#strong riposte (ic)

[cutestrival]

[ SAVE ]: after just saving the receiver's life in a very heroic fashion, the sender smoothly greets them while helping them escape.

("Hey~"

It's too much, she knows, but Shez can't resist the cheeky wink to go along with her shit-eating grin. Saving Selena's ass after hearing her talk a big game before the battle? She's totally not gonna live this one down. "Need some help, love?")

Seething in defeat, her eyes gain sharp edges and her weighted breaths breathe daggers. 

Her palms, caked with the dirt of the field, pat themselves on her uniform weakly. Her breaths struggle from her lungs in brief coughs. To remain sitting on the ground would be preferable, to be honest; but Selena refuses to show even a hint of effort exerted in vain. She notches two more arrow-points to her gaze, and grumbles under her breath. But she can’t quite meet Shez’s eyes.

Looking up at Shez towering her, Selena’s mind is brought careening back to Nohr. Her liege bears a striking hairstyle similarity, despite the attitude. And oh, how she remembers the first time she’d been saved by Lady Camilla; that humility had taught her many things about herself. Her cheeks can’t help but redden a little at the tease. As if she’d EVER give Shez the satisfaction of knowing how that throwaway line had tickled her heartstrings, though-

“I’m fine. Ugh,” Selena groans. She sweeps her legs up around her, but her heavy exhale keeps her grounded. She swallows her pain, but manages to squeak out, “Thanks."

[cutestrival]

I'm fuming even just READING this. When will people learn to mind their own business! UGH! I used to have a problem like this, but I quickly developed a remedy for annoying, ignorant fools like that. Plant your heel firmly, then kick with your other leg straight up at their groin. If they're still insistent on your company, the best follow-up you should grant them is your knee.

SERIOUSLY PISSES ME OFF. Call me

This guy has been meeting me after my office hours for a week now, begging me to go to lunch with him. How do I tell him I'm not interested and that I think his headband looks dumb, in a way he'll understand?

.

[cutestrival]

that fruit laslow can do it, how bad can it be? (dancer mastery drabble)

She looked at the dancer’s attire. She looked down at her boots. She sighed, imagining her bare legs. She tilted her head back up, unseeing. She knew it was still there.

She’d always gravitated towards attire that contained her, fully. She had no desire to show herself in combat. Outside of combat, well, that was a different matter. Of course she loved to wear the pretty linens she’d accrued. Though, showing them off on her body, well…

She’d considered this. The dresses were pretty on their own, and so they shaped themselves over her. Her body was just a vessel for the clothing. There was nothing particularly interesting about her body. She took care of it, as a woman would, as a soldier should. But she could wear no makeup into a battle. She wore no earrings onto the battlefield. She didn’t believe in beauty when her life was on the line. (Though, her pigtails, meticulously brushed and tied every morning, begged to differ.)

She was no performer, either. All she did was for upkeep and maintenance. (All except her shopping, that is.) She found no further enjoyment running on horseback, on cooking duty, than anyone else. She was no Laslow, at least. Maybe she enjoyed the occasional tavern music, but that had to be it. Definitely not Brady’s violin. (Or, not that she’d ever admit to it.) No, her body was best kept in its casket, entombed in leather and steel-- at least, on the battlefield. At least, in present company.

She stood up. She took a step forward. In her mind, another, and then another, as she had on the Ethereal Ballroom floor. She couldn’t take that next step however. Even in her room, alone, she was loath to move herself in such a way. Perhaps it was beneath her; perhaps she was rustier than anticipated. She’d reasoned that it couldn’t be that hard. Then again, Laslow had dedicated so many nights to dancing.

What about the outfit itself? She had eyed it for its sparkle, of course; shimmering ribbons, with cool gold glinting from its seams. The threads must have been silk, for how they shown, flickering so lightly as she breathed closer. She removed her shirt, her belt. The mirror halted her. 

When she saw herself, in full, she was no longer a cute face in a sea of forgettable mugs. When she saw herself, her skin was peppered with birthmarks. Her back, laden with stretch marks, blemishes; her arms, thick with muscle, far more than a pretty girl should have. No, when she saw herself, she was no longer Selena, she was Severa, and she was hideous. She was the girl who had lost everything, and blamed the woman who cared for her most. She was a specter of contempt, haunting her new identity.

The mercenary outfit had always covered her from head to toe. Her arms, fully covered, her legs, fully covered, despite her skirt. Gloves on either hand, and a high collar for her neck. A large pauldron to block her full visage. It had been comfortable; it had been safe.

Could someone like me refresh my allies, by just moving my body? She didn’t believe herself plain, but she had met truly breathtaking women, and she knew the extent to which people sparkled. It wasn’t as simple as the refreshing power of Azura’s song, no; she must breathe the magic of the song into the world herself with her movements. She wasn’t clumsy, but she preferred being sure of her actions. Hard to do that, when I’m not wearing anything.

Whatever. If she was to burn crimson in combat, then so be it. She dressed herself in the soft materials, letting the silk run up and down her skin. Moving herself, it was as much linen as it was her body, and she let herself flow, and glide, and twirl. 

She looked back at the mirror. She glowed softly, faintly, in the light of her new confidence. Her cautious confidence, though she still refused to meet her own eyes in reflection. She looked away from herself once more, and this time down at her outfit, and smiled. 

If I feel pretty like this, then I must be.

[cutestrival]

"Selena!!! My darling!!!" Camilla quickly approached one of her favorite retainers with open arms. "Oh it's been so long dear. How are you doing?"

"Shall I treat you to some lunch?"

Selena kicked a rock. “Fine, I guess.”Perking up at the suggestion, she immediately agreed. She lifted her hands from her hips, letting her brow relax, if just a little.

“You know, I could really use a drink right now. I heard that a new shipment of wines came in last night. Wanna try?”

[myreia]

wip whenever

tagged by @galadae and @coldshrugs, thank you! 💖

tagging @bearlytolerant, @thevikingwoman, @impossible-rat-babies, @hylfystt, @allaganexarch, @birues & @roguelioness.

I'm lost in an Echo scene from Chapter 5, Aureia's family sucks. ✌️Stormblood spoilers-ish.

Laughter hums on Elgara’s lips and she returns to her paperwork with smooth, controlled movements. Kallias has always been easy to rile up. It is his greatest weakness—and it is easy to exploit.

“That possessive streak will be the end of you,” she says, tutting lightly. “Go about it then, if you’re so inclined. You don’t need my permission. I’m sure the legatuses would be overjoyed to hear of the death of the Warrior of Light. Perhaps if you offer them proof, they would even reward you.”

He snarls under his breath and bites his tongue, his riposte contained.

“Or does the thought give you pause? Do you fear, perhaps, that you aren’t strong enough? Is that why you’ve come here, crawling back to your mother, riddled with doubt and uncertainty?”

“I don’t doubt, I—”

Elgara sets her pen aside and rises from her chair, unfurling to her full height. She towers above her son, casting a long shadow across the observation deck’s floor. “Kira has something you don’t,” she says. “She has had it her whole life, it is what made her unique. Special. An asset. Your father and I sought to tap it, but we did not have the knowledge or the foresight to understand what we were dealing with. But Aulus mal Asina did. He was a visionary. And someone must continue his work.”

Red. Blue. Red. Blue.

The lights cycle, flashing over Elgara and Kallias, casting them into darkness. The solider inhales once more, her breath as sharp as ice. She presses herself against the door, gazing inwards, her form unnoticed in the shadows. A shiver ran down her spine at the mention of Aulus’ name. She recalls him, of course she does. She remembers his youth when she met him near two decades ago, bright-eyed and intense, speaking theories dismissed by his superiors as fanciful dreams at best and psychosis at worst. It was he who first spoke of Echoes and Resonants, of gifting the Garlean people the ability to control aether.

