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vegalocity · 3 years ago

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Happier version of Tripsun, time travel nonsense where LMK Sun Wukong meets post-journey Sanzang with General 6?

Dialogue starters

6. “Have you been taking care of yourself?”

ah hell yeah

Every time he’d be allowed to share moments like this with his former Master, Sun Wukong would say to himself that he could never forget how at ease he could feel. How warm his chest was and the faint sweet shivers that would crawl up his spine and make his fur fluff out could never fade.

And yet every time it was allotted to him again it felt like new.

Perhaps because of how long it had been since their journey, but those random times his Monkeys would inform him someone was nearing the mountain, and when he’d poke his head out in bird form and see that golden light, made his gut jolt and heat to flood his face and neck as though he were some adolescent with a crush.

Of course he’d roll out the welcome wagon (just modest enough that Tang Sanzang wouldn’t chide him for being a showoff even after everything, but could easily be passed off as his Monkeys being as excited as he was to welcome the monk back to the island) and lay out as much food as he could get away with without again, his master scolding him for extravagance and sparing him only a few small knowing smiles over the feast of mountain fruits.

And they’d catch up of course, over food, over tea, and then just sitting somewhere pretty, His master would extoll him the stories of his new students, comparing and contrasting them to his first merry band of disciples (usually a coy smile hidden beneath a sleeve as he said someone or another was just as hard to handle at first as he had been) but a strikingly proud gleam in his smile as he praised students he wouldn’t dare speak aloud to their faces to avoid the building of ego) And Wukong would extoll the current drama of his monkeys and how this or that dispute was brought to him over plums or some other such simple yet silly thing. Truly the stories he had left to tell weren’t near as extravagant as the battles he once went on five hundred years ago, but his master always responded to the comings and goings of Flower Fruit Mountain with as much interest and immersion as he would the mightiest of battles.

And then came the moments when the stories finally ran dry and the two were allowed to simply be in eachothers presence, usually spent meditating on his master’s part while Wukong simply lounged about or read or just sat quietly with his master, enjoying the company in a way the outside world had grown far too bright and fast and loud for.

But this visit was different.

He’d woken up on the mountain, which was strange granted they were li upon li away (Kilometers, they use kilometers now) and his Monkeys were rushing up to him shrieking in fear and panic, hooting and hollering and demanding his attention to an assumed intruder.

He’d been suspicious of course, he’d anticipated anything, the calabash, an illusion, something that would REALLY need his truth seeing eyes (using them had started giving him wicked headaches; his power was so close to gone) but the golden light had already faded when he came outside, ready to fight-

And his eyes fell upon a familiar figure on the sandy shore.

And then he could only hope this was an illusion, as the idea of somehow being transported back home right in time for Master to put himself so close to the danger of the Lady Bone Demon again made his hackles rise. So despite the pounding headache that started the second he summoned the power he gazed around them with golden eyes, gliding over his master’s buzzing cicada wings, his monkeys peering at him curiously, and focusing his gaze to the city-

-where there was neither the silhouette of the skull nor the grid-like patterns of an illusion’s edge. Nor even the city itself.

There was a town, sure, but not a city. A town that had been in the… sixteen hundreds or so? About a century after he’d sealed the Demon Bull King away and dropped in on master to tell him he was considering retiring, that he’d be on his mountain if he needed him, and he was always welcome if he wanted to visit.

And about a century after that, Tang Sanzang had taken him up on the offer. And there he was.

This was the first visit. The throbbing pain in his head proclaimed this as not a dream, the golden vision proclaimed this not an illusion or a trick. This simply… had happened. He had replaced his (slightly) younger self for a time, and this was where he was. The first time.

Maybe this wasn’t for him so much as it was for the others, being given a past version of himself with his powers still in tact, Maybe his past self could protect them all in a way he no longer could.

His monkeys were giving the monk a wide berth and he watched him look around, normally serene expression slightly crumpled as he looked for a path up the mountain. At this point he could easily appear there with a flick of the wrist, but his master never believed in the easy way (except when it came to riding Longma for the entire journey, but he bullied him enough about that as is)

He called a couple of his monkey generals to him and gestured to the beach. “We’ve got a treasured guest here boys, bring out some of our best fruits! The monk drinks no wine so our most potent teas as well!” The two chittered between each other and saluted him. Ah… he missed when his monkeys could much easier take orders.

“Why if my eyes don’t deceive me! Is this the virtuous Tang Monk I spy? The carrier of the Tripitaka himself? Why if any demon consumed his flesh it is said they’d become immortal!” He crowed, and watched as his master quickly covered his mouth with a hand, suppressing a laugh before schooling his expression back into the unimpressed line.

“It seems as though I've wandered to another mountain full of dangerous demons.” he stated, monotone and dry, but playful grin quickly betraying the tone. “If only I had some gallant disciple to protect me from the oncoming dangers”

Sun Wukong tumbled from the trees and gave a mock bow. “Say no more virtuous monk! No demon worth their salt can stand a fight against I, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!” there was a pause.

And then his master’s laugh was all he heard. It took him a second to join in, taking a hairdsbreath too long to enjoy the sound, but soon enough he was escorting the monk up to his home.

He had barely been able to wait to tell his Master about Xiaotian, and yet here he was having to avoid the boy’s name entirely while he searched to remember stories and drama from the monkeys four hundred years ago. He mentioned briefly that he was considering taking on a successor but hadn’t decided on it yet. His master told his own stories and He found himself possibly enjoying it a bit too much, Master had only recently passed by his thousand year mark of being immortal and he had still not quite gotten the hang of it yet. All the same he was doing his best and it was nostalgic to watch him try so hard to maintain what came easily to him in the future.

Then the stories ran dry and he gestured for his master to follow him, and reached his favorite spot on the mountainside, it overlooked the town that would soon become a city and they’d have the best fireworks. He didn’t share that information with master, but it didn’t matter, just his presence was enough.

But before he could vanish into the ‘somehow always like new’ feeling, Tang Sanzang turned to him with a worried eye.

“Have you been taking care of yourself?” It was a question he didn’t remember being asked on that first visit, one that took him aback.

“What do you mean, Master? I’m fine.”

“Bad Monkey, don’t bother lying to me, you keep wincing as though you’re in pain and you can take beatings that would make mountains crumble into ravines! You keep rubbing at your fur as though there are wounds that are still healing beneath when it takes so much just to pierce your flesh! Was your fight with the Bull King really so intense that your wounds act up even a century later or are you concealing other things from me?” damn those perceptive eyes. He didn’t USED to be perceptive, he used to fall for basically every demon trick!

Then again, he probably wasn’t doing too great at covering up the lingering wounds on his body either.

“I’m fine master, I’m sure everything will be back to normal when i’ve rested some.”

Well that was the exact wrong thing to say as he watched the Monk’s face pale. “Have I been keeping you from rest? Oh, you fool of an ape you should have told me!” Tang Sanzang turned to face him properly and for a moment Sun Wukong’s brain short circuited entirely as he placed soft hands on either of his cheeks to cup his face. “I can return at any time! If you’re injured you shouldn’t feel pressured to remain in my company!”

“I want to be in your company.” It came out in a way he wouldn’t have been able to mask the adoring warmth to, no matter how hard he tried. “Master, I enjoy nothing quite as much as I do our quiet moments together.” He had to go visit him himself upon returning to his time, he’d forgotten just how much he could miss the monk once again.

Tang Sanzang huffed and it seemed like that had at least turned his upset into more garden variety aggravation. “Bad monkey…” He shook his head, and in the dim light of sunset it almost seemed as though his master’s cheeks turned a pink shade of their own before he brought his hands down to take Sun Wukongs in his own, and stood. “Well if you feel so strongly about that then clearly I’m going to have to see to your recovery myself.” The monk looked off to the side and a small smile came with a featherlight chuckle. “How strange, a near reverse of how things once were between us.”

He chuckled as well at the irony and watched his master’s grin widen. “Indeed. Well, if you insist, I shall submit myself to your fucking fretting, baldy.”

Now THAT got a real laugh. and a soft 'Language!' between chuckles.

He’d get summoned back to his own time when Past Him was done doing whatever heavy lifting he’d gotten too weak to be able to handle no doubt. But for now he didn’t see the harm in enjoying the peacetime as it lasted.

Send me stuff

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sylvies-chen · 3 years ago

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ok so I watched The Eternals tonight and even though I got back from the movie theatre nearly three hours ago I haven’t made this post until now because I was a) processing the absolutely WONDERFUL movie I just saw and b) fawning over it with my lovely Maria @just-fandomthings who is tagging me in some Eternals stuff I’m going to be reblogging the crap out of very soon! So keep an eye out for a lot of Marvel related content and if that’s not your thing then sorry in advance for the spam. But first, it’s time to sing praises for this movie:

(WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Overall, this movie was probably the one I felt least followed a generic Marvel format. It left a certain amount of surprise and unpredictability which was very enjoyable. Everything about it felt very unique and different from what Marvel’s done before: from the camera angles to the STUNNING visual effects and costumes, to the plot development, it was all special. Even the dialogue and the dynamics between the characters were different and felt much more matured. The conflict was even something refreshing and new because evem though I’m fully on the ��Ikaris was just some whiny dude who was obsessed with Sersi yet never fully respected her power and authority” train, his argument wasn’t completely invalid. It was just… his opinion. The way he went about it was all wrong, but his belief itself wasn’t the problem which is why we hardly think anything of Kingo for saying “I don’t agree with what you guys are doing but I refuse to fight you” and then leaving. I mean, have we EVER seen a Marvel movie do that before? No, never! They’ve had movies based on the exact opposite of that. Granted, the characters in this movie have had thousands of years to grow and mature so maybe they have an advantage to the lovable asshat that we call Tony Stark, but it was still so interesting to see power dynamics and general conflict explored like that.

Also, and I cannot stress this enough: DRUIG AND MAKKARI ARE EVERYTHING TO ME. Even through their limited screentime I have never fallen for MCU characters more quickly (except maybe Yelena) than these two. Makkari being a deaf character, I was (depressingly) expecting for her to be a throwaway character or a one-off kind of deal, but getting to see her in action and leading her into more action in the MCU was such a lovely surprise! Druig also won me over in a heartbeat. Watching him with Makkari was so sweet because they’re friends, they’re equals, they’re partners. That unbreakable bond there was portrayed really well in such a short amount of time. Oh, and Makkari’s raw scream when she thought Druig was dead? The way she went HAM on Ikaris as soon as she thought he killed Druig? Yeah, that shit both killed me and impressed me at the same time. If you’d seen me in the theatres you would have seen me crying while clapping and cheering my ass off. The visuals for her speedy powers in that scene were really well done and not only that, but watching her channel all that rage and kick that guy’s ass when he was referred to several times by everyone else as the strongest of them all was AMAZING. SO CATHARTIC. I have no choice but to stan. And my brain has been replaying “my beautiful, beautiful Makkari” for the past two hours. Both as individuals and as a ship, my love for them was on sight ‼️🥰

Thena and Gilgamesh’s friendship was also really sweet and that was the other instance of “woman going absolutely haywire because their soulmate is presumed and/or actually dead” lol. Gil was really the only one with the kind heart and patience to take care of her, to handle her when needed but to be understanding of her and take his time. That loss was devastating for her but ultimately pushed her to be stronger. And I think there’s a large component of Thena’s journey being about taking back her mind and bodily autonomy, which was really empowering and beautiful to watch. The women in this movie are amazing and are really the stars. (Although I will say: it was really refreshing watching a movie where they let their male characters cry!! And we had Phastos and his husband as MLM rep with a happy family and everything too!! My heart!!)

Anyway, this has probably all been said before but I don’t even care. I loved that movie and I’m a huge MCU nerd so I figured you folks, my lovely followers, could bear with me while I let my thoughts out. So yes! I really liked this film! There was some pacing issues which I cut them slack for because it was a long movie and they had a lot of bases to cover, and I would have appreciated if they put the time & location stamps as soon as they made the jumps just because some of them were delayed and had me confused for a second, but these are very minor things and all in all, the pros FAR outweigh the cons. It was a great movie: unique in every aspect, visually stunning, beautiful family dynamics and intriguing power dynamics, and a wonderful introduction to the world of the Eternal, Deviants, and Celestials!

#marvel #mcu #abby’s MCU rants #eternals spoilers

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something-very-special · 4 years ago

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Impressions

I know I’m way behind on progression through Replicant (insofar as anybody can be ‘way behind’ in the sense of playing a video game for personal entertainment), buuuut I figured I’d share a few thoughts.

Presently I’m doing sidequest mop-up post-Barren Temple, for reference:

So just to get this overall out of the way, I am legitimately fascinated by the differences between NIER and Replicant. This is something I picked up on when I played RepliCant to grab footage for my LP, but given my extremely limited understanding of Japanese all I could get was the tone between characters and to my unpracticed ear they sounded pretty different. I always assumed that Weiss was somehow even more condescending to Brother and hah hah, wow. Even kind of expecting the dialogue and delivery differences I was not prepared for some of the dialogue and delivery differences. Weiss just straight-up insulting BroNier on the regular, not even doing sarcastic eye-rolls like he does with Papa. I don’t remember the exact line that set me off but somewhere in the Barren Temple I was just laughing my ass off at how much of a dick Weiss is.

Thought the ‘miracles’ conversation in the Junk Heap was interesting, too. I remember Papa Nier telling Weiss to stuff it because ‘those kids need a miracle’ and Weiss kind of backs down-- obviously doesn’t believe it, but he knows better than to push. And Brother tries but Weiss is just not having this optimism bullshit. Little things, but the tenor of the relationship is definitely different.

One of the more interesting aspects early on is the way the Lunar Tear is treated. Obviously I don’t know if this was part of the original game or a script adjustment, but Brother talking about the Tear as a source of money as opposed to Father saying it can grant wishes was interesting. Maybe it was to justify that Kaine just has a whole necklace of the damn things and therefore it’s rare but not literally magic, but it always sounded like it was just meant to be taken as a myth to me anyway. Then again, it’s established in the Grimoire that Brother has a fixation specifically on making money so he can support himself and Yonah (versus Papa Nier, who has obviously already established himself as an adult rather than a kid still figuring things out and hoping that enough money will solve all their problems).

Where the dialogue doesn’t diverge is interesting, too. Mostly I’m talking about the scene after defeating Hook. I always found Papa Nier exclaiming “You’re going to live, Kaine!” and “Yes, we’re friends now!” to be obvious holdovers from a younger protagonist just goddamn hilarious when Papa Nier is saying them. They’re still really funny with Brother Nier but just remembering Papa Nier doing the exact same delivery in his deep, manly voice just re-elevated the whole scene into comedy gold.

All of that is really why I was interested in getting the game so already my money is well spent. But there’s some other stuff:

They butchered the OST! ...or so people keep telling me on Youtube. I admit I do think the re-orchestrations is largely inferior to the original (although there are some that are at least as good in a different way, and whatever they did to The Lost Forest -- which was one of my least favorite tracks in the original -- I really enjoy) but I wouldn’t call it a butchering and I highly suspect that if I didn’t have the eleven years of the original OST and its association within the game itself I wouldn’t bat an eye, it still all sounds great.

Also, a weird observation, but I found that the soundtrack sounds much better coming out of the TV speakers than through headphones. I’m not sure if somehow it was optimized for play through external speakers, or maybe just not hearing the added orchestration right up against my eardrums, but when I went to the Lost Shrine with headphones on I was admittedly disappointed, but going to it again and listening through the TV it worked significantly better.

(I’m not sure if this is necessarily a factor, but the booklet in the White Snow edition mentions that the new soundtrack was all studio mixed rather than having the individual tracks layered. While I don’t think that would have an impact on music quality it almost definitely makes a difference in the way it’s produced.)

I miss chest-thrusting to double jump Movement overall feels much more refined and polished. It’s not as slick as Automata, but it definitely feels like a natural evolution of the original game, and as an apologist for NIER’s combat I can appreciate that. A little more responsive, I appreciate being able to move while casting magic, and it still has a bit of a crunch behind weapon impact (although I wish it felt a bit heavier).

But goodness I miss the stupid animation for double-jumping. I mean sure, an aerial somersault is a classic indication of a double jump, but I just loved that Nier would chest-thrust so hard he would break the laws of physics and ascend higher.

It also feels a bit like the aerial dodge was nerfed for movement purposes? I really don’t feel as much horizontal thrust to get a running start after diving off the Library balcony.

Fully voiced? Fully voiced?! I knew this was happening but I totally forgot until the NPC villagers started talking to me! Some of the incidental deliveries are a bit awkward, but as somebody whose glasses prescription is a decade out of date I appreciate this immensely.

The item guy in Seafront just being from the goddamn Bronx is a thing of beauty.

BroNier does fit into the Village better. One of the little details I love in the game is that each bit of civilization has its own style. The maps aren’t large enough to really convey how long travel takes, but the different styles between the Village and Seafront just kind of helped to ‘place’ the characters in a really neat, subtle way (Emil’s sash identifies him as ‘belonging to’ Seafront, which is actually pertinent when you get that sidequest where you find the letter from his science-mom in town! I assume she always wore a kicky sash when she went to work in the underground child torture bunker.)

Facade obviously also has their own style, but it’s... hard not to appreciate.

Papa Nier’s dress doesn’t really ‘place’ him anywhere, which doesn’t feel weird for the main character, and I feel like it’s implied that he isn’t really from the Village in a meaningful way anyway and kind of drifted in at some point after Yonah had been born. But younger Brother Nier is actually wearing the local fashion and it’s a neat little detail that I didn’t appreciate back when I played PS3 RepliCant. (Probably because I didn’t bother talking to any NPCs what with not being able to read the dialogue, so I never really had him standing next to anybody for long enough to process.) Older Brother Nier takes on a very different outfit that winds up displacing him from the rest of the Village (and any other towns), which is a pretty nice visual metaphor, too.

I have a confession to make. I still enjoy fishing in this game.

Yeah I said it. I’ll say it again too-- I like the fishing minigame. I happily blitzed through the Fisherman’s available Gambits, and then just caught five sharks while I was hanging out, and then also caught the sandfish ahead of time, and also wound up with a half-ton giant catfish (??!?) trying to remember where the black bass are located.

Cart me away.

Related but I laughed far too hard when the fisherman says “the WESTERN beach”. I wonder why they changed that line. I just can’t imagine.

And those seals. Always a delight to go to early Seafront and just plant yourself between a couple of seals. Watch the ocean. Listen to the music and the waves. Watch the seals lazily roll around and make cute seal barks.

The most depressing thing about the timeskip is losing those seals.

My garden--! The gardening timeskip exploit was fixed due to a difference in PS4 architecture. :/ I know there’s still an exploit involving time zones but I didn’t go in knowing that and I was horrified when I adjusted the system clock only to find my crops weren’t growing. Is Legendary Gardener still a trophy? Fffffuuuuu

My BARREN TEMPLE. The Barren Temple is, to me, a legitimately funny dungeon, between Sechs getting himself abducted, Kaine getting herself abducted and Nier and Weiss just sighing in resignation, and the whole concept of the rules-based challenges. And the adjustment they made to the Prince’s dialogue before you meet him is so good-- the original felt a little disjointed and felt like it ended with the Prince being confused. It was still funny, but here Weiss just gives zero fucks about insulting the Prince (and presumably knows that’s exactly who he’s talking to) and it’s just great.

And I say all of that because I just died laughing when I got to the infamous Racing Wolf room and saw they outlawed evasion.

Evasion works differently in this game anyway so you wouldn’t have really been able to do the same trick before (dodge roll; in the original release you would dodge roll forward by tapping the button, but a default evasion has you backstep. Of course you could arrange BroNier to face away from the trap and then evade, but it would be significantly dicier, and I feel like the pattern on the shots was awkward enough that you wouldn’t have an opening in the second row (and probably would’ve have dodged your ass right into the bullets anyway). But just that they acknowledged the trick and then flipped you off with it was amazing. Aggravating? My amusement far outweighed my frustration since the Defend trick was still solid.

It also felt like more rooms outlawed jumping? That I can’t corroborate (I was really focusing on whether they did something to Racing Wolf, which is of course the most traumatic of the rooms) but I feel like it wasn’t as easy to cheese some of those rooms as it had been previously.

Dark Blast is amazing. Cheesed the shit out of the actual ‘Evasive Mouse’ room, though. I remember having some difficulties when the miniboss shows up since you can’t dodge out of the way of his lava pillar attack, but I just circle-strafed with Dark Blast and he died comically quickly.

This is actually more relevant to the magic as a whole, but in the time since I first played NIER (so... probably the time I fifth played NIER) I learned more about the little intracacies of the magic system. Like, really little intricacies, like how you can use magic with just a button tap and it actually has different effects... like Dark Blast dealing significantly more damage. It’s not as easy as just holding down the button and getting the multi-shot off the charge, but for a single enemy like that just rapid-fire tapping the button chews through the lifebar.

This tap strategy is really appreciated for Dark Hand (forward thrust punch) and Dark Lance (which is even better thanks to the game’s lock-assist-- a much appreciated quality-of-life adjustment), and I look forward to getting Dark Execution because of its fast activation feature (spreading the lances in a forward cone in front of you, extremely useful for crowd control when you can’t afford to wait for Execution to charge up).

Fragile Delivery still sucks. I don’t know why I had such a terrible time with the first Fragile Delivery but I broke that... Ming vase or whatever you’re delivering half a dozen times. Send that guy a steel rug instead, Guard #3, he is not worth whatever piece of art you had me destroy six times.

And the game still holds up. This is probably a ‘needless to say’ thing but yeah, this is still a great game. I always have a little bit of apprehension going back to something I loved just in case there’s a rose-colored effect going on. Not that I really expected that to happen with this game (I’ve played NIER recently enough that I didn’t think nostalgia would blind me) but, you know, always a possibility.

(That and that the remaster would be... perhaps of dubious quality. It happens.)

Nope! Still engaging. Still charming. I’m always impressed to go back to this game with all the knowledge of its inevitable misery and remember that it’s also just plain funny. NIER is one of those games that’s just like I remember it but better every time I go back to it.

I’m so glad that Automata did well enough to spur greater interest in this game. It really didn’t get the chance it deserved back in 2010 and now it’s topping some of the sales charts. That’s fantastic.

Just... fantastic.

#NIER #NieR Replicant #Musings #Now I just need Threads of Fate remastered and my life is complete #SE don't do that I know you'll ruin it

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hopevalley · 4 years ago

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Season 8, Episode 9: Pre-Wedding Jitters

Y’all know what’s wild? The season is coming to a close! I feel like we just got started with Season 8, and it’s already nearly over. I’m not ready for things to end...except the love triangle. Lol.

