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spine-buster · 3 years

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peaceful easy feeling ft. b.boeser | one

A/N: Here’s the beginning of my new mini-series! I hope you all enjoy it. It will definitely be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, so be prepared! There will be five parts!

SUPPORT MY WRITING HERE: https://ko-fi.com/spine_buster

CONTENT WARNING: parents with disease/sickness (Parkinson’s); swearing; sex; alcohol use; lots of emotions.

* * * * *

Brock Boeser felt like he was at some sort of Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, with everybody around the circle introducing themselves and their similar predicaments. The group was in a big meeting room at the local community centre, and when he walked in, he saw a group of dads playing basketball in the gym. He sort of wanted to join them instead of being here, in this room, with all these people that he didn’t know talking about what they were going to talk about, but he’d done this back in Minnesota, at his mother’s behest with his siblings, and he was going to do it here, too, in Vancouver, to make her happy and ease her mind and to make sure that he was easing his own mind.

“Um, hello everyone. My name is Brock Boeser. I’m from Minnesota, but I’m living in Vancouver. And um, I’m here with you all because my dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.”

“Hello Brock,” everyone smiled at him, and he smiled and nodded back.

“So it was your dad that was diagnosed,” the leader, a kind, older woman named Esther who had greeted him at the door and stuck with him until everybody sat down, egged on a conversation. He knew she was doing it because he was new; everybody in this room probably already knew each other. A part of him actually wondered if anybody knew who he was. “When?”

“Um, he—he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2010,” Brock revealed, stuttering it out. He knew he’d have to be open at these things – open so people could empathize with him, open so he could empathize with others – but it was still tough for him to do so. “But he—it’s—it’s not just Parkinson’s. Two years after he was diagnosed, he was in a car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury. In 2017, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He beat it but then in June it returned to his liver and chest. In July, he had a heart attack and his heart stopped beating for 15 minutes. I was with him and—I—it’s—it’s a lot, as you can imagine,” he tried not to start crying right then and there. Imagine that – first meeting with a Parkinson’s Society of BC support group and he’d bawl like a baby.

“Goodness me, Brock,” Esther said. “He has support at home?”

“Um, well, money isn’t an issue now, but when I was growing up my mom worked three jobs to make sure we were all taken care of,” he revealed. “I’d pitch in too wherever I could, obviously.”

“But it’s been tough for a number of years.”

Brock paused. It had been tough for a number of years. It had been really tough for a number of years. He nodded his head. “Yes ma’am. I try to take it day by day.”

Esther nodded as well. “I don’t know if you pray, Brock, but I know a couple of members around the circle do, and, well – you’ll be kept in all our prayers.”

Brock saw a few people nod their head. Another older woman, probably his mom’s age, clutching a rosary; a Sikh man dressed in a casual suit; a younger woman, probably in her thirties, with short blonde hair. He appreciated the sentiment. He knew that people took prayer very seriously – that people suffering took prayer very seriously. It was, realistically, one of the kindest things somebody could ever say to you: “I’m praying for you.” “Thank you very much,” he said, nodding his head once.

***

There was an arrangement of cookies at the end of the meeting. Even after the 90 minutes of everybody talking about their experiences and emotions, they apparently liked to stick around afterwards as well just to mingle. It didn’t all have to be doom and gloom, he thought. It didn’t all have to be about Parkinson’s or about sick people or losing your loved ones all the time. Maybe some people just wanted to talk about the news. Maybe some people just wanted to talk about sports. The weather. Anything. Anything to make a connection with someone beyond something so tragic.

After stuffing an entire Fudge-O cookie into his mouth, he looked up to see a young woman staring at him, holding her trenchcoat in her arms. She was smiling to let him know she was friendly. He was embarrassed because he knew she just saw him stuff an entire Fudge-O into his mouth. “Hi,” he said, his mouth still full of cookie, the sound of his voice reflecting that fact.

“You’re Brock Boeser, right?” she asked sweetly. “You play for the Vancouver Canucks?”

“Yeah,” Brock couldn’t help but smile. He swallowed the rest of the cookie even though he didn’t really finish chewing it. “That’s me. Are you a fan?”

“My step-brothers are more so than I am,” she said. “But I’m a fan of the team, yeah. I’m Grace Gillespie,” she extended her hand to shake his. “God, they’re not gonna believe me when I say I met you. They’re gonna freak.”

Brock couldn’t help but chuckle slightly. “Do you—I mean, do you want a picture? I don’t mind at all. I’ll sign an autograph on a napkin if you want me to.”

“Well…it’s a bit awkward to ask you at a Parkinson’s Society of BC meeting, but we could go to the Starbucks down the street and I could buy you a coffee.”

Brock was slightly taken aback at her forwardness. He shouldn’t have been. Girls came up to him all the time. All the time. And they were most definitely not shy. But he wasn’t exactly expecting it to happen here, of all places. A bar, sure. Out with Petey or any of the other guys, absolutely. But not here. “Yeah…yeah sure,” he stuttered out.

“Then we should go,” Grace smiled. She turned to look behind her. Brock saw Esther picking up a few Oreos. “Thank you for leading another great session, Esther,” Grace said.

“Oh you are most welcome Miss Gillespie. How is Hamish these days? You didn’t speak much today.”

“He’s been doing fine lately. His caregivers have been working around the clock for him. They just work wonders, don’t they?”

Esther nodded. “They are angels on Earth. Anyways – we’ll catch up next week,” she said, leaning slightly on her leg to look beyond Grace and to Brock. “I hope to see you here again next week, Brock.”

“Thank you, Esther. See you next week,” he said, realizing he made the commitment before he could even realize what he was saying.

***

“I take that was your first meeting?” Grace asked as she set down the two lattes on the table against the window where Brock was waiting.

“Was it really obvious?” Brock asked.

Grace shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t want to make him feel self-conscious. “It was the stuttering that gave it away, at least to me. I know I stuttered a lot the first few times I came to these meetings. I wasn’t the most comfortable talking about my dad’s condition to a room full of virtual strangers. But within just a few months I realized the people in that room are the kindest, most empathetic, most amazing people that I’ve ever interacted with. So I became a lot more open.”

Brock was transfixed by every word that Grace was saying. “So you’ve been coming here a long time,” he said.

Grace nodded. “My dad got diagnosed with Parkinson’s when I was fourteen. I didn’t start coming here until I was about eighteen, though.”

Brock knew he shouldn’t ask. He knew he shouldn’t. But his brain had ulterior motives, and his mouth – well, his mouth listened to his brain, because it apparently needed to know. “Is your—is your dad like my dad?” he asked. “Does he have, like, other problems complicating things?”

Grace shook her head. “No,” she said softly. “But the Parkinson’s is enough for him. I mean he was diagnosed just short of ten years ago and he’s already on puréed foods. It’s not—I mean, you know as well as I do that it doesn’t regularly develop that fast. But that’s…I don’t know how you do it.”

Brock didn’t know either. Some days he didn’t. “I just take it day by day,” he said simply, just like he said in the meeting. “If I think about it too much…that’s when it’s bad.”

“I hear ya,” Grace said, taking a sip of her coffee. “But let’s…not talk about this for too long. Do you like Vancouver? Do you find it nice?”

Brock appreciated the change in topic. “I love it here,” he nodded his head, smiling. “The city’s great. The fans are great. My teammates – I mean they’re amazing. What do you do?”

“I’m a dance teacher at Goh Ballet – little kids and teens, mostly.”

He wasn’t expecting that. She was drop dead gorgeous, sure – Brock wasn’t blind – but he wasn’t expecting to hear she was a dancer. “Do you, like, dance in the real ballet?”

Grace snorted slightly at his phrasing of ‘real ballet’. “No. I pursued it only up until a certain point. I was good, but uh, I stopped when my dad got diagnosed.”

“Why? Don’t they always tell people like us to have, like, an outlet or whatever?”

“They do. But I loved my dad more than I loved dance. And I would have rather spent the time that I was spending on dance with him instead.”

He understood where she was coming from, and he wasn’t there to judge her. “And your brothers you mentioned, did they help too?”

“Oh no no no. Sorry – I should have specified. I’m an only child. Like, the only child between my parents. But they divorced when I was six and when my mom re-married I gained two step-brothers, Jasper and Theo.”

“How was the divorce?” Brock found himself asking.

“You ever see footage of a nuclear bomb exploding?” Grace giggled as she asked the question. It caused Brock to laugh too even though the analogy she was making was dreadful. “It was awful. The type of divorce nobody deserves, you know? I became a pawn, basically, and my parents would only speak to each other through lawyers. Even stuff concerning me. It was bad.”

“That sounds horrible.”

“It was. But it’s the only life I know,” she said. “He was lucky my mom ended up marrying another rich guy. I mean, my mom only marries rich men,” she giggled slightly again. “That’s how Jasper and Theo became my step-brothers.”

“So your family has money?” Brock clarified. “What’s it from? Dad a lawyer or something?”

“Not exactly,” Grace said. “My dad and his brothers own a private equity firm that started like this,” she pinched her fingers together, “and went like…” she continued, spreading her fingers and moving her hands around her like a bomb explosion. “Gillespie Brothers Investments. I’m sure as a Vancouver Canuck you’ve heard of them. I mean they wanted to buy the Canucks before the Aquilinis.”

Brock hadn’t heard of them, but he now knew he’d have to do some snooping when he got home. “I haven’t heard of them. But I mean – sounds like they were successful.”

“Three billion dollars is pretty successful to me,” Grace quipped.

“B—Billion,” Brock sputtered out. “With a B.”

“With a B,” Grace nodded. Brock had no idea he was sitting across from the daughter of a billionaire. She didn’t act like a billionaire. Not like Brock knew what billionaires acted like. He’d never met one before in his life. Well, besides Francesco. “But tell me more about what you like about Vancouver. What about the nature? I always kind of fine a good long walk along the Seawall or through Stanley Park really clears my mind from all…this. What about you?”

Brock smiled. “I find the white noise of downtown clears my mind.”

***

“You want my number,” Grace said as a statement rather than a question as she and Brock exited the Starbucks. They were kicked out. They’d been there for so long that they’d been kicked out because they were closing. Their coffees had gotten cold. They hadn’t ordered new ones. And now they found themselves on the deserted sidewalk, jackets put on hastily, and Grace came up with that.

Brock looked down at her. They’d been able to look into each other’s soul for the past few hours. “Of course I want your number,” he said. There was no reason to hide it. No reason to deny it. No reason to have to wait until next week to see her again as they sat around in a circle in a community centre talking about their parents.

He took out his phone. She gave him her number. He texted his name to hers so she’d have his. When that dance was done, she looked up at him. “I’m really glad I met you tonight,” she said, her voice sincere.

Brock nodded. “I’m glad I met you too. I—I really enjoyed this. And I mean—I needed it.”

Grace smiled, nodding her head. “I needed it too.”

“D’you—” Brock stopped, trying not to get too far ahead of himself. “D’you need a ride home?”

“Oh no no, my driver is right there,” she motioned her head towards a black Mercedes waiting by the curb.

Brock hadn’t noticed the car until now. “Chauffeur?”

“Billionaire dad,” she winked. Brock understood. She took a few steps back before smiling one more time. “Call me,” she said, before flipping her hair over her shoulder and walking towards the Mercedes and getting into the backseat. Brock watched as it drove off, making a right at the end of the street.

He would definitely be calling.

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limitlessgojo · 3 years

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Blood Bound: Blackened Bond (Ch 15)

Warnings: Action, Coarse Language, Fighting, Descriptions of Blood

Previous Chapter: Big White Lies

Next Chapter: 土御門天皇 (Tsuchimikado)

Tags: Kamo Noritoshi x Reader, Soulmates AU, Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Fem!Reader

Taglist: @lessie-oxj @rizzo-nero @whoreuc @fkngkumiko @isl3t @gojoussunglasses @onepotatostand-blog @s-t-f-u-b-i-t-c-h @sunaswife @lordguameow @track5enthusiast

Notes: If you want to be tagged for every update, and specify if you're okay with NSFW posts or not, please mention it in the comments below ty ❤

Chapter 15: Shadows Fall

You numbly sat down on your bed. The room was dark. Your Phoenix brand, silent, a dull sepia stain on your inner wrist.

It hurts a lot.

“He’s no different to the power hungry elders of this corrupt society after all huh.” You were disappointed. It was dumb of you to give your heart away to him. Especially to a man who was already planning on taking in concubines, this early into your “relationship”.

You checked your phone to see the notifications. Mai and Miwa were looking for you, saying that you have dinner out with them in a few minutes.

'Ah, that was supposed to be for tonight' you thought.

"Sorry can't go, feeling unwell. You guys go ahead." You texted back to them as you slumped on your bed.

After a few minutes your door slammed open. "Where have you been?!" Mai asked, but stopped talking upon seeing your red rimmed eyes. Miwa peeked out behind her. "Are you okay y/n?" She asked.

That question absolutely crushed you. You started sobbing again, not being able to hide your shaking shoulders. The two girls filed in and closed your door.

"We are ordering take out. Miwa go ahead and cancel that reservation. We will stay in tonight." Mai said. "Right!" Miwa worriedly replied as she pulled out her phone and made the call.

"I'm not here to baby you. You will tell me what happened, okay?" Mai demanded.

"I need a few minutes" everything looked so blurry through your tears, Mai and Miwa only looked like unfocused blobs of dark green and bright blue. Literally, the only way you could distinguish the two girls at this point was by their hair color.

They couldn't get much out of you other than you talking about how Kamo-san never liked you in the first place and how you pushed yourself onto him.

The girls held you as you cried. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. "But both of you looked great. I'm sure Kamo senpai really liked you though?" Miwa questioned out loud.

Mai just nodded her head. "I said it before already. Both of you act like you're so oblivious to each other's affections. But I do agree that you put more effort into the relationship. He always turns down your request for dates off campus. Even an outsider could see that."

"No, no it’s not that. You guys know how the big 3 clans operate. He just felt that I was a suitable wife to bear his heirs. They're jumping at the chance to use me to get a blood-manipulator jujutsu shi who may also possibly inherit my psychokinesis technique. I don't want to stay in a relationship without any love in it." You whispered.

Your voice was all gone after you sobbed for hours. The fight and energy just drained out of your body.

They couldn't say anything to that as it was your relationship with Kamo and not theirs. That night, they slept over in your room, the three of you squishing into your queen sized bed and plushies.

◇◇◇

On the other hand, Noritoshi had woken up from his nap, bedhead and red rimmed eyes and all. Clearly remembering all your painful words. He looked over to the side, staring at the Jade dragon pendant atop his bedside table. A small pink letter resting beside it, one that you had given him days prior.

‘Dearest Toshi,

You must be exhausted from all of your extra tasks given to you by your clan as of the late. I hope that it gets better soon, I’m here if ever you want to talk about it or if you need any help with that. My family and I are open to supporting you in your endeavors, though you haven't met them yet. Hiroki nii is especially excited to meet you, I can already see the both of you getting along quite well. Whenever you’re ready <3

Have a good evening.

Love, Y/N.’

He felt tears burn behind his eyelids.

“It was too sudden, I couldn’t even understand half the things she said to me earlier,” he murmured to himself. He racked his brain, trying to recall the things you said. It was mostly a blur to him.

Something about what he and his father talked about yesterday. That wasn’t an issue, it was mostly clan duties as per usual.

Also, how he never liked you. Well, he hasn’t confessed yet, but he couldn’t see why you’d bring that up out of nowhere when everything was still fine 2 days ago.

Concubines. The talk on concubines. Why did you- Oh. “... from yesterday” Noritoshi’s head was getting clearer and clearer. You must have misunderstood the conversation he had with his father, and left before it finished. It didn’t sound pretty now that he thought of it.

He had that single-minded goal of pleasing his father and the elders, but somehow you got tangled in the mess.

He sighed frustratedly. It always seemed to be the case with you jumping conclusions about him, didn’t it? Now he has to clear it up with you before it gets too bad.

◇◇◇

You woke up the next morning feeling and looking like utter shit. Mai and Miwa had to dress you up and drag you out of bed.

“There’s only one thing you can do now Y/N.” Mai said as she straightened out your collar. “Get over him.”

Huh. Easier said than done.

◇◇◇

There was a drastic change in your behaviour towards Noritoshi. The name "Noritoshi-senpai", that you had always cheerily called out, was replaced by a short and curt "Kamo-san" whenever conversation was necessary. Also, you don’t look into his eyes anymore.

You avoided him as much as you can, thanking yourself for knowing his schedule so well. Not hesitating to turn and go around in another direction if you ever saw him approaching from a distance. Because of this he rarely sees you on campus.

It hurt Noritoshi badly to see you act this way. He never realized just how warm you were with him until now that it was all gone. He tried to catch you during your breaks, calling out your name with the same tenderness he always had. But it was in vain as you ran away from him.

Todo and Momo wisely chose not to make any snide comments, upon seeing how downhearted Noritoshi was in the following days.

Everybody avoided eye contact with both of you if and when you had to interact. It couldn't be helped. The tension was like a fine piece of glass waiting to shatter.

The pain in your heart didn't subside at all. You've taken to staring at the mark on your wrist.

'Did I successfully reject our bond?' You wondered hollowly.

Sometimes you half expect your mark to start flashing wildly, like whenever you and Noritoshi have off days with each other. But this is the first time you've seen it so… silent.

You wrapped it up with more darker velvet strips and ignored it.

It was the opposite on Noritoshi’s end. He would lie in bed and stare at the mark that is dangerously bright red and hot. It almost felt painful, like someone was searing a brand onto his skin.

He wrapped it up in gauze bandages and put salves to soothe the mark. But it was never enough. He needed you back.

◇◇◇

During one afternoon, you just finished an English lesson with one of the windows who teaches at Jujutsu High. You stood up from your desk and turned to see the man outside of your classroom.

"Y/n, are you free for lunch?" Noritoshi had obviously sprinted as soon as his lessons had ended. “We need to talk.” All 4 of you looked up to see him outside the classroom, as composed as ever. But he looked terrible.

There were shadows under his eyes, and he seemed to have gotten thinner. The shitty side of you was cruelly happy. Good that he’s like this, because he lost his toy. Good on him. But your heart was sad, yelling at you to go back and take care of him already.

"Ah I'm sorry, but I've got lunch with the rest of the 1st year's here." You politely declined. Trying to school your face into a neutral expression.

"I insist." He firmly stated. He looked over to the other students. "You don't mind if I borrow her do you?"

You inwardly scoffed at his poor choice of words. The stupid arse still thinks I'm his belonging apparently. Something to be borrowed and used.

But Mai stepped up. "If she doesn't want to hang out with you then she doesn't." Miwa was fidgeting worriedly. "Now now." She started.

"I really wanted to have lunch with my fellow 1st years, if you could please excuse us Kamo San." You hastily uttered, pulling Mai's arms towards you while turning away. The other first years followed your lead.

But Noritoshi was determined. He quickly put his hand on your shoulder, only for you to slap it away and flinch from him. Everybody froze.

You were clearly trembling, which made Noritoshi lower his hand and step back. "I'm sorry y/n." Whether the apology was for holding you without your consent or for everything that happened, you painfully let it slide. Silently bowing to him, then quickly walking away with the others.

Noritoshi could only watch wistfully as your figure disappeared from his view.

◇◇◇

"The nerve of shitty men," Mai angrily stuffed her mouth with eggs from her bento. "Thinking they own women, that they're better than us. It was like this with the men in my family as well. Bullying and kicking aside the weaker women."

You sadly poked at your food. It was katsudon. You ordered it ahead of time from the cafeteria, wanting to perk up with a favorite dish. But today it tastes so bland. It wasn't the cooking that was off. Just that you had no appetite.

"Wouldn't you want to talk it out with Kamo senpai, y/n?" Miwa asked. Truth be told you were adding fire to the problem. You just dumped your anger on Noritoshi and kept rudely cutting him off before leaving him.

But your pride and broken heart didn't allow you to go back to him. "I don't think there's anything left for me to say or do to be honest. I'm not in the mood to face him. At all." You lied.

Mechamaru surprisingly spoke out, "Love is a fickle thing. And it's a fact that women are more in tune with their emotions than men are. But I think you won't regret it if you give him a chance. Kamo Noritoshi isn't a bad man."

Mai huffed. "Whose side are you even on?"

"There are no sides. Just two idiots who are madly in love with each other." Mechamaru dryly replied.

Your heart clenched, but you stayed silent, not denying the fact that even after you pushed him away, you still loved him.

"Let's talk about something else shall we?" Miwa hurriedly changed the topic and started discussing the homework to be done.

◇◇◇

Hiroki was both the best and the worst brother you could ask for. Because he chose this time to surprise you with a visit at Kyoto High, claiming he wanted to see how you were doing with classes and that he would stay for a while.

Secretly, he wanted to meet and gauge Noritoshi, only to find out that the both of you have just broken up. You brought him into your dorm room to have a chat and some snacks.

“WHA?! YOU- You ended things with your soulmate?! You were together for like what?! 4 Months?” His jaw dropped as you told him the entire story.

You gave a drawn out sigh. “Hiro nii, I’m done. Like… He… I dunno anymore. To be honest I broke up with him in the heat of the moment.”

“Tsk, you’ve always been led by your emotions. That’s why you’re so reckless half the time sis. You didn’t even try to talk it out with him.” He asked as he opened a bag of chips.

You stayed silent and reached for chips. Chewing and ignoring him.

