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evermorehaikyuu · 3 years ago

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It’s Nothing Special

MASTERLIST

BREAKING NEWS | WHITE WALLS | AU CONTRAIRE

She was supposed to be out by now. The news that Y/N had been in the hospital or in some sort of ward were seen as rumors, albeit some people insisting that it was true.

The rumors had spiraled out of control to the point where Tsukishima didn’t know anything. If he texted any other members of her team, they all said the same thing: I don’t know. He found it ridiculous that they didn��t know, but he had a feeling that they were hiding her status from him. To make sure he didn’t get his hopes up or because of something happening? Either way, he just wanted to know if she was okay.

Even Semi and Tendou avoided telling him anything. Tendou and Semi constantly looked pale whenever he asked and they quickly changed the topic. It didn’t help either that they were constantly worried.

No matter how much his own team tried to cheer him up, that lingering doubt still stayed in the back of his head: Will she come back to normal? After the little bit of news that Yuki was the Unknown Address, he could tell the entire experience was traumatizing. Who in the world would try to murder their best friend because they got everything that they wanted? You’d think they’d find another way to unleash their anger and to go so far so as to threaten innocent people’s lives...Yuki was definitely not sane. They should’ve found out earlier. He should’ve done something to try and protect her, but then again what could he have done? Tsukishima’s thoughts were too conflicting and lying down in bed didn’t help.

Meanwhile, Y/N was sitting in her new place, frowning. She was trying to sort out everything that happened in the last week. Thanks to the amount of rumors swirling around, no one would blame her for staying out of the face of the public for a while. She took that time to try and see what she could gather.

Yuki was the Unknown, that much she knew. But how long had Yuki harbored those feelings? And why did he decide to work with her? Why would he threaten innocent people? What was in it for him?

Too many questions with no answers at all. Perhaps that was the reason why she could feel Yuki slipping away since the start of the meeting with Karasuno. His jealousy was too much to the point where he had even tried to kill her. She shouldn’t have forgiven him and even so, she was furious with him. He did not have any logic in his plan for one. Two, it was utterly ridiculous. Here she was, a sitting duck, all because doctors thought that she was going slightly insane. Maybe she was a little shaken, but to go ahead and treat her like someone in a ward, that’s what made her frustrated. That was Yuki’s fault.

Someone knocked at the front door and when it opened, Y/N tensed. Even though she knew she had given a copy of the key to Suki, it didn’t help that she was now more paranoid than before. When the girl walked in with freshly dyed hair, she was followed by the rest of Y/N’s team. Suki said, “This place is messier than what I expected.”

“Can you blame me?” Y/N sighed. She knew the place was messy but she couldn’t find the time (nor the willpower) to actually clean everything up.

“Not really.” Hikari said when he walked in, holding a bag of things Y/N didn’t recognize. “It’s crazy, to think that Yuki would do something like that. I never expected it.”

Yukie and Kaori walked in next, holding bags of food. Yukie said, “Sakura couldn’t come. She has to study for some finals she said, but she really wanted to be here.”

“Are we sure she isn’t actually scared?” Y/N joked bitterly. Those rumors had gotten to her own team. She genuinely wanted to deck Yuki now.

Her managers didn’t comment on anything and they instead got to work as Suki requested. The house before her morphed into what seemed like a butterfly transformation. All of the empty mugs everywhere were whisked into the kitchen, the lingering smell of someone who had lived there but didn’t care started fading away, the newspapers giving any idea of what happened to Yuki were discarded, the chips of glass from when she had broken a plate in fury as well as several others got swept, and soon enough, the house finally looked livable.

Hikari sat across from her, handing her a mug of her favorite hot drink. Y/N mumbled a thank you, but she already expected what their questions were going to be. After all, she hadn’t answered their calls for weeks and in her fit of rage, she’d broken it. Luckily, it wasn’t an expensive phone but it just went to show how furious she was that no one commented on her not picking up calls or answering messages.

Yuki had brought out a side of Y/N that nobody thought was there and it was in the worst way possible.

Taking a deep breath, the light haired boy across from her asked, “Are you comfortable with us asking you questions and telling you things?”

With a sip of her drink, Y/N thought about it. It seemed like an eternity since she’d seen her friends and now she was just tired. She wanted to curl up somewhere and sleep for a good week or so. It was nice that Hikari was asking though. Knowing his job, it might’ve been inspiration for something or other.

It seemed like Hikari read her mind then. “I won’t take it as inspiration. I’m not that cruel. I know what you’ve gone through, I just want your consent to ask if this is okay.”

The other three girls arrived in the living room, taking respective seats and all eyes were on Y/N. There was just a shadow of a doubt crossing her face before she responded. “Okay.”

“Yuki was incarcerated after we got to the scene. He claims that he was trying to kill you and even though he said that he’d leave Karasuno alone, he said he wouldn’t. He wanted to save Tsukishima last to savor his look of pain once he admitted that he had killed you. The reason why he wanted to do so was because he was jealous of you. Everything you had, he believed it was because of him. There’s an investigation going on about your parents because he had said something suspicious about it.”

Y/N frowned. This was adding up, but in a way she didn’t want to admit. “Yuki had something to do with my parents?”

“Not him exactly. As I said, there’s an investigation going on. Along with that, they’re going to find your real name and you can decide whether to take it back or keep your stage name.”

“I’ll keep my stage name, thanks.” It was supposed to come out jokingly, yet it seemed like the past month or so had deeply scarred her. She had one coherent thought come out of her. Tsukishima. “Is Tsukishima okay?”

“I can answer this.” Kaori said, plucking out a snack from Yukie’s hands. “He’s been severely worried about you and calling us all. However, Semi had said not to tell him anything about you because he knew how you were.”

“Ah yes, the cameras, I’ve been waving at them the entire time.” That was a lie, she’d been cursing out Semi and Yuki the entire time, making vulgar gestures at the camera when she was bored.

Kaori knew this because when Sakura had watched the footage, she always reported that. It had made her laugh then but at the sight of the broken girl before her, it didn’t seem as funny. “Tsukishima is still worried about you and he really wants to see you soon. Let’s just say that he’s also been driving his company insane because he refuses to cooperate until he knows you’re okay.”

Y/N’s heart raced against its own will. She could still remember the conversations she had had with him and how he had been able to make her smile easily. Karasuno had told her that he completely changed when they were talking and he was even excited nowadays if he knew that she’d be somewhere. He refused to always say anything about them both, but Y/N knew that he was just someone that didn’t talk openly about private things. It was clear in their messages, now that she thought about it. It was clear how much they cared about one another. After all, would she have done what she did for anyone else? She’d like to think so, but honestly, it depended. At least it was Tsukishima and not anyone else. She didn’t want to think about that. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s why Karasuno has been on break for about a week or so now. Trust me when I say that we’ve had to blackmail so many news outlets to stop talking about both of you. But they still do.” Kaori shrugged before sighing. “This entire thing has caused a lot of chaos.”

It was true. She could see it from the bags under their eyes and how tired they were. A flare of love and admiration for these four came up from within her. They had signed a contract to work with her but she saw them as her best friends. All of this work to make sure that her privacy was ensured. Even Suki, who appeared to loathe Tsukishima, had worked to try and let him down gently.

Suki had chosen that moment to speak, in a voice that Y/N had never heard from her before. It was much more gentle and soft. “I think it’s best if you talk to him at some point.”

Y/N’s eyes widened as she looked at her. “Have you gotten past the enemy stage?”

She shrugged. “Let’s just say that if he makes you happy, I can deal.”

Yukie raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to see him soon?”

Y/N nodded. With that action of assent, Yukie grinned. “Good, because lover boy texted immediately. Come on. We’ll go to his company. Let’s get you ready.”

On the way to the company, Y/N could not stop moving. There was only the thought of what she would say to him. What could she say after this entire ordeal? Hi, I’m back, I missed you and it turns out I have genuine like like feelings for you but Yuki messed it all up--Yeah, scratch that, that was definitely not going to be something he’d tell him.

“Now you’re making me nervous and I’m not doing anything,” Suki joked, but the bitter tone behind it threw Y/N off.

“You okay?” Y/N knew her best friend like the back of her hand and something was up. “Is it Tsukishima?”

“Actually, no. It’s nothing really.” Suki looked at her sadly and shrugged. “All I’m wondering is why he did it until now. Looking at it from his point of view, don’t you think that he would’ve been smart to figure it all out earlier? What I’m saying is why now? What caused him to do something like that?”

Y/N had thought about that countless times. Considering the amount of openings she had had, it was just a wonder that he didn’t attack her from the start. Maybe she could go and talk to him or have someone else do so. But something wasn’t out in the open yet and she wanted to know.

Once they were at the familiar building, Y/N stepped out, staring up at it. “Is it too late now to go back?” She could feel the bile rising up her throat, nervousness infiltrating every part of her being. Maybe this was a worse idea than what she had thought.

“It’s just him, Y/N,” Kaori said gently, leading the group. They had gotten on an elevator to go to the very last floor.

Meanwhile, Tsukishima was pacing in that floor in the dance room. Yamaguchi, Kageyama and Hinata watched him curiously. Here the most monotone of the group was, extraordinarily worried for someone that shouldn’t have concerned him as much as it did. But as much as he denied it, those feelings were just feelings of love. Had he come to terms with them? Who knew?

Tsukishima looked up at the door for the umpteenth time today as if expecting Y/N to walk through or create a bigger possibility of her finally arriving. To his shock, the door opened and this time it wasn’t the others. It was Y/N’s managers as well as Hikari and Suki.

Yukie said, “All right, clear out, let’s give them some privacy.”

The other three started complaining, giving retorts as to why they should stay until Yukie grabbed Yamaguchi’s wrist, Kaori coaxed Hinata out of the door and Hikari made Kageyama follow him out. Suki went over to Tsukishima, her arms crossed as the door closed.

“Let me just warn you: she’s not the same. She’s changed. The girl still likes you though. Take care of her for me, got it?” With those words, Suki opened the door to show Y/N standing there.

But it didn’t seem like her anymore. The misery in her eyes was still there. Her posture was no longer like before, it seemed like she was shrinking back. It was clear from her trembling hands too that she didn’t know whether it was right to go in or not.

Tsukishima had wide eyes and when she walked to him, he didn’t think, he just acted. Pulling her in for a tight hug, he buried his face in her shoulder. “Thank God.”

“Hey, Tsukki.” Her voice was softer than before, almost inaudible as she hugged him back just as tightly. “I miss--” Her voice broke and Tsukishima could sense her on the verge of tears. He turned out to be right and at the sound of her crying, he felt like he’d cry along with her. If he’d ever get the chance, he’d have a long talk with Yuki at least for turning her into the girl before him.

When she had calmed down, he led her away to the wall and made her sit next to him. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She was fiddling with her fingers, clearly thinking about what to tell him. Looking at the wall across from him, he decided to wait patiently until she was ready. It didn’t take long. After five minutes of silence, Y/N spoke up. “Yuki came after me. He wanted what I had for himself. I think the prospect of both of us collaborating was something he hated because it’d make us--well, me--rise to the top. He believed that he deserved that position more than you. That’s...basically it.”

The blond frowned. Yuki just wanted what Y/N had? Why did he stick by her though? “You don’t think that he actually, you know...”

“What, liked me as more than a friend?” Y/N scoffed. “They thought it was a possibility. I don’t know. I don’t really care.” However the way she spat out those words made it clear that she didn’t know what to think. “Not after what he did.”

These were the occasions where he knew immediately what to do next or maybe even have taken Tanaka and Noya’s advice. Now he was slightly lost. Scratch that, more than slightly lost. Instead, he let her lean against his shoulder for a while and it was quiet again. It was peaceful until he decided to speak up. “Have you eaten yet? I think we should go to this place I think you’d like.”

Y/N knew that he was trying his hardest to make her feel better so with a smile, she nodded against him. “Okay. Let’s go then.”

Neither of them wanted to stay in the past but the only way to go forward was dealing with it. They’d both be fine together and they knew that they’d be able to help each other out whenever it started to get bad.

Hmmm its almost done literally that’s so sad

Taglist: @chocolaterumble @ghostdaichi @akaashikeillmepls @goopycookie @halparkebitch @nctdream-boat @laninasinnombre @nataliahaslosthershit @words-in-air @virgoamajiki @paranoid-borderline-insane @mirikusashes @mint-mai @noyasimp @24nah25 @definitely-yours @chesirecatwaltz @theydy-madamonsieur @lilsimp @eruji-chan-pb @kiraakaashi @trifliz @nightshadeshimin @kac-chowsballs @its-the-aerieljeane @hqreisin @channiechanchan @fandomsgotmefucked @watermelon-sugar-is-my-drugs @bakugouswh0r3 @rizkei-iscurrentlydying @so-lo-stuff @jewlmin @kotarousbabyowl @lumin3xe @artemisnotfowl @random-fandom-girl-24 @darkangeldesignstudio @vhsryuu @chaotic-fangirl-blog @tycrackculture @4ck3rm4ns1mp @stupendousbonkcopland @encryptpta @bwnwlut

Taglist is now closed!

#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu smau #tsukishima x reader #tsukishima kei x reader #tsukishima x y/n #tsukishima kei x y/n #tsukishima x you #tsukishima kei x you #tsukishima smau #tsukishima kei smau

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aozorasoann · 1 year ago

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Yes yes yes all of this!

Honestly don't know if I'll write the fic idea I have but I will definitely keep jotting down ideas and we'll see if they turn into something!

Don't know how coherent this will be, probably not as much as my previous answer, it's pretty late here, but I approve the 'please cry' so much PLEASE LET THAT BOY CRY, have him snap, have his traveler friends help him through this! And also I really wish we had eight chapters for the final part, one focusing on each character. But right as I thought that I realized that there are two characters that kinda have that in their crossed path. And at the same time it made me realize... "hey you know who got a pretty understated but still really strong way to show her trauma? CASTTI!"

Vide trying to take her was such a powerful moment for both her and Ochette and it honestly feels like it could have been these two's chapter in that hypothetical final chapter, so I wonder if they could have done something that powerful for all eight (don't get me wrong, T&T bouncing off each other was great, the Osvald and Partitio thing was interesting and funny and while I complain about Agnea and Hikari serving no purpose in the plot and not really developping the characters it was still a sweet storyline, I just think it should have been a subquest... but the Castti and Ochette stuff just hits different I feel). But while I find the idea of Vide being scared of Castti after she no-selled the book super interesting, I can't help but think...

In a way, Vide has such a strong pull on Hikari at first, only to lose it by the end and this part is never really explored when it could have been the perfect way to make him snap. You could say he was immune thanks to his Lumina bloodline but we'll never know since said bloodline is never really explored, and neither is the fact that he shares the same blood as Osvald's wife and daughter (and technically, probably Throne on the other end). IT'S LIKE THEY PLANNED SO MUCH STUFF WITH THE CHARACTER BUT ONLY MANAGED TO INCLUDE THE BARE BONES IN THE GAME! (it would make sense as the artbook has kinda made me feel like they planned him and his stuff a long time before anything else, maybe they had too many ideas and had to cut a lot down to be able to focus on every character...)

So yeah, just, time to explore just how messed up EVERYTHING about Hikari is would have been great, gdi game writers if you wanted to make a game just about him than go make it! I'll pay for that dlc!

Just imagine Vide actually focusing on the characters that have thematic relevance to him. Funnily enough when I first fought Vide, my front team was Hikari, Throné, Agnea and Temenos and I'm pretty sure I could find thematic reasons for all four of them to be his targets. Hikari for being half Lumina (as well as probably being closer due to trying to save Kazan- yes by that point I'm throwing ideas at a board and see if they'd work if I ever write that fic), Throné for being his 'vessel' (something that is never really explored in that fight either), Agnea for her whole hope thematic that goes against all Vide is about, and Temenos for being a priest of Aelfric, his mortal enemy... Damn that actually does work pretty well.

Anyway I now want a whole new batch of crossed paths and one of them would be Hikari and Osvald going on a quest to figure out stuff about the Lumina and Osvald adopting Hikari because boy deserves a better family.

This went completely sideways towards the end but I guess I just started rambling and thoughts wouldn't stop coming.

I think my tldr is: they obviously had sooo many ideas when coming off with Hikari (and the game in general) that I'm almost sure they had to leave the development for some on the cutting floor but as a result I am! frustrated!

@aozorasoann Lol sorry for the tag I just rlly like talking abt this topic and I really wanted to respond-

Bruh fr tho- like as much as I like imagining that Hikari’s actually secretly bottling things up and gets to process stuff.. ..after the plot (is delusional-)

(Spoiler warning for all of the game, brief mentions of suicide but it’s never discussed in detail)

I agree that it was bad writing- We seriously needed to see Hikari actually react and process everything. But naaahhh instead we got “yeah and then he saved the kingdom and somehow cured the curse that he’s had his entire life with the power of friendship and sheer willpower!”

Like no.. that’s not how it works…

It honestly feels like the writers just- didn’t realize the sheer weight of the things that happen to him in his chapters. Like- he watched his dad die in his arms, he watched another friend die in his arms, watched his whole village burn down, his best friends all betrayed him in some way, his older brother constantly demeans him, his mom died in front of him, just when he thinks the violence ended, turned out one of his best friends was using him the whole time for some end of the world plot, who he had to watch kill himself btw, and he has intrusive thoughts, caused by a curse that threatens to consume him— which he never even got an explanation for until the 5th chapter. Like seriously- this man was living with a voice in his head since his mom’s death and everybody dismissed him when he was like “do you hear the voices too?” LIKE..

Yet all of these are treated as plot points rather than life altering traumatic events :/

Thing is- the writers KNOW how to write trauma. They did it with Throné. Hikari and Throné both have very similar stories- they were both raised in a hostile environment where violence was the norm, they both hate bloodshed, and they both have to cut through people who they considered family to continue their goals. (Throné had to cut through Mother and Father- which- while she didn’t care for mother, Father pretty much raised her… meanwhile Hikari has to fight his brother, and multiple friends.)

Why did Throné get to react? Why did Throné get to fall to her knees in despair over Claude being her bio father? Over having to kill her only father figure- and get multiple banters of party members reassuring her that everything will be okay? Why did they take Throné’s story seriously, while brushing off the things that happened to Hikari? Did they think that since he was supposed to be The Strong Warrior Character™️, he just- couldn’t have emotions???

Akxbwjxxh Hikari’s still my favorite character (it may not seem so bc I literally just tore his story apart um oops-) as it’s fun to project onto him and headcanon that he’s actually deeply affected by the things that happen to him and just bottles everything up :,D

I just wish the writers realized how heavy they made Hikari’s story and treated it that way bc seriously- what the fuck ;-;

Also sorry for the essay- this was supposed to be a paragraph um oops

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veeranger · 5 years ago

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So you want to watch Precure!

Version 1.3

(Google Docs Vers & Changelog)

Maybe you follow people who like it, maybe you just love magical girls and never got into Precure, but there are over a dozen seasons and you don’t know how to jump in. Never fear, this masterpost is here to give you a rundown of Precure, and hopefully by the end you’ll have an idea of where you want to start.

What Is Precure?

Precure (short for Pretty Cure) is a Toei Animation franchise started in 2004 and has been on the air nonstop since then. It’s a magical girl franchise, y’know like sailor moon or ojamajo doremi or other such shows. The main demographic is children so you don’t have to worry about any weird “fanservice” or panty shots or anything nasty like that, it’s very G rated.

What Are The Shows About?

In a general sense, Precure is about a team of 2-6 middle school age magical girls fighting bad guys and giant monsters and saving the world on a weekly basis with pretty outfits and big flashy finishers and the power of love and friendship. Each season follows a pretty standard formula (toku fans should be pretty familiar with it for the most part), and each season is around 48-50 episodes long.

