, and he drew the cards to double-check. The two of you never spoke of it at first, but after you began to hang around, and he saw it a few more times, he offered to be there for you if you ever needed a quiet place and a listening ear.

"Once the firemen are done we'll be in second period," Hawkins informed you, shifting the topic away from what just happened. He knows you don't like to stay stuck in your conflicted emotions.

"So that's why Kid did that..." You glance at the phone in your hand to see the time; English is over. Slipping it into your pocket, you groaned, realizing something. "Hhhhh, that means we still have to get our stuff from English... We have drama next class, right?"

"Hmm." Hawkins nodded.

"Can you please get my stuff, I don't think I can face Kid again at the moment."

"Very well, [Y/n]."

"Thanks, I'll treat you to lunch."

"Does that mean we'll go to the vegan restaurant?" You've known Hawkins long enough to tell the subtle delight in his monotone.

"For doing this-" You turned to him, a grateful small smile drawn on your face. "Yes."

Tag: @lil-skelly-bones

#one piece #one piece x reader #eustass x reader #eustass kid x reader #eustass kid #one piece kid #one piece eustass #eustass kid x you #eustass kid x y/n #x reader #platonic basil hawkins #unbottle your emotions

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starillusion13 · 1 year ago

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FRIENDS!? Chapter 5

🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳🔳

Series ML

Pairing: poly!ateez × f!reader (An ATEEZ Office AU)

Genre: Mature, Angst, Yandere, SMUT

Warning: nightmares and making plans to regain back memories.

W.C: 3k

For my beloved: @oreharuuu

Network: @cultofdionysusnet @k-vanity

[Reblogs and Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you for reading and have a nice day ahead. Please always take care of yourself everyone.]

Hello, Can we be friends please?

You haven't notice yet but you were walking for almost thirty minutes on a long path and you were so lost in thoughts that your exhausted body is lacking energy. It's okay but you have almost reached the location. Feet stop near the edge and your view is hazy due to the tears shielding your eyes. Last time, you have been here was the most warming and beautiful moment of your life but this time, it's just the opposite with only pain visible everywhere.

Standing at the edge of the cliff, eyes shaking and watching the view in front. The thoughts coming to the mind is contrasting with the beautiful and pleasant nature. Hands shaking by the side even when it's a hot sunny afternoon, fingers clutching the torn and dirty pants. Tears streaming down the blood-shot eyes and unpleasant thoughts coming across the mind. The place is very pleasant having some best memories and a blanket of comfort but now it's like a death end for every happy moment of the life. Someone should have there to help but no one was there. So, where to run to? Is there anything more other than ending the life? Looking below the cliff, heart pounding inside the chest and ears becoming deaf to the surrounding.

About to jump, when your name is being heard from a distance. You want to turn around but you cant as your eyes are still focused to the front where you can see the end of your miseries.

"Y/N?"

Y/n.

Several times, you heard someone calling out your name. You didn't turn back or couldn't but you can still hear the voice coming nearer to you.

"Hey, wake up."

Eyes shot open and you sit up properly and can feel sweats lining the forehead and pulling the sleeves to the wrist, you palm your cheeks. The person in front of you has a worried expression on his face. You look up to his height, still trying to understand your situation and how he is here. Looking around, you realize that you are in the cabin of your office and Jongho is staring down at you.

"Hey, Are you okay?"

You try to smile, fingers combing the hairs and pushing them back away from face "Yeah, of course."

Shaking his head, his hands raise to your face to run his thumbs over you tears on your cheeks and wet eyelashes brushing through his thumb. Eyes becoming soft and he gently pulls your face upward, "Why were you crying?"

Okay, your mind is getting cleared and now you know that you were early to the cabin because Hongjoong wanted you to coordinate all his meetings with the schedules of his upcoming events in overseas and then he would have taken it from you before the working hours. You had done with the work but last night you slept late and due to the headache, you don't realize when you fell asleep inside the cabin. Nightmares. Your sleep schedules are messed up because of these weird dreams that occurring to you recently. Like the same ones you had last night and now. Since, the day you have moved here, an uneasy feeling is lingering as if you are being watched by someone but you thought it must be due to the new environment and surrounded by unknown people.

Forcing out a laugh, "Oh it was just a bad dream. Nothing to worry about. I'm used to this."

"Are you sure?"

"yes."

Nodding his head, "okay so everyone has already got their schedule for today. Thanks for your hardwork. As far as I know, you don't have anything particular today till lunch time so I guess you are free to do anything you want. But, don't pull pranks with Wooyoung."

You both laugh on the comment. He pats your cheek and sends a warm smile before exiting with a file from the shelf.

Few weeks, you managed to get yourself comfortable in this place, all thanks to Seonghwa and Wooyoung who never left your side so that you don't feel uncomfortable or left out. It's a bit weird to not make you feel left out as this is a workplace not a reunion at your friend's house but somehow, they make sure to remind you every moment that you are their friend and different from other workers or interns in the company. It didn't go unnoticed by you how some people give you glances and the reason is very clear. You are sleeping with one of the bosses or many at once. Seriously, they get on your nerves and if you were in the university then you would have punched them on the face. You haven't told anything about this to your bosses but you have made sure to get back to those shitheads someday if possible. Well, talking about university, you really miss Beomgyu and wonder how he is doing there without you. He is not quite alone but got the company of his friend's group but still you miss his company.