“What’s with you and bottling all your pent up anger only to toss it onto the poor guy? Didn’t even give him a chance to explain himself.” he tutted.

You whirled on him angrily. “They just want me for my power. Then they’ll let him off with like a dozen women around him. What the fuck is there for him to explain?!”

Hiroki looked way too calm. “Who are 'they'?”

You paused. “The Kamo family.”

“Are you 100% sure Noritoshi was in this only to use you?”

“Like 99.99%...” you trailed off. Hiroki eyed you knowingly. “That 0.01 percent chance of him loving you. You considered it, even though that’s a small ass probability sis. But hey, that’s your man. If you want him out, our family’s got your back. I’ll beat him up for you if you need me to”

You shook your head at him.

Hiroki sighed, “Though with that concubine thing, I can see it happenin’. Clan heads are desperate to have a son with the inherited technique. The Gojo clan just got lucky with Satoru. We dunno if it’s normal in the Kamo clan though. But with you as his soulmate, he shouldn’t need any. Somethin ain’t addin up…” He got lost in thought.

“You won’t know until you talk with Kamo himself.”

You sadly continued eating your chips. “I hate it when you’re right.”

◇◇◇

The next morning Utahime urgently called for a full student body plus all available jujutsu sorcerers on site for a meeting.

You and Hiroki stumbled into the room, almost late, pushing against each other. The other students looked curiously at the man who was fighting you for space on the couch.

You jabbed him in the gut and put a leg over his. “Uhhhh y/n who is that?” Mai asked.

Your cousin shrugged your leg off of his, stood up and said his greetings, “Hello, I am Tsuchimikado Hiroki. Alumni here at Kyoto Jujutsu High. Semi-grade 1 sorcerer. Pleased to meet you all and thanks for taking care of my lil sis- ah I mean cousin.”

“Ohhhh” Miwa took a closer look. You noticed Noritoshi glancing over at you. Todo walked up to him and pointed a finger, “Tsuchi’s relative? Then what woman is your idea-”

You used your technique to immobilise Todo and forced him to sit down in a daze. “Sorry for my rudeness, senpai. You can have that convo later.” You knew it would take too long if this starts again.

Hiroki looked affronted, “It’s rude to point bruh.”

Utahime clapped her hands to gather your attention as Principal Gakuganji appeared on the podium.

“Thank you so much all for coming into this meeting on such short notice. Especially to the alumni and other available Jujutsu sorcerers. Let's get straight to the point: I am here to announce that War is coming.”

Blood Bound: Table of Contents

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zoufantastical · 3 years

Note

Can I ask you something? What’s so bad about shipping the veterans with the scouts? You also said about how adults need to have responsibilities because they are shipping “teenagers” with adults because there can be children here but isn’t that the responsibility of the parents? Like I’m trying to see what your point is because at the end of the day it IS fiction. People shouldn’t be called out for shipping what they want. It doesn’t hurt anyone in real life. And you tagged those ships so I know you aren’t doing this for the children of this site but because you want to get attention. I’ll like to see how you explain that.

Oh boy an account that very obviously looks new. It’s starting y’all. Let’s see here. The question should be WHY you want to ship them with each other.

(Kinda long post incoming!!)

Is it the aesthetic? Is it because it looks “hawt”? It can’t possibly all be because of the moments they had in the manga/anime.

You specified that and called them veterans. So using that word you are already aware that there is not only a noticeable age difference/gap but experience/power.

Let’s also take a look at the timeline.

The four year time skip started around March 2017. The rest of the scouts don't make their debut around chapter 102, which was around February 2018. Which means every veteran x scout shipper waited NINE YEARS to FINALLY have some sort of excuse to ship them, even though their new age of 19 from over mid 30+ is still such a large age gap.

Before that, people were WILLINGLY SHIPPING 15/16 YEAR OLDS WITH ADULTS. ADULTS OVER 30+ and even if they were younger, like 20-30, THAT IS STILL A LARGE AGE GAP. I am an adult over 21 and I'll be DAMNED if I ever get close and romantic with a teen. Do you have any idea of the explicit artwork and fics there are around depicting exactly that type of relationship that will not only have you shunned by society but probably have you in a jail cell as well? Not only that but there are fics/artwork that ages them up. Gee, I wonder WHY you have to do that?

The fiction excuse has been dragged through the mud so many times. While it being fictional doesn't automatically makes you a pedo/groomer/incestuous person, it does makes you morally questionable. Why does something have to be fictional for you to willingly want to persue such ship? It's the fiction part that makes me call people out. Because lets face it: the fictional world and the real world is a blurred line.

If you really think about it, fictional media does have an impact on our every day lives. The way we consume it and go about it. The way it can affect our lives and even the views of society. So when people throw at me "iTs fIcTiOn" I know they have nothing else to say. If you need something to not be (barely) real to want to be a fan of something morally and legally wrong in the real world, then people around you have every right to question you.

Pursuing something specific like what I'm talking about in fiction can speak volumes of you as a person and your values. So saying it doesnt "hurt anyone in real life" is a lie. Fiction has a great grasp over our lives. It has also been responsible and consequential to certain conducts in society. Fiction CAN hurt lives in reality.

Some of you may think I'm exaggerating but this is real, no pun intended.

In regards to kids, many of the people who ship ereri or rivamika etc are impressionable. Yes parents should monitor them but do you expect them to on every move? Especially if YOU as an ADULT contribute to the same media parents try to teach them it's wrong and avoid? I mean yikes when did we become so ignorant and not care about others because your twisted desires are involved..that's such a sad thought. Tumblr obviously is a melting pot of other shit but taking kids out of the equation what about impressionable recent adults, especially the ones who believe they already know everything?

As I earlier said, the way we consume media does affect us.

Drifting from fiction, have you ever thought about the author himself? As in ISAYAMA? If you ship any of the 104th with a veteran, do you believe if this was acceptable in any way, Isayama would have found a way to include it in his story? That's right actually he HAS!

Have you forgotten when (trigger warning: sexual assault) Armin dressed as Historia was sexually assaulted by a man around the veterans age? Oh, so that time it was wrong but because the veterans are good looking it doesn't count if they ever tried to reach the 104th romantically/sexually? Oh you forgotten how the fandom was disgusted at this scene? So you already know Isayama will NEVER approve something like this since he already put a similar situation in a negative light.

This is a long post but yeah that's the most "shorten" in depth of why I can give you all. Between these questions and the gabi hate posts, I'm beginning to wonder if its a good idea having this open question posts thing 😂

Thanks for reading if any of yall did. Yes I am messy I will tag the posts. Block me or whatever I don't care. If it reaches even one person to consider on what they are doing, then so be it. So yeah I'm doing it for attention...isn't that literally the reason any of us posts here? 😂😂😂

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oingo233 · 3 years

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Rapture is a Boy (2)

Summary: Remus and you have always had a playful, loving relationship but his behavior around the full moon leads you to assume the worst. A huge fight ends with the two of you heartbroken. Will Remus reveal the truth behind his behavior? And will you still love him afterwards or has he truly lost you forever?

Young Remus Lupin x Reader

Warning: brief talk of weight (as someone who is overweight I would never write anything or imply that being overweight is a bad thing, I know society deems it as less beautiful but the truth is that we are so beautiful, every single one of us despite our weight/size or appearance, we just have a different journey to self-love than those who are conventionally pretty, a much harder path to confidence no doubt, but let me remind you that you are breath taking because most to all of beauty is the uniqueness that one has), some angst sprinkled into this one, get ready for loads of it later, bitches like em’ sad, it’s me, I’m bitches. Also, there are some cuss words, nothing too bad though. Self-doubt, cheating is mentioned.

Authors note: I try to keep my writing(self inserts) gender, body type, ethnicity and house neutral/not specified. If I ever slip up please let me know so that I can change it. Remus’s/3rd POV is italicized, it switches back and forth briefly to better show the relationship and luv. Shit will go down in the next chapter, enjoy the little amounts of fluff and joy in this one while it lasts mwhahaha!

Word Count: 2k

Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven - Part Eight

Part Two

**** Chocolate Pudding ****

I was distracted in class for the second time this month, all because of Remus Lupin. He plagued my mind, and now Lucy accompanies him even in my thoughts. I didn’t mean to jump to conclusions, and I almost never do. But Lily saying I should talk to him, and Lucy running off to comfort Remus when it should have been me, pushed me into a full spring leap. And the conclusion I leapt to was a heartbreaking one, but with all the confidence of the world I believed it. It’s the only thing that makes sense with what I know now. He’s cheating on me.

He told me earlier today, he will be studying in the library with the rest of the marauders before dinner. I will meet and talk to him there, I decided, wringing my fingers and then wiping the sweat off on my robes. Because although yes, I do think he could be cheating on me, I know Remus is a great person. Great people don’t cheat, right?

“Lily, you don’t think he’s cheating do you?” I blurted out, whispering it softly to her through her blockade of dark red hair. She turned to me flabbergasted, her mouth agape to me.

“No,” She says definitely. “Remus is not that person...” There is a silence as I nod blankly at her, I know she is being truthful but she wants to say more. I tug on her robe sleeves, I need to hear what she wants to say but can’t bring myself to ask aloud. What if I don’t like the answer?

“But I think, that ya should talk to him about it. He seems off, no? Maybe it isn’t Lucy at all. You’re jumping to conclusions.” She gives me a pointed look and I nod now in both acceptance and thanks.

“You’re right. I’m being a git.” We both laugh, my mind now eased slightly. We continue to talk amongst ourselves here n there throughout the class. I mentioned James once and she glares at me, but I smile and say,

“Gee Lily, your hair looks awfully bright with that complimentary blush of yours.” She nearly shoves me off my stool. Spending alone time with Lily (despite the large group of students around us) was refreshing, I felt a lot lighter. But the thought of this up coming confrontation with the love of my life once again settled above me like a dark cloud.

It was the last period and it ended minutes ago, I am now making my way up to the library. To Remus. The doors were heavy but glided over the floor as I opened them, the room smelt of old books and dusty pages. I inhaled deeply and smiled to myself, it smells slightly like Remus. Speaking of, his laughter rings out and without a second to waste, Peter, Remus, Sirius and James are shushed aggressively.

I turn around the corner to finally meet them and they’re huddled over some large piece of parchment. Giggling and whispering to themselves, heads nearly clinking together. I clear my throat as so not to intrude. Remus quickly turns to me, his eyes wide in surprise before he stands and hugs me, enclosing my head in his chest.

“(y/n), what a lovely surprise. How was class?” I muffled a hello into his sweater, and can hear shuffling around, from the boys and only when the sound ceased did Remus let go of me. He rubbed his hands down my arms, and smiled warmly down at me. Before I could answer James leans his head in his hand, breathing heavy, he turns to me.

“How’s Lils? Ya have that class with her, right?” I roll my eyes and sit down beside them, Remus stands behind me. The paper is gone but I pay it no mind.

“Yes,” I chuckle to myself, remembering her blush at just the mention of his name. “She’s doing quite well actually. And you boys? Any mischievous plans stuffed up your sleeves? 20, maybe?” They all look at one another and shrug, Peter shook his head yes. Sirius hit his arm and shook his head no, dramatically until Peter followed along. Then the two turn to me and I laugh, not pushing the obvious truth of a scheme from them. They’re sly when they want to be, so this was a definite bashful action. Cheeky.

“Hey love, we’ll meet you down at dinner yeah?” My heart sank for the 2nd, no 3rd time that day. When did Remus get so dismissive? The boys stared up at him a little, mouths agape before they turned to me with soft smiles.

“We’ll miss you dearly until then,” Sirius adds, once again in high spirits.

“Yes, and don’t eat all the pudding in spite.” Peter makes sure to add after last time I did such a thing. It was Peters favorite and he once said I looked bigger when I returned at the train station for the beginning of the year, after the summer of puberty, when really he was just awkwardly talking about how I grew taller and more into myself, good bigger, he thought. But, like anyone with ears I assumed he was calling me fat (fat and all shapes and sizes is beautiful and worthy of love and appreciation, but when someone, such as Peter, implies such a thing to another, in such a way, they could only mean it harmfully so of course I was not going to let that shite slide), so that night I shoveled in all the chocolate pudding before he could get even one bite.

Remus was laughing hysterically with the other boys, as I smirked a blob of pudding fell out between my lips, and Peter looked like he was going to cry. I remember Remus pulled me aside that night to clear up the misunderstanding. He awkwardly confessed it was about my surprising change in appearance, and that I actually look very beautiful. We snogged later that year and the rest is history. (Though the romantic build up was a lot more romantic than just snogging, Remus can be a romantic kind of guy, now was not once of those moments.)

I turn to him.

“Okay. See you then!” I fake the cheeriness in my voice and hope my breath isn’t too shaky as I go and kiss Remus’s cheek. He kisses the very edge of my lips distractedly as I pull away, far from our usual goodbye kisses. I make my way out of the library before stopping in my tracks to yell something over my shoulder.

“The pudding is yours Peter, though it’ll look more appetizing each time you bring that night up,” I expected laughter, or for Peter to say something, anything in response but instead there is silence. I turn around to see the large parchment out again, and the boys huddled over it animatedly.

Thoroughly aggravated, I huff my way down to the dorm and rant to Lily about it all. Then she suggests both the best and the worst idea we, as intellectual, well-put together (well we like to think so) people, have had all day.

“Well, maybe we could throw a little party? Lift your spirits a wee bit, huh love?” Lily suggest, after the fifth time I explain the library scene and how rejected it made me feel. Remus did not want my company, he sat behind my chair and waited until he could ‘politely’ tell me to go, after ignoring me half the day since the incident with Snape.

“And,” she continues, twiddling her thumbs anxiously. “it can be like an impromptu date for Remus and you, if he comes, because of course we’ll invite him-”

“And James,” I smirk, she glares at the way I rudely cut her off but I think she did it more so because of the blush that arose to her cheeks.

“er, sure. But as I was saying, it could be good for you too. I know he hasn’t been spending much time with you lately and everything.” She glances over at a giggling Lucy adorned in red and gold. I scoff bitterly.

“Yeah we haven’t. But ya know what, it’s nothing new innit. He always gets like this.” I stab my dinner with a fork and hear a chuckle coming up from behind me. Peter glances over my shoulder at the chocolate pudding bowl in front of me, seeing as it is still very much full he bows to me and kisses my cheek.

“Thank you, O’ so gracious one,” I can’t fight the laugh, though Remus may upset me, his friends are good blokes that always cheer me up, or at least try too.

The boys all pile in next to us, though it’s been a while since dinner started, they’re a bit late because of whatever they were doing in the library.

Remus saw you and his heart stopped you were, as always breath taking but tonight you looked off, you were stabbing your food with frustration, something must be wrong? You always happily eat your meals, and your laughter is always the first he hears when he walks into the great hall. He watches as Peter makes you laugh, he feels a little off seeing you act this way with Peter. You, lately haven’t been as light hearted around him.

He sits down next to you and is eager to apologize for his behavior earlier. He wanted to take the words back right after his comment. As if he wasn’t feeling bad enough James and the boys ripped into him.

“Bloody hell mate, you might as well demanded she left.” The room was silent as all 4 of them nodded in agreement, Remus included. He sat down and grumbled to himself as they pulled out the marauders map. The very reason he was eager for you to leave, he didn’t want you to see the latest secret of his. Another one of his reasons to be riddled with guilt, he felt so dishonest with you. And he’s been more and more moody with the full moon coming out tonight.

Tonight, as they made their way to the shrieking shack they were going to map it on the marauders map. They were so close to finishing and Remus was eager to, between the map and his soon to be shift he’s had less time to spend with you. Which means less time with your smile, and kisses, and hugs and laughter and bloody hell did he feel like we was going through withdrawal.

But he feels, though the boys disagree, that he should keep his distance from you before full moons. He gets too quite, and angry, and annoyed, he’d hate for you to see this side of him, and all his flaws, and leave him. He wouldn’t survive the pain, he wanted to marry you one day.

“ello’ darling,” Remus whispers into my ear, kissing my cheek. James stares at us before looking lovingly at Lily, who is looking back with raised brows As if to say ‘what now, potter’.

“ello’ darling,” James copies, leaning down to give Lily a kiss on her cheek but she pushes his shoulders back, nonetheless he pulls back with a smile.

“Worth a shot, you’ll miss it one day Evans, once my heart has had enough and I become a reclusive slug,” He says matter-of-factly as he begins to pile food onto his plate.

“I’d act quick Lily, he’s already beginning to look like one.” Sirius leans into to say, though his hair dangles in the pudding making Peter yelp. Remus removes the pudding and adds some to Peters plate.

“You should thank him, grease adds flavor to everything.” Sirius gasps and turns to Remus with slitted eyes. The whole rest of us are laughing, and trying desperately to keep the volume at a minimum as Sirius runs his hand through his hair and tries to rub “the grease” over Remus face.

“If only grease could erase that smirk off your face, mate. I’ll find a way,” Sirius grits as he wrestles Remus who is bumping slightly into me fighting him off. He turns his head during the battle of a lifetime, and apologizes to me for the rough housing, though the look in his eyes seemed like he was sorry for much more. I was taken aback slightly, so I shrug with a loving smile.

Eventually we all finish our dinner and Lily invites the table to our party, all of Gryffindor table actually. Many cheered and said they’d come and bring friends, some even declared to bring butterbeer by the jugfull. But the Marauders just stared at us with a frown.

“We, uh, we can’t make it tonight. Haven’t done enough studying for the exam. I can’t fail this one (y/n), you know that...” Peter trails off and I almost feel bad, maybe the party was a bad idea. The boys all nod along and Lily and I swallow our pride and doubts before telling them it was fine.

Lily holds my arm as we walk back.

“They’re just studying, nothing else to it.” But we both saw the way Lucy stuck behind as well.

Taglist:

@crazylokonugget @beyondprincess

#young remus imagine #remus lupin #young remus lupin #young marauders #the marauders #harry potter imagines #harry potter #remus lupin x reader #remus x reader #neutral reader #angst #remus angst #hogwarts #love #Teen Romance #werewolves #young remus x reader

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nordleuchten · 3 years

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La Fayette in Prison - Part 2 - Magdeburg

After Wesel, off we go to Magdeburg. Here La Fayette and his fellow prisoners stayed from January 4, 1793 until January 4, 1794. Just like Wesel, Magdeburg was and still is a prominent city in modern-day Germany (back then in Prussia). And just like Wesel, Magdeburg lies near a river, the Elbe to be precise. And again, the prison laid inside the city’s fortress. Large parts of the fortress are still intact and are the sites of numerous activities throughout the years, such as re-enactments, historic festivals, historic guided tour ... visitors are also free to request an individual guided tour, unrelated to any other activity. La Fayette is once more named as a noteworthy inmate by the Homepage of the organisation charged with taking care of the fortress. But he was far from the most prominent inmate – Germans at least will recognise the names of Fritz Reuter and Werner von Siemens (the guy who founded the company “Siemens”). Whoever created the Homepage either did not do their research or disliked La Fayette. It is stated that La Fayette attempted an coup d’état that failed and that he initiated the Champ the Mars massacre ... both statements are grossly oversimplified at best and utter nonsense at worst. During La Fayette’s stay Ludwig Karl von Kalkstein (then a Lieutenant-General) was the Governor of the prison and Otto Kasimir von Meerschneidt (then a Major-General) was its Commander.

La Fayette and is fellow Frenchmen were brought to Magdeburg by means of an open cart. What was in all likelihood intended to degrade them further, was actually a blessing for the prisoners. They now had fresh air and the open, blue sky in abundance, something that had been denied to them all those months prior. Something else happened as well. People recognized these august men and apparently also cheered for them. Where the Prussian and Austrian authorities had a keen dislike for La Fayette, the population was in large parts in favour of him (more on that in a bit). Though he may have been touched by the cheering, such outpours of affection did not help La Fayette endear himself to his jailers – not at all. Nevertheless, conditions at Magdeburg were better ... far from good, but better.

La Fayette was allowed to obtain some books. Among other things he read mostly about agriculture and this knowledge would later come in handy when he ventured into the farming business after his return to France in 1799. He was furthermore allowed to write and receive letter ... but there was a twist. You see, when a letter for La Fayette arrived, the authorities in Magdeburg would open it, read it and decide if La Fayette was allowed to receive this letter. If so, they would go into his cell and read the letter aloud to him exactly once. If he was allowed to reply, his letters were checked and if there was something in them that did not please his jailors, well, the letter then moved directly into the bin. Lovely!

Nevertheless, things were looking up for La Fayette and he started writing letters to the full extent of his possibilities. Although he ached to let his wife Adrienne know that he was more or less okay, he did nor dare to write her. She was still imprisoned in France and La Fayette feared that somebody there might recognise his handwriting and subsequently destroy the letter. Instead he tried to reach his English and American friends (both in America and as envoys in Europe).

La Fayette described his cell in a letter to an unknown friend in England:

“Imagine an opening made under the rampart of the citadel, and surrounded with a strong, high palisade; through this, after opening four doors, each armed with chains, bars, and padlocks, they come, not without some difficulty and noise, to my cell, three paces wide five and a half long. The wall is mouldy on the side towards the ditch, and the front one admits light, but not sunshine, through a little grated window. Add to this two sentinels, -- whose eyes penetrate into this lower region, but who are kept outside the palisade, lest they should speak other watchers not belonging to the guard, and all the walls ramparts, ditches, guards, within and without the citadel of Magdeburg, and you will think that the foreign powers neglect nothing to keep us within their dominions. The noisy opening of the four doors is repeated every morning to admit my servant; at dinner, that I may eat in presence of the commandant of the citadel and of the guard; and at night, to take my servant to his prison. After having shut upon me all the doors, the commandant carries off the keys to the room where, since our arrival, the king has ordered him to sleep. I have books, the white leaves of which are taken out, but no news, no newspapers no communications, -- neither pen, ink, paper, nor pencil. It is a wonder that I possess this sheet, and I am writing with a toothpick. My health fails daily (…).”