In keeping with this toku-esque formula, most seasons will feature mid season additions to the cast, in the form of new precure heroes. For the sake of not spoiling these shows, these mid season cures will not be mentioned in our plot overviews unless they appear extremely early or something like that. Just know that almost every season will feature an additional cure joining the team later in the show.

Additionally, every season has at least one movie, these days there’s usually two per season. Usually you’ll find the movies are a standalone self-contained romp, and a crossover movie with the preceding seasons, with a focus on the most recent 2-3 teams. These movies might as well exist in a continuity of their own, and have absolutely no bearing on the plot whatsoever, save for one except which I’ll mention when we get to that season.

Why Should I Watch Precure?

Because it’s good. It’s a really stellar franchise with a ton of content and genuinely engaging characters and stories. Also this isn’t your mom’s magical girl show, these girls throw punches, and kicks, and big lasers. Precure is pretty well known for being extremely hands on with its combat compared to other magical girl shows, though don’t expect the same kind of fights you’d find in kamen rider or anything. Also a main draw for a lot of people is the amount of gay subtext in, frankly, every season. While there’s only one season with an explicitly confirmed gay relationship between two cures, every season has varying levels of subtext between cures, it’s pretty cool. We won’t discuss the subtext in every season overview but trust us, it’s in there.

What Show Should I Start With?

It doesn’t actually matter which season you watch, every season is a new setting and with new characters and set in a new world (except for two sequel seasons i’ll explain later), so you’re free to watch whatever you want in any order! We’re going to spend the rest of this post talking about each season to give you, the beloved reader, a glimpse at what each season has to uniquely offer. Don’t worry, there’s no spoilers down there.

Futari Wa Precure (We Are Pretty Cure) & Futari Wa Precure Max Heart

The original precure show that aired in 2004, and even received an english dub. Misumi Nagisa is a star lacrosse player living a normal life until one day a shooting star she wishes on turns out to be a fairy that careens right into her room, or rather, smacks her right in the face. The fairy, named Mepple, explains he comes from the Garden of Light, another world that’s been taken over by the evil Dark King and his Dark Zone in order to capture the Prism Stones, a number of heart shaped crystals that, if collected, could give Dark King the power to destroy not only the Garden of Light but also the Garden of Rainbows, Earth itself. Meanwhile, Yukishiro Honoka finds a box in her grandmother’s shed containing an item just like the one that smacked Nagisa in the face, and inside is the fairy Mipple, who explains the situation to Honoka. The two fairies, seeking to be reunited, drag Nagisa and Honoka along and the four of them end up meeting up, but are attacked by an emissary of the Dark Zone. Mepple and Mipple grant the confused duo the power to transform into the warriors of legend, Precure. As Cure Black and Cure White, Nagisa and Honoka manage to fight off their attacker and protect their new fairy partners. The girls are then more or less dragged into the battle against the Dark Zone, as the only hope for both Gardens, they fulfill their duty as legendary warriors despite their hesitations and desires to go back to being normal teenagers.

Futari Wa doesn’t exactly have any major themes to speak of, it’s just your standard magical girl vs evil bad guys kind of thing, forgive it for being the first season. What it does have to offer is the relationship between Nagisa and Honoka, as well as the action in fight scenes. The girls don’t start the season as best friends, in fact they barely even know each other’s names when they’re first flung together. It takes a few episodes and a major fight between the girls for them to really start opening up to each other, but soon enough they become inseparable and support each other in everything they do. It’s clear, especially near the end, that the girls cling to each other for support and strength in the face of the increasingly overwhelming odds they face as the Dark Zone gains strength. It’s very compelling to see their relationship deepen in the early season and see how deep their bonds truly go near the end.

Futari Wa received a sequel show, Futari Wa Precure Max Heart, picking up the story where it left off in the first season’s finale. Honoka and Nagisa are still the main characters, and they’re still fighting the Dark Zone, but this time they’re joined by a mysterious girl named Hikari, who can transform into Shiny Luminous, not a precure but precure-ish. This time the girls are trying to recover the heart and soul of the Queen of the Garden of Light, before the Dark Zone can recover and destroy the queen in her weakened state. Also their precure costumes have changed slightly.

The first season (that is to say, not max heart) is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform Crunchyroll

Futari Wa Precure Splash Star

Hyuuga Saki (Cure Bloom), a tomboy who loves playing softball, and Mishou Mai (Cure Egret), a quiet transfer student and aspiring artist, meet each other by chance one day under the Sky Tree, where they discover two creatures from the Land of Fountains named Flappy and Choppy. The two girls transform into the legendary Precure and are tasked with restoring Princess Filia and the Seven Holy Fountains, which were sapped of their power by the evil forces of Dark Fall.

Splash Star's main theme is the appreciation of nature. The main focus is on the girls rediscovering their relationships with their town and the nature and people in it. You get to meet a whole cast of characters in their community, who have a lot of heart and charm behind their writing and the show does a good job of getting you genuinely invested in their stories.

Unfortunately the romance in Splash Star isn’t much better than Futari Wa's (sorry to any Fujimura/Kazuya fans), but the main girls themselves are so engaging that it's easy to ignore. The villains are pretty goofy, but entertaining if you can accept that the show doesn’t take itself very seriously. There are two villains in the latter half of the season that really stand out, though. Without spoiling too much, I can promise you their character arcs will tear at your heartstrings in the best way.

If you've watched Futari wa Precure, Splash Star will probably feel familiar. Although it's the first "reboot" series in the franchise with completely new characters, Toei overall played it safe and Saki and Mai in many ways still feel like "Nagisa and Honoka 2.0". Splash Star is different in enough other ways to make the show stand on its own merits, but if you watch it immediately after Futari wa you might find yourself feeling some deja vu. Personally, I think it's interesting to see what Splash Star builds on and explores when compared to Futari wa, since it has many of the same themes and character archetypes but they play out quite differently.

Yes! Precure 5 & Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!

Nozomi is a cheerful, carefree girl, but she doesn’t have a dream. One day she meets a hot guy and finds a mysterious item called the Dream Collet, capable of granting any wish once all the fairies known as Pinkies are gathered inside it, in the school library. She discovers that the hot guy is actually a tanuki from Palmier Kingdom named Coco, and that the Kingdom has been destroyed by the Nightmare. Coco’s dream is to restore his kingdom using the Dream Collet, and Nozomi decides to make it hers as well.

She’s joined by her jock friend Rin, Urara, an aspiring actress, Komachi, a writer, and the rich student council president Karen. Together they form Yes Sentai Fiveranger Yes Precure 5 and work together to prevent Nightmare from obtaining the Dream Collet before they can gather all the Pinkies. They also save Coco’s “”””””friend””””””” and fellow hot guy squirrel, Nuts, and he joins them as the second mascot/handsome love interest.

The theme of Yes is dreams and heterosexual furry romance. It pulls off the dreams part very nicely. The het furry romance is bad, mostly because Coco is Nozomi’s teacher at school and also her love interest. However, Coco and Nuts are fairly gay and if you look past the romance part they have very good dadly relationships with the rest of the team.

Yespre, like Futari Wa, received a sequel show, Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!. After the defeat of Nightmare some time ago, a new faction called Eternal rises up and starts stealing treasures from various dimensions. When Eternal targets the Rose Pact belonging to the Cure Rose Garden, the precure are called back into action to fight against Eternal, with new cure outfits, a new fairy named Syrup, and a new cure-like teammate named Milky Rose.

Fresh Precure!

Fresh is sort of the defining series for modern Precure, introducing a lot of plot and thematic elements to the franchise that would be used repeatedly later on.

A concert Momozono Love attends is attacked by a monster called a Nakewameke. When Love stands up to it, she is nearly killed, but is saved when she is chosen by a mysterious power to become Cure Peach. She is joined by Inori and Miki as Cure Pine and Cure Berry, and, together with the talking ferret from the Kingdom of Sweets, Tarte, they have to prevent Labyrinth, a grey world led by Mobius, from taking over the Parallel Worlds and transforming them into identical, machine-like dictatorships, and also figure out the secret behind the Magic Baby, Chiffon, that Tarte is entrusted with.

Fresh’s themes are happiness and nature/technology and donuts. The donuts are important. Labyrinth operates by gathering misery; the Nakewameke are created from it and their function is to create more of it and fill the Sorrow Gauge. All the girls (and the mascot) have love interests and their familial relationships are explored a lot to bring out the general stakes and emphasise what they’re fighting for.

While Fresh is very strong in characters, plot, and thematics, its lack of budget is very apparent. It looks terrible. Fortunately, it isn’t that difficult to get used to the bad animation once you get into the show, although the lack of means tends to show up at inopportune moments, like new powerups.

Heartcatch Precure!

Featuring character designs and art direction from Ojamajo Doremi’s character designer Umakoshi Yoshihiko, and written by Ojamajo Doremi and Onegai My Melody writer Yamada Takashi, Heartcatch should look and feel familiar to fans of either franchise, especially Doremi.

After having a reoccurring dream about someone called Cure Moonlight being defeated trying to defend the “Great Heart Tree”, the shy and reserved Hanasaki Tsubomi moves in with her grandmother and ends up inheriting the will of Cure Moonlight and becomes the newest precure, Cure Blossom. Finding out her grandmother used to be the legendary Cure Flower, Tsubomi vows to protect the world as a precure and learn to change herself for the better. She’s joined by her new friend and the first person she saved as a precure, Kurumi Erika, a loud girl with a big heart who means well, but doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind. Erika becomes Cure Marine and the two become Heartcatch Precure, the newest precure in the long legacy of those who have stood up to the evil Dune, a mysterious invader who destroys planets and turns them into lifeless deserts. Heartcatch Precure fights against Dune’s minions: the mask wearing Professor Sabaku, his Desert Apostles, and the mysterious Dark Precure. Along the way they meet the former Cure Moonlight, now stripped of her power, and try to help her cope with her defeat.

Heartcatch Precure’s main theme is flowers and flower language. Everyone has a “heart flower” that the Desert Apostles take and use to create their monsters every week. As an interesting result of this, the monster of the week will be the main character in the plot of the week and often their big monster form will vent about their issues which will usually lead to a resolution when the precure return them to their regular bodies. Heartcatch also has a very nice backstory and lore to it. Unlike most iterations of precure, the Heartcatch girls are not the first precure to exist in their world, there are dozens maybe hundreds of precure that came before them, fighting against Dune and his forces for hundreds of years. It adds a lot to the narrative in small ways, especially later on in the season. Also the fight scenes are extremely excellent, especially when Moonlight is involved.

Suite Precure♪

The musical paradise of Major Land falls under siege by the forces of Minor Land, led by King Mephisto. His goal is to steal the living notes of the “Melody of Happiness” and remake them into the “Melody of Sorrow”, throwing the world into a permanent depressive state. As a last resort, Queen Aphrodite scatters the notes into the human world and tasks Hummy, the cat-like fairy, and the Fairy Tones, to find the notes before the forces of Minor Lands can capture them. In the human world, Hummy meets Hojo Hibiki and Minamino Kanade, two girls who were best friends as children, but drifted apart as teenagers because of their tendency to bicker with each other. The two find themselves thrown together again by fate and transform into Cure Melody and Cure Rhythm to protect the things they hold dear. Not long after, the two rekindle their relationship and become closer than before, despite their bickering. Soon the girls run into the mysterious Cure Muse, a girl who appears to be a precure like them, but hides her face with a mask and refuses to join in their fight, claiming to be neither friend nor enemy. Melody and Rhythm battle against Minor Land and the giant Negatones they create from the notes they gather, as well as Siren, another cat-like fairy who used to be Hummy’s best friend before turning to evil and joining Minor Land.

Suite Precure’s main theme is music, and it is a very encompassing theme. Hibiki and Kanade bond over their piano practice, the town they live in celebrates music frequently and is aesthetically music themed, and their powers take the form of musical instruments. Harmony is also a large theme for the two girls. Their precure power increases as they harmonize with each other, and the early season is very much about them learning to harmonize with each other. Suite also features several extremely well done mystery arcs, about the identity of Cure Muse, and various other things that I can’t very well talk about without risking spoiling things myself. If you manage to go into Suite not knowing anything consider yourself extremely lucky and be super sure not to get spoiled. The show staff went to great lengths to hide certain things, including leaking fake cure designs, and creating a second version of the second dance ending to further mask the identity of Cure Muse until her true reveal.

Also something to note, usually precure movies have nothing to do with the plot of the show itself and can be watched whenever but the Suite movie is best enjoyed right after the arc revealing Cure Muse’s identity is concluded, it has a nice resolution to plot elements in that arc and sets the stage for the last few arcs of the show, so be sure to watch it then.

Smile Precure!

Written by Kamen Rider Kabuto head writer Yonemura Shoji, Smile Precure is the second season to feature a 5 girl team after Yes! Precure 5 Gogo!. Running late to her first day of school, resident happy-go-lucky klutz Hoshizora Miyuki runs face first into a small creature called Candy, a fairy from a place called Märchenland. The two are attacked by an anthropomorphic wolf named Wolfrun, and Miyuki transforms into Cure Happy to fight against Wolfrun and the big clown faced monster he summons called an Akanbe. After Candy explains that the legends say there are five precure, Miyuki recruits four new friends: the hot blooded Akane (Cure Sunny), shy artist Yayoi (Cure Peace), responsible older sister Nao (Cure March), and refined student council vice-president Reika (Cure Beauty). The five of them become Smile Precure and fight against Wolfrun and his allies in the Bad End Kingdom, who attempt to revive the slumbering Pierrot by trying to put the world in a “Bad End”.

Smile Precure’s main theme is fairy tales, in a general sense. The Bad End trio are based off of the big bad wolf (Wolfrun), the oni from Momotaro (Akaoni), and the witch from Snow White (Majorina), and Miyuki herself is utterly captivated by fairy tales. The secondary theme is happiness, and the happy go lucky tone of the series often turns on its head during serious arcs to deliver extremely powerful emotional moments. Smile Precure is light on plot, and most episodes are an ultra happy experience, but the show knows how to get serious when it needs to and Smile is exceedingly competent at pulling off drama when the time comes. Smile knows how to get you invested in its characters and use that to pull on your heartstrings during the big moments. The last 10 episodes of the show are the absolute pinnacle of the show’s emotional drama, and each cure gets her own episode for closure before the finale sets in and emotionally destroys you. Also you get to play rock paper scissors with Cure Peace during her roll call so that’s always fun.

Doki Doki! Precure

Doki opens with Trump Kingdom’s destruction by the Selfishness as Cure Sword looks on, helpless. Switching to our world and brighter topics, we meet Aida Mana, Student Council President of Oogai Middle School, whose dream is to become the Prime Minister of Japan. Whenever Mana sees someone in trouble, she’ll help them out, so when a monster attacks the city, Mana does the obvious and tries to stop it. And when, chosen by the fairy Charuru (Charles? Cheryle? Cherry?) to become a Precure and defend the world, she meets Cure Sword, she has to befriend her and help her restore Trump Kingdom and find her happiness.

Mana (Cure Heart) is joined by Rikka (Cure Diamond), her studious companion and supporter, and also the immeasurably powerful and rich (in that order) Alice (Cure Rosetta). Together they have to unravel the mystery of the man who gave them their transformation items, the missing princess of Trump Kingdom, the strange, evil girl called Regina, and Ai, the chaotic neutral baby who hatches out of an egg.

Dokipre’s theme is love and selflessness. It also has Deep Lore, a lot of which is established in extra-series material. The show does try to explore concepts like past cures and manages a very nice repeating pattern effect with the plot, in terms of past and future happenings. There’s a lot of foreshadowing. Compared to most Precure seasons it’s very plot-heavy and even the filler usually ends up being plot-relevant.

Happiness Charge Precure!

The 10th anniversary of Precure! The Phantom Empire is spreading across the world, and Precure are rising up all over the globe to fight them off. In Japan there are two active cures, Cure Fortune, strong and capable, and Cure Princess, scared and unsure of herself. As Cure Princess, Shirayuki Hime, struggles desperately to do her duty as precure, Cure Fortune refuses to work with her for reasons Hime doesn’t fully understand. Realizing her only hope is to find a partner to work with, Hime bumps into Aino Megumi, a super friendly girl who has a tendency to drop everything and help others any time she sees someone in need. Megumi becomes Cure Lovely, and bolstering Hime’s confidence, the two of them become Happiness Charge Precure, tasked with protecting Japan from Queen Mirage and her Phantom Empire. The two are joined by Cure Honey, and eventually Cure Fortune, and the four of them receive support from Blue, the God of Planet Earth. As the girls continue to fight and defend Japan, they are assaulted by Phantom, the ruthless Precure Hunter who has defeated and trapped countless Precure in his Precure Graveyard, and the Oresky Trio, the Phantom Empire generals who oversee the invasion of Japan.

Happiness Charge Precure’s themes are romance and happiness. There are several arcs dedicated to the budding romances of the cures, and the backstory of the show is heavily tied to romance. Happiness might as well be Megumi’s middle name, she makes it her business to spread happiness to as many people as she can, and takes every chance she can to help others. Happiness Charge is also the first season to have form changes for the precure, each cure has a small selection of forms they can change to for different big attacks, and this concept would later be expanded and used as a core concept in Maho Girls Precure. Like Heartcatch before it, Happiness Charge exists in a world where multiple precure exist, but unlike Heartcatch all those precure exist at the same time in the present day. Other precure teams make cameos every so often and the concept creates a great world in which the whole planet is being protected by teenage girls with superpowers, creating a wonderful sense of scale that really makes the big victories of Happiness Charge Precure feel even bigger.

Go! Princess Precure

The first precure series to take place at a boarding school! Years ago, a young girl named Haruno Haruka meets a very royal looking person named Kanata who gives her a Dress-Up Key, a big key shaped like a dress. A teenager now, Haruka starts attending Noble Academy, a prestigious boarding school, all the while holding tight to her dream of becoming a true princess, in a quasi-literal sense. Not long after starting the school year, Haruka meets Pafu and Aroma, two fairies from the Hope Kingdom desperate to revive the legendary precure to fight back against Dyspear and her minions who steal dreams to create their giant Zetsuborgs. Realizing what her Dress-Up Key is meant for, Haruka uses it and the Princess Perfume to become Cure Flora. Together with student council president Kaido Minami (Cure Mermaid), and Amanogawa Kirara (Cure Twinkle) a fashion model with huge aspirations, they become the new Princess Precure, tasked with learning to become true princesses along with protecting the Dress-Up Keys from Dyspear’s forces.

Go! Princess Precure’s main themes are princesses (duh) and dreams. Dreams are a driving force behind all of the cures, and most of the plot of the week characters. Dyspear steals dreams to make monsters, and the precure fight to return those dreams. Characters follow their dreams with conviction, pride, and full commitment. This is also where the princess theme intersects, since it’s Haruka’s dream to become a true princess. One should note that princess is used sort of liberally in this series, it’s not that Haruka wants to somehow become someone of noble birth or have political power, she just wants to be strong, kind, and beautiful, the traits of a true princess in Princess Precure’s own terms. Also she wants to wear pretty dresses and such but who can blame her really.

Mahou Tsukai Precure! (Maho Girls Precure!)