Wooyoung is a perfect reflection of Beomgyu. Same like those playful nature, pulling pranks on you, making you annoyed and disturb you until you just have it for all and ready to scream 'fuck off'. You are most comfortable with him. He has already become your bestfriend and you both together is like an inseparable duo, always sticking together and even fooling around and annoying other of your bosses. It's just professional term you use in front of the workers to refer them but you just consider them as your friends now and you are very close to them but not with all of them. Obvious, that trio is still being scary to you. Yunho, Yeosang and San. Yeosang has a dual personality at a same time and so you try to avoid him the most because atleast you are well aware of the other two being cold with you not like him one moment being soft with you with his arms around your neck and the next moment he is like about to choke you.

Last month, you had the farewell at your university before the end semester and your bosses sent you so many gifts and flowers that left everyone in awe and even Beomgyu teased you that they have fallen in love with you because apparently, they are living with an angel and the very next moment, he is calling out them blind and you as the ugliest creature in the world. Atleast, you were glad that they didn't attend the farewell as on Wooyoung's request or you would have to face a new drama during your semester.

Everything sounds so fine until the main disturbing part of your life comes in spotlight. Since, the day you became close and comfortable with them, you are getting weird dreams. Some dreams feel so realistic but still you convince yourself that they are just nightmares and nothing more.

But are they?

You can clearly feel the girl is you and she is giggling with a boy. The boy is not the same but of different physiques everytime. Maybe, due to the outfits. She looks so happy with him. And other times, she is crying herself to sleep and running through the dark street to and an endless path and crying. Then some blurred images of you being tied up and knife and blood. Stop. You don't want to recall them when you are wide awake. But somewhere in your mind still want to know whether those are just nightmares or something really happened to you. If something like that happened then why you are unaware of this. This what keeps you zoning out.

You never had these dreams before but maybe this new place is giving off such stress that you are thinking weird stuffs. You want to believe this yet you can't. Just like the people in your dreams feel so near yet so far.

It's been five months you are staying and working in this place and it's like a home to you now. A warm and comforting place with your few old bestfriends by your side, who are even always at your service whenever you need something. They literally give you the princess treatment. Surprisingly, Yeosang and Yunho will also treat you nicely when you want something but suddenly your needs disappear when they are the ones at your service. Except San, who stare at you as if because of you he has lost millions of dollars contract but he would pass you things through someone. That's cute. You mean the gestures not him.

You have time until lunch break so it’s better to walk around the building to get familiar enough to not get lost often without any one of them by your side. Sitting inside the cabin and stressing out about those nightmares is a bit suffocating.

Washing your face, you exit the washroom only to get bumped with someone.

“Oh, I’m really sorry. I wasn’t looking here.”

“Aren’t you, Y/n? The new intern and their bestfriend. Hello, myself Star.”

Your confused face earns a chuckle from the girl in front of you. She links her arm with you to greet you with a bright smile. She has a really friendly and extrovert personality and you hoped to be like that to adjust in places.

“Don’t worry, I’m not kidnapping you. Are you free right now?”

You slowly nod your head and smile because her contagious bright smile is so friendly.

Walking around the building with a new company won’t be bad though. Maybe you can ask her things which you don’t make up courage to ask others.

“I didn’t get the chance to meet you earlier but finally today is the day.”

“I haven’t seen you here before or in my welcome party.”

Taking a turn towards the terrace, she replies “that’s only because I was not here for last few months and meanwhile you joined the company. You are so popular among the employees and I know that’s just because they are well aware of the fact you being friends with the CEOs.”

“Oh, I hope that’s not something to worry about.”

“Of course not, sweety. Some may bitch around but apart from that rest is okay.”

“Well, you. You work in which department?”

She blinks at you before burst out laughing. You got taken aback and feel worried if you have done any mistake because the office and the CEOs all are weird along with the workers so you are always in a worry not to make mistakes.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No! It’s just you look funny while being lost and I couldn’t help myself. And I don’t work here.” She pulls you down a bit because of her height to whisper, “I’m actually the daughter of the business partner of this company, Mr.Lee. They have started this company with my dad and now I have free pass to enter this building anytime.”

“Why did you whisper it?” You ask her in a low tone while looking around to see if anyone is watching you or not.

“No one knows about it and my dad doesn’t want to get in trouble because of me. Also, don’t worry as they are like my brothers so if you have fallen for them then be sure am out of your way.”

You pass through a glass cabin near the terrace and thoughts of Mingi come across your mind. You haven’t seen him for last one week as he is on a business trip and will be coming later today or might be tomorrow.

“Nothing is going to be like that. We are just friends.”

“Yeah sure. But I have a question.”

Standing to the sideways, you both hold the railing and the fresh breeze hitting your skin and face getting washed off from stress. But as you look down, the dream from earlier make you tremble and you quickly move back. Taking heavy breathes, you feel suffocating even in a spacious area with open wide space with natural environment.

“Hey, do you have fear of heights? Don’t need to stand there then.” She pulls you back.

Calming down yourself, you pat your cheeks and tugs your hair behind before assuring her with a smile, “everything is fine. It’s just I felt sick while looking down. You were going to ask me a question, shoot it.”

She makes a hand gesture of a gun and point to you and pulls the trigger. She is really a nice friend and you are appreciating her presence so much that you know in the end of everyday, you will miss her.

“You are so young, I mean Atleast younger than them to be in your same class. They must have been your seniors or something else, right?”

Right. Why didn’t you think of this before? They can’t be your classmates so this is the first thing you need to ask them. How do you all meet with each other?

“I might have amnesia and I don’t remember clearly about the days of our friendship so I’m just getting along with them on the effort of their sides to make me feel that I’m their long lost best friend.”