One important thing I want to talk about, before we move on to my regularly scheduled episode write-up, of course, is the quality of the writing and filming this season. I really feel like the team took a step back and thought very carefully about how to improve the show, and then they went through the effort of actively trying to improve things.

Are there still badly-written areas of the show? Absolutely. Are there things I loathe seeing? Yes. Are there plotlines that are extremely contrived even by Hallmark standards? Unfortunately there are.

But I don’t think anyone can deny that the writing this season is, overall, an improvement over Seasons 5, 6, and 7. The only thing that I feel about S8 that is worse than 5/6/7 is the love triangle, but it had to come to a head eventually so it was always going to be a point of contention among the fans.

I’ve seen a ton of negativity going around the Internet, and you are all entitled to your opinions, but let’s hold back from being too angry until we see how things will work out. After all, there is a chance, however small, that Hallmark will end up surprising us.

So here’s to hoping that the writing quality uptick will continue as we move into Season 9.

And now, our plotlines from this episode:

The Dilapidated Love Triangle

The Wedding Planning/Party

The New & Improved Henry Gowen

Miscellaneous (Car Investigation, pastor position/Jesse and Clara + Cafe, Carson and Faith, Mike and Fiona)

This was another episode that felt pretty smooth in its storytelling; it had some smaller plots going on, but two primarily large plots, a smaller one that revolved around Henry, and then a few small (connected) plots from previous episodes/that overarched the whole season!

Sorry for the muddle by the way, it took me hours to type this and I’m too tired to read it over thoroughly before posting. If you see any glaring issues please let me know so I can fix them, though!

The Dilapidated Love Triangle

Let’s just get the pig slop out of the way, shall we? I think we are all in some sort of agreement by now that we’re tired of the triangle and just want to see it resolved as soon as possible so that we can get on with our lives and invest our interests in the right place(s).

I also believe most of us are also in some kind of agreement, however we feel about the characters, the triangle, and who Elizabeth’s choice should be, that this thing has been very poorly paced. This sentiment seems to be echoed across the Internet right now. The pacing is AWFUL. After two years of almost nothing happening, now we’re going to bullrush to the end of the triangle? That’s a yikes from me, Chief. (Wait, didn’t I say that last week, too?)

I was never a fan of the narrated beginnings of episodes. I think they’re really tacky and boring. That said, there’s no other way to get into Elizaeth’s head easily because...I don’t know. Either Erin isn’t that skilled or the director doesn’t know how to direct her, or the script sucks. They struggle SO MUCH with show-don’t-tell that they have to resort to telling...which is fine, sometimes. This is an instance where telling is just mega redundant since she says the same exact thing probably 10 more times in the episode. I wish they’d have just kept the first part of the reflection or focused more on that—how Nathan talking about it...makes it feel fresh and raw again in a way she didn’t expect.

Anyway, Elizabeth writing that she’s been “left to reflect, once more, on the senseless accident that took [Jack’s] life” is ridiculous. Senseless? He was in charge of the training mission, but unless I’m losing every last marble I’ve ever had, wasn’t it Jack’s choice to go after the younger recruits who had been separated? Wasn’t it thanks to Jack’s quick thinking and intervention that only one person lost his life that day (Jack himself)?

This is where the whole “Jack died heroically” thing kind of matters, actually. Especially when you butt it up against Nathan being the original person intended to go. Would he have risked his life like that? We’ll never know, but I’m sure Nathan thinks about it a lot, and it’s not something that should be left out of this story.

It’s valid for Elizabeth to wonder why Nathan kept the Secret hidden from her for almost three years, but what is really troublesome is the weird shift she seems to have between Casual Curiosity and Stricken Grief about it.

I grew tired of mopey Elizabeth in S4 and 5, so I’m not happy to see her back. Fewer eye drops, please. -_-

Anyway, it almost felt like a breakthrough when Elizabeth asked Rosemary why she thought Nathan took so long to tell her about Fort Clay, but Rosemary’s response was so bad. “He didn’t think it was important enough.” WHAT? WHO WOULD SAY THAT? Rosemary can be a bit thick-headed but that was almost too contrived for me to willingly follow. Anyone with a brain would realize it was IMPORTANT and THAT WAS WHY IT WAS A SECRET.

And when Elizabeth’s like, “Not important enough?” BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY IT IS IMPORTANT... Rosemary just tells her that Jack’s death wasn’t Nathan’s fault.

Which. She’s right. But that doesn’t make the secret unimportant. It’s still kind of a big deal. He’s confessed to being in love with Elizabeth multiple times now. Even Rosemary can’t be so dumb that she doesn’t realize that the connection between Jack’s death and Nathan is...meaningful, especially to Elizabeth. And that Nathan knew this and couldn’t bring himself to tell her because he knew it would hurt her.

Anyway, I’m doing my best to give Elizabeth a bit of grace here, because she’s just so self-centered I almost can’t stand it. To be clear, Elizabeth has ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS. It’s just that usually the issues at hand aren’t about her, they’re about someone else.

Rosemary’s right but what she said was straight-up stupid. I don’t know, I don’t think the characters are out of character so much as the dialogue just didn’t flow very naturally and I felt like the characters were making assumption jumps to force certain responses. If Elizabeth can’t agree with Rosemary that Jack’s death isn’t Nathan’s fault, then she should have expressed that a bit more directly so that Rosemary could draw the conclusion that Elizabeth does feel it’s Nathan’s fault. It came across like Rosemary was speaking to the audience more than to Elizabeth, and I didn’t like it.

The most delightful scene in the entire episode has to go to Allie and Lucas. That was so cute and wholesome and good. Her asking if she could sit at the bar, him offering her a treat, her trying to return the gift ‘cause she felt caught in the middle and like it wasn’t fair to accept it... SO GOOD. They remembered the gift multiple episodes later AND incorporated it into this episode flawlessly. LOVED IT.

Also, she asked an important question. LUCAS...where DO YOU LIVE?!

His story was a bit silly but I actually enjoyed it. It gives him a more playful vibe and also I think was almost entirely to ensure that Allie felt more comfortable and less anxious about what was happening around her. It was also his way of reassuring her that him courting Elizabeth wasn’t going to take Elizabeth out of Allie’s life...and that things will be okay.

I enjoyed it.

Things were a bit awkward with Elizabeth and Allie but they felt...better than before, so I felt like the conversation helped.

Lucas calling Allie “Allie Grant” was nice now that her adoption is official! I appreciate that.

Elizabeth and Lucas talk about how Lucas told Allie he’ll “work things out” with Nathan and Elizabeth definitely doesn’t appreciate it, and with somewhat good reason: she doesn’t like being caught in the middle of things any more than Allie does.

The thing is...she has had the power...all this time...to tell Nathan straight-up to leave her alone/that she isn’t interested. I stand by what I said before, that she shouldn’t have to tell him no for him to respect the boundaries she’s set, but if he’s not respecting those boundaries she needs to be firm about it.

I like how Lucas comes off in this scene. He wants to understand, he listens, he’s patient, he doesn’t push. I’m here for it.

She tells him what Nathan told her and he seems a bit overwhelmed by it, too. It’s pretty clear that he realizes she must be feeling all kinds of things after finding that out, especially after all this time.

Again, for the second time, Elizabeth doesn’t seem all that grief-stricken about the secret being kept from her for so long: she tells Lucas she just doesn’t understand how he could keep it from her.

He asks permission to suss out an answer and Elizabeth politely declines and says she’ll ask herself, but to please forgive her, she needs some time to...think.

She watches Lucas go and then...touches her wedding band.

Nathan meets Rosemary in the library and goes on a long boring monologue about how he’s read like, three whole books that women wrote, but still doesn’t understand women. No shit, sherlock. That was terrible writing...just straight up bad writing.

But I’m not exactly surprised because the very next thing that happens is that Rosemary tells Nathan...she’s been in his eXACT position before!

No...you have not. Yes, you were the unwanted third wheel, but that’s where the similarities ended, and you should have clarified. This just didn’t hit well for me, I don’t know. I don’t want to say it’s out of character, but...I don’t think Rosemary is this soft gentle personality anyway. I feel like she was always a bit more in your face with the things she said, not “try to encourage a manner of action in a very roundabout way” like she is in this episode. But again, without a logic jump from Rosemary, this scene doesn’t quite work.

I think I might have preferred Rosemary to play dumb and ask what specifically he didn’t understand about women. Make him freakin’ say it. And then she could react better.

We get Love Confession #3 or whatever we’re on with Nathan, now. Let’s go over the entire scene.

Elizabeth walks into Nathan’s office and instantly asks him why it took him so long to tell her what happened.

He says he felt guilty and when she tells him she doesn’t understand, he goes on to say that after the accident he requested a transfer to Hope Valley. He never met Jack but he knew he’d left behind a wife and child, and felt it was his responsibility to look after them and protect them.

She asks why he would assume that, and he explains that he felt it was his duty. And that when he found himself falling in love with her, he felt like he was betraying Jack and his memory. That’s why he didn’t tell her.

He then takes it ONE STEP TOO FAR and says, “I fell in love with you, and I think that love is always worth fighting for.”

Elizabeth says “Excuse me,” and leaves. Nathan’s face afterward is maybe a decent mix of “I probably shouldn’t have said that” and regret, but...woof.

Anyway, I was fine with this up to the point where Nathan said, completely unprompted, that love is always worth fighting for. How does he know? What are his experiences with love? Books he read, written by men??? PLEASE.

READ PRIDE & PREJUDICE U SWINE... ELIZABETH FALLS IN LOVE WITH MR. DARCY BECAUSE HE DECIDES HE WANTS TO CHANGE AND BE A BETTER MAN AND THEN DOES SOOOOOOOOO oh wait this is turning into an Elizabeth/Henry argument...OOPS?

Anyway, yeah. Not a fan of that line. It almost feels like there’s something missing. She’s standing in front of him about to cry because she feels hurt that he didn’t tell her this, you know, crucial information, and he’s just like “Yeah I didn’t tell u cause I love you and felt like i was betraying jack’s memory and also lol love is worth fighting for babe!” What kind of confusing mess of babble is this?

Honestly, it just left a bad taste in my mouth. :( I have so many really obnoxious opinions about Nathan and what they’ve done with him this season, but I feel like I should save them for a season summary podcast or something, just in case Hallmark ends up surprising me. Right now I just feel like they really just wanted to give him what the fans hated about him (he wasn’t passionate enough, not manly enough, not forward enough with his emotions, at least from what I read on Reddit and Instagram last year), but in like THE WORST POSSIBLE WAYS and for the wORST POSSIBLE REASONS in the VERY WORST SCENARIO.

I feared that would be Nathan’s reason for coming to town from the moment the character was announced and...I wanted to be wrong.

Anyway, I really liked his self-awareness up to that point. He never met Jack, which keeps some of the weirdness at bay. Also, he felt like he needed to make sure Jack’s family was okay, and that’s fine. I wouldn’t call it noble (as Rosemary later does), but it’s not exactly bad, either. Then we got the line of him admitting that it felt kind of bad to fall in love with her. I wish he’d gone on to say that wasn’t supposed to happen, or even given her a reason he loves her (so that it doesn’t feel like we’re just being told everything), because his line about love being worth fighting for right after he says he felt like he was betraying Jack’s memory by loving her...was...really strange??? Maybe a few sentences were edited out?

Elizabeth tries to refuse to play Fiona’s blindfold game and LITERALLY NO ONE SAVES HER (though I think Rosemary considered trying). I hate the idea of this game solely based on the fact that several people participating shouldn’t even be there (Nathan, Bill, Mike, Fiona, Molly), but Elizabeth wouldn’t be able to accidentally choose Nathan if he wasn’t there, so... -_-

I think I might have actually liked this (her “no” with Carson was super cute actually, probably the cutest laugh she’s ever had on this show) if she’d had the chance to reject a few more guys on the way down the line. If she was closer to the end of the line she’d feel her options were running out and might second-guess herself. Having Nathan be the second person she touches and having her choose is...eh.

Nitpicks aside (their hands wouldn’t feel the same and she held Lucas’s hand quite recently actually), it could have been worse. At least she stated who she was searching for...

BUT UGH THE EMBARRASSMENT.

The thing that gets me about the whole scene is 100% that everyone in town would know about the Triangle drama, so it feels...weird to see everyone so gung-ho to watch this happen... I don’t know... I like having fun too, but NOBODY even TRIED to step in???

At least Lucas found some humor in it right away (he smiles).

I think I wish someone had said something. Maybe Nathan could have said, “Nope, sorry” to lighten the mood a bit? Or Lucas could have said, “Almost!” since he was standing right next to Nathan?

Anyway, we’re spared having to wait because the very next scene is Lucas checking on Elizabeth and laughing about her choice.

One line I wish they’d added in is that someone else got it wrong. Imagine if Lucas said, “At least you didn’t pick Bill like Clara did!” Or even just made a joke about it in general like: “Of course I’m not upset. But if you would have picked Bill I might be a little hurt. My hands aren’t that old yet.”

Elizabeth tells him that she spoke to Nathan about the whole...thing and it was awkward. She chooses to not tell Lucas the rest of the reason Nathan gave, but instead only admits that he told her he loves her again. When Lucas asks what she said in response she said she didn’t say anything.

Lucas seems...a trifle upset at this, and understandably so. I think he can sense she’s...not really a sure thing and is worried about it. :( I feel so bad for him right now.

Rosemary stops by to see Elizabeth after Lucas leaves, and tells her she ran into Nathan at the library yesterday. Elizabeth tells her what Nathan said in his office and Rosemary says it was noble and selfless of him.

(I mean...it wasn’t selfless. Like at all.)

Elizabeth says she never asked him to be noble. She didn’t ask him to fall in love with her, either.

She asks Rosemary if she encouraged Nathan’s feelings for her at the library. Rosemary says no, but Elizabeth asks again and she interrupts her to ask Elizabeth if she’d rather hear what she actually said or just assume.

Rosemary goes on to say that she just wants what’s best for Elizabeth.

And we get Elizabeth asking how anyone would know what was best for her.

I mean, that’s like 90% on you for not communicating with your friends, but also, it’s 100% on you for just assuming you knew what Rosemary said to Nathan. I think she’s just looking for a reason why Nathan is being so persistent and in her mind encouragement from someone else is the only thing that makes sense, ‘cause she sure as heck hasn’t been encouraging him herself!

This hurts Rosemary’s feelings, probably because she was about to say that she wants what’s best for Elizabeth so she asked Nathan to stop getting in the way lol, and says maybe she should leave (since Elizabeth is in a bad mood). Elizabeth agrees she should go.

End episode. On this note. Woof.

Overall it wasn’t too bad I guess? But I’m not a fan of how some of this was written. It really felt like they cut lines out to make the episode shorter, when...they could have cut out one of the boring side plots. You know. The entire thing with Jesse and Clara, for example.

The Wedding Planning/Party

I admit that I got a little enjoyment out of Florence saying no to all the dresses. Highly relatable.

Then, at the barbershop, Fiona says the exact wORST possible thing about Florence wanting a hairstyle that’ll “knock Ned dead” FLHDSFAJDSA.

Florence goes on to say she wants anything but “ordinary Florence” and Molly steps in.

Honestly, I wish they’d just let Molly stick to being Florence’s BFF because that’s the role she plays best. Also, I’m almost sad Florence and Ned got together because it means #teamflomo is no mo’. :(

Paul shows up...

I don’t know what I expected but this boy would have been a literal BABY in season one, which makes the whole thing with Florence almost sadder AND it gives Florence more in common with Elizabeth (widow with a young child) BUT I HAVE OPINIONS.

I know what you’re thinking. “Manna, you always have opinions!” Yes, you’d be right.

They based this off of ONE (1) line of dialogue that Florence had in S1 when something was stolen from her house. She says, “while my child slept nearby” or something like that.

They brought a child in...for that? On one hand...I’m impressed.

On the other hand, I kind of had just assumed they’d retconned that and that Florence had no children (which is why she was always goofing off gossiping with Molly) so I don’t really know how to feel about the whole thing.

Rosaleen starred in an episode and never showed up again after S1, so I think I’d have preferred to see her return instead of a child we literally never laid eyes on. But he’s a cutie. And he’s named after his father just like little Jack so...I’ll take it!

The party begins and we have to do “the men are stupid and don’t know how to plan” again which is really annoying. The highlight of this entire thing was Ned saying (about his hairline) that he’s been driving with the top down since his 30s. I respect you AND ONLY YOU, Ned.

The party continues on and they play charades. Rosemary chose weird awful options that don’t make any sense and are hard to act out. Ned’s could have been funny but the one Bill got is just...so weird.

The funniest part about it is looking at everyone staring at Molly as she guesses it.

I think it was supposed to be...cute? Or something? It was just really weird for me.

“Cuddle up a little Closer, Lovey Mine” (yes, it’s “lovey” not “lovely”) was written and recorded in 1908. You can listen to it here. Lyrics here.

They then play the Most Awkward Game Ever, one that would have had me sweating bullets if I’d had to play it. Florence has to find her man by only holding the hands of the other men.

As Fiona says, it’s a bit...risqué, but Florence rejects Jesse quickly and finds out the second man is Bill by squeezing his hands too hard.

Bill explains that his arthritis is flaring up and of course Sara and I jumped on that almost at the same moment:

We like Bill. :P

And then Florence correctly guesses that the next man is Ned. It’s very wholesome and sweet.

But then it’s Elizabeth’s turn because I guess she’s not been traumatized enough this episode. I covered that in the triangle part of the plot, though.

The New & Improved Henry Gowen

We start off with a BANG here with Henry and Christopher. Christopher misses Rachel because he’s a twitterpated little FOOL and he tells Henry all about it...while Henry sees Bill tearing apart the stolen car in the distance.

He asks Christopher how he got to Hope Valley from Hamilton and Christopher just straight up comes clean about it: he drove a stolen car that his buddy stole.

Henry scolds him a bit, tells him he can’t borrow a stolen car, and explains that he doesn’t want Christopher to end up like him. Christopher seems kind of surprised by this and says, “You turned out good.”

To which Henry replies, “The jury’s still out on that.”

Christopher says he’s done with that kind of thing, and Henry tells him he believes him.

Honestly, Henry’s “I believe you” got to me. It sounded SO genuine. And also, can I say YET AGAIN that this kid was an impeccable choice to play Henry’s son? WOW. I can’t get over how much alike they are even in mannerisms and looks.

But THEN when Henry tries to say Rachel has something to do with Christopher being done with that old lifestyle, Christopher tells him “And you” AND I ALMOST LOST IT. SOOOOO GOOD. Henry goes on to explain that “long after” he divorced Christopher’s mom, he met Abigail, who saw the potential for goodness in him. And that he can’t help Christopher be a better man because he’s still figuring that out for himself, but if he thinks Rachel can help him, he should do what he can to not lose her.

Later, Henry invites Christopher to Ned’s party and Christopher declines but asks what happened to the woman Henry mentioned earlier—Abigail, of course. Henry says she left town to help her mother.

Is this a...hint of things to come? I’m...not sure.

Henry sits down for two seconds before Lucas asks to speak with him outside. Once there, Lucas admits that he contacted Christopher. This is one of the most contrived plotlines we’ve had in a bit, if only because I just can’t figure out how Lucas would have known who Christopher was, let alone whether or not he would be useful? He doesn’t even have the same last name... I mean, what, did Henry write in sparkly gel pens or something?

But for some reason he contacted Christopher to come work for Henry to keep an eye on him. He’s not proud of having done it, which makes sense. I guess I wouldn’t be either.

Henry’s upset about it. Lucas tells Henry that he took advantage of him and that he had to make sure Henry could be trusted.

Christopher doesn’t know that Lucas told him, though, and Henry asks that Lucas keep it that way.

It makes Christopher’s behavior with Lucas make more sense (when he kept trying to push him around earlier this season), but the timing is just...awful? Maybe talking to Elizabeth about Nathan’s secret made him feel guilty about his own? I’d buy into it more if I felt like there was a really compelling reason for Lucas to feel that Christopher would do any good...but it’s just too contrived for me.

Christopher randomly decides to go to Bellingham to see Rachel. Henry tells him not to make trouble if her parents ask him to leave. Henry makes to leave, and Christopher stops him.

I CANNOT SING THE PRAISES OF THIS SCENE ENOUGH. Christopher tries to tell Henry about the thing with Lucas and Henry’s like...you’re different now, you’re starting over it doesn’t matter anymore!!!! Everyone deserves a second chance!

AND THEY HUG AND CHRISTOPHER TELLS HENRY HE LOVES HIM.

They almost got me to cry. ALMOST. I refuse to cry at this show because I refuse to give Brian Bird the satisfaction, but boy oh boy was this close.

Henry responds with a “me too” and makes Christopher promise to write. Then the stage leaves and that is that.

The rest of the storyline for Henry is under the car investigation. They’re related but...only intertwine at the very end so I separated them. ;)

Miscellaneous (Car Investigation, Pastor Position/Jesse and Clara, Carson and Faith, Mike and Fiona)

Car investigation: Nathan starts this episode off on the wrong foot. I think that was...a mistake. THAT SAID...I’m relieved Bill isn’t being written as a complaining whiny pile of trash for once, so I just want to say that...they had to realize after last episode the fan opinion of Nathan would be...not great, so mayyybe they shouldn’t have started this episode off with him literally complaining about doing his job...while he’s in uniform no less. Also he has NO PASSION at all for his job, or for investigating, which I hope means he’ll end up quitting the Mounties. (It could be a hint of things to come...I hope.)

I mean, does he think Bill got his position for...no reason? Also, thank God Nathan turned down the promotion to Inspector if that was how he was gonna treat actually doing the work?? I’m pretty sure this is their idea of “humor” but boy did it fall flat after the love triangle mess that’s been going on.

The owner talks to Nathan on the phone later and is coming from Hamilton to get his car. Nathan seems to be telling Bill this to discourage him from wasting his time investigating, but Bill doesn’t want to stop lol.

Ned’s comment from the party about his hairline being him “driving with the top down” gives Bill an Idea in the middle of the bachelor party and leaves. Ned looks shook that he produced An Idea.

And follows. Ned is absolutely adorable as he assists Bill. They should interact more?? Long story short, Bill figures out that the top was probably up when it was being transported to Hope Valley (as you wouldn’t want people getting a good look at your face if they’re looking for a stolen car), and finds a footprint in the removable top.