Quite literally putting the magic in magical girls for the first time in the franchise, Mahou Tsukai Precure was the first season to have its cures be actual magicians. Izumi Riko lives in the magical world, a world where magic is real and she attends a magical academy to hone her craft. She leaves the magical world to travel to the “non-magic” world, to search for a legendary item called the Linkle Stone Emerald. In the non-magic world she ends up catching the attention of another girl, Asahina Mirai, who sees her using magic. After trying to show off some magic and messing it up, Riko is attacked by Batty, a servant of the dark wizard Dokurokushe, who is seeking the Linkle Stone Emerald as well. As fate would have it, both Mirai and Riko carry stones that turn out to be the Linkle Stones Diamond, and the two of them use them to become Cure Miracle and Cure Magical, the legendary Mahou Tsukai Precure. Additionally, the power of the Linkle Stones grants life to Mirai’s lifelong companion, a teddy bear named Mofurun. Having discovered the world of magic and become a precure, Mirai is invited to spend time in the magical world learning magic alongside Riko, before the two, joined by Mofurun and a baby fairy named Ha, return to the non-magical world to search for the Emerald and protect it from Dokurokushe and his minions.

Mahou Tsukai Precure’s main themes are bonds and separation. It’s strengths lie in how it shows the relationship between Mirai and Riko. The show takes its time building their relationship in the first dozen or so episodes of their adventures in the magic world, highlighting their similarities and differences as they grow closer and learn to live with each other and fight as precure together. Well before the halfway mark it’s clear how strong their bond is and how deeply they care for each other, and the lengths they would go to for one another. Mahou Tsukai is an emotional ride in so many ways, every emotional moment hits its mark and the more you get attached to the characters the more the show will hit harder and harder with its moments, both sad and happy. Even side characters get satisfying and emotional conclusions to their storylines outside of the episodes they’re introduced in, it’s all wonderfully crafted.

KiraKira☆Precure A La Mode

Another return to the five cure format, Kirapre is also the second season to feature a sixth team member after Yes! Precure 5 Gogo!, as well as the second season to feature high school age precure after Heartcatch Precure. Usami Ichika is in her second year of middle school and loves sweets, especially making sweets. One day a hungry fairy named Pekorin finds her way into Ichika’s kitchen, and after being fed teaches Ichika about Kirakiraru, an energy source that exists in all sweets, and something that can be stolen and used for evil, leaving the sweets gray and tasteless. Utilizing the power of kirakraru in the shortcake she baked for her mother, Ichika becomes Cure Whip, one of the legendary patissiers, Precure. One by one other precure appear, the smart but shy Arisugawa Himari (Cure Custard), the rock band headliner Tategami Aoi (Cure Gelato), the fickle catlike Kotozume Yukari (Cure Macaron), and the responsible and helpful Kenjou Akira (Cure Chocolat). The five of them fight against the evils of Noir and those he has influenced: Julio, the mysterious masked boy who runs “experiments'' using kirakiraru, and Bibury, a mean spirited girl who uses her talking doll to steal kirakiraru and create monsters.

Kirapre’s main motifs are sweets and animals, and it has a pretty general togetherness and happiness theme going on, the standard precure stuff, mostly viewed through the lense of sweets and sweets-making. All the precure work as patissiers for one reason or another and it’s the main way the team bonds early on. The team, as well as the people of their small town, love sweets as a part of their culture and sweets maintain an important role as the emotional tie that binds most things together in the story. Overall Kirapre is a wonderful show with a great cast on both sides of the conflict, and a lot of care has been put into the show to make sure characters have their moments to interact with each other as well as have their own stories , even on a team of six every precure gets more than enough time to shine on her own. Kirapre is at it’s best when it takes two girls and puts them together for an episode, letting each unique dynamic play out in a fun and satisfying way. Kirapre is also noteworthy for the almost inarguably canonical relationship between two of the cures. It's not exactly explicit and it does leave something to be desired, since this is a Toei children's show, but there’s not really any other way to read the evolution of their relationship or their duet song, so I’m more than satisfied calling it canon.

This season is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform Crunchyroll

HUGtto! Precure

Precure’s 15th anniversary! This season is in many ways a celebration of all things Precure, bringing together a lot of familiar elements from past shows into one. Hugtto! is another five cure season whose main themes are destiny and future. Nono Hana (Cure Yell) is a thirteen-year-old girl whose dream is to be a "cool and stylish woman," although she worries that others see her as childish. One day, a hamster named Harryham Harry and a magical baby named Hugtan fall out of the sky into Hana's house. They're being chased from the future by an evil organization called Criasu Corporation, who are trying to use Hugtan's power to freeze time forever. Hana makes friends with two of her classmates: the responsible class representative Yakushiji Saaya (Cure Ange) and the reclusive ex-figure skater Kagayaki Homare (Cure Etoile), and together they fight Criasu while taking care of Hugtan and figuring out the many mysteries surrounding her. Expect some light sc-fi elements and an emphasis on modern technology/social media.

Hugtto! explores its themes primarily through the lenses of childcare and the workplace, giving us a look at how each girl comes to terms with the transition from childhood to adulthood. This season does a good job of letting each member of the team shine; you spend several episodes with each girl (or duo of girls) and there's a real sense of a complete character arc for all of them. The romance aspect is, unfortunately, pretty bad: there’s a return of hetero furry romance between Harry and Homare, and Hana’s love interest exhibits some really creepy behavior towards her. There’s uncomfortable age gaps in both of these relationships too so it’s a just a bit…. Yikes. Thankfully, it’s fairly easy to ignore like past seasons, but a warning for it nonetheless.

Something that makes this season stand out is its LGBT subtext; there's a TON of it even compared to the normal amount that Precure is known for. Without giving away too much, two of the cures this season are heavily coded as lesbians (though not with each other per se), and there's a subplot concerning a side character who is pretty explicitly (well, as explicit as Toei dares to be) a gender non-conforming man/nonbinary person in love with another man, and it's all very wholesome and presented in a positive light. Again, this is Toei, so don't expect anything too radical, but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with how Hugpre handles it.

Finally I'll just say that while Hugpre is a fantastic season on its own, I would personally recommend waiting to watch it after you've seen some other seasons (notably Futari wa). It's not required, but since Hugpre is an anniversary season, there are a few episodes (especially near the end) that will really hit different if you have an emotional connection to the franchise already. Ultimately though this is a fairly minor part of the show, so watching this season first won’t ruin it or anything like that, it’s just something to keep in mind.

Star☆Twinkle Precure

Precure… in space! Our protagonist, Hoshina Hikaru (Cure Star) loves space and cryptids, to the point of drawing her own constellations. One of her constellations is an adorable alien puffball, who warps into Hikaru’s room almost immediately after she draws it. The puffball quickly befriends Hikaru, who names her Fuwa. They are later joined by Prunce, the team dad friend/alien mascot, and Lala (Cure Milky), a humanoid alien who is an adult in her own culture. After our initial duo gets off to a bit of a rocky start, they are joined by the student council president, Kaguya Madoka (Cure Selene) and a biracial upperclassman who is considered to be the “sun” of the school, Amamiya Elena (Cure Soleil). Together, they explore the universe and befriend all sorts of aliens, while also defending them from the Notraiders, who want to rid the universe of all imagination. On top of that, the universe is dying and the cures need to find the 12 astrologically themed Star Pens to save it and the 12 Star Princesses. This series is notable for attempting to break the “monster of the week” format, instead making it a “fight of the week”.

The major themes of Star Twinkle are space, imagination, and maturity. The cures have to explore the universe to find the Star Pens, and in doing so, visit a bunch of different planets. About half the series is spent on Earth, but the world still feels developed! Honestly speaking, the theme of imagination is forgotten pretty quickly and I’d refer to it more as free will. The theme of maturity is where Star Twinkle really shines. All of the cures have had to grow up too fast in some way, and the series is partially about just allowing them to goof off. Lala is considered an adult on her planet, and this plot point is treated realistically. Well, as realistically as it can be. This is one series I’d recommend avoiding spoilers like the plague for, because part of the fun is in how the plot twists are pulled off. Also Star Twinkle is notable for featuring the first ever dark skinned precure, as Elena is half-hispanic.

Healin’ Good Precure

The currently airing Precure season, as of this writing. The Byogens seek to revive their king by inflicting viruses on Earth, the Healing Garden sends three medical interns to combat them. These interns, fairies named Rabirin, Pegitan, and Nyatoran, along with a baby fairy princess named Latte, journey to Earth to find partners to become Precure. They end up meeting Hanadera Nodoka, a kindhearted girl who was hospitalized for most of her young childhood. After Nodoka risks her life to protect Latte, Rabirin chooses her to become Cure Grace. Joined by older sister type Sawaizumi Chiyu (Cure Fontaine) and the outgoing Hiramitsu Hinata (Cure Sparkle), they form Healin’ Good Precure, and defend their friends and the Earth from the Byogen’s newest wave of attacks.

This season is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform Crunchyroll.

Where To Watch Precure Online

Unfortunately for us, Precure isn’t really a thing in the west. There was a dub of Futari Wa back in the early 2000’s and Smile and Doki both got “adapted” into Glitter Force over on netflix (I don’t really recommend checking those out), but really Precure just doesn’t exist over here.

However, as mentioned above, there are currently three seasons avalible for streaming on crunchyroll. The original Futari Wa Precure, Kira Kira Precure A La Mode, and the current season, Healin’ Good Precure.

Beyond these isolated examples of official releases, you can really only watch precure online on streaming sites or through torrents. You can find precure pretty much on any major anime streaming site, kissanime, gogoanime, the works. You can also try your luck torrenting the seasons, i’ve found that pretty much every season has a working torrent you can find on sites like nyaa.si or the like. For more recent seasons you should have little difficulty getting torrents, and last time i checked every season was on one of the aforementioned streaming sites. What I’m saying really is there’s no single place to find precure, but it’s not impossible to find for sure.

Thanks for reading this post, I hope you decide to check out precure and I really hope you end up loving it.Thanks to my wonderful friend @meltorights for writing the sections on Yespre, Fresh, and Dokipre, to @wonderlilane for writing the sections on Splash Star and Huggto, and @cure-cosmo for writing the segment on Starpre.

If you have questions feel free to drop me an ask I’d be happy to help. I will literally go out of my way to help you if it means getting someone new into precure so please do not hesitate by any means.

#Apple Post #precure #pretty cure #magical girl #anime #toei animation

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shihalyfie · 4 years ago

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Adventure, 02, and the “secret double life”

Adventure’s concept of “Chosen Children” prophesized save-the-world heroes is hardly unique to it, and given that it ostensibly follows so many fantasy tropes, it’s easy to see it as having a textbook pattern of the “secret identity”/”secret double life” tropes, in which adventure-faring kids keep everything from their parents and society under the idea that if people found out about their adventures, they’d be kept from action or be experimented on.

But as much as it’s easy to see it that way, in fact, Adventure and 02 had a somewhat different view of the matter. Although 02 in particular, with its concept of “wake up, go to school, save the world,” probably gives off the strongest “double life” aura, in actuality, Adventure and 02 both had an underlying sentiment that the concept of keeping Digimon from one’s parents -- and, eventually, the public -- was practically impossible.

(Unless otherwise stated, translations for Adventure/02/Kizuna are from Ryuu-Rogue/PositronCannon/L Subs, respectively.)

The Hikarigaoka incident

The aftermath of the Hikarigaoka incident in 1995 (or, in other words, the Greymon and Parrotmon incident depicted in the first movie) was depicted in Adventure episode 29, in which, as it turned out, was passed off as a “terrorist bombing incident” -- and that kids like Takeru who attempted to explain the situation to their parents were dismissed for imagining things.

The Adventure novels add a bit of extra addition that there might have been some external finagling to make sure things were cleaned up, but even then, things weren’t all that clean-cut. For one, the Hikarigaoka incident was a rather short one that was cleaned up in quick order -- there was a minimal amount of destruction compared to what later events would bring (only a single localized area in terms of collateral damage, especially since Parrotmon wasn’t there to cause wanton destruction), the full brunt of the incident may not have even spanned so much of an hour, and both Digimon involved vanished almost as quickly as they came. It really is just enough that you could sweep it under the normalcy filter of wanting to throw out any supernatural explanations, especially since the kids themselves eventually succumbed to the adults’ explanations.

And yet, even despite that, Takaishi Natsuko still found the Hikarigaoka incident a topic of interest to the point she started doing independent research on it -- especially when a certain incident four years later pushed things far beyond the range of plausible deniability. The novels make this pretty explicit:

Among her normal jobs, a side project that she was working on involved investigating the “Hikarigaoka terrorist bombing incident” four years ago. It was an incident that occured in the very place where they had lived. Not only did it capture her interest, but as she kept investigating it, she found many aspects about it that weren’t acceptable explanations to her. It still wasn’t enough information for her to put into an article or a book, but someone, somehow, had managed to find out that she was working on it and had contacted her wanting to talk. But when the time of their appointment came, the man she was supposed to meet didn’t appear. What was that man’s name? Oikawa? I think? Well, I’m never going to set up a meeting with him again.

So in other words, the fact that she had spotted a rat was somewhat public enough for someone to figure out that she was on the case. Not to mention that said someone had also spotted a rat -- someone who was not possessed by any Digimon vampires at this point, and was merely just an enthusiast trying to reconnect with a mysterious phenomenon from his childhood and dealing with grief for his recently deceased friend. It probably would not have been long before the truth would have been fully spilled even by itself -- but later events that would confirm everyone’s suspicious pretty firmly were already on the horizon.

Menoa Bellucci and the advent of Chosen Children

In a bit of “hidden” Adventure lore, the number of Chosen Children thus started to double every year -- something cited by Two-and-a-Half Year Break (Koushirou’s track) and confirmed by directorial statement. (Kizuna’s To Sora is consistent with this principle, and the 02 epilogue being set in 2027-2028 also tracks with the global population being partnered to Digimon with that precise number.) Either way, Adventure episode 53 confirmed that the eight “Tokyo Chosen Children” from 1999 (or, in other words, the Adventure main cast and their partners) were hardly isolated singularities -- there was a group of Chosen Children before them that placed an incomplete seal on Apocalymon prior, and, according to the Adventure novels, four of their partners evolved over a long period of time to become the Holy Beasts. The fact that there had to be at least four gives only a very narrow period of time said Chosen could be from, most likely between 1997 (4 Chosen) to early 1999 (16 Chosen), with the very short real-world time in between likely correlating to enough time in the Digital World for their names to be lost to their history.

(Note that Oikawa Yukio doesn’t count here; although he and Hiroki made contact with the Digital World through video games in the 80s, there is no indication that Oikawa was fundamentally partnered to Pipimon at this time, in the same way that it was only after the Tokyo Chosen Children witnessed the Hikarigaoka incident that “the one who wishes for stability” -- Homeostasis -- came up with the idea for creating a system to tie Digimon evolution to human partners.)

Kizuna confirms it further by introducing Menoa Bellucci, who says that she met Morphomon (and, presumably, did become a Chosen Child) at the age of nine, meaning presumably 1997 -- making her one of the small handful of people who became Chosen Children before the Tokyo eight.

The little snippets we get of Menoa and Morphomon’s life are interesting, but also telling. For one, their life together is depicted through a bunch of photos with both of them there, through events such as birthdays and travel...and given that someone had to have taken all of those photos, this means that it is extremely likely Menoa’s parents were fully aware of Morphomon’s presence and existence as her partner. In other words, Morphomon was not a secret to them in the first place.

Another interesting thing here is that it’s never said that Menoa went on any incredible world-saving adventure during her time with Morphomon, so it’s ambiguous whether she did or not. It’s entirely possible that she did but doesn’t want to bring it up to Taichi and the others because of how much baggage would be associated with it compared to, well, the rest of her early childhood life with Morphomon; given the time dilation that was in play prior to 1999, it’s very likely any adventure she could have gone on would have been lost to Digital World history. (That said, given that Morphomon doesn’t seem to have any ties to Holy Beast lines, a group of 4+ Chosen distinct from her and the other Tokyo Chosen Children by necessity would have to be from 1998 or early 1999.) She does, at the very least, seem to have evolved Morphomon at least once, given that she cites “loss of the ability to evolve” as part of the process of partnership dissolution when explaining it to the others (and it’s implied very heavily she only has her own personal experience to work with). But if Menoa’s parents were sufficiently supportive, it’s possible they might have had no problem with Menoa having a large and very cute butterfly friend -- especially if Menoa didn’t go on some grand adventure and wasn’t even in danger anyway.

We also learn a bit more about the Yagami siblings in Adventure episode 21, which takes place on August 1, 1999, and that Hikari has been witnessing the increased Digimon contact with the human world (part of a long, ongoing process of the Digital World slowly coming into more concrete contact with the human world) for quite a while now, but because it isn’t very “clear” contact yet, she’s the only one who can see them. She’s been trying to tell people for a long time, but nobody believed her -- and that’s the only reason she kept quiet about it.

There’s also another interesting line in this episode, when Taichi considers never returning to the Digital World and staying home with Koromon -- it seems that he intends to be straightforward with Koromon’s presence and not hide him from his parents! At worst, he simply thinks his mom might think Koromon to be a nuisance -- but not something he has to entirely keep a secret, meaning he also trusts his parents to be open-minded about a weird pink talking creature.

The Odaiba fog incident

The “Odaiba fog” incident refers to the events of August 3, 1999, spanning Adventure episodes 35 to 54, when Vamdemon covered Odaiba in fog and launched a bunch of mass kidnappings in the search for the eighth Tokyo Chosen Child, put a large amount of adults to sleep, was defeated by the Chosen Children, and eventually was followed by a projection of the Digital World in the sky, resulting in the surrounding witnesses observing the eight Tokyo Chosen Children and their partners rising into the sky, returning to the Digital World, and defeating the Dark Masters and Apocalymon.

Unlike the Hikarigaoka incident, this was not something that could be easily ignored. People in Odaiba saw, in vivid daylight, a bunch of strange monsters kidnapping them and stuffing them in Tokyo Big Sight. The Digital World appearing in the sky, Digimon falling out of them, and freezing anything they touched happened all over the world. Ultimately, this was not the kind of thing you could just sweep under the rug!

Daisuke, Iori, and Michael recount their experiences with this in 02 episode 14, and Spring 2003 and the Adventure novels depict this as a formative experience for Daisuke wanting to become someone strong enough to protect others. The kids’ parents in Tokyo saw their kids fighting in the sky (in fact, it’s likely everyone did, but only the parents were aware of the actual identities of the kids up there, considering it wasn’t like the sky gives you much of a close-up view). And, of course, we had our “intrepid reporter” Ishida Hiroaki, who was insistent on covering these incidents in Adventure episode 35 before he even knew his sons were involved, and Takaishi Natsuko, who, as per 02 episode 38, ended up tacking this on her list of Digimon incidents to investigate.

So by the conclusion of this incident, it is pretty safe to say the populace knows that Digimon are a thing. Of course, they still haven’t made sense of all of it, and everyone (including Hiroaki and Natsuko themselves) is missing some key details, but the fact that these monsters are A Thing That Exist is hardly a secret. In fact, this is made pretty explicit in 02 episode 39:

The governments of every country most certainly did not just see that whole incident and decide “well, that’s nothing to worry about” -- they immediately went ahead and started doing military research on the Digimon! But Gennai and his fellow Agents figured out pretty quickly that very bad things would happen if the Digimon became public knowledge and government militaries started exploiting them, so they secretly wiped away data regarding Digimon in order to hide their existence.

Note that this does not mean they wiped everyone’s memories -- they’re not that all-powerful -- but merely made it so that anytime anyone tried to do organized research on Digimon, poof! -- the info would just magically vanish. Of course, that doesn’t stop pen-and-paper work, and, again, it also did not stop reporters like Takaishi Natsuko or Ishida Hiroaki from doing investigations into everything from a journalistic perspective, nor humanities scholars like Takenouchi Haruhiko or Kido Shuu from taking an interest in Digimon. And, of course, it’s not like you can just wipe human memory that saw all of that happening! But it sure does put a major slowdown on attempted organized research of Digimon to the extent of being easily able to do the kinds of things Gennai and the Agents feared, because it makes it significantly harder to exchange info or collect anything.