She recalls what he did to Krile. What he did to Fordola… and Zenos, too.  

How his life ended, screeching about data and souls with his dying breath on the floor of the Ala Mhigan palace. Forgotten and abandoned by the prince he had devoted himself to.

His research, as he called it, should have ended there.

Inside the observation room, Elgara approaches her son step by dreaded step. She may be no soldier, and yet she engulfs him. Outmatches him. Outwits him. Kallias is no small man, and yet compared to her imposing height he is so small. So insignificant.

“Don’t you see, Kal?” she says, her voice low and strangely soothing in its intensity. The voice of someone who can lull others into implicit trust by the sheer power of command and self-assurance. “Kira is a liability, but liabilities can be exploited. Her usefulness to Garlemald has not ended. You wish to kill her; I will not doubt your thirst for vengeance, it is more than understandable. But think on it. Kill her and we lose her forever.”

He grunts, the panicked sound strangled in his throat. “Have you forgotten what she’s done, mother? What she—”

“Shh.” She arrives before him and places a hand to his chin. It’s a gentle gesture; on anyone else it would be caring. But on her it is empty, a gesture of inspection and observation. “Capture her and our opportunities are thrown wide. We can reclaim what we have lost, you and I. Theorzen will be a name to be respected; no longer will it be spat upon like the rest.”

He closes his eyes, his expression still.

“You deserve more than the lot you have been given, Kallias. And she can gift you the strength you deserve to carry. The skills and talents that should have gone to you. A transference. A replication. A Resonant of your very own, one derived from the Warrior of Light. With it, you can have your vengeance. With it, you can outmatch even Zenos himself.”

His eyelids flutter and he grimaces, lip curling back. Then he crumples into her and clings, shoulders shuddering with the aftershock of silent tears. In this moment, there is no sign of the operative and the spy. In this moment, he is a child coming home.

It makes the soldier’s blood boil. Lost in her anger, she slips and cracks her forehead against the door, helmet banging against the glass. Her vision blurs red and her knees give out from under her. When she finally clears her vision, she finds herself huddles on the stairwell floor, looking in as Elgara enfolds her son into her embrace.

A spike of jealousy flares in the pit of her stomach. Unwanted. Unneeded. Unexplained.  

She curses her inability to do anything but observe.

Elgara cradles him, a hand resting against the back of his head, stroking his matted hair. “Bring your sister to me, Kal,” she croons. “Bring her to me and I can make it happen. I wish for it to happen. It should have been you all along.”

Kallias stills. His expression hardens, his lips pressed firm together. Slowly, one by one his fingers lift as he loosens his grip. The danger and the malice return, blazing bright in his red eyes. “No,” he breathes.

[cutestrival]

The moment he takes the ring on his finger, Selena is confident she's got him hook, line, and sinker. Looking up at him once again, she finds a mischievous a grin to blindside him with. She knocks his hand away.

"Oh, knock it off! Great Tree Moon's fools, dipshit!"

“Laslow, I…” Selena brushed her bangs from her eyes nervously. Her eyes flitted away from any chance at eye contact. 

“Ever since we were kids, fighting in that wasteland… we’ve lost and found each other again and again.” She gulped down her thumping heartbeats. “And I think…”

Her cheeks were completely overtaken in crimson. She offered forth the same ring that Laslow had given her years ago in Ylisse. A token of a friendship that she now wanted to be much much more. She cupped his gloved hands in her own, and gazed deeply into those sparkling eyes that had captivated her so long ago.

“I’ve always loved you. Oh Laslow, won’t you take care of me until the end of our years?”

This cannot be happening.

Selena, the ice queen of his heart, staring lovingly into his eyes? Naga, who put her up to this!? Laslow swallows, cheeks burning a matching red. She kept the ring all these years? He's touched, truly, but he didn't think she'd carry a torch for him this long--

(Wait, didn't he see her and Lucina together just yesterday? He knows what interacting with a crush looks like!)

He accepts the ring as if in a daze, weighing it in his palm. It's all a joke, right? Part of the spirit of the day?

(He doesn't know why it still stings, a knife-cut just deep enough to remind him it's there.)

Mustering up a silly smile, he slips the ring onto the pinky finger of his left hand. Holding it up, he admires the way it glitters. "My, darling, dearest Selena! How my heart leaps for joy at your confession. But of course I will be there for you, until the universe itself collapses!"

If the words sound strained, he hopes she doesn't notice.

[sorcadh]

For this project, Bobby Baker transformed the Acme Housing Association prefab that she was living in into a week-long sculptural installation that housed an edible family of five: mother, father, teenage daughter, son, and baby. 

Assembled from cake and adorned with icing, biscuits and other baked goods, the family members could be encountered in rooms throughout the house: the baby asleep in her cot, the son in the bath, the teenage daughter listening to the radio in her parents’ bedroom, the father slumped in an armchair in front of the television. The mother was the only mobile member of the family who moved throughout the house but was more often found in the kitchen, where visitors could enjoy a cup of tea from her head, or other soft drinks, and have fresh snacks from compartments in her abdomen. Against a backdrop of walls and surfaces covered in newsprint and magazines, and decorated with icing sugar, Baker performed as hostess. She offered food and encouraged visitors to consume, and thereby dismantle, the family.   

Bobby Baker: ‘For the first time I decided to dispense with the problem of deciding what to wear…I would always adopt a more neutral garb, in the form of a woman’s overall. I liked the fact that it was neutral and yet deeply complex in the ways in which it could be read. Also, it was my conscious female riposte to Joseph Beuys’ macho fishing waistcoat and hat.’ 

Her own work has drawn repeatedly upon domesticity and motherhood, demanding that the viewer see work that usually goes unacknowledged, and has celebrated the apparently mundane or distressing in funny, inventive and exuberant ways.

[raeynbowboi]

The Character Forge: How to Play as Link in DnD 5e

Link is without a doubt one of the most iconic heroes in fiction, which is why I’m excited to work on this build of Link. Now, of course Link has a long history of games where he’s had a wide variety of skills and abilities. So, for this build, I wanted to focus on his most recurring skills and items, and try to find DnD items with similar effects, if possible, to fill out his arsenal. Link is a multi-talented young man who has a talent for many skills, weapons, and items. He’s extremely flexible in what he can work with, and that was a primary focus of this build: to broaden his abilities as much as I could.

The Makings of a Hero

Hylians are clearly some kind of elf. You could make Link a Human or Variant Human if you want, but if it looks like an elf and it hyaas like an elf, chances are it’s an elf. There are a lot of kinds of elf he could be. Hylians are closely connected to the gods and think highly of themselves, so High Elf is a strong possibility. But Link is also something of a wilderness expert, so he could be a Wood Elf too.

Link is clearly good, but where on the goodness scale is a little less clear. He is a champion for goodness and light, so he could be Lawful Good, but he’s also jokingly famous for breaking into random houses and smashing random pots to steal people’s hidden money, so he could fall under Chaotic Good. And that divide could also make him Neutral Good.

As for background, that also tends to differ between game. Sometimes he’s a simple villager, a rancher, a farmer, a knight, an amnesiac foreigner. He’s so inconsistent that it’s better to just give him a background that covers the skills he doesn’t pick up from his build. Top contenders for Link’s background would be Outlander, Knight of the Order, Soldier, Far Traveler, and Folk Hero.