The next day, Bill approaches Henry up at the oil derricks and comments on the fact that Lucas told him that Christopher checked out of his room at the saloon. Henry is up front and honest about where Christopher went, and says he went to Bellingham to see Rachel Thom.

He says, “You know how it is. You love someone, you’d do anything for them.”

The one interesting thing about this comment is that...no, Bill does NOT know. He’s never admitted to being in love in his life. He married Nora, but that was out of obligation (something he makes clear several times). Like, he obviously cared about Nora, but he wasn’t in love with her.

Obviously he’s loved someone enough to do anything for them (his son), but considering he’s dead, and possibly died in a really traumatizing way considering how it’s portrayed, that seems a bit...insensitive. :P

Bill counters it with, “Almost anything, maybe.”

He then goes on to tell Henry he found a footprint in the stolen car.

And he just. Kind of. Gives Henry. A look. Because he knows exactly who stole the car, he just has to prove it.

Henry stops Bill and says: “A while back I remarked about how you had never solved the mine disaster. Perhaps if you and I get together, I might be able to help.”

Bill doesn’t say a THING...he just leaves. But he looks kind of...put off by the whole thing.

Like he knows what Henry is doing.

Do you know what Henry is doing?

Anything.

For someone he loves.

(Pst. That someone is Christopher.)

As soon as Bill is gone, he picks up a pair of shoes and throws them into the fire.

I think it’s pretty clear that Henry is using this mine disaster thing to protect Christopher, and he’s doing it for this reason WAY MORE than he’s doing it to come clean and be a better man. That’s just my theory, though. I think if Bill hadn’t found anything out about the car, then Henry wouldn’t have brought it up.

But I guess he knows something. The question is...what? And also, when did he mention Bill never having solved the mine disaster? I’m really struggling to remember Henry ever saying that to him, at least not recently. Does anyone recall offhand?

Anyway, I’m wondering if they’ll tie up that whole thing about Noah and Peter that was never addressed on the show to the fullest. You know, the whole thing with them going into the mine knowing it wasn’t safe and not warning anyone. I think a lot of people who watch this show have never been in poverty or lived paycheck to paycheck, but sometimes a person just has to put their head down and keep working even when it’s not safe, because they have to keep living. Or because they had more time to put a stop to things before anything bad happened.

I think blaming Noah and Peter as much as Henry is pretty stupid, but they still shoulder some blame. They were working to fix that problem. Henry wasn’t. He did what he was told and shut up. But maybe there’s a bit more to that story. Could be interesting.

Could also be the worst reveal ever, so...who knows? I’m curious to find out.

BUT ALSO what do they mean Bill didn’t solve that case? The widows sued and won. Sure, he got beat up in S1 carrying evidence out of the mine, but it’s not as if there wasn’t a lot more of it inside the mine, too. Everyone knows the fault of the collapse was due to working conditions being unsafe. What’s left to solve? Is Henry going to give Bill the names of the people who told Henry to keep his mouth shut?

Or...are they talking NOT ABOUT THE HOPE VALLEY MINE DISASTER, but the original one that sent Henry to Coal Valley (and Nora into a marriage with Bill)? Because that one was not solved. The company just made Henry a scapegoat in that case.

THE WAIT TO FIND OUT MORE IS GOING TO BE TORTURE.

Pastor Position/Jesse and Clara + Cafe: I enjoyed Minnie in this episode and seeing her step in and help Clara and become part of the town was great. Jesse giving more credit to Joseph than Lee was pretty funny, and a nice set-up for Lee realizing that Joseph is a pastor. Lee is apparently head of the search committee to find a new pastor...which...sure...okay. Also apparently the newspaper died?? Uh.

I’m kind of hoping Rosemary’s new passion will be the newspaper since she’s supposedly going to dig her nose into things next episode and she used to write a column for the old paper (so she has some experience). Thoughts on that?

Anyway, Joseph agrees to pastor the church instantly the second Lee asks...so it feels weird that his original goal/plans/whatever just...don’t matter anymore? Okay.

They buy a bell.................WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY BIGGEST PETTY COMPLAINT OF THE EPISODE. BRO THAT BELL STRAIGHT UP LOOKS 3D PRINTED FJLKDSAHFLDSAHFLDSAHFKLDSA

Anyway I’m teasing. The Liberty Bell weighs a little over one ton, and two horses could easily pull that.

No complaints. My husband complained last week that there wasn’t a bell and now there is. It’s like he knew.

Joseph talks about what a “calling” feels like (I think this will come back again with Rosemary which has me VERY HAPPY): a tug on his heart.

Joseph also tells Lee that the men in his yard earlier were surveyors and that he won’t move, at least not far, because he has a congregation to lead, now. Makes me wonder if he’ll actually sell!

Anyway, Jesse and Mike are cute pals and decide to have a snack in the cafe while the gals are socializing with Rosemary (who has just returned from the library).

Rosemary’s books are on land acquisitions, surveying, and territorial law.

Minnie and Rosemary decide to talk about this while Clara leaves. Why? I’m not sure. Maybe just ‘cause it was boring lol.

She gets back as Mike and Jesse are talking about, uh, her, actually, and Mike asks if all is quiet on the homefront.

Yes, it is. Unlike the trenches of WWI.

But seriously I thought it could be a joke reference to “All Quiet on the Western Front”...a WWI novel. Since...you know...WWI is going on and hasn’t been acknowledged at all even though it’s almost over now.

Joke’s on me, though...that’s too advanced for Hallmark.

Anyway it’s only quiet for like two seconds, because Clara busts in, thinks they’re eating the food she’s been busting her ass over for the party, and yells at Jesse. It makes everything awkward. Jesse simpers about like a sad little clown instead of trying to be understanding. Yawn. Awful. Bye.

I don’t know what would fix that scene, but I think part of the problem is...I’m just not invested in Clara and Jesse anymore. It’s perfectly reasonable to expect them to need more time to get over the problems in their relationship but I don’t care about them enough to care about the journey...if that makes sense. I’d rather watch Bill dust for prints on the car some more.

They do have a chat, and work things out, so that’s good I guess.

Carson and Faith: Carson has officially stolen the dock from Abigail and Frank, and so my hatred for them doubled instantly.

Me, a territorial loon: THAT SPOT IS NOT YOURS!!!!! FIND YOUR OWN!!!

Anyway Carson makes things awkward and then busts out that he accepted the fellowship without talking to Faith.

She’s kind of hurt by this?? UNDERSTANDABLY?? But then he asks if it would have made a difference. I mean, common courtesy would be at least sitting down like this and telling her, “I’ve decided to accept it.” But no. He just. Accepted it without telling her he was going to. Bro...

They aren’t on the same page for even two seconds. He tells her he was committed to the relationship and put all his plans aside so that she could be happy.

Honestly, as much hate as Nathan’s getting right now, if people gave a damn about Faith I think Carson would be getting his fair share of hate, too. What a jerk???

He goes on to say it wasn’t a waste of his time (when she asks), but never bothers to tell her more or to prove he didn’t feel that way (BECAUSE HE SURE ACTS LIKE IT WAS A WASTE OF HIS TIME). He just says he hopes she changes her mind and comes with him to Baltimore.

At the party Carson and Faith go outside to talk where Carson admits that he should have told her he was accepting the fellowship before he wrote. She tells him that the year she was gone was almost too much time apart for her, and Carson promises to write her and tells her she can visit him, too, but she brings the conversation back to reality. They’ll both be super busy.

He suggests they get married, and then immediately says he’s not asking (it’s not how he’d propose), but that they could look forward to getting married. (Good thing they laughed ‘cause I sure wasn’t. It was super awkward...) He suggests seeing how they feel in about a year. (Oh...perfect timing for...next season...hm.)

Faith tells him she loves him and wants what’s best for both of them, even if that thing isn’t them being together. They agree to just enjoy the night and worry about the rest later.

Anyway, I feel like these two just have NO chemistry (they’re worse than Bill and Molly in my books). I really appreciate the attempt to give them meaningful material, and I like that Carson has a passion again, but boy oh boy are these two hard to watch. The plotline is really good, but the characters just...aren’t great. I figured if anything they’d give a plot like this to AJ and Bill to tie that up (some kind of conflicting reason she can’t stay in Hope Valley to be written off the show for good) so I was surprised to see it going to Carson and Faith instead, but like...in a good way because it’s actually compelling for their situation! I've been in a similar situation and it feels REALLY BAD to like someone a lot but not be ready or willing to commit to an extreme for whatever reason. Faith doesn’t want to go to Baltimore because she loves Hope Valley and she undoubtedly doesn’t want to see it go without a doctor at all. Carson likes Hope Valley but his passion is in surgery and he can make a huge difference in a big hospital. He could still make a difference in Hope Valley, too (undoubted he’s the only surgeon for many miles around these smaller towns) but he also likes hospitals and their equipment and maybe misses what he had a long time ago.

So it’s a great plot. It’s compelling. It’s even a bit tragic when you think about it!

But my God do these characters just...not come off as convincing. :(

Mike and Fiona: The scene with Ned was SUPER cute. Genuinely funny. Mike asking Fiona out. Everyone teasing Mike about how much he likes her. It’s very cute and wholesome. So far I enjoy it a lot. There’s not a lot to talk about here but I like that it’s...simple.

I MEAN...she’s so cute.

END THOUGHTS:

I want the next three episodes right now immediately, but I’m also going to be pretty sad when this season ends...I think.

The biggest speculation from this episode, by the way, is that they’re opening things up to write Abigail back onto the show. How do we feel about that?

Any other thoughts? Favorite scenes? Share!

#when calls the heart #long post #analysis and meta discussion #character studies and information

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acfan120 · 4 years ago

Text

I’m gonna rant about the hate that New Horizon *still* for a bit

It’s still completely aggravating to me that people continue to bitch about how much “worse” New Horizons is compared to previous Animal Crossing games. People act like NH is bland or lacks a lot of other things, when really a lot of people are taking what’s new for granted. Let’s break this down a bit:

“New Horizons didn’t bring back a lot of Special NPCs”

Yeah but that’s because their jobs became unnecessary.

- Booker and Copper aren’t needed because the Lost and Found is more readily accessible (and you don’t need to wait and build their building like in New Leaf, which could take you half a year to get)

- Resseti and Don aren’t needed because the game finally has an Auto-Save feature (which is incredibly helpful)

- Harriet isn’t needed because we can now just customize everything about ourselves on our own

- Cyrus and Reese weren’t needed back in because they were only useful for customizing furniture, which used to take half an hour to do for one lone item, which we can just do now instantly

- Phyllis, Pelly, and Pete aren’t needed because your mailbox can just hold all your mail now, and you can send a letter whenever you want.

Any other missing NPCs aren’t needed simply because their role doesn’t need to be in the game with all the changes made. And hell, it’s not the first time that a Special NPC doesn’t come back: Porter wasn’t in Wild World or City Folk, and Serena and Farley haven’t made a reappearance since their initial debuts.

“New Horizons didn’t bring back all the items”

While this is true, it isn’t as extreme as people act like it is. Part of the reason is that a lot of furniture you can just craft now, with some having their older versions being customization options. Another part is that some of it is moved to special NPCs like Gulliver. Some sets also had their names changed, (which feels unnecessary, but regardless they’re still there).

Something else to keep in mind with Animal Crossing games is that they’re *very big* games. Like, a lot more so than people realize. Designing the furniture takes a lot of time, let alone all the customization options, and the furniture in this game is a LOT more detailed than in previous games, (consider that the first game was an N64 game ported, then a DS game, then a Wii Game that was just the DS game ported, and then a 3DS game).

Them having to make super high-quality designed furniture AND clothing (which the clothing now has variants, different types, AND has its own texturing to give it more detail, and some clothing flat out being unique models) shouldn’t surprise anyone when some things just end up not being included in the end product.

“Villagers have no personality and say the same things over and over”

Literally in every single game the villagers would say the exact same shit to you all the time, because the game can only have so much space for all the unique dialogue. While I think some certain things could be triggered more often for NPCs to talk about, it’s really not any different than how it’s been, ‘cause there’s only so much that can be done. And the shit about “personality” is just Nostalgia Goggles fogging things up about a game that lacked more things to do than New Horizons on launch.

‘New Horizons has no Quality of Life changes”

40 INVENTORY SPACES

1600 INVENTORY FOR HOUSE STORAGE (WHICH GOT UNNECESSARILY UPGRADED TO 2400)

PLACEABLE FURNITURE OUTSIDE AND BASICALLY FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE TOWN, SOMETHING THAT’S BEEN HEAVILY REQUESTED FOR A LONG DAMN TIME

FUCKING PATHS

MORE CLOTHING SLOTS FOR MORE CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION

VILLAGERS CAN ACTUALLY WEAR HATS AND SOME ACCESSORIES

LITERALLY ALL THE CHANGES I LISTED ABOVE WITH THE SPECIAL NPCS

CUSTOM DESIGNS NOW GIVE YOU 100 TOTAL SLOTS (even if it’s shared among all players in a town, which I suspect is a space saving thing (which they still give you more in this game because you used to only have 10 personal slots which you had to share between your Pro and normal designs, so really we got like 60 more slots without needing to make other characters just to use them))

Acting like there’s no Quality of Life changes to this game is fucking stupid and short sighted.

“You’re just acting like this game is flawless like a fanboy”

Also fucking wrong! Because I do have some issues with this game.

- Customized Clothing needs all the options back from New Leaf. I know they’re in the game simply because you can use QRs from that game in this one, so they should just be made available. Also we need a way to turn off the clothing bevel so there isn’t a weird coat seam on some designs. Also, bring back Customized Umbrellas.

- You should be able to craft multiple pieces of furniture at once if you have the materials, and should be able to craft them into their customized forms as well.

- Golden Tools should have some way of resetting their health. I *do not* mind that the Golden Tools can break, but you should still be able to customize them so you can reset their health. That way you don’t have to keep getting gold for them. Which speaking of, Gold should be just a bit more common, given how much uses it.

- More things in this game should do a check if you’ve owned certain items/recipes. Some events in this game will give one of each item in a random order, and won’t give you repeats until it’s given all of them to you once, (such as the fishing tourney). I believe the Seasonal Recipes should do this, and that all events should follow this criteria.

- The game should give bigger priority to giving you recipes you don’t have. I don’t mind getting repeat recipes, because you’re supposed to give them to friends/players who are missing them, but it should really give more priority to recipes you don’t have.

- Redd should be a guaranteed appearance every week, and should always come with one legit painting your museum doesn’t have until your Art exhibit is done. The Art for the museum has consistently been the worst aspect of the museum in every game, and I just want that shit to change. Hell, shove KK to appearing on Sundays with Daisy Mae, so we have that extra slot free in the week.

- Some accessories need to be tweaked so they can be worn with hats. Some I can understand because of clipping, but others are just dumb. Also put the damn bands back on the eyepatches. They look stupid just sitting there.

- Villagers should play with the furniture more. I get why they don’t use them as much, since if they’re sitting or laying down you can’t gift them stuff, but they should still use them longer than the 30 seconds they usually do.

There’s probably more that I could think of,but those are the bigger complaints I personally have. However, despite all that, I still like New Horizons a lot, and I will still argue that the game is still a marked improvement from what’s come before. People just need to learn to stop bitching about everything.

#me ranting #new horizons

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bb8sworld · 4 years ago

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i have taken to lovingly calling this the picnic fic. is this fic self-indulgent? yes, yes it is. incredibly so. many thanks to @doublesunsets who brought forth the idea of a picnic in the park with obi and feeding ducks together. this was oodles of fun to write! there’s nothing but pure fluff ahead, so if that suits your fancy, then i hope you decide to give this a read. enjoy!

pairing: obi-wan kenobi x reader

word count: 4.7k (my god)

-- ☆ -- ☆ -- ☆ -- ☆ --

The whole situation had started out innocently enough.

You and Obi-Wan were cuddled together on the couch in your room, him laying on the cushions with you draped over him like a blanket, the both of you completely at peace in your position as you simply relished the moment. With his heartbeat thumping steadily in your ear and his hand running over your back in comforting circles, you couldn’t of anywhere else you’d rather be. In fact, you think that if someone tried to move you from your spot you might very well hiss at them and cling onto Obi-Wan—not that he would complain, considering he feels the exact same on the matter. Having you so close helped center his mind to this moment instead of thinking and worrying about all the duties he still had to uphold outside of your room. It also didn’t hurt that you would occasionally place gentle kisses on his chest, causing his heart to flutter a little faster and his stomach to swoop. It wasn’t very often when the two of you got to spend quiet time together where you two could actually act like a couple and indulge in all the normalities that others took for granted.

On the holoscreen before you both was a completely trashy romance holodrama playing. It was one of those dramas with lackluster acting, predictable dialogue, cringy scenes, and a two hour build up for a kiss with the leading couple that happens in the last two minutes—and you both secretly loved to watch them together. Sure they weren’t anything to write home about, but they were fun to poke fun at and they were mind-numbing enough to get your minds off of the daily stresses you two had. Besides, it was much nicer to get invested and mad at the “will they, won’t they” song and dance the lead couple did than at the current state the galaxy was in.

The holodrama had just about passed the halfway mark when the scene on the screen changed to the lead couple going on a “totally platonic” picnic together that involved casually hand-feeding each other food, friendly cuddling on the picnic blanket, and not-at-all-flirtatious dialogue. You couldn’t but let out a laugh at the scene and how ridiculous it is. You felt Obi-Wan’s hand on your back still as he turned his attention away from the screen and onto you.

“Care to share what you find so humorous?”

You let out another giggle before you give a slight, albeit awkward, shrug before answering, “It’s just…picnics are one of the most cliché dates you can go on as a couple, everyone knows that.”

Obi-Wan had certainly not known that, but he wasn’t going to admit to that. Not yet, at least.

“And you find that…funny?” he inquires.

“I find it funny because it’s also incredibly romantic. Who in the galaxy goes on a picnic with the person of your affections if not to go on a date and romance them?” you respond, as if stating the obvious. “The picnic date is a staple outing for romantic partners, not friends. And if you’re the one asking someone on a date, it’s understood that you’re going to try and woo them.”

Obi-Wan takes a moment to consider your words. The two of you had far from a conventional romantic relationship given how your love was confined behind closed doors and hidden in the shadows. Because of this, it was rare for you two to act like a “normal” couple and “woo” each other, and he couldn’t help but wonder sometimes if he was asking too much of you by being in a relationship with him. If you two weren’t together, you’d have the freedom to openly love someone.

But instead you chose him of all people in the galaxy, and while he may not understand why at times, he wasn’t going to let it go for the world.

Which also brings him back to his current predicament: “normal” couple dates. Your “normal” was certainly different from others, but he had always thought it was enough. But what if it wasn’t? Were there normal couple things you missed partaking in? Should he make more of an effort to demonstrate his love for you? He’s not the type to get insecure about your relationship, but every now and then he’ll see other couples be openly affectionate or you’ll give a soft sigh at a romantic scene in one of these awful holodramas and he can’t help but wonder if you miss any of that. If he voices his worries, though, you are always quick to quell them with your reassurances that you don’t care about any of that. As long as you have him, that’s enough, and you’ll stay by his side until he doesn’t want you to anymore (which he can’t even begin to fathom not wanting to be with you, not loving you with every fiber of his being that his chest often hurts at the mere sight of your smile, but that’s beside the point).

He decides not to voice any of this, though, not because he fears your answer will change, but because he knows it hasn’t. You’ve been persistent enough in the past with your reassurances and affections that his little worries over stuff like this feel just like that: little. So instead, he decides to respond with something else.

“Well then you must’ve gone on plenty of picnics, my love. I imagine you’ve had many people try to woo you.”

You can’t help but laugh once again. “Pfft, as if. I’ve gone on one, maybe two actual picnics in my life? And trust me, I was not wooed either time.”

“Only ‘one, maybe two’? I find that hard to believe.” You lift your head off of his chest to make eye contact with him as you respond, “Well you better believe it because it’s the truth and I would never lie to you, Obi.”

Obi-Wan smiles at your response and leans in for a quick kiss, crappy holodrama now entirely forgotten. You hum into the kiss, conversation momentarily put on pause by the best distraction of them all: each other. But while it’s nice, you pull back early with a smirk on your face.

“Besides, if either of us here has been wooed via picnic many times over, it’s obviously going to be you. You flirt with anything that breathes and you know it.” A scoff is your immediate reply and you lift an eyebrow at the affronted look on his face.

“For your information, I do not flirt with anything that breathes. I do have some standards and the Jedi Code to uphold—”

“—mmm, and you’re definitely upholding the Code well—”

“But regardless,” he interrupts any other teasing comments you were about to make, throwing an unimpressed look your way that quickly softens, “I leave all my affections for you.”

Your face heats up at that comment as it usually does whenever Obi-Wan tells you something sweet and loving. You try and fail to fight the cheek-straining smile tugging at your lips. Damn him for successfully harnessing the powerful ability to make you fluster. Despite you two having been together for the better part of a year now, you’re still caught off guard by the loving words he gifts you with. You’ve learned to treasure each and every one, not because he doesn’t give you many, but because he always manages to make you feel special and loved like none other. Others may try to convince you otherwise, but Obi-Wan Kenobi is a secret romantic, and you’re the only one who gets to see this side of him. And you love it.

“Well you certainly know how to make me feel special, now don’t you?” you tease. “If I weren’t laying on top of you right now I think I’d be swooning.”

He smirks at you before responding, “Darling, I thought we had agreed not to lie to each other?”

“Oh shut up and kiss me already,” You’re barely able to finish your sentence when his lips find yours in a tender kiss. You can practically feel the smug satisfaction radiating off of him at his success in making you be flustered and weak-hearted, but you can’t find it within yourself to care when you’re savoring one of Obi-Wan’s many sweet kisses.

When you pull away, you both share a smile before resuming your previous position, focusing back on the holodrama that was ignored. It’s quiet once more between you two, and as you’re laying there in peace, you realize you never did get an answer from Obi-Wan.

“I know we were joking earlier, but have you really never gone on a picnic before?” Your voice isn’t terribly loud, not wanting to disturb the peaceful environment surrounding you two, but you’re itching for an answer.

“Unfortunately not. Jedi Code, remember? No being wooed for me, at least not publicly.” You only hum in response to that, not wanting to push the topic further. You place a quick kiss above his heart before snuggling back down, eyes back on the holodrama. Eventually, your eyelids start to get heavy and sleep starts to pull softly at you as Obi-Wan resumes rubbing his hand up-and-down your back. And if thoughts start running through your head about how you can swing a picnic date with Obi-Wan and properly woo him, well, he doesn’t need to know. Not yet, at least.