“Aww that’s cute. They really care for you then. You are so lucky to have them. Okay let’s do one thing, I will help you to get back those memories and let’s see if anyone of them was your childhood lover.”

Getting help from her? Like it’s impossible for you to get to know their past all alone so having a leading partner would be the best but what if they catch you and think that you are doubting them.

“Don’t worry. They won’t know about this.”

“I don’t think others are any problematic except them.”

“Except whom?”

“San Yunho and Yeosang.”

A frown appears on her face as why you are calling them problematic instead of Wooyoung or maybe Jongho.

“What did they do?”

“Well….honestly I don’t know what I have done to them for being always being harsh on me.”

“Eh? Them being harsh? I didn’t expect them out of those eight. They are the sweetest ones but I have seen their serious faces while talking with some employees sometimes. I guess you had some quarrels with them the last time you were friends.”

Maybe. That might be the reason for them still holding the grudge against you. That’s a bit too childish for these grown men. You thought to change the topic.

“What do you do as a profession?”

“I’m a model. Well you are changing the topic. Are you going to start our journey to get to know about them all over again?”

Are you really ready?

“Ye…..yes.”

“Cool. So, we should start from whom? The eldest Seonghwa or the youngest Jongho?”

“Wooyoung. Yes him. I want to know about him. I think he is the one with whom I used to spend most of the time.”

“Then I guess one of those trio would be the last or you don’t want to know about them at all.”

You pout on her teasing but she laughs it off.

First target, Wooyoung.

“ hello, ladies. So, you both are here. Having fun?”

You both turn towards the direction from where he is entering the glass door of the terrace and greeting you both.

Star and you glance towards each other but she holds your hand to act normal as till now everything is okay and he hasn’t heard you both talking and she is sure about this.

Wooyoung comes near to you and your gaze falls on the person trailing behind, San. His piercing sharp eyes watching you, only you. He was looking as if he heard the whole conversation between you and Star. You quickly move your attention from him back on the person in front of you.

“Here take your cold coffee, Star.”

“Thanks Wooyoung.”

Turning towards you, he hands over a paper bag to you. You seem confused.

Giving you the cup, “this is the coffee of your measured sugar and milk.”

You smile while taking them, “thanks, Woo.”

Star casts a glance towards you on hearing the nickname but just nods her head on understanding the situation.

“And in that bag there’s a choco red velvet cupcake for my dear cupcake, Y/n.”

Still. Everything froze around you. As if you have seen something haunted. Your ears ringing. Your wide eyes looking back at him and now he is the one being confused. Your coffee almost slipped if San didn’t catch it. Star is also feeling uneasy about the situation.

You are not caring what they are feeling or how you are looking at them. The only thing is speeding in your mind.

This is the same sentence and the same tone, you have seen and heard in those dreams.

‘Here is a choco red velvet cupcake for my dear cupcake, Y/n.’

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lalunanymph · 1 year ago

Text

𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐄𝐆𝐎

↳ a foul-mouthed, aggressive, pro-soccer player on the verge of being disqualified from the biggest game of his life, is tossed into a fake relationship with a spoiled heiress to salvage their bad public reputation. what exactly could go wrong?

𖨆♡𖨆 itoshi rin x fem!reader

cw. mentions of alcohol, angst, mentions of death, mentions of cheating, violence, blood, mentions of medication, arguments, shidou being a menace, language, internet bullying

masterlist | playlist

#5: VANISH

Milan was a beauty which deserved every single praise from travellers and magazines around the world.

Your little upclass boutique hotel overlooked the city centre, and the wind tugged on your sleeping shirt like a child demanding for attention. Sitting on the cool bench, you bundled your knees closer to your chest, stretching the well-worn Blue Lock jersey down your thighs as you sighed, lifting a cigarette to your lips.

If Rin were here, he would look on disapprovingly at this bad habit.

His name ignited a fissuring ache somewhere under your left rib where your tender heart still pulsed; your lips pursed around the cigarette, and you exhaled softly.

I need to forget about him.

Flickering your vintage metal lighter open, the tip of your white stick smouldered and you breathed in the first cloud of nicotine; expelling it out into the autumn air. Your favourite season was far prettier in a city as vibrant as this.

Below your feet, leaves turned orange, scattering down onto the grey pavement where boots and heels crushed them with a satisfying crunch. A flock of birds darted overhead in a V formation leaving you appreciative of the simple pleasures of such a beautiful morning.

Today, you had to visit your designers to make sure the changes on your line were reflected as per your last review yesterday.

You had worked till late last night, never mind the jet lag and your swollen eyes from crying on the plane left your face puffy and heart even more exhausted than when you sought refuge in the arms of another location.

Far away from Tokyo.

Far away from him.

You didn’t know why you bothered in the first place—Rin would not search for you. He had made it abundantly clear what he thought of you, and subsequently, how he wanted nothing to do with you.

Such childish fancies. You sighed, deciding to put Itoshi Rin out of your mind the moment you stub out your dying cigarette in the metal ashtray.

Your designers welcomed you warmly when you entered the atelier, and you smiled at them, glad that you had this little secret project to buoy you through such intense sadness.

Soon, you forgot about Rin’s harsh words. His radio silence for the whole three days when you lingered in Tokyo like an idiot, waiting for him—waiting for an apology which never came. If there was a cure for a broken heart, it would be laughter flitting in between tulle skirts, your sketches coming to life and good pasta for dinner.

However, once the darkness came, the empty cavity shaped like him in your chest started to throb again, rendering your earlier efforts useless.