Skills, Abilities, & Items

Weapons      -Longsword      -Shield      -Bow and Arrows      -Bombs      -Slingshot      -Boomerang      -Greatsword      -Club      -Spear      -Magical Rods Skills      -Horse Riding      -Mounted Combat      -Dungeon Crawler      -Puzzle-solving      -Weapon proficiency      -Fighting Maneuvers Famous Items      -Triforce of Courage      -Master Sword      -Hylian Shield/Mirror Shield      -Hero Bow      -Ocarina of Time      -Power Bracelet/Golden Gauntlets      -Zora Tunic/Mermaid Suit/Zora Flippers      -Roc’s Feather/Feather Cape/Hover Boots/Glider      -Hookshot/Longshot      -Gale Boomerang      -Wind Waker      -Pegasus Boots/Pegasus Seeds      -Biggoron’s Sword      -Fire Rod      -Fire Arrow/Lightning Arrow/Ice Arrow/Light Arrow      -Ball and Chain      -Fierce Deity Mask

Get to Class

Fighter     Arcane Archer     Battle Master     Cavalier/Knight     Champion     Monster Hunter     Scout     Sharpshooter

Paladin     Ancients     Crown     Devotion     Heroism

Ranger     Hunter     Monster Hunter

Rogue     Inquisitive     Scout     Swashbuckler

Stats & Proficiencies

Honestly, Link was hard to stat balance at first. I figured his best stat should be Constitution to correlate with a late-game number of heart containers. Link needs to be able to take a serious hit, and he spends most of the game getting a bigger health bar for just that very reason. Aside from Constitution, nothing really stood out as more important, though Intelligence and Charisma can get the shaft a bit, as Intelligence covers mostly book-learning which Link isn’t really known for, and largely in part to being a mute, aside from dancing in the Subrosia dance hall or playing his Ocarina, Link isn’t exactly great with Charisma-based skills. That’s not to say he’s really bad at anything, though. Link is a real Renaissance Man, as he’s good pretty much everything. Which means he shouldn’t have any negative modifiers. But Link is also not the pinnacle of strength, durability, or insightfulness. He needs items to perform feats of great strength, speed, or stamina, and wouldn’t get very far without them, so he’s also not going to be the max in any of his stats either. Rather, he’s going to be competent in Intelligence and Charisma, and fairly good at everything else.

Proficiencies:      Acrobatics      Animal Handling      Athletics      Insight      Investigation      Nature      Perception      Stealth      Survival

Link’s New Toys

    -Bag of Holding     -Triforce of Courage (Banner of the Krig Rune)     -Mastersword (Dawnbringer)     -Hylian Shield (Shield of the Hidden Lord, Shield +3)     -Mirror Shield (Repulsion Shield)     -Hero’s Bow (Oathbow)     -Golden Gauntlets (Gauntlets of Ogre Power)     -Zora Tunic/Mermaid Suit (Cap of Water Breathing, Cloak of the Manta Ray)     -Gale Boomerang (Storm Boomerang)     -Hover Boots (Boots of Levitation)     -Pegasus Boots (Boots of Speed, Boots of Striding and Springing)     -Fire Rod (Necklace of Fireball)*     -Fierce Deity Mask (Mask of the Dragon Queen) *There are items like the Wand of Fireball and the Staff of Fire, but both items require the holder to be a magic user, which Link is not.

Name: Link Race: High Elf Background: Outlander Alignment: Neutral Good Class: Monster Slayer Ranger (6)             Battle Master Fighter (10)             Inquisitive Rogue (4) Base Stats:      Strength: 16 (+3)      Dexterity: 14 (+2)      Constitution: 18 (+4)      Intelligence: 10 (0)      Wisdom: 16 (+3)      Charisma: 10 (0) Saving Throws:      Strength: +9      Dexterity: +8      Constitution: +3      Intelligence: 0      Wisdom: +3      Charisma: 0 Combat Stats:      HP: 200      AC: 15      Speed: 30      Initiative: +2      Number of Attacks: 2      Proficiency Bonus: +6      Passive Perception: 19      Dark Vision: 60 feet Proficiencies and Expertise:      Acrobatics (Rogue)      Animal Handling (Ranger)      Athletics (Outlander)      Insight (Ranger)      Investigation (Ranger)      Perception (Elf)      Survival (Outlander) Skills:      Acrobatics: +8                 Medicine: +3      Animal Handling: +9        Nature: +6      Arcana: 0                         Perception: +9      Athletics: +15                   Performance: 0      Deception: 0                    Persuasion: 0      History: 0                         Religion:0      Insight: +9                        Sleight of Hand: +2      Intimidation: 0                  Stealth: +8      Investigation: +6              Survival: +15 Condition Resistances:        Charmed Immunities:        Sleep Racial Feature: Elf        Elven Weapon Training: Proficiency with Shortsword, Longsword, Shortbow, and Longbow. Ranger Feature: Fighting Style      Archery: Add +2 to attack rolls for ranged weapons. Ranger Feature: Favored Terrain      Forest     Grassland Ranger Feature: Favored Enemy      Monstrosity      Fiend Fighter Feature: Fighting Style      Dueling: Add +2 to melee damage rolls when using 1 one-handed weapon. Fighter Feature: Superiority Die      5 (1d10s) Fighter Feature: Maneuvers      Disarming Attack: spend a superiority die to force your target to make a Strength saving throw. On a failed roll, it drops 1 item of your choosing.      Feinting Attack: spend a superiority die as a bonus action, and select a target. You gain advantage against that creature and add the roll of your superiority die to your attack damage if you hit the target creature.      Parry: As a reaction, reduce melee damage you take by your dex modifier + the roll of a superiority die.      Precision Attack: add the roll of a superiority die to the damage roll of a melee attack you made.      Riposte: When an enemy’s attack misses you, you can make a counter attack, and add the roll of a superiority die.      Sweeping Attack: Use a superiority die to cause your melee attack to hit a second creature within 5 feet of your first target. Add your superiority dice roll.      Trip Attack: Use a superiority die to force a large or smaller creature to make a Strength saving throw. on a failed save, that creature is knocked prone. Spell Slots:      1st (4)      2nd (2) Link’s Spellbook      Cantrips True Strike      1st Level Cure Wounds Hunter’s Mark Wild Cunning Protection from Good and Evil      2nd Level Find Traps Actions:      Action Surge: take an extra action once per rest.      Primeval Awareness: Spend a spell slot. For 1 or 2 minutes, you sense the kinds of creatures within 1 mile of you, or 6 miles in forests and grasslands. Bonus Actions:      Cunning Action: Dash, Disengage, or Hide once per turn.      Second Wind: Regain 1d10+10 HP once per rest. Features, Traits, and Feats:      Archery Fighting Style: Gain +2 on attack rolls with ranged weapons.      Dueling Fighting Style: Gain +2 on damage rolls when armed with a single one-handed melee weapon.      Ear for Deceit: Any roll of 7 or lower on an Insight check against lying becomes an 8.      Extra Attack: You get two Attack actions.      Eye for Detail: Perform an Insight or Investigation check as a bonus action.      Favored Enemy: Deal +2 bonus damage to Monstrosities and Fiends. Gain advantage on Survival checks to track Monstrosities and Fiends, and Intelligence checks to remember information about them.      Fey Ancestry: Resistance to Charmed effects, immunity to magical sleep.      Hunter’s Sense: As an action, choose a creature within 60 feet. You learn the creature’s damage immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities. Can be used 3 times per long rest.      Improved Combat Superiority: Your superiority die become 1d10s.      Indomitable: Reroll a failed save once per long rest.      Insightful Fighting: As a bonus action, make an Insight check against another creature’s Deception check. If you succeed, you can use Sneak Attack against the creature even without advantage for up to a minute. Doesn’t work if you’re disadvantaged. Wears off if you target a new creature with this feature.      Know Your Enemy: If you spend at least 1 minute outside of battle observing a creature, the DM will tell you whether the creature is superior, inferior, or equal to you in any 2 of the following stats: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, AC, Current HP, Total Class Levels, or Fighter Class Levels.      Natural Explorer: Favored Terrains are Grasslands and Forests. While in your favored terrains: double proficiency bonuses for INT and WIS checks you’re proficient in, difficult terrain doesn’t slow your party down, always alert for danger, can move stealthily at a normal pace when traveling alone, find double food when foraging, and when tracking anything, you can tell how big they were, how many there were, and how long ago they passed through.      Sharpshooter: Attacking from long range doesn’t disadvantage ranged attack rolls, ranged weapon attacks ignore half and 3/4 cover, and you can -5 on a ranged weapon attack roll to add +10 to the damage roll on a successful hit.      Slayer’s Prey: As a bonus action, pick a creature within 60 feet of you. Add 1d6 damage to the first attack you make against that creature.      Sneak Attack: Add 2d6 to damage roll when you have advantage, or another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it.      Thieves’ Cant: You can articulate covert messages in casual conversations.      Trance: Trance for 4 hours instead of sleeping for 8.      Wanderer: You have an excellent memory for terrain and don’t need a map. You can remember where to find settlements, foraging spots, and geographical landmarks. You can always find enough food and water to sustain yourself and up to 5 more people provided the land can provide food and drinkable water.