(I am a bit irked by the fact, that I can neither associated an recipient nor an exact date with the letter. The letter otherwise seems authentic and the content is similar to other letters by La Fayette that we have more information on – that being said, I gave the letter a pass although its provenance is not what I would like it to be.)

I have seen some people argue that La Fayette mostly managed to keep his spirits up, because he did not complained an awful lot in his letters – but when assessing such a statement, you have to keep in mind that La Fayette really could not complain a lot in his letters, otherwise they would never be posted. It is true though, that there were small betterments. I already mentioned the letters and books, but he and the other prisoners were also allowed to take regular walks in the yard of the prison. They walked separated from each other and were heavily guarded. But La Fayette fell ill again, this time with a fever. His illness was not as serious though as it had been at Wesel.

La Fayette also received some money from his friends in America. Some of his friends, such like Washington, privately send money for La Fayette to use. Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State, found a way for the Government to pay La Fayette some money. He argued that La Fayette had offered to serve in the Continental Army without pay but that there was no official document of the Continental Congress accepting this offer. It follows that the Treasury owned La Fayette six years of pay and furthermore ten years worth of interests since they had “forgotten” to pay him the money since the end of the war ten years prior. Jefferson wrote a letter to Washington on December 30, 1793:

“Soon after his captivity and imprisonment, and before the ministers had received our instructions to endeavor to obtain his liberation, they were apprised that his personal restraint, and the peculiar situation of his fortune disabled him from drawing resources from that, and would leave him liable to suffer for subsistence, and the common necessaries of life. After a consultation by letter, therefore, between our ministers at Paris, London, and the Hague, they concurred in opinion that they ought not in such a case to wait for instructions from hence, but that his necessities should be provided for until they could receive such instructions. Different sums have been therefore either placed at his disposal, or answered on his draughts, amounting, as far as we hitherto know to about twelve or thirteen hundred Guineas. This has been taken from a fund not applicable by law to this purpose nor able to spare it: and the question is whether, and how it is to be made good? To do this, nothing more is requisite than that the United States should not avail themselves of the Liberalities of M. de la Fayette, yielded at a moment when neither he nor we could foresee the time when they would become his only resource for subsistence. It appears by a statement from the war office, hereto annexed, that his pay and commutation as a major General in the service of the United States to the 3rd of nov. 1783 amounted to 24,100 dollrs thirteen Cents exclusive of ten years interest elapsed since that time, to the payment of which the following obstacle has occurred. at the foot of the original engagement by Mr Deane, a copy of which is hereto annexed, that a certain roll of officers there named, and of which M. de la Fayette was one, should be taken into the american service in the grades there specified, M. de la Fayette alone has subjoined for himself a declaration that he would serve without any particular allowance or pension. It may be doubted whether the words in the original French do strictly include the general allowance of pay and commutation. and if they do, there is no evidence of any act of acceptance by Congress. Yet, under all the circumstances of the case, it is thought that the legislature alone is competent to decide it. If they decline availing the United States of the declaration of M. de la Fayette, it leaves a fund which not only covers the advances which have been made, but will enable you take measures for his future relief. It does it too, in a way which can give offence to nobody, since none have a right to complain of the payment of a debt, that being a moral duty, from which we cannot be discharged by any relation in which the creditor may be placed as to them.”

Washington forwarded the letter to the Congress and on March 27, 1794 Congress passed a bill to pay La Fayette the money he had not accepted as a General during the Revolutionary War. To nobody’s surprise, neither Congress nor President Washington had any objections and the bill was approved swiftly.

Prisons in the 18th century (as well as today) often development into some sort of parallel society. Money and especially bribery could get you far in prison and La Fayette experienced that first hand. On November 18, 1809 La Fayette enclosed an account of his financial situation in a letter to Thomas Jefferson. It seems as if this lengthy report had been written by one of La Fayette’s secretaries. Here is a short excerpt of the English translation of the report:

“The expenses caused by his captivity were enormous; the prisoners had to pay their own way as long as their money lasted, and as General Lafayette was the only one with some money, he had to take responsibility for his fellow prisoners. But this was a small matter in comparison with all that his European friends did financially to save his life, to correspond with him, and to facilitate his escape. Some of them made great personal sacrifices, and the sums generously sent by the American government were swallowed up. General Lafayette’s family provided for its own expenses while living in Olmutz. So that on arriving at Hamburg after an imprisonment of five years he found nothing of what had been intended for him and only an increased debt to Mr. Gouverneur Morris up to the time when he was paid 68000.₶; to Mr. Parish former United States consul, forty three thousand Livres; to Mr. Bollman a contract reduced to 30000.₶”

(You see, a great deal of the financial troubles and transactions came after his stay in Magdeburg but since everything started in Magdeburg, I thought it convenient to discuss the monetary issue here in full.)

We see the United States taking actions to the best of their abilities and we see also more letters discussing La Fayette’s fate. News travelled slowly in the 18th century and it took the three months that La Fayette stayed in Wesel for the world to find out that he even had been arrested. But after the knowledge was out there, we see an increase in letters and also in newspaper coverage. So much so that Adrienne could read in the French newspapers that La Fayette was presently alive and in Magdeburg. We can further observe that people all other he world started petitioning the Prussian King for La Fayette’s relief. His friends, English Members of Parliament (although it would take a couple more years before the House of Commons would discuss the topic in full), Washington and his friends in America, Americas envoys in Europe, the list goes on. Some of La Fayette’s fellow prisoners, mostly unassuming secretaries and aids, had been released almost immediately and were now also trying to secure La Fayette’s freedom – some even returned to France to do so. We also see Prussians citizen petition their King. Most of these petitions were simple letters, but some petitioners had the money to spare and printed their petitions as pamphlets – many of them can today be found online.

Although the instructions for the guard were not less strict then they had been in Wesel, the guards in Magdeburg appeared to love to gossip. During his stay La Fayette was kept more or less up to date on the newest developments in France and the war. Eight months into his stay in Magdeburg he was also given some news about his wife Adrienne. La Fayette wrote Charles Pinckney in London on July 4, 1793:

My dear Sir,

Whilst on this anniversary my American fellow citizens are having their joy, I join in a solitary bumper with the happy remembrances, the patriotic wishes which are crowding upon us (...) Owning to your kind interference, my dear Sir, the crowned gaolers have consented after eight months to let me know that my wife and children were alive – be pleased to acquaint them that my health is tolerably good (...).

(Can we please acknowledge the fact that La Fayette took the time out of his day and remembered that it was the anniversary of American Independence?)

There is another letter that I want to give the spotlight. La Fayette wrote on March 15, 1793 to his friend, the Princess d’Hénin. In this letter he wrote that:

“I know not what disposition has been made of my plantation at Cayenne; but I hope Madame de Lafayette will take care that the negroes, who cultivated it, shall preserve their liberty.”

La Fayette had bought a plantation in the French colony of Cayenne and implemented a system of gradual emancipation. The plantation was later sold by French authorities and the people there re-enslaved. Although his endeavour ultimately failed I found it interesting to see that La Fayette, even during such a dark hour, thought about others as well.

Before we move on to the next prison, this time in Neisse, on last titbit. The Baron von Steuben, the absolutely legendary legend, was born in Magdeburg and as a man of military background probably spend some time in the fortress as well.

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shadowed-dancer · 3 years

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BNHA Theory: Why Aoyama Isn’t the Traitor

Debunking common claims because I love my boy and don’t want him to be evil. This is all for fun, and if you still want to believe he’s the traitor then I'm not stopping you.

This will be spoiler free, and will only cover stuff we see in the anime.

“We don’t know where he was during the USJ attack”

Ok, very fair point. However, have you ever considered that the USJ attack doesn’t actually matter when it comes to the traitor? Whether it’s Aoyama or not, I don't think this is a solid place to look for clues.

We know how the villains got the class schedule, there was no need for a traitor. Shigaraki noticed the press was desperate to get in, he disintegrated the barrier, and let them storm the campus

Then, while all the students were trying to evacuate, the teachers were also busy dealing with the reporters.

We only see Aizawa and Present Mic, but we can assume the others were dealing with the security breach too (and if not, then perhaps a teacher is the traitor? it doesn’t really matter, but the point is: it’s not a student).

Now, it’s possible that Aoyama was not affected by the rush of students, as he usually eats in the classroom, but he’s still pretty innocent. Students likely didn’t know the schedule, and had no idea All Might would be taking them to the USJ. I doubt the traitor would go through all this trouble if they weren’t absolutely sure that All Might would be taking them off campus sometime soon. Shigaraki could risk coming up empty (as in, finding a schedule where All Might never leaves campus) because he just doesn’t know what to expect, but a STUDENT risking themselves is a lot less unlikely. They’d risk getting caught and possibly expelled, or worse.

As for the USJ attack itself, Aoyama was most likely hiding. I’ll talk about this more in just a second, but in scenarios where he’s put in danger, Aoyama gives up and hides (even if there’s no one around).

So why’d he call attention to his absence? Well, to figure that out we need to look at...

Aoyama’s goals, personality, and motivations

Aoyama’s shtick is that he wants to stand out and be the centre of attention, yet is constantly pushed to the background.

His costume and hero name are meant to stand out, and the way he constantly talks about how wonderful he is is an attempt to get attention. He’s also obsessed with his appearance (as shown when Mina ruins his cape). None is this proves he’s a traitor, it’s just a form of comic relief.

When he asks if anyone wanted to know where he was, only to say “it’s a secret”, he was most likely trying to garner attention and make himself seem more cool and mysterious in the eyes of his classmates, but as an audience, it’s a lighthearted moment to ease us out of the heavier storyline. Again, he was probably hiding in fear, but wanted others to THINK he was bravely fighting like everyone else, which takes us to our next point to break down...

“Dabi didn’t attack him during the training camp”

This is probably the most damning piece of evidence.. If you need a brief refresher, Aoyama is hiding behind a bush, peaks his head out, and is almost immediately noticed by Dabi (it’s unclear if the villain sees who is behind the bush or not, but Aoyama says, “he saw me”. Even if Dabi didn’t see his face, he saw that there was a person). He goes to check but is immediately sidetracked by Twice, who reminds him to call back the Nomu he sent out. Dabi proceeds to forget about the student behind the bush.

Here’s the thing; this scene says more about Dabi than it does Aoyama. People tend to forget, but at this point in the story Dabi has not killed anyone. Heck, he’s not even in the criminal data base. Maybe he’s just sneaky, but Giran specifically calls out the fact that, “he hasn’t done any flashy crimes”. If he’s a criminal, he’s never been caught.

Back to that comment about the criminal data base, it’s a detail a lot of people overlook. When Tsukauchi is taking statements from Aizawa and Vlad King, he tells All Might that they ran a search through the CRIMINAL data base, looking for a man that matched Dabi’s description, and they came up empty handed. Not the quirk registry, they were specifically looking for criminals.

Dabi’s appearance is distinct, to say the least, so even if he was caught for petty theft, they’d be almost certain to catch and identify him. But no, he’s not a criminal at this point.

That being said, let’s look at how Dabi acts during the rest of this arc. For the most part, the real Dabi isn’t attacking unless he’s provoked first. When Deku, Shoto, and Shoji fall from the sky, he attacks to protect his teammate (since the boys had just jumped Mr. Compress). The exception is when Dabi’s clones goes after Aizawa and Vlad King, but in these situations he is very much aware that the two are pro heroes and will protect their students. Aizawa says it best, they’re trying to keep the pros distracted.

This isn’t meant to be defending Dabi, but instead to point out that, at this moment, he’s not very experienced in being a criminal. No spoilers but it’s obvious that CURRENT Dabi has no hesitations about killing people (see: those thugs in the alley and the hero Snatch). But, in this arc, he didn’t seem to want to cause any unnecessary violence. For these reasons, I believe he would have spared ANY kid behind that bush, not just Aoyama (forgetting to go back after Twice distracted him was a conscious choice, it would have taken literally no time out of his day to go check who it was, and instead he decides to let the kid live). Dabi’s purpose is to seem intimidating and distract the pros, not to attack recklessly.

Whoops, I went on a tangent. Back to my twinkling boy!

Aoyama is a coward

(meant in the most loving way possible)

Aoyama is a coward. I brought it up with the USJ that he was probably hiding, and we saw it with Dabi when he was cowering behind a bush. But the important thing is that, at the training camp, he actually does get the courage to attack (specifically when he sees Deku and the others fighting back).

We see this again during the license exam

During the test, he was scared to fail, so he hid until Iida found him. And, once again, the courage of his classmates gives him the strength to act. Aoyama is just scared. Some people point to this as evidence that he’s the traitor, since he doesn’t have the character of a hero, but actually think about it. Hero society is corrupt; people are becoming heroes for a whole host of other reasons. Almost no one has the motivations of a hero out of Class 1A.

Bakugo wants to be the best, Todoroki wants to stick it to his dad, Uraraka wants to make money, Iida is carrying on his family business, and Mineta wants girls. And hey, Mineta is also a coward, so take that as you will. Not everyone becomes in the hero course is suited to becoming a hero, and that’s the whole point (it’s the entire motivation behind Stain and his followers).

“How about the secret message?”

Ah yes, the secret message. "il faut se méfier de l'eau qui dort", literally translated to "beware the water that sleeps". It basically amounts to “there’s more than meets the eye” or “watch out for the quiet ones”.

Would a traitor expose himself? Probably not, the only reason I could say yes is if the traitor was helping the villains against his will and needed to tell someone, but what’s more likely is that Aoyama knows who the traitor is.

This next little theory isn’t really based on anything, but it’s possible that, while he was hiding from Dabi and Twice, the villains mentioned who the traitor was. Twice seems like the kind of dude who’d accidentally let it slip, or if he didn’t say a name, maybe he mentioned that SOMEONE at UA is a traitor and Aoyama is trying to get Midoriya’s help in figuring it out. Either way, he may be trying to alert Midoriya that someone can’t be trusted.

Alternatively, he could be referring to both him and Midoriya, and may not be talking about the traitor at all! When Aoyama wrote “I know” in cheese, he specifies that it was meant to say, “I know you have a quirk like mine” or “I know what you’re going through”. This could be similar, attempting to tell Deku “we are the same, there’s more to us than people know because we go through things that others do not.”

But wait, “the water that SLEEPS?” Mr Aizawa sleeps! Is Mr Aizawa the traitor?!?!?!

Tangent: Is Mr Aizawa the traitor?

No. This dude puts himself at risk for his kids more times than I can count. It makes no sense for him to go so out of his way to protect his kids (like at the USJ) only to be the traitor. As well, Aizawa could have easily texted Shigaraki and been like “yo change of plans, All Might isn’t here, don't bother showing up”.

In addition, Dabi actually DOES attack Aizawa at the training camp. No one is around to see it, so it’s not like it’s for show, and Aizawa is deliberately shown to not know what Dabi’s power is. (As seen when he says, “the fire wasn’t his quirk?” when the clone melts).

So yeah, “the water that sleeps” isn’t referring to Aizawa.

Some final thoughts about the traitor

I personally don’t believe there is one. In one chapter of the manga, the teachers are talking with the principal and mention how the dorms have revealed nothing suspicious from the students. As well, when Present Mic first brings up the idea of a traitor, he actually points to a STAFF MEMBER before bringing up the possibility of a student.

He mentions that only the teachers and first years knew where the training camp was, and then says, “I guess a student could have used their phone”. He says it like an afterthought, as if the possibility of it being a student hadn’t even crossed his mind until he said it out loud.

So yeah, I don’t think a student is the traitor. I am also hesitant to think it’s a teacher since Nezu says he can trust everyone in the room during their meeting. I think the traitor theory was just an excuse to get the kids living in dorm rooms for all the goofy teenage moments that could arise from that.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! And I hope all Aoyama fans can feel a little more at ease, knowing their boy (probably) isn’t the traitor.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #mha #my hero academia #yuga aoyama #ua traitor #ua traitor theory #long post #bnha theory #bnha analysis #mha theory #mha analysis #bnha meta

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bullets-and-masks · 4 years

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Fantastic Flustercuck: Lore, Interesting points, and a little thinking through

Here we go! This list is really, really big. I’ll do a short analysis/critic later on, but I want to get this out now! We’ll have 4 sessions: 1. Krieg and the Crimson Raiders 2. Krieg and Maya 3. Krieg and Himself 4. Final Notes

Session 01: Krieg and the Raiders

Sane Krieg starts by calling Psycho Krieg him; and dividing their mind between two minds, as if there are thoughts only Psycho Krieg has that he can’t access and/or understand

There’s a constant JACK voiceover that can be heard anywhere. Sadly, I didn’t catch the words, but sounded like the pre recorded messages at the preserve in Bl2

The first section of the DLC, the Castle raid, is considered imporant because it’s the first mission Krieg did along with the Crimson Raiders after a while

During this section, we fight the raiders

Brick and Modercai come first. They talk about how Krieg is too crazy to be a part of the Raiders. Sane Krieg does not want to fight them. Psycho Krieg fights - but it’s fear

Tannis quickly accesses it as fear of rejection. Krieg always had an issue with how the Raiders see him

Despite this Sane Krieg does know they’re friends, his family

Also sane Krieg uses the word oaf and that’s like... really funny

In this, Tannis says she relates to fear of rejection, but quickly corrects saying she doesn’t care

There’s the implication that Krieg’s eye was clawed out by a skag

The “Evil Lilith” inside his head calls him an animal, a beast, a weapon just to be used. Says they never cared if he lived or died

Sane Krieg quickly corrects this isn’t how she spoke to us

Lilith is tagged as “Scary fire lady” and that’s kind of adorable

Sane Krieg shows Psycho Krieg an old memory about how the Raiders treat him, and it’s the Raiders inviting Krieg to a bar. They don’t mind how he acts and laugh along with him

But Krieg follows from a distance

The Raiders guard his buzzaxe = strenght and attack

Krieg has a dialogue with himself that goes sorta like: Sane Krieg: (smth about finding out who is he, really) Psycho Krieg: Fragile Things

Sane Krieg also mentions wanting to learn dance, saying he has to exercise to keep his abs, calling it “lean muscle”

Session 02: Krieg and Maya

Oh boy

As soon as they see a memory of Maya, Sane Krieg wants to be careful. He doesn’t want the memory corrupted like the Raiders’.

Krieg KNOWS she is dead

Sane Krieg says Maya is the only thing he and Psycho Krieg ever agreed on

despite this, during the DLC they seem to get along better and better, Krieg is really working on themselves

Maya drops her book before proceeding. The player has to go after. Flowers grow on the ground where we walk

Tannis states diferent brain activity readings at this point, saying Krieg can really focus on Maya

Maya is taken by Locomobius, the monster train, and Sane Krieg says it’s because at the time they met, Psycho Krieg thought the train was taking her

Maya tells him in a goodbye ECHO: “No matter how far appart we are, I’ll always be with you.”

The name of the mission to catch Locomobius and free the memories of Maya is what love remains

Sane Krieg says the memories are all he has left of Maya

There’s a flashback to when they met, and it shows that Maya invited Krieg to come with her because he showed knowing how to fight

She does call him Big Guy constantly

Krieg has memories of Athenas, implying he has been there

Athenas is guarded by eridians, here funcioning as guardians to the memories of Maya

This is all viewed by Tannis as the protections of a grieving mind

The flashback about when they met also reveals that Krieg expressed he didn’t think he had anything to offer Maya and she understood him

It it’s not explained, whoever, how she understands him, but it’s very strongly implied that she sees his through thoughts/the translation of psycho speech

Maya guards his gauntlet = his defenses and hope

Even now, Maya is still a figure of hope for him

Sane Krieg complains about how Psycho Krieg lost a watch that he cared for

Session 2.5: Maya’s Spirit

Maya’s Last ECHO Maya leaves for Krieg one last ECHO that explains why she’s staying on Athenas for an indefinite time - to teach Eva. She says she knows she’ll pass her powers to Eva which implies she suspects her death could be soon. She says she can feel all the sirens that came before her like energy flowing, and says that if she days she’ll be among the stars waiting for him. There’s the quote, from her: “Even death and time can’t keep us appart from each other.”

The Spirit Maya stays in Krieg’s mind in a shining black and white form. At first, It looks like it might be his perception of her, the way she appears in his mind, but upon further triggering dialogue, there’s a lot of things told from a perspective that make it sound like Krieg didn’t know, and that also Maya is aware of this new form for her.

Quotes say:

that she never thought she could care about anyone the way she cared about Krieg

says that Krieg’s mind is less messy than she thought it’d be

had noodles in Minus-Prime, and loves it

she dyes her hair!

Maya says with all the words Siren’s have the power to leave memory on objects, memory that are almost a spirt

So this could be a fragment of Maya, alive in Krieg’s mind through the last ECHO he ever got from her

Also her spirit also mentions that one day a hotel showed up in Athenas, she slept there, it was a super interesting place, and she woke up lying on grass the morning after. Mancubus’ traveling hotel?