Which of course leads to...

The events of 02

The Tokyo Chosen Children got a “break” of sorts after the events of Adventure, and for the most part they didn’t have to think too hard about how to deal with their Digimon in regards to society, especially since they were separated from them. Then, in April 2002, Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori get their partners, and they, Takeru, and Hikari become lucky enough to be able to bring their partners back and forth between the real world and Digital World. With their partners small enough to be passed off as plushes, and no Digimon battles taking place in the real world at this time, the kids choose to keep their Digimon activities a secret from their parents.

At this point, it should be pointed out that this was not actually strictly necessary in terms of keeping the Digimon from society -- especially on the part of the Adventure kids, whose parents already know they exist and certainly have not forgotten! In fact, this is made into a prominent scene in 02 episode 18, when Koushirou’s mother is surprised Tentomon is not there (even though there’s no indication a conflict is going on at the time), in contrast to Koushirou having just been worried about opening a gate in her presence.

In fact, Kizuna adds an important detail by showing us a newspaper clip from around 2002 (when Menoa was accepted into university), indicating that apparently the concept of a “Digimon partner” was well-recognized enough that Morphomon was openly in the newspaper clipping, accompanied by a caption identifying her as Menoa’s Digimon partner. (Kizuna having so much attention to detail with background lore that it even complies with the doubling-every-year principle, it’s not something you can easily pass off as a writer mistake.) Doing the math, 16 Chosen Children in 1999 means around 128 by 2002 (which also tracks with the approximate amount we see around the world in 02 episodes 40-42 and 50). That’s still a drop in the pond in terms of how much the global population truly understands this, but considering that there were reporters like Takaishi Natsuko and Ishida Hiroaki already on the case, it’s not too much of a stretch to think that the press and informational publications would have an idea.

So why did the kids still try so hard to keep the Digimon from their parents and society? A lot of it has to do with the way the kids make their plan to infiltrate the Kaiser’s base in 02 episode 18.

Prior to this point in the series, their fight in the Digital World had been an after-school affair, one that they were capable of hiding instead of having the truth presented up-front to their parents, whether they liked it or not. Starting in April 2002, the kids voluntarily chose to enter a territory war after school. Think about how they’d have to explain this to their parents -- “oh yeah, by the way, I befriended a mysterious monster and will now be going to another world after school to fight a territory war with even bigger monsters on a near-weekly basis” -- of course, most parents would start being obstructive and immediately put an end to that, and there would be so much they’d have to explain to them. In fact, the way the kids parade their Digimon around and try to use the “plushes” excuse instead of really making any decent attempts to hide them indicates they’re not really trying that hard to maintain a facade, just enough to not get awkward questions and people intervening with their actions. After all, if even incidents like the ones in 02 episode 9 can be safely passed off as “being over late at a friend’s place,” why not use that excuse?

So when they first start a real trip into the Digital World that may span multiple days (with Miyako being visibly out of place with this, a sharp contrast to her seniors being used to the idea of being “trapped” there for days on end), Iori says very explicitly that he doesn’t want to worry his family, and the discussion immediately shifts to how they’ll keep this from their families. Interestingly, when Daisuke suggests just lying about it, Hikari scolds him for doing so -- implying that it’s not like she (or the others) is even comfortable with that kind of lie, hence why they ultimately resort to having the seniors stage a camping trip so that the lie can at least be a bit less far-fetched.

But the fact that they can do this in the first place ultimately ends up being a luxury, because they can get away with this as long as the conflict is still in the Digital World. Eventually, we arrive at...

The Christmas 2002 incident

A lot happened on Christmas 2002, especially given the timezone stretch and the number of episodes it spanned, but this effectively sparked the point of no return where Digimon incidents were unavoidable and staring everyone in the face -- especially since it spanned multiple days. Dark Towers started appearing all over the world, wandering Digimon started appearing everywhere, Chosen Children around the world mobilized to round them back into the Digital World, Demon and his army invaded Tokyo, Oikawa kidnapped a large number of children, and eventually the battle with BelialVamdemon on New Year’s Eve ended up bleeding into the real world, with Chosen Children appearing en masse to help them defeat him.

During the course of the international Chosen arc, we do see that quite a few other kids have been hiding their Digimon from their parents -- indeed, not everyone is like Menoa, and especially if they’ve been involved in dangerous incidents or are very small children! Even Mimi tries to hide her involvement from her parents in 02 episode 10, despite them already knowing about the Digimon from the Odaiba fog incident, because -- as they say in the episode -- moving to the US was partially motivated by them wanting to get away from all of this, so, naturally, they’d prefer Mimi have nothing to do with it. But Takeru is comfortable enough to call his grandfather in to help, presumably deciding that he was trustworthy enough about it.

And, indeed, the first major break we see in the facade with the core cast’s parents is with Takeru’s mother Natsuko, who correctly deduces that something is going on and confronts Takeru about it -- to which he immediately does not attempt to cover up or deny, and admits without hesitation. Natsuko, in turn, decides to accept it without grilling him too much, deciding that she’ll trust in Takeru to handle this (presumably, especially after seeing him handle quite a lot even at the young age of eight). At the end of 02 episode 45, Ken -- whose parents have seen so many horrors going on with him that the explanation of him engaging in dangerous monster battles would be more of a comfort to them, because at least they’d be aware of what’s going on -- ultimately chooses to confide in his parents, leading to them and the rest of the Adventure kids’ parents actively choosing to support their kids in their fight over the course of episodes 46-48. Naturally, as much as they’d probably rather their kids not get engaged in dangerous things, they understand what this is and that it’s important, and at the very least want to support them as much as they can -- Koushirou’s mother laments in 02 episode 48 that she wishes she could do more besides just bring food!

02 episode 46 has a moment where Oikawa and Archnemon watch a TV program with people trying (very badly) to blame the recent incidents on a mass delusion -- the TV show itself is portrayed as a sort of trash gossip kind of special -- and Oikawa provides an explanation for the impasse of acknowledgment where people seem to be increasingly aware of Digimon but also not quite aware: things are undeniably happening, but people still aren’t quite ready to accept an explanation that borders on the supernatural. The entire concept of Digimon is a massive shake to the status quo, after all, so while certain investigative and curious people like Natsuko or Haruhiko are naturally more open-minded, and many parents are likely to pay closer attention when kids are involved, only slightly over a hundred Chosen Children (many of whom are still erring on the side of keeping it a secret) and a few reporters aren’t enough to really help people understand...

...but all things considered, it seems to be enough that the Chosen are now functionally giving up on hiding it at all!

By the time of episode 50, the situation has now escalated to the point where any member of the families of the Tokyo Chosen Children who wasn’t already aware of what was going on is now definitely aware, as they await their children’s return from the Digital World. Considering that Jun was already witnessing the return of dangerous things as early as 02 episode 38, and Iori’s grandfather Chikara discovers Armadimon’s existence in episode 47, it becomes rather important to point out that Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori failed to hide their partners’ existence and involvement in Digimon battles for any longer than eight months (April to December 2002). That is how flimsy the facade was. Again, they weren’t even doing that spectacular a job keeping their partners under wraps, Chikara discovered Armadimon by sheer accident just from Armadimon being too big and being unable to control his hunger, and, ultimately, it really is pretty hard to conceal the existence of a living creature constantly accompanying you everywhere.

The aftermath of 02

Well, firstly, there were definitely other things that happened right after the events of 02 that would be pretty hard for people to deny. For instance:

The Internet being the Internet, the incident in Our War Game! could have potentially been passed off as some kind of graphics stunt. But the 2003 Diablomon/Armagemon incident? Nah. People saw that one, and even actively participated in that one! In real life!

With that, as much as Oikawa claims that people are too stubborn to accept changes to the status quo and thus accept Digimon, ultimately, Spring 2003 makes it clear that the Christmas 2002 incident made enough of a fuss that the involved parties all got put on the spot by the public and media. This got to the point where the kids had a risk of their privacy being invaded, and had to be covered by their parents.

My mother, who followed the Hikarigaoka incident as a non-fiction writer, along with Sora-san’s father, are known today as “Digimon critics.” Although the two weren’t sure whether they appreciated their new titles or not, they accepted it and went from investigators to people who were most sought after... ...Thanks to [Hiroaki], we were saved from publicity. It’s sort of like… we’d like to keep our identities and the Digimon a secret. I don’t mean forever, when I say that, but the relationship between us and our partner Digimon is unique and other people probably wouldn’t understand that. For example, we can’t have people thinking that Digimon are slightly strange pets. If they do, then they won’t take us seriously either, and of course, the Digimon wouldn’t like that perception themselves. That’s why, until we get the general public to acknowledge Digimon and the Digital World for what they really are, we’d like to lay low. But in order for that to happen, someone must go out there to explain about the Digimon to others. It was both my mother and Sora-san’s father who accepted that role wholeheartedly. We told the two everything we knew, and they spoke for us to the TV, newspapers, and magazines.

Being people directly connected to the children and understanding of their position, but also in media and publicity positions, Natsuko, Hiroaki, and Haruhiko took on the jobs of advocating for Digimon and explaining their part to the world, while also deliberately acting as go-betweens so that the kids could maintain their privacy. But nevertheless, at this point, the incident in 2002 was such a major thing that it basically was a turning point for people realizing that Digimon exist and are a major presence, and starting to grill informed parties about the details (and, technically, getting those details from the kids themselves, speaking through said media outlets). Hikari also starts working on a “surprisingly useful” informational video for new Chosen Children confused about having a partner -- encouraging them to contact them for help -- and it is also revealed that Shuu, Miyako’s sisters, and Jun had all just gotten partners, meaning that the issue was now starting to become significantly more relevant to their families.

Kizuna also drops an interesting detail about what happened right after 02, or, rather, right after 2002:

The articles describing Menoa’s Digimon research team have titles that indicate that this is one of the first major Digmon scientific research efforts in the world, indicating that, shortly after Menoa’s admission into university and establishing herself there, she began to open up the field of Digimon academic research (her declared major beforehand had been “biology”, presumably the closest she could get to studying Digimon when such a topic didn’t formally exist yet). This is significant because it means that Gennai and the Agents had finally dropped the embargo on Digimon organized research, since it presumably would have been bad for Menoa’s data to vanish without warning -- and, indeed, it makes sense that they would allow for Menoa’s research team to proceed, since Menoa is a Chosen Child herself who has a vested interest in studying Digimon for the greater good and advocating for them in the same way Haruhiko is.

It also provides potential context as to why Menoa may not have been involved much in Digimon fighting and battles in the past but was chosen as a Chosen Child anyway -- Koushirou describes the definition of a “Chosen Child” as such in Two-and-a-Half Year Break:

Having a partner Digimon isn’t really that special. Being a “Chosen Child” means… to cease the hostilities that break out and inconvenience the Digital World. In order to do so, that child gains a partner Digimon faster than another.

While it’s not necessarily in terms of aggressive fighting, a bright and intelligent child like Menoa being chosen to “fight” in the sense of using her intellect to study more about Digimon and help advocate for them seems like a fitting way to fulfill this role in her own way. But, alas, as Gennai and Homeostasis and the Holy Beasts couldn’t necessarily predict what happened to Ichijouji Ken and his fall into becoming the Kaiser, they didn’t seem to be able to predict Menoa’s unfortunate fate and downfall...

Kizuna and 2010

Again, To Sora citing the number of Digimon partners to be over 30,000 by 2010 correctly tracks with the “doubling every year” principle, so it’s probably prudent to assume it’s still been applying over the years. 30,000 is certainly a lot, but it’s not exactly a huge chunk of the global population -- especially since said 30,000 are spread out all over the world, and it’s hard to say how many of them would even live in Japan, let alone Tokyo. It’s a big enough number that Koushirou and Miyako now need to maintain a whole network of Chosen Children (Hikari’s video presumably helped with that), but there are still a lot of unknowns, like the still uncharted territory of the partnership dissolution phenomenon.

Nevertheless, what we see in Kizuna is what you’d probably expect from a society that has now had eight more years to properly digest the existence of Digimon and Digimon incidents. This is most starkly demonstrated in the opening, when a waitress comes by to berate Agumon and Gabumon for making too much noise -- and that’s it, with no weirdness or being taken aback by their presence or existence, just telling them to calm down. The characters in the movie carry around and parade their Digimon quite openly in almost all walks of life, and others interact with them in a very normal manner. One of the credits scenes even shows Daisuke’s higher-up at vocational school being more annoyed at Daisuke’s fight with V-mon than he is at the fact V-mon is there. A newspaper article from early in the movie also correctly identifies Parrotmon and Greymon as Digimon (even if not their specific species), and it is merely treated as an incident rather than paying any particular attention to the fact that Digimon exist. The drama CD also indicates that Daisuke and co. are at the point of sneaking their Digimon into a karaoke bar because said bar has enough awareness of Digimon to charge them admissions fees!

There’s another interesting minor detail in that Palmon, Tailmon, and Patamon are depicted on digital cameras without any static interference. In Adventure and 02, it was impossible to catch them on digital camera in the real world, because, as per Adventure episode 39 and 02 episode 33 (among others), trying to do so would cause nasty static interference and ruin the attempted photo/recording. (This is presumably why Menoa’s photos with Morphomon seem to be film photos.) But for a society where the presence of Digimon is becoming more and more expected, and digital cameras are naturally becoming more commonplace, it would be very bad if this continued to be a problem -- so it makes sense that, by 2010, technological research would have figured out a way around that.

Obviously, not everyone has a Digimon yet, and it’s not like everything in the world has accounted for the assumption people will be walking around with partners -- after all, Taichi’s thesis still involves having to help advocate for Digimon partners and the fact that many people are still skeptical about them. But nevertheless, people are not surprised or perturbed by them anymore, and when something does happen with them, they’re relatively accepting of them. Again, 30,000+ is not exactly a lot to the extent that the entire population has a partner, but with the doubling-every-year principle in play, it seems like society is already well on its way to adjusting to their increasing presence and the eventual point in 2027-2028 when everyone will be expected to have one.

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #digimon adventure last evolution kizuna #kizuna spoilers #shihameta

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dutchforstrangers · 3 years ago

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Digiweek day 3 - Music | Shades of red; a Taikoura fanfiction

Chapter 3/7. Candy cane red

Chapters [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

AN!: Yes, I wrote a Christmas fic in the middle of summer. So get cozy, place yourself in front of a random pine tree, put on an ugly Christmas sweater and get yourself some ‘glühwein’ and ‘kerstkransjes’. Happy readings!

Characters: Taichi Yagami (Hikari Yagami, Koushiro Izumi & Sora Takenouchi and other Adventure and 02 DigiDestineds in background) Genre: Romance, songfic (Chirstmas!) Rating: K Wordcount: 1.568

Song used: Wrapped in red - Kelly Clarkson

Art by Sanni @seventeenlovesthree

“Do we have to go?” Taichi sighed, slouching further into the couch. From where he sat he could see his baby sister rolling her eyes, simultaneously packing up the pie she made earlier today to bring to the party.

“Don’t be such an indifferent baby,” Hikari said, her eyes now directed to him. “It’ll be fun! I know you’re dying to see everyone together. Daisuke made some special ramen for us, Mimi-san spends this Christmas in Japan for the first time since three years, even Jyou-senpai and Iori-kun could take off from their busy work schedules.”

Hikari was right, he wanted to see everyone, especially together which was something very rare. Taichi tried to think back to the last time all of them were together, but it was hard. Meanwhile Hikari continued her enumeration, saying they should be prepared for Miyako and Ken showing off Miyako’s little baby bump. They would be the first ones to have a baby and Taichi suddenly felt old.

“Of course Sora-san and Koushiro-san will be there too.”

Taichi felt his face heating up hearing those names, immediately sitting up straight, his throat dry. Hikari’s suspicious gaze made Taichi feel even more uncomfortable as he swallowed trying to get back his cool.

“You forgot the blondes,” he quickly covered up his nervosity to which Hikari responded with nervosity of her own. Now they were even. However unlike Taichi, Hikari managed to keep her cool.

“I don’t have to mention them, because they obviously will be there as the party is hosted by Takeru.” her calm voice replied to him. “And of course he will drag Yamato-san with him just like I have to drag you with me. Kami, why do you two always have to be so stubborn and indifferent while both of you love to have the group complete?”

“No I love to have the group complete while Yamato just pretends to love it, when in reality he just wants to be alone with his guitar.” Taichi countered.

“You sure about that?” Though the counter was short lived. “Because Takeru told me he is bringing a girl. And you know, it’s Christmas... we’re at Takeru’s place... meaning there will be one or two mistletoes...” Hikari shyly smiled, a pink blush on her cheeks. Taichi sighed, standing up from the couch now having two good reasons to go to the party. One to see Yamato trying to act all cool but miserably failing being all nervous around the girl he would bring. And two to keep an eye on his sister, Takeru and the mentioned mistletoes.

Or maybe he had three reasons. After all, Sora and Koushiro would be there too…

Takeru’s Christmas party was a blast and Taichi had to admit he had a good time eating with everyone, catching up and seeing everyone all happy together. Not to mention that the booze was lifting up his mood. Also, luckily for him Takeru hadn’t decorated the place with mistletoes but instead everywhere were candy canes. The ricocheting light shining on the candy canes turning the room slightly red.

Taichi looked over to Sora and Koushiro who were in deep conversation with Mimi and Jyou. Their red colored hair fading because of the red shade filling up the room. Nonetheless they looked stunning to him, Koushiro dressed in a simple black trousers topped of with a forest green blouse and Sora in a stylish indigo colored cocktail dress. He dreamily smiled to himself enjoying the sight in front of him, the confusing romantic feelings he experienced during the past months coming all back to him at once. His heart speeding up by the thought of a possible confession.

He had thought about it for a while now, feeling like he had to confess his feelings someday. But it was complicated, he had no idea how to do it and, most important, he didn’t want to ruin his friendship with the both them. Besides, how did one confess his feelings towards two people at the same time? He could feel his head spin as he gathered all the courage inside of him.

Yamato interrupted his plans, taking a seat next to him. Not wanting or able to ignore him, Taichi shifted his attention from Koushiro and Sora to the blonde, giving Yamato a questioning look. Their friendship was either a stormy one or a quiet one and right now it leaned more towards the quiet friendship, because the only thing Yamato did was nodding a single nod in the direction of the improvised stage where his date picked up the microphone of the karaoke set.

Everyone in the room immediately grew quiet, just like Taichi had done, shifting their attention to the girl with the microphone. She told everyone she had played in a band, which didn’t surprise Taichi knowing Yamato’s type, and that she wanted to kick off the karaoke part of the night. He glanced over to Yamato -who looked a tad embarrassed- to gave him an approving nod. Making himself comfortable he leaned back in his chair, music accompanying the red light painting the room.

Everybody's happy Snow is falling down Prayers are being nicer Miracles all around

The girl’s voice sounded soft in comparison to Yamato’s more raw sound. It had something magical with the redness in the room. That thought made his gaze drift off to his two favorite redheads once more.

From afar I've loved you But never let it show And every year another December comes and goes

A warm smile escaped Taichi’s lips upon looking at them. Kami, they looked gorgeous and so incredibly happy. He had looked at them for quite some years, but recently those looks felt more like deep stares. Or maybe those stares had always been there and he wasn’t sure anymore. Thinking back to it, how long did he have these feelings now? It was hard to remember as those feelings felt both confusing and strangely familiar for so long all the same. Because, well, he had to admit to himself that over and over again he was mesmerized by their appearances. Even after all these years. The way they looked, the way they smiled, the way they talked…

Always watching Never reaching

He had always watched them. Always. He knew them from the inside out. Thing was that they didn’t know him, or at least not the way he felt now. And to be honest, he had no idea how to exactly reach them about this matter. He never had been able to. Never.