Heartache was not linear, and neither was grief.

You were intimately knowledgeable of such a fact. Shifting through your wallet to find your mother’s picture, you sat outside the balcony again, inhaling deeply. Milan’s lights twinkled through your tears and you bubbled a sad laugh, trying to swallow around the lump in your throat and speak through your misery.

“I’m here, oka-san,” you managed to mumble, tracing the edge of the age-worn square with your thumb. “I wish you could see my first show.” Sighing, you cast your watery gaze towards the beautiful city beyond, hiccuping a sob. “I wish you were h-here, oka-san. I want to ask you so many questions. I’m so confused.”

All a girl wants is her mother when she’s heartbroken. And in this instance, you would’ve given the world to feel her embrace around you; to shield you from the hurt and tell you everything was going to be okay.

Sniffling, you pocketed her photo back into your wallet and decided to visit the bar down the street. It was barely filled with people, and looked like the perfect spot for you to chase your worries down a bottle of wine.

Thankfully, no one in Milan knew who you were; your reputation in Japan was left behind, and you were allowed to shed the heavy cloak of hypercritical fans so you could wallow in your sadness for the night. You ordered two glasses of red wine, sipping it slowly while the noises of the city disappeared behind you. In Milan, you felt safer to indulge in the intoxication you were often criticised for back in your country, and you did not pay any mind to the people around you.

If you did, you would’ve noticed his teal green eyes studying from across the room; the long under lashes casting shadows onto his chiselled cheekbones as he quietly drank from his glass of whiskey.

You would have anticipated his heavy footsteps, the easy way he settled into the empty bar stool next to you.

“Rough night?”

Snapping your attention back from the edge of staring off into space, you focused your gaze on a man who looked familiar, but you couldn’t pinpoint exactly where you had met him. Your sluggishness dissipated when you registered a pair of heartachingly indistinguishable teal eyes on a face more mature than the one you loved. His name was poised on the tip of your tongue, melting into your consciousness like precarious drops of rain.

Itoshi Sae, right in the flesh.

You gaped at him, and Sae smirked—all arrogance and ego dripping down the corners of his lips right to his muscular build. He was a few inches shorter than Rin, but something about his presence demanded an undeniable majesty; he walked like how he owned the field, judging from your quick snatches of Rin’s frequent gameplay studies regarding his brother.

Confident. Sure.

He captivated your attention the second he saw recognition flash through your eyes.

“Ah. So, you do know me.” He slunk slightly back in a casual show of masculine conviction, throwing a lazy hand up to order another glass of whiskey which the bartender quickly set down before him; like a King making demands of his court. Sae sipped on the amber liquid, his teal eyes never leaving your face. You shifted back straighter, clutching your purse in a tight grip.

“Itoshi Sae.” His name hummed in your mouth like something forbidden. “What’re you doing here?”

He tilted his head forward, whiskey-soaked lips carved into another smirk. “I have a game soon. Didn’t my dear little brother tell you it’s almost World Cup Season?”

As if on cue, your phone chimed with a Blue Lock update, and his eyes were quick to read off your dim screen.

Representing Japan, the Blue Lock 11 will make their first ferocious move in France. Catch us on JSN for more updates!

Sae’s carefully constructed expression was neutral, and he hummed. “It’s a little rude of me to not have extended my congratulations on dating my brother, but I hope it’s not too late.”

He was quick to catalogue the minute fall of your expression, the darkness misting over your eyes.

“Oh. Um. Thank you.”

You shifted in your seat, suddenly too aware of how short your dress was. You did not want to give Rin’s brother any idea of your vulnerable state; the walls around your heart firing up towards the sky, keeping your defences manning the perimeter for any signs of a breach from this callous, stone-faced man.

Sae tilted his head forward, and he didn’t have to be a therapist to know how inexplicably terrified you were of him.

“Rin’s poisoned your thoughts against me, hasn’t he?”

The sound of his little brother’s name uttered between the both of you, shocked him as much as it did for you.

A short laugh fell from your lips, and you shook your head. “I’m sorry, Sae-san. Rin never really mentioned you a lot back home. I was just taken aback because I didn’t expect you to be here.” Bowing your head forward slightly, you murmured, “I’m sorry for giving you the wrong impression.”

Sae clicked his tongue, and something in his teal eyes had gone hyperborean from your small admittance. Your frayed nerves were at its tether when he leaned forward—close enough for you to smell his clean cologne from his collar.

“Liar,” Sae murmured, flitting his eyes to your lips, his heavy lashes framing his eyes perfectly. It sent a stab of pain straight to your heart from how familiar those eyes were. “I know Rin told you to never say my name, didn’t he? You don’t have to play dumb, Y/N-chan. I’m your friend here.”

His expression did a 180, and he smirked again, leaning away to give you back your breathing space.

“Truly, I don’t know what you see in him,” Sae snorted and your furrowed brows gave him fuel to elaborate. “Rin. He’s such a sour little brat. I can’t believe you willingly dated him.”

The slight twitch of your lips, and the quickness in how you darted your eyes to the side, spoke volumes. Sae was close enough to unravel this mystery within his short time frame with you, and he was determined to find his brother’s weak spot; needing to understand if this girl in front of him was Rin’s Achilles heel.

His intentions were dirty and foul, but his coach was desperate for a quick win against Japan. Sae’s defection to the European superpower team would be seen as a betrayal for his home country, but no one could fault him. Japanese soccer was abysmal, and he would much rather sow his seeds on much verdant and fecund lands than the ones which he came from.