Too bad the reality of planning picnics hits you like a punch to the face once you’re awake. There’s just so much to consider regarding the “where” and “when” and “how” of organizing a picnic that you’re overwhelmed in seconds.

Regarding the “where,” at first you thought it might be sweet to have a mock-outdoors picnic by bringing plants into your room and laying out a blanket on the floor, but then you realized that trying to get that many plants in the room may give it more of a jungle adventure feel than intimate romance. Plus, where would you even get all those plants? And what would you do with them afterward? Needless to say, that idea was scratched pretty quickly. Were plants even a necessary addition? you wondered. Perhaps not. Probably not. Hopefully not.

But then came the other half of this equation: the “when.” It was hard enough to find time to be alone together because your schedules often conflicted, and you’d hate to go through the trouble to procure food for a picnic only for one or both of you to be busy. You’d have to look ahead at your schedules to see if you had any free time…except your schedules were prone to changing on a moment’s notice. Maybe you could ask for time off. Do Jedi get vacation days?

There were too many variables at play here, and without either the “where” or the “when” figured out there couldn’t possibly even be a “how.”

So yeah, planning wasn’t going that well.

Ugh.

Were planning picnics usually this hard? Or was your case just uniquely special? You sure hoped not, otherwise this was about to be the only picnic Obi-Wan would ever go on in his life. And it very well may end in disaster.

You were still stumped on how you were going to pull off a proper picnic when you and Obi-Wan were sent off to Naboo for a week-long mission filled with meetings, negotiations, and conflict. Every ingredient needed for a completely fun off-Coruscant trip…oh who were you kidding, this was going to be one long, drawn-out trip that would put you in tears if you could openly cry in public without it being weird. At least Obi-Wan’s along for the ride, that’s a silver lining, you mused.

It was on the fifth day of your trip to Naboo when the unexpected happened.

You were in the room you were staying in when you heard a knock on your door. You weren’t expecting anyone, and as far as you were concerned, the next meeting wasn’t until after lunch, so the morning and early afternoon were open for whatever you wanted to do. You were hoping to maybe spend it with Obi-Wan, but looks like fate had other plans.

Except when you open the door, the very man consuming your thoughts was standing there, wicker basket in hand and a pleased smile on his face.

Oh.

“Obi-Wan…what’s that in your hand?”

“This?” he lifts up the wicker basket, “Well, I heard from Senator Amidala that the meetings for today were cancelled, which means we have the day to ourselves, so I thought we could go on a picnic,” he says innocently, as if you’re not having an emotional spiral over how he beat you to your own endgame and organized his own first picnic date.

“Oh you sneaky little bastard.” It slips out without a thought, but it leaves Obi-Wan amused more than anything.

“What? I thought you’d like to be wooed, my love.”

“I–well–sure, but did you have to beat me to the punch? I had this plan to make your first picnic special and surprise you with it, not have you surprise me with one,” you ramble. At this, Obi-Wan’s cheeks blush a light pink and he swears his heart melts right then and there. Of course you would try to surprise him with a picnic date. You were aware of how new he still was to dating and being in a romantic relationship, so you were always introducing him to various romantic activities and gestures. He would be lying if he said he didn’t love every second of it, if he didn’t love you. The besotted look on his face that follows these thoughts is subconscious.

“Any picnic with you would be special whether you planned it or I did because you would be there,” he tells you earnestly. He grabs your hand and gives it a loving squeeze, “And who’s to say we still can’t go on your picnic?”

You pause briefly at that. “I guess you’re right.” You close your eyes and let out a quick huff to regroup yourself before opening them again to look at his dazzling blue eyes. You give him a brilliant smile that makes him feel weak in the knees at the very sight of. “So, where were you planning on taking me for this picnic of yours?”

He smiles right back at you as he says, “That, my dear, I think I’ll leave as a surprise.”

And a surprise it was. He took you to the rolling hills in the countryside of Naboo, flowers of all colors blooming among the vibrant green grass with a crystal blue lake not too far off in the distance forming from a waterfall, trees scattered about. It was absolutely gorgeous and secluded, which meant you could be affectionate towards each other and treat this as an actual date without having to look around every minute or so in fear of being caught.

God, Obi-Wan had really outdone himself.

You turn your head to look at him, hearts practically manifesting themselves in your eyes. “Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

He places a kiss on your forehead before saying, “Not yet today.”

“Well I do love you,” you say. “Very much.”

“And I love you too.” He gives you a quick kiss on the lips before adding in a quiet whisper, “More than I can possibly explain.”

You two begin to wander, hands clasped together, in search for the perfect spot to set up your picnic and lay down the blanket nestled inside the basket. You mutually decide on a shaded area underneath a tall tree overlooking the nearby lake and quickly start to make work of setting up the actual picnic. The blanket is unfolded and laid on top of the grass, the containers of food are brought out, and the bottle of emerald wine is placed on the blanket. Everything looks delicious and well-thought out, and your heart melts at the obvious effort Obi-Wan put into organizing this date. You’re about to close up the basket when you notice a jar of…something, left in the basket. You pull it out to inspect it, thinking it must be food you forgot to pull out, but when you take a closer look, you’re confused.

“Dry oats?” you inquire. Your stomach suddenly gets queasy at the thought of eating them, and you make your hesitation known, “Are we making porridge on this picnic? Because that may be a deal-breaker, Obi. Porridge is bland and disappointing and you know it.”

Immediate laughter is the response you get, causing you to look up from the offending oats at the source of that glorious sound. The pure joy on his face, the crinkles by his eyes, the smile that tugs a little too tight on his cheeks…you bask in it all, wishing this one moment of absolute ease and love could last a lifetime. It’s not often when Obi-Wan can let loose like this, and every time you witness his carefree side, unadulterated love and happiness fill your heart because you get to bear witness to it. You wish you could bottle up this moment and keep it forever, but since you can’t, instead you spend every precious second soaking in every fine detail before you. Because of this, you’re almost caught off guard when he stops laughing and finally composes himself enough to respond.

“They’re not for us, my darling, they’re for them,” he points to a flock of ducks in the distance. There aren’t many, but that seemed to be because they were coming and going as they pleased. Some lazing about in the water, others flying out of the lake and into the sky, and some landing in the lake for a quick swim. It was a rather interesting sight to look at, peaceful too.

“How kind of you to consider the ducks,” you poke at him, though there is no malice in your words. “But wait, I thought you feed ducks bread. Isn’t that the standard food of choice?”

Obi-Wan begins doling out dishes and silverware to you both as you tuck the jar of oats back in the basket.

“Well, you can feed bread to ducks, but it isn’t advised,” he tells you, “Bread itself has no nutritional value for the ducks, so while they might enjoy it, they’re filling themselves up on food that will ultimately lead them down a path of malnourishment. And there’s also the risk of them gaining weight from all the bread consumption to the point where they can’t fly anymore.”

“Huh,” you say, curiosity and shock filling your tone, “I didn’t know that.”

“Many people don’t, they just assume bread is okay to feed them,” Obi-Wan comments. You hum back in affirmation, but something about his response feels…well, not quite wrong but…textbook. It sounded as if he was reading from an ornithology book, or at the very least one of those “introductory to” articles that you rely on when you can’t recall something and you need to brush up—

Wait a second.

If you didn’t know that fact about ducks and many other people didn’t either, how would Obi-Wan have known? Maybe he’s fed ducks before, but he would’ve mentioned something when you were first discussing picnics, yeah?

Unless…

“Obi-Wan,” you begin tentatively. “How did you know that tidbit about not feeding the ducks bread?”

“What?” he looks back up at you from where he was opening up one of the containers of food, a slightly stunned look on his face.

“What you just said about feeding the ducks, you said not many people knew about it, and I certainly didn’t, so how did you?”

Silence is your answer as he immediately looks back down, fiddling with the container lid he just took off. You pick up on the light dusting of pink on his cheeks, way too sudden to be a result of overheating or warmth, especially since you’re in the shade. The puzzle pieces slowly start falling into place and the bigger picture is taking shape. The duck feeding, the blanket, the wicker basket, the excellent arrangement of food, the bottle of emerald wine—surely he couldn’t have remembered all that after barely paying attention to a cheesy picnic scene in a trashy holodrama.

“Obi, did you research about feeding ducks before this picnic?” you ask. Still silence on his end, but the pink on his cheeks begins to deepen, and your theory suddenly seems much more plausible. “Wait a second, love, did you do research about picnics after our conversation?”

Your hands immediately latch onto his arm and you scoot closer to him on the blanket, practically cuddled into his side now, food and wine and quacking ducks momentarily forgotten. “You did, didn’t you? Oh maker, Obi-Wan, you didn’t have to do any of that to ‘woo’ me! I’d be swooning even on a tattered blanket eating bland porridge and ignorantly feeding bread to those poor ducks.”

Despite his now flaming red face, Obi-Wan looks up and his blue eyes latch onto yours. His hand cups your cheek softly, thumb tracing along your cheekbone, as he takes in the pure, unbridled happiness on your face and the way your eyes sparkle in the sunlight. He knows he didn’t have to orchestrate any of this to the degree he did or dedicate research to picnics of all things, but he wanted to. He wanted to give you a slice of normality, a date where you can be open and loving, a day where you felt truly loved and appreciated, no questions asked. And there was so much more that he wants to give you one day—a husband, a father to your children, a life off of Coruscant, a love that didn’t have to be tucked away out-of-sight, out-of-mind—but for now, this was a start. A taste of what could one day be a reality. He would do anything for you if you asked and he would give anything to have one more second with you.

And so, with nothing but love in his heart, it’s with absolute fondness that he responds, “I know. But it’s what you deserve.”

Honestly, how could you not kiss him after a comment like that? In fact, you kiss him several times over, time itself feeling as if it had stopped despite the slow moving clouds and blowing blades of grass around you suggesting otherwise.

“This is the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me,” you admit when you separate between kisses. You get one last kiss on your lips before Obi-Wan fully pulls himself away, pleased smile donning his face.

“Let’s hope you still think so when we find our food has been infested by insects,” he remarks jokingly. That gets your head whipping away from him to inspect all the open food in front of you. Thankfully, the pesky critters haven't stolen much of the food from you both aside from a bowl of some fruit salad. You donate the beloved salad to critters before you open the rest of the food and start to dish some of the non-infested food out on your plates. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan goes to open the wine bottle he brought. You’re just about done making up your plates when you notice Obi-Wan staring at the wine bottle in silence. And it clicks.

“Obi,” you’re trying so hard not to giggle, “Did you forget the corkscrew?”

A beat. “It would appear I have.”

You try to stifle your laughter at his misfortune by putting your hand over your mouth, but even so some peals of laughter escape. Despite the faux annoyed look on his face, Obi-Wan’s heart sings at the sound of your laughter.

“Can’t you just, you know,” you wave your hand at the bottle and poorly mimic Obi-Wan’s posh Coruscanti accent as you continue, “use the Force.”

“That’s not how the Force works.” Your slight amusement is met with an unimpressed look. Not a moment later, however, his hand waves through the air and you’re startled by the sound of pouring. You look away from him and what do you know, the bottle of wine is just magically open now and pouring itself into two glasses. Funny how wine bottles can just do that. Must be a Naboo thing. Or perhaps there's a nearby magical duck rooting for this date to go well. Whatever it was, it definitely was not Obi-Wan frivolously using the Force like he’s not supposed to.

“Right, of course, silly me for suggesting otherwise,” you concede.

After that, the two of you finally dig into the meal, sipping on wine, talking about everything and nothing, and absorbing every moment within each other’s presence. It’s a simple afternoon spent in the fields of Naboo, surrounded by beautiful colors, the calming sound of running water, and far off sounds of quacking.

And later, once you’re finished with your food, you finally do go and feed the nearby ducks the offending oats. The ducks themselves are more than enthusiastic to be fed by you both, and you try to feed as many as you can, except in your efforts to throw some farther into the lake, you find yourself losing balance and falling in. And unfortunately for your lover, you bring him down with you after you grab his arm in hopes of regaining support.

Soaked in sodden clothes and surrounded by ducks quacking in despair at the realization that the oats are no longer being served hot and fresh before them, the two of you sit there awkwardly in the shallows of the lake before a shared cacophony of laughter breaks through the soft sounds of nature. Between your peals of giggles and your current situation of sitting in a lake, the moment is clumsy and loud and wet, but also wonderful and real and unexpected. This picnic is somehow both every cliché under the sun and yet completely out of the blue at the same time.

Obi-Wan is the first to get up as the laughter dies down, his Jedi robes dripping with muddied water and his boots squelching as he walks to shore. He offers a hand to you, which you gladly take, and you haul yourself up as well. His hand guides you out to the open field before pulling you down to the ground to lay in the sun in hopes of drying off some before you have to pack up and head back. You both simply lay there quietly, linked only by your hands, as you absorb sunlight and make a small puddle around you with your sodden clothes.

"Maybe we should quit while we're ahead in the picnic date department,” you suggest, “Because these take an absurd amount of planning and I’d rather not fall in another lake."

A squeeze of the hand is your response, and when you turn your head to look at him, you see that he’s already staring at you, a gentle smile on his lips and love in his eyes.

“Maybe,” he ponders, “But you must admit that this was quite the memorable afternoon, my darling.”

You shake your head fondly as you keep your loving gaze on him, choosing to keep quiet, because how else could you respond? You certainly couldn’t deny his claim. This was easily the best picnic you’ve ever been on, and probably the best one you ever will go on. And you know that you’ll be thinking back and mentally reliving several moments from this date when the distance between you two grows as he goes off on another mission, leaving you behind with a yearning heart. Because at the end of the day, he’s the one who holds your heart for safekeeping, and while circumstances may make your love hard and difficult, it also adds a layer of wonder and importance. Nothing about your relationship is “normal,” but it’s your normal and it’s too good to let go.

So you’ll take odd dates like these and the hidden tender moments and mentally scrapbook each one—because you’d rather have loved and lost than not loved at all.

And with Obi-Wan, you know your love is worth it, and even if you lose him, you’ll still have won.

#obi definitely flirted with the cooks to get all that food and wine because he was pressed for time #and they all melted like puddy before him because he's not the negotiator for nothing folks #(he just wanted to surprise you so bad!! what a romantic sap)#obi-wan kenobi x reader #userkarina #obi-wan kenobi #obi wan x reader #obi wan kenobi imagine #star wars #star wars x reader #star wars one shots #obi wan kenobi x reader #my writing

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unmaskedagain · 5 years ago

Text

Of Promises and Sands of Time

I don’t know who you are, anon. Or the brass you have to request this. But I’m calling you; what the hell? Gabriel Agreste; do you live to torture me? I debated doing this prompt for a weeks; kept staring at it in my asks. Mocking me; questioning if I have what it takes to pull this off. And you what? Probably not! But I tried anyway. Some of you who are friends of THE FLASH will recognize some of the dialogue below. It’s my favorite scene of the Flash in the history of the show, and I thought it fit well here. To my readers, please understand I never, EVER, set out to do a redemption!fic for anyone. It just happens. I don’t think I redeemed Gabriel here, but I think I made him a bit human.

“You promised,” The voice hissed in his ear. “You promised!”

Gabriel sat at his desk, in home office, alone, twirling a glass of whiskey; trying to ignore the voice he’s never been able to escape.

It had been a long day. Ladybug had dismantled his Akuma in record time. Adrien was more rebellious than usual. He had been in back to back meetings for a week; with barely a break in between. Gabriel was tired. He was done for the day.

He didn’t need anyone to tell him what he already knew. He was a monster.

So what? He already knew that.

Gabriel Agreste was a monster. He knew he was a monster. He set out to be a monster. There was no denying it, and he never tried to.

When it was done and over with, and Emilie was back to the world of the living; Gabriel would be the first to say there was never an excuse good enough for what he did. He knew the world agree. But he didn’t care about the world. He cared about his family; his son and his wife.

Still, he knew his son would never forgive him if he found out. He knew his wife would never forgive him if he ever succeeded in waking her up. In fact, he had divorce papers ready to go for that exact reason; not the ones his lawyers thought were for given the rumors of Emilie walking out on him.

He hoped. He prayed. He wished. Every minute of every day to have his family whole again. That he, Emilie, and Adrien would be a family again. It was the second thing he wanted more than anything else in the universe. The first was just Emilie back.

Emilie had been his best friend before she had become the love of his life. Without her, there would’ve never been a Gabriel Agreste. Or his fashion empire. She helped make him who he was. Since they were children, Gabriel knew that even if they didn’t end up together; never got fell in love and got married, Emilie would still be the other half of his soul.

Gabriel couldn’t live in a world that she wasn’t in. He just knew he could just barely manage to live in a world where they weren’t together.

Because there was no coming back from what he’s done. Or rather what he didn’t do. And Emilie would never forgive him for it.

Every time he looked at the shell of his wife, saw his son’s bright green eyes, every time he adorned the mask of Hawkmoth, every time he was alone with his thoughts just long enough; it was like Emilie’s ghost was standing right next to him. Giving him the look she always she always did when Gabriel went too far; crossed one line to many.

It was a look of disappointment, betrayal, hurt, anger, and sadness. Sadness was the worst. It was like he could see Emilie’s heartbreaking in front of him.

“You promised.” The phantom would whisper every time. “You promised me that you would be there for Adrien.”

He had promised. When Emilie had slowly started to get sicker and weaker due the effects of the broken Miraculous, she had made him promised to be there for Adrien; be a good father to him, love him, remind him every day that he is loved. Never, ever let Adrien feel for even once second that he wasn’t loved.

Like their parents had made them feel.

“Promise me,” Emilie had begged. She had been barely able to get out of bed. Her life force seemingly draining out of her, more every second. “Just please, Gabriel. Please.” There were tears in her eyes; whether it was from the sheer amount of pain she was in or the thought of leaving her family behind, he didn’t. Maybe it was both.

Gabriel held her hand tightly, willing the gods to let him trade his life for hers. He never asked or prayed for anything before. And he never would again if they just grant this one thing, this one wish. “I promise, Emilie.”

When Emilie fell asleep and didn’t wake up that day. Or the next day. Or the many that would come after that. Gabriel found himself waiting at her side, sure that the day would be the one where she’d open eyes. And if she opened her eyes, she’d want to see him there. She need him. He couldn’t just not be there for her.

He found himself skipping meals and sleep just to sit near her. Gabriel found himself telling Adrien he was working late; ignoring his son’s questions about his mother’s whereabouts. Some days just ignoring his son altogether.

“You promised.”

Even when Nathalie snapped him out of his, and he got back to work; tried to spend time with Adrien. He found himself still by Emilie’s side, wishing she was back. Then one day he remember Emilie telling him the story of Ladybug and Chat Noir and wishes.

That was when Gabriel wondered: what if? What if he could use those two miraculous to make a wish; a wish to bring Emilie back. He had no idea where to start, where to even begin hunting them down. Until he realized the best way was to get them to come to him. He knew it took powerful magic to undo Nooroo’s creations. And according to Nooroo there were only one Kwami strong enough to do; the kwami of creation. And you couldn’t have one without the other; where creation went, destruction followed.

He became HawkMoth the next day.

It didn’t take long for Ladybug and Chat Noir to appear.

And Gabriel’s life had a new dedication. He would get their miraculous’ at all costs. Emilie would return.

“You promised!”

And as for Adrien, Gabriel was so busy with the brand and being Hawkmoth that he let his relationship with his son fall through the cracks. Instead, Gabriel always made sure to keep his schedule busy so he’d never have time to question where Gabriel was. Or where mother was. Gabriel tried to just give him the best of everything; the best education, the best modeling career, everything he could. Except his time.

Nathalie and Gorilla became Adrien’s main caretakers. Nathalie became an expert in giving excuses’ on why Gabriel couldn’t come to breakfast or dinner. Why he worked on Christmas, on Adrien’s birthday Why he couldn’t make any of Adrien’s piano recitals. Or come to his fencing tournaments. Why Gabriel never told Adrien goodnight like used to. Or do anything to show he was loved.

Like Emilie had made Gabriel promise that he would.

“You promised,” Emilie’s specter whispered sadly.

“I know,” Gabriel murmured back.

The ghost didn’t understand. He had a thousand other choices, and Gabriel knew, before he even made it, that he chose the wrong one. He did that on purpose. It wasn’t an accident. He needed Emilie back. He wanted her back. She never forgive him, take Adrien and leave him forever, but Gabriel knew she’d understand.

He was the first person he ever loved; romantic or otherwise. Gabriel had loved her, even before he ever learned to love himself. Through her he learned to love himself. Then he loved his family, his friends, his son, all of Paris.

Without her, he didn’t know to love anything.

In retrospect, he when he decided to divert suspicion off himself once again by having Nathalie be Hawkmoth for today, Gabriel probably should’ve have run after letting Ladybug “Save him”.

However, Gabriel just stood there, watching Ladybug, wondering if just for a split second, if he could get the earrings himself.

The Akuma was named Sandy; Nathalie was known for worth ethic, not for her creativity. It seemed to turn people into sand.

Or at least Gabriel thought.

He was so distracted he didn’t see the Akuma attack coming. Neither did Ladybug. They were hit at the same time.

And suddenly, they weren’t in Paris anymore. Or least not least not the Paris, they knew.

It was like a scene from a dystopian movie. The streets were mostly abandoned. Building were wrecked. Debris everywhere. Smoke and the smell of ash filling the air. No sign of life anywhere.

No sign of any kind of life. Or even the Akuma.

And if there was no Akuma, there was no way for Ladybug to stop it and get them back home.

It was why when Ladybug said they should stick together, he accepted.

They went to his home. It was miraculously still standing, more than a little worse for wear, but still standing.

“Welcome to my home,” Gabriel nodded towards the hero as he opened the door for her. They were words he never imagined saying to his nemesis.

Ladybug seemed to hesitate at what to say, “It’s beautiful.”

“Isn’t it though?” Gabriel said.

Except the Gabriel who had walked into house with Ladybug that said it. A different Gabriel walked down the stairs, a cane in his hand.

The new Gabriel was older, but only by a couple of years at most. Not much about him had changed; except his hair was long, his eyes lifeless, and there was an air of misery to him that seemed to fill the entire room. He was dressed in a simple blue suit that seemed to hang of his thin frame.

He stopped on the stairs, and looked over the two, “Why are you?”

“We’ve for help,” Ladybug said. “Somewhere to rest while I look for Akuma.”

Gabriel wanted to snap at the foolish girl. Clearly this wasn’t real, just a mirage the Akuma had created.

Older Gabriel’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, “Akuma? I haven’t heard that word in years.”

“What year is it?’ Ladybug asked curiously.