Blue is where I've been Green can't buy me you Silver bells remind me That mistletoe's for two

Taichi looked to his left where Yamato was. His mouth was curled into a proud smile while his eyes were closed, deeply listening to his date’s singing. Then Taichi looked over to Mimi who was supportively and excitingly clapping for Yamato’s date like a little kid. His eyes then shifted to Jyou who’s foot was attempting at tapping along the beat of the music, a serene smile on his face. Of course his eyes then fell onto Koushiro and Sora sitting side by side. He whispering something in her ear. She laughing to whatever he had said to her.

The realization hit him there that they were already with two. Sure, as far as Taichi knew they weren’t a couple or a thing or each other’s date. But he couldn’t just interfere telling he loved them both, right? Besides, a romantic relationship existed of a maximum of two people.

So I found a color That only tells the truth That paints a picture Of how I feel for you

They were messing with him. It was messing with his head. He was messing with himself. The confusion in his body and mind only grew bigger and Taichi could feel himself slip. He had to tell them. For all he knew he had to. But how? Or when? Where? Who? Who…

I'll never feel you If I don't tell you

All he knew was that he had to confess and that tonight could be his chance. Having no clue where it would lead him. Lead them.

But this Christmas I'm gonna risk it all

But Taichi had to risk it all.

This Christmas I'm not afraid to fall

He could fall deep. And if so, he could still count on them to catch him. Right…?

So I'm at your door with nothing more than words I've never said

What were words anyway? It was all it took, words. It would be best to just tell them the things he had been afraid to tell them. He had been afraid to confess.

In all this white, you'll see me like you've never seen me yet

It would definitely place him in a new light. Though suddenly he wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad light. A bright and shiny one or a cold and darker one. He didn’t want to seem desperate. It had to be sweet love, like the red of the candy canes all across the room.

Wrapped in red

But what if it turned out to be the bitter red of fury and he would destruct their bond like a raging fire… He could feel his courage fading, a dark shade of doubt replacing all the shades of red he cherished and loved so dearly.

#digiweek2021 #digimon fanfiction by me #digimon #taikoura #taichi yagami #taishirora #tai kamiya #koushiro izumi #sora takenouchi #hikari yagami #izzy izumi #kari kamiya #digiweek day 3 #music #songfic #shades of red #candy cane red

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arowrimo · 4 years ago

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AroWriMo 2021 Roundup

Here is the compilation of all 48 works submitted to AroWriMo 2021!

We have a lot of variety this year - short stories, poetry, non-fiction, a play, song lyrics, a zine, flash fiction and some novel/novellas! Check out the impressive writing collected here and support the writers themselves - links to their other sites/accounts are included where possible. Give them a look/follow, and share the works you really enjoy!

Thanks to all who submitted and shared for a wonderful AroWriMo 2021, and I look forward to doing it again in 2022!

Play/Script

Leaving: A (very) Unfinished Stage Play by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, direct link (blogspot) Summary: A fractured personal narrative on entering and leaving an unhealthy relationship and the pain of being aromantic without that knowledge. Word Count: 1200 Theme: Humanity Language: English Genre: Personal CW: Depression, manipulation, unhealthy romantic relationship, processing self-blame

Novels/Novellas

Syrinxian Diamond: Chapter One by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: After a heist gone wrong, our hero is caught up in an interdimensional prophecy that just may bring them answers to the questions they don't know how to put into words, a feeling of difference, of not feeling right acting how they're supposed to act - but what other way is there to be? Follow our hero through desert ruins, the Wild West, a royal ball, and of course, a midnight trip to the library. Word Count: 2539 Prompt: Hope Theme: Fantasy, Ancient World Language: English Genre: Portal Fantasy, Heist CW: Unsupportive sibling, chapter one features the absence of knowledge of aromanticism, and doesn't feature aromanticism directly.

Oh, the truth shall set you free by @amanita-cynth

Summary: “I know exactly four things about Alway.” She said wryly. “She’s 23, a genius, she keeps at least three feet between her and other people at all times, and she can root out the truth like nobody else.” Of course, coming from another profiler, such an assessment carried a lot of weight. Eden Alway, the newest member of an FBI profiling unit, is odd even by their standards. But as they begin to pry more into her life and struggle with some of what they find, her past is racing to catch up with her and drag them into the storm that was her life. Featuring misunderstandings, odd behaviour, the constant problems of amatonormativity, and a rapidly escalating series of bizarre problems that they are in no way qualified for but definitely isn’t magic. Word Count: 11000 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships, Self-reliance Theme: Fantasy Language: English Genre: Crime, portal fantasy CW: Romance, Violence, Gore, amatonormativity, religious imagery, mild body horror later on, currently a WIP

Lyrics

Embers by @clad-in-sunshine (Wordpress, Twitter)

Post, Direct link (tumblr), Direct link (wordpress) Summary: I’m terrible at picking titles. But I have been enjoying writing songs, and this is one I wrote for AroWriMo and the Valentines theme of ‘Love, Romance and Friendship’ at my local folk club. The middle part is entirely uninteresting to me, so this is more about love and friendship than anything else, and the various forms that can take. The tune is called 'Midnight on The Water'. Word Count: 479 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships, Self-reliance Language: English Genre: Singer/songwriter, Folk

Games/Interactive Media

Superheroes Inc. by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: It's time for your first day as the Supervising Hero Response Manager at Superhero Incorporated, the largest collection of super heroes on the US West Coast. It's a big step up from your last job managing a team of five up-and-comers out of Chicago to supervising a nearly a hundred teams. Your priority, of course, is choosing which of the 12 big league heroes to have Shadow teleport to high crisis events. Word Count: 3000 Prompt: Future Theme: Sci-Fi Language: English Genre: Sci-Fi CW: Death, Bigotry

Comics/Zine

My Aro Heart: A Zine by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: A short zine about loving the aro community. Word Count: 50 Language: English Genre: Zine CW: Love (non-romantic)

Flash Fiction

#3 by @fuckin-fudge-nutter

Post link, Direct link (google docs) Word Count: 304 Prompt: Future Theme: Defying Expectations Language: English Genre: Realistic Fiction CW: Mild internalized arophobia

A Moth And No Flames by @voidpunk.kenku on Instagram

Post, Direct link (toyhou.se) Word Count: 337 Category: Flash Fiction Prompt: Hope Language: English Genre: gaslamp fantasy CW: insects

Future by 27twinsister on Ao3

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Hikari would be alone forever. He liked that idea. The note contains my headcanons for Hikari and what the words mean. Word Count: 146 Prompt: Future Language: English Fandom: Ressha Sentai ToQger, Nonomura Hikari Genre: Character study CW: None

Loveless by 27twinsister on Ao3

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Takeru and Akari love each other (not like that, this is genfic). Mentions “ love potions or something” in one line. The note contains my headcanons for Takeru and what the words mean. Word Count: 231 Prompt: Romo/loveless Language: English Fandom: Kamen Rider Ghost Genre: Fantasy/Supernatural, hurt/comfort CW: None given

Music by 27twinsister

Post, direct link (Ao3) Summary: Shinnosuke didn’t like silence. He liked being in an environment with other people, or with background noise. That only caused a bit of trouble at home once he lived with Kiriko. Word Count: 223 Category: Flash Fiction Prompt: Music Language: English Fandom: Kamen Rider Drive Genre: Character study CW: None

Freedom by 27twinsister

Post, direct link (Ao3) Summary: Eiji likes his freedom. The note contains my headcanons for Eiji and what the words mean. Word Count: 140 Category: Flash Fiction Prompt: Freedom Language: English Fandom: Kamen Rider OOO Genre: Character study CW: None

Mirror by 27twinsister

Post, direct link (Ao3) Summary: Tsukasa doesn’t dwell in any world. He just stays for as long as he needs. The note contains my headcanons for Tsukasa and what the words mean. Word Count: 223 Category: Flash Fiction Prompt: Music Language: English Fandom: Kamen Rider Decade Genre: Character study CW: None

Hope by 27twinsister

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Haruto is nervous about coming out. Word Count: 150 Category: Flash Fiction Prompt: Hope Language: English Fandom: Kamen Rider Wizard Genre: Character study CW: None

Self-Reliance by 27twinsister (Ao3)

Post, direct link (Ao3) Summary: Tsubasa likes to be alone. The note contains my headcanons for Tsubasa and what the words mean. Word Count: 161 Prompt: Self-reliance Language: English Fandom: Mahou Sentai Magiranger Genre: Character study CW: None

Non-Romantic Relationships by 27twinsister (Ao3)

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Jiro doesn’t know if his relationship with Yuki is romantic. But it’s special to him. The note contains my headcanons for Jiro and what the words mean Word Count: 209 Prompt: Non-Romantic Relationships Language: English Fandom: Dogengers Genre: Character study CW: Romance mention

Non-fiction

Thursday Thoughts: AroWriMo Week 1: Romo/Loveless & Future by @sophieakatz

Post, Direct link Word Count: 562 Prompt: Romo/Loveless, Future Language: English CW: Romance mention

The Future Is Arospec by aceofarrows

Post, Direct link Summary: This blog post talks about the nature of romantic attraction, why getting rid of amatonormativity is a worthwhile project, and how arospec people can help bring this about by getting involved in political activism and queer liberation. Word Count: 800 Category: Non-fiction Prompt: Romo/loveless, Future Language: English CW: None

Freedom and Music by @nzcienif

Post, direct link Word Count: 488 Prompt: Freedom, Music Theme: Defying Expectations Language: English Genre: Non Fiction CW: None Link: https://nzcienif.tumblr.com/post/642572547990421504/arowrimo-week-2-freedom-and-music Promo: https://nzcienif.tumblr.com/

The Demand for Freedom to Be Oneself by @graces-of-luck

Post, direct link Word Count: 363 Prompt: Freedom Theme: Defying Expectations Language: English Genre: Narrative CW: None

Thursday Thoughts: AroWriMo Week 2: Freedom & Music by @sophieakatz

Post, direct link Word Count: 647 Prompt: Freedom, Music Language: English Genre: Non Fiction CW: None

Defying expectations by @aallotarenunelma

Post, direct link Word Count: 986 Prompt: Hope, Mirror Theme: Defying Expectations Language: English Genre: Essay CW: Romance, Amatonormativity

Aro Visions and Hopes by @penandquillcafe ( @aroacechillzone )

Post, Direct link Word Count: 729 Prompt: Hope, Mirror Language: English Genre: Nonfiction CW: amatonormativity, arophobia, loneliness (metaphor)

Thursday Thoughts: AroWriMo Week 3: Hope & Mirror by @sophieakatz

Post, Direct link Word count: 201 Prompt: Hope, Mirror Language: English Genre: Non-fiction CW: Romance mention, Sex mention

Relationship Anarchy and Hugs by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: Applying relationship anarchy to family relationships and hugs. Word Count: 522 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Defying Expectations Language: English Genre: Non-Fiction CW: consent issues, boundary breaking

Thursday Thoughts: AroWriMo Week 4: Non-Romantic Relationships & Self-Reliance by @sophieakatz

Post, Direct link (tumblr) Word Count: Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships, Self-reliance Language: English Genre: Non-fiction CW: Romance mention

Poetry

Untitled by @brilliantsnafu

Post, Direct link Word Count: 38 Prompt: Romo/loveless, Future Language: English Genre: Nonfiction CW: Bigotry, arophobia; amatonormativity

Little Boxes by anon

Post, Direct link (Google docs) Word Count: 456 Prompt: Freedom Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Poem/non-fiction

To My Dear and Loving... by @writingthingsilike

Post, Direct link (tumblr) Summary: A poem about being aromantic but still wanting a life partner Word Count: 165 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Non-fiction CW: None

AroAce by Catolica (Ao3)

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Word Count: 254 Language: English CW: Choose not to use warnings

icarus' stone by @franzimaya (@witchreyna on Twitter)

Post, direct link Word Count: 199 Prompt: Freedom Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Poetry CW: Grief

The End of the Rouse Family Tree by @turnovers-and-coke (@arbys-chocolate-turnover, Wattpad)

Post, Direct link Word Count: 144 Prompt: Mirror Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: poetry CW: None

Care, uncoupled by @graces-of-luck

Post, Direct link (tumblr) Word Count: 149 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Humanity Language: English Genre: Free Verse CW: Romance

Human = ( X - Y ) / Z by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: A poem about human essentialism Word Count: 129 Theme: Humanity Language: English Genre: Poetry CW: Mentions of essentialism and touches on dehumanizing ideas

Short Stories

Chasing Shadows by @secret-arrow-man

Post, Direct link Summary: A questioning aro discusses relationship problems with an old friend. Word Count: 660 Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Fiction CW: Romance, Alcohol mention

My Valentine by @bimboztown on twitter

Post, Direct link (Google docs) Word Count: 305 Category: Short Stories Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Coming of Age CW: Suicide attempt mention

Made on the Shore by @clad-in-sunshine

Post, Direct link Summary: Cora had never had much interest in people, and had chosen to live alone on the shore for years by this point. When a ship sails close, she has to deal with both her interest in it and the Captain’s interest in her. Based on the song ‘Fair Maid on The Shore’. Word Count: 2129 Prompt: Romo/loveless, Future Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Fiction, Ambiguous historical fiction CW: Romance, Guns, Alcohol

What is given by @amanita-cynth (Ao3)

Post, direct link Summary: A short exploration of a woman helping a traumatised, adopted girl come to terms with her newfound freedom. Word Count: 5645 Category: Short Stories Prompt: Freedom, Music Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Mildly Science Fiction CW: mentions of human experimentation

Lady in the Mirror by @amanita-cynth (Ao3)

Post, direct link (Ao3) Summary: Everyone knows the story of the lady in the mirror. How she picks those she appears to is unknown. What she offers and why it is offered is similarly a mystery; those few that have interacted with her and speak of it are reluctant to share details. Maybe that is why the stories are so well-known, so far-travelled. The mystery calls to people and they want to believe they can solve it. Word Count: 1799 Prompt: Hope, Mirror Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Fantasy CW: None

Lights, Camera, Aro! by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: An aromantic actress is conflicted over how to engage with a romantically coded improv challenge. Word Count: 1885 Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Literary CW: a ghost, pressure.

Dark secret love by @aallotarenunelma

Post, Direct link (part a), Direct link (part b) Summary: What if an aspec Wicked Lawless Love MC was paired with the incubus Sascha? Word Count: 6941 Language: English Fandom: Wicked Lawless Love (Lovestruck app), Sascha Orosco x MC (Suna) Genre: Fantasy CW: Death, Romance, Sexual content

Thought That Cupid Shot Me With Love But It Was Only An Aro by @entity9silvergen (Ao3, FF.net)

Post, Direct link (Tumblr), Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Soulmates were supposed to be the other half of your soul. Your one true love. Ino always dreamed of finding her soulmate. Sai never wanted one. Still, they cared for each other so they were going to make it work. Somehow.

Word Count: 10000 Prompt: Romo/loveless, Future Language: English Fandom: Naruto. Characters: Sai, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi Genre: Friendship/ Relationships CW: Mentioned Canon Death, Minor Aphobia

Mosaic by @entity9silvergen (Ao3, FF.net)

Post, Direct link (tumblr), Direct link (Ao3) Summary: We are just mosaics of everyone we love and that mosaic shows everyone we love how beautiful they are. Bean doesn’t think she can love like everyone else but maybe that’s okay. Word Count: 2000 Language: English Fandom: Disenchantment. Characters: Bean Genre: Friendship, Self-Reflection CW: Internalized arophobia, some self-deprecation, sex mention, drug mention, mention of canon interspecies relationships in fantasy setting Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29230041 Promo: entity9silvergen on Ao3, FFN, and tumblr

We Dance To Fast Music by @entity9silvergen (Ao3, FF.net)

Post, direct link (tumblr), direct link (Ao3) Summary: Zuko didn’t like to dance. Neither did Mai. But Ty Lee did and they’d do it for her. Fortunately for them, Ty Lee cared about how they felt and wanted to show them just how wonderful music could be. All Zuko and Mai knew were slow dances, the things of ballrooms and romance. Ty Lee only knew the dances of friendship, freedom, and fun. Word Count: 8000 Prompt: Freedom, Music Language: English Fandom: Avatar The Last Airbender. Characters: Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, Sokka, Suki, Aang, Katara, Toph Genre: Friendship CW: None

Oblique by @entity9silvergen (Ao3, FF.net)

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Unable to experience romantic attraction, Remus feels incomplete. Unable to feel sexual attraction, Roman feels less than. Maybe as the King, they decide, they will feel whole again. Their partners and friends, however, know this isn’t the solution and seek to help them realize there’s nothing broken about them before it’s too late. Word Count: 12000 Prompt: Mirror Theme: None Language: English Fandom: Sanders Sides. Characters: Logan, Patton, Roman, Virgil, Nate, Remy, Emile, Seth, Toby, Janus, Remus, Unnamed Orange Side, Romulus, Dragon Witch Genre: Friendship, Hurt/ Comfort CW: Romance, Sexual content, Violence

He Is Mild And He Is Meek by @entity9silvergen (Ao3, FFN)

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: He is mild and he is meek, he is Momo and he is what I seek. Suki always wanted three things in life. One was to become a professional soccer player. The second was to live in a cute apartment filled with succulents. The third was to get a cat. Momo probably wasn’t anyone’s first pick as a pet but Suki was determined to get this cat to love her as much as she loved him. If only he’d accept he had a home now. Word Count: 6500 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Language: English Fandom: Avatar the Last Airbender. Characters: Suki, Momo, Sokka, Aang Genre: Friendship, Hurt/ Comfort CW: Mention of sex, non-excessive swearing

sick of all those love songs (sing to me about my friend on the moon). by nwhrs

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Johnny has always tried to follow the game, Ten has always stood out like a sore thumb, Chenle has always been quite vocal about himself, and Jisung really has absolutely no idea just what is going on (or does he?). And this is just a little part of their story. Word Count: 16413 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Fandom: NCT // Park Jisung, Zhong Chen Le, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Suh Youngho | Johnny Genre: Slice of Life CW: Romance, Discussions of romance & amatonormativity

he loves you (he loves you not) by @ternaryflower53

Summary: "Who's your companion?" the man asks. "This is Jango," he says, not adding his last name. They have a false one, a name Jango sometimes uses in undercover missions when he doesn’t want to risk being recognized as the Mand’alor’s son, but better if they can avoid using it. "He's my husband." The man frowns down at his datapad, then looks up to study Jango. "I wasn't expecting you to come with a partner, Master Jedi." or, jangobi fake dating au, but make it aromantic. Word Count: 6270 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Language: English Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jango Fett) Genre: Fanfic CW: Romance, fake/pretend relationship, request to be in a romantic relationship that gets shut down

#AroWriMo 2021 Works #Roundup #Aro #Aromantic #Arospec #Writing #Writblr

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luuxxart · 4 years ago

Note

UR FUTURE EVA HCS ARE SO SO GOOD IN OBSESSED......if it's ok w you could u tell me more

well after consuming any media my brain is always immediately like 👏🏽 ✨future AU time✨

if I were to write anything out i think it’d be funny if it were called like neon revelation evangelion. anyway tho

keep in mind tho I’ve only watched the anime and End of Evangelion and like,,, I skimmed some wiki pages bc I’m not really much of a reader (and I cannot find ANIMA anywhere anyway nor do I have money to spend on comics/manga) so I’m a noob,, and even then there’s stilll prolly a lot I don’t fully understand

but put a dime in and get the 20 minute long song so (and spoiler alert jic) here’s the info dump

in the words of David Byrne, how did we get here?