Session 03: Krieg and Himself

And Hyperion.

Krieg was at Hyperion to do a job at a lab

but then was “taken” by them. also not specified if he was taken for doing the wrong job, or he was there not hired by them and was captured

It is not specified what job, but he does mention he was a mercenary

The scientist responsible for him was Dr Benedict, and the called the subjects rejects of society

Sane Krieg says the lab saw the subjects as just meat. This is easily read as way Psycho Krieg registers meat as something that matters so much

Dr Benedict considered/might have done it: sweing the mouths of subjects shut or extracting their tongues so they couldn’t complain

Sane Krieg was really soft y’all... He fights a rat while imprisioned and names it Tawanda - unclear what happens to it - but Krieg says they’ll take care of each other

Krieg tells Tawanda “I’m called Krieg”. In a further ECHO, Dr Benedict calls Krieg Subject 24C. So Krieg really isn’t his name, and he can’t remember it

There’s an audio from Dr Benedict about an non specific subject asking to see his son, which the dr considers crazy, but all the others audios, even if not mentioning Krieg by name, seemed to be about him...

Sane Krieg sits along with Pyscho Krieg in an aparent crumbled cell space watching shadows that he calls The World. It’s Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, here showing Krieg is content with the world presented to him, unable, weak or even afraid to explore. It speaks to a false meaning he found to have the sense of living without having the strenght to do so

the player destroys the allegory, thus freeing Sane Krieg to see the actual world, a further step in regaining his mind as a world to really live in - he truly was trapped in himself

Bloodlust is a type of psychosis studied by Dr Benedict. It’s unclear wheter he created it, or what is behind it, but he uses a gas to infect people

considers making a gas bomb to infect whole populations

there’s a line from the Dr about how brain probing worsed pyschosis

the gas didn’t affect Krieg like the others - it is also unclear why

a mission with a Fear Mom, completely referencing the Clockwork Orange, tells Krieg to drink Milk to grow strong so “no one will hurt you ever again.” This could be read as remnants of his past self, creating a place to feel cared for someway, but also embracing the ultraviolence of his being and the brainwashing he went through

this side mission rewards a gun with the flavor text our eyes are yet to open like a baby, or like someone who lacks clarity

Krieg cared a lot about people before going insane. He holds strongly to a sense of right and wrong he calls goodness, and values innocence a lot

The Psycho personality is a schism that showed up in several test subjects that manifested the same personality

Dr Benedict wanted to change the subject pool to see the relation and considers an elementary school class

Also considers putting the gas in water supply to infect people since the gas won’t work on open areas

Psycho Krieg saves Sane Krieg when he had given up on scaping

It is a bloodbath Psycho Krieg calls Tea Party

Sane Krieg sees this realization, about being saved and the Vault Hunter being inside his head, as Psycho Krieg letting people in

Hyperion kept his mask from him = “false face is protection”

Upon defeating the boss, the Gigantic Krieg tied to an experimentation bed fades.

After taking the mask, this Three Figures walk into a portal in his mind and disappear forever. Sane Krieg doesn’t remember who they are and remarks that he forgot his past entirely. But looks at Psycho Krieg and decides on Forging a future.

They tell jokes to each other constantly, though Psycho Krieg only tells a decent joke by the end of the DLC. The joke is the one coherent sentence he can make; showing a lot of progress in how he communicates, but not changing who he is. By the end, his mind is empty, and both Kriegs work together to fill it slowy with new memories and thoughts. They start with Maya, and keep creating until she says “Enough for now. Come in and tell me about your day”, to which Krieg responds FUSING INTO HIMSELF, WHOLE, and walking into the house with her. The voiceover from Krieg tells us we’re always breaking and hurting, but we put ourselves together again, never perfect, but close enough. Always fixing ourselves.

Final Notes:

This DLC was really good, imo. I really liked the direction it took and I’m glad it wasn’t TOO wacky, loosing all the meaning and more seriousness it could have. It is a great character exploration, respects Krieg as a character and the one around him and their relationships. Krieg comes out as not needing fixing, and instead making peace with all he is and growing. Canon things confirmed: Worked as a mercenary, was a Crimson Raider, was one invited by Maya, was loved back, was experimented on by Hyperion, was saved by himself.

#borderlands #borderlands 3 #bl3 #fantastic flustercuck #krieg the psycho #krieg #dlc 4 #bl3 dlc #mmar talks #mmar plays bl3

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magicofthepen · 3 years

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Gallifrey Relisten: Lies

In the chaos of.....all of November....totally forgot I meant to relisten to this episode sooner! Which is odd because Series 2 is definitely one of the high points of Gallifrey for me (apparently listening to everything slowly collapse into the civil war is super engaging and interesting? idk Series 2 just does a lot of solid character work and storytelling and good narrative progression to the “ahhh everything is very bad” finale...and I’m not sure how to feel about this, given *gestures at the world these days*). But anyways, now for some thoughts on the series opener:

Fun fact: From the TV show alone, Romana I was my favorite. (This had something to do with her having more character growth in season 16 than season 17, since her early days on the TARDIS involve the “wait my academic success does not necessarily translate to the real world” realization and learning about worlds and people different from her own and growing from High-Achieving Student to Adventurer in her own right. Also I loved the grudgingly-working-together to actual-friends arc with her and the Doctor. I was a bit less interested in her character when she was just going around being a capable adventurer, although I did become invested in Romana II in her last episodes, as she quietly grapples with the issue of what she wants to do next in life and eventually chooses to go off on her own. Also to be fair, I appreciate the fun times of Season 17 a lot more now because Romana being happy and having a good time traveling around the universe? What a concept.)

All this to say: me on my first listen of Gallifrey was very excited about Romana I being in this episode. And even though it’s not quite as much of a !!!!! thing for me these days (the Gallifrey audios have long since solidified Romana II as my favorite), I do love the (sort of) multi-Romana interaction that happens in this one.

Brax essentially going “yeah the education system is supposed to be shitty and take an emotional toll on you” sir.

“I am not xenophobic” — Oh yeah, this scene is Narvin at his most unlikeable. “I’m not being bigoted, I’m just trying to protect Gallifrey, the fact that I assume that people who aren’t from here inherently can’t be trusted, and also go on about how they’re too loud and disruptive and don’t belong is definitely not a bigoted worldview nope.” Yikes. Very glad he’s going to see the error of his ways.

The Narvin and Darkel rant session does actually do a good job at explaining what’s been happening and establishing the primary conflict of the series while not feeling like it exists solely to be an info dump to catch up the listener. Like, it’s definitely a setup scene, but it is an interesting setup scene.

“But she is my President, and it’s my job to ensure that she gets what she wants and needs, efficiently and without question. Well, too many questions anyway.” Okay this moment and Darkel and Wynter’s conversation later about Narvin’s weakness (“Loyalty. An unswerving loyalty to his office and his precious CIA. And above all, loyalty to his president.” “He despises President Romana!” “Oh yes, of course. But it’s the position, not the person, he places that trust in.”) are really setting up some key Narvin Character Theses that we’re going to see play out this series (and also that the narrative is going to push in really interesting ways later on..... “position not the person”.....just you wait....)

Darkel and Narvin being indignant that Romana changed the law is just....hilarious in a kind of horrifying way? Oh no, the President worked with the legislative body to actually get a law passed. The horror.

“She has a temper. And a very long memory.” This is definitely about the CIA trying to overthrow her in Neverland but uhhh also it’s about Etra Prime and the Powers That Be on Gallifrey never making a serious effort to save her (at least from her perspective).

Yeah Darkel as antagonist is a bit abrupt (not that I particularly mind, she’s a good enough “love to hate” character that her not being set up as an antagonist from Series 1 doesn’t really bother me). But yeah, not sure what was going on behind the scenes, but it doesn’t seem like in Series 1 the plan was for her to be the primary Series 2-3 antagonist.

Darkel to Narvin: “You will let me know when you’ve decided.” Ooh yeah, this moment is quite a good setup of Narvin’s arc throughout this series — he has to decide where his loyalties truly lie.

Wynter is really interesting as far as character dynamics go, because he breaks the whole “Romana and Leela are the youngest people in the room” vibe — and it is just really interesting to see Romana interacting with this quite young Time Lord and specifically compare/contrasting it to how she interacts with young Time Lords in the later series when she’s older and a bit more emotionally mature and has more of the “mentor figure” vibes. (There isn’t really a conclusion to this thought, it’s more of a “huh, I’m thinking about this now” thing.)

“It’s been seven weeks, Andred. It’s hardly a lifetime.” Romana: please you have not been in a cell for that long, calm down.

“I thought you two were friends.” “A president of the High Council of Gallifrey cannot allow herself the luxury of friends.” Ahhhh, where it begins!! I’m extremely weak for the arc of Romana opening herself up to friendship and love, what of it.

Honestly, Andred’s politics have always been very confusing to me? And it probably doesn’t help that the show is all “he’s fully Andred now” but also “he lived as Torvald a long time and that’s still influencing him.” Like both of those things can be true, but it’s a bit unclear what Andred’s true priorities and motivations really are right then — and honestly, it just comes off like his primarily desire is to be useful to someone, and be granted some form of autonomy/power/respect in return (aka he doesn’t have any real clear principles that are motivating him). Also complaining about Romana opening Gallifrey up to aliens is such a bad look dude.

Romana to Andred: “I control your future. I control whether you have one.” Umm???? The foreshadowing?????

Andred, no. Andred, the free time pun was too much.

“I wish I had databanks. With a flick of a switch I could turn myself off, become unaware of all that has happened.” Leela ahhhhhhhhhh. (The desire to give Leela all the hugs and emotional support is very very high throughout these next couple seasons especially.....her mental health is in such a rough place ahhhh.)

Andred regenerated “nearly six months ago” and it’s been six and a half (or seven, depending on which character is speaking) weeks since A Blind Eye, which took place an unspecified amount of time after The Inquiry, which took place two weeks after Square One...(don’t mind me, just taking some notes on the timeline math...)

I believe a couple times in the Gallifrey audios, they reference the position of “Vice President,” which is very weird because that doesn’t seem to be a position that exists?? Chancellor is definitely seen as the #2 spot?? Idk what’s going on here.

“You are appreciated, highly regarded, and were I to lose you I would be...disappointed.” Romana, you started strong and then you got a bit emotionally repressed there.

“Torvald was a fool, but he was my fool.” .....I am not saying anything.....I will not be commenting on the Narvin and Andred scene......I just.......you know. There are some fics you cannot unread.

Romana does really trust Brax here, doesn’t she. And she really doesn’t trust easily post-Etra Prime, so this is a big deal — making it all the rougher when she (in the short term) finds out he meddled with her memories and (in the long term) has to deal with him doing things like temporarily betraying her for the greater good of protecting her while not explaining at all what’s really going on.

Okay, yes the whole pearl-clutching about Romana changing the laws is kinda silly and horrifying in a “how dysfunctional is your society if passing one (1) law is drastic change??” way, but also the flip side of this, aka “we thought these things were entrenched as norms in our society and would not change and then here comes along one president who’s trying to undo all of these things and threaten the whole system”.....y’all that hits differently now in the month November in the year 2020. In the Gallifrey audios the context is different — they are for sure overreacting to Romana’s very mild idea of “perhaps....we could change some things about society” but the way they talk about her political changes in the episode — feels a bit too close to home!

Romana’s voice right when she sees Leela....she missed her.....

Pandora being the “first female president” is a very weird and very unnecessary bit of misogyny? Ah yes, we must specify that this ancient president of Gallifrey who was wildly power-hungry and cruel and went too far and almost ruined everything Gallifrey had built was a woman?? Why was that bit of dialogue needed?? Tbh early Gallifrey does have a problem in general with characters played by women tending to be power-hungry....which is partly down to the fact that they have so so few women in the cast in general, it’s Romana, Leela, and Villains, mostly. (The lack of women in the supporting cast in early Gallifrey is going to be an ongoing complaint.)

“You should not be afraid of your feelings, K9.” / “Yes, thank you, if we can move on from the emotional support group session.” Pffffff

I do choose to ignore the implication that Romana returned to Gallifrey and became President because of the subconscious influence of Pandora/the Imperiatrix Imprimatur nudging her towards power. Tbh it’s simply not interesting to me to have such a pivotal character choice reduced to genetic/subconscious manipulation. Yes, Romana ended her TV run insisting she didn’t want to go back to Gallifrey (and even staying in another universe to avoid it), and yes, it creates this initial emotional dissonance suddenly jumping to stories where she’s President of Gallifrey. But I already did the headcanon work before I jumped into Big Finish to make it work for me, I didn’t need this weirdness.

Elaborating on this a bit more: There is something interesting to me about a person who left home and slowly ended up rejecting the narrow worldview she grew up with, cutting herself free from the place she was born — and then eventually choosing to return because she genuinely wanted to make that messed-up world better and believed she could. And it also creates a really interesting contrast with the Doctor: two Time Lords who came to realize that Gallifrey was pretty terrible actually, and one of them kept running away from it and rejecting Time Lord society, and the other came back and said maybe I can change things. Because both are understandable and complicated reactions to have to a messed-up home world, and there are different ways of trying to do good. And regardless of how her choices turned out, I always liked the idea that it was Romana’s own choice that brought her to Gallifrey again, and I don’t think Pandora needed to be shoehorned in to explain her actions.

Okay, I want to hear the follow up where Leela insists Romana tell the whole Key to Time story after hearing all of these random out of context bits and pieces.

Why does Brax admit to breaking the Laws of Time? The fact that he’s in contact with his past/future selves isn’t actually relevant to what he needs to tell Narvin? He literally could have just said that he hypnotized Romana, without mentioning that it was his future self who did it? (Also, it’s implied in this one that he pushes for Romana to use the mind wipe on Narvin because he wants the memory of that reveal erased, but somehow that’s the one thing that Narvin keeps because he uses that information against Brax later? Aka: how did Narvin remember that Brax told him this?)

And final thought: general internal monologue during this episode is just: Pandora arc Pandora arc Pandora arc here we go!! Because the Lies through Warfare run is really one of the more interesting bits of Gallifrey for me (Imperiatrix specifically ranks very high on my favorite episodes list), and I’m excited to be re-listening to/thinking about/hearing other people talk about these episodes!

Next Episode Reaction: Spirit

Previous Episode Reaction: A Blind Eye

#gallifrey audios #romana #leela #narvin #irving braxiatel #going to listen to the pod of rassilon episode on a long car ride tomorrow (well. today at this point) so very excited for that!#ramblings #emily listens to big finish #the relisten of rassilon

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baekterflyeffect · 4 years

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half moon ― one

You remembered the messy clothing sketches sprawled on the desk, and also remembered how proud you were when you modeled for his final assignment. The promise of you being the first one to wear his first official product was made. Years passed by and the promise was forgotten as it wasn’t meant to be kept; until you received an invitation that has B.B.H signed on it. Ironically, you found yourself confronting your past at your ex-boyfriend new collection launch event with your memories with him flashing through your mind.

☽ pairing: byun baekhyun x fem reader ☽ characters: exo members, red velver members, others. ☽ genre: angst, slice of life, adult-hood, hurt-comfort. ☽ aus: ex to something!AU, beauty youtuber Reader, fashion designer Baekhyun ☽ ��warnings: none ☽ word count: 1.7k

☽ half moon masterlist | general masterlist

― note: first of all, i’m sorry if this chapter is rather confusing, this chapter was written for aff and i wrote it with an oc name. this story will also be in a 3rd point of view and reader will be addressed with “she/her”.

― taglist: @fullsuninbloom / @in3vitably3v3 / @byunbeautifulb / @itsbaekhyunsbutt. let me know if you want to be tagged or untagged!

It’s never ending. She thought to herself as she went through the piles of delivery packaging that she received earlier the day. She was not one to go through her packages right away, but for some reason, something in her package piles calls for her. Although now, she’s starting to regret her decision as two hours have passed and she still didn’t find something that will intrigued her enough for her to talk about.

She knew she had multiple videos that she needed to film before the deadline, yet she ignored her obligations and acted like she didn't have any.

She likes her job, likes filming herself reviewing products and trying out something new, uploading it for the whole world to see. Editing her own videos is also a pleasure, but of course, she’s only human. And being human means there are times where she’s too lazy to do anything.

At the end, she ended up by sorting through half of the new cosmetics she needed to review, doing brief reviews on her Instagram story for some products that she’s excited about.

After a few more hours of organizing her packages, a box caught her eyes. It is not the first time she received a package from said company, she reviews, loves, and even wears said product from time to time regardless who owned it. Yet, something about the new package box feels unsettling.

Privé. The box reads. There is no difference from the previous boxes she received in the past, except for the card that was glued on the corner of said box. With shaky hands, she reaches out to take the box, mindlessly taking the card to read what’s written. The messy penmanship in the card is too familiar in her eyes.

Dear, ... Thank you for always loving our product and giving us a spectacular review. We are proud to inform you that you are invited to our new collection event. We expect to see you at the address written down below.

With gratitude, B.B.H

Her mouth parted after she finished reading the content of the card, feeling as if her breath had been taken away from her. She couldn’t believe her own eyes, it is not because this is her first time to be invited to a launch event, it is because she knows very well who wrote the card, she had dreams of the man himself. She could feel a little clench in her heart at the realization that he personally wrote the invitation card, personally wrote her full name, and not her Youtube user.

She knows the abbreviation of the invitor. Byun Baekhyun. The man of her past, the man who never stops coming to her dreams even after decades. But why now? Why, when she has gathered herself together and slowly forgetting about him? Of course, it is something that she should expect when she signed up to be someone who reviews any product. Yet, she never once expected to be directly invited by him.

By her ex-boyfriend that she last saw ten years ago.

With her thoughts running in different directions after reading the invitation card, she knew that she couldn’t organize the packages more. Leading her to call her best friend.

It was a miracle that Sehun answered right after the first beep.

“Did you get the invitation?” She asked right away, not wanting to be specified in what invitation, biting her own lower lip in nervousness.

“Yeah, I did. You want to come?” Sehun answered—knowing right away which invitation she refers to—, his tone skeptic, as if he was afraid to say something wrong and it is so out of character for him.

“Of course, I will. After all, it’s my job to be there.” She sighs, her eyes focusing on the invitation card.

Her mind vividly remembering how she used to receive love letters with the same exact lazy penmanship, she knows she still keeps the love letters inside a box that she placed on her closet.

“You know me and Seulgi will be there, and the rest of our friends. Don’t worry too much about it, alright?”

She mumbled out a yeah, briefly telling Sehun she has to go and edit her newest video. With a take care, and see you soon from Sehun, the phone call ended. Leaving her in her own thoughts.

Out of all her influencer friends, only Sehun and Seulgi knew about her past with Baekhyun. Who always reminds her that Baekhyun was just a fragment of her past and it would always be that way and she believed it.

But god fucking damn it, she has to receive an invitation that was written personally by him; making her long, buried feelings surfaced. And god fucking damn it, how much she misses him.

Even after years of not seeing him.

“Girl, you are dressed to kill.” Joohyun said when she saw her in the parking lot of the event building. She just grinned shyly at her, playing with the hem of her curled hair.

She did dress to kill, spending her entire day in her penthouse with her stylist and makeup artist to help her get ready for the night’s event. Joohyun isn’t the first person to say so, even her stylist said the same thing with an addition of her dressing to impress someone.

She hated to admit it, but they’re not wrong. She chose to wear something that is not her style; an oversized satin blue shirt that she customized as an outer to hide her black strapless body con dress feels like a second skin to her. Her thigh high boots feel the same too.

“Well, it’s not everyday you get invited to a launch event that was personally written by the owner of the brand.” She playfully said, bumping her shoulder to Joohyun. Though, the confusion on Joohyun’s face makes her grow rigid.

“Huh. I got a typed out invitation, so did Seulgi and the others?” Joohyun said, taking out the invitation from her purse to prove her her words.

And true to her words, Joohyun’s invitation is typed out. Printed, signed by Privé instead of B.B.H. She right away took her own invitation card, showing it to Joohyun that her invitation was different.

Joohyun shrugged once she inspected it. “Maybe because you have been wearing their clothes even before they’re an it brand, and B.B.H himself acknowledged you?” Joohyun wonders. The word acknowledge leaves a sour taste in her tongue.

By now she is conflicted, nodding her head, and trying her best to act nonchalant by shrugging her own shoulder. “Maybe,” she purses her lips, wanting to let go of the topic. “Where’s Seul and Hun?”

“They’re probably close. Do you want to wait for them or let’s just mingle inside?”

She pursed her lips, contemplating either she should go or to prolong her upcoming doom more. Joohyun didn’t look phased, as she has always been the one who is unbothered. So, she braves herself, inhaling deeply before she links her arms to Joohyun’s. “Let’s go.”

When the dimmed lights of the venue met her eyes, she couldn’t hide her own nervousness. She doesn’t even realize that the launch party is located at some high-society club downtown. It’s not a big deal, yet something inside her churns uncomfortably and her heart beats the same way as the booming music.

She couldn’t focus, only giving people a small―rather awkward―smile as a greeting without pursuing a conversation. If she was to be honest, she’s wondering why Baekhyun sent her a personal handwritten invitation? Or maybe Joohyun was right, that she got one because she’s a long time customer of Privé, thus why.

“Bubs!” A familiar voice screamed out her name, making her turn her head to where the voice came from, but before she came up with a reply, her body was brought into a rather tight hug. She giggled, returning the hug as tight.