Gabriel rolled his eyes, “its still 2019. This is all an illusion from the Akuma; some dream world, clearly.”

Ladybug frowned, “I’m sorry, Mr. Agreste, I thought you knew. Sandy wasn’t a dream Akuma. She’s a time Akuma. She blasts people forward or back in time,” She explained. “It happened to Chat; he ended up meeting the Maria Antoinette, before her head got cut off that is.”

Gabriel blinked in shock. A time-travel Akuna? Could it be? Could they be in the future?

“It is the year 2022,” Older Gabriel said. “Call me Gabe, it will lessen the confusion.”

“Three years,” Ladybug whispered. “How did Paris become this in three years?”

Both Gabriel and Ladybug’s mind immediately went to: War. A nuclear. Something terrible, and devastating.

But Gabriel still had a bit of hope. “An Akuma perhaps,” He guessed. “If it is, it can still be undone.”

Gabe looked at his younger self, “You're from before she dies, aren't you?” He shook his head. “You can't save her. You can’t bring her back.”

“Yes, I can.” Gabriel hissed. “And I’m going to.”

“No, you can’t,” Gabe stated. “You never did. The plan didn’t work like you thought it would. You got them but it didn’t work the way you hoped. Go home. Let her go. Or you’ll lose everything.”

Ladybug looked between the two Gabriels with confusion. Something was really wrong, she knew, and she had a terrible feeling about what it might be.

Gabriel stepped forward, “Just tell me what I did wrong. What you did wrong? And I can’t fix it.” He was sure of it. His future self had made a mistake, Gabriel would take step to avoid making it. It was that simple. “That’s all I need. You tell me that. And I’ll bring her back. I’ll fix this.”

“There’s nothing you can do.”

“Yes! There! IS!” Gabriel shouted, face red. How could any future him ever give up? How could he betray Emilie like this?

“Do you see the world outside?” Gabe asked. “Did you take a good hard look at it? That’s not just Paris. That’s world now. An Akuma didn’t do that,” He said. “You did.”

Silence filled the foyer. Ladybug unconsciously took a step away from Gabriel.

“What?” Gabriel asked. “I didn’t do this. I’d never do this.”

Paris was destroyed. Everything had burned. Bodies had been everywhere. He didn’t do that. He would never do that. He was a monster but he wasn’t… He wasn’t?

“He’s Hawkmoth,” Gabe told Ladybug. “I’m Hawkmoth. If he’s here that means Nathalie is covering for him. She did it every time, he thought you or Fu were starting to suspect him.”

Ladybug snarled, forcing herself not to jump at Gabriel Agreste and beat him within an inch of his life.

“I can’t help you,” Gabe told Gabriel and Ladybug. “You came all this way for nothing. Chat Noir will figure how to stop the Akuma soon enough; he’s a good hero.”

Ladybug just glared. Gabriel was still wondering how he caused the destruction of the world.

“You want some advice; go home.” Gabe walked down the stairs and looked his younger self in the eye. “Give Ladybug Nooroo, and never be Hawkmoth again. Bury Emilie. And even if you don’t. Even if you decide not to listen to me. Still, do what you promised. Spend as much time with Adrien as you can. Because pretty soon you’ll never see him again.”

Gabriel stumbled back in shock.

Gabe looked at Ladybug, “I knew you were from the past the second I saw you,” He told her. “There's no hate in your eyes yet.” He looked away. “You have to stop him. Stop me. If there’s even a shred of hope of saving her, he won’t stop on his own. Help me.”

“I am not you friend,” Ladybug hissed. “My family! My friends. What happened to them? What did you do?”

“Dead,” Gabe answered. “They’re all dead. Adrien, Nathalie, Gorilla, every friend you had left, your mother, your father, your grandmother, nearly everyone in Paris; they are all dead.”

“How?!” Ladybug roared. “How did you do this? How could you do this? What happened to Chat Noir?

“I made a wish,” Gabe answered, bring Gabriel out of the shock state he was in. “I just wanted her back. I wanted Emilie back. There was a cost; a price. Chat Noir was a part of it. Or should I saw Adrien was a part of it.” A small smirk appeared on his face. “He was more like Emilie than I ever realized. It was the greatest shock of my life. My Adrien was Chat Noir.”

Both of listeners’ mouths dropped.

“Adrien,” They chimed together. Ladybug shot Gabriel a glare, “Adrien is Chat Noir.” She stated as if the words were taste strange on her tongue.

“He was,” Gabe answered. He swallowed hard, and seemed to struggle with saying his next sentence. “You two became best friends; somehow you became the family he always wanted. You were his sister. He was your brother. Adrien died protecting you. He died in your arms. I’m so sorry I did this to you.”

Adrien dead. His son was dead.

“The wish had a price; a cost,” Gabe said. “It cost us everything. Despite what those we read said, it can’t bring back the dead.”

“She’s not dead!” Gabriel shouted. “She asleep; magical coma. She’s not dead!”

Gabe shut his eyes for a moment, “Yes she is. Magic is just barely keep her heart going but she had been for a long time. She had been gone for a long time.”

“NO!” Gabriel roared, fury once again fueling him. “I will bring her back!”

“Why?” Gabe asked. “What do you think will happen? Do you still hope you a family again if you do? Adrien dies because of you. Because of me,” he said with anguish filling his voice and sorrow in his eyes. “Because of what we did. And even if he leaves; Emilie still wouldn’t forgive you.”

“She’d understand,” Gabriel snapped. “She, of all people, would understand.”

“Understand what?” Gabe asked. “That you abandoned your son. That you abandoned him and everybody else? You made a promise!”

“That I couldn’t keep!” Gabriel roared back. “Not after everything I lost. I was just as broken as Emilie was. I needed her back.”

The older man looked at his younger self in disgust, “At what cost. How many have we hurt? How many of our akumas killed people? Even if Ladybug brought them back. How many died? How many innocent men, women, children wake up screaming in the middle of night because of what Akumas did to them. Or what they learn they did as Akumas? How many people suffer?”

“I don’t care!” Gabriel snapped.

“You will!” Gabe scoffed. “You will.” He sighed. “You want answered, Gabriel. How’s this? You will go back. You will do everything that you can think of to save her. You're even going to create an army of akumas; thousands, but Ladybug and Chat Noir and their team are going to stop them, mostly. But they won’t be enough. Queen Bee dies first; Chloe a girl, you’ve known, since she was diapers dies in front you. Artic Fox dies next. Viperion and Carapace. Ryuko and BrightRoar; all kids. All dead. Chat Noir and Ladybug overpowered.”

The two listened to man speak, horrified looks on their faces.

“And then on the night of June 23rd, 2020,” Gabe said, “you make your wish to bring Emilie back. It doesn’t work. The Ladybug and Chat Noir Miraculous are destroyed. The world still goes to hell for it. Nathalie tells you Adrien is hurt; badly. You go to him. You run to him. And see Adrien in Marinette’s arm, in Ladybug’s arms, and you reach him just in time for you to see him die.”

“No!” Gabriel yelled.

Gabe took a step forward, his grip on his cane so tight the wood cracked, “And in that moment that he takes his last breath, it’ll feel like an eternity. And it will break you.” He looked between the two. “It will break you both. And when the night is over and passed; they’ll be barely anything left of the world.”

Silence reign in the room.

Gabe swallowed hard, “She is the love of your, Gabriel,” He agreed. “She was the love of my life. But Adrien was my world. You fail him. I failed him. I failed Emilie. I failed everyone. You won’t be there when Volpina, when Lila Rossi kills Nathalie and take Duusu from her; and becomes so much worse than we ever were. You won’t be there when demons and monsters discover the holes between the realms that your action created and they run free on this earth. When a monster named Trigon comes for what’s left of humanity. You won’t be there when a monster rips Gorilla in pieces. For Felix, when he uses the Ox Miraculous, to save people; encounters the wrong monster and ends up a soulless husk. You won’t be there for anyone. But that’s what you do best. What… I did best.”

“I’ll stop him,” Ladybug swore, lowly, finding her voice again. “I promise, I’ll stop him.”

Gabe nodded at her, “You’ll try. Somehow you and I; the last of miraculous users team up and seal the holes in realm; we just couldn’t undo the damage.” He looked his younger self. “Everything that you've ever loved is gone. Including you. Go home, Gabriel.”

As if on cue, the world around them turned to sand, and Ladybug and Gabriel Agreste found themselves standing in the spot they left. Chat Noir looking at them with a wide grin on his face, and butterfly in a jar in his hands.

I should’ve known, Gabriel thought, Chat Noir has Emilie’s smile.

��Chat Noir, we need to talk,” Ladybug said seriously. “Now!”

And then the heroes were gone, leaving Gabriel to wonder if he was about lose his son anyway.

When he got back to his home, he didn’t know what to do. He waited a bit for the police to show but them never id. He waited for Ladybug and Chat Noir to burst through the door to finally defeat Hawkmoth but they never showed up.

“Adrien said he will spending night at his friend’s Marinette house,” Nathalie told him. “I tried to convince him to return home but-”

“Its fine,” Gabriel cut her off. “Let him spend time with his friend. Take the night off, Nathalie. Tell Gorilla he can to do. I’d like to be alone tonight. In fact take the weekend. Just go. Go.”

An hour after Nathalie and Gorilla had taken off for the night, Gabriel found himself sitting on the stairs; in the same spot Gabe had stood. Alone. He did that for a while, just trying to consider what he should do, what plan to take. Then he went to sleep, got up, and found himself back on the stairs the next morning.

“You promised,” Emilie’s voice whispered in his ear.

He sat there for hours. Alone with his thoughts.

“She couldn’t have wanted this,” Ladybug’s voice suddenly broke through the silence. “She couldn’t have wanted you be some magical terrorist just to get her back.”

Gabriel looked up to give her a rude reply but stopped when he saw it wasn’t Ladybug, or least not really. It was Marinette Dupain-Chang; the girl behind mask. “Come to arrest me?”

“No,” Marinette said bitterly. “Apparently I need you. I asked Tikki, my kwami, and she says Trigon’s bad news. He’s been trying to get to our world for centuries; destroy and conquer like he’s done to thousand others. In fact, they created the miraculous just stop him. Somehow in the future, you and I managed to do it. And seeing as Tikki says Trigon is destined to come sometime between now and the next ten years, you’re not going anywhere.”

“And how does my son feel about that?”

Marinette shrugged, “I don’t know. I haven’t told him you’re Hawkmoth yet. Because you are. He deserves to hear it from you. He deserves to hear everything from you.” The bluenette shook her head. “But first you are going to talk to a little old guy named Fu. You are going to bring him Duusu, tell him what happened to your wife, see if there’s anything he can do. And if there’s not, you are going to accept it. Because this is over, do you hear me?”

Gabriel just looked at the girl as if seeing her for the first time.

“It’s over,” She repeated. “The akumas, hurting people, the whole Hawkmoth thing, ignoring Adrien, breaking a multitude of child labor laws; it’s all over. It’s done, Gabriel. You’re done.”

“And if not?” Gabriel asked. “If I don’t stop, what will you do, young hero?”

“I’ll kill you,” Marinette said. “I. Will. Kill. You! One Akuma, that’s all it will take. And I will take you done. I won’t lose family and my friends, Adrien, just because you couldn’t deal with your own loss.”

Gabriel stood up, bringing him to his full height. “You’re forgetting Adrien. How will Adrien feel when he learns you killed his father?”

Marinette took a step forward, “Before I do it; I’m going to tell him everything. And he’s good hero; the best partner, brother I could ever have. And the Adrien I know, the Chat Noir I know will never stand for your villainous ways to continue; not for anything. He’ll volunteer to bring you down himself; end you for good. But I won’t let him. I won’t let him live with knowing he killed his own father. I’m a better friend than that. He deserves better than that.”

For a moment, Gabriel felt a bit grateful to the girl for refusing to allow such a thing to happen. She, too, reminded him of a younger Emilie. Emilie who would’ve stepped up to kill him herself if she had too.

“I got your number from Adrien,” She told him. “I sent you text with a location, be there in one hour. It’s your last chance, Gabriel.”

And then Marinette was gone.

It took nearly half an hour after she left for Gabriel to find the strength to move. He knew what he had to do.

When Gabriel walked into the small café, he quickly spotted Marinette and Fu, as they were the only occupants in the café. At all. There weren’t even employees present.

He sat down across from the two, and dropped two brooches on the table. Nooroo and Duusu flew out.

Marinette looked at him with a hard gaze, but nodded.

Fu took the miraculous off the table. He hadn’t let himself entirely believe Gabriel would show up. However, after the future Marinette had told him about, of Trigon and the impending they face, Fu was willing to take a risk. There were great evils coming their way. And they would need all the help they can get. “You are Hawkmoth.”

Gabriel nodded slowly, “I was.”

“No more,” Fu stated. “No more people will be hurt as result of your actions. Instead, you will save them as you are meant to do.”

Gabriel that night with the knowledge that Duusu and the peacock miraculous could be fixed. Its effects on Nathalie could be undone. Emilie was too far gone to save. There was nothing anyone could do. He wanted to rage and break things; swear vengeance. But anger never came. He just felt hollow.

The next day, when his son finally came home, he took Adrien down to see his mother and told him everything. From the moment he and Emilie met to going to the future with Ladybug; about being Hawkmoth and causing the end of the world. Everything.

When he was done, Adrien just stood there in shock; hurt written all over his face.

“I’m sorry,” Gabriel Agreste finally said to his son, to Emilie, to the ghost haunting him, to world, to himself for never being strong enough to let go. “I’m so sorry.”

He’ll be better, he swore to his son. He’d do better, he promised.

And this promise, Gabriel decided, wouldn’t be broken.

“I promise, Emilie.”

#ml salt #ml fic #marinette dupen chang #adrien deserves better #gabriel agreste

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1oserjk · 5 years ago

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— at least i look cool

you’re prone to self destruction, it’s all what being with jungkook has deduced you to.

at first, you didn’t mind — but now? you want out.

x masterlist

* .✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*. * .✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.* .✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.

You don’t know where you are, whose house this is, or how you even landed an invitation, but you’re definitely here.

For the past three hours, in fact. The only reason your mind could wrap around the time was only because of the fact that you have been sitting outside the backyard porch, phone in one hand and cigarette in the other, observing many splashes and subtle groping in the pool presented in front of you. Not many people are outside alongside you, at least not as much as the people inside, too unsure to take a dip in the chilly night. It still surprises you with the handful of girls proudly wearing flimsy bikinis and goosebumps raised all over their skin, curiously wondering how many would come back with a cold and a few regrets.

You figured it would have been less suffocating here rather than in there, and where you’ve sat numbingly for awhile. A small corner of the stairs were an alright spot, a few legs would bump into you when figures would pass by, but other than that, it’s been okay enough to stay.

Until a bulky boot nudges you in the shoulder. It’s harsh enough to push back on it, most likely leaving a mark on your grey pullover. You don’t even bother to turn around and check, already knowing exactly who was trying to bug you. The boots take a step down, a level below the one you’re sat on, taking the leftover space next to you for a seat. His warm chest presses against your side, hand resting behind the both of you to lean back easier. Jungkook has always been like that, running like a furnace, having it be on most days being consumed whole by him when he would lay next to you.

“Hey,” he flatly greets. “I’ve been looking for you.”

Still, you don’t look at him. “You found me.”

He slightly scoffs, childish smile seeping into his expression - easygoing almost. He doesn’t reply, instead reaching out for your dimly lit cigarette that was, what, your fifth of the night, already halfway through.

His lips wrap around it and your nose scrunches before asking, “Did you fuck anybody before this?” Your head tilts towards the inside of the house, hinting towards the second level of the house.

He doesn’t nod, avoiding eyes, but the bruises on his neck peek through past the collar of his thin shirt. Your finger goes to prod at them, but he swats them away.

“I told her no marks,” he briefly explains, as if it was an excuse and that even if she had followed his orders, you’d be stupid enough to overpass it.

You only give him a weak attempt to joke about it, “She obviously didn’t listen.”

He only shrugs before you tug down the collar slightly when he’s unguarded, and end up finding an unsightly image of scratch mars along his back. Your eyebrows raise, and he still doesn’t have the guts to look you in the eye.

“Fucked her in missionary too,” you note. “What? Looked her in the eyes and told her you loved her?” You taunt sarcastically, eyes passing over heads by the poolside. A few of the girls have climbed out of the freezing waters to take pictures for their social media to post later. Giggles and screams are the only thing heard. He probably has his eye on some of them at this very moment.

“Jealous?” He asks, smoke blowing straight at you.

You shake your head with a few silent beats in between. “You do it every other night,” you only say right after. “Got used to it.”

You can feel his stare, only because of how it burns at your side. He has the nerve to pass the burning stick back to you.

You deny him. “Keep it.”

It stays quiet for a few more minutes, save for some of the useless dialogue and shitty music played through the speakers inside of the house that has unfortunately reached both of your ears outside. You feel him shift closer, hand landing right between your hip and thigh. It used to feel pleasant - comforting, but feeling it now, it only leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Your elbow prods at his middle to back off, but being that he was obviously stronger than you, it barely fazes him, maybe just a flash of hurt, but only that being it. He pulls you closer protectively, but close to suffocating, the side of his face only a few inches away from your lips.

He then asks, “Are you happy?” A question he asks every single night when he finds you at each houseparty, after shortly abandoning you for a few drinks and a quick fuck. He asks you, and you had always given him the same exact answer.

This time, you look at your surroundings, shallow people all around you who barely knew your name and only as the girlfriend of Jungkook, almost glaring at him when they land back on his jaw.

This wasn’t a place to be sought as happiness, or exactly where you wanted to be, no, this place was just a filler to feel as if it was something, when really, it was absolutely nothing. To some people, this place, this lifestyle, is counted as home, but to you, you had no idea what that was or how it felt like. All you really knew was that it definitely wasn’t this shitty place with beer bottles and cans scattered all over the yard and even some floating in the pool.

To Jungkook, maybe. But to you, it was and will never be this.

This time, you answer with something completely different, something that he is not immune to hearing, not used to either, something that throws Jungkook completely off.

“No.” Time ticks, and he stiffens, you sense it at the look of his jaw. You continue to stare straight at it with tired but widened eyes. “I’m not happy, Jungkook. I don’t even think I know what that is anymore.”

He covers his furrowed brows quickly, clearing his throat and easing a chuckle out. “You’re drunk,” he excuses.

You shake your head. “I’ve been sober for the past five days,” you admit to him. “I’m tired, but I’m not drunk.”

He locks eyes with you, searching for any type of bullshit you were pulling, but in fact, they hold more form than his own.

He can’t believe it. “You - You’re not happy?”

Shaking your head slowly, you confirm.

“I.. Why?” He attempts weakly, holding you tighter to secure that you were actually here and telling him these things. “Everything is here. I thought you.. I thought you wanted this?”

Your own brows draw together. “Jungkook, why would anybody want this? I’m constantly exhausted - and for a lot of things actually,” you unsurely admit with chapped lips. “I-I’m tired of my parents hating me, I’m tired of having two-faced friends that my own boyfriend fucks on the weekends, I’m tired of just being here for no reason,” you confess carefully, eyes shuddering when they close tightly. “Why would I be happy in this situation?”

He calls your name and draws it out slowly.

“I almost got fired last week for barely even having half a mind to do such mundane things-”

“Is this what this is all about? Baby,” he starts, pushing at being more affectionate, like he wasn’t being distant a few minutes before this conversation. “I make enough for both of us, you don’t have to keep working if that’s what’s really making you upset.”

You shake your head. “I’m not going to depend on you.. I-I won’t.” It’d be a complete nightmare having to, and you wouldn't be able to live with yourself properly if you could barely even handle what he’s putting you through now.

“Look at me,” he tries again, fingers softly at the space of your jaw and throat, directing you towards him. “Your parents?” He spits the words out with distaste. “They don’t care for you, they don’t love you,” he staples to your head, like every other time he had to tell you. “It’s been me and you for the past two years and you have been doing just fine without them.”

Your eyes bawl and your head shakes repeatedly, both hands clutching his wrist tightly, “You’re barely home and the only way I can see you is through these stupid fucking parties, always right after you fuck someone else. How is that fair to me, Jungkook?”

“I’ll stop,” he suddenly declares, eyes turned promising.

“No,” you quickly say. “I-I can’t anymore.”

“Baby,” he begs, both hands cupping your jaw, “Please.”

“I want to go home, Jungkook,” you whisper brokenly.

He nods with eager eyes. “O-Okay. We can go back-”

“Not there,” you interrupt. “Not with you.”

He swallows and bitterly reminds, “_____, our apartment has been your home for two years - with me, ever since you got kicked out by them.”

Tears fall and you choke on your words, “The only reason they kicked me out was because I was with you.”

His face falls flat, eyes wavering back and forth unsightly.

Your throat clears, palms rubbing at your knees, long and oversized sleeves tucked and curled into your hands. You announce, “I’m going to stay with someone else for awhile. H-He’s nice and a little bit older, but he takes care of me-”

“Who?” He searches, eyes beginning to mix with fear beneath the hardness of his expression, but you can see it - clearly. The only thing that has paid off from being with Jungkook these past few years, was to know and see when he was scared of something. Primarily when it wasn’t something he wasn’t used to, something that he wouldn’t be able to fall back on. “You—You’re seeing someone else?” He then asks, voice breaking at the very end. The surface of his eyes shine over, and your own heart tugs.

Your head pulls away stubbornly, searching for anything else to look at. “No, don’t play that card, Jungkook,” you say, stripping his hands away from your face completely. “You can’t just do that, act like your the fucking posterboy of all things good!”

“Just answer,” he says, luring you softly. You falter at his eyes that drag heavy. “Please?”

Swallowing, you bask in the silence being gifted to you between the seconds, not sure if he would grant it to you at all after this. “Yoongi,” you inform. “He—He’s a good friend-“

“Friend?” he repeats back harshly.

“Friend,” you affirm with vigour equalling the same as his in your own tone. It surprises both of you. “For now. Maybe more, later. I don’t know, but I want to try at least.”

His arms retract away, forearms resting on his knees, now being hunched over. His face hides away in the shadows, the dim porch light failing at acknowledging his ticking jaw and dark demeanor he holds high up at times when he does not get what he wants.

You’re obviously confused, not understanding a bit on why he was suddenly so distressed about you leaving him. You’ve caused him so much more weight ever since staying with him, clearly showing several times how much it sucked that you were there, holding him back from whatever the fuck it was. It didn’t make sense how it had clicked for him that you had feelings that counted and that you were expected to disobey at times when things were unfair.