Post-Human Instrumentality Project failure, Shinji and Asuka form a temporary truce to investigate the ruins of NERV once the SEELE soldiers all clear out

The HI Project failed and all the EVAs (besides Unit 01 I think? but it’s marked missing) are in relative disrepair, so no need to go any further. Best for the SEELE soldiers to fall back and await further instruction.

Shinji and Asuka manage to slip back into the old headquarters after navigating through all the rubble and destruction of Tokyo-3 where they meet back up w Misato and Ritsuko

They girlbossed their way into this I’m sure they can girlboss their way out of it

(and girl what was ritsuko’s plan literally maam why would u come to a gun fight and not wear a bullet proof vest is no one wearing a bullet proof vest???? anyway)

It takes a while, but things sort of get back on the road under Misato and Ritsuko’s leadership. Gendo can stay dead, as a treat.

Shinji finds Unit-01 through. idk some kind of Mom version of the Force. Same with Asuka and Unit-02. They immediately begin repairs in case the military comes back. Angels are no longer a threat, so humanity becomes the main villain. as it should be.

For now, bc nothing ever stays dead.

Rei certainly doesn’t, bc despite the trauma, she’s technically family, Shinji wants her back like stat. And Ritsuko isn’t happy to oblige but she finds the blueprints and gets to work. Perhaps Lilith comes back to possess her. The science is basically god magic in this show so I don’t think it matters. The important part is there are no more clones from this point on, and Rei remakes herself how she wants to look while keeping her hair color and some mild resemblance to Yui. She forces her body to grow up alongside Shinji.

Bc, for all intents and purposes, they’re practically siblings. By god, let them do sibling things.

Misato contacts their sister NERV stations and explains the situation under full confidentiality. They agree to help fund EVA production and repair. They even manage to get Unit-04 out of the Dirac Sea under direction from Misato trying to interpret Shinji’s story about his experience.

I think it would be cool?? If they mayb?? reworked the mass production units. Not that Asuka would go anywhere near them but, it’s an idea.

For a few years, the EVAS are used to help rebuild Tokyo-3 since *large*.

Misato finds the locations of and calls the students from Class 2-A to attain permission for them to come back and potentially pilot EVAS. They’ve still got all this LCL and don’t know what to do with it. Bc really. what are they gonna do. go murder some more moms??????????

Only 3 people come back, and like, they just dip and don’t tell their guardians. It’s Kensuke, Tōji, and Hikari ofc

Tōji can’t pilot an EVA anymore, so he helps monitor EVA pilots with the other scientists. He’s also relatively good at directing them, which Misato takes a notice of.

Kensuke and Hikari pilot for a while, but after a minor SEELE threat, they realize they’re not really cut out for it like The First-Third Children. Kensuke goes through a crisis realizing he kind of hates killing with the mechs and Ritsuko takes him under her wing for mech design instead. Hikari started shadowing Misato from the get-go, but as Class Rep, she takes to the position of Junior Assistant Major pretty well. (And Tōji calls her the JAM which she hates ,,,,, but secretly loves it ;3)

Years pass and Ritsuko, Misato, and the original staff leave NERV entirely in the hands of the kids who are approx. 30 by the time the OG staff leaves.

NGE is already quite a “sins of the father” story, but it becomes more spread out as the main six have to really talk about and cope with what NERV left behind. (like Rei, the angels, the LCL, the true purpose of the HI Project etc.)

And at some point, Shinji sort of falls back into a depressive episode, so Rei brings back Kaworu. Hilarity ensues.

But This Opens The Door For The Angels. Oops.

No idea what happens after that. Actual headcanon time

relationship headcanon time✨✨

The people who stick together most closely end up being Shinji, Rei, and Asuka and then Tōji, Kensuke, and Hikari.

Eventually they split off further as relationships develop. Asuka/Rei, Tōji/Hikari, and Shinji/Kensuke, with the last one only forming bc it suckssss being the odd ones out alone. Might as well be the odd ones out together.

Asuka’s still scarred from the events of the HI Project so she’s not the one to initiate her relationship w Rei.

After being rebuilt, Rei decides to take her life into her own hands, kind of like Anthy. She tries to mend the relationships she never really got to have under Gendo and the HI Project’s control. Ritsuko is like, a bit beyond her, but that’s to be expected, and Rei backs off from that. Asuka is a bit more open to being friends.

Rei, Hikari, and Asuka try having some ✨girl time✨ away from the group and end up forming a little offshoot that meets from time to time.

Through her time spent with the other girls, Asuka realizes she can live for herself and not for the expectations of men and ends up putting more time into hobbies like studying (and eventually writing) theoretical physics, psychology, and engineering to better understand her EVA. Yeah she’s punk but like. she’s a scholarly punk who does not give a shit abt what anyone thinks anymore.

Identity is still very important to her, so that’s why I gave her the “02” tattoo. It’s sort of like mom-heart but for EVA pilots ig.

Asuka and Rei pretty much bond over studying theory, shocking each other with just how smart the other really is. And once Asuka realizes Rei isn’t an emotionless robot, it’s all over. 🧡🤍💖

I guess Tōji/Hikari is just destined to be endgame. I mean, they’re pretty cute in canon. It just sort of continues on a natural path from where they left off. Tōji confiding in Hikari abt his experience w the EVAs, them realizing they caught feelings in high school, dealing with it while working, and eventually becoming partners, Commander Suzuhara and Major Horaki. Just a good old JimPam. Every series needs a JimPam. For Evangelion, it’s Tōjikari.

SO ANYWAY SHINJI AND KENSUKE.

It honestly just comes from like, episode four?? Where they camp together?? adorable. lovely. ten out of ten. would watch again if I was willing to put myself through the angst of NGE again.

Kensuke really tries to understand Shinji. He really does. Tries to be there as much as he can pre-HI Project. Probably has just a tiny crush on him at that point and disguises it as a fascination w EVAs.

After Tōji’s accident, he tries not to show how much it bothers him that being an EVA pilot is not the life he thought it would be. Even still, he wants to be one. And after evacuating there’s not really much to do but mope. As far as he knows, Shinji and the EVAs are as good as dead.

But then his (father? Brother? Undecided, but I like to think he’s related somehow to that guy Misato hangs w in the last eps) gets the call from Misato to come back to Tokyo-3 for the clean-up project. His guardian declines so Kensuke persuades Tōji to leave with him. Hikari wants to come too, bc the Class Rep has to take care of her city ,,,, and Tōjikari :)❤️

Kensuke is overwhelmingly ecstatic to see Shinji again when they finally make it to NERV (as are Tōji and Hikari, to a bit of a lesser extent), but Shinji is hesitant because of the incident. Shinji basically chooses to avoid them at all costs.

This creates a weird bit of tension bc Kensuke wonders if Shinji just thinks he’s weird or hates him for some odd reason (maybe bc Shinji hated piloting the EVAs and Kensuke was so obsessed?) and Shinji becoming a shining beacon of silence as the years go on doesn’t help.

Shinji and Asuka still live w/ Misato until she retires bc they’re practically family at this point. Kensuke lives w/ Ritsuko to study under her wing until she retires. The others have their own apartments.

And then Asuka eventually goes to live with Rei in a part-private study/part-public library kinda joint.

When the old divorced-but-kinda-still-married gals retire to a safehouse, Shinji and Kensuke find themselves alone, and they deal with it for a while, but Misato/Ritsuko really try to hammer in that they should *loud cough* move in together *loud cough* or else die alone.

Kensuke agrees only for the sake of observationally studying Shinji to figure out why he’s the best pilot of the OG3.

Eventually Shinji breaks and admits he’s felt guilty abt the destruction of Unit-03 and that he had no idea Tōji was the pilot. Kensuke never blamed him for it though, so they awkwardly try to rekindle their friendship.

And then what little crush Kensuke had on Shinji comes back and they fall into a sort of accidentally married trope bc “they were roommates!”

Now that that’s settled, they form the Dude Trio w Tōji again,,,, except this time ;) 🏳️‍🌈

Knowing that Shinji has no problem w Kensuke’s obsession w mechs, he becomes a lot more exuberant about them again and is constantly bragging about the upgrades he makes and talks excessively about how EVAs function (which Asuka definitely bonds w him over)

Shinji just kinda listens and is slowly like “oh fuck I like this nerd.”

Kensuke is the first to admit it bc he knows Shinji will never make the first move after *literally everything*.

Then kiss kiss, get married, Angel attack. Oops. What happens next? yes❤️

And that’s about all I got

I haven’t gone so deep as to have like “who’s the cook” or “who always steals the blankets” but I hope you enjoyed reading !! This took all day to compose 😭😭😭 maybe I’ll draw more in the future!!

#thank you for asking!!#I am long and near exhaustive I’m so sorry :’)#nge #neon genesis evangelion #ask

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curedigiqueen · 3 years ago

Text

So while I was working on my… analysis I suppose, on why Digimon Adventure: does not work as a show, it occurred to me that despite claims that Taichi in Adventure: is inspired by V-Tamer Taichi, his partner is an Agumon whose final evolution is Omegamon, and why that doesn’t work. But I realized that it is a point that I could expand on, and so I have separated it out here. Consider it a preview.

The protagonists of Digimon V-Tamer are Yagami Taichi and his partner Zero, a Veedramon. The story is carried by these two alone. While others help and hinder them on their way, their mission is theirs, and the responsibility of defeating Daemon belongs to no one else. It is with that power that they reach their highest form, UlforceVeedramon Future Mode While Taichi is the main protagonist, Zero is just as much a protagonist. Their names, even reference binary. While there are other characters who impact the plot, the role of protagonist belongs to these two.

This is echoed in the themes of Digimon Adventure:, the digivice in the title supposedly representing the bonds between human and digimon. And, while I don’t think it particularly succeeds, I can see clear attempts to be made to make the digimon partners their own characters, equals to their human partners.

But yet, Digimon Adventure: uses Omegamon as Taichi and Agumon’s final evolution. And that is a bit of a problem. Digimon Partners are not interchangeable. Well, okay, the species are a bit arbitrary, all things considered, (after all, Zero’s rookie form is also Agumon) but the problem is what UlforceVeedramon represents vs. Omegamon.

In Digimon Adventure, Omegamon is not Taichi’s power alone. Not by a long shot. Taichi is not the solo human protagonist of Digimon Adventure. Even in the first film, before Hikari was even meant to play a key role in the series, she shared the series debut. Regardless, the burden of defeating Apocalymon is not his alone to bear. And Agumon’s evolutions reflect that. WarGreymon is reached through borrowing Hikari’s power. Omegamon is literally formed by WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon (who was formed by borrowing Takeru’s power), but in reality is born from the power of hundreds of people reaching out from across the world. And perhaps even Taichi’s crest of Courage is not something that belongs to him alone. As Yamato puts it, “It’s everyone's Friendship”. Though Taichi best embodies courage, the courage he wields is not his alone. Even tri. which I usually avoid using as an example, has Omegamon Merciful Mode, which very explicitly draws from the other children’s partners. Adventure’s Taichi’s not strong because he himself is powerful. Really compared to Hikari he seems rather unimpressive on his own. He’s strong because he is able to easily act as a receiver to others powers, a trait that is fitting for a leader. Because that’s what sets Adventure Taichi apart from his peers, he’s a leader.

Note, that I didn’t really bring up the partners in regards to the discussion of Adventure, not that they aren’t important, but that they aren’t a driving factor. Digimon partners are something vastly different in Digimon Adventure. They are reflections of the children’s inner selves. For straightforward characters, like Taichi, his partner Agumon is very much like him, and for characters like Sora, Piyomon seems very different. This isn’t to say that the digimon are simply their partners, Tailmon went through quite a bit on her own. But nevertheless, Tailmon is the way she is, because Hikari is the way she is.

Digimon Partners and their evolutions are not things that are just assigned, and given. They are things that arise from the circumstances. Omegamon is there because the themes and circumstances make Omegamon the most appropriate "Ultra”. This is true both in and out of universe, who can forget SkullGreymon? SkullGreymon isn’t wrong. It’s just not the evolution that fits Taichi and Agumon’s situation.

And here’s the thing. Digimon has done the whole focus on “Bonds with Partner’s” before. That’s Tamers. And in Tamers, the final evolution was born from a human and a digimon literally coming together as one. The final episodes all appear somewhat humanoid as a result, particularly notable from WarGrowmon to Gallentmon. Because that was what evolutions were needed narratively and thematically. Otherwise, we have Megidramon. And guess what, the Adventure timeline also has a movie in which the focus is on the bonds between human and friendship, and lo and behold. In Digimon Adventure Kizuna, Agumon (Bond of Courage) and Gabumon (Bond of Friendship) were born. Born from the bond between human and digimon. They even use the “looking like humans” idea from Tamers.

Interestingly, Kizuna came right before Digimon Adventure: started.

Now, I am really advocating for the Bond forms to be used in Adventure:, those forms were something special to that timeline. But that’s just the thing. Many evolutions, whether unique digimon or not, are brought about by circumstances unique to that timeline. Look at 02’s usage of Armor levels, Frontier's Hybrids, and Xros Wars' Xros mechanic. It’s not new for later seasons to take these Digimon that have existed in these specific circumstances and use them generically later. It would, after all, be a shame to put all those good designs to waste. But at the very least, the evolutions of the main cast are carefully chosen, created if need be, to fit the show.

And that creates a problem for Adventure: as a reboot. It is pulling from the evolutionary lines of its predecessor, despite aiming for different themes and using an entirely different world and characters, and in the process the meaning behind the evolutions has been stripped out. While it has been able to throw in additional evolutions, most of those are well within the confines of precedent: Armors and Ultimate’s that are already related to these evolutionary lines. Adventure: is trying to be a show that, as a reboot of Adventure, it cannot be. Adventure: spends so much of its time screaming that it is not the original Adventure, while simultaneously dragging in call backs that it loses any sense of identity.

The enemies they fight are not Taichi’s responsibility alone. These kids have to have crests. Agumon must evolve into Omegamon. Angemon still has to die, HolyAngemon and Angemon have to mean something. Tailmon has to be Adult, and has to have been evil. Hikari and Takeru have to give their brother’s power. Omegamon still has to appear. . They still go to summer camp, and Taichi still fights Parrotmon.

Note, that this is far from Adventure:’s only problem, however I do think it illustrates a large problem that affects the way certain elements and characters are used in this show. Taichi is a solo protagonist, but his “Ultra” is still Omegamon born of Yamato, Takeru and HIkari’s influence. Mimi is now a bossy rich girl, but her crest is still Purity. Yamato is a loner who doesn’t overly concern himself with others, but he’s still Friendship, and still Takeru’s semi-estranged younger brother.

When Adventure: manages to work a new angle into the old mold, it works well. Yamato’s focus on his friendship with Gabumon works well, and various side characters work alright. Resolving the conflict over Tailmon’s Ultimates by using both for separate things and bringing in Goddramon is a great idea. But more often than not, it doesn’t. Properly contextualizing what a holy digimon is is great, but Angemon’s death is awkward, and Pegususmon’s presence smooths over the issues of Tailmon being champion and keeping Angemon special in an awkward way, refusing to address what an Armor is. Because they are trying to write a story around a set of evolutions they are required to have while absolutely refusing to be Adventure where it matters. Leading to the awkward mesh of Adventure elements and characters, with themes and stories that they were never meant for.

If Adventure: was meant to be about the bond between Taichi and Agumon, Omegamon was never going to work, including the concepts of crests, was going to muddle things at the very least, and including 7 whole other partner pairs who are going to require at least a few episodes of focus a piece was not going to work out. It’s not that we couldn’t have had more focus on Taichi and Agumon within a reboot and their bond, or that the idea of Taichi and Agumon (or any other pair), activating an evolution because they are in agreement on a concept isn’t a good idea. Just an understanding that this primary focus wasn’t going to work because Adventure in its very concept has a lot of characters that need some degree of focus. Savers with its heavier Masaru focus and use of shonen tropes, dials back the number of “main” characters to half that of Adventure, because it is built around its premise. That unless they were going to be bumped down to secondary, recurring characters, this was never going to work, because that’s not how Adventure’s concept was intended. To tell a new story, it needed to have dropped a few more of Adventure’s elements. But to do that would be to essentially admit that this isn’t Adventure at all. Adventure: needed to have evaluated what story it could tell with what elements it was required to include.

Anything goes in Digimon, and Adventure: seems to want to make the most of this, using armors, Hybrids and Xros Wars digimon with regularity. But you can’t build a cohesive narrative simply by plucking your favorite ingredients and sticking it in a pot. Some things just don’t go together. You can’t take the ingredients to make bread and make a salad. But in short, V-Tamer Taichi and Adventure Taichi aren’t interchangeable. They are two different characters because they are designed for two different stories, and their partners reflect this. Adventure: was doomed from the start if it didn’t realize this.

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shintorikhazumi · 3 years ago

Text

Sleeping Beau-

A/N: Happy Birthday Leoooooooo

I KNOW I’M OVER A MONTH LATE I’M SORRY ;-;

MAKING IT A TWO(?)-SHOT SO THAT CONGRATS ON YOUR GRADES TOO YEY! (Also because It was getting too damn long)

k. that’s all from me. Sorry for the meh quality and sorry in advance for all the mistakes and plotholes. I’m getting rusty. Forgotten how to write.

Enjoy?

~Shintori Khazumi

[Okay, how about a Mayakuro "remake" of seeping beauty? Where Claudine is all like "Tendo Maya give me that sword, I can do this shit myself" and wasn't in a coma like sleep but that it was just a rumour or something. ...she'd be so confused for a minute, no one told her that the princess would have that much of an attitude.]- Was the request, hihi.

“Sleeping Beau-”

“A princess... in a tower, oh so far away from me. This dear princess, deep in slumber, oh how much I long to see...”

“... Is this because you want to use her as reference for your new play?” A certain brunette mumbled through a mouthful of food she’d managed to smuggle in while on duty.

“Dame Aijo... It’s not like that.”

“I thought I heard you ask that vendor girl earlier for the location because you had plans to visit.”

“Shut up, Karen!” The bespectacled playwright frowned, scribbling down her latest line. “And how do you even know about that?” Junna narrowed her eyes at the knight who merely shrugged. Junna clicked her tongue, turning back to her sheets of paper. “I’m just a little curious, is all!” She defended, mumbling incoherent complaints to herself.

“But Miss Junna, the last time you used actual people as references for your script, you got scolded by Hikari.” Karen reminded, resting her head in her palm as she watched Junna jot down more lines, more notes for her newest work.

“Th-that was only because she didn’t like how I stared at you or Mahiru for too long! I couldn’t help it! I have to study my subjects intently to fully grasp their characters and way of life, and embody-” She was going off on a tangent, and Karen couldn’t help but giggle.

“So you are thinking of her as a reference.” Karen grinned smugly.

“Karen!”

“Now, now. What’s all the fuss about?” A voice called from the other side of the room, catching the occupant’s attention. The pair froze in place, minds registering the identity of the newcomer.

“Your highness!” Junna greeted first, immediately straightening up as she and Karen offered their respects in deep bows to the tall figure, regal and proud, stood at the doorway of the study.

The Royal Princess, Tendou Maya, in her full glory, sauntered into the room, not forgetting to shut the door behind her, before taking a seat on Junna’s desk- much to the latter’s chagrin- and immediately destroyed her image of poise and elegance as she hid behind closed doors.

“Finally.” Maya sighed, gazing out at Junna’s balcony, seeing the bright blue sky and the rustles of trees as the wind’s whistling was heard through open windows. “I thought they’d never end.” She huffed, jumping back onto her feet as she walked about the room.