Her eyes shone under the dimmed light when she pulled away to reveal Seulgi. They may be close friends, but because of Seulgi’s busy modelling schedule they barely have the time to talk to each other let alone to talk.

“Girl, you look so fucking stunning.” Seulgi murmurs under her breath after she inspected her appearance, Seulgi’s hands squeezing around her waist. “Wanting to impress someone, huh?” She teases.

She shook her head, a smile that was genuinely stretched in her lips. “Maybe yeah. But I doubt the one I’m trying to impress will..”

Her words cut off as Joohyun who was silently inspecting the area blurted out something while looking at a certain spot of the club, “Is it just me or B.B.H is looking at our direction?”, and she reacted automatically, turning her head to the direction Joohyun was looking at only to have her breath taken away.

In the balcony of the club, there stand Byun Baekhyun with a glass of champagne in his hand; his eyes focused on her direction that lets them have eye contact. She gasped like a fish in need of water, her hand fell to her sides. And the memory she long buried flashes through her mind.

Byun Baekhyun is still as beautiful as she remembered him to be. Still absolutely stunning even under the dimmed lights of the club. Just like all those years ago when she first encountered him at a nearby club back in her university days. She was stunned, to say the least, as if the world stopped and it turned black and white with only Baekhyun’s blue shirt that stood out in her eyes.

Everything is grainy, everything is fuzzy, the loud booming sound of music turns into a white noise as she sees Baekhyun walking down to her direction. Her feet automatically led her to Baekhyun. She doesn’t even realize how Seulgi called her name, how Joohyun gaped at her, and how Sehun tried to reach his hand out to stop him.

Her head was empty, and only Byun Baekhyun filled her thoughts.

“Princess,” comes the breathless voice, the nickname he always used for her left his lips and she would never admit to miss it, only to notice that Baekhyun’s voice is deeper, huskier, sexier. “You’re here.” He stated, his eyes never leave her and oh, how much she wanted to kiss his eyes just like the old times.

And just like old times, Baekhyun’s eyes shone ever so brightly. His rounded irises filled with the whole stars in the universe, twinkling inside of it.

Her observation makes her realize; that even after being separated after ten years, he still captivated her. And maybe, maybe, she never really moved on.

― additional note: i know, i know. ten years? is a lot. but in this universe they are rather old and they’re adults. think of it this way: it took years for someone to build their career as a fashion designer or youtuber. and also i like my characters old and independent :”) i hope you guys enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think of this one.

#baekhyun scenarios #baekhyun scenario #exosnet #bbh-net #livia writes #baekhyun fluff #baekhyun angst #im sorry if the preview are too long #i dont know how to cut this thing ugh

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auriel187 · 3 years

Text

10 Things I Hate About You (Sam Winchester edition)

A/N: This is just an exert of what I have written so far...there will be more. Also, not specifically set in the 90’s or 2020’s.

Sam (POV)

“Well, Mr. Winchester. I see we’re making our visits a weekly matter.” The Guidance Counselor said with a snide smile. She spoke almost bitterly, causing the young brunette to roll his colour shifting eyes in reply. He honestly couldn’t be bothered by her at this point. “Only so we can have these moments together.” He bit back with a forced smile. He stole a glance at her open computer. It was a widely known fact amongst the seniors that Ms.Perky spent most of her time writing her “romance” novel instead of, well... doing her actual job. “Should we get down to it, or should I turn off the lights?” He asked snarkily, adjusting his hold on his backpack. The shorter woman sent a glare his way as she reached for his discipline sheet from her desk. “Very funny, cowboy. It says here that you exposed yourself in the cafeteria.” He then huffed humorlessly. Did he even need to explain himself, it’s not like he’d get into trouble, he’s been living alone for the past four months. “I was joking with the lunch lady. It was a bratwurst.” He said not really ashamed at his actions but weirded out. It seemed more like something his brother would do.

“Well, a bratwurst. Aren’t we the optimist.” She quipped, with her eyes leveled to his crotch through his baggy blue jeans. ‘Gross’ he thought as his face contorted in disgust. She was still looking, even after a few seconds of awkward and impenetrable silence. “Next time, stick to the saddle, Texas. Scoot!” I left the room with an eye roll, I could have corrected her, told her I was from Kansas but I kinda had a feeling she didn’t give a shit and honestly, neither did I.

I walked down the hallway, towards my English class. Nice class if I was in the mood to listen, sadly that was rarely the case. Too many things distracting me about that class. Mostly that fuck boy model making some off handed comment that would get his ass flattened if people actually had the balls to stand up to him. As I made my way to class one thing I noticed is the fact that everyone is either blatantly staring or flatly avoiding looking at me. I caught the eyes of some of my schoolmates standing outside the Ms. Perky’s office, watching as they all began whispering the rumors that somehow spread at the sound of my name. I turned to glare at one of the guys staring at me. Another trust fund kid who wore their cardigan as a necktie. Those idiots who think they’re brilliant just because their dads donate to the school and they can’t pass a class no matter how simple the shit we’re learning is.

I seriously despise his school.

y/n (POV)

As much as I loved English class, I really would rather shove pins into my eyes rather than sit here with these flaming imbeciles. Being one of the six girls in the class of almost thirty didn’t help. Our teacher walked in with a look on his face that told me he was already done with all our crap. It was honestly quite funny. I take my seat in the middle of the class, Mr. Morgan chose to separate the girls from one another. It mainly had to do with the fact that they were vapid slow witted brats who didn’t read anything without a steamy sex scene and a muscle bound long haired Adonis on the cover. It was stuff like that that made me glad I was nothing like them. All these girls sitting around with their ‘I’m-not-like-other-girls’ crap just to drop their pants at the first guy to give them attention. And then there’s me, avidly avoiding contact with most people or completely annihilating the rest, what does it say about me that I’d rather have everyone hate my guts rather than change everything about myself to have friends who’d just talk shit about me when my back was turned?

“Okay class. What did y’all think of ‘The Sun Also Rises’?” Mr. Morgan began the second the bell rang. I saw one of the girls raise her hand with a fanciful flare and flick of her hair. I promise I’m not gonna internally barf if she ever does that shit again. “Oh, I loved it. He’s so romantic.” She melted at the thought, what an idiot. “Romantic, Hemingway? He was an abusive, alcoholic misogynist who squandered his inheritance following Picasso trying to nail his leftovers.” I mumbled aloud as I knocked lightly on my desk. I really needed to stop doing that. I could almost feel the eyerolls of my classmates. This’ll be good. “As opposed to a bitter, self righteous hag who has no friends?” Joey chastised me from his seat a few desks away from mine. “Pipe down, Chachi!” Mr. Morgan bit back, in my defence. I knew it was just because Joey pissed him off as much as he did myself. I slouched in my seat as I practically growled “I guess in this society being male and an asshole makes you worthy of our time.” I heard so chuckles from my classmates. Mr. Morgan just looked at me. “Can’t we read something different? What about Angie Thomas or Charlotte Bronte? Sylvia Plath?”

“What about them?” A voice echoed through the class, everyone turned their attention to the door, where two guys stood. The first one walked in and took a seat next to Joey, the other stood filling the doorway. “What did I miss?” He asked, taking a seat in the back of the class. He was wearing around four layers right now and all I could think of was how the hell has he not melted? “The whitewashed patriarchal values that dictate our education.” I said quickly, noticing the slight head tilt and small smile before I turned back around.

“Mr. Morgan, do you think it’s possible to get y/n to take her midol before she comes to class.” Joey and her douche brigade all laugh like that was the funniest shit on the planet. Mr. Morgan just deadpanned, looking Joey dead in the eye and saying “One day you’re gonna get bitch slapped, and I’m not gonna do a thing to stop it.” The class erupted in laughter and I just sunk in my seat knowing exactly what was coming. “And y/n, I wanted to thank you for your opinion. I must be tough growing up with the struggles of upper middle class suburban oppression. It must be tough. But before you storm the PTA for better...lunch meat or whatever you well off girls fuss about, ask why they can’t get books written by a black man.” He finished his rant, staring at me. Waiting for a rebuttal possibly, so I gave him one.

“Angie Thomas is a black woman. And I ask for curriculum adjustments for more diversity in the books we read. I’ll be sure to specify my wishes next time. Anything else?” I had a few chuckles at my reply, most likely due to my overabundance of sarcasm and smartass clap backs. I wanted to know who it was but before I could, Mr. Morgan kicked me out. “Yeah, go to the office. You’re pissing me off.” I groaned, grabbing my bag and heading to the door. As I walked, I felt a pinch on my ass. Before I could really think about it, my textbook was connected to the culprit’s face. I lost all sympathy when I saw Joey rubbing the side of his face and glaring at me from the ground. Mr. Morgan was laughing hysterically in the front of the class while some of my classmates were gasping for air in their seats.

@thinkinghardhardlythinking

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takonei · 4 years

Text

Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 4, daily life (Part 2)

Note of the author: Ok uhhhhhh I didn’t expect that shit to be that long so the daily life parts (normally ‘1 part = 1 day’) are going to be '2 parts = 1 day’.

Chapter 4: Dance, dance, hanged puppets - Daily life

Day 14 since the beginning of the game.

7:30 AM.

Shuichi woke up earlier than expected.

Not because he gave up on sleeping. He simply didn't feel like going back to sleep.

He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the grey card on the table, in the middle of the room.

The ‘Sanzu key’ as Monokuma called it.

What was he even planning?

The violinist took a shower, trying to forget about those worries for a while.

But he couldn’t.

Monokuma’s motive always came the day after the new labs opened. This time they had a part of the motive, but the bear specified that the whole thing was not ready yet.

What did that even mean?

After his usual routine, he left his room. Surprisingly, Kirumi was leaning against a pillar, and Miu was laying on the ground, head resting on her arms, staring at the ceiling.

Ryoma was also there, fidgeting with his Sanzu key.

The others turned to Shuichi.

“G’morning. Breakfast canceled, we stay here.” the street artist said with a hint of sarcasm.

He blinked. “What’s... Happening?”

Kirumi shrugged. “No one knows. The dormitories’ door is locked, so we can’t go out. We’re locked here.”

... What? Was that the motive? Being quarantined in their rooms? That sounded like a bad joke.

“We tried calling Monokuma and even the monokubs and no one came.” Ryoma explained.

That sounded fishy. Extremely fishy.

They could only wait.

Rantaro, Kiyo, and Tsumugi came out of their rooms one by one. The situation had to be explained each time.

...

8:00 AM.

The morning announcement rang, but the message was different.

“All students are required to go out of their rooms, this is a direct order from the principal of the academy!”

Did Monokuma want them all at once? Usually, when an announcement was made they were all supposed to go to the gym. Why the dormitories this time?

Speaking of the devil, the bear and his cubs appeared before them.

“My, my! It’s as though almost everyone is here!” he cackled. “Only Mr. grumps and Mr. gloomy are missing!”

Shuichi flinched at the nicknames.

The two cubs started their shenanigans that Shuichi didn’t even bother listening to.

The only emotion he could feel when the monokubs appeared was a pure annoyance. Not even hatred. Pure annoyance.

He couldn’t even bother being mad at them. It just felt like each time they visited them, his only desire was to see them disappear forever.

Minutes felt like hours, Shuichi silently praying for Kaito and Kokichi to just come out from their room already so the green and red bears would shut up.

Kaito was the first to come out, surprisingly. his appearance was less messy than yesterday.

Shuichi noticed him glancing at Miu, the latter avoiding his gaze.

He muttered a quiet “Hey.” as he came down the stairs. The biker immediately separated himself from the group to lean against a pillar.

After another couple of minutes waiting for Kokichi, the boy opened his door, stumbling out of his room. He didn't seem to have slept well.

“Next time, do not come late to the principal’s announcement! I’ve waited way too long for you two to come out!” he raised his paws in the air, voice a bit too loud for the two who had woken up minutes ago.

“So, what do you want from us this time?” Rantaro was straight to the point.

“Sheesh, stop being so eager for the motive, I can’t even prepare the surprise!”

So it was the motive.

“Anyway, let me present you the next motive, starting from today to the moment someone dies...”

“... The Sanzu garden!”

That raised more questions than answered them.

“And what is the ‘Sanzu garden’?” Ryoma raised an eyebrow.

“To put it simply, this entire academy was renovated just for you guys!”

Something that involved the whole academy?

“Before explaining the motive, perhaps I should tell you a story passed through generations... Have any of you heard the legend of the Sanzu river?”

Tsumugi put a finger on her chin. “From what I’ve heard, the Sanzu River is a mythological river of the Buddhist religion. Souls joining the afterlife must pass the river by one of the three crossing points, depending on the actions they made in their life, also known as ‘karma’.”

Kokichi visibly flinched at the explanation.

“Great! I may also add that a cost is required to cross the river. Six mon to be specific.” the bear explained.

“In other words, this academy has been transformed into a great garden! And the cost of living for another day must be paid! However, the cost isn’t six mon like the legends told since we live in a modern society with better ways to pay your lovely headmaster!”

Kaito raised an eyebrow, arms crossed. “So what, someone must kill within 24 hours so the others can live?”

“Better! That’s where your Sanzu keys play their part! They serve as bank cards to pay your fee to live for the next 24 hours!”

“Wh- bank cards??” Miu exclaimed, taking out the card.

“There are two locks with your icons hidden in the academy, specific to each of you. You will have to activate the locks each day with your card keys to continue living. One lock must be activated between 8 AM and 3 PM, and the other between 3 PM and 10 PM. It doesn’t matter in which order you activate the locks.” the bear explained as everyone listened carefully.

“Also, do not even try to activate another person’s lock! This will not work in the slightest! And the locks’ placements will be different each day! They can be in the labs, common rooms, and even outside!”

Rantaro, who had sat down, joined his hands. “Let me get this straight. We have to use cards on locks two times a day and look around the academy to find them?”

“Where’s the catch.” Ryoma bluntly asked. “That’s way too easy. There’s a catch.”

The bear laughed. “Puhuhuhuhu... I’m glad you asked! The catch is also the reason why we are meeting in the dormitories after all!”

This did not reassure Shuichi in the slightest.

“Did you know? The Sanzu river takes its name directly from the Japanese ‘San’, meaning ‘three’ and ‘Zu’, meaning ‘way’ for our non-japanese audience!”

... What?

“This garden has a similar mechanic! There are only three choices offered to those entering it!”

“... To die, to kill or to suffer.”

... Huh?

“This academy is a garden of traps in every corner. Both outside and inside. From pitfalls to spears to arrows to spikes, everything is here to hurt you. But my favorite part is...”

“... Some rooms will lock themselves and whisper your worst fears to you.”

“Of course, none of the traps will actually kill you, that would be a shame if someone was accidentally killed!”

“But I meticulously put everything in place so you guys could enjoy this academy of nightmares!”

Monokuma raised his paws in the air with excitement.

... This could not be real.

An academy of nightmares??

“There is one zone that is free of danger, which is where we’re standing!”

“The dorms are safe?” Kirumi raised an eyebrow.

“Thaaaat’s right! The dormitories are the only place without any traps!”

Shuichi couldn't even say anything.

As if the academy wasn't already the place where they all had to kill each other, it just had to be trapped for the sole purpose of making them suffer?

What did whoever put them into the killing game even want from them?

If he even dared to ask Monokuma he would probably say "despair".

And at this point, is the truth even worth knowing?

Was there even an explanation of why they had to endure this?

"Of course it would take a loooong time to search through the whole academy for the locks, so I'm giving you one hint each day! They will be available on your monopads! How generous of me!"

Shuichi wanted to vomit.

This entire motive made no sense.

"That was all the explanations for the motive! Any questions?"

No one even dared to speak.

That was even worse than the last motive.

Even if he even managed to survive, what even would be the next motive?

"No? Then good luck! And don't forget..." the bear smiled.

"The garden will be shut down when a dead body gets discovered."

He left immediately after, the two remaining monokubs following behind.

Everyone stared at each other.

Rantaro slowly approached the door and opened it.

No traps were visible, but Shuichi knew the moment someone would set a foot outside a trap would activate.

"Give me a sec." Ryoma approached his dorm and entered the room.

About a minute later, he came out with a set of tennis balls, supposedly won at the monomono machine. He took a ball out and threw it outside.

... Nothing happened.

"Was Monokuma lying about the traps?" Shuichi raised an eyebrow.

"I think it just means that it's not a trap activated with a motion sensor. There's a possibility the trap is activated when you step foot on one of the path stones." Kirumi shook her head.

"Before we go head first and get us all killed how about we get organized? We know the dorms are the safe spot of the academy, so we'll likely spend most of our time here." Rantaro turned to the others.

"We'll still have to go outside to find the locks." Kiyo added. "We will have to think collectively or else we will not keep up for long."

Shuichi checked his monopad to see what the hints were.

Memories of lavender.

Senses and intuition ~ Follow your heart.

Of course it was going to be some kind of riddle that he didn't get.

"So? What's your plan, boss?" Ryoma asked Rantaro, hands in his pockets.

He pondered for a moment. "First off we should move as much food as we can to the dorms. It will be safer to eat here than in the dining hall."

Kirumi nodded. "Although for now, we should focus on searching at least one of our locks. We have a time limit for each of them."

"But... Do we separate or do we go in groups?" Miu asked.

Rantaro sat down to think. "There are nine of us. Since I think it's too dangerous to leave someone by themselves, I suggest we go by groups of 3 whenever we move from here."

"And our groups shouldn't change for the day so no one gets confused." Ryoma added.

... This clearly wasn't appreciated by some of them. Noticeably Kaito and Kokichi.

Tsumugi crossed her arms. "So? Who gets with who?"

"I suggest we separate Ryoma, you and I since we're probably the most qualified to detect the traps." Kirumi raised a hand. "One in each of the groups seems reasonable."

The prodigy nodded. "That is fair."

She took a few steps away, and so did Ryoma.

After some debating, the groups were made.

Rantaro, Ryoma, and Kaito were the first group.

Kirumi, Kokichi and Miu were the second.

And finally, Shuichi, Tsumugi, and Kiyo formed the last group.

"So now it's pretty much 'the first group finding all their morning locks gets the food'?" Tsumugi fiddled with her hair.

"For now, that is the plan. If we find each others' locks, we share the info however we can." Kiyo replied.

"Well, how do we even do that?" Miu tilted her head to the side. "If we're separated, we can't do anything."

Shuichi pondered. "The most we can do is yelling, I mean my hearing is pretty developed but there are limits to it..."

Ryoma fixed his beanie. "We'll only better our strategy if we face the danger at least once. Staying here won't do any good."

The others agreed.

The strategy was fixed.

The groups would go out one by one by intervals of five minutes to investigate where their lockers would be.

Kaito, Rantaro, and Ryoma left first. The others watched them go to see if everything was fine. They were walking slowly to make sure they didn't activate anything.

For now, everything seemed fine. But Shuichi preferred not to get his hopes up.

The two remaining groups talked about their riddles. They looked pretty strange.

"Hey, Kiyo... Do you have an idea of what my riddle could mean?" he asked the therapist.

"Let's see..." he took the violinist's monopad and read the two sentences. "I don't think your riddle is too far fetched. Does the color purple remind you of something nostalgic and positive?"

He pondered. "I... No, I don't think that's it."

Kiyo shook his head. "All theories could be right. Your riddle says to 'follow your heart'. Your answer could be right."

He looked at the tablet for a moment. "My... My cousin has lavender hair. And I do miss her."

Then it clicked. "Ah! My lab! That's where Miu made her portrait when we got the motive videos!"

Kiyo weakly smiled. "That sounds plausible. We will check your lab once we get to the main building."

Shuichi stared back at the tablet. "So was that the first or the second quote?"

The therapist shook his head. "I don't think one quote is for one lock. Both locks must be linked somehow."

"So the other lock is also hinted by the riddle?"

"I think so." Kiyo nodded. "Perhaps..."

He pointed at the second quote. "You found a potential solution with your intuition. So the second could be linked to your senses."

"My senses...? Something purple that could be linked to my senses?"

Hearing? No. His lab was already for one lock.

Taste? The only thing popping in his mind was that type of soda with a taste you could only describe as 'purple'. Which he didn't like in the slightest.

Touch? That would be unlikely...

Sight? Too vague...

Smell? That could be it since the riddle said 'lavender'. Perhaps...

"The wisterias from the courtyard? They're purple, right?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Does it remind you of something nostalgic?" Kiyo asked.

Shuichi weakly chuckled. "My cousin always had two long braids. Somehow it always reminded me of those flowers..."

Kiyo put a finger on his chin. "So both of your locks are related to one person. To me, we are on the right path."

Just as they stopped talking, Kirumi's group was prepared to go.

Well, Miu and Kirumi were prepared to go. Kokichi was barely keeping up.

The two girls made sure the smaller boy was following when they left, nervousness written all over their faces.

The three ones left in the dorms looked at each other.

"So, did you two find out where your locks could be?" the prodigy asked.

"I'm guessing one is in my lab, and the other should be at the pool." the therapist replied.

Tsumugi nodded. "Good, good. And you?" she turned to Shuichi.

"Oh, um... I think one is near the wisterias and the other should be in my lab as well..."

She frowned. "Three in a row."

"Huh?"

"All of us have a lock in our respective labs. I'm thinking Monokuma put them here as some sort of guide for the first day. The next days are probably going to get harder and harder."

... What did 'harder' mean?