Why did it matter now?

In all honesty, you were doing him a favor. Your presence was finally heading somewhere else. More room for him, for other girls, and whatever fucked-up shit he puts himself through these days. He’d finally be able to properly live without anything to tie him down.

Looking down at your palms, they grow shaky and like all the other days, you’ve grown used to it, but now, it’s different. Especially when you announce, “I’m going home tonight, Jungkook.”

He stays silent, knowing that for the years that you had been with him, you’ve always grouped him along with it. It was questionable now.

You feel it — an unsureness that is held so close, almost like it’s strangling you, asking if you were even making the right choice, and honestly, you weren’t sure. You were put on such an unstable routine - nothing felt right anymore, but you would do anything to get away from this and everything else.

You’d do absolutely anything to get away from Jungkook who has broken you from the beginning, creating and building a faulty imagination that everything was completely alright when it never was.

* .✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*. * .✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.* .✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.

hi, this is literally so different than what i usually venture out to in terms of writing but like, i’ve been reading a lot of dark n more mature concepts which has fortunately broken this block i’ve had for the past month(?) so im happy that it has.

the setting n some of the plot is definitely inspired by sasha sloan’s song n also a little bit (n take this with a grain of salt bc i didnt really see it until i read it ovr again) of millenium mambo’s layers mixed somewhere in the tone, especially with yoongi plopped in the middle of it

promise i’ll write smthg happier these days :]

seeulater

* .✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*. * .✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.* .✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.

#bts #bts fanfic #bts angst #bts fluff #bts smut #jeon jungkook #jeon jeongguk #jungkook #jungkook scenarios #jungkook angst #jungkook smut #jungkook fluff #jungkook drabble #mine #at least i look cool

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sassaetcie · 4 years ago

Text

The Ashes of the Oven : Silver x Idia as a play with Lilia as the main actor

I really wanted to experiment writing a play since it’s really good to practice on dialogues and how relevant each words are to characters once uttered, but I’ve barely ready Sebek’s stories so... I guess I wasn’t that good in the end, but hope you’ll enjoy the first 3rd scenes anyway!

Scene I

LILIA VANROUGE: Please enter, please do enter, pray enter.

SEBEK ZIGVOLT: Is it truly alright for Silver to come into OUR dorm with the leader of another dorm, though?! I mean! Is it truly the best solution to this situation, Father?

LILIA: Pray, let this aside, your line is useless here, young lad. Silver is coming in with his, hm... soulmate, if I may say so. Let us show some courtesy, fufu. It is not everytime we get to witness true romance in reality, and especially a romance of the romances... Don't you find this beautiful, Sebek?

SEBEK: If you say so, Father...

LILIA: You will understand what I meant someday. Or perhaps you will not. Maybe it is better if you do not need to scratch this truth till you find this very truth, this very ugly truth. Truth is, after all, but another one facing change.

SEBEK: I hear them... IjusthopeShroudwon'tbeinsultingtowardLordMalleusorhewillfacemyrageforsureandbyragetheoneoftheworld.

Scene II

SILVER: Well... Good afternoon, old... Vice Dorm head, Sebek.

IDIA SHROUD: Eeeer... G-good afternoon... Vice Dorm head, Zigvolt...

LILIA: Well, pray call me Lilia, young Shroud. This title is one among others, and I may end up lost, fufu. And it would not be welcoming of us if you were to still face an exact hierarchy as we supposedly welcome you into our dorm. Shall I name... call you Idia? Calling someone by their parent's name can be as restrictive, I must say, but the choice is yours.

IDIA: O-oh... s-s-s-sure... I don't mind. I think?

MALLEUS DRACONIA: Hm, welcome, welcome. It is the first time you venture into our dorm, isn't it, Idia?

IDIA: Eeek! Y-y-yeah! It's not like I could have come here anyway... I mean, probably, considering how may work the mirrors and all... But it's not like I had business here anyway s-s-so...

SEBEK: Thinking you can break into your dorm just because...!!!

SILVER: Calm down, Sebek...

LILIA: As Silver said, please do not let rage corrupt you, Sebek.

SEBEK: But!!! He SHOWED clear hostility toward our dorm!!!

MALLEUS: Whatever, we barely have this kind of behavior around. For you are Silver's... beloved, I think? And since you seem to share some of my... bothers, I shall forgive you.

SEBEK: So Gracious... Our Master truly is Gracious... No, Graciousness should beg for its name in front of our Young Lord!

LILIA: So, dear Silver, have you come in order to present us your already known Dear one?

SILVER: I thought it was an usual thing to present one's love to a family...

LILIA: Well, this is what I used to read you when you were but a tiny lad, after all. It is not like we had that much different books, no matter how many we could grasp in our domain. I guess it truly shaped the inner parts of your skull, or perhaps carved... Fufu, whatever. I am honored.

SILVER: Wait, does that mean you've technically failed our education by reading us only one kind of literature...?

SEBEK: SILVEEEEEER!

LILIA: I apologize, Sebek, since Silver is right. I have indeed partially failed if you have come to think presenting Idia to us was mandatory... However, like I said, I am honored. Perhaps I would have thought of another failing if I had not met your beloved like this.

SEBEK: Let's stop talking in front of a potential enemy...!

IDIA: I mean if you hate me that much, I can go away, I have several raids to attend, lol. I was there for Silver and out of respect since Malleus... Draconia always had that cool vibe and so does Lilia, but if you don't respect me, don't even expect me to respect you, gehehe.

SILVER: See, you're being disrespectful again, Sebek... Idia isn't a goddamn enemy, for f... For real. Shouldn't we follow our old man's wish and try to befriend instead of being agressive everyday, every minute, every second?

LILIA: I am glad you remember this, Silver. I would indeed like if Sebek were to be a bit less... zealous, although zealous definitely is not the term but whatever, a word can be another here.

MALLEUS: And for this, we shall pardon Idia's several arrogant lines, which were but answers to Sebek... To Sebek. Let us be at peace, be peaceful and talk.

SILVER: Yes, let's talk.

SEBEK: Let us... talk.

LILIA: Let us chat.

MALLEUS: Let us talk indeed.

SEBEK: Maybe Idia should try to challenge the young Lord to chess to see if he can last more than one turn... No, no way he could win against our great Lord!!!!! Silver, fight him!!!

SILVER: Sebek, please... Why are you just being so agressive, dammit...

SEBEK: I am not being agressive! I barely want to ensure he will fit... you! And the family!

LILIA: Oh?

SILVER: What do you mean again, Sebek...

IDIA: You're behaving like I will have r-r-responsibilities toward the family, what the fuck...

SEBEK: But you will!?! Do you really expect to... to...! To wed my brother, although not by blood but by soul, my brother although not by kin, my brother!!! As if you will only live a peaceful dream?!

IDIA: 'twas the plan, yeah? Lol...

LILIA: Sebek.

SEBEK: Huh! F-Father? Have I said something wrong...?

LILIA: Once again, you are pushing on Idia your own ideals. As I said before, I am glad to see my children...

IDIA: Okay so you're really a family, nice, don't mind me, just keep going...

LILIA: ...My children, as I was saying... to be so united under a strong bond. However... You should not call it family. 'Tis but an old belief, and old beliefs are as prompt to change as truth itself, if truth and not truths among this mysterious compass we are standing on. Therefore... You should consider Silver your precious friend, or your bro if I were to speak Idia's short but precise language. Of course, you can chose to keep on calling him your brethren, and I shall never entirely judge it, nevertheless shall you count on families and push them upon other. There is no such thing as a Family guidance in itself. There are only broken individuals playing with Fortune since the dawn of time, and rejecting these consequences into Luck on the yet-to-be-broken... or perhaps will they escape Luck and Fortune combined.

MALLEUS: I agree, Sebek. Although I am, once more pleased, with you being so concerned about the whole family, you shall not restrain Idia to our sphere. By doing so, you will restrict Silver as well... probably. And speaking of something as hollow as a family in front of Silver... Is cruel. I swear I will help you three at least, you four, maybe, but I cannot ensure I will be able to save all of you at the same time if something were to happen.

SEBEK: I apologize. I APOLOGIZE, FORGIVE ME LORD MAL... NO, LORD OF THE LORDS! I am. I have no right to utter your name... I should not even use "your" anymore!!! I will stain your... thine... thineself! With my language!

MALLEUS: Well, you are forgiven as long as you understood.

LILIA: Ahem! So, about this all, proving thing? I am interested in Idia, but not because Silver will perhaps be less able to protect Malleus because of dates, huhuhu!

SEBEK: F-f-f-f-father!!!! That was not what I...!

LILIA: Oh, is that so? How mischievious of I!

MALLEUS: That being said... I would indeed like to know as well Idia's... capacities.

SILVER: Eeeh, as long as you're all nice with him. Ahem! I do not see any problem, as long as he is also okay with it...

IDIA: I m-m-mean... it depends... what would you like from me...?

SEBEK: Whatever! You should not even imagine fighting with our Lord, because you will lose anyway!

IDIA: Never said that... And you ever stop simping or it's your only trait? You're so noisy...

SEBEK: !!! SEE!!! HE IS BECOMING ANNOYING AGAIN!!!

LILIA: What kind of human would not be outraged if you were to keep saying they cannot fulfill a single thing in their lives better than someone else than they probably barely know? Ufufu...

SEBEK: Urgh! I apologize!!!! I once again brought shame upon...

MALLEUS: Quiet, quiet... Let us stop there before another loop starts.

SILVER: Mhhh... If you really want to see how is Idia... maybe we should do some kind of fighting test?

IDIA: Eh?!

SILVER: From what I've heard, you even impressed Div... I mean, Teacher Crewel, didn't you?

IDIA: Oh, yeah. Sure did. Although I wasn't alone... I don't know how much of a cause was my partner, though...

SEBEK: But what if his damned technology destroys something...

IDIA: I mean, I still can challenge Malleus with chess, if you really want me to prove you I ain't that bad...

MALLEUS: Oh? So you do play chess? I thought you only were interested in... videogames. How wrong of me.

IDIA: Used to, yeah. Because of my... family, kind of. But I stopped playing the physical version. I play sometimes, but honestly, y'know, there are some chess games inside other videogames sometimes so... I think I'm doing pretty well. Especially when wi-fi hated me enough to want me to only play chess to hope for friends...

LILIA, aside: Dear, dearie, dears! What if Idia indeed ended up winning? Sebek would not like it for sure... and would for sure call him a cheater, a liar! But who is not a liar in this world, anyway? Huhuhu... But how would Idia react? How would this poor Silver react? Not well, I know it for sure. It is time to intervene again, and play the fool once more!

LILIA: Oh, my dears! Pray do not play chess, for my poor old heart would not bear such boring and repetitive activity, especially in my old times!

SEBEK: B—b—boring?! This game of wits that Lord Malleus masters so well, boring?!

LILIA: Yes, my boy, boring! Pray fulfill my wish of some strategical fight on a large-scale, yet a battle where no one dies! Even such a fake and tiny wish can be granted by someone who does not handle magic in the end. What shall you say of it, Idia?

IDIA: W-w-well... huh... I mean, sure but... Can you just record me instead of probably observing me? I don't want to hear you being disgusted by the way I use my... own magic, y'know...

LILIA: Oh no! We shall not be disgusted. I swear it on, hm... Peace between humans and other species. And well, we will not use magic for the... headmaster could watch us from afar.

IDIA: Why would you say something so cool?!

LILIA: Because my old self may be prompt to lie or forget among all of these years carving my brain and skeleton, skeletons, perhaps. Therefore, I shall be wise and swear of Fortune, for I know I will not betray my own last core.

SILVER: Let's just settle this before I fall asleep again...

Scene III

One of Diasomnia main building's dining room

LILIA: Well, it sure will be interesting, but I do wonder if this needs to long or shorten.

MALLEUS: Oh oh? What may you mean?

LILIA: Nothing that matters, really. Only an old lad speaking his mind out of age, and age only, likely, likely, likely.

SEBEK: Huf... uff... Lord Malleus, Lord Lilia! Silver and... Idia are ready. They must only fight each other, right? Or have I forgotten something?

LILIA: No, no, my child. So far, we do not need to push anyone inside Diasomnia's castle. This dinner room will be enough for sure, as such. It is not like all of them are used, after all.

SEBEK: This isn't one of the best Dorms for nothing. We are not as much as the others because we are superior!

MALLEUS: Hm...

LILIA: Pray, Sebek. No such Words. They do not need to be uttered anymore. They have been uttered too much already, and have possessed many a kin. But, as Luck, we cannot allow Words to take over, can we?

SEBEK: H-huh sorry. Ahem! Look, Silver and his sword, as peaceful as ever! Although, well, this one is blunted for obvious reasons, I guess... And here comes Idia and his... staff? Such a peasant choice! No wonder he relies on technology with such bad instincts! Who would pick a staff as a reliable weapon when many good, excellent, swords lay in front of them!

MALLEUS: Should I make your mouth shuts itself, Sebek? I want to hear them and their fight. Idia might bring something we need in... here.

SILVER: Well, Idia, hope you're ready to fight, I won't go easy on you.

IDIA: Heh, so do I. I-I mean... There are still a lot of odds against me since I'm not that good when it comes to physical stuff but body isn't the only important thing in these kind of things so... My intellect stats are pretty high so it should be okay...

SILVER: En garde, then.

IDIA: Dude, I don't even have a sword, why would you say "en garde"?

SEBEK: Shut... Be quiet! En garde is just said here to be sure you are ready as well! ARE YOU READY, IDIA SHROUD?? ARE YOU?

IDIA: Yeah, no need to fucking shout... like really...

SEBEK: Then, let the fight begin. We will...

LILIA: Just go mad, my dear lads. No need for rules, for one. Just do not obliterate each other, for quite the obvious reason. Well, magic to attack is forbidden as well. Just in case one of you summon some thunder, we do not need this.

LILIA, aside: Well, actually, I may. But I should not meddle that much, for it may cost me much more than surmised.

SILVER: Alright. Here I come... Idia!

SEBEK: Silver's movements are as good as ever! We can really tell he has been training hard!

MALLEUS: Mhh, mh.

SEBEK: Ha! Have I bored you, Lord Malleus?

MALLEUS: No.

SEBEK: But...

LILIA: Sebek, Malleus does not speak of what is plainly sightable, unlike us. You should know, by now. And indeed, Silver has grown, as surmised. Hard work certainly went as expected. Causality does not disappoint on this point, I guess.

SEBEK: Ughh... I apologize... I still have a lot to learn. I will do my best.

LILIA: Well, when it comes to this, pray take a look at Idia. He has not lost yet.

SEBEK: That's true... That is true!!! Is that the power of the staff?!

MALLEUS: More likely Idia's own potential.

IDIA: Hehe... I may not be used to lot of movements and all... But a staff sure is easier to handle to protect myself than a sword would have been... And it's much lighter too!

SILVER: So you did chose accordingly to your own strength.

IDIA: Welp, rather my own weakness, but yah. Take that! Hehe!

SILVER: Huh! You dare... attack me when my blade is pushed backwards because of your staff?!

IDIA: Of course, I've been waiting for it this whole time, gwehehehe!

SEBEK: Idia is being an eyesore right now! Look at him acting all smug just because he was able to surprise us by not being absolutely useless!

LILIA: He is just enjoying himself, pray calm down, my child.

MALLEUS: Mhh...

LILIA: Oh! Silver has been cornered...

SEBEK: Huh! How?! Silver has been training so hard...

LILIA: Well, not against sly people.

SEBEK: What... do you think... Silver will lose?!

LILIA: Oh, pray, do not glare at myself like that! I cannot tell, I am just an old chap. It is not like I have all the knowledge of the world, nor can I foresight. I wonder how interesting it would be, anyway...

SEBEK: Ah! Silver has lost! But I'm pretty sure he just slipped...

SILVER: A defeat, still is a defeat.

IDIA: Y'all really are into really cool lines, huh? Well, I won so huh. Now? W-what are we going to... do? Or talk about?

MALLEUS: Sending you back to your dorm... and room. It is getting quite late.

IDIA: Oh... yeah... Guess so... It's not like I've awakened anything in that old staff, huh. Ehm... will someone like... guide me through the dorm...?

SILVER: Oh, yes. I'll do it.

LILIA: Pray do, Silver. Good night, Idia.

SEBEK: You better not be late, Silver! Come back AS SOON AS YOU'RE DONE WITH YOUR MISSION!

MALLEUS: Spare my ears, Sebek... Please.

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst fanfic #twisted wonderland fanfiction #idia x silver #lilia vanrouge #diasomnia

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twdmusicboxmystery · 4 years ago

Text

The Pattern of the Short-Term Relationships

Okay, today’s post is just to point out the patterns in the short term relationships. Once we started looking, we actually found quite a few of them.

And honestly, I don’t think everyone even needs this anymore. Not as badly as when the spoilers first broke. I love all the Asks you’re sending in. I can tell that everyone is starting to get it. Not like it, of course (I don’t think I’ve found a single member of our fandom that is a fan of this storyline) but everyone is starting to see why they created this arc and where they’re going with it. That’s good.

Okay, so a few of these I’ve talked about before, but I’m going to point out more details than I previously did.

Michonne and Ezekiel:

I’ll start with one I haven’t talked about, though, because it might be the best, most on-the-nost example. @wdway rewatched this scene and it jumped out at her in a big way.

Remember in 10x04, Silence the Whisperers, when Ezekiel and Michonne kissed? We always thought it was just a nod to the fact that they’re together in the comic books, and it probably was. But it’s ALSO a part of this pattern.

Now, granted, I wouldn’t call that a “relationship,” as it only last about 30 seconds, lol. But it still fits the pattern I’m about to show you here.

Afterward, we see the two of them talking and she says it would never have worked out between them. I think she names stubbornness as the reason. He apologizes for kissing her and basically says (I’m paraphrasing here) that he’s just super, super lonely. He’s lost his Kingdom, his reign, his son (Henry) and even Carol. While she’s still in his life, their romantic relationship has dissolved to almost nothing and he says he doesn’t know how to talk to her anymore.

Michonne then launches into this discussion about masks. She tells him about before she met Andrea, how she was just surviving and living like a robot and how it was a mask.

I’m going to talk more about the symbol of the mask, especially around Leah, later in the week. But for now, this is a pattern we almost always see with the short terms relationships.

1. The relationship is unhealthy in some way. Often it’s because it’s not real or not based in something real. One of the two people in it are “pretending” in some way. Sometimes it’s because it’s one-sided.

2. At some point, they realize it and the relationship ends or sometimes it’s the other way around. The relationship ends (usually because the other person dies on the show) but at some point afterward, they realize how toxic the relationship was.

3. Very soon after the short-term, unhealthy relationship ends, they run into their soulmate.

4. Whether the person follows them and/or looks for them is also important. And this manifests differently in each instance, but I’ll explain as we go along.

How does this apply to Michonne and Zeke? The unhealthiness is simply in the fact that the relationship would arise from loneliness. If they did decide to be together, it wouldn’t be because they are actually in love, but simply because they’re so lonely.

The “looking for them” only kind of works here. Michonne followed Zeke because she could tell he was depressed and she was worried about him. And she genuinely does care for him. Just not romantically. But in many of the relationships, the short term person doesn’t look for the other one, which shows a lack of love on their part.

How about running into their soulmate? Well, Zeke’s soulmate is Carol. Only a few episodes later, she learns of his cancer and they sleep together again. Granted, that didn’t exactly represent a renewal of their relationship, but as the season wears on, Carol works through some of her issues and comes back to TF by the end of the season to try and fix things. By then, Zeke has left with Yumiko and Eugene, but I honestly think if he were there, they’d be more or less back together.

For Michonne, this is after the 6 year time jump and she’s been without Rick for that long. And what do you know? Only a few episodes later, she finds his boots and realizes for the first time that he might truly be alive.

So, since they were already with their soulmates before this, it wasn’t a matter of meeting them for the first time. But they’re still on a collision course with them right after this super-tiny short term fling. ;D

Now that you understand the pattern, let’s quickly go through some other examples. I’ll give you the episodes like I did above so you can go back and watch them if you want, as I’m not going to use exact dialogue. Though I’ve watched them all, I didn’t see many exact dialogue parallels. It’s more that they all amount to basically the same thing.

Carol and Tobin:

I went back and rewatched 8x13, Do Not Send Us Astray. This is where Tobin dies. Before he does, he and Carol have a heart to heart. She apologizes for leaving him like she did. She then tells him the reason she did was simply that she was pretending. She was playing house. And when she realized there would probably be a war with the Saviors, things got real, and she couldn’t pretend anymore, so she ran away.

So, it was toxic because it was one-sided. Tobin cared for Carol far more than she did for him. (Poor Tobin, RIP). There’s the pretending or “mask” theme going on. Carol was wearing a mask.

How about looking for her? Well, Tobin did alert Rick that she had left Alexandria in S6, and I believe he would have looked for her because, as we established, he truly did have feelings for Carol. But Rick told him to stay in Alexandria while Rick and Morgan searched for her. I think that was intentional on the writers’ parts. Not because Tobin didn’t care for her, but it was them signaling that because he didn’t actually look for her, this was a short-term, non-soulmate relationship.

And looky here: as soon as she leaves Tobin, she runs into and meets Ezekiel for the first time. Her soulmate.

Enid and Ron:

This one is formatted just a little differently. Enid’s short term relationship was with Ron before she met Carl. It’s different because Enid and Ron never had a heart to heart after breaking up. Rather, they were still technically together when he died. But I did remember that Carl and Enid mentioned Ron once when they were outside the walls together, so I went and found that scene. It’s in 5x15, Try.

The only mention of Ron is brief. Carl says that Ron is a good guy and Enid says, “Yeah, he is.” Then Carl asks if Ron knows she climbs over the walls and spends time on the outside. She says no, that Ron wouldn’t understand. So there it is. Enid is wearing a mask because she doesn’t tell Ron everything about herself. She knows he wouldn’t accept her if she did, so the relationship isn’t terribly healthy. Then Carol goes on to ask her what happened to her before she came to Alexandria. She says it doesn’t matter (total Beth dialogue, btw) and he says it does. That bad things happened to him, too.

So, we simply have to absorb this by deduction. This is less about why it would never have worked out long-term for Enid and Ron, and more about showing us that it’s Carl, rather than Ron, who is Enid’s soulmate. She and Carl understand one another and are alike on a much more fundamental level than she and Ron. They’ve both been through a lot on the outside, lost parents, don’t like to stay in the house…. 😁

You get the idea. Oh, and remember that Carl actually got mad at Ron during 6a (Operation Lead the Walkers Away) because Enid was on the outside and Ron didn’t seem to care. That’s what led to their teenaged slap fight. 😁

So obviously Carl cared more to search for Enid than Ron did. Soulmate!