I’m sure there’s some who will disagree with my picks, but I optimized a build around looking for enemy weaknesses, having a ton of proficiencies, and having a wide and varied arsenal of weapons at Link’s disposal. If you’d build Link another way, tell me what you’d do different. Who do you want to see me make next? And as always, I look forward to seeing you again at the Character Forge, where heroes are made.

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Motion Sickness Chapter 93

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(Winter POV)

Training with the new powers was harsh. It was an inconcrete thing. Where one might normally run laps to build up speed or stamina or lift weights to grow stronger the powers of the maiden were transcendental.

The training still took a great deal from you, as though you had been running laps or lifting weights, however. It left me exhausted and it left me weaker than normal. I had a long way to go until I reached the power of a fully realized maiden like Fria had been.

As far as I was aware even Cinder Fall had yet to master her powers. Though she had an additional helping of them being both fall and spring.

My heels clicked down a street nearby to the academy leading up to where my small apartment was. It was a cozy thing with spartan furnishings. It was so unlike the manor I had grown up in. The military lifestyle suited me after the years I spent as a child under my father.

To my father everything had to be extravagant. He needed it that way. I was different. I thrived off of the bare minimum.

There was the sound of footsteps behind me on the dark street. I turned around. There was a woman standing there.  She was nearly as tall as I was in a dark crimson dress. She had an eye patch over half her face with dark hair and a glowing ember eye. I recognized her at once.

This was Cinder Fall.

I pulled my weapon on her and she let out a short terse laugh. She summoned her own weapons to her hands. Swords made of glass, one in each palm. Just like her profile described.

I split my scimitar so I, too, had a weapon in each hand.

"So quick to arms? I just have a couple questions for you," her voice rang out melodic.

She hurled a mote of fire at me and I slipped behind a corner, into an alley that lined the street. The explosion rocked the side of the building I pressed my back against.

"This is Special Operative Winter Schnee I nee-" my scroll was blown out of my hands.

"None of that." Cinder strode up on me with a bow in her hands now. She shot my device out of my hands with an explosive arrow. It rocked my world a little and I was sent tumbling down the alley and away from the bigger street.

She inhaled deeply through her nose like she was smelling the conflagration. Fire roared up from behind her and she slammed me into a wall. She held me there with her weapons in sword formation once again.

I was a hair taller than her but she was incredibly strong. I pressed forward with my weapons, swinging one in each hand and she deftly blocked it with narrow twists of her wrists.

Her eye glowed with the power of a maiden burning away at the corners.

She summoned lightning. It crackled down onto us both and she whipped her weapons at me and it struck me high. I summoned a glyph behind me and darted forward on the magic in a landing attack.

She met my strike to the side and lashed out with a kick that caught me in the gut.

"Now about my questions…" she trailed as she prowled towards me like a tigress. "Where is the winter maiden, Winter Schnee? Is it you now? I wonder?"

I summoned a glyph at my back and launched myself again towards her. I slashed twice at her low, high then I brought forth dust from my weapon and swept fire at her. She ducked underneath the fire and came at me with both her weapons in diagonal fierce cuts.

I managed to block them all then I jumped off the wall and back-flipped away from her and hoped to gain some space.

She kept on top of me. Prowling forward she sliced at me with her weapons. I blocked one off to the side and deflected the other away from my face before I slashed at her stomach and caught her by the red aura there. She stuttered back a step.

"Well aren't you more than the General's plaything," she laughed at me.

I reared back and stabbed my weapon into the ground and brought forth another glyph. Snow white Grimm masked birds flew forward at Cinder Fall and buffeted her. She slashed through them and I let up after a few got through and harried her. I summoned a great Beowulf from nothing and it lumbered towards Cinder.

Cinder examined it contemptuously before she cut her way through it with a wave of fire.

She twirled her weapon around her and fire emanated forth. It spun around her like a dancer's ribbon before she struck out with it and I only just managed to flip out of the way of the blaze.

I came down on her with both my weapons and I cut at her diagonally then horizontally then diagonally with both of them. She only met my strikes while backing up steps to give a little ground in the tight alley. It was a touch claustrophobic for my tastes and it was only getting hotter as Cinder reved things up.

She flew at me, leaving a blaze behind her on the ground as she did. She came at me with narrow slices and sharp thrusts. Then she hovered in a tight circle around me and kicked me in the back of the head.

I fell to the ground and looked up at her. Some of my maiden powers must have flared up because she whispered. "It is you."

There was no use hiding it. There hadn't been at any rate. This was a win or lose fight for me. I couldn't afford to keep more cards in reserve. I had already nearly exhausted my maiden powers, though, with my day of training with them. I was already bone tired and nearly at my limit. Only the rush of adrenaline kept me going at the moment.  

I slashed towards her and summoned a wall of ice along the sides of the alley with dust. Spires poked out towards her from the sheet of frigid material.

It hardly slowed her down even having been caught up in it. She attacked me with more fire and the alleyway was filled with hot steam that burned my eyes and made me cough.

There was a flare of lightning as she approached me and she swung her weapon towards me and there was a zap that caught me in the center of my mass.

It tossed me down the alleyway and sent me rolling. I picked myself back up to my feet in time to meet a wild slash of glass sword. I held it at bay with my stiletto in my left hand and took a swipe at her with the scimitar in my right. It only met air as she ducked at followed it with a swing of her own weapon in her right hand.

I met it with my stiletto again. Then she took a slash at me with her free weapon. I was forced to block with my scimitar.

She flipped in place, bringing both weapons down on me and I blocked them with an 'x' of my own tools.

She kicked me in the stomach and made to summon more fire. It swirled around her in an inferno as she stepped towards me. I felt my aura burning off of me from the heat. She swept both her weapons at me and the fire followed.

Nowhere to run or duck in the alley I was forced to shield myself with glyph as best as I could. It shattered like glass and the heat raced over me.

I summoned a glyph behind me and darted over her, then back over her with another swipe. Then another in a blitz of attacks that made me shed aura like rain but it was worth it for the three clear slashes I landed on her own aura.

I made to do it again, after all, if a strategy is working, then why change it? I launched myself towards her and made for another swing but she got bodily in my way and I ended up tackling her down the alley and back out into the open street.

I slashed my blade at her and wave of lightning emanated out of it. It raced over her body and made her shudder from the force of it. It left her smoking. I saw my opportunity and slashed deeply into her aura with first the stiletto then the scimitar.

I tore out deep red chunks of energy from her body and made her scream in rage. Cinder summoned a dagger into one hand and brought it down on my head. I only narrowly dodged to the side.

She summoned her swords again and came sweeping at me with three fast blows that spun her in a circle. I blocked the first two but the last caught me across the stomach.

One little moment stood out to me as I was pushed back. One simple thing. I was probably going to lose. And if I did… when I did… the power of the winter maiden could not go to Cinder Fall.

I took my weapons and I cut at her in a rhythmic pattern. Low high low. High high low.