"What about you, then?" Kiyo asked.

"One should be in my lab. The other in the library."

The therapist nodded. "I see. Do you have a strategy for which places we check?"

She started pacing around slowly. "We have both of them in the main building except Shuichi who has one in front of the dorms."

She stopped. "For now we are also requested to help to transport food to the dorms, but there's a possibility the other groups will be done with the locks before us. So I think we should go to the ones that are not in our labs." She narrowed her eyes. "Although for the next days we should find out the locks' locations before forming the groups."

They nodded.

Enough time had passed since the last group left, so they decided to go as well.

They reached the wisterias with no problem, and a black podium with an icon was indeed there.

Before they could go under the pergola, Tsumugi glanced at the structure. She took off her jacket and threw it on the table. Spikes suddenly rose from above, impaling the piece of cloth before it could reach the table.

"... We'll have to find ways to activate traps in advance. We won't use my jacket each time. The tennis balls were pretty effective." the prodigy picked up the jacket from the floor where it had fallen.

The three made their way to the podium, which had Shuichi's icon on it. A red LED was on, indicating that the violinist had not yet activated it.

After taking out the Sanzu key and approaching it to the icon, a small jingle rang, with the LED turning green.

At least the 'paying' process was easy.

"Next up is mine, at the pool." Kiyo turned to the two.

Surprisingly, their way to the main building was quite silent.

Perhaps the paths outside were never trapped, and it was only the main structures?

Kiyo carefully opened the door.

A black podium was right beside the deckchairs.

He glanced around to see if there were any traps, and carefully approached the podium. After the small jingle rang, he joined the others so they could move on.

Two out of three.

Something didn't feel right for Shuichi. That motive looked way too simple.

Would it be like Tsumugi said, that this was going to get harder and harder with time?

They left the pool and approached the door to the main building.

When they opened it, Shuichi took a step and immediately stopped when an arrow was shot right in front of his face.

"Ah!-"

He took a step backwards and touched the bridge of his nose.

Pecks of blood tainted his fingers.

"Are you okay, Shuichi?" Kiyo asked, worried.

He turned to the therapist. "I'm- I'm fine, this just surprised me. Perhaps we should crouch to pass this door."

He rubbed his nose with his wrist. The wound was pretty light, but it still stung.

The three made their way to the central hall, luckily not activating any more traps.

"Now let's go to the basement. Once we're done with the library we'll be free for now." Tsumugi declared.

They slowly went to the corridor leading to the stairs, until...

*click*

They stopped and looked at their feet.

Kiyo had just stepped onto a pressure plate.

Shuichi's heart skipped a beat when a wall of concrete came down from the ceiling behind them, crushing the grass on the floor.

Then another. And another.

They ran as fast as they could to the stairs, walls menacing to crush them if they were not fast enough.

The trio tripped, fell down the stairs and crashed against the wall.

"Ouch..."

"At least we're alive."

"Even though Monokuma said those traps were not going to kill us we almost ended up crushed."

"Could you two move? I can't breathe..."

"Tsumugi is on top of me, I cannot move either."

The prodigy stood up, brushing dust off her skirt. "I thought you two would be physically stronger than that."

Shuichi could barely mutter under Kiyo's weight. "Well, I'm a violinist, not a biker nor a soldier..."

The therapist stood up and helped Shuichi get on his feet.

Just as the three recovered from their fall, Rantaro's group appeared.

The medic blinked a few times in confusion. "Are you three okay?"

Shuichi rubbed the bridge of his nose to wipe off the rest of the blood from earlier. "We're fine. It could be worse."

Ryoma appeared from behind. "Tsumugi, there's a lock for you in the library. We deactivated the trap here so don't worry about anything."

"I guessed it from my riddle, but thank you."

Kaito was also there but did not seem to want to contribute to the conversation.

"Anyway, our group is done with the morning locks. We'll be getting the food." Rantaro cracked his knuckles.

Kiyo pondered. "Our group only has one more morning lock to activate. We'll be able to join you shortly."

"In that case, we should go to your lab, Rantaro." Ryoma crossed his arms. "We'll need medical supplies in case someone gets injured."

The medic nodded. "Sounds good. So you three can bring the food in the meantime?" he turned to Kiyo.

"Count on us."

The two groups separated. The concrete walls were gone- they were made to make them hurry, not to lock them in the basement, fortunately.

Just as Ryoma said, the trap was deactivated in the library. It seemed to have made some of the bookshelves fall. Tsumugi's lock was right in front of a table.

The jingle rang as she approached her key.

They left the basement to get to the dining hall. No one seemed to have gone there yet.

Shuichi approached the pantry but suddenly...

The floor disappeared beneath his feet.

Kiyo thankfully caught his arm before he could fall.

Don't look down don't look down don't look down don't look down-

"T-Thanks a lot, Kiyo..." he mumbled.

The two others helped him up.

He sat on the ground for a minute, trying to calm down.

How deep was that hole?

"Tch. I knew something would happen." Tsumugi quietly spat.

"Then why didn't you say anything?" Kiyo narrowed his eyes at her.

"Excuse me if I don't express every single intuition I have."

"We're in a situation where we could die instantly. Every single intuition could save a life."

"It could also make us paranoid for nothing. You should know as a therapist that paranoia could also kill us."

"I prefer to be paranoid over careless."

Shuichi knew that is he didn't stop them they could argue for hours.

"Guys! Please..." he stood up despite his feet trembling. "I'm fine. Let's just... Get the food."

The two exchanged glances and stepped in the pantry, avoiding the giant hole in the ground.

"We don't have a refrigerator in the dorms, so we'll have to take durable food." Tsumugi noted.

"We have access to drinkable water in the dorms, I don't think drinks will be necessary." Shuichi added.

Tsumugi looked around. "We don't have any bags. And my jacket is too small to make a substitute.

Shuichi thought back at when Himiko and Kokichi here going to the dorms using their jackets as bags for objects they won at the monomono machine. But...

The astronomer wasn't here anymore. He had to accept it.

He shook his head. "That's better than nothing. I still have my own just in case."

"And mine." Kiyo added.

"Also, perhaps we should take cutlery. To eat and to serve as a decoy for the traps." Tsumugi suggested.

The three started taking food. Mostly canned food since it was the safest option.

Shuichi had suggested taking rice and other starchy foods, but since there was no way to cook them in the dorms, the idea was rejected.

Shortly after, Kirumi, Miu, and Kokichi joined them.

"It's nice to take food that doesn't expire soon, but we should take food that doesn't take much space." Kirumi explained. "We will not go in this building too much, so we'll have to take as much as we possibly can."

Miu pondered for a second. "How about we use kitchen furniture to transport food? That's two in one!"

Tsumugi perked up. "I didn't think about that."

"However the kitchen furniture will be useless to us since we do not have anything to cook food." Kiyo advised.

"But that's still better than using our jackets to transport food... And perhaps we'll find a way to cook." Shuichi countered.

"Then the pots will be the best for both cooking and transport." Tsumugi declared.

The 6 of them took time to choose which food to take. Canned food, rice, noodles, dry food but also some fruits. They took enough cutlery for both the group and to use it as a trap decoy.

They left the dining hall with all the furniture.

Shuichi hoped they wouldn't have to run with that much in their hands.

Miu looked at the pot she was transporting, full of fruits. "We said we would take the pots but any idea on what to use to cook? We know there's no lighter or some kind of portable stove..."

Tsumugi pondered. "We have the candles on the fourth floor and wood in Angie's lab. But that will require maintenance."

"I believe there are tools to keep the fire alive in my lab since there is a fireplace. We should take a look this afternoon." Kiyo suggested.

"That sounds fair to m-" Tsumugi interrupted herself when she heard a click.

A series of needles was shot from the walls on the group, stabbing each of them in all places.

They ran as fast as they could to get out of the building. Shuichi is pretty sure some of the food fell on the floor, but now was not the time to retrieve it.

His cheeks hurt.

They pushed the door to get out of the building.

Shuichi heard a loud noise, of someone falling to the ground.

When he turned around, his eyes widened.

Miu was less covered than the majority of them. She only had a crop top and a short overall. The needles did much more damage on her than on the others.

She wasn't bleeding, but there were way too many of them, on her arms, legs, and even her face.

"Miu!!" he kneeled before her. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I-I'm fine. D-Don't worry about me." she stuttered.

Everyone took off the needles that stuck on their bodies, Shuichi helping Miu get hers off.

Kiyo helped her getting up. "Rantaro's group went on the third floor for medical supplies. He'll help you once they come back."

She weakly nodded.

Kirumi had taken Kiyo's pot so he could help Miu walk.

Fortunately, no more traps activated on their way to the dorms.

When they opened the door, they realized Rantaro's group was already there, organizing the medical supplies.

The medic rushed to the group. "Are you guys okay?"

"We activated a trap and Miu ended up getting more injured than us. She needs your help, Rantaro." Kiyo explained.

The group organized the food and cutlery, except for Miu and Rantaro, the latter disinfecting the former's wounds.

Kirumi prepared lunch with Ryoma since Miu was unable to do anything. Shuichi hadn't realized they took that long to activate a few locks and transport food. But at least they had enough for the day, and perhaps the day after if they managed to save enough.

For some reason, Rantaro, Ryoma, Kirumi, and Kokichi already seemed to be used to be light on food, considering how little they ate.

The group ate in silence on the floor of the dorms. Canned food was not the tastiest, especially considering what Kirumi and Miu could usually cook, but they didn't have a choice.

This motive was already starting to get the better of them. Would they even be able to continue like this for long? Long enough for Monokuma to perhaps get bored and stop the motive?

Since there wasn't much to do, everyone either stayed in their rooms or talked in the lobby.

Shuichi was already tired from the morning, so he laid on his bed for the time being.

They could only use the locks after 3 PM. Monokuma already knew they would be going to rush and unlock both if he didn't add the rule.

He thought about the situation. They were surprisingly organized.

Surprising...

Was it, though?

Their group had two soldiers, a mercenary, an intellectual genius, and a therapist to help them get organized.

They were teenagers more mature than any normal person their age.

A maturity that came from the harshness of their past.

The fact that they were able to get organized so well...

... That was definitely not surprising.

At around 2:50 PM, he left his room to join the others. (The others being: Kirumi and Rantaro).

He only noticed after that Ryoma was knocking on Tsumugi's door.

"Um... Is everything alright?" the violinist asked the two.

"Well, we're trying to think about how the traps work, and that's why we need Tsumugi." Kirumi explained.

Speaking of which, the prodigy joined them with Ryoma.

"We need your opinion on this, Tsumugi." Rantaro looked serious.

"I'm listening."

Kirumi crossed her arms. "We're saying that the more we are in a group, the higher are the chances of activating a trap, and possibly a huge one."

She pondered for a second. "From the traps we activated, I think that could be true. The needles were quite ferocious, even if they didn't look like it."

She perked up. "You're saying we should try to go individually and not by groups?"

Shuichi blinked. "Go individually? Isn't there a risk we could get injured without being able to be helped?"

Rantaro nervously bounced his leg. "I've inspected Miu's injuries earlier. This was not pretty to look at. I'm the only one who can treat serious wounds, so I have to admit going separately would be safer."

So the opposite strategy from earlier.

But if that was the best strategy, then it could be for the best.

...

Shuichi wished he could be as smart and strong as them.

At 3:00 PM, the others came out of their rooms.

After a short explanation, they decided to go by groups of two, even though they would separate at some point.

They also decided that those on the fourth floor would bring candles and wood, and Kiyo would get the tools for the fire.

Kirumi and Ryoma went first.

Then Rantaro and Kaito.

Tsumugi went alone.

Then it was Shuichi and Kiyo's turn. They wished Miu and Kokichi good luck and left.

"... I'm still nervous about this strategy." Shuichi admitted.

"For now it's for the best. This is the first day, we will decide which strategy is the best for tomorrow." Kiyo replied. "However we can go together with a distance between us so we do not activate unnecessary traps."

Shuichi smiled. "If it doesn't bother you of course."

"At the sole condition that you help me carry the tools from the fireplace."

He chuckled. "Alright. I accept."

They reached the building, and Shuichi crouched to enter the entrance hall. Perhaps the arrow trap wasn't there anymore, but he preferred not to take a risk.

The walk to the second floor was silent and surprisingly peaceful. They avoided a few traps in the corridors, going one after the other.

This strategy seemed to work.

The fewer people were together, the lower are the chances to activate a trap.

...

Monokuma wanted to separate them. Even Shuichi realized that.

The violinist entered his lab and activated the locker.

He sighed in relief. At least this was over for now.

Just as he stepped out of the lab, he joined back Kiyo, who was waiting for him near the stairs to the third floor.

"So, was your lock in your lab?" he asked.

"Yes, I managed to activate it." Shuichi nodded. "Thank you for helping me this morning."

The two made their way to the fifth floor.

...

This was too silent. Something was wrong.

"Are you coming, Shuichi?" Kiyo asked when he saw that Shuichi slowed down.

"Ah yes I'm..." he trailed off when he heard a faint noise. A voice?

He paused to focus.

"Shuichi?-"

"Shhh!" he raised a hand to ask him to be quiet.

There was a voice. It was definitely a voice.

Wait-

It was not a voice. It was several unfamiliar voices.

Kiyo raised an eyebrow.

...

Something wasn't right.

He walked down the upper set of stairs since the voices were definitely below them- on the fourth floor.

Kiyo followed him.

He could barely hear anything, but voices were coming from somewhere, he was sure of it.

"..."

"... -where... ... stops-"

"..."

"... Rats..."

"..."

"... Rats..."

"..."

"... Rats... Rats... Rats..."

Shuichi had a very bad feeling.

He stepped forward to go down the other set of stairs...

... But stopped when he heard a blood curling scream. Not a scream of pain. A scream of pure terror.

And by the pitch of the voice, it was...

"... Kokichi?" he instinctively muttered.

The violinist and the therapist exchanged quick glances.

Shuichi panicked.

He ran.

He didn't even care if a trap activated. He knew where the voices were from. Where the scream came from.

He ran through the fourth floor despite Kiyo telling him to stop.

The voices were louder and louder as he ran.

Some were talking and panicking. Some were repeating the same word over and over.

"Rats."

"They're everywhere- Someone just kill them!"

"Rats. Rats."

"Stay away from me!"

"Rats. Rats. Rats. Rats."

"God please have mercy on our souls- There's no God! We're going to die like rats!"

"Ratsratsratsratsratsratsratsrats"

"I- I think I'm infected too- STAY AWAY FROM ME!!"

"Ratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsrats"

"WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS??"

"Ratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsrats-"

Suddenly the voices stopped all at once.

Shuichi entered the corridor leading to Kokichi's lab. A second door had shut down, eliminating every possibility of entering the lab.

"Kokichi!! Kokichi!!!!"

... Nothing.

Kiyo joined him, his monopad in hand. "Kokichi isn't the only one in here."

He looked at the therapist.

"Miu is here as well."

Shuichi kept slamming the door with his fist.

"Kokichi!! Miu!! Say something!!"

No one was answering. The second door was soundproofing the lab. Which was why the voices had 'stopped'.

They didn't stop, they were just contained in the lab.

Shuichi couldn't hear Miu and Kokichi, and neither of them could hear Shuichi banging at the door.

"Miu!! Kokichi!!!"

... This was hopeless.

He thought back at what Monokuma said earlier.

“... Some rooms will lock themselves to whisper your worst fears to you.”

That was what he meant.

He meant psychological torture.

Shuichi and Kiyo would only wait, powerless over the situation.

The violinist fell on his knees.

Just the thought made him want to puke.

Kokichi and Miu were stuck in a room made for psychological torture.

And they had no way of getting out.

#ndrv3 #danganronpa v3 #ndrv3 au #beta au #main story

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hannahmcne · 4 years

Text

The Interview

"How long have you been married?"

Mal balked at the question, even though she knew it was being asked for historical reasons. Ben jumped to her rescue. "One-thousand-eight-hundred-and-ninety-nine days," he announced. "Five years, two months and thirteen days."

"And tomorrow it'll be five years, two months and fourteen days," Mal thought. " One-thousand-nine-hundred."

"Wow," the interviewer responded over a speaker. The cameras were rolling and focused on them, but the interviewers were off-screen, standing behind the camera line and microphoned. "That's impressive. Well, we're going to be playing a few games here today in our interview, testing your marriage just a little bit."

Mal knew this. Ben knew it too. The waivers and releases were all signed and filed in the back room. This was only being said for the viewers.

"You each have a team of people who know you very well. Can you introduce them?"

Ben and Mal turned around. There were two groups, one of boys and one of girls, standing behind them. "This is Adam, my dad, along with Doug, Jay, Carlos, and Mal's dad Hades. Over there is Evie, Jane, Lonnie, my old girlfriend Audrey, and my mom," Ben explained, pointing to each person in turn. "These are the people closest to us. They're here to challenge and assist us.

Everyone nodded. Mal squeezed Ben's hand. She was so nervous. Why was she so nervous?

"So the goal today is to prove you know each other the best. For the first round, it's going to be pretty simple. Each of you will pick one person from the other person's team who you think knows you the best. They'll be competing in a short trivia game about you and your spouse."

Ben nodded and turned around. Mal followed him a moment later. "It's between Audrey and my mom," Ben hummed.

"The trivia is relationship-based, not person-focused," the announcer reminded Ben.

"Fair point," Ben nodded. "Audrey." The blonde-haired girl stepped forward with a nod.

Mal skimmed over her husband's team. She and Hades were closer now than when she'd married, but he probably didn't know enough to hold his ground against Ben. "Jay," she decided.

"Who wants to go first?" The announcer asked.

Ben looked at her and Mal swallowed. "I will," She volunteered.

"Ben and Jay are up," the announcer declared. "Now, Mal, we're going to put you in the hotspot here. Then we're going to ask five questions. The boys get the chance to answer on paper and then we will see who does know more. If Ben knows more, you earn points. If Jay knows more, you lose points." A stagehand in black directed Mal to sit in a wooden chair in the front and center of the room. A red circle was painted around it. She nodded and rubbed her hands on her knees as she took a seat. With luck, no one outside of Ben and the VK's would see her nervousness. Ben walked to one side of Mal, about five yards away, and then Jay took up the opposite side. Both men were handed a clipboard with paper and a pencil. "Here are the questions," the announcer called as the cameras panned into her face. "One, what is Mal's full name? Two, name the person outside of the both of you two who Mal is closest to. Three, where does Mal see herself in ten years? Four, name Mal's biggest regret. Five, name the thing that makes Mal feel appreciated."

Mal took a deep breath and pretended not to notice the boys scribbling. She, having approved her own questions, had been confident in them before they'd been asked. Now... what if Ben didn't know them?

"Gentlemen, ready?" The announcer asked. Both Ben and Jay nodded. "Okay, gentlemen, what is Mal's full name?"

Ben gestured at Jay to go first. Jay straightened his paper. "Maleficent Stephens," he announced. Mal wrinkled her nose.

On her other side, Ben pinched his lips together. "She has a middle name," he called.

"She does?" Jay blinked. "Welp, I'm screwed."

Everyone laughed. Behind the three, Hades pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ben, what did you have?" the announcer called.

"You kidding?" Ben snorted. "I know better than to say that to a camera." He walked over and showed Mal the top of his paper. She scowled to see the ugly name scrawled across the top, then nodded.

"That's it," she agreed.

"Okay," The announcer confirmed with laughter in his tone. "Now, who is she closest to, outside of the both of you?"

"Evie," Jay responded immediately.

"I actually said Hades," Ben replied. He'd retaken his spot apart from Mal. "She's been hanging out with him more and more now the last few years."

Mal flushed. 'Actually, I would say Evie too," she admitted.

A loud penalty buzzer sounded. Ben groaned. "It's okay!" Lonnie called. "You're the only one who actually matters - everyone else shares her spare time."

Ben shrugged. "Oh well." he smiled at her, but Mal's heart was thudding. He hadn't known? Why not? She supposed that yes, she'd been spending more time with Hades, but Evie had always been her confidant and her supporter... second only to Ben.

"Where does Mal see herself in ten years?"

"Married," Jay replied in a dry tone. "And old. Maybe with a kid or two." Mal turned bright pink.

"I also put 'still married to me'," Ben agreed. "But we aren't really a couple to plan ahead. Children aren't on her radar, or mine. We don't know what we'll be doing. We just know that we want to be together."

Mal pointed to Ben and nodded. "That's right," she affirmed.

"Name Mal's biggest regret."

"Taking the wand at Ben's coronation."

"Closing the barrier after we were engaged."

"Those are both really good ones," Mal chewed on her lip. "The one I was thinking of was the thing with the Isle." Ben pumped a fist and Mal found herself smiling. They were on the same page. It was all okay.

"Name the one thing that always makes her feel appreciated."

Jay exhaled. "I just put when people follow her plans."

Across the room, Ben shook his head. "When someone tells her that they're proud of her and she can see the effects of her work." By now, Mal was blushing so hard that she had to cover her face with her hands. Still, she nodded. The teams cheered and Mal took a moment to glance behind the camera lines, where the point counters read four to one. Ben had won - even if he'd lost the second point. Now, it was her turn.

Mal's hands shook as she took Ben's place. He squeezed her arm as he walked to the hotspot chair. "Loosen up," he whispered. "We've got this." Across the room, Audrey replaced Jay.