Jessie and Rick:

Jessie and Rick’s relationship is much like Enid and Ron in that they are technically still together when she died. So once again, they never had a heart to heart about why it wouldn’t have worked out long term. This one we have to deduce based on how the relationship started. The short of it is that Jessie was in an abusive relationship and Rick wanted to save her. Which is perhaps admirable, but not the basis for a healthy romantic relationship. We even had those scenes in 5b where Rick was staring at Jessie and her husband that were, well, kinda creepy. I think that was to show that this relationship wasn’t sweet or romantic or healthy.

If you watch the scene where Jessie dies (6x09) Rick has some weird flashback/illusions. He sees scenes of Jessie from earlier episodes, but they’re bathed in red, which is probably supposed to represent blood. While there’s no dialogue here, so they basically leave us to interpret this however we want, I think this represents Rick’s illusions about Jessie falling away.

I mean, honestly? He basically let her bring Sam with them when he shouldn’t have. Sam was obviously not up to being out in the walker horde, and I think Rick was blinded by his relationship to Jessie when he should have made Sam go with Gabriel. That led to directly to Carl getting shot. So this was his illusions falling away and him getting back to the Rick he needed to be to lead his people and save Alexandria from the walker horde.

Michonne is WAY more Rick’s equal and emotional partner because they’re already on equal footing. While they both save one another frequently and always have one another’s backs, neither of them is a damsel in distress that constantly needs saving, as Jessie did. They’re both strong, capable, leaders. So their relationship is, well, a soulmate one.

And it’s worth noting that, despite a 1-month time jump in the show, Rick and Michonne first hooked up 1 episode after Jessie died. Yes, ONE episode later. Just saying.

Abraham/Rosita:

This was probably the longest short-term relationship on the show, and we could go into all sorts of details and examples. But the short of it is that obviously Rosita loved Abraham much more than he loved her. When he found his soulmate (Sasha) he promptly left her. Which was never fair to her to begin with.

In this case, neither found their soulmate directly after breaking up. Abe had already found Sasha before that, so the pattern is a little hazy, but doesn’t change overall. For Rosita, I think we should look at Siddiq. And again, the sequence is a little weird. We didn’t know about her and Siddiq until we already knew about her and Gabriel, who I’m assuming is meant to be her soulmate. (If you don’t believe me, go back and watch S8 scenes of her and Gabriel talking together in the church after Abraham’s death. It really foreshadows the two of them having a relationship later on.)

But once again, she had a short-term thing with Siddiq that ended amicably in this case. They even mentioned that they both knew they were simply ��having fun.” So maybe it wasn’t the most toxic thing if they were both on the same page, but that’s also them admitting it’s not a long-term romantic sort of thing either. And right after ending things with Siddiq, she started a relationship with Gabriel.

Negan and Alpha:

Yeah, really not kidding. I’ll end with this, which @wdway just pointed out to me yesterday, so I thought I’d add it in. Daryl and Negan have a discussion in S10 that actually illustrates this pattern where Daryl is concerned.

In 10x13, Negan and Daryl sit on a log together, and they’re waiting for Carol to come back. We’ve always wanted to connect this scene to Beth, because Negan says, “I don’t mean to be a broken record, but I don’t think she’s coming back.” So, musical/record reference, and the fact that Daryl thinks Beth is dead and not coming back. Now we’re also starting to connect this scene to the Leah stuff. Not only because she apparently disappears on him, but here, Negan is talking about Carol directly. And the spoilers say that Carol leaves Daryl, too, in the midst of the Leah stuff.

But here’s the real thing. Negan is jabbering on about his relationship with Alpha. He says that, at first, even though he knew she was an evil person, he still liked the attention she gave him. In Negan’s case, it was because he’d been sitting in his jail cell for six years, and it was nice to have someone care about him again in any way.

In other words…he was lonely and starved for human affection. Kinda like all the other relationships in this pattern, right?

And there must be a specific reason the writers did this scene with Daryl and Negan rather than anyone else. Honestly, it would have made more sense for Negan to say this to Carol, both because the two of them conspired to kill Alpha together, and because it’s Carol, not Daryl, who has so often worn the mask in her relationships, both romantic and platonic. Daryl, while he can bury his emotions and be aloof, never hides himself behind a mask. He is who he is.

So, @twdway’s theory (and I concur) is that Daryl might have been thinking about Leah during this scene. NOT because he’s in love with her or misses her or anything of the sort, but rather because he applies what Negan is saying to himself and realizes he probably did the same thing with Leah as Negan did with Alpha. He was just lonely, and it was nice to have someone who actually wanted him around. You know, versus Carol.

So yeah, that’s what I have for you today. Hopefully you can see the pattern and where they’re going with this. And of course, because the spoilers still aren’t 100% confirmed, and probably never will be (we’ll just have to wait until we actually see the episode) my opinions on this may change once the episode airs. But overall, I really think Leah will fit into this pattern, which means she’s nothing for us to worry about.

Plus, bonus! If Leah is this for Daryl, he should be running into his soulmate very soon after. Perhaps not literally. Remember that Michonne merely found out Rick was alive. But we’d all be cool if Daryl finds that out about Beth soon, right? 😁

Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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bourgeoishellion · 4 years ago

Text

I rant about a manga I read

I’ve been crying over +A no Tachiichi by Geni Yuu for the past few...hours. That’s actually quite a few literal hours I’m talking about, and I will never divulge the exact number because at this point it’s a long tantrum.

I love this manga, and I will stand by it till the end of time. I reread it with tears in my eyes and sobbed even harder the second and third time. So, listen to the synopsis:

Satoki Houma is an imaginative girl who enjoys shoujo manga. She has long comes to terms with the fact she will never be the type of girl that is the heroine of a manga purely because she isn't pretty, and she has decided she prefers to watch events unfold rather that get involved in any case. However, in the perfect shoujo manga twist, one day she gets dragged to an alternate world where the people have summoned a Holy Maiden to save them! Except so did her classmate, Haruka Toudou, who fits the exact model of a Shoujo Protagonist. Naturally, Satoki is overlooked for Haruka except it's not Haruka who has the powers of the Holy Maiden they wished for. What will Satoki do!?

Okay. It actually sounds pretty basic, cliche, and it’s the summary I tend to think, oh. . . one of those. Boring, but maybe it’ll surprise me.

I’ve been reading too many of the same kind of isekai manga lately, the overpowered and overly justified protagonist has been getting old. But this...

This is exactly what I’ve been looking for for ages.

Obvious spoilers for the ending, which is all I’m really going to rant about because I need to get this cry out or else I’m never moving on with my life...

So, Spoiler Alert: Satoki ends up returning to her own world.

That was one of the things I was looking for in an isekai. And I’ve never been more sad to have found such a perfect manga that could grant me this.

Satoki finds out that while she has stronger powers than Haruka (due to her imagination), she has a more limited fountain of power to draw from. So she can create all these fantastical, marvelous weapons, but Haruka can only create what others imagine (or something like that. It’s later explained she can also utilize this thing called memory, but what even is that? lol).

However, the more she creates, the less “mana” she has, and it can’t replenish itself.

Haruka, on the other hand, as the true Holy Maiden, has an unlimited source of mana.

So, in the end, Satoki really wasn’t the Holy Maiden. She really did trip into this other world. The Priestess tells her that the only thing keeping her in the world is the mana she has, and that once it runs out, she’ll return to her own world.

And this is great news, really! Satoki has always been left out, always been just a little less important, hasn’t made so many good friends that she would overlook the pros of going back home, nor does she believe she would leave a lasting impact on the minds of everyone she met in the story. So, overall, the fact she can go back home is a positive!

Right.

Right!?!?

NONONONONONONnodnONAFNSLDL;KJ.

Sorry, I’ll try to be a little less shaky from now on...

See, she ends up with enough mana to create a useless small thing, so the “final battle” has to be fought alongside Haruka, so that with Satoki’s imagination and Haruka’s unlimited power they can defeat the enemy!

It’s a great plan. Satoki has been forced to pretend to be the Voice of God for a while now, so she even has the important minor role of declaring Haruka the Holy Maiden (it’s a whole thing).

After declaring Haruka “The One,” mid-battle, while they are still being attacked by both a bloodthirsty demon king and a power-hungry prince AT THE SAME TIME, Satoki decides to peace out.

And it makes a lot of sense. She does tend to be surrounded by blunders, she really should take the opportunity to leave while she still can! So she has a wonderful goodbye scene with Haruka and gives her a paper mache sword that is shiny (which is all she can do with the power she has left).

That was wonderful. Great moment. Now, just wait for whatever will take her home to take her hom-WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, HARUKA IS NOT THE ONLY TEARFUL GOODBYE YOU HAD TO GIVE!

But of course, Satoki is a fucking idiot, she couldn’t have realized that, yes, other people wanted to say goodbye to her! They would have loved to have a moment to talk to her, to say their farewell, thank her- ugh.

So, the mage Miva and the fake Maiden Luce are obviously who I’m talking about here.

I fell in love with Luce the moment she appeared in the manga (relatively late) because she was so obviously taken with Satoki. While everyone often had something/someone more important than Satoki (even Haruka was more preoccupied with her love life), Luce made it clear that Satoki was important to her!

Sure, she was taking the minimal (it was actually pretty big though!) risk by taking Satoki’s side against the prince, but it was for her! She was important to her! She and Satoki were friends through and through.

But the dumbass thought that Luce was just taken with how much of a pretty boy Miva was. Oh yeah, she’s totally into the stupid mage she just stared down and not totally loyal to you.

And Miva. Oh, Miva...

Lemme just...rehash what happened from the moment Satoki summoned that stupid paper mache sword.

She said goodbye to Haruka and they did the friend thing.

And then Miva grabbed her shoulder, because she just did something stupid. He straight up asks, “Why did you make such a weird decision!?”

And we have to respect that, for once in this miserable joke of a journey, she made a fucking choice of her own volition, no advice, no suggestions, she chose this herself. She thought it through and decided...hey. This is when I want to go.

So, Miva is obviously a little messed up here. Satoki is leaving. Like, right the fuck now. She didn’t tell anyone she was going to do this, and now there’s no turning back!

Before the battle, Miva had told her that he wanted to talk to her. He wanted to tell her something. But now, there’s no god damn time, she’s on the verge of leaving forever.

And Miva is trying his damnedest to talk to her but...they’re in the middle of a fucking war.

The Prince orders their arrest and death or whatever, so they have to dodge that shit.

And as they do, Luce drags Satoki down to the floor and let’s her know she is the worst best friend in the history of best friends because What the fuck? “You were just gonna leave without saying goodbye? Was I the only one who thought we were friends?”

And what a time to find out your friend is your friend (even though its been obvious from the first chapter she appeared in and even though she has told you several times in direct fashion that you should be more decisive for your own good, which is something only your friends have done, ugh-)

Anyway, Luce and Satoki get a somewhat half-assed goodbye, but it’s still nice. For the last time, Luce tells her to grow a spine and not depreciate herself.

Miva comes back, and he has something to say. But oohhh, look, the king is over there, Satoki has to know if he’s on their side or naw even though she shouldn’t care, she’s not staying long enough for it to matter!

Miva does a quick explanation but “Anyway, [he] has something to tell [her]!” but oh wait, demon king is throwing shit at them now, fucking duck. Miva saves her life with magic and time is running short, honestly, it’s kind of amazing Satoki is still here at all. How much lag does this magic have?

Satoki’s worried about the ongoing battle around her, but Miva grabs her arm and pulls her in.

“Wait...WAIT!!!” Please, Satoki, just- hear him out, please...

He let’s her know in too many words that this whole speaking mess is a mess because she chose such a stupid time to go home! I just...lemme write this out, okay, his dialogue fucking kills me...

“It’ll be fine, just listen to me!! Look! It’s because you’re trying to go home at a time like this that things keep getting in the way! We can’t even talk like this! Properly!”

“Talk?” she asks (YES TALK).

He has hold of her arm, and he pulls her in to TALK PROPERLY but.

Her arm...disappears. Her hand is gone. She’s going. He’s out of time.

He stared at the spot where her hand is supposed to be while she says the stupidest thing, “Oh, you’re right! I’m sorry, I forgot to thank you properly...”

The silly mask she was wearing to speak in public cracks and breaks apart, which confuses her.

“...We really...don’t have any more time to talk now, do we?”

Why is she so worried about her mask, why can’t she look at his face? He looks so fucking devastated, and it’s actually the most emotion we’ve seen on his face since chapter one, listen to him.

“I never said anything because I didn’t want you to become spoiled and dependent on me,” a justifiable fear, but it’s hitting hard, “but you’ve really worked hard. More than enough-” She has, maybe he should have had more faith in her, however, he probably did everything just right.

An explosion behind them. Battle’s still going as he speaks, she’s obviously not paying attention.

“Well...your work...” he says.

It’s always been about her “duty” when they speak, they’ve never spoken about anything else.

The knight wants to step up to fight the demon dick, and Satoki is worried about that obviously bad idea, and she yells at him not to do that. She is not. Listening. He’s still talking...

“...your work...isn’t what’s important...” She’s not listening.

“What? Oh no, Roswald-san, you can’t! You have to-” She’s not listening.

“...what is important...” She’s not listening.

“I’m telling you not to go!” She’s not even part of the same conversation.

Miva looks on, obviously giving up on telling her anything. There’s too much going on. She’s so easily distracted. Her hand is gone, she’s disappearing for good, and she’s not even paying attention to him.

“Satoki,” he puts his hand on her head. She finally looks at him, she finally listens. He smiles at her for the first time. “You did well.”

“MAS-”

And then she’s in her school hallways, absolutely alone.

“-ter. You smiled...”

She’s back. She meets up with her normal high school friends again.

The End.

This fucking killed me. This is actively killing me, right now. It’s so fucking unfair. Miva and Luce deserved so much better, but Satoki never even thought about them. God dammit.

This calls for another hour of sobbing uncontrollably. There’s absolutely nothing else after this. We left mid-battle, Miva had the saddest farewell and even Satoki admits that was an unsatisfying way to end things, but I expected it. I was expecting it to end like this ever since we found out she could go home, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.

This is just the sort of protagonist she is, it was done so well, and it sucks...

This is actually it. The End. She has the manga in her hands, so she probably knows how things sort of ended up for Haruka and maybe even Miva and Luce, but we don’t. We don’t even get to know what Miva really wanted to tell her, though I have a guess...

Satoki is just a bit more decisive, but is otherwise unchanged and has returned to her world. Miva and Luce never got to see her again.

I know for sure that if they could have chosen who of the two “Holy Maidens” they would have preferred stay, Haruka would not have been their choice. And that makes me so sad.

The worst part is, there really is no reason it would have been better for Satoki to stay. This is actually the best possible outcome. I just wish...they’d had more time.

This is an unpopular manga. It’s been read by few people, and many of the people who read it were disappointed in the story because it had a premise that implied the cliche, yet it ended so. Anticlimactically.

So, there really is nothing after this. Not even fan content, it’s so short and unknown I think there’s actually only two fanfictions (one in spanish, another a crossover, neither what I need right now), no fanart, no doujinshis, nothing. It’s over. It’s done. It was perfect, the. End.

It’s exactly how it was supposed to end.

I’m so sad.

I’m probably going to draw something tomorrow. Maybe I’ll start and never finish a fanfiction. Maybe I’ll just let it go.

#The End #+a no tachiichi #+alpha no tachiichi #isekai manga #sad #sobbing #rant #spoiler alert #ending #my eyes are swollen #and red #Miva #Luce #Satoki #they deserved better #satoki is an idiot #stupid stupid stupid

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solarclaw · 4 years ago

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Lore Reversal AU: Desperation Ch. 1

Aaaand here’s what I’ve written for this AU. Further groundwork I think. I wrote an entire one-shot but then it evolved and beat me up until I broke it into chapters / parts. Whichever. In fact this whole thing was in a single post, so the beginning might not seem coherent. Whoops? Not completely finished so there may be some wait between them.

More info of this AU can be found in a previous post, tho the basis is Bergen invasion before Tribal separation.

A few warnings:

Kinda dark with death being a thing, but that’s what happens when you have predators to deal with, the kind that eat prey. And those prey are trolls. Also maybe mention of PTSD; I’m honestly not sure? I’m not a psychologist...But bad flashbacks.

For the most part, I left a lot of things up to interpretation. Especially gender identifications. Even sexual ones. I’d like for people to build off of this since this is just supposed to be a sort of base, or supporting foundation for the AU, which is dealing with the after-effects from all of this.

No actual dialogue even since that’s not really my strong suit. Even if I practice lines by talking to myself. I just can’t seem to get spoken words right w/out being heavy in sarcasm, “meh” & lots of muttering. And rambling. Basically my general tone of voice; which probably shouldn’t be the default to every character here...

OC Warning in case you’re not a big fan of them. I know there are people that aren’t a fan of OCs & can be rather hyper-critical of ‘em. But honestly? Kinda inevitable since this takes place in the far past before Peppy, Branch’s Grandma, etc. In canon, this is around the time the Bergens 1st appeared, after the Tribes separated. Honestly unsure of good they are....hopefully not too Sue-ish?

I’m sorry for any grammer, spelling, incohesion etc mistakes. Most of this was written late at night, fueled by aggressive exhaustion. There may or may not be a severe case of purple prose? I still need a beta reader or even just a soundboard to help me with that

Anyways, let’s start this conglomerate of bad decisions, bias, & systemic genocide!

A favorite....flavor, of troll is Pop. To the Bergens, eating one granted just that little bit more happiness than the others. These especially colourful trolls were soon in high demand every Trollstice. Despite all the other tribes’ efforts, some even throwing themselves in the way of cruelly reaching hands, Pop’s numbers were dwindling quicker than the other tribes. Things were getting desperate.

Being rather forced to live so close together, and without the strings, the different tribes became both used to & intolerant of each other. Soon they grew isolationist, as much as they could in limited cage space. They’ve heard rumors from passing Bergens that their strings weren’t destroyed, just locked away. It would explain why the trolls were still able to make some music; though they had to be soft or the Bergens, in their daily unhappiness whenever it wasn’t Trollstice, would get further upset. Very angry and annoyed Bergens tended to not only scare the Trolls willy-nilly, but they had the option to special-order a troll to be eaten, even if it was VERY pricey and needed to be Royal-approved. Eventually, a certain generation of the leaders was hatched. The heir of Pop grew a bit resentful of the other tribes, how relaxed they were and even seemed relieved just because it wasn’t their friends, their family, that was being taken away to be eaten. They wanted better for their Pop trolls.

Their only friend was the heir of Rock, the only one of the other heirs & most of the other trolls to not look at Pop in pity. In history lessons, the Rock heir especially learned of the loud power of Hard Rock, loud enough to sometimes literally blow the audience away. They also learned that in the beginning years of being trapped, Rock trolls resisted and fought back the longest, even if it did mean that a lot of them were special-ordered to be eaten in retaliation. These 2 friends, Wes of Pop and Mara “Marred” of Rock, also overheard the exact location of the lyre, the Strings.

They began to plan.

It was Marred’s idea to intentionally get themselves captured by one of the members of the Royal family. Or, at least, by the Royal chef or one of the Royal guards. They were confident that they could tear through the old cloth bags the Bergens were still using to collect trolls; they were beginning to look worn down & Wes had been trying to find a way to improve the cutting power of a whittled stick. Especially since they recently found a small broken piece of an abandoned shaving razor.

Cautious and a little doubtful, Wes proposed a backup plan that if the Strings’ power wasn’t able to fight off the Bergens, then they at least memorize & map the layout from the kitchen to their exit. That way, for trolls captured in the future, all the trolls would know of where to escape & how. They could even try to find a way to escape Bergen Town itself.

The plan was put to action dangerously close to the next Trollstice; the Queen wanted a good look at her potential next happy meal. She wanted these 2 loud and unruly upstarts to be served to her that very day, an appetizer of the joyous holiday feast that was to come. Knife cut through cloth before they were carried into the kitchen, unnoticed by the staff & guards around. They quietly, but quickly, traversed the halls, following a servant that was delivering a fine drink to the Royals in their chambers.

They found the lyre, the Strings. It sat there on a shelving amongst many other trophies and even picture frames, one of the most colourful of all. It wasn’t glowing as brightly as their history records described.

They snuck passed both Royal rulers and servant, the latter of which was getting yelled at by an irritably impatient Queen for bringing in the wrong drink with the King demanding for another servant to bring in the correct order.

No one noticed the colourful lyre disappearing from the shelves. Nor did they see a slight glow coming from the basket of another servant collecting laundry. But the Royal chef & kitchen staff did notice the empty bag.

As soon as the alarms were raised, the pair hurried in their escape, hopping from panicking servant to panicking servant towards the exit. Windows were being shut and doors closed as soon as someone entered the room. The clicking of locks echoed in the halls.

No one was going to leave.

Wes and Marred were going to escape.

There was a garbage chute ahead, doors shut and a lever next to it. The servant they were currently hitchhiking was running towards a nearby door, blocked only by an abandoned mop bucket and wet floors. The Strings’ glow, though dulled, was still rather noticeable. Even if they did weaponize the music, the vengeance wrought from not only a pair of escaped trolls, but the theft of a prized possession (even if the trolls were taking back what was always theirs) would be catastrophic. A new plan formulated. And only one troll knew it.

The harp was shoved in a surprised & confused Wes’ hair, which was thicker & bigger than Marred’s. The glowing Strings could barely be seen. Wes was shoved into the bow of the servants smock, tangling in the tie. Confusion changed to terror and the shock intensified as Wes watched Marred actually attack the servant, using their improvised knife. The servant stumbled, arms flailing, and Marred took the opportunity to throw the same knife at the servant’s foot, managing to cut into flesh, however shallow. A shout of pain, a short hop off the injured foot & onto, into, soapy water. Dirty mop water made the cut(s) burn as the servant was sent spinning on the bucket’s wheels, falling onto the chute’s doors.

Marred finally leapt from the servant’s head landing squarely on the lever’s handle, momentum pulling it down. Those doors opened & both servant and unknown passenger fell through. The 2 friends locked eyes. Marred raised both arms, hands curled into Rock’s iconic horns, grinning; wild, triumphant, hopeful, sorrowful, accepting. I’m sorry. Goodbye.

Angry shouts echoed against the chute’s walls, louder and closer. A large, sharp hand reached out for the Rock troll and the doors snapped shut.