“Princess, what are you doing here?” Junna addressed their new companion once more, surprised at the sudden visit. Usually Maya would inform her beforehand if she was planning on dropping by. “Did you run away from more noble meetings?”

Maya smiled at her in an amused manner that had Junna feeling a little irritated. “Can’t a student come see her Tutor at any given time should she have any queries in mind?” Maya asked sweetly, picking up a random book from a nearby shelf and flipping through its pages.

Junna stared, trying to read the woman’s expression and actions. She couldn’t. Groaning, Junna replied, “First of all, you are no longer my student. You’ve learned all you’ve needed to from me, finished all your course work two years ago. Secondly, do you even have anything to ask that I can answer that you don’t already know?”

Maya kept smiling at her mysteriously. “How are you?- is a valid question that you can answer and I don’t already know?”

“Don’t be cheeky, Your highness.” Junna rolled her eyes, getting back to her script on her desk.

“My, the genius scholar, the Kingdom’s royal tutor, can’t answer one of the simplest questions?” Maya faux-gasped. “Whatever shall we do? Find a new one?” She continued to tease.

Junna frowned, feeling a headache coming on. “Maya, you really don’t want me to dive into a long discussion on how that question could actually be one of the most difficult to answer.”

As if to remind the pair of her presence, Karen agreed enthusiastically, nodding her head at the same time. “You wouldn’t want to get bored, your highness. One time, Miss Junna tried to explain to me why I could buy five sacks of rice in the next town over for the price of only three in the capital, and I still don’t get it.” She chuckled sheepishly, scratching her head in confusion.

“Um, Dame Aijo, that’s a little different. You might be somewhat slow-”

“Oh, how interesting!” Maya clapped, playing along with Karen. Turning to Junna who had just flinched, she directed another question. “How can that be, teacher?” She asked innocently.

Junna grimaced, really not up to the task of having to play Maya’s little games today. Regaining her composure, Junna cleared her throat. “Okay, for what purpose have you actually come to see me, Princess?” She asked, hoping for a reasonable answer.

“To see my good old friend and catch up on life?” Maya tried.

Junna deadpanned. “Like hell that’s true. You haven’t visited me in three months. Each time you’ve visited before that, it was to either ask me to hide you from marriage interviews, sneak into a play, escape whatever duties you found tedious, or snack on baumkuchen secretly with Karen over here.”

“Baumkuchen is good for the soul.”

“Not for your figure.” Though she said that, Junna frowned as she remembered the time she was chewed out by the etiquette tutor for allowing Maya to eat ‘junk’ outside of mealtime; allowed her to eat more than her designated and controlled portions.

Despite knowing how nobles liked to keep up appearances, Junna hardly found it necessary to impose such a diet on the princess with how active she was anyway. Also, as someone with lists and lists of responsibilities to cater throughout the day, she worried if it was even enough, what they fed the poor girl.

What if she simply collapsed one day?

“You don’t mean that.” Maya smirked at her, propping up her face in her hands on Junna’s desk.

Junna’s frown deepened. A splash of color appeared on her face that she quickly hid behind her manuscript. “I suppose not.” She admitted quietly.

Maya laughed freely, stepping back to allow her friend some breathing room. She went over to Karen to strike up some more amusing conversation maybe.

“So what kind of whimsical fairy tale has Miss Junna tried to string together this time?” She asked Karen.

Junna choked on air as she turned to glare at the cause of her stress today. “Why would you like to know?”

If the princess claimed she wanted to take part in another one of her productions, Junna would have to discourage her from doing so. She used to be pleased to have Maya on board, sometimes even pleading her because of her talent and potential for the stage- she was very clearly loved by its goddess. However, Junna had quickly learned that a Royal should not be placed under that kind of spotlight.

They were already on a high enough pedestal that was better tailored to people of their caliber; worlds and worlds beyond even the most talented actors, the brightest stars.

When His Majesty’s second wife, the queen consort, had heard of these activities, she had hounded Junna, and her fiance Nana- the director and owner of the theater- to cease any production that would ‘taint’ the Royal Princess’s image and only serve as distraction from her duties that were of greater significance.

Such as trying to succeed the throne.

It wasn’t only for her sake that she had to turn Maya away from the stage that called to her like a siren from the sea. It would be better for that sailor to keep away and stay alive all together. After all, mermaids were temptingly beautiful, but they devoured the life of those drawn to them.

So would it be for Tendou Maya.

“There’s just been this rumor circling about, princess.” Junna heard Karen begin, looking over at the pair who shared amicable smiles as they conversed.

Should she halt this topic?

“And this rumor is...?”

“Oh, just how there’s this weird, abandoned, palace-like thingy in the forest just by the border to that terrible west kingdom.”

Junna watched as Maya seemed to perk up, not liking the interest that was apparent on her face.

“They say there’s a princess there!”

“My! A princess!”

“They said she’s been sleeping there for a while!” Karen continued to share without much thought, Maya nodding enthusiastically and clinging onto every word. An action Junna did not like. “And that she’ll never wake up. Poor princess. Can’t they bring her to a clinic or something?”

“Ohoh? I suppose that would be the usual course of action.” Maya replied, going along with Karen’s storytelling. “What else do you know?” Maya asked, hoping to fish out some more information, no doubt.

Junna had to stop her already burning hunger from getting even bigger.

“Nothing else that you should hear of.” She cut the conversation off with a tap of her pen. “Anyway, it’s all just a rumor.” Junna stated. “It’s not as though there is proof of an actual structure suddenly being there in the western forests, nor is there any certainty about a princess residing in deep slumber there.”

Maya flashed her an evil grin, walking over to her table again, standing right in front of her once more.

“But there isn’t any proof that it doesn’t exist either, right?” She whispered to Junna with a glint in her eyes that only spelled trouble.

“Don’t get any funny ideas, Maya. The kingdom will absolutely have my head if they learn that I’ve somehow placed ideas in yours.” She sighed, rolling up her papers and smacking Maya on the head lightly. The princess simply laughed in amusement.

“Worry not, my good friend. I’ve taken your kind words into consideration.”

Junna stared at her, still skeptical. Knowing Maya, ‘consideration’ was just that. Consideration. And, most likely, Maya was considering going against Junna’s warning.

Really, she could only hope for the best, and pray that Maya wouldn’t do whatever her pretty little head had clearly already planned.

‘No, no.’ Junna shook her head. She should trust Maya. She was an adult, responsible, and a royal. She knew her duties, and she knew what was right. Maya was an intelligent woman. She wouldn’t just thoughtlessly go out in search of the existence of some baseless tale. Yes. Junna shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

She looked over at the princess still casually conversing with Karen, all cheers and smiles coming from the pair. The knight continued to entertain Maya with more and more trivial details regarding the stories of that hidden castle in the woods, and the shine in Maya’s eyes that Junna usually associated with her excitement and craving for adventure only became brighter and brighter.

This was worrisome.

Junna bit her lip, anxiety growing more and more as she tried to convince herself that everything would be just fine.

Okay, okay. Even if Maya would, hypothetically, try to go off in search of this ‘mystery princess’, there were many guards posted about the castle anyway.

She couldn’t escape and do anything, right?

No, in the first place, she wouldn’t do anything. Right?

Right?

//-//-//-//-//

She shouldn’t be doing this. She knows it deep down.

Should her parents catch wind of her plans, she could either be disowned or forever locked away in her own tower.

Regardless, these threats of consequence could not hope to quell her hungered curiosity. Maya couldn’t sit still after hearing such a tale- an adventure outside the walls of the palace. One that was much like the stories she had only ‘played’ thus far.

This time, it was real.

And so did the princess sneak out into the dead of the night.

“Come now, Samson.” A lone horse’s whinny shook the silent air, Maya feeling her heart pound at the thrill of game she had begun to play. A game of life. “Shhhh. Be silent, my boy. We must be discreet.” She whispered, stroking the silky mane of her stallion, hoping it would soothe him.

It seemed to have worked and Maya sighed in temporary relief.

Looking ahead into the darkness of the courtyard, she surveyed the area ahead in attempts to check for any possible dangers. Finding none, she took one final look behind her to ensure that she was not being followed.

Good. The coast was clear.

Addressing her loyal companion, Maya took the reins and commanded forward. “Shall we?” She smiled as she got a little huff. “Hyah!” She exclaimed, loud enough only for their ears to pick up.

She cantered Samson over the currently-empty courtyard, out the back, having known a secret pathway through the castle gardens to get onto the streets without passing the main gate where guards were usually posted, and rarely left.

She should really advise their knights on how to better their security. People could get in through places besides the gate.

...or people could sneak out.

She could.

But maybe... not now.

Stepping onto the cobblestone pavement, she grinned. So far, so perfect.

Catching sight of the palace gate, she giggled as she saw a guard stretching in the distance, probably yawning from drowsiness during night duty.

Yes, she should indeed talk to her father in the future. Or not.

“Fools.”

//-//

Into the dense forest, they ran. Galloping hooves braving a weather that was somehow stormy. The air and the scenery was somehow eerie. Darkened clouds and thorny paths had so soon greeted them as Maya traversed towards the direction Karen had pointed out.

The location of a hidden tower.

From what Junna and Karen had shared in terms of the rumors they’d heard about it, they said a princess from the neighboring kingdom had been born twenty or so years ago. She had been blessed by three fairies, and cursed by a witch, Maleficent- was her name, apparently.

The girl was to prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel, and then she’d sleep on death’s bed inevitably.

That was how it had gone.

Maya was a believer in the magic of the world. After all, the members of the royal family were some of the few who had been gifted with its wonder.

She wouldn’t call them miraculous, but she had undeniable strength that far exceeded many of their best male knights, as well as healing abilities that could get rid of smaller cuts, and halt excessive bleeding.

This proved useful as Maya made her way through the thick brush, feeling the sharp of thorns on occasion as she went deeper into the forest.

After a good hour or so of searching, Maya had found herself at the base of what she had presumed was the ‘palace’ from the rumors. Tall-standing and surrounded by thorns, with an eerie air that only added more fearsome layers to its image shrouded in darkness, Maya deliberated continuing on her little adventure.

Should it hold terrors far greater than she had initially accounted for, this curiosity trip would very easily end up with chaos and sorrow in an entire kingdom.

However, should rumors stay as rumors...

Maya laughed at her own foolishness as she dismounted Samson, tying him to a nearby tree.

“Let’s hope I don’t die, my boy.” She stroked her trusted steed as he nuzzled against her hand. “I’ll be back.”

//-//-//-//-//

Another cough exited her mouth, particles of dust shrouding her vision. Clearing away a cobweb with her hand, Maya found the first open door to any room she’s passed by thus far. A long winding stairwell sat inside, steps that snaked their way to the top of a tower invited Maya to take them and uncover the secrets they might lead to.

Maya took one step. Then another. And another.

Half-way to the top, she had found another door. Right away, she knew it was different from all the other wooden entrances she’d encountered so far. Besides the odd glow that seemed to be coming from within, it had an equally strange inscription carved into its wood.

With a light push, the door flew open, revealing a spinning wheel. The glow she had initially taken note of didn’t come from the room, apparently. But neither was it from the spinning wheel itself.

Maya focused her eyes on one part of the machinery, seeing the spindle sparkle alluringly, almost invitingly.

“What a dangerous-looking contraption.” She murmured, stepping closer. Sharp. It was sharp, she observed, the closer she got. “What if... someone got hurt?” In a trance like state, her body continued to close the distance between herself and the seemingly glowing piece of furniture. Her eyes remained fixated on its eerie shine. “...How tragic... would that be...”

Stopping just inches shy of the spindle, Maya’s breath stilled. Almost as if it had a mind of its own, almost as if Maya had forgotten the whole tale she had just been told, her hand lifted up, reaching for the spindle-

...when a creak suddenly caught her attention. As though a spell had been broken, Maya blinked, quickly pulling her hand away and looking up towards the source of the noise. She saw another door, one that was slightly open, leading into more darkness, revealing none of what possibly lay beyond it.

Her heart beat fast at the thought of either being caught by someone from her kingdom, or by an entirely different entity- a monster or ghoul perhaps? Either way, the dangers the options presented was not to her liking.

Still, this did little to douse the fire that was her thrill-seeking curiosity, and thus, she went after it: the dark and beyond.

She took careful steps, pushing the door to widen its opening in hopes that the strange light from the previous room would help to illuminate this new one. The hinged wood budged with an echoing creak, one that made Maya flinch, still wary of alerting any possible inhabitants of the palace.

Upon entering the room, Maya’s eyes fluttered about the dim surrounding, scanning over the surprisingly dusted furnishings, and well-kept room.

How strange.

For a place that supposedly only had a sleeping individual of a few years already, to be this clean... Was this also due to the effects of magic?

Her gaze continued to travel, hopping from one thing to another. She took careful, quiet steps about the room as she surveyed it, searching for a better source of light at the same time.

Coming to a curtained wall, she pulled the fabrics apart, hoping a window was present there. Smiling victoriously at her correct assumption, she allowed the natural evening light to flutter into the room and illuminate it as she turned around to see things more clearly.

And clearly she saw. Eyes widening, they came to rest upon a figure glowing under the elegant light of the moon. A sleeping beauty, resting. The princess of the rumors. Maya gazed upon her face, mind blanking and unable to tear her gaze away.

Her cheeks were somehow still a gorgeous apple-red despite supposedly having lack of nutrition due to her lengthy slumber- should the rumors hold any truth- albeit somewhat hollowed out. She had long lashes, and was fair-skinned. What drew Maya in the most in that moment was the glow of golden hair. Silky, fluffy, seemingly magical.

“Absolutely beautiful.”

Maya, outside of her conscious control, reached out to touch it- much like she’d almost done to the needle before. However, unlike that earlier attraction, this one was... different.

The pull of danger was as a hypnotic, malicious trance. Despite the dread coursing through your veins, the fear pounding in one’s heart, you could not step away. On the other hand, this allure was gentle, soft. She was not as a moth to a flame, nor a sailor to the siren’s song.

This was a hand held out, beckoning her for a life-changing dance as her fate entwined with whoever it was that lay upon satin sheets in an abandoned castle.

Maya flinched once her skin made contact with silken gold, before relaxing, enjoying their soft feel. Holding a few strands that slipped through her fingertips, she brought it to her lips placing a kiss on them.

Her heart beat painfully in her chest, but she did not think it was in any way unpleasant. Her eyes scanned over Sleeping Beauty’s features once more, resting upon slightly paled lips somehow growing larger and larger in her view.

Oh.

Maya had been drawing closer.

And Maya was about to kiss the lady.

Breath stilling in her lungs, Maya pulled her senses together, shaking her head as she berated herself for even considering such a distasteful course of action- throwing herself upon someone without the least bit of consent.

She’d seen many beautiful faces in her lifetime, she’d flirted with some too- much to Junna and her parents’ chagrin. But never had she felt as... captured as she was in this moment; never had Maya been filled with a strong urge to know who this person was, to have the pleasure of being acquainted with someone such as this.

She had never felt the desire to steal a kiss from someone she’d just met, and hoped that maybe... they’d kiss back.

Eyes widening, Maya slapped her hands against both sides of her face; the feeling of the warmth of her cheeks grounded her back in the reality of the moment as she attempted to take a step back and recollect herself-

And suddenly she found herself looking up at the ceiling and into precious garnets with a flame-like passion burning within them as she was pinned down to the mattress by their glare and their owner’s physical strength.

A lovely owner, might she add.

“Who. Are. You.”

Maya blinked.

‘Even her voice is lovely.’-She thought, despite the venom in its tone. Whether Maya’s heart was picking up speed due to fright or something else, she didn’t know. Her mind was a jumbled mess of being dumbfounded and starstruck at the beauty presented to her, her subconscious’ warnings that she was currently in danger, and confusion towards this predicament she had found herself in.

“I said, Who are you.” Maya’s fair lady repeated, shaking her by the collar for emphasis that she was not to be joked with, and that Maya should answer seriously if she wanted to make it out of this situation in one piece.

Did she, however?

Maya wondered if she had some sort of odd preferences deep down that despite her apprehensions and surprise, she couldn’t help but feel merry and excited in her position, laying beneath some unknown gorgeous woman who was angered and threatening.

She couldn’t help the smile that broke out on her face as she replied, “Why, I’m Maya. And you?” She hoped it at least looked charming, like the one she usually used on all the pretty village girls as their faces soon turned red and flustered.

She didn’t expect to get a growl instead... or should she have?

“Are you one of her servants?” The blonde interrogated, not answering Maya’s own question as she searched Maya’s eyes for any motives of deception and dishonesty.

“Her?” Maya cocked her head to the side curiously. “Who might you be referring to, my dear?” She asked, somehow still hoping to charm or tease the woman with a subtle pet name that only went ignored.

Golden brows scrunched up further, fangs baring more obviously for Maya to admire as the woman answered her question. “Maleficent, obviously!”

“Maleficent?” Now where had Maya heard of that before...

Apparently, this strange beauty had taken it upon herself to fill Maya in on the details, as she released her from her grip, pushing her away and onto the sheets as she got up to pace the room in clear vexation and rage from just the thought of whoever this ‘Maleficent’ person was. Just her name was enough to rile her up, it seemed, and Maya’s suspicious and intruding presence was now quickly forgotten as her newly-awakened companion went off on a raged rant.

“She who has locked me up for who knows how long. With the silly prophesy that I’d prick my finger on a spindle and fall asleep for many years.” She explained, pausing in her steps to give Maya a look. “That one.”

Maya still didn’t quite follow. It all did sound so familiar.

“I beg your pardon?”

The lady didn’t seem to have heard Maya as she continued on her fiery tirade. “Who in their right mind, when being told the exact misfortune that would serve as their demise, go with it? Certainly not I!”

“I see...?” Maya had now assumed a more comfortable sitting position atop the room’s mattress, watching the woman in front of her continue to grumble and pace about.

“Avoiding that damned curse was nothing of a challenge- it was trivial, even.” She sighed, biting her nail in annoyance. “But there’s an entirely different issue at hand!” She exclaimed, stomping her foot down as she crossed her arms and looked to Maya, as if asking her to tell her what it was.

Maya had no clue whatsoever.

She heard her companion click her tongue in disappointment at the lack of response, and that somehow stung for Maya.

Maya was quickly enlightened once more by the things she had no clue about.

“I can’t leave the building for some reason. Each time I’ve tried, it was as though I’d entered a never-ending maze.” She huffed. “And even if I got passed that, I’ve discovered that she sends a dragon to check up on me from time to time. The timing is sporadic so I can’t even plan a definite schedule of escape. Maybe if I had my sword, though...” She mumbled the last bits to herself. “Maybe it would be a different story.”

Maya watched the troubled girl continue with her mental acrobatics and murmuring, still bewildered by the sudden outburst of emotions and quickly growing pile of information that she was still trying to process bit by bit. She reviewed the story she had heard in her memory to the best of her abilities, somehow feeling that something was off with the tale she had just been told.

Something clicked, and she snapped her fingers in realization, as she got up from her seat and walked over to the perplexed lady.

“Excuse me-”

“What.” The response was biting and cold.

Maya flinched, but prepared an unbothered smile as she tried to strike up a coherent conversation with this girl.

“I’m sorry, but... I just wanted to confirm something.”

The blonde only raised her brow, telling Maya silently to go on.

Maya suddenly felt nervous, and nervous wasn’t really something she thought she was capable of feeling, not with all her background and training. However, under the scrutiny of those intense eyes, she felt her throat dry as she struggled to use her words.“Um, so...” She began, feeling the urge to rub at the back of her neck to ease her sudden anxiety. “You said you couldn’t find a way to leave?” She finally got out lamely.

“Yes, that’s what I said. Weren’t you listening?” Was the fiery response that confirmed Maya’s confusion.