“He’s nice,” you mumbled defensively, picking up your wine glass by its delicate stem and taking one irritated sip.

Sae scoffed under his breath. The both of you knew it was a lie.

“I heard a rumour that the both of you were thrown into a fake relationship because of bad press.”

Your stunned silence did not need to be translated into words. Sae heard your confession loud and clear.

“Ah. That is sad. It must’ve been hard to be with Rin, huh. Let me guess—” Sae sat back, and like a master puppeteer, he pulled your strings tautly till you could not breathe; predicting every play of your relationship with Rin like he was reading from a script.

“He started getting closer to you, making you fall in love with him, and then when the going got tough, he lashed out, didn’t he? Told you that you were worthless and to get the hell away from him. Then, he didn’t come back home. He left you worried and all alone. He suffocated you with his silent treatment until you felt like escaping was the only route you could take, and now you’re here—heartbroken over a man who doesn’t give two shits.”

Sae watched intently as devastation imploded across your pretty features. Your lower lip wobbled uncontrollably, and you sniffled, turning your eyes back to your wine glass. Every fibre in your body was raging at you to run, but you remained rooted in one spot, unable to move. Caught in the headlights like a deer about to be run down by a freight truck.

His warm palm on your back made you flinch, but Sae did not intend to hurt you. He was slowly patting the tight spot between your shoulders, rubbing reassuring circles to loosen your stiff muscles. A master at pushing and pulling, leaving his victims torn both ways.

The wine left you slow and sluggish; your defences crumbling until your face met his sturdy chest and he was holding you while you sobbed softly.

Despite his callous manner, Sae was not entirely made of stone. He didn’t know exactly why, but he liked to think you were a lot like his brother.

Young and impressionable. Easily bending to his will.

“Do you want to come back to my hotel?” Sae asked in a low, even voice. Every pore of your touch-starved body craved for a touch which echoed Rin’s—as feeble and farfetched as it was. But, your rational mind took over and you shook your head.

“I think I need to go back home,” you murmured, and as much as Sae wanted to see how much he could push you, he conceded.

“At least let me walk you back to your hotel,” he offered sincerely. After a beat of hesitation, you nodded.

Sae helped you to your feet, letting you hold onto his arm as you tottered in your heels.

“How the hell do you women walk in those?” he asked in a withered tone. Your answer was a short laugh and a shake of your head.

“Black magic,” you mumbled, a shadow of your old self arising from the ashes. Sae rolled his eyes, and put his hand on yours to keep you steady.

“Did you know we’ve met before?”

You peeled your eyes from your swollen toes squished in your heels and fixed him with a questioning look. “Have we?”

“The Silver Strikers conference,” Sae murmured. “I was one of the keynote interviewees and you were in the box above with your father.”

You recalled a man of his build with light brown hair and gasped. “Oh my gosh. Yes, we have met.”

Sae chuckled when you smacked his arm lightly. “Why didn’t you lead up with that instead? You made me think you were flirting with me.”

His answer was a snort. “Even if I was, would you have reciprocated?” The ball was back in your court, and he waited for you to make a move. Predictions running rampant in his mind.

He never expected your answer.

“To be honest, I’m done with you Itoshi men,” you muttered candidly, oblivious to Sae’s growing amusement. “If Rin is anything to go by, you two need help. Serious help.”

You were half-joking, and Sae picked up on your teasing. He was about to retort something snarky when you stumbled and he murmured a low whoa, holding on tightly to your waist. He let you lean into his embrace, and you shakily held onto him, your head thumping back intermittently on his sturdy chest with every trembling step you took.

Any outsider would assume the both of you would be dating from how close you both were, but you suspected Sae was merely being nice.

In fact, he was overtly nice. A little too friendly.

Taking advantage of your sluggish movements, Sae looped your floppy arm around his neck and hoisted you into his solid embrace.

“Wh—whoa!” you gasped when the ground disappeared underneath your heels. A terrified giggle slipped past your gaping mouth, and you held onto him, yelping in fright from every jarring step he took.

“You’re such a lightweight,” the older Itoshi murmured, and you didn’t have to look into his expression to know he was rolling his eyes. A reaction you were intimately acquainted with as being extremely Rin-like.

“Wait—hey! Put me down!” This was the second time in your life an Itoshi brother was carrying you because you were too drunk to walk. The thought should’ve miffed you, but all it did was make you miss Rin even more.

You kept quiet when he effortlessly carried you towards the front of your hotel, and set you down with a soft grunt.

Somehow, you couldn't look into his eyes, and only when his fingers slid underneath your chin to hoist your face up to meet his teal eyes, did you find the courage to smile.

“T-Thank you, Sae-san for accompanying me back.” There was a beat of hesitation—a lingering sort of unrest where neither of you knew what else to say. You broke the tension first by bowing clumsily, missing his small smirk.

Sae tipped his head forward in acknowledgement, and turned on his heel. “I’ll see you around, Y/N-chan.”

You barely echoed his wish when his broad back disappeared down the corner into the night. Like a mirage, he had reappeared and disappeared in a total span of fifteen confusing minutes. Inwardly shrugging, you decided to let Sae’s uncanny presence bury itself in the back of your mind and took one wobbling step forward.

A few more days to go and you would be splashed on the front headlines of a tabloid for your debut fashion line. You wondered what the critics would say; how they would dissect your entire collection apart. The singular thought sent a stab of nausea through your churning stomach, and you tried to swallow down your trepidation.

It was too late to think of what-ifs. You had a future ahead of you to look forward to. You couldn’t let yourself be held back by naysayers and those who never wanted to see you grow.