Cinder blocked them all with a sly smile on her face. Her grin only widened as she counter attacked with raw fire in a flare that sent me scuttling back across the street.

My own control over the maiden's powers were so much less refined and they were worn down after a day of using them hard for the first time.

She swung her weapons at me and there was a zap of lightning that crackled down her arms from her body and further into her weapons then out at me.

It shocked me and I felt my body convulse and falter. My aura hardly defended me as low as it was. It hurt a great deal.

She flew at me with flames behind her and I barely raised my weapons in time to match just one of hers. She shoved me all the way back into a brick wall. My head cracked back against it harshly and then she went and tried to sweep one of my legs out from under me. Only fleet footwork kept me up right.

Then I was forced to block her other free glass sword with my smaller stiletto. I pushed back against her for a moment before she faded back and caused me to fall forward. She tripped me and hooked the hilt of her weapon behind my neck and threw me to the asphalt. She kicked me in the side while I was down and I rolled with it to get back to my feet.

I pushed both palms down into the asphalt and picked myself up. She was on me with a wild swing of her glass sword. I deflected it and riposted with a thrust of my scimitar.

She parried it easily enough. I stuttered back a step and summoned a glyph and using dust I sent a hail of ice shards her way. She summoned fire hot enough to melt them and turn them to steam. I kept the hail going a moment longer but quickly ran out of usable dust long before I made progress through her wall of fire.

I was losing. I was losing badly and I wasn't sure I could turn this around at all. It had been a bit like fighting Cloud Strife who had bodied me as well. This was just the edge that magic provided a competent user.

I was slowing down and I would probably lose long before help arrived to bail me out.

This was grim. None of my training had prepared me for the moments before I was about to die. How could it? I'm not proud of it but I panicked a little. All my analysis was screaming at me that these were my last seconds of life and if it wasn't these seconds it was going to be the next ones.

She summoned more fire and I dived to the side to avoid being immolated. I tried to clear my mind and rationalize but that was just leading me down a dead end road. I was about to die. I was about to die. I was going to lose and I was going to die for it. Cinder was just more dangerous than I was. Even at my best I wasn't sure I would be able to defeat her and I wasn't coming into this at my best.

I had a duty though. I had a job to do. I was still going to protect the maiden powers. Cinder wouldn't take a third one today. But who to choose? My brain was stunningly calm in its analysis of candidates compared to the panic I felt regarding my own imminent death.

There was Penny of course. Penny would do well. She was a wonderful person, perhaps even a friend. But it wasn't enough. My thoughts kept being drawn back to Cinder as she flew at me again and cut at me with her weapons. I stepped back blocking both.

I needed something more to anchor myself as I died. Least I be reminded of my attacker and the powers go to Cinder. Something more than a possible friend. There was really only one candidate at the end of the day.

My last thoughts would be of my little sister. It was the right choice. I knew it in my heart. It was strong enough as well. Strong enough that my thoughts never left Weiss as I stared Cinder in the eye and blocked her lightning fast slashes.

I fell back some more and her left arm just extended in Grimm blackness and chased me with her sword. I blocked her unearthly strength three times in a half second. Then she hurled another note of fire at me and dived across the rough pavement.

Still my thoughts were on my baby sister. Would she be up to the task at hand? Maybe. I prayed so. She would have all the support that I did to succeed. But was I just dooming her to die from the same woman that was attacking me now? Maybe so as well.

But she was committed and strong. She had a powerful team of friends to support her. She could get through this. She had as good a chance as anyone else I could bear to name as my successor.

"You Atlas types are all the same. Hoarding powers. You think it won't leave the rest of us hungry." Cinder prattled as she advanced on me again with three berserker cuts. I only blocked the last, the rest cut deep into my aura. "And I refuse to starve."

She pressed forward into me.

"Give it to me," she demanded. I wouldn't. My thoughts never left my baby sister. It had a certain resolve to it that I'd never managed to place at any other point in my life. It had no true point of comparison. It was a singular focus.

I fought back with a fury. I swung at her in a triage of blows that she neatly blocked with an unconcerned smile on her face. The total bitch.

I fought back like I was about to die. I swung for the fences and for Cinder Fall's head. She kicked me back a half step and chased with a swipe at my arm that knocked me and cut me open. The wound made me cry out as it tore my flesh.

I had nothing left. I was completely empty. This was it. This was the moment. She swiped my weapons to the side hard enough that I could hardly hold on to them.

She bent backwards and thrust forward. Then she stabbed me through the chest. I choked on air and I could feel my left lung filling with blood where she stabbed me. I could feel her sword part my ribs. The cartilage shattered.

She followed it with another slash across my throat. I dropped my weapons and reached for my neck vainly. Blood flowed over the wound and I couldn't breath through the slice in my esophagus. I choked helplessly on the gore. The pain was distant compared to my inability to breath and my sudden lightheadedness.

I fell to my knees still choking.

"Give it to me," she purred again. The last words I'd ever hear.

I didn't. I thought of my little Weiss.

Then I slipped my mortal coil.

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

-WG

[adrinoir]

Adrigami has some issues

Well, I had fun writing all the love square ships. Now it’s time to tackle a couple of the ones outside of it (finally).

First ✨Adrigami✨

How it started

Of course Adrien was taken aback by her in Riposte. She totally beat him in that fencing challenge.

My god, what is this face he’s making? LOL

Then he tries to chase her down, but is unsuccessful .

And he later figures out her family is world famous fencers.

After the akuma in Kagami is destroyed, Adrien talks to her and thus their friendship begins.

Cuteness

I like when they’re eating ice cream together. I like when they go to events together. Good and wholesome.

How these two are alike

I would say it’s easy for Adrien and Kagami to get along because they have similar relationships with their parents in how strict they are, and similar interests such as fencing. Plus, they’re both sweethearts.

So, it’s nice that they have each other to relate to on that personal level.

It’s cute and good, however, this isn’t enough for them to go off of to keep a relationship.

How these two are different

There’s definitely a strong difference in personality. Adrien is more soft spoken and Kagami is very up front about everything.

This is problematic.

Kagami 100% knows she likes Adrien and has no issue expressing her feelings for him. I feel like this is why a good chunk of the fandom doesn’t like Kagami, because she’s open and honest....and she likes Adrien. (Although I personally have no issue with her.)

She has told Marinette she shouldn’t hesitate and the reason she got that date in the ice rink with him is because Adrien knows she likes him. Kagami is definitely a bit jealous (but that’s fair), although she has clearly been wanting to have both Marinette and Adrien as good friends at the very least.

Admittedly, these three have one of the cutest friendships ever.

However, Kagami being this way isn’t going to be a good balance with how Adrien is. Adrien definitely likes her a little bit, but still doesn’t know what he wants and teeters between her and Marinette/Ladybug. It isn’t fair. His indecisiveness doesn’t mesh well with Kagami’s strong, decisive personality. She even told him that his indecisiveness is hurtful, when she felt the moment was right and she tried to kiss him, but he stepped back.

I speak from real life experience when I say I dated a good friend who seemingly liked me, things were good from the very start, but this person kept feeling unsure about the relationship. I was very upfront with this person about everything and knew how I felt about them. But, they weren’t like that. They were very much indecisive and wishy-washy, and the relationship failed because of that one-sidedness.

I feel the same would happen with a relationship between Adrien and Kagami. It would start well but then fail because Adrien isn’t 100% sure of his feelings for Kagami.

Final thoughts

1) These two are cute but too different personality-wise to have a healthy romantic relationship.

2) However, they aren’t a complete flop because I feel like they still make really good friends. They have a perfectly good platonic relationship. (Kagami also really likes having Marinette as a friend which is really sweet.)

3) Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir are end game anyhow. So no matter what, it won’t last, even if you do like them together.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Was there any lead up to Lukanette? adrigami had Adrien and kagami becoming friends then growing closer, but Lukanette was like... Marinette meets Luka, Luka plays guitar for her, then says he loves her the next week?