Mal couldn't hear the announcer but still laughed a little when Ben's questions appeared on an off-camera screen in front of her. Despite the fact there'd been many optional questions about politics and families and work, she and Ben had picked similar questions based on similar subjects. Now, in front of her, were: "What is Ben's full name? Where does Ben see himself in ten years? If Ben was locked away who, besides the two of you, would he count on to release him? What is one thing in a relationship Ben requires? If Ben is feeling sad, what makes him feel better?"

"You're going down, Mal," Audrey teased from across Ben. Mal let out a dry laugh. She scribbled down her answers on a piece of paper and then glanced over to her rival and friend.

"What do you have for Ben's full name, Mal?" The interviewer asked.

Mal glanced over at Ben. His middle name was open record, but not formally used. Still, she waited for his little nod before clearing her throat. "Benjamin Florian Stephans."

Audrey looked up across the room in surprise. "Oh, I did King Benjamin Stephans," she admitted. "I didn't know he had a middle name. But don't you have to have his title?"

"I don't think so." Mal shook her head. "Right, Ben?"

Both girls turned to stare at Ben. A look of severe anxiety passed over his face. "Um, I don't know," he admitted. "I know that you don't, Mal, because you're the consort, but I'm, uh, official. If my title's not used, it's not considered legitimate..." He leaned back in his chair to face the rest of his team. "Dad?" He called.

"You need the title," Adam affirmed. "It's considered part of your legal name. They're both wrong."

"No points!" The announcer declared. Mal's heart dropped into her stomach. No points? She didn't even know Ben's name?

"Where does Ben see himself in ten years?"

"Married," Mal blurted out immediately. "He'd like to have children at some point but, as he said before, there's no schedule. He's still going to be king and he's hoping to be passing laws making it easier for humanoids to live in society."

"Oh, that's not in ten years," Ben shook his head. "I want to have that done by next year, or the year after if everything goes wrong and takes forever."

"I put happily married to Mal, maybe a father, and he mentioned two weeks ago that it'd be nice to not have to live in the palace, so I put that as well," Audrey announced. Ben hesitated, then nodded.

"Audrey is right. But Mal wasn't too far off the mark."

"Oof, Mal!" Carlos called. "What's up?" Meanwhile, Mal's hands were shaking. She'd been so sure... and she'd known all of that too! Her little exaggeration had cost her that question when she knew it.

"If Ben was locked away, then-"

"My friends," Mal interrupted. "Evie, Jay, and Carlos."

"I specified Jay and Carlos," Audrey agreed.

Ben frowned. "Geesh, I put my mom. I was thinking legally incarcerated, not being held as ransom or anything."

"No points," the announcer affirmed. "What's one thing Ben requires in a relationship?"

Mal had to compose herself before answering. Number four and she hadn't gotten a single point. Hades had raised his eyebrow and everyone else was exchanging glances. "Ben likes to be touched and held," she began. "He grew up with hugs and kisses and that's what he associates with relationships."

Across the room, Audrey blinked. "I put conversation," she admitted.

"Mal's right," Ben smiled over at her. "And you can calm down. We're not going to divorce just because you forgot the title that we both never use." scattered laughter echoed around the room from the camerahelps and their friends. Mal clutched her paper.

"What helps when Ben is sad?"

"Beef ragu," Audrey chirped from across the room, folding her paper in half. "It's his favorite comfort food."

"Weighted blankets and cuddles," Mal shook her head. "Right, Ben?"

"I feel like I'm being fought over," Ben complained. The interviewer had to cover the microphone to laugh. "And you're both right! My full response when I submitted the questions was eating beef ragu on the couch with a blanket and a movie and my wife."

"Well then, you're tied," The announcer declared. "Two for two, making for a total of Bal six and friends three."

Two? Ben had gotten four over Jay's one! Mal clenched her teeth together.

"Who wants to go first on round two?" the announcer asked.

"I'm already sitting," Ben volunteered, "Isn't this the one with the blindfold?"

"It is," The interviewer affirmed as one of the stagehands took a blindfold from where it had been set on a nearby chair and held it up. It was a nasty color of teal that made Evie and Audrey both flinch. "Could the boys come off-screen, please? Ladies, if you could all please remove rings and bracelets? This game is to see if Ben can find Mal based on her hand. For every incorrect guess, the other team will have a point added. For every person Ben correctly rules out, he and Mal score a point."

Mal watched the stagehand bind the blindfold around Ben's eyes. "Oh, this is gonna be fun," Evie smirked, pulling her wedding band off and handing it to Doug as he walked away. Belle, Jane, and Lonnie all quickly removed their rings as well while Audrey unclipped several jangly bracelets. Mal took off her ring with a deep breath and took it over to Ben. He smiled and tucked it into his breast pocket. Horrible visions of Ben refusing to give it back filled her head. "It'll be okay," Ben whispered.

Why had she agreed to do this? Why was this considered fun?

Now that Ben was blindfolded, he couldn't send her the reassuring looks she'd been relying so heavily on. Evie gave her a quick shoulder squeeze, but Mal brushed her off because the cameras ere directed at the girls as they gathered into a group. "Okay, ladies, hold up your hands!" Evie commanded in a whisper. Everyone did and began quickly comparing sizes, lengths, and noticeable differences. Jane and Audrey had the smallest hands with Mal and Belle lose behind. Mal's were longer and harder than Belle's, but also more narrow. Evie and Lonnie had the largest hands.

I'm probably going to be ruled out," Evie mumbled. "My hands are too soft." Mal nodded in agreement. Evie stepped up and then took Ben's hand. Mal's stomach turned.

Ben immediately turned his hands so that his and Evie's fingers weren't in-between and then began to feel the tips of her fingers instead. It looked like he was-

"Are you feeling her nails?" Carlos demanded.

Everyone burst into laughter as Ben found Evie's manicured nails and then dropped her hand. "Evie," he declared with a smug smirk crossing his mouth. Evie shrugged with a sigh and walked off the stage. Jane and Audrey were ruled out by similar methods, though a skeptical look had crossed Ben's face upon touching both of their hands. Mal had barely been able to keep a growl out of her throat when Audrey had tangled her fingers into Ben's.

With her, Belle, and Lonnie left, they went through a quick pointing match of who's next. Belle finally stepped forward and everyone tried not to laugh as Ben held hands with his mom. Ben finally frowned. "I'm not sure about this one," he admitted, then stopped holding her hand to run his fingertips up and down her skin. "Her nails are the same shape... her hand feels pretty close... but it's still just... something's different."

"Do you want another hand?" The interviewer asked.

Ben nodded and Lonnie gestured for Mat to step forward. She swallowed as she went back to Ben's other side and then took his left hand. Ben immediately whipped his head around with a smile. "Here she is!" He exclaimed, letting go of Belle and squeezing Mal's palm with both hands. He pulled her forward to kiss her cheek quickly and used her presence to get to his feet. "I think that other person was probably my mom and I haven't had Lonnie's hand yet. Is that right?"

A winning buzzer echoed across the room. Ben smiled as he pulled the blindfold off his eyes. He fished her ring out of her pocket and gave it back to her before twisting his own off his finger. Mal's mouth fell into a pout as he put it in her palm. Around them, the boys were switching rings with their partners and heading into the arena. Mal watched Hades removed his gloves, roll up his sleeves, and rub his hands to warm them up. Jay cracked all his knuckles. Ben helped Mal sit down before a stagehand came on to take the blindfold from him and secure it around her eyes. Then, she waited while everyone whispered around her.

The first hand was not Ben's. Their fingers were not as long and their hands were cold. Their skin was rough. Mal bit her lip. Jay had long fingers which he had used for pickpocketing. Carlos's fingers were shorter, but his hand was warm and he had a hard scar at the base of his thumbnail from working with electronics. Adam, she didn't know. Doug, she didn't know. She squeezed the person's hand and they squeezed back with a strong vice grip. Mal let out a breath and tried to focus when she caught a whiff of leather and earth. "Dad?" She asked, and heard a winning buzzer ding in the distance. Hades let her go.

The next person also had cold hands. He also had crooked fingers and a bitten thumbnail. Mal recalled seeing Doug bite his nails when puzzling over hard problems. "Doug," she decided, much quicker than she had on Hades.

She knew Jay's hand the moment it brushed against hers from all the years she'd watched him stealing and fighting. The winning buzzer didn't even matter. She knew it was him before he'd even finished taking her hand.

Then the fourth hand threw her.

They had thicker fingers than Jay and Doug but thinner than Hades's. Their hand was warm. Their fingers wrapped around her knuckles just the way Ben's usually did. For everything that counted, they were exactly the same. Mal bit her lip. She turned their hand around and felt their nails. Well-kept, just like Ben's. Kept a little shorter on his thumb and index fingers so that he could tap a phone screen without a clicking sound. A smooth spot on his wrist where a watch normally was.

This felt like Ben's hand. But what if she was wrong? Something just didn't feel right, and she didn't know what it was.

"What do you think, Mal?" The interviewer asked.

Mal's shoulders shook. "I don't know," she admitted, slouching forward a little. "It... it feels the same. There are the same grooves in his palm here and he squeezes my hand the same way and it feels like the right size, but I just don't know!" She could feel tears welling in her eyes under the blindfold. She'd have black marks under her eyes when the blindfold was removed. Ben had known her the moment she'd touched him. "I need another hand. Can I have another hand?"

There were footsteps, and someone else took her other hand. Mal's heart dropped. They were equally similar. And when they squeezed her hand, she reacted without thinking and squeezed back. And they were warm and had also been wearing a watch. Mal found a deformity on their pinkie nail, but she couldn't remember for the life of her if Ben had had something similar coming into the interview. She leaned forward, chewing on her lip in inner turmoil. "Oh, my gosh," She moaned.

Who was left? Carlos? Carlos had a callous under his thumbnail. Mal dropped the first person's hand and traced her fingertip over the newcomer's thumb. "Carlos!" she announced upon finding it and shoved his hand away. "That one is Carlos!" She took the first person's hand again. "Last hand, please."

"Mal, it's okay if-" Evie started to say from offscreen.

"Last hand," Mal cut her off firmly.

There were heavy footsteps approaching from behind and then Mal breathed in the scent of something spicy and soothing and so, so familiar. "Oh!" She exclaimed, spinning around and letting go of the other person. "There you are!" She was crying in relief underneath the blindfold. When they took it off, everyone on TV would know how nervous she was.

"You didn't even take his hand!" Lonnie sputtered off camera. "How do you know it's him?"

Part of Mal knew that if this other person wasn't Ben, she'd be mortified, but she was so relieved at the thought of having him near again that she got to her feet and held her hands out for the other person. She caught the lapels of his suit - his suit, when only one of the men had been in a suit today and buried her face into his. Ben's low laugh slowly eased her fears away. She did know him. She knew his scent. She knew his footsteps. She didn't even need his hand.

The buzzer went off. Mal stayed facing Ben and slowly removed the blindfold. Ben's smile dropped as he immediately brought his hands up at edge away the mascara marks. "You okay?" He whispered.

Mal nodded. "Just stressed," she muttered. She glanced over her shoulder and glared at the Ben Imposter that had had her stumped. "It was you!" she hissed.

Former King Adam only looked impressed as he rubbed his hands together and nodded. "Well done," he congratulated her. "I thought I had you stumped."

"Like Father, like son," the interviewer laughed. "Okay, it's time for our last and final challenge. Mal wasn't able to guess Adam correctly, so she gained four points plus the one for identifying Ben, and Ben scored a perfect five on all his imposters with a sixth for finding Mal."

"She would have gotten him if she hadn't removed the blindfold after finding me," Ben shrugged. But still, he sighed and accepted the readings for the round. They were far ahead of the other team anyways.

One of the stagehands stepped forward into the camera's view. "I'm Bliss!" She announced, both to the camera and them. "I have a Ph.D. in psychology and own a clinic in Auradon where we specialize in hypnotism. I'm also half-fairy, and my clinic is known for combining magic and practical medicine to help people overcome additions, disorders, and other issues." She shook both hers and Ben's hands before turning back to the cameras. "What we're going to do here today is I'm going to use a combination of magic and hypnosis to make King Ben and Queen Mal temporarily forget everything about each other. The goal is to see if they can find themselves without any memories to help them. When they've successfully managed t guess each other, their memories will return. Every person they guess wrong will be counted against them."

"That's right," The interviewer confirmed. "Are you ready?"

Ben looked down at her. Her hands were still clutching the front of his suit. "Are you ready?" He whispered.

Mal was entirely aware of the cameras panning in on them. A microphone hovered a meter from her mouth, suspended from the ceiling so they could hear her response. "Yeah," she nodded, squeezing his hand.

She'd done interviews before. She and Ben had played interview games together and she'd answered questions and it had been normal. But this one, testing their relationship, was different. She felt like she was being tested on her compatibility with him, which was ridiculous. She knew she loved him. She knew he loved her. She knew they were close. But what if this just proved what she'd been suspecting for years? That she couldn't love as deeply or as true as he could? What if, by some stroke of fate, whatever she felt wasn't "real love" because she just wasn't able to feel it? What if she was broken?

Ben sat down first. Just like before, all the married women took off their wedding rings so as not to give him any hints before lining up behind him. Mal hesitated before passing her ring back over. It'd been off far too many times today. Mal ended up on the far left side of the line as Bliss approached Ben. As the cameras moved to better focus on her expression, Ben turned back around and gave her a reassuring smile.

What if he didn't love her as much as they both thought he did? What if he picked wrong - how would she feel? What if, when he got his memories back, everything was different?

She smiled back.

Evie left her place in line to give Mal a comforting hug as the hypnotist drew Ben's attention back to her to begin the process by flipping a glowing coin in front of his eyes. With a snap, Ben slumped forward, asleep. Bliss caught him before he could fall and announced to the room: "When you wake up, you won't remember anything or anyone until you have chosen your wife out of all of your friends."

There were other things. Spells and commands. Then, she snapped again, and Ben jerked back to life. "Can you hear me?" Bliss asked.

"Yes," Ben nodded.

"Can you tell me what you're doing here?"

Ben looked towards the cameras and the people behind them in something like amazement. "No," he replied, holding his hands up and staring at them incredulously. He pulled off his wedding ring and held it up to the light. "It sparkles," he muttered and the camera crew laughed. Mal had a feeling that his reaction would become a meme that the kingdom would use for the next twenty years. Hades, behind the line, let his gaze flicker from his daughter to his son in law. Ben hadn't noticed them.

"Do you know who you are?"

Ben was genuinely disturbed by the question. He thought about it for a very long time and then shook his head. "No," he admitted. "Do you know?"

"Yes," Bliss assured him. "Your name is Ben and you're here playing a game. You agreed to it before we put you to sleep. The goal is to find your wife. Once you find her, all your memories will come back."

Ben looked around. "Where?" he asked, then saw Lonnie out of the far side of his vision. "Oh!" he exclaimed, jumping in surprise as he whipped around in surprise. "There are people back there!"

More laughter. Ben stared at them all. Mal's stomach churned when his eyes flit over her without pause. "One of them?" He asked Bliss.

"Yes," Bliss agreed. "We're going to time you to see how long it takes. Every wrong guess is a point against you, though, so be careful."

"What if I guess wrong?" Ben asked. Bliss blinked at him with a deadpan expression. "I mean - I know that I'll lose points, but will she get mad at me?"

"Well, she's going to do the same thing after you, so it'll depend on how well she does." Bliss motioned to the group and began to retreat. "We're starting the time now. They all know you quite well, so you can ask them questions about them and you, but you can't ask about relationships or any related subjects."

"I don't like this game," Ben said aloud, getting to his feet. He wobbled as he found his center of balance and then took a few focused steps forward. "Um, can I know everyone's names?"

"I'm Belle."

"I'm Lonnie."

"I'm Evie."

"I'm Jane."

"I'm Audrey."

"I'm Mal."

"Mal," Ben repeated, staring suspiciously at her. Mal tilted her head to the side and watched Ben examine her face intently before turning towards Belle. "How old are you?"

Mal's stomach dropped when he turned away, but she couldn't resist laughing at the question. Belle pinched her lips together. "I'm fifty-one," she told him.

"How old am I?" Ben asked her.

"Twenty-four."

Ben hummed and then shook her head. "I don't think it's you," he told her. "You're not her."

A ding sounded around the room. Ben jumped and looked all around as Belle smiled and walked off.

"Does that mean I was right?" Ben asked.

"Yup," Lonnie nodded, biting her lip at his startled expression.

Ben glanced back down the line and this time, his eyes hovered on Mal. But then he looked back at all the other girls and Mal notice his eyes clinging to Evie.

He pointed to Audrey. "If you had to give a number, how many people would you say I've kissed?"

Audrey looked startled by the question. "Um..." she trailed off. Mal wanted to spit out 'Four' but kept her lips locked. Ben glanced at her again and she schooled her anxiousness away. "Um, maybe two?" She glanced away, slightly towards Mal, and then caught herself and averted her gaze. Ben, however, glanced at the next person in line, who was Evie. He admired her face, her clothes and shoes, and then hovered on her mouth and eyes before clearing his throat.

"How long have I known you?"

"About eight years," Evie replied.

"Are we close?"

"You can't ask that."

Ben pinched his lips together. Mal watched Evie twist her hands. Her best friend was probably as nervous to be mistaken for Ben's wife as Mal was to see if Ben would mistake her.

"What's... my favorite place to go to?"

"To eat?"

"Sure."

"You don't like going out to eat. You like to stay at home."

"Where do you like to go?"

"Auradon Accelerated's Campus Diner."

Ben hummed and glanced surreptitiously at the other girls down the line. Mal tried not to ball her fists. The clock behind Ben told them that five minutes had gone by. Ben ran his fingers through his hair. "This is hard," he murmured.

Audrey shifted her weight. Ben chewed on his lip and then pointed to both her and Evie. "What's one thing you hate about me?" He demanded.

Both looked startled. They looked to each other and then Audrey swallowed. "There isn't really... a thing, but you've done some things in the past that hurt me."

"I dislike some of your political views," Evie shrugged. "But there's not much else."

Ben looked at Jane, who answered: "I think you're a bit disorganized when it comes to detail management."

Ben ignored Lonnie and looked past Jane to Mal. Mal swallowed. "I don't like how you're always a little unsure of yourself when you're around your parents."

It was a gutsy thing to say on TV with both parents behind the line, but Mal waved away her blush and watched Ben's eyes narrow at her. He took Evie and Audrey and moved them to stand beside her. The clock was counting up to eight minutes. "I think it's between you three," he mumbled, then blushed and turned towards the other girls. "I hope I'm not wrong, otherwise I'll have to go jump off a bridge somewhere."

"You're doing great," Evie soothed. "It's all going to be okay."

Ben took a deep breath and shook his head. "I have this feeling," he murmured. "It's like... I know who she was. In my bones, I know what she was like. But questions and looks and everything... that's only scratching the surface. I knew her as a person, not an image."

Mal felt like melting into her shoes. Ben exhaled and then looked all around at them. Noticed Audrey's jangly bracelets and the tan line on Evie's ring finger. Noticed the slouch of Mal's spine and the way she kept trying to focus on his eyes to see what was there. Then, he looked toward Evie and winced. "Is it you?" he asked uncertainly.

Mal's heart plummeted into her stomach.

A penalty buzzer sounded as Evie shook her head. Ben covered his face with his hands. "Oh no," he mumbled. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm trying... I swear I feel like I know her... she's right on the tip of my tongue, but..."

Evie patted his arm and walked offstage to where Doug was waiting, looking anxious. Ben looked heartbroken he'd failed to find her as he glanced around at the last four girls. Lonnie and Jane gathered into a circle with Mal and Audrey around Ben and began to offer suggestions.

"Try saying our names and see who feels the most familiar to say."

"Maybe you could ask us questions about what we think about her?"

"You were able to find her by hand-holding. Do you want to try that again?"

Ben shook his head and then sat down on the floor. "I just don't know," He mumbled. "I don't know."

Mal reached forward and patted his arm. A spark flew from her to him and he jumped. Static electricity, but he still looked up at her curiously. Then, he got back to his feet.

The clock was going on eleven minutes.

Ben opened his arms. "Can I have a hug?" He asked.

Mal nodded and slowly wrapped her arms around him. His own hands found their usual places, one on her back and the other behind her waist, and he let out a sigh of relief. "Oh," he realized. "Here you are."

There was a winning buzzer as Ben's hands steadied on her. His final time was eleven minutes and thirty-seven seconds. She felt herself being hugged so tightly into his frame that it wasn't really "Mal and Ben" but "MalandBen". "No room for Jesus here," she laughed.

"I'm so sorry, Mal," Ben moaned, burying his face in her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I saw Evie's ring line and I just thought... I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Mal whispered, running her fingertips up and down his back. "All over."

"Except now it's your turn," he laughed. And Mal's heart stopped.

She heard him calling her name but couldn't respond for several seconds. "Ben," She mumbled into his ear, "I don't think I can do it. I won't be able to find you."

"You don't have to," Ben whispered, though the hypnotist was waiting for her now. "We can go home now. It's okay. I know it's scary."

Scary. Yes. She was scared. She felt like she was being measured up to and she knew she was going to come up short. And then what? What would she do?

But on the flip side, if she didn't, she'd never know the truth.

"I... I'm going to try," She mumbled and Ben nodded. She slowly unwrapped herself and then, with shaking hands, let him go to walk to the hotspot.

"Hey," Ben pulled her back and revealed her ring. "Don't forget. This is still yours. It's always going to be." And then, on that note, he slipped his off and hid it away in his breast pocket. Mal swallowed and nodded.