The courage you kept under wraps for years while you pandered to everyone’s impression of a perfect, soccer heiress started to glow brightly; an unmistakable flare lighting the cavity of your soul.

A wayward seed was planted in the fertile hopes of your invigorated determination, and you took one more confident step forward, the sound of your heels on the pavement steady and sure—miniature applauses which spurred you on forward and out of your slump.

You would wade through whatever hell or high waters the future might throw at you, and you would do it all with a smile.

Despite every nerve in Rin’s body telling him not to react—not to scroll further down this rabbit hole of spiralling thoughts and painful incredulity—Rin continued to read the article.

There was a soundbite from Sae, and he realised this photo was taken a few days ago in Milan.

His heart leapt from his ribcage to collide painfully against the wad of spit he swallowed, the interview text burned into his retinas, shadowing behind his closed lids.

When asked about his relationship with you, Sae’s soundbite didn’t give much information. His reps reassured that the midfielder “saw her as a friend”’ and was much more, “interested in the playoffs than with his brother’s ex-girlfriend.”

His phone rang and Ego’s name flashed on screen. Rin denied the call and sank back into the sofa, scrubbing a hand down his face.

What the actual fuck.

His phone beeped again, and despite the early hours—the darkness blanketing the city and his stinging eyes—he read every article that Nagi and Reo sent into the group chat.

His family group was in chaos, too, judging from a whiny cousin on his mother’s side who offered sympathy in a thinly-veiled attempt to mock him whenever the opportunity arose. He shut them out; he shut everyone out and switched off his phone, tossing it harshly onto the glass coffee table where the device clattered noisily right towards the edge.

Rin closed his eyes, and breathed deeply. His mind was boiled down to a stew of cacophonous thoughts, nothing standing out corporeally to get him to focus on a singular strand. Nothing beyond your face, happily smiling at his brother. Ropes of his muscles tenderly holding your smaller frame close to his chest.

The look of contentment on both your faces.

Saw her as a friend.

Rin shot up to his feet, seething angrily at Sae’s stupidity. Just a friend? A woman like you deserved more than that. You deserved a gentle love which did not discard you in the limelight and left you reeling in ambiguity. You deserved to be loved out loud, right towards the heavens and on top of someone’s lungs.

You deserved to be loved by him.

Rin felt his breath and common sense physically knock out his body.

The calendar imprinted in his mind told him it was 3 days till his match in France, and he had to leave for the airport tomorrow to make it to the World Cup Village. Ego had scheduled them for a pre-interview with BBC, and they could not miss such a momentous occasion to bring more attention to Japan’s soccer scene. That shitty four-eyes could not bear having his number one striker gone from the mix.

As one of the only players who could speak fluent English, Rin was needed to translate interview questions for his teammates, a task he found little pleasure in. However, in this instance, he couldn’t be bothered in the least. Isagi can handle it. Rin brusquely picked up his things, already booking a one-way business trip to Milan. That motherfucker can string an English sentence together—let him play nice with the press.

Isagi would understand; he would forgive him for ditching the team just this once. Granted they haven’t spoken since Rin broke his nose during practice, but Yoichi was a mild guy in the face of animosities.

Rin would make sure to hand him a few of his passes on the field to make up for his abysmal behaviour.

But, first, he had a flight to catch and a woman to win back.

The pounding headache from the seventh declined call was starting to annoy you to no end.

Your publicist’s number flashed on screen again, and this time, you didn’t bother to press the huge red button on screen, letting it go to voicemail. Your open laptop on the table scrolled down on its own as more alerts hit the SNS pages; tweets, Instagram tags and emails pinging with your name in the Google Alert tab making your head hurt.

The backlash did not end there after your 2-day old exposed “relationship” with the elder Itoshi brother.

Jealous girls of every age were sending you death threats on your profile, and one of them even drew your face in the middle of a summoning circle and crossed your eyes out with red paint.

Criticism was nothing new to you, but this was far too much. The chimes were getting on your nerves and you felt nauseous from how you had once again fucked up your public image.

Maybe it would be better if you retreated from the spotlight. You never had any intention of being famous. Your father had decided you were the face of the Silver Strikers one day and pushed you to become his organisation’s spokesperson when you much preferred focusing on fashion.

Fame was secondary to your peace of mind, and with that thought, you closed every tab on your laptop and sank back into the luxurious leather couch, rubbing your temples. Soft lighting diffused across the atelier, a sense of peace which did not touch your soul floated in the air like dust motes, spinning and twisting like demented ballerinas.

You sighed, and Damara, one of your Italian designers who worked closely with you to conceptualise the theme of this collection, came to check on you. “Miss Y/N? Is everything alright.”

You eyed the pretty, light-haired woman with a tired smile. “I’m fine. Just some rumours going around which I prefer not to engage in.”

“Ah.” Damara shifted from one foot to another, unexpectedly candid. “Is this about those two brothers you are involved with?”

Word does travel fast. You hadn’t expected to make it this quickly over foreign waters.

You decided to come clean and nod, too tired to hide behind any pretences. “Yes.” Tossing your phone onto the couch, you sighed again. “I used to date the younger one, but we broke up and didn’t tell our fans. So, when they saw me out with his older brother, they jumped to conclusions.” A wry smile played in the corners of your lips. “And now, I am a lightning rod for slut-shaming across Japan and even here.”

Damara winced at the defeatedness in your tone. “Don’t worry, Miss Y/N. We all know the truth here. You are a nice person and would never try to intentionally hurt your loved ones.”