Okay, I am going to get mad in depth on this so we can get down to it.

Adrien and Kagami

 First met in Riposte, Started off as rivals, then blossomed into respect and Adrien thinking Kagami was kind of cute. The episode prefaces this point and the Intro is done well.

The SECOND TIME Kagami is shown is in Frozer. By that time, Kagami has feelings for Adrien and Adrien tries asking her out. That was not a lot of build up at all. This almost comes out of nowhere. There was no middle episode for them to develop as more then friends before this. Season 3 has much more episodes with this development (Animaestro, backwarder, Oni-chan, Desperada,) Honestly when looking at Adrigami, Frozer should have happened in Season 3 so that the development at LEAST made more sense.

Now in Frozer they make claims that they had grown closer at the time and Adrien was pretty much using this as a chance to get over Ladybug. Being real honest, it is not a good episode and the sudden shift in the relationship between the two seems to come almost out of nowhere. Season 3 at least gives some more physical examples of how the dynamic grew. So its at least more understandable. 

The show did a lot of Tell don't show in season 2 with Kagami and that sucked for the dynamic. But at least by the season 3 finale it at least makes more sense.

I would go more into depth on this but this is more about the later couple, so this was just to set a baseline.

Now lets get to 

Marinette and Luka:

Lets start with Captain HardRock. (I will push through my absolute hatred of the episode and give it to you straight) Luka’s introduction sucks. Marinette meets him, he says a comment, she thinks it was rude, then he plays guitar and its suddenly better. This does improve later on in the episode with Luka saying and doing things for Marinette, like hiding her from the akuma and asking about her well being, which is a good way to show the character as caring. But I just hate how everyone type casts marinette in this. Alya is suddenly all like “Oh looks like you got another boy your in love with” and the f***ing compass metaphors. It was like people were telling Marinette what she was feeling for Luka as opposed to her saying what she was feeling. So the episode ends with her, Split between two boys. Just so suddenly?

Next appearance of Luka, this is what I like to call the Inverse of Adrigami. While Adrigami had an interesting intro and a lack luster second appearance. Lukanette comes out strong in Frozer. Luka is listening to Marinette vent. Showing that the last appearance gave Luka a more positive relationship. Not so much Love interest as, a good friend she can confide in. Luka helps her out at the Ice rink, letting her have fun when she should be feeling miserable. (Yes I hate this episode more then anything but I can at least acknowledge they did a good job with Luka here) So Marinette finding herself more interested in Luka here makes more sense.

Now the question here is the matter of episode order, Did Desperada come After silencer or before.

If Silencer came before Desperada, then that makes sense on Why this seems more sudden. Because by this point, Marinette is starting to exhibit that blush/ nervous stammer she does with Adrien (granted it only happened once or twice in silencer, and it could be debated that it was because she was caught off guard.) She is suddenly a regular that hangs out with the band, enough that she is designing costumes and supporting them? It just feels super sudden, but as mentioned before the show does a lot of telling instead of showing. Silencer had akuma Luka confess unintentionally and then perfectly say his confession word for word when he wasn't akumatized. So he must have been practicing that. Luka could have had these feelings since Frozer, as that little sad bit when he encouraged Marinette to go after Adrien. Plus, if Silencer came before desperada, then Luka got shafted SO MUCH HARDER. Boy confessed and everything only to get dismissed by Marinette. Like If I WAS Luka I would been like. “Wow, okay I see where we are” and go for another girl.

However, I actually think Silencer came After Desperada, with Marinette growing closer to Luka, her and other friends all chilling on the house boat, it would make an easier leap to how Marinette would be hanging out with just the band in a later episode. Plus it shows Luka and Marinette’s relationship developing as Adrien and Kagami’s does. So this would help push Marinette to seeing Luka more romantically. Which would then explain her more Blushy antics in Silencer.

It also gives some leeway in Felix, where Luka basically said “If Adrien doesn't go after you, I will totally take a crack at ya” as if to say, once I know there is no chance of Adrien and you getting together, I am totally ready to date you. You can look at that anyway you want. Some people call it sweet, and that he is letting her clear up her emotions, I think its kind of insulting to Marinette. Its like saying, ‘you aren't worth fighting for,’ but thats only one way of taking it.

So depending on episode order, Luka and Marinette’s relationship development can at least make some sense.

But really the love rival development is lacking and everything would have been better if they hadn't just shoehorned this in.

[cutestrival]

with each cycle of the seasons, she remains an invincible summer. a blistering sun painting a portrait of intensity, her fiery disposition a testament to nature's unyielding power. 

“HOLD, SELENA!” odin calls out, a beckoning hand outstretched. “spare an old friend a moment of your time! it shall not go to waste. that is my sacred vow.”

with his free hand, he gracefully unveils a golden chain, from which dangles an ornate amulet adorned with resplendent red stones. upon this precious pendant, odin has carefully etched the words "never forget," ensuring their permanence in the delicate tapestry of sentiment and time.

“i present to you an artifact of mythical power, worthy only of those who defy fate. SHHH"! he raises a finger to his lips. "LISTEN now to its mighty siren call and how it SINGS out to you ! yes…a MAGNIFICENT match indeed! none are as deserving as you, SELENA OF TEMPESTUOUS FLAMES!”  

odin takes a step forward and gently presses the gift into her hand. a mischievous grin eclipses over his features, offering a glimpse into the delight that twinkles within.

"the most joyous of birthdays to you! now, venture into the world and showcase its glamour for all to behold!"

Begrudgingly, reluctantly, most inorganically to a stranger but not uncommon to a friend, Selena’s resting frown tugs into a smile. Long does it waver, her lips wresting the emotions from moving up to her cheeks as best they can. She swallows her calm, and blinks up brightly at her dear, dear friend, almost embarrassed in her hesitancy. The necklace shimmers upon the words, carved too into her eyes every morning. But to receive the same words from Odin, one who knows, one who has died, one who has forged further, who too shoulders countless burdens with nothing more but a smile, carries a different sentiment. A comforting one. The amulet finally in her grasp, she turns it over and over in her hands, letting the setting sunlight catch upon the fineries wrought of friendship and perseverance.

“Oh… Thank you, Odin.” 

She no longer attempts to avert her eyes.

“I won’t forget ever again.”

[fl-eragon]

New (i think) Mariharem idea

So, I don't know if anyone else has done this, but what if we took the Mariharem idea and turned the anime up. So, everyone, except Adrien (at first) cause shenanigans, eventually is part of the Mariharem, but Marinette doesn't notice any of them cause of her pursuit of Adrien.

Nino already had a crush and is a founding member

Alya quickly develops a crush on her new friend as well, joining Nino once he finds out. They get together while in the cage because they start talking about all the things they like about Marinette, then move on to each other and realize "if she wants to focus on Adrien, we might as well get something out of it" and get together, but constantly hint at Marinette that she can join whenever

Chloe isn't nearly as bad as in Canon, simply cause she has a crush on Mari and doesn't know what to do, and the only frame of reference she has is her parents failed relationship and the rivals to lovers trope, so she's trying to get Mari's attention using that trope.

Sabrina supports Chloe all the way because she has a crush on Chloe (they later get together) but admits that she wouldn't say no if Mari ever asked her (for what Chloe never got a clear answer on).