“I... I see.” Maya stuttered. She cursed at the fact that she did. Still, she had to continue on with this conversation in order to understand what was nagging at her. “I see, but...”

“But?”

Maya pointed towards the way she came in, the door still wide open and with that odd glow from the needle in the previous room she’d passed to arrive in this one. “The exit is right there, milady.” She stated slowly, clearly, hoping the other woman would get her message.

“...”

“...milady?”

She received an angered glare, feeling her collar grasped once more as Maya was pulled to meet the woman eye to eye. “What foolishness are you spouting?” She questioned, thrusting a finger in the direction Maya had pointed at. “That is clearly a wall.”

Maya blinked, tilting her head in confusion. No, no. She was clearly not blind, was she? She was sure that she wasn’t dreaming either- that she was in the right state of mind. So why...

Instead of trying to explain things, or understand through words, Maya decided to figure things out the easier way. She pried the other woman’s hands away and made her way towards the door. She felt the heated gaze on her back as she stood in front of the open frame. Looking back once, she nodded.

And she walked right through the door.

Staring at the lady through the passage, she wondered why she wasn’t being followed, why there was no ‘I hadn’t noticed that there’, or any similar words.

All she heard was an awed, “How did you do that?”, and her lagging brain clicked. Oh.

Maya came back in, multiple possibilities and reasons now running through her mind as to why this girl could not see the clearly placed exit. Right, this place was covered in magic. Why hadn’t she thought of that sooner? Maya put on her smile once more, approaching the girl as she took her by the hand and led her closer to the door. “I’m telling you, milady. There’s nothing here.”

She still looked at Maya skeptically, clearly in doubt.

“Milady, do you believe in magic?”

She received a deadpanned look, and she realized it wasn’t the smartest question to ask someone who had been locked up in a tower, guarded by a dragon, and cursed to suffer eternal slumber by the touch of one tiny needle.

“Apologies, of course you do.”

Maya watched the blonde sigh, as she nodded, looking at Maya with a calmer demeanor as she stated what they now thought they both knew. “So there’s a door there, and I simply can’t see it because I’m probably under some type of illusion spell.”

Maya hummed her agreement, and admired the way her companion’s face lit up in relief and a joy she didn’t think she’d ever see replace the grouchy expression that seemed to be forever set in place.

“Well.” Maya’s sleeping beauty smiled at her, unknowingly making her heart skip a beat. Maya wondered what that was about.

“Well?” Maya parroted, clearing her throat after a minor crack in her voice.

“Now that we know that this wall is but an illusion... I guess I feel like a fool for not trying to figure that out any sooner.” The woman laughed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she turned to look about her room. “I suppose it’s time for me to leave this musty old building and claim my freedom.” She grinned. “I wonder if I can find anything of use here that I can take with me.”

Huh. She was leaving.

Somehow Maya didn’t like the sound of that.

She couldn’t leave. Not when they hadn’t even had a proper conversation yet.

To where would she go? Would it be to a place where Maya could find her, or seek her out? Maya felt compelled to stay with her, or have her stay with Maya. Maybe they could go back to Maya’s kingdom together... and then she could get to know her more. Maya... wanted-needed to get to know her more. Even if she didn’t know why that was herself.

Right, Maya still didn’t know her name. Where was she from? Why was she... Maya needed to ask. Maya needed to know.

Clearing her throat once more, she reached out for the girl.

“So, I was wondering-”

“It was nice knowing you, thank you for showing me the way out.” Were the words that interrupted her plans.

‘Wait, no. Not yet. Where are you going?’

“Now I must be off-”Maya’s panicked hands were too late in catching the girl as she tried to exit the room, “Oof-What the...” but instead found herself hitting a hard barrier and falling onto her back.

Hmm?

“Hmm? What... happened...” Maya asked, quickly kneeling to check on her fallen companion.

The woman rubbed her forehead, a red spot marking the area that probably hurt the most. “That’s what I’m asking.” She quickly turned to glare at Maya, pointing an accusatory finger at her. “You.” She angrily spat. “You lied to me.”

“Wha- I did no such thing!” Maya felt compelled to defend herself, getting up from her spot and hastily walking in and out of the doorway, as if that would prove some point. “See?”

“I don’t see!” The blonde exclaimed, crossing her arms as she sat on the floor. “You really are one of Maleficent’s henchmen! What, did she send you here to make a fool of me? Is she watching from somewhere? Is this some kind of sick entertainment for her?” She madly questioned, standing up and jamming a finger into Maya’s chest, forcing her back.

“I’ve already told you, I’m not!” Maya countered, her own volume raising.

“Then who are you?!” The woman screeched at her, pinning her against the wall- except that it wasn’t a wall for Maya, and she promptly fell through into the other room and onto the cold hard floor.

“Ouch... that hurt...” Maya groaned as she got up, running her fingers against the back of her head gently to soothe the sharp pain there.

She looked up to see the girl on the other side of the entryway banging her fists against a barrier Maya could not visualize, but the other could not deal away with, apparently.

“Who are you?” She was asked again. “Who are you?! If you aren’t one of those people who have thrown me in here, how did you find me? How did you know of this place? Why are you here?! Tell me!”

Maya silently watched her continue to yell in fury, continually slamming her hands desperately against the ‘open door’.

“Were you here to toy with my sanity? To give me false hope that I’d finally get be able to be free?”

Each question was accentuated by a hard thumping sound as she beat against the wall.

“Did you leave already?! Figures you would! You didn’t even try to prove me wrong!”

Maya considered the option of exiting the place, no longer willing to tolerate the manner with which she had been treated the entire time. She considered it.

She considered no longer having to deal with this clearly crazed woman. She did not know what came over her when she thought that she was the least bit attractive.

She considered getting up. She got up.

She considered turning away. Maya did.

She considered finally walking out of the room...

-until she heard it.

The tiniest sniffle, so small she could have missed it if it weren’t for the sudden complete quiet after all the loud noise.

“...I just thought I’d finally be able to find my way home...Wherever home is...”

A pang shot through her heart as she turned back around, eyes falling upon a forlorn face that was quick to be covered in tears. If that wasn’t enough to drive an emotional knife through her chest, the lady beyond the wall began to wail helplessly in what Maya could only describe as pure, unadulterated pain.

“WHY AM I HERE?! WHAT DID I EVEN DO TO DESERVE THIS?! WHO EVEN AM I?! WHY ME?!” The girl sobbed. “Damn you, Maleficent! Damn you, dragon, damn this stupid tower, damn it all!”

Maya watched the girl slump against the clear barrier, falling to her knees as her poundings returned in weak waves and slaps against the wall, until she ended up curling on the floor, quietly sniffling and well-worn.

Maya approached the door once more, wanting to reach out, but not knowing what to say. She crouched down, mouth opening and closing until her voice eventually came out.

“I... I’m still here.” She spoke softly. There was no response. “Can you hear me?” Nothing still.

Maya bit her lip nervously. If she tried to go back in, would she be walking straight into death’s clutches? Would she get beat up? Even if she escaped later, how was she to explain what happened once she returned home?

Maya needed to think... wait, but did she have the time? She didn’t have all night to do whatever it was she came here to do. She needed to be out by sunrise and well on her way home. Wait... home? What home? Where was she? Why did she need to go home? Why was she here in the first place? Where was here?

“What am I...”

She felt a sharp pain in her head. Was it from the fall? Maya suddenly felt dizzy, her head began to spin and ache as she fell to the ground. She cursed the throbbing in her head. Maybe she could try healing it with magic. Maybe that would assuage the pain.

Healing? Magic?

What...

Maya shook her head. She didn’t have the time to think about all these things that were suddenly confusing her. She just had to do what she needed to.

Her hand took on a golden glow that almost seemed foreign to her. She didn’t know what it was, but somehow her body told her she should do it, that she could.

Shakily raising her hand up in a struggle, she managed to touch her head, and suddenly, along with a blindingly bright glow that filled the room, she felt clarity and many thoughts flowing in, as the pain melted away into nothingness along with the light.

Maya blinked, suddenly remembering so many things that she didn’t even know she’d forgotten. “...The princess. I’m... a princess. I’m Tendou Maya and I’m here to... I wanted to find out about a princess- the princess!” In panic, she turned to the lady she had been with all this time, her story earlier now registering in Maya’s mind and associating with the tall tale Junna and Karen had spoken about.

Maleficent... a tower... magic... a spindle and a curse.

Maya whipped her head about to see that the needle was no longer glowing to her. It looked like any old spinning wheel, sat in a room.

It was like an enchantment had been lifted off of Maya, and she saw with clearer eyes what was going on.

When had it settled? Was it the moment she entered this forsaken castle? Was it when she had laid eyes on the cursed contraption? Maya did not know.

All she knew was that she needed to help set free this woman that was most probably the princess from the rumors that may as well not be rumors. But how?

Well, it didn’t matter right now. Maya just needed to take some course of action to temporarily ease the situation. She could figure out the rest later. Soon. She did not know how long she’d been here in the tower, nor did she have a way of telling how much time she had left before needing to leave except through the window she’d opened in the other room. If she had to go in anyway, she may as well explain things to the captive princess inside.

Maya swallowed thickly, wondering what she should do now. The princess still lay across the way. Should she simply step over her and enter like that? Or should she move her out of the way first. Either option would probably get her beat, but Maya didn’t need to think about that right now... maybe if she held her in place to prevent her from attacking once she notices Maya’s presence?

Nodding to herself, Maya crept closer to the open door, knelt down on one knee, bracing her arms for the weight.

She needed to do it smootly and quickly, before there was any time for the other woman to register what was going on.

Three... two... one...

“Wha-!”

Maya slipped her hands and arms under the princess’ weight and hurriedly carried her up and over to lay her down on the bed before she could react.

“You!” Wide eyes regarded Maya with shock as she pinned the other princess down by her wrists, hoping that she couldn’t break free. “Why are you back?! What more are you going to do to me?! Are you- Get off me! Get off!”

“Wait! Wait! I need you to listen to me for a moment! Please!”

“Why should I, you rascal- what are you doing to me-mmpghhmm! Mmmmphhh!!!”

Maya had managed to hold down both the other woman’s wrists with only one of her hands, while she used her free one to cover her mouth, hoping to silence her, if only for a bit.

“PLEASE JUST LISTEN FOR ONCE.” Maya shouted sternly, shocking them both by the power and force in her voice. She felt worse as she noticed the still-present tear stains on her cheeks. They stared at one another in complete silence, until Maya regained her thought process. “Please. Listen. I’ll tell you all I know. But please listen first.”

The girl still looked shocked, but nodded.

Maya nodded back, pondering her next words. “If I... release you. Will you promise to stay silent and behaved, and let me explain everything?”

She watched the girl slowly nod once more.

Maya looked at her doubtfully.

“You won’t attack me?”

Another nod.

“...okay. I’ll let go now.”

To be safe, she first took her hand away from the girl’s mouth, receiving a disgusted glare.

“Leather tastes awful.”

“You promised to stay silent.”

“You promised to release me.”

Maya felt her brows furrow, feeling the slightest bit annoyed.

“Do not attack me.” She warned, slowly releasing the woman’s hands. “I swear, do not attack me. Do not.” She chanted, hands finally completely off. “I’m telling you, I swear. Do not-”

And once more, she found herself pinned against the cushions, only this time, she was face first into them.

“I SWEAR TO GOD-”

“Tell me who you are and why you are here!” Was demanded of her. “And don’t try anything strange.” Maya could probably find a clever way to weasel her way out, but she knew if she raised any more suspicion by being untruthful or vague, she’d get nowhere in negotiating and explaining with this person.

Sighing her usual pride away, she asked a single question first.

“Will you believe what I’m about to tell you?”

After all, there would be no point if she didn’t.

“Yes.” The answer was quick, and Maya was genuinely surprised.

“R-really?!”

Genuinely surprised.

“Just spit it out. No funny business either.”

Maya actually felt elated as she did her best to nod in her position.

“Okay, I will tell you. My name really is Maya.”

“Maya. Maya what?”

“T-Tendou Maya.” She answered, before adding, “I’m a princess from the nearby kingdom, and I came here to confirm a rumor.”

Suddenly she felt herself released. Easing up into a sitting position, she turned to look at an oddly nervous face.

“... Are you serious about the princess bit... Tendou Maya?”

A tingle ran through her spine at the sound of her name rolling off those insanely gorgeous lips that she was suddenly so conscious of once more, almost forgetting to respond.

“Y-yes. Yes. I promise. No lies here.”

She was given a once-over, before the other party looked away and whispered a quiet ‘sorry’.

Why... was it so cute.

“So we can be civil.” Maya quipped, lightly teasing.

“Shut up.” The woman huffed. “And so? What rumor, p-princess?” Maya was asked carefully, snapping her out of any unnecessary thoughts.

Right. Maya inhaled deeply, breathing out a question in return to first confirm something. “Do you know how old you are?” She asked.

Her companion looked at her confusedly, before nodding. “If my guess is right, and that Maleficent visits every year or so to see if I still exist... then I know I am roughly twenty years old from the time I was taken away at six. But what does that have to do with what you’re saying?”

Maya nodded to herself, now a little more sure, and hoping that these rumors actually held some kind of truth to them. She looked seriously into confused eyes, ready to explain.

“If that is so then... the rumor was that a princess had been asleep in a castle in the woods for many years. I... came here to investigate.”

“Princess?” The girl echoed. “Me?” She asked again, pointing a finger to herself.

Maya nodded.

“What?”

“If the rumors hold any weight to them, then...”

“But really, a princess?” The girl continued to be skeptical, and Maya was becoming just as confused as she was.

“Wait, don’t you know that? But...” Digging through her memory, Maya was so sure that... “But you knew that you were supposed to prick your finger and fall asleep, didn’t you? Why wouldn’t you know that you’re a princess...”

Two confused ladies sat on a bed, staring at each other in utter confusion.

“I was raised in a cottage in the woods by three aunts. They just happened to warn me about something odd like this. And they told me that if I ever came across a Maleficent person, I should try my best to get away...”

“But how did you end up here?” Maya was now so very lost.

“I honestly do not know.” The blonde shrugged. “I woke up one day in the room with the needle, somehow felt angry that I fell into the stupid situation I was trying to avoid... and I remember walking away from it. Next thing I know, I’ve already grown up in... this place.” She shrugged nonchalantly, gesturing towards the whole room. Maya suddenly felt the urge to laugh.

“Pff- what?”

“What?” The look on the other woman’s face told Maya that she was slightly offended with Maya’s reaction.

“No, I just... Your tale sounded like it should have been much more dramatic than that. But then you just... walked away. From what was essentially your life’s bane.” Maya giggled, laughed in disbelief, combing a hand through her hair. “I can’t... I can’t believe you.” She said, looking the girl in the eyes in amusement.

“How rude... after I believed every word you said.” She grumbled.

“Except that you are possibly a princess?”

“...No one would believe that.”

“And you believe that I am?”

She received a shrug. “Best be safe than sorry. If you ever go back to your little kingdom and report that you were manhandled by a random prisoner in the forest, I might be free from this prison, but moving straight into another. Though that doesn’t sound so bad if it means I have company.”

“Pfff.. ahahahha. What are you saying?” She broke out into laughter, wiping tears away from her eyes, feeling more and more relieved by the second.

Everything felt so surreal to Maya. It all felt peaceful and settled, like she wasn’t just adventuring in a dangerous area; like she hadn’t just been under- and fighting against- the effects of a spell that was distorting her mind; as though she wasn’t just wrestling for life with the woman now seated calmly across from her.

A woman she still didn’t know, but felt like she should.

“And so?” Maya said, finally calming down.

“So? So what?”

Maya felt a familiar giddy smile playing over her lips once more.

“You told me what was essentially your life story, so how about you finally tell me your name next?”

“My name?”

“Yes. Your full name, if possible.” Maya said with a bat of her lashes that earned her an eye roll.

“Right, how about no.”

Maya felt her lips fall into a pout. “But why? Isn’t it only fair that I get your name in exchange for my own?”

“All is fair in love and war, whether you get my name or not.” The woman shrugged, returning a grin of her own.

Maya liked that. The grin, and the mention of love.

Love... huh.

As Maya continued to get hung over on those words, she heard a cock crow in the distance, reality immediately sinking in as she looked in the direction of the window only to be greeted by the thin orange line of the morning horizon.

‘No!’

“I-I have to go!” She sprung up to her feet, panic in her voice as she looked around the room hastily for anything she may have dropped of hers. Finding all her things secure, her gaze finally landed on the lonely smile on the face of the woman she had strangely become attached to- so much so that she didn’t want to leave. She gasped, realizing what she’d said wrong. “I-I mean... we- we have to-”

“I suppose this is goodbye.” The other woman said quietly in a tone that was a far cry from her earlier fierceness. “We both know I can’t leave. Not unless we figure out how I could.” She spoke, eyes trailing towards the door only Maya could see. Her voice was small, insecure. It was sorrowful. It hurt.

But it didn’t have to, Maya realized.

She coughed a few times, approaching the foot of the bed, kneeling by the seated maiden. She hesitantly offered her hands up, pleased when the response of the woman was to place her own in Maya’s.

Maya took in a deep breath to counter the unexpected anxiousness growing within her.

Lifting her gaze up, her words came out in a mere whisper. “M-May I... come see you again?”

Maya watched her eyes express the widest range of emotions she’d ever seen from a person. Shock, embarrassment, warmth, fondness, gratefulness...

They were beautiful.

Even the small drops of tears that had begun to form at the tips of her long lashes, beautiful.

Her current smile and bout of gentle laughter, beautiful.

The way she sniffled, and the fresh trail of tears that rewrote the story of the prior stains on her face- so beautiful.

The way her golden hair framed her face, stray tresses sticking to her slightly sweaty skin- beautiful.

Maya stared at beauty itself, and was left in awe.

“Only if you bring me a better meal than stale bread and uncooked potatoes.” She chuckled through her sniffling.

Maya felt her heart flutter erratically, barely managing a playful response. “Any requests?”

“... Tuna.” Was the near inaudible reply, coupled with a shy tint on her companion’s cheeks.

“May I inquire as to why?” Maya asked, feeling her stupid grin widening so much, it ached.

“...I just like it...”

Just who was this adorably shy creature, and how could Maya make her even happier.

“Understood. I will acquire for you only the best.” Maya smiled, the pads of her thumbs running circles over the smooth skin of the other princess’ hands.

Another crow of the rooster made her grip those hands lightly, the sting in her chest coming back.

“I s-suppose I’ll see you again later.” Maya said, looking down at their joined hands, avoiding the other’s gaze as she stood up.

As she began to pull away, she felt a light tug. Looking up, she met bashful garnets searching her eyes, and quivering lips that were trying to communicate something.

“Yes?” Maya gently prompted, squeezing her hands lightly.

“Claude. For now... you can call me... Claude...J-just so that... when you come back...” Claude trailed off, averting her gaze shyly- rather endearingly, might Maya add.

“Claude.” Maya smiled, placing a chaste kiss on her knuckles. “I will come back.”

She relished the blush blooming across ‘Claude’s’ face, pocketing it in a memory to be recalled multiple times throughout her everyday, no doubt.

“I will definitely bring you home. I’ll figure out a way.”

Maya cupped her face, wiping the few tears that had escaped away as she rested her forehead against Claude’s.

“I will definitely bring you home, free.”

A/N: I clearly strayed from theme. Sorry. Ah. ;-; sorry, this was no-good ;-; Sorry Leooooooo, hope you liked it even a littleeeeee.

~Shintori Khazumi

#mayakuro #shoujo kageki revue starlight #revstar #starira #fanfic #saijou claudine #tendou maya #aijo karen #hoshimi junna #parody #sleeping beauty

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