It was thought impossible, but the garbage dump was even more disgusting than the Bergens. Despite the bruises & scrapes from the fall, the Pop heir managed to untangle themselves and left the unconscious servant to the trash. The rainbow glow of the Strings stood out vividly against the dullness of the evening. Wes tucked the lyre deeper into their newly dark locks. Quietly, quickly, despondently, they made their way back to their cage.

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kaialone · 5 years ago

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Spirit Tracks Translation Comparison: Reclaiming Zelda’s Body

This will be a comparison of the original Japanese version and the US English localized version.

Specifically, this will cover the cutscene before the very final battle, during which Princess Zelda returns to her body.

You can also watch this cutscene for yourself in English and Japanese. If you want, you can check out the EU English version, too.

For the comparison, the usual points apply:

Bolded is the original Japanese text, for the reference.

Bolded and italicized is my translation.

Italicized is the official NOA translation.

A (number) indicates that I have a specific comment to make on that part in the translation notes.

As you read this, please keep in mind that with translations like these, it’s important not to focus on the exact literal wordings, since there is no single “correct answer” when it comes to translations.

Rather than that, consider the actual information that is being conveyed, in which way, and why.

Characters in this part who had their names changed between versions:

Kimaroki = Cole, Mallador = Malladus, Dego = Byrne

Before the Final Battle:

Zelda:

…リンク！リンク！！

...Link! Link!!

...Link!

Link!

Zelda:

目を��ましてくださいリンク！！

Please open your eyes, Link!!

Please open your eyes, Link!

Zelda:

…大丈夫ですか？リンク…

...Are you alright, Link...?

Are you all right?

Zelda:

リンク！！

Link!!

Oh, no...

Cole:

ああぁ…魔王様のイケニエが…魂の器がぁ…

A-ahh... The sacrifice for His Majesty... The vessel for his soul...

Stop! That vessel belongs to His Majesty!

Cole:

はっ！魔王様！！急いでゼルダの体にお戻りを!

Oh! Your Majesty!! Return to Zelda's body, quickly!

Quickly, Your Majesty!

You must hurry back to Zelda's body!

Zelda:

あぁ…やはりわたしの体はもう…

Ahh... So my body really is already... (1)

Why...why isn't this working?

Byrne:

あきらめるな！

Don't give up!

You cannot give up now!

Byrne:

お前の体には聖なる力が宿っているのだろう？！

You have sacred power dwelling in your body, don't you?!

Your body has the sacred power of the spirits!

Byrne:

意識を集中しろ！自分の体を取り戻すのだ！！

Focus on it! Reclaim your own body!!

Now concentrate on reclaiming it!

Byrne:

お前が体を取り戻したら…

Once you get it back...

After all...

Byrne:

私にたっぷりと言いたいことがある…そうだったな？

You wanted to have some words with me... didn't you?

Didn't you say you wanted to have words with me?

Zelda:

…わたしの体に宿る聖なる力よどうかこの思いに答えて…

...Oh, sacred power dwelling within my body... Please, answer my call... (2)

If there really is a sacred power in my body...

Please let it hear me!

Zelda:

…おばあ様わたしにご加護を！

...Grandmother, please grant me your blessing!

Tetra! Please give me your blessing!

Byrne:

今だ！行け！！

Now! Go!!

Go now! Right now!

Zelda:

あっ…も戻れた？

Ah... A-am I back?

Mmmhh... Am I...back?

Cole:

イェーッ！イエェーッ！！魔王様サイコーッ！！

Yeah! Wooo!! You are the BEST, Your Majesty!!

Brave, Your Majesty! Bravo!

Cole:

さあ魔王様時間がありません

Now, Your Majesty, there is no time to waste.

But time is short, Your Majesty.

Cole:

小僧を始末しゼルダを捕らえもう一度復活を…

Dispose of the boy, and then capture Zelda to resurrect once more...

Please do away with the boy and capture Zelda.

Cole:

こ…こ…こ…

Th- Th- Th-

...Your Majesty?

Cole:

こんなバカなぁーっ！！

This can't be happening!!

Please, no!

Malladus:

…ダメダ…

…ダメダコンナ体デハ…

…コンナ体デハ我ノ魂ハスグニ消エテシマウ…

…オノレ…オノレ…

…IT'S NO USE…

…IT'S NO USE, IN A BODY LIKE THIS…

…IN A BODY LIKE THIS, MY SOUL WILL SOON VANISH…

...DAMN YOU... DAMN YOU...

This vessel…is…rejecting my spirit.

I’m…slipping from it…

I can’t hold on for long…

Malladus:

残サレタ時間デコノ世界全テヲ滅ボシテクレルワ！！

IN THE TIME I HAVE LEFT, I WILL LAY WASTE TO THE ENTIRE WORLD!!

But the world will crumble in the time I have left!

Zelda:

リンク！

Link!

Come on, Link!

Zelda:

この戦いで全てに決着をつけましょう！！

Let us settle it all with this battle!!

Let's settle this, once and for all!

Translation Notes:

Since Zelda doesn’t completely finish her line in Japanese, I tried to keep my wording ambiguous, as it’s technically not certain what her full line would have been.

The section I adapted as “answer my call” is この思いに答えて/kono omoi ni kotaete in Japanese, which would more literally translate to something like “answer my feelings” or “answer my thoughts”. I adapted it the way I did so it would sound more natural in English.

Comparisons & Thoughts:

Since this is the very last cutscene before the definite final battle, there are quite a lot of things I want to talk about here, both small and big.

So let me just go over them in order.

Right at the start of the scene, Zelda ends up repeating Link’s name quite a lot in the Japanese version.

The English version dials that back a little, and I feel this was probably intentional, to make her dialogue in that section feel slightly less repetitive.

If that was the reason, I think this slight change makes sense, especially if you’re only looking at the text.

When Cole sees Zelda attempting to enter her body, and panics as a result, his lines are a bit different between version:

A-ahh… The sacrifice for His Majesty… The vessel for his soul…

Stop! That vessel belongs to His Majesty!

In the Japanese version, the ellipses make Cole sound more concerned compared to the English version, and he goes into slightly more detail.

It’s possible that the English version removed the mention of Zelda’s body being a “sacrifice” to be more child-friendly, but they have actually used this word before, so I’m not sure.

I actually think it’s more likely that these lines were rewritten in English to be shorter, so it would be easier to fit the text here.

When Zelda fails to enter her body, she has this to say:

Ahh… So my body really is already…

Why…why isn’t this working?

In the Japanese version, Zelda is likely alluding to what Anjean told her earlier in the game:

“I’m not sure what would happen to your body then… If things go badly… It might no longer be able to take in your soul…”

So, in Japanese, Zelda seemingly fears that this assumption of Anjean has come true, meaning her body is no longer able to take in her soul.

The underlying implication is that, for all they know, her body could possibly already be dead, but the game never explicitly states this.

In the English version, her line is changed, which is a bit strange, since Anjean did give Zelda the same basic warning earlier in this version, too.

There could be many reasons for this, like wanting to make the line more understandable out of context, or not wanting it to sound like it’s implying Zelda could be dead already.

But regardless of what the reason was, the callback to Anjean’s words is omitted as a result.

There is a slight difference with a huge impact in Byrne’s dialogue when he tries to encourage Zelda.

In the Japanese version, Byrne reminds Zelda that she has “sacred power“ dwelling in her body, as has been mentioned multiple times over the course of the game.

But in the English version, this was adapted as him saying that her body has “the sacred power of the spirits”.

This can only be either a huge error, or an ill-conceived alteration.

Zelda’s body does not have the power of the gods of this land, or spirits in this case. And implying that it does not only doesn’t work with the established story, it also goes against it thematically.

To elaborate, even if one only goes by what has been said in the English version, there isn’t much of a way for Zelda’s body to have obtained the power of the spirits, since they used up their power and left the land before the Hyrulean settlers arrived there.

Yes, the English version does obscure that detail a bit, but in the end it still appears to be factual in this version.

Adding to that, the power in Zelda’s body has essentially been stated to exceed the powers of the spirits of old anyway, since using her as a vessel would supposedly make Malladus so strong that even they would not be able to beat him once more.

More importantly though, one of the game’s major themes is the idea of humans learning to prevail without any divine protection.

To quote Zelda herself, after the battle with Byrne: “We have neither the power of spirits nor demons.”

Because of that, having Byrne just state that Zelda has the power of the spirits, apropos of nothing, just seems really poorly thought out, especially if it wasn’t just an oversight.

And you might recall that this isn’t the first time they did something along these lines, as they also had Anjean say “May the spirits be with you” in an earlier cutscene, even though she said nothing of the sort in Japanese.

At this point in the game, the theme of mortals carrying on without divine guidance is about to reach its conclusion, so it’s especially frustrating that the English version now suddenly starts to undermine it like that.

Continuing from the last point, I want to take this moment to talk about Byrne a bit more.

This is technically his final scene, after all.

We’ve reached the point where Byrne sacrifices himself to help Zelda and Link, which acts as a form of redemption for him, given his earlier actions.

Aside from the point I discussed above, Byrne’s dialogue in this scene was adapted quite faithfully into English, being virtually identical between versions.

And yet, because of changes that happened earlier in the story, I feel that Byrne’s switching sides makes more sense in the Japanese version.

In the Japanese version, Byrne is mainly driven by vanity, to put it simply.

He intends to become a god himself, which means he would effectively be replacing the old god, who has already left this land.

He described his motivation as such: “I am one meant to obtain the power of God, meant to become the same as God.“

It comes across as Byrne seeing higher purpose for himself in this quite literally godforsaken land.

Someone has to take the old god’s place, and that someone is him. It's vain to be sure, but you can see how it’s an idea that could have formed within him as an unexpected result of the ideals he would have cultivated as a Lokomo.

It may appear contradictory, but this is why he chose to oppose his god and ally himself with a demon king,

But during their battle, Link and Zelda have revealed the "true answer" to Byrne's dilemma. The truth is, there actually is no need for a new god. The humans of this land do not need gods anymore.

And in turn, this is why Byrne eventually decides to join forces with them. They have simply proved him wrong, and after having had time to process it, he has come to accept it.

That's the point of what Byrne tells Zelda here, when he protects her from Malladus. He’s essentially reminding her of what she has already taught him. She can't give up now, because the power she needs to win is already inside her.

Humans like her are capable of fighting for themselves now.

In contrast, the English version has Byrne being mainly driven by greed, to put it simply.

His desire for power is not portrayed as him being vain and misguided, but as him wanting said power simply because obtaining it is possible.

This is how he describes his motivation: “Why would I want to serve the spirits…When I can become as powerful as they are?”

And as a result, I personally don’t quite buy as easily that this version of Byrne would decide to help out here. At least, not without a hint of a more self-centered ulterior motive, or the like.

To clarify, I don’t consider the English version of Byrne an actual bad guy anymore at this point, nor do I think he would still mean Link and Zelda any harm, I just don’t fully believe that this Byrne would have given up on this idea of gaining all that power.

In any case, Byrne encouraging Zelda now also has less of a connection to his own character arc in English, both due to the prior alterations, and him stating Zelda has the “power of the spirits” here.

...Unless the English version was using the "power of the spirits” aspect in this scene to try and imply Byrne had regained his piety to the spirits?

But if that was the case, it would still be a different kind of character development compared to the Japanese version.

Now, another factor of Byrne’s redemption that exists in both versions is the fact that Byrne appears to be touched by the mercy and kindness shown to him by Zelda, even if he never directly expresses it.

There is this idea that, by witnessing Zelda’s actions, Byrne can’t help but agree that this is a mature and honorable way to act, deserving of his respect. Especially after how shamefully Cole and Malladus had treated him by comparison.

And since the English version retains this aspect of Byrne’s story, it’s not like his deciding to help Zelda and Link comes completely out of nowhere or anything.

Though I still think the English portrayal of Byrne feels a bit less like the sort of person to be moved by something like this, but we all know that friendship is some powerful stuff.

With Byrne meeting his end here, I can only say that while I think his character development was slightly more logical and cohesive in the original Japanese version, he also wasn’t really handled badly in English.

When it comes to the actual way he talks, they nail him pretty well, and most of the issues I have with how he was localized stem more from the general issue of how the English version has chosen to approach anything divine in this game.

And even with that, I think the core of his original character still manages to shine through in the end.

This next point will be another long one, because we have a significant moment here.

When Zelda focuses on reclaiming her body, the way she calls out to her ancestor was changed between versions:

…Grandmother, please grant me your blessing!

Tetra! Please give me your blessing!

In the Japanese version, Zelda refers to Tetra as おばあ様/obaa-sama during this moment, which I adapted as “Grandmother”.

Just to make sure you’re all aware of it though, remember that Tetra is specifically the great-great-grandmother of this Princess Zelda.

You might notice that おばあ様/obaa-sama is nearly identical to ばあ様/baa-sama, which is the term Anjean uses to refer to Tetra affectionately. The only difference is the added prefix お/o- which makes it sound more respectful or formal.

The similarity here is most likely intentional.

Up until now, Zelda had only ever referred to Tetra as “my ancestor”, and from the way she spoke of her, it seemed clear that Zelda’s connection to Tetra was more of a distant one.

Of course, Zelda knew that Tetra was an important person who founded the kingdom, giving her some big shoes to fill as her descendant. At the same time though, it seems she didn’t know much about Tetra as a person.

But Anjean actually knew Tetra, and so it’s through her that Zelda indirectly gains a more personal connection with Tetra.

When they first meet, Anjean talks about how Zelda reminds her of Tetra, particularly because of her personality, her temperament and tenacity. Learning more about Tetra as a person, rather than an unreachable predecessor, is an important factor of the relationship between Zelda and Anjean.

In part, Zelda’s character arc throughout this game is about her finally freeing herself from being controlled by the likes of Cole. Thus, it’s also about her embracing the wild, unrestrained aspects of herself that she had been forced to suppress.

So, Anjean acts as a positive influence on Zelda, being someone who is not only amused and even impressed by her attitude, but also teaches her that her venerable dignified ancestor was actually just like that, in her own way.

It’s not something to dismiss as her being childish, it’s something she can take pride in.

That aspect culminates in this moment right here, where Zelda calls out to Tetra, but rather than calling her “ancestor”, she calls her the more familiar “Grandmother”, in a manner seemingly alluding to the way Anjean would refer to Tetra.

Moving on to the English version, Zelda instead calls out to Tetra by using her actual name.

Since English version doesn’t have a specific term that Anjean uses to refer to Tetra, they couldn’t do the same thing as the Japanese version did here.

Though aside from that, I’m assuming having Zelda say “Tetra” here was also done to give this moment a more immediately obvious impact, and I wouldn’t say that it failed at that.

But, there are still some problems because of prior changes.

Remember, aside from the cutscene in which Anjean first appears, any mentions of Tetra in the original Japanese version were changed to the more general “ancestors” in English, almost completely removing Tetra’s already subtle presence from the story.

As a result, the English version didn’t have the same buildup to this moment. Tetra’s name feels impactful because she is an important character in the franchise, but we have less of an idea of what she personally means to the characters of the current story.

At most, one could recall how Zelda spoke about her “grandmother” once, much earlier in the English version, and assume that this was Tetra. I do get the feeling that this might be what the English version wanted to imply back then, but it still clashes with the rest of the established story.

So in a way, the emotional connection between Zelda and Tetra in English sort of depends on the audience getting story details mixed up, and that’s a bit unfortunate.

There is also the topic of mentioning Tetra’s name at all.

Tetra’s name is actually never directly stated at any point in the Japanese version, it can only be found hidden in that one easter egg, where you need to tap ばあ様/baa-sama when Anjean says it.

Like I said before, I think one possible way to adapt this into English would be to pick out one specific moment where the name Tetra is actually said. But I personally don’t think this moment here is the best choice for that.

I still feel that the best moment for someone to say “Tetra” out loud in an adaption of this game would be during the cutscene before the battle on top of the Demon Train.

It’s a quiet, almost private moment, which fits the feeling of the name originally being hidden away, just for Anjean and the audience to see.

In this moment right here, Zelda calling out “Grandmother” in Japanese makes sense thematically, we know from the story itself why this is something she would call her now, and what it likely means to her emotionally.

Zelda calling out “Tetra” in English is more of a moment for the audience, a moment for people who are already fans of this character. In this version, there isn’t much of an in-story reason for why Zelda would use this name now, at least not one that is actually conveyed.

And just as a thought, consider how the Japanese version’s take on this moment would have an emotional impact on both old and new fans, while the English version wouldn’t have the same sort of impact on someone who was playing Spirit Tracks as one of their first Zelda games.

To conclude this point of discussion, I don’t think it was bad of the English version to literally use the name “Tetra” here.

I think Zelda calling out Tetra’s name here makes for fine alteration, but it’s slightly weakened by this version of the story lacking the buildup to back it up.

The game as a whole shouldn’t have removed so much of Tetra’s presence, so this moment could have had its full potential.

Still, I’ve seen many people who loved this moment regardless, though I think that’s more of a testament to how beloved of a character Tetra is.

Now it’s Cole’s turn.

They toned down his zany side as usual, but there aren’t many notable changes here aside from his last words:

Th- Th- Th-

This can’t be happening!!

…Your Majesty?

Please, no!

The English version opted to completely rewrite this part.

I’m guessing this was at least in part due to their general approach of making Cole more dignified, for the lack of a better term, but I also feel they might have wanted his last words to be more pitiful.

It is not a very fun way to go, after all.

I don’t think this is a bad change, it makes sense to give a slightly somber note to the moment in which your story’s most prominent antagonist meets his ironic fate.

And it fits with their take on Cole, too.

There is merit to the Japanese version’s take, but it wouldn’t really work in adaptation.

The way Cole just kind of screams “This can’t be happening!!” in Japanese fits with the personality he has in this version, and it happens to be similar to the words Byrne said when he was defeated by Zelda and Link.

That could be a coincidence, but since these characters act as counterparts to each other and were developed as a duo from the start, it could be an intentional parallel.

Also, a little fun fact.

You might have noticed that in Japanese, Cole has a habit of laughing and giggling like “ka ka ka”, “keekeekee”, or “ke ke ke”, and his voice clips reflect these, too.

Well, in this cutscene, as he’s stammering in fear, it actually reads as こ…こ…こ…/ko... ko... ko... in Japanese.

And if you listen closely, you can tell his voice clip at that point in the cutscene is literally him saying that, too.

I don’t know, that’s just a small detail I enjoy.

Lastly, we have the second (and final) moment during which Malladus gets to speak words.

Like I mentioned the previous time, the Japanese version has Malladus only use カタカナ/katakana and 漢字/kanji when he speaks.

I chose to adapt this by having him talk in all caps, which the English version did too during that first instance, but they drop it here for some unknown reason.

Maybe this was an oversight, or maybe they thought it didn’t look good with more words like that?

In any case, I think it would have been nice if they kept it. Malladus doesn’t get a lot of time to speak, so his speech looking unusual like that gives him just a little bit more of an identity.

Aside from that, there were also changes made to the content of what he says here.

In the Japanese version, Malladus notes that a body like Cole’s is no good, and that his soul will soon vanish.

This is something which was foreshadowed in two previous cutscenes.

First, during Anjean’s debut cutscene, she mentions that only Zelda’s body could take in Malladus’ mighty soul.

Second, after Malladus’ resurrection, Anjean also explains that in his current state, being only a soul, Malladus can’t last for much longer without a proper body.

With that in mind, it’s obvious that Cole’s body could not withstand Malladus’ soul, hence it transforming in such an extreme way, and that Malladus is in the process of running out of time.

The way Malladus talks here makes it seem like he tried to possess Cole in the vain hope that it might work somehow, but it didn’t.

In the English version, Malladus instead states that Cole’s body is rejecting his spirit, though it’s unclear if that would be because they’re not compatible, or if maybe Cole is actively resisting this possession somehow.

Either way, Malladus says he is slowly slipping from the body and can’t hold on for much longer.

Because of that, the English version lacks direct callbacks to details that were established earlier, and it also doesn’t seem like Malladus is in danger of dying soon here, just in danger of losing a physical body to use.

I’m guessing the callbacks not being featured in English was an oversight, they probably just didn’t realize this very thing happening had been set up earlier. Especially since they seemingly mistranslated one of those earlier moments.

But for all I know, it could have been an intentional change as well, in which case I can only speculate on the reason.

Perhaps it was to make Malladus seem more intimidating by not having him be on death’s door already. And maybe the implication of Cole still fighting back was intentional, to give him one last hurrah?

We don’t really have a way of knowing for sure, but I’m leaning towards a combination of both - oversights and intentional changes.

Oh, they also don’t have Malladus cursing in anger in the English version, but note that he says オノレ/onore in the Japanese version, which can be adapted as “DAMN YOU” like I did, but isn’t considered a curse unsuitable for children’s media in Japanese.

In fact, the English version of Ocarina of Time adapted it as “CURSE YOU”, when Ganondorf says it during the ending, so I’m not sure why they didn’t go for something similar in English here.

But yes, this is not really them censoring a swear, or at least it shouldn’t be?

It’s just them reducing Malladus’ already preciously short dialogue.

Looking at this cutscene as a whole, this is another one with its ups and downs in the localization.

The character’s dialogue is well-written as usual here, I’d even say it’s probably one of the best ones in that regard, as you’d want for your penultimate cutscene.

And a few flubs aside, the general adaptation of the text is faithful. Outside of Byrne saying “power of the spirits”, none of the changes in this scene really have a huge negative impact on it.

But that’s just looking at the cutscene by itself, and like many times before, there are a lot more problems when you consider it in the context of the story so far.

In the original version, this cutscene features pay-off after pay-off to various things that have been set up over the course of the game’s story.

Several plot threads understandably reach their conclusion at this point, and almost all of them don’t work in English.

Some because their earlier set-up wasn’t translated properly, and some because their conclusion was glossed over here.

Each individual one of these plot threads might seem minor and expendable on their own, but when you lose out on almost all of them collectively, it does hurt the story in some form.

If you just go by the English version, it can feel a bit like things just happen because they have to happen now, since there is not as much of a connection between the game’s separate cutscenes.

Less details mentioned at one point that then return later, less direct continuity between individual events that happen, less things leading from point A to point B as the story goes on.

And I know this is more than likely because the localizers probably had to work with the text out of context, possibly out of order, and even with different people having to handle different parts, too.

So please don’t think that I believe the translators were bad or anything, I know they almost certainly did the best they could under the circumstances.

Again, I think this game’s localization is good, actually.

On that note, this is the end of this part. Feel free to check out the next one!

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