She sat down as the boys and girls were switching on-camera roles. The hypnotist held out a glowing coin that immediately drew her in. The rest of the world seemed fuzzy.

"Focus on my hands," she commanded as Mal chewed on her lip and tried to focus on Ben. It was becoming harder and harder now.

"Stay calm. We're just going to put you to sleep."

And she snapped. And the world was dark.

________________________________________________________________

A sound like thunder woke her and she jerked away and toppled out of the place she'd been sitting in, bringing her hands up to fight. "Who's there?" she demanded before focusing on a white-haired girl in front of her. "Who are you?"

"Calm down," the girl put her hands up. "I'm Bliss. I'm here to help you. Do you remember what happened?"

"No. What's going on?" She spat, bringing her fists up in front of her face and bracing her feet into the ground.

"Listen, your name is Mal and we're only playing a game here today. Let me explain-"

"You've got about ten seconds before I give you a blissful black eye!"

"Calm down. You agreed to this beforehand. The object of the game is to see if you can find your husband without any memories. You agreed to it before we took them away. The moment you find him, you'll remember everything. I promise." The girl's hands were still held aloft. Mal stared at her, trying to comprehend everything. She slowly let her hands down. Bliss carefully outstretched a hand, which Mal smacked away. They weren't alone. On her left side was a line of... cameras. And there were people behind the cameras. People behind black lines on the ground and behind the cameras behind the black lines. And on her right was a line of men, staring in concern. She looked away from them and found a ring on her left hand, which she blinked at and lifted to the light. "Who'd want to marry me?" she wondered. Someone let out a choked sound in the room, though she couldn't tell who.

"It's one of the people over here," Bliss directed her attention to Mal's left. Mal slowly got up to her feet. She looked down the line of people. Bliss kept talking, but Mal was ignoring her now. The first man was older, with grey hair mixed in among the brown and with big, somewhat meaty hands. He stood next to a man with blue hair whose outfit more resembled Mal's personal style. Black and brown leather with vibrant blue hair. Then a man with thick glasses and blonde hair and another with broad shoulders hidden under a white jacket with black and white hair. Another with long brown hair and red earrings. But it was the last one who immediately fascinated her. He also had blonde hair and wore a blue suit. He glanced over her with minor recognition, but there was something in the way he was hiding a smile behind his hand that immediately caught her attention. The shape of his shoulders... the arc of his brow... the sparkle in his eyes. It was as if she already knew everything about him when she didn't know anything at all. This, she decided, must be him. He was her person. She felt an itch across her skin and on the tips of her fingers as if they remembered everything about him and wanted to rediscover everything they already knew.

"They know you, so you can ask them questions if you want," Bliss finished.

"Starting when?" Mal demanded.

"Starting now," Bliss pointed to a clock, which began ticking on her command.

"Well, you can stop the timer," Mal scoffed and began approaching the men. "I know him. I know the way he is and what he does and I know him. I know the way he exists. This is him." She waved the others aside and stepped up beside the man in the suit. "You can stop the timer."

She blinked, and suddenly everything came back. "Oh!" she exclaimed, spinning to look up at him. "I did it!"

"In three seconds?" Jay sputtered incredulously.

"I give up!" Hades moaned into his hands. "You know, Mallie, I was looking forward to teasing you for the next few hundred years with this. Why'd you have to ruin it?"

"You did it!" Ben laughed, blushing hard. "I feel like a massive failure now."

"You should," Adam laughed. "You guessed her best friend and she didn't even think twice."

"I do love you," Mal mumbled, pressing her fingertips to her head. "I can't believe... is it... I did it." She released her skull and found her way into his side, burying her face away from the world in his chest. "Oh my goodness."

"You've been married for five years," Hades declared. "Shouldn't you know by now whether you love him or not?"

"Hey," Ben laughed into her hair. "It's gonna be okay. All over now." They'd won by a lot, too.

"I know," Mal mumbled in a small tone. "I know. Just don't let go."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"I know. Just let me hold you."

"We've got to finish the interview."

"Ben."

"Okay, okay," Ben laughed. He kissed the top of her head. "I love you."

"I love you too." And finally, she could be sure of what that meant.

#descendants #disney #mal #ben x mal #queen mal #king ben #ben #bal #interview #fluff #married #test #funny #love

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hshouse · 5 years

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are you done with your essay?

YES!! Harry essay is here and I love her.

It’s under the read more!!

Harry Styles: the gay icon gay women deserve.

If you walk into an arena to watch a Harry Styles concert, you might think you came to a pride parade instead of a concert. His fans bring pride flags (all kinds of them: the gay, the lesbian, the bisexual, the transgender and the asexual have all been spotted) and wait excitedly for the moment when Harry snatches the flags for himself and runs around on stage with them. To understand the Harry Styles that his LGBT fanbase knows and love, it is crucial to know both his path to a successful solo artist and how he is perceived by the general public. Before his solo career, he was a member of the boyband One Direction. Boybands (and their members) have historically occupied in a curious position in popular culture. These groups, mostly composed of early twenties men, have been openly marketed towards a young female audience (who is presumed to be straight). The magazines write about the perfect date for each member and which actress the cute one is dating - all in a clear effort to sell them as romantic/sex icons for teenage girls. However, despite all of these efforts, these boybands are also adored by the LGBTQ community. While the appeal to gay men is more understandable, the bulk of the LGBTQ fans, at least in Harry Styles’ case, is composed of lesbian and bisexual women. Through analyzing four of his songs, I will shed a light on why this appeal exist and how he has become one of the iconic gay icons of the 21st century.

The first two songs that have become an important gay anthem for his LGBT fans were written by Harry Styles during his time in One Direction. The song “Happily” is featured in the third album of the band and “If I Could Fly ” is part of the fifth album. To understand the importance of these songs, some context is needed. A significant part of the One Direction fandom (the word used to describe the collective of fans) believes that Harry Styles was/is on a long term relationship with another bandmember, Louis Tomlinson. This belief is held mostly by the LGBT fans and it has shaped the fandom from the very beginning (this video - which has been watched over five million times - provides a good introduction on the topic). Many LGBT fans were introduced to the band by hearing about this belief. In different, and often controversial and unconvincing ways, both Harry and Louis have denied this relationship. However, the fans, including myself, even after four years of the band break, still believe in the existence of their relationship (the dynamics of this group are extremely interesting but are unfortunately outside of the scope of this essay).

In both “Happily” and “If I Could Fly” Harry writes/sings directly to his lover without (or with few) pronouns. Both songs invoke a common theme of certitude about their relationship while facing outside struggles to maintain this relationship. In “Happily”, Harry directly addresses how their relationship is viewed: “I don’t care what people say when we’re together/You know I wanna be the one to hold you when you sleep/I just want it to be you and I forever”. For straight listeners, this verse may not seem like more than a common love declaration in a pop song. However, for LGBT fans this verse is understood as a clear and loud representation of the queer struggle with acceptance for their relationships. Moreover, Harry is sending a strong optimistic message about queer love: “I don’t care what people say when we’re together”. In a pop culture that still often portrays queer love stories as tragedies or unattainable desires, hearing a song showcases a fairly happy queer love story is important for young LGBT people. Later in the song, Harry also plays (as he does in many songs as we will see) with the common listener’s assumptions about his sexuality: “It’s four a.m. and I know that you’re with him/I wonder if he knows that I touched your skin/And if he feels my traces in your hair”. A straight listened will likely assume he is jealous of another man who is with his female lover. However, the lover Harry is talking to is not specified as a woman so these sexually charged lyrics are understood by his fans to be within the context of a gay relationship.

In a distinctively sadder tone, “If I Could Fly” showcases another side of queer love: the understanding that that relationship is often the only social space where LGBT people get to truly be themselves. While many are lucky to have LGBT spaces and friends, it is still not the case for everyone - especially those in the closet. When performed live, this song seems to be personal and even perhaps painful to him. He sings: “For your eyes only, I’ll show you my heart/For when you’re lonely and forget who you are/I’m missing half of me when we’re apart/Now you know me, for your eyes only/For your eyes only.” These verses seem to say that he is himself only when he is with his lover or that only his lover truly knows him. Again, for his LGBT fans this song is undeniably about feelings and experiences that are unique to queer love within the context of our society. During his first tour as a solo artist, Harry performed this One Direction song in a separate B stage alongside one of his own love songs (the small stage was quickly nicknamed “the Boyfriend stage” by fans). During one of his London shows (linked above) the fans used their phones to form a pride flag across the arena. As he sang “I can feel your heart inside of mine”, his fans held a pride flag and sang back to him “I feel it/I feel it.” An incredibly powerful moment to us and to him (as you can see in the video).

In 2017, Harry started his solo career post One Direction. His first album cycle (including album release and tour) lasted until 2018 and it included over a million albums sold and 69 sold out concerts across the world. His career has been marked by his refusal to share anything substantial about his personal life outside of what is said in his songs. Harry talks through his actions and lyrics more than through any interview. Further, his solo career has also been marked by his fashion choices. He is the face of several Gucci fashion campaigns and the first gender neutral perfume. On tour, he was usually on a two piece suit with an extravagant pattern or in a creative variation of it like this prince outfit. But by far the most unique part of any Harry Styles concert is pride flags that flood the audience everywhere he goes. During every concert of his tour he grabbed some of the flags and ran around the stage. This movement to bring pride flags is a culmination of four years of efforts from his LGBT fans. During the One Direction tours a few brave fans brought pride flags, in a movement named Rainbow Direction, and were often met with hostility from other fans. It wasn’t until Harry started grabbing the flags and, in his fashion “saying without saying” that he supported and liked this trend, that the pride flags became accepted by the larger fandom.

Two of his solo songs deserve special attention for their importance for the queer fans. The first one is “Two Ghosts”. This song, like the ones mentioned before, is believed to be about Louis Tomlinson. The song was released as part of his 2017 album but was written in 2013. During that time, the Louis/Harry belief was first partially addressed when Harry and Louis, who were self declared best friends who lived together, completely stopped interacting with each other. This arrangement was in place until the last day of the band almost 3 years later. In a five person group, it was painfully obvious. “Two Ghosts” is believed to address this new public arrangement: “Sounds like something that I used to feel/But I can’t touch what I see/We’re not who we used to be/We’re not who we used to be/We’re just two ghosts standing in the place of you and me.” Styles then goes on to repeat “We’re not who we used to be” multiple times. Regardless of one’s belief on that relationship, when the song was released, Harry’s queer fans were stunned with how raw the song was. While being a celebrity in that situation is a mostly unrelatable problem, the feeling of not being able to express queer love freely is shared by many. In particular the lyric “I can’t touch what I see” shows a sadness and struggle that is known to many, if not all, queer people.

The second song is “Medicine”. This is Harry’s most openly queer song and also his most sexually charged. The second verse of the song boldly states that he is gonna treat his lover like a gentleman - a line that is hard to be interpreted in any other way but that his lover is a man. The song goes on to describe, by using the metaphor of taking medicine, the singer’s sexual desires with this person: “Here to take my medicine, take my medicine/Rest it on your fingertips/Up to your mouth, feeling it out/Feeling it out.” These lyrics are more explicitly sexual than any of his other songs. In a fan loved moment, Harry sings “I had a few, got drunk on you and now I’m wasted/And when I sleep I’m gonna dream of how you -” and the fans complete the (supposed) lyrics by screaming “tasted”. The song then comes to its most talked about verses: “The boys and the girls are in/I mess around with him/And I’m OK with it”. These verses exemplify what queer women love on Harry: in an unprecedented hint on his sexuality Harry is said in the same breath that he says is okay with it. Again, the reassurance that it is okay to feel this way. It is crucial to highlight an unsurprising detail about this song: it was never released as a track, he only performs it live. These lyrics, therefore, are not in the canon of what non fans know about him. Harry constantly seems to want to share his experiences in some contexts but not others - a feeling entirely too familiar to his queer fans.

During his concerts, Harry talks to the fans close to him from the stage and he seems to have talent (perhaps a radar) for choosing gay fans. This video contain most of the moments mentioned here. He helped multiple fans come out during the concert, he helped a girl find a girlfriend and even said that “everyone is a little bit gay”. His connection with his lesbian and bisexual fans is evident to anyone who follows him. In a very tangible way, this connection was not supposed to exist. Harry was, and still partially is, marketed as a sex symbol who girls are supposed to want to sleep with. His fanbase is supposed to be straight women that daydream about having a chance to date him. Of course, this is an incredibly sexist and condescending way to treat women and Harry has never been okay with this framework. Considering his silence on most topics, he has been loud and clear about his respect towards women and his love for his mostly young female fanbase: “Who’s to say that young girls who like pop music – short for popular, right? – have worse musical taste than a 30-year-old hipster guy? That’s not up to you to say. Music is something that’s always changing. There’s no goal posts. Young girls like the Beatles. You gonna tell me they’re not serious? How can you say young girls don’t get it? They’re our future. Our future doctors, lawyers, mothers, presidents, they kind of keep the world going. Teenage-girl fans – they don’t lie. If they like you, they’re there. They don’t act ‘too cool.’ They like you, and they tell you. Which is sick.“ And this sentiment, if his on stage interactions are anything to go by, seem to be even more clear about his gay fans. It is not to say that every straight fan wants to sleep with him or that he loves them any less. But there is a clear understanding by him that there is something special about the LGBT fans that, despite a marketing that was not meant to appeal to gay women, stood by him for now almost a decade. Show after show he has made it abundantly clear that this relationship is just as important and sacred to him as it is to us.

#oh what a well timed asked that was not sent by me at all cause I wanted to publish it as an ask incredible coincidence.#harry essay #also like if you disagree w stuff #it's all fine #this is not a gospel #asjhdjkashd #it's a school assignment #Anonymous

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3 definitions of health

What is health? The word health describes a state of total emotional and physical wellness. Healthcare exists to assist people preserve this optimum state of health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), health care expenses in the United States were $3.5 trillion in 2017. Nevertheless, in spite of this expense, individuals in the U.S. have a lower life span than individuals in other industrialized countries. This is because of a range of aspects, consisting of access to health care and way of life choices. Health is central to managing tension and living a longer, more active life. In this post, we explain the significance of good health, the kinds of health a person needs to think about, and how to maintain great health. What is health ? Regular exercise adds to health. In 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined health with a phrase that modern-day authorities still apply. " Health is a state of total physical, psychological, and social wellness and not simply the absence of disease or infirmity." In 1986, the WHO made additional information: " A resource for everyday life, not the goal of living. Health is a favorable idea highlighting personal and social resources, along with physical capacities." This implies that health is a resource to support an individual's function in wider society, instead of an end in itself. A healthful lifestyle supplies the means to lead a complete life with significance and purpose. In 2009, scientists releasing inThe Lancet specified health as the capability of a body to adjust to brand-new dangers and imperfections. They base this definition on the concept that the previous couple of decades have actually seen modern-day science take substantial strides in the awareness of illness by comprehending how they work, discovering new ways to slow or stop them, and acknowledging that an absence of pathology may not be possible. HEALTHLINE EVENT Healthline Live Town Hall: Healthcare Policy Edition Ask the professionals about the future of health care at a Live Town Hall hosted by our sis site, Healthline, featuring healthcare policy experts and patient supporters. Types Mental and physical health are probably the two most frequently gone over types of health Spiritual, emotional, and financial health likewise contribute to total health. Medical specialists have connected these to lower tension levels and improved physical and mental well-being. Individuals with better monetary health, for instance, may worry less about financial resources and have the methods to buy fresh food more frequently. Those with good spiritual health might feel a sense of calm and function that fuels good mental health. Physical health. A person who has good physical health is most likely to have bodily functions and procedures working at their peak. This is not just due not just to an absence of illness. Regular workout, balanced nutrition, and sufficient rest all contribute to great health. Individuals get medical treatment to preserve the balance, when required. Physical well-being involves pursuing a healthy way of life to decrease the threat of disease. Preserving physical conditioning, for instance, can secure and develop the endurance of a person's breathing and heart function, muscular strength, flexibility, and body composition. Taking care of physical health and wellness also includes minimizing the risk of an injury or health issue, such as: decreasing hazards in the work environment When having sex, using birth control practicing efficient health avoiding the use of tobacco, alcohol, or unlawful drugs taking the advised vaccines for a specific condition or nation when traveling Excellent physical health can operate in tandem with mental health to enhance a person's general quality of life. For example, mental disorder, such as depression, may increase the threat of drug usage conditions, according to a 2008 study. This can go on to adversely impact physical health Mental health. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, psychological health refers to a person's psychological, social, and mental wellness. Psychological health is as essential as physical health as part of a complete, active lifestyle. Because lots of mental diagnoses depend on an person's perception of their experience, it is harder to define mental health than physical health. With enhancements in testing, nevertheless, doctors are now able to identify some physical signs of some kinds of mental disorder in CT scans and genetic tests. Great psychological health is not just classified by the lack of anxiety, stress and anxiety, or another condition. It also depends on a person's ability to: take pleasure in life recuperate after difficult experiences and adapt to misfortune balance various components of life, such as household and finances feel safe and secure accomplish their complete potential Physical and mental health have strong connections. For example, if a persistent disease affects a individual's capability to finish their routine tasks, it may result in depression and tension. These feelings might be due to financial problems or movement issues. A mental disorder, such as anxiety or anorexia, can affect body weight and total function. It is very important to approach "health" as a entire, rather than as a series of separate aspects. All types of health are connected, and people must go for general well-being and balance as the keys to great health. Learn how psychological health can impact physical health here. MEDICAL NEWS TODAY NEWSLETTER Stay in the know. Get our free everyday newsletter Anticipate extensive, science-backed toplines of our finest stories every day. Tap in and keep your curiosity satisfied. Enter your e-mail Your personal privacy is necessary to us Factors for great health Health depends upon a large range of aspects Genetic elements A individual is born with a variety of genes. In some people, an unusual genetic pattern or modification can cause a less-than-optimum level of health. People may acquire genes from their moms and dads that increase their risk for specific health conditions. Environmental aspects. Ecological aspects contribute in health. In some cases, the environment alone suffices to impact health. Other times, an ecological trigger can trigger health problem in a person who has actually an increased genetic threat of a particular disease. Access to health care contributes, but the WHO recommend that the following factors might have a more substantial influence on health than this: where a individual lives the state of the surrounding environment genes their income their level of education employment status It is possible to categorize these as follows: The economic and social environment: This might consist of the monetary status of a household or neighborhood, along with the social culture and quality of relationships. The physical environment: This includes which bacteria exist in an area, in addition to pollution levels. A person's qualities and habits : A person's genetic makeup and lifestyle options can impact their total health According to some research studies, the greater a person's socioeconomic status (SES), the most likely they are to delight in great health, have a good education, get a well-paid task, and manage excellent health care in times of illness or injury. They also maintain that individuals with low socioeconomic status are most likely to experience stress due to day-to-day living, such as monetary problems, marital disruption, and unemployment. Social elements may likewise influence on the risk of bad health for people with lower SES, such as marginalization and discrimination. A low SES frequently suggests reduced access to health care. A 2018 study in Frontiers in Pharmacology suggested that individuals in developed nations with universal health care services have longer life spans than those in industrialized nations without universal health care. Cultural concerns can impact health. The traditions and customizeds of a family and a society 's reaction to them can have a excellent or bad effect on health. According to the Seven Countries Study, scientists studied people in select European countries and discovered that those who ate a healthy diet plan had a lower 20-year death rate. The study showed that individuals who consumed a healthy diet plan are most likely to take in high levels of fruits, veggies, and olives than people who regularly take in quick food. The research study likewise discovered that people who followed the Mediterranean diet plan had a lower 10-year all-cause mortality rate. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, this diet plan can help protect a person's heart and minimize the risk of a number of illness, consisting of type 2 diabetes, cancer, and illness that trigger the brain and nerves to break down. How a individual manages stress will likewise impact their health. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, individuals who smoke tobacco, beverage alcohol, or take illegal drugs to handle stressful situations are more likely to develop health issues than those who manage tension through a healthful diet, relaxation techniques, and exercise. Protecting health. The best way to keep health is to maintain it through a healthy lifestyle rather than waiting until sickness or imperfection to address health problems. Individuals use the name health to explain this constant state of enhanced well-being. The WHO define wellness as follows: " Wellness is the optimum state of health of groups and people . There are two focal concerns: the realization of the maximum capacity of an private physically, psychologically, socially, spiritually, and financially, and the fulfillment of one's roles and expectations in the family, community, place of worship, and other settings." Wellness promotes active awareness of and taking part in measures that maintain health, both as an individual and in the community. Preserving health and optimum health is a long-lasting, daily commitment. Steps that can help individuals obtain wellness consist of: consuming a balanced, nutritious diet from as lots of natural sources as possible engaging in a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate to high-intensity exercise weekly, according to the American Heart Association screening for illness that may present a risk learning to manage tension efficiently participating in activities that supply function connecting with and caring for other people maintaining a positive outlook on life defining a value system and putting it into action The definition of peak health is highly specific, as are the actions a person might require to arrive. Every individual has various health goals and a range of ways to achieve them. It may not be possible to avoid disease completely. However, a person ought to do as much as they can to develop durability and prepare the body and mind to handle diseases as they occur.

#what is good health #what is health #how to stay fit #what is healthy life #how to live healthy life #health & fitness #health is the key of wealth

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