Nathaniel of course had his crush, but moves on to Marc. He still harbors feelings though, so still in the harem, and Marc tags along because, while not personally interested in Mari, he completely understand why others are and is fully supportive of everyone

Ivan and Mylene owe their relationship to Mari, and have both admitted to having a crush on her

Alix is Demi and so is only attracted to a few people, Mari managing to be one of those few for a variety of reasons

Kim loves everyone, big boys got a big heart

Max is completely wowed by her skill in gaming, her determination, and her willingness to help, and begrudgingly admits he has feelings for her

Juleka has only had two crushes, Rose and Mari, which wasn't helped when Mari helped her get together with Rose. Rose on the other hand loves freely and, second only to her girlfriend Juleka, loves Mari most of all due to how kind and helping she is to everyone. They agree that Mari could join them if she wants

Luka has heard all about how wonderful Mari is from Juleka, so when he first meets hey, he understands immediately and is head over heels for her, but is able to keep it cool while around her. Juleka teases him about his reaction after she leaves though

When Kagami first sees her in Riposte, she isn't impressed, but after getting to know her, she finds these strong urges to love and protect her coming out even against Adrien. She basically becomes a Yandere, but nobody gets hurt because Marinette is able to reign her in, plus Chloe isn't a threat and I'll be changing Lila completely. (Gabriel might not survive after identities come out but that's neither here nor there). She doesn't know why but she feels many of the same feelings for Ladybug as well, which Ladybug quickly realized after making her Ryuko. Her plan didn't even come into play against Ikari Gozen

Lila still lies a little, but it's just small things that wouldn't warrant concern, as she realizes that most people at the school have high connections and do what she typically lies about, so she lays low in order to try and find a way to get everyone's attention, but finds that by doing so and being more honest, people still like her, and like her slightly more then when she was lying. She also basically becomes a Tsundere for Mari, so Mari doesn't quite get why Lila is mean to her, but gets flustered when she stands up for herself. Everyone else had realized and messes with her.

Mari still can't speak to Adrien, so he had his whole idea that she doesn't like him, but he definitely likes her, so he isn't going to push himself, but she seems to be comfortable with Chat Noir, so he flirts so the time. His attention is divided between LB and Mari.

At one point, Chat Noir and Alya both get the impression that Ladybug also likes Marinette, but is shy about it, so they try to support her as much as they can, Chat even making remarks that LB, him, and Mari could all be in a relationship, if she wants to.

End goal is to give Mari as much as she deserves, with all her classmates love and support, as well as a lovestruck musician and yandere fencer. Even those in relationships pursue Marinette and shower her in love, but until she learns about the Mariharem, she only things everyone is being great friends with her.

The Mariharem had weekly meeting and a group chat to discuss how amazing Marinette is and how to shower her in more love and support. There is friendly rivalry in who shows Marinette more love and support. Adrien isn't added at first because no one realizes he likes her, but as soon as he confesses, he is invited and joins immediately. There were shenanigans when Alya tried to add CN and again with LB. CN showed up to a few meetings

She also has her wonderful Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny who help whenever they can, and Aunt Clara who will sing her praise whenever she can and almost exclusively gets her designs from Marinette.

Gabriel and Audrey are fighting to hire her, both presenting her work opportunity after opportunity and all the contests she can join. This leads to less akuma's as Gabriel is focusing on Mari more often.

With Natelie acting more like Adrien's mom, she and Gorilla help Adrien eventually realize Mari does like him and help him get her to be more comfortable around him. They fully support the two of them, as does Gabriel once he finds out

At this point, almost everyone can get their normal ice cream at Andre's or a Marinette themed one. Whenever Marinette goes, he basically is like "well, you could have (Adrien representation) but you honestly have your choice of any flavor"

Mari's main relationship at the end is with Adrien, Luka, and Kagami, but she goes on dates with everyone else occasionally, and will flirt with any of them, especially those who get flustered easily (looking at you Chloe and Lila, who by the way came clean of her small lies because of Mari and is still a massive Tsundere)

Once Mari realizes the full extent of the Mariharem, everyone kicks it up a notch in their attempts to give her their love and support, because now she isn't oblivious and will realize what their intentions are.

Kagami is unsure of the rest of the Mariharem, but as long as they aren't hurting her and are supporting her, and no one is getting between her and Mari (Luka and Adrien are fine since Mari has convinced Kagami she can like them and still give her all the love she need) Kagami doesn't mind the others flirting or the occasional date, but she gets very defensive about Mari very easily

[into-september]

Party Crasher

While the rest of the fandom is presumably flipping out over the NY special, those of us relying on Disney Channel dubbing schedules running months behind will have to live with the re-runs until we can be bothered hunting it down, and today happened to be the only episode I hadn’t seen yet. Speaking of the dumbass comedy which makes me love this show and all. 

 - It’s sad that I’m honestly a bit surprised to find that they remembered Wayhem’s VA. (Mr. Banana hasn’t got the accent from “Kwamibuster”, though.) His and Adrien’s friendship is really sweet and I so hope he’ll be around in S4 too

 - Gabriel is “going to Tokyo” and I instantly start low-key shipping him with Kagami’s mum for no other purpose than hilarity. This is not entirely without precedent, because I probably have a fifteen hundred word essay in me about my feelings on Gabriel/André (the mayor, not the ice cream man). Which I mostly ship because god damn does Adrien deserve a positive, loving parent 

- Ivan might be incapable of lying but the episode running straight after this one was “Puppeteer II” and Nino, you are not one to talk 

- World championship of bad excuses indeed. Props to Nino for supplying one for Kim, who didn’t owe one to anyone 

 - Anyway Gabriel’s little beekeeper outfit while harvesting butterflies is excellent

 - I don’t know what I love most - that Adrien keeps his bathtub always ready with rose petals and a rubber duckie, or that Kim spends most of the party snorkelling in it. How can anyone hate this show. 

 - The Grand Piano released from the floor by scoring at the basketball hoop is a strong contender there. As is the joy with which all those teenage boys greeted it. 

 - Of course Max runs enough hardware at home for the question of power supplies to be a topic about which he is learned and can wire into digitally???? I guess in a universe where macarons and now also hot dogs can be split clean in half by hand

 - I’ll admit to having lost some of the dialogue but that sounded to me like someone suggested Gabriel had a personal nuclear reactor installed

 - I love how Marinette starts out playing detective FOR JUSTICE and slips into “but why aren’t I allowed that’s so unfair” the moment she realises what is going on

- The Mulan-joins-the-army energy is strong 

  - That scene between her and Fu is a homage to “it is I, LeClerc” and you cannot convince me otherwise

 - Please consider: Tom Dupain at Adrien’s party. Everyone else is there for good or less good reasons, so what’s keeping him?

 - Thank you Thomas Astruc for giving us Chloé using the mayor of Paris as a make-up doll. And the fact that he ran around around like that in relative public. 

 - My favourite minor character is the fireman man. He’s so lowkey funny in both “Despair Bear” and “Riposte”.  

 - It says so, so, so much about the Agreste home that Gabriel is shocked and appalled to register JOY, PURE JOY happening in his house. I mean, he’s got a history of personally bullying others to get them upset and ripe for akumatisation. But expecting everyone close to him, his teenage son included, to spend their days in misery? Lord allmighty, what a piece of human garbage. 

 - Gorilla ships Majestia/Hawk Hero and clearly I don’t know how that goes yet but it’d be the best thing ever if his “now kiss” game was foreshadowing (yeah yeah I know this is MLB Ladybug’s accidental confession to the pharmacy lady was probably the best they could get away with. let me dream)

 - I like Chuppu and I like King Monkey’s transformation music and his chaos is excellent. We were robbed by this being his only episode

 - One of the biggest mysterious of this ‘verse: how does Adrien Agreste know how to clean. That little scene with Marinette and Nino was cute, though. 

 - I cannot stop thinking about the how Gabriel had to spend that weekend skulking around his own home like some ghost. Sneaking into the kitchen at night to eat. Keeping track of Adrien and Gorilla before flushing. Probably sleeping down in his secret lair. 

 - Unless I’m forgetting something, this is the first episode where Ladybug goes down and stays down for the entire battle until it’s time to de-evilise. The only other time I remember her being taken out by an akuma at all is in “Desperada”, and all those times are second chanced instantly. 