“I appreciate the confidence,” you murmured and stood up, stuffing your hands into your hoodie pockets, going back to business. “Please make sure the models have their second fitting. I want them to outshine the Pinacoteca di Brera.”

She nodded. “Of course, Miss Y/N. We will make the necessary checks and arrangements.”

Once it was sorted out, you trailed towards a nearby cafe, sitting down outside the al-fresco dining spot to nurse a cup of espresso. You barely had any sleep last night, nervous for the show later.

Outside in the bright sun, the tight knot in your chest loosened momentarily. No one in this tiny cafe was giving you a second glance, and for a moment, you were grateful for every shred of anonymity Milan offered you. This bright, pulsing city big enough to hide a woman from her country’s eyes was little like a mother’s arms holding you close, shielding you away from the world with gentle coos and caresses.

You appreciated the verve of such a serendipitous moment, and tilted your head back, exhaling slowly.

“Y/N.”

The peace you felt in your soul shattered the moment you recognised his voice.

Peeling your eyes wide open, you hastily set your coffee cup back onto the marble table, gaping at the sight of your pretend lover’s brooding, downcasted expression, half-hidden behind his dark green bangs. Dark circles similar to yours shaded under his murky teal eyes. You wondered if the sleep deprivation had taken over and made you hallucinate his presence.

Rin approached you with his hands in his pockets, unaware of the storm he set off in your soul from the sight of his tall silhouette carving through the perfect sunshine of this unperturbed day. He was blissfully oblivious to how your soul screamed to run towards him, but your body stayed frozen, remembering his harsh words; his terrifying anger that led you to this country in the first place.

Your shoulders tightened towards your ears when he hovered close to you; near enough to touch, but far enough to keep you comfortable. A myriad of emotions fired off behind his muddled, bloodshot irises: fear, worry, hesitation, regret. Since when in this lifetime were you adept at reading Itoshi Rin’s reactions?

It felt like you were going against a sacred creed. Like you were an anomaly within the laws of the universe who was not supposed to uncover such clandestine information.

“How… how are you?” His earnesty was the second thing to render you mute. You blinked one too many times, as if trying to get rid of a spot of gunk stuck to your lashes. The silence stretched on, and you weren’t sure what to say.

Perhaps, if you had half a mind, you would ask him what he was doing here. Or, why did he come to see you when he had everywhere else in the world he could go.

Why would he disturb your grieving process by coming back to life when you were resolutely trying to bury him within the sterile soil of your stained memories?

Realising he was waiting for a response, you cleared your throat and slowly stood up. Rin was forced to take a step back from your sudden proximity, and another when your tight smile swam in his vision.

“I’m fine.” You didn’t ask him the same question, needing to leave before the irrational lump in your throat would threaten to make the sting in your eyes overflow. “I have somewhere to go. It’s nice to see a familiar face in Milan.” Please leave me alone.

You bowed to him even if you weren’t supposed to, and turned on your heel to walk away.

“Hey—” His touch on your wrist gave you a semblance of what it would be like to suffer from a heart attack; throwing off your composure for a split second before you recovered it and tugged your hand away from him.

This time, the tightness around your mouth was exacerbated, like a lioness holding back a snarl in anticipation of striking a doltish prey. “It is nice to see you, Rin,” your voice coiled around the cadence of his name. “But, I am late.”

Those teal eyes swam with rueful trepidation from your sudden refrain of his touch and presence. “Y/N, I wanted to—”

“Please.”

Rin was quietly startled to find tears glistening in your eyes. He reflexively took one step back, lips clamping tightly shut. What a sham of a game you two were playing—words unsaid and charades of repressed love shaded in between stark pockets of silence and the fear of being vulnerable.

You didn’t want to play this game anymore.

“Don’t do this to me. Not now.”

Your mumble set off his righteous anger, and he was about to call your name again, this time more forcefully to get you talking to him, when another presence joined the fray.

“I think Y/N made it clear she’s not interested in a reconciliation.”

A voice materialised straight from his worst nightmares and hopeful dreams. Sae strolled down the pavement, tanned skin made warmer from his white dress shirt and thin silver chain gleaming from his clavicle. The sight of his older brother shocked Rin to an inert silence. He watched, wide eyed, as Sae walked up to you and leaned in close, the lines of his body language imprinted with intimacy.

“Go,” Sae murmured. “I’ll handle him.”

You didn’t know where to look or what to say. Around you, the cafe patrons sensed the tense atmosphere, and despite the language barrier, your teary eyes and the stiffness in both brother’s shoulders spoke of an impending altercation. The waiter who served you coffee hovered waveringly by your table, unsure if he had a right to butt in this spat.

Bowing your head forward, you started to walk away, oblivious to Rin’s devastated stare on the small of your back, or Sae’s cool, cruel gaze narrowing at the sight of his sibling.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Fucking asshole piece of shit vomit brother. Rin’s glare turned hyperborean, and he cocked a brow right at the older man. Discarding the natural order of birth and hierarchy of respect, Rin chuckled sardonically right in his brother’s face.

“You always did want whatever I had.” Something about Rin’s conviction and his steely tone took Sae completely by surprise.

“You wanted my luck. My skill. You wanted to crush me and mould me into some kind of monster like you. Now, you want the person I love. You’re always going around thinking you’re some fucking god when we all know—everyone knows—how much better I am than you are.”

Pain exploded right in his temple, and Rin staggered back, hands flying to his face. Sae did not stop there. He slammed his entire fist into Rin’s stomach, and he went sprawling onto the floor, taking his older brother down with him. The scuffle roused a spectacle from the other patrons; some screamed, others cursed, and the sane ones called for the police.