[cutestrival]

She was so torn to tear herself away, leaning within Lucina’s hair, daring to feel the flesh of her neck. Their hair intertwined, Selena’s perfume settling around the both of them. She leaned as close as she dared to her cheek, hardly able to keep herself from trembling. As her heartbeat threatened to burst down the door to her emotions, her arms taut around Lucina’s neck, a daring gambit entered her thoughts. Shutting her eyes tightly, not daring to look lest this dream fade away, she managed a quick jolt to Lucina’s cheek. The warmth of her lips, amplified in this reunion, barely glanced off of her skin; but that slight contact sent a shiver up Selena’s spine. 

The kiss lasted but a split second, a brush on the cheek. Taking herself apart, she couldn’t bear to meet Lucina’s eyes after such an act. She looked at her shoes, and to the stones beneath them said, “I’m just glad you’re here now. I hope you missed me as much as I… missed… you.”

She could barely get the words out before she could feel her cheeks burning anew. Distracting herself, she took Lucina’s hands in her own, clenching them in her grip to mask her trembling heart. 

Gaze still averted, she continued, “I know I’m hardly the one to ask this, but where have you been? We can catch up over tea sometime…” She looked at Lucina’s outfit, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing particular. “...Or we can go shopping together?” Her gaze, moving erratically like hunted prey, moved over Lucina’s eyes. She felt the warmth of her eyes, emblazoned in her brand, fill Selena’s empty furnace. She stole another look, yearning for Lucina’s radiance to catch in her eyes, hoping to squirrel it away behind her eyelids. Never had she felt as vulnerable as she did, the adrenaline of her small act making her heart gallop in its range.

And oh, how Selena’s heart pounded. It resounded in her head, in her neck; in her chest, in her hands, still holding on desperately to Lucina’s, that she wouldn’t be able to lose them again. She blinked, and Lucina’s face stayed branded to Selena’s eyes; she glowed softly in the darkness behind her eyelids, and she smiled that same smile that had captivated her long ago. She exhaled, almost out of breath with her emotions catching in her throat. Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods. She tore her eyes away, only to look back once more. Despite blush cheeks obvious on her face, she would allow herself to smile in this small joy; and, tears beginning to smudge her makeup, she smiled widely into Lucina’s eyes.

˚ · .  @cutestrival asked:

The rush of seeing a friend, long-lost, was as speaking her native tongue after years in a foreign land. She scarcely reacted. A heel, pushed off the stone floors, was a perfect launch to her finish line. She was a machine constructed from cobblestone and spears, but in this moment her heart beat had found comfort. She swept Lucina tightly to her, arms around her neck, speaking mostly into her hair. "Oh, Lucina, we've made it... look at us..."

Her arms open on instinct, folding around an old friend as though clinging to the warmth of a memory. The corners of her lips have turned upward into a fond smile, her eyes shut and fingers curled where they have found hold upon Severa's back, the slope of her neck.

"Look at us indeed."

She will not ask of home-- will not scrape at scars she is sure the other wishes to forget just as well-- but she hardly needs to. This reunion tells her all she needs to know.

That the other is alive, that she is safe. That she is not angry with Lucina for leaving, and if she is, that she can forget long enough to embrace her like this.

"I'm glad to see you again." In a future that is none other than theirs. "It has been far too long."

[zoe-oneesama]

As someone who's new the ml fandom, there's one thing I dont understand. Kagami, I don't understand why people hate her character. She's not a bully like Lila or Chloe. She's a strong, female character who knows what she wants. Yet she's treated like another villain.

I hope you realize you just opened the floodgates for me to rip into this character. I hope you’re ready.

I honestly don’t think it has to do with Kagami herself and rather what she represents. Because honestly Kagami hasn’t done anything wrong. (Though I understand if people just don’t like her because of how abrasive she was in Frozer.) Kagami being confident, straight forward, speaking in defense of herself - those are admirable. Who else has shut down Chloe with words alone? Kagami is amazing.

But also the show itself keeps pushing this idea that Kagami = Bad Idea. Marinette says she’s an ice queen or that Adrien doesn’t know her bad side or something, but what is she even talking about? It’s a lot of Tell Don’t Show, which is why Marinette’s obsessive behavior in episodes like Animaestro and Backwarder are extra concerning. If Kagami had done something (maybe in an upcoming episode because WhO cArEs AbOuT a CoHeSiVe TiMeLiNe?!) then at least it would be another “Of course I don’t want Adrien with her, she’s awful!” like in Lila and Chloe’s case. But we haven’t gotten that yet, so it’s very confusing.

But let’s talk fandom.

For one, we’re in Season 3. We’re supposed to be getting progress in the Love Square. And we sort of are, on the LadyNoir side, because Ladybug is now aware of the seriousness of Chat Noir’s feelings and Marinette is starting to see him differently. Yet, Adrienette is completely stagnant. Worse, they’re back peddling. All those moments we thought where Adrien was looking at Marinette in a special way? Completely undone in Weredad. There was no hesitation on Adrien’s part about whether or not he was going to turn her down. He didn’t even pause to think “Wow Marinette is in love with me.” His thoughts were all about the best way to gently let her down (and in doing so made it ten times worse MIXED SIGNALS YOU DUMBASS) She doesn’t even register to him as a potential partner. I’m starting to wonder if he even sees her as a girl.

What is the point of me bringing this up? Because all the consideration, all the attention, all the bubbly good feelings and blushy moments that we should have built to by Season 3 that was supposed to be for Marinette…are going to Kagami. It’s Kagami, not Marinette, that makes Adrien blush. It’s Kagami not Marinette, that gets Shoujo Bubbles when he sees her. It’s not inherently wrong, but when they promised Adrienette would be end game, this feels like wasting time and causing unnecessary pain. Because Marinette’s been there since the beginning, but he’s never looked at her that way. Because Marinette’s been trying so hard to confess, to hang out, to make him feel special, but it’s Kagami that effortlessly walks into his life and takes his time. 

I do think if Luka was given near as much consideration and screen time to be as effective as Kagami in swaying focus (and maybe making Adrien REALIZE some things) I wouldn’t be that hard on her for this point. And maybe that’s coming and it’s just the very unfortunate episode order that put all of Kagami’s episodes first that is saturating the Love Rival market. But as it is, the ratio of Kagami to Luka is ludicrous even though they’re supposed to have equal impact on the Love Square. oh, but Luka is only effecting Marinette, so, he’s not near as important.

For another thing, Kagami is our THIRD rich kid with mommy issues. Thankfully she’s not another white rich kid with mommy issues, but c’MON. It’s getting so tired and it’s so unfair that while Marinette feels like she has to fight for Adrien’s attention (having him ditch outings and he never tries to spend time with her), Kagami is basically gift wrapped it. Worse yet, his own father is helping her. By virtue of being from a rich family, Kagami gets to go to the movie premiere. Kagami gets to go to a royal wedding. And Gabriel won’t cancel these dates because he’s directly involved in them. The deck is completely stacked against Marinette. They presented us with Adrienette as end game, but seriously? They way they’re going, Kagami and Adrien like each other, mutually, so how is that going to end? 

Kagami is a bad plot line with angst as the only end goal. All her animosity toward’s Marinette is a misunderstanding but it’s just Case #3 of GiRlS cAn’T bE fRiEnDs WhEn A gUy Is InVoLvEd. I don’t dislike Kagami because of who Kagami is (which is why I tend to favor her in AUs where she’s closer to her Riposte characterization). She’s disliked because she interfere’s with the love square in the most painful way. She’s disliked because she’s round 3 of sad rich kids with sad parents ughhhhhh. She’s disliked because she’s completely wrapped around Adrien and his problems instead of being a character of her own.

Plus, people are just not gonna like Kagami because they don’t like her. You’re not obligated to like everyone.