Rin had never wrestled hand to hand with Sae, but years of his pent-up anger and resentment flowed forward, changing his headspace into complete red. He snarled, slamming his fist into Sae’s jaw, and hearing something pop with satisfaction.

“... stop—Rin! Sae! Stop!”

Sae snapped his head back, teal eyes wild with fury and clamped both hands around his little brother’s neck. Ready to suffocate him to death.

You wrenched the older Itoshi off his brother with the help of the pale-faced waiter. Rin struggled to his knees, his acid-wash dark jeans speckled with white dust from the concrete pavement, and he bared his teeth, about to lunge at Sae again when your face appeared in his line of vision; blocking Sae’s ugly glare with your owlishly wide, terrified gaze.

“... stop… come on…” Your hands were on his cheeks, coaxing him to look at you instead of his brother. Through some miracle, the tension coiling like a snake which kept his figure locked in attack mode loosened, and he let you pull him to his feet.

Let you lead him out of the fray, only stopping to turn back and make sure Sae was okay. Shidou’s voice emerged from the din, deep and fraught with worry for his older brother’s face. Fucking annoying bug-like freak. The bastard he called his sibling would live; the most he would get was a busted lip.

Rin’s right eye started to throb, and if it weren’t for your arms around his torso, he would’ve doubled back in the pretence to ask for some ice only to throttle Sae again. But because he was finally held by you, he didn’t want to lose out on this blissful opportunity, keeping quiet when you brought him back to your hotel room, all tense nerves and furrowed brows which he silently found adorable.

You sat him down on the velvet couch and rushed to your mini bar, pulling out some ice. Rin hated to admit how the familiar weight of your body settling next to his made his heart start to swoon. Or, how your touch was delicate despite your hand shaking with restrained anger, dabbing at his eye which would swell and blacken in a few hours.

“Idiot.”

Rin snapped out of his thoughts and noticed your deepening frown. The courage he carried all the way from Tokyo with him to this foreign city withered under your blithe look, and he suddenly could not find his voice when you started to tersely speak.

“Our reputation is going to go to shit because of your temper,” you scorned gruffly. “Why did you even come here?”

To the uninitiated, Itoshi Rin’s glare would be terrifying, but you were familiar with his souring moods, and fixed him with a matching grimace.

He mumbled something under his breath which vaguely sounded like I miss you, and you wished you hadn’t heard it. You wished he could unsay it so your stupid little hopes did not start to stir. But, you did, and your heart soared even as you desperately tried to pull it back down to reality.

This cannot go on. Rin was toxic and you had to cut him off less you lose a part of yourself to his blasé and callous nature. You had already been burned once, and you didn’t want to goad tragedy for a second time.

When he would not repeat what he had said, your hopes diminished, one flicker of light at a time until your chest was left darkened and hollow. The hand holding the ice pack to his face waned, and you set it down on the couch in between both your bodies; the space between was enough to remind you of two separated continents when in reality, only a few inches remained for your pinkies to touch.

Between that space and silence, you let every unsaid word die in the back of your throat, and sighed, standing up.

Without looking at him, you shuffled back to your ensuite room and fished for some painkillers in your handbag. No other words fell from your lips when you returned, pressing the aluminium strip into his hand and gesturing to the door.

“I did what I could for your eye, but I think you need to go to the doctor.”

Rin was staring at you from his perch on the sofa, expression agape and struggling to sift through the thoughts in his mind. He opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. Words eluded him, and even if he had spilled his entire heart out to you, would you have cared? Would you have picked up the shattered pieces and tried in vain to glue it back? He was a selfish bastard—he knew that. But, he wished you would. He wished you could’ve been the one to save him when he didn’t even know what he needed saving from.

He slowly stood to his full height, towering over you with solemn teal eyes glimmering slightly in the light and a parted mouth as if he wished to caress you with his words. But, the truth was apparent from your averted eyes and crumpled figure like you were trying to hide within yourself.

Any touch from him would be unwelcomed, and he hopelessly wished he was a silver tongue like Sae or had a grit of steel like Isagi.

Maybe he would’ve salvaged this relationship if he could’ve just talked to you.

Maybe he wouldn’t walk out of your space for the last time or watch your balcony door from a safe distance away in a nearby park, turning the strip of painkillers in his hand like they were prayer beads which would conjure your mercy and reconciliation onto him.

Maybe his feet wouldn’t take him down the street, past the bent oak tree and towards another park where he bumped into a nasty face from his past.

“Aw, it’s tiny Rin. Lost your girlfriend, huh, Romeo?” Shidou’s pale red eyes glinted tauntingly. He almost crushed the medicine in his hand, forcing himself to loosen his grip and coolly gaze at the antennaed freak.

“Fuck off.”

“Ouch.”

Shidou pretended to wince and kiss his teeth. “Didn’t nii-chan teach you to be nicer to people, hmm?”

Rin swore that if it weren’t for the pulsing migraine on the right side of his temple, he would’ve taken a swing at the blonde freak. He was almost about to, but another voice halted his impulses.

“Rin.”

Sae was cooling off on a bench, holding a packet of ice to his jaw. His teal eyes, so much like his, bore right into his skull.

Rin didn’t know what compelled him to open his mouth, or for those words to tumble freely from his loosened lips. He liked to think it was grief which compromised his unwavering pride for a split second. Or, the guilt for what he did and said to his brother when he exhaled—

“Teach me how to win her back.”

— feedback, rbs and support and fully appreciated !!

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